My Body, My Temple, My $2,000 Copay
A wellness journey brought to you by deductibles, vague diagnoses, and the crushing realization that your insurance provider thinks your eyes and teeth aren’t part of your body. I’ve been told my body is my temple. Holy. Sacred. Worthy of reverence. Turns out my temple has a nine-month waitlist and a copay that rivals my […]
The 10-3-2-1 Sleep Method: A Middle-Aged Woman’s Countdown to Sanity
No gadgets, no apps, no supplements—just a back-to-basics formula that might finally help you sleep through the night. 2:47 a.m. Wide awake again. My husband snores peacefully next to me (after taking a full three minutes to fall asleep, I might add) and I lie awake mentally reviewing next week’s menu and rehearsing what I […]
I’m A Dietitian Who Ate Nuts Every Day for a Month. Here’s What Really Happened.
As a dietitian, I tell women to eat more nuts. Then I put myself to the test—and discovered what science doesn’t always say about cravings and aging. What happens when a dietitian takes her own advice? I decided to find out by challenging myself to eat one serving of nuts every day for 30 days. […]
Flatulence Gets a Glow-Up: Welcome to the Fart Walk Era
What used to be shameful is now a wellness trend with benefits for your gut, blood sugar, and sanity. Booty bombs, toots, cheek squeaks, or heinie hiccups. Church it up all you want, but a fart is still a fart. Kids find them endlessly hilarious, men take them in stride, and women have been trying […]
Dying on Hold: Why Concierge Medicine Looks Like Survival Now
Concierge care may sound like luxury, but for women over 50, it’s starting to look like the only way to be heard. I wanted to throw my phone across the room. I’d been trying to schedule a visit with a new physician for weeks. Every doctor I called was either booked eight months out or […]
Red Hot and Righteously Angry
The Climate Lawsuit That Made the World Listen to “Old Women” Not made to roll in a rocking chair, retired Swiss Parliamentarian Pia Hollenstein took up battle against the government she used to work for instead. Knowing that more older women die from extreme heat than any other group due to unique vulnerabilities, Hollenstein wondered […]
Don’t Die of Modesty: Get Undressed. Get Checked.
Skin cancer doesn’t care if you’re embarrassed. One woman’s story of speaking up. After another round of icing my face with a bag of frozen peas, I popped some more Tylenol. It felt like I’d been hit with a baseball bat. The next day, peeling back the compression bandage, I assessed the damage. My nose […]
Weight Expectations: When Body Positivity Takes a Weekly Jab
After a lifetime of dieting, cleanses, and exercising, I finally felt at peace with my body—or so I thought. No longer the 98-pound college student, I’d freed myself from the tyranny of the scale. I embraced my booty and boobs in the “curves are in” era, even as my arms started to droop, and my […]
I Got an ADHD Diagnosis at Age 65 and Finally Some Answers
I got in trouble for coloring outside the lines. I talked too much, overshared, couldn’t sit still. My desk was a mess. My pencils were chewed. My pocket folders were spilling over. Nobody called it ADHD back then—especially not for girls. What they called it was careless. Lazy. Distracted. A disappointment. I’m in elementary school, […]
Stroke Hits Women Hardest—Here’s What You Can Do About It
Your Age, Race, or Family History Isn’t the End of the Story. Here’s How Women Are Taking Back Control. Sandy Newby tried to speak, but she couldn’t get the words out. One minute she was standing in front of her kitchen counter doing art with her kids, and the next, she was trapped inside her […]
10 Years Later: From Coma to Comeback
Today (April 18) is my 10-year anniversary. Not of my marriage nor of its demise after 37 years. Nor of my job—I ended that last October after 35 years at the same newspaper. I’d never thought of the day I almost died as the stuff of anniversary commemoration. But a week or two ago, the […]
Menopause Is Having a Moment–So Why Are We Still So Confused?
When I went on Instagram this morning, I was literally bombarded with posts about menopause: Take the right menopause supplements (Brain fog? Hair loss? Low libido? There’s a supplement for that!), eat enough protein (but don’t forget the fiber!), do weight-bearing exercise (to prevent bone loss, duh!), get enough sleep (but make sure it’s quality […]
