How To Make Drinking Less Harmful
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Making Drinking Less Harmful
We often talk of the many ways alcohol harms our health, and we advocate for reducing (or eliminating) its consumption. However, itβs not necessarily as easy as all that, and it might not even be a goal that everyone has. So, if youβre going to imbibe, what can you do to mitigate the harmful effects of alcohol?
There is no magical solution
Sadly. If you drink alcohol, there will be some harmful effects, and nothing will completely undo that. But there are some things that can at least helpβread on to learn more!
Coffee
Itβs not the magical sober-upperer that some would like it to be, but it is good against the symptoms of alcohol intoxication, and slightly reduces the harm to your body, because it is:
- Hydrating (whereas alcohol is dehydrating)
- A source of antioxidants (whereas alcohol causes oxidative stress, which has nothing to do with psychological stress, and is a kind of cellular damage)
- A stimulant, assuming it is not decaffeinated (itβs worth noting that its stimulant effects work partly by triggering vasoconstriction, which is the opposite of the vasodilation caused by alcohol)
To this end, the best coffee for anti-alcohol effects should be:
- Caffeinated, and strong
- Long (we love espresso, but we need hydration here and that comes from volume!)
- Without sugar (you donβt want to create an adverse osmotic gradient to leech water from your body)
As for milk/cream/whatever, have it or donβt, per your usual preference. It wonβt make any difference to the alcohol in your system.
Antioxidants, polyphenols, flavonoids, and things with similar mechanisms
We mentioned that coffee contains antioxidants, but if you want to really bring out the heavy guns, taking more powerful antioxidants can help a lot. If you donβt have the luxury of enjoying berries and cacao nibs by the handful, supplements that have some similar benefits are a perfectly respectable choice.
For example, you might want to consider green tea extract:
L-theanine 200mg (available on Amazon)
Specialist anti-alcohol drugs
These are somewhat new and the research is still ongoing, but for example:
Dihydromyricetin (DHM) as a novel anti-alcohol intoxication medication
In short, DHM is a flavonoid (protects against the oxidative stress caused by alcohol, and has been found to reduce liver damageβsee the above link) and also works on GABA-receptors (reduces alcohol withdrawal symptoms after cessation of drinking, and thus also reduces hangovers).
Once again: the marketing claims of such drugs may be bold, but thereβs a lot thatβs not known and theyβre not a magic pill. They do NOT mean you can take them alongside drinking and drink what you like with impunity. However, they may help mitigate some of the harmful effects of alcohol. If you wish to try them, these can be purchased at pharmacies or online, for example:
Alcohol Defense Capsules (available on Amazon)
Bottom line
Alcohol is bad for your health and none of the above will eliminate the health risks. But, if youβre going to have alcohol, then having the above things as well may at least somewhat reduce the harm done.
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Undoing Creatine’s Puffiness Side Effect
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Itβs Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!
In cases where weβve 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 tooβthereβs always more to say!
As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, weβll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, weβll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!
So, no question/request too big or small π
βCreatine is known to increase βpuffinessβ, especially in my face. Are there any supplements that do the opposite?!β
So first, letβs examine why this happens: creatine is most often taken to boost muscle size and performance. Your muscles are, of course, mostly water by mass, and so building your muscles requires extra water, which triggers systemic water retention.
In other words: you take creatine, exercise, and as the muscles start growing, the body goes βoh heck, we are running out of water, better save as much as possible in order to keep hydrating the muscles without running outβ and starts putting it anywhere it can that’s not your bladder, so this will largely be the soft tissues of your body.
So, this results in classic water retentions symptoms including bloating and, yes, facial puffiness.
How much this happens, and how long the effects last, depend on three main things:
- What daily dose of creatine you are taking
- What kind of exercise you are doing
- What your hydration is like
The dose is relevant as itβs most common to get this puffiness during the βloadingβ phase, i.e. if youβre taking an increased dose to start with.
The exercise is relevant as it affects how much your body is actually using the water to build muscles.
The hydration is relevant because the less water you are taking, the more the body will try to retain whatever you do have.
This means, of course, that the supplement you are looking for to undo the facial puffiness is, in fact, water (even, nay, especially, if you feel bloated too):
Water For Everything? Waterβs Counterintuitive Properties
Additionally, you could scale back the dose of creatine youβre taking, if youβre not currently doing heavy muscle-building exercise.
That said, the recommended dose for cognitive benefits is 5g/day, which is a very standard main-phase (i.e., post-loading) bodybuilding dose, so do with that information what you will.
See also: Creatineβs Brain Benefits Increase With Age
On which note: whether or not you want to take creatine for brain benefits, however, may depend on your age:
Creatine: Very Different For Young & Old People
Most research on creatineβs effects on humans has usually been either collegiate athletes or seniors, which leaves quite a research gap in the middleβso itβs unclear at what age the muscle-building effects begin to taper off, and at what age the cognitive benefits begin to take off.
Want a quicker fix?
If you want to reduce your facial puffiness acutely (e.g., you have a date in an hour and would like to not have a puffy face), then there are two things you can do that will help immediately, and/but only have short-term effects, meaning youβd have to do them daily to enjoy the results every day:
The first is an ice bath; simply fill a large bowl with water and ice cubes, give it a couple of minutes to get down to temperature, hold your breath and plunge your face in for as long as you can comfortably hold your breath. Repeat a few times, and towel off.
This helps by waking up the vasculature in your face, helping it to reduce puffiness naturally.
The second is facial yoga or guΔ shΔ, which is the practice of physically manipulating the soft tissues of your face to put them where you want them, rather than where you donβt want them. This will work against water retention puffiness, as well as cortisol puffiness, lymphatic puffiness, and more:
7-Minute Face Fitness For Lymphatic Drainage & Youthful Jawline
Enjoy!
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Wasting Your Vitamins?
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Are you flushing away your vitamins?
Most likely…but you don’t have to.
We all know what a wasteful expense supplements can sometimes be, but you can optimise your intake to get more bang for your buck!
Top Tips for Getting Your Moneyβs Worth:
- Liquids are better than tabletsβthe body canβt absorb nutrients from tablets anywhere as easily as it can from liquids, with some saying as low as a 50% absorption rate for tablets, so if your supplement can come in drinkable form, take it that way!
- Capsules are better than tabletsβcapsules, depending on the kind, contain either a powder (true capsules) or a liquid (softgels). Once the capsule/softgel is broken down in the stomach, it releases its contents, which will now be absorbed as though you took it as a drink.
- Stay hydratedβon that note, your body can only make use of nutrients that it can easily transport, and if youβre dehydrated, the process is sluggish! Having a big glass of water with your supplements will go a long way to helping your body get them where theyβre needed.
- Take with black pepperβstudies disagree on exactly how much black pepper improves absorption of nutrients. Some say it improves it by 50%, others say as much as 7x better. The truth is probably that it varies from one nutrient to the next, but what is (almost) universally accepted is that black pepper helps you absorb many nutrients you take orally.
- Take with a mealβbonus if you seasoned it with black pepper! But also: many nutrients are best absorbed alongside food, and many are specifically fat-soluble (so you want to take a little fat around the same time for maximum absorption)
- Consider split dosesβa lot of nutrients are best absorbed when spread out a bit. Why? Your body can often only absorb so much at once, and what it couldnβt absorb can, depending on the nutrient, pass right through you. So better to space out the dosesβbreakfast and dinner make for great times to take them.
- Consider cyclingβno, not the two-wheeled kind, though feel free to do that too! What cycling means when it comes to supplements is to understand that your body can build a tolerance to some supplements, so youβll get gradually less effect for the same dose. Combat this by scheduling a breakβfive days on, two days off is a common scheduleβallowing your body to optimise itself in the process!
- Check Medicationsβand, as is always safe, make sure you check whether any medications you take can interrupt your supplement absorption!
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Grains: Bread Of Life, Or Cereal Killer?
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Going Against The Grain?
In Wednesdayβs newsletter, we asked you for your health-related opinion of grains (aside from any gluten-specific concerns), and got the above-depicted, below-described, set of responses:
- About 69% said βThey are an important cornerstone of a healthy balanced dietβ
- About 22% said βThey can be enjoyed in moderation, but watch outβ
- About 8% said βThey are terrible health-drainers that will kill usβ
So, what does the science say?
They are terrible health-drainers that will kill us: True or False?
True or False depending on the manner of their consumption!
There is a big difference between the average pizza base and a bowl of oats, for instance. Or rather, there are a lot of differences, but whatβs most critical here?
The key is: refined and ultraprocessed grains are so inferior to whole grains as to be actively negative for health in most cases for most people most of the time.
But! Itβs not because processing is ontologically evil (in reality: some processed foods are healthy, and some unprocessed foods are poisonous). although it is a very good general rule of thumb.
So, we need to understand the βwhyβ behind the βkeyβ that we just gave above, and thatβs mostly about the resultant glycemic index and associated metrics (glycemic load, insulin index, etc).
In the case of refined and ultraprocessed grains, our body gains sugar faster than it can process it, and stores it wherever and however it can, like someone who has just realised that they will be entertaining a houseguest in 10 minutes and must tidy up super-rapidly by hiding things wherever theyβll fit.
And when the body tries to do this with sugar from refined grains, the result is very bad for multiple organs (most notably the liver, but the pancreas takes quite a hit too) which in turn causes damage elsewhere in the body, not to mention that we now have urgently-produced fat stored in unfortunate places like our liver and abdominal cavity when it should have gone to subcutaneous fat stores instead.
In contrast, whole grains come with fiber that slows down the absorption of the sugars, such that the body can deal with them in an ideal fashion, which usually means:
- using them immediately, or
- storing them as muscle glycogen, or
- storing them as subcutaneous fat
π thatβs an oversimplification, but we only have so much room here.
For more on this, see:
Glycemic Index vs Glycemic Load vs Insulin Index
And for why this matters, see:
Which Sugars Are Healthier, And Which Are Just The Same?
And for fixing it, see:
They can be enjoyed in moderation, but watch out: True or False?
Technically True but functionally False:
- Technically true: βin moderationβ is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. One personβs βmoderationβ may be another personβs βabstemiousnessβ or βgluttonyβ.
- Functionally false: while of course extreme consumption of pretty much anything is going to be bad, unless you are Cereals Georg eating 10,000 cereals each day and being a statistical outlier, the issue is not the quantity so much as the quality.
Quality, we discussed aboveβand that is, as we say, paramount. As for quantity however, you might want to know a baseline for βgetting enoughβ, soβ¦
They are an important cornerstone of a healthy balanced diet: True or False?
True! This oneβs quite straightforward.
3 servings (each being 90g, or about Β½ cup) of whole grains per day is associated with a 22% reduction in risk of heart disease, 5% reduction in all-cause mortality, and a lot of benefits across a lot of disease risks:
βThis meta-analysis provides further evidence that whole grain intake is associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and total cancer, and mortality from all causes, respiratory diseases, infectious diseases, diabetes, and all non-cardiovascular, non-cancer causes.
These findings support dietary guidelines that recommend increased intake of whole grain to reduce the risk of chronic diseases and premature mortality.β
~ Dr. Dagfinn Aune et al.
Weβd like to give a lot more sources for the same findings, as well as papers for all the individual claims, but frankly, there are so many that there isnβt room. Suffice it to say, this is neither controversial nor uncertain; these benefits are well-established.
Hereβs a very informative pop-science article, that also covers some of the things we discussed earlier (it shows what happens during refinement of grains) before getting on to recommendations and more citations for claims than we can fit here:
Harvard School Of Public Health | Whole Grains
βThatβs all great, but what if I am concerned about gluten?β
There certainly are reasons you might be, be it because of a sensitivity, allergy, or just because perhaps youβd like to know more.
Letβs first mention: not all grains contain gluten, so itβs perfectly possible to enjoy naturally gluten-free grains (such as oats and rice) as well as gluten-free pseudocereals, which are not actually grains but do the same job in culinary and nutritional terms (such as quinoa and buckwheat, despite the latterβs name).
Finally, if youβd like to know more about glutenβs health considerations, then check out our previous mythbusting special:
Enjoy!
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The Liver Cure β by Dr. Russell Blaylock
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Weβve written before about How To Unfatty A Fatty Liver, but thereβs a lot more that can be said in a book that we couldnβt fit into our article.
In this book, Dr. Blaylock looks at the causes and symptoms of liver disease, the mechanisms behind such, and how we can adjust our dietary habits (and other things) to do better for ourselves.
While the bookβs primary focus is on diet, he does also look at medications (especially: those that hinder liver health, which are many, including simple/common stuff like Tylenol and similar), and the effects of different lifestyle choices, including ones that arenβt diet-related.
Because most peopleβs knowledge of liver disease starts and ends at βdonβt drink yourself to deathβ, this book is an important tome of knowledge for actually keeping this critical organ in good orderβespecially since symptoms of liver disease can initially be subtle, and slow to show, often escaping notice until itβs already far, far worse than it could have been.
Many people find out by experiencing liver failure.
The writing style isβ¦ A little repetitive for this reviewerβs preference, but it does make sure that you wonβt miss things. Also, when it comes to supplements, he repeatedly recommends a particular company, and itβs not clear whether he has a financial interest there. But the actual medical information is good and important and comprehensive.
Bottom line: if youβd like to keep your liver in good health, this is a book that will help you to do just that.
Click here to check out The Liver Cure, and keep yours working well!
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What Does Kaempferol Do, Anyway?
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Itβs Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!
In cases where weβve 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 tooβthereβs always more to say!
As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, weβll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, weβll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!
So, no question/request too big or small π
βIn the this or that article, you said kampeferol was a famously good flavonol on a par with quercetin, does it do the same thing or does it do something different, and is it worth supplementing?β
So, this will be in reference to a This-or-That from last week:
Cantaloupe vs Cucumber β Which is Healthier?
Let’s break down your question into parts:
- Is it comparable to quercetin?
- Does it have special properties of its own?
- Is it worth supplementing?
Is it comparable to quercetin?
They are both flavonols, and potent ones at that. Similarities include that they’re found in many of the same plants, and that (like most if not all polyphenols) they have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits, which in turn usually translate to anti-aging and anticancer benefits too.
You can read more about quercetin here: Fight Inflammation & Protect Your Brain, With Quercetin
You can read more about polyphenols in general here: 21 Most Beneficial Polyphenols & What Foods Have Them β quercetin and kaempferol are #1 and #2 on this list, respectively
Does it have special properties of its own?
Yes it does!
βEpidemiological studies have shown an inverse relationship between kaempferol intake and cancer.
Kaempferol may help by augmenting the bodyβs antioxidant defense against free radicals, which promote the development of cancer.
At the molecular level, kaempferol has been reported to modulate a number of key elements in cellular signal transduction pathways linked to apoptosis, angiogenesis, inflammation, and metastasis.
Significantly, kaempferol inhibits cancer cell growth and angiognesis and induces cancer cell apoptosis, but on the other hand, kaempferol appears to preserve normal cell viability, in some cases exerting a protective effect.β
Read in full: A review of the dietary flavonoid, kaempferol on human health and cancer chemoprevention
It is also particularly good for the gut:
βMost recently, an increasing number of studies have demonstrated the significance of kaempferol in the regulation of intestinal function and the mitigation of intestinal inflammationβ
Read in full: A Critical Review of Kaempferol in Intestinal Health and Diseases
This also means it is particularly efficacious against food allergies:
βwe screened food ingredients with the expectation of finding dietary compounds that exert beneficial effects on intestinal immune tolerance and identified kaempferol, a flavonoid, as the compound that most effectively increased Aldh1a2 mRNA levelsβ
(that’s good)
That one’s a bit scientifically denser than we usually try to find when citing sources here, so here’s a pop-science article about the same thing, which explains in more words than we have room to here:
Flavonoid kaempferol could offer natural relief for food allergies β much lighter reading, but still very informative
Kaempferol (like quercetin, granted) is also a potent neuroprotective agent, not least of all because its anti-inflammatory powers extend to reducing neuroinflammation (not everything does, because not everything we ingest can pass the blood-brain barrier to affect what goes on in the brain):
…and more:
βit may be used to treat numerous acute and chronic inflammation-induced diseases, including intervertebral disc degeneration and colitis, as well as post-menopausal bone loss and acute lung injury. In addition, it has beneficial effects against cancer, liver injury, obesity and diabetes, inhibits vascular endothelial inflammation, protects the cranial nerve and heart function, and may be used for treating fibroproliferative disorders, including hypertrophic scar.β
Read in full: Recent progress regarding kaempferol for the treatment of various diseases
Is it worth supplementing?
If you eat a lot of leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, and/or citrus fruits, and/or drink tea (true teas from tea plants, not miscellaneous herbal infusions), then you probably get a good dose of kaempferol already.
However, if you want to supplement, hawthorn berry is not a bad one to go with, like this example product on Amazon π
We wrote about this before, here: Hawthorn For The Heart (& More)
As for teas, if you’re wondering about the merits of black, white, green or red, check out:
Black, White, Green, Red: Which Kind Of Tea Is Best For The Health, According To Science? β this covers many factors
Enjoy!
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The Borderline Personality Disorder Workbook β by Dr. Daniel Fox
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Personality disorders in general get a bad rep. In part, because their names and descriptions often focus on how the disorders affect other people, rather than how they affect the actual sufferer:
- “This disorder gives you cripplingly low self-esteem; we call it Evil Not-Quite-Human Disorder”
- “This disorder makes you feel unloveable; we call it Abusive Bitch Disorder”
- …etc
Putting aside the labels and stigma, it turns out that humans sometimes benefit from help. In the case of BPD, characterized by such things as difficult moods and self-sabotage, the advice in this book can help anyone struggling with those (and related) issues.
The style of the book is both textbook, and course. It’s useful to proceed through it methodically, and doing the exercises is good too. We recommend getting the print edition, not the Kindle edition, so that you can check off boxes, write in it (pencil, if you like!), etc.
Bottom line: if you or a loved one suffers from BPD symptoms (whether or not you/they would meet criteria for diagnosis), this book can help a lot.
Click here to check out the BPD Workbook, and retake control of your life!
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Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails: