Five Star Gazpacho

Photo by Empreinte on Unsplash

Yield: 8 to 12 servings, about 1 quart

About 2 pounds ripe red tomatoes, cored and roughly cut into chunks

1 Italian frying (cubanelle) pepper or another long, light green pepper, such as Anaheim, cored, seeded and roughly cut into chunks

1 cucumber, about 8 inches long, peeled and roughly cut into chunks

1 small mild onion (white or red), peeled and roughly cut into chunks

1 clove garlic

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar, more to taste

Salt

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, more to taste, plus more for drizzling

1) Combine tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, onion and garlic in a blender or, if using a hand blender, in a deep bowl. (If necessary, work in batches.) Blend at high speed until very smooth, at least 2 minutes, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.

2) With the motor running, add the vinegar and 2 teaspoons salt. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil. The mixture will turn bright orange or dark pink and become smooth and emulsified, like a salad dressing. If it still seems watery, drizzle in more olive oil until texture is creamy.

3) Strain the mixture through a strainer or a food mill, pushing all the liquid through with a spatula or the back of a ladle. Discard the solids. Transfer to a large pitcher (preferably glass) and chill until very cold, at least 6 hours or overnight.

4) Before serving, adjust the seasonings with salt and vinegar. If soup is very thick, stir in a few tablespoons ice water. Serve in glasses, over ice if desired, or in a bowl. A few drops of olive oil on top are a nice touch.

Prebiotics and Probiotics.

Think of your gut microbiome as an intestinal garden, teeming with trillions of bacteria, viruses and fungi that play a crucial role in your health.

Whether the beneficial microbes in your gut are flourishing or getting crowded out by unwelcome guests largely depends on how well you’re taking care of them.

Scientists estimate that a typical person’s gut microbiota contains between 300 and 500 species of bacteria. Your gut microbiome is a complex ecological community, and the food that you feed it, the new species you invite, and the waste products they create all can affect your physical and mental health.

Taking probiotics are not really that effective.  Probiotics don’t work for everyone. Your unique gene makeup, age, health, bacteria you already have in your body, and diet all affect how probiotics work. The dose isn’t correct (too few CFU). Also most of what you supplement does not make it past the stomach. But taking a supplement, which common sense tells us cannot be alive unless flash frozen and very carefully kept refrigerated. They are ineffective and can be harful if they reach the lower intestine and begin growing and can lead to an imbalance.

So what do you do?

It’s really pretty simple.

Americans eat mostly cooked or processed foods. Once you have heated or processed  foods the enzymes that are present in that food are no longer alive. Enzymes are what help us break down the food into a form that we can actually absorb the nutrients from. Most Americans have poor gut health. When you look at the rate of diseases we have they are almost all self-inflicted. No one eats enough salads, no one needs enough fruit, very few people have raw food in any form along with the cooked food that they are eating. And that is the answer. When you have breakfast have some fresh fruit along with some coconut yogurt with it and then eat the normal breakfast that you would have. And it shouldn’t be cereal, it should be a high quality protein with perhaps some vegetables involved. For your other meals you want to have a salad or fruit before or after the meal.

If you look at most cultures and how they have have eaten for centuries you will see that pattern of eating raw food with every meal. My rule of thumb is you never eat cooked food would have something raw with it. I generally get up in the morning and have Turkish coffee accompanied by a banana. A little while later I have blueberries and coconut milk yogurt followed immediately by either an omelets with vegetables, or eggs cooked another ways along with some vegetables. Same thing with your other meals, avoid processed food, avoid grains which are very hard to break down, lean toward proteins that are easier to digest and are not hard on the colon such as Seafood, beans, or eggs. You can have fruit after a meal or a salad before the meal or vice versa and it’s going to give you the results you want by aiding your digestion, making sure that you are digesting your food effectively. Also remember the depression and other emotional issues are linked to brain health and there is a direct link between gut health and brain health. If you don’t believe me, try eating perfect for a week and notice how much happier you feel, how much better you sleep, how much more energy you have.

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Cocoa Flavanols May Boost Memory

Coffee, berries, apples, grapes, nectarines, pears and cocoa are all good sources of flavonoids and some of these should be eaten daily. I personably drink coffee, green tea, and chocolate every day!

If your diet is low in flavanols — antioxidant compounds found in foods such as green tea, apples, berries and cocoa — adding 500 milligrams a day to your diet may slow and possibly improve age-related mental decline, according to a new study.

Age-related mental decline is typically subtle. The condition impacts thinking speed and the ability to sustain attention and causes issues with word-finding, and it should not be confused with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, experts say.

“Older adults consuming lower levels of food-borne flavanols scored less well in tests of hippocampal memory function than individuals consuming higher levels,” said Dr. Ian Johnson, emeritus fellow at the Quadram Institute in Norwich, a center for food and health research in the United Kingdom. He was not involved with the study. The hippocampus is a part of the brain that regulates learning, spatial navigation, and storage and consolidation of memory.

When those same people were given daily supplements with flavanols derived from cocoa, however, their performance on an age-related word-recall test improved, Johnson said in a statement. He was not involved in the study, which was published Monday in the journal PNAS Neuroscience.

Flavanols, also called flavan-3-ols, are compounds that help give fruits and vegetables their bright colors. Each plant may contain more than one type of flavanol, as well as necessary micronutrients that complement each other. That’s a key reason many nutritionists recommend “eating the rainbow” to get the most benefit.

All flavanols are bioactives, naturally occurring compounds that affect processes within the body. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommended in 2022 a daily intake of 400 to 600 milligrams of flavanols. The association cited studies that showed the compounds may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Despite the fact that the study tested 500 milligrams of flavanols derived from cocoa, that does not mean you can get similar results from eating 500 milligrams of chocolate.

“What really doesn’t contain a lot of flavonoids are chocolates,” Kuhnle said.

In order for researchers to extract as many flavonoids from the dark cocoa as possible, the extraction processed was intensely “optimized” in the lab, Kuhnle explained.

“The best way to meet 500 milligrams a day is by consuming a range of different flavanol-containing foods,” he said.

Many foods do contain enough flavanols to meet that daily level, Kuhnle said, including berries, apples, grapes, nectarines and pears. Green tea is an excellent source — but only if you drink it.

“This is really about green tea, not green tea extract,” he stressed. “Extreme amounts of green tea extract (can) cause problems. People think, ‘Oh, if I’m on x, that’s fine, twice the amount of x is better, and 10 times is even better.’

“That’s one reason to always be cautious about supplements: It’s incredibly easy to increase amounts beyond what is sensible and beyond what is useful,” Kuhnle said.

In addition, when it came to optimizing levels of flavanols, there was “no advantage in going above these 500 milligrams and it’s achievable by diet, so there’s not really any need to go to supplements,” Kuhnle said.

7 Health Benefits Of Walnuts You Won’t Want To Miss Out On

Zhu and Chaudhry both recommend eating an ounce of walnuts (about a handful) per serving, pointing to studies showing that a one-ounce serving is enoughto improve the quality of your diet and your intake of certain nutrients, like magnesium.

Compared to other tree nuts, walnuts are much higher in the plant source of omega-3 fatty acids,” says May Zhu, MBA, RD, LDN. These fatty acids can’t be made in our bodies—we get them from food—but are essential for brain health and cognition, as well as cardiovascular health.

And don’t toss the walnut skins aside. Huma Chaudhry, RD, LDN, adds that the skin of walnuts also contains high amounts of antioxidants that can “help fight inflammation and oxidative damage in the body.”

Walnuts are also an excellent source of copper, folic acid, and vitamins B6.

Benefits

Walnuts hold benefits from your head to your toes, helping support good health in your brain, heart, gut, and more. Here are their top science-backed perks of eating ’em:

They may benefit brain health.

“Walnuts contain nutrients such as healthy fats, antioxidants, and vitamin E, which all contribute to brain health by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation,” Zhu explains.

Studies suggest that the nutrients in almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts could help prevent or even manage Alzheimer’s disease

“The plant compounds found in walnuts also have been shown to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in the brain, reducing risk for brain disorders,” Chaudhry says. English walnuts (the most popular type) hold multiple including high amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which benefit brain health. The polyphenolic compounds in walnuts reduce inflammation of brain cells and improve neurogenesis7, the formation of new neurons in the brain.

One study also discovered that regular consumption of nuts, in general, could be linked to a decreased risk for cognitive decline8.

They may benefit heart health.

“Consumption of walnuts has been linked most notably to supporting heart health,” Zhu says. This is because walnuts contain significant amounts of alpha-linolenic acid), which reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. Eating walnuts instead of foods that have saturated fat could help lower the “bad cholesterol” (LDL) and raise your “good cholesterol” (HDL).

Another study has even linked10 walnut intake with reduced stroke rates. A group of participants that ate a Mediterranean diet including plenty of mixed nuts had a 49% reduction in risk of stroke compared with a lower-fat diet control group.

They can help to balance blood sugar.

Another of the best benefits of walnuts: Their combination of healthy fats, protein, and fiber can reduce blood sugar spikes and maintain balanced glucose levels between mealtimes.

One study on this topic looked specifically at walnut oil, indicating that consuming walnut oil could improve blood glucose levels11 in people with type 2 diabetes. Another (conducted on hyperlipidemic patients with type 2 diabetes) indicated that long-term walnut consumption could reduce fasting plasma glucose and insulin levels.

“The macronutrient combination in walnuts can increase satiety, keeping you full for longer and making it a diabetes-friendly snack,” Chaudhry says.

They may help improve sleep quality.

Walnuts naturally contain melatonin which plays a role in quality sleep. “Try swapping your melatonin gummies with a handful of walnuts as a bedtime snack,” Chaudhry suggests.

In addition to melatonin, walnuts may help improve your shut-eye thanks to their high magnesium content. A one-ounce serving contains 11% of your daily magnesium requirement. Magnesium is an essential mineral that helps your body relax, improving sleep quality. It also helps regulate GABA, a neurotransmitter that’s involved in promoting good sleep.

Finally, walnuts also contain tryptophan16—the same amino acid that’s in your Thanksgiving turkey. Your brain converts L-tryptophan into serotonin, which tends to make you feel sleepy17. These are a few reasons why walnuts may contribute to healthier sleep patterns.

They may help to promote longevity.

Recent research has shown that walnuts may help improve longevity, as well as helping you age more healthily and gracefully.

“Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health associated higher walnut intake to lower risk of death among older adults in the U.S.,” Chaudhry says. “The study linked five [or more] servings of walnuts per week to reduced mortality risk.

She notes that the group that ate more walnuts had a 14% lower risk of death from any cause and 25% less risk of death from cardiovascular disease, plus a gain in about 1.3 years of life expectancy (but it’s important to note that this study was funded by the California Walnut Commission).

And as we’ve already seen, walnuts support heart health and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease19, which is one of the top causes of death20 in the U.S.

They may benefit gut health.

“Walnuts provide a dose of fiber, which is beneficial for regular bowel movements and supporting our good gut bacteria,” Chaudhry states. “The soluble fiber in walnuts can help feed the good gut bacteria in your large intestine and has been linked to reducing colon cancer risk.

In another California Walnut Commission-funded study, 194 healthy adults consumed 1.5 ounces of walnuts each day for eight weeks. They saw an increase in beneficial bacteria22 compared to when not eating walnuts. In a separate study, facilitators also concluded that walnut consumption affected the gut microbiome23.

They may improve metabolic health

Consuming nuts such as walnuts multiple times per week has been linked to less weight gain and a decreased risk for obesity. This goes hand-in-hand with a reduced risk of chronic disease, too.

Both animal and human studies have indicated that walnuts may help decrease the risk or the progression of conditions2 such as Parkinson’s disease, stroke, depression, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Walnuts can also lower your “bad cholesterol” and the phytomelatonin found in walnuts is being studied for its anticancer effects.