Blog Posts by Intent.com

November is Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month. Last year I wrote a piece on being a caregiver for someone you love with Alzheimer's for a national magazine. Here's an excerpt of that article with six pieces of advice to help caregivers cope:

Plan sooner. "These days, people are being diagnosed earlier and earlier in the disease," says Peter S. Reed., Ph.D., senior director of programs for the Alzheimer's Association. "People in the early stages still retain a lot of abilities and have the capacity to participate in discussions about legal and financial issues and articulate their preferences to the caregiver." Disease-modifying drugs may also keep an Alzheimer's patient in the early stages longer - but that's no reason to put off difficult conversations about finances and end-of-life issues, or avoid putting in place the necessary paperwork. "First of all, I would have people execute a durable health care power of attorney that says who you would want to make health-care

"Moral hazard" is a phrase more of us know in this era of reckless trading on Wall Street, and now we can apply it to politics. Traders who use other people's money aren't exposed to the risk of losing their own money; therefore, they act less responsibly than someone who is fully exposed to the consequences of a risky decision -- that's the moral hazard. In politics, irresponsible behavior happens when there is little or no consequence to be felt, the only difference being that you play with someone else's life, not merely their money.

The latest example is over gay marriage. The rest of the country is watching to see if a ballot measure in California, Proposition 8, will ban gay marriage in that state. Since June California has legalized same-sex marriage, joining Massachusetts and Connecticut. The court decision that paved the way for this change outraged the usual groups. Social conservatives and various religious groups, including a massive influx of money from the Mormon Church

I was shocked this past week when a colleague informed me of the latest diet craze hailing from Japan called the "Morning Banana Diet". I am often asked to comment on diets and fitness trends such as this and am thrilled to review this one.

Ninetyminutes spent researching this diet produced much less than I was expecting, and already glaring contradictions abound.

There are several different sources sited as the author of this "diet". Also, there are several different approaches to this "eat what you want all day" diet. While I will try very hard to be objective in my assessment of this diet, I must say I'm skeptical.

OK, I'm downright, fully in shock that any relatively intelligent person could even believe for a moment that this diet could work. Nonetheless, I will try to provide some level-headed insight.

First and foremost, it is important to understand that there is NO miracle pill, diet or program for weight loss. If there was, the pharmaceutical industry would have snatched

I recently returned from Chicago where I attended the Obama/Biden National Women's Leadership Initiative and National Issues Conference

It's hard to know how to begin to tell you this story. I just spent the most extraordinary two days in Chicago with 1,500 women who are longtime leaders in the Democratic party and major fundraisers and policy makers -- talk about powerful energy! OPRAH opened the conference with a passionate, from-the-heart talk about how when women KNOW THINGS then they DO THINGS -- and we know that we have to midwife this election info a new kind of life. She said Barack is THE ONE not "that one" as McCain has said, but THE ONE. (I couldn't agree more. She's the one we need to lead us into the future)

On Saturday we heard about The Route Back to Economic Security & Strengthening the Middle Class with Robert E. Rubin, Former Secretary of the Treasury, and Laura Tyson, Former National Economic Adviser to the President: someone in the audience asked Laura

A few months ago, my two daughters were ring bearers in two of our closest friends wedding ceremony. My girls dressed up in their Indian clothes, thrilled to have the honor of being such VIPs. As our friends recited their vows, my girls peeked at me and my husband, winking, thumbs up, and very serious about protecting the rings. For my daughters - 4 and 6 1/2 years old - it was not a big deal that both of our friends were the same sex.

A few weeks after the wedding, I received the email below (Equality for Us and Our Family) from my newly married friend. Their marriage is in jeopardy due to a vote this coming November. Prop 8 in California will determine whether or not the State Constitution should be amended to eliminate the right of same sex couples to marry.

I believe marriage rights are a legal and equal protection/equal rights issue and not a political issue.... however, this issue will be decided at the polls this November in California. More than 25 state

I remember only too well the day my wife found out she had breast cancer. And I remember only too well what an idiot I was when she told me.

Let me give you a little background. On the last week in August of 2001, my wife, Marsha, had a mammogram that showed a suspicious finding. She'd had many a suspicious reading before, and it was always a false alarm. So when she went to the radiologist for a callback, she wasn't nervous. Neither was I.

At 11 a.m., Marsha called me at work. Her voice sounded strained. I knew something was wrong. A very blunt radiologist took a second mammogram and said, "Sure looks like cancer to me."

My response deserves a spot in the hall of bad husbandly remarks: "Ew, that doesn't sound good."

Instead of rushing home to her side, I stayed at work all day. Really, it was much easier on me. And much harder on Marsha, who was left wondering, "Did I call the wrong husband?"

I wish I knew then what I know now. Let me give you a few tips,

[Ed. note -- Welcome Fran Drescher, cancer survivor and woman of great strength, many insights and that voice. She's here on behalf of Intent.com to tell us all what her treatment and recovery taught her about being a smart patient.]

Is there really a right way and a wrong way to go to the doctor? Of course there is! When we patients or, as I prefer to call us, "medical consumers go to the doctor we must be fully prepared. Sure, you don't feel well, and naturally you're scared, but just as the soldier on the front line of a battlefield cannot indulge those feelings, neither can you. You will only get so much time once you enter the examining room, so you must make every second count.

Let me walk you through the process based on my own experience:

• Stay one step ahead of your doctors office: Get the name of the person you're speaking with and request that any forms that may need to be filled out be faxed to you in advance so that you won't have to deal with that in the outer

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States . While I have met many survivors and women going through treatment, I actually had my first intimate experience with the prospect of breast cancer only a week ago.

My daughter's nanny, who is an integral part of our family, was called by her doctor after a mammogram and told that she needed to have an immediate follow-up due to a suspicious lump. The 48 hours between the call and the results of the check-up were two days filled with angst, swinging emotions, uncertainty, and questioning for her and for those of us who love her. We thank God that the results were not a diagnosis of the disease.

There are so many questions that we, as individuals and especially as women, have about breast cancer: How can we prevent the disease? How do we support those we know who have gotten this dreaded diagnosis? For those who have breast cancer, how can we better manage the medical process, our health, our happiness, and our