5:38 p.m. | Updated Tara Siegel Bernard has just posted another interesting article on aging parents and their finances: “Stepping In When a Parent Can No Longer Cope.”

The Times published on Friday a special section devoted to the financial struggles of the “sandwich generation” — middle-aged adults who must support both children and aging parents. Three articles are likely to be of particular interest to New Old Age readers.

In “What’s a Pooled Trust? A Way to Avoid the Nursing Home,” Tara Siegel Bernard writes:

There is a little-known way for some people in certain states to receive home care through Medicaid, without requiring them to impoverish themselves first. Here’s how it works: a federal law established in 1993 allows disabled people to put their monthly income or assets — above the amounts Medicaid allows them to keep — into a special type of pooled trust. They can then use the money in the trust to pay for their basic monthly bills like rent, a mortgage payment or cable television. Medicaid, meanwhile, pays for the home care.

In “Ignore Long-Term Care Planning at Your Peril,” Your Money columnist Ron Lieber wades into the controversy over long-term care insurance:

You would think that there would be far more than seven million policyholders, given that costs for long-term care could easily reach seven (yes, seven) figures per individual 20 or 30 years from now.

As you dig deeper, however, you discover at least nine things standing in the way of consumers purchasing coverage, all of which are outlined below. They’re all complicated, with some reflecting outright ignorance and odd rationalizations rooted in emotion. But there is also a great deal of justified skepticism about the long-term care insurance industry.

Ms. Bernard tackles another kind of insurance in “Income Security in Your 80s, Bought in Your 60s” — longevity insurance.

At its core, longevity insurance is simply a deferred annuity: you hand over a pile of cash to an insurance company, usually around the time you retire. But the guaranteed payments begin much later, usually around 80 or 85, and last for the rest of your life. As with homeowner’s policies and other types of insurance, the idea is to give up a smaller amount of money now, for a potentially larger payout later.

Read more of the special section, “The Sandwich Generation,” and share your thoughts in the comments section.

That is where the anthrax is kept.

Senator Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana, and a delegation of Pentagon officials visited the laboratories on Wednesday for the first stop on a three-country tour of East Africa to assess the next generation of American security concerns.

The team also visited the Uganda Virus Research Institute, where the Ebola and Marburg viruses are taken to study and kept in a spare room in a regular refrigerator near the bottom of the compound. Warning signs say “restricted access,” but the doctors there say that hardly means the area is secure.

The laboratories here in Entebbe, a warm and sleepy city on the shores of Lake Victoria, are part of what the delegation called the front lines of the struggle to counter terrorist threats around the world.

“We need to tighten the security of vulnerable public health laboratories in East Africa,” said Andrew C. Weber, assistant to the secretary of defense for nuclear and chemical and biological defense programs. “Preventing terrorist acquisition of dangerous pathogens, the seed material for biological weapons, is a security imperative.”

The rise of the Shabab, the powerful Islamist insurgent group that claimed responsibility for deadly suicide bombings in Uganda as crowds gathered to watch the final match of the World Cup, has refocused attention on East Africa as a frontier in American security interests.

In 2004, Congress expanded the mandate of the Nunn-Lugar program, which originally focused on dismantling warheads in former Soviet states, to include geographic regions like this one. Now, Mr. Lugar’s trip will take the delegation to Uganda, Burundi and then Kenya.

Uganda, a longtime military ally of the United States, may be the most vivid illustration of the concerns. Warm, wet and on the equator, Uganda is a biological petri dish. Anthrax has killed hundreds of hippopotamuses in recent years. In 2008, a Dutch tourist died from Marburg disease after visiting a cave in a national park. In 2007, an Ebola outbreak killed more than 20 people.

This is the stuff of “The Hot Zone” and “Outbreak” books that have dramatized the dangers of viral outbreaks. But the underlying threat, American officials contend, is that lax security at the poorly financed labs that collect and study these diseases pose a bioterrorism risk.

Ugandan officials also say the country’s push to create new federal districts, part of what the government calls an effort to decentralize the country, has spread the bureaucracy so thin that disease samples can take weeks to make it to a laboratory, or never arrive at all.

“It makes it difficult to report new cases,” said Dr. Nicholas Kauta, a commissioner at the Ministry of Agriculture. “We don’t know what is around us.”

The laboratories at the Ministry of Agriculture, built in the 1920s, have broken windows, and a chain-link fence surrounding the compound is ripped. According to the commissioner, there used to be over 200 technical staff members, but now there are only six. In the anthrax laboratory, one doctor showed how to use a cellphone camera placed on top of a microscope to study the bacteria, a demonstration of the lack of proper equipment.

“These are cries for assistance that the U. S. is eager to provide,” Mr. Lugar said.

At the Uganda Virus Research Institute, there are state-of-the-art facilities run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an American agency, but not at all of it. The deadliest agents, including Ebola, are still kept downstairs in a room intended to handle lesser infectious diseases like influenza.

“This is the end-state,” said Lt. Col. Jay Hall, from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, pointing out the disease control agency laboratories upstairs. “This is where we want to get all other labs.”

Stephen Scott Gross Pumpkin Dumplings With RadicchioStephen Scott GrossSilvana NardoneDelicious no-meat recipes for your holiday table.

When Silvana Nardone’s son Isaiah was diagnosed with gluten intolerance three weeks before Thanksgiving, the Brooklyn mom knew she faced a particularly challenging holiday meal. But as the owner of a bakery and founding editor of the food magazine Every Day With Rachel Ray, Ms. Nardone was up to the challenge.

“Cornbread was the first thing Isaiah wanted me to make,” says Ms. Nardone. “I tested it and failed. But once I finally got it, that was my platform for many other dishes.”

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley, so it can be challenge to cook without it. Ms. Nardone’s adventures in gluten-free cooking are documented in her new cookbook, “Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes for Easy Delicious Meals.”

For Well’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving series, Ms. Nardone offers three gluten-free vegetarian dishes that celebrate the season: pumpkin dumplings with radicchio, apple-pecan corn bread stuffing (made with her “double corn” cornbread,) and pumpkin muffins with crumble topping.

With a husband who is a vegetarian and a son who requires gluten-free food, Ms. Nardone has learned that cooking challenges can boost creativity in the kitchen.

“It forced me to be a better cook,” says Ms. Nardone, who blogs about gluten-free cooking at DishTowelDiaries.com. “It opens up a whole new way of cooking that you didn’t even know existed.”

See Ms. Nardone’s recipes below, and go to “Well’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving” to see all the dishes in the series that have been published so far.

Silvana Nardone’s
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Dumplings With Radicchio

Something to keep in mind when you make this recipe — it’s a lot easier than you think. The dumplings are super light and pillowy, but if you prefer a firmer texture, add more gluten-free flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to the pasta dough.

1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup store-bought gluten-free flour blend
Salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 small head radicchio, sliced into 1/4-inch strips (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, eggs, flour and 1 teaspoon salt to make the dough.

2. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and red pepper flakes and cook until softened, about five minutes; remove from the heat and set aside.

3. When the water comes to a boil, use a teaspoon to scoop up the dough and form a dumpling, then carefully slide the dumpling off the spoon and into the boiling water. Continue forming dumplings until half the dough is used. Cook until the dumplings float, then simmer for about two minutes; remove with a slotted spoon and add to the saucepan with the onion. Repeat with the remaining dumpling dough.

4. Return the saucepan with the onion to medium-high heat. Toss in three-quarters of the radicchio and stir gently until just wilted, about two minutes; season with 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste. To serve, divide the dumplings and sauce among four bowls and top with the remaining radicchio and parsley.

Yield: Serves 4.

Stephen Scott GrossApple-Pecan Cornbread Stuffing

Silvana Nardone’s
Gluten-Free Apple-Pecan Cornbread Stuffing

Instead of toasting the cornbread, you can spread out the pieces on a baking sheet and let them sit on your counter top overnight, uncovered, to dry out.

Double Corn Cornbread:
1 cup rice milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup cornmeal, preferably medium grind
1 cup store-bought gluten-free flour blend
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup corn kernels (from about 1 ear of corn)

Stuffing:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
Salt
Pepper
4 cups Double Corn Cornbread (see recipe below), toasted and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
2 teaspoons dried herb blend, such as McCormick Italian Seasoning
1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. Prepare the cornbread. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 4 1/2-inch by 8 1/2-inch loaf pan. In a small bowl, stir together the milk and vinegar. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in the milk mixture, eggs and oil until just blended; fold in the corn kernels. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

2. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack.

3. Prepare the stuffing. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease an 8-inch square pan with olive oil. In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until softened, about five minutes; season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, or to taste.

4. In a large bowl, toss together the onion mixture, cornbread, apple and herb blend. Transfer to the prepared pan. Scatter the pecans on top and cover with foil; bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil; bake until crispy and golden, about 20 minutes more.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8.

Stephen Scott GrossIsaiah’s Pumpkin Muffins With Crumble Topping

Silvana Nardone’s
Isaiah’s Pumpkin Muffins With Crumble Topping

If you make these muffins around the holidays, stir a handful of dried cranberries or 1/4 cup chopped walnuts into the batter. You can also make pumpkin muffin tops with this recipe — just use a muffin-top pan and bake for about 10 minutes.

Topping:
1/4 cup store-bought gluten-free flour blend
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
4 tablespoons all-vegetable shortening
Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling

Muffins:
1 3/4 cups store-bought gluten-free flour blend
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

2. Prepare the crumble topping. Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar and pumpkin pie spice in a medium bowl. Add the shortening and, using your fingers or a fork, blend together until coarse crumbs form.

3. To make the muffins: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a large bowl.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, oil and vanilla until smooth. Add to the flour mixture; stir until just combined.

5. Fill each muffin cup almost full; top each with crumble topping. Bake until the muffins are springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in the pan, set on a wire rack. Using a sieve, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

Yield: 12 muffins.

Mike AnthonyDelicious no-meat recipes for your holiday table.

When executive chef Michael Anthony from New York City’s Gramercy Tavern added a series of vegetable tasting dishes to the celebrated restaurant’s menu, he wasn’t trying to attract vegetarian diners.

“It’s not a way to pull a niche market into the restaurant, nor is it designed to be an escape from regular food,’’ Mr. Anthony explained. “It’s meant to be a celebration of vegetables, and a great snapshot of what’s available in the farmers’ market and what’s growing in family farms around our area.’’

As a result, Mr. Anthony says he was eager to “show off” vegetables as part of the Well Vegetarian Thanksgiving series.

“There is this notion of reconsidering the role that proteins play in the conception of the dish,’’ he says. “It makes for good eating to reconsider and create dishes that let vegetables play a major role.’’

The seasonal menu offered by Mr Anthony includes buckwheat and black kale, a soup made with celery root and chestnuts and a salad of sunchokes and apples.

“The nature of these dishes is that you let them steal the show,” he said. “You don’t eat it and think, ‘Boy, this would be good with duck.’ You just say, ‘This is so delicious.’ ”

Read all of Chef Anthony’s recipes below, and click to explore all the dishes in Well’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving series.

Michael Nagle for The New York Times

Michael Anthony’s
Buckwheat and Black Kale With Brussels Sprouts

Chef Anthony has long been fascinated with the aromatics and flavor of buckwheat, and the marriage of buckwheat and kale is delicious, he says. “This for me is American food,” he says. “It would have a home on my grandmother’s table in Indiana.” You can find buckwheat at the Union Square market, online at Burkitt Mills or at Whole Foods or Indian food specialty stores.

3 medium onions, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups buckwheat
Salt
Pepper
6 cups water
1 bunch black kale, blanched and finely chopped
2 parsnips, diced and blanched
1 tablespoon whipped cream
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 small red onion, sliced and sautéed
12 large shiitake mushrooms, quartered and sautéed
12 brussels sprouts, quartered or split into leaves (roasted in 375 degree oven until just tender).

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, sweat the onions and garlic by cooking them in 1 tablespoon oil until they release some of their moisture and become slightly translucent, about 5 minutes. (“Sweating” vegetables means slowly softening them over gentle heat to draw out the flavor without browning them.)

2. Add buckwheat, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with water and bring to a simmer for approximately 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let buckwheat rest in water for approximately 10 minutes. Strain excess water.

3. Once the buckwheat has been drained, immediately add kale and parsnips. Add whipped cream and parsley, and stir gently. Garnish by topping with shiitake mushrooms, onions and roasted brussels sprouts.

Yield: Serves 8.

Michael Nagle for The New York Times

Michael Anthony’s
Celery Root and Chestnut Soup With Brussels Sprouts

As you dig into this soup, with its white, soft and silky base, each bite has a whole new texture, Mr. Anthony explains. “This really complex soup is beautiful and delicious,” he says, “and a great example of what’s falling from the trees and coming out of the garden.”

For the soup:
1 medium onion, diced small
1 stalk celery, diced small
1 medium leek, white and light green parts only, diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon olive oil, plus more for sweating the vegetables
1 large bulb celery root, peeled and diced (about 2 1/2 cups)
4 cups milk
Salt
Pepper
Juice from 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons, or to taste)

For the chestnut puree:
5 shallots, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 sprig thyme
12 chestnuts, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 ounce Calvados
Salt
Pepper
2 cups water

To garnish the soup (per serving):
1 tablespoon celery root, diced and blanched
1 teaspoon carrots, diced and blanched
3 turnip pieces, quartered and blanched (about three tablespoons)
2 chestnuts, roasted and diced
2 brussels sprouts, steamed and cut into dice or split into leaves

1. Prepare the soup. Sweat the onions, celery, leeks and garlic in a small amount of olive oil until soft without browning, for about 5 minutes. Add celery root and sweat for 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Add milk and then add water to cover, and simmer for 45 to 50 minutes.

3. Puree the milk mixture in a blender with 1 teaspoon olive oil and lemon juice. Strain through a fine mesh strainer.

4. Prepare the chestnut puree. Saute shallots, garlic, thyme and chestnuts over medium heat for 1 minute. Deglaze the pan by adding the Calvados. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add water and simmer until tender. Puree the mixture in a blender, adding water to adjust consistency.

5. To plate (per serving): Pour 5 ounces (5/8 cup) of celery root soup and 1/4 cup of chestnut puree into each bowl. Garnish each bowl with diced celery root, carrots, turnips, roasted chestnuts and brussels sprouts.

Yield: Serves 8.

Michael Nagle for The New York Times

Michael Anthony’s
Sunchoke and Apple Salad

In the fall, sunchokes are crunchy and watery, like a water chestnut, or like a pear that’s not sweet, says Mr. Anthony. “They are a wonderful way to bring texture and crunch to a salad,” he says.

12 sunchokes
Olive oil to coat the sunchokes
4 apples, sliced
2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds
Mixed greens: radicchio, bok choy, mizuna, celery leaves
1/2 cup celery, minced
1 tablespoon shallot, minced

Apple cider vinaigrette:
1 cup apple cider
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

1. Prepare the sunchokes. Wash sunchokes with the skin on. Slice 2 sunchokes, raw, into thin strips using a mandoline; set aside. Roast the remaining sunchokes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place them in a pan with olive oil, and roast for about 40 minutes.

2. Toss the hot sunchokes with the remaining salad ingredients.

3. Prepare the cider vinaigrette by combining all the vinaigrette ingredients; dress the salad and season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with raw sunchoke slices.

Yield: Serves 8.

Martin Mistretta/Getty Images

Could sports drinks be improved with the addition of protein? That question has long gripped physiologists and nutritionists. It’s well established that the carbohydrates (sugars) that sweeten most sports drinks aid performance. They provide immediate fuel for straining muscles, keep blood-sugar levels stable and allow you to work out for a longer period of time or at a higher intensity, or both, than if you don’t swallow any extra fuel. But why wouldn’t taking in protein, together with carbohydrates, during a workout or race make you even more speedy and durable? Protein, after all, is what muscles fundamentally are made of, so it seems reasonable to imagine that adding it to sports drinks could provide some additional benefit.

But to date most studies have not shown that to be true. Some earlier experiments that did find athletic-performance benefits from protein-enhanced sports drinks used protein beverages that contained more calories than the carbohydrate-only versions and, as some critics pointed out, the extra calories rather than the protein, per se, probably provided the benefit. More typically, most studies came to the same conclusion as one published earlier this year in the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. For that study, cyclists consumed a carbohydrate sports drink or one enriched with whey protein while they warmed up with two hours of steady-state cycling and then completed a strenuous one-hour time trial. The researchers found no benefit from the protein drink. The cyclists downing it didn’t produce more power while pedaling or cover more miles during the time trial, nor did they harbor fewer markers of muscle damage the next day. The protein didn’t hurt their performance, but it didn’t help in any measurable fashion, either.

The researchers themselves weren’t surprised, said Dr. Asker Jeukendrup, a professor in the school of sport and exercise sciences at the University of Birmingham in England and senior author of the study. “No one has a clue why protein would work,” he said. “Protein is a poor fuel.”

But a few scientists (and athletes and sports-drinks-makers) can’t shake the notion that protein can and should do something during exercise, and a new, narrowly defined study published last month in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research may give them some ammunition. For this study, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin recruited 15 competitive cyclists and had them complete two grueling exercise sessions in a lab. During each session, the cyclists rode for three hours, with the pedaling varying, on a set schedule, from languid to draining. At the end of the three hours, the pedaling resistance was upped considerably, and the volunteers were told to ride until they barely could turn the pedals.

Throughout the sessions, the riders swallowed either a typical sports drink or one that had been supplemented with whey protein. Importantly, this protein-enriched drink was low-calorie, with half as much of the carbohydrate sweetening as the sports drink. “Not everyone needs or wants all of those calories from sports drinks,” pointed out Dr. John Ivy, a professor of kinesiology and health education at the University of Texas and senior author of the study. “I personally think we take in far too many calories that way.”

But can you still get benefits from a low-calorie drink? In Dr. Ivy’s experiment, a certain subset of the riders did. Those who pedaled during the final few, exhausting minutes of the experiment at a pace just below their ventilatory threshold (the point at which the muscles simply cannot get enough oxygen) and who swallowed the low-calorie protein drink rode a precious few moments longer than riders at the same intensity who drank only carbohydrates. The riders, however, who strained through the final ride to exhaustion above their ventilatory threshold got no clear benefit from protein.

What does this finding mean for those of us trying to decide on a sports drink? Frankly, no one knows. “We don’t know” why or how protein would operate on muscles during exercise, Dr. Ivy said, or why it might provide benefits when calories are cut or why it was effective only for riders who pedaled at certain intensities. “Protein is composed of amino acids, and they have many different effects on metabolism,” he said.

Other scientists remain skeptical. “I just don’t see a viable mechanism” for protein to work as a fuel during exercise under almost any conditions, said Dr. Martin Gibala, chairman of the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. His lab has studied protein ingestion during exercise extensively and found no discernible performance benefits. “It’s possible that if you reduce calories substantially,” so you’re taking in “suboptimal” levels of carbohydrates, maybe, somehow “the protein is converted” to fuel, he said. But that’s a very artificial situation. “You don’t do endurance exercise that way,” he said. Someone who can ride a bike vigorously for three hours or more is probably not someone who needs to worry unduly about weight loss. “The science just isn’t there for an acute effect” of protein in sports drinks, he said.

Which means that, for now, you can probably skip adding protein powder to your Gatorade. (The flavor would be ghastly anyway.) “I have a hard time” believing “that protein would have any effect,” Dr. Jeukendrup concluded. The topic may continue to draw attention from scientists and athletes hoping for a simple, liquid means of getting themselves to the finish line faster, but he said, “I am convinced that protein in carbohydrate drinks during exercise will soon be out of fashion.”

Over the years in my quest to lose weight, friends, family members and, most recently, readers of this blog, have been generous with their advice. They tell me, often with a passion that borders on the fanatical, that the key to weight loss is (fill in the blank).

The feedback goes something like this:

You can’t be healthy until you lose weight. You need to accept your body as it is.

All calories are the same. No calorie is the same

Stop eating carbs. Stop eating fat. Eat anything you want, in moderation.

Forget the vegetarian thing; you need to eat meat. Forget the vegetarian thing; you need to be vegan.

Keep track of your weight. Never get on a scale again.

I’ve learned that weight loss may be tied to things I’d never considered: fatty livers, leptin deficiencies, sleep patterns, breathing. I’ve been told to fast, juice cleanse, attend Overeaters Anonymous, track my progress on Twitter, listen to weight-loss podcasts, grow my own food, spend more time at the beach. One friend took the fear route and told me that if I don’t lose weight now, I’ll be in diapers by the time I’m 60.

I want to seriously consider every morsel of weight-loss advice, from crackpot plans to holistic approaches, in order to make up my own mind about what will work for me and my body. But the more advice I get, the more convinced I am that there’s only one person to whom I really need to listen: myself.

If there is anything good that can come from the struggle to lose weight, it’s the fact that you learn a lot about yourself in the process.

I know that for me, exercise remains my biggest challenge. I’m not exercising at all now, other than walking to work, and I know that needs to change. I just need to find the regimen that appeals to me, and that I really believe I can stick to long-term. Am I lazy? I don’t think so, but I’m willing to reconsider. I do know that telling me to “just do it,” as one marathon-running, skinny-since-birth friend of mine recently opined, won’t make it happen. I’m still trying to figure out what will.

I also know that I have a love-hate relationship with food. At several points in my life — birthdays, New Year’s Eve, random Mondays — I’ve said, “This is the day I’m going to start eating healthy and exercise more,” only to return, tail between legs, to bad habits a month later. Perhaps I get bored easily, or let my emotions drive my diet and exercise habits. Whatever the reason, I still need to learn more about the emotions that accompany my eating.

Finally, I know that for me, being a vegetarian is more important than losing weight; I won’t consider an eating plan that includes meat no matter how much weight it might help me to lose. For me it’s an ethical choice — about killing animals, mostly — that is far too integral to who I am as a person to suddenly change. My light-bulb moment happened at age 16, the day a loud-mouthed classmate gasped and pointed at the blood-filled vein sticking out of a chicken leg I was about to gnaw on. I stopped eating animals over the course of the next few months, and lost about 10 pounds as a result. My meat-loving mother once joked: “I’m fine with you being gay. But when is this whole vegetarian phase going to be over?” It’s not.

I recently returned from a two-week vacation in Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris. At times, my only vegetarian options were butter-bursting croissants and heavy cheeses. But I lost five pounds.

Maybe it was all the walking, or the small portions. The trip spurred me to start seeing a nutritionist, who can help me integrate what I learned about how Europeans eat, and what it means to be an urban vegetarian with a weight-loss goal. And I’m hoping that by talking — and writing — about eating, I can keep on listening to myself and start making smarter choices.

I was having lunch with another nurse outside the hospital when I spotted a former patient of mine.

I jumped up to hug him, and marveled that he had hair. Jeff is an English professor and we have mutual friends who teach at a nearby university. I had the good fortune of first meeting Jeff at a dinner party long before he became a patient in my hospital. The next time I had seen him was in the hospital. He had been diagnosed with lymphoma and was undergoing treatment.

Jeff Swensen for The New York Times Theresa Brown, R.N.

“Hey, Theresa,” he called out, walking in the hall, holding his I.V. pole, bald, dressed in a hospital gown. “It’s Jeff.”

I could not place him, and he reminded me how we had met. I realized that the unease I felt was because I try to keep my work life separate from my “real” life. Even more, I like to believe that keeping these worlds separate helps keep cancer from affecting anyone I know.

Jeff stayed for just 19 days. While I was only his nurse for a brief time during his stay, I was often stationed near his room. We would talk, not about cancer or his transplant, but about a literature class he was preparing and some writing he’d done for a magazine. For me it was refreshing, a dip back into the life of the mind I had left behind at the university. For him I imagined it was a way to feel like a person rather than only a patient.

And then several months later, there he was, having lunch in the same restaurant where I was dining with my friend.

It happens sometimes — I see a patient out and about in the real world following treatment in the hospital. Every time they appear to me like a mythical being, someone newly human just formed out of clay.

Seeing Jeff emerge from the short flight of stairs as he arrived at the restaurant also brought to mind the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. In that well-known tale, Orpheus was a musician, deeply in love with Eurydice, who died after being bitten by a snake. Heartbroken, Orpheus used his music to charm his way into the underworld and convince Hades to bring Eurydice back to life. Orpheus was warned not to look back at Eurydice until they both climbed up the steps from the Underworld, but Orpheus could not resist a glance back. Having broken the rules, he watched helplessly as she dissolved and disappeared.

I’ve always thought this was one of the crueler stories in Greek mythology. Surely the gods could have some sympathy for Orpheus’s sense of disbelief that his lost love had come back to life.

That was the feeling I had when I saw Jeff, fully solid, with hair on his head, eating out in a restaurant, looking like a professor instead of a patient. As he and I talked, I kept touching his elbow, wanting to assure myself that he was real.

I told him he looked great, which really meant that he didn’t look like a patient any more.

A couple weeks later I saw him again, in the public library. This time I didn’t need to keep touching his elbow; two sightings had convinced me he wouldn’t dissolve. We talked some about his health, but most of our conversation focused on books, his writing and teaching.

Jeff has given me permission to tell his story, if only as a reminder to patients that things do get better. He still has some lung issues caused by his immune system being over-reactive. A relapse of his disease is a bigger worry. But he’s teaching, writing, reading and running again for exercise when his lungs don’t slow him down. He loves Prince, so his daughter bought them tickets to a concert at Madison Square Garden this December. The option to attend a concert is just one more sign that his life is returning to normal — no longer immune-suppressed and fragile, it’s safe for him to be part of such a large crowd.

There’s no denying that cancer is still on his mind, but having successfully made his trip up the stairs, the rest of his life is, too.