- Hi, I'm Susan Taylor with Scripps Health
in San Diego, California.
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Okay, you've heard the saying you are what you eat.
Turns out there's some truth to that, food as medicine.
What kind of food do you eat to make you feel better?
Please let us know in the comments section below.
Joining us is Doctor Samar Rashid,
who is a family medicine specialist
at Scripps Clinic in Point Loma.
Thanks so much for being with us, Dr. Rashid.
What does it mean to use food as medicine?
- So we're talking about food,
we're talking about the healing capacity of it, right?
What we're really talking about is food as information,
food as what does it mean to enjoy something,
put it into our body, and the effect that it has?
With every food in the market, right,
with all these different things you can grow,
how you can bring them together,
so much of that can optimize our healing,
and that's what food medicine's really about.
- So how do you detoxify your body?
- So when we're talking about detoxification,
there's so many different pieces of that
when we're looking at the human body.
We're talking about are we looking at our visceral organs
when it's talking about our most potent organ
for detoxification, which is the liver,
how do we optimize how the liver's functioning?
When we're talking about detoxifying,
we have to look at elimination, right?
So are your bowels regular?
Is your fiber intake where it's adequate
and where it should be to help cleanse the body
as you start getting into a process
of helping bringing foods that'll cleanse?
- So give us some of the top healing foods
that are out there.
- I always love having this conversation
with my patients because so much of it is about playing
with foods and incorporating foods for the first time.
And I start simple, right?
If we can get foods like garlic
for its antimicrobial effect, if we can get foods
like turmeric, it's one of the most potent antioxidants
on the planet, raw extra virgin olive oil,
seeds, high-folate rich leafy greens.
These are just a few examples of just really, really potent
but also really high nutrient-density foods I just try
to get people to incorporate into their daily life.
- For example, how much turmeric should you have everyday?
- So it kind of depends on the person, right?
Am I talking to someone with autoimmune diseases
who maybe need a bit more when we talk
about inflammation or someone with arthritis,
dementia prevention over the age of 65.
If you don't have any of those things,
I just try to get people to get a teaspoon of it a day,
anything with a high fat-soluble food
'cause it'll help with absorption
and then cracked pepper will help activate the turmeric.
So I always try to make sure people
are getting both those ingredients with their turmeric.
- And what about food as energy throughout the day?
And I'm assuming you want people
to stay away from caffeine. (laughs)
- So caffeine, as much as a coffee will just help
to start that day, it can be very stimulating,
and it can be a lot on the nervous system
if we're not used to it.
And if we're dealing with thyroid conditions
or other things where we don't want stimulants,
there's so many energizing foods
that'll help control blood sugar in a more natural way.
Nuts are a fantastic example.
High fat-soluble foods actually tend to be really great
for energy because it helps a lot with satiety,
so nut butters like almond butter or cashew butter.
And, like I said, nuts really help stabilize as well,
and it gives you that energy that you need
throughout the day, especially in the mid afternoon.
- So stay away from the coffee in the afternoon,
have some nuts. - Have some nuts, exactly.
- That's easy. (Dr. Rashid laughs)
What ingredients should you add to have a healthy meal?
- So, like we were talking about before,
turmeric is just a really easy way
'cause you don't need very much of it.
So adding that to soups and stews
is a simple way to sneak it in there.
Garlic, like we talked about before, is also fantastic.
I question what kind of oils are you using,
and what can we transition that
could be a little bit more heat stabilizing
or a little bit more nutrient dense?
If they're using coconut oil versus canola oil,
maybe I can transition them over to coconut oil.
Canola oil tends to be a little bit more processed.
So it depends on who I'm talking to
and what their baseline diet is.
- But stay away from the processed foods.
- Staying away from processed foods
in general partly just because you tend
to have more refined sugars in them,
and a lot of the processing
in it has really high preservatives.
And, at the end of the day, these just aren't whole foods,
and they just don't have the nutrient density
that other foods do.
- So rather than refined white sugar,
would you say go with the raw sugar, the brown sugar?
- That's a really great question.
In general, if we're talking about glycemic index
and the body's response to both those kinds of sugar,
they're gonna be pretty much the same.
So instead, I try to get people using natural date syrups
and things like that, which'll be a little bit more stable
on blood sugar.
If I could get people to do maple,
that tends to be a little bit better.
In general, slowly, I get people to use less
and less of it, which is also really great.
But white sugar and brown sugar or raw sugar,
they pretty much have an equal effect
in terms of the body's response.
- That's interesting.
So there's been a lot of talk about red meat.
Some say it's okay to eat once in a while.
Some say avoid it altogether.
Is it healthy?
- So this has been very controversial lately, I will say.
Across the board, it's hard to find studies
that haven't really demonstrated the benefits
of a plant-based diet.
When it comes to red meat consumption
and animal-based protein, it's really about the quality
and the source of your proteins, especially red meat.
And so if you're going to eat red meat,
you wanna do it sparingly.
I always tell my patients look at it like a dessert, right?
Have it on a monthly basis if you're gonna have it,
and you wanna have high quality.
If you can get it from the farmer's market,
it's local, it's grass fed.
These are all really, really great things.
It's organic, so you're decreasing the hormones
and the pesticides, especially with dealing with chicken.
That can be a little bit harder to find
because they're so high in antibiotics and hormones.
So again, it's really about the quality
and then using it sparingly.
- We want you to hold this thought.
We're gonna come back to this in a couple of minutes.
There's lot of folks who don't have time to cook,
and so they rely on fast food.
We're gonna come back and talk
about fast food a little bit later.
Is there such a thing as good fast food,
as healthy fast food?
So hold that thought.
Are there eating patterns or foods
that improve certain chronic conditions such as arthritis?
- So in general, with especially arthritic diseases,
the anti-inflammatory and Mediterranean diet
can really help.
It can help with that generalized joint pain,
some of that swelling that you can fuel.
Aside from that, it's pretty tough with arthritis.
But the anti-inflammatory diet is the most promising.
- And you reference sugar.
What about dark chocolate?
- So I'm a personal fan of dark chocolate.
- Me, too. (laughs) - I think it's great.
I think it's a potent antioxidant like we
were talking about before.
It's high in flavonoids, which is fantastic.
- [Susan] What does that mean, high in flavonoids?
- It's just another potent anti-inflammatory.
And what you wanna do, though,
with dark chocolate is you wanna make sure
that it's at least about 80 to 85% raw cacao.
- Okay, and what about the diet fads?
For example, the intermittent fasting,
the keto diet, the Adkins diet, the Paleo diet.
- It's a bit overwhelming, I know, I know,
and I think I do this for a living in terms
of helping guide people through all these dietary fads
'cause it can be really overwhelming.
And I think that what I have found across the board
is that whether it's ketogenic,
whether it's intermittent fasting,
whether or not it's Paleo, high fat, low fat,
whatever it may be, really, the benefits of all these diets
are found in the all of in the middle, right?
They're found in all of the similarities
between these diets, not the differences.
So it's about eating whole foods.
It's about eating more vegetables than you're used to.
It's about eating real fruit than you didn't before,
and it can be really difficult.
I cater towards specific pathologies, right?
Talking to someone with PCOS or endometriosis
versus someone with heart disease
versus someone with diabetes,
one of the most promising dietary trends right now really
is looking at the use of the ketogenic diet
for patients with diabetes.
And again, I look at the ketogenic diet
as a reset point for my patients with diabetes.
It's not a longevity plan.
And so it's really about tailoring that personalized health
towards patients and getting them on a plan
where I can use the ketogenic diet
to help reset, but then we transition
to a more Paleo-based high fish consumption,
anti-inflammatory, Mediterranean-based diet
that's a lot lower in grain consumption
to help stabilize some of their blood sugar.
And that's just specific to diabetes.
- You reference fruit.
You would suggest eating fruit,
and you make this lovely watermelon feta cheese salad.
So you're saying do something like that
as opposed to having a glass of fruit juice?
- Yeah, exactly.
Fruit juice is a tough one, too, right,
because you lose a lot of the natural fibers
of the fruit when you're juicing it.
But then also, a lot of these fruit juices that
are purchased over the counter have added sugar to 'em,
and then, truthfully, some of them aren't even real juice.
So a lot of that is processed.
So it's really important to read your food labels.
- So when you make this watermelon salad,
you put in the feta cheese, and then what else
do you put in with it?
- So I love this salad because it's a perfect excuse
to incorporate herbs from my garden.
And it's also just a perfect summer salad.
So I'll just chop some mint,
and I'll usually put that in my salad.
Some people will use some basil.
Sometimes, if I feel like having fun,
I'll mix both and put them in the salad.
But it's a great way to incorporate herbs,
which just adds a little bit of green to your plate.
- And the feta cheese is good for you?
- The feta cheese is great.
It's cheese, so, again, you want to use it sparingly.
But in terms of feta, it tends to be one
of the least processed cheeses.
So people who have some kind of food sensitivities
to cheese sometimes don't have a response as much
to feta like they would for the other cheeses.
- You also make sauteed mushrooms,
but you don't use regular butter.
What do you use for that?
- So I use ghee, and part of the reason I use ghee--
- And ghee is? - Ghee is clarified butter.
So what it's doing is it's taking out,
you heat the butter, and then, when you heat it,
you're making your own ghee.
At the very top is this foam layer.
That's all the casein and the protein and everything
that tends to, in general, be the most inflammatory.
And it tends to be the part of the butter
that most people are allergic to.
So if we remove that, you're left with what's called ghee.
So it tends to be a bit more anti-inflammatory
than regular butter.
- How do you make healthy cooking easy and fun?
- So what I always say is, and I've learned this
over the years, so one of the best things
that you can do is definitely stay simple with your recipes.
It's so much better to cook something
and cook it well and be proud of it
and share that with your friends
and share that with your family
than getting overwhelmed with so many different recipes
that are complicated and, truthfully, just intimidating.
So keep food simple, right?
It's about your ingredients.
It's about whole foods.
It's not about this culinary masterpiece
that you need to have.
And I think to really make it fun,
it's about cooking with your friends and family.
It's about connecting with your community.
- So what are the top things that should be
on your grocery list every week?
- That's a great question.
So every week, I have to have some kind of greens, right?
And so a really simple way when it comes to cooking
is, or even grocery shopping, is to purchase always
on the periphery of the grocery store.
That's where the fresh fruits and vegetables come in
'cause you get direct access
from the local trucks that bring it in.
The aisles of the grocery store are tend to be
what are the more processed things, right,
so they don't go bad as quickly.
So stick to the periphery.
That's where your vegetables are,
that's where your fruits are.
So I try to do that and stick to the periphery.
I try to have a variety of different colors, right,
so your vegetables, your leafy greens,
your carrots, your bell peppers.
How much color is really in my grocery cart?
And that's a really simple way
of approaching grocery shopping on a weekly basis.
- One of the things that you and I talked about
off camera was kale.
Kale salads are a big thing these days,
but you say raw kale is not necessarily a good thing.
- I think that raw kale should really be eaten
in moderation, and that's just one example.
Raw kale, in general, when we eat it
in really high consumption,
it has a higher degree of oxalate content.
And there has been some studies
that have shown a correlation
between high oxalate to thyroid dysfunction.
So you just really wanna monitor the amount
of raw kale that you're eating.
- [Susan] So what would you suggest?
If you don't eat kale salad. - So I always say,
yeah, just saute it, saute it.
It doesn't even have to be very long.
It can be a couple minutes, and that way you're helping
just create a little bit, you're deoxidizing the oxalate.
And so then you're not getting so much
of that content versus eating it raw.
- What about micro greens?
You like to put micro greens
in your dishes. - I do.
I love putting micro greens on dishes
because it's such an easy way
to get so much nutritional value.
And I love going to the farmer's market.
Our local San Diego Fit Farmer's Market
has a micro greens woman who I absolutely adore
who grows so much diversity.
And you can get micro greens,
which are just smaller versions
but prematured fully grown versions of certain vegetables.
So you have arugula micro greens, you can have broccoli,
sunflower seed, so many different kinds.
And it has about 10 to 12 times the nutritional potency
of a head of broccoli, for example.
- So you would sprinkle that on what?
- Everything and anything. (Susan laughs)
So I will do eggs, I will do avocado toast,
I will do salads,
garnish it on seafood, on chicken.
Again, you can use such variety with it,
which is why I love it so much.
- [Susan] And it's good for?
- It depends on the micro green but,
because of the nutrient density of it, it depends.
Cruciferous vegetables, for example,
broccoli micro greens are really great
to help stabilize excess estrogen levels.
So if I have women with abnormal pap smears
or hormonal dysfunction, especially abnormal pap smears,
cruciferous and the Brassica family of vegetables
have been shown to help reverse some of the abnormal paps.
So I really get women on micro greens and trying
to get up a lot of what they're consuming with it.
- That is food as medicine.
- That is food as medicine. (Susan chuckles)
- All right, let's come back to this.
What about fast food?
Lots of folks, they just don't have time.
So they, on their way home from work,
they pick up some fast food.
Is there such a thing as healthy fast food?
- Absolutely.
I'm one of those people, right?
We all are.
We're living such busy lives, professional,
working, and getting home and making dinner on time.
But it's really about what you're purchasing.
What fast food really means, and, again,
our society has based this preconceived idea
of fast food, but it can be whatever you need it to be.
It can be running into a grocery store
and purchasing a ready-made salad, which is what I would do.
If I'm really stuck, and I know that I'm
gonna get home late or my husband's on call and we're busy,
then I'll run into the grocery store,
I'll purchase some soup, I'll get a ready-made salad.
To me, that's fast food.
And then you're avoiding a lot
of the processed drive-thru ware,
preconceived ideas of what we have
in our culture of fast food that you can just avoid.
- What small changes in our diets
would most improve our health?
- So I think, if I could teach anything to my patients,
it would be to cook your meals at home.
It's really about how many of your meals
in one week do you eat out, and how many
of those meals do you eat in?
And I try, if it's seven meals out,
how do I get you eating four meals out, right,
and then later two, and then one, because when you're able
to take control of the foods that you're eating
in your home, then you're really getting in control
of what it is that you consume.
And that's empowering, right?
That's about finding your voice and finding your strength,
and there's nothing more healthy than that.
- Any final thoughts, Dr. Rashid?
- Love what you cook.
Love what you cook, share it with those that you love,
and it'll only grow from there.
- Thanks so much, Dr. Rashid.
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I'm Susan Taylor; thanks so much for joining us.
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