Stay Fit for Life:

• Written in the 80s, the book Fit for Life is full of accurate information about diet. Authors Harvey and Marilyn Diamond were far ahead of their time in describing many concepts. They emphasize eating whole, non-processed foods. They recommend avoiding most food prior to noon (“[only] fruit before noon”). They focus on circadian nutrition, highlighting the fact that the body uses energy to digest food and we should not be eating every 2 hours from 6am to midnight. They discourage foods that combine starch and protein or starch and fat (think about every unhealthy dessert).
• Their stances against dairy (even yogurt) and coffee (seriously?) differ from most opinions today. But overall quite impressive for being 30 years old. 

Breathe:

• You may have seen the breathe app / reminder on Apple Watch. Here is a link to a simple webpage with a prompt to breathe in and out. Nothing else to it. Often simple is better. Thanks Staci Saner for the reference.

Coffee Strategy: 

• Here is a post summarizing a new study by the military on ideal caffeine timing. The original article begins with a nice background on sleep deprivation and effects on performance. Sophisticated statistics lead to development of the “UMP, (unified model of performance) a validated mathematical model that accurately predicts the effects of sleep–wake schedules and caffeine consumption (i.e. the model inputs) on neurobehavioural (PVT) performance.”
• The graphs are impressive, though somewhat difficult to apply to one’s own schedule without the luxury of a lab setting. One could attempt to use their Figure 2 to optimize caffeine consumption for a long test day. But be warned, they use VERY LARGE caffeine doses in this study. Most prior reviews place a 500mg/day ceiling on the health benefits of caffeine. Remember, caffeine onset is about 45-60 minutes, and the half-life can be 6 hours in many individuals. 

Resistant Starch:

• Resistant starch is more than just “fiber.” The definition cited on a MDA post is “the sum of starch and products of starch degradation not absorbed in the small intestine of healthy individuals.” RS has four types and is found in raw potato starch, plantain flour, green banana flour, and cassava/tapioca starch.
• Basically this is food for beneficial gut bacteria. Instead of sugar and vegetable oils, feed your gut flora resistant starch. Benefits range from weight loss to improved insulin sensitivity to better sleep and even thyroid regulation. 

More burnout:

• Bit of a fluff piece here from the Atlantic, usually more substance in their articles. Newsflash, electronic medical records worsen physician (and patient) satisfaction. One bandaid has been the burgeoning medical scribe industry.
• Physicians have lost control to such an embarrassing degree that we pay college kids to write down all of the often not medically relevant items payers require for billing purposes. 

Quote:
“After a few millions of years of evolution, has the American back suddenly become incompetent?”
– Dr Sarno, to be continued in future newsletter