Feel Grand: Nutrition

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>> Jane Seymour: Today on Feel Grand; we all know that when we talk about nutrition eating healthier is a big part of the prescription.

But for our generation, the emphasis wasn't always on the importance of diet.

It's one thing when adopting a new diet is a preventative lifestyle choice, but what can you do when it's your doctor's orders to stop eating certain foods?

Dr. Pamela Peeke joins us to talk about how we can stop living to eat and start eating to live.

[ Music ] [ Applause ] Hello and welcome to Feel Grand.

I'm you host Jane Seymour.

We all love food.

It's one of the biggest parts of our life.

We need it to live, it brings us together, and some of our best memories from a life well lived features scenes set around a table sharing a meal with family or friends.

But as get older, most of us experience the dark side of food as well.

The compulsion to eat too much or eat food that isn't healthy for us and so often we don't see the negative effects of food that is bad for us until it's too late.

So if your life depends on eating healthier or even if you're just tired of feeling weighed down by a less than healthy diet, what can you do to make those nutritional changes without giving up what you love about food?

Today, our guest is Dr. Pamela Peeke who I first met over a shared meal years ago at the Essex Hotel in New York.

Pamela is WebMD's lifestyle expert where she presents her program Everyday Fitness with Dr. Pam Peeke and serves as Chief Medical Correspondent for Nutrition and Fitness at Discovery Health TV.

She's also the author of the bestselling books "The Hunger Fix" and "Fight Fat After Forty".

Please welcome Dr. Pamela Peeke.

[ Applause ] Well it's great to see you again.

>> Pamela Peeke: And we're talking about food again.

>> Jane Seymour: I know and we met eating which is very appropriate.

So what made you decide you wanted to get involve with nutrition in the first place?

>> Pamela Peeke: Because it was insane, it wasn't part of my medical training and yet its doctors you're supposed to come to ask questions when you have nutritional issues and so I needed to really delve into this much more deeply.

So after I finished my traditional training, I became a Pew Foundation Scholar in nutrition and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland where I teach it, where we do research and I've spent years at the National Institutes of Health really grinding down on issues like food and addiction and what happens when you're stressed out and you overeat.

>> Jane Seymour: One of the most important things I think for this program is we want to know what we should be doing when we're getting older in terms of nutrition.

>> Pamela Peeke: Okay, one of the most important things you find is that after the age of 50 there are often times medical conditions, you know illnesses, disabilities that really interfere with your ability to be able to absorb nutrients appropriately for instance you have constipation, maybe different problems with your GI tract etcetera.

The other thing too is you can have changes in taste.

A lot of people notice that.

After 50 especially moving on to 60 and 70 you notice that your taste changes; you may also have issues with thirst and dry mouth and the other thing that also happens is teeth, gums all of that changes may make the ability to enjoy food differently, so that's why you take all of this into consideration we're not 20, it's 50 and over and things are changing.

So we have to pay attention to all of this.

>> Jane Seymour: How does food affect the way we feel, our emotions?

>> Pamela Peeke: Ah, mood and food my favorite subject, one of them anyway.

Oh my goodness.

Well, it's just like you said in the beginning of the show, it's really important to understand that you know food is a social thing; we're sitting around a table we're enjoying with friends and family so it's a joyous occasion usually.

Right now, you know it's more like short order cooking because people are flying in and out of the kitchen, nobody sits down anymore and really enjoys not just the food and savoring it, but also you know the social environment around it so there's mood and food.

Also, what we now understand is that foods have ingredients that actually change the reward center in the brain so when you eat food, Ah you're flooded with dopamine that pleasure and reward.

>> Jane Seymour: Ah hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: Brain chemical, we call it a neurotransmitter.

You can increase the amount of serotonin which is a mood modulator so it can make you feel wonderful or you could have that much of a [growl] overly sugary caffeinated beverage and feel not so good.

>> Jane Seymour: How do you change your food habits?

I mean, how could you still enjoy food and eat something that's healthy?

>> Pamela Peeke: All right, well the first thing you don't do is start out by having, you know, 12 sugary beverages a day and then suddenly overnight change it into a mountain of arugula, this is probably not the way it's going to work.

What you need to do is get real.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: Make a list of the foods you know that I like to refer to as the hyperpalatables, so foods that you know are going hook you that have hooked you for years, that have always been in the way of being able to eat healthy foods.

You feel like you're in a trap.

We now know for instance that food and addiction is real.

That there are certain foods primarily the sugary foods.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum >> Pamela Peeke: The refined sugar foods that just nab you and what you do is you is you find that if you detox off those foods and just honestly just take a vacation from them just put them over to the side, and start getting your sweetness from natural places which we're going to talk about a little.

>> Jane Seymour: Ah hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: Later on.

You know the fruits just being one of those options.

Then you can change you taste, you could actually change the very way that your genes express themselves to the rest of the body by having more whole foods.

So it's really important to be extremely real about this.

I always say Sanitas Per Escam, Latin for everybody.

>> Jane Seymour: Yeah.

>> Pamela Peeke: It means health through food.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: And after the age of 50, who needs the pills?

Who needs the potions?

When what you have is a medicine cabinet and all of the beautiful whole foods that are available, just give yourself enough time to transition and start now substituting for the foods you feel kind of addicted to, if you don't know about this then you have to ask yourself, when I eat a specific food, do I feel loss of control?

Usually it's a processes sugary, fatty, salty food.

Do you feel loss of control and then it's followed by shame, blame and guilt; that foods not working for you.

>> Jane Seymour: I think that's everyone isn't it?

I mean.

>> Pamela Peeke: It's almost un-American not to be able to have a hot dog.

>> Jane Seymour: No, but also you know we all have this obsession with weight and size and you know you look at magazines and you know the clothes are being advertised on 15-year-olds, right?

So, everyone especially in Hollywood you look and everyone's rail thin and yet we have this unbelievable food addiction in this country and an enormous amount obesity and we've been talking to other doctors on other subjects and every single doctor has said that you can reverse or you can certainly really help enormously diabetes obviously.

>> Pamela Peeke: Absolutely.

>> Jane Seymour: Heart disease, cancer that basically as you're saying doctors aren't trained in nutrition we have to train ourselves.

Don't we?

We have to understand.

>> Pamela Peeke: You have to be a nutrition advocate.

I remember talking to you.

>> Jane Seymour: Yeah.

>> Pamela Peeke: About this years ago when we first met and I was so, you know, as we were sitting there having our greens and our fish I remember perfectly.

You know we talked about this very topic.

Since that time, a brand new science has emerged it's called epigenetics and what it means is when you actually have something like you eat a kale, you eat some of your greens whole foods in general.

When you do that you gift your body with something we call methyl donors and these little methyl donors float on over to the gene that says you're at high risk for obesity, cancer, or diabetes, right?

That's what these genes say and what that does is it takes that gene, gives it a smack down and so you can actually silence a great proportion of that gene, a great percentage of gene by simply doing something as simple as being mindful of every mouthful, and that's called epigenetics.

This is one of the hottest things.

When I wrote the "The Hunger Fix".

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: Which you mentioned.

I made a big point of this because now we realize that this is so empowering to people Jane.

>> Jane Seymour: Ah hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: It doesn't matter how old you are.

One of my best patients someone whose rocked it one is a woman who's 68 who's now 74, and what she was able to do is reverse, turnaround, she started with 26 medications.

She's now on 1.

>> Jane Seymour: Wow.

>> Pamela Peeke: And all that is is a little bit of an anti-inflammatory for arthritis, all the rest of its gone; that was her diabetes, high cholesterol, her high blood pressure.

Why?

Because she was able to do kind of what I love to do, integrate mind, mouth, and muscle.

The three pillars and that is the nutrition is a huge piece of this and without the physical activity the nutrition makes no sense.

You have to have them both as a package deal.

>> Jane Seymour: So basically what you're doing is treating yourself and instead of you know what we always think about diets, diets indexes as we on and we don't want to do that, you know it's denying myself something I really want, but actually you can retrain your body to say no this is what I want; it'll make you feel better.

Right?

>> Pamela Peeke: We actually call it plasticity in the body.

There's neuroplasticity your brain is constantly >> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: Moving thank heavens for that after 50.

And then guess what, you can make more brain cells with physical activity especially and so what's constantly happening is your body is delightfully forgiving for all the things we keep doing to it and have done to it, and it will turnaround.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: You just have to stay consistent and work it.

>> Jane Seymour: So what about some of us have children, some of us have grandchildren, me 4 grandchildren.

So what about them?

This a perfect time in our lives when we actually have this knowledge and we can pass some of that onto them, we can try and feed them properly, try and pursued them to eat in a healthy way.

>> Pamela Peeke: There's no question about it.

We should be the mentors.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: We're the mentors.

They're watching us, you don't realize it, but they're watching us and that means that what you put in your mouth, how you describe your body, food, the entire experience they're listening intently because you remember doing it.

I did it with my own grandmother.

I did it with my mom, you know and I remember to this day exactly what she said and it was her attitude that influenced me and more importantly, when I mention that word epigenetics.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: Guess what?

If these kids are having sugary stuff, if these kids are having junk food and processed manufactured foods, it's affecting their genes and that will therefore go onto to affect their entire destiny and guess what?

This is also passed on to generations, so if you have a daughter or granddaughter who's going to become pregnant and also grandson, it's a male/female situation here, they will pass on their own lifestyle to their children.

This is hot new science.

>> Jane Seymour: Ah hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: That is literally told us DNA is no longer destiny.

It's you lifestyle choices.

How empowering is that?

>> Jane Seymour: Well sometimes a change in diet is more than just a lifestyle choice or even a suggestion from our doctor.

There are also plenty of diseases that can suddenly change how we eat.

On each episode of Feel Grand we like to hear from someone just like you who's living with the illness or health issue that we're discussing on the show.

So let's meet Lorrie whose lifelong passion for food was challenged by a diagnosis of Crohn's disease.

>> When I found out I had Crohn's I was devastated.

I was frightened.

I didn't know what it was or what it meant for me and my family, my future.

I didn't know if it was a death sentence.

They said it wasn't, it could be managed, but it was pretty scary as of now there has been no cure for Crohn's so I was put on medications and I have to continue the medications for the rest of my life.

The mistake I made early on in my diagnosis and treatment was, although I did take the medications I really didn't pay attention to the foods I was eating.

It was you know some 20 some years ago, I wasn't as enlightened nor do I think that the country was as enlightened as to good nutrition.

So I just carried on as usual and took my medication.

It was only until recently, in the last 5 or so years that I became more astute at reading articles about nutrition and seriously questioning what I brought into the house.

In fact, I remember taking a garbage bag to the kitchen cupboards and throwing our anything with artificial ingredients, junk food, you know the last few years I've become super vigilant about what goes into my mouth.

I feel a whole lot better since I've limited my intake of red meat so we have a lot of fish, a lot of chicken, and a lot of fruits and vegetables.

I tried to use just fresh ingredients.

I really pay attention to the nutrition labels which I never really did before, but now I'm looking at what ingredients are in it and if there's anything artificial or high fructose corn syrup I avoid.

It was a blessing in disguise truly, it really opened my eyes up to what exactly affects by body.

Now, I, at least I have a running start into a healthier lifestyle as I age; that watching the nutrition coupled with physical activity, finding causes I believe in; I'm looking forward to the future and the next 30-40 years.

>> Jane Seymour: Thank you Lorrie for sharing your story.

So we can't talk food without actually seeing some of it in front of us.

So let's take a look at some of the better food choices that we're talking about.

>> Pamela Peeke: Oh, here we go.

Wait a minute!

>> Jane Seymour: It's delicious isn't it?

>> Pamela Peeke: I took all of this from you kitchen and my kitchen.

>> Jane Seymour: I think so.

>> Pamela Peeke: This is what we eat every single day anyway?

>> Jane Seymour: I will tell you this is how I eat.

>> Pamela Peeke: I mean this is so straight forward.

So what's not to love about having some wonderful egg whites for instance, vegetables, a little bit fruit to the side.

Looks like breakfast to me or whole wheat waffles with peanut butter and when I say peanut butter, I don't mean the manufactured glop out there.

I mean real.

>> Jane Seymour: Look at the ingredients, right make sure there are actually some peanuts in in it.

>> Pamela Peeke: Exactly.

>> Jane Seymour: Not peanut oil.

>> Pamela Peeke: Yeah, or junk.

>> Jane Seymour: Yeah.

>> Pamela Peeke: I don't know what they put in it right now.

Okay, and then at the same time yogurt, oh yogurt with a little bit of almonds or walnuts or a little bit of cinnamon and throw in chia seeds or flaxseed or both.

>> Jane Seymour: Yes.

>> Pamela Peeke: So you get that extra omega.

>> Jane Seymour: I'll make sure that you don't have too much sweetener in you yogurt.

>> Pamela Peeke: Now let's talk sweetener for a minute, watch out.

I like the herbal Stevia.

>> Jane Seymour: Yes.

>> Pamela Peeke: Because it doesn't mess with your insulin levels and it doesn't give you that insulin high.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: That you get when you have all the other artificial sweeteners, so stick with natural when you can.

Also, I use fruit juices.

In other words, real fruit.

>> Jane Seymour: Real fruit.

>> Pamela Peeke: I just squeeze it right on there and it tastes so wonderful and what's wrong with, yum now.

A lot of people out there want to know how to kill carb cravings, we're talking about protein and fiber is the combination you're going for.

So, humus and vegetables.

>> Jane Seymour: That's what I do when I get to want to be in a bag of chips.

>> Pamela Peeke: Absolutely.

>> Jane Seymour: I do that instead.

>> Pamela Peeke: And then the other one is one of my favorites is to slice an apple or banana.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: Depends upon how well you can chew and everything, and again peanut or almond butter on those slices, Ah!

It's like you just, and again it's fiber and it's protein and then fiber and protein again.

Do you know that lunch and dinner are pretty much exchangeable; interchangeable.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: Because you can find is here we have kale, we've keen wah which is one of my most favorite grains cause it's got a lot of protein in it as well.

You've got broccoli, wonderful fish.

Well notice what's missing here is the red meat that Lorrie was also talking about.

>> Jane Seymour: Yes red meat is lethal isn't it?

>> Pamela Peeke: Well, you know I mean.

>> Jane Seymour: Or can you have a little bit once in a while?

>> Pamela Peeke: A little bit once in a while, but I'm going to tell you with someone with her issues especially if you have inflammation in your bowel you're really at much greater vulnerability for problems like colon cancer.

The breakdown products of red meat in the colon can be very troublesome and increase your risk for cancers so you got to be careful about that.

I'm not a big red meat fanatic here.

>> Jane Seymour: Yes.

>> Pamela Peeke: I much prefer poultry, fish and at the same time when you're talking about; you said you like snacks and things like this.

>> Jane Seymour: I do.

>> Pamela Peeke: Yogurt is wonderful.

I love low-fat cottage.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: Cheese with some, ooh that looks like.

>> Jane Seymour: Peaches.

>> Pamela Peeke: Oh, I love that.

>> Jane Seymour: Delicious okay.

>> Pamela Peeke: Another thing that's wonderful, so easy to make this is just vegetarian or even turkey chili.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: It's just a little bowl notice it's not like this, you know.

>> Jane Seymour: No.

>> Pamela Peeke: That's actually what a portion looks like.

>> Jane Seymour: And so quantity, quantity is a very important thing.

>> Pamela Peeke: Portion is a monster here.

>> Jane Seymour: I can't believe in America these portions it's ridiculous when you go to a restaurant.

>> Pamela Peeke: It's crazy.

It's Mount St. food.

>> Jane Seymour: I know.

It's insane.

>> Pamela Peeke: Are you kidding me.

>> Jane Seymour: Oh, look my favorite.

>> Pamela Peeke: Oh, okay now here it is.

>> Jane Seymour: The dark cocoa chocolate.

>> Pamela Peeke: This is one of the best ways to go.

If you really want a sweet period at the end of the sentence, then you want to go for.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: A dark chocolate with at least 70 percent cocoa.

So that means that like mine is actually 80 percent, it means it has much less refined sugar in it; it has just enough to kind of woo and there you go.

And do you realize that just having one of these is actually tremendously heart healthy.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: Now the other thing too is smoothies, protein smoothies use whey protein powder it's one of the best ways to go.

Best "wheys" to go.

>> Jane Seymour: And very easy to do.

Very quick.

>> Pamela Peeke: Oh my gosh!

And you know why?

Because you want to watch your money.

>> Jane Seymour: Yes.

>> Pamela Peeke: You know you're paying ridiculous amounts of money for processed smoothies out there and most of the smoothies that are called smoothies are actually nothing more than a bunch of juice.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: And it's way too much sugar.

So, fresh strawberries or blueberries or blackberries in addition to whey, you could also put in Greek yogurt, I love to do that because it's concentrated with protein, a little bit of water if you feel like it.

You could dance it up anyway, do it yourself!

It's cheap and it tastes so fantastic it's whole foods and at the same time it's Sanitas Per Escam.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: It's health through food and nutrition.

Right?

>> Jane Seymour: Well food and nutrition is obviously an area that affects all of us no matter what our individual stories are.

We thought we'd have some of our audience members share their story and maybe ask a question, if you don't mind.

>> Pamela Peeke: I would love it.

>> Jane Seymour: We have one over here.

>> I have a very strong family history of breast cancer and you get conflicting information on soy, we should eat soy, we shouldn't eat soy, we should eat whole soy, not refined soy and red wine is supposed to be good for, but not necessarily if you have an increased risk for breast cancer, so I'm wondering if there's anything that I should eat every day or should never eat?

I'm just confused on those.

>> Pamela Peeke: As is everyone else out there so I hope I get to a bottom line on this.

>> Yeah.

>> Pamela Peeke: Really excellent question.

All right we'll start with alcohol.

Alcohol definitely increases the risk of breast cancer.

There's no question about it and the more you drink the higher the risk.

So it's probably not like the world's greatest idea for you.

I would probably say Perrier with a twist of lime perhaps you know then just start doing that.

When it comes to soy, the problem we ran into with soy where the soy products, the manufactured products so if you see soy vitamins these are called isoflavones run the opposite direction.

We don't want soy supplements.

That is an unnatural manufactured.

>> Jane Seymour: Ah hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: Type thing.

But, what you can have is ooh, look what I've have here.

>> Jane Seymour: Soy beans.

>> Pamela Peeke: Some edamame, okay so you can actually have soy beans in the natural form in moderation.

There's that word again.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: All right.

Perfectly fine with you.

So whole foods great, alcohol not so great.

>> Jane Seymour: Do we another question?

>> I'd like to know what the truth is about coconut oil.

I use it on my face, but what about eating it and drinking it or, is it good or bad?

>> Pamela Peeke: Well first of all you have an absolutely beautiful face.

Doesn't she?

>> Jane Seymour: Yes she does.

She's stunning.

I'm going to be using that coconut oil.

>> Pamela Peeke: Later on after the show.

Listen coconut oil is wonderful.

It is fabulous, but in small doses.

You don't need that much.

For instance you know say a tablespoon or two in the morning in an omelet, boy the whole kitchen smells good too, but it's fabulous, it's heart healthy, so it's a great idea.

So keep doing whatever you're doing to face and also begin to incorporate a small amount every single day.

I think that was a great question.

>> Jane Seymour: Yeah, that was a great question.

Do you have another one?

>> Pamela Peeke: Yeah.

There we are.

>> Yes, I keep hearing about probiotics.

Why should I take a probiotic and how long would I have to take it?

>> Jane Seymour: That's a good question.

>> Pamela Peeke: Well probiotics first showed up because of people who have issues like Lorrie's and that is if you have an inflammation in your bowel from all kinds of different itis's that means inflammation, so colitis, then you're compromised.

A lot of the normal bacterial flora isn't there anymore to be able to help you digest foods appropriately all the way through the small and large intestine.

So people for people like that it's highly recommended.

For the rest of it, you know preventively it's not going to do any harm, but quite frankly if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing.

>> Jane Seymour: Hum.

>> Pamela Peeke: And eating well and you don't have GI issues you should be okay, you can save your money on that one buy something else.

>> Jane Seymour: Well I want to thank you Dr. Peete for coming on the show and helping us start the conversation about nutrition and how we can all start feeling healthier and making better choices when it comes to food.

I hope that many of the things that we've talked about today will help people in the audience and at home and that this conversation can continue once our audience leaves today, you turn off your television at home or close your browser wherever you might be watching from.

Food and nutrition is such a crucial part of our health and how we feel about ourselves.

If the point is to feel grand some of the first steps of that process are in our kitchens and at our dining table.

Whether the changes you make in your diet are simple or drastic, they can make a world of difference in how you feel both now and in the future.

So if you'd like more information and to continue the conversation with our experts feel free to log onto our website at feelgrand.org.

Remember life is a journey and we need to do everything we can to take care of ourselves so that we can make that journey last.

So be sure to keep healthy, live well, and feel grand.

Until next time.

[ Applause ] [ Music ] >> At Aetna we believe a health insurance company should be as passionate about their members health as they would be their own, because a healthier you leads to a healthier community and healthier communities lead to a healthier world.

[ Music ] >> Right at Home provides needs based, personally tailored homecare and assistance to seniors so they can maintain their quality of life.

The right care, Right at Home.

>> The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook offering books from Barnes and Noble plus movies, TV shows, and apps with book recommendations and tools for everyday use.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook provides these options in a 7 inch tablet.

[ Music ]