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Medicine and What Matters in the End

In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending

Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering.

Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession’s ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person’s last weeks or months may be rich and dignified.

Full of eye-opening research and riveting storytelling, Being Mortal asserts that medicine can comfort and enhance our experience even to the end, providing not only a good life but also a good end.

http://www.amazon.com/Being-Mortal-Medicine-What-Matters/dp/0805095152/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448514094&sr=8-1&keywords=being+mortal

The vast majority of us, regardless of genetics, can all but eliminate the risk of disease and premature death through adequate exercise, a healthy diet and a wise lifestyle. Most doctors and their patients simply put their faith in pills, procedures and surgeries after the problems have already begun.

Eating animal products is directly linked to the majority of diseases that make us fat and sick while eating plant based products are directly linked to lean body mass and good health! Choose wisely!

“Common knowledge” is a disaster when it comes to health, fitness and nutrition; everyone thinks they’re an expert! What they’re an expert in, is reciting the media and marketing they’ve consistently been exposed to for years and parroting what others are doing in their direct proximity. However! There’s plenty of good science available to guide and direct your goals… and you should be using it.

Generally speaking, the typical doctor (M.D.) knows as much about health, fitness and nutrition as the average American; and what they do know they learned from the same place as the average American. Doctors Know Disease and Prescriptions… not health, fitness or nutrition!

A poor diet consisting of animal products and processed food, all of which consist of low fiber, is generally the culprit.

I’m a firm believer that the best way to raise a child, or children for that matter, is to be the adult you want your child or children to be. What we are… is far more important than what we say. It’s never too late to improve!

How Our Obsession with Meat Is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It

An acclaimed surgeon specializing in weight loss delivers a paradigm-shifting examination of the diet and health industry’s focus on protein, explaining why it is detrimental to our health, and can prevent us from losing weight.

Whether you are seeing a doctor, nutritionist, or a trainer, all of them advise to eat more protein. Foods, drinks, and supplements are loaded with extra protein. Many people use protein for weight control, to gain or lose pounds, while others believe it gives them more energy and is essential for a longer, healthier life. Now, Dr. Garth Davis, an expert in weight loss asks, “Is all this protein making us healthier?”

The answer, he emphatically argues, is NO. Too much protein is actually making us sick, fat, and tired, according to Dr. Davis. If you are getting adequate calories in your diet, there is no such thing as protein deficiency. The healthiest countries in the world eat far less protein than we do and yet we have an entire nation on a protein binge getting sicker by the day.

As a surgeon treating obese patients, Dr. Davis was frustrated by the ever-increasing number of sick and overweight patients, but it wasn’t until his own health scare that he realized he could do something about it. Combining cutting-edge research, with his hands-on patient experience and his years dedicated to analyzing studies of the world’s longest-lived populations, this explosive, groundbreaking book reveals the truth about the dangers of protein and shares a proven approach to weight loss, health, and longevity.

http://www.amazon.com/Proteinaholic-Obsession-Meat-Killing-About/dp/0062279300/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445657560&sr=8-1&keywords=proteinaholic

The Infernos are having a great season; deep into the schedule and they’ve only suffered one loss.

Working toward personal improvement is the best we can do, and it can be a very enjoyable lifelong process; improvement and growth are far more realistic goals as well.

How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

The #1 New York Times bestseller, now in paperback. From thought leader Dr. Brené Brown, a transformative new vision for the way we lead, love, work, parent, and educate that teaches us the power of vulnerability.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”—Theodore Roosevelt

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of pioneering research, Dr. Brené Brown dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.

Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She writes: “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”

Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable. It’s even a little dangerous at times. And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there’s a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena—whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen.

http://www.amazon.com/Daring-Greatly-Courage-Vulnerable-Transforms/dp/1592408419

Socially, we want and NEED to CONNECT with others for our health and happiness; although there are many who pretend otherwise, it’s best to acknowledge and work with this concept rather than against it. We all want to feel valued, accepted, validated and heard. One of the best ways to receive and experience these qualities, from others who are important to us, is simply to give them.