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 shares what foods to add to your plate to help prevent cancer. She discusses 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 is joined in the Center for Health & Wellbeing’s Nutrition Theatre by Anupama Saigal, MD, a fellowship trained breast surgical oncologist with AdventHealth.
so while we’re getting that up and
started um we’re going to get a
microphone on here and I think everybody
can hear me but couple housekeeping
items this is one of our hybrid programs
our food is medicine so we got folks
here in the room and Folks at home those
of you at home feel free to use the chat
I will ask your questions here in the
room and those of you here in the room
ask your questions as we go 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 little gadgets that she
always has and all sorts of stuff let me
see if oh we got someone coming in real
quick where come on in come on in hello
come on in come on in and then Dr SLE is
here with 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 H the TPS against her
but that’s okay but she did do her
surgical resen hold the Gators against
all
of she did do her surgical residenc at
the 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 we’re just talking about we’re
putting some our fall ones together
right now so your 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 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
chickp yeah we’ve got Katie farman
coming up is doing a whole class just
about trick peece 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 Allison 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 it’s going to be made with some tofu
and we’re going to serve it with u mixed
berries okay 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 oh dear oh okay that’s better I’ve
never needed a microphone in my
life this’s keep talking sorry no
worries
right better oh much better okay again
as a 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 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 it
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 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 M 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
7eleven for 6 years I know shelf table
meat just kind of grosses me out yeah
think about that we don’t know when and
how and call itank 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 carrot 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 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
Allison very well um as well uh we share
a love of food and health and all things
um and Dr seagel 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 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 quickly I’ll I’ll
I’ll keep it quick because the food is
cooking um is that I have um a very uh
number one my family history is
incredibly un fortunately 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
chart 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 U 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 biopsied it
was biopsi 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 seal 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 posts surgical period so
you may never be afflicted with breast
cancer and as a breast cancer specialist
nutrition also helps with healing 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 anti 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 yeah that’s one thing that you
do have control right Alison 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 and 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 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 all forms 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 vegetarians but I’m
vegetarian I’m vegetarian and so for me
cooking a nutritious meal at home you
don’t have you don’t get 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 create it on a Sunday so that you
can have for Monday come up with a
different way to use the foods that
you’re making I do that all the time I
cook on Sundays in bulk I do have three
boys I’m learning that that may not last
me until Tuesday again so I may have to
reamp Pops bigger than that and I love
that you mentioned repurposing your
leftovers because 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 of what I’m cooking
again then it minimizes process 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 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 in 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 19 60s 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 them
all autoimmune dysfunctions are related
to processed foods that’s not what I’m
saying I’m saying that our propensity
has increased because we have now become
a society where everything is based on
ease and simplic 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 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
Shelf stable so I can the food
manufacturers can make more money yes
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’re meant to be used 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 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 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 it’s important to pair
the food so the body gets the right
nutrition absolutely okay but in a day a
day 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 as a practice I’d like
to say you 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 and 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
I’m
your
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 Splenda absolutely not grow in
your 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 form alahh is commonly you for alahh
is commonly used to in those sugars to
keep them okay to eat from Malahide
yeah I think monk fruit is okay 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 mon fruit that
I’ve
but more than not monk fruit is easy to
digest so that that’s a good sugar
alternative and it won’t affect your
your hungry this smells amazing Alice
this is incredible you’re getting you’re
getting your protein I’m going to get my
you’re going to get your protein 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 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 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 bch 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 and 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 because the texture is
different but it it melt it like the
juices come out and it’s 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
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 a 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 from 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 otown compost so they
pick up all of our um compost and help
make good so 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 or into or Sal into the soup into
the soup and so remember you have to use
things that are Purp 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 can 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 resp response in
your body so it’s a really good
vegetable to make sure vegetabl series
of vegetables to get into your daily
diet question in the chat is arugula as
good as kale okay wash my hands I didn’t
hear what you is arugula as good as kale
health benefit all great they all
Russell Sprouts are cruciferous yes
absolutely I love arugala oh my gosh I
grow it in my tower garden at home I try
to keep things simple if it’s fresh it’s
it can’t be bad for you 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 day after school we have a
air fryer we have fresh broccoli the
little packets that Allison was talking
about and um and it’s they we roast it
and then 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 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 eight 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 me 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 your nutrient
in 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 uh meal delivery services for the
fresh veggies uh 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 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 not 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 a restaurant these are hard to get
[Laughter]
on no that’s okay I’ll will eventually
get there
but my lant
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
um it wasn’t massaged and and it had the
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 whatever 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 pro of the fibers so
this is just a simple what it take five
not even five minut o than we are
enjoying the whole
food 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 olve
oil on before you massage now I
typically just massage but is it better
to put the olive oil on First and 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 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 on 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 o 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 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 age I
just I hate it I am not a dressing
person I not do any dressing don’t be
dressing myself 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 oil yes right 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
restant 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 so good 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 its cancer prevention
properties and also I want to show you
how to segment it so I took all this
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 cont 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 an 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 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 syroid
Synthroid medications and there’s a few
other um 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 fruits separate
yep right so make it so that it’s easy
for your family right and I’m going to
be adding also aname on here cuz I
wanted us to talk about soy cuz soy a
food item that everyone’s terrified of
so no need to be terrified okay let’s
talk so yes 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
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 and 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 toally dangerous on road
trips he pulls it from 7-Eleven and 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
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 so much of the process so
that’s 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 had
breast cancer you do not need to worry
about soy as a part of your diet but I
do believe in my that that’s the biggest
thing I hear I can’t have soy because I
had breast cancer yeah I had bre canc
and I
estrogen 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
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 soy have estrogen 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 and the mousse that
we’re making I think the the dessert
that we’re making today think 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 ju position here mhm I know
in older studies too um the
phytoestrogens the chemical makeup of a
estrogen 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 agent so that is why it’s so
important soy actually protects our body
against cancer 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 this sound 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 chopped 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 CU 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 crains
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
using you ask 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 um extra virgin olive oil cuz 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 gained 15 PBS
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
fats 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 Pea restaurant that is
convenient for healthy salads and soups
makes it there a 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
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 I’m
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 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 aisles and aisles in the
center that have um products that are
shelf 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 L’s any longer
because as I’ve been reading labels
thanks to miss 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
your vegetables because it’s going to
reduce your cancer risk and then you can
have this conversation when you grow up
in your 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 you got a pat on the back for
that much that’s really
thank Jame what you said is also true of
extra correct so true 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 you went what is happening here and
I thought how can they sell this as
extra virgin isn’t that a certain 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 is because that looks
incredible so in the salad dressing I
made um I use 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 walnuts and um the nutrients in that
is also really good for brain health as
well so add protein
vitamin 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 saturated fats coming from mainly
from animal stuff and all that processed
foods so
there hemp seeds are amazing here the
hemp seeds are actually rich in protein
yes which is great this has um 10 g of
protein 12 G of Omega 3 and six
in three
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 protein 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
low I don’t go for low fat I go for
simple normal regular yogurt and then
we’ll add toppings to it so I have hemp
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 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 M 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 to think end 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 sugar
so 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 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 a 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 very long but the pre-shredded ones
they can be in your fridge
forever so so shred your own shred your
own freeze it in individual little
baggies also when you go like when I buy
feta cheese I’ll buy the block of feta
and then crumble it myself you get so
much more so you’re saving so much money
doing it that way like 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 St for me so
I read the back of it so I don’t do fat
free I don’t do sugar free I doal I
don’t even do the vegetarian or the
vegan cheeses cuz all oil I’m like big
misnomer too misnomer is that you know
uh vegan if you’re vegan you must be
healthy absolutely not true at all
processed foods are pro-inflammatory all
those chemicals that they’re putting in
there to make it palatable for you to
eat and I think you’ve answered it but
somebody was asking specifically about
plant-based
because they’ve heard about some of the
things added to that and when you’re
trying to make that when I do my when I
make my decisions for 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 Minal in 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
so simpleos 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 theia from your hands can
make that cheese go bad 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
zip blog 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 U 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 broccol 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 a 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 love 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 mozzarella 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
Inc 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
make your own dressing and then pass it
around and then just keep that
for 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 stews like this for
salads or for the
boys the kids can do it too the kids
love it and it’s like they could take
out their frustrations on the chopper
you know it’s 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 for your
salad yes I would Beed sorry given the
talk we just had I’m going to guess the
answer is none but somebody was asking
is there a plant-based cheese that you
recommend I do not um I am not
plant-based I am not vegan I do not have
a plant-based cheese that I know of I
don’t either
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 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 right have I know I
know but in other you I have had 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 breakfast and after
dinner as a dessert rather than a big
piece of of cheese cake so what about
effect 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 the cheese so if
you’re going to have cheese if you look
in France when you go to France and you
go to 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 yeah 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 D Dutch
oven situation over there but it just
takes forever and but 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 and Aid i’ never put
anything in the microwave for more than
2 three 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 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 my had a TV
dinner I did in college I did because I
didn’t know what I was doing in the
kitchen know but remember we were all uh
we were all succumbed we all F
information was so different back food
information and what we were told as a
okay we trusted these companies that
they were saying okay Lean Cuisine right
tell 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 so it’s all about what
about butter how do you feel about 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 a I have a 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
it’s controlled and I don’t buy a lot of
it 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 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’ I’ve stopped years there’s so many
great recipes that you can make with
Whole Foods like bananas and um yogurts
and whole grain flowers and berries so I
made a 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 yeah it’s all 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 the 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 so and if you
have picky eaters then um Shred the skin
off the zucchini or use yellow squash I
picky boys like how did that
happen 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 grass 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 round it 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’s take 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 was
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 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 orthol 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 public so
don’t be ashamed to return things back
to cuz there you go tell the company I
don’t like this you know and it was real
re eel not r i yeah yeah I think it it
said I think the brand is real good but
some of the other products they make I
do like but I so I was fooled I’m like
this is a brand I trust boom getting it
but I love 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 well 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 fine every everybody has we all
have to make money but you are
responsible for what you put into your
body right 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 body and and make it about
you and your choices and Empower
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 private 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 uh Nabisco
um but not naming any names um anyhow he
had worked for years and he was telling
me on the podcast about how they have a
food lab and 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’s
in it because they won’t disclose it
right but it is unbelievable so he ended
up getting an
autoimmune and his entire life and he
could not work for a corporation like
that any longer so he left yeah but very
very interesting I I in my college that
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 weird 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 yes this is
delicious I um I have just seen in my
lifetime the shift from when I was in
high
school to when 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 girlfriends 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
grandkids palet yes is not accustomed to
junk MH and they do get accustomed to it
because those preservatives they’re
addictive yes 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 feel bad we
did I’m I’m glad you brought that up to
me too growing up in my teens oh
Coca-Cola I have 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 L of Diet Pepsi a day by noon
then switched to Crystal Light 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 really oh so fun I mean he was in
New
York apartment so he was like I don’t
know where to put this it’s storage it’s
storage it’s a storage spot and so we do
no we no longer drink diet coke
regularly 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
eliminating 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 hyp sweet
stuff anymore and I I just really can’t
stand changes your taste 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 CU I was killing my taste with all
the chemicals also remember when you
have food as nutrition Your Body Works
in unison it is an elegant complexx
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 it 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 you’re going
to have Coke yeah have the regular
one and then slowly come off of it to so
happy to hear that was yeah yes dial it
down so I wanted to point out with this
to 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 huding that
shelf stable in the grocery store and
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 squeeze it and have a popsicle
quick question do you want to make sure
you use soft silken
tofu okay I just want to make sure 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 um
mousse you can add a pinch of cinnamon
mhm cardamom I use cardamum regularly
because it’s It Feels So
Sophisticated SPS sophisticated it has
that sort of I’m not cinnamon I’m
not I don’t know what I am I’m not
nutmeg 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’m
like 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
flavorful nice it’s just like fennel
like I
love oh you can just put that I don’t
know 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 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 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 ice
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
my kids I’ve I’ve done that too many
times they busted me they’re 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 our 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 with 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 video to share with folks
and opt into my newsletter if you’d like
to get the links to my favorite kitchen
gadgets I 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 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 while you’re
here what’s what’s the name of it uh 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 podcasts
Apple Spotify all that good stuff and
make sure to check out my recent episode
with Dr Sagel 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 Allison 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 Allison 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 B Health cannot be emphasized
enough 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 be sleep on walking walking is
definitely awesome Zone 2 cardio walking
at a fast pace go here 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 run I I used
to run 5 miles in the morning and five
miles at night oh my gosh wow that’s
impressive 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 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 experiences 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 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 re 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 yeah so
I learned that over the last couple of
months how I respond I have actually
lost four pounds 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 did that in October for my
birthday and I said this is 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
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 4 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 still standing
you split the pot that’s great you’re
not going to get rich I mean I’ve gotten
like three 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 to
walk a couple miles let’s go on a walk
on get this done and it’s I I I like to
listen to Audi books or podcasts and if
it’s like a juicy audio book that I
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
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 right whole grain I only eat
berries on Monday through Wednesday
I believe in that not is not
sustainable 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 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 yall say to your patient or your
Cent’s a SM educ with a person who just
will
not see the relationship between food
and I’m still working on it at home me
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 I want my children to say
my mom is so healthy that she can now
help me with my 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 any taker like wow
Mom but she used 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 palet was
smoothies and protein dur her enti
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 Absol 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 risk 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
right 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 good