The Gut-Healthiest Yogurt

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Not only is this yogurt, so it’s winning from the start with its probiotic goodness, but also it’s full of several kinds of fiber, and gut-healthy polyphenols too. Plus, it’s delicious. The perfect breakfast, but don’t let us stop you from enjoying it at any time of day!

You will need

  • 1 cup yogurt with minimal additives. Live Greek yogurt is a top-tier choice, and plant-based varieties are fine too (just watch out, again, for needless additives)
  • 7 dried figs, roughly chopped
  • 6 fresh figs, thinly sliced
  • 5 oz chopped pitted dates
  • 4 tbsp mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, and chia are a great combination)

Method

(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

1) Soak the dried figs, the dates, and half the seeds in hot water for at least 5 minutes. Drain (be careful not to lose the chia seeds) and put in a blender with ¼ cup cold water.

2) Blend the ingredients from the last step into a purée (you can add a little more cold water if it needs it).

3) Mix this purée into the yogurt in a bowl, and add in the remaining seeds, mixing them in thoroughly.

4) Top with the sliced figs, and serve (or refrigerate, up to a few days, until needed).

Enjoy!

Want to learn more?

For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

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  • Smart Sex – by Dr. Emily Morse

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    First, what this isn’t: this isn’t a mere book of sex positions and party tricks, nor is it a book of Cosmo-style “drive your man wild by using hot sauce as lube” advice.

    What it offers instead, is a refreshingly mature take on sex, free from the “teehee” titillations and blushes that many books of the genre go for.

    Dr. Emily Morse outlines five pillars of sex:

    1. Embodiment
    2. Health
    3. Collaboration
    4. Self-knowledge
    5. Self-acceptance

    …and talks about each of them in detail, and how we can bring them together. And, of course, how we or our partner(s) could accidentally sabotage ourselves or each other, and the conversations we can (and should!) have, to work past that.

    She also, critically, and this is a big source of value in the book, looks at “pleasure thieves”: stress, trauma, and shame. The advice for overcoming these is not “don’t worry; be happy” but rather is actual practical steps one can take.

    The style throughout is direct and unpatronizing. Since the advice within pertains to everyone who has and/or wants an active sex life, very little is divided by gender etc.

    There is some attention given to anatomy and physiology, complete with clear diagrams. Honestly, most people could benefit from these, because most people’s knowledge of the relevant anatomy stopped with a very basic high school text book diagram that missed a lot out.

    Bottom line: this book spends more time on what’s between your ears than what’s between your legs, and yet is very comprehensive in all areas. Everyone has something to gain from this one.

    Click here to check out Smart Sex and stop missing out!

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  • The Food Additive You Do Want

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Q: When Is A Fiber Not A Fiber?

    A: when it’s a resistant starch. What’s it resistant to? Digestion. So, it functions as though a fiber, and by some systems, may get classified as such.

    It’s a little like how sucralose is technically a sugar, but the body processes it like a fiber (but beware, because the sweetness of this disaccharide alone can trigger an insulin response anyway—dose dependent)

    There may be other problems too:

    But today’s not about sucralose, it’s about…

    Guar gum’s surprising dietary role

    You may have noticed “guar gum” on the list of ingredients of all kinds of things from baked goods to dairy products to condiments to confectionary and more.

    It’s also used in cosmetics and explosives, but let’s not focus on that.

    It’s used in food products as…

    • a bulking agent
    • a thickener
    • a stabilizer

    Our attention was caught by a new study, that found:

    Resistant starch intake facilitates weight loss in humans by reshaping the gut microbiota

    Often people think of “fiber helps weight loss” as “well yes, if you are bulking out your food with sawdust, you will eat less”, but it’s not that.

    There’s an actual physiological process going on here!

    We can’t digest it, but our gut microbiota can and will ferment it. See also:

    Fiber against pounds: Resistant starch found to support weight loss

    Beyond weight loss

    Not everyone wants to lose weight, and even where weight loss is a goal, it’s usually not the only goal. As it turns out, adding guar gum into our diet does more things too:

    Resistant starch supplement found to reduce liver triglycerides in people with fatty liver disease

    (specifically, this was about NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease)

    Digging a little, it seems the benefits don’t stop there either:

    Diet high in guar gum fiber limits inflammation and delays multiple sclerosis symptoms

    (this one was a rodent study, but still, it’s promising and it’s consistent with what one would expect based on what else we know about its function in diet)

    Should we just eat foods with guar gum in as an additive?

    That depends on what they are, but watch out for the other additives if you do!

    You can just buy guar gum by itself, by the way (here’s an example product on Amazon).

    It’s doubtlessly no fun to take as a supplement (we haven’t tried this one), but it can be baked into bread, if baking’s your thing, or just used as a thickener in recipes where ordinarily you might use cornstarch or something else.

    Can I get similar benefits from other foods?

    The relevant quality is also present in resistant starches in general, so you might want to check out these foods, for example:

    9 Foods That Are High in Resistant Starch

    You can also check out ways to increase your fiber intake in general:

    Level-Up Your Fiber Intake! (Without Difficulty Or Discomfort)

    Enjoy!

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  • Shoulders Range – by Elia Bartolini

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Shoulder flexibility and mobility can be a big deal, especially when it starts to decline—more so than other kinds of flexibility. Most seniors can get through the day without doing the splits against a wall, for example, but shoulder tightness can be more of a problem if you can’t easily get into or out of your clothes.

    If you think it couldn’t happen to you: the great Jane Fonda has a now-famous photoset of her looking glamorous in a dress at a red carpet event, and then looking frazzled making breakfast in the same dress in her kitchen the next morning, because, as she wrote, “I couldn’t get my dress unzipped so I slept in it”.

    Now, “to avoid ending up like Jane Fonda” is not a series of words that usually precedes advice, but in this case: this book delves into the science of one of the most quirky joints of the human body, and how to leverage this to maximize shoulder mobility, while maintaining adequate strength (because flexibility without strength is just asking for a dislocation) without doing anything that would actually bulk up our shoulders, because it’s just about progressing through passive, active, and tensed stretching, static, dynamic, and loaded stretching, as well as PNF stretching and antagonist stretching.

    If that seems like a lot of stretching, don’t worry; the author presents a series of workouts that will take us through these stretches in a very small amount of time each day.

    The style is instructional like a textbook, with clear diagrams where appropriate, and lots of callout boxes, bullet points, emboldening for key points, etc. It all makes for every easy learning.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to improve and maintain your shoulder mobility, this is an excellent book for that.

    Click here to check out Shoulders Range, and perfect your shoulders and upper body flexibility!

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  • Revealed: The Soviet Secret Recipe For Success That The CIA Admits Put The US To Shame

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Today’s edition of 10almonds brings you a blast from the past with a modern twist: an ancient Russian peasant food that became a Soviet staple, and today, is almost unknown in the West.

    Before we get to that, let’s take a sneaky look at this declassified CIA memorandum from near the end of the Cold War:

    (Click here to see a bigger version)

    The take-away here is:

    • Americans were eating 2–3 times more meat than Soviets
    • Soviets were eating nearly double the amount of grain products and potatoes

    …and both of these statistics meant that nutritionally speaking, the Soviets were doing better.

    Americans also consumed more sugar and fats, which again, wasn’t the best dietary option.

    But was the American diet tastier? Depends on whom you ask.

    Which brings us to a literal recipe we’re going to be sharing with you today:

    It’s not well-known in the West, but in Russia, it’s a famous national comfort food, a bastion of health and nutrition, and it rose to popularity because it was not only cheap and nutritious, but also, you could eat it for days without getting sick of it. And it could be easily frozen for reheating later without losing any of its appeal—it’d still be just as good.

    In Russia there are sayings about it:

    Щи да каша — пища наша (Shchi da kasha — pishcha nasha)

    Shchi and buckwheat are what we eat

    Top tip: buckwheat makes an excellent (and naturally sweet) alternative to porridge oats if prepared the same way!

    Где щи, там и нас ищи (Gdye shchi, tam i nas ishchi)

    Where there’s shchi, us you’ll see

    Голь голью, а луковка во щах есть (Gol’ gol’yu, a lukovka vo shchakh yest’)

    I’m stark naked, but there’s shchi with onions

    There’s a very strong sentiment in Russia that really, all you need is shchi (shchi, shchi… shchi is all you need )

    But what, you may ask, is shchi?

    Our culinary cultural ambassador Nastja is here to offer her tried-and-tested recipe for…

    …Russian cabbage soup (yes, really—bear with us now, and you can thank us later)

    There are a lot of recipes for shchi (see for yourself what the Russian version of Lifehacker recommends), and we’ll be offering our favorite…

    Nastja’s Nutritious and Delicious Homemade Shchi

    Hi, Nastja here! I’m going to share with you my shchi recipe that is:

    • Cheap
    • So tasty
    • Super nutritious*
    • Vegan
    • Gluten Free

    You will also need:

    • A cabbage (I use sweetheart, but any white cabbage will do)
    • 1 cup (250g) red lentils (other kinds of lentils will work too)
    • ½ lb or so (250–300g) tomatoes (I use baby plum tomatoes, but any kind will do)
    • ½ lb or so (250–300g) mushrooms (the edible kind)
    • An onion (I use a brown onion; any kind will do)
    • Salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, parsley, cumin
    • Marmite or similar yeast extract (do you hate it? Me too. Trust me, it’ll be fine, you’ll love it. Omit if you’re a coward.)
    • A little oil for sautéing (I use sunflower, but canola is fine, as is soy oil. Do not use olive oil or coconut oil, because the taste is too strong and the flashpoint too low)

    First, what the French call mise-en-place, the prep work:

    1. Chop the cabbage into small strips, ⅛–¼ inch x 1 inch is a good guideline, but you can’t really go wrong unless you go to extremes
    2. Chop the tomatoes. If you’re using baby plum tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes), cut them in half. If using larger tomatoes, cut them into eighths (halve them, halve the halves, then halve the quarters)
    3. Chop the mushrooms. If using button mushrooms, half them. If using larger mushrooms, quarter them.
    4. Chop the onion finely.
    5. Gather the following kitchenware: A big pan (stock pot or similar), a sauté pan (a big wok or frying pan will do), a small frying pan (here a wok will not do), and a saucepan (a rice cook will also do)

    Now, for actual cooking:

    1. Cook the red lentils until soft (I use a rice cooker, but a saucepan is fine) and set aside
    2. Sauté the cabbage, put it in the big pot (not yet on the heat!)
    3. Fry the mushrooms, put them in the big pot (still not yet on the heat!)

    When you’ve done this a few times and/or if you’re feeling confident, you can do the above simultaneously to save time

    1. Blend the lentils into the water you cooked them in, and then add to the big pot.
    2. Turn the heat on low, and if necessary, add more water to make it into a rich soup
    3. Add the seasonings to taste, except the parsley. Go easy on the cumin, be generous with the rosemary and thyme, let your heart guide you with the salt and pepper.
    4. When it comes to the yeast extract: add about one teaspoon and stir it into the pot. Even if you don’t like Marmite, it barely changes the flavour (makes it slightly richer) and adds a healthy dose of vitamin B12.

    We did not forget the tomatoes and the onion:

    1. Caramelize the onion (keep an eye on the big pot) and set it aside
    2. Fry the tomatoes and add them to the big pot

    Last but definitely not least:

    1. Serve!
    2. The caramelized onion is a garnish, so put a little on top of each bowl of shchi
    3. The parsley is also a garnish, just add a little

    Any shchi you don’t eat today will keep in the fridge for several days, or in the freezer for much longer.

    *That nutritious goodness I talked about? Check it out:

    • Lentils are high in protein and iron
    • Cabbage is high in vitamin C and calcium
    • Mushrooms are high in magnesium
    • Tomatoes are good against inflammation
    • Black pepper has a host of health benefits
    • Yeast extract contains vitamin B12

    Let us know how it went! We love to receive emails from our subscribers!

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  • Fix Chronic Fatigue & Regain Your Energy, By Science

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Chronic fatigue is on the rise. A lot of it appears to be Long COVID-related, but whether that’s the case for you or not, one thing that will make a big difference to your energy levels is something that French biochemist Jessie Inchauspé is here to explain:

    Mitochondrial management

    Inchauspé explains it in terms of a steam train; to keep running, it must have coal burning in its furnace. However, if more coal is delivered to the engine room faster than it can be put in the furnace and burned, and the coal just keeps on coming, the worker there will soon be overwhelmed trying to find places to put it all; the engine room will be full of coal, and the furnace will sputter and go out because the worker can’t even reach it on account of being buried in coal.

    So it is with our glucose metabolism also. If we get spikes of glucose faster than our body can deal with them, it will overload the body’s ability to process that energy at all. Just like the steam train worker, our body will try! It’ll stuff that extra glucose wherever it can (storing as glycogen in the liver is a readily available option that’s easy to do and/but also gives you non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and isn’t quickly broken down into useable energy), and meanwhile, your actual mitochondria aren’t getting what they need (which is: a reliable, but gentle, influx of glucose).

    You can imagine that the situation we described in the steam train isn’t good for the engine’s longevity, and the corresponding situation in the human body isn’t good for our mitochondria either (or our pancreas, or our liver, or… the list goes on). Indeed, damaged mitochondria affect exercise capacity and stress resilience—as well as being a long-term driver of cancer.

    The remedy, of course, is blood sugar management. Specifically, avoiding glucose spikes. She has a list of 10 ways to do this (small changes to how we eat; what things to eat with what, in which order, etc) that make a huge measurable difference. For your convenience, we’ve linked those ten ways below; first though, if you’d like to hear it from Inchauspé directly (her style is very pleasant), enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Take care!

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  • Activate Your Brain – by Scott G. Halford

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    We’ve reviewed a number of “improve your brain health” books over time, and this one’s quite different. How?

    Most of the books we’ve reviewed have been focused on optimizing diet and exercise for brain health with a nod to other factors… This one focuses more on those other factors.

    While this book does reference a fair bit of hard science, much of it is written more like a pop psychology book. As a result, most of the actionable advices, of which there are many, pertain to cognitive and behavioral adjustments.

    And no, this is not a book of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It just happened to also address those two aspects.

    We learn, for example, how our neurochemistry influences us—but also how we can influence our neurochemistry.

    We also learn the oft-neglected (in other books!) social factors that influence brain health. Not just for our happiness, but for our productivity and peak cognitive performance too. Halford talks us through optimizing these such that we and those around us all get to enjoy the best brain benefits available to each of us.

    The format of the book is that each chapter explains what you need to know for a given “activation” as the author calls it, and then an exercise to try out. With fifteen such chapters, every reader is bound to find at least something new.

    Bottom line: if you want to grease those synapses in more ways than just eating some nuts and berries and getting good sleep and exercise, this book is a great resource.

    Click here to check out “Activate Your Brain” and find your next level of cognitive performance!

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