books - Frugal Nurse

Frugal Nurse celebrates Book Lovers Day!

Posted on August 10, 2017 by Frugal NurseAugust 21, 2017 4

I’m a day late, but since I don’t post on Wednesdays, I have to celebrate Book Lovers Day today instead 🙂

Not surprisingly, most of the books I read these days are related to healthcare. But that doesn’t mean they are all written like textbooks. I’m always on the lookout for authors who can transform complex and often boring subjects into entertaining reading material.

Here’s a short list of some of my favorites. Happy Book Lovers Day!

(FYI–These are Amazon links, but I include them for your information only. Although I use Amazon on occasion, I prefer to get my … Continue reading

The health benefits of fermented foods

Posted on August 8, 2017 by Frugal NurseAugust 9, 2017 1

The fermented foods bible

Our niece recently gave my husband a fascinating book: The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz.

He’s already an enthusiastic yogurt maker, bread baker, beer brewer and kombucha fermenter (is that a verb?). But this book has increased his knowledge and his projects several-fold, and by extension I’ve learned a lot about the health benefits of fermented foods, too.

Fermented foods include, but are by no means limited to, pickles, sourdough, yogurt, sauerkraut, miso, soy sauce, kimchi, sour cream, cheese, beer, wine, cider, tempeh, kombucha, kefir, and saki.

Most cultures have some kind of fermented … Continue reading

Tips to save money at the hospital

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Frugal NurseAugust 9, 2017

“An American Sickness”

I love Elisabeth Rosenthal’s work.

She’s a medical journalist (an MD, but no longer practicing) who wrote a brilliant series of articles on the high cost of healthcare for the New York Times a few years ago.

Now she has a book on the same topic. Because, of course, our healthcare system with its punishing costs for services, drugs and insurance has not improved. If anything, it’s worse.

As a physician, Dr. Rosenthal has experienced first hand the perverse incentives—illness being more profitable than health, after all—and lack of price transparency in our healthcare system. Her book … Continue reading

The Seven Year Rule

Posted on March 7, 2017 by Frugal NurseMarch 7, 2017

Newer drugs are not necessarily better drugs

A few days ago at the gym, I was leafing through an issue of Health magazine.

What caught my eye was not the article about preventing stress injuries, or the recipe for a zingy, low-fat curry, but rather the pages devoted to ads for prescription drugs. Drugs to treat psoriasis, hepatitis C, dry eyes, depression, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, arthritis, and overactive bladder, to name but a few.

Each ad took three pages. After doing a little mental math, I discovered the ads for these new prescription drugs made up more than 30% of the … Continue reading

Hygge – The Danish art of happiness

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Frugal NurseFebruary 7, 2017

Hygge, pronounced “hue-gah”

A friend sent me a link to an article about the Danish philosophy of hygge. Her stepmother is Danish, so perhaps that’s why it caught her eye.

I hadn’t heard of hygge before, although I do remember reading somewhere that the Danes are considered the happiest people on the planet (ignoring Hamlet, of course).

Apparently that’s because of hygge, from which we get the English word “hug”.

Like a hug, hygge is about being cozy, comfy and cuddled. It encompasses home decor, clothing, social interactions and self-care.

After a January filled with below-freezing temperatures, flu and a … Continue reading

My favorite healthcare books and gifts for 2016

Posted on December 13, 2016 by Frugal NurseDecember 12, 2016

I’m spending the day online getting some gift shopping done, and I thought I’d post about some of the healthcare books and gifts I’m buying for friends and family this year.

I use Amazon a lot (Prime, so I get free 2-day shipping), and I have to include a disclosure here that the following links will take you to my Amazon Associates page. That said, I’m not trying to make any money with my blog, so if you can find these products for better prices elsewhere, great!

For the sleep deprived

As someone who has battled insomnia most of her … Continue reading

“Brain on Fire” – A diagnostic odyssey

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Frugal NurseSeptember 13, 2016

brain-on-fire I just finished reading a really gripping and emotional story—Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by journalist Susannah Cahalan. (Soon to be a movie!)

As a twenty-something cub reporter in New York, Ms. Cahalan began experiencing strange, seemingly unconnected symptoms, such as forgetfulness, paranoia and the sensation that bugs were crawling on one side of her body.

The details of her weeks’ long medical journey—which she had to piece together from medical records, her parents’ journals, and the recollections of friends, doctors and nurses because she couldn’t remember most of it—are a pretty frightening look at today’s fragmented … Continue reading

“Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?”

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Frugal NurseAugust 9, 2017

Don’t take health advice from celebrities

I just finished reading a thoughtful, informative and thoroughly entertaining book that examines how our celebrity-crazy culture affects our healthcare and lifestyle choices.

In “Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?”, author Timothy Caulfield makes it his quest to “analyze and debunk the messages and promises” behind celebrities’ overhyped and oversold health, diet and beauty products.

Indeed, celebrity culture has emerged as one of the most significant and influential sources of pseudoscientific blather….The popularity of juicing, cleanses, detox diets, weird exercise routines, and a boatload of beauty and antiaging products and practices can be

Healthy food choices – Dining Decisions

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Frugal NurseMay 25, 2016

Even toddlers seem to be playing with smartphone and tablet apps, so why not make it educational as well as fun?

Obesity among children is still a major public health problem. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) hopes their new app, Dining Decisions, will help teach young children how to make healthy food choices.

The app was just released last month, and it’s only available for iPhones and iPads, so I haven’t been able to try it out yet. Hopefully it will be available in an Android version soon! I want to play. 🙂

Related post: Healthy kids … Continue reading

Michael Pollan – “Cooked”

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Frugal NurseMarch 15, 2016

cooked If you have Netflix, I highly recommend watching Michael Pollan’s new series, Cooked.

Based on his book of the same name, Cooked, in typical Pollan style, shows us a fresher, healthier, and more enjoyable way to eat. He focuses not only on the nutritional value of foods, but also the culture of preparing and sharing meals.

The series is divided into four parts: Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Each episode features mouth-watering meals from a variety of countries and cultures.

Pollan also offers theories as to how America’s diet and food culture got so completely messed up.

Related post: