Train For The Event Of Your Life!

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Mobility As A Sporting Pursuit

As we get older, it becomes increasingly important to treat life like a sporting event. By this we mean:

As an “athlete of life”, there are always events coming up for which we need to train. Many of these events will be surprise tests!

Such events/tests might include:

  • Not slipping in the shower and breaking a hip (or worse)
  • Reaching an item from a high shelf without tearing a ligament
  • Getting out of the car at an awkward angle without popping a vertebra
  • Climbing stairs without passing out light-headed at the top
  • Descending stairs without making it a sled-ride-without-a-sled

…and many more.

Train for these athletic events now

Not necessarily this very second; we appreciate you finishing reading first. But, now generally in your life, not after the first time you fail such a test; it can (and if we’re not attentive: will) indeed happen to us all.

With regard to falling, you might like to revisit our…

Fall Special

…which covers how to not fall, and to not injure yourself if you do.

You’ll also want to be able to keep control of your legs (without them buckling) all the way between standing and being on the ground.

Slav squats or sitting squats (same exercise, different names, amongst others) are great for building and maintaining this kind of strength and suppleness:

(Click here for a refresher if you haven’t recently seen Zuzka’s excellent video explaining how to do this, especially if it’s initially difficult for you, “The Most Anti-Aging Exercise”)

this exercise is, by the way, great for pretty much everything below the waist!

You will also want to do resistance exercises to keep your body robust:

Resistance Is Useful! (Especially As We Get Older)

And as for those shoulders? If it is convenient for you to go swimming, then backstroke is awesome for increasing and maintaining shoulder mobility (and strength).

If swimming isn’t a viable option for you, then doing the same motion with your arms, while standing, will build the same flexibility. If you do it while holding a small weight (even just 1kg is fine, but feel free to increase if you so wish and safely can) in each hand will build the necessary strength as you go too.

As for why even just 1kg is fine: read on

About that “and strength”, by the way…

Stretching is not everything. Stretching is great, but mobility without strength (in that joint!) is just asking for dislocation.

You don’t have to be built like the Terminator, but you do need to have the structural integrity to move your body and then a little bit more weight than that (or else any extra physical work could be enough to tip you to breaking point) without incurring damage from the strain. So, it needs to not be a strain! See again, the aforementioned resistance exercises.

That said, even very gentle exercise helps too; see for example the impact of walking on osteoporosis:

Living near green spaces linked to higher bone density and lower osteoporosis risk

and…

Walking vs Osteoporosis

So you don’t have to run marathons—although you can if you want:

Marathons in Mid- and Later-Life

…to keep your hips and more in good order.

Want to test yourself now?

Check out:

Building & Maintaining Mobility

Take care!

Don’t Forget…

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Learn to Age Gracefully

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  • 10 Ways To Delay Aging

    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 is Dr. Colin Rose; he is a Senior Associate of the Royal Society of Medicine. He’s also a main contributor to EduScience, a program funded by the E.U. which is designed to enhance the teaching and learning of science in schools in Europe.

    His most recent work has been about aging—and how to delay it. We also reviewed his latest book, here:

    Delay Ageing – by Dr. Colin Rose

    So, what does he want us to know? The key lies in his compilation of ten ways in which we age on a cellular level, and what we can to do slow each one of those:

    Damage to DNA accumulates

    While DNA can get damaged without any external stimulus to cause that, there are a lot of modifiable factors that we can do to reduce DNA damage. The list is easy: if it causes cancer, it causes aging.

    Thus, check out: Stop Cancer 20 Years Ago

    Cells become senescent

    Our cells are replaced all the time; some sooner than others, but all of them at some point. The problem occurs when cells are outliving their usefulness. If a cell becomes completely immortal, that is cancer, but happily most don’t. Nevertheless, having senescent (aging) cells in the body means that those senescent cells are what get copied forwards by mitosis, and our DNA becomes like a photocopy of a tattered old photocopy of a tattered old photocopy. Which, needless to say, is not good for our health. So, the best thing to do is to kill them earlier:

    Yes, really: Fisetin: The Anti-Aging Assassin

    Mitochondria become dysfunctional

    Without properly functional mitochondria, no living human cell can do its job properly.

    Options: 7 Ways To Boost Mitochondrial Health To Fight Disease

    Beneficial genes are switched off, harmful genes are on

    It’s easy to think of our genes as being immutable, but epigenetics means that our environment (amongst other factors) can mean that our gene expression changes.

    Imagine it this way: your genes are a set of instructions for your body. However, your body will act or not on those instructions, depending on other factors. Hormones often play a big part in this; for example sex hormones tell the body which set of genetic instructions to read (and thus what kind of body to build/rebuild), and cortisol or oxytocin can tell the body which set of contingency plans to activate or suppress (respectively). A milder example is gray hair; genes have the program for it, but many other factors inform the body when, if, and how to do it.

    Of more concern when it comes to aging is what goes on with more critical systems, such as the brain, in which the aforementioned DNA damage can cause unhelpful instructions to get interpreted, resulting in epigenetic changes that in turn facilitate age-related degeneration.

    As to what can be done, see : Klotho: Unzipping The Genes Of Aging?

    Stem cells become exhausted

    Stem cells can become different kinds of cells, and thus they’re very useful for maintaining a healthy body. However, they get depleted with age. We can slow down the rate of loss, though; for example, intermittent fasting can help:

    Per Dr. Li’s 5 Ways To Beat Cancer (And Other Diseases)

    And for more detail, see:

    Doctor’s Tip: Regeneration (stem cells) — one of your body’s five defense systems

    (complete with lists of foods to eat or avoid for stem cell health)

    Cells fail to communicate properly

    Cells need to talk to each other constantly, to continue doing their jobs. We are one big organism, after all, and not a haphazard colony of the countless cells that constitute such. However, cell signalling gets worse with age, which in turn precipitates others age-related problems. Fortunately, there are nutrients that can improve cellular communication.

    For example: PS, We Love You ← this is about phosphatidylserine, also called “PS”

    Telomeres become shorter

    These protective caps on our DNA suffer the wear-and-tear so that our DNA doesn’t have to. However, as they get shorter, the DNA can start suffering damage. For this reason, telomere length is considered one of the most “Gold Standard” markers of cellular aging.

    Here’s what can be done for that: The Stress Prescription (Against Aging!)

    The body fails to sense nutritional intake properly

    This is mostly about insulin signalling (though problems can occur in other systems too, but we only have so much room here), so it’s important to take care of that.

    See: Turn Back The Clock On Insulin Resistance

    Proteins accumulate errors

    This is due to DNA damage, of course, but there are specific things that can reduce protein error accumulation; see for example:

    A quick fix – preventing protein errors extends lifespan

    See also: Rapamycin Can Slow Aging By 20% (But Watch Out)

    The microbiome becomes unbalanced

    We at 10almonds often mention that gut health affects pretty much every other kind of health, and it’s true for aging as well. So, take care of that microbiome!

    Here’s a primer: Gut Health 101

    Want to know more about delaying aging beyond the cellular level?

    Check out: Age & Aging: What Can (And Can’t) We Do About It?

    Take care!

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  • Early Bird Or Night Owl? Genes vs Environment

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    A Sliding Slope?

    In Tuesday’s newsletter, we asked you how much control you believe we have over our sleep schedule, and got the above-depicted, below-described, set of responses:

    • 45% said “most people can control it; some people with sleep disorders cannot
    • 35% said “our genes predispose us to early/late, but we can slide it a bit
    • 15% said: “going against our hardwired sleep schedules is a road to ruin”
    • 5% said “anyone can adjust their sleep schedule with enough willpower”

    You may be wondering: what’s with those single-digit numbers in the graph there? And the answer is: Tuesday’s email didn’t go out at the usual time due to a scheduling mistake (sorry!), which is probably what affected the number of responses (poll response levels vary, but are usually a lot higher than this).

    Note: yes, this does mean most people who read our newsletter don’t vote. So, not to sound like a politician on the campaign trail, but… Your vote counts! We always love reading your comments when you add those, too—often they provide context that allow us to tailor what we focus on in our articles

    However, those are the responses we got, so here we are!

    What does the science say?

    Anyone can adjust their sleep with enough willpower: True or False?

    False, simply. It’s difficult for most people, but for many people with sleep disorders, it is outright impossible.

    In a battle of narcolepsy vs willpower, for example, no amount of willpower will stop the brain from switching to sleep mode when it thinks it’s time to sleep:

    ❝Narcolepsy is the most common neurological cause of chronic sleepiness. The discovery about 20 years ago that narcolepsy is caused by selective loss of the neurons producing orexins sparked great advances in the field

    [There is also] developing evidence that narcolepsy is an autoimmune disorder that may be caused by a T cell-mediated attack on the orexin neurons and explain how these new perspectives can inform better therapeutic approaches.❞

    ~ Dr. Carrie Mahoney et al. (lightly edited for brevity)

    Source: The neurobiological basis of narcolepsy

    For further reading, especially if this applies to you or a loved one:

    Living with Narcolepsy: Current Management Strategies, Future Prospects, and Overlooked Real-Life Concerns

    Our genes predispose us to early/late, but we can slide it a bit: True or False?

    True! First, about our genes predisposing us:

    Genome-wide association analysis of 89,283 individuals identifies genetic variants associated with self-reporting of being a morning person

    …and also:

    Gene distinguishes early birds from night owls and helps predict time of death

    Now, as for the “can slide it a bit”, this is really just a function of the general categories of “early bird” and “night owl” spanning periods of time that allow for a few hours’ wiggle-room at either side.

    However, it is recommended to make any actual changes more gradually, with the Sleep Foundation going so far as to recommend 30 minutes, or even just 15 minutes, of change per day:

    Sleep Foundation | How to Fix Your Sleep Schedule

    Going against our hardwired sleep schedule is a road to ruin: True or False?

    False, contextually. By this we mean: our “hardwired” sleep schedule is (for most of us), genetically predisposed but not predetermined.

    Also, genetic predispositions are not necessarily always good for us; one would not argue, for example, for avoiding going against a genetic predisposition to addiction.

    Some genetic predispositions are just plain bad for us, and genes can be a bit of a lottery.

    That said, we do recommend getting some insider knowledge (literally), by getting personal genomics tests done, if that’s a viable option for you, so you know what’s really a genetic trait (and what to do with that information) and what’s probably caused by something else (and what to do with that information):

    Genetic Testing: Health Benefits & Methods

    Take care!

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  • The Many Faces Of Cosmetic Surgery

    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.

    Cosmetic Surgery: What’s The Truth?

    In Tuesday’s newsletter, we asked you your opinion on elective cosmetic surgeries, and got the above-depicted, below-described, set of responses:

    • About 48% said “Everyone should be able to get what they want, assuming informed consent”
    • About 28% said “It can ease discomfort to bring features more in line with normalcy”
    • 15% said “They should be available in the case of extreme disfigurement only”
    • 10% said “No elective cosmetic surgery should ever be performed; needless danger”

    Well, there was a clear gradient of responses there! Not so polarizing as we might have expected, but still enough dissent for discussion

    So what does the science say?

    The risks of cosmetic surgery outweigh the benefits: True or False?

    False, subjectively (but this is important).

    You may be wondering: how is science subjective?

    And the answer is: the science is not subjective, but people’s cost:worth calculations are. What’s worth it to one person absolutely may not be worth it to another. Which means: for those for whom it wouldn’t be worth it, they are usually the people who will not choose the elective surgery.

    Let’s look at some numbers (specifically, regret rates for various surgeries, elective/cosmetic or otherwise):

    • Regret rate for elective cosmetic surgery in general: 20%
    • Regret rate for knee replacement (i.e., not cosmetic): 17.1%
    • Regret rate for hip replacement (i.e., not cosmetic): 4.8%
    • Regret rate for gender-affirming surgeries (for transgender patients): 1%

    So we can see, elective surgeries have an 80–99% satisfaction rate, depending on what they are. In comparison, the two joint replacements we mentioned have a 82.9–95.2% satisfaction rate. Not too dissimilar, taken in aggregate!

    In other words: if a person has studied the risks and benefits of a surgery and decides to go ahead, they’re probably going to be happy with the results, and for them, the benefits will have outweighed the risks.

    Sources for the above numbers, by the way:

    But it’s just a vanity; therapy is what’s needed instead: True or False?

    False, generally. True, sometimes. Whatever the reasons for why someone feels the way they do about their appearance—whether their face got burned in a fire or they just have triple-J cups that they’d like reduced, it’s generally something they’ve already done a lot of thinking about. Nevertheless, it does also sometimes happen that it’s a case of someone hoping it’ll be the magical solution, when in reality something else is also needed.

    How to know the difference? One factor is whether the surgery is “type change” or “restorative”, and both have their pros and cons.

    • In “type change” (e.g. rhinoplasty), more psychological adjustment is needed, but when it’s all over, the person has a new nose and, statistically speaking, is usually happy with it.
    • In “restorative” (e.g. facelift), less psychological adjustment is needed (as it’s just a return to a previous state), so a person will usually be happy quickly, but ultimately it is merely “kicking the can down the road” if the underlying problem is “fear of aging”, for example. In such a case, likely talking therapy would be beneficial—whether in place of, or alongside, cosmetic surgery.

    Here’s an interesting paper on that; the sample sizes are small, but the discussion about the ideas at hand is a worthwhile read:

    Does cosmetic surgery improve psychosocial wellbeing?

    Some people will never be happy no matter how many surgeries they get: True or False?

    True! We’re going to refer to the above paper again for this one. In particular, here’s what it said about one group for whom surgeries will not usually be helpful:

    ❝There is a particular subgroup of people who appear to respond poorly to cosmetic procedures. These are people with the psychiatric disorder known as “body dysmorphic disorder” (BDD). BDD is characterised by a preoccupation with an objectively absent or minimal deformity that causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other areas of functioning.

    For several reasons, it is important to recognise BDD in cosmetic surgery settings:

    Firstly, it appears that cosmetic procedures are rarely beneficial for these people. Most patients with BDD who have had a cosmetic procedure report that it was unsatisfactory and did not diminish concerns about their appearance.

    Secondly, BDD is a treatable disorder. Serotonin-reuptake inhibitors and cognitive behaviour therapy have been shown to be effective in about two-thirds of patients with BDD❞

    ~ Dr. David Castle et al. (lightly edited for brevity)

    Which is a big difference compared to, for example, someone having triple-J breasts that need reducing, or the wrong genitals for their gender, or a face whose features are distinct outliers.

    Whether that’s a reason people with BDD shouldn’t be able to get it is an ethical question rather than a scientific one, so we’ll not try to address that with science.

    After all, many people (in general) will try to fix their woes with a haircut, a tattoo, or even a new sportscar, and those might sometimes be bad decisions, but they are still the person’s decision to make.

    And even so, there can be protectionist laws/regulations that may provide a speed-bump, for example:

    Thinking about cosmetic surgery? New standards will force providers to tell you the risks and consider if you’re actually suitable

    Take care!

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Related Posts

  • Get Better Sleep: Beyond The Basics
  • Protein-Stuffed Bell Peppers

    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.

    Hot, tasty, meaty, and vegan! You can have it all. And with this recipe, you’ll want to err on the side of overcatering, because everyone will want some. As for healthiness, we’ve got lycopene, lutein and a stack of other carotenoids, a plethora of other polyphenols, and a veritable garden party of miscellaneous phytochemicals otherwise categorized. It’s full of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, relatively low-fat but the fats present are healthy. It’s antidiabetic, anti-CVD, anticancer, antineurodegeneration, and basically does everything short of making you sing well too.

    You will need

    • 4 large bell peppers, tops sliced open and innards removed (keep the tops; we will put them back on later)
    • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
    • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
    • 1 small zucchini (diced)
    • 1 small eggplant (diced)
    • 1 small red onion (finely chopped)
    • ½ bulb garlic, minced*
    • 1 tbsp tomato paste
    • 1 tbsp chia seeds
    • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 tsp dried basil
    • 2 tsp dried thyme
    • 2 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • 2 tsp ground cumin
    • 1 tsp smoked paprika
    • ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt

    *we always try to give general guidelines with regard to garlic, but the reality is it depends on the size and strength of your local garlic, which we cannot account for, as well as your personal taste. Same situation with hot peppers of various kinds. This writer (it’s me, hi) would generally use about 2x the garlic and pepper advised in our recipes. All we can say is: follow your heart!

    Method

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

    1) Combine the quinoa with the chia seeds, and cook as per normal cooking of quinoa (i.e. bring to a boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes until cooked and fluffy). Drain and rinse (carefully, without losing the chia seeds; use a sieve).

    2) Heat your grill to a high heat. Combine the zucchini, eggplant, onion, garlic, and olive oil in a big bowl and mix well, ensuring an even distribution of the oil. Now also add the herbs and spices (including the MSG or salt) and mix well again. Put them all to grill for about 5 minutes, turning as necessary.

    3) Heat your oven to a high heat. Take the grilled vegetables and combine them in a bowl with the quinoa-and-chia, and the black beans, as well as the tomato paste. Mix everything well. Spoon the mixture generously into the bell peppers, replacing the tops (it can be loosely), and bake for about 5–10 minutes, keeping an eye on them; you want them to be lightly charred, but not a burnt offering.

    4) Serve! This dish works well as a light lunch or as part of a larger spread.

    (before going in the oven with lids replaced to keep moisture in)

    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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  • Traveling To Die: The Latest Form of Medical Tourism

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    In the 18 months after Francine Milano was diagnosed with a recurrence of the ovarian cancer she thought she’d beaten 20 years ago, she traveled twice from her home in Pennsylvania to Vermont. She went not to ski, hike, or leaf-peep, but to arrange to die.

    “I really wanted to take control over how I left this world,” said the 61-year-old who lives in Lancaster. “I decided that this was an option for me.”

    Dying with medical assistance wasn’t an option when Milano learned in early 2023 that her disease was incurable. At that point, she would have had to travel to Switzerland — or live in the District of Columbia or one of the 10 states where medical aid in dying was legal.

    But Vermont lifted its residency requirement in May 2023, followed by Oregon two months later. (Montana effectively allows aid in dying through a 2009 court decision, but that ruling doesn’t spell out rules around residency. And though New York and California recently considered legislation that would allow out-of-staters to secure aid in dying, neither provision passed.)

    Despite the limited options and the challenges — such as finding doctors in a new state, figuring out where to die, and traveling when too sick to walk to the next room, let alone climb into a car — dozens have made the trek to the two states that have opened their doors to terminally ill nonresidents seeking aid in dying.

    At least 26 people have traveled to Vermont to die, representing nearly 25% of the reported assisted deaths in the state from May 2023 through this June, according to the Vermont Department of Health. In Oregon, 23 out-of-state residents died using medical assistance in 2023, just over 6% of the state total, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

    Oncologist Charles Blanke, whose clinic in Portland is devoted to end-of-life care, said he thinks that Oregon’s total is likely an undercount and he expects the numbers to grow. Over the past year, he said, he’s seen two to four out-of-state patients a week — about one-quarter of his practice — and fielded calls from across the U.S., including New York, the Carolinas, Florida, and “tons from Texas.” But just because patients are willing to travel doesn’t mean it’s easy or that they get their desired outcome.

    “The law is pretty strict about what has to be done,” Blanke said.

    As in other states that allow what some call physician-assisted death or assisted suicide, Oregon and Vermont require patients to be assessed by two doctors. Patients must have less than six months to live, be mentally and cognitively sound, and be physically able to ingest the drugs to end their lives. Charts and records must be reviewed in the state; neglecting to do so constitutes practicing medicine out of state, which violates medical licensing requirements. For the same reason, the patients must be in the state for the initial exam, when they request the drugs, and when they ingest them.

    State legislatures impose those restrictions as safeguards — to balance the rights of patients seeking aid in dying with a legislative imperative not to pass laws that are harmful to anyone, said Peg Sandeen, CEO of the group Death With Dignity. Like many aid-in-dying advocates, however, she said such rules create undue burdens for people who are already suffering.

    Diana Barnard, a Vermont palliative care physician, said some patients cannot even come for their appointments. “They end up being sick or not feeling like traveling, so there’s rescheduling involved,” she said. “It’s asking people to use a significant part of their energy to come here when they really deserve to have the option closer to home.”

    Those opposed to aid in dying include religious groups that say taking a life is immoral, and medical practitioners who argue their job is to make people more comfortable at the end of life, not to end the life itself.

    Anthropologist Anita Hannig, who interviewed dozens of terminally ill patients while researching her 2022 book, “The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America,” said she doesn’t expect federal legislation to settle the issue anytime soon. As the Supreme Court did with abortion in 2022, it ruled assisted dying to be a states’ rights issue in 1997.

    During the 2023-24 legislative sessions, 19 states (including Milano’s home state of Pennsylvania) considered aid-in-dying legislation, according to the advocacy group Compassion & Choices. Delaware was the sole state to pass it, but the governor has yet to act on it.

    Sandeen said that many states initially pass restrictive laws — requiring 21-day wait times and psychiatric evaluations, for instance — only to eventually repeal provisions that prove unduly onerous. That makes her optimistic that more states will eventually follow Vermont and Oregon, she said.

    Milano would have preferred to travel to neighboring New Jersey, where aid in dying has been legal since 2019, but its residency requirement made that a nonstarter. And though Oregon has more providers than the largely rural state of Vermont, Milano opted for the nine-hour car ride to Burlington because it was less physically and financially draining than a cross-country trip.

    The logistics were key because Milano knew she’d have to return. When she traveled to Vermont in May 2023 with her husband and her brother, she wasn’t near death. She figured that the next time she was in Vermont, it would be to request the medication. Then she’d have to wait 15 days to receive it.

    The waiting period is standard to ensure that a person has what Barnard calls “thoughtful time to contemplate the decision,” although she said most have done that long before. Some states have shortened the period or, like Oregon, have a waiver option.

    That waiting period can be hard on patients, on top of being away from their health care team, home, and family. Blanke said he has seen as many as 25 relatives attend the death of an Oregon resident, but out-of-staters usually bring only one person. And while finding a place to die can be a problem for Oregonians who are in care homes or hospitals that prohibit aid in dying, it’s especially challenging for nonresidents.

    When Oregon lifted its residency requirement, Blanke advertised on Craigslist and used the results to compile a list of short-term accommodations, including Airbnbs, willing to allow patients to die there. Nonprofits in states with aid-in-dying laws also maintain such lists, Sandeen said.

    Milano hasn’t gotten to the point where she needs to find a place to take the meds and end her life. In fact, because she had a relatively healthy year after her first trip to Vermont, she let her six-month approval period lapse.

    In June, though, she headed back to open another six-month window. This time, she went with a girlfriend who has a camper van. They drove six hours to cross the state border, stopping at a playground and gift shop before sitting in a parking lot where Milano had a Zoom appointment with her doctors rather than driving three more hours to Burlington to meet in person.

    “I don’t know if they do GPS tracking or IP address kind of stuff, but I would have been afraid not to be honest,” she said.

    That’s not all that scares her. She worries she’ll be too sick to return to Vermont when she is ready to die. And, even if she can get there, she wonders whether she’ll have the courage to take the medication. About one-third of people approved for assisted death don’t follow through, Blanke said. For them, it’s often enough to know they have the meds — the control — to end their lives when they want.

    Milano said she is grateful she has that power now while she’s still healthy enough to travel and enjoy life. “I just wish more people had the option,” she said.

    KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

    Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.

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  • The Imperfect Nutritionist – by Jennifer Medhurst

    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 idea of the “imperfect nutritionist” is to note that we’re all different with slightly different needs and sometimes very different preferences (or circumstances!) and having a truly perfect diet is probably a fool’s errand. Should we just give up, then? Not at all:

    What we can do, Medhust argues, is find what’s best for us, realistically.

    It’s better to have an 80% perfect diet 80% of the time, than to have a totally perfect diet for four and a half meals before running out of steam (and ingredients).

    As for the “seven principles” mentioned in the title… we’re not going to keep those a mystery; they are:

    1. Focusing on wholefood
    2. Being diverse
    3. Knowing your fats
    4. Including fermented, prebiotic and probiotic foods
    5. Reducing refined carbohydrates
    6. Being aware of liquids
    7. Eating mindfully

    The first part of the book is a treatise on how to implement those principles in your diet generally; the second part of the book is a recipe collection—70 recipes, with “these ingredients will almost certainly be available at your local supermarket” as a baseline. No instances of “the secret to being a good chef is knowing how to source fresh ingredients; ask your local greengrocer where to find spring-harvested perambulatory truffle-cones” here!

    Basically, it focusses on adding healthy foods per your personal preferences and circumstances, and building these up into a repertoire of meals that will keep you and your family happy and healthy.

    Pick Up Your Copy Of The Imperfect Nutritionist From Amazon Today!

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