As a vegan for the last five years (and veg for a decade), I’ve learned a bit about being healthy and strong on plants. For those who would like to learn about it, I’m offering this guide (as a non-expert fellow learner). I had a reader write to me about becoming vegetarian, and say that he went back to the gym and feels very weak. They didn’t like the feeling they got after eating meat, so wanted a change, but they’re worried about feeling weak. Some things to say about this: It’s not necessarily eating vegetarian that is causing you to feel weak — it could be a number of…

Do you find yourself gravitating toward partners who are dominating, controlling, or both? Early relationships are often based on projected material. We gravitate to people who let us do what we know how to do. The early patterns of interactions that we learned with our opposite-sex parent might lead us to the same patterns again, that which we know how to do: our comfort zone. And even though we would prefer different experiences, we gravitate to the familiar, thinking that we can handle that.   You might go along, to get along because you feel that you can handle it; after all, you have for most of your life. However,…

I’ve been through some shit you might’ve thought you’d never experience. I’m sure you’ve been through your own trials, too. I’ve held my five-month-old son in my arms while he seized uncontrollably multiple times per day. Doctors had no idea what was going on. I was diagnosed with cancer and fought that for many years before getting the full-recovery nod in 2015. I have been in toxic relationships and worked for toxic employers. I’ve had toxic friendships. And at no point did I ever think that any of this was on me. I was a victim and none of it was my fault. Society wants you to believe it’s not…

When teacher Marielle Slagel Keller was thinking about who she would choose as the flower girl and ring bearer at her wedding, the only kiddos who came to mind were her own students.   The bride teaches a kindergarten/first grade combination class. “Half of the students I have had in my class for two years and the other half I have again this year,” she explained. Marielle, who teaches a combined kindergarten and first grade class at IPS Butler Lab School in Indianapolis, Indiana, tied the knot with Mike Keller on June 24. Back in December, she invited her class to join her on the big day. “My sister does calligraphy, so…

The right to one’s opinions is more of a human need for stability. Only by acknowledging this need can we become stronger and more informed as a society. By Eugene Lim Editor’s Note: This post is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent any online publication. Imagine you heard or read this hypothetical passage: “Nobody knows more about politics than I do. A lot of people out there, they just talk. I know them; they don’t know anything. They don’t know me, which is a pity. The fact is, nobody knows more about anything than I do. Look at Hillary Clinton over there. Believe me, I know everything…

When was the last time that you woke up after a long sleep feeling irritated and fatigued? Last night??? It varies from person to person, but the most common reason is your mattress. If you are a sleep junkie; people who love to sleep and don’t like anything to interfere with the beautiful sleep you will never compromise the quality of your mattress. Some of the common problems with the mattress which disturb sleep are: Over Heating- There are a large variety of mattresses on the market. Without knowing the materials and how it affects mattress quality, we tend to purchase based on a salesman. Some materials retain body heat…

— Imagine you wake up one morning and your computer has switched from a PC to a Mac, and the keyboard is suddenly Dvorak. Now picture trying to play Counterstrike with that while your hands are cuffed together and your head’s in a bucket of Jell-O. Now, maybe you can see how change messes with Alzheimer’s patients. –Kevin Ducharme Have you ever walked into a room and forgotten why you were there? You probably have. Most of us have at one time or another. But what if, instead of this happening every once in a while, it a couple of times a day? Then, several times a day. Maybe it starts with…

We all need something to snap out of it and make sense of this mysterious, wonderful, and never-ending journey called life. By Vernon Foster II Leave a Comment Not too long ago, I was working in the nightlife industry. In an environment fueled by alcohol and drugs, I was steadily losing control of myself due to destructive behaviors. Deep down, I started to notice that something wasn’t feeling right. The Message One afternoon while sitting in front of my computer, an invite to a friend’s yoga class showed up in my inbox. I thought to myself “Why not”? I knew something had to change. I agreed and set aside my…

By Zadie Smith 464 pages; Penguin Books Zadie Smith’s very loose retelling of E.M. Forster’s Howards End centers on the fraying union between Kiki and Howard, an interracial couple whose marriage is gravely wounded due to Howard’s affair with a colleague at the university where he teaches. As well as being a complicated portrait of infidelity—Howard loves Kiki deeply, despite his failure as a husband—it’s also a book about beauty itself. In Kiki and Howard’s case, it’s about the loss of it and what it means to grow old together, to find (or not find) a deepening beauty in your partner’s journey through middle age, their gradual imprisonment in an…

In this day and age, many fall into the trap of defining their self-worth by 401(k) plans and followers on social media—and you could be one of them. But science just offered the perfect reminder that the most important things in life aren’t exactly material. A 75-year Harvard study analyzed the physical and mental health of two groups of participants, including 456 low-income men in Boston from 1939 to 2014 and 268 male graduates from Harvard’s classes from 1939 to 1944. The researchers spent decades evaluating blood samples, brain scans, self-reported surveys, and personal interactions to determine what made these men feel the most fulfilled. Their results couldn’t be clearer. “Good relationships keep us happier and…