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Olive Oil Hunter News #231

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

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

  • 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 

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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Olive Oil Hunter News #230

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Cicchetti Recipe, Spotlight on Chickpeas and Garbanzos, Rinse or Make it Fresh, Understanding Your Sweet Tooth and Strength Training As You Age

Looking for an easy-to-prep appetizer that also delivers on nutrients? These toasts with a double-bean dip hit the mark and can be enjoyed year-round (keep that basil plant growing indoors to have the fresh herb throughout the winter). A new study on preferences for sweets found that your sweet tooth is likely unique to you, not influenced by the amount of treats you eat. One thing we all have in common is the progressive loss of all-important muscle as we age. I’m sharing the American Council on Exercise’s idea for how to fight back. 

Cicchetti

  • Cicchetti Cicchetti

    Called cicchetti in Venice, their birthplace, these appetizers are a favorite around the world, especially among the large Italian population in Australia. They’re also quick to assemble from pantry ingredients. For more recipes popular Down Under, check out the Pressing Report in this quarter’s shipment of fresh-pressed olive oils.

    Ingredients

    • 1 baguette, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces, about 24 slices
    • Extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
    • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, plus more for topping
    • One 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
    • One 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
    • 3 tablespoons finely chopped basil, divided use
    • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
    • 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
    • Coarse sea salt 
    • Freshly ground black pepper

    Directions

    Step 1

    Make the crostini (toasts): Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper for easy cleanup. Arrange the bread slices in a single layer on the pan and brush both sides of each slice with olive oil. Bake, turning once, until the bread is golden brown, about 10 minutes.

    Step 2

    Heat a wide saucepan over medium-low heat. When hot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the pan along with the garlic. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the garlic is soft but not brown. Stir in the pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute more. Reserve about 1/2 cup chickpeas and add the rest along with the beans to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the beans are warmed through, then mash them with the back of a wooden spoon, a potato masher, or a fork. Stir in half the basil, the lemon juice, and lemon zest. If the beans seem dry, add more olive oil, 1 tablespoon at a time. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

    Step 3

    Top each crostini with a spoonful of the bean mixture, then drizzle with olive oil. Garnish with the rest of the chopped basil, the reserved chickpeas, and more red pepper flakes if desired. Refrigerate any leftover bean mixture; it will keep for two days.

    Yields 6 to 8 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Chickpeas or Garbanzos?

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Chickpeas or Garbanzos?

The name of this nutritious legume varies geographically—they’re called garbanzo beans in Spain and ceci in Italy, which translates to chickpeas—but they’re chockfull of goodness in any language. An excellent source of protein and fiber, with 14.5 and 12.5 grams, respectively, per cooked cup, they also deliver on vitamins like folate and other B vitamins, A, E, and C, as well as minerals, notably manganese, plus copper, zinc, iron, and potassium.

Dried and fresh garbanzo or chickpeas

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Rinse, Rinse, Rinse…or Make it Fresh

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Rinse, Rinse, Rinse…or Make it Fresh

Canned chickpeas are very convenient, though you’ll want to rinse them in cold water and drain well before using. However, if you’ve never tried making them from dried beans, you’ll be amazed at how even more delicious they are. 

When planning needed quantities, keep in mind that 1 cup of dried chickpeas yields about 3 cups cooked. The night before or early in the morning of the day you plan to use them, add the dried chickpeas to a large bowl and cover with 3 to 4 inches of water. Let sit for 8 to 12 hours—they will triple in volume, then rinse and drain.

Place them in a stockpot and cover with 3 to 4 inches of fresh water. Bring the water to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer. Cook until tender but still firm, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Drain and proceed with your recipe. If not using right away, let cool to room temperature before refrigerating.

For Your Best Health: Understanding Your Sweet Tooth

For Your Best Health

Understanding Your Sweet Tooth

According to a six-month randomized trial done in the Netherlands, eating more sweet-tasting foods doesn’t increase a preference for sweets, while cutting sugar won’t curb a sweet tooth. In fact, participants on diets with high, low, or mixed sweetness levels showed no changes in their sweet taste preferences. The findings were presented at NUTRITION 2025, the flagship annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition.

For the study, three groups of about 60 volunteers each were given diets that were either mostly sweet, less sweet, or a mix of foods. The researchers categorized foods based on their sweetness by using data from their previous study that measured taste intensity in about 500 commonly eaten Dutch foods. Sweet products included items like jam, milk chocolate, sweetened dairy, and sugar-sweetened drinks. Non-sweet items included foods like ham, cheese, peanut butter, hummus, salted popcorn, and sparkling water.

Food and drink packages were delivered to each participant every two weeks for six months, providing about half their daily food items. They also received daily menus for guidance but could eat as much or as little of the provided foods as they wanted. To make sure that there were no confounding factors, the carbohydrate, fat, and protein composition of the foods and drinks provided to each group were matched. The researchers also randomized participants who fell into similar sex, age, and body weight categories, to avoid large differences among the groups.

The study was rigorous in design: Each person’s preference for sweet taste was tested before the intervention diet began, two times during the diet, directly after the diet ended, and at one and four months afterward. The researchers also looked at total energy and macronutrient intake; dietary intakes during the trial; and physiological measures like body weight, body composition, and blood markers that increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, such as glucose, insulin, and cholesterol.

Study results suggest that sweetness alone isn’t to blame for overeating. The researchers found that lower exposure to sweet-tasting foods did not lead to shifts in sweet taste preferences, changes in sweet taste perception, changes in food choice, or energy intake. Likewise, the group eating more sweet-tasting foods did not experience an increased preference for sweet foods. After the intervention, the participants naturally returned to baseline levels of sweet food intake at the one- and four-month follow-ups. 

“We also found that diets with lower or higher dietary sweetness were not associated with changes in energy consumption or body weight,” said the study’s lead investigator, Kees de Graaf, PhD, emeritus professor in sensory science and eating behavior at the Division of Human Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. “Even though many people believe that sweet foods promote higher energy intake, our study showed that sweetness alone isn’t to blame for taking in too many calories.” Nor did they find an association between the amount of sweet food consumed and changes in biomarkers for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. 

“This is one of the first studies to measure and adjust sweetness across the whole diet within a realistic range of what people actually consume,” said Dr. de Graaf. “This matters because some people avoid sweet-tasting foods, believing that regular exposure will increase their preference for sweetness, but our results show that’s not the case.”

Fitness Flash: Strength Training As You Age

Fitness Flash

Strength Training As You Age

Strength training for seniors

According to the experts at ACE (American Council on Exercise), the importance of strength training in later years can’t be overstated, with effects on longevity; “healthspan,” the number of years a person can live without chronic or debilitating disease; and “strengthspan,” a measure of physical strength over our lifespan, which directly relates to the ability to function independently and move safely as we age. 

Here’s why it’s so vital: Many age-related issues that impact quality of life, from balance and grip strength to osteoporosis and sarcopenia (the decline in muscle mass, strength, and performance), can be countered by building muscular strength and function early in life and then maintaining it as we grow older. Yet it’s never too late to get started.

Muscle loss sneaks up on you.The decline starts slowly in your 30s, then accelerates after age 65 in women, 70 in men. The loss of muscle is due to several factors, including declines in hormone production, developing insulin resistance and experiencing fat gain, changes in the neurological system, and an increase in systemic inflammation. Understandably, sarcopenia is linked with an increased risk for many adverse health outcomes, such as higher rates of falls, functional loss, and chronic disease. While you can’t stop aging, you can keep active and slow down the decline by strengthening your muscles.

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends muscle-strengthening activities on at least 2 days per week (this is in addition to aerobic workouts and flexibility and balance work), with a minimum of 1 day of recovery between sessions that target the same muscle group. Sessions should include 6 to 10 exercises, including both multi-joint and single-joint exercises, that train all major muscle groups—chest, back, shoulders, arms, torso, hips, and legs—and focus on function and mobility. These are done in sets (usually 1 to 3) of 8 to 12 repetitions each, using progressively heavier weights to keep muscles challenged.

There are hundreds of strength training exercises that can be done with free weights (like dumbbells, barbells, and bands) or machines. To learn proper form, address your unique needs, and avoid injury, get started by working with a trainer who can put together a routine that works best for you.

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Olive Oil Hunter News #229

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Peach Upside-Down Cake Recipe, Spotlight on Parchment Paper, Why Your Brain Sends Mixed Messages About Hunger, and Movement Over Meds for Insomnia

There’s nothing quite like juicy ripe peaches at the height of summer…unless it’s combining them with my other love, tender olive oil cake. This twist on pineapple upside-down cake makes a spectacular dessert or breakfast cake for your next brunch. I’m also sharing two intriguing studies that could help people address common concerns: overeating and insomnia. 

Peach Upside-Down Cake

  • Peach upside-down cake Peach Upside-Down Cake

    Juicy peaches and tender olive oil-based vanilla cake make the perfect summertime sweet treat. Feel free to get as artful as you’d like with the peach arrangement, but there’s no need to peel them.

    Ingredients

    For the peaches:

    • 4 medium peaches (more if needed)
    • 1/2 lemon
    • 1/4 cup brown sugar

    For the batter:

    • 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the pan
    • 1-1/2 cups cake flour
    • 1/2 cup white or golden whole wheat flour
    • 2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
    • 3 large eggs
    • 1 cup sugar
    • 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
    • 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla

    For serving:

    • Vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream (optional)

    Directions

    Step 1

    Halve the peaches and slice each half into thin wedges. Place in a large bowl and squeeze on the juice from the lemon half, then toss with the brown sugar. 

    Step 2

    Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly brush the bottom and sides of a 9″ springform pan with olive oil, line with parchment paper, and lightly brush the parchment with olive oil. Starting from the outer rim, arrange the peaches in concentric circles on the bottom of the pan; set aside. 

    Step 3

    In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. 

    Step 4

    Beat the eggs and sugar until thick and light yellow in color (if you have a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment for all the mixing). Slowly add the 3/4 cup olive oil, yogurt, ricotta, and vanilla. On the lowest speed, add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed. 

    Step 5

    Carefully pour the batter over the peaches and use an offset spatula to smooth the top. Bake for about 60 minutes, until the cake is golden and firm to the touch and the blade of a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean (start testing after about 45 minutes). Let cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then carefully run an offset spatula around the pan ring, then take off the ring. Place a 10″ or 12″ serving dish over the cake and invert it. Lift off the pan bottom and gently peel away the parchment. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream or cold with whipped cream if desired.

    Yields 10 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Parchment Paper

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Parchment Paper

While not an edible ingredient, parchment is integral to numerous recipes, from baked goods to roasted vegetables. When many of us grew up, foil was the go-to for lining pans, but we now know that some of its metal can leech into foods. What’s more, foil needed oiling to keep food from sticking. I love parchment because it’s safer, plus it already has nonstick properties and can be used for cooking methods up to 400 or 450°F (check the label information before buying).

Foil remains a great way to line a rimmed sheet pan when you’ll be elevating food with a rack, like a V-shaped one for roasting a turkey or a flat woven one for making bacon—easy-peasy cleanup.

Parchment paper for baking
Quick Kitchen Nugget: Prepping with Parchment

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Prepping with Parchment

It can be confusing: You use parchment to avoid sticking, yet some cake recipes say to oil or butter the pan and the paper. What gives? Lightly prepping the pan before placing the parchment gives the paper an anchor so it won’t slip out of place when you add batter, for instance. Oiling the paper makes it that much easier to peel it off after cooking. This is especially important with an upside-down cake because you’re trying to keep the fruit pattern intact. It also helps when making layer cakes—you want each layer to be as smooth and uniform as possible, without any nicks that could mar the finish.

For Your Best Health: Why Your Brain Sends Mixed Messages About Hunger 

For Your Best Health

Why Your Brain Sends Mixed Messages About Hunger 

A team of scientists from University of Southern California (USC) has identified specialized neurons in the brain that store meal memories, encoding not just what food was eaten but when it was eaten to help the brain remember eating times and foods and regulate eating behavior by communicating with hunger-related areas of the brain. When these memory traces are disrupted, we’re more likely to overeat because we can’t recall recent meals, like the lunch we ate just a few hours earlier, triggering excessive hunger and leading to disordered eating. The research, published in Nature Communications, not only uncovered a critical neural mechanism but could also lead to new strategies for treating obesity by enhancing memory around food consumption.

During eating, neurons in the ventral hippocampus region of the brain become active and form what the team of researchers called “meal engrams”—specialized memory traces that store information about the experience of food consumption. “An engram is the physical trace that a memory leaves behind in the brain,” said Scott Kanoski, PhD, professor of biological sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and corresponding author of the study. While scientists have long studied engrams for their role in storing memories and other experiences in the brain, the new study identified engrams dedicated to meal experiences.

“Meal engrams function like sophisticated biological databases that store multiple types of information such as where you were eating as well as the time that you ate,” added Dr. Kanoski.

To reach their findings, the research team used advanced neuroscience techniques to observe the brain activity of laboratory rats as they ate, providing the first real-time view of how meal memories form. The meal memory neurons are distinct from brain cells involved in other types of memory formation. When researchers selectively destroyed these neurons, lab rats showed impaired memory for food locations but retained normal spatial memory for non-food-related tasks, indicating a specialized system dedicated to meal-related information processing. The study revealed that meal memory neurons communicate with the lateral hypothalamus, a brain region long known to control hunger and eating behavior. When this hippocampus-hypothalamus connection was blocked, the lab rats overate and could not remember where meals were consumed.

Dr. Kanoski said it can be assumed that a human’s brain would undergo a similar phenomenon. When someone’s attention is focused elsewhere, like on a phone or television screen, these critical encoding moments are compromised. “The brain fails to properly catalog the meal experience,” said Lea Decarie-Spain, PhD, postdoctoral scholar at USC Dornsife and the study’s first author, “leading to weak or incomplete meal engrams.”

The discovery has immediate relevance for understanding human eating disorders. People with memory impairments, like dementia or brain injuries that affect memory formation, may often consume multiple meals in quick succession because they cannot remember eating. Distracted eating, like mindlessly snacking while watching television or scrolling on your phone, may impair meal memories and contribute to overconsumption.

Dr. Kanoski said the findings could eventually inform new clinical approaches for treating obesity and weight management. Current weight management strategies often focus on restricting food intake or increasing exercise, but the new research suggests that enhancing meal memory formation could be equally important. “We’re finally beginning to understand that remembering what and when you ate is just as crucial for healthy eating as the food choices themselves,” he said.

Fitness Flash: Movement Over Meds for Insomnia

Fitness Flash

Movement Over Meds for Insomnia

Having trouble sleeping? According to a large analysis comparing various treatments completed by Asian scientists and published in the online journal BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, yoga, Tai Chi, walking, and jogging may be some of the best natural remedies for improving sleep and tackling insomnia.

Characterized by difficulties falling and staying asleep along with early morning awakening, the prevalence of insomnia ranges from 4% to 22% of the population, noted the researchers. It is associated with heightened risks of various mental and physical health conditions, including dementia and cardiovascular disease. Drug treatments for insomnia are not without their side effects, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), while effective, isn’t always available due to the shortage of trained therapists.

An emerging body of research has suggested that exercise is helpful, but current guidelines don’t specify which types of exercise might be most beneficial. The researchers set out to plug this knowledge gap. They scoured research databases for relevant randomized clinical trials published up to April 2025 and included 22 in a network meta-analysis, a statistical technique used to simultaneously compare multiple interventions.

The trials totaled 1,348 participants and 13 different treatment approaches to ease insomnia, seven of which were exercise-based: yoga, Tai Chi, walking or jogging, aerobic plus strength exercise, strength training alone, aerobic exercise combined with therapy, and mixed aerobic exercises. These programs ranged from 4 to 26 weeks in length. The other approaches included CBT, sleep hygiene, Ayurveda, acupuncture/massage, nothing, and existing treatment, such as usual care and/or lifestyle changes with durations ranging from 6 to 26 weeks. Validated scoring systems for sleep quality and insomnia severity, as well as subjective and objective measures of total sleep time, sleep efficiency (percentage of time spent asleep while in bed), number of awakenings after going to sleep, and time taken to fall asleep (sleep latency) were used to assess sleep patterns.

Compared with existing treatment, CBT is likely to result in a large increase in total sleep time based on subjective sleep diary data. It may also improve sleep efficiency and shorten the amount of time spent awake after falling asleep, as well as sleep latency, with sustained improvements, the findings suggest. But some of the exercise-based interventions also seemed to be effective when compared with existing treatments.

Yoga may potentially lead to an increase in total sleep time of nearly two hours and may improve sleep efficiency by nearly 15%. It may also reduce the amount of time spent awake after falling asleep by nearly an hour and shorten sleep latency by around half an hour.

Yoga for better sleep

Walking or jogging may result in a large reduction in insomnia severity of nearly 10 points, while Tai Chi may reduce poor sleep-quality scores by more than four points, increase total sleep time by more than 50 minutes, and reduce time spent awake after falling asleep by over half an hour. It may also shorten sleep latency by around 25 minutes. Further in-depth analyses revealed that Tai Chi performed significantly better on all subjectively and objectively assessed outcomes than existing treatments for up to two years.

There are potentially plausible biological explanations for the findings, said the researchers. With its focus on body awareness, controlled breathing, and attentional training, yoga may alter brain activity, thereby alleviating anxiety and depressive symptoms that often interfere with a good night’s sleep. Tai Chi emphasizes breath control and physical relaxation and has been shown to decrease sympathetic nervous system activity, dampening down hyperarousal. Its combination of meditative movement and mindfulness may promote emotional regulation, deactivate mental chatter, and reduce anxiety. It may also help curb the production of inflammatory chemicals over longer periods. Walking or jogging may improve sleep by increasing energy expenditure, curbing cortisol production, improving emotional regulation, boosting secretion of the sleep hormone melatonin, and enhancing the amount of deep sleep.

The researchers acknowledged that 15 of the included trials contained design and methodological flaws. And there were no standardized, quantifiable metrics for the frequency or intensity of exercise interventions, while the sample sizes of some of the studies were small. Nevertheless, they concluded, “The findings of this study further underscore the therapeutic potential of exercise interventions in the treatment of insomnia, suggesting that their role may extend beyond adjunctive support to serve as viable primary treatment options…Given the advantages of exercise modalities such as yoga, Tai Chi, and walking or jogging—including low cost, minimal side effects, and high accessibility—these interventions are well suited for integration into primary care and community health programs.”

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Olive Oil Hunter News #228

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Burrata and Stone Fruit Salad Recipe, Spotlight on Plums, Storing Stone Fruit, Is Black Coffee the Secret to a Longer Life, and Matching Workouts to Your Personality

’Tis the season … for stone fruit, that is. Nature’s bounty of plums, apricots, and peaches is at its height in late summer, and a composed salad is a fantastic way to enjoy them—no cooking required! Love your morning joe? I’m sharing new insights into its health benefits and why, in order to reap benefits from exercise, it’s so important to focus on activities you truly enjoy.

Burrata and Stone Fruit Salad

  • burrata and stone fruit salad Burrata and Stone Fruit Salad

    This dish is delicious any time of day—from breakfast to dessert. I love to mix different varieties of the same fruit, such as yellow, red, and purple plums, and white and yellow peaches, but most important is to buy local for the sweetest, freshest fruits.

    Ingredients

    For the dressing:

    • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 tablespoons honey, preferably a variety local to your area
    • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar of Modena

    For the salad:

    • 2 plums
    • 2 peaches
    • 4 apricots
    • 1/4 lemon 
    • 1 fresh burrata
    • Fresh thyme, oregano, or basil leaves
    • Black pepper

    Directions

    Step 1

    Make the dressing by whisking together the oil, honey, and balsamic; set aside.

    Step 2

    For the salad, halve the fruit, remove the pits (the “stones”), and slice into wedges. Place in a large bowl and squeeze on the juice from the lemon.

    Step 3

    To compose the salad, cut the burrata in half and center a half on each of two plates. Arrange the fruit around the cheese and drizzle with the dressing. Top with fresh herbs and a few twists of black pepper from your grinder.

    Yields 2 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Plums

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Plums

Rich in antioxidants thanks to their high flavonoid content, plums deserve a place on your fruit list, and with dozens of varieties available, you can have fun hunting for the ones you like best. Of course, the deeper the color—which comes from its anthocyanins, a type of flavonoid—the more benefits you’ll reap. Plums are anti-inflammatory, have a respectable amount of fiber, and may even help keep blood sugar levels on an even keel. Eating dried plums, AKA prunes, has been linked to better bone health, too. Just avoid those with added sugar and limit quantities since they’re high in calories.

Stone fruits
Quick Kitchen Nugget: Deveining Shrimp

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Storing Stone Fruit

Peaches, plums, and apricots can be stored at room temperature until ripe. If you’re not yet ready to eat them, move them to the fridge—that buys you a few days, though they may not taste as sweet. An ideal vessel is an empty egg carton (paper, not plastic or foam) because it offers cushioning to avoid bruising and moisture absorption to avoid mold.

For Your Best Health: Is Black Coffee the Secret to a Longer Life?

For Your Best Health

Is Black Coffee the Secret to a Longer Life?

Coffee might be doing more than fueling your morning routine—it could be extending your life. But here’s the catch: The benefits drop when sugar and saturated fats like cream are added in excess.

In a new observational study, published online in The Journal of Nutrition, researchers from the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University found that having one to two cups of caffeinated coffee per day was linked to a lower risk of death from all causes and death from cardiovascular disease, but that the benefits dropped depending on what was added to it.

Black coffee and coffee with low levels of added sugar and saturated fat were associated with a 14% lower risk of all-cause mortality as compared to no coffee consumption. The same link was not observed for coffee with high amounts of added sugar and saturated fat.

“Coffee is among the most-consumed beverages in the world and, with nearly half of American adults reporting drinking at least one cup per day, it’s important for us to know what it might mean for health,” said Fang Fang Zhang, PhD, senior author of the study and the Neely Family Professor at the Friedman School. “The health benefits of coffee might be attributable to its bioactive compounds, but our results suggest that the addition of sugar and saturated fat may reduce the mortality benefits.”

Black coffee

The study analyzed data from nine consecutive cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2018, linked to National Death Index Mortality Data. The study included a nationally representative sample of 46,000 adults aged 20 years and older who completed valid first-day 24-hour dietary recalls. Coffee consumption was categorized by type (caffeinated or decaffeinated), sugar, and saturated fat content. Mortality outcomes included all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Low added sugar (from granulated sugar, honey, and syrup) was defined as under 5% of the Daily Value, which is 2.5 grams per 8-ounce cup or approximately half a teaspoon of sugar. Low saturated fat (from milk, cream, and half-and-half) was defined as 5% of the Daily Value, or 1 gram per 8-ounce cup or the equivalent of 5 tablespoons of 2% milk, 1 tablespoon of light cream, or 1 tablespoon of half-and-half.

In the study, consumption of at least one cup per day was associated with a 16% lower risk of all-cause mortality. At two to three cups per day, the link rose to 17%. Consumption beyond three cups per day was not associated with additional reductions, and the link between coffee and a lower risk of death by cardiovascular disease weakened when coffee consumption was more than three cups per day. No significant associations were seen between coffee consumption and cancer mortality.

“Few studies have examined how coffee additives could impact the link between coffee consumption and mortality risk, and our study is among the first to quantify how much sweetener and saturated fat are being added,” said first author Bingjie Zhou, a recent PhD graduate from the nutrition epidemiology and data science program at the Friedman School. “Our results align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommend limiting added sugar and saturated fat.”

Limitations of the study include the fact that self-reported recall data is subject to measurement error due to day-to-day variations in food intake. The lack of significant associations between decaffeinated coffee and all-cause mortality could be due to low consumption among the population studied.

Fitness Flash: Weight Gain Despite Exercise 

Fitness Flash

Matching Workouts to Your Personality 

According to researchers at University College London (UCL), the key to sticking with and reaping the rewards of exercise over the long term, like boosting fitness and slashing stress, may be as simple as doing activities you enjoy and that align with your personality.

Previous research showed that the personalities of people who engage in different types of organized sport tend to vary. But what was less clear was how personality affects the types of exercise people actually enjoy doing. The new study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, explored whether individual personality traits corresponded to the enjoyment of different types of exercise, whether participants completed a prescribed exercise program, and the subsequent impact on their fitness levels.

Flaminia Ronca, PhD, associate professor at the UCL Institute of Sport, Exercise, and Health, and first author of the study, said, “We know that the global population is becoming increasingly sedentary. You often hear about people trying to become more active but struggling to make lasting changes. In this study, we wanted to understand how personality can influence this to support the development of effective interventions for changes in health behavior. We found some clear links between personality traits and the type of exercise the participants enjoyed most, which I think is important because we could potentially use this knowledge to tailor physical activity recommendations to the individual and hopefully help them to become and remain more active.”

For the study, the team assessed 132 volunteers from the general public with a range of fitness levels and backgrounds, who were assigned either to an 8-week cycling and strength training program (the intervention group) or to a resting control group. There were three weekly cycling sessions that varied in intensity: a 60-minute light ride at an easy pace, a 30-minute threshold ride at a moderate but sustainable effort, or high-intensity interval training (HIIT) where the level of exertion varied.

Participants’ benchmark fitness levels were assessed at the beginning of the program. Strength was tested using press-ups, performing a plank to failure, and countermovement jumps (jumping again immediately after landing). This was followed by a low-intensity cycling session for 30 minutes, then a cycling test to measure peak oxygen capacity (V̇O2 max test) after a short rest.

The team also assessed participants’ perceived stress levels on a scale of 1 to 10, as well as their personality traits using the Big 5 model, a common personality test in the field of sport and exercise psychology that groups people according to whether their dominant trait is extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, or openness. During the exercise program, participants were asked to rate their enjoyment of each exercise session. 

Their fitness level was tested again once the program had been completed. Of the 132 starters, 86 people completed the intervention and all of these participants got fitter and stronger regardless of personality. While not all personality traits had a link to exercise enjoyment, several connections were uncovered by the study:

  • Extroverts tended to particularly enjoy high-intensity exercise, such as HIIT and a fitness test of maximum-intensity cycling.
  • Those with a strong neuroticism trait engaged well with the exercise intervention but preferred bursts of intensity rather than prolonged intensity. They also preferred not being monitored, such as not having their heart rate recorded while undertaking the program, suggesting that these individuals might appreciate being given space for independence and privacy when engaging in exercise.
  • Those who were conscientious tended to have a well-rounded fitness level, meaning that they tended to score more highly on aerobic fitness as well as core strength, and were generally more physically active. However, conscientiousness didn’t predict higher enjoyment of a specific form of exercise. The authors said this might be because conscientious individuals tend to be driven by the health-related outcomes of engaging in physical activity rather than enjoyment, suggesting that adherence to the program may be less about enjoyment than because it was good for them.

At the beginning of the study, the stress levels of the intervention group and the control group were similar. However, the only group to experience a significant reduction in stress levels after exercising were those who scored highly in the neuroticism trait. “This suggests that there may be particular benefits in stress reduction for those with this trait,” said Professor Paul Burgess, PhD, professor of cognitive neuroscience and an author of the study.

The researchers concluded that the most important thing people can do to improve their activity levels is to find something that they enjoy, which will make it more likely that they’ll stick with it.

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