Change Your Brain Every Day - Eat Like You Give a Fork with Mareya Ibrahim

Episode Date: June 13, 2019

In the final episode of a week-long series on nutrition, Tana Amen is once again joined by Mareya Ibrahim, the “Fit Foodie.” In this final episode, Mareya gives some of the top tips from her new book “Eat Like You Give a Fork” to arm you with the proper information and motivation to start the process of changing your eating habits for a healthier brain and a healthier life.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we have been transforming lives for 30 years using tools like brain spec imaging to personalize treatment to your brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceuticals to support the health of your brain and body. To learn more, go to brainmd.com. Welcome back. So we are still talking about Eat Like You Give a Fork, which I think is so amazing. And we're going to do our giveaway. I'm with Maria Ibrahim,

who's just an amazing person. So inspiring. I cannot believe you're 50. You're just like- Right back at you, mama. I'm like, you make me look good just being sitting here. So, I mean, it really is a testament to what you do every day. And so, um, I mean, she's, you can't see this. She's incredibly fit. So, um, we're going to do that giveaway brainwireswaypodcast.com. And in this episode, I want to ask you before we get started, what are your favorite snacks? So I think it'd be fun for us to do a follow-up. Yeah. And convert people's, you know what we did on Recipe Rehab?

Yeah, totally. Let's find someone's favorite snacks that are really unhealthy and figure out how to convert it. I love that idea. So I know that's what I've done in my cookbooks. And I have a feeling that's what you've done in yours. Oh, yeah. Because I'm looking at the cover and I'm like, I know

strawberry ice cream isn't healthy, but I know you. So I know you've made it healthy, right? Coconut ice cream. There you go. So let's talk about the strategies and actually your favorite recipes. Let's just get into the recipes. Yeah. Let's talk about how you make this easy for people. I'm going to guess you've got snacks and desserts and stuff like that. Oh yeah. Because nobody wants deprivation. So being a single mom of two, you know, balancing a business and trying to do everything else, like you've got to make it quick. You have to make it quick. Ain't nobody got time to be in the kitchen all day. Yeah. I'm not even a single mom anymore. And I'm on the go like nonstop. It's so fast paced, but our lives are. It is. So when, you know, first of all,

really adhering to a meal prep day where we get our produce washed and prepped, we get some grains cooked off, proteins cooked, and then it's mixed. A lot of it is mix and match. I'll grill like, you know, we'll grill like, like a dozen chicken breasts and boil a whole bunch of eggs and do all that stuff. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then, um, you know, another thing that I try and do is just really get the kids involved so that they're part of the process. Cause that's what I do in my house. Yeah. They're part of the process. They enjoy it. Um, becomes a family thing. A hundred percent. Because when they're, the truth is when they're engaged, they're going to be so much more likely to eat and drink what

you're preparing. If they're invested, for sure. I did a demo at Whole Foods and I had a little three-year-old boy who came up and made a smoothie with me and he was putting the kale in the blender and his mom was crying because he wouldn't eat his greens at home. But now he would try it. But he blended it. Yeah, he's tried it. Oh, and he drank it.

Oh, that he drank it. Oh, yeah. When they're involved, they're more than 85% likely to actually try it. So you want to get your kids to try it. Get them in the kitchen. Oh, I love that. You know, the only thing I saw was that my husband cooks with me now. And that didn't used to happen. So it's really fun.

I think that's so sexy. That's really fun. It is sexy, right? I'm like, you want to do something sexy for your wife or your girlfriend? Get in the kitchen. Cook or vacuum, but cook. I love, or do the dishes. That helps too. My husband does all the dishes.

God, what a man. No, I know it's crazy, right? What a man. I should stop saying this. People are going to be like, what? What a man. But none of the recipes in here really take longer than half an hour because I know that people really are on the go.

But the smart snacks, the substitutes, the things that you can take on the road with you, plentiful. There's great hummus recipes in here. One of my favorites is a no-bake oatmeal chocolate chip peanut butter cookie. Oh, yeah. Well, and I've tasted your peanut butter balls. I don't know if those are in here, your protein balls. A variety of them. They're so good. They're made with dates. They're so good. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I remember you like those. No, I was like, I'm taking some of these on the road. I love it. Because I hadn't eaten.

We were speaking. Yeah, I remember that event. And so we were doing a big demo. And I was like, I'm so hungry. And you're like, oh, I have something for you. Yeah. I'm like, I need three more of those. Yes, yes.

I love that. So they were so good. So it's about balance. And one of the things about the book, all of the recipes are essential amino acid balanced. Oh, I like that. So people in the fitness industry, bodybuilders and people that- No, I always take my branch chains.

Yeah, exactly. We know that this is the key to building muscle and to feeding every part of your hormones too. So all of the recipes are amino acid balanced. And I think this is really important for people to understand, even if nutrition is not something that you have a background in, knowing that getting those into your body every day is truly important because your body doesn't store them. Well, and it's one of the things, so there's so many vegans. Okay, that's another thing. I don't have a dog in that fight. I don't care if you want to eat meat, don't want to eat meat. It's not for me. I'm not the judge and jury on that. I just don't care.

If it's important to you, that's what I care about. Yes. Right? But what I do care about very much is that people are healthy regardless of which way they go. So that they pay attention to the quality of the food. They pay attention to how clean their food is, which is what I like about your book. Yes. And that if you are a vegan, you are making sure you get all of your amino acids. So even like our vegan protein powder, we put all of the branched chain amino acids in it. Yeah. And I have a section, one of the strategies is eating vegan twice a week. And it's giving your digestion a break. I do that actually. Yeah. And it's compressed. It's an intermittent eight hour period that you're eating vegan, but our bodies just naturally want to cycle. Some days we eat more, some days we eat less. And I tend to intermittent fast every day

anyways, just because naturally I don't, I just can't eat a big thing in the morning. I just can't. So I've learned to intermittent, do my intermittent fasting that way. There's so many benefits from it. But even in those vegan recipes, you're finding the amino acid balance. I love that. You're combining grains and legumes. And I don't know, Tana, I know there's a lot of people out there that say don't eat grains and don't eat beans. I think it depends.

I'm not of that. I'm not in that camp. So I do think it depends. What we do is we will put people – we don't start with no grains. We will start people on an elimination diet of no gluten. No gluten. So there are, so I actually work with so many different types of people. If they are severely diabetic, if they are very fragile, I will remove all grains initially and then we'll reintroduce the non-gluten ones. but we'll do, what I do is I have them flip it. It's our society makes grains their staple. Yes. What we do is we have them flip that so that their greens and their

veggies are their staple. Your grains, if you're going to have them are a, they're a side. They're almost like a condiment. That's what I actually call them. High five on that. Yeah. So your grains are now condiment. We want, we'd rather eat non-gluten ones if gluten affects you. And so they'll ask me, well, what about oatmeal or whatever? It really depends on you. I actually, now in this case, I just told you I was having trouble. I actually have gotten really skinny after that surgery. I don't know why. It's a weird thing. And I think it has to do with my thyroid medication after going through a hysterectomy. I got super skinny, lost a bunch of muscle because I'm hyperthyroid. So I suddenly had to put grains back in my diet. I was getting too skinny. So I used to not even eat a lot of fruit. I used to eat very much caveman style. And all of a sudden I'm like,

I need carbs. Like I have to have carbs or I'm going to just like waste away. I work with a lot of police officers that they work out really hard. I work out with a lot of athletes. There's no way I'm training these people without grains. It's how you do it and make it healthy. Like you said, so there's a chapter in here and it's about single ingredient gluten-free grains. And those single ingredients are where I want people to focus. So it's like the black rice and the kamut and the amaranth and the teff and all of these ancient grains that have significant nutrition in them. And if you are vegan, which a lot of our followers are vegan or vegetarian, it's so important that you're combining those with the right foods to get your complete set of amino acids. Well, and that's the other thing.

If someone's vegan, what are they going to eat? Exactly. I mean, and that's what I think. And I know that, you know, there's the jury, you know, it's kind of divided. But what I'm saying is that is not the focus necessarily if you're an omnivore. It is an option. Right. But I want you to think of the single ingredient grains and starchy vegetables sort of in the

same kind of realm. And what we, I don't know about what you think about this. I've never been of the mindset that everyone needs to eat the same. That's why when people come in here, the first thing we do, it needs to be your plan, not everybody's plan. Yes. Right. So there is no one plan that's perfect for every person on the planet. Yes. That's what bothers me. Yeah. So, and that's why I don't care about if you're interested in being a vegan or not, because what we're going to do is we're going to actually test your blood. That's why I like, that's why I like working with chefs, right? Because it's like the perfect compliment to what we do. So if you come in to see us, we're going to test your blood. We're going to test

your profile, your fatty acids. We're going to tell you what's missing. Yes. It has nothing to do with what plan is out there. Right. And it needs to be your plan. Well, and I think what's different about eat like you give a fork versus other plans or popular, let's just call them popular diets out there right now is there's really no like food group that I've said, stay away from. Um, the dairy that I do encourage is more, uh, around like non-cow dairy. Me too, yeah. So like sheep's milk. That's what we say.

Yeah. All the studies indicate. Exactly. Like you'll see feta cheese in here. You will see some Greek yogurt in here. If it bothers you, you can certainly do a coconut yogurt. Or go lactose-free or go with sheep's milk yogurt. Exactly.

Or coconut milk yogurt. Coconut milk yogurt, yeah, is a great option. So I think it's forgiving and at the same time it's very personalizable because it gives you options to be able to mix things up. I like that. If you are plant-based 100% and you don't eat meat, then you can go with the plant-based options only. But what I'm saying is don't think only about what you're eliminating. Really focus on what you're keeping in. Like what are you eating?

What can you have? Because there are plenty people that label themselves and when you really examine what they're eating, it's not sustainable for the long run. Like cheese and cracker vegetarians, that's not going to get you to where you want to be. No, and I tried, you know, every plant, this is why I say every plan doesn't work for everybody. I tried being a vegan. I actually was a vegan for three years. I was not healthy as a vegan. I mean,

I was a pretty extreme athlete at the time, more than I am now, and I'm still pretty athletic. And I was so hungry all the time that I found myself eating a lot of carbs. Only I have diabetes in my family and I tend to be very insulin resistant. Yes. But I was too hungry without it. When I tried going to raw food, not going to work. I was the same. I was a vegan for five years. And what I found though is like, unless you really have like a strong personal reason, ethical reason, it's not a healthier option. I think we can agree on that. But what is healthier is making sure your meat is clean. And what we do often tell people is eat less of it. Yeah. So have a little less of it. Make plants your base, make that your staple, plant-based foods, and then just add a

little clean protein. That really is the philosophy of the book. And I have a whole section for greens. Greens are so important that they have their own chapter, their own strategy. It's called Get Up on Greens. And I talk about how, from a culinary perspective, to bring out the best flavor in greens. Tell me a couple of your favorite snacks. Oh my God, this is so pretty. The best kind of date balls are really pretty amazing. Those are sort of like the protein?

Yeah. Look how pretty that is. Oh, that's so pretty. I love the sun-dried tomato hummus because I love the umami flavor and the sun-dried tomato. Oh, they're there. The best kind of date balls. We've got matcha. We've got the peanut ones.

We've got the coconut ones. Very beautiful. It's a beautiful book. Thank you. And I love a quick meal that I can pull together. I love to grill. So the bison kofta burger that's on the cover is like, kofta is a big part of my Middle Eastern background. Yeah, so it's got a lot of flavor in it.

Fantastic. You can serve it on a lettuce bun, and it's just very satisfying. I love that. Yeah. There's so much in here. Pickled vegetables on top. That's how I eat my burger. Love it. Yeah. That looks, and pickled vegetables, they're fermented. Yes. Fermented food's awesome. Yeah. I show you how to make your own in there. Oh, that's really great. Yeah.

That's a really great thing. Quick pickle. Yeah. You have the cutest names. Eat Like You Give a Fork. The Real Dish on Eating to Thrive. I like that. The Real Dish on Eating to Thrive. Beautiful book. I really love it. So I want you to tell them once again where they can find it. Yeah. So beginning June 4th, it'll be in bookstores everywhere, nationally available. It's also on our website at eatcleaner.com, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, really wherever you shop for books. And if you like it, I would love to hear it because I love that feedback. Well, and I know I've worked with you enough that I know her food's amazing. So I know you are an amazing chef. And I know your simple recipes that I've seen you demonstrate taste ridiculous.

Thank you. So that's the whole point is to make healthy food, medicine-based quality food taste delicious. That's the whole point. So that you don't even know. No, you're eating healthy. That you're focused on eating something that's balanced and clean. And I think we have to redefine a little bit what healthy even means. Because I think people- They're so confused. So confused. Yeah. I agree with you. And so I'm excited. I want you to tag us so they can tag you at Eat Clean.

Eat Cleaner. Eat Cleaner. And you can tag me at Tana Amen. And please answer our question that we asked in the beginning. So what are your favorite snacks that you know are not healthy that you would like to see become healthy? I think we could actually do something fun with that. I think this would be great. We should get in the kitchen and do that.

I know. We should do that. So if you want to see us get in the kitchen and rehab something, um, let us know. Um, I, that's been what the whole premise of what I do is rehabbing stuff, but more from a standpoint of health professional. So partnering with someone who is really more of a master chef would be really fun. Oh, I would welcome that. I think that'd be a lot of fun. Maybe we could even like, well, we'll talk about it. I have a feeling I know what you're going to say. So yeah.

So let's do this. We want to hear from you. Thanks so much, Maria. That was such a pleasure. You're amazing. So hope you enjoyed this. Let us know the best part. Can't wait to hear from you.

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