The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know
One patient asked me what I read and what I listen to. Education never ever stops. For what it is worth I'll pass on a few of the things that interest me and make me want to spend more time learning from the experts.
Each day as I drive to and from work, I listen to podcasts. These can be quite varied, but tend to be around medicine, nutrition and exercise. I find the Obesity Code podcasts very informative, because they are patient oriented. You can listen to individuals with a whole host of medical problems (a lot are weight related), and how they turned themselves around. Throughout each interview they will bring in experts to explain the science behind why some things work and some things don't. I get ideas that might help me understand what I might advise various patients. You will find yourself immersed in these, simply because somewhere you will find your particular problem, and how someone else worked their way through it.
Jimmy Moore's podcasts are also fascinating. In one series he interviews top scientists such as Dr. Dom D'Agostino, a leading researcher for NASA and the Navy Seals on the use of ketogenic diets in difficult environments. He has also done a lot of research on fasting and its benefits. Dr. Jason Fung can be found in one of the interviews, as can Nina Teicholz and others. You can pick your speaker or your topic of interest.
Mr. Moore also has a series with Dr. William Cole, a functional doctor. I find these interviews are also educational, because a functional doctor comes at a problem quite differently than a traditional doctor. They are more likely to use herbs and such to manage fatigue or the microbiome.
Almost always though, I find myself going back to the ‘Diet Doctor' website and I always find new interviews and lectures which expand my knowledge. Often I've listened to the same lecture multiple times, because there is so much knowledge to be acquired. Recently there was an excellent talk by Megan Ramos (the CEO of Dr. Fung's IDM clinic), on fasting. It's entertaining and very thought provoking.
I also need to keep up with my ‘standard' internal medicine, so you may also find me listening to the latest on the management of inflammatory bowel disease or heart failure or osteoarthritis. However, more and more, I find myself drifting to the new science of nutrition. I am interested in the curing or prevention of disease, rather than the disease model teaching, where I wait for the disease to occur and then prescribe a pill.
Prevention is what interests me most; similarly, learning how each of us might cure our medical issues using nutrition, weight loss and or stress reduction as the best tools. Now I'm facing a whole lecture series on the ‘broken brain', also one on the microbiome and disease.
If you have time, you might want to watch "The Broken Pill” on Netflix, it is a very thought provoking film. In all of these things, keep an open mind; stay objective; learn, but most of all, learn what might work best for you.
Dr. Doug