Snacks:
• Finding new go to snacks / meals takes a patience. For instance, this recipe from MDA for healthy peanut butter cookies was very unsuccessful. Sticky and nonformed no matter how much protein powder or almond flour I added. Maybe just mix protein into peanut butter and eat with a spoon.
•BUT this recipe for homemade pickles is easy and delicious. Takes about 5 minutes prep time, crunchy and ready to eat in an hour. We ate them for about a week with no issues. Add whatever additional ingredients you want.  

Walking:
• Louisville’s Dr. Susan Harkema is in the news again. This Guardian article highlights success in complete spinal cord injury patients. They link to the hot off the press New England Journal article. Powerful stories about revolutionary treatment.  

Pain meds:
• Another interesting opioid piece. This one first hand account from a professional ethicist who became dependent on opioids after multiple orthopedic surgeries. He describes the withdrawal symptoms at every tapering step. Many do not realize withdrawal lasts weeks to months. We see a doctor who is not comfortable with opioid dependence.
• The problem is too large now to refer everyone to pain management. Great story showing that this can happen to anyone, and that it is possible to come out on the other side.

Braces:
• This interesting article looks at the link between snoring and braces. The assertion that braces somehow cause snoring does not make sense. The more believable scenario is that the same problem has led to braces AND to snoring. Since our dependence on farming, humans have been eating softer food in general. Small children used to chew gristle and fibrous vegetables, and now drink chocolate milk and eat ice cream.
• Many scientists have shown how this caused jaw and mouth size to decrease over time. Less room for teeth, therefore dental crowding and need for wisdom teeth removal. Less room for airflow so we get snoring. Snoring also comes from excess of soft tissue in the airway, compounding the small mouth. If you want to know more, check out this whole book on evolution of the human head.   

Eggs:
• Humans have been eating eggs since we were human. To think that eggs are a direct cause of cardiovascular disease and death seems illogical. If eggs are a problem, it could relate to the diet of the hen. This study looked at oxidized LDL in humans who ate two varieties of egg. Half were laid by hens who ate the standard feed of corn and seeds. The other half ate more natural grains wheat, barley and milo. The chief difference is the omega 6 content of the feed and therefore the egg. The people who ate the lower omega 6 eggs had significantly less oxidized LDL in their blood.
• It is probably safe to assume pastured chickens who do not eat any feed have even healthier eggs (look for “high omega 3” on the carton. Its worth the extra few bucks a dozen. Look for a sale and stock up, eggs stay good for 1-2 weeks past the expiration date.  

Quotes: Doctors and medicine become necessary when people create a sickly environment.  

The irony is that science has served only to show how small human knowledge is. 

– Masanobu Fukuoka (farmer) (Thanks Dr. Braidi Huecker for the quote)