An Apple (Cider Vinegar) A Day…

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An Apple (Cider Vinegar) A Dayโ€ฆ

Youโ€™ve probably heard of people drinking apple cider vinegar for its health benefits. Itโ€™s not very intuitive, so today weโ€™re going to see what the science has to sayโ€ฆ

Apple cider vinegar for managing blood sugars

Whether diabetic, prediabetic, or not at all, blood sugar spikes arenโ€™t good for us, so anything that evens that out is worth checking out. As for apple cider vinegarโ€ฆ

Diabetes Control: Is Vinegar a Promising Candidate to Help Achieve Targets?

…the answer found by this study was “yes”, but their study was small, and they concluded that more research would be worthwhile. So…

The role of acetic acid on glucose uptake and blood flow rates in the skeletal muscle in humans with impaired glucose tolerance

…was also a small study, with the same (positive) results.

But! We then found a much larger systematic review was conducted, examining 744 previously-published papers, adding in another 14 they found via those. After removing 47 duplicates, and removing another 15 for not having a clinical trial or not having an adequate control, they concluded:

โIn this systematic review and meta-analyses, the effect of vinegar consumption on postprandial glucose and insulin responses were evaluated through pooled analysis of glucose and insulin AUC in clinical trials. Vinegar consumption was associated with a statistically significant reduction in postprandial glucose and insulin responses in both healthy participants and participants with glucose disorder.โž

~ Sishehbor, Mansoori, & Shirani

Check it out:

Vinegar consumption can attenuate postprandial glucose and insulin responses; a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials

Apple cider vinegar for weight loss?

Yep! It appears to be an appetite suppressant, probably moderating ghrelin and leptin levels.

See: The Effects of Vinegar Intake on Appetite Measures and Energy Consumption: A Systematic Literature Review

Butโ€ฆ

As a bonus, it also lowers triglycerides and total cholesterol, while raising HDL (good cholesterol), and thatโ€™s in addition to doubling the weight loss compared to control:

See for yourself: Beneficial effects of Apple Cider Vinegar on weight management, Visceral Adiposity Index and lipid profile in overweight or obese subjects receiving restricted calorie diet: A randomized clinical trial

How much to take?

Most of these studies were done with 1โ€“2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water, at mealtime.

Obviously, if you want to enjoy the appetite-suppressant effects, take it before the meal! If you forget and/or choose to take it after though, itโ€™ll still help keep your blood sugars even and still give you the cholesterol-moderating benefits.

Where to get it?

Your local supermarket will surely have it. Or if you buy it online, you can even get it in capsule form!

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  • Ageless Aging โ€“ by Maddy Dychtwald

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    Maddy Dychtwald, herself 73, has spent her career working in the field of aging. She’s not a gerontologist or even a doctor, but she’s nevertheless been up-to-the-ears in the industry for decades, mostly as an organizer, strategist, facilitator, and so forth. As such, she’s had her finger on the pulse of the healthy longevity movement for a long time.

    This book was written to address a problem, and the problem is: lifespan is increasing (especially for women), but healthspan has not been keeping up the pace.

    In other words: people (especially women) are living longer, but often with more health problems along the way than before.

    And mostly, it’s for lack of information (or sometimes: too much competing incorrect information).

    Fortunately, information is something that a woman in Dychtwald’s position has an abundance of, because she has researchers and academics in many fields on speed-dial and happy to answer her questions (we get a lot of input from such experts throughout the bookโ€”which is why this book is so science-based, despite the author not being a scientist).

    The book answers a lot of important questions beyond the obvious “what diet/exercise/sleep/supplements/etc are best for healthy aging” (spoiler: it’s quite consistent with the things we recommend here, because guess what, science is science), questions like how best to prepare for this that or the other, how to get a head start on preventative healthcare for some things, how to avoid being a burden to our families (one can argue that families are supposed to look after each other, but still, it’s a legitimate worry for many, and understandably so), and even how to balance the sometimes conflicting worlds of health and finances.

    Unlike many authors, she also talks about the different kinds of aging, and tackles each of them separately and together. We love to see it!

    Bottom line: this book is a very good one-stop-shop for all things healthy aging. It’s aimed squarely at women, but most advice goes for men the same too, aside from the section on hormones and such.

    Click here to check out Ageless Aging, and plan your future!

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  • Make Overnight Oats Shorter Or Longer For Different Benefits!

    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.

    Itโ€™s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

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

    In cases where weโ€™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 tooโ€”thereโ€™s always more to say!

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

    So, no question/request too big or small

    โHow long do I have to soak oats for to get the benefits of “overnight oatsโ€?โž

    The primary benefit of overnight oats (over cooked oats) is that they are soft enough to eat without having been cooked (as cooking increases their glycemic index).

    So, if itโ€™s soft, itโ€™s good to eat. A few hours should be sufficient.

    Bonus information

    If, by the way, you happen to leave oats and milk (be it animal or plant milk) sealed in a jar at room temperature for a 2โ€“3 days (less if your โ€œroom temperatureโ€ is warmer than average), it will start to ferment.

    • Good news: fermentation can bring extra health benefits!
    • Bad news: youโ€™re on your own if something pathogenic is present

    For more on this, you might like to read:

    Fermenting Everything: How to Make Your Own Cultured Butter, Fermented Fish, Perfect Kimchi, and Beyond

    Enjoy!

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  • Breaking Free from Emotional Eating โ€“ Geneen Roth

    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.

    The isnโ€™t a book about restrictive dieting, or even willpower. Rather, itโ€™s about making the unconscious conscious, and changing your relationship with food from being one of compulsion, to one of choice, wherein you also get the choice of saying โ€œnoโ€.

    Roth takes us through the various ways in which life seems to conspire to take consciousness away from eating, from obvious distractions such as TV, to less obvious ones, like โ€œit doesnโ€™t count if youโ€™re not sitting downโ€. She also tackles other psychological aspects, such as those people get from parentsโ€”which can be a big factor for many.

    Importantly, she teaches us that when it comes to โ€œhave your cake and eat itโ€, you can also, in fact, have your cake and not eat it. Thatโ€™s an option too. Its mere presence in our house is not the boss of us. However, overcoming the โ€œthis then thatโ€ automatic process that goes from having to eating, is something that Roth gives quite some attention to, offering a number of reframes to make it a lot easier.

    The style is friendly, conversational, pop-science, and the format dates it a littleโ€”this is very much a book formatted the way pop-science books were formatted 20โ€“50 years ago (the book itself is from 2003, for what itโ€™s worth). However, a lack of modern format doesnโ€™t take away from its very valuable insights, and if anything, the older format rather promotes reading a book from cover to cover, which can be beneficial.

    Bottom line: if emotional or compulsive eating is something that youโ€™ve found tricky to overcome, then this book can help make it a lot easier.

    Click here to check out Breaking Free From Emotional Eating, and indeed enjoy a freer life on your own terms!

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  • Super Joints โ€“ by Pavel Tsatsouline

    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.

    For those of us for whom mobility and pain-free movement are top priorities, this book has us covered. So whatโ€™s different here, compared to your average stretching book?

    Itโ€™s about functional strength with the stretches. The authorโ€™s background as a special forces soldier means that his interest was not in doing arcane yoga positions so much as being able to change direction quickly without losing speed or balance, get thrown down and get back up without injury, twist suddenly without unpleasantly wrenching anything (of oneโ€™s own, at least), and generally be able to take knocks without taking damage.

    While we are hopefully not having to deal with such violence in our everyday lives, the robustness of body that results from these exercises is one that certainly can go a long way to keep us injury-free.

    The exercises themselves are well-described, clearly and succinctly, with equally clear illustrations.

    Note: the paperback version is currently expensive, probably due to supply and demand, but if you select the Kindle version, itโ€™s much cheaper with no loss of quality (because the illustrations are black-on-white line-drawings and very clear; perfect for Kindle e-ink)

    The style of the book is very casual and conversational, yet somehow doesnโ€™t let that distract it from being incredibly information dense; there is no fluff here, just valuable guidance.

    Bottom line: if you would like to be more robust with non-nonsense exercises, then this book is a fine choice.

    Click here to check out Super Joints, and make yours flexible and strong!

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  • Healthy Heart, Healthy Brain โ€“ by Dr. Bradley Bale & Dr. Amy Doneen

    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.

    Weโ€™ve often written that โ€œwhatโ€™s good for your heart is good for your brainโ€, because the former feeds the latter and takes away detritus. You cannot have a healthy brain without a healthy heart.

    This book goes into that in more detail than we have ever had room to here! This follows from their previous book โ€œBeat The Heart Attack Geneโ€, but weโ€™re jumping in here because that book doesnโ€™t really contain anything not also included in this one.

    The idea is the same though: it is the authorsโ€™ opinion that far too many interventions are occurring far too late, and they want to โ€œwake everyone upโ€ (including their colleagues in the field) to encourage earlier (and broader!) testing.

    Fun fact: that also reminded this reviewer that she had a pending invitation for blood tests to check these kinds of thingsโ€”phlebotomy appointment now booked, yay!

    True the spirit of such exhortation to early testing, this book does include diagnostic questionnaires, to help the reader know where we might be at. And, interestingly, while the in-book questionnaire format of โ€œso many points for this answer, so many for that oneโ€, etc is quite normal, what they do differently in the diagnostics is that in cases of having to answer โ€œI donโ€™t knowโ€, it assigns the highest-risk point value, i.e. the test will err on the side of assume the worst, in the case of a reader not knowing, for example, what our triglycerides are like. Which, when one thinks about it, is probably a very sensible reasoning.

    Thereโ€™s a lot of advice about specific clinical diagnostic tools and things to ask for, and also things that may raise an alarm that most people might overlook (including doctors, especially if they are only looking for something else at the time).

    You may be wondering: do they actually give advice on what to actually do to improve heart and brain health, or just how to be aware of potential problems? And the answer is that the latter is a route to the former, and yes they do offer comprehensive adviceโ€”well beyond โ€œeat fiber and get some exerciseโ€, and even down to the pros and cons of various supplements and medications. When it comes to treating a problem that has been identified, or warding off a risk that has been flagged, the advice is a personalized, tailored, approach. Obviously thereโ€™s a limit to how much they can do that in the book, but even so, we see a lot of โ€œif this then thatโ€ pointers to optimize things along the way.

    The style isโ€ฆ a little salesy for this reviewerโ€™s tastes. That is to say, while it has a lot of information of serious value, itโ€™s also quite padded with self-congratulatory anecdotes about the many occasions the authors have pulled a Dr. House and saved the day when everyone else was mystified or thought nothing was wrong, the wonders of their trademarked methodology, and a lot of hype for their own book, as in, the book thatโ€™s already in your hands. Without all this padding, the book could have been cut by perhaps a third, if not more. Still, none of that takes away from the valuable insights that are in the book too.

    Bottom line: if youโ€™d like to have a healthier heart and brain, and especially if youโ€™d like to avoid diseases of those two rather important organs, then this book is a treasure trove of information.

    Click here to check out Healthy Heart, Healthy Brain, and secure your good health now, for later!

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  • Which Diet? Top Diets Ranked By Experts

    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.

    A panel of 69 doctors and nutritionists examined the evidence for 38 diets, and scored them in 21 categories (e.g. best for weight loss, best for heart, best against diabetes, etc).

    We’ll not keep it a mystery: the Mediterranean diet has been ranked as “best overall” for the 8th year in a row.

    The Mediterranean (And Its Close Friends & Relations)

    We’ve written before about the Mediterranean diet, here:

    The Mediterranean Diet: What Is It Good For? โ† What isn’t it good for?

    ๐Ÿ‘† the above article also delineates what does and doesn’t go in a Mediterranean dietโ€”hint, it’s not just any food from the Mediterranean region!

    The Mediterranean diet’s strengths come from various factors including its good plant:animal ratio (leaning heavily on the plants), colorful fruit and veg minimally processed, and the fact that olive oil is the main source of fat:

    All About Olive Oil โ† pretty much one of the healthiest fats we can consume, if not healthiest all-rounder fat

    The Mediterranean diet also won 1st place in various more specific categories, including:

    • Best against arthritis (followed by Dr. Weil’s Anti-inflammatory, MIND, DASH)
    • Best for mental health (followed by MIND, Flexitarian, DASH)
    • Best against diabetes (followed by Flexitarian, DASH, MIND)
    • best for liver regeneration (followed by Flexitarian, Vegan, DASH, MIND)
    • Best for gut heath (followed by Vegan, DASH, Flexitarian, MIND)

    If you’re not familiar with DASH and MIND, there are clues in their full names: Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension and Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, and as you might well suspect, they are simply tweaked variations of the Mediterranean diet:

    Four Ways To Upgrade The Mediterranean โ† DASH and MIND are the heart-healthiest and brain-healthiest versions of the Mediterranean; this article also includes a gut-healthiest version and a most anti-inflammatory version

    What aren’t those best for?

    The Mediterranean diet scored 1st or 2nd in most of the 21 categories, and usually had the other above-named diets keeping it company in the top few.

    When it comes to weight loss, the Mediterranean scored 2nd place and wasn’t flanked by its usual friends and relations; instead in first place was commercial diet WeightWatchers (likely helped a lot by being also a peer support group), and in third place was the Volumetrics diet, which we wrote about here:

    Some Surprising Truths About Hunger And Satiety

    And when it comes to rapid weight loss specifically, the Mediterranean didn’t even feature in the top spots at all, because it’s simply not an extreme diet and it prioritizes health over shedding the pounds at any cost. The top in that category were mostly commercial diets:

    1. Jenny Craig
    2. Slimfast
    3. Keto
    4. Nutrisystem
    5. WeightWatchers

    We’ve not as yet written about any of those commercial diets, but we have written about keto here:

    Ketogenic Diet: Burning Fat Or Burning Out?

    Want to know more?

    You can click around, exploring by diet or by health category, here ๐Ÿ˜Ž

    Enjoy!

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