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Health and Productivity, Made Crazy Simple

Hello again!

The holidays are over and we're back in full swing 😊 To all those who joined us since our last issue, welcome to 10almonds! We're a chatty bunch, so please always feel free to reply to our emails.

We've got a whole bunch of ideas to make 2023 your healthiest year yet, so let's dive right in.

Today's Titbit

To kick things off this lunar new year (Year of the Rabbit!), here’s a super compact stretch-everything exercise that can be done in under a minute:

(This yoga routine comes from the amazing Sophie Whitehead.)

Don’t worry if you can’t do every exercise perfectly! Consistency is key. Try doing the routine twice back-to-back, and notice how you can stretch just a tiny bit more the second time. That’s sure to add up daily!

Bonus: have someone take “before” pictures for you, and see the difference after six weeks!

Do you have your own warm-up routine? Reply to this email and tell us about it.

Are you flushing away your vitamins?

Most likely...but you don't have to.

We all know what a wasteful expense supplements can sometimes be, but you can optimise your intake to get more bang for your buck!

Top Tips for Getting Your Money’s Worth:

1. Liquids are better than tablets—the body can’t absorb nutrients from tablets anywhere as easily as it can from liquids, with some saying as low as a 50% absorption rate for tablets, so if your supplement can come in drinkable form, take it that way!

2. Capsules are better than tablets—capsules, depending on the kind, contain either a powder (true capsules) or a liquid (softgels). Once the capsule/softgel is broken down in the stomach, it releases its contents, which will now be absorbed as though you took it as a drink.

3. Stay hydrated—on that note, your body can only make use of nutrients that it can easily transport, and if you’re dehydrated, the process is sluggish! Having a big glass of water with your supplements will go a long way to helping your body get them where they’re needed.

4. Take with black pepper—studies disagree on exactly how much black pepper improves absorption of nutrients. Some say it improves it by 50%, others say as much as 7x better. The truth is probably that it varies from one nutrient to the next, but what is (almost) universally accepted is that black pepper helps you absorb many nutrients you take orally.

5. Take with a meal—bonus if you seasoned it with black pepper! But also: many nutrients are best absorbed alongside food, and many are specifically fat-soluble (so you want to take a little fat around the same time for maximum absorption)

6. Consider split doses—a lot of nutrients are best absorbed when spread out a bit. Why? Your body can often only absorb so much at once, and what it couldn’t absorb can, depending on the nutrient, pass right through you. So better to space out the doses—breakfast and dinner make for great times to take them.

7. Consider cycling—no, not the two-wheeled kind, though feel free to do that too! What cycling means when it comes to supplements is to understand that your body can build a tolerance to some supplements, so you’ll get gradually less effect for the same dose. Combat this by scheduling a break—five days on, two days off is a common schedule—allowing your body to optimise itself in the process!

8. Check Medications—and, as is always safe, make sure you check whether any medications you take can interrupt your supplement absorption!

One-Minute Book Review

Dr. Greger (of “Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen” fame) outlines for us in cold hard facts and stats what’s most likely to be our cause of death. While this is not a cheery premise for a book, he then sets out to work back from there—what could have prevented those specific things?

Some of the advice is what you might expect: eat green things and whole grains, skip the bacon. Other advice is less well-known: get a daily dose of curcumin/turmeric, take it with black pepper. Works wonders. If you want to add in daily exercises, just lifting the book could be a start; weighing in at 678 pages, it’s an information-dense tome that’s more likely to be sifted through than read cover-to-cover.

If you’re a more cynical sort, you might note that since the book doesn’t confer immortality, but does help us avoid statistically likely causes of death, logically it significantly increases our chances of dying in a statistically unlikely way. (Ha! Your mental exercise for today will be decoding that sentence 😉)

Grab today's book from Amazon!

Catch ya' tomorrow.

Lots of love,

The 10almonds team

DISCLAIMER: None of this is medical advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not medical advice or a solicitation to buy any supplements or medications, or to make any medical decisions. Always be careful. Always consult a professional.