Stop Sabotaging Your Weight Loss – by Jennifer Powter, MSc
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This is not a dieting book, and it’s not a motivational pep talk.
The book starts with the assumption that you do want to lose weight (it also assumes you’re a woman, and probably over 40… that’s just the book’s target market, but the same advice is good even if that’s not you), and that you’ve probably been trying, on and off, for a while. Her position is simple:
❝I don’t believe that you have a weight loss problem. I believe that you have a self-sabotage problem❞
As to how this sabotage may be occurring, Powter talks about fears that may be holding you back, including but not limited to:
- Fear of failure
- Fear of the unknown
- Fear of loss
- Fear of embarrassment
- Fear of your weight not being the reason your life sucks
Far from putting the reader down, though, Powter approaches everything with compassion. To this end, her prescription starts with encouraging self-love. Not when you’re down to a certain size, not when you’re conforming perfectly to a certain diet, but now. You don’t have to be perfect to be worthy of love.
On the topic of perfection: a recurring theme in the book is the danger of perfectionism. In her view, perfectionism is nothing more nor less than the most justifiable way to hold yourself back in life.
Lastly, she covers mental reframes, with useful questions to ask oneself on a daily basis, to ensure progressing step by step into your best life.
In short: if you’d like to lose weight and have been trying for a while, maybe on and off, this book could get you out of that cycle and into a much better state of being.
Get your copy of “Stop Sabotaging Your Weight Loss” from Amazon today!
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Black Bean Burgers With Guacamole
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Once again proving that burgers do not have to be unhealthy, this one’s a nutritional powerhouse full of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, as well as healthy fats and extra health-giving spices.
You will need
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (or 1 cup same, cooked, drained, and rinsed)
- 3 oz walnuts (if allergic, substitute with pumpkin seeds)
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tbsp flax seeds
- ½ red onion, finely chopped
- 1 small eggplant, diced small (e.g. ½” cubes or smaller)
- 1 small carrot, grated
- 3 tbsp finely chopped cilantro (or if you have the “this tastes like soap” gene, then substitute with parsley)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped (adjust per heat preferences)
- ¼ bulb garlic, crushed
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (adjust per heat preferences)
- ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
- Burger buns (you can use our Delicious Quinoa Avocado Bread recipe if you like)
For the guacamole:
- 1 large ripe avocado, pitted, skinned, and chopped
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tomato, finely chopped
- ¼ red onion, finely chopped
- ¼ bulb garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp red chili pepper flakes (adjust per heat preferences)
Method
(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)
1) Process the walnuts, chia seeds, and flax seeds in a food processor/blender, until they become a coarse mixture. Set aside.
2) Heat a little oil in a skillet, and fry the red onion, aubergine, and carrot for 5 minutes stirring frequently, then add the garlic and jalapeño and stir for a further 1 minute. Set aside.
3) Combine both mixtures you set aside with the rest of the ingredients from the burger section of the recipe, except the buns, and process them in the food processor on a low setting if possible, until you have a coarse mixture—you still want some texture, not a paste.
4) Shape into patties; this recipe gives for 4 large patties or 8 small ones. When you’ve done this, put them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, to firm up.
5) While you wait, make the guacamole by mashing the avocado with the lime juice, and then stirring into the onion, tomato, garlic, and pepper.
6) Cook the patties; you can do this on the grill, in a skillet, or in the oven, per your preference. Grilling or frying should take about 5 minutes on each side, give or take the size and shape of the patties. Baking in the oven should take 20–30 minutes at 400℉ / 200℃ turning over halfway through, but keep an eye on them, because again, the size and shape of the patties will affect this. You may be wondering: aren’t they all going to be patty-shaped? And yes, but for example a wide flat patty will cook more quickly than the same volume of burger mixture in a taller less wide patty.
7) Assemble! We recommend the order: bottom bun, guacamole, burger patty, any additional toppings you want to add (e.g. more salad, pickles, etc), top bun:
Enjoy!
Want to learn more?
For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:
- Level-Up Your Fiber Intake! (Without Difficulty Or Discomfort)
- Chickpeas vs Black Beans – Which is Healthier?
- Kidney Beans or Black Beans – Which is Healthier?
- Coconut vs Avocado – Which is Healthier?
- Our Top 5 Spices: How Much Is Enough For Benefits?
Take care!
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Heavy Metal Detox In A Pill?
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 have previous discussed assorted approaches to “detoxing”:
Detox: What’s Real, What’s Not, What’s Useful, What’s Dangerous?
Today we’re going to be looking at one we didn’t cover there, which is zeolite.
What is zeolite?
Zeolite is a mineral that occurs naturally and can also be synthesized, and it’s famous for absorbing other stuff from around it. Because of this property, it’s used in many things, including:
- Petrochemical catalysis
- Water treatment
- Nuclear waste reprocessing
- Cat litter
- Supplements (for detox purposes)
That’s, uh… An interesting list, isn’t it? So, we were curious as to whether this mineral that’s also used in fish tank filters is, in fact, overpriced gravel being sold to the gullible as a health supplement.
We had to do some digging on this one
Our journey didn’t start well, with this very dubious-looking paper being cited by a company selling zeolite supplements:
This immediately prompted two questions:
- Who is eating graphene?!* That stuff does not occur in nature (or at least; it hasn’t ever been found; the universe is a big place so it might exist elsewhere), has only relatively recently been synthesized, is very difficult to produce, is two-dimensional while being hard as diamonds, and exists only in truly tiny lab-made quantities worldwide. It would be orders of magnitude easier to find and eat uranium.
- Is this a reputable journal? Which question was easier to answer than the former one, and the answer is “no”; we hadn’t heard of this journal (ACTA Scientific), and neither it seems had most of the Internet, but we did find it on a list of predatory journals, here.
*The citation given in the above paper should by rights answer the question of who is eating graphene, since by rights they must have demonstrated it somehow, but it just doesn’t. Instead, it links to what it claims is a paper titled “Oxygenated Zeolite (Clinoptilite) Efficiently Removes Aluminum & Graphene Oxide”, but is in reality just someone’s blog post with a screenshot of an actual paper entitled “Novel, oxygenated clinoptilolite material efficiently removes aluminium from aluminium chloride-intoxicated rats in vivo”). Looking up this real paper in its real journal, it does not mention graphene.
All this to say: sometimes, unscrupulous people will just plain lie to you, which is why peer review is important, as is sourcing data from reputable journals. Which is what we do for you so that you don’t have to 🙂
It does, actually, work though (for heavy metal detox)
Notwithstanding the aforementioned bunk, we found this from a more reputable publisher:
❝In this study, we have presented clinical evidence supporting the use of an activated clinoptilolite (zeolite) suspension to safely and effectively increase the urinary excretion of potentially toxic heavy metals in healthy volunteers without negatively impacting the electrolyte profiles of the participants.
Significant increases in the urinary excretion of aluminum, antimony, arsenic, bismuth, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel and tin were observed in the subjects participating in the two study groups as compared to placebo controls.❞
Also good for the gut and against inflammation
Specifically, it’s good for gut barrier integrity, i.e., against “leaky gut syndrome”:
❝Twelve weeks of zeolite supplementation exerted beneficial effects on intestinal wall integrity as indicated via decreased concentrations of the tight junction modulator zonulin.
This was accompanied by mild anti-inflammatory effects in this cohort of aerobically trained subjects.❞
May also be good against neurodegenerative diseases
If it is (which is plausible), it’ll probably because of removing heavy metals and improving gut barrier integrity—in other words, the things we just looked at in the two reputable peer-reviewed studies we examined above.
But the science is young for this one; here’s the current state of things:
Zeolite and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Is it safe?
Safety reviews have found it to be safe, for example:
Critical Review on Zeolite Clinoptilolite Safety and Medical Applications in vivo
However, if you are taking regular medications, we recommend checking with your pharmacist or doctor to ensure that zeolite will not also remove those medications from your system!
Want to try some?
We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎
Enjoy!
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Kumquat vs Persimmon – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing kumquat to persimmon, we picked the kumquat.
Why?
In terms of macros, kumquats have more protein, though like most fruits, it’s unlike anybody’s eating them for the protein content. More importantly, they have a lot more fiber, for less than half the carbs. It bears mentioning though that (again, like most fruits) persimmon isn’t bad for this either, and both fruits are low glycemic index foods.
When it comes to vitamins, it’s not close: kumquats have more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, E, and choline, while persimmon has more vitamin C. It’s worth noting that kumquats are already a very good source of vitamin C though; persimmon just has more.
In the category of minerals, kumquats again lead with more calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, and zinc, while persimmon has more iron, phosphorus, and potassium.
In short, enjoy both, and/or whatever fruit you enjoy the most, but if looking for nutritional density, kumquats are bringing it.
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
Why You’re Probably Not Getting Enough Fiber (And How To Fix It)
Take care!
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Strong Woman Era – by Saffron Hooton
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 here is to embrace strength without compromising femininity, and as such, the author gives a simple guide to strength training, along with assorted energizing pep-talks along the way.
It’s a short read, about 150 pages if we count only the book content itself, and that’s with large print, easy-reading line spacing, generous margins, and a lot of artwork.
On which note, the artwork really is that: artwork; even for the exercises, it’s not actually particularly informational, and adds only a very general idea of what one point in the exercise might look like. Which is unfortunate, because the explanations can also be a little unclear in places.
The style is upbeat and motivational with a sort of 90s girl-power feel to it. There’s no hard science, claims are made without sources (reasonable claims, but still, we’d rather have seen sources), and certainly nothing is complicated. In fact, some parts could probably have stood to be a bit more complicated—in other words, some things were perhaps oversimplified a little where a more comprehensive treatment might have been helpful.
Bottom line: this is a very aesthetically pleasing book; it’ll look great on your shelf and can be quite nice to flip through. At 8oz, it can be used as a paperweight, but not a doorstop.
Click here to check out Strong Woman Era, and brighten up your bookshelf!
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What Your Hands Can Tell You About Your 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.
Dr. Siobhan Deshauer tells us what our hands say about our health—she’s not practicing palmistry though; she’s a rheumatologist, and everything here is about clinical signs of health/disease.
The signs include…
“Spider fingers” (which your writer here has; I always look like I’m ready to cast a spell of some kind), and that’s really the medical name, or arachnodactyly for those who like to get Greek about it. It’s about elongated digits. Elongated other bones too, typically, but the hands are where it’s most noticeable.
The tests:
- Make a fist with your thumb inside (the way you were told never to punch); does your thumb poke out the side notably past the edge of your hand, unassisted (i.e., don’t poke it, just let it rest where it goes to naturally)?
- Take hold of one of your wrists with the fingers of the other hand, wrapping them around. If they reach, that’s normal; if there’s a notable overlap, we’re in Spidey-territory now.
If both of those are positive results for you, Dr. Deshauer recommends getting a genetic test to see if you have Marfan syndrome, because…
Arachnodactyly often comes from a genetic condition called Marfan syndrome, and as well as the elongated digits of arachnodactyly, Marfan syndrome affects the elastic fibers of the body, and comes with the trade-off of an increased risk of assorted kinds of sudden death (if something goes “ping” where it shouldn’t, like the heart or lungs).
But it can also come from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome!
EDS is characterized by hypermobility of joints, meaning that they are easily flexed past the normal human limit, and/but also easily dislocated.
The tests:
- Put your hand flat on a surface, and using your other hand, see how far back your fingers will bend (without discomfort, please); do they go further than 90°?
- Can you touch your thumb to your wrist* (on the same side?)
*She says “wrist”; for this arachnodactylic writer here it’s halfway down my forearm, but you get the idea
For many people this is a mere quirk and inconvenience, for others it can be more serious and a cause of eventual chronic pain, and for a few, it can be very serious and come with cardiovascular problems (similar to the Marfan syndrome issues above). This latter is usually diagnosed early in life, though, such as when a child comes in with an aneurysm, or there’s a family history of it. Another thing to watch out for!
Check out the video for more information on these, as well as what our fingerprints can mean, indicators of diabetes (specifically, a test for diabetic cheiroarthropathy that you can do at home, like the tests above), carpal tunnel syndrome, Raynaud phenomenon, and more!
She covers 10 main medical conditions in total:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to read more?
- We Are Such Stuff As Fish Are Made Of ← because collagen comes up a lot in the video
- How To Really Look After Your Joints
Take care!
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Three Ways To Reduce Your Cancer Risk
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.
From this week’s health news, we have:
Skip the meat, skip the cancer
Researchers (Dr. Fayth Butler et al.) followed the health of 79,468 participants (all initially free of cancer) for an average of just under 8 years (as with most longitudinal studies, the period of time will not be uniform as some people die or otherwise drop out of the study).
They found at baseline, that of those nearly 80,000 people, vegetarians were generally older, more educated, breastfed longer (where applicable), and had lower BMI than non-vegetarians.
As the study progressed, they found that all vegetarian diets combined were linked to reduced total cancer risk (12% lower) and reduced medium-frequency cancer risk (18% lower), and in particular, lower risk of lymphoproliferative cancers (25% lower) and stomach cancer (45% lower).
Breaking things down by non-omnivorous groups of interest:
- pescatarians: lower risk of colorectal cancer (21% lower) and breast cancer in older women than omnivores
- lacto-ovo-vegetarians: lower risk of lymphoproliferative cancers and stomach cancer than omnivores
- vegans: lowest risk of breast and prostate cancers
In short, all of the above are improvements on an omnivorous diet.
Read in full: Study finds vegetarians less likely to develop several common and rare cancers
Related: The Whys and Hows of Cutting Meats Out Of Your Diet
Another reason to avoid respiratory viruses
Common respiratory infections, including COVID and flu, can awaken dormant disseminated cancer cells in the lungs, and breast cancer survivors testing positive for COVID have higher all-cause, non-COVID, and cancer mortality.
In particular, in the study we’re referencing here, women with breast cancer who later had COVID showed a consistent trend toward increased lung metastasis risk (i.e. it spreads, which is what makes it most dangerous and most likely to be deadly).
The greatest risk is in the first 6 months after infection:
Read in full: Respiratory viruses awaken dormant breast cancer cells and raise relapse risk
Related: Why Some People Get Sick More (And How To Not Be One Of Them)
Almonds to the rescue
We love almonds, and so it seems do researchers (Dr. Samira Movahed et al.), who found that enjoying more than 60 g/day of almonds significantly reduced lipid damage and DNA damage markers, fighting aging and making cells less likely to turn cancerous.
Notably, raw almonds were found to be best for this, as roasting reduces polyphenols and blanching removes most of them. For that matter, the almond fiber (so, mostly in the skins that blanching would remove) also supports beneficial bacteria that help lower systemic oxidative stress, compounding the benefits.
There was also a small but significant decrease in uric acid levels (that’s a good thing to decrease), which the researchers hypothesize was due to reduced xanthine oxidase activity.
The benefits were dose-dependent, and enjoying under 60g per day showed smaller (or no) associations. 60g is just over 2 oz, by the way!
Read in full: Eating over 60g of almonds a day may protect DNA and cut oxidative damage
Related: What 47 Almonds Can Do For your Gut, Heart, Skin, & more
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