December 7, 2025 • 33 mins
A local children's hospital has a new program teaching kids how to battle tummy aches and other digestive issues using "food as medicine"; KFI's Heather Brooker joins Michael to compare LA's train system with New York City's where Heather spent Thanksgiving.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is Michael Monk's Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
We've got another hour together on this Saturday night. We're
in that weird period between Thanksgiving and Christmas in the
new year where maybe some people are at work, maybe
some services are available, people are checking out, shopping, celebrating,
and eating. We're eating a lot, and it's not just
us grown ups. Rady Children's Health Orange County knows kids
(00:31):
can develop some bad habits with food and they can
turn into serious health concerns. Stomach pain, riedable bowel syndrome,
gastro esophago, reflex disease, and if you don't know what
that is, kids probably don't either. But the hospital has
a new program to teach them, the region's first pediatric
integrative health and Culinary medicine program teaching kids food as medicine.
(00:54):
It's director, doctor Ashish Chogla, is with us now to
talk about it. Doctor Chogli, thanks so much for joining tonight.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Thank you for having having me here.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Of course, it's our pleasure. Look, this is the season
for indulgence. We're all maybe eating too much on Thanksgiving
and a little too much through the end of the year,
with the hope that when the calendar flips of January
one will be much better, people will be much more discipline.
It doesn't always work out that way. I don't need
to tell you that Americans and food have a very
(01:24):
strange relationship. We've got a lot of obesity, but this
is something that affects children too. That's why Rady's Children
is doing what it's doing. What was the motivation, as
you see it, for creating this food as Medicine program?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So to answer that question, I'll give you a bit
of history. I grew up for the first couple of
decades in India, where, unknownst to me, food was being
used as medicine in everyday life. My mom used to
add spices and nerves and food, and we used to
take it for granted. When I went into medical school,
we learned about medicine. We learned about diagnosing based on symptoms,
(02:04):
treating those symptoms, giving medicines, and getting those children better.
In our mind right, But then once I got into practice,
I realized that that is not enough. It's not enough
to just focus on the symptoms. I think what everyone needs,
including these children is more of a holistic approach, seeing
(02:25):
that child as a whole. The symptoms, yes, they matter,
but what about the rest of the body. I mean,
if I'm a gasferenttrologist, I think it's unjust to just
focus on the gut. There is more to the child
than just the gut. There is more to that child
than just bellyaches, right, So you have to look at
that child as a whole, and not only the physical
(02:47):
self of the child, but also the mind, the soul,
their family, their social circle. It's just about everything that
comes along with the child that you have to look
at and not just the child. And a big part
of that holistic view is the nutrition because nutrition touches
(03:09):
all aspects of what I mentioned right now. So, yes,
if you give nutrition to a child, they grow. But
nutrition is not just calories. It is more than that.
There are other nutrients other than calories that are micronutrients.
But then nutrition also heals the gut, It heals the microbiome.
(03:30):
There is a communication between between your gut and the brain.
And it's even beyond that. Food is about connection. Food
is about family. When you sit down on the table
with the family and eat with the family, There is
that pleasure. Those are the there are the food memories
that are made, especially during the holiday season when you
(03:54):
eat with your family, those are the things that you remember.
You'll remember those smells, and you will remember those excited
chatters with your cousins. Right. So, food is an important
part of your existence, of your being, and I think
we have to get food back on the table where
it belongs and realize that every meal can be medicine.
(04:18):
You don't have to just take bills as medicine. Food
can be medicine. And in culinary medicine. The reason why
this is not just nutrition because the most common question
I get is how it is different from a dietitian
giving you advice, Right, I mean, when we created this
culinary medicine program, so this does include that part where
(04:38):
the dietitian does give you advice, but it's more customized
to that being that person. And then we also teach
the families of how to do this easily, not be scared,
not be daunted, right, how to make those food choices,
how to pick healthy foods from the clutter of ultra
process foods that exists on shelves today, how to read
food level labels how to cook easily and how to
(05:03):
find joy in cooking, and then sitting down on the
dinner table with your family.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Well, let me let let me ask you this doctor chokey,
because we are talking about children here, and children may
not have the knowledge on how to prepare their own food.
Not to say they can't learn about the ingredients and such,
but if there's not a parent or a guardian or
some person adult in their lives to guide them through
that process, what do they do? So it sounds like
(05:30):
what you're suggesting suggesting here is that if a child
is suffering from gastro intestinal issues, you have to go
beyond a prescription. You've got to change the lifestyle. How
do you incorporate that change to include the parents?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
So you're right, it's not just the child, right, I
mean I can talk for a couple of hours as
a child, and if the parent hasn't bought him, there's
not going to be any change. So the important part
of us talking to the child is talking to the
family as a unit, giving practical tips to the parents
(06:09):
about what can you do in your daily life? And
you know, these are not big changes, these are just
tiny changes of you know, even getting the kid to
chop vegetables with you, getting the kid to stir, the
part when you've dropped in stuff to cook, asking the
parents about their own eating habits, because a lot of
(06:33):
the eating habits which the children derive are from the parents.
So unless you get the parental buy in and you
change a little bit of their habits, even in the
smallest way possible, you're not going to make a dent
in the kid's diet or eating habits. So we do
talk to the family as a whole, and even the
(06:54):
workshops that we create to teach kids their diets involves
the family. The families are there with the kids and
while they're cooking with our chef educators, there is a
dietician and a physician present in most of the workshops
where we are teaching the parents the nutritional value of
what they're doing, Simple things like knife skills, cutting, chopping,
(07:17):
how to store stuff, how to make it easy on them.
Because everyone's busy, including my family. You know, it's it's
not easy to cook for every day. It's not easy
to have fresh feels every day. So there are small
things that we can change in our daily lives which
can make things easier even for the busy families.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
We'll continue with doctor Choglay next and learn more about
those things he just mentioned.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
This is Michael Monk's Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
We've been talking with doctor Ashish Choglay of Rady Children's Health,
Orange County about the new pediatric Degrade of Health and
Culinary Medicine program teaching kids Food as Medicine. I was
surprised to learn that the National Institute of Health reports
between ten and seventeen percent of school age children have
(08:12):
recurring abdominal pain, and that could be related to irritable
bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, gastro esophageal reflex disease. I
don't even know what that is. It just surprises me
that such a large percentage of children are having these
types of issues so frequently. So when we talk about
(08:32):
food as medicine, what types of foods are we talking about,
Because it doesn't seem like there's really a consensus even
in the dietary marketplace. Carbs are bad, carbs are good.
This much fiber is necessary, Milk should be had milks
should not be had. What are we talking about here?
Speaker 3 (08:50):
So you are absolutely right. There is so much confusion.
There is sometimes too much information and people swing one
way or the other. People go to extremes with diets,
and you know, everyone has their own style and everyone
has their own way of looking at what is a
healthy diet. But I'll give you my opinion. In my opinion,
(09:13):
the healthy diet is a simple diet. It's almost that
back to the roots concept where you know what you're eating,
you know what is going in your food. You're doing
things in moderation, you're not doing things in an extreme.
That means in a balanced diet you need all components
of the food. I think going to one extreme, like
(09:36):
you know, just only doing protein diet based diet or
only like just removing all cargo headeds possible, I think
that makes a diet in unbalanced or in balanced. Right,
So having that like a portion sizes of all the
food parts, having a variety of foods, rotating your food choices,
(09:58):
also making sure that you're not eating too much of
the ultra process foods, which is almost like a scourge
in today's society, and especially for kids. You know who
doesn't like takis, and who doesn't like cheese puffs, But
they have a big downside because there are so many
additives and colorings and preservatives and things that are added
to make them so much more taste here that kids
(10:22):
will be addicted to those. And we see kids who
come in with abdawn open, but they're sitting there with
a bag of hot takis, eating that bag as they're
telling me about their stomach cakes. So I think that
it's a very basic concept. You don't have to get
too complicated. As long as you know what's in your
food on your plate and you know the ingredients. I
(10:44):
think that's what healthy food is.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
We're talking with doctor Rashi's cho Glee of Rady Children's Health,
Orange County, as they create this first pediatric food as
medicine program here in southern California. What is the program? Doctor?
I mean? Is this like a semester of learning? Is
it classes? Is it a one day thing? How does
it work?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
So this program is not a one one thing event.
It is a cluster of offerings that we are creating
for everyone, all the key stakeholders in society. So, starting
with our patients and families, we are creating easy recipes
online which they can go and reference if they are
(11:27):
just struggling to find some ideas. On a daily basis basis,
we are creating fun cooking videos to show that you
can cook healthy food, but it can be easy and fun.
It doesn't need to be hard. It doesn't need to
be a chore that people get scared of. We are
also creating family friendly workshops, not only for disease specific diets,
(11:50):
but also for preventive nutrition that means just healthy eating,
just big concepts like simple concepts like rainbow die right,
I mean vegetables of different food in colors, and then
create dishes, simple dishes which parents can recreate at home.
We are also doing events for in patients. That means
(12:12):
when these kids are admitted and their families are sitting
by their bed not doing much and instead of watching
a movie, they can switch on to our channel. My
team is actually creating content for those channels using the
Ryan Seacrest Studio which exists at Rady Students Help, which
is a big deal because we do a lot of
(12:33):
stuff there. We do we shoot episodes, we do podcasts
out there. But one of the things which we are
doing is having participation of the children. So just yesterday,
my team they did an episode where they made pumpkin
cake pops using healthy ingredients, and there were kids out
there who were helping my team make those cake pops,
(12:54):
and this involved minimal cooking. There was one another event
or another thing they did was smelling the foods that
are commonly eaten during holidays and having those kids identify
the smells, raid those smells, and then also more down
what emotions those smells evoked. Right, because food is not
(13:15):
only taste, food is smell as well. Food is visual,
Like you know, you take in that visual stimulus when
you're looking at food, and that actually helps you eat
better or can help you connect with the food. And
that's part of the mindful eating that we stress on
for the kids. We are also creating workshops for healthcare
(13:35):
providers and trainings such as residents, because it's almost like
a force multiplier. You teach one healthcare provider, it helps themselves,
it helps their families, but then it also helps hundreds
of patients they take care of. So now instead of
me being one person trying to give out that education,
I'm creating a workforce or a team of people who
can spread that message for me right, we are getting
(13:59):
out in the community. We have partnered up with Pretensity Museum.
We did our first event, which was the Halloween event,
where we did healthy harvest treats and one of the
fun things that we ended up doing was we gave
kids slices of apples with cord, you know, remove the
(14:20):
cores were removed so it looked like a donut, and
there were apples of three colors, the yellow, green, and red.
And then we gave them toppings, very healthy toppings such
as Greek yogurt. We gave them sun butter, chocolate, Hummers,
dye free sprinkles, we gave them sugar free chocolate chips.
(14:40):
And these kids went crazy. They took the slices, they
were topping them like donuts. They actually looked like donuts.
They were eating them and then they were coming back
for seconds. It was also cute to see these kids
make these donuts for their parents who were there at
the museum. So our intent was to introduce kids to
health versions of the treats. You know, for Halloween, there's
(15:05):
a ton of candy sitting out there, and we all
know everyone gets a stomach ache the next day. But
if we can even make a few kids not choose
the candy, but then as their parents for apples and
with some topics right to make them look like treats
and taste like treats. That's something that we intend to do.
(15:25):
It's a whim for us. Well.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I think this is I think this is great because
it sounds like it means more candy for me.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Exactly exactly the stores, the shelves will be still full
of candy.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
I love that. Doctor Ashish Chogle is the medical director
of gastro Entrology at Rady Children's Health, Orange County. We've
been talking about the first pediatric food as medicine program
in this region. Doctor Choglay, I really appreciate the time
you gave us. Good luck with this program. I know
it's a long road ahead, but like you said, let's
see how many kids can get involved in this and
(15:57):
change their lifestyles.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Michael Kfi's Heather Brooker, my friend from the newsroom, is
with us next. She was in New York over Thanksgiving,
and we'll discuss that city subway system and our own
right here in southern California. When Michael Monk's reports continues.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
This is Michael Monk's reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
Heather Brooker, thanks so much for coming in on a
Saturday for us.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Always happy to be here and talk with you.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
I don't know if that's true, but we're glad to
have you. Nonetheless, Hey, you have been very busy lately.
And before we get to your little trip to New
York where you saw the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, let's
recap postathon. This was a big success for KFI and
you got to be down there. They didn't want me there,
but you were there doing all kinds of fun stuff.
I mean, how big was this crowd?
Speaker 4 (16:47):
It was pretty big. And what was so fun about
it is, you know, first of all, this was my
first pastathon to be there in person, as well my
very first postathon. Years ago, I was running the board
for Amy King during wake up call so she could
go out to pastathon, so I didn't get to go
and be part of the fun. But I was super
excited this year, and it was really cool to watch
(17:09):
all of the listeners who were interacting and cheering on
you know, the hosts and the news team as they
were coming out. It had such a vibrancy, a spirit
of giving, which was perfect because it was on Giving Tuesday,
and everybody was just in such a good mood, which
you know in the news business is kind of a
rarity for us around here. So it was a really
(17:29):
fun event.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah, this was here in the newsroom. It was a
lot of fomo. They call it the fear of missing out.
We were definitely just hearing this all day and we're
just the handful of us that were left behind because
we have the regular day's work to do.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
It did sound well. Now you know how I felt
when you went out to News and Bruise a few
weeks ago and I was left in the newsroom, Oh
my birthday, being all sad here by myself. But you
know what, we do what we got to do to
make the news happen for the people.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
We do what we got to do. It sounds like
it was a pretty big success. And you know, Michelle Cube,
our executive producer here who puts this on, says that
as of eight pm Tuesday, when the broadcast at the
White House in Anaheim ended, they'd raised more than nine
hundred and fifty thousand dollars and brought in more than
ninety two thousand pounds of pasta and sauce for Chef
(18:19):
Bruno's charity, Catarina's Club. So it's not over though, right,
I mean, people can still get we could get up
to what comes after nine hundred thousand.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Well, you know, we had a record year last year.
We had one point three million dollars, and we are
on track this year to go above and beyond that.
Because people can still donate to the Pasta Thon. They
can do that through Sunday at Smart and Finals stores
in California, Nevada, and Arizona. They are still taking donations there.
(18:48):
You can also donate at local Wendy's or restaurants in
SoCal through Sunday, December seventh, and also get that free
coupon book if you go to Wendy's, because that alone
is a fourteen dollar dollar value for just a five
dollars donation. And then throughout the end of the year,
you can find what's called a giving machine, the world
giving machine. It's this is some sort of vending machine
(19:11):
where you give Yes, yeah, that's it exactly. So it's
like a you know, like a vending machine where you
would normally select you know, your junk food, your soda
is your pops or chips or whatever. This one though,
you can select a donation, whether you want to donate
a soccer ball to somebody. Shannon bought a sheep, yester,
she bought a what Yeah, she bought a sheep and donated.
(19:33):
I'm not sure where the donation went, but it was
really funny sheet. They put that up on their Instagram
if people want to check that out. But specifically, there
are options four kfis Posathon and partnership with Katarina's Club.
People can donate five meals, they can feed a family.
They can you know, choose the selection and a vending
machine to meet that donation. And there's several locations across
(19:55):
southern California where they can do that throughout the end
of the year. So there's still a so they're still
taking donations of pasta and sauce and money as well
down at the Anaheim White House.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
All right, so you've got until Sunday tomorrow to visit
Wendy's restaurants across SoCal they're taking donations any of them.
If you donate five dollars or more, you get a
coupon book, and he's giving machines in Riverside at Tyler Mall,
Huntington Beach, at the Huntington Beach Pier, San Clemente, at
the San Clementy Outlets, Old Town and San Diego. And
then if you want to donate fire related recovery items,
(20:29):
that will be at the grove here in Los Angeles. Okay,
So you had some fun at the pasathon, and I
follow you on social media reluctantly and I see that
you are also in the New York City. What was
it like seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade up close
and personal?
Speaker 4 (20:47):
You know, my family and I have watched the parade
for many years from the comfort of our couch on
Thanksgiving morning, And what was really special about being there
in New York is there's an energy that New York has,
especially around the holidays. There are so many people in
such close proximity, and we got to actually go the
day before the parade and see them prepping the floats,
(21:09):
blowing up the balloon. So that was a really unique
part of the experience that we hadn't even realized that
we could do. And then being there that morning and
the you know, flushed pressed up against flesh, and the crowd,
you know, all being excited. You know, it's very New York.
It was a very crowded area, but still so fun.
We felt very holiday ish. And then we jumped on
(21:31):
a plane and came back home because I had to
fill in for Amy on Wake Up Paul the next morning.
But you know what, I wouldn't have had it any
other way. It was really fun. If you've never been
to New York during the holidays, I highly recommend. We
had a blast.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
New York certainly has a lot of advantages over Los Angeles.
I know that we're supposed to be somewhat rivals as
the two biggest cities in the country on opposing coasts,
But New York really gets it done in the seasons.
You know, they have seasons, so it's advantageous to them
to celebrate the holidays. We don't have the snow associate
with Christmas. They get that you don't have the changing
(22:03):
of the leaves as much like you have in New York.
Is it as romantic as it seems?
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Absolutely, it feels like you've stepped into a movie. Like
every Christmas movie you can imagine takes place in either
London or New York or some small country town. There's
not a lot of Christmas movies you know that happen
in LA. So when you're in New York, if everywhere
you go feels like a movie said, all the storefronts
are dressed up, all the windows are you know, designed
(22:31):
beautifully and to get you into the holiday spirit. And
you know, I have to say, Michael Monks, every time
I got on the Metro on their subway there almost
said Metro, I thought of you.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
I don't like when you call me by my full
government name.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Oh no, I'm sorry, Michael Marie Monks.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
All right, you that is something that you know, as
a guy who prefers public transit and would love to
see it work here in Los Angeles better than it does,
I mean New Yorker's the key difference in New York,
if you ask me, and I've I've only spent a
little bit of time there, it's that more different types
of people ride the subway is the buses. It's part
(23:06):
of their lives, and it's part of their lives because
it has been for generations. Whereas here in LA or
like Oh, we've got a new We've got a new
extension all the way to Pomona. And that's great if
you're headed to Pomona. But if you are somebody who
has lived here your whole life and has never set
foot on that system, it really doesn't mean anything to you.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Well, I'll tell you what. There is a variety of
people who take the subway, and almost everybody there takes
the subway. It is an essential part of living New
York and getting around there. It's not essential here, and
I'm like you, I agree, I wish there was a
better option, or you know, I think the biggest complaint
(23:48):
that I see is that our public trains it doesn't
go where people want to go, you know, it just
it It really doesn't seem to be a destination. And
I don't know how true that is, because I really
don't take the metro here, but the subway went everywhere
I wanted to go, and then I'd have to walk
a couple of blocks and then you know, and there
I was. But it felt I've been to New York
many times, and it feels safer in some subway stations
(24:09):
than ever before. There's still an occasional train that we
would get on and we'd have to shift to a
different car because there was someone sketchy or you know,
kind of made us uncomfortable on the train. And I'm
not taking any risk. I'm not trying to be a hero,
but I'm also not taking any risk, especially when I'm
with my kid. The convenience of their subway station was amazing.
(24:29):
The entire feel of New York around the holidays is
truly something special that we just don't get here in La.
You know, my husband every year puts up Christmas lines
in flip flops and shorts, you know, and once once
you're in California, you get used to that and go, oh,
this is just this is holidays in California. But to
go and experience it somewhere that actually has seasons every
(24:50):
now and then is really nice and we enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
I brought you on because I wanted to talk in
our next segment about entertainment options for this holiday season.
That's your area of expert, an addition to the news here.
But now I want to talk more about public transit
and why I think you're a little bit wrong about
your characterization of public transit in Los Angeles and We're
going to talk more about that, along with some holiday
entertainment updates coming up next.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI
News un till nine o'clock tonight. I've been joined by
my colleague from the newsroom, Heather Brooker. We're going to
talk a little bit about the holiday entertainment options that
are coming out centem A TV and all that. But
she kind of upset me in our previous segment when
she was kind of dissing the metro system here in
Los Angeles, which I admit has its flaws. But Heather,
(25:46):
you specifically said that New York is not only superior,
and their system is obviously superior, but you said this
metro doesn't go anywhere anybody wants to go. Yeah, take
it back.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
I think that is. I won't take it back. I
think that's a general complaint. I mean, here's the deal.
I live in the Glendale. You know, there is not
a subway entrance anywhere really near me, and the subway
that is near me doesn't really go where I want
to go. I want to be able to get on
my subway near my house, maybe walk a few blocks,
(26:18):
take it to Santa Monica, take it to Laguna Beach.
And I know that is incredibly unrealistic, but that's essentially
what they can do in New York. Like I want
to know that I can take the subway to the
beach and then right back to my house.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Well, you're not wrong about that. I think what I
was taken exception to is that it doesn't go anywhere
anybody wants to go. It does, but you're right, it's
not intricate enough to connect everywhere the way New York
might be. It's not heavy rail everywhere the way New
York is, so that the headwinds can be not as foreboden,
because here you are waiting twelve minutes for your next train,
(26:57):
and that's not always true if you're in New York
on some of the some of those lines, and.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
I'll tell you, we would walk out sometimes and then
ten seconds later the train shows act we're on it
and we're going to our next and that adds to
your convenience.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
That's right. It's the convenience of it if you make
it convenient. Also here they've got to get more serious
about safety and cleanliness. It's not necessarily that the system
is unsafe. But if I've been saying this for a
long time, obviously there have been crimes on the system
that we have documented here, but it's not it's not
a blood bath right the way that some people might
think it is.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
But if it feels, if it feels unsafe, if it
has the feeling that it's dirty, or that there are
some people on board who look threatening and that that
you know, those are valid concerns.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
And there are people who look threatening on the system
because they're having mental health episodes and those sorts of things.
So that's the problem. They've got to get sohilarious.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
They definitely have that in New York too. There were
multiple times we got on the train and we're like, oh,
we have to jump off real quick because there was
someone maybe there was one guy who announced when we
got on the train that you would be singing YMCA
and would appreciate any donations.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
For his getting out of here.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
And he just started belting, young man, you no need
to feel down?
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Was he good?
Speaker 4 (28:13):
My daughter was wide eyed looking at me, and I
was like, get out your quarters. He's putting on a show.
This is very New York.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Well, you know what, And when I talk to people
inside Metro, that's one of the things they say about
this complaint that there are some weird people that get
on board and are disruptive or threatening, and it's like,
we'll go to any big city and get on their
Metro system. The difference is, especially when you talk about
New York, you and your daughter were not alone on
that train, right, I mean, there's a lot more passenger volume,
(28:43):
and so you feel, you know, strengthen numbers that you
don't always get here on this system. But just to
endorse Metro a bit, it does go to a lot
of places, and it's going to more places, and that's
great because there is one thing that drives me absolutely
nuts since I moved here, and I don't like Natives'
(29:05):
response to me about it. I can't deal with this traffic.
I can't deal with it. And often I'm sitting at
it and I'm thinking, this does not have to be
like this. It doesn't have to be like this. There's
a lot of bad design. There's obviously high car volume
and that's part of the problem, but it's design and
(29:26):
light timing and all of that sort of thing, and
we do have an option to build more public transit
that makes people feel good. But hither, you've lived here
longer than I. We're both from somewhere else, but you've
been here longer than I have. Have you hears have
you taken on that Angelina mantra that it's la of
course there's traffic.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
It's la, of course there's traffic. I know, if I
have to go to the West Side, I'm going to
add in at least forty five minutes from Glendale to
an hour for that drive, no matter what. If I know,
if I've got to go downtown, it's not too bad
for me. Downtown is a straight shot down the five,
but sometimes it can be thirty forty minutes. Even that
(30:05):
straight shot I build in. You learn to sort of
build in the time to where you're going based on
the traffic, because you could get lucky and get there early.
Praise be that would be amazing, But in general, you
just have to know and commit to the fact it's
gonna be a haul and somebody is gonna get in
a wreck, there's gonna have car trouble, and you're gonna
(30:25):
be in a SIG alert. And that's just part of
living in LA but we love it. We love our cars.
I'm not giving up my car. I had all kinds
of private I.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Want you to give up your car. I don't want
to hear about all that, but I don't want people
to give up their cars. I know people like that
independence and that freedom and the car culture is part
of Los Angeles culture. I get that. It's just when
you talk about, well, I gotta get to the West Side,
I already know it's going to be a pain, or
people who won't go to another part of the community
because they know how long it will take to drive there.
(30:55):
You talked about the straight shot to downtown. You know,
here to Burbank. I live downtown. When I fill in,
you fill in for Amy King when she's out. I
fill in on occasion. I'm kind of your backup to
her backup. And when I get to drive here in
the middle of the night to prep for wake up
call Dreamy, right, it's it's seventeen minutes from my parking
lot to our parking garage, from the Fashion district to Burbank.
(31:18):
So I know that you can't expect that in rush hour,
But when I'm sitting in that traffic. I can feel
my soul leaving my body because it's infuriating.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
It's where so many people get that road rage, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
And I only you know. It's still even at it's worse.
It's forty five minutes to an hour. There are people
who commute. Well, look, let's talk about Pasathon. You drove
to Anaheim from from Glendale. Yeah, we heard our remark.
From from Woodland Hills to Anna, I'm two hours both ways.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Two hours from the Glendale.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
That's vacation. That's a vacation drive. That's a week and
get away. But people all over southern California are taking
those commutes and then saying that's la.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
But what is the answer. I guess that's always what
I wonder when I talk about traffic here with people,
is what is the answer? We widen our freeways? We
have like eight lanes in some sex You can't freeway that,
you know.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
You can't do that widening. Really, there's this theory of
induced demand work. We're not highways safety or traffic flow experts,
but I mean I've talked to people as a journalist.
There's something called induced demand. Basically, you add another lane
to relieve congestion, but all it does is attract more cars,
and so it doesn't work more long, more car exactly.
(32:32):
I know there's got to be somebody smarter than us
out there that can start working on this.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
We are. We live in our cars here in La Yeah,
and I like you, I would love to be able
to take more public transportation to get around places, but
I just it just doesn't seem feasible.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Well, we're gonna have to talk about holiday entertainment next
week because you've made me mad and I don't really
want to be with you right now.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
We agree, I'm agreeing with you. We agreed. We don't
have to we don't have to fight. Let's not fight.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Heather Brooker from KFI News, Heather, always a pleasure to
spend a little extra time with you.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
Thanks Michael Monks.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
We'll be back next week. Live Revisionist History with Malcolm
Gladwell is next. Thank you for spending part of your
Saturday night with us here at Michael Monks reports
Speaker 1 (33:17):
KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is Michael Monk's Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
We've got another hour together on this Saturday night. We're
in that weird period between Thanksgiving and Christmas in the
new year where maybe some people are at work, maybe
some services are available, people are checking out, shopping, celebrating,
and eating. We're eating a lot, and it's not just
us grown ups. Rady Children's Health Orange County knows kids
(00:31):
can develop some bad habits with food and they can
turn into serious health concerns. Stomach pain, riedable bowel syndrome,
gastro esophago, reflex disease, and if you don't know what
that is, kids probably don't either. But the hospital has
a new program to teach them, the region's first pediatric
integrative health and Culinary medicine program teaching kids food as medicine.
(00:54):
It's director, doctor Ashish Chogla, is with us now to
talk about it. Doctor Chogli, thanks so much for joining tonight.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Thank you for having having me here.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Of course, it's our pleasure. Look, this is the season
for indulgence. We're all maybe eating too much on Thanksgiving
and a little too much through the end of the year,
with the hope that when the calendar flips of January
one will be much better, people will be much more discipline.
It doesn't always work out that way. I don't need
to tell you that Americans and food have a very
(01:24):
strange relationship. We've got a lot of obesity, but this
is something that affects children too. That's why Rady's Children
is doing what it's doing. What was the motivation, as
you see it, for creating this food as Medicine program?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So to answer that question, I'll give you a bit
of history. I grew up for the first couple of
decades in India, where, unknownst to me, food was being
used as medicine in everyday life. My mom used to
add spices and nerves and food, and we used to
take it for granted. When I went into medical school,
we learned about medicine. We learned about diagnosing based on symptoms,
(02:04):
treating those symptoms, giving medicines, and getting those children better.
In our mind right, But then once I got into practice,
I realized that that is not enough. It's not enough
to just focus on the symptoms. I think what everyone needs,
including these children is more of a holistic approach, seeing
(02:25):
that child as a whole. The symptoms, yes, they matter,
but what about the rest of the body. I mean,
if I'm a gasferenttrologist, I think it's unjust to just
focus on the gut. There is more to the child
than just the gut. There is more to that child
than just bellyaches, right, So you have to look at
that child as a whole, and not only the physical
(02:47):
self of the child, but also the mind, the soul,
their family, their social circle. It's just about everything that
comes along with the child that you have to look
at and not just the child. And a big part
of that holistic view is the nutrition because nutrition touches
(03:09):
all aspects of what I mentioned right now. So, yes,
if you give nutrition to a child, they grow. But
nutrition is not just calories. It is more than that.
There are other nutrients other than calories that are micronutrients.
But then nutrition also heals the gut, It heals the microbiome.
(03:30):
There is a communication between between your gut and the brain.
And it's even beyond that. Food is about connection. Food
is about family. When you sit down on the table
with the family and eat with the family, There is
that pleasure. Those are the there are the food memories
that are made, especially during the holiday season when you
(03:54):
eat with your family, those are the things that you remember.
You'll remember those smells, and you will remember those excited
chatters with your cousins. Right. So, food is an important
part of your existence, of your being, and I think
we have to get food back on the table where
it belongs and realize that every meal can be medicine.
(04:18):
You don't have to just take bills as medicine. Food
can be medicine. And in culinary medicine. The reason why
this is not just nutrition because the most common question
I get is how it is different from a dietitian
giving you advice, Right, I mean, when we created this
culinary medicine program, so this does include that part where
(04:38):
the dietitian does give you advice, but it's more customized
to that being that person. And then we also teach
the families of how to do this easily, not be scared,
not be daunted, right, how to make those food choices,
how to pick healthy foods from the clutter of ultra
process foods that exists on shelves today, how to read
food level labels how to cook easily and how to
(05:03):
find joy in cooking, and then sitting down on the
dinner table with your family.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Well, let me let let me ask you this doctor chokey,
because we are talking about children here, and children may
not have the knowledge on how to prepare their own food.
Not to say they can't learn about the ingredients and such,
but if there's not a parent or a guardian or
some person adult in their lives to guide them through
that process, what do they do? So it sounds like
(05:30):
what you're suggesting suggesting here is that if a child
is suffering from gastro intestinal issues, you have to go
beyond a prescription. You've got to change the lifestyle. How
do you incorporate that change to include the parents?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
So you're right, it's not just the child, right, I
mean I can talk for a couple of hours as
a child, and if the parent hasn't bought him, there's
not going to be any change. So the important part
of us talking to the child is talking to the
family as a unit, giving practical tips to the parents
(06:09):
about what can you do in your daily life? And
you know, these are not big changes, these are just
tiny changes of you know, even getting the kid to
chop vegetables with you, getting the kid to stir, the
part when you've dropped in stuff to cook, asking the
parents about their own eating habits, because a lot of
(06:33):
the eating habits which the children derive are from the parents.
So unless you get the parental buy in and you
change a little bit of their habits, even in the
smallest way possible, you're not going to make a dent
in the kid's diet or eating habits. So we do
talk to the family as a whole, and even the
(06:54):
workshops that we create to teach kids their diets involves
the family. The families are there with the kids and
while they're cooking with our chef educators, there is a
dietician and a physician present in most of the workshops
where we are teaching the parents the nutritional value of
what they're doing, Simple things like knife skills, cutting, chopping,
(07:17):
how to store stuff, how to make it easy on them.
Because everyone's busy, including my family. You know, it's it's
not easy to cook for every day. It's not easy
to have fresh feels every day. So there are small
things that we can change in our daily lives which
can make things easier even for the busy families.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
We'll continue with doctor Choglay next and learn more about
those things he just mentioned.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
This is Michael Monk's Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
We've been talking with doctor Ashish Choglay of Rady Children's Health,
Orange County about the new pediatric Degrade of Health and
Culinary Medicine program teaching kids Food as Medicine. I was
surprised to learn that the National Institute of Health reports
between ten and seventeen percent of school age children have
(08:12):
recurring abdominal pain, and that could be related to irritable
bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, gastro esophageal reflex disease. I
don't even know what that is. It just surprises me
that such a large percentage of children are having these
types of issues so frequently. So when we talk about
(08:32):
food as medicine, what types of foods are we talking about,
Because it doesn't seem like there's really a consensus even
in the dietary marketplace. Carbs are bad, carbs are good.
This much fiber is necessary, Milk should be had milks
should not be had. What are we talking about here?
Speaker 3 (08:50):
So you are absolutely right. There is so much confusion.
There is sometimes too much information and people swing one
way or the other. People go to extremes with diets,
and you know, everyone has their own style and everyone
has their own way of looking at what is a
healthy diet. But I'll give you my opinion. In my opinion,
(09:13):
the healthy diet is a simple diet. It's almost that
back to the roots concept where you know what you're eating,
you know what is going in your food. You're doing
things in moderation, you're not doing things in an extreme.
That means in a balanced diet you need all components
of the food. I think going to one extreme, like
(09:36):
you know, just only doing protein diet based diet or
only like just removing all cargo headeds possible, I think
that makes a diet in unbalanced or in balanced. Right,
So having that like a portion sizes of all the
food parts, having a variety of foods, rotating your food choices,
(09:58):
also making sure that you're not eating too much of
the ultra process foods, which is almost like a scourge
in today's society, and especially for kids. You know who
doesn't like takis, and who doesn't like cheese puffs, But
they have a big downside because there are so many
additives and colorings and preservatives and things that are added
to make them so much more taste here that kids
(10:22):
will be addicted to those. And we see kids who
come in with abdawn open, but they're sitting there with
a bag of hot takis, eating that bag as they're
telling me about their stomach cakes. So I think that
it's a very basic concept. You don't have to get
too complicated. As long as you know what's in your
food on your plate and you know the ingredients. I
(10:44):
think that's what healthy food is.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
We're talking with doctor Rashi's cho Glee of Rady Children's Health,
Orange County, as they create this first pediatric food as
medicine program here in southern California. What is the program? Doctor?
I mean? Is this like a semester of learning? Is
it classes? Is it a one day thing? How does
it work?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
So this program is not a one one thing event.
It is a cluster of offerings that we are creating
for everyone, all the key stakeholders in society. So, starting
with our patients and families, we are creating easy recipes
online which they can go and reference if they are
(11:27):
just struggling to find some ideas. On a daily basis basis,
we are creating fun cooking videos to show that you
can cook healthy food, but it can be easy and fun.
It doesn't need to be hard. It doesn't need to
be a chore that people get scared of. We are
also creating family friendly workshops, not only for disease specific diets,
(11:50):
but also for preventive nutrition that means just healthy eating,
just big concepts like simple concepts like rainbow die right,
I mean vegetables of different food in colors, and then
create dishes, simple dishes which parents can recreate at home.
We are also doing events for in patients. That means
(12:12):
when these kids are admitted and their families are sitting
by their bed not doing much and instead of watching
a movie, they can switch on to our channel. My
team is actually creating content for those channels using the
Ryan Seacrest Studio which exists at Rady Students Help, which
is a big deal because we do a lot of
(12:33):
stuff there. We do we shoot episodes, we do podcasts
out there. But one of the things which we are
doing is having participation of the children. So just yesterday,
my team they did an episode where they made pumpkin
cake pops using healthy ingredients, and there were kids out
there who were helping my team make those cake pops,
(12:54):
and this involved minimal cooking. There was one another event
or another thing they did was smelling the foods that
are commonly eaten during holidays and having those kids identify
the smells, raid those smells, and then also more down
what emotions those smells evoked. Right, because food is not
(13:15):
only taste, food is smell as well. Food is visual,
Like you know, you take in that visual stimulus when
you're looking at food, and that actually helps you eat
better or can help you connect with the food. And
that's part of the mindful eating that we stress on
for the kids. We are also creating workshops for healthcare
(13:35):
providers and trainings such as residents, because it's almost like
a force multiplier. You teach one healthcare provider, it helps themselves,
it helps their families, but then it also helps hundreds
of patients they take care of. So now instead of
me being one person trying to give out that education,
I'm creating a workforce or a team of people who
can spread that message for me right, we are getting
(13:59):
out in the community. We have partnered up with Pretensity Museum.
We did our first event, which was the Halloween event,
where we did healthy harvest treats and one of the
fun things that we ended up doing was we gave
kids slices of apples with cord, you know, remove the
(14:20):
cores were removed so it looked like a donut, and
there were apples of three colors, the yellow, green, and red.
And then we gave them toppings, very healthy toppings such
as Greek yogurt. We gave them sun butter, chocolate, Hummers,
dye free sprinkles, we gave them sugar free chocolate chips.
(14:40):
And these kids went crazy. They took the slices, they
were topping them like donuts. They actually looked like donuts.
They were eating them and then they were coming back
for seconds. It was also cute to see these kids
make these donuts for their parents who were there at
the museum. So our intent was to introduce kids to
health versions of the treats. You know, for Halloween, there's
(15:05):
a ton of candy sitting out there, and we all
know everyone gets a stomach ache the next day. But
if we can even make a few kids not choose
the candy, but then as their parents for apples and
with some topics right to make them look like treats
and taste like treats. That's something that we intend to do.
(15:25):
It's a whim for us. Well.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I think this is I think this is great because
it sounds like it means more candy for me.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Exactly exactly the stores, the shelves will be still full
of candy.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
I love that. Doctor Ashish Chogle is the medical director
of gastro Entrology at Rady Children's Health, Orange County. We've
been talking about the first pediatric food as medicine program
in this region. Doctor Choglay, I really appreciate the time
you gave us. Good luck with this program. I know
it's a long road ahead, but like you said, let's
see how many kids can get involved in this and
(15:57):
change their lifestyles.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Michael Kfi's Heather Brooker, my friend from the newsroom, is
with us next. She was in New York over Thanksgiving,
and we'll discuss that city subway system and our own
right here in southern California. When Michael Monk's reports continues.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
This is Michael Monk's reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
Heather Brooker, thanks so much for coming in on a
Saturday for us.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Always happy to be here and talk with you.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
I don't know if that's true, but we're glad to
have you. Nonetheless, Hey, you have been very busy lately.
And before we get to your little trip to New
York where you saw the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, let's
recap postathon. This was a big success for KFI and
you got to be down there. They didn't want me there,
but you were there doing all kinds of fun stuff.
I mean, how big was this crowd?
Speaker 4 (16:47):
It was pretty big. And what was so fun about
it is, you know, first of all, this was my
first pastathon to be there in person, as well my
very first postathon. Years ago, I was running the board
for Amy King during wake up call so she could
go out to pastathon, so I didn't get to go
and be part of the fun. But I was super
excited this year, and it was really cool to watch
(17:09):
all of the listeners who were interacting and cheering on
you know, the hosts and the news team as they
were coming out. It had such a vibrancy, a spirit
of giving, which was perfect because it was on Giving Tuesday,
and everybody was just in such a good mood, which
you know in the news business is kind of a
rarity for us around here. So it was a really
(17:29):
fun event.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah, this was here in the newsroom. It was a
lot of fomo. They call it the fear of missing out.
We were definitely just hearing this all day and we're
just the handful of us that were left behind because
we have the regular day's work to do.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
It did sound well. Now you know how I felt
when you went out to News and Bruise a few
weeks ago and I was left in the newsroom, Oh
my birthday, being all sad here by myself. But you
know what, we do what we got to do to
make the news happen for the people.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
We do what we got to do. It sounds like
it was a pretty big success. And you know, Michelle Cube,
our executive producer here who puts this on, says that
as of eight pm Tuesday, when the broadcast at the
White House in Anaheim ended, they'd raised more than nine
hundred and fifty thousand dollars and brought in more than
ninety two thousand pounds of pasta and sauce for Chef
(18:19):
Bruno's charity, Catarina's Club. So it's not over though, right,
I mean, people can still get we could get up
to what comes after nine hundred thousand.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Well, you know, we had a record year last year.
We had one point three million dollars, and we are
on track this year to go above and beyond that.
Because people can still donate to the Pasta Thon. They
can do that through Sunday at Smart and Finals stores
in California, Nevada, and Arizona. They are still taking donations there.
(18:48):
You can also donate at local Wendy's or restaurants in
SoCal through Sunday, December seventh, and also get that free
coupon book if you go to Wendy's, because that alone
is a fourteen dollar dollar value for just a five
dollars donation. And then throughout the end of the year,
you can find what's called a giving machine, the world
giving machine. It's this is some sort of vending machine
(19:11):
where you give Yes, yeah, that's it exactly. So it's
like a you know, like a vending machine where you
would normally select you know, your junk food, your soda
is your pops or chips or whatever. This one though,
you can select a donation, whether you want to donate
a soccer ball to somebody. Shannon bought a sheep, yester,
she bought a what Yeah, she bought a sheep and donated.
(19:33):
I'm not sure where the donation went, but it was
really funny sheet. They put that up on their Instagram
if people want to check that out. But specifically, there
are options four kfis Posathon and partnership with Katarina's Club.
People can donate five meals, they can feed a family.
They can you know, choose the selection and a vending
machine to meet that donation. And there's several locations across
(19:55):
southern California where they can do that throughout the end
of the year. So there's still a so they're still
taking donations of pasta and sauce and money as well
down at the Anaheim White House.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
All right, so you've got until Sunday tomorrow to visit
Wendy's restaurants across SoCal they're taking donations any of them.
If you donate five dollars or more, you get a
coupon book, and he's giving machines in Riverside at Tyler Mall,
Huntington Beach, at the Huntington Beach Pier, San Clemente, at
the San Clementy Outlets, Old Town and San Diego. And
then if you want to donate fire related recovery items,
(20:29):
that will be at the grove here in Los Angeles. Okay,
So you had some fun at the pasathon, and I
follow you on social media reluctantly and I see that
you are also in the New York City. What was
it like seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade up close
and personal?
Speaker 4 (20:47):
You know, my family and I have watched the parade
for many years from the comfort of our couch on
Thanksgiving morning, And what was really special about being there
in New York is there's an energy that New York has,
especially around the holidays. There are so many people in
such close proximity, and we got to actually go the
day before the parade and see them prepping the floats,
(21:09):
blowing up the balloon. So that was a really unique
part of the experience that we hadn't even realized that
we could do. And then being there that morning and
the you know, flushed pressed up against flesh, and the crowd,
you know, all being excited. You know, it's very New York.
It was a very crowded area, but still so fun.
We felt very holiday ish. And then we jumped on
(21:31):
a plane and came back home because I had to
fill in for Amy on Wake Up Paul the next morning.
But you know what, I wouldn't have had it any
other way. It was really fun. If you've never been
to New York during the holidays, I highly recommend. We
had a blast.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
New York certainly has a lot of advantages over Los Angeles.
I know that we're supposed to be somewhat rivals as
the two biggest cities in the country on opposing coasts,
But New York really gets it done in the seasons.
You know, they have seasons, so it's advantageous to them
to celebrate the holidays. We don't have the snow associate
with Christmas. They get that you don't have the changing
(22:03):
of the leaves as much like you have in New York.
Is it as romantic as it seems?
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Absolutely, it feels like you've stepped into a movie. Like
every Christmas movie you can imagine takes place in either
London or New York or some small country town. There's
not a lot of Christmas movies you know that happen
in LA. So when you're in New York, if everywhere
you go feels like a movie said, all the storefronts
are dressed up, all the windows are you know, designed
(22:31):
beautifully and to get you into the holiday spirit. And
you know, I have to say, Michael Monks, every time
I got on the Metro on their subway there almost
said Metro, I thought of you.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
I don't like when you call me by my full
government name.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Oh no, I'm sorry, Michael Marie Monks.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
All right, you that is something that you know, as
a guy who prefers public transit and would love to
see it work here in Los Angeles better than it does,
I mean New Yorker's the key difference in New York,
if you ask me, and I've I've only spent a
little bit of time there, it's that more different types
of people ride the subway is the buses. It's part
(23:06):
of their lives, and it's part of their lives because
it has been for generations. Whereas here in LA or
like Oh, we've got a new We've got a new
extension all the way to Pomona. And that's great if
you're headed to Pomona. But if you are somebody who
has lived here your whole life and has never set
foot on that system, it really doesn't mean anything to you.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Well, I'll tell you what. There is a variety of
people who take the subway, and almost everybody there takes
the subway. It is an essential part of living New
York and getting around there. It's not essential here, and
I'm like you, I agree, I wish there was a
better option, or you know, I think the biggest complaint
(23:48):
that I see is that our public trains it doesn't
go where people want to go, you know, it just
it It really doesn't seem to be a destination. And
I don't know how true that is, because I really
don't take the metro here, but the subway went everywhere
I wanted to go, and then I'd have to walk
a couple of blocks and then you know, and there
I was. But it felt I've been to New York
many times, and it feels safer in some subway stations
(24:09):
than ever before. There's still an occasional train that we
would get on and we'd have to shift to a
different car because there was someone sketchy or you know,
kind of made us uncomfortable on the train. And I'm
not taking any risk. I'm not trying to be a hero,
but I'm also not taking any risk, especially when I'm
with my kid. The convenience of their subway station was amazing.
(24:29):
The entire feel of New York around the holidays is
truly something special that we just don't get here in La.
You know, my husband every year puts up Christmas lines
in flip flops and shorts, you know, and once once
you're in California, you get used to that and go, oh,
this is just this is holidays in California. But to
go and experience it somewhere that actually has seasons every
(24:50):
now and then is really nice and we enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
I brought you on because I wanted to talk in
our next segment about entertainment options for this holiday season.
That's your area of expert, an addition to the news here.
But now I want to talk more about public transit
and why I think you're a little bit wrong about
your characterization of public transit in Los Angeles and We're
going to talk more about that, along with some holiday
entertainment updates coming up next.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI
News un till nine o'clock tonight. I've been joined by
my colleague from the newsroom, Heather Brooker. We're going to
talk a little bit about the holiday entertainment options that
are coming out centem A TV and all that. But
she kind of upset me in our previous segment when
she was kind of dissing the metro system here in
Los Angeles, which I admit has its flaws. But Heather,
(25:46):
you specifically said that New York is not only superior,
and their system is obviously superior, but you said this
metro doesn't go anywhere anybody wants to go. Yeah, take
it back.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
I think that is. I won't take it back. I
think that's a general complaint. I mean, here's the deal.
I live in the Glendale. You know, there is not
a subway entrance anywhere really near me, and the subway
that is near me doesn't really go where I want
to go. I want to be able to get on
my subway near my house, maybe walk a few blocks,
(26:18):
take it to Santa Monica, take it to Laguna Beach.
And I know that is incredibly unrealistic, but that's essentially
what they can do in New York. Like I want
to know that I can take the subway to the
beach and then right back to my house.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Well, you're not wrong about that. I think what I
was taken exception to is that it doesn't go anywhere
anybody wants to go. It does, but you're right, it's
not intricate enough to connect everywhere the way New York
might be. It's not heavy rail everywhere the way New
York is, so that the headwinds can be not as foreboden,
because here you are waiting twelve minutes for your next train,
(26:57):
and that's not always true if you're in New York
on some of the some of those lines, and.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
I'll tell you, we would walk out sometimes and then
ten seconds later the train shows act we're on it
and we're going to our next and that adds to
your convenience.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
That's right. It's the convenience of it if you make
it convenient. Also here they've got to get more serious
about safety and cleanliness. It's not necessarily that the system
is unsafe. But if I've been saying this for a
long time, obviously there have been crimes on the system
that we have documented here, but it's not it's not
a blood bath right the way that some people might
think it is.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
But if it feels, if it feels unsafe, if it
has the feeling that it's dirty, or that there are
some people on board who look threatening and that that
you know, those are valid concerns.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
And there are people who look threatening on the system
because they're having mental health episodes and those sorts of things.
So that's the problem. They've got to get sohilarious.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
They definitely have that in New York too. There were
multiple times we got on the train and we're like, oh,
we have to jump off real quick because there was
someone maybe there was one guy who announced when we
got on the train that you would be singing YMCA
and would appreciate any donations.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
For his getting out of here.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
And he just started belting, young man, you no need
to feel down?
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Was he good?
Speaker 4 (28:13):
My daughter was wide eyed looking at me, and I
was like, get out your quarters. He's putting on a show.
This is very New York.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Well, you know what, And when I talk to people
inside Metro, that's one of the things they say about
this complaint that there are some weird people that get
on board and are disruptive or threatening, and it's like,
we'll go to any big city and get on their
Metro system. The difference is, especially when you talk about
New York, you and your daughter were not alone on
that train, right, I mean, there's a lot more passenger volume,
(28:43):
and so you feel, you know, strengthen numbers that you
don't always get here on this system. But just to
endorse Metro a bit, it does go to a lot
of places, and it's going to more places, and that's
great because there is one thing that drives me absolutely
nuts since I moved here, and I don't like Natives'
(29:05):
response to me about it. I can't deal with this traffic.
I can't deal with it. And often I'm sitting at
it and I'm thinking, this does not have to be
like this. It doesn't have to be like this. There's
a lot of bad design. There's obviously high car volume
and that's part of the problem, but it's design and
(29:26):
light timing and all of that sort of thing, and
we do have an option to build more public transit
that makes people feel good. But hither, you've lived here
longer than I. We're both from somewhere else, but you've
been here longer than I have. Have you hears have
you taken on that Angelina mantra that it's la of
course there's traffic.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
It's la, of course there's traffic. I know, if I
have to go to the West Side, I'm going to
add in at least forty five minutes from Glendale to
an hour for that drive, no matter what. If I know,
if I've got to go downtown, it's not too bad
for me. Downtown is a straight shot down the five,
but sometimes it can be thirty forty minutes. Even that
(30:05):
straight shot I build in. You learn to sort of
build in the time to where you're going based on
the traffic, because you could get lucky and get there early.
Praise be that would be amazing, But in general, you
just have to know and commit to the fact it's
gonna be a haul and somebody is gonna get in
a wreck, there's gonna have car trouble, and you're gonna
(30:25):
be in a SIG alert. And that's just part of
living in LA but we love it. We love our cars.
I'm not giving up my car. I had all kinds
of private I.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Want you to give up your car. I don't want
to hear about all that, but I don't want people
to give up their cars. I know people like that
independence and that freedom and the car culture is part
of Los Angeles culture. I get that. It's just when
you talk about, well, I gotta get to the West Side,
I already know it's going to be a pain, or
people who won't go to another part of the community
because they know how long it will take to drive there.
(30:55):
You talked about the straight shot to downtown. You know,
here to Burbank. I live downtown. When I fill in,
you fill in for Amy King when she's out. I
fill in on occasion. I'm kind of your backup to
her backup. And when I get to drive here in
the middle of the night to prep for wake up
call Dreamy, right, it's it's seventeen minutes from my parking
lot to our parking garage, from the Fashion district to Burbank.
(31:18):
So I know that you can't expect that in rush hour,
But when I'm sitting in that traffic. I can feel
my soul leaving my body because it's infuriating.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
It's where so many people get that road rage, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
And I only you know. It's still even at it's worse.
It's forty five minutes to an hour. There are people
who commute. Well, look, let's talk about Pasathon. You drove
to Anaheim from from Glendale. Yeah, we heard our remark.
From from Woodland Hills to Anna, I'm two hours both ways.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Two hours from the Glendale.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
That's vacation. That's a vacation drive. That's a week and
get away. But people all over southern California are taking
those commutes and then saying that's la.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
But what is the answer. I guess that's always what
I wonder when I talk about traffic here with people,
is what is the answer? We widen our freeways? We
have like eight lanes in some sex You can't freeway that,
you know.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
You can't do that widening. Really, there's this theory of
induced demand work. We're not highways safety or traffic flow experts,
but I mean I've talked to people as a journalist.
There's something called induced demand. Basically, you add another lane
to relieve congestion, but all it does is attract more cars,
and so it doesn't work more long, more car exactly.
(32:32):
I know there's got to be somebody smarter than us
out there that can start working on this.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
We are. We live in our cars here in La Yeah,
and I like you, I would love to be able
to take more public transportation to get around places, but
I just it just doesn't seem feasible.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Well, we're gonna have to talk about holiday entertainment next
week because you've made me mad and I don't really
want to be with you right now.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
We agree, I'm agreeing with you. We agreed. We don't
have to we don't have to fight. Let's not fight.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Heather Brooker from KFI News, Heather, always a pleasure to
spend a little extra time with you.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
Thanks Michael Monks.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
We'll be back next week. Live Revisionist History with Malcolm
Gladwell is next. Thank you for spending part of your
Saturday night with us here at Michael Monks reports
Speaker 1 (33:17):
KFI AM six forty on demand
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