Veg in One Bed New Edition – by Huw Richards

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We all know that growing our own veg is ultimately not only healthier on the plate, but also a very healthy activity. Cheaper too. So why don’t more of us do it?

For many of us, it’s a matter of not having the skills or knowledge to do so. This book bridges that knowledge-gap.

Richards gives, as promised, a month-by-month well-illustrated guide to growing a wide variety of vegetables. He does, by the way, assume that we are in a temperate climate in the Northern Hemisphere. So if you’re not, you may need to make some adjustments.

The book doesn’t assume prior knowledge, and does give the reader everything we need from an initial basic shopping list onwards.

A particular strength of this book is that it’s about growing veg in a single raised bed—this ensures keeping everything very manageable.

Bottom line: if you have ever thought it would be good to grow your own veg, but didn’t know where to start and want something practical for a beginner, this is an excellent guide that will get you going!

Click here to check out Veg In One Bed; you can do it!

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  • Dogs Paired With Providers at Hospitals Help Ease Staff and Patient Stress

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    DENVER — Outside HCA HealthONE Rose medical center, the snow is flying. Inside, on the third floor, there’s a flurry of activity within the labor and delivery unit.

    “There’s a lot of action up here. It can be very stressful at times,” said Kristina Fraser, an OB-GYN in blue scrubs.

    Nurses wheel a very pregnant mom past.

    “We’re going to bring a baby into this world safely,” Fraser said, “and off we go.”

    She said she feels ready in part due to a calming moment she had just a few minutes earlier with some canine colleagues.

    A pair of dogs, tails wagging, had come by a nearby nursing station, causing about a dozen medical professionals to melt into a collective puddle of affection. A yellow Lab named Peppi showered Fraser in nuzzles and kisses. “I don’t know if a human baby smells as good as that puppy breath!” Fraser had said as her colleagues laughed.

    The dogs aren’t visitors. They work here, too, specifically for the benefit of the staff. “I feel like that dog just walks on and everybody takes a big deep breath and gets down on the ground and has a few moments of just decompressing,” Fraser said. “It’s great. It’s amazing.”

    Hospital staffers who work with the dogs say there is virtually no bite risk with the carefully trained Labradors, the preferred breed for this work.

    The dogs are kept away from allergic patients and washed regularly to prevent germs from spreading, and people must wash their hands before and after petting them.

    Doctors and nurses are facing a growing mental health crisis driven by their experiences at work. They and other health care colleagues face high rates of depression, anxiety, stress, suicidal ideation, and burnout. Nearly half of health workers reported often feeling burned out in 2022, an increase from 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the percentage of health care workers who reported harassment at work more than doubled over that four-year period. Advocates for the presence of dogs in hospitals see the animals as one thing that can help.

    That includes Peppi’s handler, Susan Ryan, an emergency medicine physician at Rose.

    Ryan said years working as an emergency room doctor left her with symptoms of PTSD. “I just was messed up and I knew it,” said Ryan, who isolated more at home and didn’t want to engage with friends. “I shoved it all in. I think we all do.”

    She said doctors and other providers can be good at hiding their struggles, because they have to compartmentalize. “How else can I go from a patient who had a cardiac arrest, deal with the family members telling them that, and go to a room where another person is mad that they’ve had to wait 45 minutes for their ear pain? And I have to flip that switch.”

    To cope with her symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, Ryan started doing therapy with horses. But she couldn’t have a horse in her backyard, so she got a Labrador. 

    Ryan received training from a national service dog group called Canine Companions, becoming the first doctor trained by the group to have a facility dog in an emergency room. Canine Companions has graduated more than 8,000 service dogs.

    The Rose medical center gave Ryan approval to bring a dog to work during her ER shifts. Ryan’s colleagues said they are delighted that a dog is part of their work life.

    “When I have a bad day at work and I come to Rose and Peppi is here, my day’s going to be made better,” EMT Jasmine Richardson said. “And if I have a patient who’s having a tough day, Peppi just knows how to light up the room.”

    Nursing supervisor Eric Vaillancourt agreed, calling Peppi “joyful.”

    Ryan had another dog, Wynn, working with her during the height of the pandemic. She said she thinks Wynn made a huge difference. “It saved people,” she said. “We had new nurses that had never seen death before, and now they’re seeing a covid death. And we were worried sick we were dying.”

    She said her hospital system has lost a couple of physicians to suicide in the past two years, which HCA confirmed to KFF Health News and NPR. Ryan hopes the canine connection can help with trauma. “Anything that brings you back to the present time helps ground you again. A dog can be that calming influence,” she said. “You can get down on the ground, pet them, and you just get calm.”

    Ryan said research has shown the advantages. For example, one review of dozens of original studies on human-animal interactions found benefits for a variety of conditions including behavioral and mood issues and physical symptoms of stress. 

    Rose’s president and CEO, Casey Guber, became such a believer in the canine connection he got his own trained dog to bring to the hospital, a black Lab-retriever mix named Ralphie.

    She wears a badge: Chief Dog Officer.

    Guber said she’s a big morale booster. “Phenomenal,” he said. “It is not uncommon to see a surgeon coming down to our administration office and rolling on the ground with Ralphie, or one of our nurses taking Ralphie out for a walk in the park.”

    This article is from a partnership that includes CPR News, NPR, and KFF Health News.

    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.

    This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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  • Peripheral Neuropathy: How To Avoid It, Manage It, Treat It

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    Peripheral neuropathy (and what can be done about it)

    Peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage, usually of the extremities. It can be caused by such things as:

    • Diabetes
    • Alcoholism
    • Infection
    • Injury

    The manifestations can be different:

    • In the case of diabetes, it’s also called diabetic neuropathy, and almost always affects the feet first.
    • In the case of alcoholism, it is more generalized, but tends towards affecting the extremities first.
    • In the case of infection, a lot depends on the nature of the infection and the body’s response.
    • In the case of injury, it’ll naturally be the injured part, or a little “downstream” of the injured part.
      • This could be the case of a single traumatic injury (e.g. hand got trapped in a slammed door)

    This could be the case of a repetitive injury (carpal tunnel syndrome is a kind of peripheral neuropathy, and is usually caused by consistent misalignment of the carpal tunnel, the aperture through which a bundle of nerves make their way from the forearm to the hand)

    Prevention is better than cure

    If you already have peripheral neuropathy, don’t worry, we’ll get to that. But, if you can, prevention is better than cure. This means:

    • Diabetes: if you can, avoid. This may seem like no-brainer advice, but it’s often something people don’t think about until hitting a pre-diabetic stage. Obviously, if you are Type 1 Diabetic, you don’t have this luxury. But in any case, whatever your current status, take care of your blood sugars as best you can, so that your blood can take care of you (and your nerves) in turn. You might want to check out our previous main feature about this:
    • Alcoholism: obviously avoid, if you can. You might like this previous edition of 10almonds addressing this:
    • Infection: this is so varied that one-liner advice is really just “try to look after your immune health”.
      • We’ll do a main feature on this soon!
    • Injury: obviously, try to be careful. But that goes for the more insidious version too! For example, if you spend a lot of time at your computer, consider an ergonomic mouse and keyboard.

    Writer’s note: as you might guess, I spend a lot of time at my computer, and a lot of that time, writing. I additionally spend a lot of time reading. I also have assorted old injuries from my more exciting life long ago. Because of this, it’s been an investment in my health to have:

    A standing desk

    A vertical ergonomic mouse

    An ergonomic split keyboard

    A Kindle*

    *Far lighter and more ergonomic than paper books. Don’t get me wrong, I’m writing to you from a room that also contains about a thousand paper books and I dearly love those too, but more often than not, I read on my e-reader for comfort and ease.

    If you already have peripheral neuropathy

    Most advice popular on the Internet is just about pain management, but what if we want to treat the cause rather than the symptom?

    Let’s look at the things commonly suggested: try ice, try heat, try acupuncture, try spicy rubs (from brand names like Tiger Balm, to home-made chilli ointments), try meditation, try a warm bath, try massage.

    And, all of these are good options; do you see what they have in common?

    It’s about blood flow. And that’s why they can help even in the case of peripheral neuropathy that’s not painful (it can also manifest as numbness, and/or tingling sensations).

    By getting the blood flowing nicely through the affected body part, the blood can nourish the nerves and help them function correctly. This is, in effect, the opposite of what the causes of peripheral neuropathy do.

    But also don’t forget: rest

    • Put your feet up (literally! But we’re talking horizontal here, not elevated past the height of your heart)
    • Rest that weary wrist that has carpal tunnel syndrome (again, resting it flat, so your hand position is aligned with your forearm, so the nerves between are not kinked)
    • Use a brace if necessary to help the affected part stay aligned correctly
      • You can get made-for-purpose wrist and ankle braces—you can also get versions that are made for administering hot/cold therapy, too. That’s just an example product linked that we can recommend; by all means read reviews and choose for yourself, though. Try them and see what helps.

    One more top tip

    We did a feature not long back on lion’s mane mushroom, and it’s single most well-established, well-researched, well-evidenced, completely uncontested benefit is that it aids peripheral neurogenesis, that is to say, the regrowth and healing of the peripheral nervous system.

    So you might want to check that out:

    What Does Lion’s Mane Actually Do, Anyway?

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  • How light tells you when to sleep, focus and poo

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    This is the next article in our ‘Light and health’ series, where we look at how light affects our physical and mental health in sometimes surprising ways. Read other articles in the series.

    Exposure to light is crucial for our physical and mental health, as this and future articles in the series will show.

    But the timing of that light exposure is also crucial. This tells our body to wake up in the morning, when to poo and the time of day to best focus or be alert. When we’re exposed to light also controls our body temperature, blood pressure and even chemical reactions in our body.

    But how does our body know when it’s time to do all this? And what’s light got to do with it?

    nymphoenix/Shutterstock

    What is the body clock, actually?

    One of the key roles of light is to re-set our body clock, also known as the circadian clock. This works like an internal oscillator, similar to an actual clock, ticking away as you read this article.

    But rather than ticking you can hear, the body clock is a network of genes and proteins that regulate each other. This network sends signals to organs via hormones and the nervous system. These complex loops of interactions and communications have a rhythm of about 24 hours.

    In fact, we don’t have one clock, we have trillions of body clocks throughout the body. The central clock is in the hypothalamus region of the brain, and each cell in every organ has its own. These clocks work in concert to help us adapt to the daily cycle of light and dark, aligning our body’s functions with the time of day.

    However, our body clock is not precise and works to a rhythm of about 24 hours (24 hours 30 minutes on average). So every morning, the central clock needs to be reset, signalling the start of a new day. This is why light is so important.

    The central clock is directly connected to light-sensing cells in our retinas (the back of the eye). This daily re-setting of the body clock with morning light is essential for ensuring our body works well, in sync with our environment.

    In parallel, when we eat food also plays a role in re-setting the body clock, but this time the clock in organs other than the brain, such as the liver, kidneys or the gut.

    So it’s easy to see how our daily routines are closely linked with our body clocks. And in turn, our body clocks shape how our body works at set times of the day.

    What time of day?

    Matt Garrow/The Conversation. Adapted from Delos, CC BY

    Let’s take a closer look at sleep

    The naturally occurring brain hormone melatonin is linked to our central clock and makes us feel sleepy at certain times of day. When it’s light, our body stops making melatonin (its production is inhibited) and we are alert. Closer to bedtime, the hormone is made, then secreted, making us feel drowsy.

    Our sleep is also partly controlled by our genes, which are part of our central clock. These genes influence our chronotype – whether we are a “lark” (early riser), “night owl” (late sleeper) or a “dove” (somewhere in between).

    But exposure to light at night when we are supposed to be sleeping can have harmful effects. Even dim light from light pollution can impair our heart rate and how we metabolise sugar (glucose), may lead to psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, and increases the overall risk of premature death.

    The main reason for these harmful effects is that light “at the wrong time” disturbs the body clock, and these effects are more pronounced for “night owls”.

    This “misaligned” exposure to light is also connected to the detrimental health effects we often see in people who work night shifts, such as an increased risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

    How about the gut?

    Digestion also follows a circadian rhythm. Muscles in the colon that help move waste are more active during the day and slow down at night.

    The most significant increase in colon movement starts at 6.30am. This is one of the reasons why most people feel the urge to poo in the early morning rather than at night.

    The gut’s day-night rhythm is a direct result of the action of the gut’s own clock and the central clock (which synchronises the gut with the rest of the body). It’s also influenced by when we eat.

    6.30 on digital display
    At 6.30am, your gut really begins to get going for the day. Rendra Dria Septia Aji/Shutterstock

    How about focusing?

    Our body clock also helps control our attention and alertness levels by changing how our brain functions at certain times of day. Attention and alertness levels improve in the afternoon and evening but dip during the night and early morning.

    Those fluctuations impact performance and can lead to decreased productivity and an increased risk of errors and accidents during the less-alert hours.

    So it’s important to perform certain tasks that require our attention at certain times of day. That includes driving. In fact, disruption of the circadian clock at the start of daylight savings – when our body hasn’t had a chance to adapt to the clocks changing – increases the risk of a car accident, particularly in the morning.

    What else does our body clock control?

    Our body clock influences many other aspects of our biology, including:

    • physical performance by controlling the activity of our muscles
    • blood pressure by controlling the system of hormones involved in regulating our blood volume and blood vessels
    • body temperature by controlling our metabolism and our level of physical activity
    • how our body handles drugs and toxins by controlling enzymes involved in how the liver and kidneys eliminate these substances from the body.
    Driving at night in wet conditions
    If you can, avoid driving long distances at night, as you’ll be less alert. trendobjects/Shutterstock

    Morning light is important

    But what does this all mean for us? Exposure to light, especially in the morning, is crucial for synchronising our circadian clock and bodily functions.

    As well as setting us up for a good night’s sleep, increased morning light exposure benefits our mental health and reduces the risk of obesity. So boosting our exposure to morning light – for example, by going for a walk, or having breakfast outside – can directly benefit our mental and metabolic health.

    However, there are other aspects about which we have less control, including the genes that control our body clock.

    Frederic Gachon, Associate Professor, Physiology of Circadian Rhythms, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland and Benjamin Weger, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland

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

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  • Loss, Trauma, and Resilience – by Dr. Pauline Boss
  • Kimchi Fried Rice

    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.

    Fried rice is not something that leaps to many people’s minds when one says “health food”. But it can be! Today’s recipe is great for many aspects of health, but especially the gut, because of its star ingredient, the kimchi—as well as the fiber in the rest of the dish, which is mostly a variety of vegetables, as well as the rice, which we are assuming you got wholegrain. An optional egg per person adds more healthy fats too!

    You will need

    • Avocado oil, for frying. We picked avocado oil for its healthy fats profile, neutral taste, and high smoke point (we’ll be working at very high temperatures today that might make olive oil or coconut oil smoke). We also recommend against seed oils (e.g. sunflower or canola) for health reasons.
    • 1lb cooked and cooled rice—here’s our recipe for Tasty Versatile Rice if you don’t have leftovers you want to use
    • 7oz kimchi, roughly chopped
    • 4 spring onions, finely chopped
    • 4oz white cabbage, finely shredded
    • 3oz frozen peas, defrosted
    • 1 bulb garlic, thinly sliced
    • 1 carrot, grated
    • ½ red pepper, finely diced
    • 2 tbsp chili oil (or 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and 1 red chili, very finely chopped) ← don’t worry about the smoke point of this; it’s going to be for drizzling
    • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
    • 2 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • Optional: 1 egg per person
    • Note: we didn’t forget to include salt; there’s simply enough already in the dish because of the kimchi and soy sauce.

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Lightly oil a wok (or similar) and crank up the heat as high as your stove can muster. Add the garlic and spring onions; keep them moving. When they’re turning golden, add the cabbage, carrot, and red pepper. Add them one by one, giving the wok a chance to get back to temperature each time before adding the next ingredient.

    2) When the vegetables are beginning to caramelize (if the temperature is good, this should only be a couple of minutes at most), add the rice, as well as the kimchi, peas, soy sauce, and black pepper. Toss everything ensure it’s all well-combined and evenly cooked. When it’s done (probably only another minute or two), take it off the heat.

    3) Optional: if you’re adding eggs, fry them now. Serve a bowl of kimchi-fried rice per person, adding 1 fried egg on top of each.

    4) Drizzle the chili oil as a colorful, tasty garnish that’s full of healthful polyphenols too.

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • Anti-Inflammatory Brownies

    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.

    Brownies are usually full of sugar, butter, and flour. These ones aren’t! Instead, they’re full of fiber (good against inflammation), healthy fats, and anti-inflammatory polyphenols:

    You will need

    • 1 can chickpeas (keep half the chickpea water, also called aquafaba, as we’ll be using it)
    • 4 oz of your favorite nut butter (substitute with tahini if you’re allergic to nuts)
    • 3 oz rolled oats
    • 2 oz dark chocolate chips (or if you want the best quality: dark chocolate, chopped into very small pieces)
    • 3 tbsp of your preferred plant milk (this is an anti-inflammatory recipe and unfermented dairy is inflammatory)
    • 2 tbsp cocoa powder (pure cacao is best)
    • 1 tbsp glycine (if unavailable, use 2 tbsp maple syrup, and skip the aquafaba)
    • 2 tsp vanilla extract
    • ½ tsp baking powder
    • ¼ tsp low-sodium salt

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Preheat the oven to 350℉ / 180℃, and line a 7″ cake tin with baking paper.

    2) Blend the oats in a food processor, until you have oat flour.

    3) Add all the remaining ingredients except the dark chocolate chips, and process until the mixture resembles cookie dough.

    3) Transfer to a bowl, and fold in the dark chocolate chips, distributing evenly.

    4) Add the mixture to the cake tin, and smooth the surface down so that it’s flat and even. Bake for about 25 minutes, and let them cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes, but longer is better, as they will firm up while they cool. Cut into cubes when ready to serve:

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • The Sugary Food That Lowers Blood Sugars

    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 Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

    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

    ❝Loved the article on goji berries! I read they are good for blood sugars, is that true despite the sugar content?❞

    Most berries are! Fruits that are high in polyphenols (even if they’re high in sugar), like berries, have a considerable net positive impact on glycemic health:

    And more specifically:

    Dietary berries, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes: an overview of human feeding trials

    Read more: Which Sugars Are Healthier, And Which Are Just The Same?

    As for goji berries specifically, they’re very high indeed in polyphenols, and also have a hypoglycemic effect, i.e., they lower blood sugar levels (and as a bonus, increases HDL (“good” cholesterol) levels too, but that’s not the topic here):

    ❝The results of our study indicated a remarkable protective effect of LBP in patients with type 2 diabetes. Serum glucose was found to be significantly decreased and insulinogenic index increased during OMTT after 3 months administration of LBP. LBP also increased HDL levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. It showed more obvious hypoglycemic efficacy for those people who did not take any hypoglycemic medicine compared to patients taking hypoglycemic medicines. This study showed LBP to be a good potential treatment aided-agent for type 2 diabetes.❞

    • LBP = Lycium barbarum polysaccharide, i.e. polysaccharide in/from goji berries
    • OMTT = Oral metabolic tolerance test, a test of how well the blood sugars avoid spiking after a meal

    Read: Practical Application of Antidiabetic Efficacy of Lycium barbarum Polysaccharide in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

    For more about goji berries (and also where to get them), for reference our previous article is at:

    Goji Berries: Which Benefits Do They Really Have?

    Take care!

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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