Welcome to MedEvidence, where we help you navigate the truth behind medical research with unbiased evidence, proven facts. Powered by ENCORE Research group and hosted by cardiologist and top medical researcher, Dr. Michael Koren.
Hello, I'm Dr. Michael Koren, and I'm excited to give us part two in a series of the chef talks to the cardiologist. I just made that up now, but I think it's a nice discussion point, so we'll highlight that in the show notes. But anyhow, we had a great conversation with Brad Mahlof, who is my nephew.
Full disclosure. And he's also an award winning chef. And Brad told us about how he won
this competition called the Great American Recipe, that was sponsored by public television stations. And it was a pretty intense competition that Brad took home the gold.
So we're proud of you. And now he's been nice enough to share some of his insights about how to cook in a healthy way.
And so Brad has studied this over time, and we had a great conversation, and I'd like to continue that conversation.
So, Brad, we talked about some general things, so let's get into a little bit more specifics.
So in my area of business, where we have to deal with patients that have particular conditions, we have to advise them about dietary restrictions, about what they should and should not eat.
So a simple and common example of that is people that are taking the drug Warfarin or Coumadin, and they have to be very strict about the amount of vitamin K they take in their diets. And sometimes people get the advice, don't take any vitamin K, which is commonplace in green leafy vegetables, cabbage, things like that. But the truth is that you just need to be consistent. So maybe you can share a little bit with your experience of how to advise people about cooking beautifully and cooking in a very tasteful manner, but still managing the issues that come with medical interactions with a drug, for example.
Yeah, I mean, I think that there's so much variety in food, and there's so many ways to make delicious food. And obviously, everyone's body is different, whether it's because
of just genetics or because you're taking a certain medication that there might be certain foods that you have to avoid or eat, you know, in moderation or whatever it might be.
And certainly, you know, if, you know, you have to omit a certain food group. So you omit it. And there's, you know, many ways to, you know, still, you know, create wholesome foods without those. Without those foods, whether it's a leafy green or whatever it might be.
It's certainly, certainly possible. And it actually makes you more creative because it's almost like a challenge. What could I not create without this food involved? So I almost take it as a challenge. Now, how could I create the best version of a meal without using this XYZ ingredient?
You know, in the case of Warfarin, as I mentioned, two of the foods that we talk about is spinach being very high in vitamin K, cabbage being high in vitamin K, things of that nature, and maybe having a weekly diet where that's proportioned in a very regular way.
So there's consistency. The key thing with all these type of dietary interactions is that you do the same thing within reason, without getting too bored, eating the exact same thing every time. And sometimes complete avoidance is more difficult than having a structured amount of something that you might like or something that is otherwise healthy, like spinach or cabbage.
So is that something you do with your clients that you mentioned in the last session, that you have a group of private clients that you help with their, you know, their culinary needs?
Yeah, absolutely. So I think one thing that I do with a lot of, a lot of these clients is I help them track their macros. A lot of my clients basically create diets specifically around, maybe it's a certain fitness goal or it might be a medical goal. And so they do set certain parameters. And if you're cooking at home, a few things I recommend is invest in a food scale, so you could really have a sense of how much of each ingredient you're actually consuming. Consuming by weight or measuring by weight is probably the most effective and easiest to do. I also love food prep. I think if you plan ahead, if you write out your menus for the week, it's super helpful. I think when you're hungry in the moment, sometimes it's really hard to then, you know, on the fly kind of try to assemble a meal, or you end up ordering things that aren't great.
But if you're able to plan ahead, it's really easy to get those kind of. If you want to know, you want to eat spinach on a very consistent level and basis every week, if you prep that into your meal prep, that's going to be the easiest way to go about that.
So, you know, hey, either I want to eat it in a smoothie once a week, or I want to consume it in a salad once a week, whatever it might be. If you write it into, like a weekly food plan that you write for yourself, that I find is the most effective way. Otherwise, like on a day to day, we get busy and then kind of all, if it's not pre planned, it kind of all goes through. It just doesn't become a priority and it's really hard to implement.
Sure. Sure. Now, in our last session, we kind of teased a couple of things that we talked
a little bit about in more detail. So one of them is salt consumption. The other one is turmeric. And you mentioned last time that you like to use salt, that it's something that really enhances the flavor of food. But we also recognize that there are certain people that don't do well if they overdo it with salt. So you talked to us a little bit about how you deal with that. For a client, for example, who has high blood pressure and has been told by their physician that maybe too much salt is not a good thing.
Sure. Yeah. I mean, everyone has their own dietary needs, and I certainly do have clients that try to consume as little salt as possible. And so firstly, I try to supplement with other spices and also I utilize other ingredients. Like, I find that mixing things with avocado kind of, first of all, it gives you some healthy fats, but it also provides some extra layers of flavor that kind of, you know, enhance without having to add salt to enhance.
I like to use lemon and different. Different kind of, you know, play around with acids and
different things, which also help create diverse tastes without the need of as much, as much sodium and salt.
So, yeah, so, yeah, there's definitely ways to create beautiful flavor without the use of salt. It's obviously easier to create flavor with salt, but it's certainly possible, more than possible, you can create delicious meals with, with a low sodium diet. You just have to play around. Again, I love using avocado. I love using lemon and different acids. And also, if you're cooking things in a sauce, tomatoes and different things, you can create beautiful flavor profiles just by getting creative with different herbs and seasonings that are in sodium.
Interesting. Yeah. I would encourage people listening to work with their healthcare provider if they're concerned about salt, because the data show that there are certain people who are salt sensitive and others who are less so, even people with high blood pressure. Some people find that when they ingest a lot of salt or sodium in general, their blood pressure goes up quite a bit, whereas others don't seem to have much of an effect with additional salt.
You know, I think when people eat highly processed foods, like, if you look at the nutritional info, they are just loaded with a crazy amount of salt, you know, like 500, 600, 700 milligrams of salt per serving.
Like, just crazy amounts.
Like, those are definitely things.
If, you know, you have a salt intolerance, you want to avoid that. But, you know, when you add a little salt to your food, when you're cooking, like, a little goes a long way because, you know, you're not, you're not preserving things in salt.
So it doesn't, it doesn't have the same kind of impact on your health.
So a little salt while you're seasoning things is okay versus, like, something, you know, using a product where it has a crazy amount of salt.
So, you know, it's, a difference because you're, when you cook fresh and wholesome, you know, you don't, you don't have those preservatives and stuff, which is already spiking the sodium level. So putting a little salt to season is okay.
That's a great point. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. So we also talked about turmeric, and that's interesting to me because there are actually hundreds of studies
out there looking at the health benefits of turmeric. And you mentioned that that's one of your go to spices. Tell us a little bit more about that. Why do you love using it?
And I'll make a quick comment about that afterwards.
Yeah, sure. So, you know, my family is from the Middle East and Mediterranean area, and turmeric was just one of those spices that I always grew up around. It provides, first of all, a beautiful color, and I think we eat with our eyes first. And so I definitely like to utilize spices that just give a visual pop. And they also say that there's some health benefits to turmeric. I know my mom drinks, like, a turmeric kind of supplement every day, and I don't know how much of an impact eating or utilizing spices has in your kind of overall health, but certainly there's no downside to doing it. And, you know, I definitely think spices are such a beautiful thing. So definitely get creative, try new things. And if you're unfamiliar with turmeric, give it a shot because, you know, it's tasty.
So we, on MedEvidence, we talk about the fact that there are different levels of evidence. The highest level of evidence is what we call a placebo controlled, double blind study. Most dietary studies are not at that level. Most dietary studies are observational studies. But for something like turmeric, there's multiple, multiple studies out there that show, basically, things move in a healthy direction when you consume more turmeric overall. And so my advice to patients is that if there's something that is favorable from a taste perspective or something from an enjoyment perspective, and there's no downside, well, I'm all for that. And if there's a little bit of an upside, even better. So I think turmeric is one of those things that fall into that category.
As you point out, it's eye candy. It makes the food look better, it has a nice taste, and it probably has a net positive benefit in terms of your health.
Other things maybe in that category. Garlic. I don't know if you use a lot of garlic, but there's some studies that show things like garlic or oregano have some modest benefits for lipid levels. So certainly we would encourage people to use those spices. And the other area is the omega three fatty acids.
And we talked a little bit about that when we talked about consuming fish and fish oils. But in general, the omega three fatty acids, including olive oil and other of these more
favorable Mediterranean style oils, can reduce triglycerides and may have some benefits to reduce cardiovascular events and also help brain health. Some data out there suggesting that your mood is better when you consume more omega three fatty acids.
So some really, really interesting research. So they're not all the highest level, really sophisticated studies, but we're not seeing any downside.
So when you have a situation where something tastes great, the net effect in the studies is positive from a health standpoint. And it's easy to use day to day for your cooking purposes. Why not?
Those should be your go to products. So I think that's good advice for people that are listening in on us.
So I want to spend just a little bit of time towards the end of our discussion about your experiences with people that have sort of more serious diseases.
A common one is people that have gluten sensitivity. People can have celiac sprue.
They can have a condition where you have to eat virtually no fat, is called FCH, Familial Chylomicron Syndrome, where people literally can't eat more than two to 5 grams of fat for an entire day. Otherwise, they have horrible diarrhea and super high triglyceride levels. So what kind of experience do you have with some of these conditions?
Sure. I mean, certainly people with gluten intolerance is a very common thing, whether it's for whatever, you know, multiple, multiple factors. But a lot of people are gluten adverse. And, you know, I think when you're cooking a wholesome diet with some sort of grilled protein, a vegetable, and a, you know, a healthy carb source, it's actually very, very easy to be gluten friendly. I love roasted sweet potatoes. I always have them ready in my fridge for a snack or kind of to, to supplement a meal. I also love rice. I know rice is, you know, some people think rice isn't super healthy and it could spike your, you know,
like, you know, whatever your, your blood sugar mix.
Yeah, yeah.
But, um, but I, you know, again, you have to eat what you like. It's not all about just worrying non stop about health. So I like rice, a little rice, and it happens to be gluten free friendly. So, you know, again, like, if you're not, if you're not frying things, if you're just eating kind of simple, which I actually think eating simple is the most beautiful way to eat.
You know, if you invest in, in good quality ingredients, you want those ingredients to kind of shine and, you know, highlight themselves, so there's no need to eat kind of a high.
I barely ever eat bread or sandwiches. I just like, you know, very simple, balanced meals,
and a lot of my clients do as well.
And so, yeah, I think, I think rice is a stellar option. I think sweet potatoes that are roasted in the oven, they get super soft and caramelized, and they're just wonderful.
So there's certainly a lot of good options for that in terms of a diet that's very, very low in fat.
Certainly possible. It's a little more challenging. But again, if you have a very low fat protein source, like a grilled chicken breast or certain grilled fish, and then you supplement that with a nice leafy green.
And instead of, you could just put some lemon juice and salt, which is a nice kind of fresh dressing, which is obviously fat free.
And again, that, and then you could still use a simple carb, like rice or a potato, which are wholesome, they're not processed. And that's a low fat, high carb, high protein diet, which is also super tasty.
Also like a breakfast that I like to eat every single morning. I like to have fat free Greek
yogurt, where I put fresh berries. And there's a brand cereal called Ezekiel. It's Ezekiel, and it's basically a granola, but there's no sugar. And so I have that, which is basically just carbs, I don't think, either very low fat or fat free. And the fat free yogurt, which is high in protein and some berries, and I sprinkle just a little bit of sugar. Sorry, honey on top. And it's just like an amazing low fat, high protein, you know, food, which, you know, again, like, you have to modify, obviously, your diet to your body and your restrictions, but that doesn't mean you can't produce delicious food.
Sure. You're making me hungry, Brad. So, speaking of sugar, do you have diabetic clients? They could be a challenge. What's your experience with dealing with diabetes?
Keeping in mind that there are two forms of diabetes, broadly, we call it type one versus type two. The type two diabetics are typically people who are overweight and are resistant to the effects of insulin, whereas the type one diabetics are typically people that don't make enough insulin. Maybe more brittle is the medical word we use.
They're more subject to big spikes in their blood sugar if they go off the wagon
in terms of their dietary restrictions. So maybe you can comment on that.
Sure. Yeah. I mean, I don't currently or I haven't had much experience with catering to diabetic clients, but certainly, again, when you cook with wholesome ingredients and less processed ingredients, I think there's less likelihood of spikes in your blood pressure or your sugar levels. And again, look at the ingredients. There's really no need to added sugars to things. I barely add sugar to anything. So it's very, very easy and very feasible to create delicious food with a kind of a diabetic diet in mind.
So, Brad, one of my slogans with my patients who have a hard time controlling their caloric intake is to remind them that you get 90% of the pleasure of eating with the first 10% of the calories. Do you subscribe to that notion, or am I off the wall here?
You know what, in principle, agree with you. But sometimes when the food is just so
good, you know, it's hard to stop. And in that moment, you're just enjoying so much and you're shoveling it down. I think to combat that, you know, I think you need to start off with putting an appropriate portion on your plate, so don't overfill your plate and also, like, really do utilize a food scale so you have a better concept, because I think some people don't even understand what appropriate portions look like.
And so I think, you know, I think, invest in a food scale and, you know, you'll only need to use it for a couple weeks until it kind of just becomes second nature. And then you have a better kind of innate, inherent sense of like, this is an appropriate portion size. This is not. But, you know, while you're learning that, I think, I think weigh out your food or measure out your food, and then you're like, wow, that's a portion. But, yeah, I sort of agree with you. But as someone who loves to eat, sometimes you just have to keep going, you know?
Okay, so you may not be a 90 - 10 guy like me. Maybe you're more an 80 20 guy.
Get 80% of pleasure in the first 20% of calories.
Yeah, exactly.
All right, that's great. So, Brad, this has been an amazing discussion. I've learned a lot and I've enjoyed our discussion. Maybe I can convince you to give us a link to a couple of your favorite recipes. Maybe one that would be great for somebody that has heart disease concerns, and maybe another one for somebody that has gluten concerns.
And, you know, feel free to share with people your website or other ways to get
in touch with you for your services.
But obviously, you're incredibly knowledgeable in making food fun, enjoyable, and healthy. So I think there's a lot to be learned and there may be some people that would be interested in talking to you more. So go ahead and share your website or your contact information.
Yeah, so people could follow me on Instagram. My Instagram account is cookwithbrad, and that will also lead to recipes and food inspiration and kind of, it's also a way to reach me. You can message me on there directly and I'm happy to answer any questions.
And certainly on my Instagram, there's plenty of recipe ideas that are gluten free and also very heart, health conscious recipes. So all could be found there. And yeah, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.
That's terrific.
So again, this is Brad Mahlof, an award winning chef, my nephew, a terrific guy, and thank you for sharing this information with the med evidence audience.
Thank you so much.
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