My cat, Felix, is lying at the foot of the bed. I wiggle my toes. Felix puts his teeth around them, and I can feel the little points of his incisors. He lets me know he could bite – but he does not. That’s because both Felix and I have learned a lot.
DEAR HARRIETTE: I am struggling to get my health on track. My doctor has warned me that I am prediabetic. I have seen other people my age who have diabetes and some of the side effects that come with it when treatment and diet are not taken seriously, but for some reason, that doesn’t seem to be enough for me to change my own ways. I don’t really eat many sweets, but I think my affinity for pizza, pasta, bagels and other carb-heavy foods are the real culprits. Since I got this health update, I’ve tried to make some changes, but I fall right back into my old habits and cravings. I am often thinking about what I will eat next. Do I have a food addiction? I am afraid that I can’t get a handle on my own eating habits even for my own good. – Health on the Line DEAR HEALTH ON THE LINE:
Colin Jost said, “it’s nice to start Update with some good news for once: There’s peace in the Middle East,” on “Saturday Night Live.” “The only downside is, there’s war in Chicago.”
This week saw the debut of a new alliance in the ongoing resistance to President Donald Trump. New York Attorney General Letitia James, already a hero on the left for the 2022 lawsuit she filed in an attempt to cripple Trump’s business empire, joined up with New York City Democratic Socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in a rally that was nominally about Mamdani’s campaign, but also about James’ defense against mortgage fraud charges brought against her by the Trump Justice Department. And in a larger sense, it was about the face of the Resistance in the second Trump administration.
Dear Doctors: I’ve been an endurance athlete my whole adult life. After having COVID-19, I’ve gone from running marathons at an 8-minute mile pace to needing walking breaks whenever I run. Are there studies about long COVID and endurance? How do I find one I can join?
DEAR HARRIETTE: For many years, I worked in corporate America with a strict 9 to 5, Monday through Friday schedule. Recently, I made the switch – as the economy demanded – to working freelance. I now work in media and do a lot of event-based work. It is way more fast-paced, and my schedule is completely different every single day. I quite enjoy the change, but my boyfriend, not so much. We’ve lived together for the past three years, so he’s used to the old version of me. He expressed that he feels neglected and that he believes I put my work before him.
John McLaughlin is not sugarcoating the problem. A longtime Republican pollster who has worked closely with President Trump, McLaughlin writes on the conservative website Townhall that the current government shutdown is “a potential political catastrophe for the GOP.”
My sister said, “I had a very strange dream, and you were in it. You want to hear?”
DEAR HARRIETTE: My 30th birthday just passed, and it was awful. I hate to sound ungrateful, but what should feel like a major milestone felt completely overlooked. Honestly, I’ve had a rough year, so I was OK with having a quiet birthday this year – just some reminiscing, goal setting and maybe some quality time with friends. Someone asked me if they could plan a surprise for me. While the thought was sweet, I expressed that I didn’t want anyone spending money on me, but they insisted on doing something. They asked what I would want, and all I asked was that it be low-budget and that my parents be present. I found out that everyone who attended had to pay, despite it being in my friend’s home, my parents were not invited and the host had a program full of her favorite activities for the gathering. It didn’t feel like this party was for me at all.
One of the main themes of the second Trump administration has been the explosive collision between the president’s determination to enforce federal immigration law and many Democratic leaders’ determination not to enforce federal immigration law.