Does Your Butt…Wink?
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What is a Butt Wink?
A “butt wink” is a common issue that occurs during squatting exercises.
Now, we’ve talked about the benefits of squatting countless times (see here or here for just a few examples). As with all exercises, using the correct technique is imperative, helping to both reduce injury and maximize gain.
Given butt winks are a common issue when squatting, we thought it natural to devote an article to it.
So, a butt wink happens when, at the bottom of your squat position, your pelvis tucks rotates backward (otherwise known as a “posterior pelvic tilt”) and the lower back rounds. This motion looks like a slight ‘wink’, hence the name.
How to Avoid Butt Winking
When the pelvis tucks under and the spine rounds, it can put undue pressure on the lumbar discs. This is especially risky when squatting with weights, as it can exacerbate the stress on the spine.
To avoid a butt wink, it’s important to maintain a neutral spine throughout the squat and to work on flexibility and strength in the hips, glutes, and hamstrings. Adjusting the stance width or foot angle during squats can also help in maintaining proper form.
A visual representation would likely work better than our attempt at describing what to do, so without further ado, here’s today’s video:
How was the video? If you’ve discovered any great videos yourself that you’d like to share with fellow 10almonds readers, then please do email them to us!
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Walnuts vs Pecans – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing walnuts to pecans, we picked the walnuts.
Why?
It was very close, though, and an argument could be made for pecans! Walnuts are nevertheless always a very good bet, and so far in our This-or-That comparisons, the only nut to beat them so far as been almonds, and that was very close too.
In terms of macros, walnuts have a lot more protein, while pecans have a little more fiber (for approximately the same carbs). Both are equally fatty (near enough; technically pecans have a little more) but where the walnuts stand out in the fat category is that while pecans have mostly healthy monounsaturated fats, walnuts have mostly healthy polyunsaturated fats, including including a good balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. So, while we do love the extra fiber from pecans, we’re calling it for walnuts in the macros category, on account of the extra protein and the best lipids profile (not that pecans’ lipids profile is bad by any stretch; just, walnuts have it better).
In the vitamins category, walnuts have more of vitamins B2, B6, B9, and C, while pecans offer more of vitamins A, B1, B3, B5, E, K, and choline. The margins aren’t huge and walnuts are also excellent for all the vitamins that pecans narrowly beat them on, but still, the vitamins category is a win for pecans.
When it comes to minerals, walnuts take back the crown; walnuts offer more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium, while pecans have a little more manganese and zinc. Once again, the margins aren’t huge and pecans are also excellent for all the minerals that walnuts narrowly beat them on, but still, the minerals category is a win for walnuts.
In short: enjoy both of these nuts for their healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber, but if you’re going to pick one, walnuts come out on top.
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
Why You Should Diversify Your Nuts!
Take care!
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Rethinking Exercise: The Workout Paradox
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The notion of running a caloric deficit (i.e., expending more calories than we consume) to reduce bodyfat is appealing in its simplicity, but… we’d say “it doesn’t actually work outside of a lab”, but honestly, it doesn’t actually work outside of a calculator.
Why?
For a start, exercise calorie costs are quite small numbers compared to metabolic base rate. Our brain alone uses a huge portion of our daily calories, and the rest of our body literally never stops doing stuff. Even if we’re lounging in bed and ostensibly not moving, on a cellular level we stay incredibly busy, and all that costs (and the currency is: calories).
Since that cost is reflected in the body’s budget per kg of bodyweight, a larger body (regardless of its composition) will require more calories than a smaller one. We say “regardless of its composition” because this is true regardless—but for what it’s worth, muscle is more “costly” to maintain than fat, which is one of several reasons why the average man requires more daily calories than the average woman, since on average men will tend to have more muscle.
And if you do exercise because you want to run out the budget so the body has to “spend” from fat stores?
Good luck, because while it may work in the very short term, the body will quickly adapt, like an accountant seeing your reckless spending and cutting back somewhere else. That’s why in all kinds of exercise except high-intensity interval training, a period of exercise will be followed by a metabolic slump, the body’s “austerity measures”, to balance the books.
You may be wondering: why is it different for HIIT? It’s because it changes things up frequently enough that the body doesn’t get a chance to adapt. To labor the financial metaphor, it involves lying to your accountant, so that the compensation is not made. Congratulations: you’re committing calorie fraud (but it’s good for the body, so hey).
That doesn’t mean other kinds of exercise are useless (or worse, necessarily counterproductive), though! Just, that we must acknowledge that other forms of exercise are great for various aspects of physical health (strengthening the body, mobilizing blood and lymph, preventing disease, enjoying mental health benefits, etc) that don’t really affect fat levels much (which are decided more in the kitchen than the gym—and even in the category of diet, it’s more about what and how and when you eat, rather than how much).
For more information on metabolic balance in the context of exercise, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like to read:
- Are You A Calorie-Burning Machine?
- Burn! How To Boost Your Metabolism
- How To Do HIIT (Without Wrecking Your Body)
- Lose Weight, But Healthily
- Build Muscle (Healthily!)
- How To Gain Weight (Healthily!)
Take care!
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5 Ways To Beat Afternoon Energy Slumps
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This is Nisha Vora, of Rainbow Plant Life fame. After graduating from Harvard Law School, she realized she hated being a lawyer, and pivoted completely to become what she now is 12 years later, a chef and health coach.
Here are her tips for boosting energy through the day:
Caffeine timing
If you don’t do caffeine at all, no need to change that, but if you do, Vora advises that midday is the best time for it, with a very good rationale:
- of course it should not be too late in the day, because the elimination half-life of caffeine (4–8 hours to eliminate just half of the caffeine, depending on genes, call it 6 hours as an average though honestly for most people it will either be 4 or 8, not 6) is such that it can easily interfere with sleep for most people
- because caffeine is an adenosine blocker, not an adenosine inhibitor, taking caffeine in the morning means either there’s no adenosine to block, or it’ll just “save” that adenosine for later, i.e. when the caffeine is eliminated, then the adenosine will kick in, meaning that your morning sleepiness has now been deferred to the afternoon, rather than eliminated.
Another reminder that caffeine is the “payday loan” of energy. So, midday it is. No morning sleepiness to defer, and yet also not so late as to interfere with sleep.
See also: Calculate (And Enjoy) The Perfect Night’s Sleep
Simplify what can be simplified
This one’s not from a physiological basis, but rather, that a lot of the time most of us have much of our energy being taken by constant task-switching (what gets called multitasking, but as our brain is a single processor, it really means switching rapidly between different kinds of cognition, which is not efficient). In order to avoid that energy drain, try to streamline things and make a particular effort to not only single-task, but to do so without distractions.
Counterpoint: if you have unmedicated ADHD, then chances are you’ll do better with a single small distraction chosen by you, than trying to go without distractions, because your brain will find distractions anyway, so you might as well choose one (for many people it is background music, or a podcast or TV show that one doesn’t may attention to but it’s there) as a matter of harm reduction, and that way you’ll do better at focusing on your primary task than if your brain were reaching out for every and any possible distraction.
Manage your blood sugars
In particular, she advocates for avoiding sugary breakfasts, opting instead for protein, fat, and fiber-rich options. For more in this regard, see:
10 Ways To Balance Your Blood Sugars
Walk after meals
You don’t have to don hiking boots and “I am just going outside and may be some time“; rather, even a 2–5 minute walk after a meal helps regulate digestion and glucose levels, avoiding postprandial energy slumps.
So,
- if you have a treadmill, after eating is a great time to use it for a few minutes
- if you have stairs, now’s a great time to go up and down them a few times
One last technique for when everything else fails
We’ll quote her directly on this one:
❝Despite my best efforts, soemtimes I just have one of those days. Maybe I didn’t sleep well or I’m distracted by my never ending thoughts. If I need to be productive or energized on those days, I will do something that I absolutely hate:
I will take a cold shower.
And I hate it because I’m already always cold all the time, so why would I want to get a cold shower?
Well, it’s because cold water immersion has been shown to dramatically boost your dopamine levels, which gives you more energy and motivation.
In the moment though, it’s mostly painful and I hate everything and everyone around me.
But I know that if I can suffer through two minutes of a cold shower, I will feel so refreshed.❞
There are more benefits than just that, though, see:
A Cold Shower A Day Keeps The Doctor Away?
Want more from Nisha Vora?
We reviewed one of her books a while back:
The Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook – by Nisha Vora
Enjoy!
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Mythbusting Cookware Materials
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In Wednesday’s newsletter, we asked you what kind of cookware you mostly use, and got the above-depicted, below-described, set of responses:
- About 45% said stainless steel
- About 21% said cast iron
- About 15% said non-stick (e.g. Teflon)
- About 9% said enamel
- About 6% said aluminum
- And 1 person selected “something else”, but then commented to the contrary, writing “I use all of the above”
So, what does the science say about these options?
Stainless steel cookware is safe: True or False?
True! Assuming good quality and normal use, anyway. There really isn’t a lot to say about this, because it’s very unexciting. So long as it is what it is labelled as: there’s nothing coating it, nothing comes out of it unless you go to extremes*, and it’s easy to clean.
*If you cook for long durations at very high temperatures, it can leach nickel and chromium into food. What this means in practical terms: if you are using stainless steel to do deep-frying, then maybe stop that, and also consider going easy on deep-frying in general anyway, because obviously deep-frying is unhealthy for other reasons.
Per normal use, however: pretty much the only way (good quality) stainless steel cookware will harm you is if you touch it while it’s hot, or if it falls off a shelf onto your head.
That said, do watch out for cheap stainless steel cookware that can contain a lot of impurities, including heavy metals. Since you probably don’t have a mass spectrometer and/or chemistry lab at home to check for those impurities, your best guard here is simply to buy from a reputable brand with credible certifications.
Ceramic cookware is safe: True or False?
True… Most of the time! Ceramic pans usually have metal parts and a ceramic cooking surface coated with a very thin layer of silicon. Those metal parts will be as safe as the metals used, so if that’s stainless steel, you’re just as safe as the above. As for the silicon, it is famously inert and body-safe (which is why it’s used in body implants).
However: ceramic cookware that doesn’t have an obvious metal part and is marketed as being pure ceramic, will generally be sealed with some kind of glaze that can leach heavy metals contaminants into the food; here’s an example:
Lead toxicity from glazed ceramic cookware
Copper cookware is safe: True or False?
False! This is one we forgot to mention in the poll, as one doesn’t see a lot of it nowadays. The copper from copper pans can leach into food. Now, of course copper is an important mineral that we must get from our diet, but the amount of copper that that can leach into food from copper pans is far too much, and can induce copper toxicity.
In addition, copper cookware has been found to be, on average, highly contaminated with lead:
Non-stick cookware contaminates the food with microplastics: True or False?
True! If we were to discuss all the common non-stick contaminants here, this email would no longer fit (there’s a size limit before it gets clipped by most email services).
Suffice it to say: the non-stick coating, polytetrafluoroethylene, is itself a PFAS, that is to say, part of the category of chemicals considered environmental pollutants, and associated with a long list of health issues in humans (wherein the level of PFAS in our bloodstream is associated with higher incidence of many illnesses):
You may have noticed, of course, that the “non-stick” coating doesn’t stick very well to the pan, either, and will tend to come off over time, even if used carefully.
Also, any kind of wet cooking (e.g. saucepans, skillets, rice cooker inserts) will leach PFAS into the food. In contrast, a non-stick baking tray lined with baking paper (thus: a barrier between the tray and your food) is really not such an issue.
We wrote about PFAS before, so if you’d like a more readable pop-science article than the scientific paper above, then check out:
PFAS Exposure & Cancer: The Numbers Are High
Aluminum cookware contaminates the food with aluminum: True or False?
True! But not usually in sufficient quantities to induce aluminum toxicity, unless you are aluminum pans Georg who eats half a gram of aluminum per day, who is a statistical outlier and should not be counted.
That’s a silly example, but an actual number; the dose required for aluminum toxicity in blood is 100mg/L, and you have about 5 liters of blood.
Unless you are on kidney dialysis (because 95% of aluminum is excreted by the kidneys, and kidney dialysis solution can itself contain aluminum), you will excrete aluminum a lot faster than you can possibly absorb it from cookware. On the other hand, you can get too much of it from it being a permitted additive in foods and medications, for example if you are taking antacids they often have a lot of aluminum oxide in them—but that is outside the scope of today’s article.
However, aluminum may not be the real problem in aluminum pans:
❝In addition, aluminum (3.2 ± 0.25 to 4.64 ± 0.20 g/kg) and copper cookware (2.90 ± 0.12 g/kg) were highly contaminated with lead.
The time and pH-dependent study revealed that leaching of metals (Al, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cd, Cu, and Fe, etc.) into food was predominantly from anodized and non-anodized aluminum cookware.
More metal leaching was observed from new aluminum cookware compared to old. Acidic food was found to cause more metals to leach during cooking.❞
~ the same paper we cited when talking about copper
Cast iron cookware contaminates the food with iron: True or False?
True, but unlike with the other metals discussed, this is purely a positive, and indeed, it’s even recommended as a good way to fortify one’s diet with iron:
The only notable counterpoint we could find for this is if you have hemochromatosis, a disorder in which the body is too good at absorbing iron and holding onto it.
Thinking of getting some new cookware?
Here are some example products of high-quality safe materials on Amazon, but of course feel free to shop around:
Stainless Steel | Ceramic* | Cast Iron
*it says “non-stick” in the description, but don’t worry, it’s ceramic, not Teflon etc, and is safe
Bonus: rice cooker with stainless steel inner pot
Take care!
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What Do The Different Kinds Of Fiber Do? 30 Foods That Rank Highest
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We’ve talked before about how important fiber is:
Why You’re Probably Not Getting Enough Fiber (And How To Fix It)
And even how it’s arguably the most important dietary factor when it comes to avoiding heart disease:
What Matters Most For Your Heart? Eat More (Of This) For Lower Blood Pressure ← Spoiler: it’s fiber
And yes, that’s even when considered alongside other (also laudable) dietary interventions such as lowering intake of sodium, various kinds of saturated fat, and red meat.
So, what should we know about fiber, aside from “aim to get nearer 40g/day instead of the US average 16g/day”?
Soluble vs Insoluble
The first main way that dietary fibers can be categorized is soluble vs insoluble. Part of the difference is obvious, but bear with us, because there’s more to know about each:
- Soluble fiber dissolves (what a surprise) in water and, which part is important, forms a gel. This slows down things going through your intestines, which is important for proper digestion and absorption of nutrients (as well as avoiding diarrhea). Yes, you heard right: getting enough of the right kind of fiber helps you avoid diarrhea.
- Insoluble fiber does not dissolve (how shocking) in water and thus mostly passes through undigested by us (some will actually be digested by gut microbes who subsist on this, and in return for us feeding them daily, they make useful chemicals for us). This kind of fiber is also critical for healthy bowel movements, because without it, constipation can ensue.
Both kinds of fiber improve just about every metric related to blood, including improving triglycerides and improving insulin sensitivity and blood glucose levels. Thus, they help guard against various kinds of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and metabolic disease in general. Do note that because whatever’s good for your heart/blood is good for your brain (which requires a healthy heart and bloodstream to nourish it and take away waste), likely this also has a knock-on effect against cognitive decline, but we don’t have hard science for that claim so we’re going to leave that last item as a “likely”.
However, one thing’s for sure: if you want a healthy gut, heart, and brain, you need a good balance of soluble and insoluble fibers.
10 of the best for soluble fiber
Food Soluble Fiber Type(s) Soluble Fiber (g per serving) Insoluble Fiber Type(s) Insoluble Fiber (g per serving) Total Fiber (g per serving) Kidney beans (1 cup cooked) Pectin, Resistant Starch 1.5–2 Hemicellulose, Cellulose 6 8 Lentils (1 cup cooked) Pectin, Resistant Starch 1.5–2 Cellulose 6 7.5 Barley (1 cup cooked) Beta-glucan 3–4 Hemicellulose 2 6 Brussels sprouts (1 cup cooked) Pectin 1–1.5 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 2 3.5 Oats (1 cup cooked) Beta-glucan 2–3 Cellulose 1 3 Apples (1 medium) Pectin 1–2 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 2 3 Carrots (1 cup raw) Pectin 1–1.5 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 2 3 Citrus fruits (orange, 1 medium) Pectin 1–1.5 Cellulose 1 2.5 Flaxseeds (2 tbsp) Mucilage, Lignin 1–1.5 Cellulose 1 2.5 Psyllium husk (1 tbsp) Mucilage 3–4 Trace amounts 0 3–4 10 of the best for insoluble fiber
Food Soluble Fiber Type(s) Soluble Fiber (g per serving) Insoluble Fiber Type(s) Insoluble Fiber (g per serving) Total Fiber (g per serving) Wheat bran (1 cup) Trace amounts 0 Cellulose, Lignin 6–8 6–8 Black beans (1 cup cooked) Pectin, Resistant Starch 1.5 Cellulose 6 7.5 Brown rice (1 cup cooked) Trace amounts 0.5 Hemicellulose, Lignin 2–3 2.5–3.5 Popcorn (3 cups popped) Trace amounts 0.5 Hemicellulose 3 3.5 Broccoli (1 cup cooked) Pectin 1 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 4 5 Green beans (1 cup cooked) Trace amounts 0.5 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 3 3.5 Sweet potatoes (1 cup cooked) Pectin 1–1.5 Cellulose 3 4.5 Whole wheat bread (1 slice) Trace amounts 0.5 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 1 1.5 Pears (1 medium) Pectin 1 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 4 5 Almonds (1 oz) Trace amounts 0.5 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 2 2.5 10 of the best for a balance of both
Food Soluble Fiber Type(s) Soluble Fiber (g per serving) Insoluble Fiber Type(s) Insoluble Fiber (g per serving) Total Fiber (g per serving) Raspberries (1 cup) Pectin 1 Cellulose 5 6 Edamame (1 cup cooked) Pectin 1 Cellulose 5 6 Chia seeds (2 tbsp) Mucilage, Pectin 2–3 Lignin, Cellulose 3 5.5 Artichokes (1 medium) Inulin 1 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 5 6 Avocado (1 medium) Pectin ~2 Cellulose 4 6 Black beans (1 cup cooked) Pectin, Resistant Starch 1.5 Cellulose 6 7.5 Quinoa (1 cup cooked) Pectin, Saponins 1 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 3 4 Spinach (1 cup cooked) Pectin 0.5 Cellulose, Lignin 3 3.5 Prunes (1/2 cup) Pectin, Sorbitol 2 Cellulose 4 6 Figs (3 medium) Pectin 1 Cellulose 2 3 You’ll notice that the above “balance” is not equal; that’s ok; we need greater quantities of insoluble than soluble anyway, so it is as well that nature provides such.
This is the same kind of balance when we talk about “balanced hormones” (does not mean all hormones are in equal amounts; means they are in the right proportions) or “balanced microbiome” (does not mean that pathogens and friendly bacteria are in equal numbers), etc.
Some notes on the above:
About those fiber types, some of the most important soluble ones to aim for are:
- Beta-glucan: found in oats and barley, it supports heart health.
- Pectin: found in fruits like apples, citrus, and pears, it helps with cholesterol control.
- Inulin: a type of prebiotic fiber found in artichokes.
- Lignin: found in seeds and wheat bran, it has antioxidant properties.
- Resistant starch: found in beans and lentils, it acts as a prebiotic for gut health.
See also: When Is A Fiber Not A Fiber? The Food Additive You Do Want
One fiber to rule them all
Well, not entirely (we still need the others) but there is a best all-rounder:
The Best Kind Of Fiber For Overall Health?
Enjoy!
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Egg Whites vs Whole Eggs – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing egg whites to whole eggs, we picked the whole eggs.
Why?
Egg whites are mostly protein. Egg yolks are mostly fat, with some protein.
However, fat ≠ bad, and the yolk is also where the choline is stored, which itself (as well as its benefits for your brain) will tend to reduce fat storage in the body.
Furthermore, the yolk contains an assortment of vitamins, minerals, and essential amino acids. After all, the yolk is there specifically to contain everything needed to turn a cluster of cells into a small bird.
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