Have you fallen in any manholes lately? No? Good. Keep it up. This week is National Public Health Week and the theme is "Safety is No Accident – Live Injury Free."

The National Public Health Association states on its website that it only takes a moment for an injury to occur, and that most injuries are preventable. Here are some common sense tips for preventing injuries.

Prevention begins at home.

* Assess rooms for poor lighting or uneven surfaces in order to prevent falls.

* Install and maintain smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

*

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Michael Pollan's "Food Rules, an Eater's Manual" is a small but enormously enlightening guide to what should be a simple activity: eating healthfully. The book is an elegant distillation of topics covered in his earlier tome, "In Defense of Food," but it is notable in its forthright suggestions to readers and eaters. His seven-word premise is simple: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

I thought it might be of interest to readers who are unacquainted with Pollan's work to share a few of my personal favorites from this invaluable book.

Rule 2: Don't eat anything your

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In the fictitious world of TV medicine, doctors – Welby, House, McDreamy and Spaceman among them – have all the time in the world to spend with patients. But we patients know that medicine is often a high speed, impersonal, insurance-driven industry. Dr. Lesley Fernow sees things from a patient's point of view. She rejected the possibility that the art of practicing medicine was becoming as irrelevant as a vestigial organ, and she did something about it.

In 2008 she shuttered her solo internal medicine practice and began seeing her mostly elderly patients in their homes.

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Dog trainer and pet behaviorist Jody Rosengarten has advice for pet owners when facing a potential health emergency, because it can never hurt a dog's human to be reminded of dangers particular to their pets. "When in doubt," says Jody, "Always call your veterinarian first."

Following are Jody's tips for protecting your pet from some hazards:

Dogs, especially the brachycephalic (short-nosed), overheat easily. Never leave any dog in a hot car or in full-sun outdoors.

Ping pong-sized balls, electrical chords and empty chip or cereal bags pose choking/electrocution/suffocation

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Did you pack on a subcutaneous winter coat these past five months? It's time to get your fitness regime back on track for the imminent bikini (or skort) season. Having been cooped up inside staring at snow since December, why not take your workout outdoors?

"The two biggest times of year to ramp up a fitness routine are New Years' and spring," says personal trainer and exercise physiologist, Dan Zahler. He adds, "On December 31, everyone has that sudden motivation --'this is the year I put on the bikini ' -- and then it's spring and people freak out

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Throw that M&M in the trash. You know, the blue one you dropped on the floor but picked up two seconds later. You thought the “five-second” rule – food that falls on the floor is safe to eat if you grab it in less than five seconds – was based on science.

It’s not. According to a study in The Journal of Applied Microbiology, eating dropped food can pose a risk for ingesting bacteria, which can cause gastrointestinal disease. And the time that food sits on the floor doesn’t alter the risk of contamination. Factors that influence risk and rate of bacterial

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Winter might be almost over, but colds don't care much about the vernal equinox. A new review of medical research on the mineral zinc shows that stuffy-nosed, sniffing, sneezing and coughing cold sufferers have a better option than tissues, tea and sympathy.

If taken within 24 hours of the onset of a runny nose or sore throat, zinc lozenges, tablets and syrups can cut colds short by an average of one day or more and sharply reduce the severity of symptoms, according to the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

And a report in The Journal of Infectious Diseases found

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Binge drinking, the heavy consumption of alcohol -- five or more drinks on a single occasion for men or four or more for women -- over a short period of time, has become a popular recreational activity in Connecticut. In fact, Connecticut is rated sixth in binge drinking rates among states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The behavior, generally more common among more young males than other segments of the population, is not surprising, but it is deadly. CDC reports that binge-drinking is responsible for more than 79,000 deaths in the U.S. each year,

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