00:00 You’re listening to the live happier, longer podcast episode 19.
00:15 Welcome to the live happier, longer podcast. We’re your hosts, Molly Watts and and Angela McDade We’re here to help you build the habits of a happier, longer life starting now!
00:28 This episode is brought to you by the Five for Life planner, or if it makes you feel better, the Five for Life Planner slash Journal. Right, so you can go right now to Fiveforlifeplanner.com and download a full PDF version of the Five for Life Planner (slash journal.) Yeah, and the Five for Life planner is a great tool to get you going and check off everyday these daily actions. One-Move , Two-Learn, Three-share, Four-Give and Five-Let Go. Five daily actions all proven to increase longevity and improve overall quality of life and happiness. Yeah, so you can live happier longer. Yeah. Check it out. Five for life planner Dot Com for your free PDF of the Five for Life Planner.
01:18 Hi Molly. Hey Angela. How are you today? I’m very well. Thank you very much. Glad to hear it. Actually, I’m feeling just a bit to be honest. I’m feeling just a bit, I don’t know, kind of like I’ve been overindulging a bit. Well, the holiday season does that for you. It does, yeah, it does. So you know, just a lot of. I went to my cookie exchange and lots of cookies. Cookies, lots of cookies. Yeah. I like doing the whole cookie thing. You bake a lot. You like to bake. I don’t as much now that I don’t have a house full of people. Yeah. But well we are, as we said in the thick of the holidays right now we are prerecording this for January. We did this with intention because we knew that in January, is often a time of new year’s resolutions, people looking at new changes an one of the things that people often do as a result of that overindulging in the holidays is start a new diet.
02:20 Yes. And we, we don’t, we don’t like the whole start a new diet. We are going to speak about making better dietary choices. We’re going to focus all month with different people, different perspectives of those healthy choices. And we wanted to have Lisa King, one of our very first podcast guests, back onto the show because in her life she is a pharmacist and she’s made some changes to her diet in the last few years and she really sees an impact not only in her own personal life, but as she’s dealt the same patients in the pharmacy years, you know, over the years, she sees how diet really impacts disease and the prevention of disease from her and her family and things like that. So that’s why we really want to talk with Lisa first because it’s in terms of January, she comes at the Diet from the perspective of disease prevention. Yeah. So let’s speak to Lisa King. Hey Lisa. Hi Lisa.
03:25 Hi Molly and Angela. How are you?
03:27 Oh, we’re well. We are so excited to have you back on the podcast. You’re our first repeat guest. Do you feel like,
03:36 Oh my gosh, that is a complete honor. Thank you so much.
03:40 Well, we loved talking with you before and last time we had you on, we were really focused on your book, Tiny Life Changes that you coauthored. Today we really wanted to talk with you. It’s January, it’s the time of New Year’s resolutions and you know, new you, New Year, new you wanted to talk with you about health and your role in terms of being a pharmacist and a health consultant and really your personal experience I know is important with diet.
04:13 Absolutely. Yes. I, I really was when I was thinking about doing this podcast when you invited me on, I really started thinking that even though I’ve been a pharmacist for 30 years, the whole beginning part of my practice was really about treatment. You know, somebody comes in and they have diabetes or an auto immune disease and so what do we do to treat that? And so I was kind of part of the team as a pharmacist to help them with their medications and teach them about side effects and things like that. But on my own health and healthy living journey. I have just found more and more the importance of diet in a wellness program. And really when you think about it, you always hear the words “diet and exercise” attached to really any diagnosis. But most people really don’t realize how important of a role that really plays in not only treating symptoms but also preventing disease. So that’s what I’m really passionate about right now.
05:10 Is preventing disease. And that’s certainly a part of the aging experience. Right? We’ve talked about that. I mean just all throughout our education process at Five for Life and Living HAPPIER Longer. I think the statistic is that by the time people reach the age of 65, like 40 percent are dealing with some sort of chronic disease state and it might be even reverse that it might be 60 percent the other 40 It might be reversed. I guess I would have to look it up again. But I mean it’s, it’s unfortunately a part of the aging process is often associated with disease and battling disease.
05:46 Yes. And, and for me, really what really made me start even thinking about this more is as a pharmacist, we go to do flu clinics at these assisted living facilities and often I would see the same people over and over again from year to year. So these people were living a long life, but they weren’t necessarily living a long fulfilled life because they were basically almost just existing. So I just started thinking what can I do to live a life that’s not only long but long and fulfilled so I can spend time with my family, my friends, and as each thing that happened in my family, whether it was my mom and my sister’s breast cancer diagnosis or my mother in law’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, I delved more and more into how food can help prevent those diseases or any disease and help you live that long life so you can spend time with your family and friends.
06:40 Yeah. And that’s why I was. So like I said, I really wanted to have you back on and talk with you specifically about this because we have shied away from and none of our five daily actions are focused on diet. And we did it for a reason because there’s a lot of, not only conflicting, but there’s just a lot of different and varying opinions on what’s the best diet, right for living. You know, there’s people that say don’t eat meat. Then there’s people that say eat only meats and fats, don’t eat carbs, yeah, it goes on and on, and so your approach is a lot more about, just like you said, is about more what should we be eating to avoid diseases.
07:22 Yes. And, and you know, as we talked about earlier, your podcast really isn’t about, you know, dieting per se and it’s more about disease prevention, living that long healthy life. And for me that’s kind of what spurs me on, you know, when I’m thinking about my diet, it’s really like, okay, I want to look really good for my son’s upcoming wedding, but I’m not going to eat this because I know that is one thing I’m not supposed to eat because that could potentially cause cognitive decline. So that’s what really spurs me on. And I’m really all about sugar. There’s a lot of different things, but one thing sticks in my mind is sugar reduction. And what I really liked to talk about is the American Heart Association recommendation of Twenty five grams per day of sugar for women and 36 grams per day for men. So that’s what they recommend to not only prevent diabetes, obesity, heart disease, but that’s what I really like to stick with too to help prevent Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline, which I know you guys are really about that as well.
08:28 So. So what, what does that look like? So if somebody said how much.
08:32 Well, there’s just sugar in everything. And honestly when you look at some of my friends think, oh gosh, when you eat, you know, I want to know what you eat. I didn’t always eat this way. I talk about this all the time. But when my children were growing up, I have three boys. I used to bake every single day, especially in December. That was the way I showed my love. So I was a mom baking cookies every single day. I was not thinking about sugar whatsoever, but honestly, even like when I grab a protein bar or something like that, the first thing I look at is the sugar content. So I’m not really looking at carbs or calories or anything like that. For me, it’s all about reading sugar content in food. So really even some of your protein bars that you might buy, you know, you’re thinking it’s something healthy, but some of them have maybe up to 15, 16 grams of sugar in them. That’s right, So if it’s 25 grams a day of sugar for women, this is, I’m talking about added sugar in foods, um, you really want to look at those labels because you can have almost your one day supply of sugar in just one protein bar. Right. So that’s really one thing to just start reading labels.
09:49 I remember looking at for kids drinks like Capri Sun and stuff like that, those guys are loaded. There’s like 26 grams of sugar in one little tiny pouch, pouches of Capri Sun probably not the best. Yeah, yeah,
10:01 Yes. As a matter of fact, even this morning I, um, I have a smoothie in the morning and I was looking at, you know, some of the almond milks and some of the flavored ones, like the vanilla. It had I think like almost 10 grams of sugar. So, so for me, sugar reduction more just because of my mother in law’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis has been very important for our family to reduce that sugar and just be aware of how much we’re eating.
10:28 Yeah. And I think you make a good point with the protein bar because and you just mentioned yogurt. I mean that’s one of those things like there’s foods that we think are, you know, we term them as healthy, right? Like people think, oh I’m going to go eat a yogurt. Right? And it’s the same thing if you look in the bottom of those, you know, in a yogurt that’s got fruit at the bottom, you know, and you’re stirring that all up. I mean there is, there can be a ton of sugars in those. You have to, you know, really start paying attention. And I think the reason that I wanted to talk with you, and again not so much focus on, I mean, you know, people get into January and it does, they do think about weight loss, right? I mean, a lot of people start this new year with the new year resolution and and trying to get there, especially after the holidays, right when they’ve have been eating all the cookies. Right? Delicious. Right? So it’s that time. But the idea that you want to shape your life and shape your choices with intention and not worry so much. I mean you, I think will say you probably lost and you’re a slender person. You were probably slender even when you started this whole thing, but you didn’t start it to try to lose weight. You started it with the intention of trying to prevent disease and you’ve probably lost a bit of weight as a side effect.
11:51 I, I did. And then that’s the, that most people will really um not realize when you start eating foods that are more nutrient dense and have what we call like nature’s candy, you know, fruits, vegetables, things that are going to fill you up that are fiber filled. Your body naturally stops craving sugar and you just naturally lose weight. And that’s another thing that I’m really all about is gut health. So you know, you can take a probiotic daily, but also I just read a little caption something that said something like you can take a probiotic daily, but if you don’t have good, you know, a good healthy diet as well, that’s like throwing seeds into a barren desert so you kind of have to have that healthy diet that goes along with the probiotic. And so, um, you can take a probiotic daily for good gut health. You can have fermented foods, things like Sauerkraut, Kimchi, people have yogurt, as we said before, I will usually have, if I’m going to have a yogurt, low fat, Almond Milk Yogurt, low sugar rather, but you really want to look at gut health and having fruits and vegetables really does help increase your fiber intake. So that helps naturally remove waste from your GI tract. So that keeps that gut really healthy and that helps prevent disease as well, just naturally being able to detox your body in that way.
13:20 Yeah, I heard somebody, someone referenced fiber as the Scrub Brush of the intestinal track and you have to think about, you know, that’s what, when you eat fiber it’s basically like scrubbing, scrubbing everything out, which as you know, is it, I mean it’s just one of the things that you really want to incorporate into your healthy diet is more fiber.
13:43 I always say it’s a sponge for toxin, so basically it’s taking, you know, all the toxins in your GI tract, which is basically just the food you’re eating, the waste and just helping your body get rid of it, which just leads to better health overall.
13:58 So you just mentioned toxins and I know another big part of your, you know, what you focus on is eliminating toxins.
14:05 Yes. Tell me what that means to you. What does, I mean when you say toxins? So sugar is a toxin? Well, I wouldn’t say it’s a toxin, but it’s just something that’s not good for you. But when I talk about toxins, what I usually say is that people say, well, what is a toxin? You know, it sounds so scary, but basically a toxin is anything your body can’t use for energy, so you’re absorbing toxins in some of the skincare and makeup that you put on your body, the air you breathe, the pollution that you’re breathing in from the air, the food you eat, if it’s exposed to pesticides, if you’re eating processed foods, that type of thing. So there’s, you know, chemical preservatives, so there are easy ways to detox naturally, so it’s really not as scary as it sounds and a lot of these things you do naturally anyway. So basically drinking a lot of water is a great way to just naturally detox your body.
14:57 Eating those fruits and vegetables that are fiber filled so that you can eliminate them from your GI track. You want to be going regularly, and this is something I talk about all day long in the pharmacy. It’s like the hot topic of conversation on the over the counter aisle. So a lot of people are embarrassed to talk about it, but really you need to be eliminating daily. So that’s one way to eliminate these toxins out of your GI tract. A lot of people talk about sweating. That’s why yoga is good for it movements. So when you’re exercising, you’re breathing deeply, you’re exhaling things, you’re sweating, you’re, um, rest is another good way. Your body just naturally detoxes at night when you sleep. So it’s really important to also get a good night’s sleep too.
15:41 Yeah, we talked about that in our conversation about Alzheimer’s, about why sleep is good for your brain. It actually washes it of those toxins that build up in the brain. It’s funny because you go, you just made me think of this as a total side note. You’re going to just laugh. I remember the first time that I ever learned about prunes, you know, eating prunes was from my grandfather, you know, and he was like a religious prune eater because he was like, you know, he’s got to go.
16:08 Yes, back in the day. I mean, I think that was the thing my grandmother and I talked about all the time. They really love their prunes. You know, it’s so funny because now actually a lot of older people don’t come in, they don’t ask me about prunes anyway, but they talk to me about other things on the over the counter. aisle.
16:25 Sorry, that was a side note, but it just made me think of him. I know another part that you talk about a lot on your blog and I love them and we will link to all this to your social media and to your new blog because I know that’s out to now since the last time we talked to you is a colorful diet. Yeah. And how important color is.
16:44 Yes. That’s the other thing. Eating more alkaline versus acidic. So as we talked about the desert before, you know, throwing those seeds into the barren desert, you actually kind of want your body to be desert-like. You don’t want disease to grow there. And one of the ways to do that is to have a more alkaline diet. So a lot of people will say, well, you know, your body’s really good at adjusting its own alkalinity and it really is. But when I say more alkaline versus acidic, I talk about more eating colorful foods, those colors of the rainbow, the fruits, the vegetables versus white food. So really, and even when I post, a lot of times I’ll put the little emojis up of white food and there’s just so many of them, but all of your breads, your pasta, your cake, your baked goods, they’re all white. Those cookies again. Exactly, so you want to eliminate white foods. So if you’re eating more colorful foods versus white foods, you’re naturally eating a more alkaline diet and that’s the way you really want your body to be more alkaline so that diseases can’t form there. It’s more nutrient dense and it just provides a better, better nutrition for your body to be able to fight off disease.
17:59 It also looks so much nicer. It does. It really does. You look at it and you want to eat it. Yeah, you definitely do. So for you, like you said, there were some things that you did you have battled. I’m not going to say that, right? Interstitial, interstitial cystitis. Wow I was going to be able to say it right. Look at me and you didn’t change your diet to benefit that, but it has.
18:24 it has. Well, I was diagnosed. Interstitial cystitis is basically a very painful bladder disease so, so I’ve lived with this. My diagnosis was about 25 years ago, so I have basically controlled it mostly through diet. For years I was on medication, but it’s a very strict diet. So basically it’s almost like there’s not a bladder lining, so anything you eat that spicy, fermented. I really, myself, can’t have a lot of fruit, but I do have vegetables. So anything that’s acidic at all in a lot of fruits are acidic, basically damaged the bladder lining. So I really am one to really tell everyone that controlling symptoms through diet really works. I like to say that I’m miraculously better than I was when I was first diagnosed. So it really, you know, when your doctor tells you, well maybe give up gluten that may help your GI symptoms, give it a try. It’s really worth it because my life that I have now versus what I had 25 years ago is so much better. My symptoms are completely controlled by diet pretty much and I recently had a bit of a flair and I had talked about that on social media, which was very surprising to me. But I’m not supposed to have nuts and so I had some nuts sneak back in so it’s not necessarily unhealthy food and maybe a little bit too much almond yogurt, which I’m not supposed to have yogurt on my interstitial cystitis diet, but the way I do eat now because it’s so much reducing inflammation in my, in my body by having foods that are not packaged and processed by eating real foods, the vegetables, some fruit that I do have because I’ve reduced so much inflammation in my body just over the last several years by eating this way. I really feel that that has helped my symptoms as well.
20:17 Well, an inflammation is a huge, a huge part of most disease states, you know, whether that’s high blood pressure or cardiac disease, those are all diseases. It’s finding their diseases of inflammation. So anything that you can do to control inflammation in terms of your diet, it’s going to be super important.
20:37 Yes, I agree. I actually read somewhere that that’s one of the things that you should do if you’re going to do anything for your health at all to try to reduce inflammation in your diet, eating real whole foods, eliminating packaged, processed foods, those white sugary foods. So as we talked about before, sugar is not necessarily a toxin per se, but it can cause inflammation in your body. That’s one of the reasons why you want to avoid it.
21:03 Yeah. I have a feeling alcohols probably a toxin, isn’t it?
21:06 Well, inflammatory per se. That’s why, and I know there’s a lot of controversy behind the gluten free dairy free diets, but gluten and dairy can. A lot of people do have sensitivities to them so they can cause inflammation as well.
21:20 Yeah, so I know it’s a scary thing for people. I mean, when you start talking about not eating sugar anymore, there are people out there going, oh wait, no, I like my cookies. Oh wait a minute, I have a nightly bowl of ice cream. You know, the, just that panic feeling of not being able to have the treats that you want, you know, whatever it is. So what’s your advice with people just from the get go when they’re making a dietary lifestyle change and I’m not going to say going on a diet because we know we all know enough to know that that’s not an answer.
21:58 Well, as we talk about in Tiny Life Changes, it’s just all one step and one day at a time. So I didn’t get like this overnight. First it was okay. I’m going to, you know, I did give up gluten and dairy so I was trying to eat healthier, have more salads, have more fiber filled foods. I was still having one cup of coffee in the morning. I don’t even have coffee anymore. And it’s funny because I work 12 hour shifts. Everyone’s like, Lisa, you’re the only one here not drinking coffee.
22:27 Now. See that I got my heart started going like uhhhhhh.
22:31 But I’m honestly not supposed to have coffee either for the interstitial cystitis diet because it can be acidic. So there are some coffees, natural ones that are not. But, but so it just all kind of added up and so I was talking to someone else, telling them, even my youngest son now, you know, sometimes I feel guilty like, oh, he’s still a kid, he’s not quite fifteen you know, I’ll buy some donuts or I’ll buy something else and it really goes uneaten. He might have one, but once you start eating this way things actually taste too sweet to you so you don’t want them. There was this new donut bar that opened up in Scottsdale here and it was one of those gourmet doughnut places where you know, where they put the bacon on top of the doughnuts and so they stay open until they sell out. So I went in and the other day right before it was closing. And the only way you could do it, you couldn’t buy one doughnut, you had to buy a box. So they’re like, oh, your son is a growing boy. He’ll eat these donuts. He had one. I think he may be even had a half and he, he just didn’t want it anymore. You just honestly just stop craving the sugar when you, when you give it up. So it doesn’t happen overnight, but it can happen.
23:43 Yeah. So just one small change at a time either, you know, we talked to somebody before, I can’t remember who it was, but said, you know, don’t focus so much on taking away something as adding in, you know, so adding in, adding in vegetables. Right. And I’ve seen these on your, I, I will find it one of your posts to link to because I’ve had like beautiful arrangements You shared from somebody the other day about the purple cauliflower. It means like a beautiful array of vegetables, right? I mean, you know, if you don’t like Brussel sprouts then don’t eat Brussel sprouts. There are so many options. Go find Asparagus or try, you know something else or hail for goodness sakes. Something else, you know, go try something else.
24:30 Exactly. Yeah. That’s, I think I posted that once. So if you don’t like kale, don’t eat kale. But the other thing too is I always say Leave party food for parties. So especially, you know, right after the holidays in January, everybody’s had their share of the party food. Kind of just leave it for parties. So if you do have a piece of cake at a birthday party, you know, or it’s someone’s birthday in your house, have the cake. And of course everything’s in moderation, but that doesn’t mean you eat the cake the whole rest of the week. Buy a small cake and everybody just have a little bit and then go on with the healthy living after that.
25:08 So you’re saying you’re still going to have cake at your son’s wedding?
25:12 Oh, absolutely. Yes. I usually, and it’s funny because my sister and I, it’s nice thing about having a sister as you know, you can share everything. So when we go out we’ll usually split a desert. And so there was this, we were at a birthday party once and they had these little mini cakes. They were half the size of a cupcake and we were splitting and somebody’s like, oh my gosh, you’re splitting this little cake. But I actually heard that once, um, I think it was in Bethany Frankel’s book, Skinny Girl, And I know we’re not talking about dieting, but she just says like taste everything but eat nothing. So usually even if you have a taste, you don’t crave it anymore, you’ve had your taste and your done.
25:52 That works for some people. So I know another, you mentioned, we mentioned it briefly and I think it’s just worth rementioning, especially as people are looking at habits–at . changing habits at this beginning of the year. It’s the importance of drinking water. And I think it can’t really be understated again, if you don’t do anything else. Yeah, just drink more water and you’re going to be improving your overall health and diet.
26:22 Yes it keeps you full. It’s a natural detox. Just helps naturally flush everything out of your kidneys. And I don’t drink as much as I should, honestly. I will be quite honest with that because of my interstitial cystitis. So I should drink way more than I do, but basically aim for half your healthy body weight in ounces daily. So some people will say eight, eight ounce servings the 64 ounces. But if you aim for half of your healthy weight, body weight in ounces daily, that’s great. You can add lemon to it, you can add all kinds of things to it. Berries and it makes it taste better, but I usually just always drink water. It’s my drink of choice.
27:03 Yeah. Well, we had been drinking a ginger and citrus. She makes me a very nice and ginger citrus thing that’s been absolutely delightful, so we’ve been enjoying it. We’re not enjoying. We’re enjoying some pretty cold, blustery weather up here in Oregon today, so it’s been a nice warm drink for us. Different than Scottsdale.
27:23 It’s a little nippy today but actually on the topic of drinking things. That’s another thing is there’s so many empty calories and sugar in drinks that a lot of people don’t realize. The Starbucks Frappuccino, if you’re going to have one, have one and then be done for maybe a month at least. I work grocery retail and I always like to say I’m not judgmental, but I kind of am. I see so many people with the gigantic Starbucks and and even if you’re not going to talk about it for calories, the sugar content, it could almost be two days worth of sugar. And it’s actually your body has a hard time dealing with sugar that comes in as a liquid like that more than food. A lot of people aren’t aware that that’s a big issue as well and, and that sugar spike leaves you with a crash afterwards, so that’s another thing when you’re eating healthier foods, your blood sugar level is staying even throughout the day so you don’t get that, oh, I’m still hungry, I’m going to eat anything, and then you crashed and then you feel tired and you want to eat again. You just kind of naturally lose weight just because of that more stabilized blood sugar.
28:40 Yeah. Awesome. So Lisa, I know we appreciate you taking the time today to go over these things. Give me your top three things that people should do in terms of their diet choices, positive dietary changes, disease fighting, diet changes.
28:56 Number one is sugar reduction. for me. Absolutely that’s going to help prevent not only diabetes, Alzheimer’s, obesity, heart disease, some cancers, they’re all linked to sugar, so that is my number one thing. Fiber, as I talked about before, there’s fiber, fruits, vegetables, oats, fiber-filled foods are going to help your body naturally detox, keep your gut healthy. Leaky Gut Syndrome, which we haven’t talked about, has been linked to some autoimmune diseases, so a healthy gut, Take a probiotic and then just the natural fruits and vegetables, staying away from packaged foods. I was the queen of eating packaged and processed diet foods for years. So I would have these packaged diet foods that are filled with preservatives and chemicals and you know it’s basically four ravioli’s, frozen ravioli’s in a package. So when you eat real foods, it’ll help fill you up. You’re going to have more energy, feel better, and natural reduction in inflammation and it just on your way to better health.
30:04 Awesome. We’ll put those three in our show notes too, and link to your blog. The blog’s title is?
30:11 TheFulfilledPharmacist dot blog, so it’s the Fulfilled Pharmacist and that’s where you can also find me on Instagram and Facebook.
30:17 Awesome. Perfect. Well we appreciate it. I know you’re a super busy mom, these days, a busy lady with your blog and your work as a pharmacist all the time and getting ready to get a son married so we especially. And it’s the holidays, so. Hey. Yeah, right. Lots of that going on. So we really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us, sharing great information and your great perspective on ageless diet and how to prevent disease.
30:47 Yes, and I so appreciate you having me. So I guess I’m kind of somewhat famous on the live, healthier, happier, longer podcast if I’m your first, the second, the first guest that’s been on for a second time, so thank you. Thank you for having me.
31:01 Absolutely. We appreciate it.
31:03 Thanks Lisa. Bye. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to the live happier, longer podcast. Now it’s time to move, learn, share, give and let go. Five daily actions to make the rest of your life the best of your life. See you next week.