Little Treatments, Big Effects – by Dr. Jessica Schleider
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The author, a clinical psychologist, discusses how mental healthcare has come a very long way, yet still has a long way to go. While advocating for top-down reforms, she does have a stopgap solution:
Find ways to significantly improve people’s mental health in a single-session intervention.
This seems like a tall order, but her method is based on good science, and also, most people will agree from experience that big changes can happen to someone in the space of moments, at pivotal turning points in life—they just have to be the right moments.
Dr. Schleider recommends that therapists train in (and then offer) this method, but she does also give comprehensive advice for self-therapy of this kind too.
These self-therapy directions, ways to induce those life-pivoting moments for the better, are perhaps the greatest value that the book gives us.
Bottom line: if you’d like a lot of the benefits of therapy without getting therapy, this book can definitely point you in the right direction, in a manner that won’t be a drain on your time or your wallet.
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Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum’s Heart Book – by Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum
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The book is divided into three parts:
- What you should know
- What you should do
- All about you
This is a very useful format, since it lays out all the foundational knowledge, before offering practical advice and “how to” explanations, before finally wrapping up with personalizing things.
The latter is important, because while our basic risk factors can be assembled in a few lines of data (age, sex, race, genes, diet, exercise habits, etc) there’s a lot more to us than that, and oftentimes the data that doesn’t make the cut, makes the difference. Hormones on high on this list; we can say that a person is a 65-year-old woman and make a guess, but that’s all it is: a guess. Very few of us are the “average person” that statistical models represent accurately. And nor are social and psychological factors irrelevant; in fact often they are deciding factors!
So, it’s important to be able to look at ourselves as the whole persons we are, or else we’ll get a heart-healthy protocol that works on paper but actually falls flat in application, because the mathematical model didn’t take into account that lately we have been very stressed about such-and-such a thing, and deeply anxious about so-and-so, and a hopefully short-term respiratory infection has reduced blood oxygen levels, and all these kinds of things need to be taken into account too, for an overall plan to work.
The greatest strength of this book is that it attends to that.
The style of the book is a little like a long sales pitch (when all that’s being sold, by the way, is the ideas the book is offering; she wants you to take her advice with enthusiasm), but there’s plenty of very good information all the way through, making it quite worth the read.
Bottom line: if you’re a woman and/or love at least one woman, then you can benefit from this important book for understanding heart health that’s not the default.
Click here to check out Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum’s Heart Book, and enjoy a heart-healthy life!
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Spiced Pear & Pecan Polyphenol Porridge
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Porridge doesn’t have to be boring; in fact, it can be a real treat. And while oats are healthy by default, this version has extra layers of benefits:
You will need
Per person:
- 1 cup milk (your choice what kind; we recommend almond for this)
- ½ cup oats
- 1 pear, peeled, cored, and sliced
- ¼ cup toasted pecans, chopped
- 2 tbsp goji berries
- 1 tsp sweet cinnamon
Method
(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)
1) Soak the goji berries in a small amount of hot water. If you have an espresso cup or something of a similar size, that’s a great “bowl” for this task. A ramekin will suffice, otherwise, but use only as much water as is absolutely necessary to cover the goji berries (excess water will just leech polyphenols from the berries, reducing their nutritional value).
2) Combine the pear and cinnamon in a saucepan with a couple of tablespoons of water, and simmer for 5 minutes.
3) Combine the oats and milk in a separate saucepan (we imagine you know how to make porridge, but we’d be remiss to not include the step), and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring as necessary.
4) Drain the goji berries and the pear, if there is water remaining outside of the fruits.
5) Assemble: we recommend the order: goji berries, porridge, pear, pecans.
Alternative method: simply layer everything in a slow cooker, in the following order: goji berries (no need to pre-soak), oats, milk (stir it a little to ensure oats are all wet), pear-dusted-with-cinnamon (no need to pre-cook), pecans. Put it on the lowest heat with the lid on, and leave for a couple of hours.
Alternative alternative method: layer everything as we just said, but this time in portions of 1 jar per person, and leave it overnight, per overnight oats. Then, in the morning, gently warm it (if you like) by putting it in the microwave (lid removed!) for 2 minutes on medium power.
These latter methods are increasingly better nutritionally, as they won’t wash away some of the polyphenols from the goji berries and the lower temperatures keep the glycemic index of the oats lower, but we appreciate you won’t always have the time to do it this way.
Enjoy!
Want to learn more?
For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:
- The Best Kind Of Fiber For Overall Health? ← it’s β-glucan, as found in oats!
- Why You Should Diversify Your Nuts!
- Goji Berries: Which Benefits Do They Really Have?
- Sweet Cinnamon vs Regular Cinnamon – Which is Healthier? ← this is a very important distinction
- Make Overnight Oats Shorter Or Longer For Different Benefits!
Take care!
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The S.T.E.P.S. To A Healthier Heart
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Stepping Into Better Heart Health
This is Dr. Jennifer H. Mieres, FACC, FAHA, MASNC. she’s an award-winning (we counted 9 major awards) professor of cardiology, and a leading advocate for women’s heart health. This latter she’s done via >70 scientific publications, >100 research presentations at national and international conferences, 3 books so far, and 4 documentaries, including the Emmy-nominated “A Woman’s Heart”.
What does she want us to know?
A lot of her work is a top-down approach, working to revolutionize the field of cardiology in its application, to result in far fewer deaths annually. Which is fascinating, but unless you’re well-placed in that industry, not something too actionable as an individual (if you are well-placed in that industry, do look her up, of course).
For the rest of us…
Dr. Mieres’ S.T.E.P.S. to good heart health
She wants us to do the following things:
1) Stock your kitchen with heart health in mind
This is tied to the third item in the list of course, but it’s a critical step not to be overlooked. It’s all very well to know “eat more fiber; eat less red meat” and so forth, but if you go to your kitchen and what’s there is not conducive to heart health, you’re just going to do the best with what’s available.
Instead, actually buy foods that are high in fiber, and preferably, foods that you like. Not a fan of beans? Don’t buy them. Love pasta? Go wholegrain. Like leafy greens in principle, but they don’t go with what you cook? Look up some recipes, and then buy them.
Love a beef steak? Well we won’t lie to you, that is not good for your heart, but make it a rare option—so to speak—and enjoy it mindfully (see also: mindful eating) once in a blue moon for a special occasion, rather than “I don’t know what to cook tonight, so sizzle sizzle I guess”.
Meal planning goes a long way for this one! And if meal-planning sounds like an overwhelming project to take on, then consider trying one of the many healthy-eating meal kit services that will deliver ingredients (and their recipes) to your door—opting for a plants-forward plan, and the rest should fall into place.
2) Take control of your activity
Choose to move! Rather than focusing on what you can’t do (let’s say, those 5am runs, or your regularly-scheduled, irregularly attended, gym sessions), focus on what you can do, and do it.
See also: No-Exercise Exercise!
3) Eat for a healthier heart
This means following through on what you did on the first step, and keeping it that way. Buying fresh fruit and veg is great, but you also have to actually eat it. Do not let the perishables perish!
For you too, dear reader, are perishable (and would presumably like to avoid perishing).
This item in the list may seem flippant, but actually this is about habit-forming, and without it, the whole plan will grind to a halt a few days after your first heart-health-focused shopping trip.
See also: Where Nutrition Meets Habits!
4) Partner with your doctor, family, and friends
Good relationships, both professional and personal, count for a lot. Draw up a plan with your doctor; don’t just guess at when to get this or that checked—or what to do about it if the numbers aren’t to your liking.
Partnership with your doctor goes both ways, incidentally. Read up, have opinions, discuss them! Doing so will ultimately result in better care than just going in blind and coming out with a recommendation you don’t understand and just trust (but soon forget, because you didn’t understand).
And as for family and friends, this is partly about social factors—we tend to influence, and be influenced by, those around us. It can be tricky to be on a health kick if your partner wants take-out every night, so some manner of getting everyone on the same page is important, be it by compromise or, in an ideal world, gradually trending towards better health. But any such changes must come from a place of genuine understanding and volition, otherwise at best they won’t stick, and at worst they’ll actively create a pushback.
Same goes for exercise as for diet—exercising together is a good way to boost commitment, especially if it’s something fun (dance classes are a fine example that many couples enjoy, for example).
5) Sleep more, stress less, savor life
These things matter a lot! Many people focus on cutting down salt or saturated fat, and that can be good if otherwise consumed to excess, but for most people they’re not the most decisive factors:
Hypertension: Factors Far More Relevant Than Salt ← sleep features here!
Stress is also a huge one, and let’s put it this way: people more often have heart attacks during a moment of excessive emotional stress—not during a moment when they had a bit too much butter on their toast.
It’s not even just that acute stress is the trigger, it’s that chronic stress is a contributory factor that erodes the body’s ability to handle the acute stress.
Changing this may seem “easier said than done” because often the stressors are external (e.g. work pressure, financial worries, caring for a sick relative, relationship troubles, major life change, etc), but it is possible to find peace even in the chaos of life:
Want to know more from Dr. Mieres?
You might like this book of hers, which goes into each of the above items in much more depth than we have room to here:
Heart Smarter for Women: Six Weeks to a Healthier Heart – by Dr. Jennifer Mieres
Enjoy!
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Can Saturated Fats Be Healthy?
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Saturated Fat: What’s The Truth?
We asked you for your health-related opinion of saturated fat, and got the above-pictured, below-described, set of results.
- Most recorded votes were for “Saturated fat is good, but only some sources, and/or in moderation”
- This is an easy one to vote for, because of the “and/or in moderation” part, which tends to be a “safe bet” for most things.
- Next most popular was “Saturated fat is terrible for the health and should be avoided”
- About half as many recorded votes were for “I’m not actually sure what makes saturated fat different”, which is a very laudable option to click. Admitting when we don’t know things (and none of us know everything) is a very good first step to learning about them!
- Fewest recorded votes were for “Saturated fat is the best source of energy; we should get plenty”.
So, what does the science say?
First, a bit of physics, chemistry, and biology
You may be wondering what, exactly, saturated fats are “saturated” with. That’s a fair question, so…
All fats have a molecular structure made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. Saturated fats are saturated with hydrogen, and thus have only single bonds between carbon atoms (unsaturated fats have at least one double-bond between carbon atoms).
The observable effect this has on them, is that fats that are saturated with hydrogen are solid at room temperature, whereas unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature. Their different properties also make for different interactions inside the human body, including how likely or not they are to (for example) clog arteries.
See also: Could fat in your bloodstream cause blood clots?
Saturated fat is the best source of energy; we should get plenty: True or False?
False, in any reasonable interpretation, anyway. That is to say, if your idea of “plenty” is under 13g (e.g: two tablespoons of butter, and no saturated fat from other sources, e.g. meat) per day, then yes, by all means feel free to eat plenty. More than that, though, and you might want to consider trimming it down a bit.
The American Heart Association has this to say:
❝When you hear about the latest “diet of the day” or a new or odd-sounding theory about food, consider the source.
The American Heart Association recommends limiting saturated fats, which are found in butter, cheese, red meat and other animal-based foods, and tropical oils.
Decades of sound science has proven it can raise your “bad” cholesterol and put you at higher risk for heart disease.❞
Source: The American Heart Association Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations on Saturated Fat
The British Heart Foundation has a similar statement:
❝Despite what you read in the media, our advice is clear: replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats and avoid trans fats. Saturated fat is the kind of fat found in butter, lard, ghee, fatty meats and cheese. This is linked to an increased risk of heart and circulatory disease❞
Source: British Heart Foundation: What does fat do and what is saturated fat?
As for the World Health Organization:
❝1. WHO strongly recommends that adults and children reduce saturated fatty acid intake to 10% of total energy intake
2. WHO suggests further reducing saturated fatty acid intake to less than 10% of total energy intake
3. WHO strongly recommends replacing saturated fatty acids in the diet with polyunsaturated fatty acids; monounsaturated fatty acids from plant sources; or carbohydrates from foods containing naturally occurring dietary fibre, such as whole grains, vegetables, fruits and pulses.❞
Source: Saturated fatty acid and trans-fatty acid intake for adults and children: WHO guideline
Please note, organizations such as the AHA, the BHF, and the WHO are not trying to sell us anything, and just would like us to not die of heart disease, the world’s #1 killer.
As for “the best source of energy”…
We evolved to eat (much like our nearest primate cousins) a diet consisting mostly of fruits and other edible plants, with a small supplementary amount of animal-source protein and fats.
That’s not to say that because we evolved that way we have to eat that way—we are versatile omnivores. But for example, we are certainly not complete carnivores, and would quickly sicken and die if we tried to live on only meat and animal fat (we need more fiber, more carbohydrates, and many micronutrients that we usually get from plants)
The closest that humans tend to come to doing such is the ketogenic diet, which focuses on a high fat, low carbohydrate imbalance, to promote ketosis, in which the body burns fat for energy.
The ketogenic diet does work, and/but can cause a lot of health problems if a lot of care is not taken to avoid them.
See for example: 7 Keto Risks To Keep In Mind
Saturated fat is terrible for the health and should be avoided: True or False?
False, if we are talking about “completely”.
Firstly, it’s practically impossible to cut out all saturated fats, given that most dietary sources of fat are a mix of saturated, unsaturated (mono- and poly-), and trans fats (which are by far the worst, but beyond the scope of today’s main feature).
Secondly, a lot of research has been conducted and found insignificant or inconclusive results, in cases where saturated fat intake was already within acceptable levels (per the recommendations we mentioned earlier), and then cut down further.
Rather than fill up the newsletter with individual studies of this kind here’s a high-quality research review, looking at 19 meta-analyses, each of those meta-analyses having looked at many studies:
Dietary saturated fat and heart disease: a narrative review
Saturated fat is good, but only some sources, and/or in moderation: True or False?
True! The moderation part is easy to guess, so let’s take a look at the “but only some sources”.
We were not able to find any convincing science to argue for health-based reasons to favor plant- or animal-sourced saturated fat. However…
Not all saturated fats are created equal (there are many kinds), and also many of the foods containing them have additional nutrients, or harmful compounds, that make a big difference to overall health, when compared gram-for-gram in terms of containing the same amount of saturated fat.
For example:
- Palm oil’s saturated fat contains a disproportionate amount of palmitic acid, which raises LDL (“bad” cholesterol) without affecting HDL (“good” cholesterol), thus having an overall heart-harmful effect.
- Most animal fats contain a disproportionate amount of stearic acid, which has statistically insignificant effects on LDL and HDL levels, and thus is broadly considered “heart neutral” (in moderation!)
- Coconut oil’s saturated fat contains a disproportionate amount of lauric acid, which raises total cholesterol, but mostly HDL without affecting LDL, thus having an overall heart-beneficial effect (in moderation!)
Do you know what’s in the food you eat?
Test your knowledge with the BHF’s saturated fat quiz!
Enjoy!
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- Most recorded votes were for “Saturated fat is good, but only some sources, and/or in moderation”
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Metabolical – by Dr. Robert Lustig
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The premise of this book itself is not novel: processed food is bad, food giants lie to us, and eating better makes us less prone to disease (especially metabolic disease).
What this book does offer that’s less commonly found is a comprehensive guide, a walkthrough of each relevant what and why and how, with plenty of good science and practical real-world examples.
In terms of unique selling points, perhaps the greatest strength of this book is its focus on two things in particular that affect many aspects of health: looking after our liver, and looking after our gut.
The style is… A little dramatic perhaps, but that’s just the style; there’s no hyperbole, he is stating well-established scientific facts.
Bottom line: very much of chronic disease would be a lot less diseasey if we all ate with these aspects of our health in mind. This book’s a comprehensive guide to that.
Click here to check out Metabolical, and let food be thy medicine!
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Eggcellent News Against Dementia?
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It’s that time of the week again… We hope all our readers have had a great and healthy week! Here are some selections from health news from around the world:
Moderation remains key
Eggs have come under the spotlight for their protective potential against dementia, largely due to their content of omega-3 fatty acids, choline, and other nutrients.
Nevertheless, the study had some limitations (including not measuring the quantity of eggs consumed, just the frequency), and while eating eggs daily showed the lowest rates of dementia, not eating them at all did not significantly alter the risk.
Eating more than 2 eggs per day is still not recommended, however, for reasons of increasing the risk of other health issues, such as heart disease.
Read in full: Could eating eggs prevent dementia?
Related: Eggs: Nutritional Powerhouse or Heart-Health Timebomb?
More than suitable
It’s common for a lot of things to come with the warning “not suitable for those who are pregnant or nursing”, with such frequency that it can be hard to know what one can safely do/take while pregnant or nursing.
In the case of COVID vaccines, though, nearly 90% of babies who had to be hospitalized with COVID-19 had mothers who didn’t get the vaccine while they were pregnant.
And as for how common that is: babies too young to be vaccinated (so, under 6 months) had the highest covid hospitalization rate of any age group except people over 75.
Read in full: Here’s why getting a covid shot during pregnancy is important
Related: The Truth About Vaccines
Positive dieting
Adding things into one’s diet is a lot more fun than taking things out, is generally easier to sustain, and (as a general rule of thumb; there are exceptions of course) give the greatest differences in health outcomes.
This is perhaps most true of beans and pulses, which add many valuable vitamins, minerals, protein, and perhaps most importantly of all (single biggest factor in reducing heart disease risk), fiber.
Read in full: Adding beans and pulses can lead to improved shortfall nutrient intakes and a higher diet quality in American adults
Related: Intuitive Eating Might Not Be What You Think
Clearing out disordered thinking
Hoarding is largely driven by fear of loss, and this radical therapy tackles that at the root, by such means as rehearsing alternative outcomes of discarding through imagery rescripting, and examining the barriers to throwing things away—to break down those barriers one at a time.
Read in full: Hoarding disorder: sensory CBT treatment strategy shows promise
Related: When You Know What You “Should” Do (But Knowing Isn’t The Problem)
Superfluous
Fluoridated water may not be as helpful for the teeth as it used to be prior to about 1975. Not because it became any less effective per se, but because of the modern prevalence of fluoride-containing toothpastes, mouthwashes, etc rendering it redundant in more recent decades.
Read in full: Dental health benefits of fluoride in water may have declined, study finds
Related: Water Fluoridation, Atheroma, & More
Off-label?
With rising costs of living including rising healthcare costs, and increasing barriers to accessing in-person healthcare, it’s little wonder that many are turning to the gray market online to get their medications.
These websites typically use legal loopholes to sell prescription drugs to the public, by employing morally flexible doctors who are content to expediently rubber-stamp prescriptions upon request, on the basis of the patient having filled out a web form and checked boxes for their symptoms (and of course also having waived all rights of complaint or legal recourse).
However, some less scrupulous sorts are exploiting this market, to sell outright fake medications, using a setup that looks like a “legitimate” gray market website. Caveat emptor indeed.
Read in full: CDC warns of fake drug dangers from online pharmacies
Related: Are You Taking PIMs? Getting Off The Overmedication Train
A rising threat
In 2021 (we promise the paper was published only a few days ago!), the leading causes of death were:
- COVID-19
- Heart disease
- Stroke
…which latter represented a rising threat, likely in part due to the increase in the aging population.
Read in full: Stroke remains a leading cause of death globally, with increased risk linked to lifestyle factors
Related: 6 Signs Of Stroke (One Month In Advance)
Take care!
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