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Four Ways To Upgrade The Mediterranean Diet
Plus: 5 exercises seniors should do daily
The 10almonds Team
October 08, 2023
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
Loading Screen Tip: for many of us, it’s been a while since anyone asked us “where do you see yourself 5 years from now?”.
Perhaps a better question: how do you see yourself: one year from now? / 5 years from now? / 10 years from now?
Now, fill in the blanks of the story. What did you to to get to that state?
Now, take the first steps, if you haven’t already.
⏰ 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:
The Mediterranean Diet is great for many aspects of health, including healthy aging, heart health, gut health, blood sugar health, brain health, and more.
However, it can be boosted, if there's a particular aspect you'd like it to do more of!
Today's main feature details four of these upgrades: anti-inflammatory, gut-healthy, heart-healthy, and brain-healthy!
Losing weight (healthily!) can be a challenge. Keeping that weight off can be even harder.
Today’s sponsor, the Mayo Clinic Diet, is a medically-backed, globally-trusted method that focuses on changing your daily routine by adding and breaking habits that make a difference to your weight.
Read on to learn about these things and more…
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
5 Exercises Seniors Should Do Every Day
Dr. Kristie Ennis has a top 5 to recommend:
Exercise menu:
0:49 | "Wall angel", for posture and mobility
2:00 | Shoulder rotation for balance, posture, and strength
3:59 | Sit-to-stand, for balance, stability, and strength
5:41 | Leg circles, lying on side, for mobility and strength
7:07 | "Struggling turtle" for mystery benefits that in her enthusiasm, it seems she forgot to mention. Likely mostly about strength and shoulder mobility!
Prefer text? Dr. Ennis doesn’t offer text-based resources, but you might like our previous main features:
Resistance Is Useful! (resistance training as we get older)
Osteoporosis Exercises (is what is says on the tin)
Fall Special (about not falling, or not being injured by such)
🥗 MAIN FEATURE
Four Ways To Upgrade The Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean Diet is considered by many to be the current “gold standard” of healthy eating, and with good reason. With 10,000+ studies underpinning it and counting, it has a pretty hefty weight of evidence.
(For contrast, the Ketogenic Diet for example has under 5,000 studies at time of writing, and many of those include mentioning the problems with it. That’s not to say the Keto is without its merits! It certainly can help achieve some short term goals, but that’s a topic for another day)
Wondering what the Mediterranean Diet consists of? We outlined it in a previous main feature, so here it is for your convenience 🥗
To get us started today, we’ll quickly drop some links to a few of those Mediterranean Diet studies from the top:
The short version is: it glows, in a good way.
The anti-inflammatory upgrade
One thing about the traditional Mediterranean Diet is… where are the spices?!
A diet focusing on fruits and non-starchy vegetables, healthy oils and minimal refined carbs, can be boosted by adding uses of spices such as chili, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, and coriander:
The gut-healthy upgrade:
The Mediterranean Diet already gives for having a small amount of dairy, mostly in the form of cheeses, but this can be tweaked:
The heart-healthy upgrade
The Mediterranean Diet is already highly recommended for heart health, and it offers different benefits to different parts of cardiovascular health:
The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet can boost it further, specifically in the category of, as the name suggests, lowering blood pressure.
It’s basically the Mediterranean Diet with a few tweaks. Most notably, red meat no longer features (the Mediterranean Diet allows for a small amount of red meat), and fish has gone up in the list:
The brain-healthy upgrade:
The MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet combines several elements from the above, as the name suggests. It also adds extra portions of specific brain-foods, that already exist in the above diets, but get a more substantial weighting in this one:
See also: The cognitive effects of the MIND diet
Enjoy!
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
Mayo Clinic Diet: effective, practical, and healthy weight loss
Losing weight (healthily!) can be a challenge. Keeping that weight off can be even harder. But, you don't have to do it alone:
The Mayo Clinic Diet is a medically-backed, globally-trusted method that focuses on changing your daily routine by adding and breaking habits that make a difference to your weight.
The benefits are far more than we could list here, but include:
A new digital platform that has helped members lose 3x more weight
A quick-start "lose it!" phrase, where members can lose 6–12 lbs in 2 weeks
Meal plan options that include healthy keto, high protein, vegetarian, and Mediterranean
See also: General Info | Pricing | How it Works | Free Diet Assessment
Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free
🌏 AROUND THE WEB
What’s happening in the health world…
What happens to our cardiovascular system as we age?
Where you live shapes your thirst for sugary drinks
Why popular sleep meds don't actually help you get better sleep. They just sedate you, expert says
New clues shed light on long COVID mysteries
The best way to care for your microbiome to keep it healthy as you age
Do your medications and supplements affect your blood pressure?
Study addresses possible associations between chronic stress, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's
More to come tomorrow!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting – by Dr. Lisa Genova
Memory is often viewed as one thing—either you have a good memory, or you don't. At best, a lot of people have a vague idea of selective memory. But, the reality is much more complex—and much more interesting.
Dr. Genova lays out clearly and simply the various different kinds of memory, how they work, and how they fail. Some of these kinds of memory operate on completely different principles than others, and/or in different parts of the brain. And, it's not just "a memory for faces" or a "memory for names", nor even "short term vs long term". There's working memory, explicit and implicit memory, semantic memory, episodic memory, muscle memory, and more.
However, this is not just an interesting book—it's also a useful one. Dr. Genova also looks at how we can guard against failing memory in later years, and how we can expand and grow the kinds of memory that are most important to us.
The style of the book is very conversational, and not at all textbook-like. It's certainly very accessible, and pleasant to read too.
Bottom line: memory is a weird and wonderful thing, and this book shines a clear light on many aspects of it—including how to improve the various different kinds of memory.
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! |
Wishing you a wonderfully restorative weekend,
The 10almonds Team