Zucchini & Oatmeal Koftas

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These vegetarian (and with one tweak, vegan) koftas are delicious as a snack, light lunch, or side to a larger meal. Healthwise, they contain the healthiest kind of fiber, as well as omega-3 fatty acids, and beneficial herbs and spices.

You will need

  • ¼ cup oatmeal
  • 1 large zucchini, grated
  • 1 small carrot, grated
  • ¼ cup cheese (your preference; vegan is also fine)
  • 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • ¼ bulb garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
  • ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
  • Small handful fresh parsley, chopped
  • Extra virgin olive oil, for frying

Method

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

1) Soak the flaxseed in 2 oz hot water for at least 5 minutes

2) Combine all of the ingredients except the olive oil (and including the water that the flax has been soaking in) in a big bowl, mixing thoroughly

3) Shape into small balls, patties, or sausage shapes, and fry until the color is golden and the structural integrity is good. If doing patties, you’ll need to gently flip them to cook both sides; otherwise, rolling them to get all sides is fine.

4) Serve! Traditional is with some kind of yogurt dip, but we’re not the boss of you, so enjoy them how you like:

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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  • Homeopathy: Evidence So Tiny That It’s Not there?

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    Homeopathy: Evidence So Tiny That It’s Not There?

    Yesterday, we asked you your opinions on homeopathy. The sample size of responses was a little lower than we usually get, but of those who did reply, there was a clear trend:

    • A lot of enthusiasm for “Homeopathy works on valid principles and is effective”
    • Near equal support for “It may help some people as a complementary therapy”
    • Very few people voted for “Science doesn’t know how it works, but it works”; this is probably because people who considered voting for this, voted for the more flexible “It may help some people as a complementary therapy” instead.
    • Very few people considered it a dangerous scam and a pseudoscience.

    So, what does the science say?

    Well, let us start our investigation by checking out the position of the UK’s National Health Service, an organization with a strong focus on providing the least expensive treatments that are effective.

    Since homeopathy is very inexpensive to arrange, they will surely want to put it atop their list of treatments, right?

    ❝Homeopathy is a “treatment” based on the use of highly diluted substances, which practitioners claim can cause the body to heal itself.

    There’s been extensive investigation of the effectiveness of homeopathy. There’s no good-quality evidence that homeopathy is effective as a treatment for any health condition.❞

    The NHS actually has a lot more to say about that, and you can read their full statement here.

    But that’s just one institution. Here’s what Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council had to say:

    ❝There was no reliable evidence from research in humans that homeopathy was effective for treating the range of health conditions considered: no good-quality, well-designed studies with enough participants for a meaningful result reported either that homeopathy caused greater health improvements than placebo, or caused health improvements equal to those of another treatment❞

    You can read their full statement here.

    The American FDA, meanwhile, have a stronger statement:

    ❝Homeopathic drug products are made from a wide range of substances, including ingredients derived from plants, healthy or diseased animal or human sources, minerals and chemicals, including known poisons. These products have the potential to cause significant and even permanent harm if they are poorly manufactured, since that could lead to contaminated products or products that have potentially toxic ingredients at higher levels than are labeled and/or safe, or if they are marketed as substitute treatments for serious or life-threatening diseases and conditions, or to vulnerable populations.❞

    You can read their full statement here.

    Homeopathy is a dangerous scam and a pseudoscience: True or False?

    False and True, respectively, mostly.

    That may be a confusing answer, so let’s elaborate:

    • Is it dangerous? Mostly not; it’s mostly just water. However, two possibilities for harm exist:
      • Careless preparation could result in a harmful ingredient still being present in the water—and because of the “like cures like” principle, many of the ingredients used in homeopathy are harmful, ranging from heavy metals to plant-based neurotoxins. However, the process of “ultra-dilution” usually removes these so thoroughly that they are absent or otherwise scientifically undetectable.
      • Placebo treatment has its place, but could result in “real” treatment going undelivered. This can cause harm if the “real” treatment was critically needed, especially if it was needed on a short timescale.
    • Is it a scam? Probably mostly not; to be a scam requires malintent. Most practitioners probably believe in what they are practising.
    • Is it a pseudoscience? With the exception that placebo effect has been highly studied and is a very valid complementary therapy… Yes, aside from that it is a pseudoscience. There is no scientific evidence to support homeopathy’s “like cures like” principle, and there is no scientific evidence to support homeopathy’s “water memory” idea. On the contrary, they go against the commonly understood physics of our world.

    It may help some people as a complementary therapy: True or False?

    True! Not only is placebo effect very well-studied, but best of all, it can still work as a placebo even if you know that you’re taking a placebo… Provided you also believe that!

    Science doesn’t know how it works, but it works: True or False?

    False, simply. At best, it performs as a placebo.

    Placebo is most effective when it’s a remedy against subjective symptoms, like pain.

    However, psychosomatic effect (the effect that our brain has on the rest of our body, to which it is very well-connected) can mean that placebo can also help against objective symptoms, like inflammation.

    After all, our body, directed primarily by the brain, can “decide” what immunological defenses to deploy or hold back, for example. This is why placebo can help with conditions as diverse as arthritis (an inflammatory condition) or diabetes (an autoimmune condition, and/or a metabolic condition, depending on type).

    Here’s how homeopathy measures up, for those conditions:

    (the short answer is “no better than placebo”)

    Homeopathy works on valid principles and is effective: True or False?

    False, except insofar as placebo is a valid principle and can be effective.

    The stated principles of homeopathy—”like cures like” and “water memory”—have no scientific basis.

    We’d love to show the science for this, but we cannot prove a negative.

    However, the ideas were conceived in 1796, and are tantamount to alchemy. A good scientific attitude means being open-minded to new ideas and testing them. In homeopathy’s case, this has been done, extensively, and more than 200 years of testing later, homeopathy has consistently performed equal to placebo.

    In summary…

    • If you’re enjoying homeopathic treatment and that’s working for you, great, keep at it.
    • If you’re open-minded to enjoying a placebo treatment that may benefit you, be careful, but don’t let us stop you.
    • If your condition is serious, please do not delay seeking evidence-based medical treatment.

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  • The Best Kind Of Fiber For Overall Health?

    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 Fiber Of Good Health

    We’ve written before about how most people in industrialized nations in general, and N. America in particular, do not get nearly enough fiber:

    Why You’re Probably Not Getting Enough Fiber (And How To Fix It)

    Fiber’s important for many aspects of health, not least of all the heart:

    What Matters Most For Your Heart? Eat More (Of This) For Lower Blood Pressure

    As well, of course, as being critical for gut health:

    Gut Health 101: Making Friends With Your Gut (You Can Thank Us Later)

    But is all fiber “prebiotic fiber”, and/or are some better than others?

    Beta-glucan

    A recent study (it’s a mouse study, but promising in its applicability for humans) examined the health impacts of 5 different fiber types:

    • pectin
    • β-glucan
    • wheat dextrin
    • resistant starch
    • cellulose (control)

    As for health metrics, they measured:

    • body weight
    • adiposity
    • indirect calorimetry
    • glucose tolerance
    • gut microbiota
    • metabolites thereof

    What they found was…

    ❝Only β-glucan supplementation during HFD-feeding decreased adiposity and body weight gain and improved glucose tolerance compared with HFD-cellulose, whereas all other fibers had no effect. This was associated with increased energy expenditure and locomotor activity in mice compared with HFD-cellulose.

    All fibers supplemented into an HFD uniquely shifted the intestinal microbiota and cecal short-chain fatty acids; however, only β-glucan supplementation increased cecal butyrate concentrations. Lastly, all fibers altered the small-intestinal microbiota and portal bile acid composition. ❞

    ~ Dr. Elizabeth Howard et al.

    If you’d like to read more, the study itself is here:

    Impact of Plant-Based Dietary Fibers on Metabolic Homeostasis in High-Fat Diet Mice via Alterations in the Gut Microbiota and Metabolites

    If you’d like to read less, the short version is that they are all good but β-glucan scored best in several metrics.

    It also acts indirectly as a GLP-1 agonist, by the way:

    The right fiber may help you lose weight

    You may be wondering: what is β-glucan found in?

    It’s found in many (non-animal product) foods, but oats, barley, mushrooms, and yeasts are all good sources.

    Is it available as a supplement?

    More or less; there are supplements that contain it generously, here’s an example product on Amazon, a cordyceps extract, of which >30% is β-glucan.

    As an aside, cordyceps itself has many other healthful properties too:

    Cordyceps: Friend Or Foe? ← the answer is, it depends! If you’re human, it’s a friend.

    Enjoy!

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  • How I Cured My Silent Reflux – by Don Daniels

    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.

    Acid reflux, in its various forms (not all of which include heartburn as a symptom!), affects around 1 in 8 people. Often it takes the form of coughing or excess mucus after eating, and it can trigger ostensibly random sweats, for example.

    Don Daniels does an excellent job of demystifying the various kinds of acid reflux, explaining clearly and simply the mechanics of what is going on for each of them and why.

    Further, he talks about the medications that can make things worse (and how and why), and supplements that can make it better (and supplements that can make it worse, too!), and a multiphase plan (diet on, meds weaned off, supplements on, supplements weaned off when asymptomatic, diet adjust to a new normal) to get free from acid reflux.

    The writing style is simple, clear, and jargon-free, while referencing plenty of scientific literature, often quoting from it and providing sources, much like we often do at 10almonds. There are 50+ such references in all, for a 105-page book.

    So, do also note that yes, it’s quite a short book for the price, but the content is of value and wouldn’t have benefitted from padding of the kind that many authors do just to make the book longer.

    Bottom line: if you have, or suspect you may have, an acid reflux condition of any kind, then this book can guide you through fixing that.

    Click here to check out How I Cured My Silent Reflux, and put up with it no longer!

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    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small

    “I liked the info on Turmeric. The problem for me is that I do not like black pepper which should be ingested with the turmeric for best results. Is black pepper sold in capsule form?”

    Better than just black pepper being sold in capsule form, it’s usually available in the same capsules as the turmeric. As in: if you buy turmeric capsules, there is often black pepper in them as well, for precisely that reason. Check labels, of course, but here’s an example on Amazon.

    “I would like to read more on loneliness, meetup group’s for seniors. Thank you”

    Well, 10almonds is an international newsletter, so it’s hard for us to advise about (necessarily: local) meetup groups!

    But a very popular resource for connecting to your local community is Nextdoor, which operates throughout the US, Canada, Australia, and large parts of Europe including the UK.

    In their own words:

    Get the most out of your neighborhood with Nextdoor

    It’s where communities come together to greet newcomers, exchange recommendations, and read the latest local news. Where neighbors support local businesses and get updates from public agencies. Where neighbors borrow tools and sell couches. It’s how to get the most out of everything nearby. Welcome, neighbor.

    Curious? Click here to check it out and see if it’s of interest to you

    “It was superb !! Just loved that healthy recipe !!! I would love to see one of those every day, if possible !! Keep up the fabulous work !!!”

    We’re glad you enjoyed! We can’t promise a recipe every day, but here’s one just for you:

    !

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  • A Supplement To Rival St. John’s Wort Against Depression

    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.

    Do You Feel The SAMe?

    S-Adeonsyl-L-Methionone (SAMe) is a chemical found naturally in the body, and/but enjoyed widely as a supplement. The main reasons people take it are:

    • Improve mood (antidepressant effect)
    • Improve joints (reduce osteoarthritis symptoms)
    • Improve liver (detoxifying effect)

    Let’s see what the science says for each of those claims…

    Does it improve mood?

    It seems to perform comparably to St. John’s Wort (which is good; it performs comparably to Prozac).

    Best of all, it does this with fewer contraindications (St. John’s Wort has so many contraindications).

    Here’s how they stack up:

    St. John’s wort and S-Adenosyl Methionine as “natural” alternatives to conventional antidepressants in the era of the suicidality boxed warning: what is the evidence for clinically relevant benefit?

    This looks very promising, though it’d be nice to see a larger body of research, to be sure.

    Does it reduce osteoarthritis symptoms?

    The good news: it performs comparably to ibuprofen, with fewer side effects!

    The bad news: it also performs comparably to placebo!

    Read into that what you will about ibuprofen’s usefulness vs OA symptoms.

    Read all about it:

    S-Adenosylmethionine for osteoarthritis of the knee or hip

    If you were hoping for something for OA or similar symptoms, you might like our previous main features:

    Does it help against liver disease?

    According to adverts for SAMe: absolutely!

    According to science: we don’t know

    The science for this is so weak that it’d be unworthy of mention if it weren’t for the fact that SAMe is so widely sold as good against hepatotoxicity.

    To be clear: maybe it really is great! Science hasn’t yet disproved its usefulness either.

    It is popularly assumed to be beneficial due to there being an association between lower levels of SAMe in the body (remember, it is also produced inside our bodies) and development of liver disease, especially cholestasis.

    Here’s an example of what pretty much every study we found was like (inconclusive research based mostly on mice):

    S-adenosylmethionine in liver health, injury, and cancer

    For other options for liver health, consider:

    How To Unfatty A Fatty Liver

    Is it safe?

    Safety trials have been done ranging from 3 months to 2 years, with no serious side effects coming to light. So, it appears quite safe.

    That said, as with anything, there are contraindications, such as:

    • if you have bipolar disorder, skip this unless directed by your health care provider, because it may worsen the symptoms of mania
    • if you are on SSRIs or other serotonergic drugs, it may interact with those
    • if you are immunocompromised, you might want to skip it can increase the risk of P. carinii growth in such cases

    As always, do speak with your doctor/pharmacist for personalized advice.

    Summary

    SAMe’s evidence-based qualities seem to stack up as follows:

    • Against depression: good
    • Against osteoarthritis: weak
    • Against liver disease: unknown

    As for safety, it has been found quite safe for most people.

    Where can I get it?

    We don’t sell it, but here is an example product on Amazon, for your convenience

    Enjoy!

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  • Meditations for Mortals – by Oliver Burkeman

    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 previously reviewed this author’s “Four Thousand Weeks”, but for those who might have used a lot of those four thousand weeks already, and would like to consider things within a smaller timeframe for now, this work is a 28-day daily reader.

    Now, daily readers are usually 366 days, but the chapters here are not the single page chapters that 366-page daily readers usually have. So, expect to invest a little more time per day (say, about 6 pages for each daily chapter).

    Burkeman does not start the way we might expect, by telling us to take the time to smell the roses. Instead, he starts by examining the mistakes that most of us make most of the time, often due to unexamined assumptions about the world and how it works. Simply put, we’ve often received bad lessons in life (usually not explicitly, but rather, from our environments), and it takes some unpacking first to deal with that.

    Nor is the book systems-based, as many books that get filed under “time management” may be, but rather, is simply principles-based. This is a strength, because principles are a lot easier to keep to than systems.

    The writing style is direct and conversational, and neither overly familiar nor overly academic. It strikes a very comfortably readable balance.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to get the most out of your days, this book can definitely help improve things a lot.

    Click here to check out Meditations For Mortals, and live fulfilling days!

    Don’t Forget…

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