The Gut-Healthiest Yogurt

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.

Not only is this yogurt, so it’s winning from the start with its probiotic goodness, but also it’s full of several kinds of fiber, and gut-healthy polyphenols too. Plus, it’s delicious. The perfect breakfast, but don’t let us stop you from enjoying it at any time of day!

You will need

  • 1 cup yogurt with minimal additives. Live Greek yogurt is a top-tier choice, and plant-based varieties are fine too (just watch out, again, for needless additives)
  • 7 dried figs, roughly chopped
  • 6 fresh figs, thinly sliced
  • 5 oz chopped pitted dates
  • 4 tbsp mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, and chia are a great combination)

Method

(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

1) Soak the dried figs, the dates, and half the seeds in hot water for at least 5 minutes. Drain (be careful not to lose the chia seeds) and put in a blender with ¼ cup cold water.

2) Blend the ingredients from the last step into a purée (you can add a little more cold water if it needs it).

3) Mix this purée into the yogurt in a bowl, and add in the remaining seeds, mixing them in thoroughly.

4) Top with the sliced figs, and serve (or refrigerate, up to a few days, until needed).

Enjoy!

Want to learn more?

For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

Take care!

Don’t Forget…

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

Recommended

  • Caramelized Caraway Cabbage
  • More Mediterranean – by American’s Test Kitchen
    Break the meal monotony with “More Mediterranean”—hundreds of “plant-forward” recipes to rejuvenate your diet for a healthy, vibrant life!

Learn to Age Gracefully

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

  • Triphala Against Cognitive Decline, Obesity, & More

    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.

    Triphala is not just one thing, it is a combination of three plants being used together as one medicine:

    1. Alma (Emblica officinalis)
    2. Bibhitaki (Terminalia bellirica)
    3. Haritaki (Terminalia chebula)

    …generally prepared in a 1:1:1 ratio.

    This is a traditional preparation from ayurveda, and has enjoyed thousands of years of use in India. In and of itself, ayurveda is classified as a pseudoscience (literally: it doesn’t adhere to scientific method; instead, it merely makes suppositions that seem reasonable and acts on them), but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still have a lot to offer—because, simply put, a lot of ayurvedic medicines work (and a lot don’t).

    So, ayurveda’s unintended job has often been finding things for modern science to test.

    For more on ayurveda: Ayurveda’s Contributions To Science (Without Being Itself Rooted in Scientific Method)

    So, under the scrutiny of modern science, how does triphala stand up?

    Against cognitive decline

    It has most recently come to attention because one of its ingredients, the T. chebula, has been highlighted as effective against mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by several mechanisms of action, via its…

    ❝171 chemical constituents and 11 active constituents targeting MCI, such as flavonoids, which can alleviate MCI, primarily through its antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective properties. T. Chebula shows potential as a natural medicine for the treatment and prevention of MCI.

    Read in full: The potential of Terminalia chebula in alleviating mild cognitive impairment: a review

    The review was quite groundbreaking, to the extent that it got a pop-science article written about it:

    New review suggests evaluating Tibetan medicinal herb as potential treatment for mild cognitive impairment

    We’d like to talk about those 11 active constituents in particular, but we don’t have room for all of them, so we’ll mention that one of them is quercetin, which we’ve written about before:

    Fight Inflammation & Protect Your Brain, With Quercetin

    For gut health

    It’s also been found to improve gut health by increasing transit time, that is to say, how slowly things move through your gut. Counterintuitively, this reduces constipation (without being a laxative), by giving your gut more time to absorb everything it needs to, and more time for your gut bacteria to break down the things we can’t otherwise digest:

    A comparative evaluation of intestinal transit time of two dosage forms of Haritaki [Terminalia chebula Retz.]

    For weight management

    Triphala can also aid with weight reduction, particularly in the belly area, by modulating our insulin responses to improve insulin sensitivity:

    Efficacy of [triphala], a combination of three medicinal plants in the treatment of obesity; A randomized controlled trial

    Want to try some?

    We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎

    Enjoy!

    Share This Post

  • Why Curcumin (Turmeric) Is Worth Its Weight In Gold

    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.

    Curcumin (Turmeric) is worth its weight in gold

    Not financially! But, this inexpensive golden spice has an impressive list of well-studied health benefits, for something so freely available in any supermarket, and there’s a reason it gets a place in “Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen”, right up there with things like “leafy greens” and “berries” when it comes to superfoods.

    Let’s do a quick run-down:

    In short, it’s—like we said—worth its weight in gold.

    Quick advice though before we move on…

    If you take curcumin with black pepper, it allows your body to use the curcumin around 2,000% better. This goes whether you’re cooking with both, or take them as a supplement (they’re commonly sold as a combo-capsule for this reason).

    Want to get some?

    Click Here To Check It Out On Amazon

    Share This Post

  • Singledom & Healthy Longevity

    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.

    Statistically, those who live longest, do so in happy, fulfilling, committed relationships.

    Note: happy, fulfilling, committed relationships. Less than that won’t do. Your insurance company might care about your marital status for its own sake, but your actual health doesn’t—it’s about the emotional safety and security that a good, healthy, happy, fulfilling relationship offers.

    We wrote about this here:

    Only One Kind Of Relationship Promotes Longevity This Much!

    But that’s not the full story

    For a start, while being in a happy fulfilling committed relationship statistically adds healthy life years, being in a relationship that falls short of those adjectives certainly does not. See also:

    Relationships: When To Stick It Out & When To Call It Quits

    But also, life satisfaction steadily improves with age, for single people (the results are more complicated for partnered people—probably because of the range of difference in quality of relationships). At least, this held true in this large (n=6,188) study of people aged 40–85 years:

    ❝With advancing age, partnership status became less predictive of loneliness and the satisfaction with being single increased. Among later-born cohorts, the association between partnership status and loneliness was less strong than among earlier-born cohorts. Later-born single people were more satisfied with being single than their earlier-born counterparts.❞

    Source: The Changing Relationship Between Partnership Status and Loneliness: Effects Related to Aging and Historical Time

    Note that this does mean that while life satisfaction indeed improves with age for single people, that’s a generalized trend, and the greatest life satisfaction within this set of singles comes hand-in-hand with being single by choice rather than by perceived obligation, i.e., those who are “single and not looking” will generally be the most content, and this contentedness will improve with age, but for those who are “single and looking”, in that case it’s the younger people who have it better, likely due to a greater sense of having plenty of time.

    For that matter, gender plays a role; this large survey of singles found that (despite the popular old pop-up ads advising that “older women in your area are looking to date”), in reality older single women were the least likely to actively look for a partner:

    See: A Profile Of Single Americans

    …which also shows that about half of single Americans are “not looking”, and of those who are, about half are open to a serious relationship, though this is more common under the age of 40, while being over the age of 40 sees more people looking only for something casual.

    Take-away from this section: being single only decreases life satisfaction if one doesn’t enjoy being single, and even then, and increases it if one does enjoy being single.

    But that’s about life satisfaction, not longevity

    We found no studies specifically into longevity of singledom, only the implications that may be drawn from the longevity of partnered people.

    However, there is a lot of research that shows it’s not being single that kills, it’s being socially isolated. It’s a function of neurodegeneration from a lack of conversation, and it’s a function of what happens when someone slips in the shower and is found a week later. Things like that.

    For example: Is Living Alone “Aging Alone”? Solitary Living, Network Types, and Well-Being

    What if you are alone and don’t want to be?

    We’ve not, at time of writing, written dating advice in our Psychology Sunday section, but this writer’s advice is: don’t even try.

    That’s not nihilism or even cynicism, by the way; it’s actually a kind of optimism. The trick is just to let them come to you.

    (sample size of one here, but this writer has never looked for a relationship in her life, they’ve always just found me, and now that I’m widowed and intend to remain single, I still get offers—and no, I’m not a supermodel, nor rich, nor anything like that)

    Simply: instead of trying to find a partner, just work on expanding your social relationships in general (which is much easier, because the process is something you can control, whereas the outcome of trying to find a suitable partner is not), and if someone who’s right for you comes along, great! If not, then well, at least you have a flock of friends now, and who knows what new unexpected romance may lie around the corner.

    As for how to do that,

    How To Beat Loneliness & Isolation

    Take care!

    Share This Post

Related Posts

  • Caramelized Caraway Cabbage
  • Walnut, Apricot, & Sage Nut Roast

    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 important to have at least one good nut roast recipe in your repertoire. It’s something that’s very good for making a good dish out of odds and ends that are in your house, and done well, it’s not only filling and nutritious, but a tasty treat too. Done badly, everyone knows the results can be unfortunate… Making this the perfect way to show off your skills!

    You will need

    • 1 cup walnuts
    • ½ cup almonds
    • ¼ cup whole mixed seeds (chia, pumpkin, & poppy are great)
    • ¼ cup ground flax (also called flax meal)
    • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
    • 1 large carrot, grated
    • 4 oz dried apricots, chopped
    • 3 oz mushrooms, chopped
    • 1 oz dried goji berries
    • ½ bulb garlic, crushed
    • 2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
    • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
    • 2 tsp dried rosemary
    • 2 tsp dried thyme
    • 2 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • 1 tsp yeast extract (even if you don’t like it; trust us; it will work) dissolved in ¼ cup hot water
    • ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
    • Extra virgin olive oil

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Preheat the oven to 350℉ / 180℃, and line a 2 lb loaf tin with baking paper.

    2) Heat some oil in a skillet over a moderate heat, and fry the onion for a few minutes until translucent. Add the garlic, carrot, and mushrooms, cooking for another 5 minutes, stirring well. Set aside to cool a little once done.

    3) Process the nuts in a food processor, pulsing until they are well-chopped but not so much that they turn into flour.

    4) Combine the nuts, vegetables, and all the other ingredients in a big bowl, and mix thoroughly. If it doesn’t have enough structural integrity to be thick and sticky and somewhat standing up by itself if you shape it, add more ground flax. If it is too dry, add a little water but be sparing.

    5) Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin, press down well (or else it will break upon removal), cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake for a further 15 minutes, until firm and golden. When done, allow it to rest in the tin for a further 15 minutes, before turning it out.

    6) Serve, as part of a roast dinner (roast potatoes, vegetables, gravy, etc).

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    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:

  • Which Style Of Yoga Is Best For You?

    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.

    For you personally, that is—so let’s look at some options, their benefits, and what kind of person is most likely to benefit from each.

    Yoga is, of course, an ancient practice, and like any ancient practice, especially one with so many practitioners (and thus also: so many teachers), there are very many branches to the tree of variations, that is to say, different schools and their offshoots.

    Since we cannot possibly cover all of them, we’ll focus on five broad types that are popular (and thus, likely available near to you, unless you live in a very remote place):

    Hatha Yoga

    This is really the broadest of umbrella categories for yoga as a physical practice of the kind that most immediately comes to mind in the west:

    • Purpose: energizes the practitioner through controlled postures and breath.
    • Practice: non-heated, slow asanas held for about a minute with intentional transitions
    • Benefits: reduces stress, improves flexibility, tones muscles, and boosts circulation.
    • Best for: beginners with an active lifestyle.

    Vinyasa Yoga

    You may also have heard of this called simply “Flow”, without reference to the Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi sense of the word. Rather, it is about a flowing practice:

    • Purpose: builds heat and strength through continuous, flowing movement paired with breath.
    • Practice: dynamic sequences of the same general kind as the sun salutation, leading to a final resting pose.
    • Benefits: enhances heart health, strengthens core, tones muscles, and improves flexibility.
    • Best for: beginner to intermediate yogis seeking a cardio-based practice.

    Hot Yoga

    This one’s well-known and the clue is in the name; it’s yoga practised in a very hot room:

    • Purpose: uses heat to increase heart rate, and loosen muscles.
    • Practice: heated studio (32–42℃, which is 90–108℉), often with vinyasa flows, resulting in heavy sweating*
    • Benefits: burns calories, improves mood, enhances skin, and builds bone density.
    • Best for: intermediate yogis comfortable with heat; not recommended for certain health conditions.

    *and also sometimes heat exhaustion / heat stroke. This problem arises most readily when the ambient temperature is higher than human body temperature, because that is the point at which sweating ceases to fulfil its biological function of cooling us down.

    Noteworthily, a study found that doing the same series of yoga postures in the same manner, but without the heat, produced the same health benefits without the risk:

    ❝The primary finding from this investigation is that the hatha yoga postures in the Bikram yoga series produce similar enhancements in endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in healthy, middle-aged adults regardless of environmental temperature. These findings highlight the efficacy of yoga postures in producing improvements in vascular health and downplay the necessity of the heated practice environment in inducing vascular adaptations.❞

    Source: Effects of yoga interventions practised in heated and thermoneutral conditions on endothelium-dependent vasodilatation: The Bikram yoga heart study

    (“Bikram yoga” is simply the brand name of a particular school of hot yoga)

    Yin Yoga

    This is a Chinese variation, and is in some ways the opposite of the more vigorous forms, being gentler in pretty much all ways:

    • Purpose: promotes deep tissue stretching and circulation by keeping muscles cool.
    • Practice: passive, floor-based asanas held for 5–20 minutes in a calming environment.
    • Benefits: increases flexibility, enhances circulation, improves mindfulness, and emotional release.
    • Best for: all levels, regardless of health or flexibility.

    Restorative Yoga

    This is often tailored to a specific condition, but it doesn’t have to be:

    • Purpose: encourages relaxation and healing through supported, restful poses.
    • Practice: reclined, prop-supported postures in a soothing, low-lit setting.
    • Benefits: relieves stress, reduces chronic pain, calms the nervous system, and supports healing.
    • Best for: those recovering from illness/injury or managing emotional stress.

    See for example: Yoga Therapy for Arthritis: A Whole-Person Approach to Movement and Lifestyle

    Want to know more?

    If you’re still unsure where to start, check out:

    Yoga Teacher: “If I wanted to get flexible (from scratch) in 2025, here’s what I’d do”

    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:

  • Zuranolone: What to know about the pill for postpartum depression

    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 the year after giving birth, about one in eight people who give birth in the U.S. experience the debilitating symptoms of postpartum depression (PPD), including lack of energy and feeling sad, anxious, hopeless, and overwhelmed. 

    Postpartum depression is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition that can affect a person’s bond with their baby. Although it’s frequently confused with the so-called “baby blues,” it’s not the same. 

    The baby blues include similar, temporary symptoms that affect up to 80 percent of people who have recently given birth and usually go away within the first few weeks. PPD usually begins within the first month after giving birth and can last for months and interfere with a person’s daily life if left untreated. Thankfully, PPD is treatable and there is help available

    On August 4, the FDA approved zuranolone, branded as Zurzuvae, the first-ever oral medication to treat PPD. Until now, besides other common antidepressants, the only medication available to treat PPD specifically was the IV injection brexanolone, which is difficult to access and expensive and can only be administered in a hospital or health care setting. 

    Read on to find out more about zuranolone: what it is, how it works, how much it costs, and more. 

    What is zuranolone?

    Zurzuvae is the brand name for zuranolone, an oral medication to treat postpartum depression. Developed by Sage Therapeutics in partnership with Biogen, it’s now available in the U.S. Zurzuvae is typically prescribed as two 25 mg capsules a day for 14 days. In clinical trials, the medication showed to be fast-acting, improving PPD symptoms in just three days

    How does zuranolone work? 

    Zuranolone is a neuroactive steroid, a type of medication that helps the neurotransmitter GABA’s receptors, which affect how the body reacts to anxiety, stress, and fear, function better.

    “Zuranolone can be thought of as a synthetic version of [the neuroactive steroid] allopregnanolone,” says Dr. Katrina Furey, a reproductive psychiatrist, clinical instructor at Yale University, and co-host of the Analyze Scripts podcast. “Women with PPD have lower levels of allopregnenolone compared to women without PPD.”

    How is it different from other antidepressants?

    “What differentiates zuranolone from other previously available oral antidepressants is that it has a much more rapid response and a shorter course of treatment,” says Dr. Asima Ahmad, an OB-GYN, reproductive endocrinologist, and founder of Carrot Fertility

    “It can take effect as early as on day three of treatment, versus other oral antidepressants that can take up to six to 12 weeks to take full effect.” 

    What are Zurzuvae’s side effects? 

    According to the FDA, the most common side effects of Zurzuvae include dizziness, drowsiness, diarrhea, fatigue, the common cold, and urinary tract infection. Similar to other antidepressants, the medication may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and actions in people 24 and younger. However, NPR noted that this type of labeling is required for all antidepressants, and researchers didn’t see any reports of suicidal thoughts in their trials.

    “Drug trials also noted that the side effects for zuranolone were not as severe,” says Ahmad. “[There was] no sudden loss of consciousness as seen with brexanolone or weight gain and sexual dysfunction, which can be seen with other oral antidepressants.”

    She adds: “Given the lower incidence of side effects and more rapid-acting onset, zuranolone could be a viable option for many,” including those looking for a treatment that offers faster symptom relief. 

    Can someone breastfeed while taking zuranolone?

    It’s complicated. In clinical trials, participants were asked to stop breastfeeding (which, according to Furey, is common in early clinical trials). 

    A small study of people who were nursing while taking zuranolone found that 0.3 percent of the medication dose was passed on to breast milk, which, Furey says, is a pretty low amount of exposure for the baby. Ahmad says that “though some data suggests that the risk of harm to the baby may be low, there is still overall limited data.”

    Overall, people should talk to their health care provider about the risks and benefits of breastfeeding while on the medication. 

    “A lot of factors will need to be weighed, such as overall health of the infant, age of the infant, etc., when making this decision,” Furey says. 

    How much does Zurzuvae cost? 

    Zurzuvae’s price before insurance coverage is $15,900 for the 14-day treatment. However, the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health says insurance companies and Medicaid are expected to cover it because it’s the only drug of its kind. 

    Less than 1 percent of U.S. insurers have issued coverage guidelines so far, so it’s still unknown how much it will cost patients after insurance. Some insurers require patients to try another antidepressant first (like the more common SSRIs) before covering Zurzuvae. For uninsured and underinsured people, Sage Therapeutics said it will offer copay assistance

    The hefty price tag and potential issues with coverage may widen existing health disparities, says Ahmad. “We need to ensure that we are seeking out solutions to enable wide-scale access to all PPD treatments so that people have access to whatever treatment may work best for them.”

    If you or anyone you know is considering suicide or self-harm or is anxious, depressed, upset, or needs to talk, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741. For international resources, here is a good place to begin.

    For more information, talk to your health care provider.

    This article first appeared on Public Good News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

    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: