Published in In Fitness And In Health·PinnedMember-onlyHow I Stay Fit Even with Fast Food and AlcoholThat’s me in the picture. You don’t have to be perfect. — If the thought of eating a french fry makes you want to gag at the impurity of it all, this article isn’t for you. I’ve been trolled for saying it’s okay to eat candy, you can lose weight eating carbs, and six-pack abs aren’t all that healthy. I’m far from…Health6 min read
Published in In Fitness And In Health·PinnedMember-onlyIf You Want a Body Like Mine, Don’t Do What I DoUnconventional advice fitness pros won’t tell you — Bryan Krahn first tells this story in an article titled, “Survivorship Bias in Fitness,” When planes began returning to base riddled with bullet holes during WWII, the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) knew it had a problem. How could they shore up the planes to better protect the crew? The…Life7 min read
Published in In Fitness And In Health·PinnedMember-onlyYou Didn’t Gain 3 Pounds Overnight; Weight Fluctuations ExplainedWhat you should know when the scale makes you say WTF — It’s that time of year when millions of us renew our focus on health and lifestyle changes we want to make for the coming year. Whether you choose to go on a diet, start exercising, exercise more, or some combination of new habits, the start of a new year is…Health6 min read
Published in In Fitness And In Health·PinnedMember-onlyTeach Your Body to Burn More FatHint: intermittent fasting helps, and you don’t need to give up carbs — You may have heard the term metabolic flexibility recently. The concept isn’t new, but the idea has gained more traction on popular websites, as being metabolically flexible is becoming a key marker of health. Metabolic flexibility’s formal definition is the ability of an organism to respond or adapt according to…Health7 min read
Published in In Fitness And In Health·PinnedMember-only7 Reasons to Go For a Morning Walk#6 something called optic flow — By this point in our evolutionary history, we all know walking is good for us. Yet, many of us still leave this fundamental component of health up to whatever we manage to squeak in while walking around the house, to and from work (if that’s even happening), or while running…Fitness6 min read
Published in for/by·Jul 13Member-onlyThe tale of a neurodivergent kid and the dance teacher who didn’t give upIn a few days, we’ll load our suitcases into the trunk of our car and head to Seaside, Oregon, for a national dance competition. My daughter is one of a dozen girls from her studio opting to spend a week of her summer attending master classes taught by famous (to…Neurodiversity4 min read
Published in for/by·Jun 3Member-onlyMy daughter with dyslexia felt “invisible.” I intended to change that.Not long before COVID-19 forced us into social isolation, I watched my daughter leave school mopey-eyed and dragging her backpack. As she sat in the back seat of my car, she crossed her arms and sighed heavily. She’d clearly had a bad day. Typically tight-lipped about anything that happened at…Neurodiversity4 min read
Published in for/by·May 24Member-onlyMy gut told me my daughter had dyslexia. I wish I had listened.“Honey, you’re not trying,” I’d say through gritted teeth as we practiced my daughter’s kindergarten sight words. I’d hold up the index card, and she’d look at a simple word like “cat” and turn away. As my voice got louder, her eyes filled with tears, and we’d give up for…Learning Disability4 min read
Published in for/by·May 10Member-onlyOn the surface: ADHD. Deeper down: Something else.Every once in a while, the universe sends you a present. Last December, it sent me two. Parents.com hired me to write an article explaining central auditory processing disorder (CAPD or APD) and how it’s diagnosed and treated. An estimated 5 percent of school-age children, or 2.5 million children, have…Capd5 min read
Published in for/by·Apr 5Member-onlyMy daughter’s struggle with ADHD meds helped me let go of “normal”A slow smile spread across my face when I heard the kind-looking therapist’s words: “Your daughter has ADHD, predominantly inattentive.” A feeling of relief spread like a lightning bolt through my body. Two months earlier, we’d sat in another therapist’s office. Except then, I’d held back tears as she explained…Adhd4 min read
