She found that she could not achieve her goals of "looking for ways to help people lead better lives" as a biochemist and developed an interest in journalism after writing for her high school newspaper during her senior year.
[4] Unaccustomed to what she called "Midwestern reticence", she responded to the isolation and loneliness by eating, increasing her weight from 105 to as much as 140 pounds.
[2] She has become devoted to exercise, and in the 1980s her routine included singles tennis five days a week (less in winter), she would head out daily after rising at 5 a.m. and preparing breakfast for her family, for a 3½-mile run or ten-mile bike ride, followed by a half-mile swim in the evening.
[3][4] Before helping her type the manuscript for Jane Brody's Nutrition Book, her late husband Richard Engquist, a confirmed meat-and-potatoes eater, switched his focus from meat to potatoes and ended the year 26 pounds lighter.
[6] [7] Jane Brody's Guide to the Great Beyond: A Practical Primer for Preparing for the End of Life was released in early 2009.