Apple vs Cherries – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing apples to cherries, we picked the cherries.
Why?
In terms of macros, apples start out strong with a little more fiber, carbs, and protein, for a modest first-round win.
In the category of vitamins, however, apples boast only more vitamin E, while cherries have more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B7, B9, and C, winning this round easily.
Looking at minerals, apples are not higher any minerals, while cherries have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, winning this round even more easily.
In other considerations, cherries have rather more polyphenols, especially anthocyanins and phenolic acids, and bring some extra health-giving phytochemical benefits that you can read about in the “learn more” section, below. Meanwhile, another round to cherries.
Adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for cherries, but by all means do enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Cherries’ Very Healthy Wealth Of Benefits!
Enjoy!
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How To Stop Ingrown Hair & Razor Bumps From Waxing & Shaving
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Dr. Simi Adedeji shares her expertise:
Staying smooth
Ingrown hairs (pseudofolliculitis) are inflamed hair follicles caused by hairs growing back into the skin—common in coarse, curly hair areas such as the underarms, pubic region, legs, and face.
It can be caused by shaving, waxing, plucking, tweezing, and more—in fact, almost anything aside from “trim it or leave it be”. This is because most methods cause irritation by cutting or pulling hair in ways that make it more likely to re-enter the skin.
Normally, it’s just a case of rash or itchy red bumps appearing a few days after hair removal. However, it can also get more pronounced, in cases of bacterial infection (true folliculitis), hyperpigmentation, or scarring (keloid or hypertrophic).
There are two main kinds of ingrown hair to be aware of:
- extra-follicular penetration: occurs after shaving—sharply cut hairs re-enter the skin beside the follicle, causing inflammation.
- trans-follicular penetration: occurs after plucking, waxing, or tweezing—trapped hair grows through the follicle wall into the skin, creating lumps.
Treatment options include:
- Hydrocortisone: reduces inflammation and redness.
- Benzoyl peroxide: antibacterial effect for inflamed areas.
- Chemical exfoliants: help stop hair from getting trapped
How to stop it from happening in the future:
- First, reset things and let it all calm down—stop shaving, waxing, or plucking for about a month—when hairs grow 10 mm or more, irritation usually resolves.
- Next, consider alternatives, such as depilatory creams, which dissolve hair, leaving a blunt or feathered tip that can still ingrow, but is less likely to than the other methods we talked about above. However, this comes with the tradeoff that the cream itself may irritate the skin.
- Then, consider long-term hair removal methods, such as laser or IPL, if you have dark hair on light skin—this is because laser/IPL superheats melanin in the hair to destroy the follicle, which means it won’t work on light hair (no melanin to superheat), and can harm dark skin (superheats the wrong melanin)—or electrolysis otherwise, which doesn’t depend on pigment. Removing the hair permanently means stopping ingrown hairs permanently, because a hair can’t ingrow if it’s not growing back at all.
If you are going to shave or wax, though, then:
- Shaving tips: shave after a warm bath or shower (or pre-soak the area with a warm towel); use shaving cream or a gentle cleanser for slip; avoid stretching your skin; use a bland, fragrance-free moisturizer afterwards; wait 3–4 days before applying glycolic acid.
- Waxing tips: wax before showering and avoid moisturizers beforehand; taking acetaminophen and antihistamines 30–45 minutes before can reduce pain and inflammation, respectively. Ibuprofen will also reduce both things (pain and inflammation).
For more on all of this, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
Skin Care Down There (Incl. Butt Acne, Hyperpigmentation, & More)
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21 Most Beneficial Polyphenols & What Foods Have Them
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We often write about polyphenols here at 10almonds; sometimes mentioning that a certain food is good because it has them, or else occasionally an entire article about a particular polyphenol. But what about a birds-eye view of polyphenols as a whole?
Well, there are many, but we’ve picked 21 particularly beneficial for human health, and what foods contain them.
We’ll be working from this fantastic database, by the way:
❝Phenol-Explorer is the first comprehensive database on polyphenol content in foods. The database contains more than 35,000 content values for 500 different polyphenols in over 400 foods. These data are derived from the systematic collection of more than 60,000 original content values found in more than 1,300 scientific publications. Each of these publications has been critically evaluated before inclusion in the database. The whole data on the polyphenol composition of foods is available for download.❞
Source: Phenol-Explorer.EU | Database on polyphenol content in foods
We use this database at least several times per week while writing 10almonds; it’s a truly invaluable resource!
However, 500 is a lot, so here’s a rundown of 21 especially impactful ones; we’ve sorted them per the categories used in the explorer, and in some cases we’ve aggregated several very similar polyphenols typically found together in the same foods, into one item (so for example we just list “quercetin” instead of quercetin 3-O-rutinoside + quercetin 4′-O-glucoside + quercetin 3,4′-O-diglucoside, etc etc). We’ve also broadly grouped some particularly populous ones such as “anthocyanins”, “catechins”, and so forth.
Without further ado, here’s what you ideally want to be getting plenty of in your diet:
Flavonoids
- Quercetin
- Foods: onions, apples, berries, kale, broccoli, capers.
- Benefits: anti-inflammatory, reduces allergy symptoms, supports heart and brain health, and may lower blood pressure.
- See also: Fight Inflammation & Protect Your Brain, With Quercetin
- Kaempferol
- Foods: spinach, kale, tea (green and black), capers, brussels sprouts.
- Benefits: antioxidant, may reduce the risk of cancer, supports cardiovascular health, and has anti-inflammatory properties.
- Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)
- Foods: green tea, matcha.
- Benefits: potent antioxidant, promotes weight loss, supports brain health, and may reduce the risk of heart disease.
- See also: What Does Kaempferol Do, Anyway?
- Anthocyanins
- Foods: blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, red cabbage, cherries.
- Benefits: improve brain health, support eye health, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
- Apigenin
- Foods: parsley, celery, chamomile tea.
- Benefits: anti-inflammatory, reduces anxiety, and supports brain and immune system health.
- Luteolin
- Foods: peppers, thyme, celery, carrots.
- Benefits: anti-inflammatory, supports brain health, and may help reduce the growth of cancer cells.
- Catechins (aside from EGCG)
- Foods: green tea, dark chocolate, apples
- Benefits: boosts metabolism, supports cardiovascular health, and reduces oxidative stress.
- Hesperidin
- Foods: oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits.
- Benefits: supports vascular health, reduces inflammation, and may help manage diabetes.
- Naringenin
- Foods: oranges, grapefruits, tomatoes.
- Benefits: antioxidant, supports liver health, and may improve cholesterol levels.
For more on epigallocatechin gallate and other catechins, see: Which Tea Is Best, By Science?
Phenolic Acids
- Chlorogenic acid
- Foods: coffee, artichokes, apples, pears.
- Benefits: supports weight management, improves blood sugar regulation, and reduces inflammation.
- See also: Green Coffee Bean Extract: Coffee Benefits Without The Coffee?
- Caffeic acid
- Foods: coffee, thyme, sage, basil.
- Benefits: antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and supports skin health.
- See also: The Bitter Truth About Coffee (or is it?)
- Ferulic acid
- Foods: whole grains, rice bran, oats, flaxseeds, spinach.
- Benefits: protects skin from UV damage, reduces inflammation, and supports cardiovascular health.
- Gallic acid
- Foods: green tea, berries, walnuts.
- Benefits: antioxidant, may reduce the risk of cancer, and supports brain health.
Stilbenes
- Resveratrol
- Foods: red currants, blueberries, peanuts.
- Benefits: anti-aging properties, supports heart health, and reduces inflammation.
- See also: Resveratrol & Healthy Aging ← and no, you can’t usefully get it from red wine; here’s why!
Lignans
- Secoisolariciresinol
- Foods: flaxseeds, sesame seeds, whole grains.
- Benefits: supports hormone balance, reduces the risk of hormone-related cancers, and promotes gut health.
- Matairesinol
- Foods: rye, oats, barley, sesame seeds.
- Benefits: hormonal support, antioxidant, and may reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
See also: Sprout Your Seeds, Grains, Beans, Etc ← for maximum nutritional availability!
Tannins
- Ellagic acid
- Foods: pomegranates, raspberries, walnuts.
- Benefits: anti-cancer properties, supports skin health, and reduces inflammation.
- Proanthocyanidins
- Foods: cranberries, apples, grapes, dark chocolate.
- Benefits: supports urinary tract health, reduces inflammation, and improves blood vessel health.
See also: Enjoy Bitter Foods For Your Heart & Brain
Curcuminoids
- Curcumin
- Foods: turmeric.
- Benefits: potent anti-inflammatory, supports joint health, and may reduce the risk of chronic diseases.
- See also: Why Curcumin (Turmeric) Is Worth Its Weight In Gold
Isoflavones
- Genistein
- Foods: soybeans, chickpeas.
- Benefits: supports bone health, reduces the risk of hormone-related cancers, and promotes heart health.
- Daidzein
- Foods: soybeans, legumes.
- Benefits: hormonal balance, supports bone health, and may help alleviate menopausal symptoms.
See also: What Does “Balance Your Hormones” Even Mean?
Well, that’s a lot of things to remember!
If you want to make it easier for yourself, you can simply make sure to get at least 30 different kinds of plant into your diet per week, and by doing so, statistically, you should cover most of these!
Read more: What’s Your Plant Diversity Score?
Alternatively, for a middle-ground approach of targetting 16 most polyphenol delivering foods, check out this super-dense arrangement:
Mediterranean Diet… In A Pill? ← it’s about plant extracts from 16 specific foods, and the polyphenols they deliver
Enjoy!
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5 Tips For Muscle Growth As A Woman
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Building muscle improves your body composition, as you’ll be leaner even at a higher weight. It supports insulin sensitivity, boosts metabolic health, and helps break through weight loss plateaus while improving overall performance and hormone balance. In short, it’s a very healthful thing to do.
But there are ways people can err, so here’s how to do it best:
Mistakes to avoid
There are five key things to bear in mind:
- Don’t obsess over the scale: your overall bodyweight will probably increase; don’t worry about that; it doesn’t mean you have necessarily put on fat. Indeed, muscle weighs more than fat in any case.
- Don’t worry about eating too much: unless you really go out of your way to overeat, eating larger amounts according to your hunger will not result in overeating. Simply, your body needs more fuel in order to build muscle, and that’s fine and is to be expected.
- Don’t overdo cardio: it’s easy to think “I must stay trim while putting on muscle” and look to cardio to facilitate that, but the reality is that strength training will boost your metabolism anyway, whereas cardio can sap your energy that was needed for muscle-building (and, famously, can result in a metabolic slump)
- Don’t go too easy… or too hard! Lest that seem like a difficult directive to follow, this means: train hard yes, but make sure to get adequate rest also! Both are critical for muscle growth—without hard training, your muscle will have no reason to grow, and without rest, your body will be unable to do more than maintenance at most. So: train hard, rest well.
- Don’t eat junk just to hit calorie/macro goals. Quality still matters, even if the numbers are higher than you’d normally be taking.
For more details on all of this, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
How To Build Muscle (Healthily!)
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What Is Vaginal Discharge Anyway, And Is Yours Healthy?
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Even if you don’t have one of your own, it’s still good to know:
What’s actually going on down there?
Vaginal discharge is a normal mix of cervical mucus, shed epithelial cells, and bacteria that helps protect against infection. It also reflects hormonal changes.
What kind of hormonal changes?
- Day 1 of menstrual cycle: falling estrogen and progesterone cause shedding of the endometrium, releasing about 20 to 90 milliliters of menstrual fluid (it’s not just blood) over 2 to 7 days.
- Early follicular phase: cervical mucus is often whitish, thick, or sticky as estrogen begins to rise.
- Around ovulation: higher estrogen produces clearer, thinner, slippier mucus (for sex reasons!).
- Luteal phase: higher progesterone leads to thicker, cloudier, sometimes yellow-tinged mucus that blocks sperm and pathogens.
Don’t menstruate? If you’re menopausal, have had your uterus removed, or for some other reason don’t menstruate, then what happens depends on what you’ve got going on hormonally and anatomically, for example:
- Hormonal contraception: often cause consistently thicker cervical mucus similar to the luteal phase.
- Menopause: lower estrogen thins the vaginal epithelium, so if unmedicated, will tend to replicate what would have been the menstrual period. If, on the other hand, you have HRT, then a lot will depend on your HRT regime, but if it has estrogen and progesterone in healthy doses and with a good bioavailability, then your body will most likely settle into something of a monthly routine, just without the bleeding.
- No uterus? Same cycle, because the hormones are regulated by the hypothalamus, and you still have one of those, so provided you still have sex hormones (be they from your ovaries or the pharmacy), your body will carry on as normal, sometimes even trying to shed the uterine lining that you don’t have (nearby smooth muscles that are similar to uterine tissue can get the message intended for the uterus and cramp up instead). No bleeding, of course.
So what can go wrong? Most of the time, nothing much; it’s usually quite able to take care of itself. However, it’s good to watch out for…
- Yeast infection: clumpy white discharge can suggest excess yeast, which also brings about epithelial shedding.
- Bacterial vaginosis: thin gray or white discharge with a strong odor may indicate reduced acidity from bacterial overgrowth.
- When to seek care: new or unusual bleeding, itching, pain, color, or odor should be considered cause to go get a professional check-up.
For more on all of this plus some visual illustrations, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
Vaginal Dryness In Menopause | Causes & Solutions
Take care!
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PFAS Exposure & Cancer: The Numbers Are High
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PFAS & Cancer Risk: The Numbers Are High
Image Credits Mount Sinai This is Dr. Maaike van Gerwen. Is that an MD or a PhD, you wonder? It’s both.
She’s also Director of Research in the Department of Otolaryngology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, Scientific Director of the Program of Personalized Management of Thyroid Disease, and Member of the Institute for Translational Epidemiology and the Transdisciplinary Center on Early Environmental Exposures.
What does she want us to know?
She’d love for us to know about her latest research published literally today, about the risks associated with PFAS, such as the kind widely found in non-stick cookware:
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure and thyroid cancer risk
Dr. van Gerwen and her team tested this several ways, and the very short and simple version of the findings is that per doubling of exposure, there was a 56% increased rate of thyroid cancer diagnosis.
(The rate of exposure was not just guessed based on self-reports; it was measured directly from PFAS levels in the blood of participants)
- PFAS exposure can come from many sources, not just non-stick cookware, but that’s a “biggie” since it transfers directly into food that we consume.
- Same goes for widely-available microwaveable plastic food containers.
- Relatively less dangerous exposures include waterproofed clothing.
To keep it simple and look at the non-stick pans and microwavable plastic containers, doubling exposure might mean using such things every day vs every second day.
Practical take-away: PFAS may be impossible to avoid completely, but even just cutting down on the use of such products is already reducing your cancer risk.
Isn’t it too late, by this point in life? Aren’t they “forever chemicals”?
They’re not truly “forever”, but they do have long half-lives, yes.
See: Can we take the “forever” out of forever chemicals?
The half-lives of PFOS and PFOA in water are 41 years and 92 years, respectively.
In the body, however, because our body is constantly trying to repair itself and eliminate toxins, it’s more like 3–7 years.
That might seem like a long time, and perhaps it is, but the time will pass anyway, so might as well get started now, rather than in 3–7 years time!
Read more: National Academies Report Calls for Testing People With High Exposure to “Forever Chemicals”
What should we use instead?
In place of non-stick cookware, cast iron is fantastic. It’s not everyone’s preference, though, so you might also like to know that ceramic cookware is a fine option that’s functionally non-stick but without needing a non-stick coating. Check for PFAS-free status; they should advertise this.
In place of plastic microwaveable containers, Pyrex (or equivalent) glass dishes (you can get them with lids) are a top-tier option. Ceramic containers (without metallic bits!) are also safely microwaveable.
See also:
Here’s a List of Products with PFAS (& How to Avoid Them)
Take care!
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The Energy Plan – by James Collins
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There’s a lot of conflicting advice out there about how we should maintain our energy levels, for example:
- Eat fewer carbs!
- Eat more carbs!
- Eat slow-release carbs!
- Eat quick-release carbs!
- Practise intermittent fasting!
- Graze constantly throughout the day!
- Forget carbs and focus on fats!
- Actually it’s all about B-vitamins!
…and so on.
What Collins does differently is something much less-often seen:
Here, we’re advised on how to tailor our meals to our actual lifestyle, taking into account the day we actually have each day. For example:
- What will our energy needs be for the day?
- Will our needs be intense, or long, or both, or neither?
- What kind of recovery have we had, or do we need, from previous activities?
- Do we need to replace lost muscle glycogen, or are we looking to trim the fat?
- Are we doing a power-up or just maintenance today?
Rather than bidding us have a five-way spreadsheet and do advanced mathematics for every meal, though, Collins has done the hard work for us. The book explains the various principles in a casual format with a light conversational tone, and gives us general rules to follow.
These rules cover what to do for different times of day… and also, at different points in our life (the metabolic needs of a 13-year-old, 33-year-old, and 83-year-old, are very different!). That latter’s particularly handy, as a lot of books assume an age bracket for the reader, and this one doesn’t.
In short: a great book for anyone who wants to keep their energy levels up (throughout life’s ups and downs in activity) without piling on the pounds or starving oneself.
Click here to check out The Energy Plan on Amazon and fuel your days better!
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