Blackberries vs Grapes – Which is Healthier?
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.
Our Verdict
When comparing blackberries to grapes, we picked the blackberries.
Why?
It’s not even close:
In terms of macros, blackberries have more than 5x the fiber, for about half the carbs, resulting in a notably lower glycemic index. They also have more than 2x the protein, but unlike the fiber, it’s not much in either fruit, so we might disregard it. Still, an easy win for blackberries either way.
In the category of vitamins, blackberries have more of vitamins A, B3, B5, B9, C, E, K, and choline, while grapes have more of vitamins B1, B2, and B6. Another clear win for blackberries.
When it comes to minerals, blackberries have a lot more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, and zinc, while grapes have slightly more manganese and potassium. Once again, blackberries emerge victorious.
Looking at polyphenols, both have an abundance of many polyphenols, but blackberries have more, both in types and in total mass (mg/100g).
Thus, blackberries overwhelmingly win the day, but by all means enjoy either or both; diversity is good!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Can We Drink To Good Health? ← while there are polyphenols such as resveratrol in red wine that per se would boost heart health, there’s so little per glass that you may need 100–1000 glasses per day to get the dosage that provides benefits in mouse studies.
If you’re not a mouse, you might even need more than that!
To this end, many people prefer resveratrol supplementation ← link is to an example product on Amazon, but there are plenty more so feel free to shop around 😎
Enjoy!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Recommended
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
13 Signs/Symptoms Of Iron Deficiency That You Can Detect At Home
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.
Dr. Siobhan Deshauer is back, this time with at-home anemia diagnostics:
Isn’t it ironic?
Here are 13 signs/symptoms* of when your blood is just not irony enough.
*sign = knowable from the outside by an observer, symptom = knowable by you from the inside in terms of what you can experience. So for example, pallor is a sign, and fatigue is a symptom.
Why 13, when the video itself says 14? It’s because one of the items in Dr. Deshauer’s list is “increased stroke risk” which is neither a sign nor a symptom, but rather is a potential consequence. As such, increased stroke risk (especially if you don’t go on to actually have a stroke) can hardly be used to detect low iron.
Without further ado, here are the 14 items, including the one that we’re discounting:
- Pallor: skin, eyelids, and palm creases appear unusually pale due to low hemoglobin.
- Fatigue: low oxygen delivery from reduced hemoglobin causes exhaustion and shortness of breath.
- Koilonychia: fingernails become thin, concave, and spoon-shaped.
- Pica: unusual cravings to eat non-food items, especially ice, dirt, chalk, or starch.
- Atrophic glossitis: smooth, shiny, and burning tongue due to loss of surface papillae.
- Beeturia: red or pink urine after eating beets, occurring more frequently in iron-deficient individuals.
- Angular cheilitis: painful cracking or inflammation at the corners of the mouth from impaired skin repair.
- Skin infections: increased susceptibility to fungal (like ringworm, which is not actually a worm!) and bacterial infections due to weakened immune defenses.
- Restless Legs Syndrome: urge to move the legs, especially at night, linked to low brain iron even with normal blood iron levels.
- Depression: mood changes and emotional issues due to decreased dopamine and serotonin production.
- Stroke risk: counterintuitively higher platelet counts from iron deficiency can increase the risk of blood clots and strokes. Good luck using this to diagnose anemia, though.
- Itchiness: chronic itching from nerve sensitivity and dry skin caused by low iron.
- Hair thinning: hair loss due to slowed hair follicle cell turnover requiring iron.
- Dark circles under eyes: pale skin reveals veins more clearly, leading to dark under-eye circles.
For more on all of these plus visual illustrations where applicable, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
Avoiding Anemia (More Than Just “Get More Iron”)
Take care!
Share This Post
-
Body Image Dissatisfaction/Appreciation Across The Ages
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.
Every second news article about body image issues is talking about teens and social media use, but science tells a different story.
A large (n=1,327) study of people of mixed genders aged 16–88 examined matters relating to people’s body image, expecting…
❝We hypothesized that body dissatisfaction and importance of appearance would be higher in women than in men, that body dissatisfaction would remain stable across age in women, and that importance of appearance would be lower in older women compared to younger women. Body appreciation was predicted to be higher in men than in women.❞
As they discovered, only half of that turned out to be true:
❝In line with our hypotheses, body dissatisfaction was higher in women than in men and was unaffected by age in women, and importance of appearance was higher in women than in men.
However, only in men did age predict a lower level of the importance of appearance. Compared to men, women stated that they would invest more hours of their lives to achieve their ideal appearance.
Contrary to our assumption, body appreciation improved and was higher in women across all ages than in men.❞
You can read the study in full here:
That’s a lot of information, and we don’t have the space to go into all parts of it here, fascinating as that would be. So we’re going to put two pieces of information (from the above) next to each other:
- body dissatisfaction was higher in women than in men and was unaffected by age in women
- body appreciation improved and was higher in women across all ages than in men
…and resolve this apparent paradox.
Dissatisfied appreciation
How is it that women are both more dissatisfied with, and yet also more appreciative of, their bodies?
The answer is that we can have positive and negative feelings about the same thing, without them cancelling each other out. In short, simply, feeling more feelings about it.
Whether the gender-related disparity in this case comes more from hormones or society could be vigorously debated, but chances are, it’s both. And, for our gentleman-readers, note that the principle still applies to you, even if scaled down on average.
Call to action:
- be aware of the negative feelings of body dissatisfaction
- focus on the positive feelings of body appreciation
While in theory both could motivate us to action, in reality, the former will tend to inform us (about what we might wish to change), while the latter will actually motivate us in a useful way (to do something positive about it).
This is because the negative feelings about body image tend to be largely based in shame, and shame is a useless motivator (i.e., it simply doesn’t work) when it comes to taking positive actions:
Why Shame Only Works Negatively
You can’t hate yourself into a body you love
That may sound like a wishy-washy platitude, but given the evidence on how shame works (and doesn’t), it’s true.
Instead, once you’ve identified the things about your body with which you’re dissatisfied, you can then assess:
- what can reasonably be changed
- whether it is important enough to you to change it
- how to go about usefully changing it
While weight issues are perhaps the most commonly-discussed body image consideration, to the point that often all others get forgotten, let’s look at something that’s generally more specific to adults, and also a very common cause of distress for women and men alike: hair loss/thinning.
If your hair is just starting to thin and fall, then if this bothers you, there’s a lot that can be done about it quite easily, but (and this is important) you have to love yourself enough to actually do it. Merely feeling miserable about it, and perhaps like you don’t deserve better, or that it is somehow a personal failing on your part, will not help.
If your hair has been gone for years, then chances are you’ve made your peace with this by now, and might not even take it back if a fairy godmother came along and offered to restore it magically. On the other hand, let’s say that you’re just coming out the other end of a 10-year-long depression, and perhaps you let a lot of things go that you now wish you hadn’t, and maybe your hair is one of them. In this case, now you need to decide whether getting implants (likely the only solution at this late stage) is worth it.
Note that in both cases, whatever the starting point and whether the path ahead is easy or hard, the person who has dissatisfaction and/but still values themself and their body will get what they need.
In contrast, the person who has dissatisfaction and does not value themself and their body, will languish.
The person without dissatisfaction, of course, probably already has what they need.
In short: identification of dissatisfaction + love and appreciation of oneself and one’s body → motivation to usefully take action (out of love, not hate)
Now, dear reader, apply the same thinking to whatever body image issues you may have, and take it from there!
Embodiment
A quick note in closing: if you are a person with no body dissatisfactions, there are two main possible reasons:
- You are genuinely happy with your body in all respects. Congratulations!
- You have disassociated from your body to such an extent that it’s become a mere vehicle to you and you don’t care about it.
This latter may seem like a Zen-level win, but in fact it’s a warning sign for depression, so please do examine that even if you don’t “feel” depressed (depression is often characterized by a lack of feelings), perhaps by taking the (very quick) free PHQ9 Test ← under 2 minutes; immediate results; industry-standard diagnostic tool
Take care!
Share This Post
-
The Whole Heart Solution – by Dr. Joel Kahn
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.
If there’s a single central focus here is on the evidence for including a lot of plants in our diet, and in particular, certain ones that are particularly impactful (positively) for our health. However, it’s not all about diet; Dr. Kahn also discusses (as the subtitle suggests) making the most of every safe, useful tool available for us for good heart health. Including, where appropriate, drugs and surgery, but definitely with a preference to avoid their necessity with lifestyle adjustments and regular pre-emptive testing of various kinds.
Indeed, the promised “75 low-cost things you can do right away” are mostly lifestyle adjustments, and as well as the dietary tips, they include non-dietary things such as opening your windows and walking barefoot, for example—we’ll learn tips relating to all areas of life, in fact.
An interesting note on diet, though: he also talks about how all requests for reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid services are evaluated with regard to whether they are appropriate, and of all the programs for intensive cardiac rehabilitation that have been requested, only two have been approved (at time of going to press, at least). Both are plan-based programs, of which, one is the dietary approach described in this book. Bearing in mind that Medicare and Medicate have a mandate to save money, they will only approve a program that results in costing them less in hospital care and prescriptions. Which means that their interests are aligned with yours, in this case!
The style is enthusiastic pop science, that is to say, it is written with extreme conviction—there is plenty of science cited to back it up, of course, but certainly this is not an indifferent book.
Bottom line: if you’d like to improve your heart health, this book is a top-tier one-stop solution (if you implement its contents, anyway!)
Click here to check out the Whole Heart Solution, and live wholeheartedly!
Share This Post
Related Posts
-
What is ‘cycle syncing’, and how might it affect menstruation?
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.
Menstruation is once again a hot topic on social media, thanks to a new health trend known as “cycle syncing”.
It involves aligning your diet and exercise habits to each phase of your menstrual cycle. For example, you may only do gentle exercises such as yoga or eat more fermented foods during the first phase of menstruation.
Social media influencers are spruiking cycle syncing as a more natural way for women to manage negative symptoms, such as period pain, and be more in tune with their bodies.
So how does it work? And is it supported by research?
Yan Krukau/Pexels The menstrual cycle
During menstruation, the body sheds the uterus lining to prepare for pregnancy. This usually happens every 28–35 days. But bleeding is only one part of the menstrual cycle. The menstrual cycle can be divided into three main phases:
- follicular phase, where the body releases a hormone called the follicle-stimulating hormone to help follicles grow in the uterus
- ovulation, where the ovary releases a mature egg that may or may not be fertilised
- luteal phase, where the body releases a hormone known as progesterone that thickens the lining of the uterus, in preparation for pregnancy. But if the egg is not fertilised, the uterus will shed its lining and this cycle repeats.
Throughout the menstrual cycle, fluctuating hormone levels can cause symptoms such as fatigue, cramps, bloating, mood swings and changes in appetite.
Does ‘cycle syncing’ work?
Advocates of cycle syncing say it helps women manage period symptoms and meet the the body’s changing energy needs during menstruation.
However, specific claims often conflict with each other. For example, some who promote cycle syncing suggest eating fermented foods and fresh vegetables during the follicular phase, while others recommend eating lean proteins and wholegrains. Certain cycle syncing advocates emphasise doing cardio workouts and other high-intensity exercise in the follicular phase. Meanwhile, others say swimming or cycling are better options to manage period symptoms.
However, there is little evidence to support these claims.
Various systematic reviews – which summarise all the available research on a specific question – have found no evidence that doing exercise during certain phases of the menstrual cycle improves muscle development or performance. This is the case with both resistance training which aims to build strength, and aerobic exercise, which increases your heart rate.
It also does not appear to reduce your risk of muscle injuries. Research shows immune function may fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle, but one systematic review found this variation is unlikely to impact exercise.
However, research suggests female athletes may feel less motivated or confident playing sport in the late luteal phase. They were also more likely to think they performed worse at the start and end of their period. This may be because symptoms such as cramping, back pain and tiredness make exercise seem much harder during menstruation.
But research suggests certain types of exercise, including strength training and relaxation-based exercises, may help relieve period pain.
There’s even less evidence examining the link between nutrition and different phases of the menstrual cycle. One 2024 study suggested women may be hungrier or eat more during their luteal phase, compared to the follicular phase. This may be because during the luteal phase, the body consumes more energy to prepare for a potential pregnancy.
However, one systematic review found no conclusive evidence that changing your diet reduces symptoms such as cramps, bloating and fatigue.
What to do instead
Existing studies looking at the relationship between diet, exercise and different menstrual phases have produced extremely varied results. And there are still many gaps in current research, including what the mechanism behind cycle syncing actually is and what its benefits may be.
So for those who want to manage period symptoms, the best approach is to be patient with yourself and listen to bodily cues. For example, if you slept badly because of night-time cramps, you don’t need to do a high-intensity workout the next morning. Consider going for a walk instead. And if you feel extra hungry near the end of your period – in the luteal phase – it’s fine to eat a little more.
The jury’s out as to whether cycle syncing actually works. But making small lifestyle tweaks could help make your time of the month that bit more manageable.
Emmalee Ford, Adjunct Lecturer, Sexual and Reproductive Health, University of Sydney
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Don’t Forget…
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:
-
Eat This Daily For No Wrinkles (& How It Works)
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.
Dr. Andrea Suarez explains:
Go nuts for…
Almonds! They’re rich in vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol), beta-sitosterol, squalane, protein, and fiber:
- Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant, protecting skin lipids.
- Lipids in almonds support the skin barrier and hydration.
- Protein is necessary for collagen synthesis.
- Fiber promotes gut health, indirectly benefiting skin.
- Polyphenolic compounds in almond skins (not the shells, the skins, the fibrous brown part that slides off if you blanch them) provide additional skin protection.
The science (yes, there have been almond intervention studies!):
- 2019 Study:
- Participants: 28 post-menopausal women with fair skin (Fitzpatrick phototype 1-2).
- Design: 20% of daily calories from almonds vs. a calorie-matched snack.
- Results: 9% decrease in facial wrinkles in the almond group, no change in oil production or barrier function.
- 2021 Study:
- Extended Duration: 24 weeks with a similar design as the 2019 study.
- Findings: further wrinkle reduction and improvement in skin pigmentation.
- Mechanism: vitamin E may reduce hyperpigmentation and support antioxidant defense.
- UV Protection Study (2021):
- Participants: healthy Asian women (18–45 years, Fitzpatrick phototype 2-4).
- Method: daily almond snack vs pretzel snack for 12 weeks.
- Outcome: increased skin resistance to UV damage in the almond group.
Obviously, a limitation is there is not really an option to make a RCT with a blinded control; “…and group B will only think they are eating almonds” doesn’t really work. Hence, interventional RCTs with a non-blinded control (the calorie-matched snack).
Almonds may not be the cure to all things, but they certainly are potent nuts. Best enjoyed, of course, as part of a healthy overall diet (Mediterranean diet is great), and it’s certainly advisable to take care of your skin from the outside too (sunscreen as a must; other things optional).
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 to read:
Why You Should Diversify Your Nuts
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
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:
-
What Your Skin Texture Says About Your Health
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.
Dr. Andrea Suarez, dermatologist, shows us what to watch out for:
To the touch
We (and videos that we share here!) talk a lot about the appearance of various skin conditions, but skin texture is more about the physical feel and surface quality of your skin—including roughness, flaking, bumpy follicular changes, thickening, thinning, crepey fragility, or a doughy or hardened feel—and while many changes are harmless, certain patterns in the certain contexts can be signs of disease, including of the kind that are more than skin-deep.
What different skin textures mean:
- Persistent roughness and flaking: ongoing dry, rough, flaky skin is usually due to barrier dysfunction from overexfoliation, harsh cleansers, hot water, low humidity, or aging, but in some cases is because of hypothyroidism or an essential fatty acid deficiency.
- Velvety dark thickened skin: velvety, dark, thickened plaques in skin folds such as the neck or underarms suggest acanthosis nigricans, a sign of insulin resistance commonly associated with type 2 diabetes, that can appear before blood sugar levels cross diagnostic thresholds.
- Sudden adult acne or oily skin: new-onset oily skin and acne in adulthood may relate to hormonal shifts such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), hyperandrogenism, perimenopause, or chronic stress affecting cortisol, especially if accompanied by irregular periods, hair changes, or metabolic warning signs.
- Waxy puffy doughy skin: thick, swollen, doughy skin—sometimes progressing to myxedema with mucopolysaccharide buildup—alongside fatigue, cold intolerance, and hair thinning suggests hypothyroidism and often improves with appropriate treatment.
- Fragile crepey easily bruised skin: thin, fragile, crepey skin known as dermatoporosis is most commonly due to cumulative sun damage but can also result from chronic glucocorticoid use, prolonged topical steroid application, or malnutrition.
- Keratosis pilaris: rough follicular bumps (keratosis pilaris) are common and often genetic, but can also be associated with atopic dermatitis, asthma, allergic rhinitis, ichthyosis vulgaris, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, Down syndrome, or (rarely) certain medications.
- Phrynoderma: larger, hyperpigmented, hard follicular bumps called phrynoderma are generally linked to vitamin A deficiency and can occur with malabsorption, chronic illness, or severe dietary restriction.
- Skin tags: a few skin tags are common and harmless, but numerous tags—especially alongside acanthosis nigricans—can be a sign of insulin resistance due to elevated insulin-like growth factor stimulating epidermal proliferation (i.e. too many skin cells being made in one place).
- Scleredema: non-pitting, woody skin thickening on the upper back and neck is called scleredema has three variants (post-streptococcal, monoclonal gammopathy–associated, and diabeticorum); the diabetic form most often seen in long-standing, poorly controlled diabetes.
Some quick myths to bust, while we’re at it: textural changes don’t indicate toxin buildup, liver failure, candida overgrowth, or leaky gut, as these claims are common online myths often used to market unnecessary products.
For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
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:
