It is easy to be frustrated by your weight, and even easier to be frustrated by weight loss attempts — most are unsuccessful. Losing a few pounds is one of the most challenging things for a person to do because weight loss goes against your nature. In order to lose weight, a person must be in calorie deprivation — eating fewer calories each day, week or month than are used by the body. Voluntary weight loss requires a degree of self-starvation. Your survival instinct, which serves you well in many ways, makes weight loss very hard.Healthy weight loss is slow and steady. To lose one or two pounds a week requires a calorie deprivation of 600 to 1,200 calories each day. Burning 600 calories is a lot of work. For a 150-pound person to burn 600 calories, he or she would have to jog for 75 minutes, hike for 90 minutes or bicycle leisurely for more than two hours. Obviously, it would require a lot of time and exercise to depend on exercise alone for weight loss. Many people don’t have enough free time to exercise that much, anyway, and those who do have a larger appetite that can easily undermine weight loss goals.Believe it or not, avoiding 600 calories is much easier. Five tablespoons (a little more than 1/4 cup) of oil; five ounces (six slices) of cheese; three ounces of mayonnaise; a small fast-food hamburger with medium french fries; or one cup of rich ice cream all have about 600 calories. If you consistently replace these calorie-dense foods with healthier choices, you will be well on your way to losing weight.Healthy options include fruit like apples, pears, bananas or frozen berries; vegetables like carrots, broccoli, tomatoes or cucumbers; and lean meats like fat-free skinless chicken or turkey breast, or 96 percent lean ground round.Medical research indicates it is easier for most Americans to achieve healthy weight loss through dietary changes than through exercise alone. It takes planning, forethought, determination and time, but with diligent and consistent dietary change, weight loss is possible.So, this is what I consider to be the first and most important step in weight loss: eating healthy foods with low calorie density. Replacing high calorie density foods that have lots of refined sugars, simple carbohydrates, or fats with low calorie density foods like vegetables, fruits, berries and lean sources of protein is key for making sure you get the most out of your weight loss efforts. Without this first step, most people end up spinning their wheels.However, for many of us, weight loss is not that simple and it requires a multi-faceted approach. Exercise may be the second most important factor in weight loss. I prefer to recommend sustained moderate cardiovascular exercise like walking or hiking for 45 to 90 minutes on most days of the week. This approach increases the calories burned in a day without causing a dramatic drop in blood sugar which can stimulate your appetite. Our bodies are made for this type of activity and it is sustainable for most people, and you’re less likely to be just too sore to exercise the next day or hurt yourself and have to take a week or two off.Sleep is important, too. Our bodies produce more hormones that increase hunger when we are sleep deprived. You know you are getting enough sleep for your body when you are able to wake up without an alarm. Unfortunately, our culture does not make this easy. Just do the best that you can.I acknowledge that hunger, food and weight are very emotional matters for most people. Even the thought of changing the diet can be emotionally distressing. I have a couple of small hints that can be helpful here. First, it is important to enjoy food. Finding low calorie density meals, snacks and beverages that please the palate and satiate the appetite is important. It may take some time, trial and error, and ingenuity, but with persistence you will find foods you truly enjoy eating and weight loss won’t be tortuous. Second, it helps to become friends with hunger — not best friends, but good friends. Hunger is a sign from your body telling you that you are eating fewer calories than you have burned. You are losing weight. Your hunger lets you know you are on the right track, but if you let yourself get too hungry you may feel ravenous, and, in that moment, it may be difficult to stick with your diet plan.Good luck. With a good plan and self-compassion for mistakes you make along the way you are likely to get great results. Richard Malik is a naturopathic doctor with a practice in Lakeville offering comprehensive health care for the entire family.
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One systemic consequence of slavery is the loss and obscuring of the histories of those who were enslaved. Records were often not kept about where Africans had been stolen from or who they were related to. Families were torn apart, leaving nothing but the faintest traces of the past. The delineation point, where genealogists can no longer trace histories back, is refered to this as the “document wall.”
Today, 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and more than 160 years since the Emancipation Proclamation, there is a growing effort to restore some of the history stripped from enslaved people and their descendants. Among the leaders of these efforts is Mills, president of the Alex Breanne Corporation, a nonprofit organization that works to identify previously anonymous Black Americans from history and connect them with their living relatives.
The work began with Mills’ sister, who started digging into their family’s past in the 1990’s and introduced him to this emerging world of genealogy. Through that process, the Mills family discovered their great-great-grandfather, Ned Mills, who had been enslaved in Texas. His last name came from his final enslaver and remains the family surname. Through their research, they found that the document wall directly affected their ancestor, who learned of his liberation on June 19, 1865, now commemorated as Juneteenth.
“For the first time,” Mills writes on his website, “American slavery wasn’t something that had happened to anonymous people in a history book. It had happened to my family.”
The discovery gave Mills a familial pride he had been missing for years. That pride fueled his desire to help others find their own history. In 2023, Mills received his certificate in genealogical research from Boston University. He has used his expertise to help descendants of enslaved people uncover histories they never dreamed of learning.
To do this, he uses a process called “reverse genealogy,” identifying a person from the past and working forward to discover their descendants. Along the way, Mills has found some remarkable people who fought for freedom on American soil, some of whom were never freed.
Pay Bill for Robin Starr’s service in the Continental Army.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
At the Cornwall Historical Society event, Mills will present the stories of four Connecticut families: Job Lathrop of Norwich, the son of Pirmus Armes, about whom Mills has published a book; Prince Mortimer of Middletown, also the subject of a book by Mills;, the three sons of London Wallace of Simsbury; and Robert “Robin” Starr of Danbury, who later lived in Cornwall and Sharon.
A few years ago, Cornwall Consolidated School social studies teacher Will Vincent reached out to Mills for research guidance on a local history project his students were undertaking. Together, they learned about Naomi Freeman of Cornwall. After purchasing an acre of land on Great Hollow Road in 1828, Naomi Freeman became the first Black female landowner in Cornwall.
The students petitioned the town to rename a road after the historic Cornwall resident In April 2025, Great Hollow Road was officially renamed Naomi Freeman Historic Road. U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes joined Mills and the Cornwall Consildated School students for a presentation of their research.
Since then, Mills has guided the students in their quest to learn more about Starr’s story. Starr was a Revolutionary War soldier who joined the Continental Army to earn enough money to buy his own freedom, receiving the Badge of Merit in the process. The stories of his descendents’ services are equally worthy of their own books.
In recognition of Mills and the students’ work, First Selectman Gordon Ridgway proclaimed Feb. 8 as Robin Starr Day.
Preregistration is required for the event at the Cornwall Historical Society. To learn more about Mills’ work, visit
alexbreanne.org.
John Mills speaking at Quinnipiac University.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
Stephanie Saetta runs Charlie Chicken Bones, a sanctuary in Salisbury.
Dogs have been at the center of Saetta’s life since childhood. She remembers going to the library to research different breeds and trying to convince her parents the family needed a dog. She had her heart set on an Irish Wolfhound, but she was more than happy when her mom brought home a West Highland terrier.
After college, she adopted Charlie as a puppy from a rescue on Long Island. He was a hound-shepherd-Rottweiler mix who suffered from intense seizures. Some veterinarians recommended euthanasia, but Saetta wasn’t ready to give up on him.
When Charlie would have an episode, she would sit with him, nose to nose, talking him through it. She learned to look for the moment he began to come around — when he could smell her again and his tail started to wag.
“You only get one or two of these soul connection dogs, so I do this in his honor,” Saetta said. “I like to think that all the dogs that come through are going to have that person that they connect with just the same.”
Through a network of women working to rescue animals in Texas, she learned about the desperate situations facing many dogs.
With limited space, some public pounds euthanize even healthy animals to make room. Limited access to veterinary care leaves sick dogs or unvaccinated puppies especially vulnerable.
Saetta saw that reality firsthand with a puppy named Gus, a Labrador mix she fostered who has since been adopted. Gus and his sisters had been dumped beside a road, where they were living under an abandoned car. People would leave food for them, but no one would take them to the pound.
“Even the people who rescue animals down there were like, ‘sadly, the best place for them to be is on the side of the road,’” she said. “That’s safer. Someone might actually help them that way.”
Saetta knows that there are far more dogs than any one person can save, but she also knows that helping one dog means one fewer on the street.
Stephanie Saetta,with her rescue dog George and Blue (left), a shepherd mix awaiting his forever home.Madi Long
Charlie Chicken Bone Sanctuary operates entirely through foster homes, a model that Saetta believes is best for the dogs and the humans hoping to adopt them.
Rather than moving directly from a difficult environment into a permanent home, the dogs have a chance to settle into a quieter setting. They can learn what it’s like to live with a family, sleep somewhere comfortable and receive affection without fighting for attention. Fostering also allows the rescue to really get to know each dog.
“As fosters, we’re honest,” said Saetta. We’ll tell you everything that’s been bad, everything that’s been good. What their temperament is and how they’ve responded to all the things they’ve experienced.”
A successful adoption is not just about finding a dog a home; it’s about finding the right home where the dog and family can thrive together.
Saetta is looking for more people willing to open their homes to foster dogs. She understands that the thought of growing attached and eventually saying goodbye can feel daunting. But she sees that goodbye a little differently.
Fostering means being part of a dog’s journey, even if only for a short time. It gives dogs a safe place to rest, the chance to trust again and the love they have gone without for much of their lives. And when the time comes for them to leave, it is not really a loss. It is the reward of knowing they are moving on to a forever home.
Blue, Saetta’s current foster, is hoping to find his perfect home.
Blue, a 7 year-old Shepard mix, is waiting for his forever home. Madi Long
Now around 7 years old, Blue spent most of his life wandering the streets of Texas. People sometimes left food out for him, but his mangy, dirty coat kept them from stopping to pet him. Today, he has a chance to experience something different.
Blue is still waiting for his forever home. Saetta believes he would do best as the only dog in a household or alongside another senior dog. He will need someone willing to continue working with him on his training and understand that a dog with his history needs patience.
But what he gives in return is a whole lot of love.
“He’s so enthusiastic, he’s so excited for life, he’s so friendly, and he’s got such a good heart, and he loves to cuddle,” Saetta said. “He’s a good, good, good dog.”
For more information on adopting Blue or how to foster, visit ccbsanctuary.org.
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