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Today’s almonds have been activated by:
Remember to make time for hydration!
Make a rule for yourself that if you are thirsty, you will have a [hydrating] drink now, not when you have finished whatever you are currently doing.
(barring actual emergencies, and/or things you physically can’t pause)
⏰ IN A RUSH?
Today’s 30-Second Summary
If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:
Butter, if it’s from grass-fed animals, is a rich source of many nutrients. But it’s also a rich source of saturated fat, so moderation is indeed key.
Margarine used to contain a lot of trans fats, which are very bad. In many places this has been banned now, making margarine’s nutritional profile much better. If unsure about your country’s regulations, it pays to read labels!
Doesn’t it feel a bit brutal sometimes when the dentist is scraping off plaque?
Today’s sponsor, LIVFRESH, have developed a gel that safely dissolves plaque without harming the teeth or gums (this is such an impressive breakthrough that we included a link to the actual science in the sponsor section; check it out!)
Read on to learn about these things and more…
🌍 10ALMONDS APPROVED BLACK FRIDAY DEALS
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👀 WATCH AND LEARN
Can you trust your own brain? (6:21)
Neuroscientist Dr. Heather Berlin explains:
Prefer text? Click here to read the transcript 😎
Want to watch it, but not right now? Bookmark it for later 🔖
🧈 MAIN FEATURE
Butter vs Margarine
Yesterday, we asked you for your (health-related) opinion on butter vs margarine, and got the above-depicted, below-described, set of responses:
A little over 60% said butter is a health food and margarine is basically plastic with trans fats
A little over 20% said that both are woeful and it’s better to avoid both
A little over 10% said that margarine is a lighter option, and butter is a fast track to cardiovascular disease.
Comments included (we will summarize/paraphrase, for space):
“…in moderation, though”
“I’m vegan so I use vegan butter but I know it’s not great, so I use it sparingly”
“butter is healthy if and only if it’s grass-fed”
“margarine has unpronounceable ingredients”
To address those quickly:
“…in moderation” is a stipulation with which one can rarely go too far wrong
Same! Speaking for myself (your writer here, hi) and not for the company
Grass-fed is indeed better; alas that so little of it is grass-fed, in the US!
Butter contains eicosatrienoic acid, linolelaidic acid, and more*. Sometimes big words don’t mean that something is worse for the health, though!
So, what does the science say?
Butter is a health food: True or False?
True or False, depending on amount! Moderation is definitely key, but we’ll return to that (and why not to have more than a small amount of butter) later. But it is a rich source of many nutrients, iff it’s grass-fed, anyway.
The nutritional profile of something isn’t a thing that’s too contentious, so rather than take too much time on it, in this case we’ll point you back up to the scientific paper we linked above, or if you prefer a pop-science rendering, here’s a nice quick rundown:
Margarine is basically plastic with trans fats: True or False?
False and usually False now, respectively, contingently.
On the first part: chemically, it’s simply not “basically plastic” and everything in it is digestible
On the second part: it depends on the margarine, and here’s where it pays to read labels. Historically, margarines all used to be high in trans fats (which are indeed woeful for the health). Nowadays, since trans fats have such a (well-earned) bad press, there are increasingly many margarines with low (or no) trans fats, and depending on your country, it may be that all margarines no longer have such:
❝It’s a public health success story. Consumers no longer have to worry about reading product nutritional labels to see if they contain hydrogenated oils and trans fats. They can just know that they no longer do❞
So this is one where the science is clear (trans fats are unequivocally bad), but the consumer information is not always (it may be necessary to read labels, to know whether a margarine is conforming to the new guidelines).
Butter is a fast track to cardiovascular disease: True or False?
True or False depending on amount. In moderation, predictably it’s not a big deal.
But for example, the World Health Organization recommends that saturated fats (of which butter is a generous source) make up no more than 10% of our calorie intake:
So if you have a 2000 kcal daily intake, that would mean consuming not more than 200 kcal from butter, which is approximately two tablespoons.
If you’d like a deeper look into the complexities of saturated fats (for and against), you might like our previous main feature specifically about such:
Enjoy!
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
Dissolve plaque, without harming teeth/gums
LIVFRESH make some bold claims:
❝We have made the first breakthrough in the dental industry since 1914.❞
❝LIVFRESH performs 250% better at removing plaque than a market leader❞
The first claim is about using molecular nanotechnology instead of abrasion, to remove plaque. The claim is worded a little strongly, but it genuinely is a major breakthrough.
The second claim... We love randomized clinical trials! So we looked it up, and found it:
Now, the sample size was small (33), but the results were overwhelmingly positive. And the test group had a worse gingival index than control, before starting—and much better afterwards:
In other words, the competition was stacked against the product, and it still won clear. With this in mind, we're very happy to recommend LIVFRESH's edathamil*-based dental gel!
*That's their patented formula that breaks down plaque on a molecular level, without damaging teeth.
It comes in multiple flavors, so you get two links today:
If you're unsure which to go for, we recommend the peppermint, as it has fewer ingredients, and is a true gel rather than a foaming gel.
PS: 10almonds subscribers can use code DENTAL20 for 20% off at checkout 😎
Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free
🌏 AROUND THE WEB
What’s happening in the health world…
Switching from animal-based to plant-based foods reduces risk of heart disease, diabetes, and mortality
US military says national security depends on forever chemicals
Weight-loss drugs will be sold as pills, with just as many side effects and cost issues
High cholesterol in midlife linked to later-life dementia
What to know about assisted living
Despite decades of promises, health research still overlooks women
New study links alcohol and white bread to increased colorectal cancer risk
More to come tomorrow!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection – by Dr. John Sarno
Often when we review books with titles like this one, we preface it with a "what it's not: a think-yourself-better book".
In this case... It is, in fact, a think-yourself-better book. However, its many essay-length rave reviews caught our attention, and upon reading, we can report: its ideas are worth reading.
The focus of this book is on TMS, or "Tension Myoneural Syndrome", to give it its full name. The author asserts (we cannot comment on the accuracy) that many cases of TMS are misdiagnosed as other things, from sciatica to lupus. When other treatments fail, or are simply not available (no cure for lupus yet, for example) or are unenticing (risky surgeries, for example), he offers an alternative approach.
Dr. Sarno lays out the case for TMS being internally fixable, since our muscles and nerves are all at the command of our brain. Rather than taking a physical-first approach, he takes a psychological-first approach, before building into a more holistic model.
The writing style is... A little dated and salesey and unnecessarily padded, to be honest, but the content makes it worthwhile.
Bottom line: if you have back pain, then the advice of this book, priced not much more than a box of top brand painkillers, seems a very reasonable thing to try.
What did you think of today's newsletter?We always love to hear from you, whether you leave us a comment or even just a click in the poll if you're speeding by! |
May today see you well-prepared for the coming weekend,
The 10almonds Team