Food should be enjoyed, savored and shared, and it can be your best tool in the fight to prevent diseases. Join Allison Harrell, Registered Dietitian and Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist in the kitchen where she will share what foods to add to your plate to help prevent cancer. She will discuss what to add to your routine so that it crowds out the food that does not support optimal health. During this culinary health session, you will gain confidence in the kitchen and get to taste some of these delicious dishes that support your health.
Harrell will be joined in the Center for Health & Wellbeing’s Nutrition Theatre by Anupama Saigal, MD, a fellowship trained breast surgical oncologist with AdventHealth.
Contact Allison.dietitian@gmail.com to learn more about how you can work directly with her to improve your fate by what you put on your plate! For additional resources go here https://www.mywholenewlife.com/cancer-prevention
so we’re very excited to do cooking for
can to prevent cancer today with Allison
who’s here almost every month for our
food is medicine let me try and bring
this down now see if I stop squeaking
and Dr sel’s here for her second time so
we’re excited to have her back so for
those of you that don’t know Allison is
a registered dietitian nutritionist and
a culinary medicine specialist it does a
lot of plant forward cooking and lots of
wonderful things for us here so I’ll be
putting a link in the chat to her
newsletter that you’ll hear her
mentioning often because you’re going to
want to get her gadgets that she always
has and all sorts of stuff let me see if
oh we got someone coming in real
quick come on in come on in hello come
on him come on and then Dr seagel is
here with us as well today we’re very
excited to have her she got her medical
degree from the University of Maryland I
won’t hold the TPS against her but
that’s okay but she did do her surgical
residency hold the Gators against all
of she did do her surgical resid at
University of Pennsylvania and as a
Philadelphian I need to say go Birds to
that so we’re very excited to have her
here and she’s with Advent health and so
we’re we’ve had her here before and it’s
a wonderful program we’re excited to
have her back couple housekeeping items
make sure our cell phones are turned off
here in the room um as I mentioned ask
your questions as they come up or wait
for the next break this is very much a
casual conversation it’s as I always say
it’s always us ladies around the counter
so we’re we’re going to have a good time
and then we’re going to all receive a
survey at the end of this program so use
that to let us know what you want to see
next Allison and I really do use those
we’re just talking about we’re putting
some our fall ones together right now so
you’re timing perfect I know what
Tootsie wants so I’ve already talked
she’s going to tell me again but it’s
fine Tootsie she can tell you herself
but I know what she wants
so but we you know anything that you’d
like to see a cooking program whether
it’s a specific disease whether it’s a
specific ingredient um is this chckpeas
day yeah we’ve got Katie farman coming
up is doing a whole class just about
chickpeas which is going to be fun so
whether it’s a gadget Alison we’ve done
some instant pot classes so let us know
we’d love to hear from you and I’m going
to let these guys get started you’ll
hear from me again throughout it but
Alison you want to tell us what we’re
making today sure I would love to okay
so today it’s going to be a plant
powered um menu and for our main entree
we’re going to have a lentil chickpea
Harissa soup and for our salad it will
be a kale citrus salad and we are going
to be having a yummy delicious dessert
with chocolate mousse and is going to be
made with some tofu and we’re going to
serve it with um mixed berries Okay so
so um I’ll let you take over while I
start preparing wonderful so all of
these ingredients you know I’ve done
this before with Allison and in my
practice as a breast cancer surgeon it’s
not just important for me to make sure
sorry oh dear oh okay that’s better I’ve
never needed a microphone in my
life keep talking sorry no worries next
door
right better oh much better okay again
as a breath breast cancer surgeon it’s
not just important for me to talk about
taking care of yourself getting your
mammograms breast Imaging and taking
care of the actual breast cancer patient
but afterwards what do I talk to my
patients about afterwards it’s about
prevention and risk reduction it’s
important to recognize that our
environment shapes our risk reduction so
food and how we what we put into our
bodies is just as important as getting
that mamogram just as important as
seeing your Physicians on a regular
basis and you’re screening uh uh
colonoscopies anything that talks about
screening it’s not just the medicines
that we put into our bodies but the food
I can’t emphasize enough in my daily
practice if I have 35 patients I say 35
times a day what you put into your body
is how your body will respond to your
cancer risk prevention I have someone
here who is living proof of that Jane
would you like to introduce yourself
and while you’re miking I’m going to
talk about the ingredients that and what
I’m um preparing right now so to make
the soup I’m going to put the um sauté
the onions celery carrots and red
peppers over um medium heat I’m using
olive oil and I love this gadget because
it pre-measures the amount of olive oil
on the top so you’re not like messing up
and getting other um measuring cups
dirty and and stuff like that
so I’m going to be sautéing these over
medium high heat cooking for about 5 to
7 minutes and then we’re going to add
our spices so let’s and let’s talk about
the veggies that are going in here every
little thing has nutritional value in
that that’s carrots vitamin A fiber
there’s sugar in carrots but that Sugar
your body recognizes as something that
it extracts nutrition from remember our
bodies need protein they need
carbohydrates and they need fat mhm all
three of those elements are required by
our body so this concept oh I can’t have
fat it has to be low fat it has to be
low carb I I disagree I think what it
should be is what’s good carbs what is a
good fat and what’s a good protein
versus what is a bad protein what is a
bad fat and what is a bad sugar right
and so you know beef jerky it’s
fortified with tons of preservatives to
keep that protein okay to eat yeah 7even
for six years I know shelf stable meat
just kind of grosses me out think about
that we don’t know when and how and call
Frank food yes Franken food where was
that created I don’t know and I can’t
tell you when it was created but I can
tell you when this sugar was made right
this carrot these veggies so they pack
all of this nutrition and they’re fresh
there’s no expiration date because you
know when a carot turns bad you leave it
on your fridge you don’t have to have a
stamp to tell you this is going bad and
that’s how I think about food is I know
that all these ingredients I don’t need
someone I don’t need the USDA I don’t
need the FDA to tell me that this is
going to go bad my eyes will tell me the
way it looks will tell me and that’s
important to remember that is so true
yes whole food that this is truly whole
food and color color is so incredibly
important for phytonutrients those
phytochemicals those plant compounds
that are in these beautiful Whole Foods
right so food should go bad right if
food is not going bad that’s a problem
right yeah um I my name is Jane Williams
um I’m a functional nutritionist
actually um and I my focus is on gut
health um my dear friend Dr seagel
invited me here today and I know Alison
very well um as well uh we share a love
of food and health and all things um and
Dr Sagel uh also happens to be my breast
surgeon um I actually underwent a
preventative uh bilateral mastectomy
with direct reconstruction this past
August so I am now about eight months
out of
surgery and uh I wanted to share a
little bit about my story today and my
practice around functional nutrition um
and you know obviously lend anything
that I can to this amazing conversation
and amazing food that we’re going to be
having today in hopes that I will
Empower all of you and all of you that
are on Zoom with us today um to really
focus on your health and not just that
but to empower you to ask questions and
do your research which having incredible
Physicians and nutritionists in support
of your everyday health is so important
so that is why I’m here today so my
story really quick I’ll I’ll I’ll keep
it quick cuz the food is cooking um is
that I have um a very uh number one my
family history is incredibly
unfortunately dense with breast cancer I
use the word dense you’ll hear that a
couple of times but um my grandmother my
mom and my aunt were all diagnosed with
breast cancer so uh I knew kind of
walking into my 30s I’m 48 years old by
the way but into my 30s that that was
something that I was going to have to
focus on and get early mammograms um
come to find out I also had very dense
breast tissue I guess on the density
chart I was kind of off the charts off
the charts right and approximately 50%
of women do have dense uh breast tissue
so that was also something I really had
going for me but so many of us do so I
was very cognizant of that over the
years I tended to be a little bit of a
pin cushion and um thankfully each of
those uh each of the pins went in and
everything was okay but I was very
cognizant and obviously you know being
very focused on health um studying
nutrition um that was incredibly
important to me Diet exercise sleep um
stress uh stress levels all of those
pieces are incredibly important right to
Lifestyle so um long short of it um I
had a mammogram uh my annual M mamogram
please go for your annual mammograms
everyone um this past uh March and it
showed again a little bit of something
that you know needed to be biopsi it was
biopsied um it was brought back that it
was um not cancerous but it was
something that you know we should
definitely get taken out yep so that is
where I met Dr Seagle and then we came
up with the plan we then had some
unexpected results and from those
unexpected findings we decided based on
the family history that we would proceed
with a risk reducing bilateral nipple
sparing mastectomy and then Jane uh
afterwards realized that she now needs
to really you already focused on
nutrition we you’ve already been working
with um you know Alison you know the
wellness center but talking really about
how nutrition not only is cancer
prevention but how it heals during
surgery in the postsurgical period so
you may never be afflicted with breast
cancer and as a breast cancer specialist
nutrition also helps withal for
everything and disease whatever surgery
you may have whatever your future health
elements may be any unexpected surprises
if you treat your body properly now your
future Whatever May hold your outcome
will be 10 times better MH the fiber the
sugar the proteins and these fresh
elements these Fresh Foods that we’re
incorporating feeds the natural
environment in your body that your need
your body needs and it’s all about
anti-inflammatory that’s right GL you
said that inflammation is the root cause
to disease yes that is the bottom line
so that we can have control over our
inflammatory response in our bodies
through proper nutrition proper sleep
proper stress reduction all of those
pieces are so incredibly important to
our overall health and we have control
over that that’s one thing that you do
have control right Allison you’ve got
tons of anti-inflammatory
ingredients in all three of the dishes
that you’re making today and that’s why
I chose these um recipes because I
wanted to have a lot of different colors
a lot of different vegetables because
and plant-based um ingredients cuz we
know that if we’re eating 30 different
plants in a week it’s really good for
our gut microbiome that’s the bacteria
in our G guts that helps to prevent
disease it’s like considered like our
second brain it affects like our mood
our skin um diabetes um reduction
reduction of obesity and when you’re
thinking about plant-based ingredients
your spices and herbs count for that as
well so that that’s a great point right
there good segue to my um ingredients
and now when you’re using your um herbs
that you have that maybe you got for
your um bridal shower that is in a fancy
like thing it’s time to replace them
because they do go bad after 6 months to
a year what’s that what’s that this is
cumin I added oregano first those spices
go bad after about 6 months to a year so
if you’re cooking for one which I get a
lot of people tend to be cooking for one
or two um you might want to get smaller
sizes Ork right don’t go to Costco or
Sam’s and um and then you want to like
some of those stores you can buy small
little baggies of it so you may not even
know if you like a spice so buy a
smaller amount so here we have um some
chili powder and um some cinnamon
cinnamon reduces blood sugar yes decreas
cinnamon decreases naturally blood sugar
and it helps your pancreas do its job by
extracting the sugar from your blood and
keeping levels low so it’s something
that’s super important and then I see my
favorite turmeric is a great
anti-inflammatory ingredient and it
pairs great with pepper it helps it work
better so when you’re having turmeric
you can add turmeric to a lot of
different dishes
and um but you want to make sure you add
some pepper to that as well turmeric has
an active compound in it called curcumin
yes so sometimes I don’t know if you’ve
ever seen supplements the turmeric
supplements a lot of them are called
curcumin you want to make sure if you’re
looking for a supplement like that or
like Allison just said you want to make
sure you include pepper you can use
different kinds of pepper but it will
actually make it more bioactive in your
body which is really important you want
that better absorption rate because that
will actually lower your inflammation
levels in your body so alls of
cinnamon I believe so I mean I again I
use I like Simplicity when it comes to
cooking because I don’t have the
bandwidth to be complex I already have a
busy schedule with work I have three
little boys I can only do so many things
so I keep it really simple I do I cook
pretty much every day at home in general
and I try to come up with recipes that
are simple that are satisfying my boys
asked me yesterday I came home at
6:15 Mom what’s for dinner and I said
well I’m making kidney bean stew and
they were like oh and they’re like well
we really want that we don’t want food
from the outside they don’t like they
don’t like food from I mean they they’re
okay with Chick-fil-A I call them
Chick-fil-A atarian but I’m vegetarian
I’m vegetarian and so for me cooking a
nutritious meal at home you don’t have
you don’t they don’t get the joint pains
they don’t feel the belly pain the next
day and they know and they it’s all done
but it’s important to recognize that all
these small things that you do these
recipes here created on a Sunday so that
you can have for Monday come up with a
different way to reuse the foods that
you’re making I do that all the time I
cook on Sundays in bulk I love that I do
have three boys I’m learning that that
may not last me until Tuesday again so I
may have to re pots bigger than that and
I love that you mentioned repurposing
your leftovers I hate eating the same
thing over and over and over again so I
love to repurpose them into something
different and exciting and that helps
the family eat more yes of what I’m
cooking again then it minimizes
processed foods because you’re you know
this was made at home you control the
salt that you’re putting in there the
oils the salt the oils ingredients you
know that you’re incorporating fiber
fresh produce and you can make sure that
it’s controlled outside food these
processed elements if you take a look at
a a nutrition label and do this try this
like look at a nutrition label and
you’ll see that the first couple of
ingredients may be an actual food that
you can grow in your backyard but then
if you have 10 other ingredients they’re
chemicals a preservative is defined as
something that helps keep the shelf life
of an element longer than an expected
time frame yes what is cancer cancer is
a preservation of a cell so if those
chemicals are preserving your food and
they get into your body did you know
that your gut Harbors the largest set of
lymph nodes so can you imagine if you’re
putting chemicals into your body and
where do they go they go into your gut
your gut is the first place that your
body is looking at those
chemicals it’s an abnormal chemical it’s
an abnormal your body doesn’t recognize
it as something that it can use so it
rages a war your IM your immune system
in your gut your IG
e goes up all of those lymph nodes are
like well wait a minute this is not
normal this is why a lot of us you know
if you if you think back to the 1950s
1960s we didn’t really have a lot of GI
issues there were very few allergies
there were very few issues yes there was
very few autoimmune processes but now
we’re coming across all of these
autoimmune dysfunctions and I’m not
saying all all autoimmune dysfunctions
are related to processed foods that’s
not I’m saying I’m saying that our
propensity has increased because we have
now become a society where everything is
based on ease MH and simplicity ease
let’s just reheat it put it in the
microwave but those chemicals are what’s
causing this inflammatory imbalance in
our gut when that imbalance happens it
can rage right a systemic response and
so that’s important to recognize and
those processed foods they’re stripping
out all the good stuff and if you see
enriched on the label that means means
they’re adding in some vitamins and
minerals I would rather just have it you
know the whole grain so I can have the
whole nutrients from where how it’s
meant to be eaten versus it being
processed so it’s shelf stable so I can
the food manufacturers can make more
money yes right you know I wanted to
yeah I wanted to point out an ingredient
this is the Harissa um sauce it comes in
mild and spicy you find it in the
international um section of the grocery
store it’s Moroccan red pepper sauce
and um I also chose the sprouted green
lentils because it’s quicker to cook so
if you don’t want to you know cook for
an hour if you want to have a quicker
cooking lentil it’s also your body is
able to absorb the nutrients from it
better as well and this is just organic
sprouted green lentils um this recipe
that you’ll see there was cilantro and L
or lemon in it the cilantro looked
terrible at the grocery store and I’m
like forget it I’m just not going to
include the cilantro plus some people
don’t like the Taste of cilantro so and
the lemon was to help preserve the color
of the cilantro so I’m eliminating that
but if you’re a cilantro lover and you
can find some good cilantro in the store
then by all means add it and and that’s
another point I want to make out a lot
of these recipes they meant to be Ed as
a template unless it’s a something I’m
baking so if you don’t like an
ingredient say you don’t like chickpeas
leave them out maybe add a different
Bean to it you don’t have to follow it
to a tea so um I and with the salad if
you have it I’m going to be using some
grapefruit and apple on it if you don’t
like those put some berries you know you
can just change it up and add different
things okay just follow the basic rules
as Alison was saying just because the
recipe calls for a sprouted lentil and
if you don’t have it what do you have in
your pantry that could could mimic that
I always have canned kidney beans in my
pantry always always I have that I
always have canned uh garbanzo beans I
cook a lot of Indian food so I rely on
my instant pot quite a bit and I’m
vegetarian so I use a lot of beans on a
regular basis and it’s a common
misconception that if you’re vegetarian
you are adequate you’re not adequately
getting your protein levels I’m alive
and well at 44 I’m pretty sure I’m
getting my nutrition and so is my family
my whole family is completely can I help
vegetarian yeah if you could help move
this let me take a quick moment while
we’re rearranging over here two things
if there’s a question in the nutrition
theater if you three wouldn’t mind
repeating it into the microphone so the
folks at home could hear not a problem
and I do have a question from someone at
home and it goes exactly with what
you’re just talking about um Aaron was
asking if it’s important to pair the
food so the body gets the right
nutrition absolutely okay but in a day
in a day it does it used to be at the
same Meal which was so stressful but
they found that it’s in the 24-hour
period that um that is just
fine as a practice I’d like to say you
want want to make sure you have protein
fat and carbs at every meal and
obviously that includes fiber fiber is
incredibly important to make sure that
you have it on your plate in your
smoothie um at every single meal so
that’s a a little tip just to make sure
and if you can’t don’t stress out we are
on the go a lot of us have busy
Lifestyles I did not get my protein in
this morning because I was rushing to
the operating room to make sure I could
be here for something that I really
really wanted to make sure I was I would
I would be able to participate with but
again it’s a balance so I look at my day
and say okay it’s busy I’m not going to
stress out about what I could not do I’m
going to focus on what I can do when I
have the time this evening and tonight
and properly nourish my body so it’s a
balance yeah and if you make people feel
like they have to do something no one
will do it
right know
so I look at the ingredients again the
protein bars the protein shakes I’m sure
um these two wonderful experts in
nutrition can talk about that I
personally when I look at ingredients
list if I see that it’s too long I don’t
like it and I do not like any fake
sugars right I don’t like Sweet and Low
I do not like um asart aspartame I don’t
like uh what is the other one the
Splenda spend absolutely
not you can grow Stevia in your garden
that to me is a little bit different
than the stevia in the packets but be
careful when you’re reading you don’t
want any added preservatives on the back
and formaly is commonly
formaly is commonly used to in those
sugars to keep them okay to eat yeah
from Malahide
yeah I think monk fruit is okay as I
fruit yeah I like Stevia leaf and monk
fruit is what I like monk fruit people
tend to have less GI side effects as
well it the way that it processes
through your digestive tract is
different so I uh some people tend to
have a little headache piece around monk
fruit that I’ve seen but more than not
monk fruit is easy to digest it’s just
Sim that’s a good sugar alternative and
it won’t affect your I’m hungry and this
smells amazing Alice this is incredible
you’re getting you’re getting your
protein I’m going to get my prot you’re
going to get your protein y I’m going to
get my protein I’m going to get my fiber
my body will not have a an
anti-inflammatory response to Natural
Foods the cinnamon will reduce my sugar
levels as soon as it spikes the cinnamon
will help calm it down and then the
turmeric reduces inflammation in general
y you know a lot of people want to take
pills as
supplements I tell my patients try
cooking first because your body’s able
to extract that far easier and more
efficiently and I hear from a lot of my
clients that they say cooking is is hard
or I don’t have time I don’t know how to
cook and yes cooking is hard but it’s
just following directions and when I
when I get that kitchen messy I’m going
to make a double batch and I’m going to
freeze it so when I make soups and stuff
like this at home I will freeze it in
like one of those big muffin tins and
then once it’s frozen I pop it out and
then I put it in a Ziploc baggie and put
that in the freezer I know one of those
muffins is about a little serving of a
soup maybe I’ll put two in there to have
um
a meal out of it and um so that use your
freezer as your friend I love going to
the farmers market I always buy way too
much and I’m like okay what can I use
this before it goes bad so like you can
freeze grape tomatoes and then whenever
I roast my um veggies I’ll throw some
frozen grape tomatoes on the baking pan
and it it I wouldn’t like put it on a
salad cuz the texture is different but
it it melt it like the juices come out
and it just absolutely delicious I will
freeze zucchini and cauliflower and then
use that instead of ice cubes in my
shake and that’s a way to get another
vegetable more fiber in and you don’t
taste it it’s like creamy delicious I
actually had it this morning and so any
fruits that’s going to go bad chop that
up even like I had strawberries and I I
could tell I was like I was clearly busy
cuz I threw the whole strawberries in
with the tops and all but I I knew I
cleaned it but the tops aren’t going to
hurt me so I into them my smoothie they
go it’s fine so um use your freezer as
your friend especially if you’re cooking
for one or two people you’re not going
to want to eat the same thing every
single day maybe you do but I personally
don’t it’s great to freeze it that way
when you are busy and coming home at
6:15 at night from a long day of work
you’ve got something that you can eat
and serve your family and I don’t know
about you but in a pinch you can always
buy um frozen vegetables absolutely I
recommend buying organic if you’re going
to do that the reason why with nothing
else in them so be good label reader you
want to turn it around just make sure
it’s just the broccoli that’s in there
but then it they freeze them at their
Peak right they’re being picked at their
Peak they’re being frozen at their Peak
and we’ve got some great methods now I’m
sure Allison does too on how you can
just roast the veggies you actually put
them in a oven 400° you roast them for
10 minutes you put nothing on them then
you take them out that’s when you put a
little olive oil a little avocado oil
you put some sea salt some pepper and
then you stick them back in and you
roast them up and I got to tell you
they’re fantastic totally right and you
can do that with all frozen veggies so
if you can’t if you don’t have access to
Fresh Veggies if you know nothing’s
looking good at the store you can do the
Frozen veggie piece and reap the
benefits and I love doing that for like
when I’m traveling and just coming back
in town no time to go to the grocery
store I’ve got my frozen veggies already
ready to go um I wanted to point out I’m
going to use um kale for our our um
salad because it’s a cruciferous
vegetable and it’s a very um good for
cancer prevention you can get kale in
many different ways so I like it pre um
cut for convenience but if you notice
they just they don’t like take the stem
out so it’s annoying and um so I’m going
to show you how easy it is to just
destem it you just go like that and so
then I will chop that up we do compost
here we use what is the company called
oown compost so they pick up all of our
um compost and help make good
has is incredibly anti-inflammatory
incredibly anti-inflammatory it is a
incredible um component for um packing
on fiber and it takes the flavor of what
you are cooking so it doesn’t steal or
take away from anything so I will T at
times put kale like this into my Indian
lentils that I’m making and it has it
does not take away from what I’m already
making it just adds the fiber into it
and makes it a little bit more filling
so I don’t reach for the rice I’m a rice
lover yeah I could add kale to the salad
if I wanted to or into or I mean salad
into the soup into the sou and so
remember you have to use things that are
purposeful and I always have them in my
fridge so I can repurpose them that
makes for my life to be easier if I have
leftover rice for the boys and there’s
just not enough for me I’ll have kale
and I’ll incorporate that into the
lentil soup and I’m not reaching for the
carbs that aren’t giving me any
nutritious value yes and with with these
bagged um salads you could put them
right in the freezer and use it for
smoothies and stir fries sometimes in
the morning I’ll want to make like a egg
um stir fry and I’ll just look at what
veggies I’ve already Frozen that are
chopped up and I’ll just throw it down
the skillet perfect and you could do it
with tofu if you don’t eat eggs um so uh
Allison mentioned that that is a
cruciferous vegetable so is broccoli so
is cauliflower cruciferous vegetables
actually contain a compound called
sulphoraphane and that is actually a
phytonutrient that will actually help
reduce cancer risk it will actually it’s
been proven in studies to reduce
inflammatory response in your body so
it’s a really good vegetable to make
sure vegetable series of vegetables to
get into your daily diet question in the
chat is arugula as good as kale okay
wash my hands y i I didn’t hear what you
is arugula as good as kale they’re
health benefits wise all great they all
sprouts recipherus
yes absolutely I love arugula oh my gosh
I grow it in my tower garden at home I
try to keep things simple if it’s fresh
it can’t be
bad exactly if it’s green colorful and
it’s coming from the garden it can’t be
bad for you it’s coming from the earth
um use what you love to eat and it’ll
make your meals easier to prep it’ll
make it easier for your family to enjoy
my boys every every day after school we
have a air fryer we have fresh broccoli
the little packets that Alison was
talking about and um and it’s they we
roast it and then they just want a
little bit of olive oil and salt and
pepper and I’m going through more
broccoli with my three boys than I am
any other vegetable that is amazing that
is great love any other vegetable
charred eggs the and they love it and
they ask for it they ask when they come
home from school they ask for their
broccoli their carrots now they are
growing boys 9 11 and 8 I think
um but they also want their potato chips
they want a little bit of the junk food
everything in moderation remember we all
have children if we keep them away from
those things the the candies the chips
when they go to a birthday party your
child will be the one that’s bouncing
off the walls and saying I want all of
that soda my kids will go to a birthday
party and they’re the ones that say I
don’t want that big piece I just want a
little piece because their body knows
balance that’s amazing when they go and
they want soda I don’t allow soda in our
house yeah neither if we go to a party
and if I tell them they can’t have that
they want more but we go now and they’ll
have just a little bit and they’re the
ones whose cup is still half full yeah
so their body is saying a little bit is
fine but we don’t like the way it makes
us feel they’re not even thinking about
it they’re not they’re just not eating
it right and can we just talk for a
minute how fortunate we are to live in
Florida let’s talk about that for a
minute because right now we have access
to the most beautiful local produce we
have such incredible farmers markets do
any of you go to farmers markets yeah
I’m sure keep on the zoom you can reply
too that would be awesome yeah so we
have access to these amazing markets
right now and in season is such
beautiful produce broccoli is in season
right now so when you can buy your
produce local guess what you’re nutrient
your nutrient value in that particular
food is going straight up so when we can
do that when we are able to do that
please do that and I always do that in
the grocery store too because a lot of
our grocery stores do have local produce
so I always be like look at the label to
see where is this from is this from
Florida is it from Georgia that’s not
too far away versus Peru versus you know
Mexico um all of those places so it’s
when you can buy closer to where you’re
at that nutrient value goes way way up
and I want to point something out this
recipe it’s it’s been what 20 minutes
yeah and it smells like this has been
cooking for hours and it smells
incredible so good fresh it’s almost
done and that’s a quick meal fresh food
will smell and taste far better than
anything that you can get that’s peel
and heat in the microwave now I did try
one of those
um um meal delivery services for the
fresh
veggies I disliked it so much why
because it was BL and I said what am I
doing this is what I normally would cook
on the stove I’m like this is not for me
I tried it one time and I was not the
flavor wasn’t there it did not smell
like this I can tell you that but I was
getting busy and I was getting a little
frustrated with how my schedule was a
little bit too much I tried it and I’m
back I’m back to my instant pot I’m back
to this and again remember in life it’s
a balance you’re going to have some
busier times sometimes where you feel
like everything is in control yes right
but at the end of the day try to make
sure that you can do this and put
nourishment into your body um okay so I
just wanted to point out this little
cool Gadget that’s my one of my new
favorite it’s my oil dispenser and when
you you can put whatever oil you want in
it this is olive oil and when you can
squeeze it to measure out how much I
know you can do a teaspoon a tablespoon
it’s amazing and then um so I put a
little bit of oil on the kale and I’m
going to massage it and give it a little
beauty treatment here and the reason why
I’m doing that is it’s going to help it
not be as stiff it’s going to break down
the fiber so it’s not so bitter and hard
you’ll also see that the colors just get
very vibrant so um when you go to AA
restaurant these are hard to get
on no that’s okay I’ll eventually get
there but to
on Mylanta I think my fingers were wet
or something but um so here I am
massaging the kale and you’ll see that
it gets really bright so when you’re
going to a restaurant likely you’ve had
a massage kale salad after I was on
vacation I was going through the airport
at Miami and I was craving vegetables
you know how when you eat on the road
you probably aren’t getting as many
don’t you love that you crave vegetables
I love that so I’m like I want veggies
so I found a restaurant that had kale
salad I was like awesome it wasn’t
massaged and and it had little hard
parts and I was just so critical about
it so I was really excited when I came
home massage kale is Happy kale yes but
remember you want to eat happy kale this
is something that’s important because
most people think okay I can just open
it up and put it on my plate and what
ever dressing I add is going to make it
taste amazing right then we add more
dressing because it doesn’t have that
sort of the breakdown of the of the
fibers so this is just a simple what it
take five not even five minutes o than
we are enjoying the whole food
right I’m going to be adding the um
grapefruit and um and
some the grapefruit juice from it so I
segmented the grapefruit so it’s going
to all go in there yeah and the dressing
has that I put on it also has orange
juice in it as the acid I had a question
for you too I noticed that you put olive
oil on before you massaged now I
typically just massage but is it better
to put the olive oil on first I like it
because it it just makes it softer makes
it um more vibrant so yeah and I think
you use less you use less olive oil you
use less dressing when you can actually
coat it and mix it properly when you’re
massaging it so I have found that that
actually makes it instead of using a a
significant amount of oil because if you
just drizz it along and then you use
your tongs you’re not getting it onto
every crevice but if you use even just
even less and you use your hands to
massage it you’re using less but it’s
coating everything and it’s not it’s not
it’s not overpowering and you use less
so Jane you’re saying you actually
massage it without that’s typically how
I’ve done it but I think Allison just
gave me a great tip I’m going to start
doing that um so yeah typically I’ll
massage it first and then I’ll make my
little dressing or I’ll just put it on
my plate and then I’ll put just a little
bit of olive oil um extra virgin olive
oil unrefined on the top of it with a
little bit of sea salt and that’s my
dressing but I think that’s great that’s
and sometimes I’ll make the dressing
first and massage with the dressing so
um I didn’t want to add a bunch of I
want I like to give you guys the
dressing yourself to I hate it when
people put dressing on my I agree I was
just I hate it I am not a dressing
person I do not do any dressing don’t be
dressing my salad I like to dress my
salad I am not a dressing person again
people also will go to restaurants they
will go to the airport and think that
it’s okay and you’ll get this much kale
but this much of a ranch dressing that
was made in Minnesota 3 years
ago and then it has enough preservatives
with bad oils right and then they just
drizzle on there because they’re masking
whatever it is that they want I I pick
on in Minnesota but it could be anywhere
my point is it’s made somewhere else at
a time frame that you do not know yes
and then it’s shipped somewhere by
someone in a truck from some don’t be
afraid to ask for what you want
especially in a
restaurant we need to speak up this is
our health and look at the menu in
advance whenever you can and have a game
plan going in and you can pick and
choose from different dishes like say
you like this one salad but you like the
toppings from another salad you could
ask they have it all in the in the
kitchen just ask what you want um and I
like to suggest ordering first so you’re
not tempted by your friend that’s like I
want this big fried juicy whatever you
know maybe you could be the role model
to your friends getting a delicious
plant forward beautiful colored um dish
you know I’m using grapefruit as the
Citrus because of it’s cancer prevention
properties and also I want to show you
how to segment it so I took all the skin
out and I’m just going to slice the
membrane in between um the membranes and
get the segments out all right and then
I will cut it into bite-sized pieces and
scrape it with my bench scraper off of
the um cutting board to put into my um
it’s kind of a little bit messy and
bougie but you’ll appreciate it when you
have it on your plate and again the
grapefruit has tons of vitamin C whoops
and it has fiber inherently in the
actual fruit which helps increase the
fiber content content of that salad and
anti-inflammatory again I love
grapefruit I think our last time that we
did this we talked about Alison actually
brought up a really great point about
how natural occurring F foods have all
the elements that you need and avocado
you know is fat but it also has tons of
fiber that counters that fat and your
body then is able to balance it out and
use all the nutrients from that avocado
even though it’s high in fat but it’s a
good fat that your body recognizes as a
natural fat that it requires the fiber
balances it out there’s seven grams of
fiber in an avocado it’s like amazing
and you know sometimes I is there a
question yes actually about the
grapefruit um somebody asked if there’s
an issue between cholesterol medications
and grapefruit there are some uh issues
with blood thinners and also um uh with
grapefruit so please before you you
Synthroid medications and there’s a few
other is anybody here not able to have
grapefruit cuz I will make I’ll make a
separate little thing for you she does
that really yes so be be be mindful of
that and um uh instead of using
grapefruit maybe you can use a different
type of citrus that you like as well I
know my children my children may not
like grapefruit because it’s a little
bit tart we may use oranges instead of
instead on the salad actually my kids
like everything separate they want their
veggies separate they want their
separate y right so make it so that it’s
easy for your family right and I’m going
to be adding also edamame on here cuz I
wanted us to talk about soy cuz soy is a
food item that everyone’s terrified of
so no need to be terrified okay let’s
talk it was frozen it came in this
little baggie I used two of them and um
I love this because I can just thaw it
out in the with hot water
in a strainer or in the refrigerator
overnight it’s a great way to add extra
protein to any dish I could add it to a
soup I could add it to a salad I could
just eat it as a snack I’ve roasted
these and it tastes like roasted peanuts
so it’s like amazing chickpeas are also
another really yummy thing to roast as
well so whenever I heat the oven up to
roast a vegetable or a dish I’m likely
roasting some chickpeas as well I’ll use
those as my croutons my I put them on
the counter my husband will grab them
like they’re nuts so I like nuts but my
husband can eat a whole bag of nuts in
one sitting like lit legit turn into
candy totally on road trips he pulls it
from 7-Eleven of course they have some
M&M’s and and raisins in them too and he
eats the whole thing and I’m like no no
no no no so I hide
mine yeah so as you dive into soy the
specific question was is there a certain
amount or limit that you should worry
about no there is not I believe in
moderation and I use Simple examples in
our world to help um recognize the myths
if we look at countries where soy is a
major product of their daily diet you
would assume that if soy was such a
heavy part of their daily diet that they
would have those countries would have a
higher rate of cancers and I’m using you
know China Japan Singapore where soy
products are consumed on a regular basis
almost with on a regular meal they do
not have higher rates of cancers than
the United States of America actually
lower they have lower rates so if a
country whose main product uh is a
Incorporated heavily into their normal
day-to-day they use soy products on a
regular basis why is it that in our
country we have such a Stigmata against
soy it doesn’t make any sense I think is
it because well so much of the process
soy the problem the difference is the
difference is we’re not talking about
the chemicals that are and the proc the
processed elements of soy we’re talking
about soy in general soy in general is
not bad for you soy in general does not
give you breast cancer and if you’ve had
breast cancer you do not need to worry
about soy as a part of your diet but I
do believe in my that’s the biggest
thing I hear I can’t have soy because I
have breast cancer yeah I had breast
cancer and I told it was
EST absolutely incorrect
it has been disproven because I think
that a lot of those theories from long
long time ago didn’t think
about General things like well why would
if breast cancer was caused by soy or it
can cause that then why would those
countries that have a higher propensity
to use soy in their day-to-day life why
do they not have a higher rate of breast
cancer it’s simple so soy is a
phytoestrogen so it’s a phytoestrogen it
does not give your body cancer it does
not cause breast cancer in fact it’s
almost like blocking your Bo your cells
from being able to use the um bad
estrogen or the bad chemicals and and
and and bind to that so don’t think of
it as a cancer-causing element think of
it as it’s a phytoestrogen a lot of
foods have estrogen flax seeds and chia
seeds have estrogen but you really have
to eat a lot of that Monday through
Sunday
in pot fulls to get that kind of not a
daily proportion or eating soy in in the
avocado in the mousse that we’re making
I think the the dessert that we’re
making today think about the moderate
but you know what I also find very
interesting is that the same individual
tell me that soy is bad for you but then
they will happily take hormone
replacement therapy for symptoms of
menopause and that’s because it was
prescribed and it’s in a tablet form
therefore it must be good for me but I’m
not going to have the soy tofu stir fry
because that may cause breast cancer
that’s the Jos here M I know in older
studies too um the phytoestrogens the
chemical makeup of a phytoestrogen looks
a lot like estrogen so that’s why so
many old studies believed that soy
because of the way that it’s actually
chemically you know built that it would
do the same in the body but we’ve
learned that right there’s Alpha
receptors and there’s beta receptors
and with the beta receptors that’s
actually what um the type of
phytoestrogen will actually attract to
Now Beta receptors in the body actually
are cancer uh reducing agents so that is
why it’s so important soy actually
protects our body against cancer the
whole food soy so that’s what again it
goes back to nutrition and I I like
Simplicity in my explanations right tell
me why all these countries oh wow
pomegranates M this St looks amazing yes
um I wanted to point out this kitchen
gadget I used previously I used to feel
like I had to prep at home and cut
everything it would take me hours to do
these to prepare for these classes I’m
like you know what no I’m totally using
this thing I found it at Aldi and I I
need to get a new one cuz it’s I’ve used
it so much but it comes in different
sizes um you can do a medium dice small
dice you can
spiralize um on my Amazon store that I
have will be sending out in an email if
you opt into my email list you can find
all these kitchen gadgets there so I
like to um chop my vegetables using that
this also had pomegranate seeds as an
ingredient or crains so I brought the
crains I’m not a huge fan of using this
all the time because it’s got a lot of
sugar so I went this morning cuz I love
you all to go to the grocery store I
wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find
pomegranate but they I hope they taste
good because they they’re a little bit
not not as vibrant in color but I think
that it’s better than the sugary craz so
and pomegranates have a ton of
antioxidants yes it is very it’s chalk
full of antioxidants and remember this
whole conversation about food is
nutrition um the main theme should be
anti-inflammatory natural
anti-inflammatory um uh uh nourishing
meals that tailor to your environment
your internal environment and keeps
those cells in
Balance that’s a good question I like
you so glad you asked that cuz we have a
question from home the question is about
different kinds of oils and to further
expand you know we get this question
every cooking class oil has become the
demon in cooking so can you talk about
extra virgin olive oil if avocado oil
other oils I personally like avocado oil
and extra virgin olive oil because it
has a high smoke point omega-3 fatty
acids um and when you’re looking at oils
well oil Fat’s not bad I mean I grew up
I went to college and graduated in
96 so I’m aging myself and um but it was
the snack Wells days you remember the
snack Wells fat free everything I I went
to college and I’m like I can’t wait I
can’t gain the Freshman 15 I was like
this big so I ate no fat i g 15b because
you’re eating all these fillers and
carbs and other things that they’re
putting in to take away the fat so fat
helps you absorb your fat soluble
vitamins your vitamins a d e and K those
are powerful antioxidants they help
build your bones they help clot your
blood so fat is not the villain but you
want to be careful about the types of
fat so um I prefer the avocado oil and
um olive oil now if you go to the
grocery store and you’re looking at the
salad dressing
aisle 90% % of those are made with
inflammatory fats even I hate to say it
out loud a pee restaurant that is
convenient for healthy salads and soups
makes it there is salad dressing with
canola oil I was so excited to see it in
the grocery I’m like score and then I’m
like it’s like I don’t want that one and
and remember when we’re talking about
convenience they may be using and
altering what they what they may use
when they’re making it at at the
restaurant but for shelf life they may
use something that is able to have a
longer shelf life or is cheaper to get
because it’s cheaper make in a bulk yes
when environment right oil is cheaper
than extra virgin olive oil so have at
the restaurant yeah I had to take a food
chemistry class at UF and our lab we
tested out um a chain
restaurant that has the name Olive in it
if their salad dressing to see how much
olive oil is in
it yeah to see how much um olive oil was
in the salad dressing there was little
to none it was all inflammatory oils and
I’m like that’s so defeating you know
you think you’re getting this healthy
one so now that salad dressing is on
BOGO this week so I wouldn’t recommend
you buy it but I did see it on BOGO like
so here’s a little tip too when you’re
looking for um like avocado oil
sometimes they put avocado oil on the
label but if you turn it around and you
actually look at the ingredients guess
what it has more more than avocado oil
in it so be mindful about that the other
piece too that’s good marketing for them
yes good marketing for them and
unfortunately a lot of food companies do
that with their labeling the other piece
is it’s uh always best if you can to buy
your avocado oil your olive oils in a
dark uh glass container why because all
those beautiful phytonutrients are
actually sensitive to light so if
they’re kept in a darker environment you
know that they’re super rich in those
polyphenols all those really important
um phytonutrients that we need in our
body it’s important to read labels we
have become um our supermarkets are now
filled with Isles and aisles in the
center that have um products that are
self life
stable shelf life stable but on the
perimeter is where I would want most of
us to spend our time because you don’t
want to spend your time reading labels
so I I actually don’t even make it
through those um Central LS any longer
because as I’ve been reading labels
thanks to Miss Allison thanks to coming
to these classes you know each day is
learning um for me as well I I will tell
you 10 years ago I didn’t recognize the
importance of food I did I’ve always
been a vegetarian my parents have always
lived this way I was very thankful for
the knowledge that my parents gave me
but they didn’t say oh you better eat
eat your vegetables because it’s going
to reduce your cancer risk and then you
can have this conversation when you grow
up and you’re a breast cancer surgeon my
parents uh ate the way that they ate
because of how they were taught and
raised and in India where they grew up
there was no McDonald’s there was no
grocery store you would go every single
day get your fresh food food make it
that day and the next day depending on
what the menu was you would go and get
those vegetables now it’s very hard in
2024 to do that but be mindful of those
labels and you’re going to have the um
the marketing which will be the front
label and then what’s actually on the
back will sometimes um be very alarming
and you’ll put it right back I’ve
actually taught my children that to read
the labels to read labels and look at
ingredients list so if it’s really long
I asked them can you read this and when
uh the fruit rollups came up he really
wanted fruit rollups my middle son and
he read the back and he goes this is
disgusting
put a pat on the back for that much
that’s
really Jame what you said is also true
extra correct so true and I had no idea
until one of Alison’s classes and she
had she had mentioned something and then
when I went to buy extra virgin olive
oil I flipped it around and it wasn’t
all right you went what is happening
here and I thought how can they sell
this as extra Virg isn’t that certain
does that kind of make you kind of mad
as a consumer it wasn’t just one I mean
I right down the line and I thought wow
I learned something terribly important
and I bet and I bet you from that now
you’ve even become a better label reader
right absolutely can you go over with
this salad dressing because that looks
incredible so in the salad dressing I
made um I Ed red wine vinegar two
tablespoons of Dijon mustard as an
emulsifier um maple syrup olive oil and
orange juice so the orange juice was
optional I really like the color so um
and I’m I put on here that for optional
toppings would be like the edamame I
have hemp seeds which I’m going to be
using on our our COC our coconut our
chocolate mousse I also have um some
walnuts because I love the power of
walut nuts and um the nutrients in that
is also really good for brain health as
well so add vitamin the oils the fats
three fats and they’re polyunsaturated
which are really important we want to
get unsaturated fats in our diet
polyunsaturated
monounsaturated you know nuts contain so
much the saturated fats coming from
mainly from animal stuff and all that
processed foods so there
hemp seeds are amazing here the seeds
are actually rich in protein yes which
is great this has um 10 g of protein 12
gr of Omega 3 and six in 3
tablespoons so it’s a I’m going to make
you a salad without the
grapefruit I love um hemp seeds in um my
smoothies I love a good what I call a
meal smoothie that has protein fat and
fiber in it right so you can replace you
should have a in there but you know if
you don’t not big on the protein powders
or some of them can bother your gut you
can use hemp seeds in place of that and
then you will get that plant protein
remember you it doesn’t have to be in a
smoothie form either so what I always do
is I’ll have yogurt in my um fridge my
husband instead of reaching for a sweet
tooth or sweet dessert after dinner
we’ve gotten the Greek yogurt the I
don’t go for lowf fat I go for simple
normal regular yogurt and then we’ll add
toppings to it so I have H seeds I have
um flax seeds I have chia seeds and what
I will do is I’ll take a small teaspoon
put it on top chop up fruits and then
drizzle with honey and he has no idea
that I have just packed on a ton of
nutrition because it tastes good that’s
awesome I love
that I do yes yep I do G and again you
know that’s a great U segue into this
conversation Dairy is not bad for you it
is not always bad for you everything in
moderation is okay um it’s bad Dairy
eating too much of your processed
cheeses too much of um maybe your
processed milk so I try to get organic
milk for my children milk has vitamin D
vitamin A it has fat that we need it has
a great it’s a great source of calcium
and protein yogurt has um um probiotics
that your body needs your gut health
needs but don’t get those yogurts that
have added sugars right right I read
labels now I used toen that’s the some
of those added sugar ones have as much
sugar in it as ice cream correct I’d
rather have ice cream you know if I’m
going to eat all that sugar in a yogur
sug right so cheese is good actually
there are I mean what I I tend to do is
I tend to have cheese I’m a vegetarian I
will not go without cheese but but I try
to pick and choose I don’t like shredded
the pre-shredded uh stuff uh if you look
at the back of it they actually put
potato starch in it they have um
preservatives anti-caking so what I
normally do is I’ll go to the specialty
cheese section and you can do it you can
do a test it’s an expensive test if you
buy that cheese that comes in a small
little area like this and it’s you know
prepackaged but it’s fresh and it’s in a
block if you put it in your fridge it’s
not going to last last very long but the
pre-shredded ones they can be in your
fridge
forever so so shred your own sh your own
freeze it in individual little baggies
also when you go like when I buy feta
cheese I’ll buy the block aeta and then
crumble it myself and you get so much
more so you’re saving so much money
doing it that way like chees no no again
when you have a label that says this is
sugar- free fat free you know it should
it tells me it’s a signal to me that
says you have stripped this actual food
of all the nutrition and you’re making
it palatable and shelf life stable for
me so then I read the back of it so I
don’t do fat free I don’t do sugarfree I
don’t do the I don’t even do the
vegetarian or the vegan cheeses cuz it’s
all oil I’m like big
misn misnomer is that you know uh vegan
if you’re vegan you must be healthy
absolutely not true
processed FS are pro-inflammatory allic
that they’re in to it palat for you to
eat I think you’ve answered it but
somebody was asking specifically about
plant-based milks because they’ve heard
about some of the things added to that
and when you’re trying to make that
decision I my when I make my decisions
for uh plant-based milks I actually look
at the label in the back I look at the
ingredients if I see a lot of um your uh
it’s the gum gellant that they use so it
doesn’t go bad I put it back
and almost all of them have it
unfortunately
correct I try to get those smaller
containers they are a little bit more
expensive or make your own or make your
own yes I and I can share with you make
your own milks nut milks yeah I can
share with you some um simp cooking
demos yeah the one tip I have when
you’re shredding your cheese is um try
not to touch the cheese with your bare
hands because the bacteria from your
hands can make that cheese go back
faster so what I do is I keep it in the
wrapper and when I’m uh shredding it I
hold on only to the wrapper and I unwrap
and then I’ll put it back in a Ziploc
bag so try not to handle the block
unless you’re going to cook it that day
so if you’re having like taco night and
you’ve got a block of cheddar cheese and
you know you’re going to use all of it
go ahead but if you’re going to only use
half cut half don’t touch the cheese
because the bacteria the normal bacteria
on all of our hands no matter how many
times you wash your hands it’s a part of
our normal skin can uh cause the uh
cheese to go bad faster that’s such a
great tip and you can freeze it
absolutely absolutely so I buy small
pieces of cheese I cut it in half and um
I don’t touch it I put it back in the
fridge and then the next day if the kids
want uh you know small little blocks of
cheese pepper jack cheese which is their
favorite with their broccoli that’s
great they’ve got their they’ve got
their protein they’ve got their um uh
fiber with their broccoli and then they
can have a little bit of their you know
junk food the kids food a chocolate chip
cookie or or their little small bag of
pretzels and potato chips or something
like that all balanced if you’re
somebody that’s sensitive to Dairy too
you can always try goat cheese or sheep
cheese I loveat cheese J yes it’s very
good good for you again healthy fats Pro
some protein in there so that’s another
option and just like Allison said buy it
in the block cuz it’s cheaper and you
can get more out of it so and it tastes
better you if you do a taste test for
like shredded Mo versus fresh mozzarella
and you put it on your or your pizza you
can see how it melts differently it
doesn’t melt in one just piece of
plastic it actually melts in different
spots so it makes a big difference
pardon me all right what do you think of
the
salad I love that and like you saw how
easy it was to make that um dressing so
making your own dressings at home is a
great idea and you could take a mason
jar and um just shake it up in your
mason jar and just store that in the
refrigerator that little Gadget that you
have also is that on your website
because I like that Gadget where you can
make your own dressing and then pass it
around and then just keep that for yes
fun fact last time I was here I did
purchase the um Chopper Chopper and it’s
in my it’s always there and it keeps me
sane when I’m making my Indian stews or
when I’m making stew like this or salads
or for the boys the kids can do it too
kids love it and it’s like they could
take out their frustrations on the
chopper you know it’s a it’s a timesaver
and it really is and they love to help
me in the kitchen when they can um but
it really does make a difference when
you’re making a presentable salad you’re
not spending hours and hours and by the
time you’re done cooking you’re
exhausted from just prepping your salad
yes I would be so exhausted sorry given
the talk we just had I’m going to guess
the answer is but somebody was asking is
there a plant-based cheese that you
recommend I do not U I am not
plant-based I not vegan I do not have a
plant-based cheese that I know of I
don’t either that I recommend I I mean
when I looked at the I shop normally at
public so they don’t have as wide of a
selection as maybe Whole Foods would so
it’s limited um Brands but when I was
looking at like one of the first two
ingredients was oil and I’m like
M I think I can have regular cheese I
would rather have the regular cheese
because the regular cheese will have the
vitamin D the vitamin A and the calcium
that your body needs and that nutrition
far outweighs any of the negatives right
but I’m not I I don’t condone having
just only a block of cheese for dinner
right have I know I know I know but in
other I have and I love having it and I
will tell you it is something that I uh
I find very interesting that in other
parts of the world it is very natural
and normal to have cheese course at
breakfast and after dinner as a dessert
rather than a big piece of of Cheesecake
so what about effects on cholesterol so
again balance balance a small amount a
small amount and and they have little
ones and so in other parts of the world
we don’t have huge plates of cheese or
we’re not eating a block of cheese it’s
a small amount and it’s typically paired
with fruits and nuts and and and fiber
so remember fiber holds on to bad
cholesterol and it takes it out of your
body so everything is balanced and
paired and it’s not just the cheese so
if you’re going to have cheese if you
look in France when you go to France and
you go to uh a restaurant a mom and pop
restaurant or even a regular restaurant
there they never have the cheese alone
never ever it’s always paired with
fruits because fruits have tons of fiber
and that fiber helps to bind cholesterol
bad cholesterol and remember there’s
good cholesterol and bad cholesterol
your good cholesterol is increased your
HDL levels are increased when we have
activity right when we’re walking when
we’re moving when we’re cooking movement
is mobility movement is nourishment in
the same way that food is nourishment so
it’s all about balance right I have a
question for you so how are do you use a
microwave at home are you against
microwaves I am not against microwaves I
am a mom of three boys with a full-time
job I need my microwave
thank you I’m going to use the microwave
then cuz some it’s like some people are
like vly against it I love how you asked
it first before you’re like next we’ve
got the microwave you see I’ve got the
dut Dutch oven situation over there but
it just takes forever and I will say one
thing that um when you start to cook at
home like this your microwave is not
your main source of cooking your
microwave only serves to be a small Aid
in helping you cook an aid I’d never put
anything in the microwave for more than
2 3 minutes at a time ever ever and it’s
only to either you know defrost
something but it’s never for a full
purposeful meal and so I’m okay with
using it as a tool as an aid but not for
you mean you don’t do TV dinners with
the plastic in the
microwave I have I can I can proudly say
I have never in my life oh my had a TV
dinner I did in college I did because I
didn’t know what I was doing in the
kitchen we didn’t know but remember we
were all uh we were all succumbed we
information was so different food
information and what we were told as AOK
we trusted these companies that they
were saying okay Lean Cuisine right
telling us the truth they want to keep
us healthy they don’t want us to buy the
product they just want to keep us
healthy right it’s all about what about
butter how do you feel about butter so
I’m okay again
take a look at your labels read words
coming from I actually make uh I I say I
but my mom makes clarified butter for me
which then I store and clarified butter
ghee which is commonly used in Indian
cooking doesn’t go bad either I use it
so often and the flavor is so in
incredible but my mommy makes it for me
that’s
awesome and I’m 44 but I do have a
plant-based butter that I do use and I
do like it and it’s made with olive
oil and I use it sparingly I it doesn’t
last forever it’s simply used for our
toast and again I have a I have a big
balance with my children with that so a
small little tub of my plant-based
butter that I use can last a long time
in the fridge but it’s not it does not
have a lot of preservatives because it’s
made with olive oil right and so I tend
to do that um when we’re cooking or I’m
baking I try to make brownies at home
for the boys rather than the prepackaged
things I try to make cookies at home
they’re children yeah they need to have
those things I will use normal regular
butter but it’s controlled yeah it’s
controlled and I don’t buy a lot of it
right so I don’t want people to think
that all food is like all those things
that we all love are bad for us yeah in
moderation make them at home rather than
getting your prepackaged um products now
um the prepackaged Brownie and cake
mixes
your eyes will pop if you go and take a
look and look at the labels I don’t know
about you but I can’t even pronounce
some of the things on the back of if I
can’t pronounce it I’m not buying y
please just take a look at the back of
the label and you will see what’s in
those prepackaged elements um and the
list is this long the front says nothing
but then the back of the ingredients
list is so it’s too much and I’ve I’ve
stopped years there’s so many great
recipes that you can with Whole Foods
like bananas and um yogurts and whole
grain flowers and berries so I made uh
blueberry banana bread muffins for my
husband and he’s a picky eater I talk
about him all the time but he’s a picky
eater and it had um yogurt in it which
he won’t eat anything white unless it’s
ice cream or cool and so he doesn’t know
so don’t tell him but he loved them so
like it’s it’s got white stuff in there
it’s good good yeah I love to make a
good zucchini carrot muffin yes oh with
almond flour and um some eggs and
vanilla extract it is so delicious and
it’s a treat I’ll tell I’ll tell my
daughter I’ll put it in the form of like
a cookie it’s really you know I’m really
selling the cookie but I’ll put it in a
form of a cookie I put some studded
chocolate chips like 70% dark chocolate
chips in there and I’ll be like here’s
your cookie oh this looks so good it
just came out of the oven now we all
know it’s packed it’s got the vegetables
it’s got almond flour all the goodness
in there and if you have picky eaters
then um Shred the skin off the zucchini
or use yellow squash I have picky boys
like how did that
happen right yes I do that with my I
don’t know about you with my um
different types of Meatballs too if
you’re somebody that you know does a
little bit of a chicken meatball or
something like that a grassed beef
meatball you can put your veggies in
there too yes you don’t need all of the
fillers you don’t need all the bread
crumbs all of that you can do almond
flow you know what I’ve done with that
is like um I bought cuz I we always want
to add more fiber I bought some Fiber
One cereal rounded up in a food
processor and use that as the
breadcrumbs for my meatballs that’s a
great idea you know what I do too ground
flax oh yeah that’s a good one ground
flax is so good in meatballs guess what
that’s that’s your flow and guess what
you’re getting a ton of fiber so
delicious let a look at this this was
the soy that you just P pureed correct
yes it’s the silken tofu so you want to
drain it and with with this recipe
you’re using it at room temperature so I
had it sitting out I added some maple
syrup as the natural sweetener no
artificial stuff and when we were
talking about the artificial sweeteners
I wanted to also just point out I
literally returned to Publix this
morning a um it was a chicken dish and
it was BOGO last week and my husband
with with me I’m like will you eat this
for lunch cuz he always likes to go out
to eat I’m like we stop it so we got it
and I it was from a brand that is real
good so I was like oh it’s real good you
know and so I I looked at it and it on
the front of the box and it had great
amount of protein great amount of net
carbs but then when I turned over the
box after we ate it and I could tell the
the artificial sugar in it it had ariol
on the label and I’m like oh no really
so my husband who’s picky he didn’t even
like it so I returned it to Publix so
don’t be ashamed to return things back
to Publix cuz there you go tell the
company I don’t like this you know and
it was real r e e l not R L I think yeah
yeah I think it it said I think the
brand is real good but some of the other
products I make I do like but I so I was
fooled I’m like this is a brand I trust
boom getting it that that’s an empowered
consumer you’re not going to feed me
then no here you go and tell the company
I hate it you know the other thing is
remember these companies are trying to
make money because they’re trying to
mass produce and put it out there so we
can buy and they can make money and they
can make more every everybody has we all
have to make money but you are
responsible for what you put into your
body so take that initiative and say
okay yes no one is coming to me and
forcing me to eat this I chose to put
this into my
and make it about you and your choices
and EMP yourself so and another thing
that the consum or the manufacturers
know that if they’re going to make it so
that they’re stripped of fiber you are
going to get hungrier sooner and you’re
going to want more and that serving size
that they have on that bag of chips is
Tiny you’re probably going to finish the
entire bag so that guess what you’re
going to go back to the store and buy
some more they don’t care about your
health they care about the bottom line
and their dollars and I actually had a a
client who’s a male he worked for a big
chocolate company and he was just he I
was shocked at how good of a label
reader he was I’m like what’s your
history and he’s he was like I used to
work in food manufacturing and it’s
absolutely disgusting all the things
that we add to the food just to get you
to buy more and I’m like really you know
it’s so frustrating I um I recently had
a gentleman on my podcast um he worked
for um a big Food Corporation
uhuh NIS um but not naming any names um
anyhow he had worked for years and he
was telling me on the pcast about how
they have a food lab and they have quote
unquote scientists who are in the food
lab who basically bring individuals and
consumers in and what they do is they
have you taste test for flavor profile
and if it’s not the right flavor profile
guess what they’re adding in there all
kinds of dyes and sugar processed high
fructose corn syrup which is like a
Franken food we’re not even sure what in
it because they won’t disclose it but it
is unbelievable so he ended up getting
an
autoimmune and changed his entire life
and he could not work for a corporation
like that any longer so he left yeah but
very very interesting food I I in my
college we did food um chemistry and
food science and I had to be a
participant in some of those things for
extra credit and I’m like this is we
you know yeah it has it’s it’s it’s very
interesting no please go right ahead I
can’t wait to eat that
yeah I um I have just seen in my
lifetime the shift from when I was in
high
school to where my kids are in
elementary school where when I was in
high school going to get a bagel with
cream cheese was considered fast food in
the
morning and um we would you know get to
our classes early because we had period
zero and I was just telling one of my
patients that think about how when you
and I were in high school it was totally
different there was no there was not a
fast food restaurant on every single
corner there wasn’t a Starbucks on every
single corner it was not that way we
were we didn’t have birth control pills
that were given I mean I don’t recall
having that conversation until I was in
college and I remember in high school
none of my girlfriend friends had that
conversation and now our our society has
shifted everything has shifted and it’s
to the point where we really have to
come back to the basics
right come back to the come back to the
it’s very scary but that’s why starting
early makes a huge difference so
starting now making sure that your kids
your grand kids pallet yes is not
accustomed to junk mhm and they do get
accustomed to it because those
preservatives they’re addictive in the
same way that cigarettes are addictive
why is Coca-Cola so
addictive it’s laced with a chemical
that has been proven to be addictive
when you’re addicted to something you
buy more of it you keep buying it and
then you can’t come off of it yeah I
used to be addicted to diet or to Coke
my parents let me drink it I did I’m I’m
glad you brought that up to me too
growing up in my teens oh yeah Coca-Cola
I could have a 2 L A day yeah and then I
after I went to college cuz the fat free
world you know I’m like well I’m going
to switch to diet so then I I would
literally up until 11 years ago I drank
a 2 liter of Diet Pepsi a day by noon
then switched to crystalite cuz I was so
addicted to it and it was funny when I
would work at the hospital and do rounds
with the Physicians they knew when the
sales rep came in with Diet Pepsi that
was sitting in front of me that was my
diet Pepsi you know I’m not sharing but
you know what Alison you’re not the only
one this story Echoes on a regular basis
with everyone when I first met my
husband and I went to his apartment I
opened his fridge all he had was a
24pack case of Diet Coke yeah there was
nothing else in the fridge and in the
oven was an
iron oh that’s so fun I mean he was in
New York
yeah so he was like I don’t know where
to put it’s storage it’s storage it’s a
storage spot and so we do no we no
longer drink diet coke reg it took me a
while it took I just started I made it
Line in the Sand and I started eating
more Whole Foods and I try I was like
you know after six months I’m not
drinking I’m like do I am I really done
and I tasted it and I was like it’s
disgusting and once you start like
eliminating um or I shouldn’t say I like
to say crowding your plate with
healthier items that are flavored with
sugars that are natural not natural
flavoring but natural real from the
earth from the earth then you’re you
don’t like that hyper sweet stuff
anymore and I I just really can’t stand
changes your taste bud it completely
does and I feel like because it it
changes your taste buds you’re now
tasting the flavors of all the delicious
plants when I was having all those
chemicals this stuff wasn’t as flavorful
to me because I was killing my taste
with all the chemicals also remember
when you have food is nutrition Your
Body Works in unison it is an elegant
complex process your entire body works
together so this whole idea of having a
fake sugar think what it does your brain
sends a signal saying I’m thirsty I want
to drink something I might be a little
hungry you have your diet coke your
tongue your receptors in your mouth are
saying I’m drinking something I am it
gets into your GI system your pancreas
says well yeah we did eat something but
I don’t recognize this as a sugar and it
continues says you’re still hungry
because you didn’t get any nutrition and
we didn’t see it so we told you to eat
you we sense that the stomach distended
we sense that food got into our gut but
the pancreas doesn’t see that sugar so
guess what it
does it doesn’t do what it needs to do
and sends another signal to the brain to
say you need to eat more right big
Studies have shown that when you eat a
lot of diet foods you lose less weight
why is that your body is not extracting
any nutrition and it’s not sending that
feedback to your brain to say I am full
our body is full we have the nourishment
we need we don’t need to eat anymore
right this is how we overeat yes so true
everything in our body is auto regulated
we just have become so insensi to it
that um we’ve lost track so and a lot of
our foods that are packed with the
processed elements the fake sugars are
doing that to us and it’s coming back so
you know I tell my patients if you’re
going to have Coke yeah have the regular
one and then slowly come off of
it happy to hear that was yeah yes dial
it down so I wanted to point out with
this tofu um chocolate mousse you’re
getting a lot of extra protein in it
from the tofu so that’s going to help um
stabilize your blood sugar compared to
having like a cozy Shack pudding that
shelf stable in the grocery store for
years you know yeah and this was so easy
to make right you saw me do it whip it
up really fast it was just three
ingredients we’ve got maple syrup the
silk and tofu and the chocolate I put
the chocolate in the microwave at 30
second intervals and just stirred it to
make sure it didn’t Scorch and burn it
cooked for 1 minute 30 seconds total and
once it was melted I put it in there and
blended it all up so you can put it in
your little individual um ramkin and put
it in your fridge and you’ve got a nice
treat freeze it and have a popsicle
quick question do you want to make sure
you use soft silk in
tofu okay I just want to make sure yeah
the silken soft tofu that like I use you
saw me use a spoon to get it out the
extra firm tofu is better for like a
stir fry so and that I was working on a
recipe for next month that I’m going to
be doing with Dr Becker and it is a
sweet and sour tofu stir fry I actually
brought some of it for me to have for
lunch I wasn’t sure if I’d have any left
over but apparently we have a lot so um
but I really love how tofu can take on
the flavors of whatever you’re cooking
it with so and it just it makes me feel
so much better when I eat that it’s just
light and refreshing and you know the
other thing that I would add to this is
that if you wanted to change the flavor
Pro profile of this chocolate mousse you
can add a pinch of cinnamon cardamom I
use cardamom regularly because it’s It
Feels So
Sophisticated it feels very
sophisticated it has that sort of I’m
not cinnamon I’m
not I don’t know what I am I’m not but
it gives you that sort of an exotic
flavor and it really is incredible I put
cardamom a little pinch of cardamom in
my coffees in the morning I put it in my
smoothie I put I put cinnamon I’ll
switch it up the boys know that I have a
small little thing of cardamom and
cinnamon by my coffee maker and I’ll put
that in there when guests come over I
put a little pinch and they’re like this
is really amazing I know do you use pods
too I use pods in cooking okay I was
going to say I put a pod in my tea and
it’s so you that so flavorful nice it’s
just like fennel like I
love oh you can just put that I don’t I
don’t think so right You’ got to get it
you’ve got to get it in a in a store
Alison there’s a question for you and I
know the answer to this cuz of another
class can you replace the tofu with
avocado in this pudding yes and that’s
what I’m going to be doing next month so
come back that’s why I knew it yes you
can good too yes yes but I love the Tofu
for the protein content I think that’s
an excellent way AF I might play around
and mix half avocado half silk and tofu
idea we get some healthy fats and then
also the protein so maybe I’ll do that
for next month we play how many days
will this last in your fridge I would
say probably three I I’m a I’m weird
about food I’m surf safe certified I’m
weird about food safety and all that um
so but what if I didn’t finish it I
would freeze it and then you could have
it like a popsicle you know um or like a
soft Ser of ice cream like let it thaw a
little bit and have that so it’s a nice
cream yeah and totally and I like I deal
with a lot of women um who are cooking
for one or two people and I feel
sometimes like I am too because my
family will not eat this which is so
frustrating so I will be putting it in
the freezer when I get home I don’t tell
my children what I’m making there you go
Ching my kids I’ve I’ve done that too
many times they busted me getting too
old I was going to say the older
ones they’re like what’s in it I’m like
just try it I’m going to do a quick wrap
up for at home audience so everyone at
home thank you for watching along check
the we the links we’ll leave it on for a
couple more minutes all the links we’ll
have the full recording sent out to
everybody that signed up we’ll send that
out probably next week so if there’s
somebody that was you’d like to share it
with that wasn’t here today it’s a good
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also have a transitioning to a plant
power diet mini courses coming up so you
can get on the weight list for interest
about that and I send you a tasty
Tuesday recipe each week not all of them
are vegetarian there are some animal
protein um recipes in there as well so I
just wanted to point that out I do eat
some animal meat but I’m more plant
focused so um that’s in the op op and I
put a link to Dr sel’s website as well
in the chat and Jane do you want to give
a plug for your podcast right here
what’s what’s the name of it uh well you
can go to Jane williams.com um and j a y
NE j a y NE y williams.com um and uh
I’ve got all kinds of goodies on my
website um and of course my podcast is
elevated Wellness you can find it um all
uh all the places you can find podcast
Apple Spotify all that good stuff and
make sure to check out my recent episode
with Dr seagel it’s an incredible
episode so absolutely and we’re going to
get Allison on too she’s coming on next
and of course the last word go to your
healthand wellbeing. org to sign up for
all of our great programs here at the
Center for Health and wellbeing
including like we said next month Dr
Ariana Becker who is a lifestyle
medicine physician who’s here in the
building Alison and her are doing Whole
Foods for Whole Health it’s going to be
a great session and in June Rothman
orthopedics will be here with Alison to
talk about cooking for bone health so
awesome lots of great programs coming up
so we hope to see everybody here soon
thank you as we all as all women in this
room bone health cannot be emphasized
enough yes and movement and so I’m so
glad you’re doing that that is
incredible that’s really incredible
small movements make a big impact food
makes an impact don’t sleep on walking
walking is definitely awesome Zone 2
cardio walking at a fast pace go
if you don’t want to go outside in the
heat it’s and as we age I’ve learned
that you know long gone of those days
where I could R I used to run 5 miles in
the morning and 5 miles at night oh my
gosh wow that’s impressive that was my
way to sort of decompress from uh
surgical training yeah and I was very
fit but I also didn’t have the demands
of three children and a full-time job in
training it’s a different sort of
mindset and I you know fast forward to
now in the last couple of years I’ve
sort of become even more more cognizant
with health and wellness as I’m
counseling my patients as I’m developing
my practice as I’m learning and seeing
more when it comes to cancer prevention
and um what I’ve noticed that as we age
so does your the need for what kind of
activity levels you need true and how
your body um is able to balance the two
my personal experience is I thought that
I could just go back to being really
intense with my workout and I would be
fine well when I did that I realized
that I just didn’t feel well I felt more
bloat around my bell belly I felt more
joint pains my knees were hurting my
back was hurting and so I took a step
back and I said something has I have to
figure this out and what I recognized
was that my cortisol levels were super
high after those intense workouts my
body was sensing and and recognizing the
two systems the parasympathetic and the
sympathetic system and my body was
saying oh she’s running away from a
tiger so the cortisol levels were high
cortisol causes you to have that bloat
it can cause inflammation and I wasn’t
giving myself and my body enough time
for that level to come back down rescue
the body and then go back so I learned
that over the last couple of months how
I respond I have actually lost 4 lounds
by not doing those intense workouts by
giving my body a break but I’ve been
monitoring I not today because I was in
the operating room monitoring how many
steps I get and at the end of the day if
I’ve had three or four good days where
I’ve done a really intense workout where
I’m sweating and then the other couple
of days I’ve got 10,000 steps I’ve lost
three lbs yeah that’s yep wow that’s
great my body inflammation is down I
don’t have the joint pains and as a
surgeon yeah I don’t want to feel like I
can’t on your feet I’m on my feet but
then to be able to operate I don’t want
that back pain so that’s why I took that
step I I did that in October for my
birthday and I said this is not not
working for me so I reanalyzed
everything and of course my cerebral
brain went right to why why did this
work when I was 20 oh I didn’t have
three boys in the job your life was
different your body was different you
know I had to take a step back and say
okay this is what’s changed let’s see
what works for me and I’m so pleasantly
happy with how the balance has really
affected me in a positive way and again
it wasn’t that I was eating junk I was
not I was limiting what I was eating it
was the too much so don’t underestimate
the power of walking I love that and I
did there’s an app called the step bet I
love it it tells you based on your
current activity what your four days a
week what your minimum goal steps are
two days a week are your power steps and
one day is the step rest day you bet on
yourself 40 bucks and at the end of the
six weeks if you’re still standing
whoever else is stilling standing you
split the pot that’s great you’re not
going to get rich I mean I’ve gotten
like3 to 8 but I’ve gotten Rich because
I’m actually moving yeah I love that and
the weeks that it’s warm-up week and it
doesn’t really count barely meeting my
goal and so whatever it takes to get
that to get you to actually do it and
sometimes I’m like okay it’s after
dinner which is a good time to walk
after you eat a meal um because it helps
stabilize your blood sugars but I’m like
all right I’ve got to take a I got walk
a couple miles let’s go on a walk on get
this done and it’s I I I like to listen
to audio books or podcasts and if it’s
like a juicy audio book that I don’t
normally listen to because usually I’m
listening to nutrition or or personal
development but if it’s like a juicy one
I’m like I can only listen to this when
I’m walking and guess what I finish that
book in three or four days cuz I want to
get out there and listen to it yeah yeah
that’s great I I think that um the
mindset should also change for diet and
nutrition I don’t say the word diet
because I don’t believe in diets I do
not I believe in lifestyle changes I do
not believe in just eating a keto diet
or of whole grain I only eat berries on
Monday through Wednesday diet I don’t
believe in that not it is not
sustainable no it’s not sustainable so I
believe in balance and uh 8020 rules you
know we’re going to go to birthday
parties we’re going to have big
celebrations you can’t control
everything that you eat but your body
will tell you I only need a little bit
of this yeah because six out of the
seven days I have been packing it with
such nourishment that it doesn’t even
want this right so I had my taste and
I’m good and I can move on from that so
it’s all about balance that’s great what
do you all say to your patient or your
client who’s a smart educ with person
who just will
not see the relationship between food
andal I’m still working on it at home I
mean too as my husband I just got an
alert my husband left to go probably eat
fast food yes I’m working on it
too however I have taken baby steps
small steps right I have taken small
steps we have gone from Diet Coke only
in the fridge to not having any Coke in
the fridge at all we have gone from I’ve
never had water in my life to I have a
big cup now where I drink on a regular
basis yes but when I talk about mindset
I think what I talk about at home is I
don’t want to be a burden for my
children right you don’t want to have a
Health crisis to make a change I want my
children to say my mom is so healthy
that she can now help me with my kids
and this family vacation that we’re
planning I don’t have to worry about my
mom not being able to walk go through
the airport that’s what I’m looking at
now as my parents age and again I have
so many different instances in my life
my mother was diagnosed with cancer
which is why I do what I do and the Life
Choices I made but her cancer diagnosis
came as a huge shock to all of us and uh
she was able to go through
that and she gained weight on
chemotherapy which very few people do
she would go to her chemotherapy
infusions and all the nurses and doctors
would say Mrs Sharma why are you always
so happy and why are you doing so well
during your treatment and she said well
I’m doing this because I need to be
alive for my children and then she would
pause and she goes I have three
unmarried daughters and an unmarried
son she has work to
do she’s a doctor she’s a doctor she’s
an engineer he’s an engineer any takers
like wow Mom but she used nutrition
during her chemotherapy which is why she
was never hospitalized just one time
after a fluke just one time um but not
because she was Ill or because her blood
and her body couldn’t handle it but
because she nourished herself between
every treatment my father had smoothies
that he would make for her every morning
with wheat wheat grass juice my aunt
would come and make stews like this
because when the pallet wasn’t there to
eat food she made smoothies and had
protein during her entire treatment and
I remember on the last day she got on
the scale and she’s like
what 12 lbs who gains weight on chemo
but she didn’t lose weight she was never
hospitalized and she’s still cancer-free
that’s amazing excellent AB
nutrition is um what helped we couldn’t
prevent the cancer I can’t prevent a
cancer from coming I can however
minimize the impact that cancer may have
right absolutely so I wish I could I
wish I could I mean we can prevent some
cancers lung cancers caused by smoking
um but when we can’t prevent it Whatever
life may bring if you prepare your body
for it you will be better equipped and
have a better outcome I always say we
can absolutely minimize risk you can
minimize your RIS because that is what
we can control right what we put in our
mouths how we live our life and worrying
about the things that you have no
control over add stress that’s right
adding stress increases cortisol that’s
cortisol causes inflammation so worry
about the things that you have control
over what are you putting into your body
and how much movement have you made that
day yeah yeah thank you so you’re very
thank you thank you thank you
good