The "whole foods" diet is going well. I had one hiccup this past
week while making a gluten-free pizza recipe. The pizza crust mix
that I purchased, while gluten free, had 11 ingredients rather than
my specified five. While all of the mix's ingredients were types of
flour or simply salt, I did surpass the allowable number of
ingredients. The cost to purchase all the flours involved would
have been enormous compared to the mix. The cost difference was
roughly $40 for the ingredients separately and $5 for the
pre-packaged mix.
I may have to submit a request to my "local panel of judges" to
determine cost vs. "letter of the law" with regard to the
five-ingredient rule. I'm beginning to feel that as long as the
ingredients are something I would put together myself, without
having to purchase them in bulk on a student's budget, the point
should be to eat healthier foods. My intent is to become healthier,
not develop into a zealot in any undertaking, especially when
working toward a healthier life and lifestyle for the long
term.
© National University of Health Sciences
Classes have become more exciting as the trimester has started
rolling. In our Advanced Botanical Prescribing class, we have been
working on developing synergistic botanical formulas whose chemical
constituents can function together and increase the efficacy of
both botanicals (or more) depending upon the condition being
treated. I'm certainly happy I opted to take the Special Topics in
Botanical Medicine class offered last summer as the formulations,
interactions, contraindications and application of the botanicals
is starting to come together and make perfect sense in
application.
We have started building a website for our future practices in
our Practice Management/Jurisprudence class. We spend a portion of
each class on preparing and building a future marketing strategy
for our practices. The strategies include electronic media,
outreach programs to the community, affiliation with other
practices and modalities, as well as the costs involved with each
method. On the jurisprudence side, we are learning about how to
document a visit, secure the information and maintain each
patient's file in a secure location, whether electronic- or
paper-based. The guidelines for safeguarding patient information
under the auspices of HIPAA, or Health Information Privacy and
Accountability Act, are taken seriously and taught with close
attention to detail at NUHS. I'm happy to have that education
provided here rather than learn a hard lesson later as a doctor.
The real world application of the business side of medical practice
is one of many clinical assets provided here at NUHS.
Well, I'll get back to work on this botanical formula and finish
up a quick case before taking a nice walk this (Monday) afternoon.
We are being "blessed?" with 50º weather after a nice ice storm
last night. The Chicago winters for the last two years have been
much more "squeak" than "roar." I'm not complaining though,
my first two winters here were "typical Chicago"...including the
blizzard in 2011!
I'll close this week with grateful thanks for the mild winter
and a motivating workout partner! A great workout partner makes
arriving that much easier!