Most kids love Halloween.  Can you blame them?  It’s a holiday loaded with creepy crawly things, costumes, parties, and of course, candy.  I recall the trick-or-treating loot my brother and I brought home in our childhood.  We always had enough candy to last for months.  We didn’t usually keep all of the candy, but one...

There is a billboard I drive by every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on my way to teach English Comp. that says, “What Have Your Done For Your Marriage Today?” As I drive by I think, oh, yeah, I’ve got to remember to take time to talk to Dale (my husband) when he gets home from work. Or when the kids are finally in bed, instead of...

Everyone living with diabetes knows that the ups and downs and complications of this illness can make a mess of you physically.  But the emotional side of diabetes can be just as draining as high or low blood sugar.  And perhaps the most draining of all is when you’re trying your hardest to take care of yourself, doing everything...

I don’t have diabetes, but I do have a long and storied history of overeating during the holidays, so much so that I know exactly where the Tums are in every home of practically every single member of my entire extended family.  Just as a diabetic watches food intake, I, too,  must force myself to be aware of what goes into my...

Wherever you turn this October, candy beckons. Americans will spend an estimated $2 billion on candy during the Halloween season this year, and here’s a fun fact from the California Milk Processors Board: “an average Jack-O-Lantern bucket carries about 250 pieces of candy amounting about 9,000 calories and about three...

I am in Rome, it’s Easter, and chocolate eggs abound in shop windows. Chocolate Easter eggs are monumental here – gloriously crafted and adorned with marzipan and tiny sugar flower petals.  These are celebrations of life, gifts to be exchanged and admired. The eggs are wrapped in beautiful shimmery paper and given to all children....

Our family jokes about how our dinner conversation is always in regard to what is on the menu for the next meal.  We like to eat.  We like to eat almost anything, although we also consider ourselves gastronomical snobs.  None of us ever stops in at a fast food joint, even in a dire emergency.  Food is just too respected among us to...

Last year while pregnant with my third child, I felt unusually tired. I reasoned that taking care of my two sons and growing a third was more than my body could handle. But then I noticed something else—my exhaustion peaked just after meal times. If I ate pizza, pasta, or a bagel, not only did I feel drowsy, but I felt like I had weights...

Regular versus sugar-free candy — who will win? Full disclosure:  I’m not diabetic.  But my step-sister is — and in point of fact, she learned that she was diabetic after over-gorging on Halloween candy at age ten.  This did not stop her from occasionally over-gorging on Halloween candy in later years, with occasional predictably...