Lifelong Learning – garyskitchen.net

October 10, 2026

It’s The Olive Oil! (well, partially)

When the conversation centers on finding the next “miracle ingredient,” we risk losing sight of what truly matters: filling our plates with fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and other minimally processed plant foods.

Health rarely depends on a single food. Rather, it depends on the overall dietary pattern and the synergistic interaction between thousands of compounds in whole foods. When we stop searching for the next “superfood” and instead begin building our meals around whole foods, we move closer to the way human biology actually works

Olive oil may be a better choice than butter or other sources of fat, but that does not mean it is preferable, much less essential, for achieving optimal cardiovascular health. Collectively, we could do a much better job of assessing and reporting on the research involving oil. Despite catching so many headlines, it does not need to be the central character in our health stories. In those stories, the true hero has always been the overall dietary pattern. Is Olive Oil Really a “Superfood”? What the Science Says about Olive Oil and Heart Health – https://nutritionstudies.org/is-olive-oil-really-a-superfood-what-the-science-says-about-olive-oil-and-heart-health/?

And is it really olive oil?

It’s reliably reported that 80% of the Italian olive oil on the market is fraudulent.

The Olive Oil Scam: If 80% Is Fake, Why Do You Keep Buying It? – https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2016/02/10/the-olive-oil-scam-if-80-is-fake-why-do-you-keep-buying-it/

You’re welcome.

October 6, 2026

There’s Another Possible Blue Zone (NOT in the US)

The study estimates that 13.8% of women in Bolotana who reach 70 will survive to 100, versus approximately 3.6% of U.S. women, roughly one in seven compared with one in 28. At 70, women in Bolotana were estimated to have nearly 21 years of life remaining. Bolotana also differs from the original Sardinian blue zones region, which is especially known for male longevity. Civil records, parish archives, and family histories allowed scientists to reliably validate birth and death dates in Bolotana and other blue zones, countering recent unsubstantiated claims that centenarians do not exist anywhere in the world because of fraudulent records.
Bolotana, Sardinia Identified as a New Blue Zones Candidate –https://www.bluezones.com/news/bolotana-sardinia-identified-as-a-new-blue-zones-candidate/

The National Geographic article here (paywall) – https://www.nationalgeographic.com/health/article/dan-buettner-blue-zone-bolotana-sardinia

The study is here – https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging/articles/10.3389/fragi.2026.1951042/full

Pictures and biographies here – https://www.orminas.it/i-centenari/

They don’t go to gyms or workout. There’s no fast food in the village. They don’t eat a lot of meat and do drink wine.

I feel better now about not going to the Y.

October 3, 2026

Weekend Reading: Mushrooms

https://www.foodpolitics.com/2026/10/mushrooms-a-collection-of-relatively-recent-items/

Eat real food. Don’t pop those pills.

August 29, 2026

The Illnesses Are Not in the Plant. They Are in the Water.

Cyclospora cayetanensis lives only in people. It reaches a lettuce field exactly one way, which is human waste getting into the irrigation water or onto the ground. That is not something lettuce does. It is something we do upstream of lettuce, and the record says so every time. FDA’s advisory changed this month from an onsite inspection at the processing plant to onsite inspections at iceberg lettuce growers in Mexico, which is the agency saying in public that the problem sits upstream of the plant. The 2018 romaine outbreak was traced to an irrigation canal in the Yuma growing region. In 2020 FDA found Cyclospora in a canal serving an Indiana farm that supplied a salad processor, though the agency said its genetic typing could not establish that the canal parasite caused the illnesses. The same Guanajuato facility sat at the center of a Cyclospora outbreak in 2013, and FDA’s environmental assessment then told the firm to determine whether the parasite was a reasonably likely hazard in that growing region and to re-evaluate the wash step. Stop eating lettuce tomorrow and every one of those water sources is still there, still running onto something somebody eats.

The Washington Post Says We Should Stop Eating Lettuce. I Have Sued Lettuce Companies Since 2000, and I Still Think That Is the Wrong Answer. The Illnesses Are Not in the Plant. They Are in the Water. https://www.marlerblog.com/case-news/the-washington-post-says-we-should-stop-eating-lettuce-i-have-sued-lettuce-companies-since-2000-and-i-still-think-that-is-the-wrong-answer-the-illnesses-are-not-in-the-plant-they-are-in-the-water/

Lettuce think about this.

June 28, 2026

Lessons Learned From a Lifetime of Cooking #14

I never knew there were so many different kinds of soy sauce.

Lesson #13 is : know your ingredients. This can be why a dish, despite following the recipe exactly, tastes better than yours.

6 Types of Soy Sauce Everyone Should Know – https://thewoksoflife.com/6-types-of-soy-sauce-everyone-should-know/

Memo to Self – Don’t be discouraged to learn there are Chinese Americans out there more Chinese than you who know their ingredients much better than you ever will. My favorite soy sauce is Thai. No wonder then why my Chinese dishes don’t taste Chinese.

Thai Soy Sauce – https://thewoksoflife.com/thai-soy-sauce/

June 27, 2026

Diet and Dementia

Findings In this cohort study of 1865 older adults without dementia followed up for up to 15 years, higher diet quality was associated with lower dementia risk. Among participants at higher risk, only a dietary pattern with lower inflammatory potential showed consistent inverse associations. Diet Quality and Dementia Risk in Older Adults With Alzheimer Pathology – https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2850780

This morning I lowered my risk for dementia with a bowl of berries, banana, and Greek yogurt.

Last Night

Smoked Pulled Pork, Mac & Cheese, Bacon, Cheddar-Jack, Sweet & Smokey BBQ Sauce and Green Onions.

At least the potato didn’t do any damage.

June 19, 2026

Chili Peppers of the World

Capsaicin, the compound that makes chili peppers hot is an evolutionary filter designed to punish mammals and reward birds. Mammals feel it as pain because mammal digestion destroys seeds. Birds don’t have the receptor that detects it, so they eat the fruit, fly off, and deposit the seeds far from the plant from which they ate. The plant needed birds, and birds didn’t mind the heat, because to them there was no heat to mind.

Bell peppers have the right amount of heat for me.

Breeders selected the heat out entirely: what’s left is crunch, sweetness, and color. The breeding of large, capsaicin-free peppers predates the age of Columbus, probably by hundreds of years. Green bells are just unripe; red, orange, and yellow are the same fruit left on the plant longer, sweeter, higher in vitamin C. My wife spent years avoiding the green ones for exactly that reason, until one day she bit into a fresh one and something clicked: that raw, grassy crunch, that sharp brightness the ripe ones don’t have. The most widely planted pepper on earth, mild enough for everyone, and capable, apparently, of surprise. Chili Peppers of the World – https://www.notesfromtheroad.com/desertmexico/chili-peppers.html

Another electronic Sticky Note for times when I want to read up on the history of peppers.

HT – Barry Ritholtz – https://ritholtz.com/2026/06/10-friday-am-reads-503/

June 14, 2026

Eat Ice Cream With NO Guilt

Sugar-Free Diet Linked to Metabolic Changes

“Completely removing sucrose from a low-fat diet may unexpectedly disrupt gut health and promote inflammation and metabolic dysfunction, highlighting that balanced nutrition is more important than simply eliminating sugar,” said Rasheed Ahmad, Ph.D., principal scientist and head of the Immunology & Microbiology Department at the Dasman Diabetes Institute, in Kuwait City, Kuwait

To evaluate the effects of eliminating sucrose, the researchers measured glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, circulating metabolic hormones, the gut microbiome, and inflammation in both the colon and liver.

Despite maintaining similar body weights, mice on the sucrose-free diet experienced several negative health changes compared with the control group. These included poorer glucose control, insulin resistance, imbalances in gut microbes, intestinal inflammation, and changes associated with fatty liver disease. Scientists found a surprising problem with sugar-free diets – https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/06/260614011843.htm The Endocrine Society. “Scientists found a surprising problem with sugar-free diets.” ScienceDaily (accessed June 14, 2026).

Today, we eat ice cream!

May 30, 2026