45. OUR HOSTILE FOOD ENVIRONMENT AND RISOTTO CAKES

1. THE QUEENS DIET,

2. A DIET TO LOWER YOUR LDL CHOLESTEROL,

3. LOTS OF FOOD QUIZ QUESTIONS,

4. FEEL THE BEET SALAD,

5. PLANNING  TO AVOID THE FOOD TRAPS, 

6. TEXT ME FOR FREE PERSONAL COACHING OT JUST TO CHAT 

Transcript

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Hey everybody, Jesse Kaufman, the dysfunctional fooder here. I'm going to start today's episode off with a prayer. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been three weeks since my last podcast episode of My Bad. Alright. Hey, uh, it's good to be back and um have a bunch of things to talk about today, and here are some of them. We're gonna do another food quiz or a foodist quiz. We are going to um discuss my current dietary focus. It is called an LDL reduction plan or the portfolio diet. We'll come back to that. We're gonna talk about the biggest nutrition challenges that I think all of us face. We're all victims of a broken kind of food environment. So we'll we'll discuss that. I want to discuss with you risotto cakes, sort of like arancini, you know what arancini is? Little fried rice balls. Well, I made risotto cakes and they're really good. I want to share that with you. And I want to talk about an idea that I had about something I was inspired by learning that the Queen of Queen of England, before she passed away, had a chef. And for many, many years the chef had her on, you know, not a diet, but he'd cooked for her. And the one thing he insisted was that she'd not eat before 11 every day. I think she probably had tea, but 11 was her first meal, and then whatever else, the second meal. So I was inspired by that. And it made me think like, what would I ask my chef to cook for me if I had a personal chef? And what would you ask that chef to cook for you? We'll talk more about this concept a little bit later. So let's get into our episode here. Episode number 45. All right, folks, just to uh change up my format a little bit this episode, I'm gonna throw out some um fun food, trivia questions throughout the entire episode at different spots. I'll just stop and throw you a question and see how you do. And remember, you know, it's I don't think it's cool anymore to say I'm a foodie because everybody out there is a foodie. So I've decided to become a foodist. It's not a Buddhist, it's a you know a food person that is a scientist and a nutritionist that really loves all things food. So I'm a foodist. What are you? Foodie or fraud? There's no such thing as fraud because there's all kinds of levels. You know, there's some people that want to get into deep, deep understanding of cooking. Others want to focus on nutrition, others want to go to restaurants and have their finger on the pulse of the most exciting chefs, etc. There's all levels. So just enjoy it. Here's the food. First, trivia question Which cooking oil has the highest smoke point? Extroversion olive oil, avocado oil, butter, or coconut oil? Highest smoke point. What's the smoke point? It's when you're cooking and the oil can get hot without starting to smoke, which you don't want. Extroversion olive oil, avocado oil, butter, or coconut oil. That's correct. Avocado oil is the answer. Which has more potassium? A banana, a potato, an avocado, or spinach? Potassium. Banana? Potato, avocado, or spinach? It's actually the avocado. All right, well, more. True or false, brown eggs are more nutritious than white eggs, true or false. And that is false. The shell color depends on the breed of the hen. Okay, more to come. So I went to my uh cardiologist the other day. And um and I um I asked him, um, you know, I had to change up my blood pressure medicine because my numbers were running a little bit high. And he I said, Well, should we do another CT scan, uh, which is a calcium score, which you often do to see if there's any calcification in your arteries? And he says, No, you you've already done one, and there is calcification in there, and you have a score of 61. And now I know that a 61 isn't bad. People have calcium scores of 400, and it's it's about, I'd say 40 or 50 percent of the male population my age would have the same kind of calcium score. It's a buildup of calcium in your arteries, which happens over time from probably just poor nutrition, you know, and too much what do you call it, saturated fat. I said, So should we do another one to see where my? He says, no, it doesn't change. You know, once you have that, it's there. He says, all you can do is manage that. I was like, okay, makes sense. He said, so what's the what statin are you taking? I said, well, I'm not. I was I was on one because every doctor wants me to take a statin, but you know, there's conflicting feelings out there about the efficacy of statins. He said, Well, you have to maintain a super low LDL number then, you know, like under 50 or under 70. So know your LDL number. I said, Well, I eat pretty healthy, so let's go for that. So just to refocus on making sure that my numbers are low, I did some research and this is what I found. So I'm on, I put myself on a portfolio diet, and this is an evidence-based eating pattern that can reduce LDL cholesterol by about 20 to 30 percent while followed consistently. It combines several cholesterol-lowering foods rather than relying on one food alone. So it's soluble fiber fiber, 10 to 20 grams like oatmeal, barley, beans, lentils, apples, pears, and cillium, like cilium husk, plant protein, so tofu, tempeh, and amame, soy milk, beans, nuts, one to two ounces daily, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pecans, healthy fats instead of butter, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, and plant sterols, two grams, sortified foods such as certain spreads or yogurt drinks, which I don't take, I don't do. And foods to avoid or limit butter, fatty red meat, bacon, sausage, processed meats, full fat dairy, coconut oil, palm oil, pastries, sugary drinks, and fried foods. I'm good on all those. I mean, I've I've been having a little bit of butter and as you all know, red meat like once a month. I probably would have used coconut oil, but it's very high in saturated fat, so I will do better there. And then on tips, it says eat fish twice weekly, fill half your plate with vegetables, choose whole grains over refined grains, exercise at least 150 minutes a week. And if you you know, if you can't toe the line on all that, it says take a statin. Well, I'm gonna do my best. And here are more, here are the top 25 foods to eat more often to lower your LDL. I'll read them quickly. Oats, barley, beans, lentils, psylum husk, or cylilium husk, extra virgin olive oil, almonds, walnuts, soy foods, ground flax seeds, chia seeds, salmon, sardines, avocado, apples, pears, berries, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, okra, eggplant, sweet potatoes, green tea, dark leafy greens, dark chocolate. And of these 25, let me take a look here. I had some eggplant, which I don't usually have the other day. I don't, I don't get okra. I'm not into okra. It's too slimy. I gotta get some more pears. Gee, I've got plenty. I've got uh I've got I have everything on this list except for barley. I have had barley, but I think I'm doing good. So I think I've got 23 out of 25 of these things either in my house or on a good rotation. Again, foods to limit, butter, bacon, sausage, fatty cuts of beef, processed meats, full fat cheese, ice cream, heavy cream, coconut oil, palm oil, donuts, cookies, pastries, deep fried foods, sugary drinks. All right, so that's the portfolio diet to lower your LDL so that you don't have a heart attack or stroke. Here comes some more trivia now. True or false. Vegetables, fresh vegetables are always more nutritious than frozen. False. Which has more protein, quinoa or lentils? Quinoa or lentils? More protein. Lentils, actually. True or false. Sea salt has less sodium than table salt. Nope. False. Which fruit has the most fiber? Apple, pear, banana, or grapes? Most fiber. Apple, pear, banana, or grapes. If you answer to pear, you are correct. All right, last one, and then we'll come back. True or false? Honey is healthier than sugar because it's natural. Answer. It may contain trace nutrients, but it's still added sugar. So don't kid yourself. All right. As I covered in a previous episode, I want to go over it again. The biggest challenge, the biggest nutritional challenge, the obstacles that you and I, and everybody in America at least has, are here's a here's a bunch of them. I want to come back to a couple, but an unsupportive environment. And that's what I'm going to come back to in a second. But obstacles, family pressure, cultural pressure on, you know, like, oh, I'm a barbecue guy. I don't want to eat barbecue all the time. And look at my belly now. It's barbecue belly or beer belly, right? You don't like or don't think you are a good cook or don't have time. More obstacles. You're confused as to what to eat or not. You're in denial of the science, or you just have a gut feeling that being a carnivore is the right way to go. You're influenced by social media. Very easy to have that happen. You don't feel like you have time to prep. You're eating meals that are larger than you need. You're eating too quickly. You eat out frequently. You have a sweet tooth, you're snacking, you're you have cravings, there's just a general lack of planning. And then there's emotional or stress eating. And then you might say, Well, I just have an addictive personality. But let me come back to unsupportive environment. We are all victims. And it's really not your fault. Now, you can't have victim mentality and go, oh, what was mean rollover? You have to just know that you're a victim of an unsupportive environment. Food is too convenient, it's it's too close, and we, at least in this country, have this thing called food luxury. We can eat anything we want at any time. And for the most part, we can afford to do that and continue on with our lives. And if we wanted to, we could cut back on Netflix or that cappuccino so that we could afford to buy all the best foods. But the biggest problem is that it's just too damn convenient and close by. You drive out and you're feeling hungry and you drive by a million places to eat. And it's really difficult to say, well, I'm not going to go and drive through because I know how bad that is for my body. I'm going to pull into the grocery store and pick up that whatever or just for chicken or just some parts and assemble something that would be much healthier for you. That's the hardest part. We are victims of that. Our goal is after many years of eating, for our muscle to look like filemignon, very lean, and not to look like wagyo beef. Do you understand what I'm talking about? Full of fat marbling inside of our muscle from all of the poor choices that we made. Be a filemignon, don't be a wagyoo beef. Yeah, it tastes good, but that's not what you want. Your innards to look like. Now, speaking of innards, let's talk about the body. I want you to be a bodyguard. I want you to be your own bodyguard. And what am I talking about? You know, my my daughter's had a baby, and I think that anytime anybody thinks about the miracle of birth or the miracle of the body, you know, the body it receives, you know, the sperm and the egg, the egg, and then it makes this entire human being, you know, with a brain and a heart and a digestive system and muscle. It's incredible, right? And then when you just stop and pull back and think about what your body does, with its immune system, you know, fighting disease and rec how it recovers a wound and fixes it, and how just everything is a miracle. And how much of that do you actually do? What's your role, you, the person inside the body? You you don't even understand it. I don't understand it. I just shove food in my face and then I don't even think about it. Sometimes I'm constipated and I think about it. Sometimes I have a stomachache and I think about it. Sometimes you get calcification in your arteries and you think about it. But for the most part, you just shove food in your face and your body deals with it. So if you're a if you're a good bodyguard, if you're a good steward of your vessel, you know, you wouldn't put diesel gas into your car if it calls for unleaded. You would do it right. Just do that one thing for your body. Give it healthy food with no chemicals, preservatives, or additives. Think of it that way. Be a good bodyguard to yourself. Alright, more trivia? Here we go. Which of these contains more calcium? Kale or spinach? More calcium. Kale or spinach? The answer is kale. It's better absorbed. True or false? Coconut oil is heart healthy because it's plant-based. Yeah, I kind of gave you that answer already. False. Which has more omega-3s? Walnuts or almonds? Walnuts or almonds? Omega 3s. Walnuts. True or false. Eggs raise cholesterol in everyone. True or false? False. Which has the most which bean has the most protein? And the answer? Soybeans. All right. As I mentioned in my intro, I was inspired by the story of Queen Elizabeth, Queen of England, whose doctor wouldn't let her eat until 11. And then he, of course, would cook her healthy meals, and she lived to ripe age of, I don't know, it was 96 or something like that. My grandfather lives 96. I've got a few other members that live, you know, well past 90, and one that lived 102. So I'm I count my blessings for good genes in that respect, but it's not just a gimme, right? I got I'm still gonna work on it. But what I took from this chef idea, here's a concept for you. If you had a chef that worked for you, and the chef said, okay, you you have to tell me what you want me to make for you, and you won't ever have to think about cooking, because I'll do it all for you. Would you be able to direct your chef and say, All right, for let's say you don't eat until 11, so let's forget about breakfast and we'll we'll come back to breakfast and we'll I'll do it now. You know, eat some oatmeal, eat eggs once in a while, fresh fruit, and have a fritata, you know, make a quiche. But what you don't want to do is have you know sweetened cereal in the morning every day. It's not good for you. Have some yogurt, have some cottage cheese. You know, I think the Asians they eat like, you know, a what do you call it, a low-main chicken, vegetable kind of like a very dinnery breakfast. So flip your switch on what do we need to eat for breakfast? A lot of people say you got to eat protein, but just try to stay away from the sugar. But okay, so let's focus on lunch and dinner, right? So, what would you, if you had the time to say, all right, here's what I want for lunch, would you have your chef make? Now, the exercise, let's say you would say, Well, I want a you know, a chicken salad sandwich, and I want a tuna salad over greens for lunch. And what else would you want? You know, you you'd think of different things that were healthy, and and the goal is to think of healthy things in lieu of scrambling to eat and being a victim and eating whatever the cafeteria has at the hospital you work in, or whatever fast food joint is down the road where you get a sub at Subway, which is not the best place to, you know, the bread at Subway has more sugar than most cakes do. All right, then you flip to dinner and you go, okay, yeah, I want, you know, some tuna, and I want a nice piece of filet mignon, and I want some free-range chicken, and I would like some quinoa, and I would like some brown rice and some roasted vegetables. And if you planned it, then your chef would be able to make it. But you can be the chef, and I guess that all this ramble of mine comes down to the simple act of planning and thinking ahead. Uh, think in terms of meals and then go shop that way, and you won't be caught up like a rat in the maze letting fast food dictate, or letting this environment dictate what you eat because it's too convenient, it's too close, and we have food luxury. That's my rant on that. So I made risotto cakes. I'm doing a dinner on Saturday, or I'm not I'm not the only person doing dinner. I'm two people of six, and my contribution is going to be risotto cakes. You know what, do you know what arancini is? A lot of restaurants will have that, a lot of Italian restaurants. It's uh basically it's a fried rice ball, and often there are different things put inside. Crispy rice is a cool thing. Just ask Bobby Flay, right? Do you guys watch Beat Bobby Flay? I love that show. So risotto cake is very similar. You start off by making risotto, and everybody is intimidated by making risotto because it takes so long. You have to keep adding the hot stock to the arboreo rice and stirring and stirring, and you can't not stir, or else you'll be in trouble. But it's really not the case. That's the best way to make it. But I'll tell you, I served a lot of risotto in my restaurant, and we didn't do it that way. We did it just like rice. We filled a pot with arboreo rice and the right amount of stock. And, you know, we put the shallots in there first and we deglazed it with white wine. But then we just cooked it in a big pot of water until the rice was done. And then we spread out the rice on a sheet tray. This is to make the risotto cakes part, which I'm going to tell you, and chilled it. So then you have this cold risotto on a big sheet tray. And then we would add a house made mayonnaise with, and there was mushrooms and corn and shallots inside the uh risotto, and then we would make a patty. Oh, we would add some breadcrumbs in there as well. So mayonnaise or breadcrumbs, and make a patty. And then we would drop that bad boy in the fryer, let it crisp up on the edges, get hot on the inside, and it was very satisfying. He would serve it with a roasted red bell pepper aioli. So try that, my friends. My other dish for this event coming up is a menu item I also had at my restaurant called the Feel the Beat Salad. Because I'll be serving it to Dan and Emmy, who used to be customers of Ten Beast Tro, and Dan loved the Feel the Beet Salad. I'm not sure if it's because he was in the music business and he loved the idea of feel the beet, but it's roasted beets, candied walnuts, goat cheese, sliced matchstick green apples, of course, over field greens, and a lavender vinaigrette. More trivia? Okay. You should know this from my previous episodes. What does mise en place mean? Mise en place. The answer is everything in its place. Everything has a place. What's the best pan for searing a steak? That's right. Cast iron? Why rest meat after cooking? Resting the meat. What is that? It answer is it redistributes the juices. Some people say you should rest your steak as long as it took to cook the steak. Alright, Italians, what is al dente? It literally means firm to the tooth, right? Dente means tooth, firm to the tooth. What thickens a roux? What thickens a roux? Flour and some kind of fat, butter or oil, right? Alright, couple more. Which herb is classic in pesto? If you don't know this, you need to sign off right now. Basil. And what's the well I just gave this to you? What's the uh the name of the rice you use for risotto? I may have said it. Arboreo rice. What is blanching when you blanch something, vegetables? It's a brief boil, then an ice bath. Alright, trivia. In summary, my friends, in this episode, I want to tell you that I am focusing on reduction of bread. Anything with weed in it, so kind of go and doing a gluten-free thing and then reducing the saturated fat for the LDL reasons. Heart healthy, everyone should. And trying to exercise more. However, I am headed off on my next travel adventure to a river crew, one of those Viking river cruises in Bordeaux. And you know, you know about the French cooking. So even though I've been drinking very little once a week, I'm going to be drinking a lot of wine and eating a lot of very rich food. And it's okay because I'm not going to say everything in moderation because I wouldn't do cigarettes in moderation, I wouldn't do cocaine in moderation. But when it comes to food, you can you can falter as long as you clean yourself out substantially afterwards. I think it works that way. I'm not really sure. My body is a frickin' miracle, and I don't understand it. I'm just gonna do my best to treat it right. So, in the words of author Michael Polar, eat food mostly plants, not too much. Eat food means eat whole food, real food. Mostly plants is self-explanatory. Half your plate should be vegetables, not too much. As I've discussed, studies have shown that calorie reduction leads to longevity. We eat too much in America. That's all I got. I'll talk to you soon. Thank you all for listening. I appreciate you. Bye bye.