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Olive Oil Hunter News #173

Sheet Pan Souvlaki Recipe, Spotlight on Mint, How to Choose Skewers, The “Secret Sauce” for Losing Weight and The Long Reach of Exercise

Warm weather reawakens my desire for effortless cooking, but I still want food that’s intensely flavorful. This take on chicken souvlaki is the perfect answer—simple and succulent. It relies on a wonderful mix of spices enhanced by extra virgin olive oil. It’s also an excellent example of how delicious food can be good for you. For many people, higher temperatures also reawaken the desire to get into summer shape. Timely research on how the human touch can be more helpful than apps for weight loss may have you rethinking hiring a nutrition coach. As you prep for summer activities, you’ll be fascinated by new research on just how wide-reaching the benefits of exercise is for every part of your body. 

Sheet Pan Souvlaki

  • Chicken Souvlaki Sheet Pan Souvlaki

    Traditional souvlaki is, of course, meat grilled on skewers. This version of one of my favorite recipes is perfect for those times when you can’t get to the grill but want to taste souvlaki’s deep, rich spices. Besides the traditional way of serving souvlaki on a pita with tzatziki sauce, this chicken is delicious over rice with a side of tomatoes and cucumber and my light, minty yogurt dressing. 

    Ingredients

    For the chicken:

    • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use
    • Juice of 1 large lemon
    • 4 garlic cloves, very finely minced  
    • 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
    • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
    • 1 teaspoon ground coriander 
    • 1 teaspoon allspice
    • 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
    • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne 
    • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
    • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
    • 2 large red onions, peeled and cut into eighths

    For the yogurt dressing:

    • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
    • 1 tablespoon lemon juice, more to taste
    • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
    • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
    • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
    • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
    • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh spearmint

    Directions

    Step 1

    In a bowl large enough to hold the chicken, make a marinade by whisking together 2 tablespoons olive oil, the lemon juice, garlic, salt, and all the spices. 

    Step 2

    Using a cutting board reserved for raw meat, cut the thighs into evenly sized strips. Place the strips in the marinade and toss to coat. Allow the chicken to marinate on a counter for 30 minutes, or up to overnight in the fridge.

    Step 3

    When ready to cook, preheat your oven to 350°F. Use a tablespoon of olive oil to lightly coat a rimmed sheet pan. Spread out the strips. Drizzle the onions with olive oil and arrange them among the chicken pieces. Bake for 30 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer reaches 165°F when testing a few chicken strips.

    Step 4

    While the chicken is roasting, make the yogurt dressing by whisking together all its ingredients. Taste and add more salt, pepper, and/or lemon juice if desired. (If you want to make the sauce in advance, keep it in the fridge until needed). Just before serving, drizzle the top with more olive oil.

    Step 5

    To serve, plate strips of chicken with the red onions along with the yogurt dressing and your choice of sides or pitas.

    Yields 4 to 6 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Mint

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Choosing Mint

Fresh mint

Many recipes that call for mint don’t specify the type to use. Unless you grow your own, you might be surprised to learn that there are well over a dozen varieties, with spearmint and peppermint being the most well-known yet quite different in taste and appearance.

There’s a good reason that candies and drinks, especially around the holidays, feature peppermint. Peppermint is 40% menthol, and it’s the menthol that tingles your palate. Spearmint, on the other hand, has almost no menthol. It gets its sweetish taste from a phytochemical called carvone, and that makes it perfect when you want just a nuance of mint in dishes like yogurt dressing, tabbouleh, or mint sauce for lamb. 

Both types of mint make great additions to your herb garden or window box—once you have them at your fingertips, you’ll look for even more ways to enjoy them. 

Quick Kitchen Nugget: When You Want to Grill - Choosing Skewers

Quick Kitchen Nugget

When You Want to Grill: Choosing Skewers

With summer grilling season upon us, it’s time to take stock of your BBQ tools. Whether you want to grill meat, veggies, or fruit, having a selection of skewers is a must. While bamboo skewers are great for finger foods, but for grilling, the soaking process and their shorter size make them more work than strong metal ones. And, of course, they’re not reusable.

There are many styles of metal skewers to choose from. I recommend looking for some specific features that make them easier to handle and thread. The skewer itself should be at least 12 inches long. You can find skewers that are nearly a foot and a half in length, but before you make any purchase, make sure they will fit inside your grill! I also prefer those with a wide, flat surface that ends in a sharp point, better for piercing raw meat and harder veggies and fruits. 

stainless steel skewers

Helpful hack: Coat your skewers with a few drops of extra virgin olive oil before loading them up—the cooked food will release that much more easily.

Also aim for skewers with heat-resistant handles that are easy to grab—do still wear grill mitts for safety—rather than skewers with only a metal ring. As convenient as online shopping is, if  possible, test out different brands at a physical store to see which ones fit best in your hand. 

Wash and dry your skewers as soon as feasible after cooking. That’s when traces of food will come off more readily (dropping them into your sink for a soak in warm soapy water for a few minutes will help).

For Your Best Health: The “Secret Sauce” for Losing Weight

For Your Best Health

The “Secret Sauce” for Losing Weight

As great as the need is for low-cost, effective weight loss treatments, current technology—even with all the apps available—is not advanced enough to replace human coaches, according to the SMART study conducted by Northwestern Medicine and published in JAMA. 

“Giving people technology alone for the initial phase of obesity treatment produces unacceptably worse weight loss than giving them treatment that combines technology with a human coach,” said corresponding study author Bonnie Spring, PhD, director of the Center for Behavior and Health and professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

In the study, people who initially only received technology without coach support were less likely to achieve meaningful weight loss, considered to be at least 5% of body weight, compared to those who also had a human coach. Investigators intensified treatment quickly (by adding resources after just two weeks) if a person showed less than optimal weight loss, but the weight loss disadvantage for those who began their weight loss effort without coach support persisted for six months, the study showed. Note: It is possible for some people to achieve clinically meaningful weight loss without anti-obesity medications, bariatric surgery, or even behavioral treatment, Dr. Spring said. In the SMART study, 25% of people who began treatment with technology alone were able to achieve a 5% weight loss after six months without any treatment augmentation. But that means 75% were not.

Eventually, more advanced technology may be able to supplant human coaches, Dr. Spring said. “We may not be so far away from having an AI chatbot that can sub for a human, but we are not quite there yet. It’s within reach. The tech is developing really fast.”

Scientists are now trying to parse what human coaches do that makes them so helpful, and how AI can better imitate a human, not just in terms of content but in emotional tone and context awareness, Dr. Spring added.

An unsolved problem is matching treatment type and intensity to individuals’ needs and preferences. “If we could just tell ahead of time who needs which treatment at what intensity, we might start to manage the obesity epidemic,” Dr. Spring added.

Fitness Flash: The Long Reach of Exercise 

Fitness Flash

The Long Reach of Exercise 

The health benefits of exercise are well-known, but new research published in the journal Nature shows that the body’s response to exercise is more complex and far-reaching than previously thought. In a lab study on rats, a team of scientists from across the United States found that physical activity caused many cellular and molecular changes in all 19 of the organs they studied in the animals!

Exercise lowers the risk of many diseases, but scientists didn’t fully understand how it changes the body on a molecular level. This is partly because most studies have focused on exercise’s effects on a single organ or on one gender only, among other limited variables. To take a more comprehensive look at the biology of exercise, scientists with the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) used an array of techniques in the lab to analyze molecular changes in rats as they were put through their paces with weeks of intense exercise. 

The team studied a range of tissues from the animals, such as the heart, brain, and lungs. They found that each of the organs they looked at changed with exercise, helping the animals regulate their immune system, respond to stress, and control pathways connected to inflammatory liver disease, heart disease, and tissue injury.

Exercising with dog

The data provide potential clues to many different human health conditions. For example, the researchers found a possible explanation for why the liver becomes less fatty during exercise, which could help in the development of new treatments for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (formerly called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). “Even though the liver is not directly involved in exercise, it still undergoes changes that could improve health. No one speculated that we’d see these acetylation and phosphorylation changes in the liver after exercise training,” said Pierre Jean-Beltran, PhD, a co-first author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, when the study began. “This highlights why we deploy all of these different molecular modalities—exercise is a very complex process, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Two or three generations of research associates matured on this consortium project and learned what it means to carefully design a study and process samples,” added Hasmik Keshishian, PhD, a senior group leader under Steve Carr, senior director of Broad’s Proteomics Platform, and co-author of the study. “Now we are seeing the results of our work: biologically insightful findings that are yielding from the high-quality data we and others have generated. That’s really fulfilling.”

Additional MoTrPAC studies are underway to study the effects of exercise on young adult and older rats, and the short-term effects of 30-minute bouts of physical activity. The consortium has also begun human studies and is recruiting about 1,500 individuals of diverse ages, sexes, ancestries, and activity levels for a clinical trial to study the effects of both endurance and resistance exercise in children and adults.

The team hopes that their findings could one day be used to tailor exercise to an individual’s health status or to develop treatments that mimic the effects of physical activity for people who are unable to exercise. 

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Olive Oil Hunter News #172

Salmon Bowl Recipe (Made Simple), Spotlight on Sesame Seeds, Thawing Frozen Fish, Why Wild Seafood is Best, and Counting Your Biological Age

Americans still don’t eat enough fish, and the challenge of finding quality fresh seafood is one of the reasons. My DIY salmon bowl recipe is a great way to get the goodness of salmon plus as many veggies as you’d like to include. Read on to see why frozen is actually preferred—unless of course you live near a fishing dock! Then find out about advances in measuring biological aging, a metric that makes your chronological age less important.

Salmon Bowl Made Simple

  • Salmon Poke Bowl Salmon Bowl Made Simple

    Poke bowls are still very popular, but it’s not always easy to buy the sushi-grade tuna needed to make your own. This variation includes sautéed chunks of salmon instead of ahi. The technique is also great if you like tuna but prefer it cooked. I’ve suggested many veggies to fill up your bowl, but have fun choosing other ingredients—be guided by what’s most fresh at your market.

    Ingredients

    For the fish:

    • 1 pound skinless salmon fillet, wild caught if possible
    • 1 tablespoon regular or reduced-sodium soy sauce 
    • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
    • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
    • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use

    For the spicy mayo:

    • 1/4 cup best-quality mayonnaise
    • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 teaspoon sriracha, or to taste

    For the spicy bowls:

    • 3 cups cooked quinoa or brown or white rice
    • 1 large cucumber, diced
    • 3 scallions, trimmed and sliced into small pieces on the diagonal
    • 1 cup shelled edamame 
    • 2 large avocados, cubed or cut into thin slices
    • 2 tablespoons black or white sesame seeds or a mix
    • Optional: red onion rings, sliced tomatoes, shredded carrots, chopped red cabbage, enoki mushrooms, and other fresh veggies of your choice

    Directions

    Step 1

    Using a sharp knife, cut the salmon into 1-inch chunks. Add to a glass bowl with the soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Toss well and set aside for 30 minutes.

    Step 2

    Make the spicy mayo: In a small bowl, whisk the mayonnaise and the olive oil until well blended, then mix in the sriracha; set aside.

    Step 3

    Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the rest of the olive oil and the salmon chunks. Sear on all sides, using tongs to turn the pieces. When cooked through, remove the pan from the heat.

    Step 4

    Assemble the ingredients in four deep bowls: Center equal amounts of the cooked grains, then top with the vegetables and then the salmon chunks. Use a fork to drizzle on the spicy mayo, then sprinkle with the sesame seeds.

    Makes 4 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Black and White Sesame Seeds

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Black and White Sesame Seeds

Sesame seeds are more than a colorful and crunchy garnish—they can be pressed to make the Asian staple sesame oil, both the plain and toasted varieties, and whipped into the Middle Eastern treats tahini and halvah. Importantly, these little seeds pack a big punch when it comes to nutrients, so consider sprinkling them on more than poke bowls and sushi rolls.

Sesame seeds are rich in fat; protein; minerals like iron, calcium, copper, potassium, and manganese; vitamins like A and E and B vitamins; and fiber. Among their phytochemicals are lignans, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Because more of these nutrients, including their lignans, are in the hull, always choose unhulled sesame seeds. Black ones almost always come with the hull intact, but you’ll have to look carefully to find unhulled white ones. 

Black and white sesame seeds have some taste differences, with the black ones being slightly crunchier and more bitter. I like to mix the two because this creates visual appeal and different taste sensations.

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Thawing Frozen Fish 

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Thawing Frozen Fish 

Frozen tuna steaks

Fish that’s caught in faraway waters and flash-frozen at sea often retains more of its nutrients and flavor—you’ll often see the words “previously frozen” on thawed fish at markets, a potential good sign. If you’re buying fish still frozen, make sure it’s frozen solid when you purchase it. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge, not on a countertop, to preserve that freshness—defrosting it in a cold fridge also helps inhibit the growth of any harmful bacteria. To do it properly, take it out of its packaging and put it on a plate or tray lined with a few sheets of paper towels or on a rack over the plate with paper towels. Just before cooking, rinse under cold water and pat dry. 

For Your Best Health: Seafood: Why “Wild” Wins Hands Down

For Your Best Health

Seafood: Why “Wild” Wins Hands Down

Research done at the University of Cambridge in the UK offers more insight into why farmed salmon isn’t as nutritious as wild salmon or other wild-caught fish, like mackerel, anchovies, and herring—even though these same varieties are often used in farmed salmon feeds. These oily fish contain essential nutrients including calcium, B12, and omega-3s, but they don’t transfer over in the same amounts when fed to farmed salmon.

By analyzing the flow of nutrients from the edible species of wild fish used as feed, which also included sprat and blue whiting, to the farmed salmon they were fed to, scientists found that farmed salmon production leads to an overall loss of essential dietary nutrients. Quantities of calcium were over five times higher in wild feed fish fillets than in farmed salmon fillets; iodine was four times higher; and iron, omega-3s, vitamin B12, and vitamin A were over 1.5 times higher. Wild feed species and farmed salmon did have comparable quantities of vitamin D. Zinc and selenium were actually higher in the farmed salmon than in the wild feed species due to other salmon feed ingredients—a real mark of progress in the salmon sector, said the researchers.

Another interesting point is that you can get key nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, in smaller portion sizes of wild fish than in farmed Atlantic salmon. 

“What we’re seeing is that most species of wild fish used as feed have a similar or greater density and range of micronutrients than farmed salmon fillets,” said lead author David Willer, PhD, of the zoology department at Cambridge. “While still enjoying eating salmon and supporting sustainable growth in the sector, people should consider eating a greater and wider variety of wild fish species like sardines, mackerel, and anchovies, to get more essential nutrients straight to their plate.” He goes on to say that eating more wild feed species directly could benefit our health while also reducing aquaculture demand for finite marine resources.

“Marine fisheries are important local and global food systems, but large catches are being diverted toward farm feeds. Prioritizing nutritious seafood for people can help improve both diets and ocean sustainability,” said senior author James Robinson, PhD, of Lancaster University, also in the UK.

Fitness Flash: Forget the Calendar: What Counts Is Your Biological Age

Fitness Flash

Forget the Calendar: What Counts Is Your Biological Age

University of Pittsburgh researchers have uncovered blood-based markers that allow them to predict a person’s biological age—how fast a person’s cells and organs age regardless of their birthdate. The new research, published in Aging Cell, points to pathways and compounds that may underlie biological age, shedding light on why people age differently and suggesting novel targets for interventions that could slow aging and increase health span, the length of time a person is healthy.

“Age is more than just a number,” said senior author Aditi Gurkar, PhD, assistant professor of geriatric medicine at Pitt’s School of Medicine and member of the Aging Institute, a joint venture of Pitt and UPMC. “Imagine two people aged 65: One rides a bike to work and goes skiing on the weekends, and the other can’t climb a flight of stairs. They have the same chronological age, but very different biological ages. Why do these two people age differently? This question drives my research.”

To answer it, Dr. Gurkar and her team compared 196 older adults whom they classified as either healthy or rapid agers by how easily they completed simple walking challenges. Because walking ability is a holistic measure of cardiovascular fitness, physical strength, and neurological health, other studies have shown that it’s the single best predictor of hospitalization, disability, functional decline, and death in older adults. Healthy agers were 75 years or older and could ascend a flight of stairs or walk for 15 minutes without resting, and the rapid agers, who were 65 to 75 years old, had to rest during these challenges.

According to Dr. Gurkar, this study is unique because the rapid agers were chronologically younger than the healthy agers, allowing the researchers to home in on markers of biological, not chronological, aging, unlike other studies that have compared young adults with older people.

To define a molecular fingerprint of biological aging in blood samples from participants, they performed metabolomics, the analysis of metabolites, or molecules that are produced by chemical pathways in the body, with blood samples from the two groups.

“Other studies have looked at genetics to measure biological aging, but genes are very static: the genes you’re born with are the genes you die with,” said Dr. Gurkar. “We chose to look at metabolites because they are dynamic: They change in real time to reflect our current health and how we feel, and we have the power to influence them through our lifestyles, diet, and environment.” Healthy and rapid agers showed clear differences in their metabolomes, indicating that metabolites in the blood could reflect biological age.

Healthy couple climbing stairs

Dr. Gurkar and her team next identified 25 metabolites that they termed the Healthy Aging Metabolic (HAM) Index. They found that the HAM Index was better than other commonly used aging metrics, such as the frailty index, gait speed, and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test, at distinguishing healthy and rapid agers. To validate their new index, the researchers analyzed a separate cohort of older adults from a Wisconsin-based study. The HAM Index correctly predicted whether individuals could walk outside for 10 minutes without stopping with accuracy of about 68%.

“We took a very different cohort of people from a different geographical region, and we saw the same metabolites were associated with biological aging,” said Dr. Gurkar. “This gives us confidence that the HAM Index can truly predict who is a healthy ager versus a rapid ager.”

Using an artificial intelligence model that can predict potential drivers of biological traits, the team identified three main metabolites that were most likely to promote healthy aging or drive rapid aging. In future research, they plan to delve into how these metabolites and molecular pathways that produce them contribute to biological aging and explore interventions that could slow this process. Dr. Gurkar is also planning more research to evaluate how the metabolome of younger people shifts over time. Eventually, she hopes to develop a blood test that could estimate biological age in young adults or predict those who might go on to develop diseases of aging.

“While it’s great that we can predict biological aging in older adults, what would be even more exciting is a blood test that, for example, can tell someone who’s 35 that they have a biological age more like a 45-year-old,” Dr. Gurkar said. “That person could then think about changing aspects of their lifestyle early—whether that’s improving their sleep, diet or exercise regimen—to hopefully reverse their biological age. Today, in medicine, we tend to wait for a problem to occur before we treat it. But aging doesn’t work that way—it’s about prevention. I think the future of medicine is going to be about knowing early on how someone is aging and developing personalized interventions to delay disease and extend health span.”

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Olive Oil Hunter News #171

Wilted Spinach Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette Recipe, Spotlight on Spinach, The Great Egg Debate Continues, and How Sleep Patterns Influence Health

Spinach salad is a perennial favorite, simple to prepare, satisfying, and chock-full of nutrients. Wilting the spinach before composing the salad was a foodie trend back in the 1970s (the fixings included mandarin orange segments, a nod to the value of eating a food containing vitamin C at the same meal as spinach to better access the green’s iron). My update adds the tasty crunch of hazelnuts. You’ll be intrigued by a new report that suggests fortified eggs may not pose the cholesterol risks of regular eggs. I’m also sharing the latest research on the perils of poor sleep—motivation to improve the quality of your shut-eye.

Wilted Spinach Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette

  • Wilted Spinach and Mushrooms Wilted Spinach Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette

    Fast-forward 50 years from wilted spinach salad’s debut to this version that offers all the benefits of olive oil in the dressing and the prep. Rather than bothering with croutons, try toasted slices of whole-grain bread for its hearty appeal.

    Ingredients

    For the vinaigrette:

    • 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar, plus more to taste
    • 1 tablespoon shallot, peeled and finely chopped
    • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
    • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
    • Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

    For the salad:

    • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 small red onion, chopped 
    • 4 ounces white or cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced 
    • 8 ounces baby spinach, rinsed and patted dry
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced 
    • 2 medium- or hard-boiled eggs (your preference) quartered
    • 1 ounce hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
    • Optional: 2 slices whole grain bread, toasted and brushed with olive oil

    Directions

    Step 1

    Make the vinaigrette: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar, shallot, and thyme. Gradually whisk in the olive oil until incorporated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

    Step 2

    Heat a large frying pan or wok over medium heat. When hot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and the red onions; sauté over medium heat until soft. Push them to the outside of the pan and add the mushrooms in one layer; cook until the edges have browned, then flip and brown on the other side. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl. 

    Step 3

    Add the last tablespoon of olive oil to the hot pan along with the garlic and the spinach, adding the spinach by handfuls—as one batch starts to wilt, push it to the side and add another, stirring quickly. It should only take 2-3 minutes to do it all. 

    Step 4

    Arrange the spinach in two large bowls and top with equal amounts of onions, mushrooms, eggs, and hazelnuts. Drizzle with the vinaigrette. If desired, add a slice of toast to one side of each bowl.

    Makes 2 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Spinach-maximizing its nutrients

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Spinach: Maximizing Its Nutrients

Fresh spinach

It’s no secret that, as a leafy green, spinach is a healthy food. What is less well known is that your body will better process two of its key nutrients, iron and calcium, when the spinach is cooked. That’s because it also contains oxalic acid, which blocks the minerals’ absorption unless the oxalates are broken down under high-heat cooking. If your recipe doesn’t include sautéing, another option is to plunge the spinach into boiling water for 60 seconds and then right into a bowl of ice-cold water to stop the cooking process and keep it a brighter green. 

To get more of the iron when eating spinach raw, add a vitamin C food, like orange segments, to your meal. 

Your body absorbs more folate and lutein when eating spinach raw, so varying your prep is a good idea.

More reasons to eat spinach: It’s also rich in vitamins K, C, A, E, and B6 as well as folate and riboflavin and in the minerals manganese, magnesium, copper, and potassium. It has many carotenoids, among other antioxidants, to protect cell health and guard against inflammation. 

Quick Kitchen Nugget: A better type of frozen spinach

Quick Kitchen Nugget

A Better Type of Frozen Spinach

When fresh isn’t available, frozen can be a good substitute. The key to more flavorful frozen spinach is to select leaf spinach rather than chopped spinach. The leaves go through a lot less processing, translating to better taste and less freezer burn. Of course, look for pure spinach—no added salt or any other ingredients.

For Your Best Health: An Avocado a Day…

For Your Best Health

The Next Round in the “Are Eggs Healthy?” Debate

Because eggs contain some saturated fat, which is linked to higher cholesterol levels, there’s been much research on finding the right number of eggs to eat per week to help keep cholesterol in line. Results from a prospective controlled trial presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session offer positive news for egg lovers. One hundred and forty patients with or at high risk for cardiovascular disease were enrolled in the PROSPERITY study and divided into two groups to assess the effects of eating 12 or more fortified eggs a week versus a non-egg diet (fewer than two eggs a week) on HDL and LDL cholesterol and other key markers of cardiovascular health, including lipid, cardiometabolic, and inflammatory biomarkers and levels of vitamins and minerals. At the end of the four-month study period, cholesterol levels were similar in the two groups.

“We know that cardiovascular disease is, to some extent, mediated through risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, increased BMI, and diabetes. Dietary patterns and habits can have a notable influence on these, and there’s been a lot of conflicting information about whether or not eggs are safe to eat, especially for people who have or are at risk for heart disease,” said Nina Nouhravesh, MD, a research fellow at the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, North Carolina, and the study’s lead author. “This is a small study, but it gives us reassurance that eating fortified eggs is OK with regard to lipid effects over four months, even among a more high-risk population.”

Dr. Nouhravesh and her team looked specifically at fortified eggs as they contain less saturated fat and have additional vitamins and minerals such as iodine; vitamins D, B2, 5, and 12; selenium; and omega-3 fatty acids. All the participants were 50 years of age or older (the average age was 66 years), half were female, and 27% were African American. All had experienced one prior cardiovascular event or had two cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, increased BMI, and/or diabetes. 

Participants had in-person clinic visits at the start of the study and visits at one and four months to take vital signs and have bloodwork done; phone check-ins occurred at two and three months. People in the fortified egg group were asked about their weekly egg consumption, and those with low adherence were given additional educational materials.

Fresh eggs

Results showed a -0.64 mg/dL and a -3.14 mg/dL reduction in so-called good HDL cholesterol and bad LDL cholesterol, respectively, in the fortified egg group. While not statistically significant, the differences suggest, according to the researchers, that eating 12 fortified eggs each week had no adverse effect on blood cholesterol. In terms of secondary endpoints, researchers observed a numerical reduction in total cholesterol, LDL particle number, another lipid biomarker called apoB, high-sensitivity troponin (a marker of heart damage), and insulin resistance scores in the fortified egg group, while vitamin B increased.

“While this is a neutral study, we did not observe adverse effects on biomarkers of cardiovascular health and there were signals of potential benefits of eating fortified eggs that warrant further investigation in larger studies as they are more hypothesis generating here,” Dr. Nouhravesh said, explaining that subgroup analyses revealed numerical increases in HDL cholesterol and reductions in LDL cholesterol in patients 65 years or older and those with diabetes in the fortified egg group compared with those eating fewer than two eggs.

Note that what you eat with your eggs counts: buttered toast and bacon and other processed meats are not heart-healthy choices. As always, Dr. Nouhravesh said, it’s a good idea for people with heart disease to talk with their doctor about a heart-healthy diet.

It’s important to point out that this was a single-center study with a small size and reliance on patients’ self-reporting of their egg consumption and other dietary patterns. It was also an unblinded study, which means patients knew what study group they were in, which can influence their health behaviors, and it was funded by Eggland’s Best, a company that offers eggs from cage-free and pasture-raised/free-range hens.

Fitness Flash: How your sleep pattern influences your health

Fitness Flash

How Your Sleep Pattern Influences Your Health

Poor sleep habits are strongly associated with long-term chronic health conditions, according to decades of research. To better understand this relationship, researchers led by Soomi Lee, PhD, associate professor of human development and family studies at Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development, identified four distinct patterns that characterize how most people sleep and how they correlate to overall health. Results were published in Psychosomatic Medicine.

Using a national sample of adults from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, they gathered data on approximately 3,700 participants’ sleep habits and chronic health conditions across two time points 10 years apart. The data included self-reported sleep habits, including sleep regularity and duration, perceived sleep satisfaction, and daytime alertness, as well as the number and type of chronic conditions they had.

With that information, the researchers identified these four different sleep patterns:

  • Good sleepers with optimal sleep habits across all data points
  • Weekend catch-up sleepers with irregular sleep, specifically short average sleep duration, but longer sleep times on weekends or non-workdays
  • Insomnia sleepers with sleep problems related to clinical insomnia symptoms, including short sleep duration, high daytime tiredness, and a long time to fall asleep
  • Nappers with mostly good sleep but frequent daytime naps

The MIDUS study may not represent the entire population, researchers said, as it primarily comprises healthy adults, but they still found that more than half the participants were insomnia sleepers or nappers, both suboptimal sleep patterns. Additionally, being an insomnia sleeper over the 10-year period was associated with a significantly higher likelihood of chronic health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and depression. Results also showed that people were unlikely to change their sleep pattern over the course of the 10 years, especially the insomnia sleepers and nappers. 

“These results may suggest that it is very difficult to change our sleep habits because sleep health is embedded into our overall lifestyle. It may also suggest that people still don’t know about the importance of their sleep and about sleep health behaviors,” Dr. Lee said. “We need to make more efforts to educate the public about good sleep health. There are sleep hygiene behaviors that people could do to improve their sleep, such as not using cell phones in bed, exercising regularly and avoiding caffeine in the late afternoon.”

While the sleep patterns were seemingly not age-related, researchers found that older adults and retirees were more likely to be nappers. They also found that those with less education and those facing unemployment were more likely to be insomnia sleepers.

According to Dr. Lee, the fact that phase of life and economic conditions can influence long-standing sleep patterns suggests that societal and neighborhood influences—including economic stressors and access to health resources—may have significant effects on individual health and, in this case, sleep habits.

The researchers added that their findings strongly suggest the need for programs and interventions to promote healthy sleep and sleep habits and that such programs should not be one-size-fits-all but rather should be targeted based on a variety of factors, including the risk of chronic conditions and socioeconomic vulnerability.

“Sleep is an everyday behavior,” Dr. Lee said. “Sleep is also modifiable. So, if we can improve sleep almost every day, what outcomes might we see after several months, or even several years? Better sleeping habits can make many significant differences, from improving social relationships and work performance to promoting long-term healthy behaviors and healthy aging.”

According to the CDC, these good habits can help improve sleep health:

  • Go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning, weekends included.
  • Keep your bedroom quiet, dark, and at a cool, comfortable temperature.
  • Keep all electronic devices, including laptops and cell phones, out of your bedroom.
  • Skip large meals, caffeinated drinks, and alcohol before bed.
  • Get some exercise during the day—it should 

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Olive Oil Hunter News #170

Horiatiki Salad Recipe and The MIND Diet for Brain Health: More Benefits of Olive Oil

I’m a huge fan of both Greek and Middle Eastern salads, the ingredients of which are not only delicious but also mainstays of the MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet, a way of eating designed for brain health. It’s an offshoot of the super-healthy Mediterranean diet and the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. Why the distinction? Because the latest research on the MIND diet shows it can slow aging as well as reduce dementia risk. Add this to the list of the benefits of olive oil—it’s one of the super foods that MIND suggests including every day.

Horiatiki: The Sequel!

  • Olive Oil Hunter News #233 Olive Oil Hunter News #233

    Chicken Skillet Dinner Recipe, Spotlight on Chicken Thighs, Parboiling Potatoes, Fruit and Veggies for Better Sleep and Exercising A Cancer-Fighting Plan

    Craving a flavorful meal that’s complex only in its taste? This dish with chicken thighs and potatoes fits the bill. Perfect for cooler weather, it’s hearty and satisfying. And, according to new research on sleep, its veggies may bring you closer to restful shut-eye—read about the correlation below. This issue’s other research recap is on a hopeful benefit of exercise: How it can help stymie the growth of cancer cells as part of an overall cancer-fighting plan.

    Chicken Skillet Dinner

    Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Chicken thighs

    Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

    Chicken Thighs

    I love the deeper flavor of chicken thighs and the convenience of skinless, boneless ones. However, roasting or baking with the bone in can be even more flavorful and less expensive—just pull off the skin when it’s not called for. 

    Chicken thighs are a good source of protein, with about 27 grams per 4-ounce serving and just a moderate amount of fat. They’re also a good source of B vitamins and the minerals iron and zinc. 

    Quick Kitchen Nugget: Parboiling Potatoes

    Quick Kitchen Nugget

    Parboiling Potatoes

    Parboiling Potatoes

    Skillet potatoes are delicious, but it can take quite a bit of time for the potatoes to cook through. Parboiling to the rescue—this short boil partially cooks the spuds, softening not only the inside but also the outside and releasing a layer of gelatinized starch that helps the potatoes crisp up when they’re transferred to a stovetop skillet to finish cooking. 

    To parboil potatoes or any other hard vegetable, cut them as desired and add to a stockpot. Fill it three-quarters of the way with cold water and a tablespoon of coarse sea salt. Bring the water to a boil and set a timer for 7 minutes. You should be able to easily pierce a piece or two of potato with a fork, but they should not fall apart. If necessary, transfer them to layers of paper towels and blot dry.

    For Your Best Health: Fruit and Veggies for Better Sleep

    For Your Best Health

    Fruit and Veggies for Better Sleep

    We all know about the benefits of eating vegetables and fruit for overall health, but there’s another reason to add them to the menu today: sleeping more soundly tonight. “Dietary modifications could be a new, natural, and cost-effective approach to achieve better sleep,” said Professor Esra Tasali, MD, director of the UChicago Sleep Center and co-senior author of the study, “Higher daytime intake of fruits and vegetables predicts less disrupted nighttime sleep in younger adults,” published in Sleep Health: The Journal of the National Sleep Foundation.

    Sleep disruptions can have far-reaching negative consequences, impacting cardiovascular and metabolic health, memory, learning, productivity, mood regulation, interpersonal relationships, and more. “The temporal associations and objectively measured outcomes in this study represent crucial steps toward filling a gap in important public health knowledge,” said Dr. Tasali.

    Studies have shown that inadequate sleep can cause people to gravitate toward unhealthier diets that are higher in fat and sugar. However, despite the far-reaching effects of sleep on public health and even economic productivity, not all that much is known about how diet can affect sleep patterns. In previous observational studies, high fruit and vegetable intakes were associated with better self-reported overall sleep quality. However, this new study was the first to draw a temporal connection between a given day’s dietary choices and objectively measured sleep quality that same night.

    Fruit and Veggies for Better Sleep

    Healthy young adults who participated in the study reported their food consumption each day with an app and wore a wrist monitor that allowed the researchers to empirically measure their sleep patterns. The researchers, including scientists from Columbia University and the University of California San Diego, specifically looked at “sleep fragmentation,” an index that reflects how often someone awakens or shifts from deep to light sleep throughout the night. They found that each day’s diet was correlated with meaningful differences in the subsequent night’s sleep. Participants who ate more fruits and vegetables during the day tended to have deeper, more uninterrupted sleep that same night, as did those who consumed more healthy carbohydrates such as whole grains.

    Based on their findings and statistical modeling, the researchers estimate that people who eat the CDC-recommended five cups of fruits and veggies per day could experience a 16% improvement in sleep quality compared to people who consume no fruits or vegetables.

    “Sixteen percent is a highly significant difference,” Dr. Tasali said. “It’s remarkable that such a meaningful change could be observed within less than 24 hours.”

    Future studies will help establish causation; broaden the findings across diverse populations; and examine the underlying mechanisms of digestion, neurology, and metabolism that could explain the positive impact of fruits and vegetables on sleep quality. But based on current data, the experts confidently advise that regularly eating a diet rich in complex carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables is best for long-term sleep health.

    “People are always asking me if there are things they can eat that will help them sleep better,” says co-senior author Professor Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, director of the Center of Excellence for Sleep & Circadian Research at Columbia. “Small changes can impact sleep. That is empowering—better rest is within your control.”

    Fitness Flash: Exercising A Cancer-Fighting Plan

    Fitness Flash

    Exercising A Cancer-Fighting Plan

    A vigorous workout can spark anti-cancer proteins, cut cancer cell growth, and help survivors fight recurrence by reducing inflammation and improving body composition, according to new research from Edith Cowan University (ECU). ECU PhD student Francesco Bettariga found that a single bout of either resistance or high-intensity interval training increased levels of myokines, a protein produced by muscles, which have anti-cancer effects and that could reduce the proliferation of cancer growth by 20% to 30%. His research with survivors of breast cancer measured myokine levels before, immediately after, and 30 minutes after working out.

    “Exercise has emerged as a therapeutic intervention in the management of cancer, and a large body of evidence exists that shows the safety and effectiveness of exercise as medicine, either during or post cancer treatment,” Bettariga said. “The results from this study are excellent motivators to add exercise as standard care in the treatment of cancer.”

    While higher levels of myokines were expected in a healthy population after a vigorous workout, Bettariga investigated whether breast cancer survivors would see the same results, given the impact that cancer treatments and cancer itself often have on the body. He added that the long-term implications of elevated myokine levels should be further investigated, particularly in relation to cancer recurrence.

    Further research by Bettariga investigated how changes in body composition, following consistent exercise, could impact inflammation, which plays a key role in breast cancer recurrence and mortality by promoting tumor progression. Persistent inflammation not only promotes tumor progression by influencing cell proliferation, survival, invasiveness, and metastasis but also inhibits immune function. Given that the cancer itself and the side effects of treatments can elevate levels of inflammatory biomarkers, survivors of breast cancer are at increased risk of cancer progression, recurrence, and mortality. 

    “Strategies are needed to reduce inflammation, which may provide a less-supportive environment for cancer progression, leading to a lower risk of recurrence and mortality in survivors of breast cancer,” he explained. The new research found that by reducing fat mass, which is responsible for releasing anti- and pro-inflammatory markers, and increasing lean mass, through consistent and persistent exercise, cancer survivors had a better chance at reducing inflammation. Unfortunately, quick fixes to reduce fat mass would not have the same beneficial effects, Bettariga stressed when he said, “You never want to reduce your weight without exercising, because you need to build or preserve muscle mass and produce these chemicals that you can’t do through just diet alone.”

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  • Olive Oil Hunter News #233 Chicken Skillet Dinner

    This double dose of chicken plus vegetables delights by affording rich flavor and cooks all in one pan.

    Ingredients

    • 1 pound fingerling or red potatoes, halved lengthwise
    • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
    • 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    • 1 pound chicken thighs
    • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use
    • 8 ounces chicken sausage links, cut into 2″ slices
    • 8 ounces button mushrooms, halved
    • 1 yellow onion, halved and sliced into thin sections
    • 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
    • 1/2 teaspoon rosemary needles
    • 1 cup white wine
    • 2 cups homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken broth

    Directions

    Step 1

    Place the potatoes in a large pot and fill three-quarters with water; add the tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 7 minutes. Drain and set aside.

    Step 2

    In a large bowl, mix the flour, teaspoon of salt, and pepper. Cut each chicken thigh into thirds and toss in the flour mixture to coat; place next to your stovetop.

    Step 3

    Heat a large skillet or wok over medium heat. When hot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and add the sausage slices. Cook for 5 minutes, flip with tongs, and cook for another 5 minutes. Move the sausage to the outside of the pan and add the chicken thighs; brown them on all sides. Add the mushrooms and sauté until browned on the edges. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the meat and mushrooms to a bowl next to your stovetop.

    Step 4

    Add the rest of the olive oil and the onions to the hot skillet and cook for 5 minutes, until soft. Add the potatoes in one layer, sprinkle with the garlic and rosemary, and let cook undisturbed for 5 minutes to brown the edges; flip and repeat. Transfer the potatoes to the bowl with the meat and deglaze the skillet with the wine, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the wine reduce by half. 

    Step 5

    Add the meat and vegetables back to the skillet along with the chicken stock. Bring the liquid to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and let the stock cook down until it thickens to a sauce and an instant-read thermometer registers 165°F when you test a few pieces of the thighs.

    Yields 4 servings

  • Farfalle with creamy ricotta tomato sauce Olive Oil Hunter News #232

    Farfalle with Creamy Tomato Ricotta Sauce Recipe, Spotlight on the Basil Family, High-Speed Blenders, Understanding Ultra-Processed Foods and Better Balance 

    Take advantage with this delicious tomato sauce recipe while farm stands still have fresh tomatoes for sale, though I will say it’s almost as good made with hothouse cherry tomatoes available all year long. Eating seasonally is always a top goal and can help you avoid many ultra-processed foods—read the highlights of the American Heart Association’s advisory about these packaged products to help you make the good choices for better health. 

    Farfalle with Creamy Tomato Ricotta Sauce

    Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Meet the Basil Family

    Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

    Basil: Meet the Family

    Many people keep basil growing year-round, moving a pot from the garden to a windowsill. But you might be surprised to learn that there are some 150 different basil varieties and that you might prefer one over another…or decide to grow two or more for the different tastes they impart. Here’s a quick rundown of the more common types available:

    • Genovese basil, with its large, rounded leaves and intense taste, is arguably the most popular basil grown. 
    • Sweet basil, as its name implies, has a milder taste; its leaves are lighter in color and pointier than Genovese.
    • Greek basil has rounded leaves smaller than Genovese and usually an even more intense taste. 
    • Thai sweet basil has beautiful pointy green leaves, yet its stalks and flowers are a deep purple. Used in Thai and other South Asian cuisines, it adds layers of taste to dishes.
    Quick Kitchen Nugget: High-Speed Blenders

    Quick Kitchen Nugget

    High-Speed Blenders

    High speed blenders smoothie with fresh fruits and vegetables

    Food processors changed the way we cook, making so many recipes effortless. Traditional blenders with a small bottom blade couldn’t compete on volume. But with today’s high-speed blenders, many recipes are being shaken up all over again. When it comes to making smoothies, instant sorbets, and large quantities of sauces, blenders with a motor power output of 1,000 watts or more are unbeatable. Some double as a crushed-ice machine and can also grind nuts and seeds in seconds. If you’re in the market for a new blender, check out models from Ninja, Vitamix, and Blendtec. Yes, they’re pricey, but some come with attachments that look like traditional food processor bowls, giving you two appliances in the space of one.  

    For Your Best Health: Understanding Ultra-Processed Foods

    For Your Best Health

    Understanding Ultra-Processed Foods

    Last week in The Olive Oil Hunter Newsletter, I shared a study that found dieters who followed a diet of minimally processed foods lost twice the weight of those who ate mostly ultra-processed foods (UPFs) even though they all consumed the same number of calories. A new American Heart Association Science Advisory has detailed even more concerns surrounding UPFs. 

    The advisory, “Ultraprocessed Foods and Their Association with Cardiometabolic Health: Evidence, Gaps and Opportunities,” summarizes current knowledge about UPFs and their impact on cardiometabolic health, and outlines opportunities for research, policy, and regulatory reform to improve dietary intake and overall health. It was published in Circulation, the flagship journal of the American Heart Association.

    Advisory highlights:

    • Most UPFs, including sugar-sweetened drinks, ultra-processed meats, refined grains, candies, and commercial baked goods, are characterized by poor nutritional quality, contributing to excessive calories, and are typically high in saturated fats, added sugars, and sodium, which contribute to adverse cardiometabolic health outcomes, including heart attack, stroke, obesity, inflammation, type 2 diabetes, and vascular complications.
    • Observational studies have found links between eating higher amounts of UPFs and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, chronic illness, and mortality.
    • Emerging evidence also suggests certain additives and industrial processing techniques may have negative health effects.
    • However, not all UPFs are junk foods or have poor nutritional quality. A limited number, such as certain commercial whole grains, low-fat-low-sugar dairy, and some plant-based items, have positive nutritional value and, therefore, can be part of an overall healthy dietary pattern.
    • Experts recommend multilevel strategies, including more research to uncover how UPFs specifically impact the body, refining dietary guidance to discourage excessive consumption of nutrient-poor UPFs, clarifying the impact of the limited number of UPFs with more-favorable nutrition profiles, more research on the health impacts of food additives, and evidence-based policies to evaluate and regulate food additives.

    “The relationship between UPFs and health is complex and multifaceted,” said Maya K. Vadiveloo, PhD, RD, FAHA, volunteer chair of the writing group for this Science Advisory. “We know that eating foods with too much saturated fat, added sugars, and salt is unhealthy. What we don’t know is if certain ingredients or processing techniques make a food unhealthy above and beyond their poor nutritional composition, and if certain additives and processing steps used to make healthier food like commercial whole grain breads have any health impact.”

    The rapid rise in UPF consumption since the 1990s disrupted traditional dietary patterns, potentially contributing to adverse health effects. It is estimated that 70% of grocery store products in the US contain at least one ultra-processed ingredient. As detailed in a CDC report published on August 7, 2025, 55% of calories consumed by people ages 1 and older in the US come from UPFs. Among children ages 1 to 18 years of age, total UPF calories jumped to nearly 62%, and among adults ages 19 and older, it’s 53%. In addition, families with a lower mean income had a higher percentage of UPFs consumed per day: 54.7% for the lowest income group versus 50.4% for the highest income group.

    UPFs are relatively inexpensive, convenient, and aggressively marketed, particularly toward youngsters and those living in under-resourced communities, often displacing healthier alternatives. This shift resulted in lowering the overall nutritional quality of typical eating patterns in the US and is misaligned with the American Heart Association’s dietary guidance.

    A meta-analysis of prospective studies cited in the Advisory found a dose-response relationship between UPF consumption and cardiovascular events, such as heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and all-cause mortality. High versus low UPF intake was linked to a 25% to 58% higher risk of cardiometabolic outcomes and a 21% to 66% higher risk of mortality. More research is needed to understand the appropriate thresholds for daily consumption of UPFs, including what a safe amount is and the incremental risks of eating more UPFs.

    Research has also found that UPFs may promote obesity. UPFs frequently contain combinations of ingredients and additives to enhance palatability, and these may influence reward-related brain activity. For example, ingredients like artificial flavors may mimic sweetness without sugar, and this disruption in flavor-nutrient relationships often leads to irregular eating habits and results in weight gain.

    “More research is needed to better understand the mechanisms of how UPFs impact health. In the meantime, the Association continues to urge people to cut back on the most harmful UPFs, [which] are high in saturated fats, added sugars and sodium, and excessive calories, and instead follow a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and whole grains; low-fat-low-sugar dairy; and lean proteins like fish, seafood, or poultry for better short- and long-term health,” said Dr. Vadiveloo.

    Fitness Flash: Be in Better Balance 

    Fitness Flash

    Be in Better Balance 

    Seniors practicing yoga for better balance

    Of all the motor skills that contribute to mobility, balance is probably the most overlooked. And as we age, balance—along with strength training—becomes even more important. The American Council on Exercise stresses training both stability and mobility in a variety of planes of motion and positions to maximize your ability to perform everyday activities. 

    According to experts at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, having a hard time or feeling unsteady when doing activities such as squatting down, standing up from a chair, or simply walking can increase the risk of falling. Exercises that call for strength and balance can help. Always talk to your doctor or a physical therapist first before starting any new exercises, especially if you have weak balance. 

    Here’s a progressive exercise sequence that they suggest for people who have a low risk of falling and are able to stand on their own without support from others but in the beginning, stand in a corner or at a kitchen counter in case you start losing your balance and need a wall or counter to steady yourself.

    1. Feet apart: Stand with feet about shoulder-width apart, eyes open. Hold steady for 10 seconds, working your way up to 30 seconds. If you find yourself swaying or reaching for the wall or counter frequently, just keep working on this exercise until you can do it with minimal swaying or support. Once you can hold this position firmly for 30 seconds, move on to the next exercise.

    2. Feet together: Stand with feet together, eyes open. Hold steady 10 seconds, working your way up to 30 seconds. Once you can do this exercise for 30 seconds with minimal swaying or support, move on to the next one.

    3. One foot: Stand on one foot, eyes open. Hold steady 10 seconds, working up to 30 seconds. Switch feet and repeat.

    4. Eyes closed: If you can perform the first three exercises safely and with little support, try to do each one with your eyes closed. Hold for 10 seconds, working up to 30 seconds.

    You can repeat each exercise up to 5 times per session and build up to repeating the sequence twice a day.

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  • Farfalle with creamy ricotta tomato sauce Farfalle with Creamy Tomato Ricotta Sauce

    While there’s a place for slowly simmered red sauce, I love how quickly this version comes together, enriched with extra virgin olive oil and ricotta cheese. 

    Ingredients

    • Coarse sea salt
    • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
    • 1/2 cup grated yellow onions 
    • 4 cups cherry tomatoes 
    • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
    • 2 fresh basil sprigs
    • 1 teaspoon sugar
    • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, more to taste
    • 1 pound farfalle or another pasta of similar size
    • 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
    • 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

    Directions

    Step 1

    Bring a large pot of water and a tablespoon of salt to a boil just before you start the sauce. 

    Step 2

    Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the olive oil, onions, and a sprinkling of salt. Cook until the onions become translucent. Add the cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil, sugar, and crushed red pepper, and sauté until the tomatoes burst, stirring constantly. Put the pasta in the boiling water at this point and cook until al dente, according to package directions. 

    Step 3

    Continue cooking the tomatoes for a few more minutes, just until their liquid starts to reduce. Allow to cool slightly, then transfer to a high-speed blender and process to a smooth sauce, about 30 seconds (start at a low speed and increase gradually to avoid splatter). Pour the sauce back in the skillet and, over medium heat, stir in the ricotta. 

    Step 4

    Use a large Chinese strainer to transfer the pasta to the skillet and coat with the sauce. Ladle into deep bowls, sprinkle with the Parmigiano-Reggiano, and drizzle with olive oil.

    Yields 4 to 6 servings

  • Melissa Wong and T. J. Robinson Quarter 3—Australian Harvest

    Direct From Australia!
    A Trio of Exquisite Extra Virgin Olive Oils All From Gold-Medal-Winning Farms Perfect for Your Autumn Table

    T.J. Robinson The Olive Oil Hunter
    • Food-friendly fresh-pressed oils created by your Olive Oil Hunter and the leading Aussie artisanal producers.
    • Unique expressions of prized varietals and rich in polyphenols, the source of EVOO’s wide-ranging health benefits.
    • Rushed to the US by jet to maximize freshness and independently certified to be 100 percent extra virgin olive oil.

    It’s not hyperbole to say that I travel to the four corners of the world to find Club members the freshest and food-friendliest extra virgin olive oils on the planet. Though my annual visit to Australia is the longest trip I make each year—close to 24 hours in the air—I always look forward to it because the island continent is like no other: the people, the landscapes, the food.

    Many people are surprised that the southeastern state of Victoria produces exquisite olive oil, not realizing that its climate, indeed its many microclimates, mirror the growing conditions around the Mediterranean. The history of Australian extra virgin olive oil is decidedly shorter, but the growers I’ve forged relationships with (for well over a decade now) are every bit as passionate as their European counterparts—they live and breathe olive oil.

    Those in the know credit Leandro Ravetti, international panel judge and olive oil consultant, with setting the highest EVOO standards in Oz—he was instrumental in convincing producers to print “use by” dates on their oils, for instance. He and I visited one of his nurseries with thousands of seedlings that, if conditions are just right, will one day be mighty olive trees bearing beautiful fruit for the Club’s oils.

    Aussie EVOO is so delectable because the producers know how to balance art and science to create superb New World olive oils from Old World varieties. Consider Kyneton, producer of our bold oil: estate manager Mick Labbozzetta’s parents came here from Italy, and he’s joined for every harvest by Davide Bruno, an Italian master miller—the seasons of the Southern Hemisphere occur at opposite times of the year, so many European experts are able to travel here and share their knowledge.

    An Embarrassment of Riches

    Melbourne, my first stop in Australia, is synonymous with Melissa Wong, olive oil authority, former restauranteur, fellow foodie, and all-around gastronomic genius. Her exquisite palate is so appreciated at the grand tastings she organizes for my Merry Band of Tasters and me. This year had a delicious twist: like the surf along Victoria’s beaches, the fresh-pressed olive oil samples came in seemingly endless waves. Every time I thought we had crafted the perfect blends, more contenders—superstars all—arrived for us to taste. “Recalibrate” became our mantra.

    Olive oil authority Melissa Wong and I get ready to taste the latest arrivals of harvest-fresh olive oils from Victoria producers. As vast as this array looks, these were but a fraction of the amazing samples we had to play with.

    With such an array of delicious and unique oils to choose from, you might think that the season was a slam dunk, but, in actuality, many growers lost huge amounts of olives because of Mother Nature’s mean bag of tricks, specifically an unexpected frost that killed the blossoms of early-flowering varietals. According to world-renowned olive savant, master miller, and honorary member of my Merry Band, Leandro Ravetti, growers lost on average 40 percent of potential olives to frost. Indeed, when we met up, my good friend John Symington of Oasis, a name familiar to Club members, told me that one of his farms had lost 90 percent of its olives!

    The saving grace? The Aussie producers we worked with knew how to pivot and focus on pampering their late-flowering varietals. Another important edge is that they have groves in various microclimates, sometimes hundreds of miles apart, so we’re never counting on just one. However, they faced other challenges—the summer was very hot and dry, and it took a long time for autumnal temperatures to arrive. That meant harvesting earlier in the day, working on the cooler days, and, in some cases, pausing the harvest. The bottles you now have in front of you are testament to their skills in the field and the mill.

    The drive from Melbourne to Tongio, home of Nullamunjie, Annie Paterson’s groves, is a fun trek. We stayed at the impressive Hotel Grand Terminus in Bairnsdale, whose façade remains true to 1889 architecture. And, of course, there was a pit stop at Bruthen Bakery for its fantastic meat pies, made even more divine with fresh-pressed olive oil—Annie introduced me to the place over a decade ago and now it’s a must on my itinerary.

    Oz: Always in Good Taste

    Second only to the pleasure I take in sampling fresh-pressed oils is discovering new food trends and sharing them with you. Melbourne (or Mel-buhn, as the locals pronounce it) is a foodie city, and it’s wonderful to see how its restaurants have embraced ultra-premium extra virgin olive oil. At Antara, for instance, the chefs created a dining series featuring local oils, with dishes that included wood-fired scallops, a duck parfait, and a citrus pavlova, all lavished with EVOO. There’s also a huge coffee culture here, and a brew called tiger bomb is all the rage (I’ve given it my own spin in the recipe section below).

    It’s no secret that everywhere I go, I take the best of the fresh-pressed olive oil blends with me to make sure they pair perfectly with many cuisines before I deem them ready for the Club—that’s easy to do in Australia because so many restaurants specialize in ethnic cuisines. The three selections you’re about to try have met my self-avowed impossibly high standards, so I know you will enjoy them throughout the season on all your favorite autumn dishes, as will I.

    Happy drizzling!

    T. J. Robinson 
    The Olive Oil Hunter®


    This Quarter’s First Selection

    • Producer: AuLife
      Middle Park, Australia
    • Olive Varieties: Picual
    • Flavor Profile: Mild
    AuLife Middle Park, Australia Fresh Pressed Olive Oil Label

    When Melissa Wong and I first met at the original Food Network studios in New York, now nearly 25 years ago, I could never have dreamed that we would forge such a deep friendship and one day be working together so closely…on the other side of the world. When the Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club was just a gleam in my eye, this gracious and elegant food-globetrotter partnered with Michelin chef Claudio Sadler to open a branch of his Sadler Ristorante in Beijing. When Melissa and her husband Robert decided to relocate from Asia to Melbourne, she founded AuLife to promote Australia’s extraordinary olive oils and other gourmet specialty foods.

    With her meticulous judgment and discerning palate, Melissa has become one of my most trusted collaborators in Australia—my “boots on the ground,” as I often refer to her. Our relationship has only deepened over the years. In recent seasons, I’ve been thrilled to be back in her beautiful home—not only for our marathon tastings but also for collaborating with her on recipes. (She’s such a foodie that she’s the only person I know to have a Berkel, the top-of-the-line meat slicer, in their home kitchen!)

    I tour hundreds of olive groves around the world, but only Down Under are there kangaroos hopping between the trees (happily, they don’t bother the fruit). This fellow was as curious about me as I was of him—could it have been my Olive Oil Hunter hat?

    Melissa, originally from Vancouver, Canada, is an ultra-savvy EVOO scout and always has the inside scoop on the Oz olive oil scene. As we reviewed the many contenders for this quarter’s trio, she shared her vision for our mild selection: create an exceptional oil from two unique Picuals—one from Boort and the other from Kialla. Being a phenomenal taster, Melissa knew that this could be a powerful marriage. The two groves were 100 miles from each other, and while that might not seem like a great distance, each is a product of its terroir—literally, “sense of place,” which accounts for the different expressions of the same varietal. So many aspects of the environment, such as climate, soil, topography, and elevation, come together to create an oil’s distinctive characteristics. While one of the Picuals in this blend can be described as highly aromatic, the other has more structure, bitterness, and spiciness to it. We worked together to find just the right ratio, and the exquisite result is definitely greater than the sum of its parts.

    Picual lovers will note the difference between the Aussie and the Spanish styles—there’s a wonderful tropical aspect to this olive oil, yet it also has intense flavor, perfect for autumn dishes from bruschetta to roasted root vegetables, soups, and stews.

    While Melissa and I adore the Melbourne restaurant scene, we often have the most fun right in her kitchen. She demonstrated just how easy it is to make Chinese dumplings. I love that she busts the myth about using only peanut oil in Asian cooking—she brings her spin to recipes with extra virgin olive oil. Check out two of her favorites, these dumplings and gai lan, a Chinese green, in the recipe section.

    Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings

    This enchanting Picual has rich aromas of tomato and green grass, complemented by green banana, Asian pear, and tropical fruit. There are also notes of Bibb lettuce, celery, and white pepper, along with herbal notes of parsley, rosemary, and mint. When we sipped from the glass, we tasted tomato, baby lettuces, celery leaf, and green tea; the bitterness of radicchio and Belgian endive; and the spiciness of black pepper, with a sweet finish, persistent of fresh mint.

    This exquisite oil will elevate mild vinaigrettes, tomato dishes, Asian salads, puréed soups, roasted “dirty” martini shrimp cocktail,* crudo, chicken and vegetable sheet pan “stir fry,” pasta, risotto, Melissa’s prawn and pork dumplings, white beans, lentils, couscous, baked sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and squash, fruit dishes, yogurt, ice cream, ANZAC cookies, and quick breads.

    *See the recipe section for bolded dishes.


    This Quarter’s Second Selection

    • Producer: Nullamunjie
      Tongio, Australia
    • Olive Varieties: Correggiola, Coratina, Leccino, Pendolino
    • Flavor Profile: Medium
    Nullamunjie Tongio, Australia, 2025 Fresh Pressed Olive Oil Label

    Though we love Melbourne’s big-city vibes, my Merry Band of Tasters and I are always eager to head northeast to bucolic East Gippsland to visit the award-winning Nullamunjie olive groves and its charming proprietress, Annie Paterson.

    A visit to Greece in her early twenties ignited Annie’s passion for olive oil. To this day, she remembers a trip along the Aegean coastline, admiring the sage-colored leaves of olive trees framed by the windows of the tour bus. The large cattle ranch where she grew up was on the 37th parallel, the antipodal twin of the Mediterranean’s olive-growing region. She surmised that olive trees would thrive there. Alas, her father declined to sell land to her.

    So, the next few decades of her life passed conventionally. Annie married successful Melbourne businessman and entrepreneur John Paterson, with whom she raised four children. Then, in 1998, Annie resurrected her dream by buying several hundred acres of family land on the slopes of Mt. Stawell. Appealingly, there was a water source for irrigation—the Tambo River. John was supportive of his wife’s olive oil ambitions, accepting Annie’s frequent absences and often traveling with her to the groves some 250 miles away from their home.

    As always, it was wonderful to see Annie again. John, who serves on numerous corporate boards, was also able to join us this year—a rare treat. Despite working long hours at the pressing shed (Aussie slang for “mill”), Annie was her usual effervescent self, always leaving laughter and hilarity in her wake. John lovingly restores her energy and good humor after a long day by opening a nice bottle of red wine and by preparing one of his specialties—spaghetti bolognese or hearty beef bourguignon.

    The picturesque Tambo River (left) cuts through the Nullamunjie olive groves, sustaining the trees as well as abundant Aussie wildlife. We crossed the meandering river several times via the Great Alpine Road on our way to and from Tongio. At right: Operations manager Riley Nivens oversees the Nullamunjie olive groves—over 4,000 trees, all Italian varietals. We are pictured near the tool shed, each of us holding the multifingered rakes used to coax olives from the trees during the harvest.

    She had us in stitches one evening, describing the flocks of yellow-crested cockatoos that pinch off olive-bearing branches with their wickedly sharp beaks. Not to eat them, Annie clarifies, but simply for the birds’ own amusement. To combat them, she has dispatched drones, fired a percussive gun, and resorted to screaming at them. “They’re very intelligent,” Annie says. And, evidently, very difficult to disperse.

    Nullamunjie oils, she told us, will soon be used in a hip new restaurant in Sydney called 20 Chapel. Chef Costelloe’s signature dish is woodfired Wagyu steak drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Annie confided that this is one of her favorite uses of her oils. (Try it for yourself.)

    Despite the cockatoo scourge, incursions into the groves of deer and oafish kangaroos (both of which can trample young seedlings), and untimely temperature extremes, Annie was very pleased with the quality of this season’s oils. I was, too! The farm blend we created especially for you—a special thanks to indispensable Nullamunjie operations manager Riley Nivens—features Italian varietals in a unique and food-friendly combination. I am always astounded by Annie’s commitment to excellence, using innovative strategies, upgrading equipment, buying additional land, planting new trees, and following sound environmental practices. Most of all, I salute this septuagenarian’s boundless energy and continued investment in her farm’s future.

    Annie and John Paterson have been partners in the olive oil world for over two decades, from the hands-on work such as pruning to rolling with the emotional ups and downs each harvest. Like Annie, John is a talented cook. During our recent visit, he prepared a delectable spaghetti bolognese, which we enjoyed with just-pressed Nullamunjie and wine from the couple’s well-stocked cellar.

    Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings 

    This assertive blend of Correggiola, Coratina, Leccino, and Pendolino delights with the scents of sweet almond, fennel, Tuscan kale, artichoke, arugula, kiwi, green peppercorns, and thyme, along with nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. Its complexity was apparent on the palate with the essence of green artichoke and fresh walnuts, dark leafy greens such as Swiss chard, fresh oregano, the sweetness of golden apple, bitterness of cacao beans, and spiciness of black pepper and arugula.

    Lavish this oil on bruschetta, hearty salads, and salads with nuts; Australian zucchini breakfast slice* and other egg dishes; duck, roasted chicken, and turkey; steaks; pasta with meat sauces; fatty fish, octopus, and calamari; pizza; gai lan, roasted root vegetables, and garbanzo beans; Annie’s baked pears, and chocolate and nut-based desserts.

    *See the recipe section for bolded dishes.


    This Quarter’s Third Selection

    • Producer: Kyneton
      Bylands, Australia
    • Olive Varieties: Coratina, Frantoio
    • Flavor Profile: Bold
    Kyneton Olive Oil, Bylands, Victoria, 2025 Fresh Pressed Olive Oil Label

    “Super green…slightly lighter green…but all green,” is how master miller Davide Bruno described the gorgeous Coratina olives showcased in this superstar EVOO. Davide, who’s worked with Kyneton since 2018, knows exactly what I prize: early-harvest oil, pressed during that magic window when the fruit is at the peak of its flavor and brimming with healthful polyphenols.

    Victoria-based Kyneton, one of the pioneers of Aussie ultra-premium olive oil, has been a destination for me and my Merry Band of Tasters since 2009. In the intervening years, over several delicious Club collaborations, the Kyneton crew—headed by estate manager Mick Labbozzetta—and I have developed fond friendships, born of an ever-evolving mutual desire to create great olive oil. Kyneton’s motto is “Australian made, Italian heritage,” embodied by its all-Italian (and Italian-descent) team, state-of-the-art Italian milling equipment, and olive roster of mainly Italian varietals.

    Kyneton’s master miller, Davide Bruno, has a preternatural sense of when the olives are just entering the magic window of maximal flavor, aromas, and polyphenols—the ideal time to pick and press them for a vibrant early-harvest oil. “You love the oil like me,” Davide told me. This is one of the many reasons I treasure every opportunity to collaborate with him and the Kyneton team.

    Mick was born in Adelaide to a Calabrian father and Sicilian mother, both of whom immigrated to Australia in the 1950s. He often looks like he stepped out of a classic film, dapper yet down-to-earth, with a trademark newsboy cap. He joined Kyneton in 2016 via what I described at the time as a “tale of two households,” like Romeo and Juliet, except the families liked each other and everyone lived happily ever after. Mick’s daughter, Melissa, is married to Robert Inturissi, whose family acquired Kyneton from the Trovatellos (whose award-winning farm was already a Club favorite). With everyone’s blessing, Mick took the helm, continuing and expanding Kyneton’s innovation and excellence.

    Mick’s love of family extends to his production team: Davide Bruno joins for the harvest—the rest of the year, he works the opposite season as a master miller in his native Liguria—and is supported in the Kyneton groves year-round by Calabrian Carmelo Tramontana. When the three of them are in the harvest groove, Italian phrases buzzing while just-picked olives are being rushed to the mill, you’d swear you were in the old country.

    During the off season, Mick took a long-anticipated trip to Italy, visiting his father’s village of Sinopoli as well as a mill in Calabria run by one of his dad’s old schoolmates. Mick and I reflected on how different European olive oil production can be. “They have their traditional habits,” he said, noting that the Australian way is much more open, more about sharing—not only fruit but also equipment, harvesting and milling techniques, and hard-earned wisdom.

    I was thrilled to get advance word from Kyneton of an outstanding Coratina harvest—the first from a team they collaborate with near the town of Bendigo, about 200 km (120 miles) from Bylands. Mick and Davide worked closely with the farm’s growers, advising and optimizing. “Only green fruit for us, please, please,” Davide laughed, imitating his plea. The combination of exquisite Coratina, harvested at precisely the right moment; a splash of Frantoio, with soft almond flavors; and a new olive crusher in Kyneton’s mill enabled us to create a delectably harmonious oil, robust, well-balanced, and exceedingly food-friendly.

    Left: A few years back, Mick Labbozzetta and I savored an Italian repast at That’s Amore Cheese, a community favorite among many excellent Italian eateries in Melbourne (owner Giorgio Linguanti is center). In the time since this photo was taken, That’s Amore—a magnet for Italian Australian workers and diners—has opened two more locations. Right: We Are Family—Mick’s extended clan gathered to celebrate his granddaughter’s confirmation, and I joined them afterward to pick up bottles of harvest-fresh olive oil from Mick. We joked that the EVOO got blessed by association, because the Coratina we created for you is so divinely delicious.

    Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings

    An intense Coratina with a splash of Frantoio, this oil has quite the aromatic bouquet: green almond, tomato leaf, spinach, and wheatgrass; the sweetness of green apple; floral notes of nasturtium; and chopped culinary herbs—rosemary, oregano, and basil. On the palate, there was an explosion of macadamia nut and green almond, watercress, raw artichoke, and fennel, with notes of dark chocolate and coffee, rosemary, wild mint, lime zest, and the tingling spiciness and bitterness of celery leaf and arugula.

    It will pair exquisitely with crusty breads; beet and goat cheese salad* and dark leafy green salads; butterflied leg of lamb with za’atar, beef, game, tuna, and salmon; soba noodles and peas with olive oil–soy dressing, hearty pasta sauces, rice pilafs and other grain dishes; and chocolate mousse.

    *See the recipe section for bolded dishes.


    Olive Oil and Health


    Kudos from Club Members

    Don't leave home without it
    I take my oil with me when I travel, and I can no longer stand the refined olive oil and stopped buying it. Grocery store EVOO tastes bland and uninteresting.
    Tiffanie B.allahassee, FL


    Recipes

  • Annie's Baked Pears with Ice Cream and EVOO Annie’s Baked Pears with Ice Cream and EVOO

    Annie also shared her recipe for slow-baked pears. “The long cooking time is essential—they’re just not the same if you try to hurry the dish along,” she explained. Serve them with the best-quality store-bought ice cream or make your own. Note: The pears can also be baked with the skins on for a more rustic look.

    Ingredients

    • 2 large ripe green pears
    • 1/2 cup water, more if needed
    • 1 vanilla bean, split, or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
    • 4 teaspoons unsalted butter
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
    • Vanilla or vanilla olive oil ice cream
    • Slivered almonds (optional)

    Directions

    Step 1

    Preheat the oven to 350°F. Peel, halve, and remove the core from the pears.

    Step 2

    Place the pears, cut side up, in a baking dish and pour the water around them. Add the vanilla pod or extract to the water. Place 1 teaspoon olive oil, topped with 1 teaspoon butter, in the cored center of each pear half. Sprinkle the sugar over the pears

    Step 3

    Cover the baking dish (use foil if it doesn’t have its own cover) and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, checking periodically to make sure the water has not evaporated (add more water if necessary). At the end of the cooking time, the sugar and water should have just started to caramelize, and the tip of a sharp knife should easily pierce the fruit.

    Step 4

    Let cool slightly, then serve with vanilla ice cream, a drizzle of olive oil, some syrup from the baking dish, and a sprinkling of almonds, if desired.

    Serves 4

  • Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli) Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli)

    Chinese broccoli is a delicious change from American greens. Melissa Wong shared her simple recipe with me. If you can’t find it at your local ethnic markets, feel free to substitute broccoli rabe. Vegetarian versions of oyster sauce are available online or at larger markets.

    Ingredients

    • 1 pound gai lan or baby gai lan
    • 4 cups homemade or low-sodium store-bought
    • chicken or vegetable broth, or salted water
    • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger (optional)
    • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
    • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce

    Directions

    Step 1

    Soak the gai lan in cold water to dislodge any sand or grit; rinse well and drain. Trim about 1/2 inch off the stem ends. Peel any tough ends with a vegetable peeler or paring knife. (This will not be necessary if you are using baby gai lan.) Prepare an ice bath by adding ice cubes to a large bowl of cold water.

    Step 2

    Over medium-high heat, bring the broth to a boil in a deep saucepan or wok. Add the gai lan and blanch until it turns bright green, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the gai lan to the ice bath to stop the cooking. Reserve the cooking liquid in a separate bowl or container. Drain the gai lan and transfer it to a platter, plate, or shallow bowl.

    Step 3

    Add the olive oil to the still-hot pan (or reheat, if necessary) as well as the garlic and ginger, if using. Sauté over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of the reserved cooking liquid (save or freeze the remainder for another use) as well as the oyster sauce. Pour the sauce over the gai lan. Serve at room temperature.

    Serves 4

  • Melissa’s Vegetarian Dumplings with Dipping Sauce Olive Oil Hunter News #231

    Melissa’s Vegetarian Dumplings with Dipping Sauce Recipe, Spotlight on Asian Ingredients, Prepping Rice Noodles, Fewer Ultra-Processed Foods, Greater Weight Loss, and On the Horizon: Walk This Way…To Ease Knee Pain

    Members of the Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club know that the Pressing Report that accompanies each quarterly shipment includes a recipe section focused on the cuisines of the countries where the olives were harvested and milled. However, extra virgin olive oil has a delicious place in nearly every cuisine, and this Asian dumpling recipe is a perfect example. I talk a lot about the merits of eating whole foods, and a new study on weight loss points to one of its many benefits. I’m also sharing an imminent new therapy for knee arthritis—how a simple tweak to the way you walk can help.

    Melissa’s Vegetarian Dumplings with Dipping Sauce

    Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Asian Ingredients

    Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

    Asian Ingredients

    Fresh ginger, garlic, and scallions are mainstays in Asian cooking, but there are other staples called for in so many recipes, including stir-fries and marinades, that you’ll use them more than you realize once you have them in your pantry. Here are descriptions of the essentials used in the dumpling recipe:

    • Black vinegar is an aged vinegar with a rich, pungent yet somewhat sweet flavor. 
    • Rice noodles and wrappers can be used the same way you’d use pasta and tortillas. Because they’re gluten-free, they’re a great alternative to flour-based products.
    • Rice wine, such as Shaoxing or mirin, or rice wine vinegar adds fruity notes along with acidity. 
    • Sesame oil is available toasted to be used as a finishing oil or added at the end of a recipe, and untoasted, which is milder in taste and lighter in color. 
    • Sichuan peppercorns, which come whole or ground, are not technically a chile pepper but deliver a slightly citrusy zing to dishes.
    • Soy sauce is used instead of salt and can be very powerful—consider reduced-sodium varieties or simply start with just half of what’s called for in traditional recipes.

    Other than the peppercorns, store these in the fridge after opening.

    Quick Kitchen Nugget: Prepping Rice Noodles

    Quick Kitchen Nugget

    Prepping Rice Noodles

    Rice noodles and rice paper

    Rice noodles are used in so many Asian dishes, from stir-fries to soups and from pad Thai to Vietnamese summer rolls. What’s more, they can be stored in the pantry and don’t need to be boiled before using. A quick soak in cool water is all that’s necessary—about 10 seconds for a wrapper and 2 to 3 minutes for a bowl of noodles. 

    For Your Best Health: Fewer Ultra-Processed Foods, Greater Weight Loss

    For Your Best Health

    Fewer Ultra-Processed Foods, Greater Weight Loss

    A recent study done at the University College London in the UK is music to a frustrated dieter’s ears: Participants eating minimally processed foods lost twice as much weight as those eating ultra-processed foods, even though both groups’ diets were nutritionally balanced and they could eat freely. The findings revealed that food processing itself—not just the food’s nutrients—plays a significant role in shaping body weight and health outcomes and that cutting down on processed foods could help people sustain a healthy weight long term.

    The study, published in Nature Medicine, is the first interventional study comparing ultra-processed food (UPF) and minimally processed food (MPF) diets in real-world conditions, as well as being the longest experimental study of a UPF diet to date. Fifty-five adults were split into two groups. One group started with an eight-week diet of MPF, with meals like overnight oats and homemade spaghetti Bolognese; then, after a four-week period during which they went back to their normal diet, they were switched to a diet of UPF, with meals like breakfast oat bars and premade lasagna. The other group completed the diets in the opposite order. In total, 50 participants completed at least one diet.

    The diets provided were nutritionally matched in accordance with the Eatwell Guide, the UK’s official government advice on how to eat a healthy, balanced diet. This included monitoring levels of fat, saturated fat, protein, carbohydrate, salt, and fiber, as well as providing recommended intakes of fruits and vegetables. Participants had plenty of food (i.e., more calories than they needed) delivered to their home and were told to eat as much or as little as they wanted, as they would normally. They were not told to limit their intake.

    After eight weeks on each diet, both groups lost weight, likely a result of the improved nutritional profile of what they were eating compared to their normal diet. However, this effect was higher (2.06% reduction) with the MPF diet compared to the UPF diet (1.05% reduction). These changes corresponded to an estimated calorie deficit of 290 calories per day on the MPF diet, compared to 120 calories per day on the UPF diet. (The Eatwell Guide recommends a daily energy intake of 2,000 calories for women and 2,500 for men.)

    The greater weight loss experienced on the MPF diet came from reductions in fat mass and total body water, with no change in muscle or fat-free mass, indicating a healthier body composition overall. The findings suggest that, when observing recommended dietary guidelines, choosing MPFs may be more effective for losing weight.

    Samuel Dicken, PhD, first author of the study from the UCL Centre for Obesity Research and UCL Department of Behavioural Science & Health, said, “Previous research has linked ultra-processed foods with poor health outcomes. But not all ultra-processed foods are inherently unhealthy based on their nutritional profile. The main aim of this trial was to fill crucial gaps in our knowledge about the role of food processing in the context of existing dietary guidance, and how it affects health outcomes such as weight, blood pressure, and body composition, as well as experiential factors like food cravings.

    “The primary outcome of the trial was to assess percentage changes in weight, and on both diets we saw a significant reduction, but the effect was nearly double on the minimally processed diet. Though a 2% reduction may not seem very big, that is only over eight weeks and without people trying to actively reduce their intake. If we scaled these results up over the course of a year, we’d expect to see a 13% weight reduction in men and a 9% reduction in women on the minimally processed diet, but only a 4% weight reduction in men and 5% in women after the ultra-processed diet. Over time this would start to become a big difference.”

    Participants completed several questionnaires to assess their food cravings before starting the diets and at weeks four and eight during the diets. On the MPF diet compared to the UPF diet, participants reported a twofold greater improvement in overall craving control, a fourfold greater improvement in craving control for savory food, and an almost twofold greater improvement in resisting whichever food they most craved.

    The trial also measured secondary health markers, such as blood pressure and heart rate, as well as blood markers such as liver function, glucose, cholesterol, and inflammation. Across these markers, there were no significant negative impacts of the UPF diet, with either no change or a significant improvement from baseline. Generally, there weren’t significant differences in these markers between the diets, and the researchers caution that longer studies would be needed to investigate these measures properly in relation to the changes in weight and fat mass.

    Professor Rachel Batterham, PhD, senior author of the study from the UCL Centre for Obesity Research, said, “Despite being widely promoted, less than 1% of the UK population follows all of the recommendations in the Eatwell Guide, and most people stick to fewer than half. The normal diets of the trial participants tended to be outside national nutritional guidelines and included an above-average proportion of UPF, which may help to explain why switching to a trial diet consisting entirely of UPF but that was nutritionally balanced resulted in neutral or slightly favorable changes to some secondary health markers.

    “The best advice to people would be to stick as closely to nutritional guidelines as they can by moderating overall energy intake; limiting intake of salt, sugar, and saturated fat; and prioritizing high-fiber foods such as fruits, vegetables, pulses, and nuts. Choosing less-processed options such as whole foods and cooking from scratch, rather than [eating] ultra-processed, packaged foods or ready meals, is likely to offer additional benefits in terms of body weight, body composition, and overall health.”

    Fitness Flash: On the Horizon: Walk This Way…To Ease Knee Pain

    Fitness Flash

    On the Horizon: Walk This Way…To Ease Knee Pain

    A new study led by a University of Utah engineering professor and including scientists from New York University and Stanford University showed that gait retraining can ease pain, slow cartilage damage, and even delay knee surgery. 

    By making a small adjustment to the angle of their foot while walking, participants in the yearlong randomized control trial experienced pain relief equivalent to medication. Critically, those participants also showed less knee cartilage degradation over that period as compared to a group that received a placebo treatment.

    Close up of feet walking at hypothetical proper angle for knee pain relief

    Published in The Lancet Rheumatologyand co-led by Scott Uhlrich, PhD, of Utah’s John and Marcia Price College of Engineering, these findings come from the first placebo-controlled study to demonstrate the effectiveness of a biomechanical intervention for osteoarthritis.

    “We’ve known that for people with osteoarthritis, higher loads in their knee accelerate progression, and that changing the foot angle can reduce knee load,” said Dr. Uhlrich, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “So, the idea of a biomechanical intervention is not new, but there have not been randomized, placebo-controlled studies to show that they’re effective.”

    With support from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies, the researchers were specifically looking at patients with mild-to-moderate osteoarthritis in the medial compartment of the knee—on the inside of the leg—which tends to bear more weight than the lateral—outside—compartment. This form of osteoarthritis is the most common, but the ideal foot angle for reducing load in the medial side of the knee differs from person to person, depending on their natural gait and how it changes when they adopt the new walking pattern.

    “Previous trials prescribed the same intervention to all individuals, resulting in some individuals not reducing, or even increasing, their joint loading,” Dr. Uhlrich said. “We used a personalized approach to selecting each individual’s new walking pattern, which improved how much individuals could off-load their knee and likely contributed to the positive effect on pain and cartilage that we saw.”

    In their first two visits, participants received a baseline MRI and practiced walking on a pressure-sensitive treadmill while motion-capture cameras recorded the mechanics of their gait. This allowed the researchers to determine whether turning the patient’s toe inward or outward would reduce load more, and whether a 5° or 10° adjustment would be ideal.

    This personalized analysis also screened out potential participants who could not benefit from the intervention because none of the foot angle changes decreased the load on their knees. 

    After their initial intake sessions, half of the 68 participants were assigned to a sham treatment group to control for the placebo effect. These participants were prescribed foot angles that were actually identical to their natural gait. Conversely, participants in the intervention group were prescribed the change in foot angle that maximally reduced their knee loading.

    Participants from both groups returned to the lab for six weekly training sessions, where they received biofeedback—vibrations from a device worn on the shin—that helped them maintain the prescribed foot angle while walking on the lab’s treadmill. After the six-week training period, participants were encouraged to practice their new gait for at least 20 minutes a day, to the point where it became natural. Periodic check-in visits showed that participants were adhering to their prescribed foot angle within a degree, on average. After a year, all participants self-reported their experience of knee pain and had a second MRI to quantitatively assess the damage to their knee cartilage.

    “The reported decrease in pain over the placebo group was somewhere between what you’d expect from an over-the-counter medication, like ibuprofen, and a narcotic, like oxycontin,” Dr. Uhlrich said. “With the MRIs, we also saw slower degradation of a marker of cartilage health in the intervention group, which was quite exciting.”

    Participants’ ability to adhere to the intervention over long periods of time is one of its potential advantages. “Especially for people in their 30s, 40s, or 50s, osteoarthritis could mean decades of pain management before they’re recommended for a joint replacement,” Dr. Uhlrich added. “This intervention could help fill that large treatment gap.”

    Before gait retraining can be made widely available, future studies of this approach are needed and the gait retraining process will have to be streamlined. The researchers envision that this intervention will eventually be prescribed in a physical therapy clinic and that retraining can happen while people go for a walk around their neighborhood.

    “We and others have developed technology that could be used to both personalize and deliver this intervention in a clinical setting by using mobile sensors, like smartphone video and a smart shoe,” Dr. Uhlrich said. 

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  • Beet and Goat Cheese Salad Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

    Roasting vegetables brings out their depth of flavor and turns a simple salad into a spectacular one. Beets, in particular, become oh so sweet!

    Ingredients

    • 2 small red or yellow beets, about 6 ounces each
    • Extra virgin olive oil
    • Pinch of kosher or coarse sea salt
    • 4 cups micro greens or arugula
    • 1 ripe pear, halved, cored, and cut into thin slices
    • 3 ounces goat cheese, cut into slices
    • 1 small red onion, cut into thin rings
    • 2 tablespoons unsalted pistachios Balsamic vinegar of Modena

    Directions

    Step 1

    Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

    Step 2

    Scrub the beets and cut off the roots and tips, but don’t peel. Cut into medium cubes and transfer to the sheet pan. Drizzle liberally with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast until the tip of a sharp knife easily pierces a few cubes, about 30 minutes. Remove beets from the oven and let cool.

    Step 3

    Divide the greens between two large plates. Top with equal amounts of beets, pears, cheese, red onion, and pistachios. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

    Serves 2

  • Melissa’s Vegetarian Dumplings with Dipping Sauce Melissa’s Vegetarian Dumplings with Dipping Sauce

    Melbourne-based foodie and olive oil authority Melissa Wong shared two of her dumpling recipes with me on my most recent trip to Australia for the Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club. The shrimp-and pork-based dumpling recipe is available in the current Pressing Report included with our latest Ozzie olive oils. Here is her meatless version. Tailor the filling to your tastes by adding more veggies like diced shiitake mushrooms, water chestnuts, or jicama. Please click here to join now so you don’t miss my sumptuous trio of Oz oils shipping now. 

    Ingredients

    For the dipping sauce:

    • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
    • 1 tablespoon ground Sichuan pepper
    • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 teaspoon minced garlic 
    • 1 teaspoon minced ginger 
    • 1/2 fresh chile, such as jalapeño or serrano, chopped
    • 2 sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped
    • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
    • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
    • 3 tablespoons black vinegar
    • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
    • 2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced

    For the dumplings:

    • 1/2″ piece ginger, peeled and cut into coins
    • 2 garlic cloves
    • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use
    • 1/2 medium onion, diced small
    • 1/2 carrot, diced small
    • 1 cup diced red cabbage
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
    • 1 ounce dried rice noodles
    • 1/2 cup diced zucchini
    • 2 portobello mushrooms, diced small
    • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
    • 1 package square or round dumpling wrappers (about 50)

    Directions

    Step 1

    For the dipping sauce, toast the sesame seeds in a dry, hot frying pan until fragrant, about 2 minutes; transfer to a small dish and set aside. In the same pan, dry toast the Sichuan pepper, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, swirl in the olive oil, garlic, ginger, chile, cilantro, and sugar. Whisk in the soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, scallions, and the reserved sesame seeds. Pour into a serving bowl and set aside.

    Step 2

    For the dumpling filling, place the ginger, garlic, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small food processor and blitz to a rough paste; set aside.

    Step 3

    Heat a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add in 1 tablespoon olive oil and the onions and cook until the onions soften slightly. Add the carrots and cook for 30 seconds. Add in the ginger-garlic paste and cook until fragrant. Transfer the contents of the wok to a large bowl and return the wok to the stovetop.

    Step 4

    Let the wok heat up again, then add the remaining tablespoon olive oil and the cabbage and cook until the cabbage softens slightly. Turn off the heat and stir in the coriander and cumin. Add to the bowl with the other vegetables, holding back any released liquid from the cabbage (discard it). Allow the vegetables to cool completely.

    Step 5

    Soak the rice noodles in cold water until softened, about 3 minutes. Drain and roughly chop into 1″ pieces. Add to the cooked vegetables along with the zucchini and mushrooms. Evenly sprinkle on the cornstarch and mix well. 

    Step 6

    Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Place a bowl of water next to your work area. Open the package of wrappers and cover with a damp kitchen towel so that they won’t dry out. 

    Step 7

    Place a generous teaspoon of filling in the center of a wrapper (don’t overfill or the dumplings won’t stay closed). Dip a fingertip in the water bowl and moisten the outer edges of the wrapper, then fold it and press the edges together to seal them. For round wrappers, crimp the edges together to make a crescent shape. For square wrappers, use your fingertip to wet the two bottom corners, then overlap them slightly and press together to form a shape like a bishop’s hat. As you finish each dumpling, place it on the rimmed sheet pan under the towel. There should be enough filling to make about 50 dumplings.

    Step 8

    Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop in 12 to 16 dumplings at a time and cook for 7 minutes (they will float to the surface). Use a Chinese strainer to transfer them to a large bowl; cover with a pot lid to keep them warm. Repeat until all the dumplings have been cooked. Serve with the dipping sauce.

    Serves 8 to 10 

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For Your Best Health

The MIND Diet for Brain Health: More Benefits of Olive Oil

According to a new study from researchers at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and The Robert Butler Columbia Aging Center, a very specific brain-boosting diet has been linked to reduced dementia risk and a slower pace of aging. The study, “Diet, Pace of Biological Aging, and Risk of Dementia in the Framingham Heart Study,” published in the Annals of Neurology, also explains how the diet helps slow down the processes of biological aging.

“Much attention to nutrition in dementia research focuses on the way specific nutrients affect the brain,” said Daniel Belsky, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology and a senior author of the study. “We tested the hypothesis that healthy diet protects against dementia by slowing down the body’s overall pace of biological aging.”

The researchers used data from the second generation of the Framingham Heart Study, the Offspring Cohort. Participants were 60 years of age or older and free of dementia and had available dietary, epigenetic, and follow-up data. Follow-up was done at nine examinations, approximately every 4 to 7 years, which included a physical exam, lifestyle-related questionnaires, blood sampling, and, starting in 1991, neurocognitive testing. Of 1,644 participants included in the analyses, 140 developed dementia. 

To measure the pace of aging, the researchers used an epigenetic clock called DunedinPACE developed by Dr. Belsky and colleagues at Duke University and the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. The clock measures how fast a person’s body is deteriorating as they grow older, “like a speedometer for the biological processes of aging,” explained Dr. Belsky.

“We have some strong evidence that a healthy diet can protect against dementia,” said Yian Gu, PhD, associate professor of neurological sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the other senior author of the study, “but the mechanism of this protection is not well understood.” Past research linked both diet and dementia risk to an accelerated pace of biological aging. “Testing the hypothesis that multi-system biological aging is a mechanism of underlying diet-dementia associations was the logical next step,” explained Dr. Belsky.

The research determined that higher adherence to the MIND diet slowed the pace of aging as measured by DunedinPACE and reduced risks for dementia and mortality. Furthermore, slower DunedinPACE accounted for 27% of the diet-dementia association and 57% of the diet-mortality association.

“Our findings suggest that slower pace of aging mediates part of the relationship of healthy diet with reduced dementia risk, and therefore, monitoring pace of aging may inform dementia prevention,” said first author Aline Thomas, PhD, of the Columbia Department of Neurology and Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain. “However, a portion of the diet-dementia association remains unexplained, therefore we believe that continued investigation of brain-specific mechanisms in well-designed mediation studies is warranted.”

“We suggest that additional observational studies be conducted to investigate direct associations of nutrients with brain aging, and if our observations are also confirmed in more diverse populations, monitoring biological aging may indeed inform dementia prevention,” noted Dr. Belsky.

Exactly What Is the MIND Diet?

MIND is a hybrid of the Mediterranean and DASH diets, tailored to reflect key findings from nutrition and dementia research. It details serving sizes of specific foods to focus on and which to limit, primarily those high in saturated fat, which is known to negatively affect brain health. 

Foods and portions to eat every day: 1/2 to 1 cup green leafy vegetables, 1/2 cup other vegetables, 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, and three 1-ounce servings of whole grains. 

Foods and portions to eat over the course of each week: 5 ounces nuts, 2-1/2 cups berries, 1-1/2 cups legumes, two 3-to-5-ounce servings of skinless poultry, and 3-to-5 ounces fish.

Foods to limit to these weekly totals: three or fewer 3-to-5-ounce servings of red and processed meats, 1 ounce whole-fat cheese, 1 fried or fast food, and 4 sweet servings. If desired, no more than 1 teaspoon of butter or stick of margarine a day.

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