Exploring an Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Unknown speaker

Hello and welcome to this month’s episode of Ziva Talks. Today I’m delighted to be joined by my friend and former classmate, Elizabeth O’Hagan. He’s a community pharmacist with a passion for integrative health and lifestyle to explore the topic of the anti-inflammatory diet.

Unknown speaker

We’ll briefly touch on some of the key food groups and some of the anti-inflammatory properties, the medicinal benefits of the foods we discuss, as well as touching on some simple ways we can begin to make some small changes that make big differences to how we feel and function in the long run.

Unknown speaker

Hi Sarah, thank you so much for having me here today. It’s my first podcast so this is quite cool. No but it is great to be able to discuss something I’m passionate about and to try share some information and hopefully simplify something that could be quite overwhelming.

Unknown speaker

You know we hear we should eat, what we shouldn’t eat and it can be quite confusing sometimes. Absolutely. Yeah I see it with customers coming into the pharmacy all the time that you know the do’s and don’ts but what people forget is food can’t be seen as medicine, it should be enjoyed and we’re very lucky to live in a world where we have so many options around us for food and just to explore the health benefits and how it can really impact your well-being.

Unknown speaker

Yeah I love that Liz because I think that we’re very much moving away from an old mindset around food, eating just to avoid illness and I think that creates a lot of tension for people because they feel a bit fearful, are they eating the right thing or the wrong thing.

Unknown speaker

We’re starting to steer focus more and more towards eating in order to thrive and feel better and that real exploratory and kind of curious. mindset or approach that you’ve just mentioned. So rather than trying to fixate on finding what’s the right thing or the right way and but really experimenting and exploring what helps you as an individual to feel better in conjunction with following kind of proven or you know general principles or guidelines that are right there that have been shown to be beneficial for people.

Unknown speaker

Yeah exactly and the anti-inflammatory diet has been proven as we know we’ve studied it and yeah let’s just share what we know and yeah it won’t be too heavy keep it nice and simple but hopefully by the end of the show people will feel like they might have a couple of new ideas to take forward take away from it and implement small simple lifestyle changes and will be sustainable.

Unknown speaker

Yeah so to start for any listeners, maybe you aren’t familiar with the anti-inflammatory food pyramid. It’s largely based on many of the national healthy eating guidelines you’d be familiar with. So the usual culprits, you know, high in whole foods.

Unknown speaker

So our fruit and veg, making up a large portion of what we consume and healthy whole grains. Where it begins to differ is it leans much more towards the Mediterranean diet and thereby includes a lot of olive oil and healthy oils, as well as elements of the Asian food pyramid.

Unknown speaker

And this is where people maybe are less familiar with certain foods, especially various herbs and spices that have been proven to have a very anti-inflammatory effect on the body and support the body going back into homeostasis and finding balance.

Unknown speaker

So I sometimes use the comparison where added sugars, saturated fats and salts are like the proverbial poker stoking at the fire, causing that strain and information burn up in the body. That the anti-inflammatory diet is full of foods that actually have that counter effect, that have that dampening effect and really support us finding balance again.

Unknown speaker

And the Asian foods like traditional Chinese medicine, you know, they’re so medicinal and they’ve been used for thousands and thousands of years and they’re readily available too. So it’s cheap. Yeah, it’s just to know where to go and what to use in what recipe even, like how to use them.

Unknown speaker

Building confidence. Yeah, yeah. Actually, there was a blog published last week. Oh really? Yeah, we have a Healing Herbs and Spices blog that was published recently on the Zeebo. Oh, I must check that in.

Unknown speaker

And so should the listener. And I just note at this point that Liz is on her way back from a weekend surfing in Clare, just for context. So this is wonderful that you’re. So, you mentioned the Chinese elements of the Asian food pyramid and a lot of the components apart from the herbs and spices would be the feature of medicinal mushrooms such as chaga mushrooms, maitake, cordyceps, there’s many different forms of these Asian mushrooms that have a very interesting nutritive profile and I know will be coming to the fore more and more in years to come because again of this powerful anti-inflammatory,

Unknown speaker

anti-oxidative and harmonising effect that they can have. Yeah, the mushrooms are really interesting because when we were studying our course, what really struck me was when you think about where a mushroom grows and how it survives in really difficult conditions, like it might not have access to sunlight, you know, it’s usually around trees which have roots.

Unknown speaker

taking up most of the nutrients from the soil yet the mushroom still survives and thrives and grows so in order for it to survive it has built up this innate armor and is full of phytonutrients which has like they’ve been proven to be so beneficial for health and are really hugely influential in the anti-inflammatory diet.

Unknown speaker

I love the way you’ve described that and it’s yeah it hadn’t struck me quite so much until you you mentioned that there and I know Paul Stamets has done extensive work on mushrooms and the mycelium that connects them underneath and the the properties not only the biochemical and as he said the phytonutrients but also other dimensions of these food groups that they’re not an animal they’re not a plant so you know they’re their own unique category but this is certainly one of those things that really stands out in the anti-inflammatory food pyramid it has its place and is acknowledged to consume and weave in these Asian mushrooms so people can benefit from the health properties and you can eat them fresh but equally you can get powdered forms and there’s many different applications which we can mention briefly at the end and like using the mushrooms in food and cooking is so tasty as well yeah like solution so that you remember you met the Jimmy after you made your first uh yes yeah it was a stir-fry and you were delighted and I think you’ve got shiitake mushrooms yes stir-fry don’t you yeah you’re so good yeah you’re so delighted with a beauty and then of uh see the Asian food permits that we may be as familiar with would be uh soy uh protein features there and a lot of people hear soy and there was conflicting research about it in recent times and some some people certainly don’t tolerate it so well um but for people who do tolerate soy it’s a highly nutritious and uh source of protein but key factor is how it is produced and how it’s been manufactured and sourced like anything,

Unknown speaker

like any food. So this is one thing I guess this is what we’re seeing with the rise of plant-based foods and meat alternatives that actually a lot of them are highly highly processed and just because it’s plant-based doesn’t mean it isn’t full of you know all these things.

Unknown speaker

It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s healthy. Exactly. And I think we do often think that or if that’s the way it’s marketed to. Certainly and the same as with soy and I remember being in a Kitchen at Hands monastery back in 2015 and the nuns used to make their own tofu.

Unknown speaker

Yeah and it was fancy, like it was just amazing. So I guess just saying to listeners that there’s a lot of factors to take into account when you’re considering a food group. and sourcing it absolutely and and the quality it has produced so high quality soy based product products tofu tempeh can be really rich and valuable forms of protein yeah if mushrooms and soy isn’t getting anyone too excited there’s also other elements of the anti-inflammatory diet maybe people are more excited about such as dark chocolate and red wine yeah the dark chocolate they usually say can is 70 plus for the health benefits and and also like i think if it’s less than that it’s really hard to not eat too much of it you want to keep it to like maybe two in the evening um but it is quite satisfying if you’re in that space in the evening where you want something nice and you’re like oh trying to be healthy or good and what we term as good um but the dark chocolate actually has health benefits believe it or not um it’s a really good source of magnesium and magnesium is linked with uh it’s really important for our muscle function even the muscle and our heart um and it’s also a great for helping people who are struggling to sleep so it does have its benefits and its place and you can enjoy it too a little bit of dark chocolate also a small amount of red wine has been shown to have cardiovascular benefits yeah the tannins in red wine have been shown to have cardiovascular benefits as you said um it is in moderation absolutely this is where it’s quite similar to the mediterranean diet actually because if you think about like south of italy they have their red wine and they’re you know they’re fish and they’re olive oil and all that and but the red wine like won glass a day yeah and not even every day um and i think it also resveratrol in the red,

Unknown speaker

grey, and again another potent phytonutrient, or the anti-inflammatory effect, that’s the really, and has been attributed to what was wonderful, the French part, did you ever hear about that? I think it ties in with the dark trees, but wine loving, and yes, these health properties and helping people to maintain some more weight.

Unknown speaker

So, other key parts, you mentioned olive oil, and I think this is an area, again, that kind of causes people confusion, and people tend to be fearful around fats, especially if they’re focused on weight loss.

Unknown speaker

Many people are very well aware of the idea of good fats versus bad fats that we hear thrown around, but it is of course, like all things, more complicated than that, unfortunately. But what we are aware of is the importance of weaving more of these healthy fats into our diet, and this can be a little bit daunting for people, especially if…

Unknown speaker

They’re focused on weight loss and they’re fearful around consuming excessive calories. So some guidelines from the anti-inflammatory diet. Again, overarching principle, but to consume about five to seven portions of oils throughout the day.

Unknown speaker

And to give you an example of what a portion would be, like two walnuts would be a portion, a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil would be a portion, perhaps as part of your dressing on your salad. So some people might hear five to seven portions and just be like, oh my goodness.

Unknown speaker

And this is one again of those areas where this does differ from, say, for example, in Ireland, the National Healthy Eating Guidelines don’t treat your oils so heavily. So for people who maybe are a bit curious to learn more about this and especially those who maybe have health concerns as well.

Unknown speaker

Yeah. Don’t be afraid of olive oil when you’re shopping for olive oil. Make sure it’s extra virgin olive oil. That is important. Olive oil is it’s a great source of omegas. And we know that omega is very important in cardiac function or mental cognitive function.

Unknown speaker

And also plays a huge role in our cholesterol levels. So we need fats in our diet too. And it’s all about finding balance and keeping that ratio there. So like fat free diet is actually not recommended at all.

Unknown speaker

Yeah, absolutely. And we find that sometimes certain food groups get almost demonized, you know, especially certain carbohydrates, but like everything can have its place and have its time. But certainly the evidence is suggesting, especially for health and longevity, that it is important for us to consume these healthy fats and weave them into our diets.

Unknown speaker

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Unknown speaker

Contact us today to start your workplace wellbeing journey. www.evohouth.com So another great natural source of our healthy fats is oily fish and there is again a rule of thumb principle and these are of course as well featured in the national healthy eating guidelines is one to two portions of oily fish a week.

Unknown speaker

And so there’s a simple acronym that can be useful to reference. I love an acronym. So our salmon, mackerel, anchovies, thardines and herring. So again we’re lucky again in Europe that we’ve tied our regulation around food production in America.

Unknown speaker

I think it is more of an issue to really be aware of where you’re sourcing your oily fish because if you imagine contaminants such as mercury as we’re aware and various toxins can be dense in some oily fish.

Unknown speaker

Yeah we are lucky in Europe. Yeah very lucky. So just being aware again I know we’re hammering that point home with olive oil and the soy but the same applies just being aware of where you’re sourcing these foods and not just assuming because something should be healthy that it is.

Unknown speaker

Yeah and if you’re kind of listening thinking I really really don’t like this it’s okay and you can get omega supplements in any pharmacy. My tip for buying any omega supplement it’s the omega 3 we’re focusing on.

Unknown speaker

You would want to be looking at something that is that’s about a thousand milligrams and have a look on the box the amount of EPA versus DHA. You ideally want more EPA than DHA and they’re part of your omega 3’s.

Unknown speaker

So yeah there are lots of options for that. More EPA is a very good brand. I’m not sponsored. Yeah no I remember doing my master’s the doctorate student came in to talk to us and she had been researching EPA for years and it had cured her arthritis and yeah she wasn’t.

Unknown speaker

anyway and so I definitely know that but just for anyone who maybe is vegan yeah algae-based supplements yeah more EPA actually do have a vegetarian and vegan option as well because I know even with gelatin and capsules a lot of the omega fish oils would be capsule based because they enclose the oil yes and just so we’re definitely not brand of those is also Eskimo oil and in which they have a children’s range as well oh brilliant and is there farman farman or it is another really good brand so I’ll and you know some of them can seem very expensive to be honest there are loads of brands of it just keep an eye on the milligrams and the EPA first page you want more EPA and look for around at housing milligrams on the box excellent thank you so much to learn more about any of the elements we’ve talked about.

Unknown speaker

There’s a lot of open source free accessible information online about the anti-inflammatory diet. Dr. Andrew Weil on his website goes into much greater depth about the different food groups and how to begin to weave them in.

Unknown speaker

Yeah, you’ll find the food pyramid on his website as well. And that’s Weil, it’s spelled W-E-I-L, Andrew Weil. And you know, we’re probably not pronouncing it correctly. Never know how to pronounce it.

Unknown speaker

Is it Weil or Weil? We were one of the few Irish people on our course at the time. And all the Americans, Weil, was that right? Weil, Weil? We must ask him. But you can check that out there. So just let’s talk maybe a little bit about how to begin weaving some of these healthy eating principles into our daily lives, because I think this is a barrier a lot of people are confronted by where we can have the best of intentions,

Unknown speaker

especially on a Monday or Tuesday. And then the momentum of busy lives kicks in. And when we’re tired or overwhelmed, it’s so much easier to go for fast, quick and usually where we’re going to get the greatest instant gratification in the form of sugar or fast foods and over processed foods, which basically take out the goodness of the food.

Unknown speaker

Absolutely. It’s again, that proverbial poker on the fire. A lot of those. Yeah, when it comes to like information in the body, those over processed foods, farm the flames and have a huge role in information.

Unknown speaker

And you shared something really interesting with me before we went on. We went live. And that was about the prevalence of people consuming PPIs, zoned acids. And so would we just talk? I know we’ve spoken a bit about like what to eat on the anti-inflammatory diet.

Unknown speaker

If you’d like to share a little bit about like how PPIs. Yeah, that’s it. The how and huge. So many prescriptions that we see every day, multiple prescriptions. People are on long-term PPIs, which are proton pump inhibitors.

Unknown speaker

So you might have heard of Nexia, Asymepazole, Lussek. They basically stop the overproduction of acid in the stomach. And, you know, for people that are suffering from heartburn, indigestion, there are other reasons people can be on them.

Unknown speaker

Sometimes it’s to protect your stomach from other medication as well. You know, they do have the place and their role. But long-term use of PPIs can have a negative impact. But unfortunately, heartburn and that indigestion is often caused from our lifestyle.

Unknown speaker

So it wasn’t really prevalent or around 50, 60 years ago. It’s a very new disease, like this esophageal reflux. So how we really influences how our body can digest it. food we are taking in. A lot of people I see with customers you know they’re maybe stressed with work, a lot of people eating on the go which I was guilty of myself as a pharmacist you don’t always get a break for lunch, you can be eating standing up,

Unknown speaker

you can be eating you know while you’re running around doing other tasks and unfortunately that can lead to this indigestion and stomach pains like bloating. Tension. Tension. And you’re not the only health care workers or sectors that would be struggling to disagree with viewers as well.

Unknown speaker

Yeah so it’s like what can we do then? Just to be aware of when we’re eating like you know are we sitting down at a table looking at it the food we’re eating noticing what we’re eating and chewing our food.

Unknown speaker

A lot of us just inhale our food. We sit down with our dinner you’re like watching Netflix or TV you’re mindlessly eating you’re not really paying attention to what you’re eating and that’s when we miss our body’s signals to say you’ve had enough or you fall like we miss these innate natural signals that yeah you were just losing that.

Unknown speaker

And so the long-term effect of taking these antacids and PPIs it can also have a negative effect on our absorption of minerals and vitamins. Yeah there’s been lots of links studies showing links to osteoporosis.

Unknown speaker

If you think about it it makes sense because if you’re minimizing the body’s natural amount of acid in the stomach we need acid in our stomach to break down the food we eat. We need to break down the food we eat so that our body can absorb nutrients it needs.

Unknown speaker

If we’re kind of altering this natural process long-term yeah long-term it will affect us are being absorbed which then in turn can it’s like a domino effect it can knock on that it can affect your own health and all sorts of other issues in the longer term What I absolutely love talking to you about is like that real appreciation for everything having its place and so this is not in any way to say that antacids don’t serve their purpose or are required at times but it’s definitely acknowledging that when we start defaulting to something as a long-term fix,

Unknown speaker

that maybe it’s only intended for temporary. She’ll be looking at why am I having this heartburn and like what is the root cause and if you can get the awareness of what’s causing the issue in the first place then you kind of have much more chance of finding a solution.

Unknown speaker

So if it is stress, like what can you do? Could we do some breathing exercises? Could I make sure I sit down for my dinner at a table? You know, not just grab a sandwich on the go or even in the car, maybe actually make time and space for that.

Unknown speaker

So it’s putting these buffers in place and not only considering… what we’re eating is having an anti-inflammatory effect, but how we’re eating, where we’re eating, why we’re eating. Yeah, and yeah, to enjoy the food, like appreciate it, like eating dinner times, it should be like a ritual, you know, social connected.

Unknown speaker

You lit up earlier when you said food should be enjoyed, it’s delicious. I’ll just briefly, a little bit about the anti-inflammatory diet and weight loss and I know we were out for a little walk in the forest before we came in here to record and you mentioned quite a concerning trend that you’ve noticed in the pharmacy recently.

Unknown speaker

Yeah, you may be aware of it, there is a new injection for weight loss that it’s huge in America and it has come to Ireland now and it’s extremely popular, which I find quite sad because as we said earlier, food should be enjoyed and a lot of people are really struggling with weight loss and maybe desperate.

Unknown speaker

Desperate and looking towards medicine, something to honest, it’s not a quick fix, but the way I look at the weight loss injection is that if you’re the wrong side of that mountain peak and you’re climbing up, you need something to help lift you over that peak and onto the right side of the slope.

Unknown speaker

This is a good option for some people, but only in conjunction with lifestyle changes, dietary changes, more movement and exercise. And the deeper emotional psychological work. The injection aims to decrease or suppress your amputation, but as we all know, when we binge on something that maybe we know is not healthy for us, it’s usually not because we’re the term emotional eating.

Unknown speaker

Emotional eating, absolutely. So again, what you’re saying is you can see how it could be useful in some context, but what you’ve noticed is there’s a lot of people coming in first that haven’t done any sort of inquiry or exercise.

Unknown speaker

exploration or a diet or making changes. Yeah. And there is this movement towards that weight loss injection, you know, it’s been widely celebrated for a lot of people, but as I said, it needs to be done in conjunction with healthy nutrition, healthy diet, you know, educate yourself.

Unknown speaker

On the psychological, emotional support and the kind of deeper inquiry. I know. Even therapy, like, you know, not to be afraid to speak to somebody, like, it goes so deep. And if you look at, like, it’s this integrative approach, this holistic approach to the body, the mind-body connection, and to not just think of it as weight loss, but like health journey.

Unknown speaker

I love that. Yeah. And there’s no end. There’s no, like, static endpoint of perfect health that anyone reaches, it’s dynamic and changeable. When we look at our environments and even social context over the last number of years.

Unknown speaker

you know, we’re confronted by so much volatility and change constantly. So our body’s requirements also are incredibly dynamic. So there’s we’re never going to land on that. This is the right thing. And perfect.

Unknown speaker

Are you going the absolute right way to eat it? Because everything’s always. Yeah. And you need to listen to your body as well, what your needs are. And after the pandemic, we saw a huge increase in prescriptions for antidepressants and also for people being diagnosed with two diabetes, which is concerning.

Unknown speaker

And it just reflects on, you know, where our society might be at and highlights the importance of human connection. And with the pandemic, with lockdowns, like people did that isolated and that negatively impacted some people’s health.

Unknown speaker

I’m compliant with these underlying factors. So so so what I love about what you mentioned earlier, about the social connection in the food, how how really like eating and enjoying delicious food, weaving in more of these anti-inflammatory foods doesn’t have to be absolute, doesn’t have to feel like you’re self-sacrificing.

Unknown speaker

But ways that you can amalgamate all these different threads. Yeah, maybe invite someone over, you know, to try a new recipe. And stir-fry the tacky mushroom. It’s all a bit of turmeric in there for the anti-inflammatory spice.

Unknown speaker

No garlic, if you want some kissing. If we start with breakfast. So one example, I would say with smoothies, for example, a lot of people are familiar with smoothies these days. They’re quick and easy.

Unknown speaker

However, a lot of people tend to make them very high in fruit content and maybe with yogurt or dairy as a base. So some simple ways to make it healthier and more anti-inflammatory would be to add a high quality fat and protein and maybe even some superfoods.

Unknown speaker

So an example of that would be adding in a spoon. of nut butter, half an avocado, adding in maybe even some kale. And we spoke about Asian mushrooms earlier, a little half teaspoon of Asian mushroom powder, which you can get in.

Unknown speaker

Of course, it won’t be the same as the whole food, but nonetheless, we’ll still have very healthful properties. Yeah, you’re getting loads of phytonutrients. Loads of phytonutrients. Yeah, it’s going to start your day off well.

Unknown speaker

A little kick and, of course, raw potato. And if you can get a little bit of raw chocolate powder in there, that’s absolutely fabulous as well. Yeah, like it should be enjoyed and fun, you know, experiment with it.

Unknown speaker

I love making it delicious and different all the time. I have a friend, Frederick, from Sweden, and he’s just a master in the kitchen. He never makes the same meal twice as I was experimenting. So it’s very inspiring.

Unknown speaker

So other things like our juices can be a quick, easy way for people that can be time consuming. um, porridge, really adding on elements to porridge. Do you have any favorites? Pimp your porridge. Yeah, absolutely.

Unknown speaker

Um, I love my porridge and I love adding, trying new things, but last week I added a bit of cinnamon and turmeric later to my porridge. You’d never think of turmeric. I was a bit nervous and it was turning yellow, so I was quite nervous, but I had a bit of peanut butter in there as well and, uh, I don’t remember what, fruit and apples, maybe blueberries.

Unknown speaker

I love it. It was delicious. Did you brush your teeth after? Yes, my mom was a dentist, so I didn’t want to go to work with the other teeth. She looks like the downfall of turmeric. And then flax seeds, if you’re adding flax seeds to your porridge, just making sure you meld them so that you can get those amigas.

Unknown speaker

Yeah, that’s another really good source. Yeah. Um, and then for lunches I find, and this was an absolute win for me a few years ago, when I started making soup on a Sunday, and I thought making homemade soup was a big deal in terms of time and energy.

Unknown speaker

Once you do it once or twice and get into the rhythm, you’ll have a meal for three or four days, obviously, depending how many are in the household. And again, delicious combinations, um, delicious fresh vegetable and tomato.

Unknown speaker

You can make Asian mushroom soups. Yeah. And there’s a whole host. So that’s a great lunch, quick, versatile, easy lunch option. And if you’re like me and a little bit, uh, sometimes nervous in the kitchen or not sure of my cooking skills, I got a soup maker thing.

Unknown speaker

And tell me, what’s the difference? It looks like petal and you literally throw everything, fill the water up to the line, throw in your stock cube and press the button on top and walk away. Oh, and when you come back, you have soup.

Unknown speaker

So there you go. So great. And then salads, of course, I think we can be a bit default again to saminess and the salad department for a lot of people, especially in Ireland. We can go for our iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber combo, but really branching.

Unknown speaker

Yeah, the customers also, when you mentioned salad and they think you’re going to be telling them to eat rabbit food like carrot sticks and lettuce, like salads can be so delicious. You just need to make the colorful, you know, different textures and different punches.

Unknown speaker

You’re throwing some nuts in there, it changes this. So delicious. Yeah. And I love that you added color there because that was a piece we didn’t mention earlier with the anti-inflammatory diet, phytonutrients, a key part of it is varying the fruits and veg to eat because certain phytonutrients are more dense in certain colored fruit and veg.

Unknown speaker

And if you vary the color or what many people would have heard eating a rainbow, you’d actually bruise it in hard science because you’ll get a greater, let’s say, spectrum of these phytonutrients and they have a synergistic effect, so we can tame them and it’s really, again, much more effective and supportive of that homeostasis.

Unknown speaker

So there’s actually a challenge, some people may have heard of it called the Clergy Plant Challenge, and so instead of eating your five a day and just focused on finding it, if you then have an inclination towards being samey like myself when you eat the same veggies, the Clergy Plant Challenge really challenges you to explore different fruits and veg, different herbs and spices and get a bit more adventurous.

Unknown speaker

So that might be something for people to check. To try, yeah, going to Aldi a little, they’re great to have, like sometimes I don’t even know what the vegetable is, but I’m like, let’s try that and see what happens.

Unknown speaker

This is totally new. Yeah, they swelled the Pleasant of Passion fruit this morning, she’d never seen the fruit, it was a lot so it’s lovely to see her eat it for the first time and her little nose squinching like this, all better, but it was lovely.

Unknown speaker

When it comes to dinners, I like to talk about it, but things like you instantly, you mentioned like stir-fries, such a quick and easy and great way, versatile way to get lots of anti-inflammatory foods and just generally some plant-based recipes.

Unknown speaker

Yeah, to explore more plant-based recipes and kind of get away from that traditional, like especially in Ireland, it’s like a meat, potato and veg, and that’s like the way a lot of us would have grown up, that was always your staple dinner, we just don’t have to have meat in every meal.

Unknown speaker

I’m not saying you have to be vegetarian or anything, but you know, don’t be opposed to a recipe that does, just because it doesn’t contain meat, like just be open to trying new recipes. And I do think as you say that a lot of people are already moving that direction, eating for their own nutritional requirements and because it helps them feel better, but also eating because of the environmental impact of making choices based on what their food selection,

Unknown speaker

the knock-on effect on their communities and the environment. Yeah, but also another thing we didn’t mention like pulses, beans, lentils, those types of food are so full of protein. They’re actually quite cheap.

Unknown speaker

So from a financial point of view, I like I’m often just cooking for myself and it’s actually much cheaper to eat a plant based meal than buying meat. Absolutely. So some people might tend to feel eating healthier costs a lot more and in certain ways it can.

Unknown speaker

But there are also many ways to save a lot of money. A lot, yeah. By with why you informed choices when it comes to. And again, a lot of the recipes, the plant based recipes, your meals will be colorful and there is definitely a link with it making you feel better mentally as well.

Unknown speaker

When you look at your meal and you see, as you said earlier, a rainbow of colors, it does make you feel better. Hapsails used to be like blue and almost glittery and you’d look at it and instantly feel better.

Unknown speaker

Just because it was so pretty Into the design of these pills and the effect that has just It was an anti-depressant tablet to make you feel better and then you pop it in It’s like blue and sparkly it’s not like that anymore, but it used to be like like that That’s really interesting But I guess there is a whole industry based, you know, making food look beautiful and a whole cuisine Yeah, that’s so interesting.

Unknown speaker

So look there’s lots of simple tips there I know it’s very late touch and in the short time we have together today But for people to explore this more there’s so much open source free accessible Content online.

Unknown speaker

Yeah, and so just exploring anti-inflammatory Recipes. Yeah, there’s cookbooks out there with different authors. And of course, as we mentioned earlier, dr. Andrew was Webpage on the anti-inflammatory diet.

Unknown speaker

He also has a podcast series called body of wonder It wouldn’t be as good as our podcast with I’m only joking But you could have a look at that too, it’s available on Spotify that is an amazing podcast.

Unknown speaker

It’s actually one of my favorite I haven’t listened in a couple of months, but I was Yeah, a regular listener like the fascinating topic. Yes I’m known in work as like being the h2o sheriff So we haven’t mentioned anything about water consumption.

Unknown speaker

So just before we leave I feel like I have to say it and Just to make sure you are drinking plenty of water Every day because from a health point of view dehydration causes a lot of and Disruption disruption headaches lacks concentration low energy You know, it’s a very simple.

Unknown speaker

We’re very lucky to have access to clean water and in Ireland So, you know make use of it and appreciate it and drink it And Liz it’s been just such a joy to chat to you today thank you so much for your time and very much hope that the listeners have benefited from Conversation and there’s so much resources on the seagull health website that if people want to look into other trainings or their content that we have Around these healthy eating protocols.

Unknown speaker

There’s plenty there to dive into. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much for having me