Latest / Age Like a Badass Mother / Ep.125: How to Eat for Longevity: Lower Cholesterol, Stronger Bones & More Muscle with Nisha Melvani

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Ep.125: How to Eat for Longevity: Lower Cholesterol, Stronger Bones & More Muscle with Nisha Melvani · Age Like a Badass Mother

• 0:00
  Hi friend, my guest today is Nisha Melvani of Cooking for Peanuts.
• 0:04
  She's an MS registered dietitian.
• 0:07
  She has 1.3 million followers on Instagram.
• 0:10
  We talk menopause, we talk bone health, we talk longevity, and we talk about how she gets her inspiration for her fabulous recipes. If you take supplements, stay tuned. Nisha almost ruined her liver because of heavy metals.
• 0:26
  and she'll share what we should be looking for in our supplements.
• 0:30
  But first I'd like to thank our sponsor, Grand Teton Ancient Grains. I absolutely love their products or I wouldn't share them with you.
• 0:37
  Their flowers, grains, and pastas are made without herbicides, pesticides, or glyphosate, and they know this for sure because their grains are grown, harvested, and milled on site.
• 0:50
  I just made their angel hair pasta with a pesto sauce With eggplant and sun-dried tomatoes.
• 0:56
  It was so delicious, and the pasta really held on to the sauce.
• 1:00
  Go to ancientgrains.com and use code Healthy10 at checkout for 10% off your order. You'll find the link in the show notes.
• 1:10
  And now here's Nisha Melvani.
• 1:24
  A loyal listener, Nancy Norris, suggested that I have my next guest on the podcast.
• 1:29
  I had never heard of Nisha Melvani of Cooking for Peanuts, but I I I guess I'm the only one because she has 1.3 million followers on Instagram and for good reason.
• 1:39
  Nisha is an MS registered dietitian and author of Cooking for Longevity and practically vegan, more than 100 healthy, easy, delicious vegan dinners on a budget.
• 1:51
  She also shares delicious recipes that promote longevity and bone health and relieve menopausal symptoms and covers a variety of topics that are important to women. You can find her at cookingforpeanuts.com or on Instagram at CookingforPenuts, but you likely already follow her.
• 2:07
  Please welcome Nisha Melvani.
• 2:11
  Hi, Nisha. Hi.
• 2:12
  Hi Lauren, thank you for having me on the show and I'm so excited to be here.
• 2:17
  I think we have a lot in common and I'm glad you found Yeah.
• 2:19
  me, so thank you.
• 2:21
  Yes. Thank you, Nancy. I appreciate it.
• 2:25
  So yeah, first of all, I mean, you're just adorable. I've I've been watching your videos on Instagram.
• 2:31
  You're just, you know, you just radiate this goodness.
• 2:34
  And I think that that's what people connect with that they feel.
• 2:38
  And so thank you for for putting your good work out into the world.
• 2:42
  ~ can I ask how old you are?
• 2:43
  That's very sweet. Thank you.
• 2:44
  sure. Can I ask how old you are?
• 2:46
  So I'm actually in the midst of trying to celebrate my 50th, which is in two months. And Mm.
• 2:52
  I wasn't going to celebrate, but I feel I've been saying I'm turning 50 soon for like three years on social media.
• 2:57
  Yes.
• 2:59
  So it's time to say I'm actually 50 now.
• 3:02
  And I'm actually, Yes!~ I'm inviting 50 people to celebrate at a vegan restaurant.
• 3:08
  So, you know, they're going to be vegans, non-vegans, like all types, but the food's really good and...
• 3:14
  I think it will be a celebration of my love for ~ vegan living as well as my friendships.
• 3:20
  That's beautiful. You look fabulous.
• 3:22
  50 is such a good decade.
• 3:25
  I mean, I could say I'm getting like now like you've been saying you're turning 50.
• 3:29
  I just turned 58. Now I'm like, I'm turning 60. my god. Like, you know, you I guess you just have to like mentally prepare so you start saying that.
• 3:37
  But so do you.
• 3:38
  Well, you look incredible, let me ask you, why is it called cooking for peanuts?
• 3:45
  So I came to Instagram, I'm an OG, I guess is what they call me, ~ when Uh-huh.
• 3:49
  it first started, someone had said to me, you know, I had my masters in nutrition and I cooked a lot and I love telling about what's healthy in various restaurants or stores.
• 4:00
  So a friend said, Nisha, have you heard of Instagram?
• 4:03
  And I was like, no, what is this?
• 4:05
  You know, so I took a look, I was the kind of person who I came to like the smartphone late, I checked emails on my computer.
• 4:12
  forever and so this whole idea of being on social media was very daunting to me.
• 4:17
  ~ But actually my first site was called My Favorite Edibles because I didn't know what edibles were.
• 4:24
  And someone said, no Nisha that's not a great name for you.
• 4:29
  So then I had to think of another name and~ I was feeding my kids who were very young at the time, so we called them peanuts. So I was cooking for peanuts Mm-hmm.
• 4:39
  and I made no money doing it. So cooking for peanuts just covered both of those points, I guess, and it felt catchy, like that people would Yeah.
• 4:48
  remember it. It's not that I favor peanuts as a legume over other legumes, Right.
• 4:52
  it just so happened that it's also the name of a food.
• 4:55
  That's so cute. Wait, where do you live?
• 4:58
  You're in New York City. nice.
• 4:59
  in New York City. Yeah, and where are you?
• 5:01
  ~ I'm in Austin, Texas, but I actually grew up in New York the first ten years of my life. ~ so yeah, but okay, so how did you get into this? Did you have a health issue or have you always been vegan?
• 5:15
  So I went to school for nutrition because since the age of seven, I was obsessed with cooking and creating healthy recipes.
• 5:23
  So I remember at seven trying to make pizza crust that wasn't all refined flour and tweaking it and saying, how can I make a healthy pizza crust?
• 5:34
  Then there was this fad of low fat.
• 5:38
  So I was also trying to make Mm-hmm.
• 5:39
  it low fat. ~ And so I think my passion for cooking healthfully started then.
• 5:45
  And I was a pre-med. ~ I did do pre-med in college and then also ~ didn't go into medicine, but I really had a love for food and chemistry.
• 5:58
  And so to marry that, I was like, why not study nutrition?
• 6:02
  So I worked a year when I moved into New York in something completely different and then went back to school to do my masters at Columbia in nutrition science.
• 6:12
  then later realized, you I really love the cooking aspect because there are a lot of nutritionists who don't actually cook.
• 6:19
  And I could never really understand that because to me, Yeah, that's odd.
• 6:22
  cooking is life and, you know, it's everything and it's, you know.
• 6:25
  mindfulness, it's just so much about it that I love.
• 6:28
  And so when my kids were a bit older, I did go to a vegetarian vegan culinary school called the Natural Gourmet in New York City. And that sort of married my two passions together.
• 6:40
  And so my Instagram grew from just sharing healthy finds in various supermarkets or whatever I was doing at that time to how to cook ~ healthful vegan recipes.
• 6:52
  So I noticed on ~ your website that you have, you know, a section about cholesterol lowering foods.
• 7:00
  So why are you interested in lowering cholesterol or is that just to help the public and then maybe talk about some of the cholesterol lowering foods?
• 7:09
  Sure. So cholesterol has been on my radar for decades, actually, because I am of Indian origin and we tend to store more fat viscerally, which isn't great for metabolic health and can drive up LDL cholesterol.
• 7:22
  ~ Even being thin, you still have that risk.
• 7:26
  And so I always knew that I was more susceptible.
• 7:29
  I also have two parents that take statins and, you know, a few members in my dad's family passed very young from heart disease.
• 7:37
  So this was always on my radar and I knew that with menopause and the decline in estrogen, there is a period where our LDL and ApoB tends to go up.
• 7:47
  It will then stabilize again, so don't panic, but it will go up slightly or not slightly, depending on your lifestyle. And Right.
• 7:55
  so this was always something that I knew I was gonna have to pay close attention to.
• 8:00
  And I think following this plant-based diet and avoiding coconut products as much as possible has really helped.
• 8:07
  And I've been measuring my LDL cholesterol and more recently ApoB for about,~ you know, over 20 years because I started doing my labs yearly when I moved to New York City and it's fortunately always been good.
• 8:21
  Now I did recently see a slight bump from when I entered transitioning into menopause, but that's expected and it still stays within a good level.
• 8:30
  And I do think that the way I eat has really helped.
• 8:34
  And I started to up those cholesterol-lowering foods ~ even more and pay more attention. And I think, you know, obviously there's room for medication too, but foods can really make the dose of medication needed much less.
• 8:48
  Yeah, yeah. So what are some of the foods that you tend to cook with or and some and I'll tell you, I made the ~ black soybean burgers out of your recipes.
• 8:58
  It was Chefkiss, delicious. Yeah,~ thanks, Lauren. I love those burgers.
• 9:02
  because ~ those are good burgers and Dr. Gregor recommends the black soybeans, so I've been ordering those and cause I can't find them.
• 9:12
  Some once in a while they'll have them at my natural grocer, but they don't have them at my Whole Foods or my grocery store.
• 9:17
  But anyway, yeah. So tell can you tell us some of the the items?
• 9:20
  I actually found a jar, like a wholesale way to buy them.
• 9:25
  ~ What?
• 9:27
  I mean, it's up to you. can show it to you, but I have this.
• 9:28
  Yeah. Or where it well like where do you get them?
• 9:31
  So I have links on my website,~ which we can share in the show notes.
• 9:35
  Yes.
• 9:35
  And I have one saying, shop healthy ingredients.
• 9:37
  And I've put all of this there for people so they can easily find that.
• 9:40
  Okay. Perfect.
• 9:41
  But I did find a more economical way to just buy them in bulk.
• 9:45
  Thank you.
• 9:46
  The black color is those anthocyanins.
• 9:49
  So that's like the added benefit of the black soybeans versus the other soybeans that you can find.
• 9:53
  Yeah.
• 9:54
  ~ So basically, I'm sure you know this, but oats and barley for the beta-glucan.
• 10:00
  which works because it's a soluble fiber.
• 10:03
  So what it does is it, when you eat that, it is viscous and it pushes our bile, more bile acids out of the body.
• 10:11
  Now the liver will remake that bile because that's how we digest fat.
• 10:16
  And so it uses the LDL cholesterol in our bloodstream to make the bile.
• 10:21
  So it's lowering your LDL. So by eating those viscous fibers that are causing us to emit the bile, The liver is remaking it. So that's sort of the trick.
• 10:31
  And so oats.
• 10:32
  Interesting.
• 10:33
  Like, can just say that one more time because honestly, I really never knew the mechanism of how it works.
• 10:40
  That's so inter like, huh? Why didn't I even ever think about like, well, how does it do it? Okay, so can you say that one more time about the liver and the foods?
• 10:47
  Yes, so you eat viscous soluble fiber, the type like beta-glucan in oats and barley.
• 10:53
  And Uh-huh.
• 10:54
  that is going to travel through and be that kind of gummy texture, right? And what happens is in the digestive tract, it will pull bile acids with it.
• 11:02
  So they get excreted from the body.
• 11:04
  And the gallbladder contains those bile acids that we need for fat digestion.
• 11:09
  So the liver has to make more of that bile and it uses cholesterol to do that.
• 11:14
  So it will pull the LDL from your bloodstream and so your LDL goes down.
• 11:18
  Man, that's good to know. What other what other foods are good for lowering your cholesterol?
• 11:23
  So, you know, legumes, right? Also rich in that soluble fiber.
• 11:27
  And then we have a psyllium husk, more of the same reason.
• 11:31
  Yeah.
• 11:32
  So I eat a tablespoon of that in water every day as well.
• 11:36
  You just put it in water and drink it.
• 11:38
  It really doesn't taste of anything.
• 11:40
  Okay, yeah.
• 11:41
  And you want to do it not near, I do it after a meal that tends to be higher in fat, let's say.
• 11:50
  that's a good idea. So you just dissolve one tablespoon of psyllium husk in a glass of water?
• 11:55
  Yeah, you just mix it in for a couple of minutes and then drink it.
• 11:59
  Drink it. Okay, that's that's a good tip.
• 12:01
  I also have a psyllium What el cause jelly recipe on my site, so I make a jam out of psyllium.
• 12:04
  Okay.
• 12:07
  that's so good. Okay.
• 12:08
  Yeah.
• 12:08
  yeah, because I this is this is my area of struggle.
• 12:12
  I've been eating this way for more than eleven years and I still really can't get my cholesterol exactly where it should be.
• 12:21
  And I don't cheat. I don't eat oil.
• 12:23
  I take my food to a restaurant.
• 12:25
  I don't play. And ~ you know, my cholesterol is still a little bit over 200 and my LDL is I ~ I just did like it's like one fifteen, you know, it's not ideal. ~ anyway, And genetics, know, genetics play a huge role in that.
• 12:39
  so this genetics. Huge.
• 12:42
  I know. But I like you, I've had a lot of r mm I've had several relatives drop dead in their forties and you know, just ~ like I say, my my family loves to have heart attacks.
• 12:53
  That's what we we're really good at.
• 12:54
  Yeah. And you know, you can, you know, take all these precautions, but you know, I'm sure you've heard of LP little a, the other type. So that is genetically determined.
• 13:02
  Yes, I have that. Mine's through the roof.
• 13:05
  Yes.
• 13:06
  Can't really do much about it. And the recent trial we had about lowering it didn't show us much either.
• 13:12
  So I have one kid with a high LPA cause I also have my kids test their cholesterol yearly. they that's good.
• 13:20
  were little.
• 13:20
  and their glucose, their hemoglobin A1C.
• 13:23
  I don't know why we aren't testing our teenagers.
• 13:26
  don't, because Yeah.
• 13:27
  this starts very young, these diseases.
• 13:30
  So I've Yeah.
• 13:31
  always tested them. They don't love getting their blood drawn, but they're used to it now. And it has been helpful.
• 13:37
  Things have been discovered through this and they've learned a lot themselves through this process.
• 13:43
  So for me to tell them, if you eat like that, it's gonna increase your risk of diabetes.
• 13:49
  That doesn't mean anything to a child, Yeah. Right.
• 13:51
  right? But if they get a blood test back that says ~ that their hemoglobin A1c is getting higher, they can understand that, right? And so it has been helpful.
• 14:01
  And I did discover one of my children has a high LPA, and so she is aware of it and knows she has to be even more careful with her diet.
• 14:11
  Yeah, yeah.
• 14:13
  But you know,~ another food that is great for lowering cholesterol is it's sort of, guess, more of a supplement, I would say, but it's barley beta-glucan where they've isolated the beta-glucan component.
• 14:24
  I found a tested brand of that, know, third party tested because you do have to be careful of heavy metals or whatever else can end up in these products.
• 14:33
  ~ I'm very...
• 14:33
  Yeah, I s I saw that on your website. So yeah, you have a nice area on your website that has good third party tested all vegan supplements that that you believe in.
• 14:44
  What what supplements do you take?
• 14:46
  So I do take a like iron-free multivitamin and I did check that the doses of the vitamins in there aren't too high.
• 14:56
  Like I am going to be getting, I'm not, I don't really want a hundred percent because I'm getting a lot from but it's just Exactly.
• 15:02
  to cover my bases. And there is a Cosmos trial showing those people who do take multivitamins do fare better ~ cognitively.
• 15:10
  So the whole thing when we were told don't take them, don't, you know, I don't.
• 15:14
  think that's true. So I do take a very low dose multi ~ without iron.
• 15:20
  And I also take vitamin D. And I think the level of that should be determined by your blood levels.
• 15:26
  Don't just take high doses because you may not need that.
• 15:29
  ~ I need about 2,000 IU daily.
• 15:33
  And I also take magnesium glycinate, not a high dose, just a little bit before bed.
• 15:42
  The sleep data isn't...
• 15:43
  you know, ~ so strong, but People swear by that though.
• 15:49
  yeah.
• 15:49
  Taking it before bed, yeah.
• 15:51
  I think it can be calming, also I don't think even though I eat so healthfully, I probably don't get all the magnesium I need for my food.
• 16:00
  Right. Yeah. It's okay.
• 16:01
  So I do take the glycinate, which is a bit gentler on the stomach.
• 16:04
  And right.
• 16:06
  Some of the other forms can cause upset stomach.
• 16:10
  And Yeah. Is that it? Or do you take anything else?
• 16:13
  I do take cocoa flavorinols. ~ I don't think it's essential.
• 16:17
  just...
• 16:18
  You know, my husband's mom got Alzheimer's at a very young age.
• 16:23
  And at that point we had gone to see an Alzheimer's specialist for her.
• 16:28
  And he had just suggested this specific third party tested cocoa, flavonal supplement that, you know, has potential. So I do take that sometimes for blood vessel health and possible cognitive benefits.
• 16:45
  ~ Can can you get the same benefits from like cacao or is this ~ different?
• 16:50
  Yeah, with that I would, I guess this is more the measured flavonal amount is in the supplement, so you know you're getting that much, and also is tested for heavy metals, which I like, but I don't think it's essential that everyone takes that.
• 17:06
  Okay.
• 17:06
  can just, eating a lot of blueberries too is great.
• 17:09
  Yeah.
• 17:10
  But the vitamin D, the multi, the magnesium I take, and... ~ And the malta will obviously include B12 because being vegan, you need that.
• 17:20
  Yeah.
• 17:21
  I think everybody needs it because no nobody's getting B twelve because you used to get it from the cows eating the grass and healthy soil and that's not happening anymore.
• 17:29
  So even if you eat meat Yeah.
• 17:30
  Right, though fortified soy milk has some, nutritional yeast has some.
• 17:34
  Mm-hmm.
• 17:35
  I also take creatine and I think yeah.
• 17:38
  that has been really helpful for me.
• 17:41
  I've seen favorable changes in my body composition and I also train now.
• 17:47
  ~ Nice.
• 17:49
  So I do take ~ the most vigorously tested creatine I have found.
• 17:54
  So I'll tell you why I'm such a fanatic about these testings.
• 17:59
  years ago, over a decade, I was,~ you know, because I told you I get my blood tests done yearly.
• 18:05
  And it showed my liver enzymes had started to increase.
• 18:09
  And I was getting some strange symptoms similar to erythromyelalgia, which is like a pain disorder,~ where my feet would tingle a lot and I could not understand it.
• 18:20
  And I had been told that if I didn't figure out why the liver enzymes were increasing, then I may even need like a liver transplant at some point in my life.
• 18:29
  my gosh.
• 18:30
  Yes, and I had no like pre-existing conditions.
• 18:32
  This was all like very surprising to me.
• 18:35
  I've actually never really talked about this, but I said to them, the only thing I see that I do regularly, because I didn't take any supplements or anything at that point.
• 18:43
  And I was like, the only thing I do regularly is I drink this black tea, organic black tea, four times a day.
• 18:51
  And they're like, that has never been shown to do this.
• 18:54
  It cannot be that.
• 18:55
  maybe green tea, but not black tea.
• 18:57
  And I'm like, no, I think that this could be the culprit.
• 19:01
  And so I stopped drinking it and they retested it and in two weeks it went back to normal. And the symptoms Well.
• 19:08
  did mostly, they went away, but it was the black tea and they admitted you were right. It is the black tea because that's the only change I made.
• 19:15
  ~ And I called the company and told them that this must have heavy metal contamination because...
• 19:22
  This is what happened to me. So I'm hoping that they did something about that.
• 19:26
  But that's why I always make sure everything is tested.
• 19:28
  I mean, that's I love that you called them and I doubt that they did anything, but that's me just being skeptical.
• 19:36
  But I think you're so right because ~ I feel like that's a lot when you're taking supplements, a lot of times you're guessing.
• 19:44
  Can they say third party testing without that being true?
• 19:48
  They it has to be true, right?
• 19:50
  Well, what I look for is NSF certified, because that's just a higher Okay.
• 19:54
  standard. And also, like the creatine I take is ~ made in a pharmaceutical grade facility.
• 20:01
  no other external contaminants are coming in and it's tested for, know, PUFAs, microplastics, PFAS, everything. ~ Yeah.
• 20:11
  I just feel much more confident.
• 20:13
  If I'm putting something in my body every single day, having had that experience I shared with you, I just...
• 20:19
  want to know that it's as clean as possible, you know?
• 20:22
  I really appreciate that and ~ I you know, I I'm pretty fanatical about what I put in my body and even on my skin as well.
• 20:30
  and I I think that that's a really good point that sometimes people don't pay attention to. So that's good.
• 20:38
  So well that's good that you have those on your website and people can look at them.
• 20:42
  I know creatine's a huge deal right now.
• 20:44
  ~ so what what how much creatine do you take and how do you take it?
• 20:50
  So I know there's newer studies that are sort of testing 10 grams, but I am more conservative. I'm sticking with the older studies with three to five grams, ~ and I take five grams daily.
• 21:04
  I think if someone starts, they could split that into two doses, or they could even just start with three grams, do one and a half grams twice a day, which is less likely to cause any upset for them or any side effects at all.
• 21:17
  What does it upset your stomach? Why do people have to start slow?
• 21:19
  Not to me ever, but some people might, some people have heard say when they start on like five, it's a lot, you know? So in that case, everyone's different, right? For me, I didn't have those effects, but for anyone who Yeah. Okay. So you feels that I would split the dose.
• 21:34
  Okay. So just maybe start with like three grams and even split that and then just work and build up.
• 21:39
  up to five.
• 21:40
  Or they can stay at three. I take five, Yeah. Okay.
• 21:42
  but I think that's personal, yeah.
• 21:44
  Is it something you mix in a drink?
• 21:46
  Is it in a pill form?
• 21:47
  So I just, the form I take dissolves really well in water, so it's not gritty, like there's no bits, so I just drink it with water.
• 21:54
  ~ Some people like to, like my partner takes it with breakfast, you know, or in a smoothie, or it's fine.
• 22:02
  Just don't like, the problem is when people mix it into a drink and then they that drink for like two hours or later, or they put it in the fridge. I would just mix it when you're ready to have it, so it doesn't break down.
• 22:13
  And just drink it down. Okay, and you feel like this has helped you build more muscle?
• 22:18
  Yeah, it's also, you know, probably I'd need more for brain energetics, but I think it does help because remember I'm a vegan, so I'm not actually consuming much creatine, right? So we make some creatine, but then a lot of people will get that from their diet, you know, meat. I don't think it's a compelling reason to go and eat meat, but what I'm, you know, this is like a great way for me to get it because vegans and vegetarians tend to have much less and it helps with your energetics.
• 22:45
  So...
• 22:46
  You know, we use ATP, right? When we work out and you're doing like a very intense activity, like lifting a heavy weight or something, you're going to use ATP to fuel that, you know? So creatine has that extra P because you use the P when you use it for energy and creatine sitting there giving you the extra P back to the And so then have adenosine triphosphate, What is what does that all that stand for?
• 23:09
  ATP? ~ okay.
• 23:11
  which is an energy molecule. We use that to, Okay.
• 23:13
  you know, make energy, that is how we get energy, Okay. And so it gives you the P.
• 23:17
  right? So creatine puts the pee back and so you can have more of those energy helping molecules.
• 23:24
  And then, so you can just work a little harder.
• 23:26
  So it makes sense that then you will, you know, create more muscle too.
• 23:31
  And it also hydrates your muscle.
• 23:33
  You know, people are like, I'm scared of creatine because it makes us gain weight.
• 23:36
  It does not make us gain weight.
• 23:38
  ~ You might.
• 23:40
  see a little more what looks like sort of bloating in the beginning, because it is hydrating your muscles more, but that's a good thing to hydrate your muscles.
• 23:48
  And that Yeah.
• 23:48
  effect sort of wears off over time when you stay on it.
• 23:51
  Okay. That's good to know. I appreciate that.
• 23:53
  Fast energetics, that's what it does. It helps fuel your fast energetics.
• 23:57
  Fast, sorry, I that British accent still.
• 23:57
  Foss Energetics. How do you spell f f are you saying fast?
• 24:01
  Fast, is that what you're saying?
• 24:04
  Yeah, fast energetics. Yes?
• 24:06
  Fost okay. I like the way you say it better, Thanks.
• 24:09
  but I can tell it's You know, I lived in England for 12 years, actually. Yeah.
• 24:15
  you have a beautiful accent. Yeah, you definitely don't have Thank you.
• 24:17
  a New York accent, so I can ~ let's move on to bone health because that's something that I think especially menopausal and postmenopausal perimenopausal women are all concerned with. ~ so what what kind of ~ Foods do you recommend for bone health?
• 24:35
  So I guess protein is sort of provides that structure for the bone.
• 24:40
  So I do think it's important to meet your protein needs.
• 24:43
  ~ I aim for about 30 grams per meal.
• 24:48
  Don't save it all for dinner. I wow.
• 24:50
  would say ~ try and distribute it throughout the day.
• 24:54
  ~ And I guess It's like the goal is 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram or 0.5 to 0.7 per pound, let's say. ~ And the way I do that with plants, plants, Say plants, it's beautiful.
• 25:14
  is to layer my protein. So I want those fiber-rich cholesterol-lowering legumes, right?
• 25:22
  but they aren't the highest protein food.
• 25:24
  They're a good source of protein and fiber, but they're not the highest protein vegan food.
• 25:28
  So I do What is?
• 25:29
  have them. And then I top them with either tofu, tempeh, or seitan, which is high in leucine.
• 25:35
  It's great for muscle building.
• 25:38
  And then I also will choose protein rich grains like quinoa, and then add a protein rich sauce.
• 25:46
  So all of these can be meal prepped, right?
• 25:49
  So my protein-rich sauce might be made with hemp hearts or ~ something with more protein. And then if I meal prep these components and change them up each week, then I can just layer my meals.
• 26:02
  And I find that's really helpful to keep my protein up, just having those components So prepped.
• 26:07
  are you yeah, I kinda d I do the same thing.
• 26:09
  Are you eating a lot of bowls then?
• 26:12
  Like with it sounds like a bowl to me.
• 26:13
  A lot of the mixed meals. Like I don't Yeah. Okay. ~ plan so tightly, you know?
• 26:19
  Right.
• 26:20
  I sort of just have components and it's a lot of just mixed meals because the vegetable part, like the non-starchy veg part of my meal, which ~ is also important for plant variety, I will change that up depending on what's local, what's seasonal, or what I'm craving, you know, that week.
• 26:39
  Yeah.
• 26:40
  That's good. And so Yeah.
• 26:41
  So there's room for flexibility and for taste and all that.
• 26:44
  Wow, you're eating a lot of protein.
• 26:46
  ~ so you th Yeah. I do too.
• 26:46
  I eat a lot of food actually. it's like that, I think like we really need to eat a lot of food, nutrient dense food to meet Yes.
• 26:54
  our needs. Otherwise, you know, we're gonna see hair loss, we're gonna see bone loss, we're gonna see muscle loss. So I think my whole thing with this age of, you know, transitioning into menopause is don't ~ eat too low calorie because ~ Yes.
• 27:10
  move more instead, you know, and just Mm-hmm.
• 27:13
  eat nutrient dense foods. Like I don't like to...
• 27:15
  you know, waste ~ calories in a sense.
• 27:18
  Like I don't eat a lot of refined foods and stuff like that.
• 27:21
  Right.
• 27:21
  I try to pack in my nutrition, but I do eat a lot.
• 27:24
  Like when friends come over, they're like, gosh, Nisha, you eat so much. But I just, I know people say that to me too.
• 27:28
  yeah.
• 27:31
  And I do. I I can pack it. But it's it's, you know, a lot is v vegetables and legumes and whole grains and like Yes.
• 27:39
  you're saying, so you know, it's not really calorie dense.
• 27:42
  It's just a vol a lot of volume.
• 27:43
  Right, it's fiber rich. Yes.
• 27:45
  Yeah, fiber rich. ~ and so so I know that's all good for your bones.
• 27:50
  What I know you need greens, greens So what else? Yes.
• 27:53
  and then there's greens to avoid, right?
• 27:55
  Right, well calcium. So for calcium, I do low oxalate greens, which are kale, bok choy, collard greens, mustard and turnip greens. Also arugula, a bit less, but arugula is good too.
• 28:12
  And you can get the calcium even when they're raw, but I find by cooking it, you're even briefly, lowering the oxalates even more.
• 28:21
  And also, It's much easier to eat a lot of cooked greens than raw greens, right? So you just eat more. Yeah, Yes, absolutely. They cook down to nothing.
• 28:28
  and we need a lot of greens. Yeah.
• 28:29
  Mm-hmm.
• 28:30
  So that's non-negotiable daily, some sort of.
• 28:33
  So do you avoid spinach then because it's high in oxalates?
• 28:36
  No, I don't avoid oxalates. I just try and time it a little, Or you how do you time it?
• 28:39
  you know? Well, What do you mean by that?
• 28:42
  if I'm eating a certain thing for calcium, then I'm not gonna eat something too high in oxalates with that meal, right? So Okay.
• 28:50
  if I'm just eating for, not for any of that, then I don't care. I'll eat oxalates, right? So it just depends on what am I trying to get from that food, right? ~ Like, am I trying to boost my calcium?
• 29:02
  Then I won't eat spinach at that time, you know?
• 29:04
  Okay.
• 29:05
  And oxalates just d what deter?
• 29:05
  ~ They just inhibit, they're not harmful, they just inhibit the absorption of certain nutrients.
• 29:11
  Okay.
• 29:11
  That's all. ~ And then...
• 29:14
  Like calcium?
• 29:15
  Yeah, exactly. Or, ~ Yeah. Okay.
• 29:17
  you know, iron with phytates Okay.
• 29:20
  or zinc. So also ~ for calcium, I do do a fortified soy milk. So a fortified Mm-hmm.
• 29:27
  non-dairy milk is always good to help with that.
• 29:29
  ~ Or a fortified ~ non-dairy yogurt, because then you also get the fermented food aspect.
• 29:37
  ~ Okay.
• 29:39
  And I think those are like my main...
• 29:42
  Okay.
• 29:43
  sources, and then I do eat prunes.
• 29:45
  So even though Yes.
• 29:46
  the prune study is by the prune industry, I don't care because who's going to go do a prune study, right? There's no money Right.
• 29:52
  to be made. So whoever's funding it, as long as it's a reasonable study, I'm fine with it, you know?
• 29:57
  I've just recently added those in for iron, but tell me why you like prunes.
• 30:01
  And they've been rebranded, Well, the polyphenol.
• 30:03
  by the way. They're called dry plums now.
• 30:05
  Because uh-huh. Because people I guess associate it with like, you know, old people needing to Yeah.
• 30:12
  move their bowels, which isn't lovely.
• 30:15
  But ~ but yeah, so that's I doubt with all I feel I'm getting to that category soon, so that's okay. No, the fiber you eat, you have that problem.
• 30:23
  But yeah, so no, no, I mean the category of the older people who eat prunes.
• 30:26
  The older people. But yeah, so I'm one of them.
• 30:29
  so yeah, eat your prunes or dried plums.
• 30:32
  But you know, my 22 year old eats prunes.
• 30:32
  So that's good. That they're good for you.
• 30:36
  She's great.
• 30:37
  Meal prep's all her vegan food.
• 30:39
  She sends me videos. She actually works for me.
• 30:41
  She helps me update my blog. She's very nutrition savvy and she's vegan.
• 30:46
  That's great.
• 30:47
  it really like, we work really well together.
• 30:50
  I finally found an employee. Yeah.
• 30:50
  That's lovely. So what what's the benefit of prunes?
• 30:54
  So, you know, they have a lot of the nutrients that help with building bones and they also have polyphenols.
• 31:01
  They're a healthy food and they help you stay regular.
• 31:03
  So why not eat prunes? I mean, Yeah.
• 31:05
  don't eat too many prunes, but you know, Like how many do you eat?
• 31:07
  like anything.
• 31:08
  So the studies were five to six, but I'll honestly say I probably eat about three because I get so much from, you know, other foods. So I'm probably around the three mark, I'd say. And I also do pumpkin seeds for magnesium because That also helps with bones and also just so many things, mitochondria, we need magnesium.
• 31:28
  They power those ~ powerhouses, let's say, in our body, the mitochondria, and also for some protein. know, pumpkin seeds help with that. ~ Yes. Pumpkin teams are so good for you. They have zinc and ~ iron.
• 31:40
  Yeah, so pair them with kiwi and you're going to absorb Mm-hmm.
• 31:44
  the iron. I love kiwis for fiber and Yes, me too.
• 31:47
  everything else. ~ And I'm known to eat them with the skin on, famous for that. Yeah.
• 31:52
  man, I'm trying to do that, but I I c I s can't. I get those green hairy ones.
• 31:58
  I know the yellow ones are easier.
• 31:59
  They have less hair on them, but man, Yeah, they're easier. The sun gold.
• 32:01
  Yeah.
• 32:02
  I'm I've tried, but I I got I got it. I think it's something that I just have to get used to and keep trying, you know.
• 32:08
  Yeah, it's fine. mean, still eat kiwis even if you're not eating the skin.
• 32:11
  Yes, I love them.
• 32:12
  They're still healthy.
• 32:14
  And ~ I also for bones,~ what else do I do? You know, resistance training, obviously.
• 32:22
  ~ And yeah, I'm not, you know, I have it all on my website, but like eating for bones.
• 32:29
  Yes. It sounds like ~ yeah, I know you and you know, I I know that you're kind of known for your sauces.
• 32:38
  And I just want to say on I have two websites, obviously, age likeabadassmother.com, but I also have wellelephant.com, which has my recipes. And I have a really nice ~ recipe for a pumpkin seed cilantro sauce. That's what I generally put over my bowls.
• 32:53
  And ~ cilantro is really good for you know, removing heavy metals and toxins like we were talking about and then the pumpkin seeds are so good for you.
• 33:03
  They're so that's a great one that I use a lot.
• 33:04
  That sounds delicious.
• 33:05
  Mm-hmm.
• 33:06
  But I know that you are known for your delicious sauces and also for sprouting.
• 33:11
  So can you tell me a little bit about how the ideas that you come up for?
• 33:16
  ~ Nancy wanted to know actually how do you come up with the ideas for your sauces and you know, do you have like a nutritional thing in mind or do you just Kind of create them in the kitchen.
• 33:27
  So I think for sauces, well, firstly, regarding the sprouts, here's my, see I have my next batch coming up right here.
• 33:34
  ~ you yeah, yeah. For people who aren't watching, she's just showing me her sprouts.
• 33:38
  Yeah, they're just such~ beautiful.
• 33:40
  nutrient dense foods. And this idea, you know, I live in a New York city apartment where the idea of winter light is like a rumor, right? Barely a rumor, Mm-hmm, exactly. Mm-hmm.
• 33:48
  but it's so empowering to me that I can grow food in my house and it's not traveling and losing nutrition.
• 33:56
  you know, broccoli sprouts are especially rich in glucoraphanin, Yes.
• 34:01
  which turns into sulforaphane.
• 34:03
  And we know that's just huge health benefits from that.
• 34:06
  Because they're in my home, they're not getting lost.
• 34:09
  The nutrition is still, it's like, there's no days of travel time.
• 34:13
  So I really love sprouting.
• 34:13
  So sulf that's beautiful. So sulf sulfurophane is g like anti cancer causing, is that correct?
• 34:21
  Well, it's been studied, so forfein for its anti-cancer effects is also an important ~ component of our natural detoxification systems.
• 34:29
  So while there's not studies on this, feel like with all the microplastics and all the Yeah.
• 34:35
  air pollution from all the wildfires, just everything we're exposed to nowadays, it's got to be helping. So if something is helping our detox system, hopefully it's also helping with combating all of that.
• 34:46
  ~ You know, it's a great yield. Like you're getting a 10 to one yield of seeds to fresh organic vegetables in your home.
• 34:54
  So it's very economical. ~ It's good.
• 34:57
  But I think the huge barrier for people I realized was like, what do I do with them now that they're ready?
• 35:04
  And I was like, wait, why wouldn't we just add a delicious dressing, right? ~ Mm-hmm.
• 35:09
  And then you can eat this entire bowl.
• 35:11
  And so people who like volume eating, you know, this is a great solution.
• 35:16
  And so I was like, what kind of dressing would taste good with that crunch?
• 35:19
  So it can't be too heavy where it weighs down those light delicate sprouts, but I wanted them to be very nutrient dense at the same time.
• 35:28
  And again, I don't really use oil in my dressings or much in my cooking.
• 35:33
  I'm not scared of oil. I don't think oil is bad for us or anything like that.
• 35:38
  It's just that I...
• 35:39
  focus on being as nutrient dense as possible and I don't know how to fit in all my other stuff as well as oil.
• 35:45
  that sort of led me to this approach.
• 35:47
  And so I will use those nuts and seeds in the dressings for creaminess because we all need or desire creaminess and fat makes things more palatable, Yes. Absolutely.
• 35:57
  right? And I know you once did follow a low-fat diet, I believe I read, but Yes.
• 36:02
  we really need fat to absorb the benefits from the sprouts and...
• 36:06
  Yep.
• 36:06
  know, the fat soluble vitamins, need fat to absorb ~ plant compounds like lutein and beta carotene.
• 36:14
  So it's really important that they should be part of a dressing.
• 36:17
  Yeah. And then, yes.
• 36:18
  I agree. They're part of my dressings now.
• 36:20
  I've changed my stance on it, but yes. Mm-hmm.
• 36:23
  Exactly, I'm glad. And so that's why I create these sauce recipes that sort of, you know, are just encompass all of that.
• 36:32
  And then you just can pour them onto your sprouts and eat a whole bowl and you'll actually love it.
• 36:36
  my gosh. What are some of your ~ sauces that you like?
• 36:40
  So there's a sun-dried tomato dressing that people love with harissa.
• 36:43
  Mm-hmm. ~ yum.
• 36:44
  That one went pretty viral. sun-dried tomatoes, you can buy them just ~ dried, not in a jar, and hydrate them yourself.
• 36:50
  Yeah. That's what I use.
• 36:52
  Or I sometimes buy them in the oil and just rinse them ~ in the jar.
• 36:58
  And then there's an artichoke heart one, because that's good for cholesterol.
• 37:02
  also Yeah.
• 37:03
  ~ artichoke hearts have a lot of flavor.
• 37:08
  when, and Yeah.
• 37:08
  creaminess, they kind of do add that creaminess, right? So I think of those kinds of tricks~ that just will make something more interesting and tasty and add nutrition.
• 37:19
  that's so good. Okay, so ~ tell me, like, you know, I know you wrote this book about a longevity diet.
• 37:28
  tell and we've really talked a lot about it already, but I think ~ give me an idea of what you eat in a day.
• 37:38
  For like if you're going for longevity, what's it like, what does that look like in a day?
• 37:43
  So I think like I eat for my metabolic health, you know? Like the goal isn't that your insulin never goes up.
• 37:50
  It's going to, but it's how much is it going up?
• 37:52
  How long is it staying up? Is it coming back down?
• 37:54
  You know, the goal isn't like ~ to not eat sugar.
• 38:00
  We should eat fruit, right? We need fiber.
• 38:02
  Like this is not, you know, the goal.
• 38:04
  The goal is for me to include a lot of whole foods.
• 38:08
  to make sure I'm covering my macronutrients, getting enough carbohydrates, enough fats, enough protein, make sure I'm covering my micronutrients.
• 38:16
  I do think on a vegan diet that is harder to do and I have put a lot of effort into understanding that.
• 38:25
  ~ And that's why I love my job because I feel it really does inform people more and help them to not have these deficiencies.
• 38:34
  And so I do...
• 38:36
  have quite a structured diet just because I have to meet all of this, but I enjoy my diet a lot. Like I really love what I eat and I feel we get used to what we eat if we give our bodies a chance and I don't crave,~ I don't eat a lot of salt for example, because it does stiffen the arteries.
• 38:53
  So I'm very conscientious about that and I don't crave very sweet foods anymore.
• 38:59
  All of that kind of changes once our body adapts to this new way of eating.
• 39:03
  It's really quite powerful, because I have three children who eat like this, you know? And so I know it works.
• 39:08
  I know we can get used to it, and I know we can enjoy it.
• 39:10
  And for anything to be longevity, we have to enjoy it. We're not going to do it for the long run.
• 39:14
  Yes. That's right. So like what so what do you eat for breakfast,~ So flavor, texture, yeah, OK.
• 39:19
  lunch and ~ sorry.
• 39:21
  So I think breakfast, ~ I always try and include berries, blueberries especially. I like frozen blueberries.
• 39:28
  because that means they're always there and the wild blueberries are even more concentrated in anthocyanins because if you look how small they are, the proportion of skin to berry is greater, like there's more skin per berry.
• 39:39
  ~ I never thought of that.
• 39:42
  So they're even more concentrated in those polyphenols.
• 39:46
  ~ Yeah.
• 39:47
  I always have walnuts.
• 39:49
  I fed my kids walnuts since they were six months old and they got into their top choice college. I always say it's the walnuts, you know, and the brain health.
• 39:58
  ~ And with walnuts, very interesting, which I recently learned is they contain plant compounds called elagitanins, which not everyone, depending on your gut microbiome, but most people, maybe 70%, can make ~ urolithin A, a compound that is great for inflammation.
• 40:18
  from those allergen tannins in the walnuts.
• 40:21
  And they have been studying gut health and the effect of urolithin A from the walnuts. And we see like better~ colon health and more shiny colons possibly. so walnuts seem to be great for colon health and know, polyp formation, you know, making that less.
• 40:40
  So there is promising evidence coming out around that.
• 40:43
  How mu like how much? How many quarter Just a quarter cup, quarter cup.
• 40:46
  cup a day?
• 40:47
  That's about what I go for. Yeah.
• 40:49
  Okay.
• 40:51
  And I also ~ tend to eat some sort of high protein, you know, plant-based, not coconut yogurt and oat groats regularly.
• 41:01
  ~ And then those cholesterol lowering foods I'll also add.
• 41:05
  And I also eat an apple a day ~ for the pectin fiber, which helps with cholesterol, but also the flavonols in apples are great.
• 41:13
  ~ and I eat the prunes, the pumpkin seeds daily.
• 41:19
  eat ~ a lot of red cabbage, because that can stay in your crisper drawer forever, and it's even better Yeah.
• 41:26
  raw. So I use it as a crunchy topping to many of my meals.
• 41:30
  I also eat a kiwi daily, at least one. And I eat natto.
• 41:36
  I forgot to mention, natto for bone health.
• 41:38
  Yeah, so I don't believe in taking a K supplement.
• 41:39
  yeah. I had another person on who talked about that.
• 41:43
  Okay.
• 41:44
  Personally, so I just think the science isn't strong for that and I would prefer to get that through food. So the greens give you K1 and then the natto gives you It's a bit hard to start eating natto, for me it was, but it's also fermented food, Yeah. That's what I heard.
• 42:00
  right?
• 42:01
  Where where do you get it? Just do you have to get it at a special like Asian grocery store?
• 42:06
  You can buy it ~ dried and just hydrated, or I do get it in health food stores.
• 42:11
  The ones near me do have this brand New York Natto, which I like. ~ so that's how I get it.
• 42:20
  also, see, there's a lot of benefits to fermented foods, but I don't know if you're aware of the recent study where the sodium content can be negative of those fermented foods.
• 42:30
  really?
• 42:31
  you know, are seeing that the saltier fermented foods may be problematic.
• 42:35
  So natto is a no sodium fermented food and it's high And how do you eat it? How do you in protein and vitamin K.
• 42:43
  how do you eat that?
• 42:44
  So I just like will eat it, but this is not ~ the case for most people and certainly not anyone else in my family.
• 42:51
  You know, I think some people are born able to eat, tolerate more Mm-hmm.
• 42:59
  like not pleasant taste and texture.
• 43:00
  Right.
• 43:01
  ~ Like my dad has that. He will eat a banana with the skin on the Jamaican ones where the skin is very thin.
• 43:08
  I grew up in Jamaica. So that's why.
• 43:10
  Wow.
• 43:11
  But I think I got that from him.
• 43:12
  Whereas my mother has such sensitivity, like she has never eaten a fruit except bananas until she was 70 something.
• 43:21
  Yeah. And she grew up in Jamaica.
• 43:21
  Whoa, that's crazy.
• 43:23
  Like this is like so sad to me. Yeah. It's the texture, something about the texture of foods.
• 43:29
  It really triggers her. So I've seen both spectrums, Wow, wow. Yeah.
• 43:34
  you know?
• 43:34
  ~ the person Gigi who was on was talking about natto and she said that she puts it she makes like an avocado toast.
• 43:42
  ~ so yeah, okay, and so ~ And it's great in fried rice, or barley.
• 43:47
  Say you make a fried rice with barley and vegetables, Uh-huh.
• 43:50
  and you can put it in that. ~ There are definitely good ways.
• 43:54
  Okay.
• 43:54
  I would say mashing it into avocado, yes, would be good, because it kind of blends into the avocado and then It's good, yeah. Okay. Blends it.
• 44:00
  seasoning that.
• 44:01
  Okay. So it sounds like you have a big kind of oat breakfast with all these fruits and nuts and okay and an apple.
• 44:09
  And then I add my barley beta-glucan if I'm using it and my Okay, and then Okay.
• 44:12
  flax, ground flax seed for the lignans and all the rest of the benefits and I, The hemp seeds. Okay. And that this sounds yeah.
• 44:19
  similar to how I eat. Okay. And then like a lunch.
• 44:21
  And then the AMLA in case it has a benefit, Yep. ~ right?
• 44:25
  mm-hmm. Definitely use that.
• 44:26
  And yeah, and those.
• 44:28
  So like what would you eat for lunch typically?
• 44:31
  So I would typically eat my leftover dinner, right? Because I find lunch, it's hard to start from scratch.
• 44:34
  Yeah, I do that as well.
• 44:37
  But then I do add ground black cumin seeds ~ to Mm-hmm.
• 44:41
  that and a little ground long pepper, tiny bit, because that can be quite Okay. Yep.
• 44:45
  strong for the stomach. But ~ I don't really taste the black cumin seeds.
• 44:50
  And they also may have some cholesterol-lowering benefits.
• 44:54
  So I feel that's a good place for them.
• 44:54
  Right. And the long pepper does as well.
• 44:56
  So I have them pre- Yeah, you don't have to grind them.
• 44:59
  black cumin seeds, but I just happen to have them ground.
• 45:01
  ~ And so that will be where I add the crunchy red cabbage to whatever I'm making. try and eat my sprouts.
• 45:11
  The thing about the sprouts also is now we're getting into comfort food season, right? And so Right.
• 45:16
  everything's cooked, and then I like having a raw element to that.
• 45:20
  Mm-hmm.
• 45:21
  so having either the red cabbage or the sprouts is a great way to add that raw element to it. ~ And then my snack might be the prunes, pumpkin seeds, and kiwi, or something like that.
• 45:32
  Yeah, that sounds good.
• 45:34
  And dinner I usually cook from scratch, and that's where I will try and do those protein layering meals.
• 45:40
  You know, have the legume, then the tofu or tempeh or seitan element, and some kind of grain, and then the sauce.
• 45:47
  Yeah. And veggies, I bet. Tons of veggies.
• 45:49
  Tons of veggies, yeah. And that I just vary.
• 45:51
  Yeah. And the leafy greens.
• 45:51
  And the leafy greens have to go into one of those, yeah.
• 45:55
  Yeah. So do you eat ~ salads? 'Cause I like a lot of salads, or are you not a big salad person?
• 46:01
  Or I guess the sprouts are your salad, huh? The sprouts and cabbage? Yeah.
• 46:03
  Yeah, sprouts are, or I do, I go for those darker red leaf lettuce when I eat salads, Uh-huh.
• 46:09
  or the arugula. I tend to go more with those, just for Yeah.
• 46:13
  nutrient density. But yeah, I like salads.
• 46:15
  mean, and especially going out, you know, that I don't eat out a ton, but that's what I would probably go for if I were eating out.
• 46:23
  Do you bring your own salad dressing when you eat out?
• 46:25
  No, I make sure it's vegan, but I don't, that's where I'm okay if I'm eating out and it has oil or oil.
• 46:34
  Oil. Okay.
• 46:34
  I'm not very stringent. I want to enjoy my time out.
• 46:37
  Okay, good. Good, good for you.
• 46:40
  Okay.
• 46:41
  ~ so what ~ the I guess the last thing I really want to talk about is ~ AGEs or can you can you talk about those a little bit and how to avoid them and w what it stands for?
• 46:54
  Sure, advanced glycation end products, is, they're formed when,~ like, there's, you know, it's basically an interaction of sugar and either protein or fat.
• 47:08
  So the interesting thing about, you know, AGEs is they can form when you're cooking, but our body can also make them if your ~ sugar levels are high.
• 47:18
  So if you're running like No, I didn't know that.
• 47:20
  a higher, ~ hemoglobin A1C or you have high blood glucose levels, you can actually internally produce AGEs, right? Because we have proteins in our body, we have fats, and then you have the high sugar.
• 47:30
  so it's interesting that we can also have that process happening.
• 47:33
  ~ And then in cooking, if you're ~ using high heat and you're having a high protein food and then some kind of sugar with it or something, you'll form more of them. I think about them, but I wouldn't say I go crazy about the dietary forms.
• 47:50
  Just because we don't really have long-term studies showing that by reducing them significantly in our diet, are avoiding disease. Like, we may be, but we don't have a lot of evidence to actually show that at this point.
• 48:03
  So wait, are you s like I my understanding was that they're formed like f from high heat cooking. So like I think some people say don't air fry your tofu and so forth are w so and you say you don't really I remember I did an Instagram reel on that and it went viral for the wrong reason and I was told to take that down. Because I~ why? What happened?
• 48:24
  think we don't have strong evidence, we have evidence that we're forming the AGEs when we ~ cook the tofu like that.
• 48:32
  Right. And the A GE's actually A G E A G you. So Well, that's where we are missing the actual evidence showing that, Okay.
• 48:43
  ~ if someone follows a low AGE diet, they are reducing their disease risk.
• 48:49
  I'm sure it probably is true. It may be true, but we don't actually have that data, right? So Okay.
• 48:55
  it's not really a great thing for me to make people scared of eating tofu if that's the way they enjoy it.
• 49:01
  I'd rather they eat tofu that way than not eat tofu, right? And so that's really the thinking.
• 49:05
  I eat it in my air fryer.
• 49:07
  Mm-hmm, to be honest. I air fry it.
• 49:07
  Yeah, and I do sometimes, yeah, so what I do with my air fryer, I do sometimes air fry my tofu, but I put the temperature lower and I don't cook it to where it's like dark.
• 49:17
  And Yes, that's what I do.
• 49:19
  yeah, it's like a little tiny bit got texture now and then I stop it.
• 49:24
  So that's like where I wouldn't be like, I'll never do that. I'll just do it with that in mind.
• 49:31
  Like I'm not gonna eat burnt foods.
• 49:33
  I'm not gonna Right.
• 49:34
  ~ cook my food always like.
• 49:36
  Like I'll also use tofu ~ in my stews or in moist heat methods, right? So it's sort of just Yeah. Is that's not doing it all the time.
• 49:46
  right. Okay, I like that. ~ so let thank you.
• 49:50
  I I think that we've covered a lot today.
• 49:52
  I wanna ask you just some quick questions I usually ask at the end.
• 49:56
  ~ what's what's your best piece of advice for aging well?
• 49:59
  ~ I do think living in a community in a hilly place. I don't live in a hilly place, but I kind of wish I had some hills.
• 50:13
  ~ Yeah.
• 50:13
  Yes That's a k okay.
• 50:17
  Well And I do, I'm sort of fascinated by these communities of women, because women seem to outlive men.
• 50:24
  And then there are these, you know, I see that some women are forming these communities once they are alone, either divorced or widowed, and they live together and they have cats and dogs, which I would love, and they eat together sometimes, but they have their own space.
• 50:42
  So I'm very fascinated by this because I think I would really enjoy that if I were in that situation.
• 50:47
  Yeah. I think I would too.
• 50:51
  even being with my partner, like, bring it up. Should we go live in this community living?
• 50:56
  structure. Like I'm kind of intrigued by this.
• 50:58
  I think it would be great for our mental health, you know.
• 51:01
  Yeah. Okay. Well go move to a hilly place, so and live in Okay.
• 51:05
  a community. ~ what ~ what do you have a favorite concert you've ever been to?
• 51:12
  So I would, you my daughter, my youngest actually is a composer.
• 51:16
  ~ wow.
• 51:17
  Yeah, so she writes music for orchestra.
• 51:20
  And so seeing her music performed at Juilliard was my most favorite ~ concert.
• 51:26
  Yeah, that is amazing. my gosh, what a proud mama you must have been.
• 51:31
  Yeah, so that's my favorite concert.
• 51:32
  my gosh.
• 51:34
  Hopefully she watches this, but she's probably, she's very busy, so I don't know.
• 51:38
  She's probably I don't think my kids have ever watched.
• 51:41
  Well, that's not true. I think my middle daughter watches sometimes.
• 51:44
  ~ so what ~ do you have a favorite health or beauty product?
• 51:49
  I would say sprouts and tinted sunblock.
• 51:51
  People always ask me,~ I think those are good ones.
• 51:54
  Nisha, I'm grateful for their compliment.
• 51:58
  They say your skin looks really good for your age and what did you do?
• 52:01
  And I'm like, I really have been using tinted sunblock for 25 years, every day, even in winter. And I eat my sprouts.
• 52:09
  That's good. Do you have a a brand of sunblock that you like?
• 52:12
  I'm actually going to put something together for that, but I do use an Acruelty-free brand right now.
• 52:18
  Okay.
• 52:21
  and d is there somebody you admire for the way they're aging?
• 52:24
  ~ So I really love seeing women who let their hair go gray and I'm starting to get a little gray hair now, I'm fortunate, I'm 50, so it's supposed to start, right? And Yeah.
• 52:37
  I'm debating with this idea of just letting it happen and I see women who do this and I think it's really beautiful.
• 52:45
  ~ so that's, yeah, I like that.
• 52:48
  I like that. And then, you know, we really didn't get to talk about menopause, but do you have some some best advice about going through menopause?
• 52:56
  I think that's the time to, know, with the decline in estrogen, we see the rise in cholesterol.
• 53:01
  So really think about your cholesterol-lowering foods.
• 53:04
  Reduce saturated fat, please. ~ Replace it with polyunsaturated fats.
• 53:10
  Lots of data behind that. Don't, you know, eat too low calories.
• 53:15
  You know, get at what your body needs.
• 53:17
  In fact, there's a diet fits trial by one of my favorite people, Christopher Gardner, who's at Stanford.
• 53:22
  Yeah.
• 53:22
  who I would love to take his class.
• 53:24
  And he did this trial with comparing a low-fat diet with a healthy low-carb diet, and there was no difference in weight gain, so fat's not gonna make you fatter.
• 53:36
  You think about your proportions like you would with anything, right? ~ And also, I would say muscle, know, sarcopenia is real.
• 53:46
  So I Mm-hmm.
• 53:47
  really think about...
• 53:49
  the protein for my muscle, the creatine and the resistance training,~ really jump training for bones.
• 53:56
  Bones like ~ stimulus, you know, you need to wake them up a little.
• 54:01
  So I think safely jump training, whatever you can handle, because you you don't want to injure yourself because that's not, you know, going to be.
• 54:09
  Can that just be jumping rope?
• 54:10
  Yeah, I jump rope and I learned that late in life, Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
• 54:14
  you know, just jumping rope, pogo jumping.
• 54:17
  Yeah.
• 54:18
  Yeah.
• 54:18
  And also ~ thinking about ~ our blood glucose, our metabolic health, our ability to, our insulin sensitivity can go down.
• 54:32
  And so just being conscious about the fiber, eating more fiber with our meals to slow down our digestion, the soluble fibers. I think we just ~ have to pay attention a little more to those things. And I think...
• 54:46
  Don't ignore hot flashes. They're not just an automatic thing that we're supposed to have. Like I didn't really have them.
• 54:53
  So it Yeah.
• 54:55
  is a sign that maybe our blood vessels aren't doing as well.
• 54:59
  So it's not like, it's menopause.
• 55:01
  I just have this. No, why are we experiencing that?
• 55:03
  I want to know, you know?
• 55:05
  Mm. I agree with that. I haven't really suffered with that.
• 55:08
  And I think it is this way of eating.
• 55:11
  Don't you?
• 55:12
  I really do. I don't know what else I'm doing differently.
• 55:15
  So yeah, I think so.
• 55:16
  Yeah, I agree with that. my gosh. Well, thank you so much. We're gonna put some other links in the show notes because for the sprouts, for you know, well various things we've talked about.
• 55:27
  So we'll have all that. ~ maybe the supplements, all the things in the show notes.
• 55:32
  And you can find her again at cookingforpeanuts.com and at Instagram, Cooking for Peanuts. And thank you so much for coming on, Nisha. I've just adored talking to you.
• 55:43
  Thank you, Lauren. I really enjoyed this too, All right. All right. I know you were a little you much more than I thought I would.
• 55:47
  Thank you.
• 55:50
  were you said that you are don't enjoy public.
• 55:52
  I get a little nervous in podcasts.
• 55:53
  You get nervous, but my gosh, what a great guest you are.
• 55:56
  So thank you. Thank you, Nancy, for suggesting ~ for suggesting Nisha, and thank you, Nisha. Take care, Thank you. Thanks.
• 56:03
  bye-bye.
• 56:04
  Bye.