Change Your Brain Every Day - Why Fresh Fish Are Some of The Best Brain Food with Jeff Tedmori

Episode Date: July 1, 2021

Dr Daniel and Tana Amen chat with Jeff Tedmori about the different kinds of fish and how they can each contribute to brain health.

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. We are here with Jeffrey Ted Mori talking about fish and we're having such a good time. The stories during COVID and just, you know, how this kid from MIT made this business out of fishing, has taken care of fishermen, has taken care of consumers and, you care of consumers, and is really paying attention to the environment and sustainably raised products. And I love this. I love how you put this model together. But in this episode, we want to talk about fish and the brain. Why, as far as protein goes, fish is probably your best choice. So let's talk about fish and the brain why as far as protein goes fish is probably your best

choice so let's talk about well brand if you go to e-fish.com uh you can enter in a promo code is it amen 10 yeah amen 10. amen 10 and that will get you 10% off your order. And this is truly a great product. So, I mean, I can say that personally. Clean, healthy, delicious, good for your brain, right? We often talk about you only want to love food that loves you back. That, you know, all of us, us maybe not Jeff because he's been with his sweetheart forever uh but you and I certainly have been in bad relationships and I'm not doing

that anymore I'm not I love somebody who loves me back yeah he's looking at us like I have no idea what you're talking about because they were high school sweethearts. Right. But so many people are in a bad relationship with food. They love things that hurt them, that cause inflammation, that increase their risk of cancer and diabetes and heart disease. You only want to love something that loves you back. And this is a great opportunity for you to fall in love with fresh, sustainable, healthy, brain healthy fish. So e-fish.com. So, Jeff, let's talk about the healthiest fish that you have on the site. And one of the things we talked about at the break that surprises many people is that mackerel is actually loaded with omega-3 fatty acids. Yeah. So mackerel is one of those products where most people don't they don't see it in their local market they don't

think to buy it um and i'm not gonna lie it does have a really strong flavor to it right so it's not for everybody but it's packed and loaded with omega-3 fatty acids which we all know and love it's double that of salmon and salmon is the poster child for omega threes, right? And so, I mean, it's one of those things where you have an opportunity to eat lower on the food chain, which of course means that it's not going to have a lot of accumulated heavy metals in addition to having those omega threes. And so that's just an item that you really can't find elsewhere. And it's one of those seasonal items during the summer that we're, we're super fortunate to be able to, to carry. And are they small fish?

Yeah. So they're small. So they're, um, you know, a lot of people will say that it's, um, it's kind of like eating the food that the big fish would eat, right? So it's kind of, it's known for being a bait fish, right? It's similar to anchovies, similar to sardines. Mackerel is maybe this big in size, right? And they're small and slender.

But that ultimately eating lower on the food chain is one of those things that we need to be able to do to support more healthy fisheries, prevent overfishing on some of these species that are more mainstream, right? We need to give them a break every now and again. What's your favorite way to eat them? So a lot of people love to grill this fish. And so what you can do is kind of, you'll keep them whole. So it's a whole fish that you're going to cook. And really, one way that one of my customers did that I absolutely loved and tried myself

was you'll slice the meat on the fish and you'll slide little lemon wedges in between. And you throw it on the barbecue and get a nice char on it. And it's really delicious. Yeah, I was going to say sometimes when a fish is strong, either lemon or a little bit of vinegar can help too with the flavor. So mackerel is a surprising fish. What else? Yeah, so, and of course, like, I like to think of things based on where the fish are. So on the West Coast, we have some amazing fish that are packed with omega threes.

Black cod is one of the more notable ones. You could also find it called sablefish or butterfish because it really is. That's what I had from here. Yeah. And it was great. Yeah. That's what like Nobu made famous with his miso black cod. Yeah.

Packed with omega threes. We have fresh anchovies and sardines like you would find when you're in Italy. Yeah, I love sardines. Most people don't like them. Yeah, no, they're fun. And you just have to, one of the things that I've learned

being surrounded by more seafood is just take the experience for what it is. It's a total culinary adventure. And that's what I love about it. Cause you can try different products. It's a ton of fun in the kitchen, um, versus cooking something like chicken where you have white meat and you have dark meat with fish. Like the opportunities are endless. Yeah. Believe it or not. One of the ways that I love the smaller fish like that is in egg, like breakfast in eggs. People are like, what? No, I promise you, it tastes great. It's really good. So I grew up eating that kind of thing. So like kippers and eggs and sardines

and eggs, and it's actually really good. It's tasty. For a long time, I didn't like salmon. And then I found Copper River salmon out of Alaska. And for some reason, I guess the fat content's different. Love Copper River salmon. And it's just about ready to run now, if I remember right. It's June, July. So why would different species of fish taste significantly different? Yeah.

So ultimately, the way that I like to think of it, and you said this earlier today, what they eat and the environment that they're in really dictates the flavor profile of these fish. And so what I like to look at is where are these fish being caught? What time of year is it? What's the temperature like? What type of nutrients are in the water? Because that's going to largely affect the way that it tastes. So whether you're, it's actually really interesting when we look at products like scallops, right, typically, we're selling sea scallops that are caught in, you know, out of Massachusetts or out of the Gulf of Maine. And

those have one flavor profile. It's like ice cold water, nutrient rich, and just really clean water that it's coming out of. And so that has one flavor profile. We've been getting scallops out of Scotland recently, which are also phenomenal. But what's amazing is it's the exact same species, but they taste very different because the nutrients in the water out on the coast of Europe is very different from the nutrients that are out in New England. That makes sense because when you think of even the difference between grass-fed beef and bison, they're very different. When you talk about bison that is like wild bison or not like a free range, like truly free range, and you compare that, I used to do this in my classes when I would teach them. I would show a farm-raised piece of beef next to a free range piece of bison. One is a light pink and white because the white

is the fat that's marbled all through it. And they're same cut like in New York. And then the bison is deep purple. There's like almost no fat in it and they've eaten completely differently and they've run. And so it's all muscle. You know what I mean? They taste totally different. So that makes total sense. It's all about the environment that you're in. Yeah. Well, and for there, it's the fat content, right, as well. And fat content and fish also really matters. What are some of the leanest fish compared to the fattier fish? Yes, so some of the more lean fish that you're gonna find, I

mean, obviously, if you're looking at, you know, different cuts of tuna, like, if you're looking at the loin of tuna, there's going to be less fat in there. And then as you look to more of the white fish, or what we would call ground fish. So this is the cod, haddock, hake of the world, pollock. Those are all going to be a much leaner cut. California halibut, for example, has very low fatty content. But if you get a halibut from Alaska or you get a halibut from Maine,

those are going to have a much richer fatty content to it. And again, you just have to think of where they're being raised, right. Or where they're living. And when you're in a really cold environment, how do you stay warm? You got to have that, that fatty layer there. Yeah. Interesting. So interesting. Well, what we hope is that you will consume more fish because it's good for your brain, but consume healthy fish. You always know, you want to know where it was raised, the environment, what the fish ate. Farm fish is not always a bad thing, but you want to really just try to be informed and understand. To learn more about Jeff and Jeff's company, e-fish.com.

You can use the discount code, EAMON10. Love that. And it's good for you and it's good for our environment. So Jeff, we're so proud of you. And so happy to have you on the Brain Warriors Way podcast. We look forward to just watching your mission grow. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

This has been so much fun. Good to see you both. You too. All right. You're listening to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Stay with us. 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

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