Building My Blue Zone

September 21, 2018
Recently I met Dan Buettner, the New York Times best-selling author and National Geographic writer of “The Blue Zones of Happiness.” I have since become fascinated with his discoveries for living a longer life. In case you aren’t aware, blue zones are regions of the world where people live much longer than average (usually to over 100). The term first appeared in the November 2015 National Geographic  magazine cover story "The Secrets of a Long Life," which Dan wrote.  He identified five geographic areas around the world where people live statistically longer: Okinawa (Japan); Continue Reading →

Stress can be good for you.

September 20, 2013

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about how resilient my 90-year-old mom is. After thinking about the way my mom handles stressful situations, I decided I wanted to be more like her and not let things stress me out. Soon after, I happened to listen to a TED talk by Dr. Kelly McGonigal entitled “How to make stress your friend.” The title definitely got my attention. Just in case you’re not familiar, TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, focusing on Technology, Entertainment, and Design. … Continue reading →

L.A. Kitchen

September 16, 2013

“Neither food nor people should ever go to waste.” That is the quote on a “nice to meet you” postcard I received from Robert Egger. I met Robert last week at a symposium held at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica. He was on a panel, entitled “Hungry and Obese: Food and America’s Well-Being,” with six other food pioneers, including my friend Nona Evans of the Whole Kids Foundation. Each panelist could have spoken for an hour about their passion for ending obesity and feeding the hungry, but it was … Continue reading →

What’s not to love about Pomegranates?

September 6, 2013

It’s Pomegranate season! Last week, I wrote about the new fruits to enjoy in the Jewish New Year, but I wanted to save the best, and most special, fruit for its own feature. I have a long, personal history with Pomegranates. When my parents moved into our home in 1958, they planted many fruit trees in our huge backyard, alternating between Pomegranates and Feijoas. As young girls, Jackie and I found interesting ways to use Pomegranates. Our Pomegranates would ripen in mid-October, so we would bag them for door-to-door selling … Continue reading →