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Last Updated on January 14, 2019 by Patricia Carter

Summary:  This is the second of five family fav vegetable redic delic recipes I’m posting –> SCD PALEO Cucumber Salad. The first posted at SCD PALEO Cauliflower Mock Potato Salad! These salads meet all healing diet tenets be it:  Mediterranean Diet, Whole Foods, SCD, GAPS, PALEO, AIP…  You can add whatever vegetables you want to help meet the target of 30 different vegetables each week to increase microbiome diversity! These salads are also great topped on leafy greens! ♥ The BIG thing to learn in this post is that cucumbers are high on the EWG Dirty Dozen pesticide residue list (they are listed fifteen) so buy them organic if possible.  Regarding the green peel, I recommend you peel cucumbers unless you can confirm there is NO coating, even if the cucumber is organic.  I don’t want your gut seeing coatings!  To avoid coatings, try growing cucumbers in your garden ⇒ they grow insane in ours!  Or source from a farmer you trust!  Of course this recipe uses unadulterated EVOO  ⇒ those are listed on this UC Davis PDF report.  Costco Kirkland Organic or California Ranch are listed as unadulterated on this report.  Unadulterated EVOO is a heart AND brain healthy monounsaturated fat.  This oil is a predominant ingredient on the Mediterranean Diet and MIND diet!  The MIND diet stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.  It combines Mediterranean, DASH, AND aging brain literature.  Learn a bit more about it here! ♥  It’s the first time I’m posting about it, but contact me to learn How-Tos, Workshops, or for CME! XO

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Why you want to EAT unadulterated EVOO, and LOTS of it.  (This salad makes it easy!)

The Mediterranean Diet has unequivocal evidence support for health.  In this diet, EVOO is consumed daily in amounts ranging from 7 to 11 teaspoons!  This is the primary source of fat, and it is likely the MOST important and integral component of the diet.

The MIND diet (which stands for   Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) combines Mediterranean, DASH, AND aging brain literature.

The MIND diet is going after Alzheimer’s! ♥

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First, let’s look at WHY the Mediterranean Diet is such a powerful diet intervention. 

• The Mediterranean Diet is an anti-inflammatory diet that reduces serum CRP and inflammatory cytokine IL-6, IL-7, and IL-18, as well as decreased insulin resistance.  As such, it “should be considered for the primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease and diabetes.” [Esposito et al 2004] 
• Brain-wise, the Mediterranean Diet was found to:
  1. slower rates of cognitive decline,
  2. reduce conversion to Alzheimer’s, and
  3. improve cognitive function [21,22]
  4. See [Wu et al 2017] [Petersson et al 2016]

The key elements of the Mediterranean diet are: 

• minimally processed,
• naturally high in fiber,
• Daily intake of fresh fruits & vegs,
• Daily 7 to 11 teaspoons olive oil à primary source of fat.  This is likely the MOST important & integral component of the diet. Major role in health benefit of this diet [24,25]
• Low red meat.
• See [Wu et al 2017] [Petersson et al 2016] [Ghanbari et al 2012] 

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Now, let’s talk about MIND Diet! 

Based on a 758 Chicago cohort 4.5 year study by RUSH University Medical Center:

MIND appears more neuro-protective than Mediterranean or DASH alone because only the highest concordance were associated with Alzheimer’s prevention whereas MIND had success with less stringent follow:

• Followed Strictly, it reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s 53%.  The brain functioned as if 7 yrs younger, and it slowed cognitive decline.
• Followed Moderately, it reduced the risk of developing Alzheimer’s by 35%, AND still slowed cognitive decline.

⇒ This is the first time I’m posting about MIND diet, but  contact me  to learn How-Tos, Workshops, or CME!

MIND diet is now in multi-center randomized clinical trial, [ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02817074, to prevent Alzheimer’s.  It is called MIND TRIAL, and it is currently enrolling participants who will eat MIND for 3 yrs.  All participants will also get a calorie restriction (250 cal/d).

Mind Trial will measure brain MRI, plasma Abeta 42/Abeta 40, BDNF, CRP, IL-6, oxidized LDL, adiponectin, HbA1c, blood pressure, weight loss, cholesterol (total, HDL), depression and psychological distress.  There will be an exploratory aim investigating APOE-ε4 status, age, sex, race, potential Alzheimer’s biomarkers, biomechanisms, CVD conditions, and more!

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⇒ This is WHY you want to EAT unadulterated EVOO, and LOTS of it. 

⇒ ALL my salad recipes makes this easy because they ALL use monounsaturated fats!  Take a small bottle to restaurants because:

MOST STORE BOUGHT AND RESTAURANT USE needless gut damaging food-like ingredients like emulsifiers, that are obesogenic, cause low grade inflammation, metabolic syndrome, IBD if predisposed, inhibit your liver’s main detox P-450 gene, and precludes your absorption of essential life preserving fat soluble carotenoids which you can literally see in all the eat-the-rainbow colors I preach!

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Tip:  Make the dressing and take it for vacations! ♥

These dressings are so easy, we even take small bottles on vacation to make fast, easy, redic delic Cucumber Salads, SCD PALEO Cauliflower Mock Potato Salad and more!  The bottle takes little space in a cooler and is so worth it ⇒ just add fresh garlic along with the vegetables once at the beach! 

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Why Buy Cucumbers Organic if Possible (but STILL peel them)!

[Leili et al 2016] reports that one of the two pesticides commonly used for cucumbers (imidacloprid) goes through the peel and into the plant tissue ⇒  Washing is not effective for its removal.  For this reason buy cucumbers organic if possible. They are listed high in pesticide residues, at number fifteen, on the EWG Dirty Dozen. 

As well, peel cucumbers even if organic IF they have a coating.  [Mutlu et al 2008] was ahead of their time discussing microbiome harm due to emulsifiers, coatings, etc.). This report is one reason I no longer toss lemons and lime rinds into my drinks, drinking water, or into my roasting chickens!!!  To ensure no coating on cucumbers, try growing your own cucumbers! They grow insanely in our garden! Or buy local from a farmer you trust, and EAT the PEEL!  From [Leili et al 2016]:

• Ethion and imidacloprid are two common pesticides used for cucumbers.  About 51% and 42.5% of ethion and imidacloprid residues are reduced by the washing procedure.
• Ethion is not systemic which means it cannot penetrate the plant.  It remains on their surfaces forming a deposit on leaves and fruit.  
• Imidacloprid is a systemic pesticide which means it easily penetrates plant tissues.  Its residues remain in fruit tissues even after peeling procedure. As a result, the peeling procedure was more effective for reducing ethion residues than imidacloprid residues from the products (P=0.039). These results are consistent with the finding of Chavarri et al. (18), which reported that systemic insecticides can penetrate into the plant tissues and lead to different processing methods be less effective in imidacloprid residuals reduction (18).

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Summary: 

This recipe is a super easy, redic delic way to increase the vegs in your diet ⇒   Target 30 different vegetables each week to increase microbiome diversity! ♥

Hope you enjoy this Cucumber Salad as much as our family! ♥

Best in health through awareness,

References:

1. Optimal Microbiome Diet from American Gut Data.
2. SCD PALEO Cauliflower Mock Potato Salad, 1st of 5 Fav Veg Recipes.
3. EWG Dirty Dozen.
4. Unadulterated EVOO are listed on this UC Davis PDF report (Costco Kirkland Organic or California Ranch are listed as unadulterated on this report).
5. [Martha Clare Morris Slideshare, Alzheimer Scotland Annual  Conference 2017].
6. Contact me to learn How-Tos for Alzheimer’s, cognition, metabolic disease, obesity, autoimmune disease, IBS, cardiovascular, hypertension, atherosclerosis, microbiome and diet associations, or for a CME!
7. [Esposito et al 2004] Effects of a Mediterranean-Style Diet on Endothelial Dysfunction and Makers of Vascular Inflammation in the Metabolic Syndrome.
8. [Wu et al 2017] Adherence to Mediterranean diet and Risk of Developing Cognitive Disorders: An updated systemic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort.  Wu, L. & Sun, D. Adherence to Mediterranean diet and risk of developing cognitive disorders: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Sci Rep. 7, 41317 (2017). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17373-3
9. [Petersson et al 2016] Mediterranean Diet, Cognitive Function, and Dementia: A Systemic Review of the Evidence.  Petersson, S. D. & Philippou, E. Mediterranean Diet, Cognitive Function, and Dementia: A Systematic Review of the Evidence. AdvNutr.7(5), 889–904 (2016).
10. [Ghanbari et al 2012] Valuable Nutrients and Functional Bioactives in Different Parts of Olive (Olea europaea L.)—A Review.
11. [ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:  NCT02817074] and is called MIND TRIAL.
12. Microbiome, Emulsifiers, IBD, and Metabolic Syndrome.
13. Soybean Oil, Corn Oil, Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome & P-450
14. Meet the Fats & Best Salad Dressing Oil, Part 1.
15. [Leili et al 2016] Determination of Pesticides Residues in Cucumbers Grown in Greenhouse and the Effect of Some Procedures on Their Residues.
16. [Mutlu et al 2008] To Diet or Not if You have IBD, was ahead of their time discussing microbiome harm due to emulsifiers, coatings, etc.).

Last updated: January 14, 2019 at 9:47 am to add in excerpt by converting to block format.

Updated Jan 18, 2018 to add in the MIND diet section, “⇒ This is the first time I’m posting about MIND diet, but  contact me  to learn How-Tos, Workshops, or CME!” along with the “Call to Action button”.