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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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Olive Oil Hunter News #182

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Seafood and Avocado Salad Recipe, Spotlight on Dill and Herb Scissors, Could Your Diet Be Increasing Your Anxiety? And Knee Arthritis, Exercise, and Your Subconscious

Are you usually underwhelmed when you buy premade seafood salad? Making your own is not only tastier but also less expensive. And prepared with healthful ingredients, like extra virgin olive oil and avocado instead of questionable fillers, it’s also good for you. The distinction between healthy and unhealthy fats is made clear in the first study that I’m sharing—you’ll see why a diet of saturated fat is linked to anxiety. Turning to fitness, many people with knee arthritis don’t heed their doctor’s advice to exercise…here are the results of a study that found they may have a subconscious resistance to activity.

Seafood and Avocado Salad

  • Seafood Avocado Salad Seafood and Avocado Salad

    Pick your own culinary adventure with the seafood you choose for this dish—succulent lobster meat, crabmeat, shrimp, calamari rings, or any combination. I love to serve the seafood in avocado halves, but if you prefer a handheld meal, add avocado cubes to the mix and sandwich it between ciabatta slices that have been lightly toasted or grilled and drizzled with olive oil.

    Ingredients

    • 1 pound cooked shellfish
    • 8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
    • 1 cucumber, diced
    • 1/2 cup chopped red onion
    • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, plus more to taste
    • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
    • Coarse sea salt to taste
    • Freshly ground black pepper to taste
    • 3 ripe avocados, halved and pitted 

    Directions

    In a large bowl, mix the shellfish, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, olive oil, vinegar, and dill. Taste and season as desired with salt and pepper. Divide the salad among the avocado halves, mounding it high (a large ice cream scoop works well).

    Yields 6 servings 

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Dill

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Dill

Fresh dill is a delicate yet delicious addition to many types of salads, including various versions of potato salad, and can be used for enhancing eggs, dishes with smoked or fresh salmon, and dressings. Because of its feathery shoots, dill makes a showy garnish. It’s best used in cold dishes; when using it during cooking, add it at the very last minute or right after you’ve removed the food from the heat. 

It’s easy to grow dill in your herb garden (it often reseeds itself) or plant it in a window box so you can regularly reach for it. If you buy a bunch from the store or farmers’ market, place the stems in a tall glass of water, cover the tops, and refrigerate to increase shelf life. As with other fresh herbs, it can be puréed with extra virgin olive oil and frozen in an ice cube tray for future use (bag the cubes as soon as they become solid). Dill is sold dried as dill weed, with a very mild flavor that actually improves when heated. 

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Herb Scissors

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Herb Scissors

Herb scissors

This nifty gadget makes mincing herbs nearly effortless. Rather than a single blade, herb scissors have multiple blades—up to 5—that chop your herbs for you as you snip. There are also single blade herb shears for cutting larger-leaf herbs and herb strippers that strip herbs from their stems.  

For Your Best Health: Could Your Diet Be Increasing Your Anxiety?

For Your Best Health

Could Your Diet Be Increasing Your Anxiety?

When stressed out, many of us turn to junk food for solace. But new University of Colorado Boulder research suggests this strategy may backfire. The study found that, in rats, a high-fat diet disrupts gut bacteria, alters behavior and, through the complex pathway that connects the gut to the brain, influences brain chemicals in ways that fuel anxiety. It’s important to note that the researchers are not talking about healthy fats like those found in fish, olive oil, nuts, and seeds—these are considered anti-inflammatory and good for the brain.

“Everyone knows that [high-fat junk foods] are not healthy foods, but we tend to think about them strictly in terms of a little weight gain,” said lead author Christopher Lowry, PhD, a professor of integrative physiology at CU Boulder. “If you understand that they also impact your brain in a way that can promote anxiety, that makes the stakes even higher.”

Dr. Lowry’s team divided adolescent rats into two groups: Half got a standard diet of about 11% fat for nine weeks while the others got a high-fat diet of 45% fat, consisting mostly of saturated fat from animal products. (The typical American diet is about 36% fat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) Throughout the study, the researchers collected fecal samples and assessed the animals’ microbiome, or gut bacteria. After nine weeks, the animals underwent behavioral tests.

Importantly, the researchers stressed that not all fats are bad, and that healthy fats like those found in fish, olive oil, nuts, and seeds can be anti-inflammatory and good for the brain.

When compared to the control group, the group eating a high-fat diet, not surprisingly, gained weight. But the animals also showed significantly lower diversity of gut bacteria. Generally speaking, more bacterial diversity is associated with better health, Dr. Lowry explained. These mice hosted far more of a category of bacteria called firmicutes and less of a category called bacteroidetes. A higher firmicutes-to-bacteroidetes ratio has been associated with the typical industrialized diet and obesity.

The high-fat diet group also showed higher expression of three genes—tph2, htr1a, and slc6a4—involved in the production and signaling of the neurotransmitter serotonin, particularly in a region of the brainstem called cDRD and associated with stress and anxiety.

While serotonin is often billed as a feel-good brain chemical, Dr. Lowry pointed out that certain subsets of serotonin neurons can, when activated, prompt anxiety-like responses in animals. In fact, heightened expression of tph2, or tryptophan hydroxylase, in the cDRD has been linked to mood disorders and suicide risk in people.

“To think that just a high-fat diet could alter expression of these genes in the brain is extraordinary,” said Dr. Lowry. “The high-fat group essentially had the molecular signature of a high anxiety state in their brain.” He suspects that an unhealthy microbiome compromises the gut lining, enabling bacteria to slip into the body’s circulation and communicate with the brain via the vagus nerve, an important pathway from the gastrointestinal tract to the brain.

“If you think about human evolution, it makes sense,” Dr. Lowry explained. “We are hardwired to really notice things that make us sick so we can avoid those things in the future.” 

His advice: Eat as many different kinds of fruits and vegetables as possible, add fermented foods to your diet to support a healthy microbiome, and lay off the pizza and fries. Also, if you do have a hamburger, add a slice of avocado. Some research shows that good fats can counteract some of the effects of bad fats.

Fitness Flash: Knee Arthritis, Exercise, and Your Subconscious

Fitness Flash

Knee Arthritis, Exercise, and Your Subconscious

Yoga poses for knee exercise

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a common cause of pain and joint stiffness. And while physical activity is known to ease symptoms, only one in 10 people regularly exercises. Understanding what contributes to this inactivity is the focus of a study from the University of South Australia (UniSA) in Adelaide, where researchers found that people with knee OA unconsciously believe that activity may be dangerous to their condition, despite medical advice telling them otherwise.

The study found that of those surveyed, 69% of people with knee pain had stronger implicit (or unconscious) beliefs that exercise was dangerous than did the average person without pain. This highlights not only the conflicted nature of pain and exercise but also the fact that what people say and what people think, deep down, may be entirely different things.

Lead researcher and UniSA PhD candidate Brian Pulling said the research provides valuable insights for helping people with knee arthritis. “Research shows that physical activity is good for people with knee OA, but most people with this condition do not move enough to support joint or general health,” Pulling said. “To understand why people with OA might not be active, research studies typically use questionnaires to assess fear of moving. But unfortunately, questionnaires are limited—what we feel deep down (and how our system naturally reacts to something that is threatening) may be different than what we report. And we still know that many people are avoiding exercise, so we wanted to know why.”

To do so, the researchers developed a tool called the Implicit Association Test that can detect and evaluate people’s implicit beliefs about exercise, meaning whether they unconsciously think activity is dangerous for their condition. The test presents a series of words and images which a participant must quickly associate with being either safe or dangerous. It intentionally promotes instant responses to avoid deliberation and other influencing factors (such as responding how they think they should respond).

“We found that even among those who said they were not fearful about exercise, they held unconscious beliefs that movement was dangerous,” Pulling said. “Our research shows that people have complicated beliefs about exercise, and that they sometimes say one thing if asked directly yet hold a completely different implicit belief. This research suggests that to fully understand how someone feels about an activity, we must go beyond just asking directly, because their implicit beliefs can sometimes be a better predictor of actual behavior than what people report. That’s where our tool is useful.”

The tool has the potential to identify a group of people who may have challenges to increasing their activity levels and undertaking exercise. Added Tasha Stanton, PhD, Associate Professor in clinical pain neuroscience and co-Director and Osteoarthritis Research Theme Lead at IIMPACT in Health at UniSA, “Having access to more accurate and insightful information will help health professionals better support their patients to engage with activity and exercise. It may also open opportunities for pain science education, exposure-based therapy, or cognitive functional therapy…things that would not usually be considered for someone who said that they were not scared to exercise.” 

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Olive Oil Hunter News #181

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Orange-Raspberry Muffins Recipe, Spotlight on Almond Flour, Juicing Fruit, The Benefits of Limiting Processed and Red Meats, and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

Packaged gluten-free baked goods are often tasteless, not to mention filled with additives and other unhealthy ingredients. In just a few minutes, you can bake your own delicious muffins that are so tasty that they won’t provoke eye rolls from gluten lovers. While gluten should be avoided only by those with a sensitivity or celiac disease, a recent study found that everyone can benefit from eating fewer processed and red meats—the health benefits are astounding. Then read about a newly discovered benefit of high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

Orange-Raspberry Muffins

  • Orange raspberry muffins Orange-Raspberry Muffins

    The combination of olive oil and almond flour creates a tender crumb that rivals any flour-based batter and a muffin that’s infinitely more nutritious. I like to use “tulip-shaped” cupcake liners because you can fill them right up to the level of your baking tin for very tall muffins. Also, topping the batter with berries after filling the liners helps keep the fruit from falling to the bottom. 

    Ingredients

    • 3 cups almond flour
    • 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
    • 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
    • 1/2 cup sugar, divided use 
    • Freshly grated zest of 1 large orange
    • 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
    • 6 eggs, separated
    • 1 tablespoon vanilla paste
    • 1 cup raspberries

    Directions

    Step 1

    Preheat your oven to 350°F. Place tulip-shaped cupcake liners in the cups of a 12-muffin tin; set aside.

    Step 2

    In a large bowl, sift together the almond flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the olive oil, 1/4 cup sugar, orange zest and juice, egg yolks, and vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture.

    Step 3

    In a very large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites on a low speed to break them up, about a minute. Once they start to foam, increase the speed to high and add the remaining sugar. Whip until the whites form stiff peaks, then use a large spatula to gently fold them into the almond flour mixture in 3 or 4 batches, rotating your mixing bowl as you move your spatula from the center out to the sides. Don’t overmix to avoid deflating the batter—a few streaks of whites are OK.

    Step 4

    Use a large ice cream scoop to fill the paper liners up to the level of your baking tin. Top with equal amounts of berries. Bake the muffins for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tip of a sharp knife comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

    Yields 12 muffins

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Almond Flour

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Almond Flour

Almond flour, like other nut flours, is wonderful for baking, whether you’re making muffins, a cake like a dacquoise or torte, cookies, or even pie shells. You can grind your own from fresh almonds or buy it by the bag. Some brands are made of blanched almonds, but those made with the almond skins offer even more nutrients. Like almonds themselves, almond flour is naturally rich in vitamin E and other antioxidants, manganese, and magnesium, with a healthy dose of protein and fiber. To keep it fresh, store it in the fridge or freezer.

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Juicer or Hand Squeezer?

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Juicer or Hand Squeezer?

Woman juicing grapefruit

When a recipe calls for any type of citrus juice, fresh-squeezed is a must. The question then becomes whether to use a hand press or an electric citrus juicer. The answer depends on how much juice you’ll be making. 

For a few tablespoons up to a cup, a metal hand press (look for one with ergonomic handles) will work well with minimal strain on your hands—it does take effort to squeeze its handles together, and you might need different sizes for juicing limes, lemons, and oranges effectively. For juicing large quantities, it pays to have an electric juicer for ease and speed; this countertop appliance can handle all sizes of citrus and can be stored in a cabinet when not needed. There are also large, commercial-grade manual juicers that sit on a flat surface and that you operate by pushing down on a lever to extract the juice, but these tend to take up a lot of counter space.  

For Your Best Health: The Benefits of Limiting Processed and Red Meats

For Your Best Health

The Benefits of Limiting Processed and Red Meats

While many studies have identified links between frequent consumption of processed meat and chronic disease, few have evaluated the impact on multiple health outcomes. Some previous research also suggested that unprocessed red meat may contribute to chronic disease risk, but evidence has been limited.

Now, a team from the University of Edinburgh’s Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems, together with researchers from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has used data from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention national health survey to create a simulated, representative sample of the US adult population—called a microsimulation—in order to estimate how changes in meat consumption affect adults’ risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, and death. The effects were evaluated in the overall population and separately based on age, sex, household income, and ethnicity.

This microsimulation is the first to estimate the effects of reducing processed meat and unprocessed red meat consumption, from between 5 percent and 100 percent, on multiple health outcomes in the US. They found that cutting processed meat intake by 30 percent (the equivalent of around 10 slices of bacon a week) would prevent more than 350,000 cases of diabetes and lead to 92,500 fewer cardiovascular disease cases and 53,300 fewer colorectal cancer cases over a decade.

The researchers also analyzed the impacts of reducing unprocessed red meat intake alone and cutting consumption of both processed meat and unprocessed red meat. Cutting unprocessed red meat intake alone by 30 percent, which would mean eating around one less quarter-pound beef burger a week, resulted in more than 732,000 fewer diabetes cases, 291,500 fewer cardiovascular disease cases, and 32,200 fewer colorectal cancer cases. Reducing consumption of both by 30 percent resulted in 1,073,400 fewer diabetes cases, 382,400 fewer cardiovascular disease cases, and 84,400 fewer colorectal cancer cases.

The finding that more disease cases were prevented by reducing unprocessed red meat than by reducing processed meat is partly due to the average daily intake of unprocessed red meat being higher than that of processed meat, at 47 grams a day versus 29 grams a day, respectively. As less is known about the effect of eating unprocessed red meat on chronic disease risk, the team said these estimates should be interpreted with caution and that more research is needed.

Lindsay Jaacks, PhD, professor, Personal Chair of Global Health and Nutrition at the University of Edinburgh, and one of the authors of the study, said, “Cutting consumption of meat has been recommended by national and international organizations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including by the Climate Change Committee here in the UK and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Our research finds that these changes in diets could also have significant health benefits in the US, and so this is a clear win-win for people and planet.”

The study, “Estimated effects of reductions in processed meat consumption and unprocessed red meat consumption on occurrences of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, and mortality in the USA: a microsimulation study,” was published in TheLancet Planetary Healthand was funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Fitness Flash: An Exercise Brain Boost That Can Last for Years

Fitness Flash

An Exercise Brain Boost That Can Last for Years

Senior woman running on treadmill

A longitudinal study led by Emeritus Professor Perry Bartlett, PhD, and Daniel Blackmore, PhD, of the University of Queensland’s Queensland Brain Institute found that high-intensity interval exercise improves brain function in healthy older adults for up to five years. The research was published inAging and Disease.

Dr. Bartlett said it is the first controlled study of its kind to show that exercise can not only delay cognitive decline but also boost cognition in healthy older adults. “Six months of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is enough to flick the switch,” Dr. Bartlett said. “In earlier preclinical work, we discovered exercise can activate stem cells and increase the production of neurons in the hippocampus, improving cognition. In this study, a large cohort of healthy 65- to 85-year-old volunteers joined a six-month exercise program, did biomarker and cognition testing, and had high-resolution brain scans.”

During the study, the researchers assessed the impact of three exercise intensities: low—predominantly motor function, balance, and stretching; medium—brisk walking on a treadmill; and high—four cycles of running on a treadmill at near maximum exertion. Participants exercised three times a week, for between 36 and 45 minutes per session including warmup and cooldown, and under supervision for 6 months. 

Dr. Blackmore said only the high-intensity interval exercise led to cognitive improvement that was retained for up to five years. “On high-resolution MRI scans of that group, we saw structural and connectivity changes in the hippocampus, the area responsible for learning and memory,” he said. “We also found blood biomarkers that changed in correlation to improvements in cognition. Biomarkers can be useful in predicting the effectiveness of the exercise a person is doing.”

Aging is one of the biggest risks for dementia, a condition that affects almost half a million Australians. “If we can change the trajectory of aging and keep people cognitively healthier for longer with a simple intervention like exercise, we can potentially save our community from the enormous personal, economic, and social costs associated with dementia,” Dr. Bartlett said.

With one out of three people aged 85 likely to develop dementia, Dr. Blackmore said, the impact of the research is far-reaching. “Our finding can inform exercise guidelines for older people and further research could assess different types of exercise that could be incorporated. We are now looking at the genetic factors that may regulate a person’s response to exercise to see if we can establish who will and who will not respond to this intervention. The use of biomarkers as a diagnostic tool for exercise also needs further research,” he added. 

Since HIIT has benefits for people of any age, from heart health to a metabolism boost, talk to your doctor or personal trainer about adding it to your exercise regimen.

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