Good Health From Head To Toe

⏰ 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:

• Strokes may come without warning, but there are many things you can do to reduce your risks (see today’s video for 10 of them—starting with “Control your blood pressure”)

• Alzheimer’s has a genetic factor, but is not established as hereditary.

  • All the same, a lot of people pay more attention to their own dementia risk, after an older family member goes through it. And, it’s good to pay attention, whatever the reason.

  • It’s never too early (or too late) to start thinking about dementia avoidance strategies (we link to some resources below)

• Diabetes can do so much damage that it results in amputations (see the bottom of our main feature for how to avoid that eventuality)

Read on to learn about these things and more…

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

Don't Let a Stroke Steal Your Life: 10 Lifestyle Changes for Prevention (in 5 minutes)

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

❓ MAIN FEATURE

It’s Q&A Day!

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

This newsletter has been growing a lot lately, and so have the questions/requests, and we love that! 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 😎 

Q: I am now in the "aging" population. A great concern for me is Alzheimers. My father had it and I am so worried. What is the latest research on prevention?

Very important stuff! We wrote about this not long back:

• See: How To Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Risk

• See also: Brain Food? The Eyes Have It!

(one good thing to note is that while Alzheimer’s has a genetic component, it doesn’t appear to be hereditary per se. Still, good to be on top of these things, and it’s never too early to start with preventive measures!)

Q: Foods that help build stronger bones and cut inflammation? Thank you!

We’ve got you…

For stronger bones / To cut inflammation

That “stronger bones” article is about the benefits of collagen supplementation for bones, but there’s definitely more to say on the topic of stronger bones, so we’ll do a main feature on it sometime soon!

Q: Veganism, staying mentally sharp, best exercises for weight gain?

All great stuff! Let’s do a run-down:

• Veganism? As a health and productivity newsletter, we’ll only be focusing veganism’s health considerations, but it does crop up from time to time! For example:

  • Which Plant Milk? (entirely about such)

  • Plant vs Animal Protein (mostly about such)

  • Making Friends With Your Gut (You Can Thank Us Later) (discusses one benefit of such)

• Staying mentally sharp? You might like the things-against-dementia pieces we linked to in the previous response!

  • It’s also worth noting that some kinds of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s, can begin the neurodegenerative process 20 years before symptoms show, and can be influenced by lifestyle choices 20 years before that, so it’s definitely never too early be on top of these things!

• Best exercises for weight gain? We’ll do a main feature one of these days (filled with good science and evidence), but in few words meanwhile: core exercises, large muscle groups, heavy weights, few reps, build up slowly. Squats are King.

Q: I am interested in the following: Aging, Exercise, Diet, Relationships, Purpose, Lowering Stress

You’re going to love our Psychology Sunday editions of 10almonds! You might like some of these…

• Relationships: Seriously Useful Communication Skills!

• Purpose: Are You Flourishing? (There’s a Scale)

• Managing stress: Lower Your Cortisol! (Here's Why & How)

• Also about managing stress: Sunday Stress-Buster

• Also applicable to stress: How To Set Your Anxiety Aside 

Q: I’d like to know more about type 2 diabetic foot problems

You probably know that the “foot problems” thing has less to do with the feet and more to do with blood and nerves. So, why the feet?

The reason feet often get something like the worst of it, is because they are extremities, and in the case of blood sugars being too high for too long too often, they’re getting more damage as blood has to fight its way back up your body. Diabetic neuropathy happens when nerves are malnourished because the blood that should be keeping them healthy, is instead syrupy and sluggish.

We’ll definitely do a main feature sometime soon on keeping blood sugars healthy, for both types of diabetes plus pre-diabetes and just general advice for all.

In the meantime, here’s some very good advice on keeping your feet healthy in the context of diabetes. This one’s focussed on Type 1 Diabetes, but the advice goes for both:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

🌏 AROUND THE WEB

What’s happening in the health world…

• Millions affected by problem gambling have limited access to support, finds report

• Correlation between social vulnerability and elevated suicide risks discovered

• Social media fueling eating disorders among female athletes, research shows

• Regular exercise may boost recovery for people with substance use disorders

• HIV drug shown to help protect against build-up of dementia-related proteins

• Unveiling the biases in medical AI: the need for more accurate imaging diagnoses

• Trial success for liver disease breath test (non-invasive, easy, and cheap)

More to come tomorrow!

📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

Stop Sabotaging Your Weight Loss: Why You Do It and How to Fix It - by Jennifer Powter, MSc

This is not a dieting book, and it's not a motivational pep talk.

The book starts with the assumption that you do want to lose weight (it also assumes you're a woman, and probably over 40... that's just the book's target market, but the same advice is good even if that's not you), and that you've probably been trying, on and off, for a while. Her position is simple:

As to how this sabotage may be occurring, Powter talks about fears that may be holding you back, including but not limited to:

• Fear of failure

• Fear of the unknown

• Fear of loss

• Fear of embarrassment

• Fear of your weight not being the reason your life sucks

Far from putting the reader down, though, Powter approaches everything with compassion. To this end, her prescription starts with encouraging self-love. Not when you're down to a certain size, not when you're conforming perfectly to a certain diet, but now. You don't have to be perfect to be worthy of love.

On the topic of perfection: a recurring theme in the book is the danger of perfectionism. In her view, perfectionism is nothing more nor less than the most justifiable way to hold yourself back in life.

Lastly, she covers mental reframes, with useful questions to ask oneself on a daily basis, to ensure progressing step by step into your best life.

In short: if you'd like to lose weight and have been trying for a while, maybe on and off, this book could get you out of that cycle and into a much better state of being.

Get your copy of "Stop Sabotaging Your Weight Loss" from Amazon today!

May you be your best self from head to toe,

The 10almonds Team