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Olive Oil Hunter News #176

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Spanakopita “Cigars” Recipe, Spotlight on Pine Nuts, Handling Phyllo, Being Distracted Leads to Overindulging, Climbing Stairs for Longevity

They say cooking can be therapeutic—it’s a type of mindful activity that calls for being focused and it can also fill you with a sense of accomplishment. When you cook for others, that nurturing creates other positive feelings in you as well. There are few recipes that demand as much focus as those that include phyllo, delicate sheets of the thinnest dough that require an equally delicate touch on your part. You also need a lot of patience when building up layers, whether for a sweet baklava or these spinach-filled rolls. Most important, the results are delicious! Focus is also the subject of a new study on why people tend to overindulge. I’m sure you’ll find it as fascinating as I did. 

Spanakopita “Cigars”

  • Spanakopita cigars with phyllo Spanakopita “Cigars”

    Packaged spanakopita, often in canape-sized shapes, can taste rather bland. With a package of frozen phyllo (or fresh if you live near a Greek pastry shop!), you can make this wonderful dish with layers of flavor—the sweetness of the caramelized onions, pine nuts, and currants, the freshness of the parsley and dill, and the zest of the cheeses—all enhanced by the richness of fresh-pressed olive oil. If you have the time, you can steam and chop fresh spinach, but you’ll need a very big volume to achieve two pounds. Frozen is easier to work with—allow it to defrost overnight in the fridge along with the phyllo. This recipe also includes bulgur, a tasty whole grain. You can roll the dough and filling into many different shapes. Long logs, or cigars, are easy to roll up and the shape is less likely to tear the delicate phyllo. Enjoy the process of working with phyllo—it’s easy once you get the hang of it…if you allow yourself time to work at a comfortable pace.

    Ingredients

    • 2 pounds frozen leaf spinach, defrosted
    • 1/3 cup pine nuts
    • Extra-virgin olive oil
    • 1 pound sweet onions, preferably Vidalia, coarsely chopped 
    • 1/2 cup uncooked bulgur
    • 1 cup very finely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
    • 1/2 cup other assorted fresh herbs, like oregano, dill, and spearmint
    • 1/3 cup dried tiny currants, such as Zante, or chopped golden raisins
    • 8-ounce block of fresh feta, preferably from Greece
    • 1/2 cup ricotta
    • Coarse sea salt, to taste
    • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
    • 3 large eggs
    • 16-ounce package frozen phyllo, defrosted
    • 1 tablespoon each white and black sesame seeds

    Directions

    Step 1

    Use your hands to squeeze and discard as much excess liquid from the spinach as you can, then place it in a large colander lined with paper towels over a bowl to continue draining. 

    Step 2

    Heat a large frying pan and, when hot, toast the pine nuts for just a minute or two to bring out their flavor; watch carefully because they can easily burn. Transfer the nuts to a small dish and set aside. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the hot pan, then the onions, and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are very soft. While they’re cooking, make the bulgur in a small saucepan according to package directions; when done, there should be no water left in the pan.  

    Step 3

    Squeeze any remaining liquid from the spinach and transfer it to a large bowl. Add the pine nuts, onions, bulgur, chopped herbs, and currants or raisins. Finely crumble the feta and add it in along with the ricotta; mix thoroughly. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired—it may already taste salty enough from the feta. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs, reserving about 1/4 cup. Work the beaten eggs into the spinach mixture. 

    Step 4

    Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper and set it to one side. Prep the section of countertop where you’ll work with a sheet of parchment paper (see “Quick Kitchen Nugget” in Newsletter #176 for details). Pour olive oil into a small bowl.

    Step 5

    Gently open the phyllo package and unroll the dough onto another rimmed sheet pan lined with parchment paper; immediately cover it with a dry dish towel topped by a damp dish towel. When you’re ready to start, quickly remove one sheet of phyllo and place it on the parchment in front of you. Use the tips of a pastry brush to dab some olive oil across the surface—you don’t need to be too thorough since you’ll be adding more oil with each sheet. Top with another phyllo sheet and dab again, placing the oil on areas where you can see that there’s no oil on the first sheet. Repeat with a third sheet of phyllo. 

    Step 6

    Scoop out a generous half-cup of filling and use your fingers to spread it out in a line across the long end of the dough closest to you, 1 inch in from the edge and from the two short sides. Roll up the phyllo just enough to cover the filling, fold in the outer ends, dab on more oil, and roll up the rest of the way, adding a final dab of oil before transferring the cigar with a bench scraper or wide offset spatula to the parchment-lined sheet pan; cover it with another clean towel. 

    Step 7

    Repeat the process with the rest of the filling and phyllo. Once you’ve rolled all the cigars, remove the towel and use the pastry brush to brush them with the reserved egg, then sprinkle on the sesame seeds. 

    Step 8

    Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the phyllo crisps and browns.  

    Yields 12 cigars

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Pine Nuts

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Pine Nuts

Pine nuts and pine cones

Pesto isn’t the only recipe that benefits from these sweet nuggets, which are actually the seeds of pinecones. Considering their tiny size, pine nuts are nutrient powerhouses: One ounce delivers 4 grams of protein, 1 gram of fiber, 20 grams of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat, and good amounts of vitamin E, copper, and manganese. 

Though there are more than 100 species of pine trees, most pine nuts—you might see them packaged or referred to in recipes as pignoli—come from just three of them. Prized and enjoyed for centuries the world over, pine nuts are very slow to produce and hard to harvest. This all explains why they’re so much more expensive than true nuts. So you’ll want to use them judiciously. To preserve their flavor, store them in a sealed bag in your fridge or freezer, not on a cabinet shelf. To bring out that flavor, toast them in a warmed, dry pan for a minute or two before using them in recipes.

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Handling Phyllo

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Handling Phyllo

Unless you’re lucky enough to live near a Greek or Middle Eastern market that makes and sells its own phyllo, look for frozen versions at your supermarket. Because it is rolled paper thin, it is tricky to make from scratch at home—though it can be done.

Phyllo sheets are extremely fragile and can dry out and tear easily. A few quick tips will make it easier to work with, no matter what recipe you’re making. First, defrost frozen phyllo overnight in the fridge. About an hour before you use it, place the box on a countertop to bring it to room temperature. 

Before you get started, be sure your work surface is clean and dry. Place a long piece of parchment paper in front of you and another to one side. Gather three clean dish towels; slightly dampen one of them. Have your olive oil and a silicone pastry brush plus your filling at the ready. Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment.

Gently open the package and unroll the phyllo on the parchment. Immediately cover it with one dry towel topped by the damp towel. Peel back the towels just long enough to take out one sheet of phyllo and place it on the parchment in front of you, then follow your recipe’s directions. 

If you notice any rips that expose filling, cover them with small pieces of phyllo drizzled with oil—no one will be any the wiser! 

For Your Best Health: Being Distracted Leads to Overindulging

For Your Best Health

Being Distracted Leads to Overindulging

New research published by the American Psychological Association in the Journal ofPersonality and Social Psychology aims to unravel the mystery of why we overindulge despite good intentions. The study looked at how distraction affects “hedonic consumption,” or buying and using products and experiences because they make us feel good and not necessarily because we need them.

“On any given day, a person may take great pleasure from one or more of these activities, yet people often consume more hedonic goods than they want or than is good for them,” said lead author Stephen Lee Murphy, PhD, of Ghent University in Belgium.

One reason for this overconsumption may be distraction, according to Dr. Murphy. When people are distracted while engaging in a hedonic activity, research suggests, they are likely to experience less enjoyment from it than if they were fully focused. That may lead to feelings of dissatisfaction and drive more consumption to compensate for the shortfall. If you tend to do other things while eating dinner, for instance, you risk overconsuming later on, possibly because the distraction caused you to enjoy your meal less—you weren’t sated because you weren’t focused on the pleasure of eating in the moment.

To better understand the role of distraction in overconsumption, the researchers first conducted an experiment involving 122 participants (mostly female and mostly between the ages of 18 and 24) who reported on how much they expected to enjoy their lunch before eating it. They were then asked to eat their lunch under one of three conditions: no distraction, moderate distraction (watching a video), and high distraction (playing Tetris). After lunch, participants reported on their actual enjoyment, satisfaction, desire for further gratification, and amount consumed. They also reported on their snacking later in the day.

Participants who ate while distracted reported lower enjoyment and satisfaction, which was associated with increased snacking afterward and a more general desire for further gratification.

The researchers believe that this proposed effect, which they called hedonic compensation, likely applies to activities beyond eating. For example, people who are distracted while watching a movie or playing a game may be more likely to engage in additional consumption, like checking social media, to compensate for a diminished enjoyment of the original activity.

The researchers also followed 220 participants aged 18 to 71 (again mostly female) for a week to investigate this broader effect beyond food. Participants filled out seven brief surveys per day via their smartphones regarding their hedonic consumption, distraction, and satisfaction. As with the food-based experiment, researchers found that when people were distracted during consumption, they were likely to enjoy a product less than they hoped, feel less satisfied, and experience an elevated need for further gratification.

“Overconsumption often results due to a lack of self-control,” said Dr. Murphy. “However, our findings suggest overconsumption may also often be driven by the simple human desire to reach a certain level of enjoyment from an activity. When distraction gets in the way, it’s likely we may try to compensate by consuming more.”

Dr. Murphy and his colleagues plan to conduct further research to replicate and confirm the existence of a hedonic compensation effect. If confirmed, they have plans to apply interventions that could help people pay more attention to their experiences in an effort to lower the likelihood of overconsumption. “By understanding the key drivers of hedonic overconsumption, we can develop strategies to help prevent its occurrence,” he said.

Fitness Flash: Climbing Stairs for Longevity

Fitness Flash

Climbing Stairs for Longevity

Choose stairs over elevators for your health

Cardiovascular disease is largely preventable through actions like exercise. However, more than one in four adults worldwide do not meet recommended levels of physical activity. Stair climbing is a practical and easily accessible form of physical activity that is often overlooked, according to research presented at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology.

To help determine whether climbing stairs, as a form of physical activity, could play a role in reducing the risks of cardiovascular disease and premature death, the study’s authors collected the best available evidence on the topic and conducted a meta-analysis. Studies were included regardless of the number of flights of stairs and the speed of climbing. There were nine studies with 480,479 participants in the final analysis—including both healthy participants and those with a previous history of heart attack or peripheral arterial disease. Ages ranged from 35 to 84 years old and 53% of participants were women.

Compared with not climbing stairs, stair climbing was associated with a 24% reduced risk of dying from any cause and a 39% lower likelihood of dying from cardiovascular disease. Stair climbing was also linked with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, heart failure, and stroke.

“Based on these results, we would encourage people to incorporate stair climbing into their day-to-day lives…If you have the choice of taking the stairs or the lift, go for the stairs, as it will help your heart,” said study author Dr. Sophie Paddock of the University of East Anglia and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust in Norwich, UK. “Even brief bursts of physical activity have beneficial health impacts, and short bouts of stair climbing should be an achievable target to integrate into daily routines.”

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Olive Oil Hunter News #175

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Mixed Berry Buckle Recipe, Spotlight on Blackberries, Pastry Cutters, Vitamin D Needs Vary and How Incentives Help You Move More

Whether you’re hosting a 4th of July party or need a dish to bring to a celebration, berry buckle checks all the boxes. It has the essential red, white, and blue look, thanks to its abundance of berries, can be made early in the day (or even the night before), and travels with ease if it’s to bring to a BBQ or picnic. While such outdoor activities can offer a boost of vitamin D, a new research review points out that how much you need is very individualized, and a one-size-fits-all approach to taking supplements probably isn’t effective for everyone. Need more motivation than being in sunshine to move more? Another study I’m sharing found that incentives can really make a difference. 

Mixed Berry Buckle

  • Mixed Berry Buckle Mixed Berry Buckle

    When it comes to cobblers versus cakes, a buckle is the best of both worlds—a rich batter heavily studded with fresh fruit and topped with a crunchy crumble. As it bakes, the batter rises, or buckles, over the berries as the crumble crisps and browns. This version uses three berries for a red, white, and blue theme (the cake itself counts as the “white”!). The following proportions are for a large cake that will feed a crowd or provide delicious leftovers for breakfast the next day.

    Ingredients

    For the crumble topping:

    • 4 ounces unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
    • 1 cup granulated sugar
    • 2/3 cup flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

    For the cake:

    • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the baking dish
    • 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
    • 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
    • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
    • 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 8 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature 
    • 2 cups granulated sugar 
    • 8 large eggs
    • 6 cups assorted berries, such as blueberries, blackberries, and sliced strawberries

    Directions

    Step 1

    Make the topping: Use your hands or a pastry blender to turn the butter, sugar, flour, and cinnamon into small bits, ranging from the size of peas to beans. Set aside.

    Step 2

    Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a 13-inch by 9-inch baking dish with olive oil; set aside. To make the batter, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, and baking powder. In a large bowl or standing mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition to combine, then add the olive oil and briefly beat again. Gradually add to the wet ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

    Step 3

    Transfer the batter to your baking dish and use a large offset spatula to smooth the top. Arrange the berries evenly over the top, being sure to get some into the corners of the dish. Crumble the topping evenly over the fruit.

    Step 4

    Bake until the tip of a sharp knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about an hour. Serve while still warm.

    Yields 12 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Blackberries

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Blackberries

Blackberries

Plump, deep-purple blackberries are the unsung heroes of the berry patch. So sweet when ripe, they’re packed with vitamins C, K, and E, fiber (8 grams per cup), and a bounty of health-boosting phytochemicals, including anthocyanin, which gives them their unique color. Like blueberries, they hold their shape well when baked. Look for them at your farmers’ market or try growing them yourself.

 

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Pastry cutters

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Pastry Cutters

Pastry cutters

Also called a dough or pastry blender, a pastry cutter is a handy tool for cutting butter into flour thanks to its stainless steel blades. When making crumble and streusel toppings as well as pastry dough, it can be easier on your hands than using your fingers for the job, especially if you choose a style with an ergonomic cushioned nonslip handle. You simply press down with the pastry cutter, then lift and repeat, moving around your bowl until you get pieces the size that you need.  

For Your Best Health: Vitamin D Needs

For Your Best Health

Vitamin D Needs Vary

A new study from scientists at Trinity College Dublin, published in the journal Clinical Nutrition, sheds light on the complexities of achieving optimal vitamin D status for different population groups, a mystery that is becoming increasingly important to unravel because the incidence of vitamin D deficiency remains high. More than helping to build strong bones, vitamin D regulates many cellular functions in your body, according to the Mayo Clinic. It has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective properties that boost your immune health, your brain cell activity, and how well your muscles function.

The authors analyzed data from half a million participants from the UK and calculated an individualized estimate of each person’s ambient ultraviolet-B (UVB) level, which is the wavelength of sunlight that induces vitamin D synthesis in the skin.

Their comprehensive analysis revealed novel insights. The first is that ambient UVB is a critical predictor of vitamin D status, even in a place like the UK, which receives relatively little sunlight. The second is that your age, sex, BMI, cholesterol level, and vitamin D supplementation significantly influence how you respond to UVB. For example, when BMI and age increase, the amount of vitamin D produced in response to UVB decreases.

“We hope this work can highlight the significant differences in vitamin D levels among different ethnic groups at northern latitudes and contribute to efforts to address the long-standing population health issue of vitamin D deficiency,” said study first author Dr. Margaret M. Brennan, research assistant in the department of public health and primary care in the School of Medicine at Trinity College.

Principal investigator Dr. Lina Zgaga, associate professor of epidemiology at Trinity, added, “We believe our findings have significant implications for the development of tailored recommendations for vitamin D supplementation. Our study underscores the need to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach towards personalized strategies for optimizing vitamin D status.”

Talk to your doctor about assessing your vitamin D status and what you might need to do to boost it.

Fitness Flash: Incentives Help You Move More

Fitness Flash

Incentives Help You Move More

Adults with heart disease risks who received daily reminders or incentives to become more active increased their daily steps by more than 1,500 after a year, and many were still sticking with their new habit six months later, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published in the journal Circulation. 

The improvements, which also resulted in an extra 40 minutes of moderate exercise each week, correlated with a 6% reduced risk of premature death and a 10% reduced risk of cardiovascular-related death, compared to data from prior studies. As a reminder, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends that most adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week, such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, like fast cycling, or a combination of the two, paired with twice-weekly strength sessions.

Researchers found that while a simple daily reminder was effective in helping people move more, offering financial incentives or point-based rewards from playing a game was even more effective…and combining the two incentives was the most effective. Participants who got both were still logging improvements in activity levels six months after the rewards stopped.

“Even moderate exercise can drastically reduce cardiovascular risk, so finding low-cost ways to get people moving and stay[ing] in a fitness program that they can do at home is a huge win for public health,” said Alison Brown, PhD, RD, a program officer at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of NIH.

The study took place between 2019 and 2024. Researchers followed more than 1,000 adults at elevated risk for major cardiovascular events. All participants received a wearable fitness tracker, which connected to an online health portal and enabled researchers to count their baseline daily step count. Participants then set a goal to increase their daily steps by 33%, 40%, 50%, or any amount greater than 1,500 steps from their starting point. (Before the study began, participants in all groups logged an average of about 5,000 daily steps, or 2.4 miles.)

After they set their goals, participants were randomly placed into one of four groups. People in three of the groups were offered incentives: game-like rewards, financial rewards, or a combination of the two. The fourth group was the control group; participants received no incentives but got the fitness tracker, along with daily messages that noted their step count. 

In the game group, each participant received points every week and kept them by meeting their daily step goals. On days they failed to meet their goals they lost points. Participants with enough points moved up a level, and participants who failed to meet goals moved down a level. A family member or friend could act as a participant’s “support crew” and receive weekly updates about their progress. At the end of the study, adults who reached the highest levels by meeting their daily step goals received trophies. In the financial group, each participant received $14 each week, but lost $2 a day if they did not meet their step targets. The third group received both game-like and financial incentives. 

Compared to the control group, the game-incentive group walked an extra 538 steps per day from their baseline amount, while those who received financial incentives walked an extra 492. The group who received both incentives averaged 868 extra steps and maintained an average of 576 more daily steps six months later. 

“The interventions created immediate benefits for participants, and they worked,” said Alexander C. Fanaroff, MD, one of the study authors, an expert in behavior change, and an interventional cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “Research shows it’s easier to think about today instead of the future, whether it’s exercising more to support long-term heart health or saving for a future goal, like college or retirement.”

Researchers said people wanting to change their behavior, especially around exercise, can focus on the same principles used in the study, which created immediate benefits or rewards for movement. For example, there are exercise apps that provide daily reminders and rewards for meeting personal health goals, or people could enlist family and friends for support, and even create scenarios where they lose money by giving it away if they don’t meet their targets. 

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Olive Oil Hunter News #174

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Easy Potato Gnocchi Recipe, Spotlight on 00 Flour, the Useful Potato Ricer, The Health of Plant-Based Diets, and Exercise to Ward Off Depression and Anxiety

Unless you’re skilled at making pasta by hand, “homemade” can seem like a daunting undertaking. Happily, this isn’t the case with gnocchi—it calls for a deliciously simple prep and can be finished with just a luscious drizzle of fresh-pressed olive oil…or with your most elaborate sauce. In addition to two of my gnocchi-making hacks, this edition of the newsletter includes a look at two thought-provoking research reviews. One analyzes dozens of studies on the health benefits of plant-based diets, and the other looks at studies about the mental health benefits of exercising at a slow or medium pace. Together, they can add up to a healthier lifestyle.

Easy Potato Gnocchi

  • Potato Gnocchi Easy Potato Gnocchi

    Intimidated by the idea of making pasta at home? Gnocchi is a happy compromise because you don’t need a pasta machine or endless rolling to achieve delectable results. A 2:1 potato to flour ratio works best; for accuracy, measure with a kitchen scale. For the smoothest dough, use a potato ricer, a handy and inexpensive tool (see the “Quick Kitchen Nugget” in Olive Oil Hunter News). 

    Ingredients

    • 2 pounds Yukon gold or red potatoes, peeled
    • 1 large egg, slightly beaten
    • 1 pound all-purpose or 00 pasta flour, plus more for shaping
    • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 3 teaspoons fine sea salt, divided use

    Directions

    Step 1

    Peel and quarter the potatoes. Steam them on a steaming rack placed over a few inches of water in a large, covered pot until tender, about 25 minutes. The water should stay at a simmer; check halfway through to see if you need to add more. 

    Step 2

    Let the potatoes cool slightly and then press them through a ricer set over a large bowl, working in batches. Add in the egg, flour, olive oil, and 1 teaspoon of salt, and use your hands to mix the ingredients well and knead into a ball. Dust a clean section of your countertop with a handful of flour. Turn out the dough, shape it into a log, and cut it into 6 even sections. One at a time, roll each section into a rope about 1 inch in diameter, lightly flouring your hands as needed. Use a bench scraper to cut each rope into 1-inch pieces.  

    Step 3

    Bring a very large pot of water to a boil. Add the rest of the salt and the gnocchi. Lower the heat to a medium boil and cook until the gnocchi rise to the surface, just a few minutes. Scoop them out with a spider strainer, and top with sauce as desired.

    Yields 4 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Black and White Sesame Seeds

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

00 Flour

Usually I like to use some whole wheat flour in recipes that call for all-purpose flour because it retains all the nutrients of whole wheat. But there are some dishes that truly benefit from the most finely textured (yes, refined) flour—consider them occasional indulgences. That’s the case with gnocchi and 00 flour, also known as doppio (double) zero, one of Italy’s many culinary gifts to us. 

Made from durum wheat, it’s arguably the finest (in terms of texture) and most refined flour available, beloved for making pasta and pizza. It creates a very malleable dough that’s so easy to work with. If you use it, you’ll also notice that it takes less water than all-purpose flour to form a dough, and you may need to adjust proportions when making a recipe that uses all-purpose flour.

Italian brands of 00 flour, like Caputo’s, are readily available here, and American mills, like King Arthur’s and Bob’s Red Mill, have introduced it as well. One important note: There are different versions of 00 flour, some ideal for pasta and others for pizza and bread; read labels carefully so you get the right one for your recipe.  

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Thawing Frozen Fish 

Quick Kitchen Nugget

The Potato Ricer: The Gadget You Didn’t Think You Needed

Potato ricer

No matter how smoothly you mash potatoes, all that elbow grease probably can’t equal the finesse of a potato ricer, a gizmo that turns boiled potatoes (and other foods) into tiny, rice-like pieces that can then be finely mashed or turned into gnocchi. You simply fill the basket with cooked potatoes and press down on a handle to force them through the small holes in the bottom of the basket, then repeat until you’ve riced all your potatoes. 

You can also run any fruit or vegetable that’s been steamed or boiled to a tender consistency through a ricer. Some people love it for making fruit butters and coulis or for making spaetzle—fill the bucket with your dough and press down on the handle as you hold the ricer over simmering water. 

Look for a ricer with a large bucket—you won’t have to refill it as often—and ergonomic handles that require less effort to press. Some brands offer interchangeable plates with different hole sizes. Note: It won’t rice potato skins, so you’ll miss out on those nutrients. If you forget to peel the potatoes before cooking, it’s no calamity—the skins will collect in the bucket, and you’ll just need to remove them before you add the next batch.

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

For Your Best Health

Food for Thought: Assessing the Health of Plant-Based Diets

We know that eating too much meat, refined grains, sugar, and salt and too few plant-based foods increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Vegetarian and vegan diets have been linked to better health outcomes, but no one had really taken a deep dive into the overall benefits reported in various research papers…until now. Dr. Angelo Capodici and colleagues at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy, set out to do just that and see what could be gleaned. 

They reviewed 48 papers published between January 2000 and June 2023, which had themselves been compiled as evidence from multiple prior studies. They extracted and analyzed data on links between plant-based diets, cardiovascular health, and cancer risk.

Their analysis, published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, showed that, overall, vegetarian and vegan diets have a robust statistical association with better health status on a number of risk factors associated with cardiometabolic diseases, cancer, and mortality, such as blood pressure, management of blood sugar, and body mass index. Such diets are associated with reduced risk of ischemic heart disease, gastrointestinal and prostate cancer, and death from cardiovascular disease. (One interesting note: Among pregnant women specifically, those with vegetarian diets faced no difference in their risk of gestational diabetes and hypertension compared to those on non-plant-based diets.)

Taken as a whole, these findings suggest that plant-based diets are associated with significant health benefits. The authors summed it up this way: “Our study evaluates the different impacts of animal-free diets for cardiovascular health and cancer risk, showing how a vegetarian diet can be beneficial to human health and be one of the effective preventive strategies for the two most impactful chronic diseases on human health in the 21st century.”

However, the researchers pointed out that the strength of this association is limited by the many differences between past studies in terms of the specific diet regimens followed, patient demographics, study duration, and other factors. Moreover, some plant-based diets may introduce vitamin and mineral deficiencies for some people. So, they also cautioned against large-scale recommendation of plant-based diets until more research is completed.

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

Fitness Flash

This Type of Exercise May Ward Off Depression and Anxiety

A new study review conducted at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK, has found a significant link between participating in low-to-moderate-intensity exercise and better mental health.

Researchers carried out a review of studies from around the world to examine the potential of physical activity as a mental health intervention. Their analysis, published in the journal  Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, found that physical activity reduced the risk of depression by 23% and anxiety by 26%. It was also significantly associated with reduced risk of severe mental health conditions, including a reduction in psychosis/schizophrenia by 27%.

A particularly strong association was found between low- and moderate-intensity physical activity—which included activities such as gardening, golf, and walking—and a reduced risk of depression. Somewhat surprisingly, this was not strongly observed for high-intensity exercise. The results were consistent in both men and women, across different age groups, and around the world.

Healthy female gardner

Lead author Lee Smith, PhD, professor of public health and an epidemiologist with expertise in physical activity and sedentary behavior, said, “Preventing mental health complications effectively has emerged as a major challenge, and an area of paramount importance in the realm of public health. These conditions can be complex and necessitate a multi-pronged approach to treatment, which may encompass pharmacological interventions, psychotherapy, and lifestyle changes.

“These effects of physical activity intensity on depression highlight the need for precise exercise guidelines. Moderate exercise can improve mental health through biochemical reactions, whereas high-intensity exercise may worsen stress-related responses in some individuals.” 

Dr. Smith added, “Acknowledging differences in people’s response[s] to exercise is vital for effective mental health strategies, suggesting any activity recommendations should be tailored for the individual. The fact that even low to moderate levels of physical activity can be beneficial for mental health is particularly important, given that these levels of activity may be more achievable for people who can make smaller lifestyle changes without feeling they need to commit to a high-intensity exercise program.”

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Olive Oil Hunter News #173

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

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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