The Mighty Walnut

A recent research study reported that, relative to its fellow tree nuts, the walnut is the mightiest nut of all. Based on a comparison of antioxidant quantity and potency, walnuts took a landslide victory over almonds, peanuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamias and pecans. Walnuts are like the kale of the nut family. Yes, kale is that much better than other vegetables!

So let’s step back a second and take a look at nuts in general. Delivered from nature as a perfectly packaged little food, protected from the elements by a hard shell, all nuts can be considered nutritional powerhouses. As a high quality protein source, they can serve as a replacement for animal protein in a vegan or vegetarian meal. They are packed with minerals such as Manganese, Magnesium, Copper and Selenium, along with B-vitamins, vitamin E and fiber.

However, the nut’s true notoriety, whether positive or negative, usually comes from its supply of fat. This quality makes it one of our more calorie dense foods, causing many people to avoid it. Interestingly, studies have shown a reduced risk for obesity and weight gain in correlation with increased consumption of nuts and seeds. Plus it turns out that this fat, predominantly mono and polyunsaturated, is to thank for all this positive press that walnuts (and other nuts) have been getting lately. You see, the fats in nuts are actually quite delicate, so they come packaged along with antioxidants, which provide protection from environmental stressors like air, heat and light. Of all the nuts, walnuts contain the highest levels of omega-3 fats, which are some of the most delicate fats and thus require the greatest quantity and potency of antioxidants to protect them.

While they are an incredibly healthy food, nuts should be eaten in limited quantities. Stick to a handful a day. Just imagine you had to crack each individual nut out of its hard shell… how many would you eat? That’s how many you should have. When possible, consume nuts raw, not roasted. The heat from roasting may compromise healthy fats while destroying antioxidants and live enzymes. Finally, stick to unsalted nuts. All that salt makes a handful feel like such a tease!

American Chemical Society Report
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-03/acs-wat030911.php#

A Summer Side to Soothe the Senses

In many of the hottest climates around the world, the overarching theme of the local cuisine is spice! Think Thai, North African or Indian food – all cultures based close to the equator that commonly use a level of spice and heat in their food deemed intolerable by many outsiders. The rationale is that the spicy food makes you sweat, which facilitates cooling of the core body temperature.

In the United States, our hot weather summer cooking tends to take a slightly more straightforward approach. We utilize the cooling and hydrating effects of cold, raw foods like fresh fruits and vegetables to keep us going in the summer heat.

This week’s recipe is the perfect summer salad, primed to take advantage of both these methods. A simple combination of citrus with Bibb lettuce brings a cooling and hydrating effect while avocado provides a dose of healthy fat. As is, this recipe has a slight sweetness that makes it a perfect pair for a hot and spicy main dish. However, the addition of a little cayenne pepper to the dressing will kick it up a notch and bring the soothing properties of this dish full circle. Top it with some grilled shrimp and call it a day… or a warm summer evening!


Mandarin Avocado Salad w/ Lime Vinaigrette

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 side dishes OR 2 entrée size portions

Ingredients
1 head Bibb lettuce, leaves torn
¼ red onion, sliced very thin into rings
¾ avocado, diced
2 mandarin oranges, peeled wedges

Dressing:
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (about ½ lime)
1 teaspoon tamari
½ teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Fresh cracked pepper

Combine lettuce, onion, avocado and orange wedges in a large mixing bowl. Combine lime juice, tamari, honey and cilantro in a separate bowl and stir. Slowly add olive oil while whisking vigorously to incorporate evenly. Add cracked black pepper to taste. Pour vinaigrette over salad, toss and serve.


An original recipe by Jared Rice, 2009.

Be an Optimist and Reduce Your Disease Risk

How might optimism work to make people less vulnerable and pessimism to make people more vulnerable to cardiovascular disease? The possibilities divide into three large categories:

1. Optimists take action and have healthier lifestyles. Even more generally, people with high life satisfaction (which correlates highly with optimism) are much more likely to diet, not to smoke, and to exercise regularly than people with lower life satisfaction. According to one study, happy people also sleep better than unhappy people.

2. Social support. The more friends and the more love in your life, the less illness. It has been found that lonely people are markedly less healthy than sociable people. Happy people have richer social networks than unhappy people, and social connectedness also contributes to a lack of disability as we age. Misery may love company, but company does not love misery, and the ensuing loneliness of pessimists may be a path to illness.

3. Biology: the immune system and stress. It has been demonstrated that the blood of optimists has a feistier response to threat (more infection-fighting white blood cells called T lymphocytes produced) than the pessimists. Another possibility is common genetics: optimistic and happy people might have genes that ward off cardiovascular disease or cancer.

Another potential biological path is repeated cycles of stress. Pessimists give up and suffer more stress, whereas optimists cope better with stress. Repeated episodes of stress, particularly when one is helpless, may lead to long lasting inflammation.

Material adapted from Flourish, by Martin Seligman, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

Optimize Your Movement to Maximize Your Benefit!

Whether you typically race through your workouts at max intensity, or take your sweet time, research suggests that a little bit of both, interchanging short bursts of high-intensity exercise with an easy, slow pace, might be just the ticket. While this method is hardly new to sport and fitness, a workout with steep peaks and valleys of intensity has come back into vogue for its ability to improve cardiovascular fitness and raise the body’s ability to burn fat.

Past studies have shown that interval workouts can be just as effective, regardless of a person's level of fitness or physical condition. To have the most efficient interval workout, the high-intensity segment should be strenuous enough that a person should be out of breath, while the following slow paced portion should not exceed the time it takes for a person’s pulse to reach its resting rate.

For example, a 30 minute treadmill workout could involve 5-10 minutes of low-moderate intensity warm-up followed by 4-5 interval cycles composed of 3 minutes of low-moderate intensity followed by 2 minutes of moderate-high intensity running, following by a 5 minute cool-down at low intensity. Activity levels during each segment should be personalized based on an individual's fitness level and physical ability. High intensity or vigorous activity is not safe for everyone, check with your doctor first.

Why is interval training so useful?

One advantage is that it enables exercisers to perform more high-intensity activity overall than they could in a single sustained effort. In addition, interval workouts can also add significant variety to a workout routine, decreasing boredom and helping to keep you going back for more!
So whether you commonly exercise short and fast, or longer at a moderate intensity, try to incorporate at least 1 interval type workout into your routine each week. You never know… you just might like it!

Special thanks to contributing authors: nutrition interns Elizabeth Dunwiddie and Meagan O’Brian.

Based on a New York Times article by Peter Jaret, May 2007.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/fashion/03Fitness.html?pagewanted=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1306426018-+Yf44PjqZ/Ijr8wjHrMEMQ

Be Social and Stay Sharp As You Age

As the Baby Boomers generation enters retirement and we approach a novel time in our nation’s existence when there will be more people over the age of 65 than any other age group, just about everyone is searching for the magic method to prolong quality of life as we age. Diet and exercise are always at the forefront of the conversation, but new research is suggesting that social and emotional factors may play a pretty significant part as well.

Scientists have known for some time that social interaction (or lack thereof) may be linked in some way with dementia, chronic disease and risk of early death as we age. But without a clear mechanism or evidence of a causal relationship, the question has always been which one comes first. Does social isolation perpetuate cognitive decline, or does development of dementia hinder sociability?

A recent study in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society brings new light to this debate, showing that the rate of cognitive decline in the most socially active older adults was 70% lower than that of their least social peers. The study followed more than 1100 individuals without dementia at onset, average age 79.6, for up to 12 years. By continually measuring social activity and global cognitive function, the results actually conveyed a dose-response relationship between social activity and cognitive decline. Basically, a little social interaction made a little difference, and a lot of social activity made an even larger difference!

So what can we learn from this? While diet and exercise will always be large players in the game of aging well, the more recently revealed mind-body power of emotional and social vitality might have an equal stake. So no matter how busy our lives get and how much our social circles shrink as we age, we all must take the time to be the social individuals we evolved to be: go out with friends, join a local group or club, convene with family and never let go of those that you love and love you.

James B., Wilson RS., Barnes LL. And Bennett DA. Late-Life Social Activity and Cognitive Decline in Old Age. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. 2011, 17:1-8.

For more tips on nutrition, exercise, and healthy living, contact your personal health coach at mygpns.com.

Link to article sited above (http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1355617711000531)

The myGPNS Angel

A Recipe To Rev You Up!

While there may be virtually hundreds of energy bar products on the market designed for consumption before or after exercise, sometimes the best and healthiest way to get just what you want is to create your own. The recipe this week is an energy bar specifically designed to fuel your workout. When preparing for an activity involving 30+ minutes of vigorous exercise or 60+ minutes of moderate intensity exercise, the right pre-workout snack can mean the difference between your personal best and a mid-run bonk (hitting the proverbial wall)!

A single calorie-dense square of this bar packs a punch of readily usable carbohydrates from whole grains and natural sweeteners, along with a moderate dose of healthy fat, fiber and protein from flax seeds and sesame tahini. Best of all, they’re small so you won’t feel too full while you’re running. Try one about 60 minutes before your workout and then go burn it up!!

Nutty Carrot Energy Bars

Total Prep/Cook Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 16 bars

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 tablespoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup real maple syrup
½ cup safflower or canola oil
½ cup sesame tahini
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
1 cup grated carrots
¼ cup whole flax seeds
½ cup raisins

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, oats cinnamon, allspice and salt in a large bowl. Then combine the maple syrup, oil, tahini and ginger in a separate bowl and mix well. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly to remove any lumps of flour. Then fold in the carrots, flax, walnuts and raisins until mixed evenly throughout.

Oil an 8”x8” baking dish and pour batter into dish, being sure to distribute it evenly in all areas. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Verify doneness by sticking with a toothpick – it should come out clean. Cool completely in the pan (about 1 hour) before cutting into squares.