Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 126
Exercise snacks, the dark side of Mexico's avocado boom, Tweet, Headline, and New Yorker Cartoon of the Week, Recipe Corner, and more.
Hello, and welcome to Micah’s Read of the Week.
This is a newsletter filled with things Micah Wiener finds interesting. Check out the archive of previous newsletters here.
These 2-minute exercise bursts may be better than your regular workout
Exericse ‘snacks’ don’t require a gym membership, special shoes or other equipment, and the time commitment is minimal
We’re doing exercise snacks in 2023, fam.
New research shows exercise “snacks,” which consist of brief spurts of exertion spread throughout the day, can improve metabolic health, raise endurance and stave off some of the undesirable changes in our muscles that otherwise occur when we sit too long.
The physiological benefits of activity snacks can rival those of much longer sessions of brisk walking or other, traditional workouts, the science shows. And they come in multiple flavors, from stair climbing to unobtrusive chair squats in your office. Such “snacks” require no gym membership, special shoes or other equipment; office attire is optional but okay, and the time commitment is minimal.
By definition, an exercise snack is a brief snippet of exercise, usually lasting a minute or two and indulged in often during the day. Snacking on exercise had been as effective as a longer and more-traditional workout.
In a telling 2019 study, healthy college students snacked on exercise by rapidly climbing and descending three flights of steps, three times a day — in the morning, at lunchtime and again in late afternoon — almost every day for six weeks.
They did not otherwise work out. But after six weeks, they had gained significant amounts of aerobic fitness and leg strength.
Sitting is the new smoking. Everybody knows that. Research shows that exercise snacks may be uniquely effective at counteracting the ills of over-sitting. Researchers found that the downsides of prolonged sitting for metabolic health can be so severe that they almost cancel out any health benefits from a daily workout.
But taking exercise snack breaks can break up sitting time. Moore highlighted that idea in a 2022 study he led, during which 12 healthy young men and women sat all day, with almost no interruptions, except bathroom breaks, while he and his colleagues monitored how well their muscles used proteins from their diet.
In Moore’s study, a single day of nonstop sitting resulted in people’s leg muscles becoming less adept at slurping up amino acids, according to molecular tracers added to protein powder they consumed.
But when the same volunteers broke up their sitting on subsequent days by either walking for two minutes every half-hour or performing a brief set of chair squats — rising from their chairs, up onto their tiptoes to activate lots of leg muscles, subsiding back onto the seat and repeating the move 15 times — their muscles were better able to absorb and incorporate amino acids from their bloodstreams than when they sat.
So what’s the nest way to start exercise snacking?
Stair climbing? A two-minute corridor jaunt? Fifteen chair squats? Maybe a dozen jumping jacks with your office door closed?
“Almost any activity that gets you up and moving” can be an exercise snack, Moore said. Ideally, the activity should briefly raise your heart rate and breathing, last a minute or two, and happen often, preferably every half-hour, if possible. Snack instead of or in addition to your usual workouts, he added, depending on how busy or inspired you are.
The bottom line:
“What’s especially nice about exercise snacks,” Moore said, “is it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing or where you are.” Almost anywhere and anytime can be good for snacking.
THE DARK SIDE OF JALISCO’S AVOCADO BOOM
As production stifles biodiversity, depletes water reserves, and takes over wild land, environmentalists worry about Mexico's "green gold."
If your new year’s resolution included increasing your healthy fats intake via avocados, and you’re a person who shares environmental concerns for the state of Jalisco, Mexico, well, I’ve got bad news for you.
Ten minutes away from downtown Ciudad Guzmán, the municipal capital of Zapotlán el Grande, is a small century-old ranch, where fruits and vegetables sprout from the ground and fall from the trees—a picture of biodiversity fast fading from the western state of Jalisco. Once upon a time, sage would turn surrounding mountains into a sea of blue-green. Now, there are avocado farms as far as the eye can see.
“They’ve destroyed our natural forests,” Trejo says.
Gulp.
Mexico is the world’s seventh-largest agricultural exporter. Among its most significant exports is avocado, of which it is the world’s top producer. In recent years avocados have skyrocketed in popularity outside of Mexico—especially in the neighboring United States, which consumes three out of every four Mexican avocados sent abroad. During the Super Bowl alone, according to one 2020 estimate, U.S. football fans eat their way through 7 percent of annual consumption in a single day.
Until this year, all avocados exported from Mexico to the U.S. came from a single state: Michoacán. This summer, however, Jalisco became Mexico’s second supplier to the lucrative market.
In 2021, more than 57 percent of farmed land in the municipality was taken up by avocado orchards, accounting for more than a fifth of the state’s total avocado output. Jalisco ranks second in avocado production in Mexico, and although it lags far behind Michoacán in terms of total output, it is where production is growing faster than anywhere else. According to data from the government’s agriculture and fisheries information portal, avocado cultivation increased by 527 percent between 2012 and 2021.
Farmers are experiencing the effects of this expansion in multiple ways.
Avocado farms require four to five times as much water as an equivalent area of pine forest. When avocado trees are irrigated, because their roots are relatively horizontal, water is less likely to seep into the subsoil—in other words, an avocado tree can replenish only a fraction of soil moisture compared to a pine tree.
Locals also point to changing climatic conditions, which they say are a result of changes in land use. Less than a decade ago, maximum temperatures tended to be in the high 20s Celsius; this May, however, temperatures touched 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).
As avocado production in the municipality shot up by 509 percent between 2010 and 2021, crop diversity plummeted. In 2010, farmers in Zapotlán el Grande grew 39 types of crops, whereas, in 2021, they cultivated just 15 different crops in the area.
Avacado growing isn’t unique to Jalisco.
In neighboring Michoacán, 30 percent to 40 percent of recent deforestation was driven by avocado production. In Jalisco, agricultural expansion is the second-greatest cause of deforestation. In both Jalisco and Michoacán, it is illegal to cut down trees to cultivate avocado, but if land is burned, then a change of land use is permitted. Thousands of hectares of trees have been set on fire in the mountains around their ranch, Trejo says. Later, avocado orchards were installed.
Silva has a message for avocado aficionados. “I would like us to embark on a silent strike against avocados,” she says. “Because this industry is destroying us.”
Tweet of the Week
Now on to the playoffs…
Headline of the Week
Thanks to Rolling Stone for this doozy: Skip Bayless Has Always Been a Piece of Shit
The FS1 host has come under fire for his tone-deaf tweets about severely injured Bills player Damar Hamlin, but there’s a whole lot more where that came from.
Check this lede:
HE IS ONE of the most unappealing men you could imagine — a cropped haircut floating atop that thin, weirdly muscular frame, punctuated by a reedy, deeply irritating voice. No one agrees with him. You do not log on to Twitter and see the phrase, “Hey, when Skip is on, you gotta admit he makes some good points.” He never makes good points. He makes bad points, one after another, in a manner that drowns the viewer in rhetorical molasses. There are no Skip stans; no Bayless Army. He is not on TV for any reason other than his freakishness.
Want one more reminder that Skip is the worst?
There is nothing more important to this guy than sports bullshit. Five days after 9/11, Skip wrote a column where he castigated the professional athletes of America for failing in their “duty” to provide him and other sports fans of this great nation with an “escape”. This guy couldn’t go without sports for five days! “Many in this country needed baseball and football to be played as soon as possible. This was the least sports could do for us after all we have done for them,” he wrote in the San Jose Mercury News.
That’s about enough about this bozo. Read the piece if you want more.
New Yorker Cartoon of the Week
Recipe Corner
Ok, so it’s a new year. Time to shape up, right? So, I’m gonna grill some chicken breasts this week. Maybe a pork loin. I don’t really know. The featured recipes this week work with whatever you want to grill. Enjoy.
Coal-Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Maple-Chile Butter
4 large (12 to 14 ounces each) sweet potatoes, scrubbed
3/4 cup (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper, plus more for garnish
1/4 cup chopped toasted pecans
Prick sweet potatoes all over using a fork. Wrap sweet potatoes individually in a double layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil.
Open bottom vent of a charcoal grill completely. Light an 8-pound pyramid of charcoal (about 1 1/2 charcoal chimneys full) on bottom grate of grill. When briquettes are covered with gray ash and flames have subsided, spread briquettes into an even layer on bottom grate of grill.
Using long metal tongs, carefully place wrapped sweet potatoes on top of coals. Using a metal spatula, nestle coals around sweet potatoes; using tongs, place some coals on top of sweet potatoes. Grill, uncovered and undisturbed, for 20 minutes.
Flip sweet potatoes over. Nestle coals around sweet potatoes again, placing some coals on top of sweet potatoes using tongs. Grill, uncovered and undisturbed, until a paring knife or cake tester very easily pierces into middle of sweet potato, 20 to 25 minutes. To test for doneness, remove sweet potato from coals using long metal tongs; carefully remove aluminum foil, and pierce sweet potato. If sweet potato is not tender, rewrap and place back in coals; cook 5 minutes, then test again. Once cooked, remove sweet potatoes from coals; let cool for 5 minutes. Carefully remove foil.
While sweet potatoes cool, beat butter, parsley, maple syrup, vinegar, salt, and Aleppo in a medium bowl with a hand mixer on medium speed until whipped and well combined, about 2 minutes. Set aside until ready to serve.
Cut sweet potatoes in half lengthwise three-fourths of the way through. Top each with 2 to 3 tablespoons compound butter; sprinkle evenly with pecans, and garnish with additional Aleppo. Serve alongside remaining compound butter.
Chimichurri Mexa
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
4 scallions or 2 spring onions, rooted ends removed, white and light green parts finely chopped
1 fresh jalapeño or more to taste, stemmed and finely chopped
1 to 2 pickled jalapeños stemmed, seeded and finely chopped
1 cup cilantro leaves and upper stems finely chopped
1 cup parsley leaves and upper stems finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves finely chopped, or 2 teaspoons dried
½ cup pepitas or pumpkin seeds chopped
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1 lime
3/4 cup olive oil
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher or coarse sea salt or more to taste
½ teaspoon black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Let sit for at least 5 minutes before serving. Can be refrigerated for up to a week.
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