Around the World:
• Cool studywith a mathematical model on worldwide pandemic diseases. They assert that the ubiquitous travel of millions of people around the world protects against global pandemics like the 1918 influenza. “Frequent travel between subpopulations can lead to widespread immunity to the high virulence strain, driven by exposure to the low virulence strain.”
• Can almost think of this as vaccination on the population or human species level. You have to love stochastic simulation models.
Healthy Ice Cream:
• We haven’t covered low carb ice cream much on PofW. Unless you are superbly talented in the art of frozen confectionery, you will be buying ice cream from the store. Since Halo Top figured out how to make healthy ice cream that tastes good, many newcomers are hitting the shelves. Halo Top is always solid, with almost too many flavor choices. Breyers makes carbsmart and another no sugar added. Usually sorbitol and/or maltitol though.
• The newer brands are using monk fruit and erythritol, both of which appear clearly safe. The mint flavors help mask the “cool” taste of erythritol.
So Delicious:no sugar added is really good, has been around longer, and dairy free. Mint chocolate chip is very good.
Graeter’s makes a low sugar version, again with maltitol.
Arctic Zero: don’t waste your time, bland.
Enlightened ice cream is the best tasting in my opinion, cookie dough tastes like the real thing.
Slim Twin: grainy texture on the cookies and cream.
Sweet Habit: decent mint cookies and cream, grainy texture again.
Recently had low sugar Homemade Pie Kitchenwhich was surprisingly good.
Bottom line: If you’re at the grocery and unsure, go for Halo Top for variety or Enlightened for best taste and texture.
Solid Gold:
• Not sure if this would help approval ratings here in the U.S., but pretty sweet video. Turkmenistan president getting swole in press conference. Just the bar, gotta start somewhere.
Attending:
• Ronald Epstein wrote the Mindful Practice article we have talked about before. His book, Attending, far exceeded expectations. Many books written by physicians are geared more toward laypersons, as they do in fact want to sell a lot of books.
• Attending avoids jargon that would alienate some readers, but is packed with pragmatic material for docs.
• This book is the single best compilation of references on mindfulness, presence, curiosity, beginner’s mind, burnout and compassion, and even some big picture recommendations for the health care system. Epstein highlights the creative ways researchers have been investigating the “art of medicine,” without dehumanizing it.
Fear Factor:
• Article describing a study on subjects volunteering to be frightened and how this can recalibrate emotions. Almost a hormetic effect; what doesn’t scare you actually to death will make you braver to everyday challenges. Quote below. Love the part about going outside in the cold.
• “One interpretation of these subjective effects is that they reflect a kind of recalibration of the emotions, which results in feeling better, similar to how we can recalibrate our physical senses. For instance, if your house feels cold, then if you go and stand outside in the snow in shirt-sleeves, your house will feel pleasantly warm when you come back inside. This may be how fun-scary experiences work for some people – after an episode of intense, controlled horror, the return to normal life feels much more pleasant.”
Quotes:
“Though the doctors treated him, let his blood, and gave him medications to drink, he nevertheless recovered.”
Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“Laws of the House of God #13: The delivery of good medical care is to do as much nothing as possible.”
Samuel Shem
