Oranges vs Lemons – Which is Healthier?

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Our Verdict

When comparing oranges to lemons, we picked the oranges.

Why?

In the battle of these popular citrus fruits, there is a clear winner on the nutritional front.

Things were initially promising for lemons when looking at the macros—lemons have a little more fiber while oranges are slightly higher in carbs, but the differences are small and both are very healthy in this regard.

However, alas for this writer who prefers sour fruits to sweet ones (I’m sweet enough already), the micronutrient profiles tell a different story:

In terms of vitamins, oranges have more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B9, E, and choline. In contrast, lemons have a (very) little more vitamin B6. You might be wondering about vitamin C, since both fruits are famous for that—they’re equal on vitamin C. But, with that stack we listed above, oranges clearly win the vitamin category easily.

As for minerals, oranges boast more calcium, copper, magnesium, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while lemons have more iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

Technically lemons also have more sodium, but the numbers are truly miniscule (by coincidence, we discover upon grabbing a calculator, you’d need to eat approximately your own bodyweight in whole lemons to get to the RDA of sodium—and that’s to reach the RDA, not the upper healthy limit) so we’ll overlook the tiny sodium difference as irrelevant. Which means, while closer than the vitamins category, oranges win on minerals with a 6:3 lead over lemons.

Both fruits offer generous helpings of flavonoids and other polyphenols such as naringenin and hesperidin, which have anti-inflammatory properties and more specifically can also reduce allergy symptoms (unless, of course, you are allergic to citrus fruits, which is a relatively rare but extant allergy).

In short: as ever, enjoy both; diversity is great for the health. But if you want to maximize the nutrients you get, it’s oranges.

Want to learn more?

You might like to read:

Lemons vs Limes – Which is Healthier?

Take care!

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  • Rest For The Restless (Legs)

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    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

    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

    ❝Any tips for dealing with restless legs syndrome?❞

    As a neurological disorder (Willis-Ekbom Disease, as it is also called by almost nobody outside of academia), there’s a lot that’s not known about its pathology, but we do know that looking after one’s nerves can help a lot.

    This means:

    You can also take into account the measures recommended for dealing with peripheral neuropathy, e.g:

    Peripheral Neuropathy: How To Avoid It, Manage It, Treat It

    There are also medication options for RLS; most of them are dopamine agonists, so if you want to try something yourself before going the pharmaceutical route, then things that improve your dopamine levels will probably be a worth checking out. In the category of supplements, you might enjoy:

    NALT: The Dopamine Precursor And More

    Take care! And… Want something answered here? Send us your questions!

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  • Tuna vs Catfish – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing tuna to catfish, we picked the tuna.

    Why?

    Today in “that which is more expensive and/or harder to get is not necessarily healthier”…

    Looking at their macros, tuna has more protein and less fat (and overall, less saturated fat, and also less cholesterol).

    In the category of vitamins, both are good but tuna distinguishes itself: tuna has more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, and D, while catfish has more of vitamins B5, B9, B12, E, and K. They are both approximately equal in choline, and as an extra note in tuna’s favor (already winning 6:5), tuna is a very good source of vitamin D, while catfish barely contains any. All in all: a moderate, but convincing, win for tuna.

    When it comes to minerals, things are clearer still: tuna has more copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium, while catfish has more calcium, manganese, and zinc. Oh, and catfish is also higher in one other mineral: sodium, which most people in industrialized countries need less of, on average. So, a 6:3 win for tuna, before we even take into account the sodium content (which makes the win for tuna even stronger).

    In short: tuna wins the day in every category!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Farmed Fish vs Wild Caught (It Makes Quite A Difference)

    Take care!

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  • Breathe; Don’t Vent (At Least In The Moment)

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    Zen And The Art Of Breaking Things

    We’ve talked before about identifying emotions and the importance of being able to express them:

    Answering The Most Difficult Question: How Are You?

    However, there can be a difference between “expressing how we feel” and “being possessed by how we feel and bulldozing everything in our path”

    …which is, of course, primarily a problem in the case of anger—and by extension, emotions that are often contemporaneous with anger, such as jealousy, shame, fear, etc.

    How much feeling is too much?

    While this is in large part a subjective matter, clinically speaking the key question is generally: is it adversely affecting daily life to the point of being a problem?

    For example, if you have to spend half an hour every day actively managing a certain emotion, that’s probably indicative of something unusual, but “unusual” is not inherently bad. If you’re managing it safely and in a way that doesn’t negatively affect the rest of your life, then that is generally considered fine, unless you feel otherwise about it.

    A good example of this is complicated grief and/or prolonged grief.

    But what about when it comes to anger? How much is ok?

    When it comes to those around you, any amount of anger can seem like too much. Anger often makes us short-tempered even with people who are not the object of our anger, and it rarely brings out the best in us.

    We can express our feelings in non-aggressive ways, for example:

    When You “Can’t Complain”

    and

    Seriously Useful Communication Skills!

    Sometimes, there’s another way though…

    Breathe; don’t vent

    That’s a great headline, but we can’t take the credit for it, because it came from:

    Breathe, don’t vent: turning down the heat is key to managing anger

    …in which it was found that, by all available metrics, the popular wisdom of “getting it off your chest” doesn’t necessarily stand up to scrutiny, at least in the short term:

    ❝The work was inspired in part by the rising popularity of rage rooms that promote smashing things (such as glass, plates and electronics) to work through angry feelings.

    I wanted to debunk the whole theory of expressing anger as a way of coping with it,” she said. “We wanted to show that reducing arousal, and actually the physiological aspect of it, is really important.❞

    ~ Dr. Brad Bushman

    And indeed, he and his team did find that various arousal-increasing activities (such as hitting a punchbag, breaking things, doing vigorous exercise) did not help as much as arousal-decreasing activities, such as mindfulness-based relaxation techniques.

    If you’d like to read the full paper, then so would we, but we couldn’t get full access to this one yet. However, the abstract includes representative statistics, so that’s worth a once-over:

    A meta-analytic review of anger management activities that increase or decrease arousal: What fuels or douses rage?

    Caveat!

    Did you notice the small gap between their results and their conclusion?

    In a lab or similar short-term observational setting, their recommendation is clearly correct.

    However, if the source of your anger is something chronic and persistent, it could well be that calming down without addressing the actual cause is just “kicking the can down the road”, and will still have to actually be dealt with eventually.

    So, while “here be science”, it’s not a mandate for necessarily suffering in silence. It’s more about being mindful about how we go about tackling our anger.

    As for a primer on mindfulness, feel free to check out:

    No-Frills, Evidence-Based Mindfulness

    Take care!

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    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.

    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 recently hit 65 and try to get regular check-ups, but do you think home testing can be as reliable as a doctor visit? I try to keep as informed as I can and am a big believer in taking responsibility for my own health if I can, but I don’t want to miss something important either. Best as a supplemental thing, perhaps?❞

    Depends what’s being tested! And your level of technical knowledge, though there’s always something to be said for ongoing learning.

    • If you’re talking blood tests, urine tests, etc per at-home test kits that get sent off to a lab, then provided they’re well-sourced (and executed correctly by you), they should be as accurate as what a doctor will give, since they are basically doing the same thing (taking a sample and sending it off to a lab).
    • If you’re talking about checking for lumps etc, then a dual approach is best: check yourself at home as often as you feel is reasonable (with once per month being advised at a minimum, especially if you’re aware of an extra risk factor for you) and check-ups with the doctor per their recommendations.
    • If you’re talking about general vitals (blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, VO₂ max, etc), then provided you have a reliable way of testing them, then doing them very frequently at home, to get the best “big picture” view. In contrast, getting them done once a year at your doctor’s could result in a misleading result, if you just ate something different that day or had a stressful morning, for example.

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  • The Truth About Statins – by Barbara H. Roberts, M.D.

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    Pick up your copy of The Truth About Statins on Amazon today!

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  • Ageless – by Dr. Andrew Steele

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    So, yet another book with “The new science of…” in the title; does this one deliver new science?

    Actually, yes, this time! The author was originally a physicist before deciding that aging was the number one problem that needed solving, and switched tracks to computational biology, and pioneered a lot of research, some of the fruits of which can be found in this book, in amongst a more general history of the (very young!) field of biogerontology.

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