Veggies vs. French Fries

The New York Times ran an article today highlighting the fact that people aren't eating enough vegetables. The final words stated "Eating vegetables is a lot less fun than eating flavor-blasted Doritos".
The basic main points were that people don't know how to cook vegetables, they're less convenient to have around, and they cost more.
Now, this article appeared in the Money and Policy section.
Despite that, I was surprised at how much emphasis remained on choice. The vegetable issue is less a matter of choice and more a matter of cost.
For instance- do you want that 10$ tasty salad that you can have once, or do you want the three frozen pizzas that you can get for the same 10$ and eat for six meals, if you're thrifty?
Is that really even a choice for the bottom of the market?
Most of the people I know prefer eating every day. For poor people, that means budgeting out each meal, and attempting to make sure each meal is filling enough to last till the next meal. While a really nice salad with lots of greens and tomatoes and sunflower seed and all that jazz is delicious, it's not really a "stick to the ribs" or "feel stuffed" sort of meal.
Supposing the market was to award a poor family with all the vegetables that they could eat- the consumption would still be low. Why? These people work for a living. Who has time to saute down the zucchini when they're trying to work two jobs and if they're late one more time, no one will take care of their sick mother's hospital bills? Who can flip through a (more than likely over 60$ anyway) cookbook to make tasty decisions when they're working the night shift and going to school full time?
After working a 16 hour day, is it easier to go to McDonalds, or is it easier to go to the grocery store, pick up fresh produce, and then go home and cook for an hour ?

There are three things that poor people often do not have when it comes to vegetables.
1. access to organic, wholesome, and delicious vegetables.
2. training to turn those vegetables into great food
3. time to make great food out of vegetables.

You want more people to eat vegetables? Reform the economic market. Let people earn an honest wage for an honest day's work, and let vegetables be reasonably priced. Release the grip of convenience as a nation, and let people have evenings off to see their families, or as in some european countries- let them have a long enough break that they could go see their families and cook lunch. As well as the urban gardens and food stamps that work at farmer's markets, host cooking demonstrations with free serving size samples. Redistribute the wealth. It's not the lack of vegetables that's killing us. It's the social class gap.

Stayin' Alive

I have survived the first week of medical school.
And really, after that first day, I've thrived at medical school. I love biochemistry and musculoskeletal anatomy. I love looking at someone and thinking "Wow, those deltoids are really defined. I wonder if they'd let me try to find the insertion point."  I've enjoyed the case studies and the extra homework and I've really fallen in love with body work. 

I don't get lost on the way to school anymore, and I got my parking pass today so that I don't have to worry about coordinating the 2-hour-long-5-transfer-quickest-mass-transportation-route home after my latest class.

My classmates know me as "the wolverine girl" which is quite likely the most awesome nickname I've ever had. These are my people. We're already like a huge family, and I love my section mates. We have such a variety of people! From hawiian botanists to mayan archeologists to broadway actresses,  there's so many strengths represented.

<3

(Also, I got my financial aid check. cha Ching!)

Day Two: the light breaking through the hills.

I arrived early to meet my mentor, who graciously provided me with one of the books that I needed but couldn't afford, and then I strolled over to the bookstore and bought a coloring book. I studied for around 4 hours in the morning, and then went to Organ Systems 1 for the first time.

I don't think I took a single note. Not only did I know everything in the first lecture, I knew it in more depth than the instructor was covering. Looking at the syllabus, I think this trend may continue for a couple weeks. Just a guess, of course, but at least I don't have to break my mind studying for this class so far.

After Organ Systems I had Somatic Re-Education, which you may have heard of as Orthobionomy. It's a very subtle body work that serves to draw the body's attention to any patterns it may be holding, then it works to exaggerate the pattern for a few seconds. The exaggeration of the pattern serves as a message to the body saying "Hey, will you look at this? Do you want this?" and then the body has the chance to preserve the pattern, which is a protective mechanism, or to  release the pattern. Sort of a "Oh hey, we're done with that. Not sure why that was still on" thing.
I need people to practice on, by the way. At least two people, but I have to turn in four patient case sheets, so four would be better.

It was really nice to do something so hands on, and over the course of the class, my neck felt way better, my arms became the same length, and I had some major GI tract tension release that the teacher actually had to do so that my fellow student could work on our general release pattern.

We all hold more tension than we need to, held in the memories of our every day lives. That millisecond whiplash becomes a protective mechanism, as the body holds onto the shock and begins protective measures which hold some muscles taught (so that your head doesn't fall off!) and other muscles slack. Sometimes that pattern will hold far beyond the danger of your head falling off , and then the pattern becomes "normal". Then, what I would do is observe the pattern- say, anterior flexion in the neck- and then I would help your body exaggerate the comfort that it finds in that pattern. I would help flex your neck even more. On the way out of the pattern, the body has a chance to say "wait a minute, I'm not in danger of having my head fall off. I can let go of this" or a chance to say "I'm still in danger of my head falling off, this is protecting me."
The best thing is that even legislators have recognized the medicine in that there is no license to practice this method because it does not cause injury. There are zero reports of this method making people worse. The worst it can do is nothing at all.

And so, day two was much, much better than day one. I feel much better about it. and I'm going to try to take the bus to school today.

The Way Med School Actually Starts- a firsthand encounter.

Day One...

Was a disaster. I'm really trying to think of it in theater axioms- crappy first day means good rest of the year? Better to suck now so I won't kill patients later? I don't know, but whatever was going on- the universe had it in for me.
Before the classwork even happened I
(a) got lost
(b) couldn't find a parking spot
(c) was in the wrong line for a financial aid check
(d) didn't get a financial aid check
(e) had to go to the financial aid office to find that the government has not bothered to release my entrance counseling to the school, so I can't afford books until next week after the government talks to financial aid and financial aid talks to the business office and the business office talks to the bank.
(f) got lost on the way to the bakery where I was going to do a midmorning snack and relaxation
(g) spilled my cappuchino after the first sip all over my book bag
and (h) got lost on the way back to school.

So I finally get to my first class, biochemistry, and I'm actually pretty stoked about that one. The teacher is nice and seems committed to student success, started with the basics and picked up from there. I'm going to have to study- I always get screwed up with pKa and pH, and that's a lot of the first pathway we're learning. I feel like undergrad has left me perfectly able to pick up and study from where I stopped in ochem. 12:30 to 3:30, but it didn't feel that long, and it'll be a good class.

Second class, same room, 3:30 to 5:30- Musculoskeletal Anatomy. Should be good at this, right? I've already taken a year of the class, already worked with cadavers and necropsies, already have the flash cards.
Wrong.
So, in undergrad, you learn all the bones. Sort of. Then you move on to the muscles. Then the organs, the nerves, etc. Very linear and sort of exclusionary, focusing on the specifics of whatever particular facet you're working with.
Today, I got flattened by the anatomy bus of doom. I need to relearn or learn for the first time all of the bones, fossa, bursae, tendons, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels of the upper limb. The teacher has already told us that we can read the slides ourselves, and that if we have trouble, we should grab a book. He sounds totally unconcerned by the fact that he taught us nothing, and gave us a clinical situation that we needed to solve despite not knowing the muscles, nerves, or conditions that would solve his clinical solution. He seems inflexible and unavailable.
When do I need to know this by?
Next Monday.
So- let me just re-emphasize: Muscles, bones, nerves, blood, and how they work together, and common problems of the shoulder, upper arm, and upper back. In a week. With no other classes beyond the one I had today. No set book.
What would I do if I had my summer again? Buy a medical grade anatomy textbook and start memorizing it.

Oh, and then on the way home? Some jackass wouldn't let me turn into the lane I needed to be in, forcing me onto the bridge over the river, and I got lost and ran out of gas.
Happy first day of medical school.

my calling

At this point, I am considered oriented for entry into the first year of medical school. I've been instructed as to procedure, applied for my parking pass, laughed with my fellow students, added elective credits and met with my adviser. I've contacted docs in my hometown to ask their advice on how my community education credits can serve me so that my community will be waiting for me to graduate.
I've talked to one of my heroes, eaten more soy protein than my body can handle, and signed up for extra health insurance. I mapped out my schedule in excel, printed a copy and mailed copies to family. I've set up my home office.

And really, the only thing left to do is walk into class on monday morning.

I am so excited.

Chassit

I am incredibly sad. I'm not sure that it counts as depression yet, though I've had an extreme decrease in appetite and in desire to go outside of my house.
Two nights ago I went with my mentor and another first year to hike mt. tabor. It was a fun walk, and that is not the part of the day that made me sad. In fact, referring to other people as "first years" kinda makes me feel like I'm a new student at Hogwarts. I got home, was feeling pretty good about the exercise and how I'd resisted a glorious concoction of berries and whipped cream, sat down to talk to my husband.....
And then...
We saw one of our cats outside of our glass patio door, looking incredibly pleased with herself and asking to come back inside. Discovering that one of the kitchen window screens had been popped out, we searched for our other cat.

He was not in the house.

He was not under the house, which is his typical go-to out of doors spot.

And now, it's 36 hours later, and he is still missing. I've called the county shelter (which is closed for labor day weekend) and put up flyers on the mailboxes and the garbage enclosure. I've put an ad on the craigslist lost and found. I've enlisted the local neighborhood kids in the search, and my husband has crawled through slime and swam through blackberries as I've cajoled and shook treat jars.

So, if you see a black and brown tortoiseshell cat, medium long fur length, neutered male, with tattooed ears reading "KRC 147", wearing a red and brown plaid harness, please call me or email me or leave me a comment or bring him home.

Every time I try to upload a picture of him to the blog it crashes my firefox for a few hours, so contact me and I'll mail you a picture.

I try not to be so upset. Everyone says "It's just a cat" or "He'll come back, he's just out skittering around" but it's My cat, my lap cat who's dumber than a box of rocks and sweeter than a box of candy.

I just want him back.