The Gut-Healthiest Yogurt
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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:
- Making Friends With Your Gut (You Can Thank Us Later)
- Dates vs Figs – Which is Healthier?
- The Tiniest Seeds With The Most Value
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Neuroaffirming care values the strengths and differences of autistic people, those with ADHD or other profiles. Here’s how
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We’ve come a long way in terms of understanding that everyone thinks, interacts and experiences the world differently. In the past, autistic people, people with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and other profiles were categorised by what they struggled with or couldn’t do.
The concept of neurodiversity, developed by autistic activists in the 1990s, is an emerging area. It promotes the idea that different brains (“neurotypes”) are part of the natural variation of being human – just like “biodiversity” – and they are vital for our survival.
This idea is now being applied to research and to care. At the heart of the National Autism Strategy, currently in development, is neurodiversity-affirming (neuroaffirming) care and practice. But what does this look like?
Unsplash Reframing differences
Neurodiversity challenges the traditional medical model of disability, which views neurological differences solely through a lens of deficits and disorders to be treated or cured.
Instead, it reframes it as a different, and equally valuable, way of experiencing and navigating the world. It emphasises the need for brains that are different from what society considers “neurotypical”, based on averages and expectations. The term “neurodivergent” is applied to Autistic people, those with ADHD, dyslexia and other profiles.
Neuroaffirming care can take many forms depending on each person’s needs and context. It involves accepting and valuing different ways of thinking, learning and experiencing the world. Rather than trying to “fix” or change neurodivergent people to fit into a narrow idea of what’s considered “normal” or “better”, neuroaffirming care takes a person-centered, strengths-based approach. It aims to empower and support unique needs and strengths.
Neuroaffirming care can look different in a school or clinical setting. Shutterstock/Inna Reznik Adaptation and strengths
Drawing on the social model of disability, neuroaffirming care acknowledges there is often disability associated with being different, especially in a world not designed for neurodivergent people. This shift focuses away from the person having to adapt towards improving the person-environment fit.
This can include providing accommodations and adapting environments to make them more accessible. More importantly, it promotes “thriving” through greater participation in society and meaningful activities.
At school, at work, in clinic
In educational settings, this might involve using universal design for learning that benefits all learners.
For example, using systematic synthetic phonics to teach reading and spelling for students with dyslexia can benefit all students. It also could mean incorporating augmentative and alternative communication, such as speech-generating devices, into the classroom.
Teachers might allow extra time for tasks, or allow stimming (repetitive movements or noises) for self-regulation and breaks when needed.
In therapy settings, neuroaffirming care may mean a therapist grows their understanding of autistic culture and learns about how positive social identity can impact self-esteem and wellbeing.
They may make efforts to bridge the gap in communication between different neurotypes, known as the double empathy problem. For example, the therapist may avoid relying on body language or facial expressions (often different in autistic people) to interpret how a client is feeling, instead of listening carefully to what the client says.
Affirming therapy approaches with children involve “tuning into” their preferred way of communicating, playing and engaging. This can bring meaningful connection rather than compliance to “neurotypical” ways of playing and relating.
In workplaces, it can involve flexible working arrangements (hours, patterns and locations), allowing different modes of communication (such as written rather than phone calls) and low-sensory workspaces (for example, low-lighting, low-noise office spaces).
In public spaces, it can look like providing a “sensory space”, such as at large concerts, where neurodivergent people can take a break and self-regulate if needed. And staff can be trained to recognise, better understand and assist with hidden disabilities.
Combining lived experience and good practice
Care is neuroaffirmative when it centres “lived experience” in its design and delivery, and positions people with disability as experts.
As a result of being “different”, people in the neurodivergent community experience high rates of bullying and abuse. So neuroaffirming care should be combined with a trauma-informed approach, which acknowledges the need to understand a person’s life experiences to provide effective care.
Culturally responsive care acknowledges limited access to support for culturally and racially marginalised Autistic people and higher rates of LGBTQIA+ identification in the neurodivergent community.
In the workplace, we can acknowledge how difference can fuel ideas. Unsplash/Jason Goodman Authentic selves
The draft National Autism Strategy promotes awareness that our population is neurodiverse. It hopes to foster a more inclusive and understanding society.
It emphasises the societal and public health responsibilities for supporting neurodivergent people via public education, training, policy and legislation. By providing spaces and places where neurodivergent people can be their authentic, unmasked selves, we are laying the foundations for feeling seen, valued, safe and, ultimately, happy and thriving.
The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of psychologist Victoria Gottliebsen in drafting this article. Victoria is a member of the Oversight Council for the National Autism Strategy.
Josephine Barbaro, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Psychologist, La Trobe University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Beetroot For More Than Just Your Blood Pressure
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Beetroot is well-known for being good for blood pressure, but what else can it do?
Firstly, blood pressure, yes
This is because… Well, we’ll quote from a paper:
❝As a source of nitrate, beetroot ingestion provides a natural means of increasing in vivo nitric oxide (NO) availability and has emerged as a potential strategy to prevent and manage pathologies associated with diminished NO bioavailability, notably hypertension and endothelial function❞
Source: The Potential Benefits of Red Beetroot Supplementation in Health and Disease
That’s a little modest in its wording though, so let’s just be clear, it does work:
- The effects of dietary nitrate on blood pressure and endothelial function: a review of human intervention studies
- Clinical evidence demonstrating the utility of inorganic nitrate in cardiovascular health
- Vascular effects of dietary nitrate (as found in green leafy vegetables and beetroot) via the nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway
…where you can see that it significantly reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Note: this does mean that if you suffer conversely from hypotension (dangerously low blood pressure) you should probably skip the beetroot.
For your blood sugar levels, too
The fiber in whole beetroot or powdered beetroot extract (but not beetroot juice) is, as usual, good for balancing blood sugars. However, in the case of beetroot, it (probably because of the betalain content, specifically betanin) also improves insulin sensitivity, resulting in lower fasting and postprandial (after-dinner) insulin levels:
See also (cited in the above paper): Post-prandial effect of beetroot (beta vulgaris) juice on glucose and lipids levels of apparently healthy subjects
For your blood lipids, also
This one has less readily available research to support it, so in the category of “papers that aren’t paywalled into oblivion”, here’s one that concludes with the entertainingly specific:
❝Results: Beetroot juice intake increased plasma high density lipoprotein (t= -60.88, P<0.05). Triglyceride, total cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein were reduced (P<0.05). Compared with placebo, beetroot juice reduced the concentrations of triglyceride, total cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Regular beetroot juice intake has significant effects on lipid profile in female soccer players, hence its suggestion for preventing diseases such as hypercholesterolemia and hypertension in female soccer players.❞
However, even if you are not a female soccer player, chances are it will have the same effect on your physiology as theirs (but, credit where it’s due, it’s right that they make claims about only what they know for sure).
Here’s the paper: Efficacy of Beetroot Juice Consumption on the Lipid Profile of Female Soccer Players
What’s good for your blood, is good for your brain
…and that’s just as true here:
When reading that, you’ll see that as well as two health outcome benefits (antidiabetic and anti-Alzheimer’s), there are also two mechanisms of action, which are:
- The blood sugar lowering, insulin sensitivity increasing, lipid improving, qualities we discussed already
- Its fabulous flavonoid content
These two things each in turn have a lot of other components and nuances, so here’s an infographic covering them ← this flowchart makes it all a lot clearer
On which note, those flavonoids aren’t the only active compounds present that result in…
Antioxidant & anti-inflammatory action
This one’s pretty straightforward, but it’s worth mentioning also that (as is commonly the case) what fights oxidation also fights cancer:
❝In recent years, the beetroot, especially the betalains (betanin) and nitrates it contains, now has received increasing attention for their effective biological activity.
Betalains have been proven to eliminate oxidative and nitrative stress by scavenging DPPH, preventing DNA damage, and reducing LDL.
It also has been found to exert antitumor activity by inhibiting cell proliferation, angiogenesis, inducing cell apoptosis, and autophagy.❞
Want to try some?
We don’t sell it, but you can easily grow your own or find it at your local supermarket; if you prefer it in supplement form, dried is better than juice (for a multitude of reasons), so here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎
Enjoy!
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How Does Someone Die From Dementia?
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Dementia is most often thought of in terms of the loss of certain cognitive faculties during the disease’s progress. So how does death occur?
A quiet departure
Notwithstanding it being a widely-feared disease (or set of diseases, since we’re using the umbrella term of dementia, and not the most well-known and common kind, Alzheimer’s), death from dementia is usually a peaceful one; any distressing confusions are usually in the past by this point.
Sometimes, it is not the dementia itself that directly causes death; rather, it leaves someone much more vulnerable to infections, with pneumonia being top of the list, and UTIs also ranking highly. And while a younger healthier person might drink some cranberry juice and shrug it off, for an older person with dementia, even a UTI can be much more serious. Pneumonia, of course, is well-known for often being the final straw.
Sometimes, it is the dementia that directly causes death; the disease causes a slow decline until the person stops eating and drinking. At this time, they will also tend to sleep more, and as mentioned, experience much less agitation and confusion than previously.
In terms of caregiving at this late stage, the hospice worker in the video recommends to do one’s best to keep the person clean and safe from falls or infections, check common pressure sore sites for redness, changing their position if necessary and using pillows to relieve any undue pressure.
For more on all of this, see:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like to read:
When Planning Is A Matter of Life & Death: Managing Your Mortality
Take care!
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Apricot vs Banana – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing apricot to banana, we picked the banana.
Why?
Both are great, and it was close!
In terms of macros, apricot has more protein, while banana has more carbs and fiber; both are low glycemic index foods, and we’ll call this category a tie.
In the category of vitamins, apricot has more of vitamins A, C, E, and K, while banana has more of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and choline, giving banana the win by strength of numbers. It’s worth noting though that apricots are one of the best fruits for vitamin A in particular.
When it comes to minerals, apricot has slightly more calcium, iron, and zinc, while banana has a lot more magnesium, manganese, potassium, and selenium, meaning a moderate win for banana here.
Adding up the sections makes for an overall win for banana—but of course, by all means enjoy either or both!
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
Top 8 Fruits That Prevent & Kill Cancer ← we argue for apricots as bonus number 9 on the list
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What’s Your Personal Life Expectancy?
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.
Tick Tock… Goes the Death Clock?
This fun little test will ask a few questions about you and your lifestyle, and then make a prediction of your personal life expectancy, based on global statistics from the World Health Organisation.
And then the countdown starts… Literally, it generates a clock for you to see your life-seconds ticking away—this may or may not delight you, but it sure is a curiosity.
Their “Letters” page has a lot of reactions from people who just got their results (spoiler: people’s perspectives on life vary a lot)
Who mostly uses this service? According to their stats page, it’s mostly curious under-45s, with gradually less interest in knowing about it from 45 onwards… until the age of 70, when suddenly everyone wants to know about it again!
So Is It Possible To Pause The Clock On Aging? – Q&A Spotlight Interview
Life extension is sometimes viewed as the domain of the super-rich, and with less than half of Millennials (and almost none of Gen-Z) having retirement plans, often those of us who aren’t super-rich have more mundane (and immediate!) goals than living to 120.
And yet…
Middle class and working class life-extensionists do exist, even if not garnering the same media attention. We think that’s strange—after all, while the whimsies of the super-rich may be entertaining to read about, it’s not nearly as applicable to most people as more relatable stories:
- The twenty-something who gives up smoking and adds (healthier!) years to their life
- The thirty-something who adopts a plant-based diet and is less likely to die of heart disease
- The forty-something who stops drinking, and avoids health conditions and mishaps alike
- The fifty-something who reconsiders their health plan in light of their changing body
- The sixty-something who takes up yoga, or chess, or salsa dancing
- The seventy-something who gets asked what their secret is
- …and so on
But these are ideas, textbook examples. What if we make it more personal?
We interviewed 10 Almonds subscriber and longevity enthusiast Anastasia S., and here’s what she had to say:
Q: What does life extension mean to you, in your life?
A: To me, the key is healthy life extension. People often joke “I don’t want to live longer; the last years are the worst!” but they’re missing the point that after a certain age, those difficulties are coming whether they come at 50 or 70 or 90. Personally, I’d rather keep them at bay if I can.
Q: How do you do that?
A: Firstly, which won’t be a shock: good diet and exercise. Those two things are possibly the biggest active influences on my longevity. I’m vegan, which I don’t think is outright necessary for good health but done right, it can certainly be good. In this house we eat a lot of whole grains, beans, lentils, vegetables in general, nuts too. As for exercise, I do 30–60 minutes of Pilates daily; it’s nothing fancy and it’s just me in my pajamas at home, but it keeps me strong and fit and supple. I also walk everywhere; I don’t even own a car. Beyond that… I don’t drink or smoke (probably the biggest passive influences on my longevity, i.e., things that aren’t there to make it shorter), and I try to take my sleep seriously, making sure to schedule enough time and prepare properly for it.
Q: Take your sleep seriously? How so?
A: Good “sleep hygiene” as some call it—I schedule a little wind-down time before sleep, with no glaring screens or main lights, making a space between my busy day and restful sleep, kicking anything requiring brainpower to the morning, and making a conscious choice not to think more about those things in the meantime. I take care to make my sleeping environment as conducive as possible to good sleep too; I have a good mattress and pillows, I make sure the temperature is cool but cosy. I have a pot of herbal tea on my bedside table—I hydrate a lot.
Q: Do you take any supplements?
A: I do! They’re mostly quite general though, just “covering my bases”, so to speak. I take a daily nootropic stack (a collection of supplements specifically for brain health), too. I buy them in bulk, so they don’t cost so much.
Q: This seems quite a healthy lifestyle! Do you have any vices at all?
A: I definitely drink more coffee than I probably should! But hey, nobody’s perfect. I do love coffee, though, and as vices go, it’s probably not too bad.
Q: How’s it all working out for you? Do you feel younger?
A: I’m 38 and sometimes I feel like a teenager; sometimes I feel like an old lady. But the latter is usually for social reasons, not health-related reasons. I do have streaks of gray in my hair though, and I love that! If people don’t notice my grays, then they often think I’m in my 20s, rather than pushing 40. A little while back, I was stopped in the street by someone wanting to sell me a change of household utilities provider, then she stopped herself mid-sentence and said “Oh but wait, you look a bit too young, never mind”. Most general metrics of health would put me in my 20s.
Q: That’s interesting that you love your gray hairs, for someone who wants to stay young; is it an exception?
A: It’s more that I want to minimize the problems that come with age, and not everything’s a problem. Gray hairs are cool; joint pain, not so much. A long life rich with experiences is cool; memory loss, not so much. So, I try to keep healthy, and wear my years as best I can.
Q: Sounds good to us; good luck with it!
A: Thank you; I do my best!
Here at 10 Almonds, we love featuring what our readers are doing to improve their health; if you’re willing to be featured in our newsletter, let us know by replying to this email (where an actual human will read it, we promise!)
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Smart Hearing – by Katherine Bouton
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The author’s hearing loss began in her 30s, and now she’s in her 70s with even less hearing, and/but much more experience. Having worked at the Hearing Loss Association of America for much of that time, she has a lot to share.
This book is a practical guide to adult-onset hearing loss, and aims to help the reader navigate not just the difficulties inherent to the condition, but also the complexities around it that are largely societal, administrative, financial, and so forth.
She advocates for early intervention where possible, and that most people in the early stages of hearing loss don’t realize what’s happening. They will tend to just blame the noisy environment, or the speaker, for example. And beyond just hearing tests, she recommends specifics that you might not have heard of, such as the speech-in-noise test.
With regard to technology, she covers the various options,and also ways to pay for them (because Medicare won’t)—which latter is specific to the US, so if you’re from somewhere else, then probably a) this advice won’t help, but b) you probably won’t need it, as most places have more comprehensive healthcare coverage.
The style is quite personal while remaining professional; she often uses her own story as an illustration, but covers experiences other than hers just as thoroughly, so that no major variant of hearing loss gets overlooked.
Bottom line: if you and/or a loved one aren’t hearing/understanding auditory things so well as you used to, this book can help guide you into a position of more practical empowerment, without the need for quite so much trial and error as you might otherwise find alone.
Click here to check out Smart Hearing, and live better with hearing loss!
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