health and wellness

  • Mosquitoes—They Suck!

    Mosquitoes actually have some good points—they are a food source for many animals, they pollinate flowers, and they even have the capacity to learn. But mostly, as any of us who have been bitten can attest, THEY SUCK (at least, the females do). August 20 is World Mosquito Day, and we welcome you to come… Continue reading

  • Handwriting for Health

    ~posted by Rebecca K. In everyday life, during meetings or class, it may seem easier and faster to type notes on your laptop. But did you know that writing by hand may be more beneficial to your brain health? This is partly because writing, as opposed to typing, forces you to slow down in order… Continue reading

  • The most depressing thing I have read in 2014

    We all want our health care professionals to have the best and most reliable information out there when they are deciding how to treat us, right? And if we are making a big decision about our health, we want to be sure we have the true facts, yes? Therefore, when I read this article with… Continue reading

  • Interested in healing foods? Try our Ways to Wellness Program…

    Food can be your best medicine! This Sunday the Beacon Hill branch will host the talk Anti-Inflammatory Food for Health and Wellness, by family nutritionist Michelle Babb. She’ll discuss how chronic inflammation can be the root cause of many diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and diabetes. She’ll also teach you how to prepare low… Continue reading

  • How are you feeling about vitamins these days?

    There’s been quite the discussion recently about whether vitamins are good for us—pretty much every major news outlet covered the statements by a group of doctors who said perhaps we shouldn’t bother.   However, many of us WILL still bother (and even the study’s authors said that Vitamin D, which can be hard to get naturally… Continue reading

  • When Doctors Write

    Having recently read, and been moved by, works by Sherwin Nuland, Atul Gawande, and Abraham Verghese, I thought of a little stroll through the literature that has been written by doctors. An interesting and spiritual relationship, the work of healing and the creative work of the spirit—or so I thought. I soon discovered, though, that… Continue reading

  • Title Sparring

    I am obsessed with book titles and how some really strange, overlong and obscure misnomers slip through the editing process. I have a bone to pick with these titles I recently found in a few minutes searching for self-help and do-it-yourself books on the library catalog. Great books with ambiguous titles can really put me… Continue reading

  • Books that are One with the Bike

    I’ve been reading some interesting books about bikes and bike riding, racing and commuting. Here are a few books that have an interesting angle or two. Sometimes the angle is from the ground looking up. Come and Gone: A true Story of Blue-Collar Bike Racing in America by Joe Parkin This is Parkin’s follow up to… Continue reading

  • Medical Lectures + medical info: at your Library!

    The fifth Medical Lecture Series started last October and still has two more to go.  Plan to attend to learn more about medical research for two medical conditions of great interest to many. On Wednesday, March 2 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., Dr. Hojoong (Mike) Kim will talk about new treatments in the pipeline for Parkinson’s… Continue reading

  • Let’s start walking …….

    Has someone mentioned New Year’s resolutions to you? When listening to TV or radio stations in the past week, it has been hard not to hear someone chirp about or mention getting more exercise in this new year.  Where does one begin? I have heard before to start small and be realistic. I would look out of place… Continue reading

  • Ricki Lake: Birth Advocate

    In early 2008, I attended a screening of Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein’s documentary, The Business of Being Born. Ricki Lake was there to introduce the film, and you could tell that the film was a passion project for her. While this may not be common knowledge, Ricki Lake, actress and former talk show host,… Continue reading

  • Walkabout

    Taking a walk is such a mundane activity, but there is still something mysterious and wonderful about it, even if it only takes us around the neighborhood. One notices a relaxation of pace and shortening of perspective, perhaps — objects often seem farther away in a car or the bus, bracketed, as it were, by… Continue reading

  • Chinese Herbal Medicine

    If you walk into a Chinese herb shop usually there is a Chinese Herbalist available. They usually don’t charge you a fee if you purchase your herbs there for your illness. Herbs are very important in the Asian community.  Chinese people use herbs to strengthen and balance their body’s Qi. They believe Qi is a… Continue reading

  • Book Review: Real Food (and more)

     Now I know that my mom really meant well on our family’s liver dinner night after reading Nina Planck’s guide to why she eats lard, raw milk, and organ meats in Real Food: what to eat and why. An intelligent gathering of research on good eating, this book emphasizes traditional foods: whole foods, animal fats,… Continue reading

  • Celebrate Seattle’s Farmers Markets!

    Seattle has long been famous for the Pike Place Market, which will be 101 years old this August. The Seattle Public Library has some fantastic books to help the average shopper explore both the Pike Place and neighborhood farmers markets, such as The Farm to Table Cookbook: The Art of Eating Locally by Ivy Manning… Continue reading

  • Public Health

    There probably aren’t many people who could say they “like” diseases, but they are interesting subjects for researchers and writers.  Especially interesting are accounts of how society copes with illness, now and in the past – and in what ways particular diseases were perceived by the society struggling with them.  Here are a few investigations… Continue reading

  • Got Back Pain?

    Many people suffer from back pain. According to MedlinePlus, a free service offered by the National Library of Medicine, “Back pain is one of the most common medical problems, affecting eight out of 10 people at some point during their lives.” It is also the second leading reason that people visit their physicians. A lot of time and… Continue reading