By Marni Battista, MAEd, CPC
There is the sound a door makes when it closes. To the ear it can be heard simply as one sound, a final beat of the drum, but what I hear in my mind is not so much that singular noise. When really listening, I hear the door closing in slow mo. If that is even a thing, hearing, in slow mo.
I can feel it too, of course, that final closure. I have known it was coming, after all. I may have heard it before it, possibly anticipating the weightiness, the sweeping dramatic finality, labeled and categorized as a phase of life: The Empty Nest. The motion of the door swinging shut leaves me with what feels like the breeze of the Maui wind coming in off the ocean on my salty skin just before sunset when the air has an imprint of heat on it. I hear, too, the series of staccato beats as it hits the frame, the metallic click, the sound it makes just before the air is pushed out as the door seals. An era over. Sealed. Shut. (more…)
By Nathalie Kunin
As an internal medicine physician, I treat adults, but on occasion a parent will drag in their adolescent or young adult child so that I can talk to them about weight loss. As a parent, I can understand the fear and worry that comes with noticeable weight gain. We worry about their health, but if we are honest, we are often worried about the social consequences they may experience from excess weight. More often than not, weight gain in a child will invariably bring up our own emotions and biases as well as any difficult relationships we may have with food or our own bodies. As a mother and a physician, I know we want to help our children but the truth is that trying to motivate them, much less dragging them into my office, will not only not help but it may even backfire. 
By KatieHarker
By Chen Zang
If we have learned anything from 2020, it is that prevention matters! Prevention for coronavirus means wearing a mask, washing our hands and maintaining physical distance. But what about long term strategies to maintain good health? Long after this pandemic is over (and yes it will be over!) we can still make small changes that have a big impact on our health and wellbeing. As an internist and a physician nutrition specialist, I see every day how small changes in our diet and nutrition has a big impact on our health and wellbeing. I define diet broadly to include not only nutrition but also movement, nature, sleep and play. All of these factors play an important role in your health.
By Cyndi Buckley
By Carly Mentlik, Children’s Development Expert