Kind: captions
Language: en
fermentation is transformation if there
were toxins for example if your food
were sprayed with a chemical actually
the fermentation removes that hey there
it's Dr William Lee I am physician
author and uh scientist and I'm actually
um doing this video series with my
friends and colleagues specifically
like-minded doctors uh to be able to
have a conversation about the real
experiences that we have with food and
health and and really kind of uh get the
people who are watching and listening to
this um the feeling that they're just a
fly in the wall listening to friends
talk about uh things that that they care
about so um I'm here today with my good
friend and awesome fellow author uh Dr
will Boltz the fiber fuel dock who um we
developed our friendship a few years ago
before you had your book your first book
out and I uh remember um chatting with
you about my experiences and just trying
to share with you um how I what I what I
encountered that was new uh that I
wished I had been prepared for and then
I watched you um walk you walk up to bat
and swing it and hit like a home run the
first time so anyway um it's great to
great to see you will let's just talk
about something we did recently so I I
know you've been in the middle of a
really big thing what is that big thing
yeah first of all thank you uh for
having me it's exciting I launched my
second book and you know it's um it was
interesting this time around so going
back to the first book my first book was
fiber fueled you and I connected for the
first time at effectively like a retreat
yeah and there were um hundreds of
people there and yet in this massive
event we found each other and it was
like an instant connection I Remember by
the way it was like at the opening
reception and it was like you and I were
like the two nerdy guys at the high
school dance sitting standing off in one
corner right and everyone else was just
doing their Network e thing and and and
like there were just the two of us
standing there and they were like why
are we here yeah yeah I think we felt a
little bit out of place and we found
each other you know I like the high
school analogy I think it makes a lot of
sense and um and then you know next
thing you know we're like sitting at the
same table enjoying breakfast together
and a relationship started there uh you
actually were quoted on the cover of my
first book and the book came out in May
of 2020 and you know the thing about it
is that in that position there were zero
expectations it is a pandemic my entire
ire book launch campaign has been
upended I was supposed to fly out to LA
and like do shows like Rich Roll
cancelled and
um it it turned out really well actually
things went really well I and I ended up
I've since sold over 200,000 copies of
fiber field you hit listen I I'm just
telling you like for anybody listening
to this so I was
quietly um crossing my fingers and toes
for you during your first book launch
because the world was flying apart like
no one knew what what the heck was
happening as the pandemic was unfolding
right remember like TV was all about all
the death and destruction and every no
one knew exactly what was going on and
and doctors even the medical community
was you know fleeing from what was
happening or struggling to just kind of
stay afloat and I thought oh my gosh um
my friend will is going to be flying
into this category five hurricane and
little did I know a
triangle little did I know that you
actually had like a super sonic jet that
could fly through these clouds and you
came out very quickly on top so what did
that feel like I mean it must been it
must have felt really weird to be so
successful I mean like you must have
connected with people in a way that
you're still connecting with people uh
even when all this other stuff was going
it's like what is what is it about you
well it's I think there's a little bit
of a story to this so you know
effectively what happened I was up
actually a lot of people have never
heard this story before I've never
talked about this on a podcast I was up
in New York in early March and I was
recording a podcast with my friend Simon
Hill from the proof it used to be called
plant proof right and so we record a
podcast and we go out to
dinner and it was like the weekend that
it all
changed we went out to dinner and the
next day I was supposed to meet my
friend who's the chief spice Mama on
social media right and kin kin Coya and
I was supposed to meet her for breakfast
we canceled because it's like the world
is ending like there is a pandemic in
New York City I come back to Charleston
wearing an n95 mask in LaGuardia in
LaGuardia Airport okay I like flew up
for just a weekend I come back wearing
an95
mask my practice is upended all right we
50% of what we do is colonoscopy
colonoscopy is shut down there's we're
not allowed to do it so I'm sitting
there in late March and I'm like my life
is falling
apart I don't have the ability to make
money for my
family and my book launch is a
disaster and after moping around for a
couple weeks because I did do that I did
mope around for a couple weeks um I got
to a point where I was like you know
forget
this this the moping does no
good where are people because people
still exist in fact if anything people
have more time because a lot of people
aren't working right now right where are
they well they're not at Barnes & Noble
anymore now they're on their
phone so I built my entire book launch
around trying to connect to people you
rebuilt it yeah you rebuilt it yeah I
had to Pivot and I went in a brand new
Direction literally just in the last
couple of weeks leading up to the book
launch it's like new idea here's what
I'm going to try and I reached out to
all these different people online online
personalities and I and I said to them
um my book launch has been destroyed is
there any chance you'd be willing to
support me and do an Instagram live and
I did an entire book launch from
basically like a chair like you were
like I mean first of all for anybody
watching or listening this story that
you've just told me uh will is like the
one of the ultimate stories I've heard
about resilience right so here you were
with perfectly good plans that were
completely upended and you thought about
it you didn't panic but you thought
about it and realized that it was time
for you to figure out a new plan a you
um leveraged what you believed were
going to be necessary for you to be able
the resources to be able to fly and you
got in a cockpit and you took off and
you flew I mean so so this time right so
this is the the first book was called
fiber fueled uh which is about the gut
microbiome and how amazing uh how
amazingly empowered you can be yourself
to be able to have better gut health but
this one is a cookbook based on the
first one right so what was what what's
this one about well first of all this
this
book um I wholeheartedly believed in
just as much as I did my first book my
first book was a passion
project and I I view it as the first
book is why why you should care about
gut health this book is the how it's
actually so much more than a cookbook if
you if you go to Amazon reviews and you
read them this is what everyone says
they're like this is way more than a
cookbook I was expecting recipes and I
got a lot more and so I knew that I had
going into the book launch something
special that no one had seen and they
would not see until the book actually
comes out and I effectively what I did
Will is I doubled down on the strategy
that I used
before um so I knew the way to connect
with people is like I want them to hear
the story that's
podcasting yeah and and I want them to
have live interactions with me in person
like if you want to meet the author I'll
give you a 100 opportunities
and you can do it from your living room
in your pjs right so um so these were
the Instagrams that you did IG yeah yeah
fantastic
and the book came
out and uh you don't know what's going
to happen but there are expectations
this time around the first time was a
surprise this time it's more like people
are expecting something and and the book
came out and during launch week it sold
28,000 copies oh my gosh that's
amazing and I uh I thought I had a shot
at number one on the New York Times now
here's the interesting thing about
it
um the book uh Atomic habits is actually
selling more copies in year four than it
sold in year one by the way have you
read that book I have not I've heard
things about it I I have it in my uh in
my library and I I got it because you
know what actually it's I would I would
tell you it's worth reading because it's
really about this idea that small things
actually have big impacts and that if
you have a habit of doing a lot of
little small things you can actually get
reap a lot of the benefits from it and I
I actually think that it's it's it's
relevant to um putting those action
steps that you have in the fiber fueld
cookbook because basically what you have
what what you've just launched is really
a action guide right so the first one is
the the what and this is the how it's
the action guide and you know I think a
lot of people wind up getting um uh
overwhelmed if unless they're really
familiar with changing their lifestyle
um doing everything all at the same time
and one of the things that I'm a big
believer on is like you know just take
one baby step that works for you and and
you'll be rewarded with just that baby
step and just shows you you can take
another baby step oh I so I so
wholeheartedly agree with that actually
so if you go back to the very beginning
for me you know when I'm at my lowest
point in my life and um I need to figure
out a way to dig myself out of this hole
that I'm
in the the transitional moment and this
literally happened this is not just a
story this literally happened I diverted
away from Hardies which is where I
typically went for dinner I was in
Chapel Hill North
Carolina and parties for five bucks you
can get about 2500 calories they would
give you a double cheeseburger a chili
cheese dog fries a beverage and an apple
pie all right for five bucks and I
diverted home and the issue is I'm not a
French trained
Chef I needed something easy so I pulled
out a blender and I made a massive
smoothie and uh I felt so energized
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let's get back to the video what made
you do that though what was the what was
what was going on in your head that said
you know what I'm just gonna now screw
the hardies I'm just gonna go for the
I'm gonna pull this stuff out and make
it myself well um this was a moment that
was built up too it's not like it
happened overnight okay during my
medical training you know how it goes I
was working six days a week 15 hours a
day sometimes 30 hours in a row many
times without even eating yeah right and
um we were we were we were by the way
the world's expert of Tim restricted
feeding when we were training yeah well
and also it was a sleep deprivation lab
and sleep deiv way yeah it's sort of
like going against each other they're
going against each other and and that
that's the issue is like you know you
actually put your body through a lot
even though you're in your late 20s
early 30s and unfortunately Ultra
processed foods and and fast foods they
fit so conveniently and
perfectly cheap quick easy tastes great
no denying that it tastes good And So It
just fits so perfectly in my life but
there's a compromise that you make which
is that you compromise your health it
just takes years to show up that's the
problem so there I was and my health had
been
compromised and um I was quite miserable
I was 50 pounds overweight was depressed
anxious 50 50 5 Z oh my gosh seriously I
weighed
240 I I weighed 240 now I'm 6 how tall
are how tall are you I'm 63 64 so I'm a
pretty tall guy so I can hide it but it
was there I could see it in the mirror
when I'm looking and what you can't see
in the mirror is all that visceral fat
that's encasing your organs oh 100% And
and but you know my brothers are making
comments about me when I go home for for
the
holidays um I'm depressed I'm anxious I
have high blood pressure and high
cholesterol all and to be perfectly
honest with you I just wanted to curl up
under a blanket in a dark room and be
left alone that's where I was
at and so I knew that something needed
to change and unfortunately the scenario
was that my medical training had not
provided me with the tools in order to
do that so I didn't want to take a pill
and I wasn't going to take a pill to fix
my obesity you know my overweight
obesity issue so uh I tried exercising
my way out of this and it failed fa I
did get stronger swim further this was a
very rigorous exercise program by the
way I was pushing
hard and I I I could you know get
stronger and run farther and things like
that but that could not fix these health
issues and then what ended up happening
will is actually it's I mean it's so so
bizarre this is actually what happened
but this is true okay what is it I went
on a first date with the person who is
now my wife okay
right we have three kids together now
and uh by the way that's the other thing
that happened during the book launch is
we had another baby so had a real baby
and a book baby happened around the same
time all right and well so anyway uh
we're on a first date together in
carboro North Carolina at a place called
Acme and I'm getting a pork
chop and she orders something that's not
even on the menu she says to the waiter
there's these sides there's black ey
peas there's collards there's mashed
potatoes right you can get your your
sides to accompany your meat
dish she says can you put three or four
of these onto a plate for me and just
make it look nice
wow so I'm like who are
you it's 20
2013 who is this person early 2013 who's
this person that I'm sitting here with
I've never been around anyone like you
in my life this is weird well first of
all again you know really really clever
thinking right because most people just
follow tick the boxes off a menu in
order the appetizer and an entree or
whatever it is and and here she is
choosing something as you say that's on
the menu but not on the menu and and and
advocating for what she knew was going
to be better for her so she looked
amazing her health appeared to be
completely
aligned um she loved her food she ate
until she was full cool and when we were
done she wanted the date to keep going
and I felt compelled to go home because
I was exhausted so this was not a an
intervention unless this was like an
intervention by God this was this was
though a seed that got planted in my
brain right I noticed this and I
ruminated on
that and then it was enough for me to
say maybe I should try that so that's
how they Define the better
half
right well like like you were inspired
like it it changed your mind or you were
maybe already on that threshold of
knowing something needed to be done and
you watched it being done right in front
of your eyes essentially it was a uh a
radical observation from my perspective
because I again like I did not know a
single person who was either vegetarian
or vegan right so to observe this to be
on a date with someone who is okay and
see it in real life and you go
interesting maybe there's something
there right and that was all that I
needed she never once in my entire life
in the 10 years that my wife and I have
been together um we met in 2012 for the
first time 2013 this was this
date for in the 10 years that we've been
together she's never once said this is
what you need to do in terms of your
diet but I changed because of her well
she set the example showed it could be
done made you think differently and
frankly you know what a what a great
kind of like little restaurant hack you
just shared which is you know what if
you can't find something that you feel
is like exactly what your body uh craves
from a health perspective just go off
this is by the way this is what I
actually do go off to the to the sides
the contor or whatever it is and pick a
few of those little side things you know
they have some roasted bruss brussels
sprouts or some you know broccoli or
whatever it is that that like is cool
and just have them have them bring you
that the sides like three sides is an
entree or two sides is an entree kind of
thing exactly exactly so and you know
the thing is going back to the atomic
habits
idea this moment when I had this
smoothie I felt instantly
energized
instantly and I there was a part of me
that felt
like almost like I have been
deprived and now I am receiving what I
need can I ask you what did you have in
that smoothie I want to know I want I
want to know what what it was that
actually turned on your lights with that
smoothie what was I am not I am not a
recipe guy which is bizarre because here
I am with a cookbook right yeah uh what
I am is I'm a chemist I like throwing
stuff in there and see what happens you
remember what you threw in there yes uh
bananas okay um berries multiple types
Frozen okay and greens what kind of
greens so I think it was like a big
bunch of kale like okay I'm talking
green kale and I'm ripping it off the
stem and then just throwing it in there
cool all right and then obviously liquid
and I think the liquid on that one was
probably water because there's no way I
had any sort of plant milk in my fridge
there's no way
so uh and then and then some ice just to
kind of give it the proper texture that
I was looking for sure and so you know
Buzz that and this thing was I mean I'm
not kidding it's definitely more than 30
ounces probably 36
ounces and it it took me three maybe
three and a half large glasses to to
complete it and um I felt completely
full yeah right but I felt light and I
felt energized and I went normally after
dinner for me back then I would need to
lay on the couch and just kind of
decompressed from dinner yeah and I felt
so energized that an hour later I went
to the gym and had a great
workout and this was I think the point
from my perspective is this it's it's
it's not even like the uh the energy
level what it is really truly was the ju
to position of how I felt in that moment
relative to how I felt prior to that
moment interesting yeah for anyone who
has suffered with these types of
issues you just want to feel well right
and I felt so much better so you know
like I mean and look I mean we're both
doctors and
so uh you know the the whole idea about
uh an individual patient that we might
be seeing uh when there's a difference
in their life something's made a
difference like that's the they they
they it it um instantly is something
that they are able to recognize and talk
about and so what you're just kind of
sharing with me is sort of your sort of
your side of the white coat kind of
thing where like you were feeling one
way and then you tried something
different and you felt completely
different and so I mean obviously that
inspired you to uh dive deeper into
doing all the things you've done um
has it changed the way that you were
talking to patients as well so first of
all this is perhaps an nend of one thing
right and we may want population data to
back up what we
do and part of what happened here was I
had my n of one
moment and then I turned to the
data and this is where I discovered the
relationship
between dietary fiber and the gut
microbiome
did you know anything about the
microbiome before I did not really I did
and in fact I I trained with some of the
leading if you go to a microbiome
meeting you're gonna hear one of the
most brilliant people is belfer serter
and I was I was in his Clinic treating
inflammatory bowel disease for years but
he never told you about the microbiome
it wasn't a Focus right because we're
we're we're not talking about these
nebulous ideas of the microbiome back in
you know 2010 2011 right right right um
we're talking about biologics right and
inflammatory B disease these are
biologics by the way for people who are
wondering I'm talking about like very
very powerful anti-inflammatory drugs
but that's I think part of what happened
is this inspired me to say how come I
haven't been taught
this interesting to to find the
confirmation of how I felt as a single
individual person in a overwhelming body
of evidence that exists that I had not
been taught in my medical training
despite being at these great
institutions great institutions and
having great mentors it made me
understand that we can't allow ourselves
to remain within the box right of
conventional medicine well and you know
like for me it was h a little bit
different I I um I I never had a problem
with my weight uh but for me I got
thrown into my interest in Food and
Health before I went to medical school I
did a gap year and I went to the
Mediterranean and I lived there and I by
the way I just came back from there a
few days ago um doing research for my
next book and when I was there uh at the
very beginning before med school what I
was so interested in is um how is it
that some people
live to eat as opposed to eating to live
you know like the idea that you just
kind of sit down and wolf your food down
get your calories in and keep on doing
your stuff like that that's that's
eating in order to survive isn't that
kind of an American thing don't you
think you know I think that anybody who
is used to breaking bricks you know like
in the slag Heap I think that's the
mindset you have like you have a foreman
who's whipping you and it's not a
pleasant way of living and then you know
when I when I really embedded myself in
Italy and in Greece and started to see
how people were living and then I went
to Asia what I saw is that people are
excited about their food like when you
just talked about your your smoothie
your blender and you were talking about
the berries and the bananas like you can
see the passion in your eyes as you're
recounting something that's what happens
in these countries that I like I just
got back from Greece every time you sit
down with anybody over a meal their eyes
light up when they start talking about
their food and it's something that you
know I I really believe is really
important um one of the things that I by
the way I I just sort of tearing a page
from your playbook is this idea that um
I was is uh U doing research looking at
something that most people um who are
doing healthy eating don't spend a lot
of time doing that's why I did it
plant-based Foods dietary fiber
absolutely important I wanted to take a
little bit of time to research something
that most people don't think about um
for lots of reasons which is seafood um
most of the data shows that people who
eat seafood um in moderation actually
have better health outcomes and I wanted
to I was so curious about like why that
is and what about the Omega-3s and so I
sat down and I looked at every thing on
the menu and you know and to try
different components of it and one of
the things I didn't realize for Omega-3s
which of course you can get from Plants
through ala um is that almost all the
seafood not just the greasy ones
actually the oily ones actually have
omega-3s but one of the things that
eating Seafood doesn't give you is
plant-based food so when I sat down at a
at a TNA and I it was in Greece and I
and I want want up looking at how to
build my meal what did I do I went to
the appetizers and the vegetables and I
did exactly what your uh uh your
significant other back did back then I
went and put together like I wanted to
try some seafood stuff but I I put
together a meal of santorinian fa giant
fava beans I put together a meal of
volcanic
Tomatoes um with mint I put together um
a meal with uh wild greens salad greens
that are basically harvested from The
Hills uh you got to have a little trust
that you know like this is in the middle
of the Mediterranean so it's pretty
healthy the the air it's like a thousand
feet above the sea they wash them up
they saute them with a little garlic a
little shallot and it was so great like
when they were bringing out the meals
like I I kind of felt like you which is
you know I was hungry and yeah you know
like if somebody put a burger in front
of me I mean I don't normally eat
burgers but I I probably could have
eaten one because I was pretty hungry
but but just eating that healthy food uh
in a healthy environment and and then
listening to the people talking about
the food because I would always ask
people about what they were eating and
where it came from and how do they
prepare it was just like a like a like
an elevating uh type of experience is
there is there one thing that you cook
that you want to share with
people there's there's there's so many
that I love um but before we even go
there I I I I can't help but think about
the Mediterranean here for a moment
so you know so you you you mentioned
where do they get their food from where
do they get their food from where does
where does the produce and everything
come
from well so the priority is whatever
they can actually get and grow locally
exactly right so here's some some great
things Capers they grow Rocky little
things they pick them by hand they W
they're wild they wash them they rinse
them they brine them put a little
vinegar they store them they jar them
this is what they bust out when there's
Vis Tomatoes it's tomato season in the
summertime they pick them they harvest
they bring them fresh they buy them in
the morning they eat them at lunch and
at dinner and then they reload the next
day by going back out to the market you
know it's a it's a different mindset but
they're really proud of what they have
now obviously look we're in the 21st
century planes fly boats sail trains
deliver all kinds of stuff so yeah sure
even in the Mediterranean today if you
look for the mass Market stuff um you
can find it and that's the stuff that's
actually bringing down their health too
well and yeah sure you could get a you
could get a Coca-Cola classic if you
want it but you probably are paying $
seven for that right right so that's
part of the issue but you know what I
come back to will thinking about the
Mediterranean and why this is so
beneficial is that these are food
traditions that originated prior to
modern times right and so because of
that they had to eat local they had to
eat whatever was available to them they
didn't have the advantages of a Whole
Foods or fresh market or whatever it may
be and as a young country in the United
States we didn't establish also being a
Melting Pot we didn't have those
established food traditions that are
based upon certain Local Foods and so
you know as a result I think we were
more prone and susceptible to falling
into the Trap of just kind of eating
whatever was presented to us we also
want to have things that are convenient
and less expensive whereas I think that
in many other food cultures they
actually invest in their food because
they know that what they are eating is
going to go into their body and it's
going to affect how they feel um so
they're much more in tune with I think
the land and the food and how they feel
about it you know I think that we if
there's anything that I would say
growing up in America is that it's easy
to get disembodied from yourself so that
you're not thinking about how you feel
after you eat I mean you talked about
you know laying down on a couch after to
recover from dinner like I I think that
you know in most places in the
Mediterranean that I know my friends
will they'll have a great meal and then
they'll go out for a walk you know and
because they feel good about it and it's
a beautiful location as well and they
feel better and they have they sleep
better afterwards as well is where it's
you and I you know getting our butts
kicked uh in medical school and in
medical training you know like we're you
know we get like no sleep on an on call
night and and by the way that's so
destructive for us and so I think that
you know kudos to anybody who's a doctor
and this is what I'm trying to do by
bringing U my doctor friends uh onto
this video series like look we're real
people we are just as vulnerable to the
junk that's out there as anyone else in
fact I would say maybe even more because
we got our butts kicked in training and
pretty much every sensibility that we
should have had for health even though
we're supposed to be Healthcare
Providers got stripped away from us and
so we've had to like earn it back and
and own it uh so I I think that the fact
that you put out
um two New York Times bestsellers um
proves the fact that people want to hear
from a credible source that actually can
uh walk the walk and not just talk the
talk well think about think about how
the uh you know we're talking about
doctors and the the rigorous lifestyle
that we're forced into as a part of our
medical
training and it's really no different
than what a lot of people go through who
live in poverty to be honest with you
think about the mom who's working two
jobs to put fa to put food on the table
for her kids right and because I I know
a lot of these people and um they don't
have time to come up for err they don't
have time to take a break they they need
food that's inexpensive and cheap and
quick and delicious and so they fall
into the exact same traps that you and I
did right so and and then you see what
happens in those communities where
socioeconomic status becomes such a
powerful thing in terms of health
outcomes it's this is part of the issue
and on the other side of it do you see
why
doctors uh many of them wind up being so
ill prepared to talk about nutrition
because they actually haven't had a good
uh necessarily good life themselves now
I'm gonna ask you one quick question
about what's in your book so just to
tell you a little story so I am always
fascinated by what the local market has
yeah um do you have anything with um is
there any Rees contain garlic in your
book tons I'm a huge garli fan cool so
let me just tell you something that I
was at the market the other day and I
found um this a farmers market I found
garlic Scapes have you ever cooked with
Scapes no tell me about that all right
so the garlic bulb is under the ground
right it's the white flaky skin thing
right you got to peel it the clothes are
inside there it's got little hairs or
little roots on the bottom of it well
the stuff that's above the ground is
this um large twisty uh stem like thing
and um and I bought it and uh I've
cooked with es Scapes before they taste
like garlic but here's what's wonderful
about them is that you can actually um
caramelize them look at this thing
garlic Escape yum that's the stuff on
top of the garlic yeah you cut that up
into like two inch segments put it onto
a cookie sheet um sprinkle a tiny bit of
sea salt a little extra virgin olive oil
and then because I like to do it
together with some other vegetables I
take some shitaki mushrooms slice them
up thin stick them in there put them in
an oven like at 400° for 7 minutes and
what winds up happening is that the
olive oil will actually start to cook
and caramelize the garlic escapes the
whole your whole house will small have
this wonderful Aroma of a finished dish
but what here's what's great you take it
out of the oven and you let it cool okay
and now you've got these caramelized
slightly crispy things and then you can
scoop them and you can just pop them
into a salad you can snack on them uh
there's so many different things you can
mix them with uh and it's a delicious
you can put them into pasta It's a
delicious way of doing so that's that's
one of the more recent things that I
actually cooked oh I love that um all
right so a couple things that I've been
working on recently okay I actually have
two chapters in the back of the cookbook
that I I I believe are unique to a
cookbook one is about fermentation oh
and the other is about sprouting and I
believe that the these are two
opportunities for a from a gut health
perspective to enhance your gut health
that most people are not doing so
fermentation there's actually 17 recipes
that I have and um there was a study
that was done by people that I'm quite
sure you know I I know them uh
professors sonenberg and Gardner from
Stanford University p in the journal
cell right around a year ago and what
they found is that in an Interventional
trial when they forced people to consume
fermented food because people were not
consuming fermented food most of us are
not when they forced people to consume
fermented food in just 10 weeks they
enhanced the diversity of their gut
microbiome that's a measure of their gut
health and they also reduced measures of
inflammation I think the iner I think
the fermented food should be a part of
everyone's routine so so you teach
people how to in your cookbook how to do
their own fermentation yeah there so
there's 17 fermentation recipes I
actually teach you how to create your
own sourdough your own sourdough starter
multiple recipes to make with that
starter um we have uh sauerkraut we have
pickles we have kimchi fantastic um so I
right now am drinking some kombucha what
do you call the thing in the kombucha
the floaty thing scobby the scob SC okay
so yeah the scob is at the top I I also
have a kavas so now kavas you know
fermented foods are celebrated food
traditions from around the world oh yeah
yeah yeah hchi in Korea sauerkraut in
Eastern Europe you know Etc you can go
down the line so kavas is a Eastern
European beverage and we make kavas in
the in the fiber field cookbook with
beets hairs and ginger all together all
together now here's what's cool this is
what I love
will number one there is no added sugar
beets have their own sugar beats pairs
they have their own sugar right so you
have the sugar that you need need for
fermentation because in order to ferment
you do need that but number two there's
no added
microbes the microbes naturally exist on
skins of the ginger and the pears and
the beets they're already there they're
they're they're there when you purchase
them interesting and so by quite simply
putting this combination together and
then submerging it in some water you
within 24 hours will have
bubbles okay and you do this like in a
jar or in a a bowl or what what do you
actually you fermented it so when I do
beverages I go big because from my
perspective I don't want 16 ounces that
I had to wait five days for right right
right I want 32 ounces or more okay so I
get jars with a flip top lid yep all
right and so the flip top lid will
create a seal now the thing that you do
have to do because I'm not kidding will
have bubbles in 24 hours with these
things is you have to burp
it so by burping it what I mean is you
go and you open up the jar and you allow
the gas to come off is it stinky no it's
not stinky it smells great it smells
like ginger but the issue the issue is
that if you don't burp it it continues
to pressurize pressurize pressurize boom
exactly what happens if you take a a
beer and you shake it up or right right
so that's what happens and so you have
have to burp it so I actually missed a
burping session on my kavas one day oh
what happened and we got beets we got
beats on the on the wall so so you know
it's it's so interesting I I wouldn't
have thought of putting beets and pears
and ginger although I love all three
together um what does it taste like can
you describe it okay so the the um the
beets imp part that I mean I think it's
beautiful but it's like a basically deep
magenta red and the liquid becomes
opaque you can no longer see through
this and this is because of the beets so
you combine that with the pears give you
that Mell sweetness the ginger gives you
that punch that punch of Ginger MH you
put these three together now what is
fascinating about fermentation one of
the things that I love will is that
flavors change yeah of course the
profile
changes and where you end up like if you
were to sip this on day one or two it
would taste like beets and pears and
ginger okay where you end up on day five
or six all right tell me is a melding of
these flavors together and it's hard to
describe other than it has changed is it
is it like hard cidery or is it smooth
or smooth not spicy not spicy so the
Ginger's been mellowed out the ginger
has been mellowed out you know I'll give
you another quick example one of the
recipes that I have in the fiber field
cookbook is for fermented radishes okay
yep now as you know radishes are Health
Foods these are great for you yeah the
problem is that I actually don't like
them I just have to be honest like I
don't I don't like the pepperiness of
the of the radishes yep if you ferment
radishes what you it is a whole new game
so number one they are crispy they're
crispy as hell okay all right crunchy
but the flavor the pepperiness gets
smoothed out so that it's really in the
background and then you bring in
whatever new flors from your
fermentation so pretend you do garlic
deal and black peppercorns okay it's
going to taste like a little bit like a
pickle wow but the crunchiest pickle
that you've ever had I mean we all know
that you love a crunchy pickle so so
here we here we here we're back to your
roots as a chemist right you're you're
you're you get your basement with all
the stuff going on and your experiments
and you know as you were talking about
burping your your your your container I
was thinking about chemistry class you
know like how you have to tend to the to
the bunson burner so uh nothing boils
over or or Burns right like you gotta
kind of be on top of it I actually have
a food scale a digital food scale and
the the time that I pull it out is when
I do fermentation and it's because I
like I actually feel like a chemist I'm
being very precise in what I'm doing um
but the other thing that I would
encourage people to think about with
fermentation there's there's two things
I want to just bring bring forward for
people because I'm a I'm I'm a
passionate advocate for this type of
food number one fermentation is
transformation you you transform the
flavors but you also are transforming
the biochemicals you get new types of
fiber there's a change to the to the
proteins you are actually reducing the
presence of anti-nutrients or um if
there were toxins for example if your
food were sprayed with a chemical
actually the fermentation removes that
you are enhancing the vitamin content I
mean it's
amazing value how does a how does a
vitamin content get enhanced I guess
different ingredients together well you
know when you think about for example
B12 will now I'm not saying that the B12
specifically is in fermented foods but
the B vitamins are in fermented foods
the B vitamins yeah B vitamins are
energy vitamins right and so when you
think about for example B12 B12 is
produced by
microbes microbes are capable of
producing when you give them the proper
ingredients they will produce things for
us and you create a little Factory
you've created a little M vitamin
Factory with your fermentation 100%
that's so cool the other thing that
you've done is you are cooking but it is
the slowest cooking ever when we talk
about swi cookers talking about eight
hours right you know people are swi
cooking their food this is the slowest
cooking ever you're swi cooking over
five days well you know one of the
things that I'm writing about in my next
book is the fact that uh a lot of our
food culture just as you were talking
about come thousand from thousands of
years ago so these techniques are you
know they may sound new if we're not if
you're not familiar with them anybody
listening or watching this but in fact
they've been known for thousands of
years and I I'm writing about this
incredible um uh historical phenomenon
where food and goods were traded along
the silk road yeah not the internet Silk
Road but the but the original Silk Road
that connected China uh to Turkey in the
Mediterranean and went through all these
mountains and deserts in Central Asia
and you could not bring fresh food for
any great distance and so a lot of the
foods that were carried along were
fermented in ceramic urns uh that were
on Camel Back and so a lot of the stuff
by the way you know that um
sauerkraut which I used to always think
was a Germanic Eastern European food
right cabbage you know fermented sliced
up and you know when I was growing up it
was always put on hot dogs or whatever
that was a was it came from Chinese
cabbage that was attempted to be
transported over the GOI desert all the
way over to Europe and they would never
last and so they figured out how to
ferment it and it wound up eventually
making its way into Eastern Europe and
establishing itself as a as a tradition
and so you know one of the things that I
think is so wonderful about um you know
what we're talking about about and what
you have in your new book is really
trying to bring into a modern context
things that can't be wrong because
they've been used for thousand thousands
of years yeah I I view the cookbook my
cookbook part of what I'm trying to
accomplish is to take you on a culinary
World Tour and what you're going to find
is celebrated food traditions from
across the globe and you're enjoying
them from the friendly confines of your
own kitchen well listen this is great I
I I need to wrap up right now but look
thank you so much for for sharing and uh
you know one of the things I wanted
people to do is to really be a fly in
thewall and hear you know Dr will Boltz
and Dr will Lee having this conversation
and like we could have been having this
conversation uh sitting at a cafe
someplace in the Mediterranean I wish we
were so so listen um tell everyone
watching where they can find out more
about you in your book uh okay so my my
book the fiber Fields cookbook book is
widely available not just in the US but
including in the UK Canada Australia and
um again this is more than a cookbook
it's it's 125 recipes it's full color
photography but it also is 11 chapters
most of those chapters actually don't
involve recipes they involve me
educating and it has two uh recipe based
protocols so actually have protocols
built into the
program so the fiber field cookbook is
widely available um very proud of it how
do people find you on social what's your
handle you can come to Instagram and
Facebook atthe gut health MD I'm
technically on uh on uh Tik Tok but I'm
just getting started so I'm the gut
health MD underscore I had to had an
underscore to the end and um finally
come to my website the plan fed.com sign
up for my newsletter uh people seem to
really love it when there's breaking
news research you know this will it's
really hard to have a nuanced
conversation on social
research so I like to send an email to
my list so if you're interested in that
kind of stuff sign up for my email list
I'm totally telling people to sign up
and check you out and um and by the way
Tik Tok uh I started myself not too long
ago and I was amazed at how um much
traction um I I did a video about
carrots and Carrot Tops and it had 1.1
million views wow it was crazy um and I
didn't have to dance or you know talk
about my Fiat or whatever um so anyway
so listen if you want to learn more
about um gut health please check out Dr
will bovitz and the fiber fuel Doc and
the fiber fuel book and the fiber fuel
cookbook you should actually have the
whole collection like I've got a whole
collection now um and that should be in
your bookshelf or on your um your mobile
if you're doing audio and then if you
want to learn about more about me and
food is medicine and the work that I'm
doing I do have a free resource
available on my website so come sign up
and download it it's at
www.dd William lei.com Dr William Lee
and I'll just leave you with one thing
that uh I think you know uh uh will you
and I both share with that you know you
gotta really enjoy your food it's it
should really speak to you and so what I
always tell people is you should really
love your food to love your health and
so with that thank you very much and
we'll see you again soon hopefully it
was a great conversation thank you will
thank you everyone for hanging out hi
there if you enjoyed watching this video
I know you'll love the next one stay
here and check it out and I'll see you
there