Men\'s Health UK - 10.2019

DON’T DUCK OUT OF LIVER PÂTÉ’S

MOOD-BOOSTING PROPERTIES

Black garlic

relish

Pickle, jam, jelly, chutney – call

it what you like, this hipster

preserve has benefits that

raw garlic can’t match. The

enzymes are broken down

through roughly 40 days of

heat-ageing, which causes its

sugars and amino acids to

react, hence its darker colour.

Scientists at the National

Taiwan University found that

it could have twice as many

available antioxidants as its

paler counterpart. It has a

sweet, tangy flavour, meaning

you can put away more of it,

too. Or try Hawkshead’s black

garlic ketchup on your next

cheese toastie.

Peanut

butter

You could buy a bag of raw,

activated macadamias from

Whole Foods. But for the

sizeable compromise you’ll

make in flavour, you’ll gain

nothing in health benefits.

Good PB brands roast the nuts

in their skins, then grind them

to a paste, adding nothing but

a pinch of salt. Studies show

they rival the antioxidant

content of strawberries. What’s

more, the roasting process

can actually increase the nuts’

overall antioxidant content

by more than a fifth.

74 MEN’S HEALTH

Duck

liver pâté

Duck liver is a nutritional OG – just one packs

400% of your daily mood-boosting vitamin B12

and 130% of your copper, for immunity. That

said, you’re unlikely to pop to the butcher’s

and ask for waterfowl organs. Spreading it on

toast, however? Ducks and bread is a classic

combo. Plus, a spread of pâté has the same

calories as your standard smashed avo.

If there’s one point

on which all trending diets

converge, it’s that processed

foods are a bad thing. It’s the

dictum on which most nutri-

puritans agree, from vegans

to keto-eaters. It’s not without

basis. In two recent British

Medical Journal papers, a diet

based heavily on industrially

manufactured foods was

linked to a shorter lifespan. But

“processed” is an ill-defined

term. It runs the gamut from sun-

dried tomatoes to fluoro-squeezy

cheese. Fermentation? That’s

a process. Brining, marinating,

poaching... Essentially, any food

that has not been pulled off a tree

or out of the ground has been

processed. It makes our food

easier to digest, last longer and

a damn sight more enjoyable,

too. To disparage it is misguided

at best, snobbish at worst. So,

we asked a panel of nutritionists

to run us through the tins, cans

and packets that are more

than worth their salt, from the

commonplace to the gourmet.

Because life’s too short to bake

your own beans, after all.

MH’s Shelf Raiders

Renee McGregor

Leading sports dietitian

with 20 years’ experience

reneemcgregor.com

Jo Travers

Registered dietitian and

author of The Low-Fad Diet

thelondonnutritionist.co.uk

Alice Mackintosh

Harley Street nutritional

food therapist

alicemackintosh.com

Rhiannon Lambert

Nutritionist specialising in

weight management and

sports rhitrition.com

Ta b i t h a Wa r d

Registered nutritionist with

a degree in food marketing

and human nutrition

Marek Doyle

Nutritional therapist and

hormone consultant

marekdoyle.com

Parmigiano

Reggiano

It’s not just a slightly more

pretentious term for stinky

Parmesan. Cheese bearing

this official moniker is subject

to rigorous standards that

your average wedge is not.

Cows are better fed, the milk

isn’t heat-treated, and it must

be aged for at least a year. It

makes a difference: a study

published in Cancer Research

found polyamine compounds

in well-aged cheeses can

counteract liver damage. An

indulgent way to offset prior

indulgences, in other words.

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