palmd
Posts by this author
August 13, 2009
So, it's not always easy, creating a new lifestyle. This morning I woke up later than I'd hoped, so I didn't have time to exercise. I didn't really have time to eat either, but I made myself slow down and have a small bowl of shredded wheat. I also forgot to bring a snack to the office.
Anyway…
August 13, 2009
There is no clear definition of "quackery". Stephen Barrett, founder of Quackwatch, discusses the slippery nature of the definition and the issues of intent and competence. Defining quackery of necessity involves some subjective judgment, but there are objective parameters we can apply. If…
August 12, 2009
Science is hard. Real science requires time, patience, modesty, and a high tolerance for failure. Good ideas can lead to better ideas, or to dead ends, and these dead ends actually help us map out our reality. Quite a while back, I wrote about a study of certain compounds in chocolate and their…
August 12, 2009
So last Wednesday, I weighed in at 212 pounds (which I rounded to 96kg for some reason). I've struggled, seen a lot of good and bad advice, increased my exercise, decreased my food intake, sinned gravely, and generally whined and moaned.
This morning, clothed and after breakfast, I'm 208 lbs.
Rock…
August 11, 2009
I woke up this morning and rode the stationary bike. Had a healthy breakfast, lunch, and snack. Took the kiddo for a bike ride.
Then came the carnitas.
August 11, 2009
It seemed inevitable. Crowds more akin to brownshirts than concerned citizens have been disrupting health care town hall meetings, depriving their fellow citizens of their right to be heard. It was only a matter of time before the intimidation become more overt.
Today, a protester showed up…
August 10, 2009
So, not so bad so far today, after an imperfect weekend. The weekend was full of swimming and biking, but also food. I didn't eat too many things that were "empty" of nutrients, but I consumed more mass than I'd hoped too.
Today, I'm not doing too badly.
Breakfast:
2 eggs scrambled with a cup…
August 10, 2009
The Right likes to hold up Sarah Palin as a beacon of morality and virtue in an irredeemably corrupt world. But with her latest words, she has shown herself to be either an immoral, lying sack of crap, or severely cognitively impaired.
And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick…
August 9, 2009
A hot, sunny Midwestern day. A well-groomed rail trail. Two intrepid riders. That's how it started out. My daughter has been going on longer and longer rides with me on the Trail-a-bike, so today I figured we'd try a great rail trail that goes past a heron rookery.
We made it about a mile in…
August 9, 2009
Thankfully, I'm not a week into this lifestyle change yet, because I'm getting good advice from experts. I know from my reading, that certain foods are better at inducing a durable sense of satiety, and I've been trying to incorporate these foods.
For example, my typical lunch of late has been a…
August 8, 2009
It's true that I don't have a lot of free time on my hands, but last nights UStream event with the crew was lots of fun. Isis and Arikia have been hosting a regular Friday night get-together on UStream, which is a total blast, but last night Isis couldn't tear herself away from her hot, hot…
August 7, 2009
So, Dear Readers, I've been "dieting", that is, changing my lifestyle now for nearly a week, with some success. Lots of people have their own advice, their own stories, their own beliefs. One fascinating discussion is about whether one must or will necessarily be hungry when eating right. My…
August 6, 2009
A short while ago I wrote about a fear-mongering piece in the Wall Street Journal, written by Betsy McCaughey. It turns out that my imagination was insufficient to comprehend the scope of her audacious mendacity. McCaughey is one of the thugs pushing the lie that the health care reform bill…
August 6, 2009
So yesterday was filled with yummy veggies and fruit, with some proteins and fats thrown in. I made some compromises that were less than healthy (granola bars), but managed to get some great locally-grown melon, salads, and some nice marinated beans, among other things.
This morning I woke up…
August 5, 2009
Note: I've been informed by one or two experts whom I trust that my plan sucks. My basic plan is based on a Weight Watchers model, but I take experts with evidence very seriously, so there may be some serious modifications to this post. --PalMD
Obesity is a bad thing. This isn't a moral judgment…
August 4, 2009
Morning report is a daily conference for medical residents. It is done differently at different institutions, but normally a case is presented, often by the post-call team, and discussed by the senior residents and an attending physician. --PalMD
A 35 year old man was brought to the Emergency…
August 2, 2009
If you haven't heard by now, the parents who murdered their diabetic daughter are getting a taste of justice. This week Dale Neumann, the father of the diabetic girl whom he and his wife watch die in their home while giving only "prayer", was found guilty of reckless homicide. Death by diabetic…
August 1, 2009
PalCast 14 is up, and with two extra minutes of my words! Yea!
July 30, 2009
You can count on the Wall Street Journal for pretty good reporting and for extremist right-wing wackaloonery on the OpEd page. Today, they deliver the latter, with bonus fear-mongering at no extra charge.
The piece is entitled, "GovermentCare's Assault on Seniors" and that pretty much sums up the…
July 30, 2009
OK, in parts I and II we talked about health care problems specific to patients and to medical science. Now, on to the providers themselves. Before you start whining about how doctors need to suck it up, remember that you are entrusting your lives to us, and that you should want good people to go…
July 30, 2009
I've been a terrible netizen. I haven't been keeping up with my blog carnivals, especially my favorite, the Skeptics' Circle.
Well, it's up now at Beyond the Short Coat. Go and read!
July 29, 2009
In part I, I presented you wish some admittedly artificial categories of problems in our health care system. First we discussed patient-centered problems. Today, we'll look at problems posed by medical science and practice itself.
Medical science
The science of medicine is not always compatible…
July 28, 2009
Yes, I know, the two are not mutually exclusive, but I still think it's a good title. The latest bit of evil idiocy? More fanning of fears about health care reform. Don't misunderstand, there's plenty of potential pitfalls to health care reform, but Rush is an idiot. He calls it "Five Freedoms…
July 28, 2009
I know only one certainty regarding health care reform in the US: I won't be a significant policy maker. And neither, likely, will you. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't educate ourselves, try to understand the problems and potential solutions, because whatever our government implements over the…
July 27, 2009
Smelting: gerund, the act of catching smelt (a small Great Lakes fish) by dipping a bucket in the water during the smelt run season: ex. Smelting is like shooting fish in a barrel.
Sometimes it's too easy. You see, when you criticize someone for being wrong, that's one thing, but when you imply…
July 26, 2009
Lawmakers and the public in general have no idea how the business and practice of medicine operates. None. When you read statements from many representatives, you see such simplistic, anhistoric thinking that pessimism about health care reform is the only logical response.
Or so it seems from…
July 25, 2009
Desire is a great friggin' album, and this is one of the better songs, but I never knew about this cover. A shout out to my buddy, whose musical tastes might run in another direction.
July 23, 2009
Alternative medicine practitioners love to coin magic words, but really, how can you blame them? Real medicine has a Clarkeian quality to it*; it's so successful, it seems like magic. But real doctors know that there is nothing magic about it. The "magic" is based on hard work, sound scientific…
July 22, 2009
If you look to your left, you may notice me paddling a black and white cedar-strip and canvas canoe. I am not about to dump into the water---the "lean" is proper solo canoeing posture. A few years decades back, I was the canoeing director at a Canadian summer camp and taught hundreds of kids how…
July 22, 2009
Since I abhor the entombment of real news beneath the Michael Jackson story, I didn't think I'd be posting about it, but here I am. You see, Jackson was reportedly under the "care" of a privately hired physician when he died, and was being treated with medications not normally used outside the…