On my first day of medical school, the professor walked in and she said, "Despite my best efforts, I know that by the end of your four years here, 75% of what I will tell you will be wrong."

Sobering and terrifying for me on a daily basis.

Once again, I have found a great article written in the New York Times to help me with my thoughts.

Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy?

Science and medicine are all to often looked at as "sterile" and absolute.  I would like to challenge this assumption.  Is Science really all that different from Religion?  Religions seek God and choose to do so through belief and faith, avoiding the need for rationality.  But what about science?  Is science really doing more than just looking for God (or The Answer, if you will.)  Instead of blind faith, scientist do this through rigid rationality, but they still MUST have faith.  Faith that the universe follows certain rules.  Faith that "The Answer" is worth finding.  Faith that knowledge will lead them to "salvation" when in actuality it is only going to lead them to more questions (not to different from religion, but that is another topic:)

But what does that mean for medicine?
well, it's back to medicine being an art.  Just like traditional art often reflects and commentates on religion, medicine reflects and commentates on science.
We take an immense amount of information and reflect our best guess as to the right answer.  But given the sheer complexity and almost infinite variables in our biology and our lives it's a miracle that we get anything correct.  Alas, modern medicine (for all it's faults) has been successful.  Average life span and quality of life have all risen over the last 50yrs, despite rapid declination of "healthy" lifestyles in America.
Do we know what makes someone healthy?  Well.... no.  but, we have a good guess and I'm confident our jobs as physicians are to make people comfortable and to help them enjoy their lives.  A job that we can do if people have a good relationship with their doctor and faith.
Faith of good intentions and the will to live and be healthy.  This is what makes us healthy.  (I hope.... :)

Ok.... so we have known this for a long time.  I'm just happy to see someone do something about it. 
By this point, I have antibodies that attack small dogs.  But we should be so careful not to spread our cuddies to patients.  HAND WASHING is still the most important rule for infection control.  But I think this is a good step to.  No more Neck Ties for me :)

End for traditional doctor's coat

This  fascinates me.  It's like having teeth in the back of your throat and being able to pull food into your mouth.  Literally, just like from movie "Aliens."  Yet another example of the incredible and diverse world we live in. 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14194579&ft=1&f=3

Here is a New York Times article about a recent study performed by the British government.
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Some Food Additives Raise Hyperactivity, Study Finds
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This was a high quality study and is good evidence that a diet high in preservatives and artifial coloring leads to more hyperactivity and inattention in children.
Should we all run to our pantries and throw away our junk food? well maybe....
the fact is that moderation is always the key.  We would be healthier by eating more vegitables and fruit, but public health evidence suggest that taking ALL preservatives out our food supply would lead to more illness related to consumption of spoiled foods.

The take home message is to reduce and limit.  Eat more Fruits and Vegitables.
You may find your childs behavoir and grades improving.

It's no surprise that Underage sex (like so many other problems of childhood) can be directly related to parental involvement.
A recent article on "Psychology Today" gives a nice short summary to consider.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-2139.html

In essence, remember these three things:

1.  Perceptions of peer pressure leads to sex at an earlier age.  Many young teens think "ALL" of their friends are having sex when in fact it's likely the minority.  Help them to understand that and not to listen to the media and television that makes teenage sex seem so omnipresent.

2.  Young Teens (particularly females) dating much older partners leads to sex at an earlier age.  This is difficult to deal with and can often be a source of great family drama and disputes.   Again.... talk to your teenager and let them know of your concerns.  Be steadfast and show your support for your child.  They will understand and hopefully make mature decisions.

3.  Underage sex may not be preventable but RISKY sexual behavior may be.  Research suggest that parents that have frequent conversations about the dangers of sexual activity greatly reduced high risk behaviors by their children.  TALK TO THEM and OFTEN!

ultimately, all young adults will make their own decisions.  Parents, be there and be active for your children.  Trust that they will make good decisions (with your guidance.)
Most importantly... HUG them and let them know you love them no matter what.

I found this article today and thought it was interesting.

INTRODUCTION TO THE PALEOLITHIC DIET

Dr. Ben Balzer, family physician

It is interesting because this is a concept that I have thought about for several years and did not realize it officially existed.  Despite all the fad diets and different weight loss options that are available, rarely do they look at the basic biology of who we are.  We are mammals that were never meant to eat the diets we have today.
Of course, I do believe that even a "paleolithic diet" can be taken to extreme but it's basic principles are correct.  We would all likely be healthier if we ate a diet more similar to that of our ancestors.

I would also like to add another caveat.  Along with eating less potatoes, grains, and processed foods, I suggest we consider what WORK our ancestors would have had to do to eat.  Foods such as fruits and vegetables would have been readily available and fairly simple to obtain.  Therefore, we could eat all we wanted.  Meats on the other hand would have taken  more work.  Fish would have been easiest, followed by poultry, and then red meat.  A large animal would have only been killed occasionally and red meat eaten rarely.  Humans also would have expended huge energy resources to catch their prey.  Something we unfortunately no longer do.

Just food for thought.  As you eat your next meal, think about what energy might have been used in obtaining that meal.  Did you exercise today?