I still have vivid memories of helping friends who experienced heartbreaking floods in our community several years ago. One especially exhausting day of trying to salvage what we could from water-soaked lives was interrupted with the precious sight of Red Cross volunteers driving through the neighborhood offering sandwiches and beverages. It was...Read more

It's the most common form of liver disease in United States and other developed countries. And it's not related to alcohol consumption. That's why it's called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or NAFLD.

Just as its name implies, NAFLD is an abnormal build-up of fat in the liver. If left untreated, the liver becomes more and more inflamed and ...Read more

My recent influx of guests left me with a refrigerator stuffed with leftovers. I'm not complaining; I actually don't mind eating the same thing over and over and over.

But when I realized the gargantuan bag of fresh spinach my sister-in-law brought from a discount warehouse was going to become yuck before I could make one more spinach salad or ...Read more

My American Heritage Dictionary of the English language defines "eclipse" as "a partial or complete obscuring ... of one celestial body by another." Eclipse also means "to surpass or outshine," as in "the total solar eclipse on August 21 eclipsed all my expectations."

Of course the visitors and guests we welcomed to the Nebraska Sandhills made ...Read more

Good doctor, good medicine and good nutrition. Good thing my horse, Cal, had all three after suffering a nasty gash to his leg a few weeks ago.

"He's lucky," two family veterinarians assured me after cleaning and doctor ring his wound. "No tendons were cut. But you'll need to apply medicine to the wound twice a day until it heals."

I was ...Read more

I try not to take it personally when my grandkids don't like what I cook. Vegetables? Let's just say -- thanks to concerted efforts on the part of mom, grandma's and their excellent preschool staff -- these little ones are expanding their nutritional horizons.

Games sometimes work.

Frances: "I don't like that, Grammy."

Me: "Oh good, because ...Read more

This question came to the Facebook page of our local hospital: "I heard awhile back that a plain ol' waist measurement was a more useful health indicator than BMI (Body Mass Index). Did they change their mind about that again?"

I'm not sure who "they" are who changed their minds. But this is a valid question about the methods used to evaluate ...Read more

My friend Terry told me how -- while holding her nose because it tastes so bad -- she takes a spoonful of vinegar mixed in water every morning.

"Is there really anything to this?" she asked me. "I mean health-wise."

Here's what I found out, Terry:

Vinegar has been around for thousands of years, according to a 2006 review article on this topic...Read more

In these glorious tomato growing months from June to September, the best tasting tomatoes are those grown close to home. Some of the best tomatoes to grace my taste buds were "volunteers" that popped up in a pile of dirt behind my house a few years back. They were apparently the hardy relatives of a garden that was no more.

Before the 19th ...Read more

We were 10,000 feet above sea level at the recent Keystone, Colorado diabetes conference sponsored by the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes ... a true Rocky Mountain high. And to avoid the dreaded effects of altitude sickness, we were warned to stay away from caffeine, marijuana (it's legal on this state, you know) and alcohol.

Later in the ...Read more

A reader took offense to several of my statements in a recent column on ketogenic diets. Here are some excerpts, as space allows, followed by my responses:

"Greetings, Barbara, You write: 'Very low carbohydrate "ketogenic" diets severely limit the intake of sugars and starches (carbs) which are mostly found in plant-based foods such as fruit, ...Read more

In response to a recent article on watermelon, a reader from Jefferson City, Missouri writes, "Interesting you did not mention how many grams of sugar is in 1 cup watermelon per diabetic requirements and also how quickly it spikes blood sugars in diabetics? So many recipes state fat and calories but few tell us sugar grams."

-- Donald

Dear ...Read more