The AFib Cure – by Dr. John Day & Dr. Jared Bunch

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The authors—cardiologists and AFib specialists—make the case that if you have atrial fibrillation, you do in fact have more options than “take these pills and suffer”.

To be clear: they’re not anti-medication per se and they also acknowledge that for some people the meds may still have their place (safety first, and all), but they do fall on the side of “it would be nice to not have to, if possible, so let’s see what we can do”.

Rather, they recommend lifestyle adjustments (no surprises there), and certain biomarker optimizations (this is where it gets more in-depth), which have a good record of reducing symptoms to the point of remission and freedom from medications.

The book is first a primer on the topic of AFib, and then a how-to manual of fixing the problems that you now understand, by biomarker monitoring, lifestyle optimization, and if those things don’t work, ablative therapy which they argue is safer, easier, and more successful than you might think.

The style is clear and easy to understand, with frequent scholarly citations throughout. On the downside, the tone can sometimes be a little on the pushy side for this reviewer’s tastes, but if one overlooks that, it doesn’t detract from the useful content.

Bottom line: if you or a loved one have AFib and would like more treatment/management options than have hitherto been presented, this book will give you that.

Click here to check out The AFib Cure, and look after your heart!

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Recommended

  • Eat to Beat Your Diet – by Dr. William Li
  • Not all ultra-processed foods are bad for your health, whatever you might have heard
    Recent evidence suggests not all ultra-processed foods are equally harmful, challenging the push to restrict them in dietary guidelines.

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  • Do You Know These 10 Common Ovarian Cancer Symptoms?

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    It’s better to know in advance:

    Things you may need to know

    The symptoms listed in the video are:

    1. Abdominal bloating: persistent bloating due to fluid buildup, often mistaken for overeating or weight gain.
    2. Pelvic or abdominal pain: continuous pain in the lower abdomen or pelvis, unrelated to menstruation.
    3. Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly: loss of appetite or feeling full after eating only a small amount.
    4. Urgent or frequent urination: increased need to urinate due to tumor pressure on the bladder.
    5. Unexplained weight loss: sudden weight loss without changes in diet or exercise (this goes for cancer in general, of course).
    6. Fatigue: extreme tiredness that doesn’t improve with rest, possibly linked to anemia.
    7. Back pain: persistent lower back pain due to tumor pressure or fluid buildup.
    8. Changes in bowel habits: unexplained constipation, diarrhea, or a feeling of incomplete bowel movements.
    9. Menstrual changes: irregular, heavier, lighter, or missed periods in premenopausal women.
    10. Pain during intercourse: discomfort or deep pelvic pain during or after vaginal sex—often overlooked!

    Of course, some of those things can be caused by many things, but it’s worth getting it checked out, especially if you have a cluster of them together. Even if it’s not ovarian cancer (and hopefully it won’t be), having multiple things from this list certainly means that “something wrong is not right” in any case.

    For those who remember better from videos than what you read, enjoy:

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

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Stop Cancer 20 Years Ago

    Take care

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  • Bright Line Eating – by Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson

    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.

    This is a great title! It’s a great book too, but let’s talk about the title for a moment:

    The “Bright Line” referenced (often used in the plural within the book) is the line one draws between what one will and will not do. It’s a line one doesn’t cross, and it’s a bright line, because it’s not a case of “oh woe is me I cannot have the thing”, but rather “oh yay is me for I being joyously healthy”.

    And as for living happy, thin, and free? The author makes clear that “thin” is only a laudable goal if it’s bookended by “happy” and “free”. Eating things because we want to, and being happy about our choices.

    To this end, while some of the book is about nutrition (and for example the strong recommendation to make the first “bright lines” one draws cutting out sugar and flour), the majority of it is about the psychology of eating.

    This includes, hunger and satiety, willpower and lack thereof, disordered eating and addictions, body image issues and social considerations, the works. She realizes and explains, that if being healthy were just a matter of the right diet plan, everyone would be healthy. But it’s not; our eating behaviors don’t exist in a vacuum, and there’s a lot more to consider.

    Despite all the odds, however, this is a cheerful and uplifting book throughout, while dispensing very practical, well-evidenced methods for getting your brain to get your body to do what you want it to.

    Bottom line: this isn’t your average diet book, and it’s not just a motivational pep talk either. It’s an enjoyable read that’s also full of science and can make a huge difference to how you see food.

    Click here to check out Bright Line Eating, and enjoy life, healthily!

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  • Testosterone, Tourette’s, and Tickly Throats

    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

    ❝Could you do a series on mens health? Testosterone boosters. Libido? What works what doesnt? Also could you discuss prostate health and what supplements, meds, foods or protocols work to relieve symptoms of bph❞

    We could indeed! We’ll be sure to write more, but while you’re waiting, you might like to read our main feature from a while back:

    Too Much Or Too Little Testosterone?

    …as it does include a lot about the use of a supplement that helps against Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, with performance comparable to the most common drug prescribed for such.

    And since (like that drug) it’s a 5α-reductase inhibitor (meaning it works by blocking the conversion of testosterone to DHT), this means it helps against prostate problems (and also, incidentally, male pattern hair loss) without reducing overall testosterone levels. In fact, because less testosterone will be converted to DHT, you’ll actually (all other things being equal) end up with slightly higher free testosterone levels.

    ❝My BMI is fine, but my waist is too big. What do I do about that? I am 5′ 5″ tall and 128 pounds and 72 years old.❞

    It’s hard to say without knowing about your lifestyle (and hormones, for that matter)! But, extra weight around the middle in particular is often correlated with high levels of cortisol, so you might find this of benefit:

    Lower Your Cortisol! (Here’s Why & How)

    ❝Is there anything special that might help someone with Tourette’s syndrome?❞

    There are of course a lot of different manifestations of Tourette’s syndrome, and some people’s tics may be far more problematic to themselves and/or others, while some may be quite mild and just something to work around.

    It’s an interesting topic for sure, so we’ll perhaps do a main feature (probably also covering the related-and-sometimes-overlapping OCD umbrella rather than making it hyperspecific to Tourette’s), but meanwhile, you might consider some of these options:

    ❝Natural solutions for osteoarthritis. Eg. Rosehip tea, dandelion root tea. Any others??? What foods should I absolutely leave alone?❞

    We’ll do a main feature on arthritis (in both its main forms) someday soon, but meanwhile, we recommend eating for good bone/joint health and against inflammation. To that end, you might like these main features we did on those topics:

    Of these, probably the last one is the most critical, and also will have the speediest effects if implemented.

    We turn the tables and ask you a question!

    We’ll then talk about this tomorrow:

    Share This Post

Related Posts

  • Eat to Beat Your Diet – by Dr. William Li
  • Delay Ageing – by Dr. Colin Rose

    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.

    Note: the title is spelled that way because it is British English. We generally write in US English here at 10almonds, but we’ll first quote directly from Dr. Rose as written:

    ❝I have written Delay Ageing because there is some very important recent University research on ageing and age related illness that deserves to be made accessible to a general audience.❞

    What is this research? Well, there’s quite a lot over its 300-odd pages (exact number depends on the edition and whether we count end matter), and most of it is tweaks and refinements on things with which you’ll probably be at least brushingly familiar if you’re a regular 10almonds reader.

    Dr. Rose addresses the nine hallmarks of aging, of which there are ten, ranging from such things as “telomeres get shorter” and “DNA accumulates damage”, to “stem cells become exhausted” and “cells fail to communicate properly”, and asks the question “what if we were to target all these things simultaneously?”.

    Rather than going for drugs on drugs on drugs (half of them to deal with undesired side effects of the previous ones), Dr. Cole leaves no stone unturned to find lifestyle interventions that will improve each of these, even if just a little. Because, all those “little” improvements add up and even compound, and on the flipside, mean that factors of aging aren’t adding up and compounding so much or so quickly anymore.

    The rather broad umbrella of “lifestyle interventions” obviously includes food under its auspices, and with it, nutraceuticals. So to give one example, if you’re taking a fisetin supplement (a natural senolytic agent), you’ll find science vindicating that here. And much more.

    The style is… Less pop-science and more “textbook written for laypersons”, and you may be thinking “isn’t that the same?” and the difference is that the textbook has a lot less polish and finesse, but often more precise information.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to combat aging on 10 different fronts with easily implementable lifestyle interventions, and know exactly what is doing what and how, then this is the book for you.

    Click here to check out Delay Ageing, and delay aging!

    Don’t Forget…

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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  • A Statin-Free Life – by Dr. Aseem Malhotra

    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.

    Here at 10almonds, we’ve written before about the complexities of statins, and their different levels of risk/benefit for men and women, respectively. It’s a fascinating topic, and merits more than an article of the size we write here!

    So, in the spirit of giving pointers of where to find a lot more information, this book is a fine choice.

    Dr. Malhotra, a consultant cardiologist and professor of evidence-based medicine, talks genes and lifestyle, drugs and blood. He takes us on a tour of the very many risk factors for heart disease, and how cholesterol levels may be at best an indicator, but less likely a cause, of heart disease, especially for women. Further and even better, he discusses various more reliable indicators and potential causes, too.

    Rather than be all doom and gloom, he does offer guidance on how to reduce each of one’s personal risk factors and—which is important—keep on top of the various relevant measures of heart health (including some less commonly tested ones, like the coronary calcium score).

    The style is light reading andyet with a lot of reference to hard science, so it’s really the best of both worlds in that regard.

    Bottom line: if you’re considering statins, or are on statins and are reconsidering that choice, then this book will (notwithstanding its own bias in its conclusion) help you make a more-informed decision.

    Click here to check out A Statin-Free Life, and make the best choice for you!

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  • Who you are and where you live shouldn’t determine your ability to survive cancer

    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.

    In Canada, nearly everyone has a cancer story to share. It affects one in every two people, and despite improvements in cancer survivorship, one out of every four people affected by cancer still will die from it.

    As a scientist dedicated to cancer care, I work directly with patients to reimagine a system that was never designed for them in the first place – a system in which your quality of care depends on social drivers like your appearance, your bank statements and your postal code.

    We know that poverty, poor nutrition, housing instability and limited access to education and employment can contribute to both the development and progression of cancer. Quality nutrition and regular exercise reduce cancer risk but are contingent on affordable food options and the ability to stay active in safe, walkable neighbourhoods. Environmental hazards like air pollution and toxic waste elevate the risk of specific cancers, but are contingent on the built environment, laws safeguarding workers and the availability of affordable housing.

    On a health-system level, we face implicit biases among care providers, a lack of health workforce competence in addressing the social determinants of health, and services that do not cater to the needs of marginalized individuals.

    Indigenous peoples, racialized communities, those with low income and gender diverse individuals face the most discrimination in health care, resulting in inadequate experiences, missed diagnosis and avoidance of care. One patient living in subsidized housing told me, “You get treated like a piece of garbage – you come out and feel twice as bad.”

    As Canadians, we benefit from a taxpayer funded health-care system that encompasses cancer care services. The average Canadian enjoys a life expectancy of more than 80 years and Canada boasts high cancer survival rates. While we have made incredible strides in cancer care, we must work together to ensure these benefits are equally shared amongst all people in Canada. We need to redesign systems of care so that they are:

    1. Anti-oppressive. We must begin by understanding and responding to historical and systemic racism that shapes cancer risk, access to care and quality of life for individuals facing marginalizing conditions. Without tackling the root causes, we will never be able to fully close the cancer care gap. This commitment involves undoing intergenerational trauma and harm through public policies that elevate the living and working conditions of all people.
    2. Patient-centric. We need to prioritize patient needs, preferences and values in all aspects of their health-care experience. This means tailoring treatments and services to individual patient needs. In policymaking, it involves creating policies that are informed by and responsive to the real-life experiences of patients. In research, it involves engaging patients in the research process and ensuring studies are relevant to and respectful of their unique perspectives and needs. This holistic approach ensures that patients’ perspectives are central to all aspects of health care.
    3. Socially just. We must strive for a society in which everyone has equal access to resources, opportunities and rights, and systemic inequalities and injustices are actively challenged and addressed. When redesigning the cancer care system, this involves proactive practices that create opportunities for all people, particularly those experiencing the most marginalization, to become involved in systemic health-care decision-making. A system that is responsive to the needs of the most marginalized will ultimately work better for all people.

    Who you are, how you look, where you live and how much money you make should never be the difference between life and death. Let us commit to a future in which all people have the resources and support to prevent and treat cancer so that no one is left behind.

    This article is republished from HealthyDebate under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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