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The Herbal Supplement That Rivals Prozac
Plus: the single best way to boost declining testosterone levels
The 10almonds Team
July 31, 2023
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
Loading Screen Tip: get an extra battery pack for your phone—in a worst-case scenario, having a working vs dead phone can be a matter of life-or-death.
⏰ 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:
St. John’s wort is a tiny yellow flower that’s very powerful.
It does the job of many prescription antidepressants and antianxiety medications, while being classed as a supplement rather than a drug.
It’s basically an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor), and thus boosts serotonin levels by making the serotonin you have last longer. It also works on adenosine and GABA receptors, promoting feelings of relaxation.
However, its list of drug interactions and contraindications is long. In other words, it interferes with a lot of medications, and definitely should not be taken without examining this list and checking with your doctor/pharmacist.
Testosterone levels in men often decline severely after the age of 45. This commonly results in a dropped libido, low mood, reduced energy, blood sugar problems, loss of bone density and muscle mass, and more.
Today’s sponsor, Wellcore, offer at-home kits for checking T-levels, and then provide appropriate testosterone therapy (again, at home) with the goal of restoring youthful vitality.
Read on to learn about these things and more…
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
The anti-inflammatory high protein chickpea salad you’ll have on repeat all summer
Selected menu items of particular interest:
Check out his video for many more items, though!
💊 MAIN FEATURE
Flower Power: St. John's Wort's Drug-Level Effectiveness
St. John’s wort is a small yellow flower, extract of which can be bought inexpensively off-the-shelf in pretty much any pharmacy in most places.
It’s sold and used as a herbal mood-brightener.
Does it work?
Yes! It’s actually very effective. This is really uncontroversial, so we’ll keep it brief.
The main findings of studies are that St. John's wort not only gives significant benefits over placebo, but also works about as well as prescription anti-depressants:
They also found that fewer people stop taking it, compared to how many stop taking antidepressants. It’s not known how much of this is because of its inexpensive, freely-accessible nature, and how much might be because it gave them fewer adverse side effects:
How does it work?
First and foremost, it’s an SSRI—a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Basically, it doesn’t add serotonin, but it makes whatever serotonin you have, last longer. Same as most prescription antidepressants. It also affects adenosine and GABA pathways, which in lay terms, means it promotes feelings of relaxation, in a similar way to many prescription antianxiety medications.
Any problems we should know about?
Yes, definitely. To quote directly from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health:
St. John’s wort can weaken the effects of many medicines, including crucially important medicines such as:
Antidepressants
Birth control pills
Cyclosporine, which prevents the body from rejecting transplanted organs
Some heart medications, including digoxin and ivabradine
Some HIV drugs, including indinavir and nevirapine
Some cancer medications, including irinotecan and imatinib
Warfarin, an anticoagulant (blood thinner)
Certain statins, including simvastatin
I’ve read all that, and want to try it!
As ever, we don’t sell it (or anything else), but here’s an example product on Amazon.
Please be safe and do check with your doctor and/or pharmacist, though!
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
Wellcore: Boost Testosterone and Restore Vitality
For men, low testosterone can result in far more than a dropped libido—low mood, reduced energy, blood sugar problems, loss of bone density and muscle mass, and more.
And yet, up to 40% of men have low testosterone, and testosterone levels often drop sharply especially after the age of 45. Of these cases, 95% go untreated.
Wellcore believes in doing better for men. To make treatment much more accessible, they offer an at-home kit for effortless, no-mess, blood testing (they have a special device that does it for you). They’ll then analyse the results, and provide the appropriate testosterone therapy themselves, with the goal of restoring many aspects of youthful vitality.
PS: 10almonds subscribers can use the code HELLOVIP for a discount!
Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free
🌏 AROUND THE WEB
What’s happening in the health world…
Beyond type 2 diabetes, metformin may also offer heart benefits
Targeting chronic endometritis: study reveals potential diagnostic markers
Researcher presents alternative hypothesis about cause of obesity
Why is cancer striking earlier? One answer could be a diet of ultra-processed foods
You've lost someone you love: Four signs you may need to seek grief counseling
Pupil size during very light exercise predicts benefits to prefrontal cortex function
More to come tomorrow!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety: Nourish Your Way to Better Mental Health in Six Weeks – by Dr. Drew Ramsey
Most of us could use a little mood boost sometimes, and some of us could definitely stand to have our baseline neurochemistry elevated a bit. We've probably Googled "foods to increase dopamine", and similar phrases. So, why is this a book, and not just an article saying to eat cashews and dark chocolate?
Dr. Drew Ramsey takes a holistic approach to health. By this we mean that to have good health, the whole body and mind must be kept healthy. Let a part slip, and the others will soon follow. Improve a part, and the others will soon follow, too.
Of course, there is only so much that diet can do. Jut as no diet will replace a Type 1 Diabetic's pancreas with a working one, no diet will treat the causes of some kinds of depression and anxiety.
For this reason, Dr. Ramsey, himself a psychiatrist (and a farmer!) recommends a combination of talking therapy and diet, with medications as a "third leg" to be included when necessary. The goal, for him, is to reduce dependence on medications, while still recognizing when they can be useful or even necessary.
As for the practical, actionable advices in the book, he does (unsurprisingly) recommend a Mediterranean diet. Heavy on the greens and beans, plenty of colorful fruit and veg, small amounts of fish and seafood, even smaller amounts of grass-fed beef and fermented dairy. He also discusses a bunch of "superfoods" he particularly recommends.
Nor does he just hand-wave the process; he talks about the science of how and why each of these things helps.
And in practical terms, he even devotes some time to helping the reader get our kitchen set up, if we're not already ready-to-go in that department. He also caters to any "can't cook / won't cook" readers and how to work around that too.
Bottom line: if you'd like to get rewiring your brain (leveraging neuroplasticity is a key component of the book), this will get you on track. A particular strength is how the author "thinks of everything" in terms of common problems that people (especially: depressed and anxious people!) might have in implementing his advices.
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Wishing you the very best start to the week,
The 10almonds Team