Your Health First is on the air and about to start right now. Initial
Life Sequence now coming to you live from Houston, Texas, home to the
world's largest medical center. Bunch Phase everything looking really grmon three two. This
is your Health First, the most beneficial health program on radio with doctor Joe
Bellotti. During the next hour, you'll learn about health, wellness and the
provention of disease. Now here's your host, doctor Joe Bellotti. Well look
good Sunday, everybody, Doctor Joe so Galotti. We're here every Sunday evening
between seven and a pm doing one thing, trying to raise your health IQ
make you better consumers of healthcare. And we do that by providing you with
really thoughtful information things that you can believe. We're not trying to sell you
any hype. We're not trying to sell you supplements, vitamins or anything else.
We are just simply trying to get you on track to think about your
health, realizing that so much and I do mean so much, like eighty
five percent of all the chronic disease that we see can be prevented, and
so much of it is related to lifestyle that decisions we make each and every
day. Even this decision right here to take an hour of your evening and
take a listen, sit still, think, absorb what we're saying so that
you could get some direction on your own health and wellness. My job and
the job of your Health First team is to keep you healthy, keep you
out of the doctor's office except for usual checkups that we all need, and
to identify conditions that may lead to chronic disease early. That is the key,
early intervention, early diagnosis, early therapy, and give you the tools
to stay healthy. It is that simple. It is a monumental task.
But let me tell you we have great success in educating the public now to
participate. Our website doctor Joegalotti dot com Doctor Joegalotti dot com. That is
the one spot where you could find out just about everything about us. All
of our social media postings are there. Follow us along, like us,
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Our podcasts, which are most for the most part rebroadcasts of episodes that we've
done over the years. There's blog posts, articles that I've written, social
media. It is all there, Doctor Joegalotti dot com. Well, I
hope you having a good Sunday evening. The weather this weekend it was It
was probably far better yesterday on Saturday. Today it's been a little gloomy and
damp and not the greatest day, but good enough that you should have been
able to get outside do a little gardening, start your vegetable garden. I
don't think there's going to be any more freezes. I was out sort of
prepping my garden for my tomatoes and basil and peppers, and taking care of
shrubs and making sure that whatever stress they experienced over the winter, they'll be
able to bloom healthfully, just like all of us. So it's been a
busy week. This past Thursday evening, we did a live webinar and a
lot of you participated. Now if you didn't tune in live. The great
thing about all of these webinar software platforms is that you can replay it,
and so there is a replay on YouTube. You can see the entire replay
with myself and doctor Joe Rogers from the Texas Horn Institute. By going to
YouTube, there is a link on face book and will be well tonight.
I'll be making a fair amount of references to the face Book post. And
the address for Facebook is at doctor Joe Galotti. At doctor Joe Galotti is
the Facebook link. But again, if you go to the website doctor Joeglotti
dot com, the Facebook link is there. And so the conversation we've been
having for the past few weeks has been this connection between cardiovascular disease, and
for all that are listening, the sad truth is that half of all of
us are going to die or become ill from a heart related problem, either
heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, and or all of its complications
which may be stroke, kidney failure, or congest of heart failure. And
we have to look at this and say, if there is a fifty to
fifty roll of the dice that this is going to happen to you, what
can you do now to lower these chances? Even if you go from fifty
to fifty to a thirty percent chance, a twenty percent savings, who wouldn't
want to do that? Or maybe do something that will eliminate it completely who
knows, and so with the cardiovascular connection or with so much cardiovascular disease heart
disease, there is this and I would say unknown connection between cardiovascular disease and
fatty liver. That is what I take care of patients with fatty liver.
Now we previous he had a radio program with doctor Mason Neuridine and doctor Randeep
Sunasia. That is a podcast that is available. We did a radio program
with a hepatologist like myself and a cardiologist. A few weeks earlier, I
did a talk at Texas Art Institute on the connection between fatty liver and cardiovascular
disease, and then a webinar of this past Thursday was exactly the same thing,
all of which has a slightly different twist to it. So if you
hear one episode, it's not necessarily a carbon copy of the other. You're
going to get new information. But it is very important for all of us
to think in terms of what conditions do I have. Maybe you're sitting at
home saying I have diabetes. Okay, so you got diabetes. Do you
realize the potential complications of diabetes, Well, that may be heart disease in
the form of high blood pressure, You're at risk for stroke, you're at
risk for kidney failure, you're at risk for nerve damage. So that is
one part. You may be sitting there and say I have high blood pressure.
Well, high blood pressure puts you also at risk for kidney disease,
heart failure, more strain on the heart, risk of stroke. All right,
do I have a fatty liver? Okay, well, fatty liver.
We talk about this a lot. You're at risk for cirrhosis, which is
scoring of the liver, but little and this is the part that we're trying
to really bring out. You're at risk for heart disease, you're at risk
for diabetes, high cholesterol. So it is not simply looking at each pill
that you take, or each condition that you have is a disease or condition
on its own. You have to look and say, having one disease or
condition puts me at risk for something else, and I need to pay attention
and I need to learn about that. And that's really why we're here for
you to be able to get up to a higher altitude and look over the
playing field and see how all of these other conditions interact with one another.
All right, we're going to come up on a break now rest of the
program, and I have before me here in Today's New York Times, there
was a very very good insert Healthy, Simple, Delicious. This is a
rather expanded magazine section on the Mediterranean diet, and I truly feel that for
all of you to understand this it requires time. We're going to take it
slow tonight. I don't we're gonna have any other guests or callers, and
I want to go in depth into the Mediterranean diet. And this really fits
in with the whole idea of a holistic approach to your health and you having
a real solid understanding of what risks you have and what you could do.
That is the key thing you have control, and that's what I want to
do. Give you the keys to your body. All right, I'm got
to Joe Galotti. Don't forget doctor Joegalotti dot Com. Stay tuned, We'll
be right back. Welcome back, everybody, doctor Joe Galotti. You're tuned
in for the next hour to your health First. Every Sunday between seven and
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And again, our replays are available on our social media platforms by going to
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there, check out our newsletter, sign up for that, pick up a
copy of my book Eating Yourself Sick. It is all there, but you
have to go to the website doctor Joegalotti dot com. All right, So
earlier I was talking about in the New York Times this Sunday there was a
great insert magazine and I would say, it's pretty comprehensive, and I am
going to try to get parts of it posted up to our Facebook page.
So go to Facebook. It's at doctor Joe Gallotti d R J O E
G A L A T. I very simple. You'd be surprised. As
a kid the name Gallatti was butchered, adding ends and to t's and l's
Gallatti g A L A T. I. So, with regard to the
Mediterranean diet, now, I was chatting with my wife earlier this morning when
I saw this come in the paper, and I asked her, I said,
you know, what is it that you think we should talk about with
regard to the Mediterranean diet? And her comment was pretty simple. Do people
really know what the Mediterranean diet is? It is thrown around somewhat abused,
and people just say, oh, yeah, go on a Mediterranean diet.
The Mediterranean diet is the best to prevent cancer, it's the best to reduce
heart disease, it's the best diet to live to a hundred. And people
look at that and they say, yeah, okay, I'll get on the
Mediterranean diet. But what the hell is it now? I was thinking about
this now. There is not an ale at the grocery store grocery store USA.
There is not an isle with a sign that says Mediterranean diet to guide
you there to say these are foods that foster the Mediterranean diet way of life.
But there are plenty of isles that are dedicated to quote unquote diet foods.
Now, I sat for a few minutes, went online, and this
is what I came up with regard to the advertising of different diets and different
foods. Now bear with me for a second. So there are products,
and they may come in the form of a frozen food, less likely a
fresh fruit or vegetable, but some sort of canned, processed food, and
it will say on it Keto, meaning if you are following a Keto diet,
this food is for you, all right, So you get that commercial
queue to say, yeah, I've heard keto is good. This is a
Keto food, let me buy it. Same thing for Atkins. Atkin has
an entire line of food behind the diet behind it is a billion dollar company
that says Atkins on it. So you say, yeah, that's what I
need to buy. It's very easy for you. There are foods that are
labeled as paleo right eating like cavemen. There are foods that will say that.
Now, of course, if people are following a low carbohydrate diet,
foods will say low carb. If you're following low fat, there will be
some sort of signature on it to alert you to say this is a low
fat or fat free food. There is gluten free products and this is all
advertising. So as you are navigating through grocery store USA, you are being
bombarded with these advertising signals. By me, I am gluten free, sugar
free, whole thirty. I don't even know what whole thirty is. To
tell you the truth, I've heard about it. And then there may be
foods that say this food is high in protein, because we have been dumbed
down to say, yeah, high protein food, even though it's processed,
this is high in protein. So to that end, the poor Mediterranean diet,
there is really nothing out there that is leading to you to a product
that says, hey, over here, this is a Mediterranean diet food that
you want to eat. So if it's not being advertised or defended in a
sense, you're going to miss out on it. But you are damn sure
you know what keto is and Atkins and Paleo low carb, low fat,
gluten free, sugar free, whole thirty, high protein. So I think,
to my wife's point, you need to know what exactly is the Mediterranean
diet and there is no doubt about it. If you were going to choose
one way of life to say, I am going to get into my health.
I'm going to get into the food disease prevention the Mediterranean diet hands down.
And this is not just doctor Joe Galotti spouting off. These are experts
since the nineteen fifties that have proposed the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet and
what I would look at. For all of you that have Netflix, there
is a great show Live to one hundred Secrets of the Blue Zone. If
you want to really understand how the impact of food and nutrition and disease prevention
works, you need to watch this. I would say this is required reading.
All right, we're going to take a break. News, weather,
traffic is coming up right now. I'm doctor Joe Goltti. Don't forget doctor
Joeglotti dot com. We are going to dive deep into the Mediterranean diet when
we get back. Stay tuned. Don't forget doctor Joe Galotti dot com.
Welcome back, everybody, doctor Joe Glotti. Thanks for tuning in. We're
halfway through the hour tonight. Don't forget our website that's the main portal to
get in touch with me, Doctor Joegalotti dot com. D R J O.
E. G. A L A t I dot com and sign up
for our newsletter. Most importantly, you could send me a message sign up
for all of our social media. I'm going to be posting information about the
Mediterranean diet on the Facebook page which is at doctor Joe Galotti. And you
know, in talking about the Mediterranean diet, I was, you know,
I've been thinking about it today and a lot of this is based on this
New York Times magazine insert that I am going to try to get into your
hands. But when you look at the geographic area of the Mediterranean, the
countries that border the Mediterranean Sea, it is certainly Italy, Sicily, Greece,
Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, the east coast of Spain,
Croatia, Syria, Albania, Malta, and southern France for the most part.
Now, somebody may be saying, hey, you didn't say my country,
but you have to look at this to say, when you look at
the diet of these people, it is very much Mediterranean like, if not
exclusively so. Even with the Middle Eastern influence the Egyptians, Syrian, Moroccans,
Lebanese, their food basically is Mediterranean diet like in a sense, and
these people have very healthful diets. Now, if you are not from anywhere
within a reach of the Mediterranean diet, you are more South American, Central
American, Mexican, Asian. Many of these diets are going to be different
than what you grew up on. Where there may be more corn, there
may be more pork, not as much fish, more red, more carbs.
So I think for all of you, if you are either first generation,
second generation, third generation outside of the Mediterranean areas, you have some
learning to do, all right. This is not going to come native to
you. This is not one of those inborn things. Now. For me,
growing up in an Italian Sicilian family where even a lot of our friends
were Greek, Okay, if you were eating Italian food, you were used
to the Greek food, the Greeks were eating Italian food, and vice versa.
So this is very very interesting from a cultural standpoint that this whole Mediterranean
diet approach to food it's going to be foreign to you. So that makes
it all the more challenging. I don't want to say difficult, just more
challenging. So what is it that makes a diet Mediterranean? All right?
So it is going to be foods that prioritize whole grains, not processed grains
and bread, fruits, vegetables. We all know what those are legomes,
which is beans predominantly nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, and olive oil.
Now, fish is a huge part of the Mediterranean diet that is going
to be high in Omega three fatty acids, and these are going to be
things like salmon, sardines, tuna, anchovies, and these are the main
sources of protein. Now, other lean animal pro roines like chicken and turkey
are eaten at a far lesser extent, And foods that are high in saturated
fats, which are going to be red meats butter, are rarely eaten.
You just don't see these foods on the diets. Now, eggs and dairy
yogurt, cheese are part of the diet, but in less of a portion.
Okay, a little bit of alcohol, typically red wine, is going
to be what is also added in here. Now in the handout by the
New York Times, what they do is there are a number of recipes under
whole grain, fish, vegetables, fruits, etc. Which going to try
to get in your hand. But the main thing is that you have a
good working idea such as whole grains. Now what do you mean by whole
grains for breakfast? Okay, Now I'm not a big fan when I'm on
the radio of just giving a litany of lists, but I think you have
to think this over, so bear with me. So when you're talking about
the whole grains. For breakfast, you may have whole wheat toast with peanut
butter side a plain yogurt and some berries and granola, or a bowl of
oatmeal topped with nuts and fruit. Now for lunch again, a little bit
of whole wheat bread on processed. We're not looking for wonder bread that white
bread. But you may have on that bread some avocado, hummus, lettuce,
tomato, leftover vegetables that you could have. And for dinner again you
could have some bread and rice, quinoa or millet, steamed fish and a
side of vegetable. So the other main thing that I stress a lot is
you have to have your kitchen prepared. You have to have it stocked with
the foods that fit within this Mediterranean scheme. And so what are the things
that you should have on hand, so that if you look in your cabinets
and your refrigerator. Now you should say, oh man, I am way
off this Mediterranean scale. So do you have steel cut oats, oatmeal,
Do you have whole grains? Do you have whole grain breads, whole brain,
green crackers or hummus, popcorn, dried grains like brown rice, quinoa,
bulgar, barley to add into these soups and vegetable dishes and things like
that. So that is the way to think about the whole grains. Now
they give you a bunch of really really great recipes. Now when it comes
time to fruits and vegetables, what is it that you want on hand?
Well, that's pretty basic again, a stock of fresh fruits and vegetables for
snacks, salads, and signed and sides. Canned goods used for soups and
salads like pickles, olives, dice, tomatoes. It's okay to have frozen
fruits and vegetables that are easy to steam. While we would always prefer fresh
fruits and vegetables or frozen we try to stay away from the can But fresh
fruits and vegetables that are easy to steam, you could stir fry them,
toss them in things like peas, corn, broccoli, spinach, bell peppers,
blueberry, strawberries and peaches to have on hand. And then coming around
the bend here, let me see, this is really exhausted. I have
to try to get this. I would go again on our Facebook page.
Now with the idea of lagumes. The beans. Now, a lot of
people are a little squeamish around beans. They're not too familiar eating them,
but nothing wrong incorporating a scoop of black beans into your scrambled eggs or top
with salsa. For lunch, you can have cherry tomatoes, canned white beans
with sliced onion, parsley, a little bit of parmesan cheese with olive oil,
red wine vinegar, and some minced garlic. This would be a delight.
Now, what to keep on hand. Hummus, now you gotta watch.
Hummus is on the fattening side. But again, a decent portion gives
you the good fats. Canned beans which you could add to soup, salad,
dried lentils and beans that you could cook up, and frozen peas and
at amamie. So again, what you have on hand is the key,
because, as I've said a bunch of times, if you don't have these
foods available, You're gonna scarf down anything that you have. All right,
final segment coming up. We're gonna continue talking about the Mediterranean diet. Doctor
Joe Galotti dot COM's our website. Stay tuned, we'll right back. Welcome
back, everybody, Final segment of this week's Your Health First. We're here
every Sunday between seven and a pm. I'm doctor Joe Galotti. Don't forget.
Our website is doctor Joegalotti dot com. And look when you go there
sona for our newsletter. Feel free to send me a message any ideas that
you have, topics that you want more information on, check that out.
Go to our social media pages, especially the Facebook, where I'm going to
be posting several articles and links regarding the Mediterranean diet that we've been talking about
today. Our YouTube page you can get information about our webinar from earlier last
week and our practice Liver Specialists of Texas. But it is all there.
That is your hub to follow along with the program and past things that we've
done. So in trying to tie up some loose ends tonight on Mediterranean diet.
The biggest problem that I see with my patients, and I've been in
practice for nearly thirty five years. So I have seen it all. I
have seen the culture change. I've seen people change, marketing, advertising products
that are popular, and habits that we all have. For those of you
that are listening tonight, you're probably here because you're interested in your own health
and wellness, or the health and wellness of a loved one, your spouse,
your significant other, your children, your grandchildren, your community at large.
So I have you captured in that regard. But you have to truly
believe me that the origin of disease and our illness and our unhappiness and our
misery, Okay, our misery is related to these chronic diseases. And you
you know for the billionth time. It is high blood pressure, diabetes,
heart disease, lung disease, sleep apnea, live a disease in one form
or another, whether it's related to obesity and Fanny liver, alcohol related liver
disease, or viral hepatitis. It is kidney disease, It is mental health
issues, it is lung disease, bone disease, all of the obesity related
complications. The cornerstone of all that is what we eat. And we are
eating the wrong food. And so you have to look at this and say,
I don't want cancer, I don't want heart disease. I want to
live a long, happy life so that I have the freedom to enjoy life.
Enjoy my hobbies, go fishing, travel, spend time with your grandchildren,
spend time with your friends, become an artist, become the musician you
always want it to be. You have to be healthy to do that.
And so when we put so much emphasis on food, we try to give
guy lines, but you're going to have to take that first step and decide
what food am I going to eat? And we are proposing and not just
me, doctor Joe Glotti, it is the medical community at large. The
Mediterranean diet is what you need to know. And if you look at the
foods within the Mediterranean diet, there's nothing really processed here. It is fresh
greens, it is fresh beans, It is fresh fruit and vegetables, and
the amazing ways that you can throw all of these together. It is not
a big fat steak that you're sitting here that is dripping with gobs of fat.
It is not a potato that is drowning in butter. Okay, it
is not a certain food that is sweetened with a cup of sugar and cream
and fat and all of that. So you have to make that decision to
say, I am going to make a die and eat a certain way.
So in this New York Times article that I've been talking about, they talk
about one of the recipes here is this savory fruit salad. And what they
talk about it is ten cups of chopped ripe fruit. They really don't tell
you what kind of fruit, just any fruit. It is a little bit
of honey, It is some orange juice. It is a bulb of fennyl.
When was the last time you bought fenyl? It is absolutely delicious,
some chopped mint, some lime juice, and just a touch of salt throwing
this all together. This medley in itself can be a meal, but you
have to break through that mindset of saying, unless it is a steak and
potato and it's slobbered with barbecue sauce, I don't want to eat it.
The other recipe that they have here is a chickpea salad sandwich. Now,
chickpeas are very very diverse in what you could do with them, but in
this particular recipe, just as an example, it is extra virgin olive oil,
a tablespoon of tahini, lemon juice, grated garlic, a can of
chickpeas, celery, scallions, a little bit of parmesan cheese, and a
multi grain sandwich bread, lettuce, sprouts, avocado, and a tomato.
Again, putting that together is going to give you a very nutritious diet.
And the list goes on and on here, but for everybody it comes down
to understanding what is the Mediterranean diet. It's going to be the whole grains,
the nuts, the seeds, the legomes, the beans. Fish.
Now for lunch today, I am happy to say I had a can of
sardines. Okay, I've been turned on the sardines, and I've talked about
it here for at least the last couple of years. And sardines are high
in the Omega three fatty acids, they're high in the good fats, they're
high in protein, low in carbohydrates, no preservatives, And that with a
few crackers was my lunch. You have to set the expectations that you don't
need to have this big, filling lunch to be satisfied. Lots of fruits
and vegetables and you have to be willing to experiment a little bit. That's
what I tell my patients, That's what I tell my staff, anybody here
on the radio and other areas where I speak. You have to be willing
to experiment. And I think leaving tonight, the message is learn about the
metal Tranian diet. How can you slowly incorporate this into your daily living?
How can you encourage we You know, part of the biggest missions of us
as humans is to inspire others. That is a gift that we give to
others to inspire others. And if you can inspire your children, your grandchildren,
your relatives, the ones you love, your community to try and eat
better, well, I would say at the end of the day, you
have been successful. That is what I would say. All right, We're
gonna close up the program for tonight, and I'm gonna leave you with a
little bit of Frank Sinatra, and don't forget go to my website doctor Joegalotti
dot com all of the material we there have for you, our newsletter every
weekend we send that out. Send me a message, let us know what
you think. And go to the Facebook page and look at all the information
on the Mediterranean diet that we leave you until next Sunday night. Be well,
think Mediterranean. That is the key for tonight. Take it easy.
We'll see you then