Remember – by Dr. Lisa Genova

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Memory is often viewed as one thing—either you have a good memory, or you don’t. At best, a lot of people have a vague idea of selective memory. But, the reality is much more complex—and much more interesting.

Dr. Genova lays out clearly and simply the various different kinds of memory, how they work, and how they fail. Some of these kinds of memory operate on completely different principles than others, and/or in different parts of the brain. And, it’s not just “a memory for faces” or a “memory for names”, nor even “short term vs long term”. There’s working memory, explicit and implicit memory, semantic memory, episodic memory, muscle memory, and more.

However, this is not just an interesting book—it’s also a useful one. Dr. Genova also looks at how we can guard against failing memory in later years, and how we can expand and grow the kinds of memory that are most important to us.

The style of the book is very conversational, and not at all textbook-like. It’s certainly very accessible, and pleasant to read too.

Bottom line: memory is a weird and wonderful thing, and this book shines a clear light on many aspects of it—including how to improve the various different kinds of memory.

Click here to check out Remember (we recommend to do it now before you forget!

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Recommended

  • Hold Me Tight – by Dr. Sue Johnson
  • The Five Key Traits Of Healthy Aging
    The Five Keys Of Aging Healthily: Dr. Daniel Levitin shares the “COACH” traits for healthy longevity in old age – curiosity, openness, associations, conscientiousness, and healthy practices.

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  • Spiced Fruit & Nut Chutney

    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.

    ‘Tis the season to make the chutney that will then be aged chutney when you want it later! And unlike supermarket varieties with their ingredients list that goes “Sugar, spirit vinegar, inverted glucose-fructose syrup,” this one has an array of health-giving fruits and nuts (just omit the nuts if you or someone you may want to give this to has an allergy), and really nothing bad in here at all. And of course, tasty healthful spices!

    You will need

    • 2 red onions, chopped
    • 1½ cups dried apricots, chopped
    • 1½ cups dried figs, chopped
    • 1 cup raisins
    • ½ cup apple cider vinegar
    • ½ cup slivered almonds
    • ½ lime, chopped and deseeded
    • ¼ bulb garlic, chopped
    • 1 hot pepper, chopped (your choice what kind; omit if you don’t like heat at all; multiply if you want more heat)
    • 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup (omit for a less sweet chutney; there is sweetness in the dried fruits already, after all)
    • 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
    • 2 tsp sweet cinnamon
    • 1 tsp nutmeg
    • 1 tsp black pepper
    • ½ teaspoon allspice
    • ½ MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
    • Extra virgin olive oil

    Method

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

    1) Heat some oil in a heavy-based pan that will be large enough for all ingredients to go into eventually. Fry the onions on a gentle heat for around 15 minutes. We don’t need to caramelize them yet (this will happen with time), but we do want them soft and sweet already.

    2) Add the ginger, garlic, and chili, and stir in well.

    3) When the onions start to brown, add the fruit and stir well to mix thoroughly.

    4) Add the honey or maple syrup (if using), and the vinegar; add the remaining spices/seasonings, so everything is in there now except the almonds.

    5) Cook gently for another 30 minutes while stirring. At some point it’ll become thick and sticky; add a little water as necessary. You don’t want to drown it, but you do want it to stay moist. It’ll probably take only a few tablespoons of added water in total, but add them one at a time and stir in before judging whether more is needed. By the end of the 30 minutes, it should be more solid, to the point it can stand up by itself.

    6) Add the almonds, stir to combine, and leave to cool. Put it in jars until you need it (or perhaps give it as gifts).

    Alternative method: if you don’t want to be standing at a stove stirring for about an hour in total, you can use a slow cooker / crock pot instead. Put the same ingredients in the same order, but don’t stir them, just leave them in layers (this is because of the pattern of heat distribution; it’ll be hotter at the bottom, so the things that need to be more cooked should be there, and the design means they won’t burn) for about two hours, then stir well to mix thoroughly, and leave it for another hour or two, before turning it off to let it cool. Put it in jars until you need it (or perhaps give it as gifts).

    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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  • Which Style Of Yoga Is Best For You?

    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.

    For you personally, that is—so let’s look at some options, their benefits, and what kind of person is most likely to benefit from each.

    Yoga is, of course, an ancient practice, and like any ancient practice, especially one with so many practitioners (and thus also: so many teachers), there are very many branches to the tree of variations, that is to say, different schools and their offshoots.

    Since we cannot possibly cover all of them, we’ll focus on five broad types that are popular (and thus, likely available near to you, unless you live in a very remote place):

    Hatha Yoga

    This is really the broadest of umbrella categories for yoga as a physical practice of the kind that most immediately comes to mind in the west:

    • Purpose: energizes the practitioner through controlled postures and breath.
    • Practice: non-heated, slow asanas held for about a minute with intentional transitions
    • Benefits: reduces stress, improves flexibility, tones muscles, and boosts circulation.
    • Best for: beginners with an active lifestyle.

    Vinyasa Yoga

    You may also have heard of this called simply “Flow”, without reference to the Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi sense of the word. Rather, it is about a flowing practice:

    • Purpose: builds heat and strength through continuous, flowing movement paired with breath.
    • Practice: dynamic sequences of the same general kind as the sun salutation, leading to a final resting pose.
    • Benefits: enhances heart health, strengthens core, tones muscles, and improves flexibility.
    • Best for: beginner to intermediate yogis seeking a cardio-based practice.

    Hot Yoga

    This one’s well-known and the clue is in the name; it’s yoga practised in a very hot room:

    • Purpose: uses heat to increase heart rate, and loosen muscles.
    • Practice: heated studio (32–42℃, which is 90–108℉), often with vinyasa flows, resulting in heavy sweating*
    • Benefits: burns calories, improves mood, enhances skin, and builds bone density.
    • Best for: intermediate yogis comfortable with heat; not recommended for certain health conditions.

    *and also sometimes heat exhaustion / heat stroke. This problem arises most readily when the ambient temperature is higher than human body temperature, because that is the point at which sweating ceases to fulfil its biological function of cooling us down.

    Noteworthily, a study found that doing the same series of yoga postures in the same manner, but without the heat, produced the same health benefits without the risk:

    ❝The primary finding from this investigation is that the hatha yoga postures in the Bikram yoga series produce similar enhancements in endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in healthy, middle-aged adults regardless of environmental temperature. These findings highlight the efficacy of yoga postures in producing improvements in vascular health and downplay the necessity of the heated practice environment in inducing vascular adaptations.❞

    Source: Effects of yoga interventions practised in heated and thermoneutral conditions on endothelium-dependent vasodilatation: The Bikram yoga heart study

    (“Bikram yoga” is simply the brand name of a particular school of hot yoga)

    Yin Yoga

    This is a Chinese variation, and is in some ways the opposite of the more vigorous forms, being gentler in pretty much all ways:

    • Purpose: promotes deep tissue stretching and circulation by keeping muscles cool.
    • Practice: passive, floor-based asanas held for 5–20 minutes in a calming environment.
    • Benefits: increases flexibility, enhances circulation, improves mindfulness, and emotional release.
    • Best for: all levels, regardless of health or flexibility.

    Restorative Yoga

    This is often tailored to a specific condition, but it doesn’t have to be:

    • Purpose: encourages relaxation and healing through supported, restful poses.
    • Practice: reclined, prop-supported postures in a soothing, low-lit setting.
    • Benefits: relieves stress, reduces chronic pain, calms the nervous system, and supports healing.
    • Best for: those recovering from illness/injury or managing emotional stress.

    See for example: Yoga Therapy for Arthritis: A Whole-Person Approach to Movement and Lifestyle

    Want to know more?

    If you’re still unsure where to start, check out:

    Yoga Teacher: “If I wanted to get flexible (from scratch) in 2025, here’s what I’d do”

    Take care!

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  • Can You Get Addicted To MSG, Like With Sugar?

    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.

    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 😎

    ❝Hello, I love your newsletter 🙂 Can I have a question? While browsing through your recepies, I realised many contained MSG. As someone based in Europe, I am not used to using MSG while cooking (of course I know that processed food bought in supermarket containes MSG). There is a stigma, that MSG is not particulary healthy, but rather it should be really bad and cause negative effects like headaches. Is this true? Also, can you get addicted to MSG, just like you get addicted to sugar? Thank you :)❞

    Thank you for the kind words, and the interesting questions!

    Short answer: no and no 🙂

    Longer answer: most of the negative reputation about MSG comes from a single piece of satire written in the US in the 1960s, which the popular press then misrepresented as a genuine concern, and the public then ran with, mostly due to racism/xenophobia/sinophobia specifically, given the US’s historically not fabulous relations with China, and the moniker of “Chinese restaurant syndrome”, notwithstanding that MSG was first isolated in Japan, not China, more than 100 years ago.

    The silver lining that comes out of this is that because of the above, MSG has been one of the most-studied food additives in recent decades, with many teams of scientists in many countries trying to determine its risks and not finding any (except insofar as anything in extreme quantities can kill you, including water or oxygen).

    You can read more about this and other* myths about MSG, here:

    Monosodium Glutamate: Sinless Flavor-Enhancer Or Terrible Health Risk?

    *such as pertaining to gluten sensitivity, which in reality MSG has no bearing on whatsoever as it does not contain gluten and is not even made of the same basic stuff; gluten being a protein made of (amongst other things) the amino acid glutamine, not a glutamate salt. Glutamate is as closely related to gluten as cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12) is to cyanide (the famous poison).

    PS: if you didn’t click the above link to read that article, then 1) we really do recommend it 2) we did some LD50 calculations there and looked at available research, and found that for someone of this writer’s (very medium) size, eating 1kg of MSG at once is sufficient to cause toxicity, and injecting >250g of MSG may cause heart problems. So we don’t recommend doing that.

    However, ½ tsp in a recipe that gives multiple portions is not going to get you anywhere close to the danger zone, unless you consume that entire meal by yourself hundreds of times per day. And if you do, the MSG is probably the least of your concerns.

    (2 tsp of cassia cinnamon, however, is enough to cause coumarin toxicity; for this reason we recommend Ceylon (or “True” or “Sweet”) cinnamon in our recipes, as it has almost undetectable levels of coumarin)

    With regard to your interesting question about addiction, first of all let’s speak briefly about sugar addiction:

    Sugar addiction is, by broad scientific consensus, agreed-upon as an extant thing that does exist, and contemporary research is more looking into the “hows” and “whys” and “whats” rather than the “whether”. It is a somewhat complicated topic, because it’s halfway between what science would usually consider a chemical addiction, and what science would usually consider a behavioral addiction:

    The Not-So-Sweet Science Of Sugar Addiction

    The reasonable prevailing hypothesis, therefore, is that sugar simply has two moderate mechanisms of addiction, rather than one strong one.

    The biochemical side of sugar addiction comes from the body’s metabolism of sugar, so this cannot be a thing for MSG, because there is nothing to metabolize in the same sense of the word (MSG being an inorganic compound with zero calories).

    People can crave salt, especially when deficient in it, and MSG does contain sodium (it’s what the “S” stands for), but it contains a little under ⅓ of the sodium that table salt does (sodium chloride in whatever form, be it sea salt, rock salt, or such):

    MSG vs. Salt: Sodium Comparison ← we do molecular calculations here!

    Sea Salt vs MSG – Which is Healthier? ← this one for a head-to-head

    However, even craving salt does not constitute an addiction; nobody is shamefully hiding their rock salt crystals under their bed and getting a fix when they feel low, and nor does withdrawal cause adverse side effects, except insofar as (once again) a person deficient in salt will crave salt.

    Finally, the only other way we know of that one might wonder if MSG could be addictive, is about glutamate and glutamate receptors. The glutamate in MSG is the same glutamate (down to the atoms) as the glutamate formed if one consumes tomatoes in the presence of salt, and triggers the same glutamate receptors in the same way. We have the same number of receptors either way, and uptake is exactly the same (because again, it’s exactly the same chemical) so there is a maximum to how strong this effect can be, and that maximum is the same whatever the source of the glutamate was.

    In this respect, if MSG is addictive, then so is a tomato salad with a pinch of salt: it’s not—it’s just tasty.

    We haven’t cited papers in today’s article, but it’s just because we cited them already in the articles we linked, and so we avoided doubling up. Most of them are in that first link we gave 🙂

    One final note

    Technically anyone can develop a sensitivity to anything, so in theory someone could develop a sensitivity to MSG, just like they could for any other ingredient. Our usual legal/medical disclaimer applies.

    However, it’s certainly not a common trigger, putting it well below common allergens like nuts (or less common allergens like, say, bananas), not even in the same league as common intolerances such as gluten, and less worthy of health risk warnings than, say, spinach (high in oxalates; fine for most people but best avoided if you have kidney problems).

    The reason we use it in the recipes we use it in, is simply because it’s a lower-sodium alternative to salt, and while it contains a (very) tiny bit less sodium than low-sodium salt (which itself has about ⅓ the sodium of regular salt), it has more of a flavor-enhancing effect, such that one can use half as much, for a more than sixfold total sodium reduction. Which for most of us in the industrialized world, is beneficial.

    Want to try some?

    If today’s article has inspired you to give MSG a try, here’s an example product on Amazon 😎

    Enjoy!

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Related Posts

  • Hold Me Tight – by Dr. Sue Johnson
  • Just Be Well – by Dr. Thomas Sult

    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.

    Firstly, what this is not: a “think yourself well” book. It’s not about just deciding to be well.

    Rather, it’s about ensuring the foundations of wellness, from which the rest of good health can spring, and notably, an absence of chronic illness. In essence: enjoying chronic good health.

    The prescription here is functional medicine, which stands on the shoulders of lifestyle medicine. This latter is thus briefly covered and the basics presented, but most of the book is about identifying the root causes of disease and eliminating them one by one, by taking into account the functions of the body’s processes, both in terms of pathogenesis (and thus, seeking to undermine that) and in terms of correct functioning (i.e., good health).

    While the main focus of the book is on health rather than disease, he does cover a number of very common chronic illnesses, and how even in those cases where they cannot yet be outright cured, there’s a lot more that can be done for them than “take two of these and call your insurance company in the morning”, when the goal is less about management of symptoms (though that is also covered) and more about undercutting causes, and ensuring that even if one thing goes wrong, it doesn’t bring the entire rest of the system down with it (something that often happens without functional medicine).

    The style is clear, simple, and written for the layperson without unduly dumbing things down.

    Bottom line: if you would like glowingly good health regardless of any potential setbacks, this book can help your body do what it needs to for you.

    Click here to check out Just Be Well, and just be well!

    Don’t Forget…

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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  • HBD: The Human Being Diet – by Petronella Ravenshear

    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.

    We don’t often review diet books, so why did this one catch our attention? The answer lies in its comprehensive nature without being excessively long and complex.

    Ravenshear (a nutritionist) brings a focus on metabolic balance, and what will and won’t work for keeping it healthy.

    The first part of the book is mostly informational; covering such things as blood sugar balance, gut health, hormones, and circadian rhythm considerations, amongst others.

    The second, larger part of the book is mostly instructional; do this and that, don’t do the other, guidelines on quantities and timings, and what things may be different for some people, and what to do about those.

    The style is conversational and light, but well-grounded in good science.

    Bottom line: if you’d like a “one-stop shop” for giving your diet an overhaul, this book is a fine choice.

    Click here to check out the Human Being Diet, and enjoy the best of health!

    Don’t Forget…

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  • Saunas: Health Benefits (& Caveats)

    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 Heat Is On

    In Tuesday’s newsletter, we asked you your (health-related) opinion on saunas, and got the above-depicted, below-described, set of responses:

    • About 53% said it is “a healthful activity with many benefits”
    • About 25% said it is “best avoided; I feel like I’m dying in there”
    • About 12% said “it feels good and therefore can’t be all bad”

    So what does the science say?

    The heat of saunas carries a health risk: True or False?

    False, generally speaking, for any practical purposes. Of course, anything in life comes with a health risk, but statistically speaking, your shower at home is a lot more dangerous than a sauna (risk of slipping with no help at hand).

    It took a bit of effort to find a paper on the health risks of saunas, because all the papers on PubMed etc coming up for those keywords were initially papers with “reduces the risk of…”, i.e. ways in which the sauna is healthy.

    However, we did find one:

    ❝Contraindications to sauna bathing include unstable angina pectoris, recent myocardial infarction, and severe aortic stenosis.

    Sauna bathing is safe, however, for most people with coronary heart disease with stable angina pectoris or old myocardial infarction.

    Very few acute myocardial infarctions and sudden deaths occur in saunas, but alcohol consumption during sauna bathing increases the risk of hypotension, arrhythmia, and sudden death, and should be avoided. ❞

    ~ Dr. Matti Hannuksela & Dr. Samer Ellahham

    Source: Benefits and risks of sauna bathing

    So, very safe for most people, safe even for most people with heart disease, but there are exceptions so check with your own doctor of course.

    And drinking alcohol anywhere is bad for the health, but in a sauna it’s a truly terrible idea. As an aside, please don’t drink alcohol in the shower, either (risk of slipping with no help at hand, and this time, broken glass too).

    On the topic of it being safe for most people’s hearts, see also:

    Beneficial effects of sauna bathing for heart failure patients

    As an additional note, those who have a particular sensitivity to the heat, may (again please check with your own doctor, as your case may vary) actually benefit from moderate sauna use, to reduce the cardiovascular strain that your body experiences during heatwaves (remember, you can get out of a sauna more easily than you can get out of a heatwave, so for many people it’s a lot easier to do moderation and improve thermoregulatory responses):

    Passive heat therapy: a promising preventive measure for people at risk of adverse health outcomes during heat extremes

    Sauna usage can bring many health benefits: True or False?

    True! Again, at least for most people. As well as the above-discussed items, here’s one for mortality rates in healthy Finnish men:

    Sauna bathing and mortality risk: unraveling the interaction with systolic blood pressure in a cohort of Finnish men

    Not only that, also…

    ❝The Finnish saunas have the most consistent and robust evidence regarding health benefits and they have been shown to decrease the risk of health outcomes such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, thromboembolism, dementia, and respiratory conditions; may improve the severity of musculoskeletal disorders, COVID-19, headache and flu, while also improving mental well-being, sleep, and longevity.

    Finnish saunas may also augment the beneficial effects of other protective lifestyle factors such as physical activity.

    The beneficial effects of passive heat therapies may be linked to their anti-inflammatory, cytoprotective and anti-oxidant properties and synergistic effects on neuroendocrine, circulatory, cardiovascular and immune function.

    Passive heat therapies, notably Finnish saunas, are emerging as potentially powerful and holistic strategies to promoting health and extending the healthspan in all populations. ❞

    ~ Dr. Jari Laukkanen & Dr. Setor Kunutsor

    Source: The multifaceted benefits of passive heat therapies for extending the healthspan: A comprehensive review with a focus on Finnish sauna

    (the repeated clarification of “Finnish sauna” is not a matter of fervent nationalism, by the way, but rather a matter of disambiguating it from Swedish sauna, which has some differences, most notably a lack of steam)

    That reminds us: in Scandinavia, it is usual to use a sauna naked, and in Finland in particular, it is a common social activity amongst friends, coworkers, etc. In the US, many people are not so comfortable with nudity, and indeed, many places that provide saunas, may require the wearing of swimwear. But…

    Just one problem: if you’re wearing swimwear because you’ve just been swimming in a pool, you now have chlorinated water soaked into your swimwear, which in the sauna, will become steam + chlorine gas. That’s not so good for your health (and is one reason, beyond tradition and simple normalization, for why swimwear is usually not permitted in Finnish saunas).

    Want to read more?

    You might like our previous main feature,

    Turning Up The Heat Against Diabetes & Alzheimer’s ← you guessed it, sauna may be beneficial against these too

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

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