Mimosa For Healing Your Body & Mind

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Today we’re looking at mimosa (no relation to the cocktail!), which is a name given to several related plant species that belong to the same genus or general clade, look similar, and have similar properties and behavior.

As a point of interest that’s not useful: mimosa is one of those plants whereby if you touch it, it’ll retract its leaves and shrink away from you. The leaves also droop at nighttime (perfectly healthily; they’re not wilting or anything; this too is just plant movement), and spring back up in the daytime.

So that’s what we mean when we say “and behavior” 😉

Antidepressant & anxiolytic

Mimosa bark and leaves have long been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, as well as (albeit different species) in the North-East of Brazil, and (again, sometimes different species) in Mexico.

Animal studies, in vivo studies, and clinical practice in humans, have found this to be effective, for example:

❝[Mimosa pudica extract] has anti-anxiety, anti-depressant and memory enhancing activities that are mediated through multiple mechanisms❞

Source: Effects of Mimosa pudica L. leaves extract on anxiety, depression and memory

Research is ongoing with regard to how, exactly, mimosa does what it does. Here’s a paper about another species mimosa:

Molecular basis and mechanism of action of Albizia julibrissin in depression treatment and clinical application of its formulae

(notwithstanding the genus name, it’s still part of the mimosa clade)

Anti-inflammatory & analgesic

In this case, mimosa has traditionally been used as a topical tincture (for skin damage of many kinds, ranging from cuts and abrasions to burns to autoimmune conditions and more), so what does the science say about that?

❝In summary, the present study provided evidence that the [mimosa extract], its fractions and the isolated compound sakuranetin showed significant anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities❞

Read in full: Antinoceptive and Anti-inflammatory Activities of the Ethanolic Extract, Fractions and Flavones Isolated from Mimosa tenuiflora (Willd.) Poir (Leguminosae)

Wound healing

About those various skin damages, here’s another application, and a study showing that it doesn’t just make it feel better, it actually helps it to heal, too:

❝Therapeutic effectiveness occurred in all patients of the extract group; after the 8th treatment week, ulcer size was reduced by 92% as mean value in this group, whereas therapeutic effectiveness was observed only in one patient of the control group (chi(2), p=0.0001). No side effects were observed in any patient in either group.❞

Very compelling stats!

Read more: Therapeutic effectiveness of a Mimosa tenuiflora cortex extract in venous leg ulceration treatment

Is it safe?

Yes, for most people, with some caveats:

  1. this one comes with a clear “don’t take if pregnant or breastfeeding” warning, as for unknown reasons it has caused a high incidence of fetal abnormalities or fetal death in animal studies.
  2. while the stem bark (the kind used in most mimosa supplements and most readily found online) has negligible psychoactivity, as do many species of mimosa in general, the root of M. tenuiflora has psychedelic effects similar to ayahuasca if taken orally, for example as a decoction, if in the presence of a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI), as otherwise MAO would metabolize the psychoactive component in the gut before it can enter the bloodstream.

That’s several “ifs”, meaning that the chances of unwanted psychedelic effects are slim if you’re paying attention, but as ever, do check with your doctor/pharmacist to be sure.

Want to try some?

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎

Enjoy!

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  • The Anti-Viral Gut – by Dr. Robynne Chutkan

    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.

    Some people get a virus and feel terrible for a few days; other people get the same virus and die. Then there are some who never even get it at all despite being in close proximity with the other two. So, what’s the difference?

    Dr. Robynne Chutkan outlines the case for the difference not being in the virus, but in the people. And nor is it a matter of mysterious fate, but rather, a matter of the different levels of defenses (or lack thereof) that we each have.

    The key, she explains, is in our microbiome, and the specific steps to make sure that ours is optimized and ready to protect us. The book goes beyond “eat prebiotics and probiotics”, though, and goes through other modifiable factors, based on data from this pandemic and the last one a hundred years ago. We also learn about the many different kinds of bacteria that live in our various body parts (internal and external), because as it turns out, our gut microbiome (however important; hence the title) isn’t the only relevant microbiome when it comes to whether or not a given disease will take hold or be eaten alive on the way in.

    The style is very polished—Dr. Chutkan is an excellent educator who makes her points clearly and comprehensibly without skimping on scientific detail.

    Bottom line: if you’d like your chances of surviving any given virus season to not be left to chance, then this is a must-read book.

    Click here to check out The Anti-Viral Gut, and make your body a fortress!

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  • Health Nut: A Feel-Good Cookbook – by Jess Damuck

    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 author is a classically trained chef (worked with Martha Stewart for a long time!), and while health is the focus here, it’s not the be-all-and-end-all, so there’s a lot of attention given to pleasure also. Which, after all, is not a zero-sum game—we can have both!

    So, the title and subtitle together sum up the ethos of the book pretty well.

    The recipes themselves are divided into categories by meal-type, snacks, desserts, etc. They’re varied enough to suit most moods and seasons, as well as being equally appropriate for cooking for one, or a family, or entertaining. Many (but not all) of the recipes are vegan, though where they’re not, the substitutions are mostly easy and obvious, or explained, or else alternative recipes are given (for example a vegan “tuna” recipe).

    In terms of complexity, these are not very complex, yet include everything they need to to make things interesting. That said, the ingredients are also not obscure, and should be easy to find in any reasonably well-stocked supermarket.

    One small downside is that many of the recipes are not illustrated, but the instructions are clear enough that this isn’t really a problem, in this reviewer’s opinion.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to broaden your kitchen repertoire with plants-forward cooking from an accomplished chef, then this is a good book for that.

    Click here to check out Health Nut, and enjoy the feel-good food!

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  • General Tso’s Chickpeas

    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.

    A fiber-rich, heart-healthy take on a classic:

    You will need

    • 1 can chickpeas, drained
    • ¾ cup vegetable stock; ideally you made this yourself from vegetable cuttings that you kept in the freezer for this purpose, but failing that, you should be able to get low-sodium stock cubes at your local supermarket.
    • ¼ cup arrowroot starch (cornstarch will do at a pinch, but arrowroot is better and has no flavor of its own)
    • 3 tbsp coconut oil
    • 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
    • ¼ bulb garlic, minced
    • 2 tbsp honey (or maple syrup if you prefer, and if you don’t like sweetness, reduce this to 1 tbsp or even omit entirely, though it won’t be quite so “General Tso” if you do, but it’s your meal!)
    • 2 tbsp tomato paste
    • 2 tsp hot sauce
    • 1 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • 3 green onions, sliced

    Method

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

    1) Coat the chickpeas in the arrowroot starch by tossing them together in a bowl

    2) Heat the coconut oil in a skillet on a medium-high heat, and when hot, add the chickpeas, stirring for 3 minutes

    3) Add the remaining ingredients in the order we gave (except the vegetable stock, which goes in last), stirring for 5 more minutes, or until the sauce thickens

    4) Serve with the carb of your choice; we recommend our Tasty Versatile Rice Recipe

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

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

    Take care!

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  • AI: The Doctor That Never Tires?

    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.

    AI: The Doctor That Never Tires?

    We asked you for your opinion on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare, and got the above-depicted, below-described set of results:

    • A little over half of respondents to the poll voted for “It speeds up research, and is more methodical about diagnosis, so it’s at least a good extra tool”
    • A quarter of respondents voted for “I’m on the fence—it seems to make no more nor less mistakes than human doctors do”
    • A little under a fifth of respondents voted for “AI is less prone to fatigue/bias than human doctors, making it an essential new tech”
    • Three respondents voted for “AI is a step too far in medical technology, and we’re not ready for it”

    Writer’s note: I’m a professional writer (you’d never have guessed, right?) and, apparently, I really did write “no more nor less mistakes”, despite the correct grammar being “no more nor fewer mistakes”. Now, I know this, and in fact, people getting less/fewer wrong is a pet hate of mine. Nevertheless, I erred.

    Yet, now that I’m writing this out in my usual software, and not directly into the poll-generation software, my (AI!) grammar/style-checker is highlighting the error for me.

    Now, an AI could not do my job. ChatGPT would try, and fail miserably. But can technology help me do mine better? Absolutely!

    And still, I dismiss a lot of the AI’s suggestions, because I know my field and can make informed choices. I don’t follow it blindly, and I think that’s key.

    AI is less prone to fatigue/bias than human doctors, making it an essential new tech: True or False?

    True—with one caveat.

    First, a quick anecdote from a subscriber who selected this option in the poll:

    ❝As long as it receives the same data inputs as my doctor (ie my entire medical history), I can see it providing a much more personalised service than my human doctor who is always forgetting what I have told him. I’m also concerned that my doctor may be depressed – not an ailment that ought to affect AI! I recently asked my newly qualified doctor goddaughter whether she would prefer to be treated by a human or AI doctor. No contest, she said – she’d go with AI. Her argument was that human doctors leap to conclusions, rather than properly weighing all the evidence – meaning AI, as long as it receives the same inputs, will be much more reliable❞

    Now, an anecdote is not data, so what does the science say?

    Well… It says the same:

    ❝Of 6695 responding physicians in active practice, 6586 provided information on the areas of interest: 3574 (54.3%) reported symptoms of burnout, 2163 (32.8%) reported excessive fatigue, and 427 (6.5%) reported recent suicidal ideation, with 255 of 6563 (3.9%) reporting a poor or failing patient safety grade in their primary work area and 691 of 6586 (10.5%) reporting a major medical error in the prior 3 months. Physicians reporting errors were more likely to have symptoms of burnout (77.6% vs 51.5%; P<.001), fatigue (46.6% vs 31.2%; P<.001), and recent suicidal ideation (12.7% vs 5.8%; P<.001).❞

    See the damning report for yourself: Physician Burnout, Well-being, and Work Unit Safety Grades in Relationship to Reported Medical Errors

    AI, of course, does not suffer from burnout, fatigue, or suicidal ideation.

    So, what was the caveat?

    The caveat is about bias. Humans are biased, and that goes for medical practitioners just the same. AI’s machine learning is based on source data, and the source data comes from humans, who are biased.

    See: Bias and Discrimination in AI: A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective

    So, AI can perpetuate human biases and doesn’t have a special extra strength in this regard.

    The lack of burnout, fatigue, and suicidal ideation, however, make a big difference.

    AI speeds up research, and is more methodical about diagnosis: True or False?

    True! AI is getting more and more efficient at this, and as has been pointed out, doesn’t make errors due to fatigue, and often comes to accurate conclusions near-instantaneously. To give just one example:

    ❝Deep learning algorithms achieved better diagnostic performance than a panel of 11 pathologists participating in a simulation exercise designed to mimic routine pathology workflow; algorithm performance was comparable with an expert pathologist interpreting whole-slide images without time constraints. The area under the curve was 0.994 (best algorithm) vs 0.884 (best pathologist).❞

    Read: Diagnostic Assessment of Deep Learning Algorithms for Detection of Lymph Node Metastases in Women With Breast Cancer

    About that “getting more and more efficient at this”; it’s in the nature of machine learning that every new piece of data improves the neural net being used. So long as it is getting fed new data, which it can process at rate far exceeding humans’ abilities, it will always be constantly improving.

    AI makes no more nor less fewer mistakes than humans do: True or False?

    False! AI makes fewer, now. This study is from 2021, and it’s only improved since then:

    ❝Professionals only came to the same conclusions [as each other] approximately 75 per cent of the time. More importantly, machine learning produced fewer decision-making errors than did all the professionals❞

    See: AI can make better clinical decisions than humans: study

    All that said, we’re not quite at Star Trek levels of “AI can do a human’s job entirely” just yet:

    BMJ | Artificial intelligence versus clinicians: pros and cons

    To summarize: medical AI is a powerful tool that:

    • Makes healthcare more accessible
    • Speeds up diagnosis
    • Reduces human error

    …and yet, for now at least, still requires human oversights, checks and balances.

    Essentially: it’s not really about humans vs machines at all. It’s about humans and machines giving each other information, and catching any mistakes made by the other. That way, humans can make more informed decisions, and still keep a “hand on the wheel”.

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  • Winter Wellness – by Rachel de Thample

    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.

    Winter is often the season of comfort foods and, in much of the Western world, there’s a holiday season slide of forgotten diets and instead sugar, alcohol, pastry, and the like.

    What de Thample does here is an antidote to all that, without sacrificing happiness and celebration.

    Before the recipes get started, she has a chapter on “food as medicine“, and to our immense surprise, proceeds to detail, accurately, many categories such as

    • Foods for immune health
    • Foods against inflammation
    • Foods for gut health
    • Foods against aging
    • Foods for energy levels
    • Foods against anxiety
    • Foods for hormonal balance

    …and so forth, with lists of ingredients that fit into each category.

    Then in the rest of the book, she lays out beautiful recipes for wonderful dishes (and drinks) that use those ingredients, without unhealthy additions.

    The recipes are, by the way, what could best be categorized as “fancy”. However, they are fancy in the sense that they will be impressive for entertaining, and (again, to our great surprise) they don’t actually call for particularly expensive/rare ingredients, nor for arcane methods and special equipment.Instead, everything’s astonishingly accessible to put together and easy to execute.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to indulge this winter, but would like to do so healthily, this is an excellent way to do so.

    Click here to check out Winter Wellness, and level-up your seasonal health and happiness!

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  • No, beetroot isn’t vegetable Viagra. But here’s what else it can do

    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.

    Beetroot has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Supply issues in recent months have seen a shortage of tinned beetroot on Australian supermarket shelves. At one point, a tin was reportedly selling on eBay for more than A$65.

    But as supplies increase, we turn our attention to beetroot’s apparent health benefits.

    Is beetroot really vegetable Viagra, as UK TV doctor Michael Mosley suggests? What about beetroot’s other apparent health benefits – from reducing your blood pressure to improving your daily workout? Here’s what the science says.

    What’s so special about beetroot?

    Beetroot – alongside foods such as berries, nuts and leafy greens – is a “superfood”. It contains above-average levels per gram of certain vitamins and minerals.

    Beetroot is particularly rich in vitamin B and C, minerals, fibre and antioxidants.

    Most cooking methods don’t significantly alter its antioxidant levels. Pressure cooking does, however, lower levels of carotenoid (a type of antioxidant) compared to raw beetroot.

    Processing into capsules, powders, chips or juice may affect beetroot’s ability to act as an antioxidant. However, this can vary between products, including between different brands of beetroot juice.

    Is beetroot really vegetable Viagra?

    The Romans are said to have used beetroot and its juice as an aphrodisiac.

    But there’s limited scientific evidence to say beetroot improves your sex life. This does not mean it doesn’t. Rather, the vast number of scientific studies looking at the effect of beetroot have not measured libido or other aspects of sexual health.

    How could it work?

    When we eat beetroot, chemical reactions involving bacteria and enzymes transform the nitrate in beetroot into nitrite, then to nitric oxide. Nitric oxide helps dilate (widen) blood vessels, potentially improving circulation.

    The richest sources of dietary nitric oxide that have been tested in clinical studies are beetroot, rocket and spinach.

    Nitric oxide is also thought to support testosterone in its role in controlling blood flow before and during sex in men.

    Beetroot’s ability to improve blood flow can benefit the circulatory system of the heart and blood vessels. This may positively impact sexual function, theoretically in men and women.

    Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest there could be a modest link between beetroot and preparedness for sex, but don’t expect it to transform your sex life.

    What else could it do?

    Beetroot has received increasing attention over recent years due to its antioxidant and anti-tumour effect in humans.

    Clinical trials have not verified all beetroot’s active ingredients and their effects. However, beetroot may be a potentially helpful treatment for various health issues related to oxidative stress and inflammation, such as cancer and diabetes. The idea is that you can take beetroot supplements or eat extra beetroot alongside your regular medicines (rather than replace them).

    There is evidence beetroot juice can help lower systolic blood pressure (the first number in your blood pressure reading) by 2.73-4.81 mmHg (millimetres of mercury, the standard unit of measuring blood pressure) in people with high blood pressure. Some researchers say this reduction is comparable to the effects seen with certain medications and dietary interventions.

    Other research finds even people without high blood pressure (but at risk of it) could benefit.

    Beetroot may also improve athletic performance. Some studies show small benefits for endurance athletes (who run, swim or cycle long distances). These studies looked at various forms of the food, such as beetroot juice as well as beetroot-based supplements.

    How to get more beetroot in your diet

    There is scientific evidence to support positive impacts of consuming beetroot in whole, juice and supplement forms. So even if you can’t get hold of tinned beetroot, there are plenty of other ways you can get more beetroot into your diet. You can try:

    • raw beetroot – grate raw beetroot and add it to salads or coleslaw, or slice beetroot to use as a crunchy topping for sandwiches or wraps
    • cooked beetroot – roast beetroot with olive oil, salt and pepper for a flavour packed side dish. Alternatively, steam beetroot and serve it as a standalone dish or mixed into other dishes
    • beetroot juice – make fresh beetroot juice using a juicer. You can combine it with other fruits and vegetables for added flavour. You can also blend raw or cooked beetroot with water and strain to make a juice
    • smoothies – add beetroot to your favourite smoothie. It pairs well with fruits such as berries, apples and oranges
    • soups – use beetroot in soups for both flavour and colour. Borscht is a classic beetroot soup, but you can also experiment with other recipes
    • pickled beetroot – make pickled beetroot at home, or buy it from the supermarket. This can be a tasty addition to salads or sandwiches
    • beetroot hummus – blend cooked beetroot into your homemade hummus for a vibrant and nutritious dip. You can also buy beetroot hummus from the supermarket
    • grilled beetroot – slice beetroot and grill it for a smoky flavour
    • beetroot chips – slice raw beetroot thinly, toss the slices with olive oil and your favourite seasonings, then bake or dehydrate them to make crispy beetroot chips
    • cakes and baked goods – add grated beetroot to muffins, cakes, or brownies for a moist and colourful twist.
    Three squares of beetroot/chocolate cake with white icing and nuts sprinkled on top
    You can add beetroot to baked goods. Ekaterina Khoroshilova/Shutterstock

    Are there any downsides?

    Compared to the large number of studies on the beneficial effects of beetroot, there is very little evidence of negative side effects.

    If you eat large amounts of beetroot, your urine may turn red or purple (called beeturia). But this is generally harmless.

    There have been reports in some countries of beetroot-based dietary supplements contaminated with harmful substances, yet we have not seen this reported in Australia.

    What’s the take-home message?

    Beetroot may give some modest boost to sex for men and women, likely by helping your circulation. But it’s unlikely to transform your sex life or act as vegetable Viagra. We know there are many contributing factors to sexual wellbeing. Diet is only one.

    For individually tailored support talk to your GP or an accredited practising dietitian.

    Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland and Emily Burch, Lecturer, Southern Cross University

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

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