April 4, 2024 • 35 mins
In this insightful episode, we embark on a captivating journey with James Polakof, Ph.D., and his esteemed guest, Dr. Robert E. Graham. Together, these experts delve into the profound connection between food and healing, offering valuable insights into how to live a longer, healthier life.
Dr. Graham, also known as "Rob the Chef," shares his innovative FRESH approach, shedding light on the transformative power of plant-based nutrition. He explains how incorporating more plants into our daily meals is not only beneficial for our well-being but also essential for achieving longevity.
Throughout the discussion, Dr. Graham and Dr. Jim explore various topics related to food as medicine. They delve into the science behind the healing properties of certain foods, debunking common myths and misconceptions. They also provide practical tips and strategies for transitioning to a more plant-based diet, making it accessible and enjoyable for everyone with the use of Fresh Med U.
Dr. Graham's FRESH approach to healthcare, which stands for "Food, Relaxation, Exercise, Sleep and Happiness," represents a paradigm shift in medicine. FRESH Med Integrative Medical Practice embraces this approach, moving away from the traditional "a pill for an ill" mentality to one that seeks to address the underlying causes of disease. This holistic approach recognizes the interconnections between physical, mental, and emotional well-being in promoting overall health.
Dr. Graham and Dr. Jim offer a wealth of knowledge and inspiration, empowering listeners to make informed choices about their diet and lifestyle. They remind us that our health is in our hands and that by embracing a plant-based approach, we can unlock the potential for a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life.
LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:
FRESH Medicine CLICK HERE
FRESH Med U CLICK HERE
FREE CLASS CLICK HERE
About Robert E. Graham, MD CLICK HERE
Performance Kitchen® CLICK HERE
Facebook CLICK HERE
Instagram CLICK HERE
Twitter CLICK HERE
#HealCommunity #behaviorchange #lifestylemedicine #stayfresh #hearthealth
Let's Get Social ...
Visit my website click here
Facebook Click Here
Instagram Click Here
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Live Healthy Longer, the podcast
created especially for seniorsand designed to enhance the
quality of your life as you age.
Our host, Dr Jim Polakoff, is acertified nutritionist who
believes you are what you eatand that food is the best
medicine.
(00:28):
Now let's join Dr Jim.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yes, I'm Dr Jim Polakoff, and in this episode
we're going to take a stepcloser to discovering how to
live healthy longer.
Now, the definition of healthyeating changes as we age, For
example.
Our metabolism slows down, sowe need fewer calories than
before.
Our body also requires certainimportant nutrients.
(00:57):
This means it's more essentialthan ever to choose foods which
give us the best nutritionalvalue.
But more about this.
Following my interview, let'smeet my guest, Dr Robert E
Graham, a Harvard-trainedphysician and board-certified in
both internal and integrativemedicine.
(01:17):
Dr Graham is also known as Robthe Chef and has taught over a
thousand healthcare workers,mainly doctors, how to prepare
healthy, delicious plant-basedmeals.
Let's see what he's got cookedup for us.
Welcome, Dr Graham.
Hello Jim.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I am doing just fine and I can tell by your voice, so
are you.
But in any case, my firstquestion for you I noticed that
you did a TEDx presentationwhich I was very impressed by,
and you stated a pill for an illdoesn't really work effectively
.
You need real food.
So, in your opinion, whatconstitutes real food?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Well, it's actually an interesting question because
I think if you ask my mother, mygrandmother, they can tell you
exactly what real food is.
The real food is the stuffthat's out there in our
supermarkets, but today I wouldlike to say that real food is
the way food was made by nature.
Real food is also notindustrially processed or ultra
(02:23):
processed, is also notindustrially processed or
ultra-processed.
So, simple terms, real food isgood, old-fashioned food that
grows naturally in the world.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
All right, and so growing.
Naturally, that includes justabout everything in terms of
plants, am I correct?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Absolutely.
I actually also consider, youknow, eggs real food, meat real
food, nuts real food, grainsreal food, fruits and vegetables
are real food.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Your position is that 80% of chronic diseases like
high blood pressure, cancer,heart problems, can actually be
reversed by lifestyle changes.
And you say it begins with food.
Can you elaborate?
Yeah, of course, of course.
And you say it begins with food.
Can you elaborate?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah, of course, of course.
Well, all of these chronicdiseases that you mentioned
let's just run through a coupleof those the high ones, the big
ones Diabetes, hypertension,high cholesterol, arthritis and,
to a certain extent, cancer Ibelieve they can actually be
prevented and reversed with afood-first approach In medicine.
That is the way we're taught,but unfortunately many doctors
(03:26):
just don't prescribe food asmedicine.
We do learn about nutrition inmedical school, but very
minimally.
You know roughly about twohours of nutritional education
in medical school.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Zero.
It's a shame.
It's a shame yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Zero in subsequent trainings.
You know, once you become aresident or a fellow, there's
really no minimal standards ofnutrition in our training.
So if you actually look at thescience and it's just not my
opinion, it's science fromHarvard Medical School, harvard
School of Public Health, cdc,who all basically say that these
(04:02):
chronic diseases can beprevented and or reversed with a
food, is medicine intervention?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to take you
through a typical day, becauseI'd like to get your advice.
I'm sure our listeners would aswell, if we can break down a
day.
So we begin with breakfast.
What's your idea of the idealbreakfast?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Well, I think food is really interesting, right,
because we often hear the wordfood is medicine.
But I think, you know, food ismore than that.
Food is love, food is culture,food is tradition, food is
community.
And so, you know, the idealbreakfast for me may not be the
ideal breakfast for others, Ithink.
Going back to your firstquestion, I think if we eat real
food as breakfast, that'd be agood first start, and so, you
(04:47):
know, oatmeal is one of thefavorites, with berries and nuts
.
Sugar, minimally processed,minimally sugar, is important.
I don't eat much breakfast.
To be honest with you, I'lleither have a juice, a green
juice, or a cup of coffee, andso I kind of use that sort of
opportunity to do someintermittent fasting, as they
(05:08):
call it.
Breakfast, to be honest withyou, I'll either have a juice, a
green juice, or a cup of coffee, and so I kind of use that sort
of opportunity to do someintermittent fasting, as they
call it, or I just skipbreakfast in trying to limit my
calories.
But I think eggs on a wholegrain toast is fine, avocado
toast, as my mother used to callit, panco guacamole oh that
sounds good.
Before the corruption of avocadotoast for selling it for 15 to
20 bucks.
(05:28):
I think you know we're lookingat that sort of breakfast.
I think it's a good idea aswell.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Let's go to lunch.
Let's say we're out shopping,we're on the go.
It's always difficult what doyou eat when?
You're out Now.
Likely we're going to skipMcDonald's, I'm assuming, but
Burger King has this they callit the impossible burger, which
is made from soy and potatoes.
Of course it contains fat fromcoconut oil and sunflower oil.
But does that work?
(05:55):
Or do you have a bettersuggestion if you're on the go
and you're going to have lunch?
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Well, listen, you know it's a question I get asked
a lot about these phone meetsor alt meets.
Actually, a colleague of ours,chris Gardner out of Stanford,
just wrote an excellent paper on.
This is about you know insteadof what, right.
So an impossible burger insteadof what.
And he makes the argument that,you know, an impossible burger
instead of a fatty burger,meat-based burger is probably
(06:26):
better for your health.
I'm not sure I don't know how Iwould comment on that, but for
me it's simple.
It's soups, salads and stirfries.
I think those are the threesort of things I look for in
lunch, again loaded with fruitsand vegetables, as my sort of
go-to, both at home and on therun.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Okay, and then what about?
It's dinner time?
We're hungry.
We don't necessarily want toadd a lot of calories, but we're
hungry.
What do you?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
suggest as an example .
Yeah, so you know this is whereI think you should get your
protein load right.
In our home here, you know, wehave about a couple beans a day
and I think that's usually ourstaple in terms of proteins, and
so I think proteins and greens,you know, I think that's a
perfect sort of meal.
Whole grain, maybe, like abrown rice, or actually a small
(07:17):
amount of rice, is probably fineas well.
Quinoa, but I also think youknow this is where you have to
sort of dig into what reallyfeeds you and that old adage you
know, this is where you have tosort of dig into what really
feeds you and that old adage youknow your latest meal should be
the lightest meal.
I think that's an importantconcept also, and earlier better
than later.
It takes about three hours foryour food to digest, so I do
(07:38):
recommend eating.
You know, make sure your dinneris about three to four hours
outside of bedtime.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Now, I didn't hear the word meat.
Are we going to skip meat fordinner?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Yeah, well, we typically keep a vegan home.
I may have occasional meat hereand there when I know where
it's sourced from, and so that'smy sort of conjecture here.
In our fresh model, which Iknow we'll speak about, when it
comes to food, we say eat moreplants and if you're going to
eat meat, make sure you deservegood meat in your body if you're
(08:10):
going to have it.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
What about fish?
How do you feel about thingslike salmon, wild or farm-raised
salmon?
Speaker 3 (08:16):
No, I think you know I put all that sort of I put
fish, poultry and meats into thesort of meat, red meat, into
the beef, into the same category, and so I think you know if
you're going to make a choice.
I think from a caloric point ofview and from, I think, health
benefits, I think a pescatarian,leaning, vegetarian diet
profile is probably thehealthiest that you're going to
(08:38):
find All right.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Now your practice has a unique name Fresh Medicine,
but each letter in fresh standsfor an ingredient in your recipe
for health.
So now we've covered F for food, let's go to R, and I guess R
stands for relaxation, and I'mguessing that, despite someone's
age, I assume this targets thechallenge we all face stress.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
You know, science says that we should find 10
minutes of relaxation a day, andwhat I mean by that is that the
good doctor Dr Herbert Bensonup at Harvard Medical School
discovered this relaxationresponse.
Most of us know that we have astress response and that we've
all felt that stress response,but that subsequent relaxation
after a stressful event is whatwe try to optimize, and the
(09:25):
science basically says that 10minutes of relaxation a day is
what we should all aim for.
Again, you know, some peoplebelieve two minutes, five times
a day.
I ultimately believe that itshould be 10 minutes twice a day
.
So I prescribe relaxation asmedicine 10 minutes a day, twice
a day for your best sort ofoverall health and well-being.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So are you thinking in terms of medication or just
simply relaxing, kicking backand watching the birds fly
through?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
the sky, that could be it For me.
Practicing my knife skills is,for me, relaxation.
To get that perfect sort ofmatchstick, that half moon, that
chiffonade for me that's sortof relaxation.
But yoga, meditation, sittingsilently this weekend, you know,
obviously there's a big, big,big album drop by Beyonce this
(10:14):
weekend.
It seems the world is talkingabout that and for my wife
that's her form of relaxation.
Listening to music.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
All right Now, we almost skipped over, but we did
not skip over E, which, ofcourse, is for exercise.
I'd like to know what kind ofexercises you recommend, and
especially for senior adults.
Many of our audience membersare seniors, so what do you?
Recommend in that respect.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Well, I think you know one of the things that we
say in our fresh model rightexercise move, simple, move for
30 minutes a day.
And you know, obviously thatcan be challenging as we get
older, but I think we canactually push ourselves to get
up, move in one direction 15minutes and come back.
That's the way you get to halfhour and in.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Are you talking walking?
Is that what you mean?
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Yeah, walking is.
I think it's a good first placeto start.
We are under exercise as asociety and I think walking is
probably the cheapest, quickestway to get that.
30 minutes of exercise, again,if you can bike, if stop and go
particularly in elderlypopulations can be challenging,
(11:31):
but for us we recommend, basedupon the science, is 150 minutes
of moderate aerobic activityand that could be just walking.
If you can walk and talk forabout half hour, that would be a
little bit better because itgets your heart rate a little
bit higher.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Maybe it throws in the exercise or the relaxation
at the same time.
But I'm curious what aboutchair yoga?
What do you think about that?
Have you tried that at all?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Oh yeah, actually my wife does a lot of the sort of
corporate trainings and classesin chair yoga no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Now I certainly agree with this next one 100% sleep.
The S for sleep is important Inany case.
How much sleep do you think weshould get a night?
And what about the quality ofsleep?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah, so that's two very important questions.
So science says that people, toget optimal health, aim to
seven to eight hours of sleep anight.
Now, we do know that if yousleep less than six hours a
night, you have an increasedrisk of death about 16%
increased risk of death.
So sleeping is why we prescribeit as medicine as well.
Now, sleeping does, bydefinition, mean going to bed
(12:38):
and closing your eyes, right,but as you probably know and
your audience may know, there'sdifferent stages of sleep and
what we're trying to get into,that sort of deep sleep that we
all want to have and if you goto our website, you know on our
intake forms, right, how do weknow they're in that deep sleep?
Actually, dreaming can actuallyhappen.
So think about the last timeyou had a dream, and if you
could remember it, even it's abonus.
(12:59):
But that sort of deep sleephappens only sleep, I'm sorry,
dreaming only happens with thatdeep sleep.
The other thing you rememberthe old-fashioned drooling
outside of the mouth that's adeep sleep as well.
And so if you haven't dreamed alot and if you haven't drooled
a lot lately, I would challengeyourselves to go try to get a
good night's sleep.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
All right, Well, good advice.
Now, finally, we come to one ofmy favorite words H for
happiness.
Can you describe what's yourformula for happiness?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Yeah, so happiness is really the creation and
collaboration of my wife's workin positive psychology.
She was a certified positivepsychology practitioner.
Let me explain a little bit ofthat because I think it's
important.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Right and your wife is, so I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
I didn't introduce her she's not on with us, but
Julie Graham, am I correct?
And the science of positivepsychology is the science and
scientific literature of whypeople and populations,
communities, thrive.
(14:08):
We all get some sort of bad newsand they ever meet that person
that gets that bad news and makethey make it their mission to
sort of help you know, helpothers with that sort of
condition, or someone else thatjust becomes victim of that sort
of condition, and that'spositive psychology, right, it's
(14:30):
the opposite of abnormalpsychology, which, unfortunately
, is what we hear a lot oflately.
So one of the fathers ofpositive psychology mentions
that in three simple words otherpeople matter, and surrounding
yourselves with others that makeyou feel better about yourself
and or lift yourself up isactually what we should be sort
of gathering as our tribe ofpeople, and so happiness is
probably the most important, youknow, factor.
I believe in sort of in optimalhealth and well-being.
(14:53):
Many people want to be happy,but we don't know how to get
there.
So I think starting the fieldof positive psychology and
working with our clients toidentify things that make them
happy is a really important partof our prescription.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Well and obviously I think you mentioned it at the
beginning avoiding people whohave negative influences or try
to project those negativeinfluences.
You want people who reallysupport being up and revitalized
and happy and finding joy inlife.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Yeah, and it's not happy ology, right, because I
mentioned, you know, as Imentioned you know, bad things
happen, you know, and it'sreally sort of looking the world
half full, not half empty, andagain, all these sorts of things
that we just went through, thefresh model right, sort of nudge
you in that sort of positivewellbeing state.
And that's really what we wantto sort of really work with our
(15:46):
clients, our patients, right,because oftentimes you go to the
doctor they don't have the timeand or the expertise in each of
those five pillars.
But we all know those arereally important and we have
found in our practice that,through our patients and through
our clients, is that if wereally address these sort of
five ingredients or five pillars, medicine is of less or no need
(16:11):
.
So I encourage everyone to sortof, you know, take a look at
our site, take a look at ourwork and really sort of identify
how you can actually getfresher.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And we're going to be publishing your site, your more
information on our website,which, fortunately, most of our
listeners actually do access thewebsite and follow up on that,
but why don't you tell us alittle bit more I think you're
just about to touch on it yourFreshMedU, your online classes,
and I guess one of the benefitsof telemedicine these days is we
(16:40):
can access your knowledge, yourwife's knowledge, julie Graham,
from anywhere in the UnitedStates correct.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, we have a brick andmortar here in New York City
where I still see patients andmy wife sees clients, but not
everyone can get to New York,and so we do offer telemedicine
services, but we also, you know,during right before the
pandemic, a grocery store chainreached out to us.
(17:07):
This is a true story.
A CEO of a large grocery storechain was in the hospital room
of his butcher and this butcherwas getting open heart surgery,
and he made it that day hismission to sort of help elevate
the health of his entireassociates at the supermarket.
(17:28):
So, as you can imagine, here inNew York City it was from, let's
say, westchester County to LongIsland, down into Brooklyn, and
how do we get all theseassociates at the same time?
And so we turned our freshpillars into a school, an online
e-platform learning programwhere thousands of people have
taken our courses to get fresher, and the idea there is there's
(17:52):
a free course that, again,everyone can take, but there are
also additional courses thatreally dive into those five
pillars the food, relaxation,exercise, sleep and happiness.
You can do it all one chunk oryou can do it, you know, one
letter, one pillar at a time,but it's really sort of that
simple nudge to our patients whocan get to see us in New York
to come to them on their, youknow, on their phone or on their
(18:15):
computer at their own time, attheir own space, at their own
you know, sort of learning level.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Right, that makes it nice that you don't have to tune
into the particular time, thatyou can access it when it's
convenient for you and FreshMedU.
You standing for the in theoryuniversity correct.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Absolutely, absolutely FreshMedU, meaning
university right.
It's a digital e-learningplatform which is really, really
interesting about it too it isactually gamified and so, as
opposed to just listening tolectures or PowerPoint, it
actually challenges you to gothrough the course in about five
to 10 minutes, let's say threeto five minute chunks.
(18:55):
So therefore you feel likeyou're getting through it and
actually it's gamified so youcan actually play with others.
We like to joke around justlike we did at the supermarket.
It's not the biggest loser,it's the biggest user which we
can identify on the back end aswell.
So it's a great thing forindividuals, but also for
corporations, to kind ofchallenge themselves in that
well-being space You're known as.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Dr Rob, correct, dr Rob the Chef.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
That's my nickname, Dr Rob the Chef.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
All right, so you mentioned it earlier.
Since our medical educationsystem teaches doctors, as I
know well very little aboutnutrition, can Dr Rob teach us
how to choose the right foods?
In other words, if we comeagain to FreshMedU, do you
actually get into what foods youshould eat and also you teach
(19:44):
people to cook right?
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think you know we always hearfood is medicine, but you know,
studies have shown also thatpeople and societies that cook
more actually achieve betterhealth.
So that's part of the reasonwhy I did decide to not trade in
my lab coat for my chef whites,but really to get that
secondary education of becominga chef.
And I did that about sevenyears ago after roughly 10 years
(20:07):
of teaching doctors how to cookalongside a chef at a culinary
school.
And again, I know my backgroundwas that we learned our most
important lessons in the kitchen, around family time, cooking
time and eating time.
And so I just sort of 10 yearsago well, 15 years ago I thought
maybe what if we took a groupof doctors out of a hospital and
(20:28):
teach them how to cook, not ina classroom but literally in a
culinary school?
And there's been a greatmovement called culinary
medicine, the intersectionbetween the culinary arts and
the science of medicine.
And to your question, yeah,freshman U really dives into.
You know what we should thinkabout when it comes to what's on
our plate, and I think it's animportant sort of concept when
we're thinking about, you know,how to make these sort of
(20:49):
dietary changes for oneself.
Again, we focus a lot onputting more plants onto your
plate.
That's a simple prescription wehave.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
I like that.
More plants on your plate,that's a real jazzy number.
Let me ask you this because I'mcurious.
I'm assuming, like you can buyrecipes, books, I should say and
there you find how to put thistogether and that together.
I'm guessing that you go onestep further and describe why
(21:20):
you should eat certain foods andprepare them a certain way.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah, exactly.
So that's sort of the spin here.
Right is that we all want to behealthier, but we also want I
think people want to know why wewant to be healthier and I
think why we recommend certainthings we should put on our
plate and not put on our plate.
I also would talk abouttechniques.
(21:44):
Not put on our plate.
I also would talk abouttechniques.
You know, the reason why chefsmake food that tastes better
than most home cooks is that welearn the techniques of how to
optimize flavor and how tochoose the finest of ingredients
to cook with right.
And so I think using thoseprinciples of the culinary arts
into sort of home cooking isreally important, and I do
believe that you know it was oneof the silver linings of this
(22:04):
COVID pandemic is that peoplestarted learning how to cook and
it really became a survivaltool, right?
My brother-in-law was never, youknow, he was a guy in New York,
a bachelor in New York, andwould always eat out and take
home some stuff, but he actuallylearned how to cook and I think
more and more people aregetting back into the kitchen,
and I believe it is medicine,because it gives you control of
(22:27):
what you put into that plate,even let's let's joke around a
little bit even like friedchicken, right?
I don't know if you guys evermade fried chicken, but fried
chicken is a mess and you know,once you make it once, you're
probably not going to make itfor a long time because it's
just a really messy job.
And so I think if you're goingto explore healthy eating, I
think the best way to do it isby opening up a recipe book.
(22:49):
Go to Fresh Made you and lookto see a simple recipe that we
all can incorporate into ourdaily lives, and I think you
know we found that people reallyare open to that at this point.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
And I'm sure it's not the way the colonel prepares it
either.
But in any case, I really I doactually have one last question.
As you know, our program isLive Healthy Longer that's the
name of it, and your synopsis is, I believe, the more plants you
eat, the longer you live.
(23:22):
So can you tell us how aplant-based diet actually
affects the aging process?
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Yeah, so we're learning a lot about aging, and
it seems like every other weekthere's a new sort of doctor or
expert, you know, giving you therecipe for longevity, and a lot
of the work that we've done inthe past 20 years has been
influenced by the work that DanBuettner and the team at the
Blue Zones have done.
Have you had Dan on thispodcast yet?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
No, not yet.
But I'm certainly familiar withhim.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yeah.
So you know, he's identifiedthese five blue zones around the
world where people live to 100healthfully and happily, and so
we don't have to sort ofredesign what we found.
Just take the best of his workof the blue zones and there you
know, we found that people thattend to eat, you know, a
(24:13):
predominantly plant-based dietagain, predominantly plant-based
diet tend to live the longest,and I think that's sort of a
good message for us to share ina simple way of eating more
plants.
Right, half your plate shouldbe plant at this point.
You know, a question I get alot is should it be organic?
And if you can afford organic,then it should be.
(24:33):
But I'd rather have peopleincorporate more of a
plant-based diet, evennon-organic, into their sort of
daily menu planning instead offorgoing it for non-organic.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
What really resounds to me and I think I can
appreciate.
Particularly I have a bit of anutritional background.
But I think from what you'vesaid and I like the idea of a
half plate or whatever youreally haven't put down many
people who advocate plant-baseddiets say that's it, you don't
eat anything else, you stickstrictly to plants and for some
(25:10):
people that's going to beparticularly after a lifetime of
eating a certain way.
I think that's kind ofdifficult to plants and for some
people that's going to beparticularly after a lifetime of
eating a certain way.
I think that's kind ofdifficult to do.
And you've made a statement atleast half your plate should be
plant-based and I think you givepeople that opening to perhaps
choose different foods here orthere that they enjoy.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yeah, again, you know we're not prescriptive in that
sort of sense, right, and Ithink I think again, I try to
use the science, but I was, Isort of use common sense as well
.
Right, I'll use my parents, my,my mother is 85 and my dad is
81, you know, and, and theyexplored with me Meatless Monday
and they have sort of it's agreat website too.
(25:49):
It's a national movement.
I had the great fortune ofmeeting the late Sid Lerner when
he was around here in New Yorkand really became a sort of an
ambassador of that MeatlessMonday movement.
So it's one day you canactually swap out the meat and
make it meatless.
And what we have found in ourpractice and working with our
clients is that the more plantswe eat, the better we feel.
(26:11):
Right, it's a lighter sort ofmeal, but also it increases the
amount of, oftentimes, fiber,which is, if you want to talk
about a deficiency in ourcountry, we are fiber deficient
and if there's one thing wewould actually recommend is
adding more fiber to everyone'splate and that's the best form
it's in terms of fruits andvegetables, and I think most
(26:34):
people on Tuesday feel a littlelighter, maybe have a better
bowel movement and again makingone's leaning into sort of
feeling better.
One day leads to another dayand another day, and right now
my parents are.
I like to say that they're fivedays a week plant-based.
I like to say that they're fivedays a week plant-based.
(26:55):
And again, a couple things withthat statement there.
It's challenging and I think alot of people, particularly as
we get older, we get stuck inour ways and protein is
important and you can get thissort of a good amount of protein
on a plant-based diet.
But again, you just have tothink about it a little bit more
.
But again, you just have tothink about it a little bit more
.
Instead of a slab of beef onyour plate, you have to think
about how you're going tooptimize the plant-based sources
(27:18):
and again, in our homes it'smostly beans, legumes.
Today we had a red lentil soupinspired by the flavors of
Thailand, and it was deliciousand nutritious and really
satisfying.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
And by getting into FreshMedU I'm assuming that we
can get into some of thoserecipes that you have right.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yep, yep, we have a bunch of recipes there.
We have about 13 on our foodsection and, yeah, I encourage
everyone to explore that sort ofopportunity to dive into
FreshMedU.
Start with the free course.
You know you, you got nothingto lose.
Take the free course.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Right, we'll start with the free course and see
what you get out of it and thenyou can take a step further if
you wish, and all of this isgoing to be on our website.
And if there's anything elsethat you can think of that you'd
like to add, please send it tous, because you have some very,
very enlightening informationand I want to encourage our
audience, please, to go to yourwebsite, and I believe there's a
(28:19):
second website that you have,if I'm right.
Am I correct that it's dealingwith?
Speaker 3 (28:26):
cooking.
Oh yeah, so our brick andmortar is FreshMed NYC Fresh
Medicine.
Corresponding e-learningplatform is FreshMedU.
And then the other thing thatI'd like to maybe talk to your
audience about really is theidea of this food is medicine
movement.
You've probably been hearing alot about it on the heels of the
(28:49):
White House conference twoyears ago and it's really sort
of changed.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And it's my slogan as well, by the way, but that's a
side point.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Yeah, and you know it's really it's been.
It's been 20 years.
I've dedicated my entire career, sort of, to bring back the
importance of food in our healthcare and I had the great
fortune of teaming up with acompany called Performance
Kitchen to be their chief healthofficer.
Let me explain a little bitabout what we do there.
And so these are frozen,healthy meals, again
(29:21):
predominantly plant based.
But you know, people eat whatthey want to eat, so we do have
organic, we have, you know, goodquality meats.
Let's say that when it comes topork, chicken, fish and beef,
and they're ethnically andculturally inspired, because we
all have these sort of culturalvariances in our taste buds and
(29:43):
we want to eat that food thattastes familiar and not food
that we have to eat but want toeat.
And so, about five years ago, Ibecame their chief health
officer to help sort of launchthis sort of medically tailored
meal, which comes a preparedmeal that has been created by
(30:14):
chefs, certified by a registereddietitian to hit the criterias
of what a medically tailoredmeal is, and then prescribed by
a doctor.
And here's the best part it'sactually part of a benefit in
about 80% of Medicare Advantageprograms.
If you have a chronic disease,you will get up to, in some
(30:35):
cases, 270 meals covered by yourinsurance, and so I urge
everyone to take a look at whatwe do at performancekitchencom
to learn more about ourethnically inspired, medically
tailored meals.
And, for me, I love working withthem because it takes the
guesswork out of it.
Right, I'm a big fan ofshopping and produce
prescriptions and produce meals,but you got to cook, and many
(30:58):
in our society don't have thetime, skill or money to go
shopping for food.
So that's part of the bigmovement that's happening.
You start with a medicallytailored meal here you have
diabetes here.
Eat this meal and you'll get asense of what that meal looks
like, the size of it, the tasteof it, and then we gradually
graduate that person to aproduce prescription with
(31:19):
corresponding nutritionaleducation, either given by a
chef doc, which there's not toomany of us, but a registered
dietitian as well.
So that's where the food is.
Medicine movement or pyramid ishappening, with medically
tailored meals on top, produceprescription in the middle and
nutritional foundationalknowledge as a foundation.
And so I encourage youraudience to take a look at our
(31:40):
website and put your zip code tosee which insurance companies
do offer coverage in your zipcode.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
That's very interesting, I think.
As a matter of fact, I'massuming, that if you have
coronary heart disease, which somany millions of Americans do,
that might be covered as well.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Yeah, so any chronic disease right?
Copd, heart disease, highcholesterol, diabetes.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Perhaps Alzheimer's and dementia if you're at the
touch of it are predisposed.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Absolutely.
But you know, in this game it'sso insurance dependent, right.
So you know, go to our website,put your name, your zip code in
there and see which sort ofplans offer a medically tailored
meal in your area.
And you know, utilize what youpay for.
And we pay high premiums forthese insurances and we should
(32:29):
be utilizing all the benefitsthat they offer.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Sometimes they don't tell us them.
You know, and I think the onusis on us to go look for it.
Excellent suggestion.
So, again, all of this is goingto be on our website and I want
to thank you, Dr Graham, alsoknown as Dr Rob the Chef, Thank
you so much again for joining us.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
It's been extremely valuable Well thank you for the
opportunity to share my thoughts, my platform and our website
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
You can learn more about Dr Robert E Graham and his
practice Fresh Medicine at ourwebsite, jamespolikoffcom.
Our website also has some greatblogs, which are all designed
to help you live healthy longer.
Go to jamespolakoffcom.
That's James P-O-L-A-K-O-Fcom.
(33:23):
Now back to Dr Jim.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Thanks again to Dr Robert E Graham, who provided
some great food for thoughtabout healthy eating.
I do encourage my listeners todiscover more about Dr Graham
and fresh medicine.
As mentioned before, all youneed to do is go to our website,
jamespolikoffcom.
And also, as I mentionedearlier, healthy eating becomes
(33:50):
even more important as we age,so here's my tip for this
episode I'd like you to think ofwhat's on your plate as a
rainbow.
Bright colored foods are oftenthe best choice.
For example, with fruits andvegetables, I'd like you to
envision orange, red, green andpurple.
(34:11):
In the case of whole grains,choose brown rice.
Also, be sure to read thenutritional facts on the label.
Most people don't study thoseand choose foods that are high
in fiber and low in sodium.
Also very important calcium,potassium, vitamin D and
(34:33):
particularly B12.
Yes, very important as we age.
This is Dr Jim Polakoff.
Thanks for joining me onceagain, and remember, every week
there's another episode of LiveHealthy Longer, and please visit
our website for moreinformation, not only about our
guests and other podcasts, butalso you want to read some of
(34:56):
the very healthy blogs we have,that's jamespolikovcom.
And, by the way, also rememberfood is the best medicine.
Thank you.
Welcome to Live Healthy Longer, the podcast
created especially for seniorsand designed to enhance the
quality of your life as you age.
Our host, Dr Jim Polakoff, is acertified nutritionist who
believes you are what you eatand that food is the best
medicine.
(00:28):
Now let's join Dr Jim.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yes, I'm Dr Jim Polakoff, and in this episode
we're going to take a stepcloser to discovering how to
live healthy longer.
Now, the definition of healthyeating changes as we age, For
example.
Our metabolism slows down, sowe need fewer calories than
before.
Our body also requires certainimportant nutrients.
(00:57):
This means it's more essentialthan ever to choose foods which
give us the best nutritionalvalue.
But more about this.
Following my interview, let'smeet my guest, Dr Robert E
Graham, a Harvard-trainedphysician and board-certified in
both internal and integrativemedicine.
(01:17):
Dr Graham is also known as Robthe Chef and has taught over a
thousand healthcare workers,mainly doctors, how to prepare
healthy, delicious plant-basedmeals.
Let's see what he's got cookedup for us.
Welcome, Dr Graham.
Hello Jim.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I am doing just fine and I can tell by your voice, so
are you.
But in any case, my firstquestion for you I noticed that
you did a TEDx presentationwhich I was very impressed by,
and you stated a pill for an illdoesn't really work effectively
.
You need real food.
So, in your opinion, whatconstitutes real food?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Well, it's actually an interesting question because
I think if you ask my mother, mygrandmother, they can tell you
exactly what real food is.
The real food is the stuffthat's out there in our
supermarkets, but today I wouldlike to say that real food is
the way food was made by nature.
Real food is also notindustrially processed or ultra
(02:23):
processed, is also notindustrially processed or
ultra-processed.
So, simple terms, real food isgood, old-fashioned food that
grows naturally in the world.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
All right, and so growing.
Naturally, that includes justabout everything in terms of
plants, am I correct?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Absolutely.
I actually also consider, youknow, eggs real food, meat real
food, nuts real food, grainsreal food, fruits and vegetables
are real food.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Your position is that 80% of chronic diseases like
high blood pressure, cancer,heart problems, can actually be
reversed by lifestyle changes.
And you say it begins with food.
Can you elaborate?
Yeah, of course, of course.
And you say it begins with food.
Can you elaborate?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah, of course, of course.
Well, all of these chronicdiseases that you mentioned
let's just run through a coupleof those the high ones, the big
ones Diabetes, hypertension,high cholesterol, arthritis and,
to a certain extent, cancer Ibelieve they can actually be
prevented and reversed with afood-first approach In medicine.
That is the way we're taught,but unfortunately many doctors
(03:26):
just don't prescribe food asmedicine.
We do learn about nutrition inmedical school, but very
minimally.
You know roughly about twohours of nutritional education
in medical school.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Zero.
It's a shame.
It's a shame yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Zero in subsequent trainings.
You know, once you become aresident or a fellow, there's
really no minimal standards ofnutrition in our training.
So if you actually look at thescience and it's just not my
opinion, it's science fromHarvard Medical School, harvard
School of Public Health, cdc,who all basically say that these
(04:02):
chronic diseases can beprevented and or reversed with a
food, is medicine intervention?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to take you
through a typical day, becauseI'd like to get your advice.
I'm sure our listeners would aswell, if we can break down a
day.
So we begin with breakfast.
What's your idea of the idealbreakfast?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Well, I think food is really interesting, right,
because we often hear the wordfood is medicine.
But I think, you know, food ismore than that.
Food is love, food is culture,food is tradition, food is
community.
And so, you know, the idealbreakfast for me may not be the
ideal breakfast for others, Ithink.
Going back to your firstquestion, I think if we eat real
food as breakfast, that'd be agood first start, and so, you
(04:47):
know, oatmeal is one of thefavorites, with berries and nuts
.
Sugar, minimally processed,minimally sugar, is important.
I don't eat much breakfast.
To be honest with you, I'lleither have a juice, a green
juice, or a cup of coffee, andso I kind of use that sort of
opportunity to do someintermittent fasting, as they
(05:08):
call it.
Breakfast, to be honest withyou, I'll either have a juice, a
green juice, or a cup of coffee, and so I kind of use that sort
of opportunity to do someintermittent fasting, as they
call it, or I just skipbreakfast in trying to limit my
calories.
But I think eggs on a wholegrain toast is fine, avocado
toast, as my mother used to callit, panco guacamole oh that
sounds good.
Before the corruption of avocadotoast for selling it for 15 to
20 bucks.
(05:28):
I think you know we're lookingat that sort of breakfast.
I think it's a good idea aswell.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Let's go to lunch.
Let's say we're out shopping,we're on the go.
It's always difficult what doyou eat when?
You're out Now.
Likely we're going to skipMcDonald's, I'm assuming, but
Burger King has this they callit the impossible burger, which
is made from soy and potatoes.
Of course it contains fat fromcoconut oil and sunflower oil.
But does that work?
(05:55):
Or do you have a bettersuggestion if you're on the go
and you're going to have lunch?
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Well, listen, you know it's a question I get asked
a lot about these phone meetsor alt meets.
Actually, a colleague of ours,chris Gardner out of Stanford,
just wrote an excellent paper on.
This is about you know insteadof what, right.
So an impossible burger insteadof what.
And he makes the argument that,you know, an impossible burger
instead of a fatty burger,meat-based burger is probably
(06:26):
better for your health.
I'm not sure I don't know how Iwould comment on that, but for
me it's simple.
It's soups, salads and stirfries.
I think those are the threesort of things I look for in
lunch, again loaded with fruitsand vegetables, as my sort of
go-to, both at home and on therun.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Okay, and then what about?
It's dinner time?
We're hungry.
We don't necessarily want toadd a lot of calories, but we're
hungry.
What do you?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
suggest as an example .
Yeah, so you know this is whereI think you should get your
protein load right.
In our home here, you know, wehave about a couple beans a day
and I think that's usually ourstaple in terms of proteins, and
so I think proteins and greens,you know, I think that's a
perfect sort of meal.
Whole grain, maybe, like abrown rice, or actually a small
(07:17):
amount of rice, is probably fineas well.
Quinoa, but I also think youknow this is where you have to
sort of dig into what reallyfeeds you and that old adage you
know, this is where you have tosort of dig into what really
feeds you and that old adage youknow your latest meal should be
the lightest meal.
I think that's an importantconcept also, and earlier better
than later.
It takes about three hours foryour food to digest, so I do
(07:38):
recommend eating.
You know, make sure your dinneris about three to four hours
outside of bedtime.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Now, I didn't hear the word meat.
Are we going to skip meat fordinner?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Yeah, well, we typically keep a vegan home.
I may have occasional meat hereand there when I know where
it's sourced from, and so that'smy sort of conjecture here.
In our fresh model, which Iknow we'll speak about, when it
comes to food, we say eat moreplants and if you're going to
eat meat, make sure you deservegood meat in your body if you're
(08:10):
going to have it.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
What about fish?
How do you feel about thingslike salmon, wild or farm-raised
salmon?
Speaker 3 (08:16):
No, I think you know I put all that sort of I put
fish, poultry and meats into thesort of meat, red meat, into
the beef, into the same category, and so I think you know if
you're going to make a choice.
I think from a caloric point ofview and from, I think, health
benefits, I think a pescatarian,leaning, vegetarian diet
profile is probably thehealthiest that you're going to
(08:38):
find All right.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Now your practice has a unique name Fresh Medicine,
but each letter in fresh standsfor an ingredient in your recipe
for health.
So now we've covered F for food, let's go to R, and I guess R
stands for relaxation, and I'mguessing that, despite someone's
age, I assume this targets thechallenge we all face stress.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
You know, science says that we should find 10
minutes of relaxation a day, andwhat I mean by that is that the
good doctor Dr Herbert Bensonup at Harvard Medical School
discovered this relaxationresponse.
Most of us know that we have astress response and that we've
all felt that stress response,but that subsequent relaxation
after a stressful event is whatwe try to optimize, and the
(09:25):
science basically says that 10minutes of relaxation a day is
what we should all aim for.
Again, you know, some peoplebelieve two minutes, five times
a day.
I ultimately believe that itshould be 10 minutes twice a day
.
So I prescribe relaxation asmedicine 10 minutes a day, twice
a day for your best sort ofoverall health and well-being.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So are you thinking in terms of medication or just
simply relaxing, kicking backand watching the birds fly
through?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
the sky, that could be it For me.
Practicing my knife skills is,for me, relaxation.
To get that perfect sort ofmatchstick, that half moon, that
chiffonade for me that's sortof relaxation.
But yoga, meditation, sittingsilently this weekend, you know,
obviously there's a big, big,big album drop by Beyonce this
(10:14):
weekend.
It seems the world is talkingabout that and for my wife
that's her form of relaxation.
Listening to music.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
All right Now, we almost skipped over, but we did
not skip over E, which, ofcourse, is for exercise.
I'd like to know what kind ofexercises you recommend, and
especially for senior adults.
Many of our audience membersare seniors, so what do you?
Recommend in that respect.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Well, I think you know one of the things that we
say in our fresh model rightexercise move, simple, move for
30 minutes a day.
And you know, obviously thatcan be challenging as we get
older, but I think we canactually push ourselves to get
up, move in one direction 15minutes and come back.
That's the way you get to halfhour and in.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Are you talking walking?
Is that what you mean?
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Yeah, walking is.
I think it's a good first placeto start.
We are under exercise as asociety and I think walking is
probably the cheapest, quickestway to get that.
30 minutes of exercise, again,if you can bike, if stop and go
particularly in elderlypopulations can be challenging,
(11:31):
but for us we recommend, basedupon the science, is 150 minutes
of moderate aerobic activityand that could be just walking.
If you can walk and talk forabout half hour, that would be a
little bit better because itgets your heart rate a little
bit higher.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Maybe it throws in the exercise or the relaxation
at the same time.
But I'm curious what aboutchair yoga?
What do you think about that?
Have you tried that at all?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Oh yeah, actually my wife does a lot of the sort of
corporate trainings and classesin chair yoga no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Now I certainly agree with this next one 100% sleep.
The S for sleep is important Inany case.
How much sleep do you think weshould get a night?
And what about the quality ofsleep?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah, so that's two very important questions.
So science says that people, toget optimal health, aim to
seven to eight hours of sleep anight.
Now, we do know that if yousleep less than six hours a
night, you have an increasedrisk of death about 16%
increased risk of death.
So sleeping is why we prescribeit as medicine as well.
Now, sleeping does, bydefinition, mean going to bed
(12:38):
and closing your eyes, right,but as you probably know and
your audience may know, there'sdifferent stages of sleep and
what we're trying to get into,that sort of deep sleep that we
all want to have and if you goto our website, you know on our
intake forms, right, how do weknow they're in that deep sleep?
Actually, dreaming can actuallyhappen.
So think about the last timeyou had a dream, and if you
could remember it, even it's abonus.
(12:59):
But that sort of deep sleephappens only sleep, I'm sorry,
dreaming only happens with thatdeep sleep.
The other thing you rememberthe old-fashioned drooling
outside of the mouth that's adeep sleep as well.
And so if you haven't dreamed alot and if you haven't drooled
a lot lately, I would challengeyourselves to go try to get a
good night's sleep.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
All right, Well, good advice.
Now, finally, we come to one ofmy favorite words H for
happiness.
Can you describe what's yourformula for happiness?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Yeah, so happiness is really the creation and
collaboration of my wife's workin positive psychology.
She was a certified positivepsychology practitioner.
Let me explain a little bit ofthat because I think it's
important.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Right and your wife is, so I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
I didn't introduce her she's not on with us, but
Julie Graham, am I correct?
And the science of positivepsychology is the science and
scientific literature of whypeople and populations,
communities, thrive.
(14:08):
We all get some sort of bad newsand they ever meet that person
that gets that bad news and makethey make it their mission to
sort of help you know, helpothers with that sort of
condition, or someone else thatjust becomes victim of that sort
of condition, and that'spositive psychology, right, it's
(14:30):
the opposite of abnormalpsychology, which, unfortunately
, is what we hear a lot oflately.
So one of the fathers ofpositive psychology mentions
that in three simple words otherpeople matter, and surrounding
yourselves with others that makeyou feel better about yourself
and or lift yourself up isactually what we should be sort
of gathering as our tribe ofpeople, and so happiness is
probably the most important, youknow, factor.
I believe in sort of in optimalhealth and well-being.
(14:53):
Many people want to be happy,but we don't know how to get
there.
So I think starting the fieldof positive psychology and
working with our clients toidentify things that make them
happy is a really important partof our prescription.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Well and obviously I think you mentioned it at the
beginning avoiding people whohave negative influences or try
to project those negativeinfluences.
You want people who reallysupport being up and revitalized
and happy and finding joy inlife.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Yeah, and it's not happy ology, right, because I
mentioned, you know, as Imentioned you know, bad things
happen, you know, and it'sreally sort of looking the world
half full, not half empty, andagain, all these sorts of things
that we just went through, thefresh model right, sort of nudge
you in that sort of positivewellbeing state.
And that's really what we wantto sort of really work with our
(15:46):
clients, our patients, right,because oftentimes you go to the
doctor they don't have the timeand or the expertise in each of
those five pillars.
But we all know those arereally important and we have
found in our practice that,through our patients and through
our clients, is that if wereally address these sort of
five ingredients or five pillars, medicine is of less or no need
(16:11):
.
So I encourage everyone to sortof, you know, take a look at
our site, take a look at ourwork and really sort of identify
how you can actually getfresher.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And we're going to be publishing your site, your more
information on our website,which, fortunately, most of our
listeners actually do access thewebsite and follow up on that,
but why don't you tell us alittle bit more I think you're
just about to touch on it yourFreshMedU, your online classes,
and I guess one of the benefitsof telemedicine these days is we
(16:40):
can access your knowledge, yourwife's knowledge, julie Graham,
from anywhere in the UnitedStates correct.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, we have a brick andmortar here in New York City
where I still see patients andmy wife sees clients, but not
everyone can get to New York,and so we do offer telemedicine
services, but we also, you know,during right before the
pandemic, a grocery store chainreached out to us.
(17:07):
This is a true story.
A CEO of a large grocery storechain was in the hospital room
of his butcher and this butcherwas getting open heart surgery,
and he made it that day hismission to sort of help elevate
the health of his entireassociates at the supermarket.
(17:28):
So, as you can imagine, here inNew York City it was from, let's
say, westchester County to LongIsland, down into Brooklyn, and
how do we get all theseassociates at the same time?
And so we turned our freshpillars into a school, an online
e-platform learning programwhere thousands of people have
taken our courses to get fresher, and the idea there is there's
(17:52):
a free course that, again,everyone can take, but there are
also additional courses thatreally dive into those five
pillars the food, relaxation,exercise, sleep and happiness.
You can do it all one chunk oryou can do it, you know, one
letter, one pillar at a time,but it's really sort of that
simple nudge to our patients whocan get to see us in New York
to come to them on their, youknow, on their phone or on their
(18:15):
computer at their own time, attheir own space, at their own
you know, sort of learning level.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Right, that makes it nice that you don't have to tune
into the particular time, thatyou can access it when it's
convenient for you and FreshMedU.
You standing for the in theoryuniversity correct.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Absolutely, absolutely FreshMedU, meaning
university right.
It's a digital e-learningplatform which is really, really
interesting about it too it isactually gamified and so, as
opposed to just listening tolectures or PowerPoint, it
actually challenges you to gothrough the course in about five
to 10 minutes, let's say threeto five minute chunks.
(18:55):
So therefore you feel likeyou're getting through it and
actually it's gamified so youcan actually play with others.
We like to joke around justlike we did at the supermarket.
It's not the biggest loser,it's the biggest user which we
can identify on the back end aswell.
So it's a great thing forindividuals, but also for
corporations, to kind ofchallenge themselves in that
well-being space You're known as.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Dr Rob, correct, dr Rob the Chef.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
That's my nickname, Dr Rob the Chef.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
All right, so you mentioned it earlier.
Since our medical educationsystem teaches doctors, as I
know well very little aboutnutrition, can Dr Rob teach us
how to choose the right foods?
In other words, if we comeagain to FreshMedU, do you
actually get into what foods youshould eat and also you teach
(19:44):
people to cook right?
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think you know we always hearfood is medicine, but you know,
studies have shown also thatpeople and societies that cook
more actually achieve betterhealth.
So that's part of the reasonwhy I did decide to not trade in
my lab coat for my chef whites,but really to get that
secondary education of becominga chef.
And I did that about sevenyears ago after roughly 10 years
(20:07):
of teaching doctors how to cookalongside a chef at a culinary
school.
And again, I know my backgroundwas that we learned our most
important lessons in the kitchen, around family time, cooking
time and eating time.
And so I just sort of 10 yearsago well, 15 years ago I thought
maybe what if we took a groupof doctors out of a hospital and
(20:28):
teach them how to cook, not ina classroom but literally in a
culinary school?
And there's been a greatmovement called culinary
medicine, the intersectionbetween the culinary arts and
the science of medicine.
And to your question, yeah,freshman U really dives into.
You know what we should thinkabout when it comes to what's on
our plate, and I think it's animportant sort of concept when
we're thinking about, you know,how to make these sort of
(20:49):
dietary changes for oneself.
Again, we focus a lot onputting more plants onto your
plate.
That's a simple prescription wehave.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
I like that.
More plants on your plate,that's a real jazzy number.
Let me ask you this because I'mcurious.
I'm assuming, like you can buyrecipes, books, I should say and
there you find how to put thistogether and that together.
I'm guessing that you go onestep further and describe why
(21:20):
you should eat certain foods andprepare them a certain way.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah, exactly.
So that's sort of the spin here.
Right is that we all want to behealthier, but we also want I
think people want to know why wewant to be healthier and I
think why we recommend certainthings we should put on our
plate and not put on our plate.
I also would talk abouttechniques.
(21:44):
Not put on our plate.
I also would talk abouttechniques.
You know, the reason why chefsmake food that tastes better
than most home cooks is that welearn the techniques of how to
optimize flavor and how tochoose the finest of ingredients
to cook with right.
And so I think using thoseprinciples of the culinary arts
into sort of home cooking isreally important, and I do
believe that you know it was oneof the silver linings of this
(22:04):
COVID pandemic is that peoplestarted learning how to cook and
it really became a survivaltool, right?
My brother-in-law was never, youknow, he was a guy in New York,
a bachelor in New York, andwould always eat out and take
home some stuff, but he actuallylearned how to cook and I think
more and more people aregetting back into the kitchen,
and I believe it is medicine,because it gives you control of
(22:27):
what you put into that plate,even let's let's joke around a
little bit even like friedchicken, right?
I don't know if you guys evermade fried chicken, but fried
chicken is a mess and you know,once you make it once, you're
probably not going to make itfor a long time because it's
just a really messy job.
And so I think if you're goingto explore healthy eating, I
think the best way to do it isby opening up a recipe book.
(22:49):
Go to Fresh Made you and lookto see a simple recipe that we
all can incorporate into ourdaily lives, and I think you
know we found that people reallyare open to that at this point.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
And I'm sure it's not the way the colonel prepares it
either.
But in any case, I really I doactually have one last question.
As you know, our program isLive Healthy Longer that's the
name of it, and your synopsis is, I believe, the more plants you
eat, the longer you live.
(23:22):
So can you tell us how aplant-based diet actually
affects the aging process?
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Yeah, so we're learning a lot about aging, and
it seems like every other weekthere's a new sort of doctor or
expert, you know, giving you therecipe for longevity, and a lot
of the work that we've done inthe past 20 years has been
influenced by the work that DanBuettner and the team at the
Blue Zones have done.
Have you had Dan on thispodcast yet?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
No, not yet.
But I'm certainly familiar withhim.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yeah.
So you know, he's identifiedthese five blue zones around the
world where people live to 100healthfully and happily, and so
we don't have to sort ofredesign what we found.
Just take the best of his workof the blue zones and there you
know, we found that people thattend to eat, you know, a
(24:13):
predominantly plant-based dietagain, predominantly plant-based
diet tend to live the longest,and I think that's sort of a
good message for us to share ina simple way of eating more
plants.
Right, half your plate shouldbe plant at this point.
You know, a question I get alot is should it be organic?
And if you can afford organic,then it should be.
(24:33):
But I'd rather have peopleincorporate more of a
plant-based diet, evennon-organic, into their sort of
daily menu planning instead offorgoing it for non-organic.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
What really resounds to me and I think I can
appreciate.
Particularly I have a bit of anutritional background.
But I think from what you'vesaid and I like the idea of a
half plate or whatever youreally haven't put down many
people who advocate plant-baseddiets say that's it, you don't
eat anything else, you stickstrictly to plants and for some
(25:10):
people that's going to beparticularly after a lifetime of
eating a certain way.
I think that's kind ofdifficult to plants and for some
people that's going to beparticularly after a lifetime of
eating a certain way.
I think that's kind ofdifficult to do.
And you've made a statement atleast half your plate should be
plant-based and I think you givepeople that opening to perhaps
choose different foods here orthere that they enjoy.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yeah, again, you know we're not prescriptive in that
sort of sense, right, and Ithink I think again, I try to
use the science, but I was, Isort of use common sense as well
.
Right, I'll use my parents, my,my mother is 85 and my dad is
81, you know, and, and theyexplored with me Meatless Monday
and they have sort of it's agreat website too.
(25:49):
It's a national movement.
I had the great fortune ofmeeting the late Sid Lerner when
he was around here in New Yorkand really became a sort of an
ambassador of that MeatlessMonday movement.
So it's one day you canactually swap out the meat and
make it meatless.
And what we have found in ourpractice and working with our
clients is that the more plantswe eat, the better we feel.
(26:11):
Right, it's a lighter sort ofmeal, but also it increases the
amount of, oftentimes, fiber,which is, if you want to talk
about a deficiency in ourcountry, we are fiber deficient
and if there's one thing wewould actually recommend is
adding more fiber to everyone'splate and that's the best form
it's in terms of fruits andvegetables, and I think most
(26:34):
people on Tuesday feel a littlelighter, maybe have a better
bowel movement and again makingone's leaning into sort of
feeling better.
One day leads to another dayand another day, and right now
my parents are.
I like to say that they're fivedays a week plant-based.
I like to say that they're fivedays a week plant-based.
(26:55):
And again, a couple things withthat statement there.
It's challenging and I think alot of people, particularly as
we get older, we get stuck inour ways and protein is
important and you can get thissort of a good amount of protein
on a plant-based diet.
But again, you just have tothink about it a little bit more
.
But again, you just have tothink about it a little bit more
.
Instead of a slab of beef onyour plate, you have to think
about how you're going tooptimize the plant-based sources
(27:18):
and again, in our homes it'smostly beans, legumes.
Today we had a red lentil soupinspired by the flavors of
Thailand, and it was deliciousand nutritious and really
satisfying.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
And by getting into FreshMedU I'm assuming that we
can get into some of thoserecipes that you have right.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yep, yep, we have a bunch of recipes there.
We have about 13 on our foodsection and, yeah, I encourage
everyone to explore that sort ofopportunity to dive into
FreshMedU.
Start with the free course.
You know you, you got nothingto lose.
Take the free course.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Right, we'll start with the free course and see
what you get out of it and thenyou can take a step further if
you wish, and all of this isgoing to be on our website.
And if there's anything elsethat you can think of that you'd
like to add, please send it tous, because you have some very,
very enlightening informationand I want to encourage our
audience, please, to go to yourwebsite, and I believe there's a
(28:19):
second website that you have,if I'm right.
Am I correct that it's dealingwith?
Speaker 3 (28:26):
cooking.
Oh yeah, so our brick andmortar is FreshMed NYC Fresh
Medicine.
Corresponding e-learningplatform is FreshMedU.
And then the other thing thatI'd like to maybe talk to your
audience about really is theidea of this food is medicine
movement.
You've probably been hearing alot about it on the heels of the
(28:49):
White House conference twoyears ago and it's really sort
of changed.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And it's my slogan as well, by the way, but that's a
side point.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Yeah, and you know it's really it's been.
It's been 20 years.
I've dedicated my entire career, sort of, to bring back the
importance of food in our healthcare and I had the great
fortune of teaming up with acompany called Performance
Kitchen to be their chief healthofficer.
Let me explain a little bitabout what we do there.
And so these are frozen,healthy meals, again
(29:21):
predominantly plant based.
But you know, people eat whatthey want to eat, so we do have
organic, we have, you know, goodquality meats.
Let's say that when it comes topork, chicken, fish and beef,
and they're ethnically andculturally inspired, because we
all have these sort of culturalvariances in our taste buds and
(29:43):
we want to eat that food thattastes familiar and not food
that we have to eat but want toeat.
And so, about five years ago, Ibecame their chief health
officer to help sort of launchthis sort of medically tailored
meal, which comes a preparedmeal that has been created by
(30:14):
chefs, certified by a registereddietitian to hit the criterias
of what a medically tailoredmeal is, and then prescribed by
a doctor.
And here's the best part it'sactually part of a benefit in
about 80% of Medicare Advantageprograms.
If you have a chronic disease,you will get up to, in some
(30:35):
cases, 270 meals covered by yourinsurance, and so I urge
everyone to take a look at whatwe do at performancekitchencom
to learn more about ourethnically inspired, medically
tailored meals.
And, for me, I love working withthem because it takes the
guesswork out of it.
Right, I'm a big fan ofshopping and produce
prescriptions and produce meals,but you got to cook, and many
(30:58):
in our society don't have thetime, skill or money to go
shopping for food.
So that's part of the bigmovement that's happening.
You start with a medicallytailored meal here you have
diabetes here.
Eat this meal and you'll get asense of what that meal looks
like, the size of it, the tasteof it, and then we gradually
graduate that person to aproduce prescription with
(31:19):
corresponding nutritionaleducation, either given by a
chef doc, which there's not toomany of us, but a registered
dietitian as well.
So that's where the food is.
Medicine movement or pyramid ishappening, with medically
tailored meals on top, produceprescription in the middle and
nutritional foundationalknowledge as a foundation.
And so I encourage youraudience to take a look at our
(31:40):
website and put your zip code tosee which insurance companies
do offer coverage in your zipcode.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
That's very interesting, I think.
As a matter of fact, I'massuming, that if you have
coronary heart disease, which somany millions of Americans do,
that might be covered as well.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Yeah, so any chronic disease right?
Copd, heart disease, highcholesterol, diabetes.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Perhaps Alzheimer's and dementia if you're at the
touch of it are predisposed.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Absolutely.
But you know, in this game it'sso insurance dependent, right.
So you know, go to our website,put your name, your zip code in
there and see which sort ofplans offer a medically tailored
meal in your area.
And you know, utilize what youpay for.
And we pay high premiums forthese insurances and we should
(32:29):
be utilizing all the benefitsthat they offer.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Sometimes they don't tell us them.
You know, and I think the onusis on us to go look for it.
Excellent suggestion.
So, again, all of this is goingto be on our website and I want
to thank you, Dr Graham, alsoknown as Dr Rob the Chef, Thank
you so much again for joining us.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
It's been extremely valuable Well thank you for the
opportunity to share my thoughts, my platform and our website
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
You can learn more about Dr Robert E Graham and his
practice Fresh Medicine at ourwebsite, jamespolikoffcom.
Our website also has some greatblogs, which are all designed
to help you live healthy longer.
Go to jamespolakoffcom.
That's James P-O-L-A-K-O-Fcom.
(33:23):
Now back to Dr Jim.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Thanks again to Dr Robert E Graham, who provided
some great food for thoughtabout healthy eating.
I do encourage my listeners todiscover more about Dr Graham
and fresh medicine.
As mentioned before, all youneed to do is go to our website,
jamespolikoffcom.
And also, as I mentionedearlier, healthy eating becomes
(33:50):
even more important as we age,so here's my tip for this
episode I'd like you to think ofwhat's on your plate as a
rainbow.
Bright colored foods are oftenthe best choice.
For example, with fruits andvegetables, I'd like you to
envision orange, red, green andpurple.
(34:11):
In the case of whole grains,choose brown rice.
Also, be sure to read thenutritional facts on the label.
Most people don't study thoseand choose foods that are high
in fiber and low in sodium.
Also very important calcium,potassium, vitamin D and
(34:33):
particularly B12.
Yes, very important as we age.
This is Dr Jim Polakoff.
Thanks for joining me onceagain, and remember, every week
there's another episode of LiveHealthy Longer, and please visit
our website for moreinformation, not only about our
guests and other podcasts, butalso you want to read some of
(34:56):
the very healthy blogs we have,that's jamespolikovcom.
And, by the way, also rememberfood is the best medicine.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.