Calm Your Mind with Food – by Dr. Uma Naidoo

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From the author of This Is Your Brain On Food, the psychiatrist-chef (literally, she is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and an award-winning chef) is back with a more specific work, this time aimed squarely at what it says in the title; how to calm your mind with food.

You may be wondering: does this mean comfort-eating? And, well, not in the sense that term’s usually used. There will be eating and comfort will occur, but the process involves an abundance of nutrients, a minimization of health-deleterious ingredients, and a “for every chemical its task” approach. In other words, very much “nutraceuticals”, as our diet.

On which note: as we’ve come to expect from Dr. Naidoo, we see a lot of hard science presented simply and clearly, with neither undue sensationalization nor unnecessary jargon. We learn about the brain, the gut, relevant biology and chemistry, and build up from understanding ingredients to dietary patterns to having a whole meal plan, complete with recipes.

You may further be wondering: how much does it add that we couldn’t get from the previous book? And the answer is, not necessarily a huge amount, especially if you’re fairly comfortable taking ideas and creating your own path forwards using them. If, on the other hand, you’re a little anxious about doing that (as someone perusing this book may well be), then Dr. Naidoo will cheerfully lead you by the hand through what you need to know and do.

Bottom line: if not being compared to her previous book, this is a great standalone book with a lot of very valuable content. However, the previous book is a tough act to follow! So… All in all we’d recommend this more to people who want to indeed “calm your mind with food”, who haven’t read the other book, as this one will be more specialized for you.

Click here to check out Calm Your Mind With Food, and do just that!

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  • Eat All You Want (But Wisely)

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    Some Surprising Truths About Hunger And Satiety

    This is Dr. Barbara Rolls. She’s Professor and Guthrie Chair in Nutritional Sciences, and Director of the Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior at Pennsylvania State University, after graduating herself from Oxford and Cambridge (yes, both). Her “awards and honors” take up four A4 pages, so we won’t list them all here.

    Most importantly, she’s an expert on hunger, satiety, and eating behavior in general.

    What does she want us to know?

    First and foremost: you cannot starve yourself thin, unless you literally starve yourself to death.

    What this is about: any weight lost due to malnutrition (“not eating enough” is malnutrition) will always go back on once food becomes available. So unless you die first (not a great health plan), merely restricting good will always result in “yo-yo dieting”.

    So, to avoid putting the weight back on and feeling miserable every day along the way… You need to eat as much as you feel you need.

    But, there’s a trick here (it’s about making you genuinely feel you need less)!

    Your body is an instrument—so play it

    Your body is the tool you use to accomplish pretty much anything you do. It is, in large part, at your command. Then there are other parts you can’t control directly.

    Dr. Rolls advises taking advantage of the fact that much of your body is a mindless machine that will simply follow instructions given.

    That includes instructions like “feel hungry” or “feel full”. But how to choose those?

    Volume matters

    An important part of our satiety signalling is based on a physical sensation of fullness. This, by the way, is why bariatric surgery (making a stomach a small fraction of the size it was before) works. It’s not that people can’t eat more (the stomach is stretchy and can also be filled repeatedly), it’s that they don’t want to eat more because the pressure sensors around the stomach feel full, and signal the hormone leptin to tell the brain we’re full now.

    Now consider:

    • On the one hand, 20 grapes, fresh and bursting with flavor
    • On the other hand, 20 raisins (so, dried grapes), containing the same calories

    Which do you think will get the leptin flowing sooner? Of course, the fresh grapes, because of the volume.

    So if you’ve ever seen those photos that show two foods side by side with the same number of calories but one is much larger (say, a small slice of pizza or a big salad), it’s not quite the cheap trick that it might have appeared.

    Or rather… It is a cheap trick; it’s just a cheap trick that works because your stomach is quite a simple organ.

    So, Dr. Rolls’ advice: generally speaking, go for voluminous food. Fruit is great from this, because there’s so much water. Air-popped popcorn also works great. Vegetables, too.

    Water matters, but differently than you might think

    A well-known trick is to drink water before and with a meal. That’s good, it’s good to be hydrated. However, it can be better. Dr. Rolls did an experiment:

    The design:

    ❝Subjects received 1 of 3 isoenergetic (1128 kJ) preloads 17 min before lunch on 3 d and no preload on 1 d.

    The preloads consisted of 1) chicken rice casserole, 2) chicken rice casserole served with a glass of water (356 g), and 3) chicken rice soup.

    The soup contained the same ingredients (type and amount) as the casserole that was served with water.❞

    The results:

    ❝Decreasing the energy density of and increasing the volume of the preload by adding water to it significantly increased fullness and reduced hunger and subsequent energy intake at lunch.

    The equivalent amount of water served as a beverage with a food did not affect satiety.❞

    The conclusion:

    ❝Consuming foods with a high water content more effectively reduced subsequent energy intake than did drinking water with food.❞

    You can read the study in full (it’s a worthwhile read!) here:

    Water incorporated into a food but not served with a food decreases energy intake in lean women

    Protein matters

    With all those fruits and vegetables and water, you may be wondering Dr. Rolls’ stance on proteins. It’s simple: protein is an appetite suppressant.

    However, it takes about 20 minutes to signal the brain about that, so having some protein in a starter (if like this writer, you’re the cook of the household, a great option is to enjoy a small portion of nuts while cooking!) gets that clock ticking, to signal satiety sooner.

    It may also help in other ways:

    Clinical Evidence and Mechanisms of High-Protein Diet-Induced Weight Loss

    As for other foods that can suppress appetite, by the way, you might like;

    25 Foods That Act As Natural Appetite Suppressants

    Variety matters, and in ways other than you might think

    A wide variety of foods (especially: a wide variety of plants) in one’s diet is well recognized as a key to a good balanced diet.

    However…

    A wide variety of dishes at the table, meanwhile, promotes greater consumption of food.

    Dr. Rolls did a study on this too, a while ago now (you’ll see how old it is) but the science seems robust:

    Variety in a Meal Enhances Food Intake in Man

    Notwithstanding the title, it wasnot about a man (that was just how scientists wrote in ye ancient times of 1981). The test subjects were, in order: rats, cats, a mixed group of men and women, the same group again, and then a different group of all women.

    So, Dr. Rolls’ advice is: it’s better to have one 20-ingredient dish, than 10 dishes with 20 ingredients between them.

    Sorry! We love tapas and buffets too, but that’s the science!

    So, “one-pot” meals are king in this regard; even if you serve it with one side (reasonable), that’s still only two dishes, which is pretty good going.

    Note that the most delicious many-ingredient stir-fries and similar dishes from around the world also fall into this category!

    Want to know more?

    If you have the time (it’s an hour), you can enjoy a class of hers for free:

    !

    Want to watch it, but not right now? Bookmark it for later

    Enjoy!

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  • How to Prevent Dementia – by Dr. Richard Restak

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    We’ve written about this topic here, we know. But there’s a lot more we can do to be on guard against, and pre-emptively strengthen ourselves against, dementia.

    The author, a neurologist, takes us on a detailed exploration of dementia in general, with a strong focus on Alzheimer’s in particular, as that accounts for more than half of all dementia cases.

    But what if you can’t avoid it? It could be that with the wrong genes and some other factor(s) outside of your control, it will get you if something else doesn’t get you first.

    Rather than scaremongering, Dr. Restak tackles this head-on too, and discusses how symptoms can be managed, to make the illness less anxiety-inducing, and look to maintain quality of life as much as possible.

    The style of the book is… it reads a lot like an essay compilation. Good essays, then organized and arranged in a sensible order for reading, but distinct self-contained pieces. There are ten or eleven chapters (depending on how we count them), each divided into few or many sections. All this makes for:

    • A very “read a bit now and a bit later and a bit the next day” book, if you like
    • A feeling of a very quick pace, if you prefer to sit down and read it in one go

    Either way, it’s a very informative read.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to better understand the many-headed beast that is dementia, this book gives a far more comprehensive overview than we could here, and also explains the prophylactic interventions available.

    Click here to check out How To Prevent Dementia, because prevention is a lot more fun than wishing for a cure!

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  • Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Quit Emotional Eating – by Allen Carr

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    We’ve reviewed books before on quitting drinking; is this book about emotional eating so different?

    There are overlaps, but important points of contrast, too. After all, alcohol and junk food are both often unhealthy coping mechanisms for other things, though:

    • Alcohol has in principle the stronger grip (making it harder to give up)
    • Junk food is so much easier to justify (making it harder to give up)

    Author Allen Carr is of course most well-known for his debut book about quitting smoking, and he brings a lot of that expertise to bear on the slightly different beast that is emotional eating.

    Focused on reframing quitting as being less about self-denial and more about self-liberation, he helps readers to understand that giving up a substance (in this case, junk food) does not mean giving up happiness—rather, it means finding happiness beyond it.

    If this book has a downside, it’s that some parts can be a little repetitive, and it can sometimes seem like one of those “this book could have been an article” situations.

    On the other hand, many people benefit from repeated messages to truly inculcate an idea, so this could be a positive for a lot of readers.

    Bottom line: if you’ve tried to eat more healthily but find that you keep reaching for an unhealthy comfort food, then this book may make a difference that other methods didn’t.

    Click here to check out The Easy Way To Quit Emotional Eating, and find your own freedom!

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  • The Menopause Manifesto – by Dr. Jen Gunter

    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.

    From the subtitle, you may wonder: with facts and feminism? Is this book about biology or sociology?

    And the answer is: both. It’s about biology, principally, but without ignoring the context. We do indeed “live in a society”, and that affects everything from our healthcare options to what is expected of us as women.

    So, as a warning: if you dislike science and/or feminism, you won’t like this book.

    Dr. Jen Gunter, herself a gynaecologist, is here to arm us with science-based facts, to demystify an important part of life that is commonly glossed over.

    She talks first about the what/why/when/how of menopause, and then delivers practical advice. She also talks about the many things we can (and can’t!) usefully do about symptoms we might not want, and how to look after our health overall in the context of menopause. We learn what natural remedies do or don’t work and/or can be actively harmful, and we learn the ins and outs of different hormone therapy options too.

    Bottom line: no matter whether you are pre-, peri-, or post-menopausal, this is the no-BS guide you’ve been looking for. Same goes if you’re none of the above but spend any amount of time close to someone who is.

    Click here to check out The Menopause Manifesto, and understand better the changes in your (and/or your loved one’s) body!

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  • Ginger Does A Lot More Than You Think

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    Ginger’s benefits go deep!

    You are doubtlessly already familiar with what ginger is, so let’s skip right into the science.

    The most relevant active compound in the ginger root is called gingerol, and people enjoy it not just for its taste, but also a stack of health reasons, such as:

    • For weight loss
    • Against nausea
    • Against inflammation
    • For cardiovascular health
    • Against neurodegeneration

    Quite a collection! So, what does the science say?

    For weight loss

    This one’s quite straightforward. It not only helps overall weight loss, but also specifically improves waist-hip ratio, which is a much more important indicator of health than BMI.

    Read: The effects of ginger intake on weight loss and metabolic profiles among overweight and obese subjects: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

    Against nausea & pain

    Ginger has proven its effectiveness in many high quality clinical trials, against general nausea, post-surgery nausea, chemotherapy-induced nausea, and pregnancy-related nausea.

    Source: Ginger on Human Health: A Comprehensive Systematic Review of 109 Randomized Controlled Trials

    However! While it very clearly has been shown to be beneficial in the majority of cases, there are some small studies that suggest it may not be safe to take close to the time of giving birth, or in people with a history of pregnancy loss, or unusual vaginal bleeding, or clotting disorders.

    See specifically: Ginger for nausea and vomiting of pregnancy

    As a side note on the topic of “trouble down there”, ginger has also been found to be as effective as Novafen (a combination drug of acetaminophen (Tylenol), caffeine, and ibuprofen), in the task of relieving menstrual pain:

    See: Effect of Ginger and Novafen on menstrual pain: A cross-over trial

    Against inflammation & pain

    Ginger has well-established anti-inflammatory (and, incidentally, which affects many of the same systems, antioxidant) effects. Let’s take a look at that first:

    Read: Effect of Ginger on Inflammatory Diseases

    Attentive readers will note that this means that ginger is not merely some nebulous anti-inflammatory agent. Rather, it also specifically helps alleviate delineable inflammatory diseases, ranging from colitis to Crohn’s, arthritis to lupus.

    We’ll be honest (we always are!), the benefits in this case are not necessarily life-changing, but they are a statistically significant improvement, and if you are living with one of those conditions, chances are you’ll be glad of even things described in scientific literature as “modestly efficacious”.

    What does “modestly efficacious” look like? Here are the numbers from a review of 593 patients’ results in clinical trials (against placebo):

    ❝Following ginger intake, a statistically significant pain reduction SMD = −0.30 ([95% CI: [(−0.50, −0.09)], P = 0.005]) with a low degree of inconsistency among trials (I2 = 27%), and a statistically significant reduction in disability SMD = −0.22 ([95% CI: ([−0.39, −0.04)]; P = 0.01; I2 = 0%]) were seen, both in favor of ginger.❞

    ~ Bartels et al.

    To de-mathify that:

    • Ginger reduced pain by 30%
    • Ginger reduced disability by 22%

    Read the source: Efficacy and safety of ginger in osteoarthritis patients: a meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials

    Because (in part) of the same signalling pathways, it also has benefits against cancer (and you’ll remember, it also reduces the symptoms of chemotherapy).

    See for example: Ginger’s Role in Prevention and Treatment of Gastrointestinal Cancer

    For cardiovascular health

    In this case, its benefits are mostly twofold:

    Against neurodegeneration

    This is in large part because it reduces inflammation, which we discussed earlier.

    But, not everything passes the blood-brain barrier, so it’s worth noting when something (like gingerol) does also have an effect on brain health as well as the rest of the body.

    You do not want inflammation in your brain; that is Bad™ and strongly associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

    As well as reducing neuroinflammation, ginger has other relevant mechanisms too:

    ❝Its bioactive compounds may improve neurological symptoms and pathological conditions by modulating cell death or cell survival signaling molecules.

    The cognitive enhancing effects of ginger might be partly explained via alteration of both the monoamine and the cholinergic systems in various brain areas.

    Moreover, ginger decreases the production of inflammatory related factors❞

    ~ Arcusa et al.

    Check it out in full, as this is quite interesting:

    Role of Ginger in the Prevention of Neurodegenerative Diseases

    How much to take?

    In most studies, doses of 1–3 grams/day were used.

    Where to get it?

    Your local supermarket, as a first port-of-call. Especially given the dose you want, it may be nicer for you to have a touch of sliced ginger root in your cooking, rather than taking 2–6 capsules per day to get the same dose.

    Obviously, this depends on your culinary preferences, and ginger certainly doesn’t go with everything!

    If you do want it as a supplement, here is an example product on Amazon, for your convenience.

    Enjoy!

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  • Healthy Cook’s Anti-Inflammatory Diet & Cookbook – by Dr. Albert Orbinati

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    Chronic inflammation is a root cause of very many illnesses, and exacerbates almost all the ones it doesn’t cause. So, reducing inflammation is a very good way to stay well in general, reducing one’s risk factors for very many other diseases.

    Dr. Orbinati starts by giving advice for adjusting to an anti-inflammatory diet, including advice on trying an elimination diet, if you suspect an undiagnosed allergy/intolerance.

    Thereafter, he gives guidance on pantry-stocking—not just what anti-inflammatory foods to include and what inflammatory foods to skip, but also, what food and nutrient pairings are particularly beneficial, like how black pepper and turmeric are both anti-inflammatory by themselves, but the former greatly increases the bioavailability of the latter if consumed together.

    The rest of the book—aside from assorted appendices, such as 8 pages of scientific references—is given over to the recipes.

    The recipes themselves are, obviously, anti-inflammatory in focus. As one might expect, therefore, most are vegetarian and many are vegan, but we do find many recipes with chicken and fish as well; there’s also some use of eggs and fermented dairy in some of the recipes too.

    The book certainly does deliver on its promise of flavorful healthy food; that’s what happens when one includes a lot of herbs and spices in one’s cooking, as well as the fact that many other polyphenol-rich foods are, by nature, tasty in and of themselves.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to expand your anti-inflammatory culinary repertoire, this book is a top-tier choice for that.

    Click here to check out Healthy Cook’s Anti-Inflammatory Diet & Cookbook, and spice up your kitchen!

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