Why We’re Called “10almonds”, And Other Questions

It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!

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

❝Avid coffee drinker so very interested in the results Also question Is there something that you could take or eat that would prevent the caffeine from stimulating the kidneys? I tried to drink decaf from morning to night not a good result! Thanks❞

That is a good question! The simple answer is “no” (but keep reading, because all is not lost)

There’s no way (that we yet know of) to proof the kidneys against the stimulating effect of caffeine. This is especially relevant because part of caffeine’s stimulating effect is noradrenergic, and that “ren” in the middle there? It’s about the kidneys. This is just because the adrenal gland is situated next to them (actually, it’s pretty much sitting on top of them), hence the name, but it does mean that the kidneys are about the hardest thing in the body to have not affected by caffeine.

However! The effects of caffeine in general can be softened a little with l-theanine (found in tea, or it can be taken as a supplement). It doesn’t stop it from working, but it makes the curve of the effect a little gentler, and so it can reduce some unwanted side effects.

You can read more about l-theanine here:

L-Theanine: What’s The Tea?

❝How to jump start a inactive metabolism and keep it going? THANKYOU❞

The good news is, if you’re alive, your metabolism is active (it never stops!). So, it may just need perking up a little.

As for keeping it going, well, that’s what we’re here for! We’re all in favor of healthy longevity.

We’ll do a main feature soon on what we can do to influence our metabolism in either direction, but to give some quick notes here:

• A lot of our metabolism is influenced by genes and is unalterable (without modifying our genes, anyway)
• Metabolism isn’t just one thing—it’s many. And sometimes, parts of our metabolism can be much quicker or slower than others.
• When people talk about wanting a “faster metabolism”, they’re usually referring to fat-burning, and that’s just a small part of the picture, but we understand that it’s a focal point for many.
  • Intermittent fasting can help a lot with that

There really is enough material for a whole main feature on metabolic tweaks, though, so watch this space!

❝Why the name “10 Almonds?” Is this recommended by the Doctor? A daily dosage? And, if so, why? Thanks! Please answer me…I truly want to know!❞

Almonds are very nutritionally dense, and for example 20g of almonds (so, about 20 almonds) would give a 100% daily dose of zinc, amongst other nutrients.

We also do like to think that we give our readers an easily digestible dose of condensed “nutrition” in the form of health information.

However! That’s not actually the reason at all. It’s a reference to a viral Facebook hoax! There was a post going around that claimed:

❝HEADACHE REMEDY. Eat 10–12 almonds, the equivalent of two aspirins, next time you have a headache❞ ← not true!

It made us think about how much health-related disinformation there was circulating online! So, calling ourselves 10almonds was a bit of a nod to that story, but also a reminder to ourselves:

We must always publish information with good scientific evidence behind it!