Our These Days production assistant is a life-long vegetarian. Some people may not think that's very interesting, but having been born and raised in the Midwest, where a meal without meat was not considered a meal, I was fascinated that she has never had meat of any kind. No burger or bacon ever crossed her lips. No seafood or fowl ever entered her digestive tract. For her, this was a normal way of life - a vegetarian way of life.

Today, as part of our These Days series on food and nutrition, we talked about water and the body. I recently came across an article about the myth that we need to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day to be healthy. I was surprised because I, like most Americans, assumed this recommendation was based on sound medical science. But no, there was no scientific basis for the recommendation that's been around for more than 50 years.

Meat has always been a primary staple of the human diet. But the American lifestyle of abundance and excess has lately given us a strange, schizophrenic relationship with meat. Either we eat way too much of it or we fall back on our puritanical roots and reject it altogether. No doubt... most Americans eat too much.

Do you like cookies?  What about pizza?  If you are like most Americans, your answer to both of those questions is probably a resounding "yes." Well, me too.  I love cookies and pizza -- they are two of my favorite foods.  Unfortunately, I shouldn't eat cookies or pizza that often, or in large quantities, because that would be unhealthy.

Why are cookies and pizza unhealthy?  Because those foods contain a lot of sugar and fat (duh!).  What I'm going to tell you next may not be a surprise either: the United States has an obesity problem.  According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four Americans is obese and that doesn't include those who are considered overweight.

I like food. I always have and hopefully I always will. But recently, I've become more and more concerned with what's in the food we eat. From preservatives and pesticides to unhealthy fats and modified sugars. And I began to ask: "What's all this stuff doing to our bodies? And does it have to be this way?"

To answer these questions, the These Days team decided to devote a series of shows to the topic of the food we eat. We'll look at how our bodies work and what they need to be healthy, to why we crave certain foods. We'll discuss how to enjoy beef and seafood in an environmentally sustainable way, as well as explore the rising trend of vegetarianism.

We'd like to know what you think about food. What concerns do you have about the food you eat? Are you confused by all the information out there on nutrition and weight loss? Send us your questions or comments and we'll try to incorporate them into our coverage of "The Food We Eat."

- Natalie Walsh is the Senior Producer for These Days.

My husband and I have had some very heated arguments over money - how much we have, want, spend and save. These arguments can be so painful we prefer to not talk about money issues even though deep down, we know we should. And as it turns out, we're not alone. According to SmartMoney.com, money is the top reasons why couples argue. So when my husband came home one day from taking our daughter to a playdate and announced that our friends revealed that they, too, have serious arguments over money, I realized I had a perfect topic for These Days.

I decided we needed to do a show that looks at how money issues impact relationships and how couples could talk about and manage money in a constructive way. Both the psychologist and the financial planner I booked as guests for the show said that money issues cause emotions to run very high in relationships. And not knowing how to talk about it can be very destructive. It was no surprise then, to learn that money is a top reason cited for why people divorce.

Producing this segment was an eye-opener for me. I learned that there are probably some underlying reasons why my husband and I argue over money, like fear of losing control, or wanting to share more of the responsibility of managing our money. I also learned that there are simple things that could ease the tension over money. One was to talk about long term goals and then discuss ways to achieve those goals. Another was to create three accounts - one for shared expenses, and one for each spouse. The shared account covered all family expenses while the individual accounts were for individual spending (ie, mad money). From the high volume of calls we received during the program, it was obvious that many people shared my frustration with money matters.

The adage that you learn something new everyday is certainly true in my case. Now let's see how well I can put it into practice!

-- Natalie Walsh is senior producer for These Days.

Meet Vicki Estrada. She's a San Diego businesswoman and she used to be named Steve.

My interview with Vicki took place in December, and it was historic because Steve Estrada was a guest on These Days two and a half years ago when he announced that he intended to become a woman. Since then he has had sex change surgery and facial "feminization" work. He's even had voice lessons to make him sound more convincing as a woman.

Steve was definitely a person of high standing in San Diego. He was the president of Estrada Land Planning, a landscape architecture firm. He had been involved in politics for many years as an urban planner and civic visionary. If anyone had a lot to lose, from the stigma of a sex change, it was him.

Now, Vicki says she has not lost anything, aside from the burden of knowing she was living a male life that she didn't want to continue. Her firm's clients have continued to do business with her. She remains well-connected to City Hall. While her mother is still getting used to the idea of the sex change, her two kids and her father were supportive of her decision. In fact, her father actually accompanied her to the clinic that did the gender reassignment. (Her two children, by the way, still call her "Papa.")

I look at my relationship with Vicki as one that's also undergone some change. I can't say that Vicki has ever been a close friend of mine. But the fact that she told the world that she (then he) wanted to be a woman on my show makes me feel that I've played a role in the drama.

And who am I? I am a married, straight white male with two kids who tries to be honest and open minded. Yet, accepting transgender people -- in fact, accepting the very notion that you can discard the gender you were born with -- has been a challenge. It seems easier to understand same-sex attraction than the earnest feeling that one is living in the wrong body.

What I think I've learned from Vicki is that it is possible to make such a monumental change, yet remain who you are. Vicki says she is the only transgender person that most of her friends and family actually know. One reason for that is a lot of transgender people go underground. They have the surgery, leave town, and try to start a new life, passing as a member of the opposite sex.

Vicki said she could not leave her old life behind. There were too many people she would miss and too much to give up. As a result she's had to put up with some people being uncomfortable around her, not knowing what to say, and in some cases being downright mean. I guess if she can accept that, she's not asking much when she asks us to accept her new life as a woman.

A few weeks ago, I came across a well-written article about new anti-burglary tools in the San Diego Union-Tribune, and it got me thinking about how police use DNA evidence during non-violent, so-called “lesser felony” crime investigations. We’ve all seen our share of crime-related TV shows and movies in which a team of detectives carefully scrutinizes the crime scene of a celebrity double-homicide or a high-profile sexual assault. This isn’t much different. To be sure, this type of work is not going to be the premise of a CSI series; however, it’s a valuable way to catch criminals. As Mike Grubb, the crime lab manager for the SDPD, discussed on These Days, it’s unlikely that a burglar or a robber is a one-time offender. Statistics suggest he’s right. According to Patrick O’Donnell – supervisor of the SDPD crime lab’s DNA unit – investigators can match the suspect of one burglary case to that of another unsolved case about one of every three cases. Furthermore, some of these criminals graduate to more serious crimes, like the ones we see on CSI.

As one might expect, these investigators analyze clothing, saliva, hair, blood, and tools the criminals leave behind. Oh yeah, and urine. That’s right, burglars sometimes relieve themselves and neglect to flush. Collecting DNA via human waste is more complicated and labor-intensive, but it works. O’Donnell cites a case in which a copper thief urinated in a bottle and left it behind. The DNA crime lab unit analyzed it, tested the sample against the DNA database, and eventually made an arrest.

During the course of producing this segment, I wondered if we were giving criminals a crash course on what they should not leave behind while taking stuff that doesn’t belong to them. Of course, our mission at KPBS has never been the facilitation of criminal behavior. That being said, informing the public of an effective crime-fighting tool outweighs the knowledge gained by criminals. Plus, who knows – perhaps those criminals will think twice before breaking the law next time.

– Nick Stoffel is a producer for These Days and an associate producer for Editors Roundtable.  Please read our guidelines before posting comments.