Unfuck Your Brain – by Dr. Faith Harper

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This book takes a trauma-informed care approach, which is relatively novel in the mental health field and it’s quickly becoming the industry standard because of its effectiveness.

The basic premise of trauma-informed care is that you had a bad experience (possibly even more than one—what a thought!) and that things that remind you of that will tend to prompt reactivity from you in a way that probably isn’t healthy. By identifying each part of that process, we can then interrupt it, much like we might with CBT (the main difference being that CBT, for all its effectiveness, tends to assume that the things that are bothering you are not true, while TIC acknowledges that they might well be, and that especially historically, they probably were).

A word of warning: if something that triggers a trauma-based reactivity response in you is people swearing, then this book will either cure you by exposure therapy or leave you a nervous wreck, because it’s not just the title; Dr. Harper barely gets through a sentence without swearing. It’s a lot, even by this (European) reviewer’s standards (we’re a lot more relaxed about swearing over here, than people tend to be in America).

On the other hand, something that Dr. Harper excels at is actually explaining stuff very well. So while it sometimes seems like she’s “trying too hard” style-wise in terms of being “not like other therapists”, in her defence she’s nevertheless a very good writer; she knows her stuff, and knows how to communicate it clearly.

Bottom line: if you don’t mind a writer who swears more than 99% of soldiers, then this book is an excellent how-to guide for self-administered trauma-informed care.

Click here to check out Unfuck Your Brain, and indeed unfuck it!

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Recommended

  • The Salt Fix – by Dr. James DiNicolantonio
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    Spice up your slow cooker meals with this inspiring book of diverse recipes, from comfort food to fancy dishes, all while staying healthy!

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  • Vision for Life, Revised Edition – by Dr. Meir Schneider

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    The “ten steps” would be better called “ten exercises”, as they’re ten things that one can (and should) continue to do on an ongoing basis, rather than steps to progress through and then forget about.

    We can’t claim to have tested the ten exercises for improvement (this reviewer has excellent eyesight and merely hopes to maintain such as she gets older) but the rationale is compelling, and the public testimonials abundant.

    Dr. Schneider also talks about improving and correcting errors of refraction—in other words, doing the job of any corrective lenses you may currently be using. While he doesn’t claim miracles, it turns out there is a lot that can be done for common issues such as near-sightedness and far-sightedness, amongst others.

    There’s a large section on managing more chronic pathological eye conditions than this reviewer previously knew existed; in some cases it’s a matter of making sure things don’t get worse, but in many others, there’s a recurring of theme of “and here’s an exercise for correcting that”.

    The writing style is a little more “narrative prose” than we’d have liked, but the quality of the content more than makes up for any style preference issues.

    Bottom line: the human body is a highly adaptive organism, and sometimes it just needs a little help to correct itself. This book can help with that.

    Click here to check out Vision for Life, and take good care of yours!

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  • The Two-Second Advantage – by Vivek Ranadive and Kevin Maney

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    The titular “two-second advantage” can in some cases be literal (imagine you got a two-second head-start in a boxing match!), in other cases can refer to being just a little ahead of things in a way that can confer a great advantage, often cumulatively—as anyone who’s played Monopoly can certainly attest.

    Vivek Ranadivé and Kevin Maney give us lots of examples from business, sports, politics, economics, and more, in a way that seeks to cultivate a habit of asking the right questions in order to anticipate the future and not just be ahead of the competition—some areas of life don’t have competition for most people, like health, for example—but to generally have things “in hand”.

    When it comes to personal finances, health, personal projects, and the like, those tiny initial advantages that lead to incremental further improvements, can be the difference between continually (and frantically) playing catch-up, or making the jump past breaking even to going from strength to strength.

    Check out today’s book on Amazon!

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  • Do We Need Supplements, And Do They Work?

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    Does our diet need a little help?

    We asked you for your take on supplements, and got the above-illustrated, below-described set of results.

    • The largest minority of respondents (a little over a third) voted for “I just take something very specific”
    • The next most respondents voted for “I take so many supplements; every little helps!”
    • Almost as many voted for “I just take a vitamin or two / a multivitamin”
    • Fewest, about 8%, voted for “I get everything I need from my diet”

    But what does the science say?

    Food is less nutritious now than it used to be: True or False?

    True or False depending on how you measure it.

    An apple today and an apple from a hundred years ago are likely to contain the same amounts of micronutrients per apple, but a lower percentage of micronutrients per 100g of apple.

    The reason for this is that apples (and many other food products; apples are just an arbitrary example) have been selectively bred (and in some cases, modified) for size, and because the soil mineral density has remained the same, the micronutrients per apple have not increased commensurate to the increase in carbohydrate weight and/or water weight. Thus, the resultant percentage will be lower, despite the quantity remaining the same.

    We’re going to share some science on this, and/but would like to forewarn readers that the language of this paper is a bit biased, as it looks to “debunk” claims of nutritional values dropping while skimming over “yes, they really have dropped percentage-wise” in favor of “but look, the discrete mass values are still the same, so that’s just a mathematical illusion”.

    The reality is, it’s no more a mathematical illusion than is the converse standpoint of saying the nutritional value is the same, despite the per-100g values dropping. After all, sometimes we eat an apple as-is; sometimes we buy a bag of frozen chopped fruit. That 500g bag of chopped fruit is going to contain less copper (for example) than one from decades past.

    Here’s the paper, and you’ll see what we mean:

    Mineral nutrient composition of vegetables, fruits and grains: The context of reports of apparent historical declines

    Supplements aren’t absorbed properly and thus are a waste of money: True or False?

    True or False depending on the supplement (and your body, and the rest of your diet)

    Many people are suffering from dietary deficiencies of vitamins and minerals, that could be easily correctable by supplementation:

    However, as this study by Dr. Fang Fang Zhang shows, a lot of vitamin and mineral supplementation does not appear to have much of an effect on actual health outcomes, vis-à-vis specific diseases. She looks at:

    • Cardiovascular disease
    • Cancer
    • Type 2 diabetes
    • Osteoporosis

    Her key take-aways from this study were:

    • Randomised trial evidence does not support use of vitamin, mineral, and fish oil supplements to reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases
    • People using supplements tend to be older, female, and have higher education, income, and healthier lifestyles than people who do not use them
    • Use of supplements appreciably reduces the prevalence of inadequate intake for most nutrients but also increases the prevalence of excess intake for some nutrients
    • Further research is needed to assess the long term effects of supplements on the health of the general population and in individuals with specific nutritional needs, including those from low and middle income countries

    Read her damning report: Health effects of vitamin and mineral supplements

    On the other hand…

    This is almost entirely about blanket vitamin-and-mineral supplementation. With regard to fish oil supplementation, many commercial fish oil supplements break down in the stomach rather than the intestines, and don’t get absorbed well. Additionally, many people take them in forms that aren’t pleasant, and thus result in low adherence (i.e., they nominally take them, but in fact they just sit on the kitchen counter for a year).

    One thing we can conclude from this is that it’s good to check the science for any given supplement before taking it, and know what it will and won’t help for. Our “Monday Research Review” editions of 10almonds do this a lot, although we tend to focus on herbal supplements rather than vitamins and minerals.

    We can get everything we need from our diet: True or False?

    Contingently True (but here be caveats)

    In principle, if we eat the recommended guideline amounts of various macro- and micro-nutrients, we will indeed get all that we are generally considered to need. Obviously.

    However, this may come with:

    • Make sure to get enough protein… Without too much meat, and also without too much carbohydrate, such as from most plant sources of protein
    • Make sure to get enough carbohydrates… But only the right kinds, and not too much, nor at the wrong time, and without eating things in the wrong order
    • Make sure to get enough healthy fats… Without too much of the unhealthy fats that often exist in the same foods
    • Make sure to get the right amount of vitamins and minerals… We hope you have your calculators out to get the delicate balance of calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and vitamin D right.

    That last one’s a real pain, by the way. Too much or too little of one or another and the whole set start causing problems, and several of them interact with several others, and/or compete for resources, and/or are needed for the others to do their job.

    And, that’s hard enough to balance when you’re taking supplements with the mg/µg amount written on them, never mind when you’re juggling cabbages and sardines.

    On the topic of those sardines, don’t forget to carefully balance your omega-3, -6, and -9, and even within omega-3, balancing ALA, EPA, and DHA, and we hope you’re juggling those HDL and LDL levels too.

    So, when it comes to getting everything we need from our diet, for most of us (who aren’t living in food deserts and/or experiencing food poverty, or having a medical condition that restricts our diet), the biggest task is not “getting enough”, it’s “getting enough of the right things without simultaneously overdoing it on the others”.

    With supplements, it’s a lot easier to control what we’re putting in our bodies.

    And of course, unless our diet includes things that usually can’t be bought in supermarkets, we’re not going to get the benefits of taking, as a supplement, such things as:

    Etc.

    So, there definitely are supplements with strong science-backed benefits, that probably can’t be found on your plate!

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Related Posts

  • The Salt Fix – by Dr. James DiNicolantonio
  • Banana vs Goji Berries – Which is Healthier?

    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.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing banana to goji berries, we picked the goji berries.

    Why?

    Both are great! But…

    In terms of macros, goji berries have much more fiber, carbs, and protein, thus making it the most nutrient-dense option, as we might expect from a dried fruit being compared to a non-dried fruit—since the non-dried fruit has water weight that the dried fruit doesn’t, its percentages of other things will be proportionally lower, because the percentages must still add up to 100%, and if 75% is water (as is the case for bananas, compared to goji berries’ 7.5% water), then that only leaves 25% to work with, while goji berries have 92.5% to work with. In short, an easy and expected win for goji berries.

    In the category of vitamins, bananas have more of vitamin B6, while goji berries have more of vitamins A, B1, B3, B5, B9, C, E, and K. A clear win for goji berries.

    When it comes to minerals, bananas are not higher in any minerals, while goji berries have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc. Another easy win for goji berries.

    As for polyphenols, you may well imagine that the brightly-colored bitter-tasting berries have more, and you’d be right; you can read more about the exciting phytochemical properties of goji berries in the links below.

    Meanwhile, adding up the sections show a clear overall win for goji berries, but by all means enjoy either or both; diversity is good!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like:

    Enjoy!

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  • Detox: What’s Real, What’s Not, What’s Useful, What’s Dangerous?

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    Detox: What’s Real, What’s Not, What’s Useful, What’s Dangerous?

    Out of the subscribers who engaged in the poll, it looks like we have a lot of confidence in at least some detox approaches being useful!

    Celery juice is most people’s go-to, and indeed it was the only one to get mentioned in the comments added. So let’s take a look at that first…

    Celery juice

    Celery juice is enjoyed by many people, with many health benefits in mind, including to:

    • reduce inflammation
    • lower blood pressure
    • heal the liver
    • fight cancer
    • reduce bloating
    • support the digestive system
    • increase energy
    • support weight loss
    • promote good mental health

    An impressive list! With such an impressive list, we would hope for an impressive weight of evidence, so regular readers might be wondering why those bullet-pointed items aren’t all shiny hyperlinks to studies backing those claims. The reason is…

    There aren’t any high-quality studies that back any of those claims.

    We found one case study (so, a study with a sample size of one; not amazing) that observed a blood pressure change in an elderly man after drinking celery juice.

    Rather than trawl up half of PubMed to show the lacklustre results in a way more befitting of Research Review Monday, though, here’s a nice compact article detailing the litany of disappointment that is science’s observations regards celery juice:

    Why Are People Juicing Their Celery? – by Allison Webster, PhD, RD

    A key take-away is: juicing destroys the fiber that is celery’s biggest benefit, and its phytochemicals are largely unproven to be of use.

    If you enjoy celery, great! It (when not juiced) is a great source of fiber and water. If you juice it, it’s a great source of water.

    Activated Charcoal

    Unlike a lot of greenery—whose “cleansing” benefits mostly come from fiber and disappear when juiced—activated charcoal has a very different way of operating.

    Activated charcoal is negatively charged on a molecular level*, and that—along with its porous nature—traps toxins. It really is a superpowered detox that actually works very well indeed.

    But…

    It works very well indeed. It will draw out toxins so well, that it’s commonly used to treat poisonings. “Wait”, we hear you say, “why was that a but”?

    It doesn’t know what a toxin is. It just draws out all of the things. You took medicine recently? Not any more you didn’t. You didn’t even take that medication orally, you took it some other way? Activated charcoal does not care:

    Does this mean that activated charcoal can be used to “undo” a night of heavy drinking?

    Sadly not. That’s one of the few things it just doesn’t work for. It won’t work for alcohol, salts, or metals:

    The Use of Activated Charcoal to Treat Intoxications

    *Fun chemistry mnemonic about ions:

    Cations are pussitive

    Anions (by process of elimination) are negative

    Onions taste good in salad (remember also: Cole’s Law)

    Bottom line on detox foods/drinks:

    • Fiber is great; juicing removes fiber. Eat your greens (don’t drink them)!
    • Activated charcoal is the heavy artillery of detoxing
    • Sometimes it will remove things you didn’t want removed, though
    • It also won’t help against alcohol, sadly

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  • Keep Your Wits About You – by Dr. Vonetta Dotson

    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.

    Dr. Dotson sets out to provide the reader with the tools to maintain good brain health at any age, though she does assume the reader to be in midlife or older.

    She talks us through the most important kinds of physical activity, mental activity, and social activity, as well as a good grounding in brain-healthy nutrition, and how to beat the often catch-22 situation of poor sleep.

    If you are the sort of person who likes refreshers on what you have just read, you’ll enjoy that the final two chapters repeat the information from chapters 2–6. If not, then well, if you skip the final 2 chapters the book will be 25% shorter without loss of content.

    The style is enthusiastic; when it comes to her passion for the brain, Dr. Dotson both tells and shows, in abundance. While some authors may take care to break down the information in a way that can be understood from skimming alone, Dr. Dotson assumes that the reader’s interest will match hers, and thus will not mind a lot of lengthy prose with in-line citations. So, provided that’s the way you like to read, it’ll suit you too.

    Bottom line: if you are looking for a book on maintaining optimal brain health that covers the basics without adding advice that is out of the norm, then this is a fine option for that!

    Click here to check out Keep Your Wits About You, and keep your wits about you!

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