Revive and Maintain Metabolism

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

❝How to jump start a inactive metabolism and keep it going? THANKYOU❞

The good news is, if you’re alive, your metabolism is active (it never stops!). So, it may just need perking up a little.

As for keeping it going, well, that’s what we’re here for! We’re all in favor of healthy longevity.

We’ll do a main feature soon on what we can do to influence our metabolism in either direction, but to give some quick notes here:

  • A lot of our metabolism is influenced by genes and is unalterable (without modifying our genes, anyway)
  • Metabolism isn’t just one thing—it’s many. And sometimes, parts of our metabolism can be much quicker or slower than others.
  • When people talk about wanting a “faster metabolism”, they’re usually referring to fat-burning, and that’s just a small part of the picture, but we understand that it’s a focal point for many.

There really is enough material for a whole main feature on metabolic tweaks, though, so watch this space!

Don’t Forget…

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

Recommended

  • Where to Get Turmeric?
  • The Paleo Diet
    The Paleo diet, while popular, lacks historical accuracy and may not be as healthy as the Mediterranean Diet in the long-term. It is associated with increased cardiovascular risk.

Learn to Age Gracefully

Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • It’s OK That You’re Not OK – by Megan Devine

    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, be aware: this is not a cheerful book. If you’re looking for something to life your mood after a loss, it will not be this.

    What, then, will you find? A reminder that grief is also the final translation of love, and not necessarily something to be put aside as quickly as possible—or even ever, if we don’t want to.

    Too often, society (and even therapists) will correctly note that no two instances of grief are the same (after all, no two people are, so definitely no two relationships are, so how could two instances of grief be?), but will still expect that if most people can move on quickly from most losses, that you should too, and that if you don’t then there is something pathological at hand that needs fixing.

    Part one of the book covers this (and more) in a lot of detail; critics have called it a diatribe against the current status quo in the field of grief.

    Part two of the book is about “what to do with your grief”, and addresses the reality of grief, how (and why) to stay alive when not doing so feels like a compelling option, dealing with grief’s physical side effects, and calming your mind in ways that actually work (without trying to sweep your grief under a rug).

    Parts three and four are more about community—how to navigate the likely unhelpful efforts a lot of people may make in the early days, and when it comes to those people who can and will actually be a support, how to help them to help you.

    In the category of criticism, she also plugs her own (paid, subscription-based) online community, which feels a little mercenary, especially as while community definitely can indeed help, the prospect of being promptly exiled from it if you stop paying, doesn’t.

    Bottom line: if you have experienced grief and felt like moving on was the right thing to do, then this book isn’t the one for you. If, on the other hand, your grief feels more like something you will carry just as you carry the love you feel for them, then you’ll find a lot about that here.

    Click here to check out “It’s OK That You’re Not OK”, and handle your grief in the way that makes sense to you.

    Share This Post

  • Spreading Mental Health Awareness

    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

    Request: more people need to be aware of suicidal tendencies and what they can do to ward them off

    That’s certainly a very important topic! We’ll cover that properly in one of our Psychology Sunday editions. In the meantime, we’ll mention a previous special that we did, that was mostly about handling depression (in oneself or a loved one), and obviously there’s a degree of crossover:

    The Mental Health First-Aid That You’ll Hopefully Never Need

    Share This Post

  • The Stress-Proof Brain – by Dr. Melanie Greenberg

    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 premise of the book is as stated in the subtitle: using mindfulness and neuroplasticity to manage our stress response.

    As such, it’s divided into three parts:

    1. Understanding your stress (and different types of stressors)
    2. Calming your amygdalae (thus, dealing with your stress response while the stressor is stressing you)
    3. Moving forward with your prefrontal cortex (and thus, gradually improving automatic stress responses over time, as we learn new, better responses to do automatically)

    The content ranges from the neurophysiological to “therapist’s couch” stuff; Dr. Greenberg having her PhD in psychology has prepared her to write both of those different-but-touching fields with equal competence. In-line citations are given throughout, for those who want to look up studies.

    The style is direct and informative, with little to no attention given to making it an entertaining read. As a result, it’s information dense (which is good), and/but not necessarily a “couldn’t put it down” page-turner.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to improve your ability to deal with stress, this book is as good as any.

    Click here to check out The Stress-Proof Brain, and stress-proof yours!

    Share This Post

Related Posts

  • Where to Get Turmeric?
  • 8 Signs Of High Cortisol & How To Reverse “Cortisol Face”

    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.

    Dr. Shereene Idriss has insights about the facial features that might indicate chronically elevated cortisol levels, and what to do about same:

    At face value

    Dr. Idriss notes that for most people, this should not be cause for undue concern, although hypercortisolism can also be associated with genetic disorders such as Cushing’s syndrome, as well as prolonged use of certain medication, or the presence of certain tumors. As well as facial swelling, hypercortisolism can also result in other physical changes like acne, weight gain, skin thinning, stretch marks, infections, and hair loss.

    As for what to do about it, she recommends addressing lifestyle factors like poor sleep, unhealthy diet, alcohol consumption, and lack of hydration to reduce facial puffiness related to stress. Diet suggestions include incorporating foods rich in magnesium, vitamin C, and omega-3s, such as leafy greens, fatty fish, nuts and seeds, and berries.

    She also suggests some supplements to consider, such as ashwagandha, magnesium, omega-3s, and/or l-theanine, but you might want to speak to your doctor/pharmacist to check in case of contraindications per any other conditions you may have, or medications you may be on.

    For more on all of this, enjoy:

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

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    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

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Are You Making This Alcohol Mistake?

    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 famous “small glass of red per day” is, as is quite well-established now in science, but not so much in popular culture, known to be not a good idea.

    What most people don’t know

    Rethinking “One Drink a Day”:

    • Outdated beliefs and flawed studies:
      • The idea that “one drink a day is healthy” stems from flawed associative studies that included…
        • unhealthy former heavy drinkers in the zero-drinks category, and
        • healthy older individuals who continued light drinking due to good health, not because alcohol contributed to it, in the drinkers category
      • In other words, they looked at former alcoholics whose health was ruined by drinking and said “aha, non-drinkers have bad health”, and looked at the survivors of survivorship bias and said “aha, light drinking is the key to good health”. Which of course is terrible science propped up by terrible abuse of statistics propped up by shoddy methodology.
    • New research findings:
      • A 2022 UK Biobank Study showed that even one drink a day leads to brain shrinkage, neuron death, and cognitive decline.
      • Another study on CVD disproved the notion that light drinking benefits heart health once confounding variables were removed.
      • There are plenty more, and at 10almonds we’ve done a main feature about it, but for now, you get the idea.

    Some other things you should know:

    Ethanol and acetaldehyde damage neurons responsible for impulse control, judgment, motor coordination, and memory formation, leading to cognitive decline. The feeling of being drunk results from the suppression and damage of these neurons. But while the drunk feeling wears off, the damage to neurons does not.

    Alcohol causes cumulative DNA damage in neurons, accelerates brain aging, and prevents the formation of new neurons, similar to a slow, gradual stroke.

    Broader Health Impacts of Alcohol

    We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: alcohol is bad for pretty much everything.

    Here are some examples mentioned in the video:

    • Neurodegenerative diseases: heavy drinking increases the risk of Alzheimer’s, particularly in those genetically predisposed.
    • Sleep disruption: alcohol reduces deep, restful sleep and hampers the brain’s natural detox process overnight, contributing to morning grogginess.
    • Inflammation and immune suppression: alcohol increases inflammation, exacerbates autoimmune diseases (like psoriasis and arthritis), and weakens immune function.
    • Cancer risk: alcohol is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, linked to various cancers, especially breast cancer. Even light drinking increases breast cancer risk.
    • Hormonal imbalances: in women, alcohol heightens PMS symptoms, reduces fertility, and increases testosterone. In men, it lowers sperm quality and disrupts hormones.

    For more on all of these and more, enjoy:

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

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    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

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Lower Cholesterol Naturally

    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.

    Lower Cholesterol, Without Statins

    We’ll start this off by saying that lowering cholesterol might not, in fact, be critical or even especially helpful for everyone, especially in the case of women. We covered this more in our article about statins:

    Statins: His & Hers?

    …which was largely informed by the wealth of data in this book:

    The Truth About Statins – by Dr. Barbara H. Roberts

    …which in turn, may in fact put a lot of people off statins. We’re not here to tell you don’t use them—they may indeed be useful or even critical for some people, as Dr. Roberts herself also makes makes clear. But rather, we always recommend learning as much as possible about what’s going on, to be able to make the most informed choices when it comes to what often might be literally life-and-death decisions.

    On which note, if anyone would like a quick refresher on cholesterol, what it actually is (in its various forms) and what it does, why we need it, the problems it can cause anyway, then here you go:

    Demystifying Cholesterol

    Now, with all that in mind, we’re going to assume that you, dear reader, would like to know:

    • how to lower your LDL cholesterol, and/or
    • how to maintain a safe LDL cholesterol level

    Because, while the jury’s out on the dangers of high LDL levels for women in particular, it’s clear that for pretty much everyone, maintaining them within well-established safe zones won’t hurt.

    Here’s how:

    Relax

    Or rather, manage your stress. This doesn’t just reduce your acute risk of a heart attack, it also improves your blood metrics along the way, and yes, that includes not just blood pressure and blood sugars, but even triglycerides! Here’s the science for that, complete with numbers:

    What are the effects of psychological stress and physical work on blood lipid profiles?

    With that in mind, here’s…

    How To Manage Chronic Stress (Even While Chronically Stressed)

    Not chemically “relaxed”, though

    While relaxing is important, drinking alcohol and smoking are unequivocally bad for pretty much everything, and this includes cholesterol levels:

    Can We Drink To Good Health? ← this also covers popular beliefs about red wine and heart health, and the answer is no, we cannot

    As for smoking, it is good to quit as soon as possible, unless your doctor specifically advises you otherwise (there are occasional situations where something else needs to be dealt with first, but not as many some might like to believe):

    Addiction Myths That Are Hard To Quit

    If you’re wondering about cannabis (CBD and/or THC), then we’d love to tell you about the effect these things have on heart health in general and cholesterol levels in particular, but the science is far too young (mostly because of the historic, and in some places contemporary, illegality cramping the research), and we could only find small, dubious, mutually contradictory studies so far. So the honest answer is: science doesn’t know this one, yet.

    Exercise… But don’t worry, you can still stay relaxed

    When it comes to heart health, the most important thing is keeping moving, so getting in those famous 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise is critical, and getting more is ideal.

    240 minutes per week is a neat 40 minutes per day, by the way and is very attainable (this writer lives a 20-minute walk away from where she does her daily grocery shopping, thus making for a daily 40-minute round trip, not counting the actual shopping).

    See: The Doctor Who Wants Us To Exercise Less, And Move More

    If walking is for some reason not practical for you, here’s a whole list of fun options that don’t feel like exercise but are:

    No-Exercise Exercise!

    Manage your hormones

    This one is mostly for menopausal women, though some people with atypical hormonal situations may find it applicable too.

    Estrogen protects the heart… Until it doesn’t:

    Menopause can bring increased cholesterol levels and other heart risks. Here’s why and what to do about it

    See also: World Menopause Day: Menopause & Cardiovascular Disease Risk

    Here’s a great introduction to sorting it out, if necessary:

    Dr. Jen Gunter: What You Should Have Been Told About Menopause Beforehand

    Eat a heart-healthy diet

    Shocking nobody, but it has to be said, for the sake of being methodical. So, what does that look like?

    What Matters Most For Your Heart? Eat More (Of This) For Lower Blood Pressure

    (it’s fiber in the #1 spot, but there’s a list of most important things there, that’s worth checking out and comparing it to what you habitually eat)

    You can also check out the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) edition of the Mediterranean diet, here:

    Four Ways To Upgrade The Mediterranean Diet

    As for saturated fat (and especially trans-fats), the basic answer is to keep them to minimal, but there is room for nuance with saturated fats at least:

    Can Saturated Fats Be Healthy?

    And lastly, do make sure to get enough omega 3 fatty-acids:

    What Omega-3s Really Do For Us

    And enjoy plant sterols and stanols! This would need a whole list of their own, so here you go:

    Take These To Lower Cholesterol! (Statin Alternatives)

    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

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails: