Welcome to Second Acts, a series of interviews with interesting people who discovered new pathways midway through their lives. Udo Erasmus, Ph.D., known as the Father of Flax Oil, is responsible for our modern understanding of the importance of essential fatty acids in the human diet. His discoveries came as a result of becoming sick from working with pesticides. It’s a testament…
In keeping with our focus on food this month, here are some movies that may—or may not—make you hungry. Let us know about your favorite food films in the comments below.
In the late spring of 2001, back in the days of innocence, before the complete rupture of innocence, really, I flew down to visit a friend of mine who was renting a house in Charleston, South Carolina. It was my first time in the real South. The weather was perfect and I felt carefree. My friend had tickets to several…
Last week I told you about my personal challenge to pause at the beginning of one meal each day in a moment of meditation or gratitude before eating. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I haven’t been very successful so far in achieving that goal. I thought it would be easy, but I’m having difficulty remembering to do it!…
Part of the reason I am troubled by conspiracy theories is because they are so reductive. They take a complex, explosive, and almost always tragic event (otherwise, no one would be paying any attention to it) and cram it into a template that “proves” it was a premeditated crime, coldly committed by members of a group that has a secret…
One summer when I was a teenager, my mother was nervous about a cousin’s impending visit. Pam had become a vegetarian and my mother had no idea how to cook for her. How would she get any protein? My mother was deeply worried. My father, who loved hamburgers and steak, was much calmer. “Tolstoy and Gandhi were vegetarians, and Thoreau…
When people learn that I have cancer, they usually stammer, sputter, turn pale, and back away. When people learn that I am a vegan? They get mad. The other day I had a phone conversation with a woman who organizes an annual spa day for women with cancer. She told me that a speaker a few years ago said that…
When I arrive at my job, several people run to the door to hug me. During each day, at least one person falls out of her chair, someone bursts into tears, and several people fail to complete their assignments. My co-workers drop food on the carpet, flip upside down into headstands, and make fart jokes. Half of them interrupt me…
For a long time, neuroscientists have regarded video games as a form of brain candy. Played in excess, they were thought to erode short-term memory and attention span, and lead to other kinds of mental decay. And it’s been well documented that multitaskers—particularly older multitaskers—perform worse on cognitive tasks than those who live by the old Zen adage of “eat…
