As I was skimming the JAMA from a couple of weeks ago, I found this article that addresses the idea of government recommendations regarding diet and their impact on public "health." The gist is that (surprise, surprise) many government recommendations with respect to how to eat and exercise are not based on sound evidence and therefore are misguided and misleading for the public. The authors caution public health agencies to think twice about regulating salt content of prepared foods and lowering dietary sodium recommendations.
Then, I ADD-style pulled up one of the references in the paper because I saw it is about fat, my favorite food group (more to come soon about my nutritional habits). This paper is a critique of the dietary fat reduction recommendations by the USDA and USDHHS in the '80s that is based on bad or little evidence that lowering fat is beneficial or at the very least not harmful. It features the original version of Figure 1 above. Check it out yourself for an interesting read.

I posted yesterday about how I am going to concertedly make some life changes in the near future and concurrently be mindful of the how and why of the process.
In my post, I mentioned Zen Habits but did not mention that author's corollary project, 6 Changes. 6 Changes showcases a common-sense approach to changing/making/breaking habits.
The method includes identifying six (only six, no more, no less) habits to acquire or de-ingrain in a year's time, with a few steps to follow to acquire/un-acquire the habit.
As a professional student, I am staring down the barrel of my professional life. Since my professional life implies much physical contact and close interaction with near strangers, I am resolved to stop biting my fingernails, a nasty and unhygienic habit I have had for literally as long as I can remember.
This post serves as my 'very public' commitment (step 3; even though my readership is probably zero at this point). While I am already started on gaining the anti-habit, I officially start Tuesday morning.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, I will post my progress here intermittently. Thanks for the help, interwebz.

Zen Habits has a post today about sticking to new habits here. This is quite relevant to my life as I am formulating a post right now about my late New Year's resolutions. I will use this blog as a tracking and public accountability platform. Also, this is my "Do it, no matter how badly" post for the day, as one of the habits I am trying to enforce in myself is writing more (to the tune of one post or creative piece a day), and better (let the interwebz be my judge). Some of the changes I am planning for my life or have already begun implementing include: diet, exercise, school, style and liesure. Look forward to reading more in the near future.

I am studying for a neuroscience test at the moment. Here is a dramatic YouTube example of physiologic nystagmus response to cold water stimulation of the horizontal ducts:

UBO - unidentified bright object, as in a periventricular white matter lesions in some cases. See here for an example, these from MS (so, not so unidentified).

I'm a first-year medical student at a private medical school in a large metro area. My general interests include: medicine, bike racing, general fitness, nutrition/food, and men's style.
I will use this blog to discuss my above interests and current events related to them. Hopefully, this will also give me a chance to improve my writing and improve my chances of reading more and more often, thereby making me a more well-rounded individual.