Garlic vs Ginger – 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 garlic to ginger, we picked the ginger.

Why?

Both are great, and it is close!

Notwithstanding that (almost?) nobody eats garlic or ginger for the macros, let’s do a moment’s due diligence on that first: garlic has more than 3x the protein and about 2x the fiber (and slightly higher carbs). But, given the small quantities in which people usually consume these foods, these numbers aren’t too meaningful.

In the category of micronutrients, garlic has a lot more vitamins and minerals. We’ll not do a full breakdown for this though, because again, unless you’re eating it by the cupful, this won’t make a huge difference.

Which means that so far, we have two nominal wins for garlic.

Both plants have many medicinal properties. They are both cardioprotective and anticancer, and both full of antioxidants. The benefits of both are comparable in these regards.

Both have antidiabetic action also, but ginger’s effects are stronger when compared head-to head.

So that’s an actual practical win for ginger.

Each plant’s respective effects on the gastrointestinal tract sets them further apart—ginger has antiemetic effects and can be used for treating nausea and vomiting from a variety of causes. Garlic, meanwhile, can cause adverse gastrointestinal effects in some people—but it’s usually neutral for most people in this regard.

Another win for ginger in practical terms.

Want to learn more?

You might like to read:

Take care!

Don’t Forget…

Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

Recommended

  • Beetroot vs Pumpkin – Which is Healthier?
  • Eat To Beat Cancer
    Control what you can to avoid cancer: choose a healthy diet, skip processed foods, watch out for advanced glycation end-products, and increase your fiber intake.

Learn to Age Gracefully

Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Most adults will gain half a kilo this year – and every year. Here’s how to stop ‘weight creep’

    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.

    As we enter a new year armed with resolutions to improve our lives, there’s a good chance we’ll also be carrying something less helpful: extra kilos. At least half a kilogram, to be precise.

    “Weight creep” doesn’t have to be inevitable. Here’s what’s behind this sneaky annual occurrence and some practical steps to prevent it.

    Allgo/Unsplash

    Small gains add up

    Adults tend to gain weight progressively as they age and typically gain an average of 0.5 to 1kg every year.

    While this doesn’t seem like much each year, it amounts to 5kg over a decade. The slow-but-steady nature of weight creep is why many of us won’t notice the extra weight gained until we’re in our fifties.

    Why do we gain weight?

    Subtle, gradual lifestyle shifts as we progress through life and age-related biological changes cause us to gain weight. Our:

    • activity levels decline. Longer work hours and family commitments can see us become more sedentary and have less time for exercise, which means we burn fewer calories
    • diets worsen. With frenetic work and family schedules, we sometimes turn to pre-packaged and fast foods. These processed and discretionary foods are loaded with hidden sugars, salts and unhealthy fats. A better financial position later in life can also result in more dining out, which is associated with a higher total energy intake
    • sleep decreases. Busy lives and screen use can mean we don’t get enough sleep. This disturbs our body’s energy balance, increasing our feelings of hunger, triggering cravings and decreasing our energy
    Woman sleeps
    Insufficient sleep can increase our appetite. Craig Adderley/Pexels
    • stress increases. Financial, relationship and work-related stress increases our body’s production of cortisol, triggering food cravings and promoting fat storage
    • metabolism slows. Around the age of 40, our muscle mass naturally declines, and our body fat starts increasing. Muscle mass helps determine our metabolic rate, so when our muscle mass decreases, our bodies start to burn fewer calories at rest.

    We also tend to gain a small amount of weight during festive periods – times filled with calorie-rich foods and drinks, when exercise and sleep are often overlooked. One study of Australian adults found participants gained 0.5 kilograms on average over the Christmas/New Year period and an average of 0.25 kilograms around Easter.

    Why we need to prevent weight creep

    It’s important to prevent weight creep for two key reasons:

    1. Weight creep resets our body’s set point

    Set-point theory suggests we each have a predetermined weight or set point. Our body works to keep our weight around this set point, adjusting our biological systems to regulate how much we eat, how we store fat and expend energy.

    When we gain weight, our set point resets to the new, higher weight. Our body adapts to protect this new weight, making it challenging to lose the weight we’ve gained.

    But it’s also possible to lower your set point if you lose weight gradually and with an interval weight loss approach. Specifically, losing weight in small manageable chunks you can sustain – periods of weight loss, followed by periods of weight maintenance, and so on, until you achieve your goal weight.

    People chink wine glasses
    Holidays can also come with weight gain. Zan Lazarevic/Unsplash

    2. Weight creep can lead to obesity and health issues

    Undetected and unmanaged weight creep can result in obesity which can increase our risk of heart disease, strokes, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and several types of cancers (including breast, colorectal, oesophageal, kidney, gallbladder, uterine, pancreatic and liver).

    A large study examined the link between weight gain from early to middle adulthood and health outcomes later in life, following people for around 15 years. It found those who gained 2.5 to 10kg over this period had an increased incidence of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, strokes, obesity-related cancer and death compared to participants who had maintained a stable weight.

    Fortunately, there are steps we can take to build lasting habits that will make weight creep a thing of the past.

    7 practical steps to prevent weight creep

    1. Eat from big to small

    Aim to consume most of your food earlier in the day and taper your meal sizes to ensure dinner is the smallest meal you eat.

    A low-calorie or small breakfast leads to increased feelings of hunger, specifically appetite for sweets, across the course of the day.

    We burn the calories from a meal 2.5 times more efficiently in the morning than in the evening. So emphasising breakfast over dinner is also good for weight management.

    Man shops for vegetables
    Aim to consume bigger breakfasts and smaller dinners. Michael Burrows/Pexels

    2. Use chopsticks, a teaspoon or an oyster fork

    Sit at the table for dinner and use different utensils to encourage eating more slowly.

    This gives your brain time to recognise and adapt to signals from your stomach telling you you’re full.

    3. Eat the full rainbow

    Fill your plate with vegetables and fruits of different colours first to support eating a high-fibre, nutrient-dense diet that will keep you feeling full and satisfied.

    Meals also need to be balanced and include a source of protein, wholegrain carbohydrates and healthy fat to meet our dietary needs – for example, eggs on wholegrain toast with avocado.

    4. Reach for nature first

    Retrain your brain to rely on nature’s treats – fresh vegetables, fruit, honey, nuts and seeds. In their natural state, these foods release the same pleasure response in the brain as ultra-processed and fast foods, helping you avoid unnecessary calories, sugar, salt and unhealthy fats.

    5. Choose to move

    Look for ways to incorporate incidental activity into your daily routine – such as taking the stairs instead of the lift – and boost your exercise by challenging yourself to try a new activity.

    Just be sure to include variety, as doing the same activities every day often results in boredom and avoidance.

    Man with tennis racket
    Try new activities or sports to keep your interest up. Cottonbro Studio/Pexels

    6. Prioritise sleep

    Set yourself a goal of getting a minimum of seven hours of uninterrupted sleep each night, and help yourself achieve it by avoiding screens for an hour or two before bed.

    7. Weigh yourself regularly

    Getting into the habit of weighing yourself weekly is a guaranteed way to help avoid the kilos creeping up on us. Aim to weigh yourself on the same day, at the same time and in the same environment each week and use the best quality scales you can afford.

    At the Boden Group, Charles Perkins Centre, we are studying the science of obesity and running clinical trials for weight loss. You can register here to express your interest.

    Nick Fuller, Clinical Trials Director, Department of Endocrinology, RPA Hospital, University of Sydney

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

    Share This Post

  • Applesauce vs Cranberry Sauce – 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 applesauce to cranberry sauce, we picked the applesauce.

    Why?

    It mostly comes down to the fact that apples are sweeter than cranberries:

    In terms of macros, they are both equal on fiber (both languishing at a paltry 1.1g/100g), and/but cranberry sauce has 4x the carbs, of which, more than 3x the sugar. Simply, cranberry sauce recipes invariably have a lot of added sugar, while applesauce recipes don’t need that. So this is a huge relative win for applesauce (we say “relative” because it’s still not great, but cranberry sauce is far worse).

    In the category of vitamins, applesauce has more of vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, B9, and C, while cranberry sauce has more of vitamins E, K, and choline. A more moderate win for applesauce this time.

    When it comes to minerals, applesauce has more calcium, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium, while cranberry sauce has more iron, manganese, and selenium. Another moderate win for applesauce.

    Since we’ve discussed relative amounts rather than actual quantities, it’s worth noting that neither sauce is a good source of vitamins or minerals, and neither are close to just eating the actual fruits. Just, cranberry sauce is the relatively more barren of the two.

    While cranberries famously have some UTI-fighting properties, you cannot usefully gain this benefit from a sauce that (with its very high sugar content and minimal fiber) actively feeds the very C. albicans you are likely trying to kill.

    All in all, a pitiful show of nutritional inadequacy from these two products today, but one is relatively less bad than the other, and that’s the applesauce.

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    From Apples to Bees, and High-Fructose Cs: Which Sugars Are Healthier, And Which Are Just The Same?

    Enjoy!

    Share This Post

  • Power Vegan Meals – by Maya Sozer

    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.

    This book has inspired some of the recipes we’ve shared recently—we’ve invariably tweaked and in our opinion improved them, but the recipes are great as written too.

    The recipes, of which there are 75, are all vegan, gluten-free, high protein, and high fiber. Some reviewers on Amazon have complained that the recipes are high-calorie, and they often are, but those calories are mostly from healthy fats, so we don’t think it’s a bad thing. Still, if you’re doing a strict calorie-controlled diet, this is probably not the one for you.

    Another thing the recipes are is tasty without being unduly complicated, as well as being mostly free from obscure ingredients. This latter is a good thing not because obscure ingredients are inherently bad, but rather that it can be frustrating to read a recipe and find its star ingredient is a cup of perambulatory periannath that must be harvested from the west-facing slopes of Ithilien during a full moon, no substitutions.

    The style and format is simple and clear with minimal overture, one recipe per double-page; picture on one side, recipe on the other; perfect for a kitchen reading-stand.

    Bottom line: these recipes are for the most part very consistent with what we share here, and we recommend them, unless you’re looking for low-calorie options.

    Click here to check out Power Vegan Meals, and power-up your vegan meals!

    Share This Post

Related Posts

  • Beetroot vs Pumpkin – Which is Healthier?
  • Gut-Healthy Sunset Soup

    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.

    So-called for its gut-healthy ingredients, and its flavor profile being from the Maghreb (“Sunset”) region, the western half of the N. African coast.

    You will need

    • 1 can chickpeas (do not drain)
    • 1 cup low-sodium vegetable stock
    • 1 small onion, finely chopped
    • 1 carrot, finely chopped
    • 2 tbsp sauerkraut, drained and chopped (yes, it is already chopped, but we want it chopped smaller so it can disperse evenly in the soup)
    • 2 tbsp tomato paste
    • 1 tbsp harissa paste (adjust per your heat preference)
    • 1 tbsp ras el-hanout
    • ¼ bulb garlic, crushed
    • Juice of ½ lemon
    • ¼ tsp MSG or ½ tsp low-sodium salt
    • Extra virgin olive oil
    • Optional: herb garnish; we recommend cilantro or flat-leaf parsley

    Method

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

    1) Heat a little oil in a sauté pan or similar (something suitable for combination cooking, as we’ll be frying first and then adding liquids), and fry the onion and carrot until the onion is soft and translucent; about 5 minutes.

    2) Stir in the garlic, tomato paste, harissa paste, and ras el-hanout, and fry for a further 1 minute.

    3) Add the remaining ingredients* except the lemon juice. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes.

    *So yes, this includes adding the “chickpea water” also called “aquafaba”; it adds flavor and also gut-healthy fiber in the form of oligosaccharides and resistant starches, which your gut microbiota can use to make short-chain fatty acids, which improve immune function and benefit the health in more ways than we can reasonably mention as a by-the-way in a recipe.

    4) Stir in the lemon juice, and serve, adding a herb garnish if you wish.

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

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

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Walden Farms Caesar Dressing vs. Primal Kitchen Caesar Dressing – 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 Walden Farms Caesar Dressing to Primal Kitchen Caesar Dressing, we picked the Primal Kitchen.

    Why?

    As you can see from the front label, the Walden Farms product has 0 net carbs, 0 calories, and 0 fat. In fact, its ingredients list begins:

    Water, white distilled vinegar, erythritol, corn fiber, salt, microcrystalline cellulose, xanthan gum, titanium dioxide (color)

    …before it gets to something interesting (garlic purée), by which point the amount must be miniscule.

    The Primal Kitchen product, meanwhile, has 140 calories per serving and 15g fat (of which, 1.5g is saturated). However! The ingredients list this time begins:

    Avocado oil, water, organic coconut aminos (organic coconut sap, sea salt), organic apple cider vinegar, organic distilled vinegar, mushroom extract, organic gum acacia, organic guar gum

    …before it too gets to garlic, which this time, by the way, is organic roasted garlic.

    In case you’re wondering about the salt content in both, they add up to 190mg for the Walden Farms product, and 240mg for the Primal Kitchen product. We don’t think that the extra 50mg (out of a daily allowance of 2300–5000mg, depending on whom you ask) is worthy of note.

    In short, the Walden Farms product is made of mostly additives of various kinds, whereas the Primal Kitchen product is made of mostly healthful ingredients.

    So, the calories and fat are nothing to fear.

    For this reason, we chose the product with more healthful ingredients—but we acknowledge that if you are specifically trying to keep your calories down, then the Walden Farms product may be a valid choice.

    Read more:
    •⁠ ⁠Can Saturated Fats Be Healthy?
    •⁠ ⁠Caloric Restriction with Optimal Nutrition

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Myofascial Training – by Ester Albini

    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.

    Fascia is an oft-forgotten part of the body—if something that is so ubiquitous and varied can be described as a single part. And yet, it arguably is—precisely because it is the connective tissue that holds everything else together, so by its nature, it’s ultimately a one-piece thing.

    This “one-piece thing” is responsible for permitting us movement, and is also responsible for restricting our movement. As such, when it comes to mobility, we can stretch our muscles all day long and it won’t mean a thing if our fascia is stiff. And notably, fascia has a much slower turnover time (in terms of how quickly the body replaces it) than muscle, so fascia is almost always going to be the limiting factor.

    Pilates instructor (with many certifications) Albini gives the reader the tools to loosen up that limiting factor. It’ll take time and consistency (it takes the body around 18 months to fully rebuild fascia, so that’s the timeframe for an ultimate “job done” to then just be maintained), but there are also some results to be enjoyed immediately, by virtue of myofascial release

    In style, the book is half textbook, half workbook. She explains a lot of the anatomy and physiology of fascia (and does so very well). This book is, in this reviewer’s opinion, better than the usual go-to professional guidebook to fascia (i.e., for physiotherapists etc) that costs more than twice the price and is half as clear (the other book’s diagrams are unnecessarily abstract, the photos fuzzy, and the prose tedious). This book, in contrast, has very clear diagrams, hundreds of high-quality color photos, and excellent explanations that are aimed at the layperson, and/but aren’t afraid to get technical either; she just explains the technicalities well too.

    The workbook side of things is a vast array of exercises to do, including for specific issues and to combat various lifestyle problems, as well as to just support general health and more mobility than most people think is possible for them.

    Bottom line: if you’d like better mobility and have been neglecting your fascia (or have been a bit confused by it), this book is going to be your new best friend.

    Click there to check out Myofascial Training, and free your body’s movements!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails: