Healthy Aging

Previous Columns

• Learn, then teach - 11/10/2009

  Lately I've been trying to read anything I can about home remedies — especially those that help ailments common to those of us over age 60.

• Questions are the answer - 11/3/2009

  It is my absolutely favorite holiday.

• The long and short of health - 10/27/2009

  At the risk of being thought totally deranged, I'm going to suggest if you want to be healthier, you will need to get taller.

• Move it to keep it moving - 10/20/2009

  Let's consider how physically active we are — you and me — very honestly.

• Some food beckons, some hums - 10/13/2009

  I hold the belief that certain foods "beckon" while other foods "hum." This is important information if you (or people you love) are planning to eat more healthfully.

• Use more salt, but eat less of it - 10/6/2009

  Are you ready for a column devoted entirely to salt? I could write endlessly on this topic — there are so many possibilities.

• A flash of insight - 9/29/2009

  I am having an epiphany. Ever have one? They're usually described as moments of "unanticipated awareness." You see something in a whole new light.

• Weeping for Rose - 9/22/2009

  People display grief differently. When I am extremely sad about something, I weep.

• The third chapter of life - 9/15/2009

  "When I stopped pursuing things so doggedly, they just came to me." That phrase has stayed in my thinking. It is a quote from an aging actress with little success in cinema as a young woman.

• Gift of courage - 9/8/2009

  It is one of the delights of my life when someone encounters a topic they think will interest me — and sends me a quote or reference.

• Kitchen cures - 9/1/2009

  Many years ago, in a visit to my parent's home, I saw a covered glass jar sitting on the kitchen counter. It contained a colorless liquid with golden raisins nesting at the bottom.

• Take charge of aging - 8/25/2009

  When I begin to talk about the process of aging — here is what usually happens. People roll their eyes and look down, or sometimes they just sigh and smile at me indulgently.

• Getting a handle on your drugs - 8/18/2009

  I have been spending time with a young pharmacist over the last week. She and I are looking at the new research surrounding medications taken by the aging adult.

• Put down those sugary drinks - 8/11/2009

  It happens to me several times each day. I see a round-bodied person sucking on a jumbo-sized soft drink. Occasionally, the container is so large the individual needs two hands to steady it.

• Extension offers paths to health - 8/4/2009

  I'm unapologetically using my column this week to offer a "Did you know?" promotion of Oregon State University Extension Service.

• How to not act so old - 7/28/2009

  For me, it's dangerous when the checkout line at the grocery store is several people deep and I'm back a ways.

• How can I help you? Be nice - 7/21/2009

  Call me, would you? My number is 555-621-2037. Except, it's not. And if it was, you couldn't call me anyway because my cell phone is not working; it's "defective."

• 'This shouldn't happen' - 7/14/2009

  I write this after reading an op-ed piece in The New York Times that made me angry. I am generally a mellow person — it takes a lot. This is a big deal.

• The backward tale of Doralee - 7/7/2009

  I'm about to tell you a story "» backward.

• Managing pain — there are answers - 6/30/2009

  Are you familiar with the concept "illness as metaphor?" As illustration, if your neck hurts, you might ask yourself, "Is there someone in my life right now who's a real pain in the neck?"