Apricot vs Banana – Which is Healthier?

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Our Verdict

When comparing apricot to banana, we picked the banana.

Why?

Both are great, and it was close!

In terms of macros, apricot has more protein, while banana has more carbs and fiber; both are low glycemic index foods, and we’ll call this category a tie.

In the category of vitamins, apricot has more of vitamins A, C, E, and K, while banana has more of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and choline, giving banana the win by strength of numbers. It’s worth noting though that apricots are one of the best fruits for vitamin A in particular.

When it comes to minerals, apricot has slightly more calcium, iron, and zinc, while banana has a lot more magnesium, manganese, potassium, and selenium, meaning a moderate win for banana here.

Adding up the sections makes for an overall win for banana—but of course, by all means enjoy either or both!

Want to learn more?

You might like to read:

Top 8 Fruits That Prevent & Kill Cancer ← we argue for apricots as bonus number 9 on the list

Take care!

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    Holistic health coach Ziang’s book offers insights on mind-rejuvenation and practical physical health tips like mindful eating and moving more for a balanced lifestyle.

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  • Forks Over Knives: Flavor! – by Darshana Thacker

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    It’s important to not have to choose too much between health and flavor, because the outcome will never be a good one, either for your health or your happiness. And what’s bad for your happiness will ultimately not work out and thus will be bad for your general health, so, the question becomes: how to get both?

    This book handles that nicely, delivering plant-based dishes that are also incidentally oil-free, and also either gluten-free or else there’s an obvious easy substitution to make it such. The flavor here comes from the ingredients as a whole, including the main ingredients as well as seasonings.

    On the downside, occasionally those ingredients may be a little obscure if you don’t live in, say, San Francisco, and the ingredients weren’t necessarily chosen for cooking on a budget, either.

    However, in most cases for most people it will, at worse, inspire you to try using an ingredient you don’t usually use—so that’s a good result.

    The recipes are very clear and easy to follow, although not all are illustrated, and the “ready in…” times are about as accurate as they are for any cookbook, that is to say, it’s the time in which it conceivably can be done if (like the author, a head chef) you have a team of sous-chefs who have done a bunch of prep for you (e.g. sweet potato does not normally come in ½” dice; it comes in sweet potatoes) and laid everything out in little bowls mise-en-place style, and also you know the procedure well enough to not have to stop, hesitate, check anything, wash anything, wait for water to boil or anything else to heat up, or so forth. In other words, if you’re on your own in your home kitchen with normal domestic appliances, it’s going to take a little longer than for a professional in a professional kitchen with professional help.

    But don’t let that detract from the honestly very good recipes.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to level-up your plant-based cooking, this will definitely make your dishes that bit better!

    Click here to check out Forks Over Knives: Flavor!, and dig in!

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  • What is AuDHD? 5 important things to know when someone has both autism and ADHD

    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.

    You may have seen some new ways to describe when someone is autistic and also has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The terms “AuDHD” or sometimes “AutiADHD” are being used on social media, with people describing what they experience or have seen as clinicians.

    It might seem surprising these two conditions can co-occur, as some traits appear to be almost opposite. For example, autistic folks usually have fixed routines and prefer things to stay the same, whereas people with ADHD usually get bored with routines and like spontaneity and novelty.

    But these two conditions frequently overlap and the combination of diagnoses can result in some unique needs. Here are five important things to know about AuDHD.

    Kosro/Shutterstock

    1. Having both wasn’t possible a decade ago

    Only in the past decade have autism and ADHD been able to be diagnosed together. Until 2013, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) – the reference used by health workers around the world for definitions of psychological diagnoses – did not allow for ADHD to be diagnosed in an autistic person.

    The manual’s fifth edition was the first to allow for both diagnoses in the same person. So, folks diagnosed and treated prior to 2013, as well as much of the research, usually did not consider AuDHD. Instead, children and adults may have been “assigned” to whichever condition seemed most prominent or to be having the greater impact on everyday life.

    2. AuDHD is more common than you might think

    Around 1% to 4% of the population are autistic.

    They can find it difficult to navigate social situations and relationships, prefer consistent routines, find changes overwhelming and repetition soothing. They may have particular sensory sensitivities.

    ADHD occurs in around 5–8% of children and adolescents and 2–6% of adults. Characteristics can include difficulties with focusing attention in a flexible way, resulting in procrastination, distraction and disorganisation. People with ADHD can have high levels of activity and impulsivity.

    Studies suggest around 40% of those with ADHD also meet diagnostic criteria for autism and vice versa. The co-occurrence of having features or traits of one condition (but not meeting the full diagnostic criteria) when you have the other, is even more common and may be closer to around 80%. So a substantial proportion of those with autism or ADHD who don’t meet full criteria for the other condition, will likely have some traits.

    3. Opposing traits can be distressing

    Autistic people generally prefer order, while ADHDers often struggle to keep things organised. Autistic people usually prefer to do one thing at a time; people with ADHD are often multitasking and have many things on the go. When someone has both conditions, the conflicting traits can result in an internal struggle.

    For example, it can be upsetting when you need your things organised in a particular way but ADHD traits result in difficulty consistently doing this. There can be periods of being organised (when autistic traits lead) followed by periods of disorganisation (when ADHD traits dominate) and feelings of distress at not being able to maintain organisation.

    There can be eventual boredom with the same routines or activities, but upset and anxiety when attempting to transition to something new.

    Autistic special interests (which are often all-consuming, longstanding and prioritised over social contact), may not last as long in AuDHD, or be more like those seen in ADHD (an intense deep dive into a new interest that can quickly burn out).

    Autism can result in quickly being overstimulated by sensory input from the environment such as noises, lighting and smells. ADHD is linked with an understimulated brain, where intense pressure, novelty and excitement can be needed to function optimally.

    For some people the conflicting traits may result in a balance where people can find a middle ground (for example, their house appears tidy but the cupboards are a little bit messy).

    There isn’t much research yet into the lived experience of this “trait conflict” in AuDHD, but there are clinical observations.

    4. Mental health and other difficulties are more frequent

    Our research on mental health in children with autism, ADHD or AuDHD shows children with AuDHD have higher levels of mental health difficulites than autism or ADHD alone.

    This is a consistent finding with studies showing higher mental health difficulties such as depression and anxiety in AuDHD. There are also more difficulties with day-to-day functioning in AuDHD than either condition alone.

    So there is an additive effect in AuDHD of having the executive foundation difficulties found in both autism and ADHD. These difficulties relate to how we plan and organise, pay attention and control impulses. When we struggle with these it can greatly impact daily life.

    5. Getting the right treatment is important

    ADHD medication treatments are evidence-based and effective. Studies suggest medication treatment for ADHD in autistic people similarly helps improve ADHD symptoms. But ADHD medications won’t reduce autistic traits and other support may be needed.

    Non-pharmacological treatments such as psychological or occupational therapy are less researched in AuDHD but likely to be helpful. Evidence-based treatments include psychoeducation and psychological therapy. This might include understanding one’s strengths, how traits can impact the person, and learning what support and adjustments are needed to help them function at their best. Parents and carers also need support.

    The combination and order of support will likely depend on the person’s current functioning and particular needs. https://www.youtube.com/embed/pMx1DnSn-eg?wmode=transparent&start=0 ‘Up until recently … if you had one, you couldn’t have the other.’

    Do you relate?

    Studies suggest people may still not be identified with both conditions when they co-occur. A person in that situation might feel misunderstood or that they can’t fully relate to others with a singular autism and ADHD diagnosis and something else is going on for them.

    It is important if you have autism or ADHD that the other is considered, so the right support can be provided.

    If only one piece of the puzzle is known, the person will likely have unexplained difficulties despite treatment. If you have autism or ADHD and are unsure if you might have AuDHD consider discussing this with your health professional.

    Tamara May, Psychologist and Research Associate in the Department of Paediatrics, Monash University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Running: Getting Started – by Jeff Galloway

    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.

    Superficially, running is surely one of the easiest sports to get into, for most people. You put one foot in front of the other, repeat, and pick up the pace.

    However, many people do not succeed. They head out of the door (perhaps on January the first), push themselves a little, experience runner’s high, think “this is great”, and the next day wake up with some minor aches and no motivation. This book is here to help you bypass that stage.

    Jeff Galloway has quite a series of books, but the others seem derivative of this one. So, what makes this one special?

    It’s quite comprehensive; it covers (as the title promises) getting started, setting yourself up for success, finding what level your ability is at safely rather than guessing and overdoing it, and building up from there.

    He also talks about what kit you’ll want; this isn’t just about shoes, but even “what to wear when the weather’s not good” and so forth; he additionally shares advice about diet, exercise on non-running days, body maintenance (stretching and strengthening), troubleshooting aches and pains, and running well into one’s later years.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to take up running but it seems intimidating (perhaps for reasons you can’t quite pin down), this book will take care of all those things, and indeed get you “up and running”.

    Click here to check out Running: Getting Started, and get started!

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Related Posts

  • Watermelon vs Grapes – Which is Healthier?
  • What Your Metabolism Says About How Aggressive Breast Cancer Is Likely To Be For You

    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.

    We’ll get straight to it:

    More than 120 million Americans have diabetes or pre-diabetes, and Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC)* is the most aggressive breast cancer form.

    These may seem like unrelated statements, until we consider that patients with obesity-driven** diabetes have much worse TNBC outcomes.

    *The “triple-negative” refers to:

    • the cancer cells don’t have estrogen receptors
    • the cancer cells don’t have progesterone receptors
    • the cancer cells don’t make the protein HER2, or at least not in clinically relevant amounts.

    **with regard to “obesity-driven”, that is what it is called, and the presence of excess fat does play an important role as we will see, but the fundamental culprit is insulin resistance, as we will also see.

    The connection

    Superficially, the connection between obesity-driven diabetes and worse TNBC outcomes could be put down to “a person who is already unhealthy will generally fare worse in most health things than an otherwise healthy person”. And, in and of itself, that’s a fair point. Comorbidities certainly do tend to flock together and make each other worse.

    On the flipside, this does also mean that the more points of good health we have in our favor, the greater our chances of faring better if something (such as a cancer) does strike us regardless. So, there’s a fair motivation to always keep on top of all aspects of health, so far as reasonably possible.

    However, there’s more to it than that.

    Dr. Naomi Ko et al., a team of researchers at Boston University, found that diabetes alters breast cancer biology, making TNBC more aggressive and increasing the risk of brain metastasis (i.e., the cancer spreading to the brain).

    Specifically, exosomes from fat cells carry microRNAs that worsen TNBC behavior, enhancing the cancer’s:

    • cell growth
    • movement
    • survival under stress
    • brain colonization

    This also means that certain microRNA patterns predict breast cancer progression and/or survival.

    You can find the paper itself here:

    Insulin Resistance Increases TNBC Aggressiveness and Brain Metastasis via Adipocyte-derived Exosomes

    Why this matters

    The researchers argue that their findings suggest the need for special monitoring and treatment for TNBC patients with metabolic disorders like diabetes, and that treating underlying conditions (such as diabetes) alongside cancer is likely to improve outcomes.

    On an individual level rather than systemic (assuming you, dear reader, to be a private individual who is not, for example, in charge of health policy for a region, or something like that), what this means is:

    We must avoid carrying too much excess fat yes, and/but we must also particularly focus on avoiding/reversing insulin resistance, which can be a silent killer even without excess adiposity, because the noticeable signs and symptoms (including blood sugar irregularities) occur only well into insulin resistance, when the poor overworked pancreas can no longer crank out enough insulin to keep things ticking over.

    With that in mind, do check out in particular the two following articles:

    How To Lose Weight (Healthily!) ← if applicable. If on the other hand you’re already in the “healthy” body fat percentage range of 20–25% for women or 15–20% for men, then losing what fat you have will not be beneficial, and may even be harmful, depending on other factors.

    How To Avoid & Reverse Insulin Resistance ← this one’s super-important!

    And of course:

    How To Triple Your Breast Cancer Survival Chances

    And if you want to get really well-informed, then we highly recommend checking out:

    The Smart Woman’s Guide to Breast Cancer – by Dr. Jenn Simmons

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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  • How Metformin Slows Aging

    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.

    Metformin And How It Slows Down Aging

    That’s a bold claim for a title, but the scientific consensus is clear, and this Research Review Monday we’re going to take a look at exactly that!

    Metformin is a common diabetes-management drug, used to lower blood sugar levels in people who either don’t have enough insulin or the insulin isn’t being recognized well enough by the body.

    However, it also slows aging, which is a quality it’s also been studied for for more than a decade. We’ll look at some of the more recent research, though. Let’s kick off with an initial broad statement, from the paper “The Use of Metformin to Increase the Human Healthspan”, as part of the “Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology” series:

    In recent years, more attention has been paid to the possibility of using metformin as an anti-aging drug. It was shown to significantly increase the lifespan in some model organisms and delay the onset of age-associated declines. Growing amounts of evidence from clinical trials suggest that metformin can effectively reduce the risk of many age-related diseases and conditions, including cardiometabolic disorders, neurodegeneration, chronic inflammation and frailty.

    ~ Piskovatska et al, 2020

    How does it work?

    That’s still being studied, but the scientific consensus is that it works by inducing hormesis—the process by which minor stress signals cells to start repairing themselves. How does it induce that hormesis? Again, still being studied, but it appears to do it by activating a specific enzyme; namely, the AMP-activated protein kinase:

    Read: Metformin-enhances resilience via hormesis

    It also has been found to slow aging by means of an anti-inflammatory effect, as a bonus!

    Any bad news?

    Well, firstly, in most places it’s only prescribed for diabetes management, not for healthy life extension. A lot of anti-aging enthusiasts have turned to the grey market online to get it, and we can’t recommend that.

    Secondly, it does have some limitations:

    • Its bioavailability isn’t great in tablet form (the form in which it is most commonly given)
    • It has quite a short elimination half-life (around 6 hours), which makes it great to fix transient hyperglycemia in diabetics—job done and it’s out—but presents a logistical challenge when it comes to something so pernicious as aging.
    • Some people are non-responders (a non-responder, in medicine, is someone for whom a drug simply doesn’t work, for no obvious reason)

    Want to know more? Check out:

    Metformin in aging and aging-related diseases: clinical applications and relevant mechanism

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  • Finish What You Start – by Peter Hollins

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    For some people, getting started is the problem. For others of us, getting started is the easy part! We just need a little help not dropping things we started.

    There are summaries at the starts and ends of sections, and many “quick tips” to get you back on track.

    As a taster: one of these is “temptation bundling“, combining unpleasant things with pleasant. A kind of “spoonful of sugar” approach.

    Hollins also discusses hyperbolic discounting (the way we tend to value rewards according to how near they are, and procrastinate accordingly). He offers a tool to overcome this, too, the “10–10–10 rule“.

    Also dealt with is “the preparation trap“, and how to know when you have enough information to press on.

    For a lot of us, the places we’re most likely to drop a project is 20% in (initial enthusiasm wore off) or 80% in (“it’s nearly done; no need to worry about it”). Those are the times when the advices in this book can be particularly handy!

    All in all, a great book for seeing a lot of things to completion.

    Get your copy of “Finish What You Start” from Amazon today!

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