Award-Winning Health Journalism

Picky Eating or Eating Disorder?

Child not eating her meal representing an eating disorder or being a picky eater. AFRID is one such disorder.

When selective eating  signals something more Fact checked by Derick Wilder For years, Julia Ramirez (not her real name), who lives in Chicago’s Hermosa neighborhood, suspected something was wrong with her daughter’s eating habits.  As a baby, her daughter struggled with food, eating only a few baby food flavors and refusing mixed varieties. The selectivity […]

Full Plate

Adult attempting to get child to eat their food

8 tips from dietitians to help make mealtimes easier, happier, and healthier Fact checked by Jim Lacy Feeding a child today can feel surprisingly complex. Between rising food costs, allergies (1 in 13 U.S. children has a food allergy), and time constraints, families are juggling a lot.  Megan McNamee, a registered dietitian and co-founder of […]

The Vital Vagus

Peter Warnke, MD, neurosurgeon and director of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery at UChicago Medicine. He treats patients with vagus nerve stimulation

The autonomous nervous system’s longest nerve runs from the brain into the gut, helping the body rest, relax, and digest Fact checked by Jim Lacy Have you heard of the vagus nerve? I certainly hadn’t — until my son, who has a host of food allergies and other health issues, experienced anaphylaxis this past spring. […]

Undoing Debt

Gloria Austin. Photo by Jim Vondruska

As residents stress over unpaid medical bills, Illinois pilot programs pledge to abolish $1 billion of medical debt Fact checked by Jim Lacy Gloria Austin knew she had a problem when a red rash, a line around her stomach, appeared, as pain ramped up. The East Garfield Park resident was 62 at the time. After […]