The Plant-Based Athlete – by Matt Frazier and Robert Cheeke

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If you’re already a seasoned plant-based athlete yourself, you can probably skip this book; the 60 recipes at the end would still provide value, but there is the “No Meat Athlete Cookbook” that you could hop straight to, in any case.

For most readers, there will be plenty of value from start to finish. We get a quick ground-up tour of nutrition basics, before getting into restructuring diet to optimize it for performance.

There is less in the way of “Vegans struggle with…” and more in the way of “People think vegans struggle with…” and explanations of what vegan athletes actually eat. The book does include science, but isn’t too science-heavy, and relies more on modelling what plant-based superathletes enjoy on a daily basis.

To that end,if the book has a weak point, it’s perhaps that it could have stood to include more science. The book comes recommended by Dr. Michael Greger, whose nutritional approach is incredibly science-heavy and well-referenced, and this book is obviously compatible with that (so they could have!), but in this case Frazier and Cheeke leave us to take their word for it.

Nevertheless, the science is good whether they cite it or not, and this book is quite a comprehensive primer of plant-based athleticism.

Bottom line: if you’re wondering how to optimize the two goals of “eating plants” and “being a powerful athlete”, then this one’s the book for you.

Click here to check out The Plant-Based Athlete and upgrade your health and athletic performance!

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  • How To Stay Alive (When You Really Don’t Want To)

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    How To Stay Alive (When You Really Don’t Want To)

    A subscriber recently requested:

    ❝Request: more people need to be aware of suicidal tendencies and what they can do to ward them off❞

    …and we said we’d do that one of these Psychology Sundays, so here we are, doing it!

    First of all, we’ll mention that we did previously do a main feature on managing depression (in oneself or a loved one); here it is:

    The Mental Health First Aid That You’ll Hopefully Never Need

    Now, not all depression leads to suicidality, and not all suicide is pre-empted by depression, but there’s a large enough crossover that it seems sensible to put that article here, for anyone who might find it of use, or even just of interest.

    Now, onwards, to the specific, and very important, topic of suicide.

    This should go without saying, but some of today’s content may be a little heavy.

    We invite you to read it anyway if you’re able, because it’s important stuff that we all should know, and not talking about it is part of what allows it to kill people.

    So, let’s take a deep breath, and read on…

    The risk factors

    Top risk factors for suicide include:

    • Not talking about it
    • Having access to a firearm
    • Having a plan of specifically how to commit suicide
    • A lack of social support
    • Being male
    • Being over 40

    Now, some of these are interesting sociologically, but aren’t very useful practically; what a convenient world it’d be if we could all simply choose to be under 40, for instance.

    Some serve as alarm bells, such as “having a plan of specifically how to commit suicide”.

    If someone has a plan, that plan’s never going to disappear entirely, even if it’s set aside!

    (this writer is deeply aware of the specifics of how she has wanted to end things before, and has used the advice she gives in this article herself numerous times. So far so good, still alive to write about it!)

    Specific advices, therefore, include:

    Talk about it / Listen

    Depending on whether it’s you or someone else at risk:

    • Talk about it, if it’s you
    • Listen attentively, if it’s someone else

    There are two main objections that you might have at this point, so let’s look at those:

    “I have nobody to talk to”—it can certainly feel that way, sometimes, but you may be surprised who would listen if you gave them the chance. If you really can’t trust anyone around you, there are of course suicide hotlines (usually per area, so we’ll not try to list them here; a quick Internet search will get you what you need).

    If you’re worried it’ll result in bad legal/social consequences, check their confidentiality policy first:

    • Some hotlines can and will call the police, for instance.
    • Others deliberately have a set-up whereby they couldn’t even trace the call if they wanted to.
      • On the one hand, that means they can’t intervene
      • On the other hand, that means they’re a resource for anyone who will only trust a listener who can’t intervene.

    “But it is just a cry for help”—then that person deserves help. What some may call “attention-seeking” is, in effect, care-seeking. Listen, without judgement.

    Remove access to firearms, if applicable and possible

    Ideally, get rid of them (safely and responsibly, please).

    If you can’t bring yourself to do that, make them as inconvenient to get at as possible. Stored securely at your local gun club is better than at home, for example.

    If your/their plan isn’t firearm-related, but the thing in question can be similarly removed, remove it. You/they do not need that stockpile of pills, for instance.

    And of course you/they could get more, but the point is to make it less frictionless. The more necessary stopping points between thinking “I should just kill myself” and being able to actually do it, the better.

    Have/give social support

    What do the following people have in common?

    • A bullied teenager
    • A divorced 40-something who just lost a job
    • A lonely 70-something with no surviving family, and friends that are hard to visit

    Often, at least, the answer is: the absence of a good social support network

    So, it’s good to get one, and be part of some sort of community that’s meaningful to us. That could look different to a lot of people, for example:

    • A church, or other religious community, if we be religious
    • The LGBT+ community, or even just a part of it, if that fits for us
    • Any mutual-support oriented, we-have-this-shared-experience community, could be anything from AA to the VA.

    Some bonus ideas…

    If you can’t live for love, living for spite might suffice. Outlive your enemies; don’t give them the satisfaction.

    If you’re going to do it anyway, you might as well take the time to do some “bucket list” items first. After all, what do you have to lose? Feel free to add further bucket list items as they occur to you, of course. Because, why not? Before you know it, you’ve postponed your way into a rich and fulfilling life.

    Finally, some gems from Matt Haig’s “The Comfort Book”:
    • “The hardest question I have been asked is: “How do I stay alive for other people if I have no one?” The answer is that you stay alive for other versions of you. For the people you will meet, yes, but also the people you will be.”
    • “Stay for the person you will become”
    • “You are more than a bad day, or week, or month, or year, or even decade”
    • “It is better to let people down than to blow yourself up”
    • “Nothing is stronger than a small hope that doesn’t give up”
    • “You are here. And that is enough.”

    You can find Matt Haig’s excellent “The Comfort Book” on Amazon, as well as his more well-known book more specifically on the topic we’ve covered today, “Reasons To Stay Alive“.

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  • 4 Ways Vaccine Skeptics Mislead You on Measles and More

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    Measles is on the rise in the United States. In the first quarter of this year, the number of cases was about 17 times what it was, on average, during the same period in each of the four years before, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Half of the people infected — mainly children — have been hospitalized.

    It’s going to get worse, largely because a growing number of parents are deciding not to get their children vaccinated against measles as well as diseases like polio and pertussis. Unvaccinated people, or those whose immunization status is unknown, account for 80% of the measles cases this year. Many parents have been influenced by a flood of misinformation spouted by politicians, podcast hosts, and influential figures on television and social media. These personalities repeat decades-old notions that erode confidence in the established science backing routine childhood vaccines. KFF Health News examined the rhetoric and explains why it’s misguided:

    The No-Big-Deal Trope

    A common distortion is that vaccines aren’t necessary because the diseases they prevent are not very dangerous, or too rare to be of concern. Cynics accuse public health officials and the media of fear-mongering about measles even as 19 states report cases.

    For example, an article posted on the website of the National Vaccine Information Center — a regular source of vaccine misinformation — argued that a resurgence in concern about the disease “is ‘sky is falling’ hype.” It went on to call measles, mumps, chicken pox, and influenza “politically incorrect to get.”

    Measles kills roughly 2 of every 1,000 children infected, according to the CDC. If that seems like a bearable risk, it’s worth pointing out that a far larger portion of children with measles will require hospitalization for pneumonia and other serious complications. For every 10 measles cases, one child with the disease develops an ear infection that can lead to permanent hearing loss. Another strange effect is that the measles virus can destroy a person’s existing immunity, meaning they’ll have a harder time recovering from influenza and other common ailments.

    Measles vaccines have averted the deaths of about 94 million people, mainly children, over the past 50 years, according to an April analysis led by the World Health Organization. Together with immunizations against polio and other diseases, vaccines have saved an estimated 154 million lives globally.

    Some skeptics argue that vaccine-preventable diseases are no longer a threat because they’ve become relatively rare in the U.S. (True — due to vaccination.) This reasoning led Florida’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, to tell parents that they could send their unvaccinated children to school amid a measles outbreak in February. “You look at the headlines and you’d think the sky was falling,” Ladapo said on a News Nation newscast. “There’s a lot of immunity.”

    As this lax attitude persuades parents to decline vaccination, the protective group immunity will drop, and outbreaks will grow larger and faster. A rapid measles outbreak hit an undervaccinated population in Samoa in 2019, killing 83 people within four months. A chronic lack of measles vaccination in the Democratic Republic of the Congo led to more than 5,600 people dying from the disease in massive outbreaks last year.

    The ‘You Never Know’ Trope

    Since the earliest days of vaccines, a contingent of the public has considered them bad because they’re unnatural, as compared with nature’s bounty of infections and plagues. “Bad” has been redefined over the decades. In the 1800s, vaccine skeptics claimed that smallpox vaccines caused people to sprout horns and behave like beasts. More recently, they blame vaccines for ailments ranging from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder to autism to immune system disruption. Studies don’t back the assertions. However, skeptics argue that their claims remain valid because vaccines haven’t been adequately tested.

    In fact, vaccines are among the most studied medical interventions. Over the past century, massive studies and clinical trials have tested vaccines during their development and after their widespread use. More than 12,000 people took part in clinical trials of the most recent vaccine approved to prevent measles, mumps, and rubella. Such large numbers allow researchers to detect rare risks, which are a major concern because vaccines are given to millions of healthy people.

    To assess long-term risks, researchers sift through reams of data for signals of harm. For example, a Danish group analyzed a database of more than 657,000 children and found that those who had been vaccinated against measles as babies were no more likely to later be diagnosed with autism than those who were not vaccinated. In another study, researchers analyzed records from 805,000 children born from 1990 through 2001 and found no evidence to back a concern that multiple vaccinations might impair children’s immune systems.

    Nonetheless, people who push vaccine misinformation, like candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., dismiss massive, scientifically vetted studies. For example, Kennedy argues that clinical trials of new vaccines are unreliable because vaccinated kids aren’t compared with a placebo group that gets saline solution or another substance with no effect. Instead, many modern trials compare updated vaccines with older ones. That’s because it’s unethical to endanger children by giving them a sham vaccine when the protective effect of immunization is known. In a 1950s clinical trial of polio vaccines, 16 children in the placebo group died of polio and 34 were paralyzed, said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and author of a book on the first polio vaccine.

    The Too-Much-Too-Soon Trope

    Several bestselling vaccine books on Amazon promote the risky idea that parents should skip or delay their children’s vaccines. “All vaccines on the CDC’s schedule may not be right for all children at all times,” writes Paul Thomas in his bestselling book “The Vaccine-Friendly Plan.” He backs up this conviction by saying that children who have followed “my protocol are among the healthiest in the world.”

    Since the book was published, Thomas’ medical license was temporarily suspended in Oregon and Washington. The Oregon Medical Board documented how Thomas persuaded parents to skip vaccines recommended by the CDC, and reported that he “reduced to tears” a mother who disagreed.  Several children in his care came down with pertussis and rotavirus, diseases easily prevented by vaccines, wrote the board. Thomas recommended fish oil supplements and homeopathy to an unvaccinated child with a deep scalp laceration, rather than an emergency tetanus vaccine. The boy developed severe tetanus, landing in the hospital for nearly two months, where he required intubation, a tracheotomy, and a feeding tube to survive.

    The vaccination schedule recommended by the CDC has been tailored to protect children at their most vulnerable points in life and minimize side effects. The combination measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine isn’t given for the first year of a baby’s life because antibodies temporarily passed on from their mother can interfere with the immune response. And because some babies don’t generate a strong response to that first dose, the CDC recommends a second one around the time a child enters kindergarten because measles and other viruses spread rapidly in group settings.

    Delaying MMR doses much longer may be unwise because data suggests that children vaccinated at 10 or older have a higher chance of adverse reactions, such as a seizure or fatigue.

    Around a dozen other vaccines have discrete timelines, with overlapping windows for the best response. Studies have shown that MMR vaccines may be given safely and effectively in combination with other vaccines.

    ’They Don’t Want You to Know’ Trope

    Kennedy compares the Florida surgeon general to Galileo in the introduction to Ladapo’s new book on transcending fear in public health. Just as the Roman Catholic inquisition punished the renowned astronomer for promoting theories about the universe, Kennedy suggests that scientific institutions oppress dissenting voices on vaccines for nefarious reasons.

    “The persecution of scientists and doctors who dare to challenge contemporary orthodoxies is not a new phenomenon,” Kennedy writes. His running mate, lawyer Nicole Shanahan, has campaigned on the idea that conversations about vaccine harms are censored and the CDC and other federal agencies hide data due to corporate influence.

    Claims like “they don’t want you to know” aren’t new among the anti-vaccine set, even though the movement has long had an outsize voice. The most listened-to podcast in the U.S., “The Joe Rogan Experience,” regularly features guests who cast doubt on scientific consensus. Last year on the show, Kennedy repeated the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism.

    Far from ignoring that concern, epidemiologists have taken it seriously. They have conducted more than a dozen studies searching for a link between vaccines and autism, and repeatedly found none. “We have conclusively disproven the theory that vaccines are connected to autism,” said Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, an epidemiologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia. “So, the public health establishment tends to shut those conversations down quickly.”

    Federal agencies are transparent about seizures, arm pain, and other reactions that vaccines can cause. And the government has a program to compensate individuals whose injuries are scientifically determined to result from them. Around 1 to 3.5 out of every million doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine can cause a life-threatening allergic reaction; a person’s lifetime risk of death by lightning is estimated to be as much as four times as high.

    “The most convincing thing I can say is that my daughter has all her vaccines and that every pediatrician and public health person I know has vaccinated their kids,” Meyerowitz-Katz said. “No one would do that if they thought there were serious risks.”

    KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

    Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.

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  • Anxiety Attack vs Panic Attack: Do You Know The Difference?

    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.

    The terms are sometimes used incorrectly, but have quite different meanings. Dr. Julie Smith, psychologist, explains in this short video:

    Important distinctions

    Anxiety attacks are not clinically recognized terms and lack a clear definition, often used to describe a build-up of anxiety before anticipated stressful events (e.g. social gatherings, medical appointments, etc, though of course what it is will vary from person to person—not everyone finds the same things stressful, or has the same kinds of anticipations around things).

    Panic attacks, in contrast, are sudden surges of intense fear or discomfort that peak within minutes. They are characterized by symptoms including at least 4 of:

    • palpitations
    • sweating
    • shortness of breath
    • chest pain
    • dizziness
    • fear of losing control or dying

    There’s a misconception that panic attacks never have identifiable triggers while anxiety attacks always do.

    In reality, both can occur with or without a clear cause. Panic attacks can arise from various conditions, including trauma, OCD, or phobias, and don’t necessarily mean you have a panic disorder. They can also occur as a drug response, without any known underlying psychological condition.

    You may also notice that that list of symptoms has quite a bit of overlap with the symptoms of a heart attack, which a) does not help people to calm down b) can, on the flipside, cause a heart attack to be misdiagnosed as a panic attack.

    In terms of management:

    • In the moment: breathing exercises, like extending your exhalation (a common example is the “7-11” method, inhaling for 7 seconds and exhaling for 11 seconds), can calm the body and reduce panic symptoms.
    • More generally: to prevent panic attacks from becoming more frequent, avoid avoiding safe environments that triggered an attack, like supermarkets or social gatherings. Gradual exposure helps reduce anxiety over time, while avoidance can worsen it.

    If panic attacks persist, Dr. Smith advises to seek help from a doctor or psychologist to understand their root causes and develop effective coping strategies.

    For more on all of this, enjoy:

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

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    How To Set Anxiety Aside

    Take care!

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Related Posts

  • This Is Your Brain on Music – by Dr. Daniel Levitin
  • Eat to Your Heart’s Content – by Dr. Sat Bains

    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.

    Making food heart-healthy and tasty is a challenge that vexes many, but it doesn’t have to be so difficult.

    Dr. Sat Bains, a professional chef with multiple Michelin stars to his name, is an expert on “tasty”, and after surviving a heart attack himself, he’s become an expert on “heart-healthy” since then.

    The book contains not only the recipes (of which there are 68, by the way), but also large sections of explanation of what makes various ingredients or methods heart-healthy or heart-unhealthy.

    There’s science in there too, and these sections were written under the guidance of Dr. Neil Williams, a lecturer in physiology and nutrition.

    You may be wondering as to why the author himself has a doctorate too; in fact he has three, none of which are relevant:

    1. Doctor of Arts
    2. Doctor of Laws
    3. Doctor of Hospitality (Honorary)

    …but we prefix “Dr.” when people are that and he is that. The expertise we’re getting here though is really his culinary skill and extracurricular heart-healthy learning, plus Dr. Williams’ actual professional health guidance.

    Bottom line: if you’d like heart-healthy recipes with restaurant-level glamour, this book is a fine choice.

    Click here to check out Eat To Your Heart’s Content, and look after yours!

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  • Bright Line Eating – by Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson

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    This is a great title! It’s a great book too, but let’s talk about the title for a moment:

    The “Bright Line” referenced (often used in the plural within the book) is the line one draws between what one will and will not do. It’s a line one doesn’t cross, and it’s a bright line, because it’s not a case of “oh woe is me I cannot have the thing”, but rather “oh yay is me for I being joyously healthy”.

    And as for living happy, thin, and free? The author makes clear that “thin” is only a laudable goal if it’s bookended by “happy” and “free”. Eating things because we want to, and being happy about our choices.

    To this end, while some of the book is about nutrition (and for example the strong recommendation to make the first “bright lines” one draws cutting out sugar and flour), the majority of it is about the psychology of eating.

    This includes, hunger and satiety, willpower and lack thereof, disordered eating and addictions, body image issues and social considerations, the works. She realizes and explains, that if being healthy were just a matter of the right diet plan, everyone would be healthy. But it’s not; our eating behaviors don’t exist in a vacuum, and there’s a lot more to consider.

    Despite all the odds, however, this is a cheerful and uplifting book throughout, while dispensing very practical, well-evidenced methods for getting your brain to get your body to do what you want it to.

    Bottom line: this isn’t your average diet book, and it’s not just a motivational pep talk either. It’s an enjoyable read that’s also full of science and can make a huge difference to how you see food.

    Click here to check out Bright Line Eating, and enjoy life, healthily!

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  • How Useful Is Peppermint, Really?

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    Peppermint For Digestion & Against Nausea

    Peppermint is often enjoyed to aid digestion, and sometimes as a remedy for nausea, but what does the science say about these uses?

    Peppermint and digestion

    In short: it works! (but beware)

    Most studies on peppermint and digestion, that have been conducted with humans, have been with regard to IBS, but its efficacy seems quite broad:

    ❝Peppermint oil is a natural product which affects physiology throughout the gastrointestinal tract, has been used successfully for several clinical disorders, and appears to have a good safety profile.❞

    ~ Dr. Chumpitazi et al.

    Read more: The physiologic effects and safety of Peppermint Oil and its efficacy in irritable bowel syndrome and other functional disorders

    However, and this is important: if your digestive problem is GERD, then you may want to skip it:

    ❝The univariate logistic regression analysis showed the following risk factors: eating 1–2 meals per day (OR = 3.50, 95% CI: 1.75–6.98), everyday consumption of peppermint tea (OR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.14–3.50), and eating one, big meal in the evening instead of dinner and supper (OR = 1.80, 95% CI: 1.05–3.11).

    The multivariate analysis confirmed that frequent peppermint tea consumption was a risk factor (OR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.08–3.70).❞

    ~ Dr. Jarosz & Dr. Taraszewska

    Source: Risk factors for gastroesophageal reflux disease: the role of diet

    Peppermint and nausea

    Peppermint is also sometimes recommended as a nausea remedy. Does it work?

    The answer is: maybe

    The thing with nausea is it is a symptom with a lot of possible causes, so effectiveness of remedies may vary. But for example:

    Summary

    Peppermint is useful against wide variety of gastrointestinal disorders, including IBS, but very definitely excluding GERD (in the case of GERD, it may make things worse)

    Peppermint may help with nausea, depending on the cause.

    Where can I get some?

    Peppermint tea, and peppermint oil, you can probably find in your local supermarket (as well as fresh mint leaves, perhaps).

    For the “heavy guns” that is peppermint essential oil, here’s an example product on Amazon for your convenience

    Enjoy!

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