Pistachios vs Pine Nuts – Which is Healthier?

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Our Verdict

When comparing pistachios to pine nuts, we picked the pistachios.

Why?

First looking at the macros, pistachios have nearly 2x the protein while pine nuts have nearly 2x the fat. The fats are healthy in moderation (mostly polyunsaturated, a fair portion of monounsaturated, and a little saturated), but we’re going to value the protein content higher. Also, pistachios have approximately 2x the carbs, and/but nearly 3x the fiber. All in all, we’ll call this section a moderate win for pistachios.

When it comes to vitamins, pistachios have more of vitamins A, B1, B5, B6, B9, and C, while pine nuts have more of vitamins B2, B3, E, K, and choline. All in all, pistachios are scraping a 6:5 win here, or we could call it a tie if we want to value pine nuts’ vitamins more (due to the difference in how many foods each vitamin is found in, and thus the likelihood of having a deficiency or not).

In the category of minerals, pistachios have more calcium, copper, potassium, and selenium, while pine nuts have more iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc. This would be a tie if we just call it 4:4, but what’s worth noting is that while both of these nuts are a good source of most of the minerals mentioned, pine nuts aren’t a very good source of calcium or selenium, so we’re going to declare this section a very marginal win for pistachios.

Adding up the moderate win, the scraped win, and the barely scraped win, all adds up to a win for pistachios. However, as you might have noticed, both are great so do enjoy both if you can!

Want to learn more?

You might like to read:

Why You Should Diversify Your Nuts

Take care!

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  • Infrared-Reflecting Patches For Health?

    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.

    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small

    ❝Hi! I’ve been reading about LifeWave patches, would you recommend them?❞

    For reference first, this is talking about these: LifeWave.com

    Short answer: no

    Longer answer: their main premise seems to be that the patches (subscription prices seem to start from about $100–$300 per month) reflect infrared energy back into your body, making you more energized and healthy.

    Fun fact: aluminum foil reflects infrared energy (which we feel as heat), by the way, and that is why space blankets (of the kind used in emergencies and by some athletes) are made shiny like that, often with aluminized mylar.

    We cannot comment too closely on the rest of the presented science of their products, as it seems quite unlike anything we’re accustomed to reading, and we were not able to make a lot of sense of it.

    They do cite research papers to back their claims, including research conducted by the company’s founder and published via an open journal.

    Many others are independent studies conducted by often the same researchers as each other, mostly experts in acupuncture and acupressure.

    For the papers we looked at, the sample sizes were very small, but the conclusions were very positive.

    They were published in a variety of journals, of which we cannot claim any prior knowledge (i.e:, they were not the peer-reviewed journals from which we cite most of our sources).

    Also, none were registered with ClinicalTrials.gov.

    To be on the safe side, their disclaimer does advise:

    ❝LifeWave products are only intended to maintain or encourage a general state of health or healthy activity and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate, or prevent any disease or medical condition of the body❞

    They do have a Frequently Asked Questions page, which tells about ancient Egyptian use of colored glass, as well as more modern considerations including joining, ordering, their commissions system, binary commissions and matching bonuses, and “how to rank up in LifeWave” as well as a lot of information about subscribing as a preferred customer or a brand partner, opting in to their multi-level marketing opportunities.

    Here’s what “Honest Brand Reviews” had to say:

    Honest Brand Reviews | LifeWave Review

    Our position:

    We cannot honestly claim to understand their science, and thus naturally won’t actively recommend what we can’t speak for.

    An expert’s position:

    Since we couldn’t understand how this would work, here’s what Dr. Paul Knoepfler has to say about their flagship product, the LifeWave X39 patch:

    LifeWave X39 stem cell patch story has holes

    Take care!

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  • Lifestyle vs Multiple Sclerosis & More

    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.

    This is Dr. Saray Stancic. She’s another from the ranks of “doctors who got a serious illness and it completely changed how they view the treatment of serious illness”.

    In her case, Stancic was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and wasn’t impressed with the results from the treatments offered, so (after 8 years of pain, suffering, and many medications, only for her condition to worsen) she set about doing better with an evidence-based lifestyle medicine approach.

    After 7 years of her new approach, she would go on to successfully run a marathon and live symptom-free.

    All this to say: her approach isn’t a magic quick fix, but it is a serious method for serious results, and after all, while it’d be nice to be magically in perfect health tomorrow, what’s important is being in good health for life, right?

    If you’re interested in her impressive story, check out:

    Doctor With Multiple Sclerosis On The Collapse Of US Healthcare

    If you want to know what she did, then read on…

    Six key lifestyle changes

    Dr. Stancic credits her recovery to focus on the following evidence-based approaches:

    The plant-centered plate

    This is critical, and is the one she places most emphasis on. Most chronic diseases are exacerbated, if not outright caused, by chronic inflammation, and one cannot fix that without an anti-inflammatory diet.

    An anti-inflammatory diet doesn’t have to be 100% plant-based, but broadly speaking, plants are almost always anti-inflammatory to a greater or lesser degree, while animal products are often pro-inflammatory—especially red meat and unfermented dairy.

    For more details, see:

    Anti-Inflammatory Diet 101 (What to Eat to Fight Inflammation)

    Movement every day

    While “exercise is good for you” is in principle not a shocker, remember that her starting point was being in terrible condition with badly flared-up MS.

    Important to understand here is that excessive exercise can weaken the immune system and sometimes cause flare-ups of various chronic diseases.

    Moving thoroughly and moving often, however, is best. So walking yes, absolutely, but also don’t neglect the rest of your body, do some gentle bodyweight squats (if you can; if you can’t, work up to them), stretch your arms as well as your legs, take all your joints through a full range of motion.

    See also:

    The Doctor Who Wants Us To Exercise Less, & Move More

    Mindful stress management

    Stress in life is unavoidable, but how we manage it is up to us. Bad things will continue to happen, great and small, but we can take a deep breath, remember that those things aren’t the boss of us, and deal with it calmly and conscientiously.

    Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is of course the evidence-based “gold standard” for this, but whatever (not substance-based) method works for you, works for you!

    About MBSR:

    No-Frills, Evidence-Based Mindfulness

    Good sleeping habits

    Getting good sleep can be hard for anyone, let alone if you have chronic pain. However, Dr. Stancic advocates for doing whatever we can to get good sleep—which means not just duration (the famous “7–9 hours”), but also quality.

    Learn more:

    The 6 Dimensions Of Sleep (And Why They Matter)

    Substance intake awareness

    This one’s not so much of a “don’t do drugs, kids” as the heading makes it look. Dr. Stancic assumes we already know, for example, that smoking is bad for us in a long list of ways, and alcohol isn’t much better.

    However, she also advises us that in our eagerness to do that plant-based diet, we would do better to go for whole foods plant-based, rather than the latest processed meat substitutes, for example.

    And supplements? She bids us exercise caution, and to make sure to get good quality, as poor quality supplements can be worse than taking nothing (looking at you, cheap turmeric supplements that contain heavy metals).

    And of course, that nutrients gained from diet will almost always be better than nutrients gained from supplements, as our body can usually use them better.

    And see also, some commonly-made supplements mistakes:

    Do You Know Which Supplements You Shouldn’t Take Together? (10 Pairs!)

    Human connection

    Lastly, we humans are a social species by evolution; as individuals, we may enjoy relatively more or less social contact, but having access to such is important not just for our mental health, but our physical health too—we will tend to deteriorate much more quickly when we have to deal with everything alone, all other things being equal.

    It doesn’t mean you need a busy social life if that’s not in your nature, but it does mean it’s incredibly beneficial to have at least a small number of people that you trust and whose company you enjoy, at least relatively accessible to you (i.e., their life need not revolve around you, but they are the kind of people who will generally happily spend time with you and provide support when needed if they can).

    As for how:

    How To Beat Loneliness & Isolation

    Want to know more from Dr. Stancic?

    We recently reviewed this very good book of hers, which goes over each of these six things in much more detail than we have room for here:

    What’s Missing from Medicine – by Dr. Saray Stancic

    Enjoy!

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  • Surviving with Beans And Rice – by Eliza Whool

    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.

    If you’d like to be well-set the next time a crisis shuts down supply lines, this is one of those books you’ll want to have read.

    Superficially, “have in a large quantity of dried beans and rice” is good advice, but obvious. Why a book?

    Whool gives a lot of advice on keeping your nutrition balanced while subsisting on the same quite few ingredients, which is handy.

    More than that, she offers 100 recipes using the ingredients that will be in your long-term pantry. That’s over three months without repeating a meal! And if you don’t think rice and beans can be tasty and exciting and varied, then most of the chefs of the Global South might want to have a word about that.

    Anyway, we’re not here to sell you rice and beans (we’re just enthusiastic and correct). What we are here to do is to give you a fair overview of this book.

    The recipes are just-the-recipes, very simple clear instructions, one two-page spread per recipe. Most of the book is devoted to these. As a quick note, it does cover making things gluten-free if necessary, and other similar adjustments for medical reasons.

    The planning-and-storage section of the book is helpful too though, especially as it covers common mistakes to avoid.

    Bottom line: this is a great book, and remember what we said about doing the things now that future you will thank you for!

    Get yourself a copy of Surviving with Beans And Rice from Amazon today!

    Share This Post

Related Posts

  • Butter vs Ghee – Which is Healthier?
  • Sciatica Exercises & Home Treatment – by Dr. George Best

    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.

    Dr. Best is a doctor of chiropractic, but his work here is compelling. He starts by giving an overview of the relevant anatomy, and then the assorted possible causes of sciatica, before moving on to the treatments.

    As is generally the case for chiropractic, nothing here will be “cured”, but it will give methods for ongoing management to keep you pain-free—which in the case of sciatica, is usually the single biggest thing that most people suffering from it most dearly want.

    We get to read a lot about self-massage and exercises, of the (very well-evidenced; about the most well-evidenced thing there is for back pain) McKenzie technique exercises, as well as assorted acupressure-based techniques that are less well-evidenced but have good anecdotal support.

    He also writes about preventing sciatica—which if you already have it, that doesn’t mean it’s too late; it just means, in that case do these things (along with the aforementioned exercises) to gradually reverse the harm done and get back to where you were pre-sciatica.

    Lastly, he does also speak on when signs might point to your problems being beyond the scope of this book, and seeking professional examination if you haven’t already.

    The style throughout is straight to the point, informative, and instructional. There is zero fluff or padding, and no sensationalization. There are diagrams and illustrative photos where appropriate.

    Bottom line: if you have, or fear the threat of, sciatica, then this is an excellent book to have and use its exercises.

    Click here to check out Sciatica Exercises & Home Treatment, and live pain-free!

    Don’t Forget…

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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  • Undoing The Damage Of Life’s Hard Knocks

    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.

    Sometimes, What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Insecure

    We’ve written before about Complex PTSD, which is much more common than the more popularly understood kind:

    PTSD, But, Well…. Complex.

    Given that C-PTSD affects so many people (around 1 in 5, but really, do read the article above! It explains it better than we have room to repeat today), it seems like a good idea to share tips for managing it.

    (Last time, we took all the space for explaining it, so we just linked to some external resources at the end)

    What happened to you?

    PTSD has (as a necessity, as part of its diagnostic criteria) a clear event that caused it, which makes the above question easy to answer.

    C-PTSD often takes more examination to figure out what tapestry of circumstances (and likely but not necessarily: treatment by other people) caused it.

    Often it will feel like “but it can’t be that; that’s not that bad”, or “everyone has things like that” (in which case, you’re probably one of the one in five).

    The deeper questions

    Start by asking yourself: what are you most afraid of, and why? What are you most ashamed of? What do you fear that other people might say about you?

    Often there is a core pattern of insecurity that can be summed up in a simple, harmful, I-message, e.g:

    • I am a bad person
    • I am unloveable
    • I am a fake
    • I am easy to hurt
    • I cannot keep my loved ones safe

    …and so forth.

    For a bigger list of common insecurities to see what resonates, check out:

    Basic Fears/Insecurities, And Their Corresponding Needs/Desires

    Find where they came from

    You probably learned bad beliefs, and consequently bad coping strategies, because of bad circumstances, and/or bad advice.

    • When a parent exclaimed in anger about how stupid you are
    • When a partner exclaimed in frustration that always mess everything up
    • When an employer told you you weren’t good enough

    …or maybe they told you one thing, and showed you the opposite. Or maybe it was entirely non-verbal circumstances:

    • When you gambled on a good idea and lost everything
    • When you tried so hard at some important endeavour and failed
    • When you thought someone could be trusted, and learned the hard way that you were wrong

    These are “life’s difficult bits”, but when we’ve lived through a whole stack of them, it’s less like a single shattering hammer-blow of PTSD, and more like the consistent non-stop tap tap tap that ends up doing just as much damage in the long run.

    Resolve them

    That may sound a bit like a “and quickly create world peace” level of task, but we have tools:

    Ask yourself: what if…

    …it had been different? Take some time and indulge in a full-blown fantasy of a life that was better. Explore it. How would those different life lessons, different messages, have impacted who you are, your personality, your behaviour?

    This is useful, because the brain is famously bad at telling real memories from false ones. Consciously, you’ll know that one was an exploratory fantasy, but to your brain, it’s still doing the appropriate rewiring. So, little by little, neuroplasticity will do its thing.

    Tell yourself a better lie

    We borrowed this one from the title of a very good book which we’ve reviewed previously.

    This idea is not about self-delusion, but rather that we already express our own experiences as a sort of narrative, and that narrative tends to contain value judgements that are often not useful, e.g. “I am stupid”, “I am useless”, and all the other insecurities we mentioned earlier. Some simple examples might be:

    • “I had a terrible childhood” → “I have come so far”
    • “I should have known better” → “I am wiser now”
    • “I have lost so much” → “I have experienced so much”

    So, replacing that self-talk can go a long way to re-writing how secure we feel, and therefore how much trauma-response (ideally: none!) we have to stimuli that are not really as threatening as we sometimes feel they are (a hallmark of PTSD in general).

    Here’s a guide to more ways:

    How To Get Your Brain On A More Positive Track (Without Toxic Positivity)

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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  • How Your Exercise Today Gives A Brain Boost Tomorrow

    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.

    Regular 10almonds readers may remember we not long back wrote about a study that showed how daily activity levels, in aggregate, make a difference to brain health over the course of 1–2 weeks (in fact, it was a 9-day study):

    Daily Activity Levels & The Measurable Difference They Make To Brain Health

    Today, we’re going to talk about a new (published today, at time of writing) study that shows the associations between daily exercise levels (amongst other things) and how well people performed in cognitive tests the next day.

    By this we mean: they recorded exercise vs sedentary behavior vs sleep on a daily basis (using wearable tech to track it), and tested them daily with cognitive tests, and looked at how the previous day’s activities (or lack thereof) impacted the next day’s test results.

    Notably, the sample was of older adults (aged 50–83). The sample size wasn’t huge but was statistically significant (n=76) and the researchers are of course calling for more studies to be done with more people.

    What they found

    To put their findings into few words:

    • Consistent light exercise boosts general cognitive performance not just for hours (which was already known) but through the next day.
    • More moderate or vigorous activity than usual in particular led to better working memory and episodic memory the next day.
    • More sleep (especially slow-wave deep sleep) improved episodic memory and psychomotor speed.
    • Sedentary behavior was associated with poorer working memory.

    Let’s define some terms:

    • general cognitive performance = average of scores across the different tests
    • working memory = very short term memory, such as remembering what you came into this room for, or (as an example of a test format) being able to take down a multi-digit number in one go without it being broken down (and then, testing with longer lengths of number until failure)
    • episodic memory = memory of events in a narrative context, where and when they happened, etc
    • psychomotor speed = the speed of connection between perception and reaction in quick-response tests

    These are, of course, all useful things to have, which means the general advice here is to:

    • move more, generally
    • exercise more, specifically
    • sit less, whenever reasonably possible
    • sleep well

    You can read the study itself here:

    Associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep with next-day cognitive performance in older adults: a micro-longitudinal study

    Want to know the best kind of exercise for brain health?

    Check out our article about neuroscientist Dr. Suzuki, and what she has to say about it:

    The Exercise That Protects Your Brain

    Enjoy!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

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