Food is Our Best Medicine

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Food is Our Best Medicine

This week, I’m sharing tips from my book The Real Food Grocery Guide on how to use food as medicine. Learn my recommendations on gluten, dairy, meat, organic, and more.

Episode Highlights

Maria Marlowe

Maria Marlowe

Founder Healthy by Marlowe

Maria Marlowe has made it her mission to inspire people across the globe to eat healthier and live stress free. She opened her Integrative Nutrition Health Coaching practice in New York City in 2013 and has since coached hundreds of people, from moms to business executives to celebrities, to improve their health by improving their eating habits. Maria’s work and recipes have been featured in Vogue, InStyle, The New York Times, Dr. Oz, NBC, CBS, and more. She is the author of the #1 New Release on Amazon, The Real Food Grocery Guide, and host of The Happier & Healthier podcast. She currently lives between Dubai and NY.

Transcript

Maria Marlowe: [00:00:28] Welcome back to the Happier and Healthier Podcast. Today I decided to do something a little different than usual. I was recently interviewed on my friend Basel’s podcast, which is called Basel Meets, and I thought it was a really great conversation. So I decided to take that interview and release as today’s episode. Basel doesn’t come from the health world. So he had a lot of really, really great questions that I think many of you may have as well. So I wanted to make sure that you got to hear this interview. You can, of course, also check out his podcast, which is again, Basel Meets. In this episode, we talk about a wide variety of topics from how I healed my acne with food to why I recommend the pegan diet. That’s paleo plus vegan. Why you should choose organic produce. Why everyone should consider going gluten free even if you’re not celiac. How to choose the healthiest seafood. Why? I’m pro intermittent fasting. How to order healthfully at just about any restaurant. I don’t believe in cheap meals and so much more. So without further ado, here is the interview.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:01:42] Everybody, welcome back to Basel Meets Podcast. Today, have a really do a special guest all the way from New York City. Maria Marlowe Healthier and Happier, the host of Healthier and Happier podcast. Let’s say it right off the bat. If you want to get healthier and happier, you should probably subscribe to your podcast, right?

Maria Marlowe: [00:02:01] Definitely. You definitely should.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:02:03] I think so. I think so. Okay, Maria. First of all, I just want to say welcome to the Dubai. How long have you been here. You said just before the podcast. About a month right now?

Maria Marlowe: [00:02:12] Like, yeah, like three weeks. Yeah. Yeah.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:02:14] And how’s it been? How’s it been going for the past?

Maria Marlowe: [00:02:18] Great. I love it here. I can’t complain. It’s snowing back in New York. Okay. Oh, I see. Everyone’s Instagram photos with snow boots and piles of snow. And I’m here and there’s palm trees. Right.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:02:27] So I’m sure it’s been an insane transition, though.

Maria Marlowe: [00:02:32] Yeah, no, it’s a wonderful city and it’s really exciting and so cool. I think it’s also so inspiring to see the city and to be in this city because of what Dubai has accomplished. Forty years. And it just I feel like it really inspires you to think really big.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:02:48] Yeah. You know what? I think so. And I always look at the Burj Khalifa in Downtown, and I always see it as a symbol of like you could do whatever you want. You know, here’s what we did. We built the tallest tower in the world in the middle of the desert. Now over to you. It’s like, what are you going to do, that sort of thing? OK. So today I think we’re going to be more health conscious in our conversation. I should start saying that. You wouldn’t be happy to know what I ate yesterday. I think it’s all good. You’d be a little shocked. If you saw the amount of food that was on the table. Yeah. I want to know like a little bit more about you and your journey. And full disclosure, my wife Dana is a big, you know, fan of your work. She listens to your podcast almost daily in the morning. And I always get a lot of tidbits of information as we’re getting ready for work in the morning. And, you know, getting to go and see it is almost like your voice is at the back of my head, like, don’t eat this. You know, this is not going to be good for you. So I want to know, like, how did you how did you start?

Maria Marlowe: [00:03:57] I did not grow up thinking I was gonna do anything in the nutrition or wellness space. I wanted to be Britney Spears’ backup dancer. Right. That was my career aspiration. And I grew up in a typical American family eating a standard American diet. I pretty much a just pizza, cookies, cheese, Danish, steak and soda. Like that was literally my diet.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:04:21] Sounds like a standard Basel diet.

Maria Marlowe: [00:04:25] And so I you know, I come from a family, though, where obesity, cancer, chronic illness, those are the norm. They’re not the exception. So I saw all the people around me suffering with their health problems. And for a long time, I just thought that was our genes, that we’re this is just how my family is. But as I got a bit older and then I started getting my own health problems in high school, I realize that a lot of our health problems were more because of what we were eating and our lifestyle vs. our bad genes. So for me, I had many health problems. I was overweight, I had digestive issues, I had very low immunity, so sick all the time. But that stuff actually didn’t care about. What bothered me the most is that I had a really bad acne.

Maria Marlowe: [00:05:11] And of course, you know, 16 year old girl in high school and your face is covered in pimples and you’re like dying inside.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:05:18] Yeah, I had that issue, too. And I was in high school.

Maria Marlowe: [00:05:21] Yeah. It’s it’s people don’t realize just how it really affects your self-confidence and your self-worth and all of these other things, because every time you look in the mirror, you’re like, oh, my God, I’m deformed. So that’s really upset me. I tried everything. All of the over-counter over-the-counter things. I tried proactive and the infomercial stuff. I went to multiple different dermatologists, tried different prescription medications. And at one point they prescribed me Accutane, which is a pill for for acne. Yeah. And I filled the prescription and then I happened to read the side effects. And one of the side effects was severe depression that could lead to suicide. And I was just like with it, like, woah, like that is pretty serious.

Maria Marlowe: [00:06:03] So I decided not to take it. And I was just like, I must be curse because no one had an explanation for why I had acne and my brother and sister didn’t. Right. Anyway, fast forward. I got to college. I met a classmate there and I was eating my daily lunch, which is pizza and chocolate chip cookies and soda. And she’s like, you know, your skin problems, like they might actually be from what you’re eating.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:06:25] Was it very visible? Like what did people like sort of say?

Maria Marlowe: [00:06:28] Oh, well, no, I don’t think she would have said like like it. Right. I think what happened was I was complaining about my skin. It was like, you know, it might actually be from what you’re eating. And so I was like, wow, that’s a revolutionary concept, because I’ve been to all of these dermatologists and not one of them have ever asked me what I was eating. But I was desperate. I was willing to try anything. So she recommended a book that talked about the connection between skin and diet. But the book drastically changed my diet, cut out the junk food additive and vegetables, which I was not eating before, except for tomato sauce and pizza and french fries. And my skin finally cleared up.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:07:06] Ok. So for me at the point of acne, because I mean, I can relate. We I think we both had that in common. And I think Accutane is also one of the things that I was prescribed. And like you, I’ll read the side effects. And I saw depression and I saw suicidal thoughts and I saw severe dryness. And the good you have to do like a blood test every six months or something like that. And I was like, I’m not so sure this is worth it because this is like this will eventually clear up. That’s what I thought. You know, that this will eventually clear up. And I just refused. And there was a lot of kids in university back then that would really use up that medicine like a lot of kids. And some of them are not even half as severe as what I was like. I had a lot like the weight. The reason I asked you if people pointed it out is because for me. People actually asked me like, whoa, that’s got a lot going on there, you know, like, do you want to get it sorted or something, you know? And and that was really you know, that was that was scary for me. How many kids were using it? Within were not much, you know, thought put into it. Like it’s just beauty over mental health, which was a really odd concept for me. And yeah, I eventually did it. I mean, I went to a doctor and he told me not to take it. I said, look, if you want, all these side effects might not happen, but it’s up to you. And like how you’re thinking about your life and what you’re willing to take on to get rid of this problem. But there are other solutions. And one of the things he said to your point is eating. Wow.

Maria Marlowe: [00:08:45] This sounds like a smart doctor I like.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:08:47] Yeah. And honestly, and like you, I went to multiple pharmacies, multiple doctors. And every time somebody said Accutane I forgot what Accutane it is. Yeah, I would I would be like, this doctor is a no go for me because, you know, I’m not gonna take that medicine. You know, and. And. Yeah. And then he gave me some top of the counter stuff as well. But he said the main thing is stop fried, you know, stop like all that sort of stuff. And that really, really made a big difference on me.

Maria Marlowe: [00:09:18] Well, of course, I mean, if you think about it, a skin has two sides. Right. And skin is actually an organ, which I think sometimes people forget. And as an organ, it needs specific nutrients in order for it to function properly until. That’s interesting. Right. So I never thought of it that way. Yeah. So that’s why we really need to nourish it from both sides. It from the inside for sure. And then topically helps. But really it’s what we put inside our body that’s going to make the biggest difference on our skin because that’s where the inflammation starts and that’s where the problem start is internally. And typically unless if you wear a lot of makeup or put things on your face and things that are comedogenic, then yeah, you can get pimples from that. But for most people who have chronic acne. And it’s not coming from makeup or something topical, it’s coming. Coming from an internal issue. So you really need to fix that internal issue. Otherwise, you’re never you’re always gonna be playing whack a mole with zit cream on your face. It’s never going to fully clear up.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:10:12] Yeah. Oh, that’s what’s so interesting. So. So you sort of like went into this revolutionary thinking for yourself where you started thinking, well, OK, I guess that’s it. I need to start eating clean so I can clean up my skin. Oh, yeah. So how did that lead you into, that sort of changed your whole outlook of life.

Maria Marlowe: [00:10:30] So, yes, it did. So I think that once I realized that my food was affecting my skin, I started becoming really, really interested in nutrition and I started doing more and more research. And let me just back this up one second. So I changed my diet, my skin cleared up, and I was like, what a miracle from heaven. I finally grew out of my acne and must be a coincidence that I just happened to change my diet and my skin cleared up. So I went back to eating the pizza and the cookies and all that stuff. And of course, immediately my skin broke out again, gotten nothing. Oh, OK, fine. It is actually the food. There is something to it. So then that’s when I was like, okay. I’m really interested. I want to learn more. What else does food affect? Because I thought it only affected weight. Up until that point. Did more research, I found that it affects our immune system. It affects our risk for chronic illness and disease and cancer even it can affect our mood and really everything in between. So studying nutrition became this passion and side hobby of mine. And I would, you know, my friends and family would come to me and like, oh, I have this problem, like, what should I eat for it? And so I just I was actually studying nutrition. By the time I was in college, I was studying excuse me, I was studying finance and I graduated with a degree in finance, got a job in the hedge fund industry. Interesting. And I just was so interested in health on my own and on the side. That’s what I would spend all my hours doing after work and on the weekends that I eventually just decided that, you know what, I really could have benefited from someone telling me earlier on to change my diet and why isn’t anyone teaching us this? So I said, okay, I’ll go and I’ll be that person that teaches us.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:12:13] Right. And that’s how you started your pod… Did you write your book first or did you? So I should say that you’re an author. Yeah. I don’t think I said this, but yeah, I’ve got an actual author here. So let’s do this. Yeah. Yes.

Maria Marlowe: [00:12:26] So how it started is I first actually started taking cooking classes. I went to the Natural Gourmet in New York and from there I then started studying nutrition. And so I did a program on the side while I was working full time. And I initially started a health coaching business. And so I would work with people one on one. And then eventually I would teach. I taught group classes where I was just teaching people how to eat and how to cook healthy foods because it’s something, you know, I know personally, like, my mom hated cooking. Cooking was a chore. And so she never did it. We always ate out and had takeout because why not? Right.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:13:06] It’s the convenient thing to do.

Maria Marlowe: [00:13:08] Yeah, to do it right. So I just I didn’t even know. I like to go to a grocery store. I didn’t know what anything was. I definitely didn’t know how to cook it. And it was all very overwhelming and confusing. So I started creating these programs that would help people figure all this stuff out. And eventually then I turned that work with really hundreds of people and so many classes. And I ended up turning my grocery store tour into a book because it was ended up being my most popular offering where I would literally take my clients. I would walk them through the grocery store explaining the produce, what the health benefits are, what the concerns are, how how do you choose it. The ripest one, the best tasting one and literally did that throughout the entire every single aisle of the grocery store. And it ended up I wasn’t expecting it to be so popular, but ended up being super popular. It was written up in a bunch of different magazines and online outlets. And I was like, okay, well, I guess people really are interested in this, so let me turn it into a book. And that’s what I did. And that’s the Real Food Grocery Guide, which came out in twenty seventeen.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:14:07] Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But were grocery stores okay with this. When you go into?

Maria Marlowe: [00:14:12] Oh yeah. They’re, they’re totally fine with that. And sometimes I would even take groups like what I would do my group class, I’d have 10, 15 people at one time literally walking through a grocery store. Yeah. Like a tour guide.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:14:25] That’s the that is really cool. Very creative. That’s that’s awesome. Okay. And that picked up, you know, after you released your book, you decided to go into the podcast.

Maria Marlowe: [00:14:33] Right. Yeah. So the podcasts I launched last year and I just realized I have a website that has tons of healthy recipes on it and lots of nutrition tips, meal plans, online courses. And what I realized is that people are consuming media differently and they’re learning differently. And one way that we learn is through podcasts. Right. So I personally was listening to podcasts and loved them. And so I decided to start my own. So that’s why I launched Happier and Healthier. And with that podcast, I interview health and wellness experts, also functional medicine, doctors, integrative medicine, doctors. And really the goal of is it goal of it is to help people live their happiest and healthiest life by taking care of themselves.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:15:15] And do you are you are you vegan or. Because I know you’re is. Dana was telling me, my wife, that your plant-based. I’m not sure what that means, to be honest.

Maria Marlowe: [00:15:26] Yeah. That’s a great question. So I’m. I eat mostly plants, so mostly vegetables and fruits and anything that comes from the earth. Right. But I do eat a small amount of animal products as well. So technically it would be called pegan, which is kind of it’s kind of a mix of paleo and vegan. Okay. And I think or it’s very similar to the Mediterranean diet as well. But I think the biggest difference or the biggest I guess differentiator is that with a pegan diet, you when you’re eating animal products, there’s a really large focus on the quality of the animal products and making sure it’s organic or pasture raised and at is the highest quality that you can get.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:16:07] And so do you have a preference? You know, is there a reason why you don’t eat meat as much? ‘Cause like I’m thinking about it and, you know, coming into this podcast, obviously, like I told you earlier, I’m not such an expert in these sort of things, but. But, you know, meat is a sort of main source of protein. And, you know, we yesterday were having a conversation and I was wondering like, what is the difference between plant based protein and meat based protein and which one is better for you, knowing that there are carnivore diets out there? I forget what it was called. I was listening about a full meat diet by Jordan Peterson, who was who’s doing it and saw like a sort of a superb, like, change in his life and so on. So I’m thinking like, I guess it’s a case of like not everybody is the same. Like everybody has a different makeup and how they are and so on. But yeah, I’d like to know your thoughts on on those two areas.

Maria Marlowe: [00:17:11] Yes. So the Carnivore diet, I have seen that that’s becoming popular. Yeah. Or I don’t know if it’s becoming popular but you’re seeing it. I’m seeing it in the news and stuff.

Maria Marlowe: [00:17:20] I think that is not an ideal diet because we need fiber. And it first of all, if you’re just kind of backup and you look at there’s actually a great book called The Blue Zones. And this Dan Buetner, he is a researcher and he basically traveled the entire world and looked for the communities where people routinely live past 100 years of age and they’re healthy while they’re doing you know, they’re not in a hospital bed. They’re they’re living their life. Yeah. And so he found these different pockets mostly in the Mediterranean and Japan. And the things that these places had in common were that they had plant based diet. So they weren’t vegan, but a very large majority of their diet was made up with fresh vegetables, fresh produce, beans, lentils, those sorts of things. And they did consume some more protein, but it was in a much smaller amount. OK.

Maria Marlowe: [00:18:15] And there is plenty of research to suggest that we do thrive on a diet that is made up with plenty of nutrients and antioxidants and fiber that we get from plants. Right. Which you just you don’t get the fiber in and meat or any animal products. It’s just not there. And we need it for digestion. So I don’t know how he’s going number two with all that meat.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:18:39] I was thinking about that, too. I was like, oh, that’s a that’s a heavy stomach.

Maria Marlowe: [00:18:42] Yeah. Yeah. So I think, you know, I don’t think I can. You have a healthy vegan diet. Yes. But do you have to be vegan? No. I think that you can. You really want to have a little bit of both. And again, if you look just through history, through human culture, typically we’re eating a little bit of both. Yeah.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:19:01] And your preference is to sort of have a little bit of that meat. But, you know, a lot of that plant-based family.

Maria Marlowe: [00:19:10] So when I tell people I like. If you think of your plate as a pie chart, you want at least 50 to 75 percent of your plate to be made up with plants. So that could be vegetables. That could be beans, lentils. Any of that stuff. And then the other 25 percent of your plate could be some sort of healthy protein, such as seafood, wild seafood or organic pasture raised meat. Or you could use beans or lentils as your protein if you’re a vegetarian.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:19:37] Ok. And is there a difference between those two types of proteins? I mean, is it better to go for the natural sort of meat alternative? I don’t know. I mean, I guess I’ve got vegan friends as well. And like hell no. Like you could get everything you need out of plants.

Maria Marlowe: [00:19:52] Well, you can get everything you need out of plants,that’s for sure. I mean, with a vegan or vegetarian diet, the only places that you would just want to be careful is making sure you’re getting enough B12 and enough iron. If you’re eating a proper vegan diet. You can get enough iron from plants, but you do have to be cognizant. So sometimes what happens is when people go vegan, they go for ethical reasons or whatever reasons, and they’re not really doing it from a health standpoint. And you can eat a vegan diet of Oreos and French fries and you know. Oh, that’s true. Right. Yeah. Have to make sure that you’re actually eating whole fresh foods and that you are getting enough protein from your beans and lentils. Yeah. Because there is a little bit of protein in and vegetables and whole grains and things like that.

Maria Marlowe: [00:20:40] But really the bulk of it in a vegan diet is going to come from beans, lentils or organics away. And so you do have to be cognizant and make sure that you’re getting that in and at your meals.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:20:52] Ok. So I’ve got so many questions. I don’t know where to start. But I guess I want to break it down. So I want to break it down to what I hear and what I assume is the right thing and then what your thoughts are on it. So, for example, I hear a lot about gluten and gluten free and gluten intolerance and all that sort of stuff. And. I want to know what’s the what’s the genesis of this? I mean, this is something that obviously well, I don’t know if it look, at least from what I heard, wasn’t something that was around for a while, like some sort of kind of heard about this over the past few years, but seems to be working for some people. Like I know a lot of people who cut out bread or cut out gluten bread and they’re just not ours to see you feel better, the less bloating less. You know, it’s not lethargic, not tired. So what’s the truth behind gluten? And where does that coming from?

Maria Marlowe: [00:21:52] Great question. So I think using our body as a science lab is a great thing. Right. Your friends who probably cut out gluten because they were feeling bloated or tired, just not feeling right. They cut it out to see if it makes a difference. And then when they cut it out, it did indeed make a difference. So that’s just a great sign that, OK, this is not really suitable for your body. It’s not helping you at all. It’s making you feel worse. So I think doing elimination diets are really helpful and important because you can see for yourself how different foods make you feel. Now, in terms of gluten, a lot of there is a rise in, I think the just the awareness of gluten going gluten free and the benefits of going gluten free. But there’s a lot of also skepticism. So here here’s what it is. Gluten and bread has been in our history for forever. Yeah. Is one of the first foods.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:22:52] Yeah. And I always ask myself if I’m on an island. What are the foods that I want with me? And bread always topped that chart. So like, you know, it’s devastating.

Maria Marlowe: [00:23:01] Mine is coconut. You can make so much from coconut. So. Here’s the thing. First of all, the way that we were making bread was very, very different. And traditionally, the way that bread was made, it was all sour dough, bread. The bread was fermented sometimes for months or weeks before it was actually edible. And during that fermentation process, that gluten would actually be broken down, making it easier to digest. So even someone who does have sensitivity to gluten, they fight. You typically find eating sourdough bread, even though it is made from wheat, tends to be easier to digest and causes problems for them. So the problem, though, with gluten, well, there’s two there’s two issues now. So one, just the nature of gluten, it does open the tight junctions in our intestinal lining. So you may have heard of leaky gut or it’s something technically called increased intestinal permeability.

Maria Marlowe: [00:24:00] And so if you think of your digestive system as a tube, it’s really what your your digestive system is preventing or it’s keeping everything from the outside world in your digestion digestive system and not letting it go into the rest of your body. Right. And it’s supposed to kind of be like a a tube that only lets nutrients into your body, but doesn’t let the other stuff. Right. The other stuff comes out the other side. Right. So with when you’re eating gluten, your intestinal lining is only one cell thick. And so all these cells are lined up next to each other and they’re connected by what’s called tight junctions. And so the tight junctions are supposed to let the nutrients out, but keep the food inside your gut. And what happens is when you eat gluten, it actually loosens those tight junctions. So now there’s a little passageway for food particles and other things to actually go out of your gut and into your bloodstream. And that’s when problems happen. And it’s believed that autoimmune conditions very often are tied back to Leaky gut. Wow. Right. So, yes. And there’s even this whole for anyone that does have an autoimmune condition, which is on the rise, an auto immune. It’s called AEP. The Auto Immune Protocol diet is very, very helpful at reversing symptoms. And one of the biggest things that they cut out, of course, is gluten to heal the gotten to heal the body. Wow. So that’s one problem.

Maria Marlowe: [00:25:29] The other problem is what’s happening today with our agriculture is that there’s not really a small I mean, there’s, of course, some small farms, but it’s usually these huge mega corporate farms and they’re relying on agricultural chemicals to grow and process the food. And so there’s a chemical called glyphosate, which is being sprayed on the crops. And that is what some researchers and experts believe is also the problem for the rise in gluten intolerance is because the wheat crop and other grains actually are sprayed with glyphosate on this. Glyphosate is causing a reaction in people. And so it’s not so much the wheat or the gluten as much as it’s the chemical.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:26:11] That’s insane, the thought of these things like that. I mean, I guess that opens up to the whole, you know, manufacturers and agriculture, industrialized agriculture. And that’s what it’s sort of thinking about is, you know, and we talk about this a lot. free-range animals vs. animals that are raised in like these sort of manufacturer or industrial farms, is there like what is free range? We had this debate last week actually with a couple of friends of mine. And they were telling me that if you look at the definition of free range, it’s not as it’s not an open field of cows running around. It’s actually much, much more restrictive than that. And so I don’t know much about this field, but what are your thoughts on like free range animals vs., you know, industrialized animals and like the. No. The hormones and all that sort of stuff that goes into making an animal just for the reason of it being eaten? You know, it gets right.

Maria Marlowe: [00:27:12] Yeah. That’s a great question. And that’s exactly why I wrote The Real Food Grocery Guide, because it is so confusing and there’s so many terms on the packages from cage free to free range to pasture raised vegetarian fad. Like there’s just so many buzz words on all of our animal packages that it’s overwhelming and confusing. Right. And what makes it a little bit more confusing is that there’s the definition for what these things mean, as sometimes might be different than what you you’re picturing in your head.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:27:44] Like deceiving. Yeah pretty Much.

Maria Marlowe: [00:27:46] Like you’re thinking like, oh, a red barn with all this grass and the animals are just not around. But I see grass-fed, for example. I’m like, oh, this cow had a bunch of grass. So that was ethical. But but I know. Yeah.

Maria Marlowe: [00:27:58] So with conventional farming, the animals are typically confined in very small cages. They’re typically not fed. They’re natural feed and they will be fed like some sort of pellets or some feed that is made specifically for conventional like farming or animal raising livestock. And the problem when you take the sort resemble cows, right. Grass fed is more expensive and it’s higher quality because the cow is being allowed to eat its natural diet, which is grass on a conventional farm where a cow is not eating grass, where they’re eating pellets or whatever they’re giving them.

Maria Marlowe: [00:28:38] The problem is that that’s not what the cows digestive system was designed to digest. And it’s not giving them the nutrients that they need. And so you end up with a less healthy cow. You then end up with less healthy meat on your plate. It’s actually less nutritious. And, you know, do you really want to be eating an animal that is not its healthiest? Right. So that’s why conventional farming is is not great. One of the reasons another problem with conventional farm, any conventional farming is that they do use antibiotics routinely. And what they do is they give what’s called a sub therapeutic dose of antibiotics, because what farmers found was that when you feed animal antibiotics, it fattens up and they get paid on the pound. They don’t get paid on the quality. So, of course, they want a fatter, heavier animal. And so, my God, is this actually a really big problem in the World Health Organization and a lot of health, large health organizations are ringing the alarm bells because this is problematic, because we have this growing threat of antibiotic resistant bacteria, because we’re using antibiotics just so heavily in our food supply in various different places, even just taking them so quickly and easily.

Maria Marlowe: [00:29:59] There is this growing threat of antibiotic resistant bacteria, which means bacteria that were once very easy to treat with taking a penicillin or taking some antibiotic your doctor would give you. They may become resistant to those antibiotics. So when you get that, it will be much harder to treat and maybe impossible to treat. So that’s how you want to choose organic because they cannot use. They won’t use antibiotics therapeutically.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:30:25] So organic. Yeah. So let’s get into organic. So again, that’s another thing that a lot of people say it’s defined differently. And what you think is organic might not really be organic. So I just want you to break that down. What does that mean when we see like a, you know, a produce or a meat or whatever it says organic on it? Do I trust it or do I? I don’t know. Like, what do you think?

Maria Marlowe: [00:30:47] Yeah. Well, I hope that we can trust it. So. And I’m speaking mostly, you know, each country has their their own standards, so I’m speaking. I mean, this is pretty much generally across the board. But specifically, more U.S. standards. The ones that I’m most familiar with. And so when it comes to produce, organic produce is grown without the use of some of the most toxic pesticides. It can’t be irradiated. It can’t be genetically modified. So it is grown more naturally. That said, they do you still use some chemicals on organic? Really? There are. If you go to a smaller farm, typically, I think they try to use the more natural stuff. But there are about 20 synthetic chemicals that are approved to be used on organic produce. Typically, if you’re buying from one of those larger farms, organic farms that you see grocery stores across the entire nation, they’re probably going to be using more of this synthetic stuff. Whereas if you have like a local farmer’s market or local farm nearby, I think there would be a little bit more judicious with what they’re spraying. Right. Right. So so organic, though, is healthier. So organic is healthier for many reasons, because, one, it’s has much less chemical residues on it compared to the conventional stuff.

Maria Marlowe: [00:32:04] So conventional produce typically has at least four times more chemicals on it than organic number one. Number two, those chemicals that are sprayed on it are typically more detrimental to our health. Number three, research has shown that organic food is typically more nutritious. So one of the many benefits of eating produce is that it has a variety of different antioxidants and phytochemicals that support our health. So I’m not even just talking like vitamin A, vitamin C. I’m talking things like anthocyanins and flavonoids and all of these other parts of the plant that are really important for our health. And so research has shown that organic produce has as sometimes as much as 50 percent more of these antioxidants than conventional and also organic is better for the planet because when we’re not spraying all these chemicals, they’re not running off into our water. And so there’s only a lot of reasons to choose organic in terms of if it’s actually organic or not. Usually if it has in the U.S., if it has a USDA organic seal, that means it was third party verified that it actually is organic.

Maria Marlowe: [00:33:13] And so typically on produce, if it’s it says it’s organic. But most likely is the place where it gets a little bit dicey as more in the packaged foods where you don’t really know. And if it’s not third party verified with some sort of seal, whether it’s USDA seal or some other certifying body, you don’t really know for sure. Right. They’d have to hope. They’re not lying.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:33:39] Yeah, it’s crazy, though, like you think about it. And there’s so much you have to be careful of because it really is detrimental to your body. We’re talking about this the other day that, you know, it just a lot of this stuff. Sort of becomes an industry, and I don’t know if this is good or right to say, but I feel like we’ve created maybe inadvertently but a cancer industry, you know, and where a lot of what we eat has so much chemicals in them and so much unnatural things that, you know, our ancestors probably never aged And they’re almost. This is like this is totally just me coming up with a theory that I don’t know if this is true or not, but but it feels to me that because of all this stuff, cancer is on the rise. And then obviously big pharmaceuticals, they sort of treat these people coming in. So it’s almost like a vicious cycle of it starts with the food. The food throws us to the pharmaceutical companies to give us medication and, you know, put us through I.V. drips and whatever and then throw us back into the wild. And we do it again and we do it again. It’s almost like a vicious cycle of we make ourselves sick and then we throw ourselves back into this world and and we do it again. It’s just it scares me. And that’s that’s what you got to be very mindful of what you eat.

Maria Marlowe: [00:35:07] And that brings up a good point that I forgot to mention with organic. I just where there is a great study, I believe it was published in the British Journal of Nutrition, which was a meta analysis. So they looked at over three I think it’s three hundred and forty studies on the the impact of eating an organic diet. And the researchers found that the people who eat the largest amount of organic foods and most of their diet was made up with organic foods. They had twenty five percent less incidence of cancer compared to those who eat the lowest amount of organic food. Oh, yeah. So it’s definitely important. And another thing that I point out, in Western cultures, when we think of aging, we usually think of, oh, the person gets old. They get sick. They lose their memory. They’re hunched over and just they’re not. Well, right. We think of aging as getting sick.

Maria Marlowe: [00:36:01] When you look at some other cultures, like Asian cultures, when you get older, you get wiser and your brain is still sharp and you’re still intact. And you’re not necessarily interesting.  So I think that, you know, even if we just think about pesticides, right. Pesticides are designed to kill a very small, teeny, tiny creature very quickly. If we’re ingesting traces of these chemicals, even if it’s in a small amount over a lifetime. What is that doing to us? Just wouldn’t. Yeah. So we don’t really know. And I think that it’s always better to air on the side of caution. And I think there is plenty of research that suggests that eating a healthy whole food diet and eating as naturally as possible with as minimal chemical exposure as possible is really the best thing that we can do as an insurance policy for our health.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:36:51] Right. And what about farmed fish like salmon and all that sort of stuff? I mean, it seems to me that all I hear, at least again, I’m sorry to anybody listening to this. I don’t know much, but farmed salmon doesn’t seem to be the healthiest option. Right. But we still assume that it’s fish and we’re not eating meat. And, you know, it’s a good a good alternative. And but some keep them on the side and whatever. And then that’s it. Yes. Your healthy meal. But what are we actually eating with farmed salmon?

Maria Marlowe: [00:37:23] So I’m a huge proponent of wild seafood because I do think that the farming standards for fish are not great. And what ends up happening is we’re taking what is a healthy food, fish, wild seafood, and we’re making it less healthy. So a few differences between let’s talk about the salmon, farmed salmon and wild salmon. So farmed salmon is typically less nutritious. So a lot of times people will eat the salmon because they want the omega 3, those anti-inflammatory benefits and typically farmed salmon is actually going to have more mega six, which is pro-inflammatory and less omega 3. So you’re not actually getting those anti-inflammatory benefits. Another problem with farmed seafood is that while salmon in particular, because the farms because the animals are so tightly packed together and fish don’t like being that, you know, bumping up to next to each other and they get nervous and they get anxiety. And so they are not as healthy. But what also ends up happening is there is a type of pest or  parasite that is rampant in fish farms. And so they actually use a pesticide to get rid of that, to get rid of that past that is prevalent in these fish farms. So you’re getting actually pesticides. They do use antibiotics in farm fish. They also farmed fish are also typically higher in mercury and PCBs, which are both toxins. And what that’s an issue with anyone who eats a lot of seafood. You want to make sure that you’re getting your mercury levels checked and making sure that those are normal because that can cause a lot of health problems. And we know that the wild seafood is is lower in mercury and PCB is. So all of those reasons make it a wise choice to choose wild.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:39:12] What are your thoughts on intermittent fasting?

Maria Marlowe: [00:39:16] I love intermittent fasting. I think it’s really great. Well, again, we have a lot of research on it. And I think, you know, I remember growing up, my grandma always used to say, don’t eat after 7:00 PM. And I think it’s something that, you know, people have have done and not even realizing the benefits of it or why they’re doing it. But so with intermittent fasting, you give your body a break. It could be anywhere from 12 to 16 hours where you’re not eating. And the benefit of this is that you’re allowing your body to fully digest whatever you’ve eaten and then to start the repair process, because digestion actually takes a lot of energy. And so when we’re constantly eating and our body is constantly digesting, it doesn’t really have the time to start and go to work repairing whatever needs to be repaired. And I feel like intermittent fasting. Do you intermittent fast?

Basel Anabtawi: [00:40:09] Yeah. I started, I think a year or two ago. I mean, I think I saw a lot of benefit to it. I’ve lost a ton of weight because of it. And a lot of people don’t see me or haven’t seen me in a while. They point out that I’ve lost weight and I think I’ve lost around 10 kilos from intermittent fasting. I mean, I’m not very good at it because when I do start eating, I eat, you know, I mean, like, I eat bread. I like I just go to town on those two hours. You know, I mean, so but yeah, I mean, I’ve been I’ve been doing it for the past couple years.

Maria Marlowe: [00:40:42] Well so. Of course I’m a proponent of eating the healthiest foods. Right. But what the research shows is that even if you eat those unhealthy foods, but you eat them in that smaller window of time, you’re actually still going to get the benefits of intermittent fasting, which is quite fascinating. So I’ve seen research, a lot of it has been animal research where they they fed the rats eat like a junk food diet. And so they had two groups. Right. The one that eat the junk food diet all day long. And the other one that eat the same amount, food. Same junk food. But only in that smaller period of time. And those ones that were intermittent fasting, actually, they lost the weight. They were healthy, their metabolism, everything was fine. But the ones that were eating and all day long, those are the ones that gained weight and had all the health problems and the metabolic issues.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:41:35] And you have to paired up with exercise or?

Maria Marlowe: [00:41:38] Exercise is always good. I will say you can get the benefits just from intermittent fasting two or three days a week. Gotcha. So you don’t necessarily have to do, you know, every single day. And that’s a great way for people to ease into it. And I think exercise is great for so many things in our body. Just getting the blood pumping and oxygen. And it’s great for our immune system. So I think exercise is always a good idea.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:42:01] Yeah. I mean, I do it. And before I eat, I make sure I put in a run. So like about three or four kilometers a day and and just after that. So like I have intermittent fasted during the day. I just did my run and then I’m so hungry. So. And then that’s when I would have a nap. All right. I got two hours and I go, you know, and then I start eating. I don’t know what’s the right way to do it. So nobody take this as a you know, as advice. Obviously, Maria is the expert here. So but yeah, that’s that’s what I did. And I think with these things like intermittent fasting, like Keto Diets and Carnivore or whatever. I think everybody just what works for you. You know, like what is the best thing that works for you? And I think for me, I like I struggled a while how to go on a diet. You know, I mean, like, I don’t because there’s so many things I didn’t want to cut out. You know, there was so many things that I loved. And I love food, like I absolutely love food. And it was sad for me to sort of, like, not eat this type of bread or that type of whatever.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:43:01] And so I started thinking that the best way to not cut out what I want is to go on an intermittent. So when I do have that window, I get to eat whatever I want for those two hours. Now, that being said, doesn’t sound like the best idea, but there are days of the week where I think you sort of like when you start seeing results, you sort of start falling into place where you’re like. Hold on, I’m seeing results here. So so I start, for example, being more plant based on certain days of the week. You know, like that day I’m going to have salads the day after. For example, we would have something home cooked. You know, that’s. And, you know, my wife loves to cook. So she she loves to bring a lot of healthy stuff on the table. And that obviously helps. But there are days of the week where I just like I don’t care. I’m going to have a burger. I’m going to have a pizza. I’m going to have my shawarma, you know, like that sort of thing.

Maria Marlowe: [00:43:55] Yeah. I mean, I think well, first and foremost, I like to focus on all the amazing things that you can add in versus dwelling on the things that we have to take out. And, you know, I grew up Italian, so my main diet was bread. Pasta. You know, cheese, dairy.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:44:11] The best food in the world.

Maria Marlowe: [00:44:12] That’s basically all I eat for breakfast here and dinner. And so for me, I had to cut out gluten and dairy because it was causing a lot of health problems for me. Right. And so I decided that it was more important for me to feel better than it was for me to eat my favorite food. Right. And I eventually I don’t even miss it anymore. I think you get used to it once you find great replacements for these foods. And I’ll see you again. But like you said, once you start feeling better and you start seeing the results, you’re like, I’m not going to eat that stuff that was making me sick or bloated or those two problems. And then the other thing is, I think we can upgrade whatever our healthy are, our favorite comfort foods are. There’s always a healthy upgrade. So I agree. Yeah. So for pizza, I love pizza, I used to eat pizza literally every day. And I’m so happy that here in Dubai you guys have Freedom Pizza which is amazing. And they have a cauliflower crust.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:45:02] I saw that on your stories. Yeah.

Maria Marlowe: [00:45:04] They have all these organic veggies from Green Heart Farms, which is a local farm here. And they even have vegan cheese options. They are amazing. And you can’t even get this in New York. Wow. I’m like, so excited whenever I’m in Dubai. I like Freedom Pizza.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:45:22] I think you’re right, though. I mean, there is a lot of things where I started trading up. So. So, for example, I became conscious of not eating anything that seems unnatural. Right. So, for example, I hate gummy bears. I hate I hate lollipops like stuff like that. Sweet. That’s just made in a factory. Like that’s made in the factory. It’s not supposed to be eaten. You don’t eat me like that’s how my mind works now. So if it’s something that’s coming from nature, I’m like, oh, yeah, this is supposed to be eaten. So I will eat that, you know? But so I started cutting a lot of this stuff out. Also, I started realizing when you start feeling better. It just it’s hard to go back. You know, I mean, like, you don’t have that bloating anymore. You don’t feel like you’re tired and you don’t want to go out and.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:46:06] A lot of it has to do with commitment, of course. Like a lot of it has to do with your mental state. And so, like, I’m going to do this. You know, I want to feel better about myself. A lot of it has to do, of course, with my wife, too, because she was a flight instructor at some time. And and she sort of like I see her coming home every day, like eating healthy and like she just taught a class of 40 people. I’m like, well, I’ve got to shape up. You know, this is not going to work out. So. So I think a part of that has to do with, like how you feel motivated and how you see people around you are motivated. Yeah, I think that really helps.

Maria Marlowe: [00:46:35] I think mindset is definitely a huge part of getting healthy. And I think we what happens is sometimes we start prioritizing other things over our health. Right. Whether that’s convenience or work or whatever social life. And if you want to be healthy, you really need to make that your number one priority. And the great part about it is that when you do feel better, you’re going to be more productive and do better in your work and be happier in a better mood for your family. So it really has this whole ripple effect. And I think it starts with just understanding what your goals and priorities are and making healthier priority. Who wants to feel bloated and who wants to feel sick all the time? Yeah. You know, I think that unfortunately, because these issues are so common and so prevalent, people think that they’re normal. Like I remember when I had a really bad, bad digestive issues, I just thought it was normal, like to have these issues all the time because people around me had them. I had them every day. So it must be normal. It’s like, no, it’s not normal. You’re never supposed to be in pain. You’re always supposed to feel good. You’re supposed to be in a good mood. Yeah. And once you kind of pull yourself out, you get out of that fog or out of that cycle and you see how good you can feel. It makes it a lot easier to keep it up.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:47:50] Well, I got to ask you, so when you go out, for example, and you want to eat out. And I remember once we went out for your birthday and it was an Italian restaurant and obviously Italian, that means probably a lot of stuff that you can’t eat. So we had the pizza and we had the pastas and. But I love that restaurant, by the way, El Boro in Dubai. You know, shout out. So. Yeah, but I saw what you ordered, though. And it was different, drastically different from the rest of the table. Like it looked like a much healthier option than what everybody else was eating. How do you. Is that something that you do all the time? And do you sort of always find that you have to go beyond the menu to sort of get something that you feel is good for you and your body?

Maria Marlowe: [00:48:41] I think that we can eat healthier almost anywhere and at most restaurants. They do have healthy options, but it is a matter of you’re gonna have to mix and match things and maybe ask for things off the menu. Right. So I know an Italian restaurant. What they do typically have a lot of vegetable sides. They’ll typically have a lot of vegetable starters or appetizers, like different salads or roasted artichokes, soups, things like that. And so what I tend to do is I’ll just mix and match things to make sure that. That 50 to 75 percent of my plate is made up with veggies. And that other 25 percent could be some sort of protein. So sometimes it’ll be vegetarian. I’ll use beans or I really love octopus because little fun fact. Octopus is always wild, it’s never farmed. Oh, and just delicious. Yeah, it’s really good. That’s what I’ll typically have. And you know, that restaurant actually does have gluten free bread and gluten free pasta. Oh, you have to ask for it. Well, they do have it.So I will when I’m there, I’ll usually have a little bit of the gluten free bread, dip it in some olive oil.

Maria Marlowe: [00:49:42] So I think, you know, it’s all about balance. And one thing that’s important for me, like I tell people, like I don’t do cheat meals, like I don’t I don’t believe in this philosophy of cheating. And I you know, if I want to eat a French fry, eat the French fries, if I want a piece of bread, I’ll just choose gluten free, because if I know if I eat the gluten, I’ll be running to the bathroom. I don’t want that to happen. You know, I think that we have to have standards for our food and know when we can relax them and when not to. And I think if there’s a food that, you know, you have an allergy or sensitivity to and you know, it’s going to make you sick, then not just take it off the table, because why are you going to hurt yourself? But if there’s something like a French fry which is fried in probably terrible oil, it’s not great, but it’s not going to like really make you physically ill. Then, you know, once in a while, if you want it, it’s there,have it and don’t feel guilty about it. Just move on with your day. I think the most important part is making your plate 50 to 75 percent veggies. And then what’s a ever’s on the other side when you’re out with friends? You know, give yourself a little leeway.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:50:43] Yeah. What do you think of dairy products like? Are we. How do we feel about that? Is that cool? Is not cool. Because I’m just full disclosure in our house, we sort of cut out milk. I mean, I still love cheese. So I still have cheese product. But when I compare where we were like five years ago versus today, but we used to get yogurts and we use to get your milk, we get all these sort of things. And I just thought about that. So we cut it out. We cut it out completely. And now we just get those, you know, almond milk and like plant based milk. I guess you want to call it that way. What do you think of dairy products and is that something we should be having?

Maria Marlowe: [00:51:23] So dairy is a common allergen. So a lot of people have trouble with digesting it and have digestive issues from it or other problems because of it. Personally, it caused digestive issues for me and skin problems for me. That’s why I cut it out. Some certain cultures actually are better at digesting it. So a lot of the Nordic countries that have been eating dairy for much longer than the rest of us, they tend to digest it better. But for a majority of people, they lose the enzyme that’s needed to really break down milk and lactose when they’re quite young. So I prefer dairy free and so all my recipes and everything are dairy free. OK, yeah. Okay.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:52:08] Because it’s interesting. I heard somebody saying once humans aren’t supposed to have or no animal in the world has milk beyond a certain point. But we still do.

Maria Marlowe: [00:52:20] Yes. So it’s OK if you think about what milk is. A lot of there’s this misconception that cow is automatically just produce milk all year long. And that’s not true. They only produce milk at one very specific time, which is the same time humans produce milk and that’s when they give birth and have a baby because that milk is designed for that baby to help it grow into a very strong six hundred pound plus or whatever it is cow.

Maria Marlowe: [00:52:47] And so in no other animal species or anything, do does one mammal drink another mammal’s milk. Right. And I don’t usually drink it past being a baby. You know, once that baby is weaned, they’re not drinking it anymore. And if you if you think it’s actually quite interesting, the research even on a mother’s milk. So when child latches on to the mother, the what the nutrients and what’s in the milk actually changes based on what the baby needs. Because you’re the two bodies are communicating through saliva. And it’s just so interesting how intricate our human bodies are and what goes on. And so, you know, that milk is made specifically for that baby to give that specific baby what it needs to grow strong, grow its immune system. So do you really want to be eating or drinking the milk of a animal that is going to grow into a, you know, huge hairy cow like, no, I don’t want to drinking that.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:53:45] Oh, my God, that’s insane. That’s very, if you think about it, it’s quite unethical to keep those cows pregnant. And yes.

Maria Marlowe: [00:53:54] So what what basically how the dairy industry works is they’ll impregnate a cow. Once the cow has given birth, they’ll take the babies away and typically they’ll leave wondering how that will mean other other cows, babies. So all those babies are getting milk from one cow and. And the other moms are just giving milk for for humans.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:54:16] This changes everything.

Maria Marlowe: [00:54:18] Here’s a great vegan cheeses, so there’s one called Vio Life, which I have found in Dubai, and it is amazing. They have mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, like every type of cheese you can imagine made from plants. OK, so that I think that’s interesting. Yeah, cheese is actually. There’s a doctor called Dr. Neil Bernard. He is the head of the Physicians Committee for a Responsible Medicine. And he’s a big proponent of cutting out dairy. And in his research, he’s pointed out that cheese is one of the hardest things for people to give up. They can give up milk, they can give up ice cream, other things. But she is the last thing that usually goes for people because it’s so good. It’s good and it’s addictive. And he noted that there is something in that she is called cows endorphins and they actually act like morphine, like a drug in your brain. So they’re lighting up these pleasure sensors whenever you’re eating it. And that’s why it’s so hard, so to say goodbye to it. Does it? Choosing a vegan cheese that tastes like it, I think is the best way to wean yourself off.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:55:27] Ok. So two things. First, do you think when we get off certain foods, we grow an intolerance towards them? Is that a thing?

Maria Marlowe: [00:55:40] Well, what what often happens is that when we’re eating a food day in and day out, day in and day out, if we do have an intolerance towards it, our body is just trying to keep us going and to keep us, you know, as healthy as we possibly can. So it sometimes blunts some of those negative side effects. They’re still there, but they, you know, tries to keep a little handle on them. When we cut the food out, we get it out of our system and then we feel great and our bloating is away. Like our skin looks great, everything’s good. Our energy is good. When we then introduce it again, it’s like a huge shock to the system. And that’s why we typically end up having even worse reactions than OK before. So I don’t think it’s that if we cut it out, then we’ll develop a tolerance. What’s happening is that your body is getting used like has finally gotten rid of it and has gotten used to not having it. And then when you introduce it, you’re that a fact of it is just going to be that much stronger.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:56:36] Right. It’s almost like smoking when you stop smoking and then you smoke again in a year. Your body’s like, whoa, what? Right there.

Maria Marlowe: [00:56:45] Exactly. You’re taking back a little bit. You’re like, oh, my God, I can’t believe I used to do that. But again, as you start smoking more and more, you get more used to it. And it’s not you know, each time you do it, it’s not as that the first time.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:56:56] That’s true. OK. Well, finally, I want to ask you this. You probably don’t know much about this or I don’t think anybody knows much about this. But what about insect based diet? Is is that going anywhere? You know, I’m reading a lot about like cricket farms and stuff like that and like. And they’re saying, you know, if the world starts adopting insects in their food, then we would solve world hunger. So what do you think about that?

Maria Marlowe: [00:57:19] Yes. So I have seen that there is a rising popularity for insect based foods. I’ve seen grasshopper chips.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:57:29] And yeah, I’ve had those in San Francisco.

Maria Marlowe: [00:57:32] How do you like that?

Basel Anabtawi: [00:57:33] I mean, you know, interesting, crunchy, you know? Yeah, it’s interesting.

Maria Marlowe: [00:57:39] Yeah. So I think the biggest hurdle that industry is going to have is getting people to actually want to eat grasshoppers. And in fact. Yeah. Because we do get in kind of mindset. Both of us are over here like uhh! I’m surprised even in it. So I’ve had them in front of me and been asked to try them. And honestly, like, I just I can’t because it freaks me out.

Maria Marlowe: [00:58:04] But again, it’s all our our mindset and our perspectives about things. Right. Like so, for example, certain cultures eat dogs. Whereas in America, that is like unheard of. Like you would never eat a dog. Yeah. Dog is your best friend. Right. So it’s just how we view things and we view things, insects as disgusting. Yeah. It’s so and like we’re scared of them and like. So I think the idea of getting people to adopt this on a mass scale is gonna be quite challenging. And I think there are probably multiple ways to to end hunger. And so, yeah, I don’t know if this is the best way.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:58:43] Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it’s just. Well if you think about I think it really is like you said, it’s a mental thing and it’s it’s getting over that, you know, mental hurdle because when I look at a shrimp, for example, or a prawn like they are the insects of the sea. Right. They have like those six legs and they have the Internet and everything. So technically, you’re starting to eat insects. And I love prawns,.

Maria Marlowe: [00:59:08] But I think that’s why most people get them when they’re deep headed. Right. You know, clean. Yeah. Yeah. I will say, actually, I do like shrimp. And so I usually like eat them out. And so I decided to get them. And I you know, I had a friend coming over and I was like, oh, can you just pick up some shrimp? And usually when I get it, I get it already cleaned. Right. So she brought them and they were not cleaned. And I looked at them and I was like, oh, my God. And you had to like devein them and take out their little intestines. And I was like, oh, I could not eat them afterwards.

Basel Anabtawi: [00:59:39] They definitely look disgusting. We tried to clean them ones at home and we were shocked by just the amount of filth in them. Yeah, but it’s it’s interesting ’cause also like you look at lobsters and crabs and they’re almost like, you know, a prehistoric insect. You know, I mean and they’re so good like the really good to eat. But also they make me sad. You know, I remember once my sister and I were at a restaurant, a seafood restaurant, and they had all the fish laid out, you know, on the on the freezers and, you know, where the where they put the ice and. And we saw a lobster. And and we just looking at the lobster and Red Lobster was moving, but it was like tied up with laws and stuff. And suddenly my sister starts bawling. She starts crying. She’s like, oh, my God. Like, right, like this thing is tied up on a fridge waiting to be eaten like it was such a gruesome thought. Now that didn’t stop me from eating lobster, but still, that’s a that’s a crazy thought. If you think about it. Yeah.

Maria Marlowe: [01:00:45] I think we’re very removed from our food. I think so because we through history, if we wanted to eat a lobster or any sort of animal, we had to hunt it and kill it like you had to kill it. So before we could eat it. Yeah. And so like now we get everything cleaned. Like the blood is gone. Like everything’s gone. All the organs are out. And we just got this slab of meat. And so we’re just like seeing it as food and we’re not associating with the animal.

Basel Anabtawi: [01:01:11] Isn’t that crazy? Yeah, that’s crazy. Like that’s. Absolutely. I think given the choice today, like, let’s say Spinneys or all these groceries are like we’re not talking meat anymore. You want to have meet you have to go hunt. I think given the choice. I don’t know how many people would actually eat meat. You know, everyone would become vegetarian. Yeah. Because I don’t think people would have the heart to go out. And like said that this is like our ancestors used to go out and hunt and that was a thing of life. But now we just don’t associate that piece of meat like we see it as a steak. Right. Oh, this looks so good. But we remove it from the cow. That’s look so cute at the farm. You know, I like, oh, let’s put that cow. But then. Oh, man, that’s that’s crazy. It’s crazy thought.

Maria Marlowe: [01:01:51] Yes. And that’s I really have to be grateful for our food, I think. I think so. Grateful for all the people that bring it to us.

Basel Anabtawi: [01:01:58] I think so, too, Maria. I absolutely loved this. This was such a scientifically. I don’t know. I mean, it was very beneficial for me. I feel like I want to sort of really be more careful. I think in our household we are very sort of careful just because, like, again, like I said, my wife is very health conscious and and she she’s very aware of what to put in her body. And so also that sort of trickles and rubs off me. But it just also I think a lot of people should be more aware. And I think a lot of us we brush it off a lot of the time. You know, we have that bag of chips or we have that’s, you know, un-organic piece of meat or whatever over a long piece of over a long period of time and that sort of stuff resulting in like a weight gain and sort of issues mentally as well, if you unhappier and so on. So I definitely think everybody should sort of like just be more careful about what they eat and have a balanced what they eat. And and thank you. I like I really appreciate that you’ve laid a lot of knowledge on us today.

Maria Marlowe: [01:03:04] Yes. I’m really happy to be here. And just remember what our health is a reflection of what we do most of the time. Not once in a while. So you don’t have to stress her out self out once in a while. You have a chance, whatever. Not a big deal. It’s what you do the majority of the time that’s really going to impact your health.

Maria Marlowe: [01:03:21] Thanks for tuning in this week. If you’re listening to this episode on your feeling really confused about what’s healthy or finding the right diet for you. So maybe you’re struggling with different ailments. Maybe you want to lose weight or maybe you have digestive issues that just don’t seem to go away. You’re always bloated or gassy or something, just not right. Maybe you’re really low energy and you feel like you’re doing all the right things, but something just feels off. I highly encourage you to check out Eat Slim by 10-week online nutrition and cooking course. I designed this course to help you be your own doctor, to help you be your own body detective and start figuring out what is causing your ailments. Because our body is meant to be in perfect health. You should wake up every morning feeling super energized, feeling healthy and vibrant. If you’re not, then there are probably some things within your diet and lifestyle that are hampering your health. I want to help you get to the root cause of your ailments and remedy them with food and lifestyle changes. I want to help hold you accountable to your goals so that you stay on track and you don’t throw in the towel a week or two later. I want to help give you a very clear guide map to follow so that you know what changes that you need to make in order to look and feel your best. If this sounds like you and you want help getting healthy, then head over to mariamarlowe.com/eat-slim and I would be honored to be your guide to better health.

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