Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen

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Give Us This Day Our Daily Dozen

This is Dr. Michael Greger. He’s a physician-turned-author-educator, and we’ve featured him and his work occasionally over the past year or so:

But what we’ve not covered, astonishingly, is one of the things for which he’s most famous, which is…

Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen

Based on the research in the very information-dense tome that his his magnum opus How Not To Die (while it doesn’t confer immortality, it does help avoid the most common causes of death), Dr. Greger recommends that we take care to enjoy each of the following things per day:

Beans

  • Servings: 3 per day
  • Examples: ½ cup cooked beans, ¼ cup hummus

Greens

  • Servings: 2 per day
  • Examples: 1 cup raw, ½ cup cooked

Cruciferous vegetables

  • Servings: 1 per day
  • Examples: ½ cup chopped, 1 tablespoon horseradish

Other vegetables

  • Servings: 2 per day
  • Examples: ½ cup non-leafy vegetables

Whole grains

  • Servings: 3 per day
  • Examples: ½ cup hot cereal, 1 slice of bread

Berries

  • Servings: 1 per day
  • Examples: ½ cup fresh or frozen, ¼ cup dried

Other fruits

  • Servings: 3 per day
  • Examples: 1 medium fruit, ¼ cup dried fruit

Flaxseed

  • Servings: 1 per day
  • Examples: 1 tablespoon ground

Nuts & (other) seeds

  • Servings: 1 per day
  • Examples: ¼ cup nuts, 2 tablespoons nut butter

Herbs & spices

  • Servings: 1 per day
  • Examples: ¼ teaspoon turmeric

Hydrating drinks

  • Servings: 60 oz per day
  • Examples: Water, green tea, hibiscus tea

Exercise

  • Servings: Once per day
  • Examples: 90 minutes moderate or 40 minutes vigorous

Superficially it seems an interesting choice to, after listing 11 foods and drinks, have the 12th item as exercise but not add a 13th one of sleep—but perhaps he quite reasonably expects that people get a dose of sleep with more consistency than people get a dose of exercise. After all, exercise is mostly optional, whereas if we try to skip sleep for too long, our body will force the matter for us.

Further 10almonds notes:

Enjoy!

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  • 10 Ways To Naturally Boost Dopamine

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    Dopamine is the “reward” hormone, and is responsible for motivation, as well as various oft-forgotten functions (such as spatial skills, motor functions, task processing, planning, and language). Sometimes, our relationship with dopamine isn’t what it could be, so here’s how to fix that:

    Let’s get hormone-hacking…

    Here are the 10 ways:

    1. The seesaw effect: reduce overstimulation by taking tolerance breaks from high-dopamine activities that aren’t particularly useful (like social media or phone games), allowing for natural enjoyment of daily activities that you’d normally find enjoyable. Think: if you died and negotiated to be sent back to life on the condition you’d appreciate it properly this time, what things would you then spend your time doing? It’s probably not Kingdom Crush Saga Farm 2, is it?
    2. Conscious state meditation: practise conscious state meditation, focusing inward to reduce anxiety and release dopamine. Even a few minutes a day can significantly enhance dopamine levels.
    3. Hack your REM cycles: optimize sleep, especially REM cycles, which produce the most dopamine. Aim to wake up after your final REM cycle to feel energized and happy.
    4. The runner’s high: engage in regular exercise, which boosts dopamine through physical exertion and can lead to feelings of relaxation and euphoria, often known as the “runner’s high.”
    5. Mood-enhancing music: listen to music that makes you feel good. Favorite songs can stimulate dopamine production, improving your mood and well-being.
    6. Bright light therapy: spend time in natural sunlight to stimulate dopamine production and elevate your mood, countering the negative effects of extended indoor time. If natural sunlight is not very available where you are (e.g. this writer who lives next to an ancient bog surrounded by fog and the days are getting short, at time of writing), then artificial daylight lamps are respectable supplement—but just that, a supplement, not a replacement. Despite how it looks/feels, natural sunlight (especially in the morning, to cue the circadian rhythm to do its thing) is beneficial even through cloud cover.
    7. Relieve stress for good: actively reduce stress, as it inhibits dopamine. Simplify daily routines and eliminate stressors to naturally boost dopamine and feel more relaxed. Of course, you cannot remove all stress from your life, so get good at managing the stress created by the stressors that do remain.
    8. Tap into your flow state: enter a “flow state” by focusing deeply on an engaging task, which can elevate dopamine levels and boost motivation and happiness.
    9. The hormesis effect: embrace mild physical challenges, like cold showers. The temporary discomfort will paradoxically increase dopamine (it’s the body’s way of saying “congratulations, you survived the hard thing, here’s a little treat, so that you’ll be motivated to survive the next hard thing, too”)
    10. Activate your inner artist: engage in creative activities that you find fun. The process of creating boosts dopamine and provides motivation, enhancing mood and enjoyment in life.

    For more on all of these, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Rebalancing Dopamine (Without “Dopamine Fasting”)

    Take care!

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  • The Green Roasting Tin – by Rukmini Iyer

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    You may be wondering: “do I really need a book to tell me to put some vegetables in a roasting tin and roast them?” and maybe not, but the book offers a lot more than that.

    Indeed, the author notes “this book was slightly in danger of becoming the gratin and tart book, because I love both”, but don’t worry, most of the recipes are—as you might expect—very healthy.

    As for formatting: the 75 recipes are divided first into vegan or vegetarian, and then into quick/medium/slow, in terms of how long they take.

    However, even the “slow” recipes don’t actually take more effort, just, more time in the oven.

    One of the greatest strengths of this book is that not only does it offer a wide selection of wholesome mains, but also, if you’re putting on a big spread, these can easily double up as high-class low-effort sides.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to eat more vegetables in 2024 but want to make it delicious and with little effort, put this book on your Christmas list!

    Click here to check out The Green Roasting Tin, and level-up yours!

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  • Chocolate & Health

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    Chocolate & Health: Fact or Fiction?

    “Chocolate Is Good For The Heart”

    “When making chocolate chip cookies, you don’t measure using cups, you measure by heart”

    …but how good is chocolate when it comes to heart health?

    First, what is heart health?

    A healthy heart typically has a low resting pulse rate and a strong, steady beat. This is affected strongly by exercise habits, and diet plays only a support role (can’t exercise without energy from food!).

    It is also important to have blood pressure within a healthy range (with high blood pressure being a more common problem than low, so things that lower blood pressure are generally considered good).

    • Flavanols, flavonoids, and polyphenols in chocolate contribute to lower blood pressure
    • Dark chocolate is best for these, as milk chocolate contains much less cocoa solids and more unhelpful fats
    • White chocolate contains no cocoa solids and is useless for this
    • Some of the fats in most commercial chocolate can contribute to atherosclerosis which raises blood pressure and ultimately can cause heart attacks.
    • If you’re diabetic, you will probably not get the usual heart-related benefits from chocolate (sorry)

    The Verdict: dark chocolate, in moderation, can support good heart health.

    “Chocolate Is Good For The Brain”

    Chocolate has been considered a “brain food”… why?

    • The brain uses more calories than any other organ (chocolate has many calories)
    • The heart benefits we listed above mean improved blood flow—including to your brain
    • Chocolate contains phenylethylamine, a powerful chemical that has a similar effect to amphetamines… But it’s metabolized in digestion and never makes it to the central nervous system (so basically, this one’s a miss; we had a good run with the other two, though!)

    The Verdict: dark chocolate, in moderation, can support good brain health

    “Chocolate Is An Aphrodisiac”

    “If chocolate be the food of love, pass me that cocoa; I’m starving”

    Most excitingly, chocolate contains phenylethylamine, the “molecule of love” or, more accurately, lust. It has an effect similar to amphetamines, and while we can synthesize it in the body, we can also get it from certain foods. But…

    Our body is so keen to get it that most of it is metabolized directly during digestion and doesn’t make it to the brain. Also, chocolate is not as good a source as cabbage—do with that information what you will!

    However!

    Chocolate contains theobromine and small amounts of caffeine, both stimulants and both generally likely to improve mood; it also contains flavonoids which in turn stimulate production of nitric oxide, which is a relaxant. All in all, things that are convivial to having a good time.

    On the other hand…

    That relaxation comes specifically with a reduction in blood pressure—something typically considered good for the health for most people most of the time… but that means lowering blood pressure in all parts of your body, which could be the opposite of what you want in intimate moments.

    Chocolate also contains zinc, which is essential for hormonal health for most people—the body uses it to produce testosterone and estrogen, respectively. Zinc supplements are popularly sold to those wishing to have more energy in general and good hormonal health in particular, and rightly so. However…

    This approach requires long-term supplementation—you can’t just pop a zinc tablet / bar of chocolate / almond before bed and expect immediate results. And if your daily zinc supplementation takes the form of a 3.5oz (100g) bar of chocolate, then you may find it has more effects on your health, and not all of them good!

    The Verdict: dark chocolate, in moderation, may promote “the mood”, but could be a double-edged sword when it comes to “the ability”.

    “Chocolate Is Good During Menstruation”

    The popular wisdom goes that chocolate is rich in iron (of which more is needed during menstruation), and indeed, if you eat 7oz (150g) of dark chocolate made with 85% cocoa, you’ll get a daily a dose of iron (…and nearly 1,000 calories).

    More bang-for-buck dietary sources of iron include chickpeas and broccoli, but for some mysterious reason, these are not as commonly reported as popular cravings.

    The real explanation for chocolate cravings is more likely that eating chocolate—a food high in sugar and fat along with a chemical bombardment of more specialized “hey, it’s OK, you can relax now” molecules (flavanols/flavonoids, polyphenols, phenylamines, even phenylethylamine, etc) gives a simultaneous dopamine kick (the body’s main “reward” chemical) with a whole-body physiological relaxation… so, little wonder we might crave it in times of stress and discomfort!

    The Verdict: it helps, not because it serves a special nutritional purpose, but rather, because the experience of eating chocolate makes us feel good.

    Fun fact: Tiramisu (this writer’s favorite dessert) is literally Italian for “pick-me-up”

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  • End Your Carb Confusion – by Dr. Eric Westman & Amy Berger

    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.

    Carbs can indeed be confusing! We’ve written about it ourselves before, but there’s more to be said than fits in a single article, and sometimes a book is in order. This one is such a book.

    The authors (an MD and a nutritionist) explain the ins and outs of carbohydrates of various kinds, insulin responses, and what that means for the body. They also then look at the partly-similar, partly-different processes that occur with the metabolism of fats of various kinds, and what that means for the body, too.

    Ultimately they advocate for a simple and clear low-carb approach broadly consistent with keto diet macro principles, without getting too overly focused on “is this fruit/vegetable ok?” minutiae. This has the benefit of putting it well aside from the paleo diet, for example (which focuses more on pseudo-historical foods than it does on macros), and also makes it a lot easier on a practical level.

    The style is very textbook-like, which makes for an easy read with plenty of information that should stick easily in most reader’s minds, rather than details getting lost in wall-of-text formatting. So, we approve of this.

    There is not, by the way, a recipes section. It’s “here’s the information, now go forth and enjoy” and leaves us all to find/make our own recipes, rather than trying to guess our culinary preferences.

    Bottom line: if you’d like an easy-to-read primer on understanding how carbs work, what it means for you, and what to do about it, then this is a fine book.

    Click here to check out End Your Carb Confusion, and end your carb confusion!

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  • How Old Is Too Old For HRT?

    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 😎

    ❝I think you guys do a great job. Wondering if I can suggest a topic? Older women who were not offered hormone replacement therepy because of a long term study that was misread. Now, we need science to tell us if we are too old to benefit from begininng to take HRT. Not sure how old your readers are on average but it would be a great topic for older woman. Thanks❞

    ‌Thank you for the kind words, and the topic suggestion!

    About the menopause and older age thereafter

    We’ve talked a bit before about the menopause, for example:

    What You Should Have Been Told About The Menopause Beforehand

    And we’ve even discussed the unfortunate social phenomenon of post-menopausal women thinking “well, that’s over and done with now, time to forget about that”, because spoiler, it will never be over and done with—your body is always changing every day, and will continue to do so until you no longer have a body to change.

    This means, therefore, that since changes are going to happen no matter what, the onus is on us to make the changes as positive (rather than negative) as possible:

    Menopause, & When Not To Let Your Guard Down

    About cancer risk

    It sounds like you know this one, but for any who were unaware: indeed, there was an incredibly overblown and misrepresented study, and even that was about older forms of HRT (being conjugated equine estrogens, instead of bioidentical estradiol):

    HRT: A Tale Of Two Approaches

    As for those who have previously had breast cancer or similar, there is also:

    The Hormone Therapy That Reduces Breast Cancer Risk & More

    Is it too late?

    Fortunately, there is a quick and easy test to know whether you are too old to benefit:

    First, find your pulse, by touching the first two fingers of one hand, against the wrist of the other. If you’re unfamiliar with where to find the pulse at the wrist, here’s a quick explainer.

    Or if you prefer a video:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Did you find it?

    Good; in that case, it’s not too late!

    Scientists have tackled this question, looking at women of various ages, and finding that when comparing age groups taking HRT, disease risk changes do not generally vary much by age i.e., someone at 80 gets the same relative benefit from HRT as someone at 50, with no extra risks from the HRT. For example, if taking HRT at 50 reduces a risk by n% compared to an otherwise similar 50-year-old not on HRT, then doing so at 80 reduces the same risk by approximately the same percentage, compared to an otherwise similar 80-year-old not on HRT.

    There are a couple of exceptions, such as in the case of already having advanced atherosclerotic lesions (in which specific case HRT could increase inflammation; not something it usually does), or in the case of using conjugated equine estrogens instead of modern bioidentical estradiol (as we talked about before).

    Thus, for the most part, HRT is considered safe and effective regardless of age:

    How old is too old for hormone therapy?

    👆 that’s from 2015 though, so how about a new study, from 2024?

    ❝Compared with never use or discontinuation of menopausal hormone therapy after age 65 years, the use of estrogen monotherapy beyond age 65 years was associated with significant risk reductions in mortality (19% or adjusted hazards ratio, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.79-0.82), breast cancer (16%), lung cancer (13%), colorectal cancer (12%), congestive heart failure (CHF) (5%), venous thromboembolism (3%), atrial fibrillation (4%), acute myocardial infarction (11%), and dementia (2%).❞

    ❝Among senior Medicare women, the implications of menopausal hormone therapy use beyond age 65 years vary by types, routes, and strengths. In general, risk reductions appear to be greater with low rather than medium or high doses, vaginal or transdermal rather than oral preparations, and with estradiol rather than conjugated estrogen.

    Read in full: Use of menopausal hormone therapy beyond age 65 years and its effects on women’s health outcomes by types, routes, and doses

    As for more immediately-enjoyable benefits (improved mood, healthier skin, better sexual function, etc), yes, those also are benefits that people enjoy at least into their eighth decade:

    See: Use of hormone therapy in Swedish women aged 80 years or older

    What about…

    Statistically speaking, most people who take HRT have a great time with it and consider it life-changing in a good way. However, nothing is perfect; sometimes going on HRT can have a shaky start, and for those people, there may be some things that need addressing. So for that, check out:

    HRT Side Effects & Troubleshooting

    And also, while estrogen monotherapy is very common, it is absolutely worthwhile to consider also taking progesterone alongside it:

    Progesterone Menopausal HRT: When, Why, And How To Benefit

    Enjoy!

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  • Why is toddler milk so popular? Follow the money

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    Toddler milk is popular and becoming more so. Just over a third of Australian toddlers drink it. Parents spend hundreds of millions of dollars on it globally. Around the world, toddler milk makes up nearly half of total formula milk sales, with a 200% growth since 2005. Growth is expected to continue.

    We’re concerned about the growing popularity of toddler milk – about its nutritional content, cost, how it’s marketed, and about the impact on the health and feeding of young children. Some of us voiced our concerns on the ABC’s 7.30 program recently.

    But what’s in toddler milk? How does it compare to cow’s milk? How did it become so popular?

    What is toddler milk? Is it healthy?

    Toddler milk is marketed as appropriate for children aged one to three years. This ultra-processed food contains:

    • skim milk powder (cow, soy or goat)
    • vegetable oil
    • sugars (including added sugars)
    • emulsifiers (to help bind the ingredients and improve the texture)
    • added vitamins and minerals.

    Toddler milk is usually lower in calcium and protein, and higher in sugar and calories than regular cow’s milk. Depending on the brand, a serve of toddler milk can contain as much sugar as a soft drink.

    Even though toddler milks have added vitamins and minerals, these are found in and better absorbed from regular foods and breastmilk. Toddlers do not need the level of nutrients found in these products if they are eating a varied diet.

    Global health authorities, including the World Health Organization (WHO), and Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council, do not recommend toddler milk for healthy toddlers.

    Some children with specific metabolic or dietary medical problems might need tailored alternatives to cow’s milk. However, these products generally are not toddler milks and would be a specific product prescribed by a health-care provider.

    Toddler milk is also up to four to five times more expensive than regular cow’s milk. “Premium” toddler milk (the same product, with higher levels of vitamins and minerals) is more expensive.

    With the cost-of-living crisis, this means families might choose to go without other essentials to afford toddler milk.

    Woman holding blue plastic spoon of formula powder over open tin of formula, milk bottle in background
    Toddler milk is more expensive than cow’s milk and contains more sugar.
    Dragana Gordic/Shutterstock

    How toddler milk was invented

    Toddler milk was created so infant formula companies could get around rules preventing them from advertising their infant formula.

    When manufacturers claim benefits of their toddler milk, many parents assume these claimed benefits apply to infant formula (known as cross-promotion). In other words, marketing toddler milks also boosts interest in their infant formula.

    Manufacturers also create brand loyalty and recognition by making the labels of their toddler milk look similar to their infant formula. For parents who used infant formula, toddler milk is positioned as the next stage in feeding.

    How toddler milk became so popular

    Toddler milk is heavily marketed. Parents are told toddler milk is healthy and provides extra nutrition. Marketing tells parents it will benefit their child’s growth and development, their brain function and their immune system.

    Toddler milk is also presented as a solution to fussy eating, which is common in toddlers.

    However, regularly drinking toddler milk could increase the risk of fussiness as it reduces opportunities for toddlers to try new foods. It’s also sweet, needs no chewing, and essentially displaces energy and nutrients that whole foods provide.

    Toddler wearing bib with food smeared on face
    Toddler milk is said to help fussy eating, but it may make things worse.
    zlikovec/Shutterstock

    Growing concern

    The WHO, along with public health academics, has been raising concerns about the marketing of toddler milk for years.

    In Australia, moves to curb how toddler milk is promoted have gone nowhere. Toddler milk is in a category of foods that are allowed to be fortified (to have vitamins and minerals added), with no marketing restrictions. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission also has concerns about the rise of toddler milk marketing. Despite this, there is no change in how it’s regulated.

    This is in contrast to voluntary marketing restrictions in Australia for infant formula.

    What needs to happen?

    There is enough evidence to show the marketing of commercial milk formula, including toddler milk, influences parents and undermines child health.

    So governments need to act to protect parents from this marketing, and to put child health over profits.

    Public health authorities and advocates, including us, are calling for the restriction of marketing (not selling) of all formula products for infants and toddlers from birth through to age three years.

    Ideally, this would be mandatory, government-enforced marketing restrictions as opposed to industry self-regulation in place currently for infant formulas.

    We musn’t blame parents

    Toddlers are eating more processed foods (including toddler milk) than ever because time-poor parents are seeking a convenient option to ensure their child is getting adequate nutrition.

    Formula manufacturers have used this information, and created a demand for an unnecessary product.

    Parents want to do the best for their toddlers, but they need to know the marketing behind toddler milks is misleading.

    Toddler milk is an unnecessary, unhealthy, expensive product. Toddlers just need whole foods and breastmilk, and/or cow’s milk or a non-dairy, milk alternative.

    If parents are worried about their child’s eating, they should see a health-care professional.

    Anthea Rhodes, a paediatrician from Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne and a lecturer at the University of Melbourne, co-authored this article.The Conversation

    Jennifer McCann, Lecturer Nutrition Sciences, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University; Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, and Naomi Hull, PhD candidate, University of Sydney

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

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