The DASH Diet Mediterranean Solution – by Dr. Marla Heller

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Sometimes, an author releases a series of books that could have just been one book, with various padding and rehashes. In some cases, naming no names Dr. Mark Hyman, it means we have to carefully pick out the honestly very good and highly recommendable ones from the “you just republished for the extra income, didn’t you?” ones.

In this case, today’s book is part of a series of books with very similar titles, and this one seems the most useful as a standalone book

The Mediterranean Diet is still the scientific world’s current “gold standard” in terms of most evidence-based diet for general health, and as we’ve written about, it can be tweaked to focus on being best for [your particular concern here]. In this case, it’s the DASH variant of the Mediterranean Diet, considered best for heart health specifically.

The style is repetitive, and possibly indicative of the author getting into a habit of having to pad books. Nevertheless, saying things too often is better than forgetting to say them, so hey. On which note, it is more of an educational book than a cookbook—it does have recipes, but not many.

Bottom line: if you’d like an introduction to the DASH variant of the Mediterranean Diet, this book will get you well-acquainted.

Click here to check out The DASH Diet Mediterranean Solution, and learn all about it!

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    Savor a hearty classic enriched with protein, fiber, and phytonutrients; a versatile recipe adaptable with seasonal veggies!

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  • Hold Me Tight – by Dr. Sue Johnson

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    A lot of relationship books are quite wishy-washy. This one isn’t.

    This one is evidenced-based (and heavily referenced!), and yet at the same time as being deeply rooted in science, it doesn’t lose the human touch.

    Dr. Johnson has spent her career as a clinical psychologist and researcher; she’s the primary developer of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), which has demonstrated its effectiveness in over 35 years of peer-reviewed clinical research. In other words, it works.

    EFT—and thus also this book—finds roots in Attachment Theory. As such, topics this book covers include:

    • Recognizing and recovering from attachment injury
    • How fights in a relationship come up, and how they can be avoided
    • How lot of times relationships end, it’s not because of fights, but a loss of emotional connection
    • Building a lifetime of love instead, falling in love again each day

    This book lays the groundwork for ensuring a strong, secure, ongoing emotional bond, of the kind that makes/keeps a relationship joyful and fulfilling.

    Dr. Johnson has been recognized in her field with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Order of Canada.

    Get your copy of Hold Me Tight from Amazon today!

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  • Water Water Everywhere, But Which Is Best To Drink?

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    Well Well Well…

    In Tuesday’s newsletter, we asked you for your (health-related) opinion on drinking water—with the understanding that this may vary from place to place. We got the above-depicted, below-described, set of responses:

    • About 65% said “Filtered is best”
    • About 20% said “From the mains is best”
    • About 8% said “Bottled is best”
    • About 3% said “Distilled is best”
    • About 3% said “Some other source is best”

    Of those who said “some other source is best”, one clarified that their preferred source was well water.

    So what does the science say?

    Fluoridated water is bad for you: True or False?

    False, assuming a normal level of consumption. Rather than take up more space today though, we’ll link to what we previously wrote on this topic:

    Q&A: Water Fluoridation

    You may be wondering: but what if my level of consumption is higher than normal?

    Let’s quickly look at some stats:

    • The maximum permitted safety level varies from place to place, but is (for example) 2mg/l in the US, 1.5mg/l in Canada & the UK.
    • The minimum recommended amount also varies from place to place, but is (for example) 0.7mg/l in Canada and the US, and 1mg/l in the UK.

    It doesn’t take grabbing a calculator to realize that if you drink twice as much water as someone else, then depending on where you are, water fluoridated to the minimum may give you more than the recommended maximum.

    However… Those safety margins are set so much lower than the actual toxicity levels of fluoride, that it doesn’t make a difference.

    For example: your writer here takes a medication that has the side effect of causing dryness of the mouth, and consequently she drinks at least 3l of water per day in a climate that could not be described as hot (except perhaps for about 2 weeks of the year). She weighs 72kg (that’s about 158 pounds), and the toxicity of fluoride (for ill symptoms, not death) is 0.2mg/kg. So, she’d need 14.4mg of fluoride, which even if the water fluoridation here were 2mg/l (it’s not; it’s lower here, but let’s go with the highest figure to make a point), would require drinking more than 7l of water faster than the body can process it.

    For more about the numbers, check out:

    Acute Fluoride Poisoning from a Public Water System

    Bottled water is the best: True or False?

    False, if we consider “best” to be “healthiest”, which in turn we consider to be “most nutrients, with highest safety”.

    Bottled water generally does have higher levels of minerals than most local mains supply water does. That’s good!

    But you know what else is generally has? Microplastics and nanoplastics. That’s bad!

    We don’t like to be alarmist in tone; it’s not what we’re about here, but the stats on bottled water are simply not good; see:

    We Are Such Stuff As Bottles Are Made Of

    You may be wondering: “but what about bottled water that comes in glass bottles?”

    Indeed, water that comes in glass bottles can be expected to have lower levels of plastic than water that comes in plastic bottles, for obvious reasons.

    However, we invite you to consider how likely you believe it to be that the water wasn’t stored in plastic while being processed, shipped and stored, before being portioned into its final store-ready glass bottles for end-consumer use.

    Distilled water is the best: True or False?

    False, generally, with caveats:

    Distilled water is surely the safest water anywhere, because you know that you’ve removed any nasties.

    However, it’s also devoid of nutrients, because you also removed any minerals it contained. Indeed, if you use a still, you’ll be accustomed to the build-up of these minerals (generally simplified and referenced as “limescale”, but it’s a whole collection of minerals).

    Furthermore, that loss of nutrients can be more than just a “something good is missing”, because having removed certain ions, that water could now potentially strip minerals from your teeth. In practice, however, you’d probably have to swill it excessively to cause this damage.

    Nevertheless, if you have the misfortune of living somewhere like Flint, Michigan, then a water still may be a fair necessity of life. In other places, it can simply be useful to have in case of emergency, of course.

    Here’s an example product on Amazon if you’d like to invest in a water still for such cases.

    PS: distilled water is also tasteless, and is generally considered bad, tastewise, for making tea and coffee. So we really don’t recommend distilling your water unless you have a good reason to do so.

    Filtered water is the best: True or False?

    True for most people in most places.

    Let’s put it this way: it can’t logically be worse than whatever source of water you put into it…

    Provided you change the filter regularly, of course.

    Otherwise, after overusing a filter, at best it won’t be working, and at worst it’ll be adding in bacteria that have multiplied in the filter over however long you left it there.

    You may be wondering: can water filters remove microplastics, and can they remove minerals?

    The answer in both cases is: sometimes.

    • For microplastics it depends on the filter size and the microplastic size (see our previous article for details on that).
    • For minerals, it depends on the filter type. Check out:

    The H2O Chronicles | 5 Water Filters That Remove Minerals

    One other thing to think about: while most water filtration jugs are made of PFAS-free BPA-free plastics for obvious reasons, for greater peace of mind, you might consider investing in a glass filtration jug, like this one ← this is just one example product on Amazon; by all means shop around and find one you like

    Take care!

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  • Raspberries vs Blackberries – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing raspberries to blackberries, we picked the blackberries.

    Why?

    It was very close! Raspberries most certainly also have their merits. But blackberries do just a little bit better in a few categories:

    In terms of macros, raspberries have a tiny bit more carbs and fiber, while blackberries have a even tinier bit more protein, and the two berries have an equal glycemic index. We’ll call this category a tie, or else the meanest of nominal wins for raspberry.

    In the category of vitamins, raspberries have more of vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, and choline, while blackberries have more of vitamins A, B3, B9, C, E, and K. This would be a very marginal win for blackberries, except that blackberries have more than 6x the vitamin A, a much larger margin than any of the other differences in vitamins (which were usually small differences), which gives blackberry a more convincing win here.

    When it comes to minerals, things are closer: raspberries have more iron, magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus, while blackberries have more calcium, copper, potassium, selenium, and zinc. None of the differences are outstanding, so this is a simple marginal victory for blackberries.

    It would be rude to look at berries without noting their polyphenols; we’re not list them all (or this article will get very long, because each has very many polyphenols with names like “pelargonidin 3-O-glucosyl-rutinoside” and so forth), but suffice it to say: raspberries are great for polyphenols and blackberries are even better for polyphenols.

    That said… In the category of specific polyphenols we’ve written about before at 10almonds, it’s worth noting a high point of each berry, for the sake of fairness: raspberries have more quercetin (but blackberries have lots too) and blackberries have more ellagic acid (of which, raspberries have some, but not nearly as much). Anyway, just going off total polyphenol content, blackberries are the clear winner here.

    Adding up the sections makes for an overall win for blackberries, but by all means, enjoy either or both; diversity is good!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    21 Most Beneficial Polyphenols & What Foods Have Them

    Enjoy!

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  • I’m iron deficient. Which supplements will work best for me and how should I take them?

    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.

    Iron deficiency is common and can be debilitating. It mainly affects women. One in three premenopausal women are low in iron compared to just 5% of Australian men. Iron deficiency particularly affects teenage girls, women who do a lot of exercise and those who are pregnant.

    The body needs iron to make new red blood cells, and to support energy production, the immune system and cognitive function. If you’re low, you may experience a range of symptoms including fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, headache, irregular heartbeat and reduced concentration.

    If a blood test shows you’re iron deficient, your doctor may recommend you start taking an oral iron supplement. But should you take a tablet or a liquid? With food or not? And when is the best time of day?

    Here are some tips to help you work out how, when and what iron supplement to take.

    LittlePigPower/Shutterstock

    How do I pick the right iron supplement?

    The iron in your body is called “elemental iron”. Choosing the right oral supplement and dose will depend on how much elemental iron it has – your doctor will advise exactly how much you need.

    The sweet spot is between 60-120 mg of elemental iron. Any less and the supplement won’t be effective in topping up your iron levels. Any higher and you risk gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea, cramping and stomach pain.

    Three pregnant bellies during a stretching class.
    Low iron can especially affect people during pregnancy and women who do a lot of sport. Kamil Macniak/Shutterstock

    In Australia, iron salts are the most common oral supplements because they are cheap, effective and come in different delivery methods (tablets, capsules, liquid formulas). The iron salts you are most likely to find in your local chemist are ferrous sulfate (~20% elemental iron), ferrous gluconate (~12%) and ferrous fumarate (~33%).

    These formulations all work similarly, so your choice should come down to dose and cost.

    Many multivitamins may look like an iron supplement, but it’s important to note they usually have too little iron – usually less than 20 mg – to correct an iron deficiency.

    Should I take tablets or liquid formulas?

    Iron contained within a tablet is just as well absorbed as iron found in a liquid supplement. Choosing the right one usually comes down to personal preference.

    The main difference is that liquid formulas tend to contain less iron than tablets. That means you might need to take more of the product to get the right dose, so using a liquid supplement could work out to be more expensive in the long term.

    What should I eat with my iron supplement?

    Research has shown you will absorb more of the iron in your supplement if you take it on an empty stomach. But this can cause more gastrointestinal issues, so might not be practical for everyone.

    If you do take your supplement with meals, it’s important to think about what types of food will boost – rather than limit – iron absorption. For example, taking the supplement alongside vitamin C improves your body’s ability to absorb it.

    Some supplements already contain vitamin C. Otherwise you could take the supplement along with a glass of orange juice, or other vitamin C-rich foods.

    A woman pours orange juice into a glass next to a bowl of strawberries and kiwifruit.
    Taking your supplement alongside foods rich in vitamin C, like orange juice or kiwifruit, can help your body absorb the iron. Anete Lusina/Pexels

    On the other hand, tea, coffee and calcium all decrease the body’s ability to absorb iron. So you should try to limit these close to the time you take your supplement.

    Should I take my supplement in the morning or evening?

    The best time of day to take your supplement is in the morning. The body can absorb significantly more iron earlier in the day, when concentrations of hepcidin (the main hormone that regulates iron) are at their lowest.

    Exercise also affects the hormone that regulates iron. That means taking your iron supplement after exercising can limit your ability to absorb it. Taking your supplement in the hours following exercise will mean significantly poorer absorption, especially if you take it between two and five hours after you stop.

    Our research has shown if you exercise every day, the best time to take your supplement is in the morning before training, or immediately after (within 30 minutes).

    My supplements are upsetting my stomach. What should I do?

    If you experience gastrointestinal side effects such as diarrhoea or cramps when you take iron supplements, you may want to consider taking your supplement every second day, rather than daily.

    Taking a supplement every day is still the fastest way to restore your iron levels. But a recent study has shown taking the same total dose can be just as effective when it’s taken on alternate days. For example, taking a supplement every day for three months works as well as every second day for six months. This results in fewer side effects.

    Oral iron supplements can be a cheap and easy way to correct an iron deficiency. But ensuring you are taking the right product, under the right conditions, is crucial for their success.

    It’s also important to check your iron levels prior to commencing iron supplementation and do so only under medical advice. In large amounts, iron can be toxic, so you don’t want to be consuming additional iron if your body doesn’t need it.

    If you think you may be low on iron, talk to your GP to find out your best options.

    Alannah McKay, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sports Nutrition, Australian Catholic University

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

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  • CBD Oil’s Many Benefits

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    CBD Oil: What Does The Science Say?

    CBD and THC are both derived from the hemp or cannabis plant, but only the latter has euphoriant psychoactive effects, i.e., will get you high. We’re writing here about CBD derived from hemp and not containing THC (thus, will not get you high).

    Laws and regulations differ far too much from place to place for us to try to advise here, so please check your own local laws and regulations. And also, while you’re at it, with your doctor and/or pharmacist.

    As ever, this newsletter is for purposes of education and enjoyment, and does not constitute any kind of legal (or medical) advice.

    With that in mind, onwards to today’s research review…

    CBD for Pain Relief

    CBD has been popularly touted as a pain relief panacea, and there are a lot of pop-science articles out there “debunking” this, but…

    The science seems to back it up. We couldn’t find studies refuting the claim (of CBD as a viable pain relief option). We did, however, find research showing it was good against:

    Note that that latter (itself a research review, not a single study, hence covering a lot of bases) describes it matter-of-factly, with no caveats or weasel-words, as:

    “CBD, a non-euphoriant, anti-inflammatory analgesic with CB1 receptor antagonist and endocannabinoid modulating effects”

    As a quick note: all of the above is about the topical use of CBD oil, not any kind of ingestion

    CBD for Anxiety/Depression

    There’s a well-cited study with what honestly we think was a bit of a small sample size, but compelling results within that:

    A study published in the Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry tested the anxiety levels of 57 men in a simulated public speaking test.

    Compared to placebo…

    • Those who received 300mg of CBD experienced significantly reduced anxiety during the test.
    • Those who received either 150mg or 600mg of CBD experienced more anxiety during the test than the 300mg group
    • This means there’s a sweet spot to the dosage

    There was also a clinical study that found CBD to have anti-depressant effects.

    The methodology was a lot more robust, but the subjects were mice. We can’t have everything in one study, apparently! There is probably a paucity of human volunteers to have their brain slices looked at after tests, though.

    Anyway, what makes this study interesting is that it measured quite an assortment of biological markers in the brain, and found that the CBD had a similar physiological effect to the antidepressant imipramine.

    CBD for Treating Opioid Addiction

    There are a lot of studies for this, both animal and human, but we’d like to put the spotlight on a human study (with the participation of heroin users) that found:

    ❝Within one week, CBD significantly reduced cravings, anxiety, resting heart rate, and salivary cortisol levels. No serious adverse effects were found.❞

    This is groundbreaking because the very thing about heroin is that it’s so addictive and the body rapidly needs more and more of it. You might think “duh”, but most people don’t realize this part:

    Heroin is attractive because it offers (and delivers) an immediate guaranteed “downer”, instant relaxation… with none of the bad side effects of, for example, alcohol. No nausea, no hangover, nothing.

    The problem is that the body gets tolerant to heroin very quickly, meaning your doses need to get bigger and more frequent to have the same effect.

    Before you know it, what seemed like an affordable “self-medication for a stressful life” is very much out of control! Many doctors have personally found this out the hard way.

    So, it’s ruinous:

    • first to your financial health, as the costs rapidly spiral
    • then to your physical health, as you either suffer from withdrawal or eventually overdose

    Consequently, heroin is an incredibly easy drug to get hooked onto, and incredibly difficult to get back off.

    So CBD offering relief is really a game-changer.

    Read it for yourself here!

    And more…

    CBD has been well-studied and found to be effective for a lot of things, more than we could hope to cover in a single edition here.

    Some further reading that may interest you includes:

    Let us know if there’s any of these (or other) conditions you’d like us to look more into the CBD-related research for, because there’s a lot! You can always hit reply to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom

    Read (and shop, if you want and it’s permitted where you are):

    10 Best CBD Oils of 2023, According to the Forbes Health Advisory Board

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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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