The Brain-Training Game That Reduces Your Pain

Happy Monday 👋 

Sometimes, the most important moment of a day can be as small as the pause between two breaths—a reset point, before continuing with restored mindfulness.

In today’s email we cover reducing pain with biofeedback, xylitol, and an interesting approach to nutrition.

Matcha is great for the health, but it can be hard to find a good supplier. Today's sponsor Yu Tea is offering the highest grade certified 100% organic matcha exclusively from small Japanese farms, for uplifting energy with no jitters (if you want decaf anyway, they do have that too)! Click here to treat yourself—you deserve it!

Today’s Main Feature

Recommended Reading

Watch and Learn

Xylitol: Cavity Fighter Or Gut Disruptor?

Dr. Michelle Jorgensen explains:

Prefer text? The above video will take you to a 10almonds page with a text overview, as well as the video!

Our Sponsors Make This Publication Possible

Superior Quality, Timeless Tradition

A global matcha shortage means authentic, organic Japanese matcha has become increasingly rare. Yu Tea protects the tradition, crafted exclusively from organic Japanese tea leaves grown on farms that prioritize quality over quantity.

Experience the serenity and vitality that only true ceremonial-grade matcha (Grade A) offers:

• Certified 100% Organic, non-GMO, non-toxic & ISO 22000 verified

• Calming yet energizing - no jitters, just clarity

• Powerful antioxidants for cellular health

• Naturally detoxifying and cleansing

• Decaf matcha available for the caffeine sensitive

Supplies are limited, so don't wait to secure your premium matcha supply today.

Exclusive Offer: Enjoy 20% off your first order.

[Shop Now & Save 20%]

Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free

This Or That?

Vote on Which is Healthier

Yesterday we asked you to choose between blackberries and elderberries—both excellent options and it was very close, but we picked the elderberries (click here to read about why), as did 48% of you!

Now for today’s choice:

Click on whichever you think is better for you!

One-Minute Book Review

Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind: A Powerful Plan to Improve Mood, Overcome Anxiety, and Protect Memory for a Lifetime of Optimal Mental Health – by Dr. Georgia Ede

Dr. Ede begins by explaining that most current nutritional guidelines are wrong. As for how this wrong scientific consensus came about, she blames science’s reliance on randomized controlled trials, interventional studies, and observational/epidemiological studies, which leaves only case studies, which modern science doesn’t care for, and neither does she. She also does not trust systematic meta-analysis reviews, which look at large amounts of data collected in RCTs, interventional studies, and observational/epidemiological studies.

You may be wondering: if she dismisses all of those things, what’s left to rely upon? Hasn’t she now thrown out the entirety of scientific method, up to peer review (which, by the way, she also dislikes)?

And the answer is: yes, yes she has. She bids us instead look at knowledge of things like the brain’s anatomy, physiology, etc, and thus work out what diet will be best, based directly on that. This “consider and decide” method, which predates scientific method, was extensively employed by Aristotle (to come to such conclusions as “the brain’s chief purpose is to cool the blood”), but has not been considered good epistemology for a very long time.

So, what does she recommend, in terms of diet? Her recommendations are threefold, inviting the reader to choose:

• Paleo (10almonds note: fine in the short term; long term health risks)

• Keto (10almonds note: usually good in the short term; long term health risks)

• Carnivore (10almonds note: bad in the short term; there is no long term because you will either revert to including some at least some non-animal foods, or you will die)

She also recommends to avoid superfoods (including fruit) and supplements, as well as whole grains and legumes.

The style of the book is very confident. Superficially, it’s well-referenced despite the author’s criticism of scientific method, but upon looking up the references in question for some of the more counter-consensus claims, the ones we checked didn’t actually show the thing she was citing them for.

Bottom line: if you’d like to adjust your diet to improve your mental health, many people do find such benefits on the keto diet in the short term (but still, watch out for the long-term heart health issues). If you’d like to improve your brain health in the long-term, this is not the book for that.

Click here to check out Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind, and see what we mean!

Penny For Your Thoughts?

Wishing you the most well-informed start to the week,

The 10almonds Team