Four Ways To Upgrade The Mediterranean Diet

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Four Ways To Upgrade The Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean Diet is considered by many to be the current “gold standard” of healthy eating, and with good reason. With 10,000+ studies underpinning it and counting, it has a pretty hefty weight of evidence.

(For contrast, the Ketogenic Diet for example has under 5,000 studies at time of writing, and many of those include mentioning the problems with it. That’s not to say the Keto is without its merits! It certainly can help achieve some short term goals, but that’s a topic for another day)

Wondering what the Mediterranean Diet consists of? We outlined it in a previous main feature, so here it is for your convenience 😎

To get us started today, we’ll quickly drop some links to a few of those Mediterranean Diet studies from the top:

The short version is: it glows, in a good way.

The anti-inflammatory upgrade

One thing about the traditional Mediterranean Diet is… where are the spices?!

A diet focusing on fruits and non-starchy vegetables, healthy oils and minimal refined carbs, can be boosted by adding uses of spices such as chili, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, and coriander:

Why and How the Indo-Mediterranean Diet May Be Superior to Other Diets: The Role of Antioxidants in the Diet

The gut-healthy upgrade:

The Mediterranean Diet already gives for having a small amount of dairy, mostly in the form of cheeses, but this can be tweaked:

Mediterranean diet with extra dairy could be a gut gamechanger

The heart-healthy upgrade

The Mediterranean Diet is already highly recommended for heart health, and it offers different benefits to different parts of cardiovascular health:

The Mediterranean Diet: its definition and evaluation of a priori dietary indexes in primary cardiovascular prevention

The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet can boost it further, specifically in the category of, as the name suggests, lowering blood pressure.

It’s basically the Mediterranean Diet with a few tweaks. Most notably, red meat no longer features (the Mediterranean Diet allows for a small amount of red meat), and fish has gone up in the list:

Description of the DASH Eating Plan

The brain-healthy upgrade:

The MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet combines several elements from the above, as the name suggests. It also adds extra portions of specific brain-foods, that already exist in the above diets, but get a more substantial weighting in this one:

MIND and Mediterranean diets linked to fewer signs of Alzheimer’s brain pathology

See also: The cognitive effects of the MIND diet

Enjoy!

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  • Gentle Nutrition – by Rachel Hartley, RD, LD

    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.

    The subtitle here claims “a non-diet approach”, but doesn’t everything, nowadays? Even books titled “The such-and-such Diet” tend to also assure us “it’s not actually a diet; it’s just a way of eating”, as if a diet is not—by definition—a way of eating. Usually what they want to communicate is that it’s not a restrictive diet, usually meaning not restrictive in quantity, or not restrictive in food type (rarely both).

    This book is about intuitive eating, which is about as non-restrictive as any dietary approach can be, since it doesn’t restrict food type at at all, and it doesn’t restrict quantity in advance—rather, we learn to pay closer attention to our full signals.

    No wait, we don’t. This time, it’s not about “full”, it’s about “satisfied”. This comes in two forms:

    1. A principle somewhat akin to the “eat until 80% full” idea
    2. A principle of ensuring the good is culinarily satisfying

    This latter is important, if we want to have a good relationship with eating, and it also helps reduce portion sizes, when we truly take the time to mindfully savor a tasty morsel, rather than wolf down a plate of mediocre food.

    The style is one that balance being encouraging with delivering science to back up that encouragement. This not only means encouragement to take up this dietary approach, but also, encouragement to let go of things like calorie-counting and BMI.

    The recipes arranged per meal type, and indeed include things not found in many healthy eating books, such as gyoza dumplings, gnocchi, wontons, and shortbread. The recipes are mostly not, by default, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, or such. So if you have your own food restriction(s), the number of usable recipes will be diminished, barring any substitutions you can make yourself.

    Bottom line: this is more about about how to go about intuitive eating, than it is a book with a lot of nutritional information (though there is some of that too). If you’d like to get going with intuitive eating, then this book can help.

    Click here to check out Gentle Nutrition, and nourish gently!

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  • How I Cured My Silent Reflux – by Don Daniels

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    Acid reflux, in its various forms (not all of which include heartburn as a symptom!), affects around 1 in 8 people. Often it takes the form of coughing or excess mucus after eating, and it can trigger ostensibly random sweats, for example.

    Don Daniels does an excellent job of demystifying the various kinds of acid reflux, explaining clearly and simply the mechanics of what is going on for each of them and why.

    Further, he talks about the medications that can make things worse (and how and why), and supplements that can make it better (and supplements that can make it worse, too!), and a multiphase plan (diet on, meds weaned off, supplements on, supplements weaned off when asymptomatic, diet adjust to a new normal) to get free from acid reflux.

    The writing style is simple, clear, and jargon-free, while referencing plenty of scientific literature, often quoting from it and providing sources, much like we often do at 10almonds. There are 50+ such references in all, for a 105-page book.

    So, do also note that yes, it’s quite a short book for the price, but the content is of value and wouldn’t have benefitted from padding of the kind that many authors do just to make the book longer.

    Bottom line: if you have, or suspect you may have, an acid reflux condition of any kind, then this book can guide you through fixing that.

    Click here to check out How I Cured My Silent Reflux, and put up with it no longer!

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  • An RSV vaccine has been approved for people over 60. But what about young children?

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    The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has approved a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in Australia for the first time. The shot, called Arexvy and manufactured by GSK, will be available by prescription to adults over 60.

    RSV is a contagious respiratory virus which causes an illness similar to influenza, most notably in babies and older adults.

    So while it will be good to have an RSV vaccine available for older people, where is protection up to for the youngest children?

    A bit about RSV

    RSV was discovered in chimpanzees with respiratory illness in 1956, and was soon found to be a common cause of illness in humans.

    There are two key groups of people we would like to protect from RSV: babies (up to about one year old) and people older than 60.

    Babies tend to fill up hospitals during the RSV season in late spring and winter in large numbers, but severe infection requiring admission to intensive care is less common.

    In babies and younger children, RSV generally causes a wheezing asthma-like illness (bronchiolitis), but can also cause pneumonia and croup.

    Although there are far fewer hospital admissions among older people, they can develop severe disease and die from an infection.

    A baby sitting on a bed.
    Babies account for the majority of hospitalisations with RSV.
    Prostock-studio/Shutterstock

    RSV vaccines for older people

    For older adults, there are actually several RSV vaccines in the pipeline. The recent Australian TGA approval of Arexvy is likely to be the first of several, with other vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna currently in development.

    The GSK and Pfizer RSV vaccines are similar. They both contain a small component of the virus, called the pre-fusion protein, that the immune system can recognise.

    Both vaccines have been shown to reduce illness from RSV by more than 80% in the first season after vaccination.

    In older adults, side effects following Arexvy appear to be similar to other vaccines, with a sore arm and generalised aches and fatigue frequently reported.

    Unlike influenza vaccines which are given each year, it is anticipated the RSV vaccine would be a one-off dose, at least at this stage.

    Protecting young children from RSV

    Younger babies don’t tend to respond well to some vaccines due to their immature immune system. To prevent other diseases, this can be overcome by giving multiple vaccine doses over time. But the highest risk group for RSV are those in the first few months of life.

    To protect this youngest age group from the virus, there are two potential strategies available instead of vaccinating the child directly.

    The first is to give a vaccine to the mother and rely on the protective antibodies passing to the infant through the placenta. This is similar to how we protect babies by vaccinating pregnant women against influenza and pertussis (whooping cough).

    The second is to give antibodies directly to the baby as an injection. With both these strategies, the protection provided is only temporary as antibodies wane over time, but this is sufficient to protect infants through their highest risk period.

    A pregnant woman receives a vaccination.
    Women could be vaccinated during pregnancy to protect their baby in its first months of life.
    Image Point Fr/Shutterstock

    Abrysvo, the Pfizer RSV vaccine, has been trialled in pregnant women. In clinical trials, this vaccine has been shown to reduce illness in infants for up to six months. It has been approved in pregnant women in the United States, but is not yet approved in Australia.

    An antibody product called palivizumab has been available for many years, but is only partially effective and extremely expensive, so has only been given to a small number of children at very high risk.

    A newer antibody product, nirsevimab, has been shown to be effective in reducing infections and hospitalisations in infants. It was approved by the TGA in November, but it isn’t yet clear how this would be accessed in Australia.

    What now?

    RSV, like influenza, is a major cause of respiratory illness, and the development of effective vaccines represents a major advance.

    While the approval of the first vaccine for older people is an important step, many details are yet to be made available, including the cost and the timing of availability. GSK has indicated its vaccine should be available soon. While the vaccine will initially only be available on private prescription (with the costs paid by the consumer), GSK has applied for it to be made free under the National Immunisation Program.

    In the near future, we expect to hear further news about the other vaccines and antibodies to protect those at higher risk from RSV disease, including young children.The Conversation

    Allen Cheng, Professor of Infectious Diseases, Monash University

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

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  • 8 Signs Of Iodine Deficiency You Might Not Expect

    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.

    Health Coach Kait (BSc Nutrition & Exercise) is a certified health and nutrition coach, and today she’s here to talk about iodine—which is important for many of our body functions, from thyroid hormone production to metabolic regulation to heart rate management, as well as more superficial-but-important-too things like our skin and hair.

    Kait’s hitlist

    Here’s what she recommends we look out for:

    • Swollen neck: even a slightly swollen neck might indicate low iodine levels (this is because that’s where the thyroid glands are)
    • Hair loss: iodine is needed for healthy hair growth, so a deficiency can lead to hair loss / thinning hair
    • Dry and flaky skin: with iodine’s role in our homeostatic system not being covered, our skin can dry out as a result
    • Feeling cold all the time: because of iodine’s temperature-regulating activities
    • Slow heart rate: A metabolic slump due to iodine deficiency can slow down the heart rate, leading to fatigue and weakness (and worse, if it persists)
    • Brain fog: trouble focusing can be a symptom of the same metabolic slump
    • Fatigue: this is again more or less the same thing, but she said eight signs, so we’re giving you the eight!
    • Irregular period (if you normally have such, of course): because iodine affects reproductive hormones too, an imbalance can disrupt menstrual cycles.

    For more on each of these, as well as how to get more iodine in your diet, enjoy:

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

    Further reading

    You might also like to read:

    Take care!

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  • How To Keep Warm (Without Sweat Patches!)

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    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!

    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 saw an advert on the subway for a pillow spray that guarantees a perfect night’s sleep. What does the science say about smells/sleep?❞

    That is certainly a bold claim! Unless it’s contingent, e.g. “…or your money back”. Because otherwise, it absolutely cannot guarantee that.

    There is some merit:

    ❝Odors can modulate the latency to sleep onset, as well as the quality and duration of sleep. Olfactory modulation of sleep may be mediated by direct synaptic interaction between the olfactory system and sleep control nuclei, and/or indirectly through odor modulation of arousal and respiration.

    Such modulation appears most heavily influenced by past associations and expectations about the odor, beyond any potential direct physicochemical effect❞

    Source: Reciprocal relationships between sleep and smell

    Translating that from sciencese:

    Sometimes we find pleasant smells relaxing, and placebo effect also helps.

    That “any potential direct physiochemical effect”, though, when it does occur, is things like this…

    Read: Odor blocking of stress hormone responses

    …but that’s a mouse study, and those odors may only work to block three specific mouse stress responses to three specific stressors: physical restraint, predator odor, and male–male confrontation.

    In other words: if, perchance, those three things are not what’s stressing you in bed at night (we won’t make assumptions), and/or you are not a mouse, it may not help.

    (and this, dear readers, is why we must read articles, and not just headlines!)

    But! If you are going to go for a pillow fragrance, something well-associated with being relaxing and soporific, such as lavender, is the way to go:

    tl;dr = patients found lavender fragrances relaxing, experienced less anxiety, got better sleep (significantly or insignificantly, depending on the study) and enjoyed lower blood pressure (significantly or insignificantly, depending on the study).

    PS: this writer uses a pillow spray like this one

    Enjoy!

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  • Spelt vs Bulgur – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing spelt to bulgur, we picked the spelt.

    Why?

    An argument could be made for bulgur, but we say spelt comes out on top. Speaking of “sorting the wheat from the chaff”, be aware: spelt is a hulled wheat product and bulgur is a cracked wheat product.

    Looking at macros first, it’s not surprising therefore that spelt has proportionally more carbs and bulgur has proportionally more fiber, resulting in a slightly lower glycemic index. That said, for the exact same reason, spelt is proportionally higher in protein. Still, fiber is usually the most health-relevant aspect in the macros category, so we’re going to call this a moderate win for bulgur.

    When it comes to micronutrients, however, spelt is doing a lot better:

    In the category of vitamins, spelt is higher in vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, and E (with the difference in E being 26x more!), while bulgur is higher only in vitamin B9 (and that, only slightly). A clear win for spelt here.

    Nor are the mineral contents less polarized; spelt has more copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while bulgur is not higher in any minerals. Another easy win for spelt.

    Adding these up makes a win for spelt, but again we’d urge to not underestimate the importance of fiber. Enjoy both in moderation, unless you are avoiding wheat/gluten in which case don’t, and for almost everyone, mixed whole grains are always going to be best.

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Take care!

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