Truth In Medicine

Quick Facts From Last Night's Class: The Social Transformation of American Medicine
Did you know that during the days of the Roman empire, doctors were slaves? That in the Soviet Union doctors earned less than factory workers? And that in the early 1900's the average doctor made less money than the average federal worker? Doctors have not always been respected or well-paid.

This book is a great history of the medical profession and how the American Medical Association schemed and plotted to reduce the number of practicing doctors and to give medical doctors control over the medical profession. Great insight into some of the reasons why the healthcare system is a mess.

Books I've Recently Read

Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy

Ernest Hemingway's Secret Adventures, 1935-1961

by Nicholas Reynolds

I read this for our upcoming July book club. Apparently Nobel Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway was a spy. This is a true story but reads like a spy thriller. LOVED it!

The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smart Phones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

by Judson Brewer, M.D.

I bought this book on the recommendation of my good friend Mary Marshall. I’m teaching a bootcamp on forming and maintaining good habits and this book has provided me with a lot of great info. I love the author’s definitionof addiction – people continuing to engage in behaviors that are clearly not good for them. Technically a book I read for work, but I enjoyed it as if it were a leisure read.

Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign

by Jonathon Allen and Amie Parnes

This book is interesting regardless of your political preferences. Great inside view, and explanation of how Hillary lost.

Game of Thorns by Doug Wead

How the backgrounds of both Donald Trump and Hillary and Bill Clinton influenced the election outcome.

The Fix by David Baldacci

LOVE this writer’s books – they never disappoint!

Sins by Judith Gold

An older book that was made into a TV series starring Joan Collins

Complete brain candy!!

Fatal by John Lescroart

I have read all of this author’s books and anxiously await each new arrival. My favorites are the Dismas Hardy series.

 

In The Darkroom by Susan Faludi

Another book I read for book club

True story about a man who lived in Hungary during WWII who made it to the U.S., married, had a family and then eventually realized he was transgender and became a woman. Much more complicated than this brief description makes it sound. Real life really is mre interesting sometimes than fiction.

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

After reading Room by this author for book club, I knew this would be a great book.

An English nurse travels to a small town in Ireland to check out the story of a young girl who has reportedly stopped eating and is surviving on manna from heaven. Could not put this one down.

Home by Harlan Coben

I read ALL of this author’s books! Two boys disappeared under strange circumstances and 10 years later it appears that one has been found. Where has he been? What actually happened to these boys? A real thriller!

Quick Facts From Cancer 101 Class 4
Cancer cells are very smart (they mutate in response to treatment, they use the immune system in order to travel throughout the body and metastasize) but they are not very hardy. Calorie restriction weakens cancer cells while strengthening normal cells in the body. There are many ways to reduce calorie intake, one of which is adopting a low-fat, plant-based diet. This is a fascinating topic - we've spent several hours on it in class. Diet should be part of every cancer patient's treatment plan.

Quick Facts From Cancer 101 Class II
Cancer researchers continue to insist that genes are the cause of cancer. But they have been incredibly unsuccessful developing effective drugs based on this assumption. Over 700 drugs have been developing, and only one (Gleevec) has extended survival in a meaningful way for cancer patients. Most do not extend life and cost as much as $100,000 per patient. The FDA has a very low bar for approval - the drugs only have to shrink tumors; they are not required to extend survival by a single day.

We started discussing the real cause of cancer during Monday night's class and will continue next week.

Quick Facts From Real Food, Fake Food Part I
This is a great book that has made me so much more conscientious about my food choices. Did you know that Kraft Parmesan Cheese contains wood pulp and cellulose? Or that fish is the most common fake food Americans purchase? Research shows that 94% of the time white tuna served in restaurants is not white tuna. It is a fish called escolar, which can cause diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms.

Class two based on this book takes place Monday June 26. If you’d like to join us, email shermank@wellnessforum.com for more info.