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Infrared-Reflecting Patches For Health?
Plus: what happens when you stop taking Wegovy
The 10almonds Team
December 29, 2023
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
Countdown to the new year! In about 3 days, give or take timezones, it’ll be Monday, the 1st of January.
Do you have everything ready for healthy new habits starting soon? If not, now’s the time to make a checklist and get checking it!
⏰ 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:
LifeWave patches are popular amongst some health enthusiasts, and multi-level marketing enthusiasts; we were asked our opinion
The principles did not entirely make sense to us, and we did not find the research compelling
However, it is at least probable that the patches are safe, and are unlikely to cause problems
Cooking at home gives great health benefits—we know exactly what we’re eating and how it was prepared!
If you’d like that but don’t have time for meal prep, you can save time on both meal prep and shopping by taking advantage of today’s sponsor, Trifecta Nutrition, who will deliver ready-prepped nutrition-optimized meals (the plans are customizable!) to your door.
Read on to learn about these things and more…
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
TED-Ed | Is it normal to talk to yourself? (5:19)
Want to watch it, but not right now? Bookmark it for later 🔖
❓ MAIN FEATURE
It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!
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 😎
❝Hi! I’ve been reading about LifeWave patches, would you recommend them?❞
For reference first, this is talking about these: LifeWave.com
Short answer: no
Longer answer: their main premise seems to be that the patches (subscription prices seem to start from about $100–$300 per month) reflect infrared energy back into your body, making you more energized and healthy.
Fun fact: aluminum foil reflects infrared energy (which we feel as heat), by the way, and that is why space blankets (of the kind used in emergencies and by some athletes) are made shiny like that, often with aluminized mylar.
We cannot comment too closely on the rest of the presented science of their products, as it seems quite unlike anything we’re accustomed to reading, and we were not able to make a lot of sense of it.
They do cite research papers to back their claims, including research conducted by the company’s founder and published via an open journal.
Many others are independent studies conducted by often the same researchers as each other, mostly experts in acupuncture and acupressure.
For the papers we looked at, the sample sizes were very small, but the conclusions were very positive.
They were published in a variety of journals, of which we cannot claim any prior knowledge (i.e:, they were not the peer-reviewed journals from which we cite most of our sources).
Also, none were registered with ClinicalTrials.gov.
To be on the safe side, their disclaimer does advise:
❝LifeWave products are only intended to maintain or encourage a general state of health or healthy activity and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate, or prevent any disease or medical condition of the body❞
They do have a Frequently Asked Questions page, which tells about ancient Egyptian use of colored glass, as well as more modern considerations including joining, ordering, their commissions system, binary commissions and matching bonuses, and “how to rank up in LifeWave” as well as a lot of information about subscribing as a preferred customer or a brand partner, opting in to their multi-level marketing opportunities.
Here’s what “Honest Brand Reviews” had to say:
Our position:
We cannot honestly claim to understand their science, and thus naturally won’t actively recommend what we can’t speak for.
An expert’s position:
Since we couldn’t understand how this would work, here’s what Dr. Paul Knoepfler has to say about their flagship product, the LifeWave X39 patch:
Take care!
📊 POLL
We turn the tables and ask you a question…
We’ll then talk about this tomorrow:
What is your opinion of caloric restriction as a health practice? |
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
Trifecta: Unwind, Recharge, and Reach Your Goals
We’ve written before about how cooking our own food at home means plenty of health benefits. Knowing all the ingredients and the process, we can be assured that what we’re eating is healthy. But what if we don’t have the time or inclination for a mountain of kitchen prep each day?
Trifecta Nutrition focus on delivering, well, nutrition. Tasty, chef-crafted meals, built around a nutritional plan to suit you (the meal plans are customizable).
But where they really excel is in how their expertly portioned, macro-balanced meals take the guesswork (and mathematics!) out of healthy eating.
It’s often said that the best way to “buy happiness” is with purchases that save us time—because what’s more precious than that?
Please do check out our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free
🌎 AROUND THE WEB
What’s happening in the health world…
Guidelines updated for use of antiplatelet therapy for atherosclerotic CVD
New family of polymers can kill bacteria without inducing antibiotic resistance
Common stomach bacteria may be linked to higher risk of Alzheimer's disease
Bolstering our sense of smell may reduce the risk of dementia
Alpha, beta, theta: what are brain states and brain waves? And can we control them?
Gut microbiome diversity predicts cognitive function and brain structure
Wegovy: why half of those taking it stop within a year, and what happens when they do
More to come tomorrow!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
This Book May Save Your Life: Everyday Health Hacks to Worry Less and Live Better – by Dr. Karan Rajan
The title is a bold sell, but the book does include a lot of information about what can go wrong in your body, and how those things can be avoided.
What it's not: a reiteration of Dr. Michael Greger's "How Not To Die". It's not dense medical information, and it doesn't cite papers at a rate of ten per page.
What it is: an easy-reading tour guide of the human body and its many quirks and foibles, and how we can leverage those to our benefit. On which note...
Hopefully, your insides will never see the light of day, but this author is a general surgeon and as such, is an experienced and well-qualified tour guide. Here, we learn about everything from the long and interesting journey through our gut, to the unique anatomical features and liabilities of the brain. From the bizarre oddities of the genitals, to things most people don't know about the process of death.
The style of the book is very casual, with lots of short sections (almost mini chapters-within-chapters, really) making for very light reading—and certainly enjoyable reading too, unless you are inclined to squeamishness.
Bottom line: in honesty, the book is more informative than it is instructional, though it does contain the promised health tips too. With that in mind, it's a very enjoyable and educational read, and we do recommend it.
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 in great health in every way,
The 10almonds Team