Change Your Brain Every Day - Nutrition Strategies from a Foodie with Mareya Ibrahim

Episode Date: June 10, 2019

Most people’s concept of a healthy nutrition strategy has been distorted by the food industry’s messaging tactics. Luckily, we have real nutrition educators such as Tana Amen and this week’s guest, Mareya Ibrahim, AKA the “Fit Foodie.” In this episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, Tana and Mareya share some of the lessons they learned while on a cooking reality show, as well as a few other proper nutrition strategies you can implement in your family’s routine.

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. So this week I have a very special treat. This is a dear friend of mine, Maria Ibrahim. It's so great. Thank you for being here. And so I want

to do a quick introduction, but before I actually read your introduction, which is highly impressive, I want to talk just for a second about how we met. Yeah. So we actually met doing something that you were very good at and qualified for. I was not. I actually got drug onto recipe rehab. That's not fair. Oh, no.

It was on ABC. I didn't want to do it. My husband sort of pushed me into it because you and I were both part of something called the Daniel Plan. Yes. And so I met you there and you were one of the only people who was really nice to me. Oh, my gosh. How could anybody not be nice to you? You know, it was this crazy competitive environment. It was so interesting to me. No, I, you know, I, I want to say how much

admiration I have for you. Well, thank you. And, and Daniel. And, you know, I rave about you guys all the time and I've been telling people, everybody's got to go get their brain scanned, which I'm next. We would love to have you. But I love that we share such a similar point of view on food and nourishment and being a warrior and taking control of your life. But at the same time, enjoying your life and enjoying it with the people you love. Because that's, at the end of the day, that's what we have. Exactly. Yeah.

So I want to talk more about Recipe Rehab. But let me just really quickly tell you who Maria is, because I just am so impressed with what you've done. So you are actually known as the Fit Foodie, which is so true. You can't see her sitting here, but she is super fit. The Fit Foodie, the nationally recognized food safety and clean eating expert, an award winning entrepreneur, television chef, which I learned firsthand, author and inventor. You're the CEO and founder of Grow Green. I've seen your website. You have a lot of green products, which I really like. Yeah, I'd love to share a little bit about the Eat Cleaner. Yeah,

for sure. You patented Eat Clean, Eat Safe, and Eat Fresh line of natural and organic products, which I saw on your website. That was really cool. Your book, The Clean Eating Handbook was released in May of 2013 and is being touted as the go-to guide for anyone looking to eat cleaner and get leaner. I like that. So rather than a diet book, which I don't like that either. I don't like it. You're a co-contributor to the Daniel Plan, another way that we were connected. Yes. We both contributed to the Daniel Plan 40 Days to a Healthier Life by Rick Warren and my husband, Dr. Amen and Mark Hyman. You've been featured on the Emmy nominated cooking show, Recipe Rehab, ehow.com, livestrong.com, and you're a frequent guest on San Diego 6 and Fox 5 San Diego News. Your back page column, The Fit Foodie, appears in Edible

Orange County Magazine. Yeah. So super, you're super busy when it comes to food. I like that. When we went on recipe rehab, I just have to like, this is just so funny. So I really, I wasn't a huge fan of going on a cooking show because I've always made it clear when I got into this, I'm a nurse. I'm not a chef, right? My husband always says I went from disaster to master. I did it strictly out of necessity. It was survival for me. It was to get healthy, get my family healthy. And I did it at a time when it wasn't a super common thing to get into food as medicine. And so that's why I got into doing it.

And so I'd written a couple of books and they were doing pretty well. And somehow I ended up on this show. And I didn't realize that everyone on the show were master chefs. Right. And so I go to the show. I'm like, you guys know, I'm not a master chef. Right. They're like, oh, you're not. No, I'm a nurse. And so when I sent them my, you know, you have to send them your list of ingredients. Yeah. They argued with me. Oh gosh. And they literally were arguing with me. I'm like, no, I cannot use white flour. Yeah. They're like, can you replace your flax meal for, you know, I forget what they wanted to replace it with. It was something gluten-laden. And I'm like, no.

Yeah. And so they gave me this, like, this, they were just, like, kind of arguing with me. It wasn't work. It wasn't jiving. Yeah, they're like, no one's going to understand what this is. I go, that's the whole point. I'm an educator. Yeah.

And so we kept going back and forth. So I get on the show, and they literally gave me, everything they gave me was almost wrong. So rather than flax meal, they gave me flax seeds. And you know, you don't have a lot of time. No, I'm like, I'm trying to cook flax seeds. I'm like, what is going on? They didn't have the coffee grinder. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is a disaster. So, so I did the best I could. It was just, and the producers were nice, but I had a hard time was just, and the producers were nice, but I had a hard time with a couple of the chefs that were, they were highly competitive. I'm like, I was just there to have a good time, and, you know.

Yeah. But then I met you. Yeah. And it made it worth it. Thank you. And you were just so much fun, and I realized you were also part of the dating plan, which was so coincidental.

Well, you know, what I loved about recipe rehab was, you know, you have all these families that have these classic recipes that have been passed on and, you know, Aunt Emma's double chocolate cake that had like 500,000 grams of sugar in it. Like insane. And that we got a chance to make it better for them. And I loved that. You know what I mean? And I think that we can take that approach in so many things in our lives. Like food doesn't have to be replaced. I think we have this idea in our minds that like in order to eat cleaner or eat better for you, I don't even like the word diet, but an eating plan

that's sustainable, that we have to replace all these things. And that's just simply not true. There are always better alternatives and smart swaps. And at the same time, I always go back to like family is everything. So at the center of your family is where your traditions are. It's where you enjoy your food together. It's where you come together in celebration. And every day can be a celebration. Food and sustenance is such a tremendous glue and it engages all your senses. And it gave us a chance to really say, you don't have to do it on your own. You can do it with your family. And by the way, I replaced all of the butter in one of my dishes with pureed beets. See, I love that.

And that cake won. It was so easy. They were doing it with the beets and it still won. So like we can overcome a lot of perceptions when we show people how to do it the right way. And I think a lot of it, and this is where my expertise has been, is educating people. Because even on that show, they had no idea at the time what I, they were like, why are we introducing all of these ingredients? Because that's what I do. Yeah.

These people were diabetic. Yeah. I'm like, someone has to explain to them. It's not a hard swap. It's not. And I think- It's really not a hard swap. It's really about that demonstration. And the beautiful thing about that show, and I think when, even in the Daniel plan, is when we would do demonstrations in front of- They get it.

An audience and they see it, they're like, oh, wow. And they taste it and it's good. Yeah. It's that connection. And I taste it and it's good. Yeah. It's that connection. And, and I think that's why cooking shows are so popular. I was on an episode of cutthroat kitchen on the food network. And I was like, I never want to do a competition show again, but I want to educate people and show and tell, because that's really where my heart is. Me too. So that's what I really love. And so, and I actually think that that is, so I worked with you, I worked with Jenny Ross and I really felt like that. So I actually was clear. The one good thing about being on a show like Recipe Rehab was I became very clear about

what it is I do. I already sort of knew, but I'm like, I'm not, I don't want to go on competitive shows about being a chef. That's not me. I'm an educator. So what I actually talked to Daniel Plant about is like, look, I am your educator. I partner with chefs. And I think that that's why it worked out so well. I gave them a ton of recipes. I provided recipes because that's what they need. But it worked so well to be able to partner with you and Sally and Jenny, and you guys would come on and do the food demonstrations. And I did a lot of the education because that's how we forge a path. That's how we actually educate people. Look, we were never as a species, we were never, we never ate the way we eat now a hundred years ago. That was, that only happened when we all of a sudden were able to store massive amounts of food. We ate, we ate seasonally. We ate what was

fresh. We were just talking about being in Italy. We talked about being in Italy. And even though they eat pasta, I never feel sick when I go there. They serve tiny portions. It's homemade. It's fresh made. It's the flour is locally milled. It's not processed. It's two ingredients usually, maybe three. And it's tiny amounts. And it's small amounts in proportion. And it's eaten slowly. This is another thing that we have. And I talk about it in Eat Like You Give a Fork. Show them your, Yeah. I love this title. I'm so excited for this book because I think it's – Eat Like You Give a Fork. It's so liberating. And, you know, when I was in culinary school, I went to culinary school in France.

And, you know, that was a long time ago. And this was before flax and chia and all of that. They think you're weird. Right. And I just – I was not feeling good. I was constantly feeling bloated. I was constantly feeling heavy, not motivated. And I was like, I ended up dropping out.

And I'm saying it. I never finished because it just wasn't working for me. And then I got on the holistic nutrition path and I started organizing culinary events for a chain of natural food stores. And I was like, okay, this feels better. I can, and I'm Middle Eastern. So like a lot of my background is the Mediterranean diet, you know, it's beans and, and, um, and grains and all of these things that worked for me, but I wasn't seeing that in the cooking that I was learning. So I started merging my culinary perspective with the better for you food. And that was the magic combination. You know, that's where the book like really gives you a path. It's an eight part strategy.

And within each strategy, you get a chance to dive into more of a culinary point of view. So let me ask you a question, because this is a beautiful book and I love the title, Eat Like You Give a Fork. Thank you. So, but I need to understand something. This is not just a cookbook. No, not at all. It's a lifestyle book. It's teaching you strategy. It's eight strategies and they are based on strategies that I've tried and tested with literally thousands of people that I've coached. Okay. So beyond the Daniel plan in my health coaching, I've done corporate health coaching, health coaching with individuals. And the first thing that I find is when you tell people to eat a certain way, if they've never eaten that way before, you have to start by retraining their

taste buds. Absolutely. So that's the first strategy in the book is let us reset what you are eating so that you crave differently. Yeah. we find that within about seven to 10 days, blueberries taste sweet. Exactly. Right, they're God's candy. It's an eight-day reset. Anybody can do it. You eat a few bites of the foods that I recommend, and then all of a sudden you start to crave bitter and sour and umami flavors that then open up the world to the things that are better

for you. That's so interesting. So that's your first strategy. What's the second strategy? The second strategy is to really transform your kitchen. So, you know, in your real kitchen, you are taking out all of the things that don't serve you. And I kind of make the analogy to a great wardrobe. You know, when you go into your refrigerator, I think some people expect like the food to pop out of them and be like, eat me. And it doesn't work that way. You have to be intentional. And there's only a few things we need to survive, right? Food's one of them. So if we would just give a fraction of the attention to

what we're eating more than like social media, you know what I'm saying? Like it just, it's perspective. So I'm telling you that when you get your real kitchen in order, you get your food house in order, you get the right tools, everything changes. So one of the first videos that Daniel and I did together for the Daniel plan was a pantry cleanse for this woman. So people were volunteering to do this. And this woman said, I actually eat really healthy. So I would love to have you come. She thought that it was going to be like this great experience, whatever. She was mind blown. Oh, yeah. Because when we got in there, we're like, um, Captain Crunch. But she didn't, she, see, most people don't even understand, um, what is healthy,

what's not healthy because we have been so trained by the food industry rather than by our grandparents. Yes. Right. My, my family's from Lebanon. Oh, I didn't even know that. That's so cool. My grandmother didn't even speak English. No wonder we have this connection. I love it. So when you have these grandparents that, you know, they cooked fresh every day. They did this stuff.

I didn't grow up like that, sadly, because my mom ended up being a runaway that was, we were poor. But when my family cooked, and like when Daniel's family still cooks, he's from Lebanon as well. He's Lebanese. It's just fresh. The ingredients are fresh. They're clean. You know what I mean?

And we've gotten so far away from that. And most people think that if it says healthy on the label, this is where you and I, I love your, the reason you're here, your strategies. Because, and I love your philosophy because we are so on the same page. Yeah. I mean, think about that. Like our parents, you know, they would bring home meats and fish and produce and they would literally cook it every day and go to the market the next day and see what's fresh. My grandma couldn't even drive. She'd walk,

stop at the grocery store, you know, walk out. But it's so interesting now we think if it's got a label that says health food on it. Yes. And if you read the ingredients, that's rarely true. Yes. And so it's rarely, you have to really read labels and you have to understand what processed food is. And beyond that, I think, you know, when we can get away from just surviving on what's in our pantry and really reevaluate our refrigerator, I call it rehabbing your refrigerator, you know, because if half of our eating plan should be fresh produce, shouldn't half of our refrigerator be too? Right.

You know what I'm saying? So like take advantage of eating with the colors. Yeah. You know, the color- The rainbow. I know it sounds like maybe we've been talking about it over and over again, but isn't it more attractive when you see like this array of color in front of you? Natural food is so beautiful. You get appetized.

It can't be Skittles. It's got to be a real rainbow. Yes, the real rainbow. Well, let's come back. When we come back, let's talk about the rest of your strategies. I'm actually really enjoying this. It's just totally in alignment with what we teach here at Animal Clinics. I love it.

And so I love being able to offer more resources to people, and this is just a fantastic resource. Thank you, Tana. We'll be more resources to people, and this is just a fantastic resource. Thank you, Tana. We'll be right back. 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 code PODCAST10 to get a 10% discount on a full evaluation at amenclinics.com. For more information, give us a call at 855-978-1363.