117: Longevity Kitchen: Kale Edition with Liz Weiss

118: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Anti-Inflammatory Diet with Ginger Hultin, MS, RDN

Welcome, Fellow Health Warriors! Today’s show is packed with valuable information about inflammation. Our focus is on chronic inflammation, how it impacts our health, and how to prevent and reverse it through diet. You’ll learn what chronic inflammation is and why it plays a major role in many diseases. Join us to learn about the anti-inflammatory diet and how you can follow it to better health! Ginger Hultin is a nationally-recognized registered dietitian and health writer. She owns the Seattle-based virtual nutrition practices Champagne Nutrition and Seattle Cancer Nutritionists, where she helps clients solve complex mysteries with an integrative approach. She specializes in vegetarian diets, oncology nutrition, supplements, and nutrigenomics (the scientific study of the interaction of genes in disease treatment and prevention). Ginger currently serves as adjunct clinical faculty at the Bastyr Center for Natural Health, where she teaches master’s level nutrition students. She authored the Eat to Beat Disease Cookbook and the Anti-Inflammatory Diet Meal Prep book.

Show Highlights:

• Ginger’s life in Seattle and why she is passionate about clinical and integrative nutrition and solving complex health mysteries
• The nitty-gritty truth about chronic inflammation, its causes, and why it can make you feel tired and fatigued over time
• How to recognize chronic inflammation in your body
• Common causes of chronic inflammation: cigarette smoke exposure, lack of physical activity, lack of sleep, excess stress, etc.
• How the immune system can turn against you because of chronic inflammation
• Categories of foods that cause chronic inflammation: excessive consumption of alcohol, added sugar, saturated fats, trans fats, and highly-processed foods
• Anti-inflammatory food superstars: fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, plant-based proteins, whole grains, herbs, spices, tea, and cocoa (Aim to eat more of these!)
• Why meal prep can be a lifesaver for those with chronic inflammation
• Ginger’s meal prep secrets: make a list, plan the week, and make use of grocery delivery/pickup as a timesaving tool
• How Ginger sets the record straight regarding gluten and dairy in an anti-inflammatory diet (Hint: Research shows that they have nutritional benefits and are anti-inflammatory.)
• Ginger’s research-based opinions on controversial foods, like nightshade vegetables, coconut oil, and turmeric in the anti-inflammatory diet
• Why cinnamon, ginger, and garlic are superfoods in the inflammatory diet
• How Ginger’s book is structured with information about inflammation and nutrition, meal prep tips and sample plans, and helpful recipes
• How you can increase the nutritional benefit by making your own sauces, marinades, dressings, and vinaigrettes
• Ginger’s favorite recipe in the book, Lasagna Roll-ups, which is vegetarian and plant-based
• Why the anti-inflammatory diet could help you live longer and enjoy a healthy life
• How Ginger is focusing on better sleep and stress management moving into her 40s
• Why focusing on familiar foods with a healthier twist is a good start to a better diet
• Where tofu, tempeh, and edamame fit into the anti-inflammatory diet
• Ginger’s recipe for with Sheet Pan Tofu and Vegetables with Simple Ginger Teriyaki Sauce
• A few more of Ginger’s favorite recipes from her book, like Flourless Banana Pancakes and Vegetable Fried Cauliflower Rice
• Ginger’s final tips on looking at science-based research and evidence about nutrition and the anti-inflammatory diet

Resources:

Ginger's website: Champagne Nutrition

Anti-Inflammatory Diet Meal Prep

Ginger on Instagram

Ginger on Facebook

Ginger on Twitter

117: Longevity Kitchen: Kale Edition with Liz Weiss

Welcome, Health Warriors! Today’s episode is dedicated to one of my favorite anti-aging ingredients: kale. Not to be forgotten are some other leafy greens that are good for us, like collards and bok choy. We will talk about the health benefits of kale, the different varieties available at the supermarket, all about kale chips, and a new recipe for Kale and Pine Nut Pesto that I created specifically for this show. Kale has been the “veggie of the moment” for a while now, and it’s super nutritious and versatile. It can be added to soups, salads, and smoothies. Join me for a closer look at this superfood!

Show Highlights:

• A little info about kale, a cruciferous vegetable related to cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens, arugula, bok choy, radishes, turnips, watercress, and wasabi
• The types of kale:
• • Curly kale can be added to salads, soups, and smoothies.
  • Dinosaur or Tuscan kale, Italian kale also called Lacinato kale, is distinguished by long, slender, blue-green leaves that are not curly but puckered like savoy cabbage.
  • Red Russian or Ragged Jack kale is an heirloom kale that looks like overgrown oak leaves and ranges in color from blue-green to purple-red; it has a sweeter flavor.
  • Baby kale is the term for the young, immature leaves of the kale plant that are great for any use.
• Superfood nutrition and antioxidants in kale: Kale is packed with vitamin K, C, beta carotene, calcium, folate, and fiber.
• Kale is packed with antioxidants like beta carotene, vitamin C, flavonoids, and polyphenols, which help to slow the aging process and help reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, and neurodegenerative disorders.
• How kale is one of the best sources of compounds that help protect our eyes against damage and degenerative diseases
• Facts: only one in ten people in the US eats the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables each day!
• Why we shouldn’t pay too much attention to the recent Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen List of produce items with dangerous levels of pesticide residue (You would have to eat over 18,000 servings of kale daily to put your body at risk!)
• Ideas to add more kale to your everyday diet for dinner, breakfast, sides, and salads
• My favorite smoothie recipe includes orange juice, baby kale, Greek yogurt, fresh mint leaves, English cucumber, mango chunks, banana, and honey.
• The scoop on kale chips and my best tips for getting them not to be soggy
• My recipe for Kale and Pine Nut Pesto: baby kale leaves, toasted pine nuts, olive oil, mint leaves, Parmesan cheese, garlic, lemon juice, dijon mustard, honey, salt and pepper
• Check out the Recipe Roundup on the blog with recipes for Wild Rice and Kale Salad; Kale and Sausage Gnocchi Bake; Creamy Chicken, Kale, and Rice Mushroom Soup; and Caesar Salad with Kale and Chicken

Resources:

Helpful links mentioned in this episode:

Cruciferous vegetables and cancer: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet/cruciferous-vegetables-fact-sheet#what-are-cruciferous-vegetables

Don't be afraid of the Dirty Dozen: https://fruitsandveggies.org/expert-advice/should-i-be-afraid-of-the-dirty-dozen/

Safe Produce Calculator: https://www.safefruitsandveggies.com/calculate/

Liz’s Links:

My website: www.lizshealthytable.com

My email: [email protected]

116: The Impact of Alcohol on Health, and How to Calculate a Standard Drink, with Kathleen Zelman, MS, RDN

Have you ever wondered how much impact beer, wine, and spirits have on your health and longevity? The US Dietary Guidelines recommend limiting the number of alcoholic beverages we consume, but that can be pretty confusing. How do we even know how much alcohol is considered moderate and how much is too much? Or if we’re offered a cocktail at a party, how do we know how much alcohol is in it? My friend, and fellow dietician, Kathleen Zelman is joining us today to answer all those questions and tell us how moderate alcohol consumption can affect our health. She will also explain how alcohol can sabotage our well-being and longevity. Kathleen Zelman is a food, nutrition, and media communications consultant, co-host of the new podcast, True Health Revealed, and owner of No Nonsense Nutrition. Kathleen helped launch WebMD and spent seventeen years as their Director of Nutrition. Kathleen has received many awards throughout her career, including the prestigious Lenna Frances Cooper Memorial Award from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in recognition of her distinguished career and remarkable contributions to the dietetics profession. Kathleen is also a consultant for the Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS), so she is savvy on the subject of alcohol. She is here to give us the scoop on alcohol and talk about a new online calculator designed to help us figure out how much alcohol we are drinking. We will also share some snazzy ideas for cocktails and mocktails!

Show highlights:

• Kathleen is excited about her new podcast that launched in January! She and her co-host, Dr. Tom Rifai, are doing it on behalf of the True Health Initiative, a non-profit organization that wants to ensure that they get information to consumers, translate science, and give consumers evidence-based facts.
• Dr. Eric Rimm, a Harvard professor and true expert on alcohol, was on Kathleen’s podcast. He said it's okay to have a glass of wine now and then.
• What does moderation mean for men and women, and how does that translate into beer, wine, and spirits?
• To find out what up to one drink per day looks like, go to www.standarddrinks.org to find a calculator. One standard drink is one and a half ounces of 80-proof spirits, a 12-ounce bottle of regular 5% alcohol beer, or five ounces of 12% volume wine.
• An exercise to do at home is to measure five ounces of wine and pour it into different glasses to see what a standard drink looks like.
• Become aware of what you are drinking and what the alcohol content is. Most wines have 12% alcohol, but some have much higher alcohol content- 15 or 16%.
• Most ready-to-drink canned cocktails are 12 ounces and have 5% alcohol content. However, some brands could contain up to 8 or 10% alcohol, so make sure you know how concentrated they are before drinking them. The information is on the label.
• Get to know how much you are drinking using the standard drinks calculator. Kathleen explains how it works.
• Having too many drinks in a row or drinking too quickly is considered binge drinking. It is always best to moderate your drinking or have your drinks with food.
• Why does one type of alcohol impact some people more than another?
• If your face becomes flushed after drinking, it is your body telling you to slow down. It means you are not tolerating the alcohol.
• Kathleen discusses the potential health benefits of drinking in moderation, whether or not there is any truth to the French paradox, and how drinking too much alcohol can sabotage your health.
• Kathleen lists the people who should not consume alcohol at all.
• Some tips to help you enjoy alcohol, reap the health benefits and make your drink last longer.
• A standard drink contains roughly 150 calories. Calories add up, so try to use low-calorie mixers, like club soda, and DON’T drink with a straw!
• Kathleen enjoys a tall vodka soda with a splash of cranberry and a wedge of lime. Her latest favorite is the Aperol Spritz- a serving of prosecco over lots of ice with a splash of Aperol and a wedge of lime.
• Kathleen and I share some recipes for mocktails. They are a good option for a “dry January” or taking a break from alcohol.
• Blue zones are hot spots in various places in the world where people live particularly long and healthy lives. One of the common denominators in all the blue zones is moderate alcohol consumption.
• Kathleen talks about the Distilled Spirits Council of the US (DISCUS) and explains what you will find on the DISCUS website.

Resources:

The standard drinks calculator

The Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS) website is called Standard Drinks.Org

Liz’s Links:

My website: www.lizshealthytable.com

My email: [email protected]

Mocktail Recipe:

Pomegranate Winter Spiced Mocktail (Serves 2)

Place a cup of 100% pomegranate juice, a cup of 100% orange juice, some cloves, star anise, and a cinnamon stick in a small saucepan. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes, and then allow it to cool.

Pour it into a tall glass filled with ice, and garnish it with some orange slices or a wedge of orange. You can also add a sprig of mint. Or stretch it by adding some sparkling water.

115: Longevity Kitchen: Dark Chocolate Edition with Liz Weiss, MS, RDN

In today’s Longevity Kitchen episode, we are highlighting one of my very favorite foods in the whole world: dark chocolate. Chocolate is universally adored and appreciated by people everywhere as the world’s favorite sweet treat. Beyond the fact that it’s delicious and versatile, dark chocolate has specific and proven health benefits. Don’t feel guilty; grab a piece of dark chocolate and savor the flavor.

Chocolate comes from cacao, which is found in the seeds of football-shaped pods that grow on the cacao tree. So yes, there IS such a thing as a chocolate forest! I’ve never been in one, but I’m SO ready to go! Today I’m telling you why dark chocolate is good for us, along with a brief history of chocolate, the differences in types of chocolate, and I’m sharing some delicious recipes. I created a new recipe for Dark Chocolate, Pecan, and Dried Cherry Clusters; they are crunchy and yummy and very easy to make. I’ll also highlight a few favorites from my Recipe Roundup, which includes 40 recipes from some fellow dietitians who also love dark chocolate. Join me for this delicious adventure!

Show Highlights:

• The basics to know about dark chocolate:
• • Cacao is high in magnesium and antioxidants.
  • Dark chocolate has higher amounts of cacao and less sugar than milk chocolate.
  • The health benefits are greater with dark chocolate than other varieties because of the phytonutrients, which may play a role in cancer prevention and heart health.
• Other health benefits of dark chocolate include reduced inflammation, lower blood pressure, better cholesterol levels, improved cognition, better mood, better gut health, and improved blood sugar levels. There is some evidence of dark chocolate preventing memory loss and lowering the risk of Type-2 diabetes.
• The facts: dark chocolate has more antioxidants than green tea or red wine (The darker the chocolate, the more antioxidants.)
• How dark and how much? Choose a cacao content of 70% or higher, and eat about an ounce each day for maximum health benefits.
• We go WAY back for a brief history of chocolate, spanning the Olmec tribes of present-day Mexico in 1500 BC, the Mayans, Aztecs, and Spaniards. (It was in the early 1800s when chocolate became available to the masses, and aren’t we thankful?!)
• Important nutrients in dark chocolate include iron, fiber, magnesium, copper, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, and selenium.
• Chocolate isn’t just for desserts; there are great savory recipes for Triple Chocolate Beef and Bean Chili and Eggplant Caponata. (I will be trying these!)
• My new recipe for Dark Chocolate, Pecan, and Dried Cherry Crunchy Clusters–they are made with dark chocolate chips, flaked cereal, chopped pecans, and dried unsweetened tart cherries.
• From the Dark Chocolate Recipe Roundup:
• From Laura @lauramali.com: Dark Chocolate Orange Mousse is made with dark chocolate, silken tofu, orange zest, agave syrup, kosher salt, orange-flavored liquor, and sliced strawberries.
• From Jackie @jackienewgent.com: Double Chocolate Banana Dessert Bread is made with whole wheat pastry flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, ripe bananas, chopped pistachios, vanilla and almond extracts, bittersweet chocolate chips, sugar, butter, and eggs.
• From Kelly @kellyjonesnutrition.com: Vegan Turtles are made with dates, salt, walnuts or pecans, dark chocolate chips, and cayenne pepper.
• The differences in types of chocolate, like cocoa powder, dark chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, semisweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate (which isn’t really chocolate at all!)

Resources

History of Chocolate:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/archaeology-chocolate-180954243/

Video of Cacao Bean Processing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_JuQCiKWUc

Savory recipes with dark chocolate:

Triple Chocolate Beef and Bean Chili: https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Triple-Chocolate-Beef-Bean-Chili/

Eggplant Caponata: https://www.saveur.com/gallery/Savory-Chocolate-Recipes/

Dark Chocolate Orange Mousse:

https://www.lauramali.com/easy-dark-chocolate-orange-mousse/

Vegan Turtles:

https://kellyjonesnutrition.com/vegan-turtles/

Double chocolate banana dessert bread: https://jackienewgent.com/dessert-bread/

Liz’s Links:

My website: www.lizshealthytable.com

My email: [email protected]

114: Recipes, Tips, & Strategies to Turn Burnout Into Balance with Patricia Bannan, MS, RDN

Do you find yourself running in a million different directions all day long? Burnout is a reality for many people, especially busy women. It is terrible for our health and takes a huge toll on the quality of our lives. If you want to live a long and vibrant life, join me to learn more about the fight against burnout!

Patricia Bannan is the author of the new cookbook, From Burnout to Balance: 60+ Healing Recipes and Simple Strategies to Boost Mood, Immunity, Focus, and Sleep. Patricia joins me to share her personal experience with burnout and how she turned it into balance. She’ll tell us how the foods on our plates can have a profound impact on improving our health and happiness. Her cookbook has solutions for breakfast, main meals, salads, snacks, and desserts, including her Fudgy Avocado Walnut Brownies. Yum! I tried her Zucchini and Black Bean Chilaquiles Skillet yesterday, and I’m sharing that recipe on today’s show and on my blog. Patricia is a nationally recognized dietitian and healthy cooking expert who has done thousands of media interviews, and she is a busy mom who lives in California.

Show Highlights:

• Get to know Patricia, an East Coast girl who loves living in the Los Angeles sunshine and has combined her loves of journalism and nutrition into her work
• How burnout is characterized by feeling energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from work and cynicism about work, and a drop in professional performance
• Why burnout is best visualized with a holistic approach to work, personal life, and personality type
• How stress and burnout are different
• Highlights of Patricia’s burnout experience a few years ago–and how she recovered by simplifying, prioritizing, and re-evaluating her life
• Why Patricia wrote a book about burnout (The facts: ⅓ of women report feeling full-blown burnout, which has only worsened due to the pandemic)
• Why Patricia structured her book as part health book and part cookbook
• Why the consequences of burnout include serious health risks and a heavy toll on longevity, relationships, and overall quality of life
• Tips for busting burnout: prioritize plants and find balance in the kitchen
• The connection between what we eat and our mood (“feel-good” foods can help!)
• How eating 30 different plants each week can help create a healthier microbiome in your gut (from the American Gut Project)
• How whole, unprocessed foods help with mood and gut health (“Whole foods make a whole person.”)
• How foods and healthy lifestyle factors can support a strong immune system
• Immune system boosters include vitamin D-rich foods like mushrooms, dairy, and seafood, along with zinc-rich foods like red meat and shellfish
• Patricia’s recipe for Golden Carrot Spice Muffins made with flour, oat bran, baking powder, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, honey, coconut oil, Greek yogurt, eggs, vanilla, grated carrots, and walnuts
• How burnout impacts our brain health and ability to focus
• Foods to improve focus include blueberries, olives/olive oil, and walnuts
• Foods for better sleep include kiwi, peanut butter, and tart cherries
• Patricia’s favorite recipe in her cookbook: Sheet Pan Salmon with Fingerling Potatoes, Asparagus, and Citrus Miso Sauce (This dish is a good source of 27 essential nutrients!)
• Patricia’s Zucchini and Black Bean Chilaquiles Skillet, a one-pot dish made with sauteed veggies, corn tortilla chips, green enchilada sauce, cheese, and toppings
• A sleepytime beverage: Patricia’s Tart Cherry Chamomile Tea with Oat Milk

Resources:

Patricia Bannan's website: https://www.patriciabannan.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NutritionGoGo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patriciabannan/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patriciabannanRD

Where to find Patricia's book: https://www.patriciabannan.com/from-burnout-to-balance-book

Connect with Liz: www.lizshealthytable.com