The Menopause Manifesto – by Dr. Jen Gunter

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.

From the subtitle, you may wonder: with facts and feminism? Is this book about biology or sociology?

And the answer is: both. It’s about biology, principally, but without ignoring the context. We do indeed “live in a society”, and that affects everything from our healthcare options to what is expected of us as women.

So, as a warning: if you dislike science and/or feminism, you won’t like this book.

Dr. Jen Gunter, herself a gynaecologist, is here to arm us with science-based facts, to demystify an important part of life that is commonly glossed over.

She talks first about the what/why/when/how of menopause, and then delivers practical advice. She also talks about the many things we can (and can’t!) usefully do about symptoms we might not want, and how to look after our health overall in the context of menopause. We learn what natural remedies do or don’t work and/or can be actively harmful, and we learn the ins and outs of different hormone therapy options too.

Bottom line: no matter whether you are pre-, peri-, or post-menopausal, this is the no-BS guide you’ve been looking for. Same goes if you’re none of the above but spend any amount of time close to someone who is.

Click here to check out The Menopause Manifesto, and understand better the changes in your (and/or your loved one’s) body!

Don’t Forget…

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

Recommended

  • Accidentally Overweight – by Dr. Libby Weaver
  • How to Eat (And Still Lose Weight) – by Dr. Andrew Jenkinson
    No diet recommendations here. Instead, this book delves into the science of hunger, metabolism, and weight regulation. It’s like a cheat code for eating and losing weight.

Learn to Age Gracefully

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

  • Mediterranean Air Fryer Cookbook – by Naomi Lane

    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.

    There are Mediterranean Diet cookbooks, and there are air fryer cookbooks. And then there are (a surprisingly large intersection of!) Mediterranean Diet air fryer cookbooks. We wanted to feature one of them in today’s newsletter… And as part of the selection process, looked through quite a stack of them, and honestly, were quite disappointed with many. This one, however, was one of the ones that stood out for its quality of both content and clarity, and after a more thorough reading, we now present it to you:

    Naomi Lane is a professional dietician, chef, recipe developer, and food writer… And it shows, on all counts.

    She covers what the Mediterranean diet is, and she covers far more than this reviewer knew it was even possible to know about the use of an air fryer. That alone would make the book a worthy purchase already.

    The bulk of the book is the promised 200 recipes. They cover assorted dietary requirements (gluten-free, dairy-free, etc) while keeping to the Mediterranean Diet.

    The recipes are super clear, just what you need to know, no reading through a nostalgic storytime first to find things. Also no pictures, which will be a plus for some readers and a minus for others. The recipes also come complete with nutritional information for each meal (including sodium), so you don’t have to do your own calculations!

    Bottom line: this is the Mediterranean Diet air fryer cook book. Get it, thank us later!

    Get your copy of “Mediterranean Air Fryer Cookbook” on Amazon today!

    Share This Post

  • Forks Over Knives: Flavor! – by Darshana Thacker

    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 not have to choose too much between health and flavor, because the outcome will never be a good one, either for your health or your happiness. And what’s bad for your happiness will ultimately not work out and thus will be bad for your general health, so, the question becomes: how to get both?

    This book handles that nicely, delivering plant-based dishes that are also incidentally oil-free, and also either gluten-free or else there’s an obvious easy substitution to make it such. The flavor here comes from the ingredients as a whole, including the main ingredients as well as seasonings.

    On the downside, occasionally those ingredients may be a little obscure if you don’t live in, say, San Francisco, and the ingredients weren’t necessarily chosen for cooking on a budget, either.

    However, in most cases for most people it will, at worse, inspire you to try using an ingredient you don’t usually use—so that’s a good result.

    The recipes are very clear and easy to follow, although not all are illustrated, and the “ready in…” times are about as accurate as they are for any cookbook, that is to say, it’s the time in which it conceivably can be done if (like the author, a head chef) you have a team of sous-chefs who have done a bunch of prep for you (e.g. sweet potato does not normally come in ½” dice; it comes in sweet potatoes) and laid everything out in little bowls mise-en-place style, and also you know the procedure well enough to not have to stop, hesitate, check anything, wash anything, wait for water to boil or anything else to heat up, or so forth. In other words, if you’re on your own in your home kitchen with normal domestic appliances, it’s going to take a little longer than for a professional in a professional kitchen with professional help.

    But don’t let that detract from the honestly very good recipes.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to level-up your plant-based cooking, this will definitely make your dishes that bit better!

    Click here to check out Forks Over Knives: Flavor!, and dig in!

    Share This Post

  • Women are less likely to receive CPR than men. Training on manikins with breasts could help

    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.

    If someone’s heart suddenly stops beating, they may only have minutes to live. Doing CPR (cardiopulmonary resusciation) can increase their chances of survival. CPR makes sure blood keeps pumping, providing oxygen to the brain and vital organs until specialist treatment arrives.

    But research shows bystanders are less likely to intervene to perform CPR when that person is a woman. A recent Australian study analysed 4,491 cardiac arrests between 2017–19 and found bystanders were more likely to give CPR to men (74%) than women (65%).

    Could this partly be because CPR training dummies (known as manikins) don’t have breasts? Our new research looked at manikins available worldwide to train people in performing CPR and found 95% are flat-chested.

    Anatomically, breasts don’t change CPR technique. But they may influence whether people attempt it – and hesitation in these crucial moments could mean the difference between life and death.

    Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock

    Heart health disparities

    Cardiovascular diseases – including heart disease, stroke and cardiac arrest – are the leading cause of death for women across the world.

    But if a woman has a cardiac arrest outside hospital (meaning her heart stops pumping properly), she is 10% less likely to receive CPR than a man. Women are also less likely to survive CPR and more likely to have brain damage following cardiac arrests.

    People cross a busy street in lined with trees in Melbourne.
    Bystanders are less likely to intervene if a woman needs CPR, compared to a man. doublelee/Shutterstock

    These are just some of many unequal health outcomes women experience, along with transgender and non-binary people. Compared to men, their symptoms are more likely to be dismissed or misdiagnosed, or it may take longer for them to receive a diagnosis.

    Bystander reluctance

    There is also increasing evidence women are less likely to receive CPR compared to men.

    This may be partly due to bystander concerns they’ll be accused of sexual harassment, worry they might cause damage (in some cases based on a perception women are more “frail”) and discomfort about touching a woman’s breast.

    Bystanders may also have trouble recognising a woman is experiencing a cardiac arrest.

    Even in simulations of scenarios, researchers have found those who intervened were less likely to remove a woman’s clothing to prepare for resuscitation, compared to men. And women were less likely to receive CPR or defibrillation (an electric charge to restart the heart) – even when the training was an online game that didn’t involve touching anyone.

    There is evidence that how people act in resuscitation training scenarios mirrors what they do in real emergencies. This means it’s vital to train people to recognise a cardiac arrest and be prepared to intervene, across genders and body types.

    Skewed to male bodies

    Most CPR training resources feature male bodies, or don’t specify a sex. If the bodies don’t have breasts, it implies a male default.

    For example, a 2022 study looking at CPR training across North, Central and South America, found most manikins available were white (88%), male (94%) and lean (99%).

    A woman's hands press down on a male manikin torso wearing a blue jacket.
    It’s extremely rare for a manikin to have breasts or a larger body. M Isolation photo/Shutterstock

    These studies reflect what we see in our own work, training other health practitioners to do CPR. We have noticed all the manikins available to for training are flat-chested. One of us (Rebecca) found it difficult to find any training manikins with breasts.

    A single manikin with breasts

    Our new research investigated what CPR manikins are available and how diverse they are. We identified 20 CPR manikins on the global market in 2023. Manikins are usually a torso with a head and no arms.

    Of the 20 available, five (25%) were sold as “female” – but only one of these had breasts. That means 95% of available CPR training manikins were flat-chested.

    We also looked at other features of diversity, including skin tone and larger bodies. We found 65% had more than one skin tone available, but just one was a larger size body. More research is needed on how these aspects affect bystanders in giving CPR.

    Breasts don’t change CPR technique

    CPR technique doesn’t change when someone has breasts. The barriers are cultural. And while you might feel uncomfortable, starting CPR as soon as possible could save a life.

    Signs someone might need CPR include not breathing properly or at all, or not responding to you.

    To perform effective CPR, you should:

    • put the heel of your hand on the middle of their chest
    • put your other hand on the top of the first hand, and interlock fingers (keep your arms straight)
    • press down hard, to a depth of about 5cm before releasing
    • push the chest at a rate of 100-120 beats per minute (you can sing a song) in your head to help keep time!)

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/Plse2FOkV4Q?wmode=transparent&start=94 An example of how to do CPR – with a flat-chested manikin.

    What about a defibrillator?

    You don’t need to remove someone’s bra to perform CPR. But you may need to if a defibrillator is required.

    A defibrillator is a device that applies an electric charge to restore the heartbeat. A bra with an underwire could cause a slight burn to the skin when the debrillator’s pads apply the electric charge. But if you can’t remove the bra, don’t let it delay care.

    What should change?

    Our research highlights the need for a range of CPR training manikins with breasts, as well as different body sizes.

    Training resources need to better prepare people to intervene and perform CPR on people with breasts. We also need greater education about women’s risk of getting and dying from heart-related diseases.

    Jessica Stokes-Parish, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Bond University and Rebecca A. Szabo, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Critical Care and Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health, The University of Melbourne

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

    Share This Post

Related Posts

  • Accidentally Overweight – by Dr. Libby Weaver
  • 16 Overlooked Autistic Traits In Women

    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.

    We hear a lot about “autism moms”, but Taylor Heaton is an autistic mom, diagnosed as an adult, and she has insights to share about overlooked autistic traits in women.

    The Traits

    • Difficulty navigating romantic relationships: often due to misreading signs
    • Difficulty understanding things: including the above, but mostly: difficulty understanding subtext, when people leave things as “surely obvious”. Autistic women are likely to be aware of the possible meanings, but unsure which it might be, and may well guess wrongly.
    • Masking: one of the reasons for the gender disparity in diagnosis is that autistic women are often better at “masking”, that is to say, making a conscious effort to blend in to allistic society—often as a result of being more societally pressured to do so.
    • Honesty: often to a fault
    • Copy and paste: related to masking, this is about consciously mirroring others in an effort to put them at ease and be accepted
    • Being labelled sensitive and/or gifted: usually this comes at a young age, but the resultant different treatment can have a lifetime effect
    • Secret stims: again related to masking, and again for the same reasons that displaying autistic symptoms is often treated worse in women, autistic women’s stims tend to be more subtle.
    • Written communication: autistic women are often more comfortable with the written word than the spoken
    • Leadership: autistic women will often gravitate to leadership roles, partly as a survival mechanism
    • Gaslighting: oneself, e.g. “If this person did this without that, then I can to” (without taking into account that maybe the circumstances are different, or maybe they actually did lean on crutches that you didn’t know were there, etc).
    • Inner dialogue: rich inner dialogue, but unable to express it outwardly—often because of the sheer volume of thoughts per second.
    • Fewer female friends: often few friends overall, for that matter, but there’s often a gender imbalance towards male friends, or where there isn’t, towards more masculine friends at least.
    • Feeling different: often a matter of feeling one does not meet standard expectations in some fashion
    • School: autistic women are often academically successful
    • Special interests: often more “socially accepted” interests than autistic men’s.
    • Flirting: autistic women are often unsure how to flirt or what to do about it, which can result in simple directness instead

    For more details on all of these, enjoy:

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

    Related reading:

    You might like a main feature of ours from not long back:

    Miss Diagnosis: Anxiety, ADHD, & Women

    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:

  • 10,000 Steps, 30 Days, 4 Changes

    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.

    Ariel wasn’t the most active person, and took on a “30 day challenge” to do the commonly-prescribed 10,000 steps per day—without adjusting her diet or doing any other exercise. How much of a difference does it make, really?

    Stepping onwards

    The 4 main things that she found changed for her weren’t all what she expected:

    • Weight loss yes, but only marginally: she lost 3 lbs in a month, which did nevertheless make a visible difference. We might hypothesize that part of the reason for the small weight loss and yet visible difference is that she gained a little muscle, and the weight loss was specifically shifting away from a cortisol-based fat distribution, to a more healthy fat distribution.
    • Different eating habits: she felt less hungry and craved less sugar. This likely has less to do with calorie consumption, and more to do with better insulin signalling.
    • Increased energy and improved mood: these are going together in one item, because she said “4 things”, but really they are two related things. So, consider one of them a bonus item! In any case, she felt more energized and productive, and less reliant on caffeine.
    • Improved sleep: or rather, at first, disrupted sleep, and then slept better and stayed better. A good reminder that changes for the better don’t always feel better in the first instance!

    To hear about it in her own words, and see the before and after pictures, enjoy:

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

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    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:

  • Science-Based Alternative Pain Relief

    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.

    When Painkillers Aren’t Helping, These Things Might

    Maybe you want to avoid painkillers, or maybe you’ve already maxed out what you can have, and want more options as an extra help against the pain.

    Today we’ll look at some science-backed alternative pain relief methods:

    First: when should we try to relieve pain?

    There is no such thing as “this pain is not too much”. The correct amount of pain is zero. Maybe your body won’t let you reach zero, but more than that is “too much” already.

    You don’t have to be suffering off the scale to deserve relief from pain!

    So: if it hurts, then if you can safely get relief from the pain, it’s already wise to do so.

    A couple of things we covered previously

    CBD and THC are technically drugs, but are generally considered “alternative” pain relief, so we’ll give a quick mention here:

    Short version:

    • CBD can treat some kinds of treatment-resistant pain well (others, not so much—try it and find out if it works for you)
    • THC can offer some people respite not found from other methods—but beware, because there are many health risks to consider.

    Acupuncture

    Pain relief appears to be its strongest suit:

    Pinpointing The Usefulness Of Acupuncture

    Cloves

    Yes, just like you can get from the supermarket.

    In its medicinal uses, it’s most well-known as a toothache remedy, but it has a local analgesic effect wherever you put it (i.e., apply it topically to where the pain is), thanks to its eugenol content:

    Syzygium aromaticum L. (Myrtaceae): Traditional Uses, Bioactive Chemical Constituents, Pharmacological and Toxicological Activities

    Boswellia (frankincense)

    The resin of the Boswellia serrata tree, this substance has an assortment of medicinal properties, including pain relief, anti-inflammatory effect, and psychoactive (anxiolytic and antidepressant) effects:

    Frankincense is psychoactive: new class of antidepressants might be right under our noses

    And as for physical pain? Here’s how it faired against the pain of osteoarthritis (and other OA symptoms, but we’re focusing on pain today), for example:

    Effectiveness of Boswellia and Boswellia extract for osteoarthritis patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

    Here’s an example product on Amazon, but feel free to shop around as there are many options, including for example this handy roll-on

    Further reading

    Intended for chronic pain, but in large part applicable to acute pain also:

    Managing Chronic Pain (Realistically!)

    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: