Brothy Beans & Greens

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“Eat beans and greens”, we say, “but how”, you ask. Here’s how! Tasty, filling, and fulfilling, this dish is full of protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and assorted powerful phytochemicals.

You will need

  • 2½ cups low-sodium vegetable stock
  • 2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
  • 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
  • 2 shallots, sliced
  • ½ bulb garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbsp white miso paste
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp rosemary leaves
  • 1 tsp thyme leaves
  • 1 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
  • ½ tsp red chili flakes
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Optional: your favorite crusty bread, perhaps using our Delicious Quinoa Avocado Bread recipe

Method

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

1) Heat some oil in a skillet and fry the shallots for 2–3 minutes.

2) Add the nutritional yeast, garlic, herbs, and spices, and stir for another 1 minute.

3) Add the beans, vegetable stock, and mushrooms. Simmer for 10 minutes.

4) Add the miso paste, stirring well to dissolve and distribute evenly.

5) Add the kale until it begins to wilt, and remove the pot from the heat.

6) Add the lemon juice and stir.

7) Serve; we recommend enjoying it with crusty wholegrain bread.

Enjoy!

Want to learn more?

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

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  • Cherries vs Grapes – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing cherries to grapes, we picked the cherries.

    Why?

    First, let’s mention: we are looking at sour cherries and Californian grapes. Even those will of course vary in quality, but the nutritional values here are quite reliable averages.

    In terms of macros you might have guessed this one: cherries have nearly 2x the fiber and grapes have about 50% more carbs. So, while neither fruit is bad and they are both low glycemic index foods, cherry is the winner in this category.

    When it comes to vitamins, cherries have more of vitamins A, B3, B5, B9, C, and choline, while grapes have more of vitamins B1, B2, B6, E, and K. That’s a 6:5 win for cherries, and the respective margins of difference bear that out too.

    In the category of minerals, cherries have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc, while grapes have more manganese and potassium. An easy 6:2 win for cherries.

    You might be wondering about polyphenols: both are very abundant in very many polyphenols; so much and so many, in fact, that we couldn’t possibly try to adjudicate between them without doing some complex statistical modeling (especially given how much this can vary from one sample to another, much more so than the micro-and macronutrient values discussed above), so we’ll call it a tie on these.

    Adding up the section makes for a clear win for cherries, but of course, enjoy either or both!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Cherries’ Very Healthy Wealth Of Benefits!
    Resveratrol & Healthy Aging

    Take care!

    Share This Post

  • The Oxygen Advantage – by Patrick McKeown

    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 probably know to breathe through your nose, and use your diaphragm. What else does this book have to offer?

    A lot of the book is aimed at fixing specific problems, and optimizing what can be optimized—including with tips and tricks you may not have encountered before. Yet, the offerings are not bizarre either; we don’t need to learn to breathe through our ears while drinking a glass of water upside down or anything.

    Rather, such simple things as improving one’s VO₂Max by occasionally holding one’s breath while walking briskly. But, he advises specifically, this should be done by pausing the breath halfway through the exhalation (a discussion of the ensuing physiological response is forthcoming).

    Little things like that are woven throughout the book, whose style is mostly anecdotal rather than hard science, yet is consistent with broad scientific consensus in any case.

    Bottom line: if you’ve any reason to think your breathing might be anything less than the best it could possibly be, this book is likely to help you to tweak it to be a little better.

    Click here to check out The Oxygen Advantage, and get yours!

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  • Asparagus vs Edamame – 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 asparagus to edamame, we picked the edamame.

    Why?

    Perhaps it’s a little unfair comparing a legume to a vegetable that’s not leguminous (given legumes’ high protein content), but these two vegetables often serve a similar culinary role, and there is more to nutrition than protein. That said…

    In terms of macros, edamame has a lot more protein and fiber; it also has more carbs, but the ratio is such that edamame still has the lower glycemic index. Thus, the macros category is a win for edamame in all relevant aspects.

    When it comes to vitamins, things are a little closer; asparagus has more of vitamins A, B3, and C, while edamame has more of vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, and B9. All in all, a moderate win for edamame, unless we want to consider the much higher vitamin C content of asparagus as particularly more relevant.

    In the category of minerals, asparagus boasts only more selenium (and more sodium, not that that’s a good thing for most people in industrialized countries), while edamame has more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc. An easy win for edamame.

    In short, enjoy both (unless you have a soy allergy, because edamame is young soy beans), but edamame is the more nutritionally dense by far.

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Take care!

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  • Body Language (In The Real World)

    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.

    Forget What You Think You Know About Body Language

    …unless it’s about a specific person whose habits and mannerisms you know intimately, in which case, you probably have enough personal data stored up to actually recognize patterns à la “when my spouse does this, then…”, and probably do know what’s going on.

    For everyone else… our body language can be as unique as our idiolect

    What’s an idiolect? It’s any one given person’s way of speaking/writing, in their natural state (i.e. without having to adjust their style for some reason, for example in a public-facing role at work, where style often becomes much narrower and more consciously-chosen).

    Extreme example first

    To give an extreme example of how non-verbal communication can be very different than a person thinks, there’s an anecdote floating around the web of someone whose non-verbal autistic kid would, when he liked someone who was visiting the house, hide their shoes when they were about to leave, to cause them to stay longer. Then one day some relative visited and when she suggested that she “should be going sometime soon”, he hurried to bring her her shoes. She left, happy that the kid liked her (he did not).

    The above misunderstanding happened because the visitor had the previous life experience of “a person who brings me things is being helpful, and if they do it of their own free will, it’s because they like me”.

    In other words…

    Generalizations are often sound… In general

    …which does not help us when dealing with individuals, which as it turns out, everyone is.

    Clenched fists = tense and angry… Except when it’s just what’s comfortable for someone, or they have circulation issues, or this, or that, or the other.

    Pacing = agitated… Except when it’s just someone who finds the body in motion more comfortable

    Relaxed arms and hands = at ease and unthreatening… Unless it’s a practitioner of various martial arts for whom that is their default ready-for-action state.

    Folded arms = closed-off, cold, distant… Or it was just somewhere to put one’s hands.

    Lack of eye contact = deceitful, hiding something… Unless it’s actually for any one of a wide number of reasons, which brings us to our next section:

    A liar’s “tells”

    Again, if you know someone intimately and know what signs are associated with deceit in them, then great, that’s a thing you know. But for people in general…

    A lot of what is repeated about “how to know if someone is lying” has seeped into public consciousness from “what police use to justify their belief that someone is lying”.

    This is why many of the traditional “this person is lying” signs are based around behaviors that show up when in fact “this person is afraid, under pressure, and talking to an authority figure who has the power to ruin their life”:

    Research on Non-verbal Signs of Lies and Deceit: A Blind Alley

    But what about eye-accessing cues? They have science to them, right?

    For any unfamiliar: this is about the theory that when we are accessing different parts of our mind (such as memory or creativity, thus truthfulness or lying), our eyes move one way or another according to what faculty we’re accessing.

    Does it work? No

    But, if you carefully calibrate it for a specific person, such as by asking them questions along the lines of “describe your front door” or “describe your ideal holiday”, to see which ways they look for recall or creativity… Then also no:

    The Eyes Don’t Have It: Lie Detection and Neuro-Linguistic Programming

    How can we know what non-verbal communication means, then?

    With strangers? We can’t, simply. It’s on us to be open-minded, with a healthy balance of optimism and wariness.

    With people we know? We can build up a picture over time, learn the person’s patterns. Best of all, we can ask them. In the moment, and in general.

    For more on optimizing interpersonal communication, check out:

    Save Time With Better Communication

    …and the flipside of that:

    The Problem With Active Listening (And How To Do It Better)

    Take care!

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  • Curious Kids: what are the main factors in forming someone’s personality?

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    “What are the main factors in forming someone’s personality?” – Emma, age 10, from Shanghai

    Hello Emma, and thank you for this very interesting question!

    Let’s start by exploring what we mean by personality. Have you noticed no two people are completely alike? We all see, experience, and understand the world in different ways.

    For example, some people love spending time with friends and being the centre of attention, whereas other people are more shy and enjoy having time to themselves.

    Your unique personality is shaped by your genes as well as various influences in your environment. And your personality plays an important role in how you interact with the world.

    The big five

    Did you know there are scientists who spend time researching personality? Their research is concerned with describing the ways people differ from each other, and understanding how these differences could be important for other parts of life such as our health and how well we do in school or at work.

    There are many different perspectives on personality. A widely accepted viewpoint based on a lot of research is called the five factor model or the “big five”. According to this theory, a great deal of a person’s personality can be summarised in terms of where they sit on five dimensions, called traits:

    1. the introversion-extraversion trait refers to how much someone is outgoing and social (extroverted) or prefers being with smaller groups of friends or focusing on their own thoughts (introverted)
    2. agreeableness captures how much someone tends to be cooperative and helps others
    3. openness to experience refers to how much a person is creative and enjoys experiencing new things
    4. neuroticism describes a person’s tendency to experience negative feelings, like worrying about things that could go wrong
    5. conscientiousness encompasses how much a person is organised, responsible, and dedicated to things that are important to them, like schoolwork or training for a sports team.

    A person can have high, low, or moderate levels of each of these traits. And understanding whether someone has higher or lower levels of the big five can tell us a lot about how we might expect them to behave in different situations.

    So what shapes our personalities?

    A number of factors shape our personalities, including our genes and social environment.

    Our bodies are made up of many very small structures called cells. Within these cells are genes. We inherit genes from our parents, and they carry the information needed to make our bodies and personalities. So, your personality may be a bit like your parents’ personalities. For example, if you’re an outgoing sort of person who loves to meet new people, perhaps one or both of your parents are very social too.

    A mother getting her son ready, fastening his backpack.
    Our personalities are influenced by the genes we get from our parents.
    KieferPix/Shutterstock

    Personalities are also affected by our environment, such as our experiences and our relationships with family and friends. For example, some research has shown our relationships with our parents can influence our personality. If we have loving and warm relationships, we may be more agreeable and open. But if our relationships are hurtful or stressful, this may increase our neuroticism.

    Another study showed that, over time, young children who were more physically active were less introverted (less shy) and less likely to get very upset when things don’t go their way, compared to children who were less physically active. Although we don’t know why this is for sure, one possible explanation is that playing sport leads to reduced shyness because it introduces children to different people.

    While we’re learning more about personality development all the time, research in this area presents quite a few challenges. Many different biological, cultural and environmental influences shape our development, and these factors can interact with each other in complex ways.

    Is our personality fixed once we become adults?

    Although we develop most of our personality when we are young, and people’s personalities tend to become more stable as they get older, it is possible for aspects of a person’s personality to change, even when they are fully grown.

    A good example of this can be seen among people who seek treatment for conditions like anxiety or depression. People who respond well to working with a psychologist can show decreases in neuroticism, indicating they become less likely to worry a lot or feel strong negative feelings when something stressful happens.

    Hello, Curious Kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to mailto:curiouskids@theconversation.edu.auThe Conversation

    Tim Windsor, Professor, Director, Generations Research Initiative, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University and Natalie Goulter, Lecturer, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University

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

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  • Peach vs Passion Fruit – 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 peach to passion fruit, we picked the passion fruit.

    Why?

    It wasn’t close!

    In terms of macros, passion fruit has more than 2x the protein, 2x the carbs, and 7x the fiber. That’s a big difference!

    In the category of vitamins, peach has more of vitamins B1, B5, E, and K, while passion fruit has more of vitamins A, B2, B3, B6, B7, B9, C, and choline. Again, not close.

    When it comes to minerals, peach has more manganese and zinc, while passion fruit has more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium—and most of those margins are “by multiples”, not just a fraction more. Again, a clear winner here.

    Adding up these three overwhelming wins for passion fruit makes for an obvious total win for passion fruit.

    As ever, enjoy both, but if you’re going to pick one, then one of these fruits is extra passionate about bringing you nutrients.

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Top 8 Fruits That Prevent & Kill Cancer ← peaches are on this list!

    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

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