You Are What You Eat! Do Toxic Diets Create Toxic People?`

We have heard "you are what you eat!" since our grade school years.  As we learn more about the health risks associated with ultra processed foods, excessive sugar, and bad fats, it got us wondering- could a toxic diet contribute to toxic personalities?

It appears that there is a correlation between bad diet and bad behaviors. According to Science Daily, a "balanced diet is associated with better mental health, superior cognitive functions, and higher amounts of gray matter in the brain."  Health Partners reports that nutrients in food we consume "literally become part of what makes up our brains."

That may give you pause as you chomp on those chips, huh? Everything in moderation. :)

If good diet produces healthy brains and mental health, what does a shit diet create? Poor cognitive function.  Mental health risks. Verbal deficits.  Skipping those meals? Jumping on that extended fast? Welcome to higher risks for psychopathic personality traits.

Maintaining brain health with proper diet enables better sleep, improved decision making skills, keener discernment and emotional balance (as the centers for emotive responses are in your brain, not your heart, folks!).

Your hosts share some of these disturbing findings in this episode, along with suggestions for healthy eating regardless of your location or income level.  Grab a handful of dark berries and learn how to eat to mental health!

New Research Shows 'Profound' Link Between Dietary Choices and Brain Health (Science Daily)
Nutritional Psychiatry: Your Brain on Food (Harvard Health)
Ultra Processed Foods Risks (Medical News Today)
Nutrition and Behavioral Health (NIH)

The following affiliate links may result in a small commission paid to this podcast.  We appreciate your support!

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Transcript

>> Stella: 0:01

Welcome to a special fireside chat episode of the Toxic Tea Room. We're not going to bore you with our typical entry where we waive all accountability for ourselves, our parent company, that one, Booth Productions, any of the references that we make public reference material, all that fun stuff, which, by the way, is available on our website at www.toxicteroom.com if you want to see the full disclaimer. But what we will tell you is our topic of discussion today does involve some medical implications for what we're talking about. We're not psychologists, doctors, nutritionists, but we are going to share information that is available, on our topic today from those people. So we're not saying we're the experts, but we are quoting them directly. And we encourage you to look at the information the same. Everything will be in the show notes. So, with all of that said, happy, happy people. And we just passed another milestone for our podcast. Thank you very much. I am Roberta.

>> Roberta: 1:03

And I am, Stella. welcome to toxic tea room.

>> Stella: 1:19

Hi, everybody. what is this mysterious topic we're going to discuss today? It's something we all love. We all love this stuff.

>> Roberta: 1:29

Tea room.

>> Stella: 1:32

No, toxic tea room. Spilling the tea.

>> Roberta: 1:36

We're in the room talking about toxic. Not just tea, but food.

>> Stella: 1:41

So let's drop some knowledge on everybody, because when we looked into this topic, I was literally aghast. I knew things were bad. Look, we're Americans. We have listeners around the world. We know our food sucks. Sorry. It does. It does. We are great at producing huge volumes of food, but for reasons we're probably not going to get into, because it's going to cause way too much controversy. And we are in an election year here, and I don't want to get into it, but a lot of our food is candidly not as nutritious as it needs to be. It would almost qualify in some countries as artificial food. So what we want to talk about today is how bad it is. We're going to do that quickly and then how it impacts our brains, because that leads to personalities, that leads to decision making. We're talking about toxicity with your relationships with food. Now, some things we're not going to discuss. We're not going to discuss weight management. That's not what this is about.

>> Roberta: 2:46

Right.

>> Stella: 2:47

We're not going to talk about whether it's good to do certain things or not certain things. Look, you're going to do whatever you want to do. We're just going to drop a whole bunch of facts, all right? We're just going to drop a whole bunch of facts and research from extremely credited sources, and we're going to explore kind of how does this impact us as individuals, especially related to our brains. And how is that potentially impacting how we're working together? Because, again, our food sucks.

>> Roberta: 3:19

Yeah. And we might sprinkle or spice up some opinions, too, because it's us. I had to throw that in there.

>> Stella: 3:26

It's just kind of how it's going to work out. so if you're listening to us on your lunch hour, I hope you brought spare stuff to eat. So I'm gonna. I'm gonna start, stell, if you don't mind, with some facts that are terrifying. All right.

>> Roberta: 3:40

Yeah.

>> Stella: 3:41

So let's start with this one. Americans and everyone who listens to us in the UK, Africa, Latin America, and Asia that are gonna hear these, gonna go, wow. Yeah, we hear you. Your food's far better. Almost half of Americans have one or more chronic illnesses that are attributed directly to their diet. Listen to that stat. Half of us in this nation are sick because of what we eat, food that we grow, food that we produce in this country. Almost half of us are suffering from at least one, some more chronic illnesses directly attributable to our diet. Here's another fun fact. so gross. 90%. 90% of Americans do not get enough fruits and vegetables. I believe even if, you think you're eating healthy, nine out of ten chance you're not. So we now know from that stat, we can do, 10% of us are vegans or vegetarians. That's what I take away from that. Because clearly they are. Clearly they are. Because here's. Okay. Because the math. Right? So if 90% of us are not getting enough fruit and vegetables in our diet, and vegans and vegetarians only eat fruit and vegetables, then 10% of this nation are clearly vegans and vegetarians at a minimum. Because I'd struggle to think that they don't have enough servings in their daily diet if that's all they are eating. so let's just. One more, because this.

>> Roberta: 5:23

Yeah, I'm good.

>> Stella: 5:25

I'm gonna. Oh, my God, this is gonna be bad. So I have one more that I know, Stella, is going to resonate with you because you have school age kids. 56% of our kids have a poor diet. 56%. 50. 6%. These are our kids. This is our nation's future. Now, we are going to make some more ties to some interesting things, but you go right ahead, Stella. What are you dropping?

>> Roberta: 5:54

Yeah, well, I just, found a few, interesting facts. for example, the Us imports about 15% of its food, from different countries. And here's another fun fact. The European Union bans five main ingredients, or I would say very common ingredients that Americans use. Titanium, dioxide.

>> Stella: 6:28

That's a whitener, which that's literally. I know what that chemical is. They put that in paints.

>> Roberta: 6:33

Yeah.

>> Stella: 6:34

That is a whitener. That is a lightening agent. Yeah, that's a common food ingredient.

>> Roberta: 6:42

They put that in paint. I think it's also in toothpaste.

>> Stella: 6:48

Oh my. But you spit out toothpaste.

>> Roberta: 6:50

Yeah, yeah.

>> Stella: 6:53

I don't know.

>> Roberta: 6:53

Why is it going in your mouth?

>> Stella: 6:54

I don't know, Stella.

>> Roberta: 6:56

Anyway, and, and I have read several articles now about, similar to what you were saying about how diet affects mental health. I have seen in the past, I'm not going to quote a specific, article, but, our consumption of sugar is astronomical here in the US. And as an FYI, at least a few years ago, I do remember hearing from renowned nutritionists that you should not be having more than 30 grams of sugar in a day. 32, I think it was. But, that's probably like one cereal in the US. So, yeah, this is definitely a passionate, ah, topic for Roberta and I. and the last thing I'll say before we jump into more, correlations into behavior is, because I'm sure most of our audience knows that you are what you eat. Like that what you eat can drastically affect you. but guys, this, many facets of our society and because people have to work usually so hard, and the american work ethic in general, I would say of, you know, only a handful of holidays a year, for example, has caused us to become lazy, that's my opinion, that we're extremely lazy and or uneducated in proper nutrition. So, hence why you have a whole slew of nutritionalists in our country. But it is really sad and we do have to pay attention to it because there are biological and neurological impacts, not to mention behaviors that are directly correlated to what you're putting in your.

>> Stella: 9:13

Listen, you fat, lazy bastard. Says Stella has already characterized you. Seems like we're going to sprinkle some opinions, like, here's Stella just dropped in a cup of salt when the recipe asked for an 8th of a teaspoon. Okay, so let's get into some stuff.

>> Roberta: 9:30

It's not, it's not necessarily fat, okay?

>> Stella: 9:32

Just you lazy bastards. You skinny, lazy bastards. You're not excluded, you american lazies. Holy cow. So let's. Let's look into some of this. There is a science daily article, from April of this year that says, and I quote, a balanced diet is associated with better mental health and superior cognitive functions. Higher amounts of gray matter in the brain are associated with a healthy diet. So we recognize that good food does good for you. We all get that, right? We all get that. But literally, according to health partners, nutrients and foods become part of what makes up our brains. Now, this is where it starts to get really interesting from a number of perspectives. Okay? So we're going to talk about this health partner again, and we're going to put all these links in the show notes. So, fear not, my friends, but health partners says, nutrients in food literally become part of what makes up our brains. So, as you're sitting there eating your Doritos right now, listening to us at lunch, think about that. that is literally going to become part of your brain. Now, seriously, Doritos barely count as food. And it's not that we don't like them. It's okay once in a while, but when you stop to think about what you're eating becomes part of your brain, it changes kind of your perspective on what you had, right. Harvard health has an interesting study. So, serotonin, we're all familiar with serotonin. Serotonin is that feel good, you know, hormone. Serotonin, you know, is what we seek out biologically. Like, I like things that make me happy. So, serotonin is the happy, chemical that we have. it controls your sleep. It helps to control your appetite, your mood. And here's the most important part about serotonin. It inhibits pain, so you feel less pain when you have serotonin. Why do I bring up serotonin? Why did Harvard health mention it in the study? Because 95% of serotonin is produced in the digestive tract. I did not know that. 95%.

>> Roberta: 11:56

I did not know that.

>> Stella: 11:57

let's give you some more facts, right? We're gonna. We're gonna stack on these, you guys, we are going somewhere with this. We're not just here to regurgitate facts. So keep this in mind. Remember, let's recap real quick. 90% of Americans are not eating enough food and vegetables. Half of us have at least one chronic disease that is directly tied to a poor diet. What we eat directly impacts our brain. Serotonin, an important hormone, or compound, I believe is the right way to put it, that regulates our sleep, our moods, our appetites, and inhibits pain is produced in our gut. 95% of it is produced in our gut. So now let's look at one other piece. Okay, got a couple of things here. And you're going to see where we're going. Medical news today, after adjusting for other factors, like age and gender, that could contribute to the number, we're going to discuss dementia, that fun thing that we think only old people get.

>> Roberta: 12:59

Yeah.

>> Stella: 13:00

Here's what's frightening. For every 10% increase of your diet in ultra processed foods equates to a 16% increase in risk for cognitive impairment. Wow. so if you are eating ultra processed foods. I don't eat ultra processed foods. Okay, so tell me what you're eating. well, I mean, I had some fast food for lunch. Okay. And pack and package packaged donuts for breakfast. Oh, well, today I didn't want to have fast food, so I did a homemade lunch. Was your homemade lunch? I had lunch. And meat. Okay. Processed lunch meat. Got it.

>> Roberta: 13:41

Yeah.

>> Stella: 13:42

What are you having for dinner? We're going to have a sausage. Okay. The worst thing you could probably have is sausage. ultra processed foods, things that barely resemble foods. Things where the first ingredient is usually, what? Sugar. Right. And flour, or a reasonable facsimile thereof of either of those things. If you look at your diet and you have a baseline of zero every day. So I haven't eaten anything. And you get up and the first thing you do is have that doughnut. Right. And then for lunch, you think you're doing okay with a sandwich, but you have processed lunch meat. We're not talking about shavings off of a turkey breast. That's real turkey. We're talking about, you know, let's say my favorite, ultra processed lunch meat example. But ig. Are you playing with me? So, no offense, but come on.

>> Roberta: 14:31

Come on, Mandy.

>> Stella: 14:32

Come m on. and you're going to see some examples of how this all ties together. And then for dinner, you either pick up something, at a fast food place, or you're going to make a homemade dinner. But what are you putting in it? You know, if you're like, it's an easy night, I'm going to make something. The kids also. We're just going to have kraft Mac and cheese, and then we're just going to sit down and have that kind of dinner. You've eaten your entire meal today has had processed food in it.

>> Roberta: 14:58

Yeah.

>> Stella: 14:59

Which means that you have increased your likelihood for cognitive decline by 16% with every one of those meals. Not just altogether, with every one of those meals. It's terrifying to think about. Now, here's another piece, according to the National Institute of Health, because we've all heard of people that, you know, because we want to think about and we want to think about, okay, bad food means I. Your body's gonna look a certain way. You're gonna be pudgy and be chunky. You might be obese. Well, people do some crazy things to counter that. Right? Like, intermittent fasting is healthy, but there are people that fast for. And Stella, you remember this diet?

>> Roberta: 15:43

Yeah.

>> Stella: 15:43

Just fast for like three days. If you don't eat food for three days, your body resets itself. Yeah, your family resets itself. Right. Everybody leaves. You leave this person alone. But there are people that look at food as the enemy. They're so hyper focused on how they appear that the thought of eating repulses them. Well, guess what? Meal deprivation increases your likelihood of verbal deficits and psychopathic personality traits. How fun is that?

>> Roberta: 16:21

Wow.

>> Stella: 16:21

Poor quality nutrition increases the risks of verbal deficits. So even if you say, I'm not skipping meals, I just eat like shit. Okay, great, great.

>> Roberta: 16:33

Yeah.

>> Stella: 16:33

You are increasing your likelihood of verbal deficits. So let's think about one last piece before I tell you how all of this ties together for me and why we have an opportunity at this moment in time in our country to realize where we are nutritionally and how that impacts everything in our life. It truly is an impactful thing. This is not just a fluff episode that was. This got to do with workplace? It does, and we're going to explain why. But the most lacking in our diet is potassium, calcium, dietary fiber and vitamin D, critical vitamins and minerals. And they're the most lacking. So potassium. Go eat a banana. But we're not eating bananas because 90% of us are not getting enough fruit and veggies in our diet. So it's. It's terrifying. So here's where I'm going with this, and then I'd love to hear Stella's opinion on. On this one.

>> Roberta: 17:38

Yeah.

>> Stella: 17:39

All of these ultra processed foods also tend to be the cheapest foods available. And with inflation being what it's been, even though it is starting to get better, but where the costs of everything are more than they were a couple years ago, we can all agree to that, right?

>> Roberta: 17:55

Yep.

>> Stella: 17:55

And, grocery, chains tend to put the regular things on sale every week. You know, there's a grocery chain near me that is having a ten for ten sale. And every single thing on the ten for ten sale, I would qualify as an ultra processed food. So are we intentionally poisoning the poor elements of our society by depriving them of nutrition? By depriving them of it? Is it possible for us to get access to healthy food that our bodies need, that our brains need, for us to be productive adults? Is it even possible to be able to eat a good organic produce? Because we all know organic produce is much more expensive. And how does one go about that if they don't have access? If they live in a food desert, such as many of our urban areas, how does one go about getting the critical food that we need that clearly they're not getting? None of us are getting enough of the good stuff. But I would argue that in certain segments of our society, they don't get any of this that they need.

>> Roberta: 19:11

Yeah, no, it's a valid point. I'd say it affects even the middle class. Now, if you're a family of five and both parents are working and you go to the local grocery store, and what used to cost 200 now costs like 500 for a week. Yeah, I mean, you're going for that ten for ten special because that's what's quick and easy and efficient. but I did want to go back to one other thing that I, that I unfortunately partake in every day is coffee. And coffee in itself isn't bad, but caffeine and stimulant, type of products are very abused. I think because as we deplete our energy, we look for quick things to give us energy. So I was going to say on that lazy comment, some people are absolutely not lazy, but they're the flip side, full of anxiety because they have to continuously feed themselves stimulants like caffeine or completely od on it. like, I've met so many people in my previous roles that had like ten cups of coffee a day, and I'm like, how can you even do that? like, I don't know how that's even possible, but, you know, this all will come down to moderation, at the end of everything. But, But to your point, Roberta. Yeah, some, a lot of people don't have access. And then I think what compounds it is you don't have the education of how to use vegetables in a dish that tastes good because you're so used to quick meals or eating out or, you know, like, how do you. There isn't, there are cooking classes in schools, but it's not going to give you the justice of, hey, I have to feed a family. I've been working all day. I'm tired. And now I. You know, you put the vegetables in the. In the fridge, and they go rotten because, like, you haven't figured out what to make. You don't have enough of a education on how to best utilize your food. So I would say it's not only access to good food, but it's the education as well as how to use it.

>> Stella: 22:03

I'm glad you brought that up, because I was about to scream at you to shut your pretty mouth about coffee. I was about to say, are, we. Are we in a fight right now? Are we not friends anymore? You're gonna go after my sacred thing, coffee. Now, granted, I don't drink ten cups a day. I don't. I can't. I've actually done really well. I used to drink two to three cups in the morning, and then at least one cup during the day, and then probably one in the afternoon.

>> Roberta: 22:32

Yeah.

>> Stella: 22:33

which is a lot. I'm now pretty much a two cup of coffee per day person, Max. Sometimes. Most days, actually, it's only one.

>> Roberta: 22:41

Me too.

>> Stella: 22:41

Now, is it a little cup of coffee, like what you get out of a vending machine? No friends? No, it's a big ass cup of coffee. It's a mug. It's not a cup. But, but, no, we're not fighting. I have every day, who are you? but here's the other point, though, is, so we have, to me, I look at a few things. Number one, our food system, in and of itself, the production of the food that is available to us is either very expensive for the best stuff, right? And the accessible things that most everybody can afford is like, pretending to be food. The actual nutritional value of it is so slim, and we're not getting the critical nutrients we need. It is affecting our brains, it is affecting our cognitive ability, it is impacting our health, which will impact everything in our lives. But the other point you bring up is, so even if I had access to food, what do I do with it? So there is that education component where, you know, they'll say, well, kids don't like vegetables. I got to visit with my granddaughter last weekend, and I like to garden. I don't know that I've mentioned that on this podcast. I might have, but I've got, you know, a bunch of peppers coming in, and I brought a couple of peppers in for my daughter to try. and my daughter ate one and just ate it, which I was like, all right, cool. Just eat a pepper like an apple. All right. My granddaughter took the other one and just went to town, like, eating this pepper. She ate the whole pepper. And I was like. I was like, that's what I'm talking about. Yay. I love to see that, because not all kids will, you know, I have a grandson who did the same thing. Just took a little pepper that I was growing hydroponically, literally just pulled it and started eating it. Help yourself. So. But I know not all kids are like that. and so some of the larger food manufacturers that try to do things like hiding veggies in something like Mac and cheese. Well, I would encourage everybody that before you spend your money and feel like you have a clean conscious because you bought healthy Mac and cheese, to turn the box over and read what's on the back and how much vegetables are you're actually getting. Vegetable flavoring doesn't count. Like, Have you seen those vegetable sticks? I forget what the brand name is. but they're like. They look like little french fries, but they're sold in a bag. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> Roberta: 25:19

Straws.

>> Stella: 25:20

Yeah. So I remember thinking, people buy that, thinking that that's better than potato chips. And then you read the ingredients. What's the first ingredient? Potato flakes. Potato flakes. you are literally eating potato flakes to form them into the straw shapes. And they dye it the different colors with extracts of spinach and extracts of carrot and extracts of beef. But you're not getting vegetables and any. That's why they all taste, the same. If you've ever had those, they all taste identical because they're just potatoes. They taste. So we have to be better consumers so that what we need is supplied. But we also have to be cognizant of what we can do for ourselves. Right. So, you know, I've. I've been on this whole grow your own food thing for a long time, and I've told people, not everybody has a farm. I don't have a farm. Not everybody has, you know, the wherewithal to grow a wide variety of things. I get that. But grow something. If you live in an apartment, you have a balcony, you have room to grow the following things on your balcony patio. Tomatoes, which are going to be cherry tomatoes, not big slicers. Okay. But you're getting fresh tomatoes right outside of your door.

>> Roberta: 26:42

Right.

>> Stella: 26:43

Grow some herbs. Herbs are great for adding freshness and flavor, so they help enhance what you've got. And also, you know, you could grow. Gosh, at that point, it gets crazy. You could do strawberries, you could do peppers, and my favorite of all time because they'll grow practically anywhere and they grow fast. Green beans. And here's the thing about green beans. Once you start growing green beans, you're like, why don't I always grow these? Because the more you pick, the more they produce. Like, they will produce. So where you're like, I am so sick of green beans. I'm tired of having these. But the idea would be to do what you can with where you are. And if you have no balcony, like, I don't even have that, Roberta. Okay. Find a local farmers market or CSA, community supported agriculture. Get, a subscription box of local vegetables and fruit and that you have access to. That's the healthiest way to go. Go to the grocery store, get fruits and vegetables. If you don't know how to make stuff. Look, YouTube. University should start issuing degrees.

>> Roberta: 27:45

Well, I'm surprised you haven't mentioned one thing. Foraging.

>> Stella: 27:50

We were going to get to foraging. So, yeah, so Stella brings a foraging, because I love it now.

>> Roberta: 27:57

Yeah. I haven't personally done it, but it sounds amazing.

>> Stella: 28:00

So here's the thing. Here's what I do. I started getting into the nutritional value of food, some time ago, okay? So, like, I. Again, for years I've been looking at the actual nutritional density of food. And wild food is more nutritionally dense than anything farmed, especially commercially farmed in this country. So that means that even a small amount of wild berries, a handful, can have as much nutritional value as a whole pint of commercially raised berries. So I got really into it. So it was a good activity for my husband and I to go out and just forage. So wild asparagus is everywhere. If you don't know what you're looking for, like, I didn't for the first two years I tried. You'll never find it. But the minute you realize what you're actually looking for, you see it everywhere. And we would go get it in the spring when it popped up, and we would just go clip, clip, clip. Wild asparagus, which is incredibly nutritious and tastes amazing. Berries. Good lord. Now, again, do your research. Don't just pop anything that's red and colorful in your mouth, but please don't, please don't, don't do that. But yes, there are berries, and, depending on where you are regionally, you know, here in the lower midwest, we found an incredible trove of black raspberries, which my husband didn't even know existed. And picking them, is it fun? No, it's not fun. They're small and they ripen at the end of June or July. It's hot, and they're raspberries. They have spines, but they're also incredibly dense and they're delightful. And so I make a jam out of them every year. And this year actually had enough that I froze some. Just later on in the year. I can make jam or just put them on top of an ice cream. They're incredibly nutritious. The other thing I would tell everyone is, go looking around you, look at the food that is out there in your area. I mean, you're out in Arizona and parts out west where they literally plant citrus trees the way that, you know, we plant oak trees for just roadside decor. Pick those fruits. I always get annoyed. I'm like, that's an orange on the ground. What are you doing? Pick it up and eat it. But look for ways that no matter what your income level, you can forage for just about anything you need nutritionally. Again, I'm cautioning you, research before you eat it. There are sites that help you. There's an app you can have if you're into the apps that can help you. Mushrooms, are widely available. Don't eat it. Don't eat a mushroom if you are not 100% certain of what it is. Be safe. Be safe in your foraging. I forge a lot, and I don't do the mushroom thing because I'm too damn nervous. I'll pick a delicious mushroom and die. I'm not looking to do that, so. But thank you for bringing that up.

>> Roberta: 30:52

And, yeah, and one last thing on that, on that note is community gardens. it is good to look up where, a community garden might be, and if nothing else, bring it up to local governments or local communities or churches and see if there's interest in it. Because, like, Robert and I had this dream of, once we're financially well off, we would contribute to a community garden because that is just such a good way to teach, not only gardening, but to, you know, reap what you sow, so what you reap, you know, that type of thing. And, and then you eat. Well, so just thought I.

>> Stella: 31:45

Because that's also another way that we can look at this is from a community standpoint. So, like, we've all heard about neighbors that are like, I grew way too much zucchini. I have way too many of this. I, have way too many of that. And they share it. Relish those neighbors, because that is a blessing. That is a blessing. The other thing you can do, if you are into gardening don't just make it a one season thing. Like, okay, so I have my tomatoes, I have my peppers, I have my green beans, I have my cucumbers. I'm good. I've got a lot plant in succession so that you start your fall garden as your summer garden is producing heavily. So that by the time your summer garden has, like, I am not giving you any more tomatoes. Stop begging. It's overdeveloped. We're done here. You now have your, you know, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, which is incredibly healthy for you. Cauliflowers, you know, are, your brassicas, your kale. And let's. Let's talk about kale real quick. Can we? Okay.

>> Roberta: 32:42

Yeah, yeah.

>> Stella: 32:43

Kale is incredibly good for you, and not everybody likes it, but here's the thing. Learn to love it. Let me explain. So, some of this education thing that sella talks about kale is not just one variety. There's lots of varieties of kale, and some of them are very tough, and some of them are actually almost lettuce, like. Like a red kale. Find one that you like and buy that and eventually grow it for yourself. But if you massage the kale, like, literally just rub it, like credit. Think of it like, scrunching it like paper. It does become quite soft, and it keeps for a long time. Like, you can prep a salad, a great nutritious salad with some pumpkin seeds in there, some, you know, whatever protein you have on hand, some shredded carrots. And this is where you can really, of course, stretch a budget. If you have one carrot, shred the damn thing. You know, do whatever to make something very healthy for yourself, and that salad will last you all week. You can just take a scoop. Save the salad dressing for where you're going to go. Add it on. Voila. Fact. Salad dressing, oil and, you know, lemon juice. Change your life. So you can manage this on any budget and then just complement it with whatever is in line with your tastes. But if you hate kale, I promise you this, you will hate diabetes much more. All of these foods, you're like, I can't stand broccoli. Find a way to love it. Now, you don't have to drown it in cheese sauce to love it. I love broccoli. I think broccoli is fantastic. I like brussels sprouts, but I do, too, like brussels sprouts. I never wanted to touch a brussels sprout. I thought they were disgusting, slimy little things. I just couldn't stand them until I had them roasted. And then I'm like, how are these not served? Roasted. All, who eats these any other way?

>> Roberta: 34:35

Exactly.

>> Stella: 34:36

And then I started, and then I started eating them raw. I would actually shred them into a salad for additional nutrition. And they're delightful. So don't be afraid to try things. We're all adults here, but I I know accomplished, wonderful people who go to the gym every day and hate vegetables, and I'm like, what is it you think you're doing to your body? Now, you might be making your body really hella strong, but your brain is still suffering. Your brain. Your brain is suffering. So if you think of some of the folks, you know in your life that are really into fitness, but they don't like fruits and vegetables. And most maybe, you know, we all know these people well, I'll eat an apple. I like a banana. A lot of sugar and bananas, though. Okay. I got to eat protein. Like, this whole carnivore thing drives me nuts. I'm going to have, eggs are great. Lean proteins are great. Lean chicken. If you're going to sit down and have a t bone steak, first of all, mazel tov, rich man. But if you're going to sit down and do that, or a ribeye, because it tastes so good, but it's very, very fatty, you got to counter that with something. You have to have fiber. You have to have fruits and vegetables. To deliver that fiber. You need to have whole grains in your diet. So, yeah, I was like, no, I don't eat, I don't eat breads. Don't eat refined sugar breads. That's a good call. But you have to have some fiber in your life. you know, a typical breakfast for Roberta, for example, if I'm in the mood for something sweet, which isn't often, I tend to prefer a savory breakfast. I love a plain greek yogurt. Nonfat.

>> Roberta: 36:14

Yep.

>> Stella: 36:14

Everyone out there that doesn't like greek.

>> Roberta: 36:19

It'S so tart.

>> Stella: 36:20

Easy. I got, I got you. I have, raw, unfiltered honey. Because honey does have not only sweetness, but a lot of great antioxidants and antimicrobial properties. It's so good for you. I put a tiny drizzle of that on top, and then I will add some ground flaxseed, because that's not only fiber, but a lot of additional nutrition. If, I'm in the mood for extra protein, I might throw some chia in there, some chia seeds. ah, but usually I have enough protein just in the yogurt and then whatever berries I have on hand. If I have strawberries, I cut them up and I add them in there. If I've got blueberries, I do that. Blackberries, I do that. It's whatever I have on hand and it's delightful. If I want a savory breakfast, do you know what I'm into lately? Like, I'm on this kit, I have this at least once a week. Sure. Eggs.

>> Roberta: 37:10

What?

>> Stella: 37:11

Yes.

>> Roberta: 37:12

Really?

>> Stella: 37:13

So for those who are not familiar, it is a french dish, but it's essentially baked eggs. So I take a little dish that's oven safe and I crack two eggs into it. Oh, and on eggs, buy what eggs you can afford, but buy the best you can afford, not the cheapest. Buy the best you can afford. Okay? It matters. It flippin matters. Okay? Just, if you need videos, go look them up. At this point, we should even have to explain why it matters. Buy the best eggs you can afford. and look again at local sources. And I crack two into this dish. And then you add a tablespoon or so of heavy cream, which I was like, that's not very healthy. It's a tablespoon, it's not a cup.

>> Roberta: 38:00

Yeah, and it is heavy cream. Doesn't really have any.

>> Stella: 38:04

It's just dairy. It's just a little extra dose of calcium and salt and pepper, that thing. And you, I bake mine in my air fryer for about eleven or twelve minutes, and then I add a tiny sprinkle of whatever cheese I have on hand. It could be parmesan, it could be some shredded cheese from taco night, whatever, it doesn't matter. And then I pop it back in for another minute. I have that with a slice of whole grain toast. And it's delightful. You can add vegetables to it. There's another way to sneak in veggies. You can also, you know, I top it with some fresh herbs because I'm always growing fresh herbs. It's a lovely little dish and it's high in protein and literally doesn't cost you very much. The most expensive ingredient there, obviously, is the heavy cream. It's not even the eggs most of the time, but that entire breakfast can be had for a buck and a half, even with the highest end ingredients. So this is about looking at your food as medicine, right? So I'm, I'm getting my protein, but I'm also getting my grains with whole grain toast. I'm not making wonder bread toast that you might as well eat cake for breakfast, but whole grain toast, you like muffins. Great. Make muffins. Make your own stuff. Oh, I don't have time. Okay, well, on the weekends, when you're sitting on the couch, here's what you can do. You can still be a couch potato. You make the muffins, you bake them while they're baking. Watch the game, get up, take them out of the oven while they're cooling, go back to watching the game. Anyone can do this. And again, we're not here to tell you, like, this is not a lifestyle blog, but the reason we're sharing this stuff is because there's increased evidence that this stuff is impacting our decision making, our cognitive skills. So whether it's about how we're tackling a project at work, or dealing with an interaction with somebody at work, or dealing with somebody at home, or any area of your life where you have to make a decision, you really need those cognitive skills. And if the evidence is there, and there's so many sources that I got to believe it, plus, we already know that high processed foods are not good for you. They're just not. They're not. There's no argument there. I welcome someone to come in and prove to me with hard data, no, ultra processed foods are just fine. Then bring it. Then bring it so I can see it, because we all know that's not true. So because of that, that's why we're passionate about it. You have to be in a position to not only be mentally sharp, to perform your life as a human being, but to where you can manage the emotional intelligence as well, and make the right decisions when you're in these difficult and toxic situations.

>> Roberta: 40:48

Yeah, this is definitely all connected. you know, there's a biological component, but there's also a psychological one, I think, because you don't realize that with toxic food or with unhealthy food, it is taking a toll and it will cause you to be tired and lethargic and or full of anxiety on the flip end. And that affects your mood, that affects how you're going to take what someone else is saying. if you're super tired and someone comes at you and you take it as, you know, offensive criticism, when all they were trying to do is give you constructive criticism, I mean, these are how these things show up. So in order to be your best self, as any doctor would probably say, though, we are not doctors, it's your sleep, your diet and your activity. Right. those are the three main components, of keeping yourself healthy, keeping yourself working at your optimal performance, wherever that is. But we just wanted to stress that, you know, when we talk about toxic behaviors, there is a biological aspect to that, and it is something that, you know, a lot of people pay attention to. A lot of people, I think, that I've interacted with are extremely kind of in a, depression about everything makes us sick, or, you know, we. There's studies that come out every freaking day about, oh, coffee's bad for you. Oh, coffee's good for you. And you don't know what to believe in a lot of situations. But one of the rules, or, you know, rule of thumbs that Roberta and I have is that if it comes from the earth and if it comes from good soil, even better, right. Then, you know, that's. It's kind of like the whole Foods initiative, where you're, you know, cutting out the junk. And one of the rule of thumbs I have is if I can't even enunciate or clearly say the ingredient, it's probably not good for you. I mean, it's definitely a thing.

>> Stella: 43:29

Educate yourselves. Right. I mean, there's so much information out there, what we do to the kids in this country from a dietary perspective.

>> Roberta: 43:39

Yeah.

>> Stella: 43:40

horrific. And I don't know if anybody has seen these YouTube videos of these. I mean, God bless you, but these moms that make these incredible lunches, and they cut out shapes of stuff so their kids will eat it. And on the surface, I'm into it because, a, I'm fascinated by people that have that much time. I mean, God bless you. God bless you.

>> Roberta: 44:01

Exactly.

>> Stella: 44:02

but, b, because as much as they're trying to make the food lively and colorful to entice the child to eat it, some of the stuff they're enticing the child to eat is bad for that child's growing brain. Like, you can cut a star out of bologna and put it with a star cut out of american cheese so that your kid eats it on their star shaped little sandwich bread, and it's cute as anything, and mazel tov for that. But you've given your child sugar, sugar, fats, and zero nutritional value and some cancer causing chemical in the meats. Because it's true. Look it up. This is not an opinion. That's what you fed your children. And you've also done the benefit of making it really cute in a shape to make sure they eat it. You give them. You give them, you know, sandwich cookies as the side. So it's criminal what we're feeding our children just so that they feel full versus feeding our children so that they have what they need to grow their brains. It's criminal that we market food to children as if they're the buyer. We literally market low nutritional quality, high sugar, ultra processed foods using cartoon characters and music and fun colors and images, so that the kids beg for you to put it in your cart so that you ultimately succumb to it, and it's. You've become their dealer, in a sense. I know it sounds harsh, but you have, and, look, I've done it. So, like, I've done it. I did it before I was educated on some of this stuff. To the degree that I am, I've done it. I'm like, what's the harm? What's the harm? There's a lot of harm. Turns out there is a significant amount of harm. So when you look at some of the, some of the events going on in our country today, and you see how some people behave and we write it off to, well, they're passionate about this or passionate about that. Maybe they are. I would also look at their diets and see, oh, okay, that makes sense. You've lost your cognitive abilities because you're eating too many processed foods, because I think there's plenty of evidence for that as well. it's just, we have to do better as a country, but we all have to do better as individuals. Your food is your medicine. Treat food like medicine and eat intentionally and watch your life change. Don't just eat because it's a fad diet and you want to lose some weight and look cute. I'd rather be pudgy and biologically healthy, then be skinny with the brain that's shriveling up because I'm not giving it what it needs. Oh, last fun fact, by the way. Ready for this? Speaking of your brain shriveling up. So, yeah, from the, where was it? Oh, forgive me. So there was an article on the psychiatry of nutrition, which I'm, like, how does that work, psychiatry of nutrition? So, narcissistic psychopathic personalities tend to be focused on their appearance, so they eat in accordance with how they want to look. They are also the group that will tend to skip, meals and go on long fasts because they believe it benefits how they look. Okay, wow. Guess what? What did we say earlier? Those who skip meals develop psychopathic personality. So that's from two different sources validating the same thing. So, folks, don't. Don't skip a lot of meals. I mean, intermittent fasting is actually healthy for you because our bodies use a lot of resources to eat as well. We also, not only do we eat shitty food, we eat too much of it. Right? So, I mean, you can eat nutritionally dense food and you'll find yourself fuller faster, eat things like celery, which I'm not a fan, I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm not a fan of celery. I can't just sit down and eat a stalk of celery. It's so fibrous. I'm, like, picking it out of my teeth. But I eat it in, like, I'll cut it up and put it in a homemade chicken salad. I'll throw it in some soup. I'll. I'm gonna have to eat more of it because it contains, something called. I'm gonna try to pronounce this correctly. No, no guarantees there. I believe it's pronounced into olin, and that prevents inflammation in brain cells. So.

>> Roberta: 48:49

Wow.

>> Stella: 48:49

So, yes, eat your celery.

>> Roberta: 48:53

Yeah, some people juice celery. And I know, I'll just tell you right now, I tried it. And no, I can't do it. But I do like celery.

>> Stella: 49:01

I just, I can't choose. I don't mind it as an ingredient. I can't sit there and go, damn, I wish I had some celery right now. Doesn't that sound good? Like, isn't your mouth watering at the thought of celery? Like, no, I'm nothing. Whereas there are times, like, if I listen to my body, it'll say, go eat some cabbage. Which I was not a fan of cabbage until about four years ago. Now, I love it. I love it. I love it steamed. I love it raw. I can eat the hell out of cabbage now. Now I'm growing cabbage. So, I mean, I love me some cabbage, but you've got to look at your food and say, what does this do for me? What does my body need? And then you'll, if you listen to your body, you'll start craving things that your body needs, that nutrient, your body needs whatever that thing is. But you got to wean yourself off of the sugar and ultra processed foods to hear it, because otherwise, you know what you're craving. Your body's craving that drug called sugar. Your body's craving that drug called fat.

>> Roberta: 50:04

One thing I'd like to, like, end with myself is something my dad taught me. when you are in a situation, like, let's say you go to someone's house and the only thing there is something that may not be healthy, but you're hungry. with anything that you put in your mouth, do it with. Well, he would say do it with a smile. Do it with a good heart towards that. And, because when you eat something that you feel very negatively about, I'm sure there's some chemical reaction in there. But also, you know, some people take this too far. But you might walk after dinner in that case. Or you might, you know, do something active so that you take the bad and counter it with good. Not in a unhealthy, you know, psychopathic way, but, you know, when you are finding yourself in a situation where you ate something healthy, it's not time to beat yourself up. It's time to thoroughly enjoy what you're eating, sacred intentions about it, or think them at least. And then, you know, take a walk. But speaking of walking, one other fun fact that I had learned about Italian specifically, and I think, Roberta, you and I were talking about this a few months ago. they take a walk after dinner.

>> Stella: 51:46

Una papa.

>> Roberta: 51:47

Before dinner. Yeah, a little walk. And, you know, there is something to that, to, you know, get yourself moving. And that way you kind of help your body. It's not time to run a marathon after you eat. But that's not what we're saying here. But it is good to, you know, get your body moving. and that will help with things like digestion and making you feel better while you're walking.

>> Stella: 52:18

I mean, you can get rid of those problems that are bothering you. Think about it while you walk, and you're accomplishing two things at once. I know you like to take a lot of strolls, even solo still. As do I. Well, mine aren't solo. Mine have at least one of my dogs, which, you know, it's good for both of us then. but ultimately, you know, and again, we're not here to lecture on health, but we do want to share that it makes an incredible difference in your life when you focus on food as what it needs to be, as medicine. If you want to feel full, if you don't want to feel hungry, drink water. Just keep drinking water. That'll take care of that for you, I promise. But if you want to feed your body what it needs to be better, a better machine for you, a better functioning creation, you have to focus on food as medicine and treat it accordingly. It doesn't have to be, you know, shopping at whole paycheck. We know where that is. You don't have to do that. Yeah, but, you should go for the highest quality ingredients you can afford and really be honest with yourself about what you're feeding yourself, your body, your children, and what you can do to change. Make one change a day, make, one change a week. But whatever you choose to do, recognize that when we're talking about things like serotonin, 95% of it produced in your gut. And when we talk about people facing a lot of depression in this country, we're also incredibly obese overall.

>> Roberta: 53:50

Yeah.

>> Stella: 53:51

especially compared to other nations. Do we not all see the tie in that? I mean, good night already. It's. It's what we're eating. Yeah, for sure.

>> Roberta: 54:01

And the other thing I love to do is, you know, because I believe it or not, was not raised with someone who taught me how to cook. They did cook a lot. My mom cooked all the time, but she didn't teach me. But one of the things, like everything, is educate your kids. Get them involved. When. Even when you're gonna experiment, if you get them excited about it early on, even late on, like, even if they're older, get them into it so that they can, you know, feel proud that they're. And understand what they're actually, what it takes to make a meal and what the healthy components of a meal are. And that will start educating.

>> Stella: 54:50

Sorry.

>> Roberta: 54:51

Educating children towards,

>> Stella: 54:53

Yeah, and don't make the mistake of, you know, a kid's, you know, what is that? And you're holding a piece of broccoli and saying something like, oh, you won't like it. Don't put that in their heads. Let them try it. Yeah, let them try it. If they say, well, I like it with a little bit of ranch on it, okay. Don't drown it in ranch. But, if you're. If that little bit of ranch that makes it palatable, you're teaching your child a healthy habit. Let them eat the broccoli. Let, you know, just be honest with yourself about, you know, sneaking in kids vegetables and things like pre made pastas. You want to do that, make the pasta yourself, you know, or rice, cauliflower, or, you know, do things like that where you can ensure that you're getting the right vegetables. I'm extraordinarily proud that all my grandkids will eat at least some vegetables. They don't all eat everything. A couple of them are very open to it, but they all have their own particular tastes. But the fact that they're all so smart. Of course, every grandparent thinks their grandkids are smart, but I think mine, the reading levels are more advanced. They talk like full adults and full sentences. And I have to believe that a significant portion of that is their parents did a really great job giving them the food that they need at this stage of their life. Guys, get those fruits and veggies in. Stop giving your kids cookies for snacks and give them a piece of fruit. Give them something that's good for them. I mean, that's the future of our country. That's your lineage. That's your legacy. I mean, I know we're sounding a little lecture y right now, but, when we. After doing this podcast for over a year about how horrible people treat each other and how to survive those incredibly toxic environments, be it at work, at church, at home, and then it breaks down to, it could just be a lot of this we're doing to ourselves because of our diet. We can't. There's so much evidence, we couldn't exclude it. We had to talk about it and share what we've learned. because ultimately, you really, truly are what you eat. So the good news there is, if you have a boss that's a raging asshole, you know what he's eating with that. It's been glorious. Follow us on all our socials. If you love what you hear, you can feel free to support us on Patreon or head over to our blog where we have some incredible affiliates that have wonderful products that we've curated for you. We get a tiny piece of that to support this podcast, and we appreciate all the support. Like subscribe. Tell your friends. Don't keep this all to yourself, you selfish, selfish people. Tell your friends. We appreciate all of you listeners around the world. If you've got tips for how we could eat better in America, we'll take them, because you're far healthier than any of us are at the moment. So I love you guys.

>> Roberta: 57:36

Yes, we love you. Email us at the teapagoxicteroom.com, or you can comment on our blog.

>> Stella: 57:43

put down that sandwich. Eat your vegetables. Put the fork down. Eat your vegetables. If you're a vegan or vegetarian, keep doing that. Peace.