Rice vs Buckwheat – Which is Healthier?

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Our Verdict

When comparing rice to buckwheat, we picked the buckwheat.

Why?

It’s a simple one today:

  • The vitamin and mineral profiles are very similar, so neither of these are a swaying factor
  • In terms of macros, rice is higher in carbohydrates while buckwheat is higher in fiber
  • Buckwheat also has more protein, but not by much
  • Buckwheat has the lower glycemic index, and a lower insulin index, too

While buckwheat cannot always be reasonably used as a substitute for rice (often because the texture would not work the same), in many cases it can be.

And if you love rice, well, so do we, but variety is also the spice of life indeed, not to mention important for good health. You know that whole “eat 30 different plants per week” thing? Grains count in that tally! So substituting buckwheat in place of rice sometimes seems like a very good bet.

Not sure where to buy it?

Here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon

Want to know more about today’s topic?

Check out: Carb-Strong or Carb-Wrong?

Enjoy!

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  • Steps For Keeping Your Feet A Healthy Foundation

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    Important Steps For Good Health

    This is Dr. Kelly Starrett. He’s a physiotherapist, author, speaker, trainer. He has been described as a “celebrity” and “founding father” of CrossFit. He mostly speaks and writes about mobility in general; today we’re going to be looking at what he has to say specifically about our feet.

    A strong foundation

    “An army marches on its stomach”, Napoleon famously wrote.

    More prosaically: an army marches on its feet, and good foot-care is a top priority for soldiers—indeed, in some militaries, even so much as negligently getting blisters is a military offense.

    Most of us are not soldiers, but there’s a lesson to be learned here:

    Your feet are the foundation for much of the rest of your health and effectiveness.

    KISS for feet

    No, not like that.

    Rather: “Keep It Simple, Stupid”

    Dr. Starrett is not only a big fan of not overcomplicating things, but also, he tells us how overcomplicating things can actively cause problems. When it comes to footwear, for example, he advises:

    ❝When you wear shoes, wear the flat kind. If you’re walking the red carpet on Oscar night, fine, go ahead and wear a shoe with a heel. Once in a while is okay.

    But most of the time, you should wear shoes that are flat and won’t throw your biological movement hardware into disarray.

    When you have to wear shoes, whether it’s running shoes, work shoes, or combat boots, buy the flat kind, also known as “zero drop”—meaning that the heel is not raised above the forefoot (at all).

    What you want to avoid, or wean yourself away from, are shoes with the heels raised higher off the ground than the forefeet.❞

    Of course, going barefoot is great for this, but may not be an option for all of us when out and about. And in the home, going barefoot (or shod in just socks) will only confer health benefits if we’re actually on our feet! So… How much time do you spend on your feet at home?

    Allow your feet to move like feet

    By evolution, the human body is built for movement—especially walking and running. That came with moving away from hanging around in trees for fruit, to hunting and gathering between different areas of the savannah. Today, our hunting and gathering may be done at the local grocery store, but we still need to keep our mobility, especially when it comes to our feet.

    Now comes the flat footwear you don’t want: flip-flops and similar

    If we wear flip-flops, or other slippers or shoes that hold onto our feet only at the front, we’re no longer walking like we’re supposed to. Instead of being the elegant product of so much evolution, we’re now walking like those AT-AT walkers in Star Wars, you know, the ones that fell over so easily?

    Our feet need to be able to tilt naturally while walking/running, without our footwear coming off.

    Golden rule for this: if you can’t run in them, you shouldn’t be walking in them

    Exception: if for example you need something on your feet for a minute or two in the shower at the gym/pool, flip-flops are fine. But anything more than that, and you want something better.

    Watch your step

    There’s a lot here that’s beyond the scope of what we can include in this short newsletter, but:

    If we stand or walk or run incorrectly, we’re doing gradual continual damage to our feet and ankles (potentially also our knees and hips, which problems in turn have a knock-on effect for our spine, and you get the idea—this is Bad™)

    Some general pointers for keeping things in good order include:

    • Your weight should be mostly on the balls of your feet, not your heels
    • Your feet should be pretty much parallel, not turned out or in
    • When standing, your center of gravity should be balanced between heel and forefoot

    Quick tip for accomplishing this last one: Stand comfortably, your feet parallel, shoulder-width apart. Now, go up on your tip-toes. When you’ve done so, note where your spine is, and keep it there (apart from in its up-down axis) when you slowly go back to having your feet flat on the ground, so it’s as though your spine is sliding down a pole that’s fixed in place.

    If you do this right, your center of gravity will now be perfectly aligned with where it’s supposed to be. It might feel a bit weird at first, but you’ll get used to it, and can always reset it whenever you want/need, by repeating the exercise.

    If you’d like to know more from Dr. Starrett, you can check out his website here 🙂

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  • The Sprout Book – by Doug Evans

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    Sprouting seeds are more nutritious than most people think, and “seeds” is also a much broader category than people think. Beyond even chia and sunflower and such, this book bids us remember that onions do not just appear on supermarket shelves fully formed (to give just one example of many); most plants come from seeds and of those, most can be usefully sprouted.

    The author, most well-known for his tech companies, here is selling us a very low-tech health kick with very little profit to be found except for our health. By sprouting seeds of many kinds at home, we can enjoy powerful superfoods that are not only better than, but also cheaper than, most supplements.

    Nor are the benefits of sprouting things marginal; we’re not talking about a 1–10% increase in bioavailable so much as what’s often a 100–1000% increase.

    After explaining the science and giving a primer on sprouting things for oneself, there is a wide selection of recipes, but the biggest benefit of the book is in just getting the reader up-and-running with at-home sprouting.

    Bottom line: if you like the idea of letting food be your medicine and even like the idea of essentially growing your own food with zero gardening skills, then this is an excellent book for you.

    Click here to check out The Sprout Book, and get sprouting!

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  • Minimize Aging’s Metabolic Slump

    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 know that metabolism slows with age, are there any waypoints or things to look out for? I don’t know whether I should be eating less, or doing less, or taking some other approach entirely. What’s recommended?❞

    Age and sex count for a lot with this one! As metabolism is in large part directed by hormones:

    • For men, declining testosterone (often from around 45 onwards) can result in a metabolic slump
    • For women, declining estrogen with the menopause does have an effect, but progesterone is the bigger factor for metabolism in the sense you are talking about.

    In both cases, simply taking more of those hormones can often help, but please of course speak with an endocrinologist if that seems like a possible option for you, as your circumstances (and physiology) may vary.

    If you’d like to go to that conversation well-armed with information, here are some good starting points, by the way:

    And if you’re wondering about the natural vs pharmaceutical approaches…

    About your metabolic base rate

    We tend to think of “fast metabolism good, slow metabolism bad”, and that’s a reasonable general premise… but it’s not necessarily always so.

    After all, if you could double your metabolism and keep it there all the time, without changing anything else, well… You’ve heard the phrase “burning the candle at both ends”? So, having at least some downtime is important too.

    See for example: Sleep Deprivation & Diabetes Risk

    What’s critical, when it comes to base metabolic rate, is that your body must be capable of adequately processing what you are putting into it. Because if your body can’t keep up with the input, it’ll just start storing the excess chemical energy in the quickest and easiest way possible.

    …which is a fast track to metabolic disorder in general and type 2 diabetes in particular. For more on the science and mechanics of this, see:

    How To Prevent And Reverse Type 2 Diabetes

    As for portion sizes…

    Your body knows what you need, so listen to it. There is no external source of knowledge that can tell you how much food you need better than your own body itself can tell you.

    You may be wondering “how exactly do I listen to my body, though?”, in which case, check out:

    The Kitchen Doctor: Interoception & Mindful Eating

    As for exercise…

    When you exercise, your metabolic rate temporarily increases. After most kinds of exercise, your metabolism slumps again afterwards to compensate.

    There are two ways to avoid this:

    …which makes it pretty effective indeed

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Related Posts

  • Honeydew vs Cantaloupe – Which is Healthier?
  • Celery vs Cucumber – 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 celery to cucumber, we picked the celery.

    Why?

    They are both great, of course! But celery came out on top:

    Their macros are very comparable; they’re both 95% water with just enough other things to hold them together, and those other things are in approximately the same proportions in both celery and cucumber.

    In the category of vitamins, however, celery has a lot more of vitamins A, B2, B3, B6, B9, E, and K, as well as slightly more vitamin C. Cucumber, meanwhile, only boasts slightly higher vitamin B1.

    An easy win for celery on the vitamin front!

    Minerals are closer, but celery still comes out on top with its notably higher calcium and potassium content. Cucumber has more iron and zinc, but the margin is smaller.

    As a point in cucumber’s favor, it has been noted for its anti-inflammatory effect in ways that celery hasn’t, but we don’t think this is enough to say it wins over celery sweeping the vitamins category and coming out top for minerals too.

    However! They are both great, so enjoy them both, of course.

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Enjoy!

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  • Senior Meetup Groups Combating Loneliness

    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 would like to read more on loneliness, meetup group’s for seniors. Thank you”

    Well, 10almonds is an international newsletter, so it’s hard for us to advise about (necessarily: local) meetup groups!

    But a very popular resource for connecting to your local community is Nextdoor, which operates throughout the US, Canada, Australia, and large parts of Europe including the UK.

    In their own words:

    Get the most out of your neighborhood with Nextdoor

    It’s where communities come together to greet newcomers, exchange recommendations, and read the latest local news. Where neighbors support local businesses and get updates from public agencies. Where neighbors borrow tools and sell couches. It’s how to get the most out of everything nearby. Welcome, neighbor.

    Curious? Click here to check it out and see if it’s of interest to you

    Don’t Forget…

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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  • Seven Things To Do For Good Lung Health!

    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.

    YouTube Channel Wellness Check is challenging us all to do the following things. They’re framing it as a 30-day challenge, but honestly, there’s nothing here that isn’t worth doing for life

    Here’s the list:

    • Stop smoking (of course, smoking is bad for everything, but the lungs are one of its main areas of destruction)
    • Good posture (a scrunched up chest is not the lungs’ best operating conditions!)
    • Regular exercise (exercising your body in different ways exercises your lungs in different ways!)
    • Monitor air quality (some environments are much better/worse than others, but don’t underestimate household air quality threats either)
    • Avoid respiratory infections (shockingly, COVID is not great for your lungs, nor are the various other respiratory infections available)
    • Check your O2 saturation levels (pulse oximeters like this one are very cheap to buy and easy to use)
    • Prevent mucus and phlegm from accumulating (these things are there for reasons; the top reason is trapping pathogens, allergens, and general pollutants/dust etc; once those things are trapped, we don’t want that mucus there any more!)

    Check out the video itself for more detail on each of these items:

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

    Want to know more?

    You might like our article about COPD:

    Why Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Is More Likely Than You Think

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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