Anhedonia

Anhedonia

3 April 2023|Health, Nutrition, Recipes, Research papers, Sustainability

Man standing with open arms on rocks being sprayed by the sea

‘Losing the ability to get pleasure from things you used to enjoy’

From the Greek.  In The Times newspaper last week it was described as ‘this grey space between happiness and despair where most of us live’, ie the antithesis of hedonism.  Is that you?  It seems to be a lot of us right now.  What to do?

Cover of Vex King's book Good Vibes, Good Life

Vex King has some ideas:

– Practise self-care, overcome toxic energy and prioritise your wellbeing.
– Cultivate positive lifestyle habits, including mindfulness and meditation.
– Change your beliefs to invite great opportunities into your life.
– Manifest your goals using tried-and-tested techniques.
– Overcome fear and flow with the Universe.
– Find your higher purpose and become a shining light for others.

All from his book Good Vibes, Good Life, which, as you can see, was the Sunday Times bestselling non-fiction book of 2021.  Worth a shot?

Oh and the UK Kindle version is £2 this month too.


Food Revolution Network are featured all over our free resource.  This video shows why…

Their free Food Revolution Summit takes place online later this month: 26 April – 3 May.  It’s an 8 episode free documentary series:  

Many familiar names to be found including:

Brenda Davis, (nutrition), Brooke Goldner, (autoimmune), David Perlmutter, (nutrition), Dean and Ayesha Sherzai, (Alzheimers), Dean Ornish, (heart health), Joel Fuhrman, (nutrition), Joel Kahn, (heart health), Kim Williams, (heart health), Kristi Funk, (cancer), Michael Greger, (nutrition), Michael Klaper, (nutrition), Neal Barnard, (nutrition), Rich Roll, (mindset), T Colin Campbell, (nutrition), Uma Naidoo, (nutritional psychiatry).

Sign up here for free.  We have…


Piece of croissant sprinkled with white sugar

Erythritol (an artificial sweetener used in processed foods and fizzy drinks) has been linked in studies in Europe and the United States to a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.  Patients with higher levels of sugar-free sweeteners in their blood, especially erythritol, appeared to be associated with platelets clumping together to form clots, which in turn increases the risks.

Perhaps satiate that ‘sweet tooth’ with naturally sweet fruits, or try maple syrup instead?


Contraceptive pills

study, published in March in the journal Plos Medicine, has comprehensively established a link between all forms of hormonal contraception and breast cancer for the first time:

‘Our findings suggest that there is a relative increase of around 20% to 30% in breast cancer risk associated with current or recent use of either combined oral or progestogen-only contraceptives.’

It goes on to say: ‘The risk is smaller than from using hormone replacement therapy, which is used to relieve menopause symptoms.’  What is that risk we ask ourselves!!

To the right is an Instagram post from a french source and here’s an article from The Times UK newspaper discussing the findings.  Big news.

As someone who was prescribed the contraceptive pill for many years, with no warning of increased risk and who subsequently had breast cancer, this touches a nerve.  Time for change.


EWG's 2023 Clean 15 list

Each year The Environmental Working Group (EWG) posts a list of the fruits and vegetables with very low or no traces of pesticides. Here’s 2023’s list of the ‘safer’ non-organic options.

EWG's 2023 Dirty Dozen fruits and vegetables

This year blueberries and green beans have the (non) status of joining the 12 non-organic, or conventionally grown, fruits and vegetables with the highest amounts of pesticides.
US Government tests found 54 different pesticides on blueberries and 84 on green beans.

Says the EWG: ‘Both blueberries and green beans – 11th and 12th, respectively, on this year’s Dirty Dozen – had troubling concentrations of organophosphate insecticides, pesticides that can harm the human nervous system. Nine out of 10 samples of each of the popular foods had residues of pesticides – with some showing traces of up to 17 different pesticides. 

Nearly 80 percent of blueberry samples had two or more pesticides. Phosmet was detected on more than 10 percent of blueberry samples and malathion on 9 percent. Both are organophosphates that are toxic to the human nervous system, especially children’s developing brains. In 2015, malathion was classified as probably carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

More than 70 percent of green beans had at least two pesticides, with a combined 84 different pesticides found on the entire crop. Six percent of samples showed residues of acephate, a toxic pesticide the Environmental Protection Agency banned for use on green beans more than 10 years ago. Green beans also had traces of several pesticides banned in the European Union but allowed in the U.S.’  Full article here.

Sometimes there are just no words.


Denise Stevenson holding a guava in front of a guava tree

Supply chains don’t get much shorter than this one – about 2 metres I reckon: Pick guava off tree and eat.

And yes, it’s completely organic – and naturally high in fibre: One guava will give you 12% of your daily need.


Vegan cheese and tomato pizza

Life’s been busy, but eating well doesn’t need to be compromised.  Here’s a shop bought organic pizza base, the toppings we found in our fridge and cupboards… 

Organic pizza base

Tin of chopped tomatoes

Sun-dried tomatoes

Fresh sliced tomatoes

Capers

Vegan cheese (Nourish brand)

Really good!


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By doublezero100

Denise Stevenson founded the health and wellness charity Double-zero.org in 2021 after healing from stage 3 breast cancer at (5-zero) and realising there was no one source to access the wealth of resources that had guided her back to health without the mastectomy her oncologist said was a certainty. Denise is a church founder and president, author and local councillor. She's English-born and has French nationality after living there with her husband and 3 girls for the past 20 years.

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