The Olive Oil Hunter News #10

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Enhance Dishes with Dried Fruits

Dried fruits, such as apricots, cranberries, raisins, and prunes, are great for recipes like pilaf because they add flavor without unwanted moisture. They also make great fiber- and nutrient-rich snacks, especially when mixed with heart-healthy nuts like almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, and pistachios. But remember that both dried fruits and nuts are very calorie dense, so measure out one-ounce portions rather than munching straight from a bag, suggests Harvard Health. When shopping, read labels to avoid brands with added sugars—with the exception of cranberries, they should be sweet enough on their own. For cranberries, look for brands sweetened with apple juice. You might also want to choose those made from organically grown fruits and avoid those with colorings, additives, and, especially if you have asthma, sulphite-based preservatives like sulphur dioxide. Opaque packaging that blocks out light will help maintain freshness and taste. Note that while fiber is more concentrated when a fruit is dried, vitamins A and C are often lost in the processing, so dried foods shouldn’t replace all the fresh fruit in your diet, especially not berries.

Healthy Kitchen Nugget

Homemade Stock

Many home chefs know the value of devoting a few hours every month or so to making a large batch of chicken stock and storing it in containers in the freezer. Stock adds far more flavor than water in recipes that require a cooking liquid. But you can also make a small batch on the fly whenever you buy (or make) a rotisserie chicken or two for dinner. Here’s my hack: After enjoying all the meat, place the chicken carcass in a crockpot with a stalk of celery, a carrot or two, a sliced onion, a garlic clove, a teaspoon of mixed dried herbs, and, if you have one, a leek. Add water to cover, turn it on and, in no time, you’ll have a really nice stock. Strain it and, if you want it to be even more flavorful, reduce it in a saucepan on the stovetop.

For Your Best Health

Olive Oil Supports Heart Health

Important research done at the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science (KRCBS) of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, has advanced our knowledge of just how olive oil helps support heart health. Scientists discovered that levels of an important plasma protein, ApoA-IV, increase as the body digests foods high in unsaturated fats, like olive oil. ApoA-IV specifically blocks a receptor on blood platelets that they need in order to clump together. Sometimes this clumping—called aggregation—is useful; however, when it results in a blood clot and blocks blood flow, it can be fatal.

“Platelet aggregation can save lives because it can stop bleeding in damaged vessels,” explained Dr. Heyu Ni, Platform Director for Hematology, Cancer and Immunological Diseases at the KRCBS. “But we usually don’t want platelets to block blood flow in the vessels. This is thrombosis, and if vessel occlusion occurs in the heart or brain, it can cause heart attack, stroke, or death.” The research showed that higher levels of ApoA-IV can also slow down the plaque buildup in blood vessels (atherosclerosis) that stiffens their walls and also sets the stage for heart attack or stroke.

The study, published in Nature Communications, also revealed that ApoA-IV has its own circadian rhythm, and it’s most active overnight. So, according to Dr. Ni, eating foods with high unsaturated fats and following an appropriate sleep pattern together help strengthen ApoA-IV’s role in cutting the risk for atherosclerosis, heart attack, and stroke.

Fitness Flash

Persevering Over Your Inner Couch Potato

It’s hard to resist COVID-19’s ability to bring out the couch potato in all of us, but an expert panel from the American Public Health Association, writing in the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health & Fitness Journal, reminds us of just how important staying physically active is, precisely because of the pandemic. It’s essential to good health, especially for people with preexisting and chronic health conditions who face a disproportionate risk from the virus. Here are some of their ideas:

For cardio exercise, walk outside, staying at least six feet away from others and wearing a mask. Layer on more clothes as the weather cools—you can peel them off as you heat up. When you can’t get out, try marching in place or stepping up and down off the first riser of a staircase. Doing five-minute chunks a few times a day is a good start.

For strength training, use your own body weight to turn household tasks into exercises. Do heel raises at the sink when washing dishes, and rear leg lifts as you bend to empty the dishwasher. After a grocery run, do a set of biceps curls with large soup cans before you put them away.

For a combo approach, between episodes of a show you’re streaming or during broadcast commercials, get in some circuit training. Take a run or brisk walk around the house, then do eight chair sit-stands, walk up and down a flight of stairs, and finish with eight wall pushups.

If you need outside motivation, find out whether your gym is offering live-streamed classes, or dip into a YouTube channel workout.

Whenever you’re at home, think of ways to spend less time sitting and more time moving. Remember that exercise is free medicine and works body and mind, helping us cope with the stress of the pandemic and anxiety over when it will finally be in the rearview mirror.