Unsurprisingly, we humans suffer greatly when we don’t get enough social interaction.
It’s easy to underestimate the value of social connection and discount the risks of social isolation. But the research is there and it’s pretty stark: social isolation is as damaging to your health as smoking. Developing friendship and staying connected to other people is a vital step towards staying healthy and enjoying your life as much as possible.
Find a Community
One of the easiest and best ways to grow your connections (in a real, meaningful way, not a LinkedIn way) is to join a group that’s already a community.
But what’s a community? Obviously, “community” means different things to different people. For our purposes - discussing social connection and social isolation - a community is any group of people where the members 1) care about each other and 2) see each other on a regular basis.
Your family is often a great example of a community. But if they live in another country and you can’t spend time with them, you need to look elsewhere for your social connection.
Religious groups, sports groups, and even colleagues at work can form communities that foster social connections. If you feel that you could do with expanding your social connections, it might be the perfect time to try an activity that you’re interested in. This is exactly what happened when I started training at a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym a few years ago. I wanted to try the sport but after a few months I started noticing all the extra conversations I was having outside of the gym because of the connection I shared with a whole new group of people.
Build Your Own Community
More challenging than slotting into a preexisting community but often more rewarding, building your own community is a super interesting way to nourish a rich social life for yourself and your friends. It’s something I’ve been trying to make happen for a few years.
It’s a difficult process to describe because it seems to happen organically as people from different areas of your life get to know each other. Occasions like birthdays, housewarmings and other social gatherings can bring separate groups of friends together and spark new friendships between your friends. Gradually, your web of relationships becomes more connected and the community of people that you’re at the centre of become stronger.
Sustain Your Connections
Finally, sustaining your existing connections is one of the most important steps to avoiding social isolation. As the saying goes, “if you need a friend, be a friend”. It’s just as important to intentionally keep up old friendships as well as to forge new ones. Unfortunately, it’s often more difficult too.
We often drift away from people for physical and emotional reasons. Living in different places makes it a challenge to stay in touch in a meaningful way. And sometimes friendships come to a natural end if you change and grow apart. But a lot of the time, you can keep up a connection through just a little care and attention every so often. Think of it as investing in a future phase of the relationship!
It can be really hard to push yourself to make connections and become involved with new people. Particularly, if you’re a bit of a loner by nature. The thing is that we need other people just as much as we need food, exercise and sleep. Forcing yourself to go out and make connections is tough, but it’s also vital to a full and healthy life.
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So we’re well and truly into the Summer by now (if you’re reading this in the Southern Hemisphere, please come back in 6 months).
Usually, when the warmer weather rolls around we start to take more interest in tuning up our bodies and moving around a bit more. I know I do. It’s probably some relic of hibernation from our distant mammalian past. More hours of daylight seems to warrant greater physical activity, particularly if that activity is outdoors. And it’s an instinct you can harness to benefit you year-round. Today, we’re going to talk about how.
Recently, I mentioned about the health benefits of getting out and about in nature. You can double down on some of the advantages of forest-bathing and sea swimming if you inject a little more intensity and bring your exercise outdoors.
Start Strong, Start Slow
If you’re feeling an energy boost from the brighter mornings and warmer days, then it’s an ideal opportunity to start up a new workout regime. And if you’d like to feel this boost to your energy, there’s no better way to jump start it than by getting out and exercising a bit more.
Ah the circle of life!
However, if you aren’t used to working out regularly, then going hell for leather straight away probably isn’t the best idea either. As we’ve discussed previously, the most beneficial behaviours are the ones you can sustain in the long run (think decades). So if you’re starting to move your body around a bit more, you’re looking to establish an exercise habit that you keep up. Going too hard, getting sore (or injured) and giving up isn’t a good look.
Instead, if you gently increase the challenges you set yourself, you can built your body up in a way that’s slower, but oh so satisfying. Plus, this gradual approach makes for a much more dramatic training montage, which you will inevitably picture as you work out.
Here’s a personal example: Once the weather started getting slightly warmer I knew it was time to start swimming in the sea again. The first day I swam, I literally only stayed in the water for long enough to overcome the initial shock. 90 seconds at the very most. A few days after that, I went for another paddle. This time I had some friends with me for moral support, and we chatted and swam a few strokes for about five minutes. I continued gradually increasing the time and intensity so that now I’m comfortable swimming steadily for around 20 minutes.
Too Much of a Good Thing
Now, a lot of you will already have some kind of a training regime in place. Maybe you’re getting some yoga classes or fitting in some pick-up basketball after work. If this sounds like you, and you’re excited by the idea of increasing your activity to match the season proceed with caution. It’s possible to get too much of a good thing, particularly with exercise.
The benefits of working out don’t happen while you’re actually doing the exercise. They come in the days after you work out, while your body adapts and you “recover”. So if you don’t have enough rest time after exercise, you’re not doing yourself any favors. If you’re already training regularly, then focus on activity, not “exercise”. You can still take advantage of the season by simply getting an additional walk through some trees once or twice a week.
Whether you’re moving slow or moving fast, just get outside and enjoy the season. And again, if it’s winter where you’re reading this, don’t worry. We’ll be done with the sun soon.
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It might surprise you to read this here, but sleep is easily more important. Like waaay more important. Think about this: you would die from sleep deprivation long before you’d die of starvation. Even the best diet in the world, no matter how chock full of organic fruits, veggies and superfoods it is, doesn’t make up for poor sleep.
Sleep is fundamental to your health.
You’ve probably heard this before. And you probably agree with it in principle - who hasn’t accidentally slept in and felt like a million bucks? - But the chances are you haven’t really internalized the value of sleep, it’s so important that few people have. And that’s understandable. There are two reasons why sleep is a blind spot in people’s health strategy.
The Missing Piece
The big problem with paying attention to sleep is that you aren’t ever there to see what’s going on. Sleep is tricky like that.
Being asleep is completely different to how we are in our waking lives. And the waking world is so full of sounds, sights, obligations, and distractions that it’s really difficult to make plans for your sleep. It’s like cooking an elaborate dinner for someone you’ve never met.
And because sleep is subtle, there really aren’t any products or businesses that make it significantly easier to improve your sleep.
Sure, there are loads of sleep tracking apps and devices available, but none of them can do the hard work for you. Products can give you information, but unless you decide to change your habits you’re in the same position you were before. Except now you know exactly how much you aren’t sleeping.
Sleep Hygiene
The only way to seriously improve the quality, and consequently the benefits, of your sleep is to give it the attention it deserves. You’ll need to make sacrifices, but oh boy are they worth it!
The phrase “sleep hygiene” is becoming more and more popular as a way of describing the routines, habits, and behaviours that maximize the benefit you get from sleep. The basics are simple but powerful.
It might sound weird, but cutting down your exposure to artificial light greatly improves your sleep. Blue light from TVs, smartphones, and computers disrupts production of melatonin, the sleep hormone. When I installed f.lux on my phone and laptop I found it much easier to get to sleep at night. Better yet, just stay away from screens for 2 hours before you go to bed. Easier said than done, that’s why f.lux is great.
If you’ve ever been woken up by an early dawn in the summer, you know the value of blackout blinds. Similarly, tossing and turning under too many blankets shows how being too hot can ruin your sleep. Keeping your bedroom cool and dark helps restful, regenerative sleep. Get an eye mask, blackout blinds and cover all led lights. Simple.
Finally, having a consistent “bedtime routine” is a great way of letting your body know it’s time to sleep. As much as possible, try to do the same things in the same order before you turn in for the night. Around 80% of the time I shower, brush my teeth, and spend 10 minutes listening to my breath before I lie down. That’s what works for me, experiment and see how you like to ease into rest.
Another Tradeoff
Sometimes fun things go on at night or flights leave early in the morning. That’s life.
Just be aware that missing sleep has a cost for your health. An awesome concert or reunion old friends is probably worth a late night. But how about another 20 minutes trawling twitter? Except, of course for Subi’s twitter, @get_subi - ALWAYS CHECK OUR TWEETS BEFORE BED (lol, jk).
Investing in your sleep is one of the most profound and rewarding things you can do for yourself. And even small changes make a big difference in the long run. Remember - the better you sleep, the better you wake!
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Neither am I.
At least, we’re not human if you judge by the number of non-human cells that make up our bodies: the microorganisms that inhabit us outnumber our human cells by at least 3 to 1. So we’re at most ¼ human cells. The other ¾+ is what’s called microbiota, the collective term for all the bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microscopic creatures that live on and in our bodies.
Before you reach for the Raid, consider that we don’t fully understand the roles that these organisms play in our health. And from what we do understand, lots of our microbiota are helpful, even necessary, in supporting our health.
Don’t think of them as stowaways, they might actually be the crew!
No Guts, No Glory
Now there’s a decent chance that all this isn’t news to you. If so, congratulations! You’re a well informed and interesting person with your finger on the pulse! If you haven’t heard about microbiota before, don’t worry - I’m about to break it down.
Most of the attention on human microbiota (all animals have microbiota) has focused on the microorganisms in our gut. It’s worth mentioning the bacteria and other critters that live on our skin too because of how they protect us from infections and support our immune systems. But here we’re going to concentrate on the microbiota in our guts. These guys are also known as gut flora (cute!) or gastrointestinal microbiota (Ewww!). So “gut flora” it is!
Of all our microbiota, gut flora is the most concentrated and diverse. So there are more microorganisms and more species of microorganisms that elsewhere in/on our bodies. The most interesting thing about gut flora is that it helps us, it’s not just a passive passenger. And oh boy, does it help us!
As well as the benefits gut bacteria have for digestion, the flora in your gut plays a big role in synthesizing vitamins, producing hormones and is connected to a host of other processes essential for your health. Thinking of your gut flora as the crew of the Good Ship You is actually pretty accurate.
How to Help Your Crew
Because of the wide-ranging effects of gut flora (they’re connected to everything from bone health to allergies to food cravings), it’s reasonable to want to know if there’s anything you can do to give the little guys a leg up.
And you can.
The simplest step you can take is to eat probiotic foods. Probiotics are foods that contain beneficial bacteria that establish themselves in your gut and boost your health from the inside. The benefits people attribute to probiotics include better digestion, stronger immune function, healthier skin, weight loss and protection against various diseases. Sign me up!
Conveniently, probiotic foods are usually delicious, and some of my favorites are veg-friendly. Fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi, and drinks like kombucha and kvass, are chock full of beneficial bacteria. Kefir (dairy or non-dairy versions), yoghurt, raw milk, and raw cheeses can also boost your gut flora.
If you’re new to probiotic foods, start gradually. When I went from zero to Sauerkraut in a matter of minutes, I had what I’ll delicately refer to as an uncomfortable time. But if you gently increase your consumption of the above foods that shouldn’t be an issue.
¾ of the cells in/on your body are bound to have a huge impact on your health. Once you start taking care of them you’ll understand the reality behind the phrase “no guts, no glory”!
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But the story doesn’t end there.
It’s starting to emerge that getting more greens in your environment is helpful as well. The positive impact of exposure to natural environments, like forests and the seaside, is becoming more widely accepted. What’s more, there’s growing body of evidence to support the idea that the greens outside are as important as the greens inside.
Forest Bathing
The idea that simply being in nature has significant health benefits is relatively new in the West, but it’s been a pillar of healthcare in Japan for decades.
In 1982, a national public health programme made “forest bathing” part of Japanese state healthcare strategy. Not quite exercise and not strictly meditation, forest bathing is simply about exposing yourself to the power of trees. The idea isn’t to do anything in particular, just sit, wander or explore quietly and let the forest work its magic on your health.
And, precisely, what does this “magic” look like?
Good question. And there’s a good answer for it too, because between 2004 and 2012 the Japanese spent about $4 million researching the benefits of forest bathing. The results are impressive. They found that forest environments promote lower blood pressure, lower pulse rates and lower concentrations of the stress hormone cortisol. However, the most impressive effect is on the immune system. A 2009 study, found that spending time in the forest drastically increased people’s natural killer cells - your first line of defence against infections and cancers.
And anyone who spends time in the outdoors will recognise the psychological effects. Forest bathing reduces hostility, depression and stress and increases liveliness.
A study in the lancet found that access to green environments worked to mitigate the negative health consequences of income deprivation. So even if you’re broke, you can be healthy as long as you get out in the woods! For me, this is the best aspect of nature exposure: it’s free.
Sea Swimming
Now, the forest doesn’t do it for everyone, I get that. Maybe allergies are a big problem for you, accessing forest might be a challenge, or maybe you’re afraid of the big bad wolf. Either way, you might be wondering if you can get the benefits of nature exposure without specifically going to the woods.
The specifics might be different, but swimming in the sea is another great way to get health benefits from nature exposure.
As we’ve mentioned before, the sea is full of minerals. When you swim in the sea you can absorb nutrients like calcium, magnesium, sulfate and chloride through your skin. This means that a dip in the deep can alleviate skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema, as well as giving healthy skin a boost.
The natural environment of the sea has similar effects to forest bathing. It reduces stress, removes distractions and calms your mind. And if you swim somewhere where the sea is cold, you can expect a boost to your immune system too.
Nature for Health
So there you have it, spending time in nature is good for your health - just like eating more vegetables. You don’t need to grow dreadlocks and move into a tree house - you’ll get the benefits from a quiet walk through some trees or a quick swim at your local shore. Try it and see how you feel after treating yourself to some time in nature.
A word of caution: Nature can be unpredictable so check your local conditions before you start. That’s weather forecasts and wildlife info in the forest, tides and water quality in the sea.
Get out and enjoy it!
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Albert Einstein is frequently quoted as having said that compound interest is “the most powerful force in the universe”. More than likely, Einstein never actually said this. It hasn’t been conclusively attributed to him but Einstein is still getting the credit, and quote itself refuses to go away.
It’s no surprise that people love the idea of compound interest being the most powerful thing imaginable. It’s a popular idea so it gets repeated. And it’s popular because it’s intuitively true.
Compound interest is when the cost of a loan or the reward for saving builds up and contributes to the amount loaned or saved. It’s this little tiny thing that starts growing slowly and never stops. It keeps gradually building momentum, like a wave travelling across the ocean for thousands of miles, until it’s become huge and intimidating.
But why the hell am I talking about compound interest on the Subi blog?
Because living a healthy lifestyle is a lot like earning compound interest.
The Second Most Powerful Force In The Universe
Huh? Ok, so how are lifestyle and health choices - the little decisions that go into your day to day life - like compound interest?
Well, the interest rates that contribute to compound interest are usually really low, less than 5%. But, as we saw earlier, even though they’re really small they gain a momentum of their own and have a huge impact over the long run. It’s exactly the same with decisions that influence your health; things that seem trivial in the short term end up being super important. Even something free and effortless, like drinking a glass of water (with or without Subi) every morning, will have a big positive effect after 10 or 20 consistent years.
So how can you harness this interest-like power of easy, tiny decisions and use it to your advantage?
You have to use what I call the second most powerful force in the universe: convenience.
Convenience Compounds Like Interest
Earning interest is easy. It actually works better the less attention you give it. Just leave your spare cash in a savings account and try to forget about it. It doesn’t require any further effort on your part. It works because it’s convenient.
The same logic applies with the most effective decisions you can make to point yourself in the direction of health. The easier they are for you, the more likely they are to be sustainable in the long run, the bigger the impact they have. That’s why less impressive and moderate commitments (“eggs for breakfast!”) are often more effective than large-scale, revolutionary changes (“I’LL NEVER EAT SUGAR AGAIN!”). Those smaller changes cost you less effort and attention so you’re more likely to stick with them in the long run.
There’s no difference between a healthy lifestyle achieved by “grinding” and will power, and one achieved through careful understanding of your behaviour (except that you’ll still have enough energy to enjoy the latter). So why make yourself suffer?
If you focus on making it convenient to choose healthy options you’ll probably have a right time right now, as well as in the distant future. If you think you’ve already picked all the low-hanging fruit of convenience, take a look at this article. If you see something you’re not doing, start it and stick with it for a few weeks. The first suggestion, journaling, has had a huge impact on me by giving me an overview of how I change on a daily basis.
Or if you want another suggestion, try eating 1 more serving of veg on week days. Just a few extra leaves with dinner, that’s it. If you want to max out the convenience, I know a guy ;)
If you even make one tiny change and sustain it you’ll start to reap the benefits of compounding, no matter what the improvement you make is. You’ll start to feel like a wave travelling across the wide ocean, and eventually, you’ll feel unstoppable too.
]]>No longer is it sufficient to eat vegetables in order to stay healthy - now you have to drink them too.
Or at least that’s how green juices and other veggie-based drinks are marketed to us. Like most health-related media content, this is an exaggeration that is based on a grain of truth.
The underlying truth is that almost everybody isn’t getting enough nutrition from plants so any additional vegetables, like those in green juices, are a pretty welcome addition. But it’s not as if vegetables are like some minority among ingredients whose true nutritional power has been kept down through a conspiracy of cooking. Certain vitamins might be preserved in raw veggies but, equally, cooking makes other nutrients accessible. Plus, sometimes you just want (or need?) lasagna.
The exaggerated element here is that there’s nothing magical about juice. Green juices not are the Only Path to Perfect Health. The reality is way more complicated. Sorry.
Genuine 24 Carat Green Gold
But maybe I’m being a little too cynical here.
If consuming vegetables in juice form makes them accessible, convenient, and palatable, then more people will get the nutrition they need. And what’s not to love about that? I might take a leap and call it miraculous (but not magical).
Even though I think you should be skeptical about the story told around green juice (blended veggies cure all ills and bestow eternal life etc.), I am still a pretty enthusiastic consumer of vegetable-based smoothies. There are three reasons for this: they’re super convenient, they’re refreshing, and they make it easy to consume a huge volume of vegetables.
Firstly, convenience. There’s not a lot to say here, but surely that emphasizes the point. Get your vegetables and fruit, chop them up, blend them around, and drink them down. Simple. It’s a process that involved drastically less washing, peeling, slicing, cooking and cleaning up. It’s probably the most convenient way to consume vegetables short of casually snacking on office plants (not recommended). And at Subi, we’re all about convenience.
And while a potent draft of liquid vegetables isn’t going to win anyone a Michelin Star, it definitely does satisfy a particular flavor niche. When you include some fresh and zingy ingredients like lemon, ginger or pink grapefruit in your green juice you get a lighter, more refreshing drink. If your blender can handle ice cubes, I’d recommend adding a couple for texture and a fresh flavor. If this sounds like your kind of thing, take a look at these recipes.
Finally, I’m never going to sit down and eat a whole bunch of celery or an entire cabbage. But I might drink them. Blending vegetables into green juice makes it way easier to consume larger portions of vegetables. If you’re struggling to eat enough vegetables, this is a serious advantage. And I can’t deny I get a chuckle out of the macho bragging rights from EATING ALL THE VEGETABLES
The Best Green Juice
Simply, the best green juice is the one you like and that you’ll enjoy enough to make frequently. There’s no ultimate recipe, so have a bit of fun playing around with combinations.
When I make green juices at home I usually follow this rough template:
Green juices aren’t magical. They won’t fix everything and they aren’t better than a varied diet. But they can be a super useful way of increasing the amount of vegetables you consume as part of such a diet, especially if you’re short on prep time.
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It’s something I haven’t shared with you before, but I think it’s important that you know: I’m a mycophile.
Despite how suspicious this sounds, all it means is that I love cooking and eating different types of mushrooms. So I’d be surprised if there weren’t a few other mycophiles reading this too.
Mushrooms are a fascinating and rewarding food. They’re packed full of unique flavors and have some considerable health benefits that I’ll talk about a little later. What’s more, they have a special reputation distinct from all other vegetables (they’re not even really a vegetable, they’re a part of a fungus): Mushrooms are seen as being delicious, dangerous, mysterious and magical all at the same time.
People have been eating mushrooms for thousands of years, both for their flavor and their health benefits. Before mushrooms were widely cultivated like they are today, they were acquired by foraging. Careless mushrooms hunters got sick or died when they mistook poisonous species for edible ones. And because mushrooms grow so quickly and so unpredictably they seem to spring up by magic. So their reputation is well deserved.
And then of course there are magic mushrooms. But that’s a whole different blog, so I’m just not going to get involved.
What you and your shaman get up to is your own business.
3 Reasons Why Edible Mushrooms are Amazing
One of the main reasons I love mushrooms is that they’re such a versatile ingredient. Once you have some mushrooms in the fridge, you’re no more than a few minutes away from a blended soup or mushies on toast. A few minutes more and you have risotto ai funghi or a simple pasta. And dried mushrooms are a larder staple that instantly add depth and lift an easy meal above the ordinary.
Plus, mushrooms are pretty cheap given how tasty they are.
Now, a lot of my friends are vegan or vegetarian. When I want to cook them something special mushrooms are where my mind goes first. Mushrooms are one of the best ingredients for satisfying an appetite for savoury, umami flavours without using animal products. Edible fungi give a dish those same deep, rich flavours as the maillard reaction gives to meat.
Finally, this is a pretty personal point but again, I’d be surprised if I was alone in this. I think mushrooms look really cool. The diversity of shapes, sizes, colors and textures among the different species is, to my eyes, endlessly engaging. From the bright yellow of chanterelles, to the patterns on shiitakes’ caps to pale and delicate little enoki, mushrooms just look awesome!
Nutrition
As well as being convenient, versatile and delicious, mushrooms also pack some serious nutrition. The precise nutrient content varies by species but most types of mushrooms have similar benefits. Firstly, mushrooms contain a lot of the essential minerals iron, copper and selenium, all of which are pretty easy to absorb from fungi.
Mushrooms can boost your immune system, both through the A, B & C Vitamins they contain and the antioxidant ergothioneine. Ergothioneine is practically unique to mushrooms and offers significant protection from free radicals.
Finally, mushrooms, particularly the shiitake mushrooms in Subi, contain compounds that have antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal effects. What does that mean? Well, eating them regularly can contribute to resistance to infections. That’s basically a superpower, right?
Richness and Variety
One of the best ways to maintain a healthy diet is to include enough variation so that your meals stay exciting. The richness and variation that different species of mushrooms offer is a great way to bring something new to your diet.
One of my go-to zero effort dinner templates is [mushrooms] + [eggs], like grilled portobellos with scrambled eggs or sautéed mixed mushrooms and poached eggs. It’s a “recipe” that’s always 1. Easy, 2. Quick, & 3. Delicious.
Try it and see if you’re ready to call yourself a mycophile too.
]]>If you’ve ever eaten Japanese food, you’ve probably eaten algae because sea vegetables like wakame, nori, and kombu are classed as algae. And if you’ve already tried Subi Superfood, then you definitely have eaten algae.
But why is it a good idea to include some algae in your diet?
Seaweeds and algae contain particularly high concentrations of nutrients that are often hard to come by in land-grown plants. Even though our soil is being depleted of minerals through intensive farming, the sea and other bodies of water are still rich sources of the 56 minerals essential for a healthy human.
While the specific mineral breakdown of algae and sea vegetables varies by species and where it is growing, it’s safe to assume most of them are chock full of nutrition. Subi contains two of the most nutritious and beneficial types of algae.
The Algae in Subi
The formula for Subi Superfood contains two types of Algae: Spirulina and Chlorella. We had specific reasons for including each them and I’m going to talk you through the awesome algal powers they give to Subi Superfood.
Chlorella
Chlorella is a single celled green algae that grows in freshwater ponds and lakes. It’s spherical in shape and very, very small: imagine zillions of dark green tennis balls.
These little tennis balls are packed full of nutrients though, Chlorella is high in Iron, Vitamin C and protein. It also contains antioxidants and lots of other vitamins and minerals.
As well as all those nutrients, Chlorella seems to have other powers for good. Firstly, it’s gaining a reputation for helping your body to detox. There is evidence that Chlorella helps your body process and remove heavy metals and other harmful compounds. Secondly, it looks like Chlorella can boost your immune system. This study showed how a group of men had more active immune systems when they consumed a Chlorella supplement.
Spirulina
Spirulina is a blue-green algae that can grow in freshwater or saltwater. It is highly nutritious and was used as a food throughout history by people as diverse as the Aztecs, other indigenous central americans, and African tribes from around Lake Chad.
Spirulina is high in protein, B Vitamins, Copper and Iron. It also contains significant amounts of magnesium, potassium and manganese, as well as smaller amounts of every mineral we need! Gram for gram, it might be the most nutritious food on the planet, so a little goes a long way (which is a blessing because, let’s face it, there is only so much green powder you can handle).
Spirulina’s blue-green color comes from one of the powerful antioxidants it contains: phycocyanin (say it three times and it’ll appear in your bathroom mirror). This antioxidant can also reduce damage from free radicals and reduce inflammation.
Final Word
It should be pretty clear that the two types of algae in Subi Superfood more than pull their weight. There’s lots of benefit to be had from eating some algae, and it doesn’t stop with Spirulina and Chlorella. Sea vegetables are super nutritious and can bring interesting new flavors and textures to your cooking.
Find a good Japanese or Korean restaurant and try a seaweed salad. Or if you’re near an asian market you could experiment with the mild savory flavours of different seaweeds.
Or just keep enjoying Subi.
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I recently read a book called Salt, A World History, by Mark Kurlansky. The book did exactly what the title suggests and gave me a comprehensive overview of the relationship humans have had with salt since the beginning of history.
There’s a huge amount of detail in the book. We humans have been seeking out salt for thousands of years and it’s only in the last 100 years that salt has been so abundant. Previously, salt was a precious commodity, like gold is today or high speed internet was in the 90s.
The high value salt used to hold got me thinking about how we treat salt now.
Salacious Salad
The words that historically come from “salt” illustrate how our attitudes have changed.
One of my favorite pieces of trivia from Salt, A World History was that the Romans called a man in love salax or “in a salted state”. It’s from there that we got the word salacious. For millennia, salt was seen as vital for life and so became associated with fertility and virility. Pretty much the opposite of what being salty means today.
Similarly, the word salad owes its origin to salt. Salad comes from Herba Salata or “Salted Vegetables”, a mixture of raw vegetables served in a salty dressing originally eaten by Romans. There’s more tension between past and present here because salad is seen as the quintessential healthy food, whereas salt doesn’t share that reputation.
So what gives? How did Salt go from being essential health food to something we’re supposed to avoid?
Salt - Don’t Sweat It
First things first, salt is an essential nutrient.
You need sodium to regulate the balance of fluids in your body. Sodium helps make sure you have the right volume of blood and lymph fluid, so it’s essential for cardiovascular health. It’s also vital for your nervous system, changes in the levels of sodium and chloride ions allow your neurons to send messages to other cells.
You get sodium through your food or added salt and lose it through sweating and urination. Your kidneys regulate the sodium in your body. Basically, your kidneys do a pretty awesome job of dealing with a wide variation in levels of sodium intake. When you consume a lot your kidneys just get rid of more through sweat and urine. When salt is scarce, your kidneys use it sparingly and still keep everything in balance.
Salt got a bad name because, in the 70s, it was blamed for the increase in hypertension, or high blood pressure, a risk factor for coronary heart disease. The logic ran like this: salt causes hypertension & hypertension causes coronary heart disease, so if you avoid salt and you will avoid coronary heart disease.
Like much of what the 70s gave us, this conclusion is a little suspect.
More recent and thorough research has failed to show that salt consumption and blood pressure increase together. If you want to go in depth on the difference between what the science says and what public policy recommends, read this. It has even emerged recently that there are significant risks to restricting salt.
Bottom Line
A lot of the cultural value placed on salt is connected with it’s ability to preserve food. In an age of refrigeration this just isn’t as important as it used to be. It is still a pretty amazing substance and Salt, A World History, by Mark Kurlansky is required reading if food history does it for you.
From a health perspective, if you eat a diet of mostly whole foods you’re probably getting the right amount of salt. Your appetite for salty foods will take care of any variations. Like craving a greek salad with feta and olives after a summer hike (when you would sweat, losing sodium). As long as you’re not pounding fast food 24/7, it’s probably safe enough to not worry about too much salt.
So here’s to living in a salted state.
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I don’t believe them. And neither should you. Yep, ODB is definitely talking about raw milk*
Subi Superfood is a raw food powder, which means that instead of heating them, we freeze dry our ingredients to preserve the nutritional content. Because we don’t use heat, we protect all of the phytonutrients in our fruits, veggies, or superfoods so they can do you the most good possible.
You see, heat changes the chemistry of food, that’s why humans started cooking in the first place. Most of the time, heat from cooking makes the nutrients in food more accessible for our digestive systems. It also kills bacteria that could be dangerous and can improve the flavor of some food. But sometimes, raw products retain benefits their heat-treated versions have lost.
Like raw (or unpasteurized) milk, for example.
Yeah, really.
Firstly, let me take the bull by the horns and talk about safety. The argument in favour of pasteurization (the process of heating milk to kill bacteria) is that it makes milk safer - less likely to give you a foodborne illness. And it does, nobody will deny that.
But the point is that responsibly produced unpasteurized milk is already safer than lots of foods you probably don’t even think of as risky!
This isn’t a statistics class (shudder), so I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty here, but if you do want more details you can find a really comprehensive explanation here. This is just too good not to mention though: “you have a greater chance of dying from eating raw oysters than you do of getting sick from drinking unpasteurized milk.”
But why would I take on ANY extra risk?
Basically, for me, the extra benefits of raw milk are worth the (miniscule) extra risk, relative to pasteurized milk. As well as being better for the environment, my community and the cows, raw milk is superior in terms of nutrition, health, and flavor.
Firstly, pasteurization has been shown to reduce the amounts of manganese, copper, and iron in milk. It also destroys or makes it harder for you to absorb Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, & Vitamin C from milk. I’m already getting plenty of vitamins and minerals from Subi, but I could always use more. And honestly, I resent all that nutrition going to waste through pasteurization.
Raw milk is also reputed to be easier to digest than pasteurized milk. Apparently, lots of people with lactose intolerance no longer suffer from their symptoms after they switch to raw milk. Similarly, there’s evidence that European kids who drink raw milk growing up gain some protection from developing asthma or allergies.
Most importantly, it’s delicious. Like really, really delicious. I’ve been drinking it a lot lately and the natural sweetness and texture of raw milk just blows my mind!
Ultimately, whether or not you choose to include raw milk in your diet is a personal choice, and one you should consider carefully. If you’re elderly, pregnant or have a condition that weakens your immune system you might be at additional risk. But if you do your research and decide to try raw milk you can use this tool to find out where you can get some.
Personally, I’m going to keep shimmy shimmying because I like it raw.
*I have no evidence whatsoever for this statement. But what else could he be talking about?
]]>One of the unexpected consequences of running a health-focused food company, like Subi, is that people start to treat you like some sort of minor nutritional deity. Once my friends and family learned about Subi, it wasn’t long before I started to feel the pressure of being both a “good example” and their on-call nutritionist.
And I have to be honest; I’m neither. In fact, the opposite is closer to the truth.
I started Subi because I knew about all the amazing benefits of fruits, veggies and superfoods. I also knew I wasn’t getting enough of them and wanted to make it easier. It was always a challenge for me to keep high quality produce at the heart of my diet. I figured other people were in the same situation and would appreciate a handy solution. Months of research and hard work later, we have Subi Superfood. But I still don’t always follow through on my best intentions. And, even with all the research, I’m not comfortable calling myself an “expert”. So when she asked Can you drink alcohol and still be healthy?, I got a little nervous.
Like a lot of issues in health, alcohol is a confusing and controversial subject. It can be hard to get a straight answer to your questions, often because there just isn’t one. In the case of alcohol, the old adage that the dose makes the poison is very relevant. In other words, it’s not whether you drink that matters, but how much or how little.
By now, it should be obvious that too much alcohol over any timeframe is a terrible, terrible idea. Excessive drinking damages your brain, liver and mental health, as well as increasing your risk of heart disease and cancer. And hangovers really suck. But you already knew all that.
So where’s this confusion coming from?
Well, there’s lots of good evidence that regular low to moderate alcohol consumption has some health benefits. In particular, red wine has been celebrated because of it’s high antioxidant content. Moderate consumption is associated with reduced risk of some cancers, reduced risk of dementia, and reduced risk of depression in older people. It’s also fairly conclusive that consuming alcohol at a low level is associated with lower mortality from all causes.
Finally, it’s worth acknowledging the social role alcohol plays and how important social engagement, community and connection are for your overall health (hint: they’re REALLY important).
I hate to break it to you, but none of us will get out of here alive. No matter how healthy your lifestyle is you’re not going to live forever. But that’s not the point. We’re doing it to feel better day to day. Trying to live a healthy lifestyle improves the quality of your life, not just the quantity of years it will contain.
So eventually, you might run into a trade-off between being optimally healthy and having a hilarious, connected or pleasurable experience assisted by alcohol. Sometimes, a little alcohol will improve the subjective quality of your life enough to justify any negative health consequences. But that’s a choice you have to make yourself.
Back on the terrace, my nervous moment in the spotlight was cut short. Before I got a chance to respond, my friend scratched her own itch:
Can you drink alcohol and still be healthy?
Then:
Don’t answer that! - I don’t want to know!
And we laughed.
]]>It’s 2017 and you’re on the internet, so you’ve probably got an idea about what the term “Superfood” means.
And you’re probably right, because “Superfood” is kinda like a glance from a handsome stranger: it can mean whatever you want it to mean. “Superfood” is not a protected term like Organic, so it gets thrown around a lot more than it should. When we say “Superfood”, as in Subi Superfood, we’re talking about a fruit or vegetable that’s particularly rich in the nutrients that keep you healthy and feeling great. And we think anything this specially potent deserves a little extra attention, even if you might have to look further afield than Mr. Jones’ vegetable plot.Maca is a member of the cruciferous vegetable family, so it’s related to cabbage, broccoli and kale. Maca has been used for a long time in its native Peru, where the root of the plant is usually dried and powdered to be used as food or for medicinal purposes.
What makes it super? Well, it’s super nutritious. Maca is packed with Vitamin C, Copper, Iron, and antioxidants. And if you ever meet a groovy Peruvian, Maca might be responsible - the root has a well-founded reputation for increasing libido in men and women.
Goji BerriesGoji berries (also known as wolfberries) are originally a Chinese crop, and they’ve been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 2000 years. Goji berries stand out because, as well as being really nutritionally dense, they contain a special antioxidant all of their own.
As well as their own unique antioxidant, goji berries contain lots of other antioxidants. They’re also rich in Vitamins A & C, iron, copper, and selenium, among many other minerals. Sounds pretty super to me.
Açaí BerriesAçaí berries come from Brazil and are packed full of super-powerful antioxidants. In fact, on the scale that’s used to measure antioxidants, Açaí berries rate higher than any other berry we could find.
If you’re wondering why everyone is always talking about antioxidants, here’s why: antioxidants are chemicals that stop the harmful effects of free radicals (unstable chemicals that contribute to disease and aging). Free radicals are necessary in small amounts (for your immune system) but today, almost everyone has too many. Getting antioxidants from your diet is helpful because it minimises the damage too many free radicals can do.
TL;DR: the Açaí berries in Subi have your back.
Camu CamuLike Açaí berries, Camu Camu comes from Brazil. Again like Açaí, Camu Camu is chock full of free radical scavenging antioxidants that fight against disease and aging.
Camu Camu is a fruit about the size of a lemon that grows in the Amazon river basin. We decided to include it in our formula for Subi Superfood because, as well as all those antioxidants, Camu Camu is particularly high in Vitamin C. Per serving, it’s got 60 times more than an orange!
Real Talk About SuperfoodsSo those are the standouts on the all-star team of ingredients in Subi Superfood. We’ve literally gone to the ends of the earth to find ingredients that make it as easy as possible for you to get the benefits of fresh fruits and veggies.
But even though our superfoods really are super, they’re not magic.
Their super benefits are cool, but they will never replace prioritizing your self-care. You know the basics: eat well, move your body and get enough sleep. And enjoy Subi Superfood every morning to cover all your bases.
]]>A few years ago my mom retired after 30+ years as a public schoolteacher. Even though I was delighted for her, I was concerned too. Her retirement was like the first clear signal that she was getting old.
If you’re anything like me, you know (or you will realize) that one of the hardest parts of growing up is admitting that you have to let your parents take care of themselves. Sure, you can help and make suggestions. But ultimately, no more than when you were 6 years old, you can’t make your parents do what you want. And it can be hard to watch them make bad health decisions.
So I was delighted when my mom told me she had joined a yoga class.
I was so delighted because I’m a big fan of yoga. I’ve been practicing it myself in various forms for years. In fact, it’s probably the one thing I would recommend you start, if you aren’t already doing it. Now there’s a good chance I’m preaching to the choir here, and you’re already convinced of the merits of yoga. But when I looked into it more thoroughly, I was surprised by how far the benefits of yoga actually extend. I think you might be surprised too.
Now there’s a good chance I’m preaching to the choir here, and you’re already convinced of the merits of yoga. But when I looked into it more thoroughly, I was surprised by how far the benefits of yoga actually extend. I think you might be surprised too. The most profound and beneficial effects of a regular yoga practice are less obvious than the physical benefits. I’m going to give you a quick rundown of how yoga can help your hormones, your nerves, your brain, and your mind.
The most profound and beneficial effects of a regular yoga practice are less obvious than the physical benefits. I’m going to give you a quick rundown of how yoga can help your hormones, your nerves, your brain, and your mind.
Firstly, it’s worth acknowledging that most of us who live modern lives are under chronic stress. Email notifications, busy schedules, and traffic noises have a cumulative effect that keeps your body’s stress response turned on. Yoga can help you turn it off. Brain imaging research at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Massachusetts showed how practicing yoga causes clear changes in the body’s sympathetic nervous system. Regular practice also reduces the stress hormone cortisol. Combined, these two changes make you feel a little less “fight or flight” and a more “figure it out”.
Brain imaging research at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Massachusetts showed how practicing yoga causes clear changes in the body’s sympathetic nervous system. Regular practice also reduces the stress hormone cortisol. Combined, these two changes make you feel a little less “fight or flight” and a more “figure it out”.
No, not money (although there are plenty of yoga studios that can help you get rid of that too). Yoga has been shown to reduce inflammation. Inflammation is a necessary process that’s part of your immune system. But when there’s too much inflammation you’ve got a problem - it’s the behind-the-scenes mechanism that contributes to everything from heart disease to depression. One study showed how a group randomly assigned to yoga classes had much less inflammation markers than a group that got standard treatment. Basically, this means yoga rebalances your body in favor of health and against disease.
One study showed how a group randomly assigned to yoga classes had much less inflammation markers than a group that got standard treatment. Basically, this means yoga rebalances your body in favor of health and against disease.
Research by the US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has shown how regular yoga practice is associated with increased volume in certain brain areas. Cool. It gets even cooler when you hear that the brain areas in question are those associated with dampening stress, directing attention, and a sense of self. Calm, attentive, and secure? That’s how I want to be. And the experience of having a yoga-upgraded brain is pretty awesome too. Personal experience chimes with the claims that regular sessions of even as little as 15 minutes are enough to help you feel calmer, more centered and settled in your body.
Calm, attentive, and secure? That’s how I want to be. And the experience of having a yoga-upgraded brain is pretty awesome too. Personal experience chimes with the claims that regular sessions of even as little as 15 minutes are enough to help you feel calmer, more centered and settled in your body.
And the experience of having a yoga-upgraded brain is pretty awesome too. Personal experience chimes with the claims that regular sessions of even as little as 15 minutes are enough to help you feel calmer, more centered and settled in your body.
If you’ve tried yoga, you’ll be aware of all the obvious physical benefits. Moving more smoothly and generally feeling less like a creaky old mahogany antique were some of the effects I appreciated the most (becoming more ass-thetically pleasing didn’t hurt either).
But the really important changes are more subtle. Tuning down chronic stress, supporting your immune system, and creating space between your thoughts are immensely effective ways to improve your quality of life. That’s why I’m so delighted my mom is starting a yoga practice to support a happy, healthy retirement for herself.
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