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Olive Oil Hunter News #188

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Potato Frittata Recipe, Spotlight on Condimento Bianco Senape and Blackcurrants, Steaming Potatoes, and A Surprising Benefit of Exercise for Women

Autumn is a wonderful time to get together with family and friends, and what better way than over brunch? If you’re looking for a simple yet satisfying dish, my potato frittata fits the bill. It features Condimento Bianco Senape, a unique vinegar in my brand new collection of artisanal vinegars from the T. J. Robinson Curated Culinary Selections. Sweet, fragrant, and with a hint of mustard, it’s crafted in the style of a fine Italian balsamic (read below to learn why there’s actually no such thing as “white balsamic”). You’ve never tasted anything like it before—get ready to fall in love! 

Also in this issue…I’m sharing fascinating research on blackcurrants, a powerful member of the berry family that might hold the answer to protecting women’s bones in midlife and beyond. Keep reading and you’ll also find out about a surprising benefit of exercise.

Potato Frittata

  • Potato Frittata Potato Frittata

    Elegant enough for a brunch party, this egg-and-potato dish is also easy enough for a casual weekend breakfast. The potatoes can be steamed a day or two in advance.

    Ingredients

    • 1 pound red potatoes
    • 8 eggs
    • 2 ounces freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
    • 2 tablespoons milk
    • 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
    • Coarse sea salt
    • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
    • 1 large leek, twiced rinsed, trimmed of the tough, dark green ends, and sliced into 1/4-inch discs
    • 2 tablespoons Condimento Bianco Senape, plus more for drizzling

    Directions

    Step 1

    Cut the potatoes into 1/4-inch slices. Steam them on a steamer rack over simmering water until tender, about 25 minutes. 

    Step 2

    In a bowl, whisk the eggs until no whites show, then whisk in the cheese, milk, black pepper, and 1 teaspoon salt until well combined. 

    Step 3

    Heat a 14-inch skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the olive oil and the leeks. Sprinkle with a big pinch of salt and sauté until the leeks soften and turn light brown, about 10 minutes. Layer on the potato slices, overlapping them a bit. Pour on the egg mixture. Cover the pan and cook without disturbing over medium heat until the eggs firm up, about 8 minutes. Drizzle on the vinegar, cover the pan again, and remove from heat. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing into wedges. Drizzle each portion with more olive oil and vinegar.

    Yields 4 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Condimento Bianco Senape 

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Condimento Bianco Senape 

Condimento Bianco Senape, or White Condiment with Mustard

I want to set the record straight—“white balsamic” is not a recognized type of vinegar in Italy. That’s because, by its very nature, balsamic vinegar must be made solely with grape must (grape juice made from all parts of the grapes) that naturally darkens to its signature purple-brown color. That being said, my new Condimento Bianco Senape, or White Condiment with Mustard, is reminiscent of a fine balsamic because it’s crafted in the perfect ratio of two parts white cooked grape must to one part white wine vinegar by the amazing vinegar producers known for their balsamic vinegars, Società Agricola Acetomodena in Modena, Italy. Both the grape must and wine vinegar are made solely from Acemodena’s own Trebbiano grapes, which give it its unique light color, and not their Lambrusco ones, which give traditional balsamic its deep color. 

The idea for creating a complex, mustard-seed infused white wine vinegar in the sweet style of balsamic came from Patrizia Vecchi, the wife of Acetomodena owner Paolo Vecchi. She was inspired by the ancient Roman cooking technique of using a white vinegar along with honey and mustard to get a delicious crust on spit-roasted pork. The white mustard seeds, which are entirely edible, add a subtle layer of flavor to my Condimento Bianco Senape that would be lost in a traditional balsamic. 

You’ll use this mustard vinegar to effortlessly create a rich and silky vinaigrette just by whisking in fresh-pressed olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper. I love its sweetness yet will also blend it with other vinegars when I want a bit more tartness. Use it as a marinade for poultry, pork, and fish. Drizzle it on steak and burgers, gourmet sandwiches with prosciutto and other meats, bruschetta with tomatoes, fresh salads like rocket with pine nuts and a drizzle of honey, and my eggless Caesar salad which along with the potato frittata are just two of the many recipes included in the Vinegar Report that comes with the collection. 

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Steaming Potatoes

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Steaming Potatoes

Steaming potatoes keeps them from falling apart and preserves more of their nutrients than boiling. Simply scrub and slice or cube your potatoes and arrange them in a steamer basket set over two inches of simmering water in a stockpot. You can load the basket with two layers of potatoes, but try to keep some space between the pieces for the steam to get through. The potatoes are done when the tip of a knife easily pierces the flesh; start checking after 25 minutes.

For Your Best Health: Blackcurrants for Better Bones?

For Your Best Health

Blackcurrants for Better Bones?

Research done at the University of Connecticut (UConn) has identified blackcurrants, a tart berry known in French foods and liqueurs as cassis, as a potential way of countering the bone density loss experienced by women in the years surrounding menopause. 

For many years, Ock Chun, PhD, MPH, professor of nutritional sciences in UConn’s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR), has been investigating the berry’s potential to ameliorate a host of conditions including postmenopausal bone loss and osteoporosis. One of her previous studies showed that in mice, blackcurrant supplements helped prevent bone density loss postmenopause, and that the best time to start taking these supplements is in the transition between pre- and postmenopause, before bone loss has significantly progressed. With these findings in hand, Chun and her team wanted to see whether the benefits would translate to people. The new study, published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, found that the supplements prevented the loss of, and in some cases even increased, whole-body bone mineral density in women.

Blackcurrants

The study involved 40 perimenopausal and early postmenopausal participants between the ages of 45 and 60. They were randomly assigned to take either one or two capsules of blackcurrant powder (392 milligrams per capsule) or a placebo daily for six months. The researchers found that the supplements prevented the loss of whole-body bone mineral density and that the group of participants who took two capsules a day actually showed overall increases in bone mineral density at the end of the six-month trial period.

The researchers looked at changes to the gut microbiome and immune system, which interact to play a key role in bone metabolism. They found that the blackcurrant supplements decreased levels of proteins called interleukin-1 beta and RANKL. Interleukin-1 beta stimulates the expression of RANKL, which causes bone resorption and thus a decrease in bone density. “The reduction in RANKL is important because that can cause shifts toward excessive bone resorption, so we’d want to see a decrease in that,” said graduate student Briana Nosal, first author of the paper.

Taking the supplements also increased Ruminococcus 2, bacteria found in the gut microbiome that help degrade polysaccharides and fibers. This is a key function that transforms the foods we eat into energy. This led the researchers to infer that it could be one of the bacteria driving the protective effects blackcurrant has on bones. “It’s all related, and there’s a lot of research showing the gut can regulate various systems in the body,” Nosal said.

The researchers identified a total of four proteins that had increased expression in the group of participants who took two daily supplement capsules. These could serve as potential biomarkers for the changes in bone density that they observed and potentially allow researchers or medical professionals to quickly and easily assess whether the blackcurrant supplementation is benefiting bone density.

This study is especially important for perimenopausal and early postmenopausal women who have or are at risk of developing osteoporosis. While medications for osteoporosis do exist, compliance is low due because of side effects. If a blackcurrant supplement can improve bone density without the same side effects, it could prove to be an effective alternative.

As the research team continues to study the relationship between blackcurrant and its benefits to the body, they’ll try to better understand why exactly they’re seeing these results and “how all our findings connect to each other,” Nosal said. “Conducting that multifaceted research will really paint the picture of how everything works, the different mechanisms, and what we can do for next steps.”

Fitness Flash

A surprising Benefit of Exercise for Women

Recent research led by Donald S. Wright, MD, MHS, of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale School of Medicine and published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that sticking with an exercise program is linked to older women staying out of the hospital.

This retrospective study evaluated 718 older adults with a mean age of 69.5; three-quarters were women. The researchers compared the outcomes of those who participated in a structured, individualized exercise training program at a privately owned gym in their community for at least three months (411 participants) to the outcomes of those who did not. The structured program consisted of guided sessions of cardiovascular, strength, and flexibility training monitored by exercise physiologists. Participants completed a baseline physical assessment and quarterly reassessments of physical performance including measuring vital signs, strength (bicep curl or grip strength), mobility (as measured by the ability to easily go from sitting to standing), balancing on one leg, and aerobic capacity. These data were paired with regional hospital data and a national mortality database. Participants were followed for over two years. 

When the researchers compared outcomes of older adults who participated in the exercise program with outcomes of those who did not, they found that the risk for all-cause hospitalization was 46 percent lower among the women in the exercise program. Surprisingly, this benefit was not seen among the men. 

The researchers pointed out that the study doesn’t establish cause and effect between exercise and not needing healthcare, just a link, albeit a positive one for women. It’s also not known whether the people who dropped out of the structured exercise program exercised independently, potentially narrowing the observed differences between the groups. They also warned that participants may not be fully representative of the broader US population because they were all from one area of the country and had all been motivated to sign up for the gym program on their own.

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Olive Oil Hunter News #187

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Spinach-and-Cheese-Stuffed Shells Recipe, Spotlight on San Marzano Tomatoes, Grating Parmigiano-Reggiano, Reducing Type 2 Diabetes Risk, and A Motivation Reboot

As the nights get cooler, warm, nourishing meals become even more tempting palate-pleasers. My recipe for stuffed shells truly satisfies—it’s one of the new seasonal recipes in the latest edition of my online cookbook Savor the Season: Autumn 2024. Put together family style, it’s a great dish for large gatherings—everyone can dig in on their own. It’s also a very filling meatless option. You’ll read why that’s important in the diabetes-prevention research I’m sharing. Then, to get a motivation boost for healthier living, take a look at some top tips from a leading fitness expert to help you stay on track with your exercise goals.

Spinach-and-Cheese-Stuffed Shells

  • Spinach-and-Cheese-Stuffed Shells Spinach-and-Cheese-Stuffed Shells

    This dish doesn’t just taste great; its pretty presentation will wow family and guests alike. You can make my fresh tomato sauce up to three days in advance, or use 3 cups of your favorite high-quality store-bought sauce for faster prep.

    Ingredients

    For the tomato sauce:

    • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 4 large garlic cloves, minced
    • 1 cup grated yellow or Vidalia onions
    • One 6-ounce can tomato paste
    • 1/2 cup red wine
    • One 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
    • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
    • Pinch of sea salt, more to taste

    For the shells:

    • 1 pound jumbo pasta shells
    • 2 teaspoons sea salt
    • 1 pound mozzarella
    • 1 pound ricotta cheese
    • 2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided use
    • 1 cup cooked spinach, well chopped
    • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for baking 
    • 1 egg, beaten
    • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
    • 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
    • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

    Directions

    Step 1

    Make the sauce: Heat a large saucepan. When hot, add the olive oil, garlic, and onions, and sauté until soft but not browned. Push the vegetables to the outside of the pan and add the tomato paste in the center. Sauté the paste until it browns, to release its flavors. Deglaze the pan with the red wine, then add the tomatoes, oregano, and salt. Use a potato masher to gently crush the tomatoes. Simmer for 20 minutes (or more) while you prepare the shells. 

    Step 2

    Make the stuffed shells: Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil and add the shells and the salt. Cook according to package directions for al dente (don’t overcook, as the shells will soften more in the oven). 

    Step 3

    While the shells are boiling, line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Cut the mozzarella into small cubes. Place the cubes in a large bowl along with the ricotta, 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, spinach, olive oil, egg, oregano, nutmeg, and black pepper; mix thoroughly. 

    Step 4

    Drain the shells, place them on the prepared sheet pan, and use a small spoon to stuff them with the spinach-cheese mixture. Lightly coat a large round or rectangular baking dish with olive oil and add three-quarters of the sauce; use an offset spatula to spread it out evenly. 

    Step 5

    Place the filled shells in the baking dish in a festive pattern, brush the tops of the shells lightly with olive oil, and cover with the rest of the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese topping is thoroughly melted and slightly browned. Serve with the rest of the tomato sauce on the side.

    Yields 4 to 6 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: San Marzano Tomatoes

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

San Marzano Tomatoes

San Marzano Tomatoes

These uniquely shaped Italian tomatoes have long been considered the ultimate in sweetness, but as we’ve seen with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, it’s important to know what’s real and what isn’t. True San Marzano tomatoes are grown in Sarnese-Nocerino, near still-active Mount Vesuvius in the Campania region of Italy. The volcanic soil is responsible for the tomato’s near-perfect balance of sweetness and acidity.  

In recent years, consumers in the US have sued companies whose labels imply that the cans contain San Marzano tomatoes when they don’t. This is not to say that other tomatoes aren’t tasty, but if you want the real thing, look for labels with two essential logos: the red-and-yellow DOP (denominazione d’origine protetta,ordesignation of protected origin) stamp from the EU and the colorful logo of the Agro Sarnese-Nocerino Consorzio, which is the local consortium that makes sure the tomatoes are grown according to its rules. Also, San Marzano tomatoes are always canned whole, peeled, and only in their own juice.

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Grating Parmigiano-Reggiano

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Grating Parmigiano-Reggiano

Grating Parmigiano-Reggiano

If you’re a regular Newsletter reader, you know that only Parmigiano-Reggiano is true “Parmesan” cheese and it will have the word imprinted with a dot pattern all around the rind. How you grate it for a recipe, like my stuffed shells, or for a garnish on, say, Caesar salad, is more nuanced. It depends in part on whether the cheese is to seamlessly meld into a sauce, for instance, or stand out in the form of generous shavings. A sturdy vegetable peeler is a great way to get thin, narrow shavings: Run it along the edge of the wedge. For wide shavings, run a cheese plane over the surface of your wedge. Need a small amount of finely grated cheese? Pull out your microplane grater and shave the cheese right over your dish. For a larger amount, try a box grater—its four sides offer many options (place it over a large sheet of parchment paper to catch the gratings). If you want a very large amount, look to your food processor. Most steel blades will turn cubes into shreds. For a near-powder that will melt easily, Cuisinart has a very fine cheese grating blade that works in seconds—just cut off the rind, cut the cheese into pieces that will fit in the machine’s feed tube, and process. 

For Your Best Health: Reducing Type 2 Diabetes Risk

For Your Best Health

Reducing Type 2 Diabetes Risk

We know about the risks for heart disease and some forms of cancer associated with eating too much red and processed meat. Now an analysis of studies that included nearly two million people across 20 countries has also linked these foods to a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes, a chronic condition that has reached epidemic proportions in the US, according to the National Institutes of Health. (Earlier studies made the association but had varying results.) This research, published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, also looked at whether there’s a link between poultry and diabetes.

The team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK, found that eating 50 grams of processed meat a day—that’s about 2 slices of ham—was associated with a 15 percent higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the next 10 years. Eating 100 grams of unprocessed red meat a day—that’s roughly a 3-ounce steak—was associated with a 10 percent higher risk. Eating 100 grams of poultry a day was associated with an 8 percent higher risk, but when further analyses were done to test the findings under different scenarios, the association for poultry consumption became weaker, whereas the associations with type 2 diabetes for both processed meat and unprocessed meat persisted.

Professor Nita Forouhi of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, a senior author on the paper, said, “Our research provides the most comprehensive evidence to date of an association between eating processed meat and unprocessed red meat and a higher future risk of type 2 diabetes. It supports recommendations to limit the consumption of processed meat and unprocessed red meat to reduce type 2 diabetes cases in the population. While our findings provide more comprehensive evidence on the association between poultry consumption and type 2 diabetes than was previously available, the link remains uncertain and needs to be investigated further.”

The team used theglobal InterConnect project for their work. It’s an approach that allows researchers to analyze individual participant data from diverse studies, rather than being limited to published results. This enabled the authors to include as many as 31 studies in this analysis, 18 of which had unpublished findings on the link between meat consumption and type 2 diabetes. By including this previously unpublished study data, the authors considerably expanded the evidence base and reduced the potential for bias from the exclusion of existing research, they explained.

Said Professor Nick Wareham, director of the MRC Epidemiology Unit and a senior author on the paper, “InterConnect enables us to study the risk factors for obesity and type 2 diabetes across populations in many different countries and continents around the world, helping include populations that are underrepresented in traditional meta-analyses…Using harmonized data and unified analytic methods across nearly two million participants allowed us to provide more concrete evidence of the link between consumption of different types of meat and type 2 diabetes than was previously possible.”

Fitness Flash: A Motivation Reboot

Fitness Flash

A Motivation Reboot

ACE Fitness, the leading organization for fitness professionals, recently published an inspiring blog on staying motivated, written by fitness expert Len Kravitz, PhD, coordinator of exercise science at the University of New Mexico, and students in his Introduction to Exercise Science course. Here are some of the ideas, abbreviated for space, that can help keep you on track with health and fitness goals, important because, as Dr. Kravitz pointed out, 80 percent of adults don’t meet current guidelines for aerobic exercise or resistance exercise. “These tips help target a person’s self-efficacy to adopt an exercise program and avoid dropping out,” he wrote. “As you read through this list, identify those strategies that resonate with you and fit best with your lifestyle, then incorporate those that will make the biggest impact.”

Set realistic health and fitness goals. Make sure they match your abilities, health, and lifestyle. Also break down even short-term three-month goals into smaller, more achievable segments of two to three weeks.

Create a weekly schedule that includes blocks of time for exercise. This helps with consistency.

Diversify. Mix up activities within each type of exercise—cardio, strength training, and flexibility. 

Track your progress. Seeing your achievements in black and white helps keep you enthusiastic. 

Create or join a network of fitness friends. Exercise loves company! 

Give yourself rewards. Treat yourself to new exercise clothes or gear, flowers, or something special you’ve been eyeing. 

Aim for consistency over intensity. Slow and steady wins the race. 

Set reminders. Use your smartphone to ping you 15 minutes before your scheduled workouts.

Create a vision board. This is a real or virtual poster composed of photos, drawings, and quotes that inspire you. 

Go small if needed. Some people find it easier to work out in 10-minute sessions—build up to three a day and you’ll meet daily recommendation of 30 minutes.

Get guidance. Consider hiring a personal trainer to provide expertise, guidance, education, and motivation tailored to you. This could be the smartest money you’ll ever spend on yourself and pay big dividends.

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Olive Oil Hunter News #186

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies Recipe, Spotlight on Hazelnuts and Chocolate Chunks, Weight Loss Diets for YOU, and Evening Activity for Better Sleep

How often do you want to indulge in a sweet treat yet wish that it could be healthier? I’ve got you covered with melt-in-your-mouth cookies! They have a nice dose of fiber, one of the key elements mentioned in a new study on weight loss. And if you’re looking for ways to get more sleep, you’ll be intrigued by the other study I’m sharing—it found that short bursts of activity in the evening may help. 

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

  • Chocolate hazelnut cookies Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

    These cookies take inspiration from buttery shortbread. They come together in minutes, taste sublime, and pack in a good amount of fiber thanks to the whole wheat pastry flour, the hazelnuts, and even the chocolate! 

    Ingredients

    • 3/4 cup pastry flour
    • 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
    • 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
    • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
    • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
    • 2 ounces roasted and skinned hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

    Directions

    Step 1

    Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, and salt. Add the olive oil, chocolate, and hazelnuts, and mix with your hands to form a dough.

    Step 2

    Transfer the dough to a piece of parchment paper about 13 inches by 18 inches and pat it down to flatten it a bit. Top with another piece of parchment and roll out the dough to roughly a 10-inch square. Pop it in the fridge for about 20 minutes to firm up slightly. 

    Step 3

    Discard the top piece of parchment and use a serrated knife to cut the dough into 20 cookies. Carefully separate the cookies (use a small offset spatula if needed), putting about an inch of space between them.

    Step 4

    Slide the parchment with the cookies onto a large cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet halfway through. Let the cookies cool to room temperature before eating.

    Yields 20 cookies

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Hazelnuts

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Hazelnuts

Hazelnuts are one of the unsung stars in the nut category, with a sweet taste that’s best when roasted but not salted. These crunchy nuts pack a lot of nutrients into a single ounce: 3 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein, and 17 grams of fat—76 percent of which are healthy monounsaturated fats and 12 percent are healthy polyunsaturated fats. Hazelnuts also provide great amounts of vitamin E and the minerals copper and manganese, plus some B1, B6, and magnesium. Toss a handful into salads and vegetable dishes for an added layer of flavor. Ground hazelnuts can be used for baking as well as a substitute for breadcrumbs. 

Because their brown skins can be bitter, remove them when using in a dessert recipe. The simplest way is to boil them for 2 minutes in water and baking soda in these proportions: 1 cup  hazelnuts, 2 cups water, and 3 tablespoons of baking soda. Drain and, when cool enough to handle, use your fingers to pop the nuts out of their skins.

Briefly roasting hazelnuts brings out their sweetness. Spread your skinned nuts in a single layer in a rimmed sheet pan and place in a 350°F preheated oven for 10 minutes or until you can smell their aroma. Note: To save time, you can roast hazelnuts in their skins, then transfer them to a clean dish towel and rub them vigorously; this technique will remove most, though usually not all, of the skins. 

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Chopping Your Own Chocolate Chunks

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Chopping Your Own Chocolate Chunks

I like to fold chocolate chunks rather than store-bought chips into recipes because I can use my favorite chocolate bars and not be limited by the few cacao options in the baking aisle of my supermarket. Simply place your favorite bar on a secure cutting board and use a serrated knife to make cuts along its length, starting from one of the short sides.

For Your Best Health: Weight Loss Diets - Do It Your Way...With These Suggestions

For Your Best Health

Weight Loss Diets: Do It Your Way…With These Suggestions

Foods high in fiber and protein for weightloss

“Flexibility and personalization are key to creating programs that optimize dieters’ success at losing weight and keeping it off,” said Manabu T. Nakamura, PhD, a professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the leader of the new study “Successful dietary changes correlate with weight‐loss outcomes in a new dietary weight‐loss program.”

The research involved a group of dieters who participated in a regimen called the “Individualized Diet Improvement Program,” or iDip, which uses data visualization tools and intensive dietary education sessions to increase dieters’ knowledge of key nutrients, enabling them to create a personalized, safe, and effective weight-loss plan. “Sustainable dietary change, which varies from person to person, must be achieved to maintain a healthy weight. The iDip approach allows participants to experiment with various dietary iterations, and the knowledge and skills they develop while losing weight serve as the foundation for sustainable maintenance,” explained Dr. Nakamura. 

Based on the dietary guidelines issued by the Institutes of Medicine, the iDip team created a one-of-a-kind, two-dimensional quantitative data visualization tool that plots foods’ protein and fiber densities per calorie and provides a target range for each meal. The pillars of iDip are increasing protein and fiber consumption—80 grams of protein and 20 grams of fiber a day—as part of a 1,500-calorie or less daily diet. 

Starting with foods they habitually ate, the dieters created their individualized plans. And, indeed, in addition to personalization and flexibility, participants who consumed greater amounts of protein and fiber had the greatest success. In tracking dieters’ protein and fiber intake, the team found a strong correlation between protein and fiber consumption and weight loss at 3 and at 12 months. “[This] suggests that participants who were able to develop sustainable dietary changes within the first three months kept losing weight in the subsequent months, whereas those who had difficulty implementing sustainable dietary patterns early on rarely succeeded in changing their diet in the later months,” Dr. Nakamura said. The team hypothesized that this correlation could also have been associated with some dieters’ early weight-loss success, which may have bolstered their motivation and adherence to their program.

At the one-year mark, successful dieters (41 percent of participants) had lost 12.9 percent of their body weight, compared with the remainder of the study sample, who lost slightly more than 2 percent of their starting weight. “The research strongly suggests that increasing protein and fiber intake while simultaneously reducing calories is required to optimize the safety and efficacy of weight loss diets,” said first author and University of Illinois alumna Mindy H. Lee, registered dietitian-nutritionist for the iDip program.

Dr. Nakamura emphasized the importance of preserving lean mass while losing weight, especially when using weight-loss drugs. “Recently, the popularity of injectable weight-loss medications has been increasing,” he said. “However, using these medications when food intake is strongly limited will cause serious side effects of muscle and bone loss unless protein intake is increased during weight loss.”

Body composition analysis indicated that iDip dieters maintained their lean body mass, losing an average of 7.1 kilograms of fat mass and minimal muscle mass at the six-month interval. Among those who lost greater than 5 percent of their starting weight, 78 percent of the weight they lost was fat.

The project was funded by the US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

Fitness Flash: Evening Activity for Better Sleep

Fitness Flash

Evening Activity for Better Sleep

Young woman exercising before bed

Rigorous exercise before bed has long been discouraged because it can be stimulating, but researchers from University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, found that short bursts of light activity can lead to better sleep.

For the study, published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, participants completed two four-hour evening sessions of prolonged sitting broken up with 3-minute activity breaks every half hour. The scientists found that after the intervention the participants slept 30 minutes longer.

Lead author Jennifer Gale, PhD candidate in the Department of Human Nutrition at Otago, said that sitting for long periods is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and death. “We know that for many of us, our longest period of uninterrupted sitting happens at home in the evening. In our previous studies we have found that getting up and doing two to three minutes of exercise every 30 minutes reduces the amount of sugar and fat in your bloodstream after a meal. However, many sleep guidelines tell us we shouldn’t do longer bouts of higher intensity exercise in the hours before sleep, so we wanted to know what would happen if you did very short bouts of light intensity activity repeatedly throughout the evening.” 

The activity breaks involved three exercises: chair squats, calf raises, and standing knee raises with straight-leg hip extensions. “These simple body-weight exercises were chosen because they don’t require equipment or a lot of space and you can do them without interrupting the TV show you are watching,” said primary investigator Meredith Peddie, PhD, senior lecturer in the Department of Human Nutrition. “From what we know from other studies, you could probably get a similar effect if you walked around your house, marched on the spot, or even danced in your living room. The most important thing is that you get out of your chair regularly and move your body.” 

The fact that this exercise resulted in longer sleep is particularly important, the researchers pointed out, because insufficient sleep can negatively affect diet and has been associated with heart disease and type 2 diabetes. “We know higher levels of physical activity during the day promote better sleep, but current sleep recommendations discourage high-intensity exercise before bed because it can increase body temperature and heart rate resulting in poor sleep quality,” Dr. Peddie said. She added, “It might be time to review these guidelines as our study has shown regularly interrupting long periods of sitting is a promising health intervention.” 

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Olive Oil Hunter News #185

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Seared Scallops with Farro Recipe, Spotlight on Farro and Scallops, A Fresh Look at Health and Fitness Apps, Plus 15 Minutes to Change Your Health

Craving shellfish, but hesitant to make it at home? Scallops are a great seafood choice and simple to prepare—a quick sear is all it takes for these sweet bites. My recipe pairs them with farro, a fantastic ancient grain. Both are high in nutrients and fit perfectly in a health-conscious diet. If you’re looking for more ways to boost health, two studies from researchers at the University of South Australia are full of easy-to-implement ideas to help people reach their goals.

Seared Scallops with Farro

  • Seared Scallops Seared Scallops with Farro

    This dish comes together in short order yet makes for an elegant presentation. The technique also lends itself to shrimp (if you make that swap, use one pound of peeled shrimp).

    Ingredients

    • 1 tablespoon onion powder
    • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
    • 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
    • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    • 1 pound dry sea scallops
    • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • 1/2 cup white wine or clam juice
    • 2 tablespoons butter
    • 2 cups cooked farro
    • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

    Directions

    Step 1

    Mix the onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper in a pie plate. Heat a large skillet. While the pan is heating, pat the scallops with a paper towel and dredge in the spice mixture. When the pan is ready, add the olive oil and the scallops. Sear the scallops until browned and crispy on the edges, about two minutes on each side, then transfer them to a dish. 

    Step 2

    Add the minced garlic to the pan and sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the wine or clam juice and add the butter, swirling it until it melts into the pan juices. Add the cooked farro and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the parsley. Mound equal amounts of the farro on 4 plates and add equal amounts of scallops. 

    Yields 4 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Farro

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Get Familiar with Farro

Farro salad

Ancient grains are having a resurgence thanks to growing interest in eating foods that haven’t been refined or altered genetically to make mass production easy. Farro is one of these tasty whole grains though it might not be as well-known as barley and quinoa…yet! 

Grown for centuries in the swath of land in the Middle East known as the Fertile Crescent, farro’s popularity first spread across Europe, notably Italy. Its nutty flavor and toothsome texture make it extremely versatile—it’s delicious as a hot side dish, a cold salad, an enrichment to soups and stews, and a breakfast bowl with yogurt and fruit. 

Rich in protein, farro is also a great source of fiber if you choose whole, which is intact, or semi-pearled, which has some of the bran removed. As with dried beans, whole farro benefits from an overnight soak in water before cooking on the stove—put 1 cup in a bowl, cover with water, and pop in the fridge. To cook, drain the farro and add to a pot along with 3 cups of water, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes; the texture should be similar to pasta cooked al dente, slightly firm and chewy, not mushy or gummy.

To extend shelf life, store farro with other whole grains and nuts in the fridge or freezer. 

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Selecting Scallops

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Selecting Scallops

With their sweet taste and firm texture, scallops are a succulent seafood that sautés quickly. You can enjoy them in a traditional garlic and parsley sauce or a tomato-based preparation, or season them with exotic spices. They can be costly but there’s no waste and they’re a great source of protein and other nutrients, including some of the B vitamins and the minerals selenium, zinc, iron, and phosphorus.

Since scallops aren’t typically sold in the shell, like oysters, clams, and other shellfish, you don’t run the risk of getting an “old maid,” or a piece that doesn’t open. But there’s more to choosing scallops than meets the eye. Specifically, you want to always ask for “dry scallops,” which are natural, and avoid “wet” scallops. As the experts at New York’s famed Fulton Fish Market, which ships scallops nationwide, explain, “wet scallops are treated with water and a chemical solution (sodium tripolyphosphate, or STPP) to preserve [them] and keep them white. They have a faint chemical taste and are near-impossible to sear because of the high water content. They release water when cooked, causing them to steam instead of sear.” Always ask if the scallops aren’t marked as being dry.

Unlike other farmed seafood, line-farmed scallops, often produced by small-scale farmers in Maine, are a sustainable alternative to wild-caught. They feed naturally in the ocean as do other farmed bivalves, like mussels and oysters. 

The big question is often whether to buy sea scallops—the large round ones—or small, nugget-like bay scallops. The answer often depends on taste and timing. Sea scallops are usually available year-round, while bay scallops, notably the famed ones from the Northeast’s Nantucket Bay and Peconic Bay, are available in season, which runs from November through March.

For Your Best Health: A Fresh Look at Health and Fitness Apps

For Your Best Health

A Fresh Look at Health and Fitness Apps

Calorie counters and step trackers have sometimes gotten mixed reviews when it comes to their usefulness as diet and exercise aids. But a new analysis by researchers at the University of South Australia (UniSA) in Adelaide that looked at data from 206,873 people across 47 studies found that digital health tools, like mobile apps, websites, and text messages, can indeed pack a real punch when it comes to getting results.

Specifically, electronic and mobile health interventions can help people achieve:

  • 1,329 more steps per day
  • 55 minutes more moderate-to-vigorous exercise per week
  • 45 minutes more overall physical activity per week
  • 7 hours less sedentary behavior per week
  • 103 fewer calories consumed per day
  • 20 percent more fruits and vegetables consumed per day
  • 5.5 grams less saturated fat consumed per day
  • 1.9 kilograms of weight loss over 12 weeks
  • Improved sleep quality
  • Less severe insomnia

“With the rise of preventable chronic diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes, finding mechanisms that can help reduce people’s risk is important,” said UniSA’s Dr. Ben Singh, the paper’s lead researcher. “Our study found that digital and mobile health interventions can have a positive effect on people’s health and well-being, not only helping them to increase their physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior, but also improving their diet and quality of sleep.

“Given the wide accessibility and popularity of health apps, their capability to tailor information and deliver timely reminders and prompts, and scalability to diverse populations, they could be a very effective intervention to promote better health. Making positive changes to your health and well-being can be a challenge—it’s always easier to add kilos to your waistline than it is to reduce them—but by incorporating digital tools into your everyday life, you’re more likely to achieve positive outcomes.”

The research identified consistent findings across different age groups, health behaviors, interventions, and health populations, indicating that digital health apps could help underpin broader public health campaigns. While the researchers recommend more study to better understand the impacts among specific groups of people, at the top line, digital health apps appear to be a win-win for all. Their study were published in the open-access journal npj Digital Medicine.

Fitness Flash: 15 Minutes to Change Your Health

Fitness Flash

Got 15 Minutes to Change Your Health?

In a separate study led by UniSA’s Dr. Singh, researchers found that it takes just 15 minutes and a touch of gamification to put people involved in company wellness programs on the path to success. Assessing results from 11,575 participants across 73 Australian, New Zealand, and UK companies, UniSA researchers found that a gamified six-week workplace wellness program called the 15 Minute Challenge led to substantial increases in physical activity levels, with 95 percent of participants meeting (36 percent) or exceeding (59 percent) physical activity guidelines.

In addition, participants’ average daily physical activity levels increased by 12 minutes per day (85 minutes per week) throughout the six-week challenge, with a median daily exercise duration of 45 minutes. Participants also reported improvements in fitness (14 percent), energy (12 percent), overall health (8 percent), sleep quality (8 percent), and mood (7.1 percent).

The WHO recommends that adults ages 18 to 64 do at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or at least 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity over a week. 

“Regular physical activity provides significant physical and mental health benefits,” said Dr. Singh. “It plays a key role in preventing and managing chronic disease, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer, and it also reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety. Yet around half of Australian adults do not meet the recommended levels of physical activity. With the majority of adults spending much of their waking time working, workplaces present ideal settings for promoting physical activity. The 15 Minute Challenge presents an effective mechanism to help boost employee health and well-being in the workplace.

Office colleagues enjoying exercise at work

“In this study we showed that as little as 15 minutes of physical activity per day can make a big difference when it comes to people’s health and well-being. And while the program only required 15 minutes of daily activity, most people tended to do more. The 15-minute goal essentially serves as an accessible starting point, especially for people who are particularly sedentary. So, it reduces barriers to entry and helps build the habit of regular exercise. Ultimately, the 15 minutes is a catalyst for increased physical activity, with many participants ending up exceeding the minimum goal and moving closer to or surpassing national recommendations.”

UniSA professor Carol Maher, PhD, a co-researcher on the study, said that part of the program’s success is in the gamification and the social aspects of the app. “Encouraging and keeping your teammates accountable through friendly competition is central to the 15 Minute Challenge app, and a key part of what motivates participants to stay committed and connected,” Dr. Maher said. “The program encourages team collaboration to track rankings and display cumulative exercise. Achievements are clearly noted, and successes are celebrated. So, it’s certainly a tool that engages people to work together and have fun. 

“What we need to remember, however, is that addressing inactivity is everyone’s responsibility. So, if an employer can initiate an effective, enjoyable, and cost-effective option to support their employees, it’s a win-win. Physically active employees are happier and healthier; they are more productive, more satisfied, less stressed, and less likely to get sick. Sustainable, scalable initiatives like the 15 Minute Challenge that can support employees to change their health and well-being for the better should be on every employer’s agenda.”

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