Cashew & Chickpea Balti

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When it comes to curries, the humble balti is perhaps the best when you don’t have all day to let something simmer. Filled with healthful spices, this one also comes complete with lots of fiber as well as healthy proteins and fats, with most of its calories coming from the nuts themselves, and the haricot paste base makes for a deliciously creamy curry without having to add anything unhealthy.

You will need

  • 1 cup cashews, soaked in warm water for at least 5 minutes, and drained (if allergic, omit)
  • 1 can chickpeas (keep the water)
  • 1 can haricot beans (keep the water)
  • 1 can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 medium (or 3 small) red onions, sliced
  • red or green chilis, quantity per your preference re heat, chopped
  • ½ bulb garlic, crushed
  • ½ oz fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp garam masala
  • 1 tbsp ground coriander
  • 1 tbsp black pepper, coarse ground
  • 2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds (if allergic, omit)
  • 1 tsp sweet cinnamon
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
  • Avocado oil, for frying (extra virgin olive-oil, or cold-pressed coconut oil, are fine alternatives)
  • Garnish: handful fresh cilantro, chopped (or parsley, if you have the “cilantro tastes like soap” gene)

Method

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

1) Heat a little oil in a large sauté pan (we’re going to need space to work; a large wok is traditional but a sauté pan is convenient), and add the garlic, ginger, mustard seeds, and coriander seeds, stirring for about 2 minutes, then add the onions and chilis, stirring for another 3 minutes. The onions and chilis won’t be fully cooked yet, but that’s fine, we just needed to get them started.

2) Add the crushed tomatoes, stirring them in, and when they get to temperature, turn the heat down to a simmer.

3) Add the chickpeas to the pan, but separately put the chickpea water into a high-speed blender.

4) Add the haricot beans, including the water they came in, to the high-speed blender, as well as the tomato paste and the remaining spices (including the MSG or salt), and blend on high until smooth. Add the curry paste (that’s what you’ve just made in the blender) to the pan, and stir in well.

5) Add the cashews, stirring in well. Taste, and adjust any spices if necessary for your liking. If the onions still aren’t fully cooked, let them simmer until they are, but it shouldn’t take long.

10almonds tip: if perchance you made it too spicy, you can add a little lime juice and the acidity will counteract the heat. Adding lemon juice, lime juice, or some kind of vinegar (depending on what works with the flavor profile of your recipe) is a good last resort to have up your sleeve for fixing a dish that got too spicy.

6) Add the garnish, and serve—we recommend serving it with our Tasty Versatile Rice, but any carb is fine.

Enjoy!

Want to learn more?

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

Take care!

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  • Protein Immune Support Salad

    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.

    How to get enough protein from a salad, without adding meat? Cashews and chickpeas have you more than covered! Along with the leafy greens and an impressive array of minor ingredients full of healthy phytochemicals, this one’s good for your muscles, bones, skin, immune health, and more.

    You will need

    • 1½ cups raw cashews (if allergic, omit; the chickpeas and coconut will still carry the dish for protein and healthy fats)
    • 2 cans (2x 14oz) chickpeas, drained
    • 1½ lbs baby spinach leaves
    • 2 large onions, finely chopped
    • 3 oz goji berries
    • ½ bulb garlic, finely chopped
    • 2 tbsp dessicated coconut
    • 1 tbsp dried cumin
    • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
    • 2 tsp chili flakes
    • 1 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • ½ tsp MSG, or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
    • Extra virgin olive oil, for cooking

    Method

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

    1) Heat a little oil in a pan; add the onions and cook for about 3 minutes.

    2) Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.

    3) Add the spinach, and cook until it wilts.

    4) Add the remaining ingredients except the coconut, and cook for another three minutes.

    5) Heat another pan (dry); add the coconut and toast for 1–2 minutes, until lightly golden. Add it to the main pan.

    6) Serve hot as a main, or an attention-grabbing side:

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

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

    Take care!

    Share This Post

  • Sesame Oil vs Almond Oil – 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 sesame oil to almond oil, we picked the almond.

    Why?

    We were curious about this one! Were you, or were you confident? You see, almonds tend to blow away all the other nuts with their nutritional density, but they’re far from the oiliest of nuts, and their greatest strengths include their big dose of protein and fiber (which don’t make it into the oil), vitamins (most of which don’t make it into the oil) and minerals (which don’t make it into the oil). So, a lot will come down to the fat profile!

    On which note, looking at the macros first, it’s 100% fat in both cases, but sesame oil has more saturated fat and polyunsaturated fat, while almond oil has more monounsaturated fat. Since the mono- and poly-unsaturated fats are both healthy and each oil has more of one or the other, the deciding factor here is which has the least saturated fat—and that’s the almond oil, which has close to half the saturated fat of sesame oil. As an aside, neither of them are a source of omega-3 fatty acids.

    In terms of vitamins, there’s not a lot to say here, but “not a lot” is not nothing: sesame oil has nearly 2x the vitamin K, while almond oil has 28x the vitamin E*, and 2x the choline. So, another win for almond oil.

    *which is worth noting, not least of all because seeds are more widely associated with vitamin E in popular culture, but it’s the almond oil that provide much more here. Not to get too distracted into looking at the values of the actual seeds and nuts, almonds themselves do have over 102x the vitamin E compared to sesame seeds.

    Now, back to the oils:

    In the category of minerals, there actually is nothing to say here, except you can’t get more than the barest trace of any mineral from either of these two oils. So it’s a tie on this one.

    Adding up the categories makes for a clear win for almond oil!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Avocado Oil vs Olive Oil – Which is Healthier?

    Take care!

    Share This Post

  • Undo It! – by Dr. Dean Ornish & Anne Ornish

    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.

    Of course, no lifestyle changes will magically undo Type 1 Diabetes or Cerebral Palsy. But for many chronic diseases, a lot can be done. The question is,how does one book cover them all?

    As authors Dr. Dean Ornish and Anne Ornish explain, very many chronic diseases are exacerbated, or outright caused, by the same factors:

    • Gene expression
    • Inflammation
    • Oxidative stress

    This goes for chronic disease from heart disease to type 2 diabetes to cancer and many autoimmune diseases.

    We cannot change our genes, but we can change our gene expression (the authors explain how). And certainly, we can control inflammation and oxidative stress.

    Then first part of the book is given over to dietary considerations. If you’re a regular 10almonds reader, you won’t be too surprised at their recommendations, but you may enjoy the 70 recipes offered.

    Attention is also given to exercising in ways optimized to beat chronic disease, and to other lifestyle factors.

    Limiting stress is important, but the authors go further when it comes to psychological and sociological factors. Specifically, what matters most to health, when it comes to intimacy and community.

    Bottom line: this is a very good guide to a comprehensive lifestyle overhaul, especially if something recently has given you cause to think “oh wow, I should really do more to avoid xyz disease”.

    Click here to check out Undo It, and better yet, prevent it in advance!

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Related Posts

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  • Triphala Against Cognitive Decline, Obesity, & More

    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.

    Triphala is not just one thing, it is a combination of three plants being used together as one medicine:

    1. Alma (Emblica officinalis)
    2. Bibhitaki (Terminalia bellirica)
    3. Haritaki (Terminalia chebula)

    …generally prepared in a 1:1:1 ratio.

    This is a traditional preparation from ayurveda, and has enjoyed thousands of years of use in India. In and of itself, ayurveda is classified as a pseudoscience (literally: it doesn’t adhere to scientific method; instead, it merely makes suppositions that seem reasonable and acts on them), but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still have a lot to offer—because, simply put, a lot of ayurvedic medicines work (and a lot don’t).

    So, ayurveda’s unintended job has often been finding things for modern science to test.

    For more on ayurveda: Ayurveda’s Contributions To Science (Without Being Itself Rooted in Scientific Method)

    So, under the scrutiny of modern science, how does triphala stand up?

    Against cognitive decline

    It has most recently come to attention because one of its ingredients, the T. chebula, has been highlighted as effective against mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by several mechanisms of action, via its…

    ❝171 chemical constituents and 11 active constituents targeting MCI, such as flavonoids, which can alleviate MCI, primarily through its antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective properties. T. Chebula shows potential as a natural medicine for the treatment and prevention of MCI.

    Read in full: The potential of Terminalia chebula in alleviating mild cognitive impairment: a review

    The review was quite groundbreaking, to the extent that it got a pop-science article written about it:

    New review suggests evaluating Tibetan medicinal herb as potential treatment for mild cognitive impairment

    We’d like to talk about those 11 active constituents in particular, but we don’t have room for all of them, so we’ll mention that one of them is quercetin, which we’ve written about before:

    Fight Inflammation & Protect Your Brain, With Quercetin

    For gut health

    It’s also been found to improve gut health by increasing transit time, that is to say, how slowly things move through your gut. Counterintuitively, this reduces constipation (without being a laxative), by giving your gut more time to absorb everything it needs to, and more time for your gut bacteria to break down the things we can’t otherwise digest:

    A comparative evaluation of intestinal transit time of two dosage forms of Haritaki [Terminalia chebula Retz.]

    For weight management

    Triphala can also aid with weight reduction, particularly in the belly area, by modulating our insulin responses to improve insulin sensitivity:

    Efficacy of [triphala], a combination of three medicinal plants in the treatment of obesity; A randomized controlled trial

    Want to try some?

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

    Enjoy!

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  • Half of Australians in aged care have depression. Psychological therapy could help

    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.

    While many people maintain positive emotional wellbeing as they age, around half of older Australians living in residential aged care have significant levels of depression. Symptoms such as low mood, lack of interest or pleasure in life and difficulty sleeping are common.

    Rates of depression in aged care appear to be increasing, and without adequate treatment, symptoms can be enduring and significantly impair older adults’ quality of life.

    But only a minority of aged care residents with depression receive services specific to the condition. Less than 3% of Australian aged care residents access Medicare-subsidised mental health services, such as consultations with a psychologist or psychiatrist, each year.

    An infographic showing the percentage of Australian aged care residents with depression (53%).

    Cochrane Australia

    Instead, residents are typically prescribed a medication by their GP to manage their mental health, which they often take for several months or years. A recent study found six in ten Australian aged care residents take antidepressants.

    While antidepressant medications may help many people, we lack robust evidence on whether they work for aged care residents with depression. Researchers have described “serious limitations of the current standard of care” in reference to the widespread use of antidepressants to treat frail older people with depression.

    Given this, we wanted to find out whether psychological therapies can help manage depression in this group. These treatments address factors contributing to people’s distress and provide them with skills to manage their symptoms and improve their day-to-day lives. But to date researchers, care providers and policy makers haven’t had clear information about their effectiveness for treating depression among older people in residential aged care.

    The good news is the evidence we published today suggests psychological therapies may be an effective approach for people living in aged care.

    We reviewed the evidence

    Our research team searched for randomised controlled trials published over the past 40 years that were designed to test the effectiveness of psychological therapies for depression among aged care residents 65 and over. We identified 19 trials from seven countries, including Australia, involving a total of 873 aged care residents with significant symptoms of depression.

    The studies tested several different kinds of psychological therapies, which we classified as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), behaviour therapy or reminiscence therapy.

    CBT involves teaching practical skills to help people re-frame negative thoughts and beliefs, while behaviour therapy aims to modify behaviour patterns by encouraging people with depression to engage in pleasurable and rewarding activities. Reminiscence therapy supports older people to reflect on positive or shared memories, and helps them find meaning in their life history.

    The therapies were delivered by a range of professionals, including psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and trainee therapists.

    An infographic depicting what the researchers measured in the review.

    Cochrane Australia

    In these studies, psychological therapies were compared to a control group where the older people did not receive psychological therapy. In most studies, this was “usual care” – the care typically provided to aged care residents, which may include access to antidepressants, scheduled activities and help with day-to-day tasks.

    In some studies psychological therapy was compared to a situation where the older people received extra social contact, such as visits from a volunteer or joining in a discussion group.

    What we found

    Our results showed psychological therapies may be effective in reducing symptoms of depression for older people in residential aged care, compared with usual care, with effects lasting up to six months. While we didn’t see the same effect beyond six months, only two of the studies in our review followed people for this length of time, so the data was limited.

    Our findings suggest these therapies may also improve quality of life and psychological wellbeing.

    Psychological therapies mostly included between two and ten sessions, so the interventions were relatively brief. This is positive in terms of the potential feasibility of delivering psychological therapies at scale. The three different therapy types all appeared to be effective, compared to usual care.

    However, we found psychological therapy may not be more effective than extra social contact in reducing symptoms of depression. Older people commonly feel bored, lonely and socially isolated in aged care. The activities on offer are often inadequate to meet their needs for stimulation and interest. So identifying ways to increase meaningful engagement day-to-day could improve the mental health and wellbeing of older people in aged care.

    Some limitations

    Many of the studies we found were of relatively poor quality, because of small sample sizes and potential risk of bias, for example. So we need more high-quality research to increase our confidence in the findings.

    Many of the studies we reviewed were also old, and important gaps remain. For example, we are yet to understand the effectiveness of psychological therapies for people from diverse cultural or linguistic backgrounds.

    Separately, we need better research to evaluate the effectiveness of antidepressants among aged care residents.

    What needs to happen now?

    Depression should not be considered a “normal” experience at this (or any other) stage of life, and those experiencing symptoms should have equal access to a range of effective treatments. The royal commission into aged care highlighted that Australians living in aged care don’t receive enough mental health support and called for this issue to be addressed.

    While there have been some efforts to provide psychological services in residential aged care, the unmet need remains very high, and much more must be done.

    The focus now needs to shift to how to implement psychological therapies in aged care, by increasing the competencies of the aged care workforce, training the next generation of psychologists to work in this setting, and funding these programs in a cost-effective way. The Conversation

    Tanya Davison, Adjunct professor, Health & Ageing Research Group, Swinburne University of Technology and Sunil Bhar, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Swinburne University of Technology

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

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  • The Truth About Chocolate & Skin 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.

    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small

    ❝What’s the science on chocolate and acne? Asking for a family member❞

    The science is: these two things are broadly unrelated to each other.

    There was a very illustrative study done specifically for this, though!

    ❝65 subjects with moderate acne ate either a bar containing ten times the amount of chocolate in a typical bar, or an identical-appearing bar which contained no chocolate. Counting of all the lesions on one side of the face before and after each ingestion period indicated no difference between the bars.

    Five normal subjects ingested two enriched chocolate bars daily for one month; this represented a daily addition of the diet of 1,200 calories, of which about half was vegetable fat. This excessive intake of chocolate and fat did not alter the composition or output of sebum.

    A review of studies purporting to show that diets high in carbohydrate or fat stimulate sebaceous secretion and adversely affect acne vulgaris indicates that these claims are unproved.

    ~ Dr. James Fulton et al.

    Source: Effect of Chocolate on Acne Vulgaris

    As for what might help against acne more than needlessly abstaining from chocolate:

    Why Do We Have Pores, And Could We Not?

    …as well as:

    Of Brains & Breakouts: The Neuroscience Of Your Skin

    And here are some other articles that might interest you about chocolate:

    Enjoy! And while we have your attention… Would you like this section to be bigger? If so, send us more questions!

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