Kind: captions
Language: en
a lot of their diet was wild food they
went out and got greens summer greens
winter greens they literally got greens
and you can go to a restaurant and eat
Wild Greens on the menu every day the
more flavorful a food is naturally the
more medicinally Rich it is hey there
it's uh Dr William Lee physician author
and scientist and uh I'm doing this
video series uh that's really just me
with my friends having real
conversations about the things that
we're passionate about and I think this
is something that it's a little B of an
experiment U to sort of have a unstriped
you know kind of like unplugged uh
conversation but I think that's
something that um I love to do anyway
and I'm here with my good friend and
fellow um soldier of Health uh Dr Mark
Heyman who needs no real introduction
but you know he's the the dude that uh
invented uh functional medicine food is
medicine I mean he's he's really been so
influential on everyone's life in this
world and and he and I have had Many
Adventures uh together many meals and
many meals and uh I I thought you know
maybe we just Dive Right into this and
uh most people don't know unless you
know me and you know you that um Mark
and I were both just separately in the
Mediterranean so what did you do in
where did you go and what did you do and
what was what was it like well I went to
Turkey and then I went to uh iara one of
the blue zones uh and not actually
turkey was kind of cool because it is
kind of a blue Zone but it wasn't a sexy
blue zone so it wasn't really counted
but there was lots of old people there
on the coast near Bodrum where do you
you went to bodam okay near bodam yeah
and we went up bike riding in these
Villages and we went to this little town
and we had this olive oil tasting and we
you know you it was like it was like a
fleet of olive oil cups and you know it
wasn't really great for my digestion to
drink all that oil but but basically it
was so amazing to actually taste the
different polyphenol levels and the
different oils
that and these are all like local
Growers and yeah brought their about
their home brew they and they're like
okay well we use the wild olives we
don't let them drop to the ground
because if we drop to the ground it
changes the the polyphenol contents so
it was the whole was fasinating then
then I went to Iaria which was uh one of
the blue zones that Dan Butner uncovered
yeah where where you know there's like
three times I mean I think one in 20
people live over 90 in America there
it's one in three
and a lot of centenarians and was
fascinating to me there was was because
I had been to Sardinia the year before
was that a lot of their diet was wild
food so they had what does that mean
well they they they went out and got
greens summer greens winter greens they
literally got greens and you can go to a
restaurant and eat Wild Greens on the
menu every day right so it's just a part
of their staple diet and wild food has
much higher biochemicals than Farm raay
or even organic food so that was really
interesting they wild mushrooms Rocky
scrubby stuff they just PL yeah yeah I
think call I think don't they call it
horta or something like that it's like
yeah exactly when you had like the Wild
Greens how did they prepare that like
what just little like sauteed a little
olive oil salt simple lemon nothing
complicated bitter smooth like it it was
kind of uh it wasn't really bitter like
uh like like uh broccoli rob it was kind
of like a cross between spinach and
dandelion greens okay yeah and then then
they had wild mushrooms they ate which
were all these forage mushrooms they ate
a lot a lot of of wild uh tea so the
entire island is covered in herbs sage
and oregano and yeah yeah all these you
know time there's wild versions of them
and there's one particular plan is Wild
Sage and I was sitting with this goat
Shepherd and he was milking his goats
and we were making cheese together I
mean he was doing it I was more watching
but
anyway and and uh and after you didn't
try your mid school fashion utter skills
no I could actually we got there a
little late otherwise I was going to be
milking the goat for sure but there was
one goat with with like testicles so I
don't think that was very good okay
wrong goat wrong wrong goat and I'll
send you a picture and the the the guy
then served us some tea with some of the
cheese and and um and also olives that
he picked on himself and and had brined
in the sea of the ocean the salt water
but the the Wild Sage te was so
delicious it wasn't caffeinated and when
I looked it up it had extremely high
levels of epig Galactic cakin so the
very powerful compounds in green tea
that make green tea so protective and is
an antioxidant antiinflammatory
detoxifier for longevity in so many ways
they're drinking this stuff all day long
every day it's in Wild Sage EGC Wild
Sage yes yes yes without the caffeine
that's exactly what I thought really I
heard this and it's like there it's
there like instead of green is their GRE
can you send me a reference on that like
it'd be so I think it like it's mind
opening it's mind opening to think about
you know like how look you know when
you're out in the lecture circuit or
you're speaking or frankly doing
research like we tend to hear the same
canned stuff about the bio all the time
and yeah we basically don't know most of
the bioactives no it's true and then
they go oh I know if I feed my goat this
plant at this time of year and my sheep
this plant this time of year the cheese
the milk taste better so they basically
flavor the they flavor the milk and the
cheese before the animal is harvested or
before they Milk The Cow or before they
milk the goat or sheep because the phyto
chemicals end up in the milk and the
meat and they know that for eating these
plants they're actually enriching the
flavor did it open your mind to see how
these people in the blue zones or you
know like the long these long liveed
people that they're not like pure vegans
or like you know they eat more broadly
like what's how did you kind of yeah I
mean look I mean like they were very
poor historically right so a lot of the
longevity was in the pace of poverty
starvation and lack and scarcity when
they were younger and you know we see
this in Holocaust Survivors they they
typically have far lives far exceeding
the average norm that would be in their
population because it's not genetic that
somehow with the starvation episodes
when they were in the Holocaust it
triggered these longevity Pathways so
there may be some of that but but also
you know they eat they're Shepherds they
have goat and sheep that's what they do
so they eat cheese all the time every
day so they're not they're not vegans
for sure meat is a little more scarce
and they'll Harvest a goat or they'll
have a festival and now it's a little
more abundant um and the diet is sort of
changing but but I went to visit this
guy uh panotos and his wife ala he was
97 she was 87 wow and I mean he had had
like a little Health episode but he was
still pretty strong and vibrant mentally
sharp she ran the entire Farm I'm not
going to say a garden it was like a farm
they had a hillside farm with multiple
Terraces Orchards no she was 87 she
looked like she looked like she was 60
67 running up and down I could barely
keep up with her she she all the food
for her their whole year she stored it
she froze it she canned it she I mean
whatever she did it was pretty
impressive and and they served us this
beautiful lunch and homemade this and
homemade that and and active on the farm
right so like there there's like that
her Farm is her pel
basically yeah there was yeah it was me
up and down in the side of a hill and
I'm like chasing up another Mountain I'm
like how does she do this all by
yourself she well now she she gets a guy
to come and help do the sort of tailing
a little bit to get the garden ready but
but she does everything else and it's
very impressive they so many fruit so so
what was like was there like a big like
I was just in Greece myself uh I went
there you know to do some more research
for the next book I'm writing and I I
went to a volcano Island I went to the
island of sanini where I've been going
for many years and what I was interested
in is capers and their tomatoes because
they grow oh yeah these like really
really intensely hot volcanic soil
essentially and I was tasting them
trying to figure out where they came
from and how they brine them and and how
they use incorporate their in life which
is pretty much in everything that they
eat um but they also had horta which is
why I came up with that the menu right
so basically like restaurant TNA owners
would go out there and just like pluck
it off out of the ground yeah R it off
and serve it at night pretty much yeah
so they're like wild fish wild mushrooms
wild tea Wild Greens I it's a lot and we
know that wild plants are just so much
higher in the bioactive um
phytochemicals that are good for our
health so that was kind of an
interesting aspect to me and also you
know the you know that what the goats
eat and what the sheep eat it's like
you're not only eating what you're
you're eating you're eating whatever you
ate ate exact exactly well that's you
know like I I think it's uh that's one
of the things I love being in the
Mediterranean is sort of it's a reminder
to me of how Elemental our food actually
is except that when you take us into our
you know like our our our modern
realities in America in our homes like
we're we it it seems like we've been
ripped from the fabric of the earth you
know and so we're disconnected so for me
it was like am you know you're sitting
by the Sea where the fish come right out
of and they're completely fresh the
Capers are all local the lemons are
lemons are probably shipped in but it
was it was just amazing uh you know like
I I always I always tell people this
it's like uh this whole idea of a Greek
salad right so who doesn't like a Greek
salad it's supposed to be good for you
except tell you like I I'm like here's
my Greek salad this is what they look
like in Greece
you know and uh it's it's it's different
than what you'd order in a restaurant
any almost anywhere else because it's
just came right right from the local
yeah yeah I mean they understand the
quality of food growing it locally
everybody had their Gardens I mean it
was it was just normal like you know in
America we had 40% of our food grown as
Victory Gardens in the 40s but now
Nobody Does it which we should do we
should have not we should have Lawns we
should put Gardens in our in our front
Lawns that in college I I RI to my
backyard and uh with a bunch of my
friends we had a house together we
ripped up the backyard and put in a
garden right right right no like I I I I
love to do that um so look you talked
about horta we talked about um olive oil
we talked about goats cheese um was
there something really memorable that
you remember eating there well yeah I
mean you know one of the things that was
so amazing was how they how they made um
wine and how they originally made their
their cheese so the the wine was made
from these special grapes that are grown
in very acidic soil they're um f uh Bin
now grapes and they're and they the the
soil is very acidic there's not a lot of
water The Roots have to go like 10 feet
down oh wow so they're really stressed
plants
yeah means that they're gonna have more
polyphenols yeah and so they tested the
wine against many other wines and it's
so delicious and then they they made it
in this traditional way they literally
still make it by throwing it in a big
you know slate like almost box and
everybody gets in with their feet
smushes it down stamping on it and then
I'm like I hope nobody has athletes foot
is I'm thinking and then uh and then
they they kind of put it in these
underground clay 200 liter pots wow and
then they cover it like seal it airtight
and let the let it just ferment right
and then they have different stages of
it they have white they have red and and
and I went to this guy who had literally
preserved all the ancient food ways and
he had literally had the way they were
making wine from centuries ago and he
had these you know clay pots under the
ground we was having white Reds we just
drank a lot of wine and he made this
bread from Zia wheat zo is what
Alexander the Great used it was super
high in phytochemical it's very
different kind of grain very low gluten
lots of
minerals Zea it's actually yeah I think
even Homer wrote about it wow can we get
it here I don't know I Wasing
and he said he made a of bread he like
Cooks in the wood fired oven lasts like
a week of going without going bad and
then we had Pudo they made he explained
how he made it he took the grape leaves
the fresh grape leaves where they have
water in them he took salt from the
ocean wine the better the wine the
better the the better the Pudo like you
basically soaked it in wine washed it in
wine and then they have they was what
did they wash in wine the leg of the the
for making Pudo like the whole leg of
the pig oh they just washed it in the
wine yeah then they put in the the grape
leaves and the salt and then they hang
it with the herbs and they hang it over
the fireplace it's quite it's quite
amazing thing he made one from lamb he
made one from Pig and then all these
different kinds of cheeses he made he
made wild mushrooms he actually we
actually had grape leaf stir fry kind of
like it was like my steamed grape leaves
with lemon and garlic and olive oil so
everything was what kind of mushrooms do
they have
there you know I didn't know they were I
didn't they were kind of chunky chewy I
didn't really recognize them I ate them
hope I didn't dies so I think I'm okay
you're right right right right and did
they did they flavor them with herbs or
yeah herbs and salt they're very simple
olive oil everything was olive oil salt
lemon they they like the meals you ate
there they were family style or yeah for
sure family style yeah family style so
we had really beautiful meals um
incredible incredible food and and uh
you know it was it was was interesting
to see how they had you know how they
basically had these old traditions that
they kept up there because they were so
isolated from the world I mean Kara is
not exactly a tourist destination
actually it's like but it's pretty funky
in a lot of Hills how did you how did
you get there you had to go by boat from
boat I took a boat I took a boat yeah
about an hour two hours hour two hours
from it's in the do deesis right so it's
like roads and all that all that area
there is an airport actually but yeah we
took a boat from turkey and had a great
time yeah that is so awesome I'm trying
to think about like what I what I ate in
Santorini that really memorable you know
the thing that I I always think about
when I recall Santorini is um they
Tomatoes they have like these tomato um
these little tomato things they mix with
mint and so you get these Ultra Sweet
Tomato flavor uh it's actually these are
whole tomatoes that taste like tomato
paste then they mix them up with mint
and you get the sort of like this really
wow sophisticated flavor they Fred them
up as a Fritter um uh but so I kind of
peel off all the crispy crispy stuff and
you used to kind of dig out all the
delicious stuff in the middle and then
the other thing I I love are these um
santorinian fava beans they're basically
oh yeah beans and they puree them little
olive oil little red little chopped
diced red uh onion um and it's you know
like this like ultimate simple meal yeah
I feel full I feel satisfied I feel like
my taste buds got lit up and um just
amazingly delicious uh food so all right
so what was it like what was re-entry
like for you to leave turkey Iaria to
come back oh it wasn't so bad because I
I went to Aiza for 10 days and
uh had some of the most amazing food
there just the freshest vegetables
incredible Seafood um and then and then
I came back and went to Idaho which was
terrifying I mean like but like what
what's the like how do you what was like
how do you how do you deal with re-entry
like that's always my big question like
go from this place has got this great
Elemental fresh local fruit come back to
sort of the Land of Plenty yeah I
brought I brought like I think three or
four bottles of olive oil wild when
Harvester from wild grapes that a friend
of mine give me really good listen a
friend of mine just gave me this from
Sparta family family oliv I mean look
how green I know it's so green great
and so you brought back some olive oil I
I see what you're saying is that you
imported with you a little bit of I did
I did I did I did I did yeah I mean I
think you know it just it just keeps me
inspired to try to you know focus on
just good quality ingredients and
farmers markets and you know we can
access it here it's not as easy it's not
as ubiquitous but right you know it's
not that hard if you have a little patch
of land I don't know if you know U Ron
Finley who had something you know called
the um Urban Gardener they call him the
gangster gardener because he basically
planted oh yes food he food in the strip
on the sidewalk you know between his
house and the sidewalk that St grass and
he planted a garden there yeah and he
got he got sued for it and then he had
to change the laws and you know I said
let's turn our food deserts into food
Forest I think you're right yeah but a
lot of it's like attitude and mindset
and just what we see around us that um I
mean that was the most inspiring thing
um from the Mediterranean so uh all
right so if you had to share something
that you like to cook yourself that
reminds you of something beneficial or
something you like what's your favorite
thing to cook at home and how do you do
I mean I we I just had the other night
well I mean it's a couple different
meals but I had some wild wild uh copper
rub salmon last night I just it was
really fresh I just slic it up and I I I
put a grill pan like on my top of my
stove and I I sort of cut them into
pieces and salt and pepper just seared
them cook them really simply not too
overcooked a steamed artichoke with the
olive oil balsamic do you cook with skin
on or not a skin yeah put the face uh
the the face like the skin side up first
and then I turn it over and let it cook
through like kind of sear one side of it
and then uh it just takes like five
minutes super quick and a grle or a pan
I have a no like I have a pan in my
stove which is like a grill pan so it
doesn't get all the horrible charred
stuff but it's still Tes really crispy
and good and then we had some steamed Ed
chokes really good ared chokes with
really good olive oil balsamic salt and
pepper I like also to make um you know
sweet potatoes I like the Japanese sweet
potatoes that purple ones I like those a
lot all right yeah and then we had some
shitake mushrooms with it so uh I like
to mix up sort of greens and mushrooms
and sweet potatoes and some kind of
protein is my favorite kind of thing and
it's super simple very quick sounds like
a Melting Pot yeah it's great I you know
I don't I don't spend like hours and
hours doing fancy recipes I just don't
have time but but you can make you know
really simple dinner in 15 minutes you
know I mean Salon Cooks in 5 minutes our
chook just in a pot it Cooks itself you
know sweet potato you throw in the oven
you know turn on it's done an hour later
I mean there's very little work to do
yeah U mushrooms you chop them up sauté
them or you can just throw them whole in
the oven and roast them with a little
olive oil just you don't bother throw
them in a toaster oven it's super easy
to cook if you just kind of learn the
basic skills but most people don't even
have the basic skills you know if you
don't know how to you know tie your
shoelaces it's hard to go for a walk
right so like it's we just have a
culture that's completely eliminated the
uh culture of cooking it's it's
something that I know my mother did that
her mother did that her mother did and
it was passed down to me that way and I
pass it down to my kids and my son's a
chef now my daughter Cooks all the time
for herself but I I I met so many
families which just not a thing like
nobody has nobody has dinner together I
mean they you know meals are an event
they're not something to watch TV with
or do while you're scrolling through
Instagram they're literally Gatherings
where families get together where people
get together it's something that's been
going on you know for thousands of years
that food really was the center of life
for families and communities and now
it's really not been it's like we' eat
on the Run we eat on the go I think more
meals are eating at minivans and are
eatting at dining room table you know
and I I think that's frightening when
you think about it because the data is
so clear about the importance of family
dinners and the health of the kids and
the families so I I was always no matter
how bus I was I always made sure at
least five times a week we had dinner
together I cook fresh food and we all
ate no matter what I was doing or where
I was so I think I think it's doable um
even if you're busy I was a single
father um and I just cooked simple
things but and then you get the kids
involved you bring them in you let them
cook together and it really changes
everything well and also when you know
they're participating in the making of
the meal they appreciate it better
because they know number one they also
know where everything came from and we
grow gardens and I got my kids planting
the seeds and growing the vegetabl and
weeding and and then they go and they
get this is where it comes from and this
just a place of continuity I thought my
daughter was very upset because uh she
didn't understand why the eggplant
didn't have an egg on
it well you know she was three years old
she got very
confused hey there I've got an exciting
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screen right now now let's get back to
the video Yeah know I I love the idea of
eating socially I mean also you eat
slower right because you're and you get
to savor your food um who Savers their
food when they're actually eating by
themselves right you basically I mean I
sometimes do but it's not easy to do and
then one thing that's great about like
what reminded me when I was in the
Mediterranean like when you're eating
with other people people talk about
their food they're proud of it they want
to talk about different aspects of their
uh about their food as well and so you
know you kind of get into the whole
thing yeah I know it's great great I
love it yeah no I I made a I made a dish
recently that I think is super easy I
found some garlic escapes at the market
and oh yeah that's good and Cho them up
put a little olive oil some salt I
actually took some shachi mushrooms and
sliced them up and I just roasted them
about 10 minutes and then I threw them
together with some little cherry
tomatoes that I blistered in a pan like
took it took 10 minutes and pretty much
you can take that you can throw it on
brown rice you could throw it in a
little bit of H whe pasta or you could
just have it you know actually you could
throw it onto a salad if you want to but
you just get this like great pop of
flavor yeah it's great yeah yeah that's
that's the thing I think I've learned I
think um it's really clear that the more
um flavorful a food is naturally the
more medicinally Rich it is you know
when you when you flavor food from the
outside with all kinds of sauces and
salt and pepper and sugar and fat it
actually you know you miss the the real
quality food that actually tastes good
by itself so I didn't eat foods like
that and just find the best PL
ingredients yeah no I by the way I hate
being tricked by flavors you know like
that to me just seems like I I got the I
got the wool pull over my eyes I I hate
that so but the elemental food is is the
best you know like I think that's one of
the things that you and I probably both
experienced in you know in our own in
our own trips to the Mediterranean so
when is the next time you're going to
try to make your way back there I'm
going back to Turkey in September and
then Italy H Sicily and learn I know Dam
bu was just in sic at some of the blue
zones there so he's like a new Blue Zone
he's finding he's looking he's looking
for new blues house yeah yeah exactly
that that's cool you know I was watching
Dan um talk about something on social
and he was saying that uh regular
movement is better than actually a
workout plan and that you know in the
blue zones people are just moving all
the time as opposed to scheduling gym
time to yeah that's really cool well
look I I want to thank you for um taking
the time and chatting with me I mean
like we're we're friends we've been
we've had meals we've had G together
we've all done a lot of fun things
together but uh you know um it's a it's
a lot of fun just to kind of catch up
and and just talk about food uh a bit um
but hey what are you working on now and
where do you want people to actually
learn more about what you're doing well
uh you can find me at Dr h.com my
website and obviously on social media Dr
like Dr Markman on everything so pretty
easy find me and have my podcast at
Doctor's Pharmacy and you can check that
out it's doing really got a lot of great
content you've been on it many times so
no I'm telling you Doctor Pharmacy is
fantastic I by the way I I will travel
to different places and people will say
oh I just heard you on the Doctor's
Pharmacy and so it's you know like it's
got a it's got a really long life
because some of the stuff that that you
and I did a while ago people are still
hearing sure people yeah it's
great what you're doing William so
exciting to with you again no well thank
you and if anybody wants to actually
learn more about what I'm up to uh come
to Dr Dr William le.com sign up for my
newsletter got a master class going all
kinds of things um but you know at the
end of the day the stuff that you and I
do Mark are just like we're just real
people doing real stuff and enjoying
real food there you
go all right man good catching up next
time okay cool bye now bye 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