The Kindness Method – by Shahroo Izadi
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Shahroo Izadi here covers everything from alcohol addiction to procrastination to weight loss. It’s a catch-all handbook for changing your habits—in general, and/or in whatever area of your life you most feel you want or need to.
She herself went from yo-yo dieting to a stable healthy lifestyle, and wants to share with us how she did it. So she took what worked for her, organized and dilstilled it, and named it “the kindness method”, which…
- promotes positivity not in a “head in the sand” sense but rather: you have strengths, let’s find them and use them
- offers many exploratory exercises to help you figure out what’s actually going to be best for you
- plans support in advance—you’re going to be your own greatest ally here
Basically it’s about:
- being kind to yourself rather than setting yourself up to fail, and “judging a fish by how well it can climb a tree”
- being kind to yourself by being compassionate towards your past self and moving on with lessons learned
- being kind to yourself by getting things in order for your future self, because you need to treat your future self like a loved one
In fact, why not buy a copy of this book as a gift for your future self?
Click Here To Order Your Copy of “The Kindness Method” on Amazon Today!
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Marathons in Mid- and Later-Life
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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
We had several requests pertaining to veganism, meatless mondays, and substitutions in recipes—so we’re going to cover those on a different day!
As for questions we’re answering today…
Q: Is there any data on immediate and long term effects of running marathons in one’s forties?
An interesting and very specific question! We didn’t find an overabundance of studies specifically for the short- and long-term effects of marathon-running in one’s 40s, but we did find a couple of relevant ones:
The first looked at marathon-runners of various ages, and found that…
- there are virtually no relevant running time differences (p<0.01) per age in marathon finishers from 20 to 55 years
- the majority of middle-aged and elderly athletes have training histories of less than seven years of running
From which they concluded:
❝The present findings strengthen the concept that considers aging as a biological process that can be considerably speeded up or slowed down by multiple lifestyle related factors.❞
See the study: Performance, training and lifestyle parameters of marathon runners aged 20–80 years: results of the PACE-study
The other looked specifically at the impact of running on cartilage, controlled for age (45 and under vs 46 and older) and activity level (marathon-runners vs sedentary people).
The study had the people, of various ages and habitual activity levels, run for 30 minutes, and measured their knee cartilage thickness (using MRI) before and after running.
They found that regardless of age or habitual activity level, running compressed the cartilage tissue to a similar extent. From this, it can be concluded that neither age nor marathon-running result in long-term changes to cartilage response to running.
Or in lay terms: there’s no reason that marathon-running at 40 should ruin your knees (unless you are doing something wrong).
That may or may not have been a concern you have, but it’s what the study looked at, so hey, it’s information.
Here’s the study: Functional cartilage MRI T2 mapping: evaluating the effect of age and training on knee cartilage response to running
Q: Information on [e-word] dysfunction for those who have negative reactions to [the most common medications]?
When it comes to that particular issue, one or more of these three factors are often involved:
- Hormones
- Circulation
- Psychology
The most common drugs (that we can’t name here) work on the circulation side of things—specifically, by increasing the localized blood pressure. The exact mechanism of this drug action is interesting, albeit beyond the scope of a quick answer here today. On the other hand, the way that they work can cause adverse blood-pressure-related side effects for some people; perhaps you’re one of them.
To take matters into your own hands, so to speak, you can address each of those three things we just mentioned:
Hormones
Ask your doctor (or a reputable phlebotomy service) for a hormone test. If your free/serum testosterone levels are low (which becomes increasingly common in men over the age of 45), they may prescribe something—such as testosterone shots—specifically for that.
This way, it treats the underlying cause, rather than offering a workaround like those common pills whose names we can’t mention here.
Circulation
Look after your heart health; eat for your heart health, and exercise regularly!
Cold showers/baths also work wonders for vascular tone—which is precisely what you need in this matter. By rapidly changing temperatures (such as by turning off the hot water for the last couple of minutes of your shower, or by plunging into a cold bath), your blood vessels will get practice at constricting and maintaining that constriction as necessary.
Psychology
[E-word] dysfunction can also have a psychological basis. Unfortunately, this can also then be self-reinforcing, if recalling previous difficulties causes you to get distracted/insecure and lose the moment. One of the best things you can do to get out of this catch-22 situation is to not worry about it in the moment. Depending on what you and your partner(s) like to do in bed, there are plenty of other equally respectable options, so just switch track!
Having a conversation about this in advance will probably be helpful, so that everyone’s on the same page of the script in that eventuality, and it becomes “no big deal”. Without that conversation, misunderstandings and insecurities could arise for your partner(s) as well as yourself (“aren’t I desirable enough?” etc).
So, to recap, we recommend:
- Have your hormones checked
- Look after your circulation
- Make the decision to have fun!
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Hydroxyapatite Toothpaste – 6 Month Update
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A dental hygienist tried hydroxyapatite toothpaste for 6 months, and this is what she found:
The results are in
In few words: she took before-and-after photos, or rather, regular photos through the 6-month process.
What she was mostly looking for: tooth translucency, enamel imperfections, and stains.
What she found: a slight improvement within two months, though over the course of the six months, the photos were somewhat inconsistent—however, this may have more to do with the machinations of her camera, the ambient lighting, etc, than it has to do with the toothpaste. In an ideal world, she’d be able to do a density test with a laser on one side and a sensor on the other, but it seems her budget didn’t stretch to that. In terms of subjective improvement, she found that her teeth felt better, even if the visual change was not consistently apparent.
This is consistent with the idea that hydroxyapatite toothpaste can mineralize teeth throughout the tooth, not just from the outside in, due to the porous nature of the enamel. So, a lot of the change may have been on the inside.
Ultimately, she neither recommends nor discommends the toothpaste, and acknowledges that more time, up to a year, may be needed for more noticeable results.
For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
Tooth Remineralization: How To Heal Your Teeth Naturally
Take care!
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Fix Your Squat: 3 Squat Myths That Need To Die
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This also explains why these myths appeared in the first place:
Let’s get down to it
Trying to copy one “perfect” squat form for every body type can cause more harm than good (people have different builds, postures, mobility, and injury histories).
The result is often people giving wrong advice, much like an albatross might say to a penguin “flight is easy, just flap your wings like this”, or a penguin might say to an albatross “it’s perfectly safe to swim under this ice, just your breath for 15 minutes”.
Consequently, good form should focus on engaging the right muscles and moving safely, not just mimicking how a squat looks on someone else.
Furthermore, forcing a “textbook” squat that’s not right for you can make your body seek mobility from the wrong joints or overuse small stabilizing muscles, increasing compensation injury risk.
In particular, three myths are very prevalent:
- “Your knees mustn’t go past your toes”: this cue originated to help people sit back instead of bending only at the knees, but knees can and often should go past toes, for example when doing a deep and/or pistol squat. The real key is to keep your heels down and properly load your glutes while maintaining good hip and ankle mobility.
- “You must stay perfectly upright”: forcing a straight torso if your build or mobility doesn’t allow for it can cause back pain. A forward lean can be perfectly fine—especially for people with long femurs or shorter torsos—as long as your glutes and core are working properly.
- “There’s one correct squat depth”: there’s no universal rule about how low to go—it depends on your structure, injury history, and control. aim to move through the largest range of motion you can safely manage. Both deep and parallel squats have value depending on your goals. Also, even those who can squat deep can still benefit from using partial squats to target weak points, while others may stop at parallel to protect their knees or maintain control.
For more on each of these plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
Squat Variations for Painful Knees (No More Pain!)
Take care!
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Gooseberries vs Limes – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing gooseberries to limes, we picked the gooseberries.
Why?
It wasn’t close:
In terms of macros, gooseberries have nearly 2x the fiber for the same carbs and protein, scoring an easy first-round win.
In the category of vitamins, gooseberries have more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, and E, while limes have more vitamin B9. They’re equal in other vitamins they both contain, including vitamin C. So this one’s a win for gooseberries too.
Looking at minerals, gooseberries have more copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while limes have more calcium and iron, meaning another rather one-sided win for gooseberries.
In other considerations, gooseberries also have more polyphenols, so that’s another point in their favor.
Adding up the sections makes for an overwhelming overall win for gooseberries, but by all means enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Enjoy!
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Top 8 Fruits That Prevent & Kill Cancer
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Dr. Amy Dee, pharmacist and cancer survivor herself, lays out the best options for anticancer fruits:
The fruits
Without further ado, they are:
- Kiwi: promotes cancer cell death while sparing healthy cells
- Plums & peaches: an interesting choice to list these similar fruits together as one item, but they both also induce cell death in cancer cells while sparing healthy ones
- Dragon fruit: this does the same, while also inhibiting cancer cell growth
- Figs: these have antitumor effects specifically, while removing carcinogens too, and additionally sensitizing cancer cells to light therapy
- Cranberries: disrupt cancer cell adhesion, breaking down tumors, while protecting non-cancerous cells against DNA damage
- Citrus fruits: inhibit tumor growth and kill cancer cells; regular consumption is also associated with a lower cancer risk (be warned though, grapefruit interacts with some medications)
- Cherries: induce cancer cell death; protect healthy cells against DNA damage
- Tomatoes: don’t often make it into lists of fruits, but lycopene reduces cancer risk, and slows the growth of cancer cells (10almonds note: watermelon has more lycopene than tomatoes, and is more traditionally considered a fruit in all respects, so could have taken the spot here).
We would also argue that apricots could have had a spot on the list, both for their lycopene content (comparable to tomatoes) and their botanical (and thus phytochemical) similarities to peaches and plums.
For more information on each of these (she also talks about the different polyphenols and other nutrients that constitute the active compounds delivering these anticancer effects), enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like to read:
- Food Choice & Cancer Risk: Eat To Beat Cancer
- Beat Cancer Kitchen: Deliciously Simple Plant-Based Anticancer Recipes (book)
Take care!
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How Intermittent Fasting Reduces Heart Attack Risk (Directly, Not Via Weight Control!)
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We’ve written before about the benefits of intermittent fasting, such as:
- Intermittent Fasting: What’s The Truth?
- 16/8 Intermittent Fasting For Beginners
- Before You Eat Breakfast: 3 Surprising Facts About Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is mostly enjoyed for its metabolic benefits, such as How To Prevent And Reverse Type 2 Diabetes.
We also covered a very related topic, with intermittent fasting once again being on the suggestions list:
Improve Your Insulin Sensitivity! ← this is actually more important even that blood sugar control itself, important as that latter is!
So, how does it work to reduce heart attack risk?
While intermittent fasting can be used as a weight loss tool (it also doesn’t have to be—it depends on what you eat and what you’re doing in terms of exercise, amongst other factors), this isn’t about that.
Although it is also worth mentioning that intermittent fasting does reduce the risks associated with diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and more, as well as generally improving cardiovascular health by reducing blood pressure, cholesterol, and insulin resistance, amongst other metrics.
However, this is about platelet aggregation. Or in whole: platelet activation, aggregation, and thrombosis.
A team of scientists, Dr. Shimo Dai et al., investigated the effects of alternate-day intermittent fasting on platelets and thrombosis, in two quite different, but both important, demographics:
- Humans with coronary artery disease
- Mice with the ApoE gene (the Alzheimer’s risk gene)
Why the mice? Because they wanted to check the level of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (the damage that occurs after a stroke), and no ethics board will let scientists slice up human participants brains at will.
In both cases, the intermittent fasting group enjoyed protective effects that the control group (ad libitum eating) did not.
Specifically, reduced platelet activation, as well as reduced platelet aggregation. Just to be clear:
- Platelet activation = platelets getting deployed
- Platelet aggregation = platelets sticking together
Both are required for thrombosis, which occurs when the platelets, having been activated and aggregated (which is their job, for example to stop bleeding in the case of an injury), block one or more blood vessels.
A healthy level of platelet activation and aggregation rests in the sweet spot wherefrom it can stop bleeding, without stopping blood circulation.
This was found to be associated with increased levels of indole-3-propionic acid (IPA), which is created by certain gut bacteria (C. sporogenes), who proliferate enthusiastically during intermittent fasting.
In few words:
- intermittent fasting triggers the C. sporogenes to proliferate,
- which increases IPA levels,
- which reduces platelet activation and aggregation,
- which reduces the risk of thrombosis,
- and thus reduces the risk of heart attack.
We may hypothesize that this may be a reason to not do intermittent fasting if you have a bleeding disorder, and consult your doctor if you’re on blood thinners.
For everyone else, this is one more thing that makes intermittent fasting a very healthful practice!
You can find the paper itself here:
And here’s a pop-science article that gets more technical than we have, if you’d like a middle-ground in terms of complexity:
Intermittent fasting cuts heart attack risk by preventing dangerous blood clots
Want to try intermittent fasting, but it sounds hard?
Check out this:
Enjoy!
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