FitSugar

Learn to Love Olives

FitSugar — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:00:00 PDT

I am a big fan of the Mediterranean diet, and not just because I love hummus. The med diet has been found to fight chronic diseases, like cancer and heart disease, as well as stave off the effects of Alzheimer's.

Lucky for me, I love olives, central to this region's cuisine. Olives are technically fruits, making the oil technically olive juice, which is an oddly unappetizing thought to me so I will stick to calling it oil. This little fruit is healthy, just like the ~~juice~~ oil that comes from it. Due to their natural bitterness, olives, whether they are picked green and unripe or fully ripened and black, need to be fermented or cured to enhance their taste. Yep, olives are processed, but minimally. Soaked in salted brine, oil, or water mellows the olive, creating tasty and nutritious treats.

To see if olives are high in calories, just

Olives are high in healthy monounsaturated fats, as well as vitamin E and other antioxidants. When eating a rainbow it can be difficult to incorporate dark foods into your diet. So when eating olives, go with the black ones; they're higher in antioxidants. It is said that these little flavor nuggets can help stave off wrinkling. I will eat to that! High in fiber, olives are also high in copper an important mineral for your blood, bones, and immune system. A half-cup of olives contains about 78 calories, not too bad. Do rinse your olives, especially if they are salt cured to decrease your sodium intake.

How do you feel about olives? Are they only for martinis in your world or do you try to figure out ways to add them to every meal? If so, Yum has olive recipes for you to try. Tell me how you feel about olives in the comment section below.

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Craft a Heart-Healthy Salad in Honor of Mediterranean Diet Month

Michele Foley — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:10:25 PDT

We might not be able to make it to Greece or Southern Italy anytime soon, but we can bring the cuisine to us by celebrating Mediterranean Diet Month in our own kitchens. The healthy benefits of the Mediterranean diet are touted by numerous studies, and for good reason: it promotes heart health, good vision, and weight control, to name a few. An easy way to get the Mediterranean diet into your own life is by dressing up an everyday salad with elements of this regional cuisine.

Nuts, legumes, and seeds: The next time you are debating salad toppings, consider a handful of walnuts, a serving of chickpeas, or a sprinkle of sunflower seeds. The protein, fiber, and healthy fats contained in these small bites will help keep you full and energized throughout the day. Even better, center your entire salad around a legume, like this chickpea, almond, and goat cheese salad.

Fresh vegetables: You'll be hard-pressed to find any Mediterranean meal served without a good helping of vegetables. Foods like greens, eggplant, zucchini, artichokes, tomatoes, and cucumbers are popular choices, which is why YumSugar's recipe for a warm mushroom and artichoke salad is a natural choice.

Learn more ways to make your salad Mediterranean after the break!

12 Items You Should Not Buy in Bulk

Emily Co — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:50:34 PDT

When grocery shopping, there are certain items you should buy in bulk to get that discounted price that will save you money. However, if you pick the wrong items, you may end up wasting cash if you don't use them up before their expiration date. Here are a couple of items you should refrain from buying in bulk:

Baking powder. If you don't bake all the time, you might want to skip out on buying baking powder in bulk, as it lasts up to six months to a year.
Beer. If you're buying beer in bulk for a party, know that the beverage lasts for just three to six months. You might want to limit yourself and make sure that you're not buying too much.
Bleach. Don't buy too much bleach at one time, as this cleaning agent has a relatively short shelf life of three to six months. It starts to degrade after the six-month mark and loses its effectiveness.
Brown rice. People assume that brown rice has a long shelf life and can be stored for as long as possible. In actuality, brown rice doesn't last too long - just six months - because of its oil content.
Candy and unhealthy snacks. Although you may save money buying candy and unhealthy snacks in bulk, having a lot of these items around may cause you to overeat, which will be a detriment to your health. Saving money is not worth the cost to your health.
Cooking oil. You'd be surprised to learn that cooking oil has a shelf life of about a year. Oils and fats tend to go bad really quickly, so that's a factor to keep in mind when shopping. If you buy too much cooking oil, some of the oil may go rancid, which is said to cause increased rates of heart disease, cancer, and other health problems. You definitely want to make sure the oil you have is fresh.

Read on for more items not to buy in bulk.

6 Ways to Look Better Without Spending a Cent

Annie Tomlin — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 06:56:40 PDT

Looking good doesn't have to cost a lot of money. In fact, it doesn't have to cost a thing. There are plenty of ways to look better without spending a single penny. We talked with top dermatologists, hair stylists, makeup artists, and estheticians to score their secrets for looking your best for the best price of all: free. Read their tips here.

Spring Clean Your Body With These Seasonal Detoxing Veggies

Michele Foley — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:35:49 PDT

Spring's arrival this week means that the farmers market is getting a brand-new makeover in the form of produce. While fresh veggies are the cornerstone to any clean diet, there are a few Spring foods with the added benefit of having natural detoxing properties.

Besides being an antioxidant powerhouse, asparagus provides digestive support to the body. Like chicory root, asparagus contains inulin, a type of prebiotic that encourages colon health while also stimulating the growth of probiotics (good bacteria) in the body. All in all, this is a major win for your digestive system! Enjoy asparagus roasted with a little olive oil, or maximize Spring's bounty by making this recipe for fava beans and asparagus with polenta.

The positive effects that artichokes have on the digestive system are many: studies show that the leafy veggie promotes healthy liver and gallbladder function because they are loaded with cynarin, which helps increase bile production (helping to get nasty stuff out of the body!), protects against indigestion, and stimulates healthy digestion. We can't think of a better way to enjoy this Spring vegetable than YumSugar's recipe for simply, steamed artichokes.

Keep reading to see what other Spring vegetable can help detox you this season.

How to Maximize the Health Benefits of Olive Oil

Zelana Montminy — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:24:53 PDT

Chances are high you use olive oil regularly, but do you know how to best reap its health benefits? Recent studies confirm the numerous benefits of a Mediterranean diet, a diet focused on healthy fats largely sourced from olive oil. To find out how to get the most from this prized oil, I sat down with Laurent Halasz, olive oil expert and the owner of Fig and Olive, the celebrated Mediterranean and French Riviera-inspired eatery with locations in New York and Los Angeles (where the president recently dined!) to get the scoop.

Better Than Butter
Laurent suggests using olive oil instead of butter while cooking, especially as a finishing step by drizzling the oil on your dish. Drizzle it on everything, even on the most unexpected choices such as desserts - I can vouch that it's surprisingly delicious mixed with sweets!

Taste Trumps Color
When asked whether flavor or color matters more for identifying healthful oils, he notes that the health benefit of the oil comes from the level of natural antioxidants, or polyphenols. Laurent explains that "a high polyphenol content can be identified when we taste the olive oil and it creates an assertive, peppery astringency in the back of the throat and makes us cough. A bitter, unpleasant or flat olive oil usually indicates an oil that has oxidized and has low antioxidant content."

Keep on reading to learn more about olive oil.

5 Tasty Things to Do With Almonds

Camilla Salem — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:00:17 PST

I have a newfound appreciation for all things almond these days. I really appreciate the texture and the flavor (not to mention the health benefits) that this oblong nut brings to recipes. On its own, it stands out as a superb snack or appetizer, but it can also add some serious crunch factor to seemingly mundane dishes. Here are five ways to eat up the almonds sitting in your pantry.

Toss up raw, unsalted almonds with salt, black pepper, olive oil, and your favorite herbs and spices and roast them at 375° Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes for a savory snack.
Toast almonds in a pan over medium-high heat to get maximum flavor, then add them into any salad.
Keep a bag of sliced almonds in your freezer and add them to your morning oatmeal or sprinkle over pancakes for extra crunch and flavor.
Make your own almond milk, dry the leftover solids, and use them in baked goods!
If you're looking for a truly homemade challenge, grind them into a meal and use them in French macarons.

What's your favorite way to enjoy almonds?

Source: Flickr User mynameisharsha

A Doctor Dishes: Which "Superfoods" Are Worth the Cost?

LearnVest — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:15:00 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Most people you speak to these days are trying to stretch every dollar as far as possible - even the ones they spend buying apples and oranges.

Food prices are expected to increase yet again this year, and food manufacturers are making portions smaller without reducing prices. Not surprisingly, a recent Rasmussen poll found that 93 percent of adults report paying more for groceries now than they did a year ago.

So how can we supercharge our grocery dollars and get them to do overtime for us?

Yes, some foods are obviously a better nutritional deal than others (think apples vs. potato chips), but there’s another class of foods that blows the rest of the field away in terms of nutrients and health-protecting qualities: superfoods.

Superfoods can help prevent diabetes and heart disease, repair damage to your body’s cells, and more. But before you go piling them into your cart, know that some superfoods are better nutritional bargains than others. As a doctor and a mom, I’ve sleuthed out which ones are worth the extra cost in terms of their long-term health benefits. Below is the scoop on which ones may help you age better, ward off cancer, and more.

What to Know Before Buying Superfoods

Before we dive into what to buy, there are a few important things to remember about consuming these foods:

Eating foods fresh and in their natural state, especially fruits and vegetables (rather than in pill or powder supplement form), usually allows us to absorb the greatest amount of their nutrients. The way a superfood is processed or cooked can significantly lower its antioxidant content.
If the superfood can’t be eaten fresh, look for easy and appetizing recipes containing it. No matter how “super” a superfood may be, if you don’t know how to cook it, you’ll probably let it go to waste.

Are Superfoods "Good Buys" If I’m Shopping on a Budget?

Read on to find out.

Beware of the Hottest New Grocery Scam

Business Insider — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:30:00 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart Business Insider story here on Savvy!

Celebrity chefs have made olive oil a $720 million business in the U.S., but a new book is blowing the lid off an industry that might be built in part on the backs of crooks.

That's the argument Tom Mueller makes in Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil.

“I was sitting in a dark bar with an undercover cop in Italy, and he was telling me about deals being cut with high-level politicians and millions of dollars in EU subsidies being misappropriated,” Mueller told the New York Post. “He was speaking in this hushed tone, and I had to laugh, because this was not black-market plutonium or drugs, this was olive oil.”

Mueller contends that because true olive oil is so pricey to produce, some companies have taken to doctoring bottles with chemicals and disguising cheaper oils with added flavoring.

Then they slap on fancy labels with buzzwords like "Made in Italy" and "Cold-pressed" and ship them to stores without any rigorous quality control from the FDA, he says.

It wouldn't be that big of a deal, except the knockoffs offer far fewer of the health benefits that made olive oil such a cash cow to begin with.

The best way to tell a fake from the real thing?

Read on to find out.

Roasted Asparagus Whole Wheat Pasta Salad

Fit Community — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:31 PST

Whole wheat pasta is a good way to get that much-needed fiber. FitSugar reader For the Love of Fiber shared this whole wheat pasta salad recipe in our Healthy Recipe group.

Just because it's Winter, doesn't mean asparagus is off limits. Check out the full post for the line up of health benefits this amazing vegetable has to offer!

Read on for the recipe.