Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them

Top Screwups Doctors Make & How to Avoid Them

by Joe Graedon, Teresa Graedon

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Book Review
Sadly, these kinds of mistakes happen all the time. Each year, 6.1 million Americans are harmed by diagnostic mistakes, drug disasters, and medical treatments. A decade ago, the Institute of Medicine estimated that up to 98,000 people died in hospitals each year from preventable medical errors. And new research from the University of Utah, HealthGrades of Denver, and elsewhere suggests the toll is much higher.

Patient advocates and bestselling authors Joe and Teresa Graedon came face-to-face with the tragic consequences of doctors’ screwups when Joe’s mother died in Duke Hospital, one of the best in the world -- due to a disastrous series of entirely preventable errors. In Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them, the Graedons expose the most common medical mistakes, from doctor’s offices and hospitals to the pharmacy counters and nursing homes. Patients across the country shared their riveting horror stories, and doctors recounted the disastrous—and sometimes deadly—consequences of their colleagues’ oversights and errors. While many patients feel vulnerable and dependent on their health care providers, this book is a startling wake-up call to how wrong doctors can be.

The good news is that we can protect ourselves, and our loved ones, by being educated and vigilant medical consumers. The Graedons give patients the specific, practical steps they need to take to ensure their safety: the questions to ask a specialist before getting a final diagnosis, tips for promoting good communication with your doctor, presurgery checklists, how to avoid deadly drug interactions, and much more.

Whether you’re sick or healthy, young or old, a parent of a young child, or caring for an elderly loved one, Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them is an eye-opening look at the medical mistakes that can truly affect any of us and an empowering guide that explains what we can do about it.

About the Author
JOE GRAEDON, M.S., is one of the country’s leading consumer pharmacology experts and a frequent speaker on topics including pharmaceuticals, nutrition, and home remedies. TERESA GRAEDON, Ph.D., is a medical anthropologist. Together, they are bestselling coauthors, syndicated newspaper columnists, and award-winning internationally syndicated radio talk-show hosts. Their media appearances include Dateline NBC, Extra, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, Today, and NBC Evening News.

The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation

The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation: A step-by-step, gene reprogramming action plan

by Mark Sisson

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Book Review
Primal Blueprint author Mark Sisson presents a fun, easy-to-follow, practical guidebook to help you "get Primal" in only 21 days. First, you'll learn eight Key Concepts that represent the most important day-to-day elements living Primally, then tackle five Action Items that will enable you to literally reprogram your genes toward a long, healthy, and energetic life. The Action Items are presented in a fun and life-transforming 21-Day Challenge, featuring daily diet, exercise, and lifestyle endeavors with corresponding journal exercises.

You'll transition out of the regimented, carb-dependent, fat-storing Standard American Diet (SAD), the chronic, overly-stressful exercise patterns recommended by Conventional Wisdom, and other health-compromising elements of hectic modern life. Instead, you'll smoothly implement the evolution-tested lifestyle behaviors of our hunter-gatherer ancestors to promote optimal gene expression.

By eating Primally, you'll transform from a carbohydrate-dependant "sugar-burner" into a "fat burning beast" as Sisson puts it, where the fat stored on your waist, hips, thighs and everywhere else becomes your body's preferred fuel source, and your energy, hormone, metabolic, and immune function are optimized automatically. With an intuitive mix of Primal workouts, you'll get exceptionally fit in only a few hours per week - and have fun while you're at it!

The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Transformation is stocked with photos, diagrams, concise section summaries, workout descriptions and pictures, resource lists for Primal-approved foods and foods to avoid, recipe suggestions, and detailed real-life success stories to help you stay confident and focused on your Primal journey. MarksDailyApple.com provides extensive support with thousands of articles on living Primally in the modern world.

• Key ConceptsYou really can reprogram your genes by the way you eat, exercise and live from day-to-day.
• The clues to optimal gene expression are found in evolution: adapt the simple lifestyle behaviors of our (genetically identical) hunter-gatherer ancestors into hectic modern life.
• Your body prefers burning fat over carbohydrates: Eating Primally will return your body to its "factory setting" as a fat-burning beast
• 80 percent of your body composition success is determined by how you eat - particularly your ability to regulate the wildly excessive insulin production of the Standard American Diet.
• Grains are totally unnecessary: Grains (and legumes for that matter) offer minimal nutrition, a high insulin response, and contain anti-nutrients that promote inflammation and compromise digestion and immune function.
• Saturated fat and cholesterol are not your enemy: They are critical to cellular health, hormone function and metabolism, and only cause problems when insulin production is excessive.
• Exercise is ineffective for weight management: Energy burned during workouts is negated by increased appetite/caloric intake. A chronic exercise pattern results in burnout and compromised fat metabolism.
• Maximum fitness can be attained in minimal time with high-intensity workouts. Brief, intense strength and sprint workouts promote optimal gene expression and broad athletic competency. You can get super-fit in only a few hours per week!

Armed with the secrets to healthy living, you'll take decisive action over your 21-day journey to:

• Eliminate SAD foods that promote weight gain and chronic health problems.
• Go Primal: restock your kitchen and implement winning strategies for shopping, dining out, and snacking.
• Understand the spectrum of best to worst foods in each of the Primal food categories.
• Implement Primal Blueprint Fitness workouts, blending frequent slow-paced movement, regular brief, intense strength workouts, and occasional all-out sprints.
• Slow life down: enjoy the simple pleasures of "slow" food, intuitive exercise, focused work habits, relaxing evenings, and plenty of time for play, socializing, and sun exposure.

Unlike many complex, regimented, quick-fix programs, the Primal Blueprint 21-Day Transformation is a simple, sensibly-paced journey shaped by personal preference and a strong emphasis on enjoying comfortable modern life. The material is scalable for everyone, from Type-A fitness die-hards who might benefit from a more relaxed approach, to couch potatoes who need motivation to take that first step.

Mark Sisson guides you in a light-hearted, irreverent tone that will make you feel comfortable and inspired, and never intimidated. You can expect quick results in the first 21 days (fat loss, improved energy levels, fitness, and blood test markers), but your 21-Day Transformation is only the beginning of a life of ease and contentment that is possible when you live in harmony with your genetic expectations for health and longevity.

"While health and fitness is my life, I understand that many people are just too busy, too stressed, or perhaps even too intimidated - to make major lifestyle changes. The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Transformation book makes getting Primal easy, simple and totally do-able - no matter what your starting point is right now."

About the Author
Mark Sisson backs up his best-selling Primal Blueprint (#1 on amazon.com exercise&fitness and diet&weight loss lists, on and off, for much of 2010-2011) with a long-awaited step-by-step instruction manual for going Primal. One of the world's leading authorities on evolution-based health and fitness principles, Mark has spearheaded mainstream acceptance for a grass-roots movement of enthusiasts seeking to reconnect with a simpler, more sensible way of life. From its humble - and controversial - origins in 2006, today MarksDailyApple.com is one of the world's top-5 ranked health web sites, with over 800,000 unique visitors per month.

Mark, 58, is a former 2:18 marathoner and fourth-place finisher in the Hawaii Ironman World Triathlon Championships. Besides blogging daily, Mark conducts seminars across North America and hosts an annual 3-day Primal retreat in California. He lives with his wife, Carrie, and children, Devyn and Kyle, in Malibu, California.

The Secret Lives of Wives

The Secret Lives of Wives: Women Share What It Really Takes to Stay Married

by Iris Krasnow

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Book Review
America's high divorce rate is well known. But little attention has been paid to the flip side: couples who creatively (sometimes clandestinely) manage to build marriages that are lasting longer than we ever thought possible. What's the secret? To find out, bestselling journalist Iris Krasnow interviewed more than 200 wives whose marriages have survived for 15 to 70 years. They are a diverse cast, yet they share one common and significant trait: They have made bold, sometimes secretive and shocking choices on how to keep their marital vows, "till death do us part," as Krasnow says, "without killing someone first."

In raw, candid, titillating stories, Krasnow's cast of wise women give voice to the truth about marriage and the importance of maintaining a strong sense of self apart from the relationship. Some spend summers separately from their partners. Some make time for wine with the girls. One septuagenarian has a recurring date with an old flame from high school. In every case, the marriage operates on many tracks, giving both spouses license to pursue the question "Who am I apart from my marriage?" Krasnow's goal is to give women permission to create their own marriages at any age. Marital bliss is possible, she says, if each partner is blissful apart from the other.

A fascinating window on the many faces of modern relationships, The Secret Lives of Wives brims with inspiring and daring examples of women who have it both ways: a committed marriage and personal adventures in uncharted territory. For anyone who wants to stay married and stay sane, this is the book to read!

About the Author
Iris Krasnow is the author of the New York Times bestseller Surrendering to Marriage as well as Surrendering to Motherhood, Surrendering to Yourself, and I Am My Mother's Daughter. She has appeared on numerous national shows, ranging from Oprah and Good Morning America to All Things Considered. She lives in Maryland with her husband and four sons.

The Anatomy of Stretching

The Anatomy of Stretching: Anatomical Guide to Flexibility & Injury Rehabilitation

by Brad Walker

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Book Review
The multiple stresses of contemporary life whether from excessive sports play, overwork, or overuse of technology are increasingly taking a toll on the body. Symptoms range from muscle soreness and pain to pinched nerves to potentially more permanent disabilities, including serious body injuries. One safe, quickly productive way to address the problem is through a simple therapy that can be done anywhere, anytime, and without special equipment: stretching. This new edition of Brad Walker’s best-selling book on the subject presents 135 unique stretching exercises designed to help repair the body and make it more flexible, fit, and relaxed.

The book begins with clear, detailed descriptions of important principles of anatomy and physiology, the benefits of stretching, different forms of stretching, rules to remember, and how to stretch properly. It also focuses on the kinds of stretches that are most helpful in the alleviation or rehabilitation of specific sports injuries. Organized by body part, The Anatomy of Stretching presents stretching exercises in a uniform style accompanied by full-color anatomical illustrations. Equally useful for fitness fans, pro or amateur athletes, coaches and personal trainers, and healthcare practitioners, this new edition contains 20 new stretches; expanded physiology and anatomy information; and a revised numbering system that makes the stretches easier to reference. An expanded appendix includes a longer resources section and a helpful chart describing the top five stretches for each sport and sports injury.

About the Author
Brad Walker is an internationally known stretching and sports injury consultant with 20 years of experience in the health and fitness industry. His other books include The Stretching Handbook and The Anatomy of Sports Injuries. He lives in Queensland, Australia.

The Merck Manual Home Health Handbook

The Merck Manual Home Health Handbook (Merck Manual Home Health Handbook

by Merck

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Book Review
Millions of people around the world have relied on The Merck Manual Home Health Handbook for quick access to authoritative, accessible health information. Written by more than 300 internationally respected medical experts, this comprehensive medical resource features extensive, up-to-date coverage of health care for newborns, the elderly, and everyone in between.

• Contains reliable, up-to-date information on a broad range of medical conditions, illnesses, and situations, including accidents and injuries, aging, cancer, diabetes, digestive disorders, heart disease, mental health disorders, and many others
• Covers men's, women's, pediatric (both newborns and older children), and geriatric health issues
• Well organized and extensively indexed to make information easy to find
• An extraordinary bargain at a penny a page

The Merck Manual Home Health Handbook is filled with essential medical information that’s both easy to find and easy to understand in order to help you communicate more effectively with your doctor, understand a diagnosis or treatment option, or simply know more about your health and the health of those you care about.

Leveraging the Universe: 7 Steps to Engaging Life's Magic

Leveraging the Universe: 7 Steps to Engaging Life's Magic

by Mike Dooley

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Book Review
Bestselling author Mike Dooley builds on the principles from Infinite Possibilities and Manifesting Change to offer a step-by-step strategy for leveraging the Universe in the course of self-fulfillment and success. In just a seven steps, Dooley teaches you how to channel the Universe’s incredible energy to achieve your greatest dreams.

Filled with practical strategies and simple exercises that anyone can do, Leveraging the Universe lays out the path to engaging the magic that is available to everyone. Dooley weaves his inspiring personal history throughout the book to demonstrate firsthand how properly applying the Universe’s power has brought success and fulfillment to his own life. Simply follow Dooley’s seven steps to an amazing life:

• Understand Your Relationship to the Universe and the Magic. As shared in Manifesting Change, not understanding the nature of your reality is the number one reason people actually “fail.”
• Starting Where You Are. No matter where you are today, there are brand new things to do tomorrow even if you don’t know yet know what you are going to do when you grow up.
• Taking Action and Delegating. Know what you can, should, and must do, versus what you mustn’t ever do.
• Using the Fulcrums of Your Thoughts, Words, and Deeds. How to use your thoughts, words, and actions to get the most from life, by doing the least.
• Aligning Your Beliefs With Your Dreams. No need to figure out what your invisible limiting beliefs are, they are invisible after all! Instead, know what you want them to be.
• Beginning It. How to get all your ducks lined up, even the ones you didn’t know you had.
• Adjusting your sails. There’s never been anything wrong with you, though your approach may need some tweaking.

About the Author
Mike Dooley is an international tax accountant turned entrepreneur turned writer for "the Universe." His Notes from the Universe™ emails go out to more than 370,000 subscribers, and have since spun off into books, calendars, greeting cards, and world tours. As the bestselling author of Infinite Possibilities and Manifesting Change, with works translated into twenty-five languages, and a featured teacher in The Secret book and DVD, Dooley is actively using the concepts and principles he expounds upon to travel the world, speaking on life, dreams, and happiness.