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Should You Soak Your Nuts?
Plus: how to reduce your intake of "forever chemicals"
The 10almonds Team
September 01, 2023
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
Loading Screen Tip: try to spend at least some time each day in greenery. It can be your garden or a park, but make a habit of it.
Note: if greenery is not readily available at your latitude or during a given season, consider making some. Indoor plants go a long way!
Not a gardener? Artificial plants are next best; your brain will still get many of the same benefits.
⏰ 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:
Continued learning is important all the way through life, but that “to-read” list sure stacks up, doesn’t it?
Today’s sponsor Blinkist offers thousands of 15-minute book summaries (text and/or audio; you choose) to help with that. Whether you go on to buy/borrow any given book, or are just happy to learn from the summaries, it really helps any passionate reader to allocate our time well!
Read on to learn about these things and more…
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
How To Get Your First Push-Up – Beginner Calisthenics and Motivation
Push-ups are a great exercise for strong muscles and bones both. And, though people forget this, they’re also one of the best core strength exercises around too.
But! There are so many ways to do them, and so many ways to do them badly. Lucy explains how to do them well, including starting from scratch:
Push-up menu:
❓ MAIN FEATURE
It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!
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. how many almonds should one eat per day? do they need to be soaked? thank you.❞
Within reason, however many you like! Given that protein is an appetite suppressant, you’ll probably find it’s not too many.
Dr. Michael Greger, of “How Not To Die” fame, suggests aiming for 30g of nuts per day. Since almonds typically weigh about 1g each, that means 30 if it’s all almonds.
And if you’re wondering about 10 almonds? The name’s a deliberate reference to an old internet hoax about 10 almonds being the equivalent of an aspirin for treating a headache. It’s a reminder to be open-mindedly skeptical about information circulating wildly, and look into the real, evidence-based, science of things.
Sometimes, the science validates claims, and we’re excited to share that!
Sometimes, the science just shoots claims down, and it’s important to acknowledge when that happens too.
On which note, about soaking…
Short version: soaking can improve the absorption of some nutrients, but not much more than simply chewing thoroughly. See:
Soaking does reduce certain “antinutrients” (compounds that block absorption of other nutrients), such as phytic acid. However, even a 24-hour soak reduces them only by about 5%:
If you don’t want to take 24-hours to get a 5% benefit, there’s good news! A 12-hour soak can result in 4% less phytic acid in chopped (but not whole) almonds:
Lest that potentially underwhelming benefit leave a bitter taste in your mouth, one good thing about soaking almonds (if you don’t like bitter tastes, anyway) is that it will reduce their bitterness:
❝Articles are very informative and helpful. Maybe it’s me but things seem to lean more toward females. That being said don’t forget us males❞
Rest assured, we could never forget you! We try to make as much as possible of our content applicable to as many as possible of our readers, but of course not everything can be relevant for everyone.
This is, presumably, in response to our recent feature on menopausal health, because previous to that, our next-most-recent main feature that centred women’s health was a month ago—that was about breast cancer, and did have a section on breast cancer in men too. You might also enjoy the book we reviewed recently about prostate health, or our regular sponsor offering testosterone therapy. Please feel free to check out our articles on saw palmetto against male pattern baldness and BPH, as well as mental health issues that disproportionally affect men.
And of course, if you have specific questions/requests about men’s health (or any other health topic) we’re only ever an email away (or use the handy feedback widget, as you did to make this request)!
❝Hi, do you have anything helpful on avoiding PFAs?❞
PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are “forever chemicals” made specifically to avoid degradation of industrial and chemical products. Which is great for providing stain and water resistance, but not so great for our bodies or the environment.
To go into all the harms they cause would take a main feature (maybe we will, one of these days), but suffice it to say, they’re not good, and range from cancer and insulin resistance to hypertension and reduced immune response.
To answer your question in a nutshell, avoiding them completely would be almost impossible, but we can reduce our exposure a lot by avoiding single-use food/drink products that have been waterproofed, e.g. paper/bamboo straws, utensils, cups, dishes, take-out containers, etc.
Also, anything advertised as “stain-resistant” that you suspect should be quite stainable by nature, is probably good to avoid too.
For more detailed information than we have room for here today, here’s a helpful overview:
📊 POLL
We turn the tables and ask you a question…
We’ll then talk about this tomorrow:
What is your health-related opinion of saturated fat? |
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Blinkist: Powerful Ideas in 15 Minutes
Here at 10almonds, we love offering condensed knowledge that’s easy to digest, with pointers of where to go if you want to know more. And that’s what Blinkist does, too.
If your to-read list is the size of the Library of Alexandria and stands about the same chances of getting read in its entirety, Blinkist can help!
How, you ask?
Blinkist gives 15-minute book summaries! These take the form of a one-page text and/or audio summary (you choose either or both) of each chapter’s key ideas. It then offers you to buy the actual book if you want it, or if what you got from those notes is enough for you, you can just save them to a folder and move on to another book.
Basically, it really streamlines reading so that you can spend more time on the books most important to you!
Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free
🌍 AROUND THE WEB
What’s happening in the health world…
Can vitamins really fight cancer? New study uncovers surprising links between micronutrients and cancer risk
Activating astrocytes in the basal forebrain keeps mice awake without any signs of sleepiness
The best medicine? Study finds laughter is good for heart health
Study finds that MRI is more sensitive than prostate-specific antigen test for detecting prostate cancer
Cluster of slightly unhealthy traits linked with earlier heart attack and stroke
Time-restricted eating reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in study, offers new hope for accessible treatment
More to come tomorrow!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
Smart Sex: How to Boost Your Sex IQ and Own Your Pleasure – by Dr. Emily Morse
First, what this isn't: this isn't a mere book of sex positions and party tricks, nor is it a book of Cosmo-style "drive your man wild by using hot sauce as lube" advice.
What it offers instead, is a refreshingly mature take on sex, free from the "teehee" titillations and blushes that many books of the genre go for.
Dr. Emily Morse outlines five pillars of sex:
Embodiment
Health
Collaboration
Self-knowledge
Self-acceptance
...and talks about each of them in detail, and how we can bring them together. And, of course, how we or our partner(s) could accidentally sabotage ourselves or each other, and the conversations we can (and should!) have, to work past that.
She also, critically, and this is a big source of value in the book, looks at "pleasure thieves": stress, trauma, and shame. The advice for overcoming these is not "don't worry; be happy" but rather is actual practical steps one can take.
The style throughout is direct and unpatronizing. Since the advice within pertains to everyone who has and/or wants an active sex life, very little is divided by gender etc.
There is some attention given to anatomy and physiology, complete with clear diagrams. Honestly, most people could benefit from these, because most people's knowledge of the relevant anatomy stopped with a very basic high school text book diagram that missed a lot out.
Bottom line: this book spends more time on what's between your ears than what's between your legs, and yet is very comprehensive in all areas. Everyone has something to gain from this one.
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 the very best of health in all ways, always,
The 10almonds Team