Fast Like A Girl – by Dr. Mindy Pelz
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A lot of information out there when it comes to intermittent fasting is very much centered on men in the 25–35 years age range. What about the rest of us?
Our physiological needs are not the same, and it’d be foolhardy to ignore that. But what things do still stand the same, and what things would benefit from a different approach in our cases?
Dr. Pelz has our back with this book packed with information based on the best science currently out there. She gives a general overview of fasting with full consideration to the fact that we the reader may well be female or over a certain age or both. In addition, the book offers:
- Metabolic switching (the “missing key to weight loss”)
- Building a fasting lifestyle (that works with your actual life, not just on paper)
- How to time fasting according to your menstrual cycle (if you don’t have a cycle, she has you covered too)
- How to break a fast—properly (and many other hacks/tips/tricks to make fasting so much easier)
Bottom line: if you want to do intermittent fasting and want to work with rather than against your body, then this book is a fine option.
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Pumpkin Seeds vs Watermelon Seeds – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing pumpkin seeds to watermelon seeds, we picked the watermelon.
Why?
Starting with the macros: pumpkin seeds have a lot more carbs, while watermelon seeds have a lot more protein, despite pumpkin seeds being famous for such. They’re about equal on fiber. In terms of fats, watermelon seeds are higher in fats, and yes, these are healthy fats, mostly polyunsaturated.
When it comes to vitamins, pumpkin seeds are marginally higher in vitamins A and C, while watermelon seeds are a lot higher in vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, and B9. An easy win for watermelon seeds here.
In the category of minerals, despite being famous for zinc, pumpkin seeds are higher only in potassium, while watermelon seeds are higher in iron, magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus; the two seeds are equal on calcium, copper, and zinc. Another win for watermelon seeds.
In short, enjoy both, but watermelon has more to offer. Of course, if buying just the seeds and not the whole fruit, it’s generally easier to find pumpkin seeds than watermelon seeds, so do bear in mind that pumpkin seeds’ second place isn’t that bad here—it’s just a case of a very nutritious food looking bad by standing next to an even better one.
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
Seed Saving Secrets – by Alice Mirren
Take care!
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Elderberries vs Gooseberries – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing elderberries to gooseberries, we picked the elderberries.
Why?
These are both berries more likely found in your garden or local wood than in the supermarket, but if you have convenient access to them, they’re great options for eating!
In terms of macros, elderberry has nearly 2x the carbs and/but also nearly 2x the fiber, which in glycemic index terms, mostly cancels out (although: elderberry has the slightly lower glycemic index of the two)
In the category of vitamins, both are great but elderberries are winning with more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, and C, while gooseberries have more vitamin B5.
When it comes to minerals, elderberries again lead with more calcium, iron, phosphorus, and potassium, while gooseberries have more magnesium.
There is an extra category today, which is “extra medicinal properties”, and elderberries have extra immune-boosting qualities, whereas gooseberries—while being as polyphenol-laden as one usually expects berries to be—do not confer the same kind of benefit in this regard.
You can check out the information about elderberry’s extra properties in the links section below; meanwhile, if you’re choosing between these berries, that’s the clear winner in every category today!
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
- Herbs for Evidence-Based Health & Healing ← including elderberry
- Does It Come In A Pill? ← it does (but it doesn’t have to)
- Beyond Supplements: The Real Immune-Boosters! ← this article focusses on not-supplements, but does also have a supplement section
Take care!
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Vitamin C (Drinkable) vs Vitamin C (Chewable) – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing vitamin C (drinkable) to vitamin C (chewable), we picked the drinkable.
Why?
First let’s look at what’s more or less the same in each:
- The usable vitamin C content is comparable
- The bioavailability is comparable
- The additives to hold it together are comparable
So what’s the difference?
With the drinkable, you also drink a glass of water
If you’d like to read more about how to get the most out of the vitamins you take, you can do so here:
Are You Wasting Your Vitamins? Maybe, But You Don’t Have To
If you’d like to get some of the drinkable vitamin C, here’s an example product on Amazon
Enjoy!
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Next-Level Headache Hacks
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A Muscle With A Lot Of Therapeutic Value
First, a quick anatomy primer, so that the rest makes sense. We’re going to be talking about your sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle today.
To find it, there are two easy ways:
- look in a mirror, turn your head to one side and it’ll stick out on the opposite side of your neck
- look at this diagram
(we’re going to talk about it in the singular, but you have one on each side)
This muscle is interesting for very many reasons, but what we’re going to focus on today is that massaging/stretching it (correctly!) can benefit several things that are right next to it and/or behind it, namely:
- The tenth cranial nerve
- The eleventh cranial nerve
- The carotid artery
Why do we care about these?
Well, we would die quickly without the first and last of those. However, more practically, massaging each has benefits:
The tenth cranial nerve
This one is also known by its superhero alter-ego name:
The Vagus Nerve (And How You Can Make Use Of It)
The eleventh cranial nerve
This one’s not nearly so critical to life, but it does facilitate most of the motor functions in that general part of the body—including some mechanics of speech production, and maintaining posture of the shoulders/neck/head (which in turn strongly affects presence/absence of certain kinds of headaches).
The carotid artery
We suspect you know what this one does already; it supplies the brain (and the rest of your head, for that matter) with oxygenated blood.
What is useful to know today, is that it can be massaged, via the SCM, in a way that brings about a gentler version of this “one weird trick” to cure a lot of kinds of headaches:
Curing Headaches At Home With Actual Science
How (And Why) To Massage Your SCM
…to relieve many kinds of headache, migraine, eye-ache, and tension or pain the jaw. It’s not a magical cure all so this comes with no promises, but it can and will help with a lot of things.
In few words: turn your ahead away from the side where it hurts (if both, just pick one and then repeat for the other side), and slightly downwards. When your SCM sticks out a bit on the other side, gently pinch and rub it, working from the bottom to the top.
If you prefer videos, here is a demonstration:
How (And Why) To Stretch Your SCM
The above already includes a little stretch, but you can stretch it in a way that specifically stimulates your vagus nerve (this is good for many things).
In few words: stand (or sit) up straight, and interlace your fingers together. Put your hands on the back of your neck, thumbs-downwards, and (keeping your face forward) look to one side with your eyes only, and hold that until you feel the urge to yawn (it’ll probably take between about 3 seconds and 30 seconds). Then repeat on the other side.
If you prefer videos, this one is a very slight variation of what we just described but works the same way:
Take care!
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52 Ways to Walk – by Annabel Streets
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Most of us learned to walk at a very young age and probably haven’t thought much about it since, except perhaps in a case where some injury made it difficult.
Annabel Streets provides a wonderful guide to not just taking up (or perhaps reclaiming) the joy of walking, but also the science of it in more aspects than most of us have considered:
- The physical mechanics of walking—what’s best?
- Boots or shoes? Barefoot?
- Roads, grass, rougher vegetation… Mud?
- Flora & fauna down to the microbiota that affect us
- How much walking is needed, to be healthy?
- Is there such a thing as too much walking?
- What are the health benefits (or risks) of various kinds of weather?
- Is it better to walk quickly or to walk far?
- What about if we’re carrying some injury?
- What’s going on physiologically when we walk?
- And so much more…
Streets writes with a captivating blend of poetic joie-de-vivre coupled with scientific references.
One moment the book is talking about neuroradiology reports of NO-levels in our blood, the impact of Mycobacterium vaccae, and the studied relationship between daily steps taken and production of oligosaccharide 3′-sialyllactose, and the next it’s all:
“As if the newfound lightness in our limbs has crept into our minds, loosening our everyday cares and constraints…”
And all in all, this book helps remind us that sometimes, science and a sense of wonder can and do (and should!) walk hand-in-hand.
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Are You Making This Alcohol Mistake?
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The famous “small glass of red per day” is, as is quite well-established now in science, but not so much in popular culture, known to be not a good idea.
What most people don’t know
Rethinking “One Drink a Day”:
- Outdated beliefs and flawed studies:
- The idea that “one drink a day is healthy” stems from flawed associative studies that included…
- unhealthy former heavy drinkers in the zero-drinks category, and
- healthy older individuals who continued light drinking due to good health, not because alcohol contributed to it, in the drinkers category
- In other words, they looked at former alcoholics whose health was ruined by drinking and said “aha, non-drinkers have bad health”, and looked at the survivors of survivorship bias and said “aha, light drinking is the key to good health”. Which of course is terrible science propped up by terrible abuse of statistics propped up by shoddy methodology.
- The idea that “one drink a day is healthy” stems from flawed associative studies that included…
- New research findings:
- A 2022 UK Biobank Study showed that even one drink a day leads to brain shrinkage, neuron death, and cognitive decline.
- Another study on CVD disproved the notion that light drinking benefits heart health once confounding variables were removed.
- There are plenty more, and at 10almonds we’ve done a main feature about it, but for now, you get the idea.
Some other things you should know:
Ethanol and acetaldehyde damage neurons responsible for impulse control, judgment, motor coordination, and memory formation, leading to cognitive decline. The feeling of being drunk results from the suppression and damage of these neurons. But while the drunk feeling wears off, the damage to neurons does not.
Alcohol causes cumulative DNA damage in neurons, accelerates brain aging, and prevents the formation of new neurons, similar to a slow, gradual stroke.
Broader Health Impacts of Alcohol
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: alcohol is bad for pretty much everything.
Here are some examples mentioned in the video:
- Neurodegenerative diseases: heavy drinking increases the risk of Alzheimer’s, particularly in those genetically predisposed.
- Sleep disruption: alcohol reduces deep, restful sleep and hampers the brain’s natural detox process overnight, contributing to morning grogginess.
- Inflammation and immune suppression: alcohol increases inflammation, exacerbates autoimmune diseases (like psoriasis and arthritis), and weakens immune function.
- Cancer risk: alcohol is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, linked to various cancers, especially breast cancer. Even light drinking increases breast cancer risk.
- Hormonal imbalances: in women, alcohol heightens PMS symptoms, reduces fertility, and increases testosterone. In men, it lowers sperm quality and disrupts hormones.
For more on all of these and more, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like to read:
- Can We Drink To Good Health? ← this is mostly about red wine and heart health
- How To Reduce Or Quit Alcohol ← this is about the more general reasons to quit, and how to do so
- What Happens To Your Body When You Stop Drinking Alcohol ← a realistic timeline of recovery
Take care!
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- Outdated beliefs and flawed studies:
