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by the way the diet soda is harmful
because it actually turns out that all
the data is starting to accumulate is
that the non-nutritive sweeteners that
don't add quote calories into your body
so not fuel supposed to be better right
my diet whatever blank um tastes good I
love it well I tell you what you're not
absorbing any of the calories the energy
it's it's actually what they call it you
know empty calories like this got
nothing all right but those artificial
sweeteners the data is showing that it
poisons our gut back IIA down below when
that ecosystem is poisoned that's that's
like dropping bleach you know uh over
the Great Barrier Reef wow you're
starting to kill the organisms there
those organisms are responsible for
maintaining a healthy immunity helping
you lower inflammation they produce a
short chain fatty acids they help you
heal faster and even your gut microbiome
text messages your brain to release
social hormones so this is a just one
example of of something that's not so
healthy both uh sugar sweetened
Beverages and um and and uh artificially
sweetened beverages is one worse than
the other if you had to pick if I had to
pick uh I
would uh prefer a sugar natural sugar
sweetened beverage I'll tell you why
sugar is basically like overwhelming
your metabolism okay so a typical can of
soda will have like nine teaspoons of of
of refined sugar that's that's a lot if
I gave you an empty glass and I gave you
N9 teaspoons of sugar and said eat it
buddy yeah you're going to go like no
man it's torture right that's what we're
doing actually with soda it's crazy your
body will get over it like it will not
like it when all that Sugar hits your
bloodstream your insulin is going to
Sugar will spike your insulin will go
Haywire a little bit but you know what
you're G to you you'll recover don't
worry all right the gut microbiome thing
when you poison that gut microbiome
that's a whole other order of damage wow
that's why I would I think that's what I
would avoid the the the artificial
sweeteners sometimes I drink uh these
nonnutritive sodas so zero calorie sodas
that are sweetened with stevia are those
all right so so the data is still coming
in on uh Stevia monk fruit uh you know
some of the other non-nutritive
sweeteners like like naturally sweet
they're super potent looks okay they
look okay like they they don't have a
the same degree of harm on the gut
microbiome and that's really what I
think a lot of researchers are looking
at is is there a harm an unanticipated
damage to the gut microbiome because we
now know that the gut microbiome is so
incredibly important uh actually for for
cognitive function as well and and our
mood so it's not just regular metabolism
and your blood lipids and your ability
to heal but but really really important
so uh what I would say though is that
for people that are thinking about
stavia Stevia however we pronounce it um
not so much in a in a you know in a can
of something but if you're going out to
buy a Stevia in the
supermarket be very very careful to read
the ingredient label of the package that
it comes in because many things say
Stevia on the on the front all right but
if you look take a look on the side of
the ingredients there's a lot more than
Stevia in it wow yeah I know sometimes
they package it with um they'll package
it with monk fruit oryol which is a
sugar alcohol but uh very interesting
would you say the dose makes the poison
with these kinds of things like diet
sodas you know like if somebody's not a
regular diet soda drinker but every once
in a while you know once a week maybe
they like to treat themselves yeah it
helps maybe with uh even though we don't
like the we're not we're not fans of the
DW it helps with like Diet adherence you
know is that something that you think is
is the risks outweigh the benefits yeah
well look I I'm somebody who practices
reasonableness and I always say to
people and you know my patients I always
tell them life is for the living so you
want to make sure that you're really
enjoying your life and everyone has some
does some things that's not so good for
them I think if you spend most of your
time Shoring up your body's strengths
you can actually withstand and rebound
and uh from you know taking a hit or two
not going to be a big deal I agree with
that but I do think that you know um
awareness is a big thing you know once
you are aware that you know that that
there's certain things that are not so
good for your body you want to be away
from it by the way we were just talking
about sodas for a second there's other
damaging uh substances Ultra processed
foods uh is another one that actually
can be very very damaging to your
metabolism and also to your body fat
talk about those well first they um I
think you mentioned this at the
beginning they tend to take the place of
Whole Foods Fresh Foods and so when you
actually have um when you when the diet
sort of the modern diet becomes PR
predominantly ultr processed foods stuff
in the box that you heat up that's been
pre-made uh out of a factory and many
times I always tell people please look
at the ingredient uh that and if there's
like 20 uh if there's 20 items as
ingredients and you can't pronounce most
of them or if you spot there's
artificial preservatives artificial
sweeteners artificial flavorings you
know in Europe they actually ban a lot
of the artificial flavorings and
colorings that we actually have commonly
in the United States I've heard that
right so this is like okay now why does
certain part of the world ban this to
protect their citizens and how come you
know like that's a choice that we make
if we're going to eat it so I would say
look at the ingredient label you know uh
trust but verify all right and that
verification watch you keep you out of
trouble um you know in my book I take
people on a tour the grocery store to
look for metabolizing metabolism
activating Foods there's 150 of them um
but what I do is I actually take people
into the Forbidden middle aisles right
people used to say shop the perimeter I
wanted to tell people you can actually
shop the middle of the store there is
real stuff good stuff in there I I call
the chapter treasure hunt so you want to
find the gold the real gold from the
Fool's Gold don't get the Fool's Golds
get the real stuff and so the point is
that what you want to do is to avoid
that as much as possible that Ultra
processed stuff too many people uh make
a habit a daily habit of eating mostly
ultr processed food and what are those
Foods typically look
like
um they're in a box they're in a can
they're in a bag um uh they are loaded
with artificial preservatives they're
machined extruded reshaped they're
colored you know spray painted mixing
mixed with different types of colors and
there's a lot of flavor enhancers as
well you know and I think that that's
and and by the way that that tends to
develop habits because we become
addicted to certain flavors our brain
you know responds to certain signals
that these chemicals that are placed in
Ultra processed foods make us more uh
make us avidly seek them out interesting
so they make us they make us inclined to
overeat well they they they make us
inclined to pick that product but once
we're there it becomes hard to overeat I
mean most of us don't understand that
you know like this new science of the
metabolism breaks it down that the food
we're eating is our fuel and it bre
packs into our fat cells like once you
have that picture in your mind like it
makes it a little you can you can kind
of check yourself a little bit about
taking that extra serving or extra
helping or extra bag of something yeah
so what are these uh so what are these
these hidden nuggets hiding within the
aisles of our supermarkets because I
typically I typically recommend people
you know dipping in very occasionally
but ultimately doing the bulk of their
shopping around the perimeter of the
supermarket but what are these like
these foods that you've identified as
being particular ly valuable all right
so first of all the foods I've worked on
are are all been studied in the lab but
also have human evidence that they're
beneficial in people so you know I as a
scientist you know like the lab is cool
but the proof in the pudding uh the
rubber misot is when actually you find
that the the effect the benefit is
actually found in people so 150 Foods in
my book all that are benefiting your
metabolism burning harmful body fat
activating your metabolism all right so
and the way that I write about it and
then I'll tell you what we'll get to the
middle aisle is I write about this uh to
take the reader on a tour the grocery
store so remember when you were a kid
you you hopped into the shopping cart
with your mom pushing you through the
aisles that's what I do with this book
you hop into my shopping cart I take you
around I just tell you what to put into
the cart all right and so obviously and
I'm 100% with you shopping in the
perimeter going to the produce section
looking for the fruits and vegetables
and legumes and you know all that kind
of root vegetables absolutely that's
where a ton of good stuff is it's almost
obvious although there's a lot of
surprising new science about that as
well but what I also do is I take people
into the middle aisle that forbidden
section and I think this is something
that is very important to me is that if
you want to stay on top of the new
science of the metabolism and fitness
and health don't get stuck to these old
kind of um paradigms like stay away from
the middle aisle no go into to the
middle aisle be aware that there's
research has actually shown there's some
good stuff in there there's a lot of bad
stuff in there but there's good stuff as
well so what is a treasure in the middle
aisle well I will tell you one of them
actually are um dried chilies
interesting encho chilies Chili Peppers
pablanos the whole the whole chili is
good or even the spice aisle the the
powdered chili or the or chili flakes
you put on your pizza kind of thing
that's really helpful uh even the the
chili that's in the jars of Sals hot
salsa can be helpful to you now how is
this now I'm giving you the research
explanation now turns out the Chili
Peppers have something called capsacin
and capsinoid these are natural
chemicals that when you eat they create
the burn of chili right that zing on
your tongue now chili the capsacin binds
on your tongue to a receptor it's called
trip V1 don't worry about the Latin let
the scientists deal with that but I just
want to give you the mental image of the
hot the the spicy chemical that's
naturally present in Chili Peppers
turning on a switch that's on your
tongue that switch send a signal to your
brain all right and then your brain it
tells your brain to release couple of
things the one thing it releases is
endorphins feel-good hormones that's why
some people are addicted to spicy food
you like it makes you feel good yeah
right my little brother is like obsessed
right so his he his brain is releasing
more or endorphins but the second uh uh
signal the second hormone that the brain
releases is much more interesting it
releases nor adrenaline norepinephrine
now that is a stress hormone that so you
know fight or flight you know you're
either going to put your dukes up or
you're going to run away all right well
that's an organ that's a hormone that
your brain will release that causes you
to vasodilate and to sweat that's why
when you eat really hot stuff you start
to you know your nose run
you know you get you flush right that's
kind those are fighting words right so
like that's actually why why Chili
Peppers do that but the other thing that
the new science of the metabolism
teaches us is that the nor adrenaline
that norrine runs down um uh nerves from
your brain down to your brown fat it
turns on the space heater fat in your
body wow and when it fires up your space
heater fat you're burning down fuel from
EX excess body fat especially visceral
fat so this is where the good fat can
fight bad fat and you're eating it in
Chili Peppers wow fascinating so
Mexicans man because they eat a lot of
that stuff you know there's a lot of
people in across different parts of the
world um uh Southwest Asia China uh
Vietnam Thai uh Latin America yeah
you're right right lots of lots of fiery
calabrian chilies you know there's a lot
of fiery chili I know you like to cook
so I mean me too so I mean we can talk
about that I mean different genres
different Cuisines incorporate Hot Chili
Peppers and maybe that's a cultural
going back to history maybe that's kind
of why Chili Peppers made their way into
Cuisine yeah because there was some
inherent intuitive benefits to it yeah I
remember reading a study a couple years
ago that people who habitually consume
spicy foods have uh reduced risk of
early mortality that's right might
actually help you live longer that's
right that's right and so we're starting
to really kind of put together a picture
and understand some of the mechanisms of
why that might be and activating your
metabolism is clearly one of them
fighting off that extra body fat
fighting off that the ability to
actually have fat in inflammatory fat
that spills over over to your liver and
you know makes it harder to detoxify
your blood all these things this picture
starts to make sense it's fascinating
you know I'm thinking about Japanese
Cuisine they don't really make use of of
Chili Peppers no but Japanese Cuisine
uses other ingredients that can actually
activate your um your brown fat as well
interesting all right so for example
KOMO which is you know used in miso soup
you know that little square dark seaweed
that's pieces that are in com in your in
your miso soup that's combo it's kind of
seaweed and actually contains um uh
fucos anthan um which is a natural um
substance that's present in seaweed that
activates your brown fat wow okay and
fish I mean Japanese Cuisine eats a lot
of fish as Seafood as their protein
omega-3 fatty acids activate your brown
fat fight your harmful white fat uh
actually what's amazing uh Omega-3s
actually start to convince white harmful
fat to convert and grow more Brown fat
no way yeah yeah they they they
basically try to get white fat to switch
sides do we know why Brown fat is brown
like why do they call it that because uh
it contains to Okay so to fire up that
space heater it needs to have basically
nuclear engines that can actually fire
up the heat now the engines in our cells
uh in the human cell that fires up is
called the mitochondria okay mighty
mitochondria so I remembered it when I
was in med school um it fires it up and
the mitochondria has a lot of iron in it
and iron is brown wow never knew that
packed with packed with these nuclear
engines packed with a lot of iron wow
mitochondria rich in iron that's right
we really are star stuff you know the
fact that like iron that we're it's such
an essential part of us
um crazy in your book I noticed you talk
a lot about the uh a a mediterian
diet what's that about all right so of
these 150 foods that I labeled that you
that you can find them in every section
of the grocery store produce aisle
middle aisles the beverage section and
of course the seafood section not to
forget that part of it um I I take
people through this and what I wanted to
do is provide a little bit of cohesion
for people that are reading my book to
say well how do you put all this into
action like like so what kind of food do
you talking about and so I get asked all
the time Dr Lee you study food as
medicine you're in pretty good shape
tell me what diet you're on and I mean I
I can't tell you the number of times I'm
asked this by people and what I tell
people always so what I answer is that
I'm not on a diet I don't go for diets I
I don't think they're sustainable
they're not always most of them are not
very healthy and some of them are fad
and not based on science and I'm all
about Inner Health um but the other
thing I'm all about I I really enjoy the
taste of food like I'm I respect food I
respect the traditions of food and I and
I love to explore different kinds of
tasty Foods that's something I grew up
with you know I have a asan Asian
background I grew up eating Chinese food
I lived in a Mediterranean I I took a
gap here between before I went to
medical school I lived in Italy and in
Greece so like you know I've I've walked
the walk and I and this was so long ago
long before people actually even talk
about the Mediterranean diet and I was
there to study food culture and health
like how it all integrated together so
for me there's a joy The Joy of Eating
uh actually involves naturally looking
at genres of food that fit with uh
either Asian Cuisine or Mediterranean
Cuisine and I would wish
that most people who might look at my
book would say you know what I can get
into that I you know I like Japanese I
like Chinese I like Tha food or you know
I like Italian food I like Greek food I
mean they're popular Cuisines but the
amazing thing from these large
epidemiological studies is that these
genres of Cuisines are among the
healthiest in the world among the oldest
in the world and among the most
developed in terms of culinary culture
right so they go way back so I call it
mediterian so I so how do you eat that
I eat mediteran style that's who I am
it's not some fancy Fusion blend okay I
might be Asian it might be Mediterranean
it might be a blend I don't know when
I'm cooking something I sometimes think
you know can can I can I tear a page
from The Playbook of each to create
something that's good for myself um and
so people go oh well that sounds really
cool mediterran and it does have a nice
it does roll off your tongue nicely uh
but the key actually is it's not brand
new M and I love history I think we so
much we're so informed by our history
mediterran is like 2,000 years old why
because 2,000 years ago the
Mediterranean and Asia was connected by
the Silk Road it's the greatest trading
route in human history where people on
Desert Car people are it's a desert
Caravan people are um going back and
forth between the Mediterranean and Asia
and they were meeting each other and
exchanging and selling
ingredients trading recipes sampling
each other's Cuisines and so this goes
way back long before processed foods
where people are much more in touch with
their bodies and I think that's really
kind of like the what I wanted to bring
out is that you know the idea of
actually eating the beer diet elevating
your metabolism uh using the new science
isn't just new fangled stuff yeah if you
like to eat check out my book because
it's packed with the i the ingredients
as well as some recipes that will
actually make you like make you salivate
because it just tastes good