Yesterday I went through with what I call ‘weather head,' a fullness that I occasionally feel when the outside barometer goes up while the inside barometer in my head is still heading down, or vice versa. Better this morning.

Great day in the office. Eight office calls, several featuring favorite patients who I have tended to for literally decades. What a delight it is to grow old with a good patient! To see their children mature and develop; to see the lines and wrinkles and gray hairs develop on their faces and they on mine.

Dinner tonight will be at my brother's place. He and his wife have a delightful little one-year-old son, Alex.

Ally-Boy, as his proud godfather prefers to call him (as opposed to Andy-Boy, a brand of broccoli) is a true child of the ‘info-toy' generation. By this I mean the battery-operated, push-button, stimulus-response and ‘educational' device toys everybody gives kids nowadays.

Now at age one, Alex thinks everything that looks like a button should produce some sort of computer voice, light or music tone when he pushes it. How insulted he gets when his best effort to twiddle a knob or dial on an unplugged radio or push a knot or whirl pattern in a piece of furniture is repaid with stony indifference!

On my way out to my office (which sits behind my garage) Martha passed me a news article from the NY Times about a man who is suing the estate of Robert Atkins and the company that promotes his dietary products.

A group with the improbably highfalutin name ‘Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine' (PCRM) but who are actually a veganism and animal rights support group is actively assisting the plaintiff. The lawsuit seems more of a publicity stunt and is not surprising, since the PCRM has maintained an ‘Atkins-watch' website for several years now, where people can report adverse reactions to the use of animal products in their diet.

Apparently Mr. Jody Gorran, a wealthy manufacturer of solar panels and swimming pools, and who ate quite a bit of cheese and cheesecake while on the Atkins Diet, had his cholesterol increase from a rather low 146 to a potentially hazardous 230. This resulted, he claims, in a 99% blockage in one of his coronary arteries, requiring angioplasty.

From what the article said, most law experts do not believe the lawsuit would get anywhere, and even the plaintiff said he contacted the PCRM ‘because they are familiar with publicity.'

So I guess this is where the Great American Diet Debate eventually winds up.

In court.

Not that I believe for a second that this will end matters. In fact, I'm certain that the heavy-handed manner of the PCRM will eventually boomerang badly, since they in turn leave themselves open to litigation from any ex-vegan who goes on to develop cancer or some other ailment supposedly prevented by their vegan diet.

Blades cut in two directions.

But who knows? If one-year-olds can eventually adjust to their lack of results in expert knob twiddling and button-pushing, then perhaps there is hope for Mr. Gorran and the PCRM.

My son has run the past couple of nights. Since he was a baby he has showed this Type O characteristic. He needs lots of exercise, especially after a rainy afternoon like we had yesterday. I was interested in running with him last night, but my husband really discouraged it. He was right. My son would have quickly outpaced me and left me in the dark.

I knew that our vacation activity for today was a mostly sedentary train ride, so I set the alarm for 30 minutes early and ran this morning. I started toward downtown Estes Park, but spotted a trail along the Big Thompson River, and turned onto it. What a lovely run! The air was cool and the other people out early walking their dogs and running were friendly. I was pleased that the altitude didn't bother me at all. There was one hill, where I had to slow to a walk, but other than that I ran my regular pace. I don't know how far I ran, probably close to the 2 miles I run at home. On the way back to our motel, I passed a trail junction for a 3.75 mile loop around Lake Estes. My son wants to run that tomorrow morning.

We rode the historic Georgetown Loop train with a long time friend who lives south of Denver. Afterwards we ate at Mama Sannino's Italian Restaurant in Denver. Everyone was ordering pasta. I chose an Italian sandwich with thin sliced beef covered in grilled peppers, onions and Mariana sauce. I put the bun in the bread basket where it was quickly gobbled up by others. I was feeling proud of myself that I had found such a delicious Type O meal in a restaurant full of wheat…then our friend ordered cheesecake for everyone. I could have protested; I could have called the waiter back and said, "None for me;" but I didn't.