SPECIAL SECTION  As it turns out, much of what you think about the state of the American marriage is wrong: Half of marriages don’t end in divorce; married people don’t have less sex than their single counterparts and — surprise! — fighting can actually be beneficial to your relationship. That’s what Tara Parker-Pope, a health journalist and the woman behind the New York Times’ “Well” blog, discovered while researching her new book, For Better: The Science of a Good Marriage.” In the book, Parker-Pope argues that the marital bond isn’t nearly as mysterious as you might believe, and unlike the vast majority of authors on the subject, she uses credible scientific research to back up her claims about everything from sex to housework.

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NEWS  When the United States was first created, its founders guaranteed the fledgling nation’s citizens the freedom to worship in any way — and to any God — they wanted.
But for Native Americans, it took almost 200 years to secure that same right with the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. Toni Lodge, executive director for the NATIVE Project and NATIVE Health of Spokane, says she’s reminded of this “parallel universe” between Native Americans and every other American when it comes to health care.
“We weren’t allowed to practice our own religion until 1976,” she says. “Many assumed we had freedom of religion when we did not … It’s the same [with health care]. Many people assumed we had health care with [Indian Health Service, or IHS]. We did not.”
This year, all that changed. Read More>>

PARENTING  Kim Miller’s business is eyes. In her jobs coordinating surgeries and public relations for Spokane Eye Clinic, she knows the components of an eyeball. She knows how its muscles form, how the light refracts, what happens when eyes form incorrectly and what doctors can do to fix them.
Naturally, she was proactive about her kids’ eye health, having their vision tested as babies and toddlers. Everything checked out OK. But earlier this year, her son Benjamin was struggling in kindergarten.
“His teacher said he was all of a sudden ‘pulling back’ — not participating in story time. But she’d get with him one-on-one, and he had the comprehension,” explains Miller. “Turns out he just couldn’t see the pictures.” Read More>>

GUEST COLUMN  I recently participated in a community discussion on the topic of federal health care reform. The purpose of the event was to create a dialogue among community members and leaders about what health care reform means to Eastern Washington. It seems everyone is thinking about what health care reform will mean for their individual medical care and coverage, but what will it mean for our community? Read More>>

PARENTING  A study published in an online medical journal of my field, Pediatrics, wound up in the headlines recently. “Study Links ADHD in Children to Pesticide Exposure.” Whoa! That sounded like bad news, for sure. With all the efforts to get our kids to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, were we inadvertently causing another problem? Were parents going to storm my office irritated with conflicting advice — after all, in the last issue of InHealthNW, I wrote about helping kids eat more fresh fruits and veggies? I knew I’d better look into it more. But once again, the study, fetchingly titled “Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Urinary Metabolites of Organophosphate Pesticides,” didn’t exactly show what the headlines proposed. Read More>>

COOKING  This is prime “lake time” in the Inland Northwest. While the sandy shores of Coeur d’Alene’s edge beckon us to come rest, relax and play, local restaurants gear up to feed the hungry sun worshippers. In the Lake City, Rod Jessick is executive chef of the Coeur d’Alene Resort, and he consults with all of Hagadone Hospitality’s restaurants: Dockside, Cedar’s Floating Restaurant, Tito Macaroni’s, Bonsai Bistro, Beverly’s and the Beachhouse.
“You won’t find me on the beach this time of year,” he says, smiling. Read More>>

COVER STORY  Raw foodism isn’t an idiosyncratic cult fad. It just sits on the extreme end of common sense, which says natural foods with fewer synthetic ingredients are better for you. 
Well, OK. Read More>>

COVER STORY  Eating more raw foods may aid in weight loss. Some research shows the amount of food we eat is partially regulated by volume — when stretch receptors in the stomach and intestines are activated, we feel full. Foods rich in water, like fruits and vegetables, have fewer calories relative to their volume, possibly bringing on a sense of satisfaction with fewer calories. Read More>>

INNOVATION  When President Barack Obama signed the long-debated health care reform bill into law on March 23, he affected one-sixth of the U.S. economy with a few pen strokes. While the bill runs 2,400 pages, it’s predicted to create 200,000 to 300,000 pages of new or changed rules and regulations.
As Vice President Joe Biden said, it’s a big, uh, deal. Read More>>

PEOPLE  Losing your vision may be hardest when you never expected it. The summer before Charlotte Inman started to go blind, she and her new husband bought rollerblades, bikes and skis.
It took a while for Inman to notice anything was wrong. She began bumping into things, tripping over her dog. She realized she couldn’t see her fingers at all if she held them off to her side. Her peripheral vision was disappearing.
The diagnosis: retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that can progress to total blindness. Read More>>