Uncle Sam thinks we should eat like the Greeks: Consume more vegetables, fruit, whole grains and seafood. We also should cook and eat more healthy food at home.

That’s the gist of a set of recommendations issued this summer by a panel of scientists and nutritionists tapped by the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services Departments to overhaul the U.S. government’s dietary guidelines.

The panel recommends we cut back on salt, processed meats such as bacon, and sugar-sweetened soft drinks. It also points to the Mediterranean diet — rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes and olive oil — as one of the best-documented examples of a healthy, plant-based diet.

“There is a specific call-out for a focus on plant-based diets, like the Mediterranean diet,” says Greg Drescher, executive director of strategic initiatives at the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone campus.

The federal government is required to update its so-called Dietary Guidelines for Americans every five years. The last set was issued in 2005. The new guidelines are due out later this year.

Here’s a summary of the 13-member panel’s recommendations:

• Eat a more plant-based diet that emphasizes vegetables, cooked dry beans and peas, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.
• Eat more seafood and fat-free and low-fat milk and milk products.
• Consume only moderate amounts of lean meats, poultry, and eggs.
• Lay off salt by reducing sodium intake to 1,500 milligrams a day from 2,300 mg.
• One or two glasses of wine or other alcohol a day are fine.
• Lower the consumption of saturated fat to 7 percent of total caloric intake from 10%.
• Empower and motivate people, especially families with children, to prepare and consume healthy foods at home.

The dietary guidelines affect federally funded food programs such as the school lunch program and what prisoners eat. They also help shape the government’s food pyramid and the nutritional labels you see on packaged foods.

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch

If you’re lucky to venture off the beaten track on Crete you can still see women on hillsides collecting wild greens for a family meal. The greens, or horta, are a staple of Crete’s healthful bounty and help explain why the Greek island is considered a showcase for the Mediterranean diet.

“It’s no accident that some of the earliest studies of that diet were done in Crete back in the 1960s, when a group of American scientists came here to investigate the relationship between diet and disease,” Mediterranean food guru Nancy Harmon Jenkins writes in the latest issue of Saveur.

“It was a population that lived, it seemed, on olive oil, lots and lots of olive oil, not just drizzled but downright inundating salads, greens, and other foods. And that remains the case today.”

The dish featured here shows how greens are prepared on the island of Crete. Paula Wolfert, another Mediterranean food guru, created this dish, which comes to us via the food think tank Oldways.

The mix of greens in this dish — including beet greens, baby spinach, Swiss chard, miner’s lettuce, pea shoots, and mache — comes close to the complex flavors of the bitter greens found on hillsides in Crete.

The dish also includes another staple of Greek cuisine: black-eyed peas. In this case, you reconstitute dried blacked-eyed peas through water and some easy cooking.

To begin, chopped onions, scallions and fennel are sautéed in extra virgin olive oil until soft. The greens are added to the saucepan along with cilantro, tomatoes, fennel seed and salt and pepper and cooked for 10 minutes.

The reconstituted black-eyed peas are added and the dish is then simmered for 10 minutes or so. Adjust the seasoning, if need be.

Bon appétit,

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch

The news media was abuzz with stories this week about how the nation’s waistline keeps expanding. “Americans are continuing to get fatter and fatter, with obesity rates reaching 30 percent or more in nine states last year, as opposed to only three states in 2007,” the New York Times reported.  The stories brought to mind advice I’ve been hearing at recent health and culinary conferences.

One conference looked at how doctors must give their patients more information about nutritious foods that taste good. The foods include fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, healthy proteins such as seafood, and plant-based oils including olive oil.

“It’s not rocket science. It’s not brain surgery,” said David Eisenberg, an accomplished cook and director of the Osher Research Center at Harvard Medical School, which co-sponsored the conference with the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone campus in the Napa Valley.

The Mediterranean diet was trumpeted as a healthy eating regimen at this conference and another I attended last month in northern California. (You can find a variety of delicious Mediterranean recipes – like spaghetti with white clam sauce and a Lebanese variation of tabbouleh called fattoush – in our August eNewsletter.)

Dr. Eisenberg, meanwhile, ticked off a list of healthy eating tips worth sharing in light of this week’s obesity news:

1. Eat more fruits, vegetables and nuts in place of processed carbohydrates.
2. Choose healthier carbohydrates – whole grains and foods with lower glycemic loads.
3. Choose healthier proteins – emphasize fish, poultry, tofu, nuts and legumes.
4. Eliminate trans fat, reduce saturated fats and replace these with healthier, plant-based fats and oils.
5. Imagine your “ideal plate” – ¼ protein; ¼ healthier carb; ½ vegetables.
6. Also consider the “dessert flip” with more fruit and smaller portions of indulgent desserts.
7. Portion control is king – “It’s the calories stupid.”
8. Look for opportunities to reduce salt. Season with herbs and spices first.
9. In place of sugar sweetened beverages, emphasize water, tea and coffee.
10. Enjoy wine/alcohol but not too much!
11. Consider the environmental impact of the foods we buy and eat.

It’s all good advice. The experts admit, however, they must hone their message to have a wider impact.

“We need to focus on how to make plant foods as sexy as double cheeseburgers,” said Greg Drescher, executive director of strategic initiatives at the CIA’s Greystone campus, speaking to a recent conference in Silicon Valley that brought together college and university food service chefs and nutritonists.

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch

Little olives can deliver a potently spicy punch. That’s the case with our Koroneiki olive, one of the olive varietals we grow in northern California. Koroneiki hails from Greece, and it’s become popular among Golden State olive growers. I rate the pungency of our extra virgin olive oils by how many times people cough when they swallow the oil at a tasting. Our Koroneiki EVOO is a “two or three cougher.”

It delivers a deliciously robust flavor, and finishes with a pleasant, peppery zing in the throat. Koroneiki oil, which we blend into our other oils, is the most pungent EVOO we produce. We hold EVOO tastings for chefs and other people and, sure enough, our Koroneiki has people clearing their throats.

In addition to a fruity nose and a strong, peppery finish, our Koroneiki is characterized by aromas of fresh grass and artichokes. Our miller Bob Singletary says the complexity of Koroneiki makes it a favorite of people who enjoy a Tuscan-style flavor profile.

We have some 10,000 acres of olive trees under cultivation in northern California. They produce Koroneiki as well as two Spanish varietals: Arbequina and Arbosana. Arbequina accounts for about 70% of our olives and Arbosana 20%. Koroneiki represents the remaining 10% of the olives we harvest using a system known as “super high-density” (SHD) planting.

Koroneiki also happens to be the third largest olive varietal grown in California. A recent report from the Olive Center at the University of California, Davis, finds that Koroneiki accounts for 6% percent of California’s SHD acreage, or 681 acres.

Unlike Arbequina and Arbosana, we don’t bottle our Koroneiki oil as a single varietal extra virgin olive oil. Instead, virtually all the EVOOs we make get a “shot” of Koroneiki, such as our Miller’s Blend and Everyday California EVOO. (One exception: If we bottle something as “Arbequina” — meaning there’s only Arbequina in the oil — then there’s no Koroneiki in that product.)

Blending Koroneiki into our other EVOOs “kicks up” an oil’s flavor and fruitiness, giving the oil a better and more complex taste.

The Koroneiki olive tree has grown in Greece for more than 3,000 years. It’s cultivated there to produce oil. The tree is a prolific olive producer.

In addition to pungency, the little Koroneiki olive delivers a healthful punch. It has a very high level of polyphenols, the chemical substances found in plants that may reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Bon appétit,

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch

There’s news out this month suggesting a daily dose of good quality olive oil may help women ward off breast cancer.

Spanish researchers say they’ve discovered a way that olive oil — “in contrast to other vegetable oils” — may hinder the growth of breast tumors and protect against possible cancer damage to DNA.

The findings were published in the journal Carcinogenesis. The researchers, from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, noted the “protective role” offered by olive oil’s antioxidants and a monounsaturated fatty acid in the oil known as oleic acid.

Working with rats, the Spanish scientists said they discovered a “mechanism” in tumor cells that may allow olive oil, and not other vegetable oils, to “protect the body against breast cancer.” They said they discovered this process after decoding a set of “signals” within breast tumor cells that were  “activated by” olive oil.

One researcher recommend people consume 10 teaspoons of high-quality extra virgin olive oil a day, Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper reported. It said only long-term use would provide beneficial results.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in Western countries.

The American Cancer Society estimates some 207,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will emerge among women in the United States this year. The group estimates about 40,000 women will die from the disease in 2010.

The Spanish scientists said they demonstrated the consumption of good quality olive oil was linked to a higher incidence of benign breast tumors, versus malignant tumors. They also said they found that the oil lowers the activity of a certain gene that stimulates the growth of breast tumors.

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch

Asparagus is one of the more versatile vegetables. It’s good steamed, sautéed, roasted, grilled, stir-fried … and raw. Our friends at EatingWell magazine have created a salad that combines raw asparagus and fresh peas. No cooking required for this dish.

The asparagus and peas are teamed with Boston or Bibb lettuce and grape or cherry tomatoes. The salad comes together with a dressing made from extra virgin olive oil, freshly grated lemon zest, and fresh lemon juice.

The dish comes from a cookbook written by the EatingWell editors. They teamed with health care provider Kaiser Permanente to produce EatingWell In Season (The Countryman Press, 2009). It’s loaded with excellent, healthy recipes — such as pork cutlets with maple-spiced red cabbage and apples.

The salad is simple to make and flavorful, and it packs healthful properties. EatingWell’s nutritionists labeled it: “healthy weight” for reduced calories and saturated fats; “lower carbs”; and “healthy heart.” The nutritionists also note peas are higher in protein and fiber than most vegetables.

When shopping for asparagus, keep in mind you’ll be eating them raw in this salad. “You’ll want to look for the most tender spears you can find and slice them into very thin rounds,” EatingWell advises.

Bon appétit,

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch

Good news out this month for breast cancer survivors. A diet “enriched” with olive oil may help breast cancer survivors lose more weight than a traditional low-fat diet, according to researchers in Rhode Island.

Why is that important? Excess weight at the time a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, or even moderate weight gain during treatment, has been linked to a greater risk of cancer reoccurring, health experts at the Miriam Hospital in Providence said in a news release last week. The risk of cancer coming back is even greater in post-menopausal women.

Mary Flynn, a research dietitian at the Miriam Hospital and the study’s lead author, said many breast cancer patients don’t realize there’s a link between weight and cancer recurrence.

“That’s why it was important for us to compare these two diets and determine which one the women not only enjoyed following, but also produced the best weight loss, because that’s the diet they’re more likely to stick with,” Flynn said in a statement.

“In this case, it was a diet enriched with extra virgin olive oil, which is a source of healthy fats, and includes foods associated with improving one’s health, such as vegetables, beans and other plant products.”

In the pilot study, women followed two 1,500-calorie diets: a conventional low-fat diet recommended by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and a plant-based olive oil diet similar to the Mediterranean diet. After eight weeks on each diet, participants selected one diet to follow for an additional six months of continued weight loss or weight management.

The findings, published in the June issue of the Journal of Women’s Health, showed that 80% of women who started with the plant-based olive oil diet lost more than 5% of their baseline weight, versus 31% percent who started with the NCI diet.

But, according to the news release, researchers were “most surprised” to discover that after trying both diets, most women “chose to stick with the less conventional, higher fat olive oil diet, saying they found the food more appetizing, accessible and affordable.”

The study looked at 44 overweight women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer after age 50 and who were within four years after completing treatment.

Flynn, who’s also an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School, developed the olive oil diet used in the study. It included at least three tablespoons of olive oil per day.

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch

Mario Batali is hardly one to shy away from a good prosciutto or a braised veal shank. The celebrity chef  has been dubbed “the King of Pancetta.” His father makes artisan sausage and other cured meats. So we paid attention when Batali, the chef, earlier this month embraced the Meatless Monday campaign at all 14 of his restaurants.

The menus at Batali’s eateries will feature at least two vegetarian entrees each Monday. The dishes will be designated with his own Meatless Monday logo.

“The fact is, most people in the U.S. eat way more meat than is good for them or the planet,” says Batali. “Asking everyone to go vegetarian or vegan isn’t a realistic or attainable goal. But we can focus on a more plant-based diet, and support the farmers who raise their animals humanely and sustainably.”

The Meatless Monday campaign aims to encourage the consumption of more plant-based foods and less meat. Among the goals:

• Promoting better personal health by reducing saturated fat consumption
• Helping the planet by shrinking our carbon footprint and conserving resources such as water and fossil fuels

Meatless Monday itself  is a nonprofit public health initiative that’s teamed with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The movement’s early adopters  include Michael Pollan, Al Gore, Sir Paul McCartney, Simon Cowell and Gwyneth Paltrow. Others include: the Baltimore Public School System, nearly 30 college campuses, and eight international programs from Brazil to Taiwan.

We’d like to do our part to promote the campaign. Here are three dishes to consider . . . starting now, or next Monday:

Quinoa Salad with Pistachios and Cranberries

The salad — pictured above — gets added flavor and  texture from the pistachios and cranberries. It’s dressed with a sherry vinaigrette. Quinoa is a cereal grain that’s native to the Andes Mountains. It’s super nutritious and packs roughly as much protein as milk. It tastes earthy and nutty. Because the quinoa salad contains scallions, you should omit the shallots in the vinaigrette.

Puree of Fava Beans with Chicory

Last week I wrote about the cuisine of Puglia, located in the heel of Italy’s boot. Puglia is an epicenter for the Mediterranean diet. And this dish, which uses dried fava beans, is a classic cuisine from the region. The cooked fava beans – which are simmered together with potatoes – are pureed in a food mill or sieve. The puree gets a liberal dose of extra virgin olive oil.
The chicory is cooked in boiling salted water. It’s combined with the puree. The dish is finished with a drizzle of EVOO, croutons and, if you want, a thin slice or two of red onion.

Cabbage, Potato and White Bean Soup

Soup makes for a fabulous meal. And depending on where you live, May can be warm some days and loaded with rain or even snow others. Friends in Colorado told me they ate lunch on their deck earlier this month and were then blanketed with snow a few days later. This hearty and healthy soup will suit any weather.

The recipe section of our Web site has plenty more veggie dishes.

Bon appétit,

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch

Consuming good quality olive oil may help stifle genes in your body that can trigger the kind of inflammation that produces heart disease, a study suggests.

The finding may partly explain why people who eat a Mediterranean diet are found to have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, suggest researchers writing in the  journal BMC Genomics.

The Mediterranean diet typically includes plenty of olive oil, fruits, vegetables, legumes and fish.

The researchers pointed to the phenols – or micronutrients – found in virgin olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil, considered a higher grade of oil, has a “particularly large” proportion of phenols, noted a news release announcing the study.

The scientists studied how virgin olive oil can influence certain genes involved in triggering harmful inflammation in humans. The phenols in virgin olive oil, in effect, put a lid on the “pro-inflammatory” genes, researchers suggested.

“These findings strengthen the relationship between inflammation … and diet and provide evidence at the most basic level of healthy effects derived from virgin olive oil consumption in humans,” said Francisco Perez-Jimenez from Spain’s University of Cordoba, who led the research team.

The researchers followed 20 patients suffering from metabolic syndrome, which is linked to heart disease and type-2 diabetes. The patients ate two types of breakfast for six weeks: a diet with virgin olive oil, and one featuring a lower grade olive oil with fewer phenols.

The scientists then studied the patients’ gene activity and found a link between virgin olive oil and the suppression of inflammatory genes.

“Several of the repressed genes are known to be involved in pro-inflammatory processes, suggesting that the diet can switch the activity of immune system cells to a less (harmful) inflammatory profile,”  said Perez-Jimenez.

Bon appétit,

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch

Ever set off a smoke alarm when cooking? Plenty of us are guilty. Maybe it was popcorn in the microwave, pizza in the oven, or French toast in the frying pan. When you cook with extra virgin olive oil, you can avoid burning it by following some simple advice.

In short: Keep your eye on the frying pan for tell-tale wisps of smoke. They signal you’re close to burning the oil, but not quite at the so-called “smoke point” where the EVOO begins to break down.

“The reason you want to avoid burning the oil is that it will spoil the taste of the food, and some of the (EVOO’s) healthy properties may be destroyed,” Kathy McManus, director of the department of nutrition at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told us.

As we’ve noted, EVOO is very suitable for cooking. Its chemical structure and its healthful antioxidants protect the oil from heat during cooking.

According to experts, a high-quality EVOO has a smoke point of around 410 degrees Fahrenheit. That makes extra virgin olive oil fine for sautéing, roasting, frying and even deep frying.

“Extra virgin olive oil is really pretty resilient,” said Bill Briwa, a senior chef-instructor at the Culinary Institute of America’s campus in California’s Napa Valley.

Chef Briwa was giving a cooking demonstration at a recent healthy eating and living conference we attended at the Napa campus.

He was preparing to sauté green beans in EVOO during a cooking demonstration while offering advice on how to avoid burning your oil.

“When you see the first few wisps of smoke that tells you the oil is the hottest it can get before you burn it,” explained Chef Briwa, as he heated the frying pan.

“You then have two choices. You can take the pan off the heat. Or you can add some food.”

In other words, adding a big batch of beans quickly reduced the temperature well below its smoke point.  “We just lowered the temperature of that frying pan by 50 degrees,” he noted.

Those barely noticeable wisps of smoke, by the way, tell you one more thing about your EVOO when you’re sautéing or frying. “It’s an excellent temperature for cooking,” Kathy McManus told us.

Bon appétit,

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch