Best morning routine?

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You’ve Got Questions? We’ve Got Answers!

Q: Best morning routine?

A: The best morning routine is whatever makes you feel most ready to take on your day!

This one’s going to vary a lot—one person’s morning run could be another person’s morning coffee and newspaper, for example.

In a nutshell, though, ask yourself these questions:

  • How long does it take me to fully wake up in the morning, and what helps or hinders that?
  • When I get out of bed, what do I really need before I can take on my day?
  • If I could have the perfect morning, what would it look like?
  • What can evening me do, to look after morning me’s best interests? (Semi-prepare breakfast ready? Lay out clothes ready? Running shoes? To-Do list?)

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    “Debunking the plagiarism claims between ‘It’s Not You, It’s Your Hormones’ and ‘The Galveston Diet’ while delving into the latter’s approach to hormonal balance through diet.”

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  • Time Smart – by Dr. Ashley Whillans

    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.

    First, what this is not: it’s not a productivity book.

    What is rather: a book of better wellbeing.

    There is a little overlap, insofar as getting “time smart” in the ways that Dr. Whillans recommends will give you more ability to also be more productive—if that’s what you want.

    She talks us through time traps and the “time poverty epidemic”, as well as steps to finding time and funding time. Perhaps most critical idea-wise is the chapter on building a “time-affluence habit”, making decisions that prioritize your time-freedom where you can—which in turn will allow you to build yet more. Kind of like compound interest really, but for time.

    The writing style is a conversational tone, but peppered with bullet-point lists and charts and the like from time to time, and often with citations to back up claims. It makes for a very readable book, and yet one that’s also inspiring of the confidence that it’s more than just one person’s opinion.

    Bottom line: if you sometimes feel like you could do everything you want to if you could just find the time, this book can help you get there.

    Click here to check out Time Smart, and live your most satisfying life!

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  • Ridged Nails: What Are They Telling You?

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    Dr. Yaseen Arsalan, a Doctor of Pharmacy, has advice on the “nutraceutical” side of things:

    Onychorrhexis

    Sounds like the name of a dinosaur, but it’s actually the condition that creates the vertical ridges that sometimes appear on nails. It’s especially likely in the case of thinner nails, and/or certain nutritional deficiencies. Overuse of certain chemicals (including nail polish remover, hair products that get on your hands a lot, and cleaning fluids) can also cause it. It can also be worsened by various conditions, including eczema, psoriasis, hypothyroidism, anemia, and amyloidosis, but it won’t usually be outright caused by those alone.

    There are two main kinds of ridges on nails:

    • Vertical ridges: associated with hypothyroidism, anemia, and aging. Often an indicator of low iron.
    • Horizontal ridges (Beau’s lines): caused by interrupted nail growth, brute force trauma, chemotherapy, acrylic nails, and gel nail polishes. Can also be an indicator of low zinc.

    There are an assortment of medical treatments available, which Dr. Arsalan discusses in the video, but for home remedy treatment, he recommends:

    • Nail-strengthening creams (look for coconut oil, shea butter, beeswax, vitamin E)
    • Hydration (this is about overall hydration e.g. water intake)
    • Careful nail trimming (fingernails with a curved shape and toenails straight across)
    • Nail ridge filler (he recommends the brand Barrielle, for not containing formaldehyde or formalin)
    • Moisturization (with cuticle oil or hand creams, because that hydration we talked about earlier is important, and we want it to stay inside the nail)

    For more on those things, plus the medical treatments plus other “how to avoid this” measures, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Take care!

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  • Fisetin: The Anti-Aging Assassin

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    Out With The Old…

    Fisetin is a flavonoid (specifically, a flavonol), but it’s a little different than most. While it has the usual antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties you might reasonably expect from flavonoids, it has an extra anti-aging trick up its sleeve that most don’t.

    ❝Fisetin is a flavonol that shares distinct antioxidant properties with a plethora of other plant polyphenols. Additionally, it exhibits a specific biological activity of considerable interest as regards the protection of functional macromolecules against stress which results in the sustenance of normal cells cytoprotection. Moreover, it shows potential as an anti-inflammatory, chemopreventive, chemotherapeutic and recently also senotherapeutic agent❞

    ~ Dr. Grynkiewicz & Dr. Demchuk

    Let’s briefly do some due diligence on its expected properties, and then we’ll take a look at its bonus anti-aging effects.

    The flavonol that does-it-ol

    Because of the similar mechanisms involved, there are three things that often come together, which are:

    • Antioxidant
    • Anti-inflammatory
    • Anticancer

    This list often gets expanded to also include:

    • Anti-aging

    …although that is usually the last thing to get tested out of that list.

    In today’s case, let’s kick it off with…

    ❝Fisetin (3,3′,4′,7-tetrahydroxyflavone) is a dietary flavonoid found in various fruits (strawberries, apples, mangoes, persimmons, kiwis, and grapes), vegetables (tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers), nuts, and wine that has shown strong anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-tumorigenic, anti-invasive, anti-angiogenic, anti-diabetic, neuroprotective, and cardioprotective effects❞

    ~ Dr. Harish Pal et al.

    Read more: Fisetin and Its Role in Chronic Diseases

    Understanding its anticancer mechanisms

    The way that fisetin fights cancer is basically “all the ways”, and this will be important when we get to its special abilities shortly:

    ❝Being a potent anticancer agent, fisetin has been used to inhibit stages in the cancer cells (proliferation, invasion),prevent cell cycle progression, inhibit cell growth, induce apoptosis, cause polymerase (PARP) cleavage, and modulate the expressions of Bcl‐2 family proteins in different cancer cell lines (HT‐29, U266, MDA‐MB‐231, BT549, and PC‐3M‐luc‐6), respectively. Further, fisetin also suppresses the activation of the PKCα/ROS/ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK signaling pathways, reduces the NF‐κB activation, and down‐regulates the level of the oncoprotein securin. Fisetin also inhibited cell division and proliferation and invasion as well as lowered the TET1 expression levels. ❞

    ~ Dr. Muhammad Imran et al.

    Read more: Fisetin: An anticancer perspective

    There’s also more about it than we even have room to quote, here:

    Fisetin, a Potent Anticancer Flavonol Exhibiting Cytotoxic Activity against Neoplastic Malignant Cells and Cancerous Conditions: A Scoping, Comprehensive Review

    Now For What’s New And Exciting: Senolysis

    All that selectivity that fisetin exhibits when it comes to “this cell gets to live, and this one doesn’t” actions?

    It makes a difference when it comes to aging, too. Because aging and cancer happen by quite similar mechanisms; they’re both DNA-copying errors that get copied forward, to our detriment.

    • In the case of cancer, it’s a cell line that accidentally became immortal and so we end up with too many of them multiplying in one place (a tumor)
    • In the case of aging, it’s the cellular equivalent of “a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy” gradually losing information as it goes

    In both cases…

    The cell must die if we want to live

    Critically, and which quality differentiates it from a lot of other flavonoids, fisetin has the ability to selectively kill senescent cells.

    To labor the photocopying metaphor, this means there’s an office worker whose job it is to say “this photocopy is barely legible, I’m going to toss this, and then copy directly from the clearest copy we have instead”, thus keeping the documents (your DNA) in pristine condition.

    In fisetin’s case, this was first tested in mouse (in vivo) studies, and in human tissue (in vitro) studies, before moving to human clinical studies:

    ❝Of the 10 flavonoids tested, fisetin was the most potent senolytic.

    The natural product fisetin has senotherapeutic activity in mice and in human tissues. Late life intervention was sufficient to yield a potent health benefit.❞

    ~ Dr. Matthew Yousefzadeh et al.

    Read in full: Fisetin is a senotherapeutic that extends health and lifespan

    There’s lots more science that’s been done to it since that first groundbreaking study though; here’s a more recent example:

    Fisetin as a Senotherapeutic Agent: Biopharmaceutical Properties and Crosstalk between Cell Senescence and Neuroprotection

    Want some?

    We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon

    Enjoy!

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Related Posts

  • Behaving During the Holidays
  • The Diabetes Code – by Dr. Jason Fung

    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.

    Cure this serious disease with diet!” is often a bold-claim that overreaches scientific rigor, but in this case, it’s well-established as scientifically valid.

    Caveat up-front: the only known circumstance in which this won’t work is if you have comorbidities that prevent you from following the advice.

    You may be wondering: is this just the Mediterranean diet again? The answer is that the Mediterreanean diet (or similar) is part of it. But there’s a lot more to this book than that.

    Dr. Fung explains to us a lot of the physiology of type 2 diabetes; how insulin resistance occurs, how it becomes a vicious cycle that we get locked into, and how to escape it.

    • We learn about the role of fructose, and why fruit is very healthful whereas high-fructose corn syrup and similars are very much not.
    • We learn about the role of the liver in glycogen metabolism, and how to un-fatty a fatty liver. Good news: the liver has famously strong self-regenerative abilities, if we give it a break to allow it to do so!
    • We learn why portion control doesn’t work, and why intermittent fasting does (here be science).

    Dr. Fung’s very readable explanations are free from needless jargon while not dumbing down. The writing style is clear and direct: “this happens this way”, “do this, not that”, etc.

    Bottom line: if you have type 2 diabetes and would like to not have that (or if you are pre-diabetic and would like to avoid diabetes) this is a book for you. If you are in great metabolic health and would like to stay that way as you get older, then this is a book for you too.

    Click here to check out The Diabetes Code, and get/keep your metabolic health in order!

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  • Avocado, Coconut & Lime Crumble Pots

    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.

    This one’s a refreshing snack or dessert, whose ingredients come together to make a very good essential fatty acid supplement. Coconut is a good source of MCTs, avocados are rich in omega 3, 6, and 9, while chia seeds are a great ALA omega 3 food, topping up the healthy balance.

    You will need

    • flesh of 2 large ripe avocados
    • grated zest and juice of 2 limes
    • 3 tbsp coconut oil
    • 1 tbsp chia seeds
    • 2 tsp honey (omit if you prefer a less sweet dish)
    • 1 tsp desiccated coconut
    • 4 low-sugar oat biscuits

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Blend the avocado, lime juice, coconut oil, honey, and half the desiccated coconut, in a food processor.

    2) Scoop the mixture into 4 ramekins (or equivalent-sized glasses), making sure to leave a ½” gap at the top. Refrigerate for at least 2–4 hours (longer is fine if you’re not ready to serve yet).

    3) Assemble, by crumbling the oat biscuits and sprinkling on top of each serving, along with the other half of the desiccated coconut, the lime zest, and the chia seeds.

    4) Serve immediately:

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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  • Tinnitus: Quieting The Unwanted Orchestra In Your Ears

    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.

    Tinnitus—When a “minor” symptom becomes disruptive

    Tinnitus (typically: ringing in the ears) is often thought of less as a condition in and of itself, and more a symptom related to other hearing-related conditions. Paradoxically, it can be associated with hearing loss as well as with hyperacusis (hearing supersensitivity, which sounds like a superpower, but can be quite a problem too).

    More than just ringing

    Tinnitus can manifest not just as ringing, but also as whistling, hissing, pulsing, buzzing, hooting, and more.

    For those who don’t suffer from this, it can seem very trivial; for those who do… Sometimes it can seem trivial too!

    But sometimes it’s hard to carry on a conversation when at random moments it suddenly sounds like someone is playing a slide-whistle directly into your earhole, or like maybe a fly got stuck in there.

    It’s distracting, to say the least.

    What causes it?

    First let’s note, tinnitus can be acute or chronic. So, some of these things may just cause tinnitus for a while, whereas some may give you tinnitus for life. In some cases, it depends on how long the thing in question persisted for.

    A lot of things can cause it, but common causes include:

    • Noise exposure (e.g. concerts, some kinds of industrial work, war)
    • High blood pressure
    • Head/neck injuries
    • Ear infection
    • Autoimmune diseases (e.g. Type 1 Diabetes, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis)

    So what can be done about it?

    Different remedies will work (or not) for different people, depending on the cause and type of tinnitus.

    Be warned also: some things that will work for one person’s tinnitus will make another person’s worse, so you might need to try a degree of experimentation and some of it might not be fun!

    That in mind, here are some things you might want to try if you haven’t already:

    • Earplugs or noise-canceling headphones—while tinnitus is an internal sound, not external, it often has to do with some part(s) of your ears being unduly sensitive, so giving them less stimulus may ease the tinnitus that occurs in reaction to external noise.
    • White noise—if you also have hyperacusis, a lower frequency range will probably not hurt the way a higher range might. If you don’t also have hyperacusis, you have more options here and this is a popular remedy. Either way, white noise outperforms “relaxing” soundscapes.
    • Hearing aids—counterintuitively, for some people whose tinnitus has developed in response to hearing loss, hearing aids can help bring things “back to normal” and eliminate tinnitus in the process.
    • Customized sound machines—if you have the resources to get fancy, science currently finds this to be best of all. They work like white noise, but are tailored to your specific tinnitus.

    Don’t Forget…

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