Kelly Davio

I stopped hosting the holiday at my house, and instead of inviting a barrage of people over for face-stuffing, I turned Thanksgiving into a quiet day at home—just me and my partner—and yes, plenty of pie and mashed potatoes.

The holidays aren’t easy on anybody, but if you’re among the millions of US women who live with one or more chronic illnesses, you may find the social obligations this time of year more draining and dismal than merry and bright.

If you’re like me (which is to say stark white), you may find yourself looking to warm up your retina-searing paleness before hitting the beach. It’s a public service, really. Think of the children!

Unfortunately, public restroom soap is a bacterial nightmare. It’s so filthy, in fact, that a recent study found that a quarter of all public soap pumps are so contaminated with fecal bacteria that washing with their contents leaves your hands more germy than if you didn’t wash at all.

If you’ve gone shopping for underwear recently, odds are you’ve noticed a new trend toward higher waistlines, lower leg cuts, and a great deal more fabric on the rear view. It seems that skimpy is out, and Grandma’s Fruit of the Loom value pack is in.

In my late 20s, a neuromuscular disease affected my ability to swallow normally, and I couldn’t eat enough to maintain a healthy weight. Every bite posed a choking hazard, and despite the fact that I would spend hours laboring to swallow meals, I continued to lose body mass. I was poorly nourished, and I looked it.

We’re here to help you sort through the fact, fiction, and marketing jargon behind your summer sunblock.

The bad news is that, no matter what you do, you’re unlikely to get any personal space at the gym — even when there are plenty of machines available, it is a law of the universe that some man will choose to work out no fewer than six inches from you.

If fashion bloggers are to be believed, the moment a woman turns 30, she undergoes a horrifying physical transformation that leaves her incapable of wearing most of what’s in her closet. So imagine my surprise when the clock struck midnight on my 29th year and I did not, in fact, sprout a pair of horns.

Steroids are powerhouses when it comes to combating a range of medical issues, but the physical changes can be extreme. Steroids change your face.