Change Your Brain Every Day - Foods to Survive vs. Foods to Thrive with Mareya Ibrahim

Episode Date: June 11, 2019

Life is hard enough, so when you throw in the idea of changing your eating habits to be healthier, it can feel downright overwhelming. The good news is that nobody’s perfect, and the switch to healthier foods is rarely an overnight transformation. In this episode, Tana Amen is again joined by Mareya Ibrahim for a conversation on how the right foods (and mindset) can help shift you towards a healthier lifestyle.

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 I am back with Maria Ibrahim, my dear friend. We're talking about your beautiful book, Eat Like You Give a Fork.

Where can they find this? I love that title. Wait, I got to get it. So it is in bookstores across the country. You can get it on Amazon. You can get it on BarnesandNoble.com. Yep. And also on our website. And we're going to do a giveaway. Yes. Yes. So we're going to do a book giveaway.

Tell them how we're going to do the giveaway. You tell us what they can do to get this book. It's going to go through our podcast website. Yeah. So brainwarriorsway.com. I think we're just going to do it randomly. So just give us your email and your name and we'll pick a random winner. Okay. And I'm sorry, it's brain warriors way podcast.com.

So brain warriors way podcast.com. We'll pick a, we'll pick one of you. So, um, write in, let us know that you want the book and we will do a giveaway for you. That's awesome. Excellent. So, um, we were talking about strategies and we sort of got off topic and started talking about culture and American culture. We eat on the run, right? This is what we, fast food, supersize me, fast food, eat in my car, let's go. And I've been certainly guilty of it for much of my life, being a trauma nurse, being a single working mother at times. It's hard in our society because our society hasn't focused around family like other societies have, like other cultures have. Even though my family is Lebanese, I was raised here. And so you were talking about that with your family. Yeah. I mean, and eat like you give

a fork really is about intentionality. It's, going back to what we were talking about before, like there aren't a lot of things we need to survive, but there are many things that we need to thrive. And I, you know, this is the real dish on eating to thrive. I really want people to feel like the best that they possibly can. And when you figure out your food foundation, it's amazing how many other things unravel, how they unravel in a good way and then they come together for you. You know, I actually struggled with an eating disorder for a decade. Right. And it was because I had this warped idea of what food was. And when I got my food house in order, it's like everything came together. Okay. But now I'm a nurse, so we have to stop for a second. Yeah. Because one thing that people don't

understand about, and this is one of the reasons we are, and it really bothers me when in some of these programs, they're like, no food is bad food. It's not about good and bad, but it is a fact that certain foods, they affect your hormones. They affect your mood. They affect your neurotransmitters. And this is where as a nurse, I get really involved. Okay. So I love this combination of chef, nurse, and creating healthy foods because you know, just as well, you said when you were in culinary school, you were bloated. You didn't feel good, right? Yes. That doesn't help. What happens is when you eat certain foods, sugar namely, but the certain combination of sugar, fat, salt, when it's processed, when it's fried, certain things like that, they trigger this bliss point in your

brain. They also affect your hormones, things like leptin. They're affecting your blood sugar. They're affecting insulin. What that does is it's actually affecting your cravings. It's shutting down the signal that goes to your brain that tells you that you are hungry or full. In this case, it shuts down that signal that lets your body know you're satisfied. So these cravings go on. And in our society, it's not okay to look a certain way. Women have these control issues. We don't want to be fat. We don't want to be overweight. We want to be healthy. And so we've got this massive amount of pressure. And if you don't do drugs, if you're not a person who believes in doing drugs, you end up finding food, right? It's so complicated and people don't get that. It does matter. Everything you put on the end

of your fork matters. It does. And what I found is it's not about just eating because the truth is you can eat and you can still be malnourished. Right. Absolutely. You can be overweight and you can be malnourished. In fact, usually you are. And I really did feel that way. I felt like what I was eating was not feeding me. If you're not feeling vibrant, if you're not feeling strong, if you're feeling depressed and lethargic, you're probably not getting the nutrients you need. Things like omega-3 fatty acids, things like vitamin D, you're not getting what you need. And that's really where I kind of shifted my perspective and rotated my own plate, so to speak. And that's what I'm teaching in the book. And even though I come from a Mediterranean, Middle Eastern background where food was

everything, I mean, talk about intentional. Breakfast, we were planning. Lunch, planning dinner and would shop for ingredients every single day. There was also a mindset of like, eat as much as you can. Like, don't leave the table unless you're like- All I ever heard was, you're too skinny. You're too skinny. People walking around trying to like literally shove food in your mouth. So I think that combined with what I was experiencing physically is what contributed to that rabbit hole. And so what I want people to feel is that food is a solid foundation for you and it

doesn't have to be a place of guilt or shame. And deprivation is not the approach. Well, we are not creatures of deprivation. I get so upset when people tell me, you know, I'm trying to lose weight and I haven't eaten all day. And I'm like, do you know what you're doing to your metabolism. That's not going to work. But we are also not hardwired as human beings to deprive ourselves. We are hardwired for survival. So we're hardwired to not be deprived. The minute that it's in front of you,

and if you've been depriving yourself, you're hardwired to take it. Yeah. But I want people to really think about this for a second. Like when you eat a meal, and everybody is different, but when you eat a meal, how do you feel afterwards? Right. You know, are you feeling energetic? Do you feel like you want to go out and slay, you know? Or are you feeling like you want to go take a nap? Are you feeling sad? Are you feeling anxious? Are you feeling like you can't sleep? All of those are indicators. And so, you know, when you, when you really examine what's going on in you, you can usually pinpoint what the trigger is too. Like some people can't have gluten,

but a lot of people, I don't feel well when I do. A lot of people can, you know, I think it's just, it's very personal and it's not like that isolated in and of itself is a problem. So one thing we do here at Amen Clinics, we are, and see, we are dealing with a different, our population's obviously different than the people you're coaching. We are dealing strictly with very sick people. I mean, really sick people. And so we put everyone on an elimination diet, but we're very clear that not everyone's the same. We take it all out.

We introduce things one at a time back in. And some people, it's for like me, crystal clear. Gluten is the thing that affects me probably the worst. But you know, my daughter, it's dairy. It's not gluten. So it's, I think everyone's different. Everybody's different. And in the book, there are some things that I ask people to eliminate. Cause like you said, you can't add to a good wardrobe without taking some of the important things out. Right. So in the beginning, there's no processed sugars throughout. You have to start, right.

There's no processed sugars. There's no refined bleached flowers. And by the way, that's just not going to serve you. It's not going to serve you. I mean, even if you have it once in a while. So I'm clear that on occasion, I always tell people, we were talking about this too. Yeah. So we have a 95-5 rule.

90-10 if you are a person who's got really good control, right? If you're not addicted anymore, you've got good control, and you're not sick, 90-10 is fine. Yeah. But for our people, when they're first starting out, they're so addicted. And so we start them off with a 95-5. And we know no one's going to do it perfectly. So it's not about perfection. In fact, I practice karate.

And so the thing I always tell people is if you go in thinking you're going to do it perfectly, you're going to lose, right? The first thing they teach you is how to fall safely, get up quickly. And so falling isn't failure. Yes. It's only failure if you stay down. Yeah. And so I love that philosophy. It's like get up fast.

Yeah. So I always tell people, if you see me out eating something or having a glass of wine, don't come up and approach me. Trust me. I'm doing it with intention. I'm okay with it. I know what I'm doing. I live my message. The fact that I'm having a glass of wine or I'm having a bite of something, I have like a three bite rule. Usually if I'm having dessert or I may just choose to have something once in a while. That's actually one of the strategies in the book is the 90-10 rule. And it's the last one for a reason. It's the last strategy because I want people to get the first seven strategies down

and incorporate it into their regular eating plan and break the addiction. And then you can introduce the 10%. And even with that, I still believe that when you retrain your taste buds and you get your- You won't want it as much. You won't want it as much. No. I double dog dare you to eat that tray of brownies. You won't feel terrible. You won't be able to do it because you've reset something that is then changing your brain.

And what we find is that when people do it, they're like, all right, I'm going to do it just because, right? And then afterwards they're like, why did I do that? I don't even really want it. Or they'll want a better version. like we were talking about the rehabs. I actually have some recipes in here like, you know, banana pancakes with macadamia syrup. And you can still do that with better replacements. Exactly. But you might not want like a full stack. You might want two.

Right. So, you know. That's what I do. If I go out and I'll have a gluten-free pancake, I have one. Allow yourself because I think life is hard enough, you know, for us to put these types of restrictions on ourselves when you get to that point where you can handle it. Well, see, I think that does set you up for failure because then it is deprivation. But if you know that it's like, okay, I, and the other thing is, is change the mindset. So for me,

I don't know if you talk about this at all. For me, when people start doing that as a, as a nurse and as someone who deals with psychology a lot, what is deprivation to you? You have to change what you think of as deprivation. For me, deprivation, because I was sick, I had cancer. Okay. So for me, deprivation is being sick. For me, deprivation is not being able to be with my family. It's not being able to be here. Yes. Okay. Actually being purposeful and helping people. That's deprivation. Yeah. The cupcake?

I agree. The cupcake? Yeah. Well, and for some people thinking that eating vegetables is deprivation. See, for me, that's abundance because it gives me what I want. It gives me a vibrant life. But that's changing a mindset. Right.

So when you can help people understand that that vegetable is feeding cellular regeneration, it's maybe preventing the risk of cancer. And my dad's a cancer survivor. I have many people in my family that have reversed that because they adopted new habits in their lives. But what I'm saying is don't get to that point. Right. You know, we don't, it's never too late, but it's never too early either. And I think when you eat this way, you are then actually changing your DNA. Yes.

Correct? I mean. You are actually changing. When people say like, this is in my DNA, I'm like. People say, well, they always tell us, well, it's my genetics. Yeah. Your genetics load the gun. You decide.

Now, not always. There are some disorders, some diseases where you don't get to decide, right? So Down syndrome, you don't get to decide. Yes, yes. Okay, we know that. So, but there are in most of the, like pretty much all the lifestyle diseases, right? Yes. Obesity, diabetes, in most cases, heart disease, oftentimes cancer.

Yes. There was an article that was so terrible. It came out, it said, cancer, it's your fault. And what it was, what they were trying to say is it's lifestyle. Okay. So the genetics load the gun. The genetics load the gun. But it's your lifestyle that you decide whether you pull the trigger in most cases. A hundred percent. And I just recently lost my mom. She had a stroke that took her life and she was struggling with diabetes and so many things. And I'm going to be honest, I tried everything to change her lifestyle. They've got to want to though. You have to want to. Sometimes the disease wins. You have to want to. And we know that. Sometimes the disease wins and we know that. And some people

aren't ready to do it. They don't want to for whatever reason. Yeah. Their own demons or whatever it is. You have to want to and you have to allow yourself the grace and the time to also like something. Because I feel like sometimes people eat something and they're like, I don't really like broccoli. Well, have you tried it sauteed? Have you tried it steamed? Or have you tried the other 40 vegetables you could? A hundred percent.

So let's not get into this mindset of like, I don't like it. Therefore, I'm not going to try it any other way. How about what can you do instead of what can't you do? Yeah. But I want to touch on something because what you said is really important. Let's come back. I don't want to forget to talk about what you said about your mother because it's a really important point. So I want to come back in the next episode.

Let's discuss why people don't change. If you're enjoying the Brain Warriors Way podcast, please don't forget to subscribe so you'll always know when there's a new episode. And while you're at it, feel free to give us a review or five-star rating as that helps others find the podcast. If you're interested in coming to Amen Clinics,

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