GUT health
✈️ The Mile-High Club You Don't Want To Join
Here's one Mile-High club you'd never want to join.
Imagine: you settle down into your slightly-bigger than budget airline seat for a long-haul flight.
It’s going to be 10 hours plus, but you’re prepared: podcasts: downloaded. Airpods: charged and ready to go. Impressive literary novel: safely stowed away in the overhead lockers. Trashy paperback: to hand.
The plane takes off, you settle back to rel…oh God, when will they turn the light off so I can go to the bathroom!
Anyone can suffer from IBS-like symptoms (bloating, gas, discomfort) when they’re flying, you certainly don’t need to have had an IBS diagnosis.
As the plane ascends, pressure in the cabin drops which makes the gas in your stomach expand. This is the root cause of the symptoms.
Here’s what you can do:
1️⃣ For 24-48 hours before flying, reduce your consumption of high FODMAP foods.
Quick reminder: high FODMAP foods include:- dairy products, many wheat-based foods, legumes and many fruit and vegetables. Many other fruit and veg are low FODMAP however, so do some research.
2️⃣ Avoid the gas giants. The usual suspects are chewing gum, fizzy drinks and any large, fatty meals. Again avoid, or at least try to reduce before flying.
3️⃣ While you’re flying, stay hydrated and move about as much as you can on the plane.
4️⃣ Depending on the length of the flight, you might be able to manage your symptoms with some strategically-timed bathroom visits before leaving the airport.
And, yeah, I get it, when you’re travelling long-haul, it’s hard to eat well. Airport food’s not famous for its nutritional profile.
That’s where strategic use of a fiber supplement like LOAM comes in useful.
LOAM’s not just 10g of 6 fibers-in-one, it’s also low-FODMAP, so you should be able to take it when you’re travelling, without having to ask the flight attendants if you can fasten your seatbelt in the bathroom.
And the new Grab & Go pouches are perfect for anyone on the move. I always have some travel sticks with me ready to go and it seems like I'm not the only one!
GENERAL HEALTH
✂️ Cut Dementia Risk By 23% in 20 minutes
If there was one thing you could do, for just 20 minutes, once per week that would cut your risk of dementia by any amount, let alone 23%, would you be interested?
Researchers in Japan followed over 10,000 individuals over the age of 65, for 6 years. They were interested in how many of them would develop dementia serious enough to require some kind of full-time care AND….how often they cooked at home.
Here are the headline findings:
Men who cooked at least one meal, from scratch, once per week had a 23% lower chance of developing dementia than men who cooked less than once per week.
Women who cooked at least one meal per week were 27% less likely to develop dementia.
This was an observational study, so the researchers couldn’t say why home cooking is associated with reduced dementia risk.
It could be due to:
- Home-cooked food being generally healthy than processed or ready-made food
- Cognitive stimulation - cooking requires thinking on your feet (especially when things go wrong) which might be protective against dementia
- Increased physical activity - more time spent on your feet when shopping for and prepping food
But the association was NOT due to education, income, lifestyle or other cognitively stimulating activities, so it seems there is something special about cooking food at home.
Right now, some of you are cursing even beginning to read this article because you manage to burn water on a good day. “Seriously? So now, I have to learn something else?!”
Well no, because the researchers found the strongest protective effect of home cooking was for the people with the least amount of cooking ability.
In fact, the reduction in dementia risk for the worst cooks was an incredible 67%!
Let me repeat, this study does not prove cooking at home reduces your risk for dementia and, as it was done in Japan, there may be cultural or culinary reasons why these findings might not generalise.
However, these findings are intriguing to say the least.
It’s worth learning how to cook just for the pleasure of being able to create something delicious to share with someone else. The fact that it’s usually cheaper than the alternative is just a bonus.
Just one tip for this article:
1️⃣ Commit to learning how to cook the simplest of dishes (French omelette, vegetable soup, a 3-ingredient salad) and enjoy it at least once per week.
The absolute worst thing that’ll happen is that you slightly increase your weekly consumption of whole foods.
But if you’re ready to take home cooking one step further and you’re looking for simple recipes that punch well above their weight in fiber, you might be interested in my forthcoming cooking course. Not another “clean eating” programme, just real food with real ingredients supported by real science. Sound good? You can sign-up here.
REFLECTIONS
📚 The Only Homework You'll Ever Enjoy
Matthew Dicks is an award-winning author, speaker and marketing-consultant.
He is also a 60-time(!) Moth StorySLAM (competitive story-telling) champion, so he knows a thing or two about how to spin a yarn.
In his book, Storyworthy, Dicks proposes Homework for Life.
The premise is simple: if you had to tell a five-minute story about something that happened today, what would it be?
We’re talking Storyworthy moments, where crucially, something changes:
- an interesting comment from your child
- an awkward interaction with a stranger
- a realisation you no longer care about something that used to be important
This is NOT journaling.
Dicks suggests you write down one or two sentences on your notes app, in a book, or wherever’s convenient for you. And that’s it.
Maybe you’ll never tell the story. But with Homework for Life, you’ll never forget.
When I’ve done this I’ve realised there are so many small, interesting and unexpected moments in life that I just forget. There’s nothing like being a father to a baby, running a business across multiple time zones and regularly creating content for forgetting the little interactions.
But life is so much richer when you look back at those notes and think, “oh yeah, that WAS incredible”, “I DO remember that”.
And if you think your life isn’t interesting enough to record, Dicks argues most people simply need to notice the interesting things in their lives, rather than become more interesting.
You’ll easily find Matthew Dicks online if you’re interested in learning more, but in the meantime, why not try Homework for Life?
👋 Who are you again? I’m Karan Rajan - a doctor and curious explorer of all things health and wellness. I'm the founder of LOAM Science, a microbiome company aiming to create the best fiber product in the world! I host the Dr Karan Explores Podcast, where I talk to experts in science and medicine to cut through the BS of modern health advice. If you'd like an easy way to dig through the archive, you can ask me any questions about the podcast and talk to my digital librarian here. I've also written two books "This Book May Save Your Life" and "This Is Vital Information". I'm the Chief of Science of Throne, a smart gut health tracking device.
If you feel strongly about some health things or just want to say hi? Hit reply... I’d love to hear it and hear from you! (yes I read every reply!!!)
