Olive Oil-Marinated Feta Recipe, Spotlight on Feta, Using Dried Herbs, Boosting Gut Microbiome and the Advantages of Challenging Yourself

Delicious doesn’t need to be complicated. My marinated feta recipe takes five ingredients and five minutes to put together. Keep a batch in the fridge and you’ll always have a meze on hand—and what a perfect way to enjoy olive oil’s healthful polyphenols! Of course, good nutrition is a balance of many foods, so I’m excited to detail a food-centric study that highlights one improvement we can make every day to boost health now and in the future—more flavonoids.

Olive Oil-Marinated Feta

• Olive Oil-Marinated Feta

  This recipe is simplicity itself, plus you can really make it your own by swapping your favorite fresh or dried peppers and herbs for the jalapeño and thyme. It will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks—just bring it to room temperature before serving. The marinated cheese cubes are delicious as is or served over a bed of greens. If they start to lose their shape, use it as a spread on crusty bread.

  Ingredients

  • 8-ounce block of feta
  • 1 jalapeño pepper, cut into rings
  • ½ lemon, sliced into rings
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, more as needed

  Directions

  Step 1

  Cube the feta and place in a shallow glass bowl with a lid or a 2-cup mason jar. Tuck the pepper, lemon rings, and thyme in the spaces between the cheese cubes. Cover with the olive oil and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

  Step 2

  If not serving right away, cover the bowl or close the mason jar and refrigerate. The flavors will infuse the cheese over time.

  Yields 4 appetizer servings ​

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Fabulous Feta

I love indulging in feta when I’m in Greece to select the very best fresh-pressed olive oil for Club members. Traditionally, their feta is made from sheep’s milk, though sometimes it’s a blend with goat’s milk. Many stores in the US sell authentic Greek feta—it will say so right on the package. American-made feta is milder in taste as it’s made from cow’s milk. I suggest a home tasting to see which one you like better. Either way, feta is a fresh cheese that’s lower in fat than many other types of cheese and has great appeal and versatility—it will soften when baked, so it’s great on focaccia or pizza. If salt is a concern, read the nutrition panel to stay within your limits. Because packaged feta crumbles have a tendency to dry out quickly and lose their taste, always buy feta in block form, submerged in brine—it will keep for weeks.

Healthy Kitchen Nugget

Using Dried Herbs

No fresh herbs? No problem! Dried herbs are a convenient substitute, and it makes sense to stock your pantry with your favorites. As a general rule, when using dried herbs in place of fresh, cut down the amount called for to just one-third, so as an example, you’ll need just 1 teaspoon of dried for 1 tablespoon of fresh. Start your dried herb collection with small quantities and see how much you use over a few months. Even though freshly dried herbs are potent, they will start to lose their strength over time. Regularly check with a sniff test—if you can’t smell any aroma, they’re past their prime.

For Your Best Health

Boosting the gut microbiome

New research done at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Australia shows that flavonoids, which are naturally occurring substances found in many common foods and beverages, may be even better for us than we thought.

The study looked at 881 elderly women with a median age of 80 and found they were far less likely to have extensive buildup of abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) if they consumed a high level of flavonoids. The abdominal aorta is the largest artery in the body, supplying oxygenated blood from the heart to the abdominal organs and lower limbs. Calcification is a predictor of cardiovascular risk, such as heart attack and stroke, as well as of late-life dementia.

ECU Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute researcher and study lead Ben Parmenter, PhD, said that, while there are many dietary sources of flavonoids, some foods have particularly high amounts: “The main contributors are usually black or green tea, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, red wine, apples, raisins/grapes, and dark chocolate.” Nuts and other citrus fruits and berries round out the list.

There are many different types of flavonoids, such as flavan-3-ols and flavonols. Study participants who had a higher intake of total flavonoids, flavan-3-ols, and flavonols were 36 to 39 percent less likely to have extensive AAC.

Black tea was the participants’ main source of total flavonoids and was also linked to significantly lower odds of extensive AAC. Compared with those who didn’t drink tea, participants who sipped 2 to 6 cups per day had a 16 to 42 percent less chance of having extensive AAC.

What if you’re not a “teatotaler”? You can still benefit if you consume high amounts of flavonoids from other sources. “Out of the women who don’t drink black tea, higher total non-tea flavonoid intake also appears to protect against extensive calcification of the arteries,” Dr. Parmenter said. “This implies flavonoids from sources other than black tea may be protective against AAC when tea is not consumed.”

The study, “Higher habitual dietary flavonoid intake associates with less extensive abdominal aortic calcification in a cohort of older women,” was published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.

Fitness Flash

The advantages of challenging yourself ​

According to a study done at the University of Cambridge in the UK, up to 78 percent of people who like to walk would take a more challenging route featuring obstacles, such as balancing beams, stepping stones, and high steps, if available. This suggests that “active landscape” routes in cities could help tackle what the researchers termed an inactivity pandemic that threatens good health.

As much as walking can be good exercise, when done on flat surfaces on city streets, it’s usually mild, not intense, exercise—it doesn’t significantly increase heart rate or improve balance or bone density, said the researchers, unless it includes jumping, balancing, and stepping down. This study looked at whether adults would opt for routes with those fun elements—think of it as urban hiking—if given the choice.

According to lead author Anna Boldina, “Even when the increase in level and extent of activity level is modest, when millions of people are using cityscapes every day, those differences can have a major positive impact on public health. Our findings show that pedestrians can be nudged into a wider range of physical activities through minor changes to the urban landscape. We want to help policy makers and designers make modifications that will improve physical health and well-being…The human body is a very complex machine that needs a lot of things to keep working effectively. Cycling and swimming are great for your heart and for your leg muscles but do very little for your bone density. To improve cardiovascular health, bone density, and balance all at once, we need to add a wider range of exercises into our routine daily walks.”

Here in the US, it’s not likely that active landscapes will be popping up in every community anytime soon, but these findings might spur you to look for more interesting routes when you’re walking or to make some time for hiking on weekends.

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Rich and Hearty Chili Recipe, Grinding Your Own Meat, How to Boost the Gut Microbiome and The Risks of Shortchanging Yourself on Sleep

Cold winter nights demand soul-satisfying dishes, and this chili recipe really delivers. Rich spices and slow cooking give it depth of flavor—there’s also a health advantage of all those spices. While the answer to winter’s chill isn’t to hibernate, it pays to take a look at how much quality sleep you’re getting. Turns out the risks of poor-quality sleep are much greater than you might realize.

Rich and Hearty Chili

• Rich and Hearty Chili

  A mix of rich spices takes run-of-the-mill chili to a whole new level. You’ll need a few hours for the flavors to develop, but not a lot of active effort. And the results are more than worth it! If you prefer to start with dried beans, soak a total of two cups of your favorite variety or varieties and add them to the pot when you add back the cooked beef. Made with beans, this chili is a good source of important fiber as well as other nutrients.

  Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 large onions, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 16 ounces baby portobello or white button mushrooms, sliced thin
  • 2 pounds ground beef, chicken, or turkey
  • 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
  • 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes with liquid
  • 2 15-ounce cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 15-ounce cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon each cayenne, allspice, and coarse salt
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider or sherry vinegar
  • Optional toppings for serving: diced raw onions, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and crushed corn or tortilla chips as desired

  Directions

  Step 1

  Heat a large stockpot or Dutch oven. Add the oil and then the onions and garlic. Cook over medium heat until soft. Add the mushrooms and sauté until soft. Add the ground meat in batches and cook until browned. 

  Step 2

  Push everything to the sides of the pot and add the tomato paste. Cook it until it turns a deep, brownish red and then fold it into the vegetables and meat. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. 

  Step 3

  Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for three hours, stirring every half hour. If the liquid is evaporating too quickly, place the lid ajar. Remove the bay leaves and serve with your choice of toppings. 

  Yields 8 hearty servings. 

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Grinding your own meat

Convenience rather than flavor is the reason to buy packaged ground meat at the market. Doing the grinding yourself allows you to choose your cut of beef (and fat content) or, in the case of chicken or turkey, your desired mix of light and dark meat. A home grinder, like the attachment made for the KitchenAid mixer, is great, but you can grind your own with the steel blade of a food processor using the pulsing function. The secret to a great grind is a chill-down for the meat and the grinder parts/processor blade. For meat in particular, this keeps more of the fat integrated and creates less fat smearing on the sides of the workbowl. 

Prep the meat by trimming as needed and then cutting it into 1-to-2-inch cubes. Place the cubes in a single layer on a sheet tray and pop it into the freezer along with your grinding blade for about 30 minutes—you want the meat cold and firm, but not frozen.

There’s no limit to how much meat you can run through a dedicated grinder. For the average size food processor, pulse about 8 ounces at a time; use a spatula to get out as much as possible before adding another batch. 

Healthy Kitchen Nugget

Taking chili vegetarian

If you’d like to skip the meat, this chili recipe can easily adapt. For the same number of servings, increase the veggies and the beans by 25 percent and opt for the portobello mushrooms, prepping them into a ½-inch dice instead of slices. If you’d like to increase the protein content beyond what the beans offer, crumble 8 to 16 ounces of firm tofu into the pot when you add the beans. 

For Your Best Health

Boosting the gut microbiome

The human gut microbiome is a collection of trillions of microorganisms that live inside the intestinal tract. The bacteria there can affect nearly all systems of the body, including metabolism and the building and maintaining of the immune system.

In two separate studies done at Penn State, nutritional scientists looking at the effects of small changes to the average American diet found improvements to the gut microbiome when participants added a daily ounce of peanuts or about a teaspoon of herbs and spices to their intake.

“Research has shown that people who have a lot of different microbes have better health, and a better diet, than those who don’t have much bacterial diversity,” said Penny M. Kris-Etherton, PhD, Evan Pugh University Professor of Nutritional Sciences.

In the peanut study, published in the journal Clinical Nutrition, Dr. Kris-Etherton and colleagues compared the effects of snacking on 28 grams (about 1 ounce) of peanuts per day to those of a higher-carbohydrate snack of crackers and cheese. At the end of six weeks, participants who ate the peanut snack showed an increased abundance of Ruminococcaceae, a genus of bacteria linked to healthy liver metabolism and immune function.

In the herbs and spices study, published in The Journal of Nutrition, scientists analyzed the impact of adding blends of herbs and spices, such as cinnamon, ginger, cumin, turmeric, rosemary, oregano, basil, and thyme, to the controlled diets of participants at risk for cardiovascular disease. The team examined three doses: about 1/8 teaspoon per day, a little more than 3/4 teaspoon per day, and about 1-1/2 teaspoons per day. At the end of four weeks, participants showed an increase in gut bacteria diversity, including in Ruminococcaceae, most notably with the medium and high doses of herbs and spices.

“It’s such a simple thing that people can do,” said Dr. Kris-Etherton. “The average American diet is far from ideal, so I think everyone could benefit by adding herbs and spices. It’s also a way of decreasing sodium in your diet but flavoring foods in a way that makes them palatable and, in fact, delicious! Taste is really a top criterion for why people choose the foods they do.”

However, she pointed out that more research is needed to understand all the implications of diet and the workings of the gut microbiome itself. “We need a lot more research on the microbiome to see what its proper place is in terms of overall health,” she said.

Fitness Flash

The risks of shortchanging yourself on sleep

According to a new study that involved 7,000 men and women between the ages of 50 and 70, getting less than five hours of sleep in mid-to-late life could be linked to an increased risk of developing chronic diseases. Researchers from the University College London in the UK examined the relationship between how long each participant slept each night and whether they had been diagnosed with two or more chronic diseases (called multimorbidity), such as heart disease, cancer, or diabetes, over the course of 25 years.

People who reported getting five hours of sleep or less at age 50 were 20 percent more likely to have been diagnosed with a chronic disease and 40 percent more likely to be diagnosed with two or more chronic diseases over 25 years, compared to people who slept for up to seven hours. The researchers also found that sleep duration of five hours or less at age 50 was associated with 25 percent increased risk of mortality over the 25 years of follow-up: Short sleep duration increased the risk of chronic disease(s) that, in turn, increased the risk of death.

“Multimorbidity is on the rise in high income countries and more than half of older adults now have at least two chronic diseases. This is proving to be a major challenge for public health, as multimorbidity is associated with high healthcare service use, hospitalizations, and disability,” said Dr. Severine Sabia, lead author of the study. “As people get older, their sleep habits and sleep structure change. However, it is recommended to sleep for 7 to 8 hours a night as sleep durations above or below this have previously been associated with individual chronic diseases. To ensure a better night’s sleep, it is important to promote good sleep hygiene, such as making sure the bedroom is quiet, dark, and at a comfortable temperature before sleeping. It’s also advised to remove electronic devices and avoid large meals before bedtime. Physical activity and exposure to light during the day might also promote good sleep.”

As part of the study, researchers also assessed whether sleeping for a long duration, of nine hours or more, affected health outcomes. There was no clear association between long sleep duration at age 50 and multimorbidity in healthy people. However, for participants already diagnosed with a chronic condition, long sleep duration was associated with around a 35 percent increased risk of developing another illness. Researchers believe this could be due to underlying health conditions impacting sleep.

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