Nobody gains 20 pounds all at once. Extra weight creeps up on us over time. Especially around this time, said Lisa Randall, a dietitian and diabetes educator at the INHS Community Wellness Center.

Comforting, sweet and cheap, “white food” has its appeals. But the frosted cinnamon rolls and chocolate-chip scones packed by the clamshell into cardboard boxes in a food bank warehouse last week wouldn’t do anyone’s health much good.

The future is here, and it’s sweaty and integrative. The treadmills at Eastern Washington University’s fitness center are outfitted with touch-screen modules that lets gym users track their workouts – duration, calories burned – using software that connects to an app they can download on their smartphones.

Jere Smith’s palette was a slab of glass, 18 inches by 24, every fraction of every inch covered in paint. To photographer Dean Davis, the Seattle artist’s palette looked like a piece of modern art. Tim Lord gave Davis a mud holder made for drywall installers. Sheila Evans gave him her pastels. Ric Gendron gave him a blue lunchroom tray smeared with neon colors.

If she wins, she gets to work. Chelsea Thronson, a 16-year-old ballerina who lives in Spokane and trains in Coeur d’Alene, learned this month she was among eight young women in the U.S. selected to compete in the Prix de Lausanne. The international ballet competition, held in Switzerland starting Feb. 1, allows selected 15- to 18-year-olds to perform before a jury of renowned dancers.

An organization that sends doctors, dentists and nurses to remote parts of the world is setting up an office in the Inland Northwest and seeking volunteers to treat “the poorest of the poor.” Based in Georgia since 1990, Flying Doctors of America runs eight to 10 medical missions a year, managing logistics for teams of medical providers who treat people with little or no access to medical care in Latin America, Asia, Africa and elsewhere.

Maybe you can eat an apple, but you can’t remember how to cook beans on a stove. You can answer the phone, but you can’t remember how to dial 911. The needs of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia are subtle at first: It’s often years before the disease robs patients of their ability to speak coherently, eat, get dressed and use the bathroom.

Roughly one in 10 elders report mistreatment or neglect, according to federal statistics. But some who suffer emotional, physical or sexual abuse or neglect don’t tell anyone, fearful of retaliation – or reluctant to report someone they care about or depend on.