Dr. Andrew Belaveshkin

Nutritional Value of Frozen Fruits and Vegetables Many people continue to be skeptical about frozen fruits and vegetables thinking they lack vital nutrients which makes them no better than fast food. Luckily for us, it couldn’t be farther from the truth, and I will tell you why. First, let me say that food preservation is hardly new to us. Evidence has it that ice cellars were used to store food in China as early as 1,000 BC, and you could easily find them in any household. Normally these types of structures were used for storing perishable foods during summer. In early spring, a deep hole was filled with ice and covered with straw. Later meat, fish, drinks, and other foodstuffs were placed on top of it all, the cellar was then boarded up. And then refrigeration came into the picture, rapidly becoming one of the most groundbreaking innovations of the 20th century. It made healthy eating more convenient and, not to mention, more affordable, too. Flash freezing made it possible to obtain...

Rule 1. Keep clean gaps between meals The clean gap is the complete absence of calories, in any form, between meals including snacks and “liquid” calories (coffee, tea, milk, juice, etc.). Often, healthy eating behavior implies that we are too busy and so we don’t have snacks, talk about food, read recipes and watch cooking programs. Now many health and nutritional problems arise precisely because of the habit of constant snacking, and many people underestimate its impact. Keeping a “snack diary” will allow you to notice hundreds and thousands of extra calories unknowingly consumed each day. Your brain is unaware of the number of snacks you eat mechanically. Besides calorie intake, the impact of snacking on dietary patterns and metabolism is important. Imagine eating is like a washing process. You collect different types of laundry, put it in the machine, add the washing powder and start a certain program. If you forgot to add a towel, would you open the door without switching the mach...

A desire that blinds. A long time ago, the sculptor Pygmalion lived in Cyprus. And he fell so in love with the statue he sculpted that the gods revived it, and later she bore him children, one of whom was the son of Paphos — the legendary founder of the city of Paphos, in which I now live. The Pygmalion effect predominantly manifests the magical thinking characteristic of children and primitive tribes when we believe that the power of our desire will change the real world. Of course, sometimes the power of self-fulfilling prophecy is quite natural, especially concerning matters in which we control and participate. wishful thinking However, applying one’s expectations very often leads to wishful thinking. This is not just a distortion of thinking; it is characteristic of all people because our inner state affects perception and thought. If you are given a heavy backpack, you begin to overestimate the mountain’s steepness. If you are thirsty, you see water bubbling and glistening, even w...

The knackers. Among the top in various anti-ratings (suicides, alcoholism), Belarus ranks penultimate in terms of violence against animals. Recently, regimen approved the law that allows children from the age of 8 to be taken hunting to kill animals. Most animal protection organizations were liquidated by the regime (Vitebsk DOBRIK, the LOVEBRIL Center for Animal Lovers, The Sun for All, Despite (Borisov), the Four Paws Public Association (Mogilev), and others). Housing and communal services often kill animals right in the yards, at playgrounds in front of all people. Animals are treated worse than in Belarus only in Iran — where they are going to ban pets altogether because they are “symbols of the West.” How does it matter to people? The fact is that criminology has known a long-established connection between cruelty to animals, cruelty in the family, and other forms of violence in society. Cruelty to animals is one of the most powerful predictors of criminal behavior. Those who are ...

Post-traumatic growth. Phoenix is ​​the eternal symbol of rebirth from the ashes. Similarly, our mind, when we get trauma, is not necessarily damaged. Moreover, for most people, post-traumatic growth is more likely than the post-traumatic disorder. When trauma crushes our world, our minds can be deformed. The desperate feeling of inability to change something can lead to learned helplessness, we can lose faith in our values ​​and become frustrated, and angry at the world and people, and we can transfer our aggression to third-party people. Rethinking can be painful, but it's important. Post-traumatic growth allows you to become stronger physically and mentally. Here are 10 points that will allow you to transform trauma not into post-traumatic disorder, but into growth. 1. Be proactive. Be strong. The test of helplessness is the most dangerous. Do whatever you can. Take control of even the smallest things. Trauma causes a desire to shrink and freeze, counteract this and expand your...

Welcome to My Blog! Hello and welcome to all readers interested in health and personal development! My name is Andrew Belaveshkin . I’m a physician, PhD, university lecturer, and author of books on health and preventive medicine.   Here, in my blog, I share insights on living a healthy lifestyle grounded in science and evidence-based medicine . I teach how to integrate health into your daily life, and I also write about psychology, neurobiology, social evolution, aesthetics, and dopamine — all aspects that influence our wellbeing and behavior. I firmly believe that everyone should understand how their body works and be able to apply that knowledge in practice. No one knows you better than you do, and when this self-awareness is combined with an understanding of fundamental physiological processes, it helps you make healthy and effective decisions . I study and teach effective strategies to strengthen and maintain individual health , carefully reviewing scientific research and...