Putting a Halt to Feeling Lost, Anxious, Stressed & Unhappy

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Starting From the Middle

Today’s video (below) dives straight into the heart of the issue, examining the victim mindset, with Dr. Gabor Maté immediately, and quite vulnerably, sharing his personal experiences conquering feelings of despair and anxiety.

As one of the comments on the video says, Dr. Maté is a “person who teaches about something because they experience it themselves”. And it shows through his approach.

With raw honesty, Dr. Maté empathizes with those grappling with inner turmoil, offering hope by emphasizing the power of healing in the present moment.

What is His Method?

Explained simply, Dr. Maté urges individuals to seek trauma-informed care and therapies that address underlying wounds; he emphasizes the pitfalls of relying solely on medication, and instead highlights the idea that triggers can be seen as opportunities for self-reflection and growth. He urges individuals to approach their triggers with compassionate curiosity rather than self-judgment.

In short, Dr Maté’s empathetic approach immediately calms the viewer, whilst providing knowledge crucial to self-improvement.

Let this video act as a reminder that we should take our mental health as seriously as our general health.

How was the video? If you’ve discovered any great videos yourself that you’d like to share with fellow 10almonds readers, then please do email them to us!

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  • 8 Signs Of Hypothyroidism Beyond Tiredness & Weight Gain

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    When it comes to hypothyroidism, most people know to look out for tiredness and weight gain, and possibly menstrual disturbances in those who menstruate. But those symptoms could be caused by very many things, so what more specific signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism should we look out for?

    Dr. James O’Donovan shows us in this short video:

    The lesser-known signs

    Dr. O’Donovan discusses:

    1. Asteatotic eczema (also called: eczema craquelé): dry, cracked skin with a “crazy paving” appearance, leading to fissures. It’s common on the lower legs, back, torso, and arms, especially in older patients and especially in winter.
    2. Cold peripheries with pale, dry, coarse skin: cold hands and feet, along with dryness due to decreased sweating; these invariably come together, though the exact link is unclear.
    3. Yellowish hue to the skin (carotenoderma): yellow-orange discoloration from elevated beta-carotene levels. This can easily be mistaken for jaundice and also occurs in diabetes, liver, and kidney diseases.
    4. Thin, brittle hair: the hair on one’s head may become dry, coarse, and fall out in handfuls.
    5. Loss of hair on the outer third of eyebrows: thinning or disappearance of hair in this very specific area.
    6. Slow-growing, rigid, brittle nails: slowed nail growth due to decreased cell turnover rate. Ridges may form as keratin cells accumulate.
    7. Myxedema: puffy face, eyelids, legs, and feet caused by tissue swelling from cutaneous deposition.
    8. Delayed wound healing: is what it sounds like; a slower healing process.

    10almonds note: this video, like much of medical literature as well, does focus on what things are like for white people. Black people with hypothyroidism are more likely to see a lightening of hair pigmentation, and, in contrast, hyperpigmentation of the skin, usually in patches. We couldn’t find data for other ethnicities or skintones, but it does seem that most of the signs and symptoms (unrelated to pigmentation) should be the same for most people.

    Meanwhile, for more on the above 8 signs, with visuals, enjoy:

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

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    The Three Rs To Boost Thyroid-Related Energy Levels

    Take care!

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  • Chickpeas vs Mung Beans – Which is Healthier?

    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.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing chickpeas to mung beans, we picked the chickpeas.

    Why?

    Both are great! But there’s a clear winner here:

    In terms of macros, chickpeas have more protein, carbs, and fiber, as well as the lower glycemic index. The difference is very small, but it’s a nominal win for chickpeas.

    When it comes to vitamins, chickpeas have more of vitamins A, B2, B6, B9, C, E, K, and choline, while mung beans have more of vitamins B1, B3, and B5. Again the differences aren’t huge, but by strength of numbers they’re in chickpeas’ favor, so it’s another win for chickpeas here.

    In the category of minerals, chickpeas have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while mung beans are not higher in any mineral. An easy win for chickpeas on this one.

    Adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for chickpeas, but by all means enjoy either or both; diversity is good!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Plant vs Animal Protein: Head to Head

    Enjoy!

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  • How Not to Age – by Dr. Michael Greger

    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.

    First things first: it’s a great book, and it’s this reviewer’s favorite of Dr. Greger’s so far (for posterity: it’s just been published and this reviewer has just finished reading the copy she got on pre-order)

    Unlike many popular physician authors, Dr. Greger doesn’t rehash a lot of old material, and instead favours prioritizing new material in each work. Where appropriate, he’ll send the reader to other books for more specific information (e.g: you want to know how to avoid premature death? Go read How Not To Die. You want to know how to lose weight? How Not To Diet. Etc).

    In the category of new information, he has a lot to offer here. And with over 8,000 references, it’s information, not conjecture. On which note, we recommend the e-book version if that’s possible for you, for three reasons:

    1. It’s possible to just click the references and be taken straight to the cited paper itself online
    2. To try to keep the book’s size down, Dr. Greger has linked to other external resources too
    3. The only negative reviews on Amazon, so far, are people complaining that the print copy’s text is smaller than they’d like

    For all its information-density (those 8,000+ references are packed into 600ish pages), the book is very readable even to a lay reader; the author is a very skilled writer.

    As for the content, we can’t fit more than a few sentences here so forgive the brevity, but we’ll mention that he covers:

    • Slowing 11 pathways of aging
    • The optimal anti-aging regimen according to current best science
    • Preserving function (specific individual aspects of aging, e.g. hearing, sight, cognitive function, sexual function, hair, bones, etc)
    • “Dr. Greger’s Anti-Aging Eight”

    In terms of “flavor” of anti-aging science, his approach can be summed up as: diet and lifestyle as foundation; specific supplements and interventions as cornerstones.

    Bottom line: this is now the anti-aging book.

    Click here to check out How Not To Age, and look after yourself with the best modern science!

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Related Posts

  • Fix Your Upper Back With These Three Steps
  • Body Scrubs: Benefits, Risks, and Guidance

    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? 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

    ❝I was wondering whether I should be using a body scrub in the shower, rather than just soap.  What should guide me in the choice of a body scrub, and are there any risks to be aware of?❞

    Body scrubs are great for giving skin a healthy glow, but are best used sparingly—over-exfoliation leads to the opposite effect (unhappy skin, premature skin aging, etc).

    As for contents:

    • microplastics are now banned in most places, but you might want to check any products (and their containers!) are BPA-free, pthalate free, etc.
    • fragrances in body scrubs are usually a bad idea, and many essential oils have been shown to be endocrine-disruptors, which you do not want:

    About the microplastics, harmful artificial chemicals in general, and what constitutes “etc”:

    Consumer behavior and exposure to parabens, bisphenols, triclosan, dichlorophenols, and benzophenone-3: Results from a crowdsourced biomonitoring study

    About the fragrances’ (including “natural” essential oils’) endocrine-disrupting shenanigans:

    Endocrine-disrupting chemicals: an Endocrine Society scientific statement

    So, what might you want to use instead?

    If you’re feeling adventurous, you might like to try treating yourself to a pineapple-based mask instead (a muslin cloth soaked in pineapple juice will work just fine; please don’t waterboard yourself though), as the bromelain enzymes (found very generously in pineapple juice) break down dead cells without the need for scrubbing.

    Another option is a homemade salt- or sugar-scrub. Put your salt or sugar into a jar, add enough warm water to cover it, leave it for about a day, adding more water if it seems in danger of drying out, until it recrystallizes with a high water content keeping it malleable to the touch; congratulations, you now have a very simple scrub. This should still not be used more than, say, once per week, though.

    Last but not least, you might consider investing in a konjac sponge; they gently remove dead skin without damaging living skin. Here’s an example product on Amazon, for your convenience

    For more on gentle-yet-effective skincare, you might like to read:

    Clean: The New Science of Skin and the Beauty of Doing Less

    Enjoy!

    Don’t Forget…

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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  • Staying Alive – by Dr. Jenny Goodman

    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 lot of “healthy long life” books are science-heavy to the point of being quite challenging to read—they become excellent reference sources, but not exactly “curl up in the armchair” books.

    Dr. Goodman writes in a much more reader-friendly fashion, casual yet clear.

    She kicks off with season-specific advice. What does that mean? Basically, our bodies need different things at different times of year, and we face different challenges to good health. We may ignore such at our peril!

    After a chapter for each of the four seasons (assuming a temperate Northern Hemisphere climate), she goes on to cover the seasons of our life. Once again, our bodies need different things at different times in our life, and we again face different challenges to good health!

    There’s plenty of “advice for all seasons”, too. Nutritional dos and don’t, and perennial health hazards to avoid.

    As a caveat, she does also hold some unscientific views that may be skipped over. These range from “plant-based diets aren’t sustainable” to “this detox will get rid of heavy metals”. However, the value contained in the rest of the book is more than sufficient to persuade us to overlook those personal quirks.

    In particular, she offers very good advice on overcoming cravings (and distinguishing them from genuine nutritional cravings), and taking care of our “trillions of tiny companions” (beneficial gut microbiota) without nurturing Candida and other less helpful gut flora and fauna.

    In short, a fine lot of information in a very readable format.

    Order your copy of “Staying Alive” from Amazon today!

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  • This Is Your Brain on Food – by Dr. Uma Naidoo

    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.

    “Diet will fix your brain” is a bold claim that often comes from wishful thinking and an optimistic place where anecdote is louder than evidence. But, diet does incontrovertibly also affect brain health. So, what does Dr. Naidoo bring to the table?

    The author is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, a professional chef who graduated with her culinary school’s most coveted award, and a trained-and-certified nutritionist. Between those three qualifications, it’s safe to she knows her stuff when it comes to the niche that is nutritional psychiatry. And it shows.

    She takes us through the neurochemistry involved, what chemicals are consumed, made, affected, inhibited, upregulated, etc, what passes through the blood-brain barrier and what doesn’t, what part the gut really plays in its “second brain” role, and how we can leverage that—as well as mythbusting a lot of popular misconceptions about certain foods and moods.

    There’s hard science in here, but presented in quite a pop-science way, making for a very light yet informative read.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to better understand what your food is doing to your brain (and what it could be doing instead), then this is a top-tier book for you!

    Click here to check out This Is Your Brain On Food, and get to know yours!

    Don’t Forget…

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