Initialize sequence coming to you live from Houston, Texas, home to the world's
largest medical center in Bunch of Bays day Leamoni da Coty. Okay, this
is your Health First, the most beneficial health program on radio with doctor Joe
Galati. During the next hour, you'll learn about health, wellness and the
prevention of disease. Now here's your host, doctor Joe Bellotti. Well,
it is Sunday evening again in Houston, Texas or wherever you are tuning in.
I'm doctor Joe Galotti and you're tuned into your Health First every Sunday between
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It's a big thing in the news we've been talking about. But it's
all there, doctor Joegalotti dot com. Now the you know, I was
driving here tonight and I said, okay, we like to give away some
books. And by the way, if you are somebody that we did a
contest a few weeks ago, I will admit I have not forgotten about you.
I've been traveling. I'm still trying to recover from the Safari I was
on. But anyway, there are two or three people that I owe books.
So if you're listening tonight and you say, wait a second, he's
offering more books. I didn't even get my book hang on tomorrow morning.
I have a list of books that have to go out in the mail,
signed, et cetera. But what I want to do this time. First
of all, if you want a copy of my booking yourself sick. The
website not the website. The email is radio at doctor Joegalotti dot com.
Radio at doctor Joe Galotti dot com. That is the email that gets to
me directly what you need to do. We're going to have to make you
work for it. I want you to state in the email, keep it
brief. I don't need a full essay. Then what I want to see,
and of course I get to make the decision. The number one thing
you are doing to maintain your own health, that's all I want to do.
So you have to do something, and I hope you're not making it
up, but the number one thing you and your family are doing to maintain
your own good health. I want to see what you are doing and try
to reward you it. So it's a radio at doctor Joe Galotti dot com.
All right, So on the program tonight, we're going to pick up
on what I was chatting about last week, the bagel, so stay tuned
for that. We have one guest coming on the second half of the program,
which Goelvarrier, And for full disclosure, Mike is my nephew. It
is my sister's son. And Mike is interesting in that the young guy married
three beautiful children. But he is very well adapted in the kitchen. He
cooks, he experiments with food. He is not afraid to push the envelope
on some of the things he does. And for me, I just do
not see that in the thirty to forty year old parent group, the guys
that are out there, the women, and I interview people all day long.
Every day I meet twenty new people and we have this conversation about food
and who does the cooking and what is your scope of food? Do you
just eat boiled chicken every night? And steamed broccoli? That is the level
of excitement of cooking, because it gets very boring, and people get bored
with food and they eat out and order in and and and it. You
know, you know what we're facing the obesity crisis and chronic disease and cancer.
But Michael is enthusiastically trying new things in the kitchen. It is reflecting
on his children. And these are young kids that he is passively training and
teaching and modeling in his and he and his wife in the role as a
parent and guardian in a sense, all right, what I want to do.
We may have to pick this up in the next segment. We talked
about the better bagel last week, and I tried to compare this better bagel,
which is basically a frozen bagel that you could get at Whole Food or
Central Market or any of the retail change around the country. But do we
really need a better bagel, A dietetic bagel, A bagel that is lower
in carbs, it's lower in carbohydrates, it's higher in fiber. And I
look at that, and you may say you're being a little ridiculous, Joe,
But I think we have to draw the line to say, do we
need a better candy bar? Do we need a better hamburger, a better
soft drink, a better sandwich, a better egg. And when you look
at the obesity crisis, it was not started and it will not be fixed
by a better bagel, less calories, less carbohydrates. If we outlawed the
bagel today, that would be my opinion, no change in the rates of
obesity, diabetes, heart disease, finandly liver cirrhosis, cancer, all of
these chronic diseases that we see. But the real issue here is here we
are the victim of some amazing advertising schemes where they make you think a regular
off the shelf bagel. It's bad. It's the worst food ever to eat.
You need a better bagel. So we'll talk about net carbs and a
few other things in a little bit more detail. Michael Varrier coming up in
just a little while, talking about his exploration with food and cooking in the
kitchen as a young dad. I'm doctor Joe Glotti. Stay tuned, he
will be right back. What goes up must come down. Spinning wheel,
gun to door, round, talking about your jumbles. It's a crying sin,
a painted pony. Let the spin in the wheels. Welcome back,
everybody. A marvelous song by Blood, Sweat and Tears. If you're into
audio, and I know that the LP record is coming back, this song
sounds outstanding with a set of good headphones, it really, it really does.
All right, Well you're tuned in new your hell first, Doctor Joe
Glatti, every Sunday seven to eight pm. We're here. Coming up in
a few minutes, Michael Varia talking about I'd like to say a new generation
of parents. And while nobody is perfect, what he is doing certainly certainly
gives you some pause to say to yourself, what what am I doing with
my kids? How are we cooking at home? And what excuses are you
using not to cook at home? So Michae will be coming on. And
for full disclosure, Mike is a relative. Mike is my nephew from New
York. So you will you'll hear all about that. Okay, and don't
forget uh. If you want to copy of my book, I'm giving away
radio at doctor Joegalotti dot com. In the email, I want you to
tell me what is the number one thing you're doing to maintain your own health.
What's your little health hack? Exercise, food, nutrition, you're avoiding
alcohol, whatever it may be. I really want to know, and uh
I will judge the best answers for the book. Okay, As I was
saying about the bagel, now, it's it's not so much that I am
a New Yorker and I am talking about the almighty bagel, But I think
as consumers, so much of what I share with you is that I want
you to be a better consumer. I want you to be able to navigate
through a grocery store and realize the pitfalls and for you not to fool,
not to fall prey to a trap that you may see and You look at
this better bagel bag and it promotes it's lowering carbs, but it's net carbs,
and the net carb business is a made up term. And so this
bagel still has many many carbs, but because it's like forty carbs, forty
grams of carbs, but because they add back thirty five grams of sort of
artificial fiber, the net carbs are only five. So you look at that
and say, wow, this must be a good product. I'm gonna buy
it. It is a scam. You talk to most nutritionous people that are
in the food industry. Net carbs is a made up term. Artificial fiber
is added back. And so my question to you is, why don't you
just eat real dietary fiber in the form of fruits, vegetables, nuts,
and beans. You're going to get far more nutritional bang for your buck by
eating that number one. And if you are concerned about your weight, and
as I said earlier, if we banned the bagel around the world, it
would do nothing for obesity, It would do nothing for diabetes and heart disease
and all of that bad stuff. But why aren't we exercising more? Why
don't we skip the fast food, the processed food line, the triple scroup,
triple scoop, ice cream cone. We're not talking about that, even
though there are plenty of these ice cream products that are now zero fats,
zero calories, alt kinds of artificial flavors. Again, we did not get
obese by eating too much ice cream all of the sun. It's we're not
exercising and we're eating far too much food and processed food. And when you
look at New Yorkers, where I would say that is ground zero of the
bagel for the most part, I would say New York City is one of
the leanest cities in America, and they're downing bagels left and right. So
I would say, it's not that we need a better bagel, we need
a better approach. You need, all of us need a better approach to
our health and wellness. And really understand it. In the bottom line here,
there is no one food that will take any of us or you out
of this poor health nosedive. All right, I do hope I made you
think for a moment there, all right, last thing in the last couple
of minutes here, So school's out, summertime, kids are around, and
the question is always what activities can I do with my kids? You don't
want to leave them home? You know? Is it you go to the
pool, go to the zoo, go to a museum. And what I
do this time of the year. I always bring up this particular topic and
a lot of people will say, come on, this is so nerdy,
so nerdy, why do you even talk about it? But what I would
say is the New York Times last week and I posted it on the Facebook
page. Actually it was in our newsletter yesterday, and so if you go
to the Facebook page at doctor Joe Glotti, I have this New York Times
article. It's about first aid and the summer activity is why don't you call
the Red Cross tomorrow morning and look and see if you could get your kids
enrolled in one of the Red Cross First Aid classes, CPR, swimming,
safety swimming lessons so that they will have the basic skills for first aid.
Now let me say, well, you know, I don't want to get
involved in all that kind of stuff, but you know, you hear so
many stories of people that are injured, freak injuries. You never know when
it's going to happen. You could be at the baseball field, you could
be at soccer camp, you could be on the golf course, you could
be riding your bike somewhere. An accident at home, a burn, a
fall. Maybe it's not your kid in the immediate family, maybe it's a
relative that's visiting falls and you don't know what to do. Having these skills,
and it has been documented a gazille million times, somebody came forward that
new first aid. And so when you look at all the different courses that
the Red Cross has to offer, and we're talking about standard first aid,
and this is meant for kids that are probably in middle school and up so
high school, even your college kids. Why not And again everyone's sitting there,
Oh man, this is so nerdy, you know, glorified boy Scouts
and girl Scouts that were going to have a little a little badge that they
wear with a little Red Cross on it. But I have always been pro
safety, pro first aid, and it gives you a certain level of security
that you know how to handle these little things. Burns, choking, diabetic
emergency, any sort of bleeding or trauma issues that come up. Heart attack.
Now, when you take CPR, you learn about risk factors for heart
disease, risk factors for stroke, you're able to identify somebody having a heart
attack or stroke. And even if you do one thing, call nine to
one one. All of that hours of training that you put in a few
hours is worth it and will save someone's life poisoning, stroke, seizure,
drowning, things like that, choking, and so again, I think if
you want to do something constructive for your kids that your kids will remember,
call the American Red Cross. Get your kids trained, get yourself trained,
get a bunch of friends, get a bunch of neighbors and the kids.
Everybody, get trained. It really is very much worth it. And go
to Facebook, and this week's newsletter is posted, and I have a little
article about first eight and the link to the New York Times article and links
to the Red Cross. All Right, they're everywhere around and across the country.
All right, Doctor Joe Galotti, don't forget doctor Joegalotti dot com is
our website. Mister Michael Verier is coming up in a few minutes, and
we're gonna hear his take on how he cooks for his family. I think
that's very important. Stay tuned every Sunday between seven and eight pm. We
are here. The name of the program is your health first, and our
goal is to raise your health IQ one listener at a time. It's that
that simple. Don't forget. Doctor Joegalotti dot com is our website, sound
for a newsletter, All of our social media is there. You could send
me a message, find out about my book Eating Yourself Sick, and look
back at old videos of the program on YouTube and our podcast and blog.
It's all there at doctor Joeglotti dot com. And so tonight, as I
have been saying, it's a real pleasure to have my nephew, Michael Varrier
on the radio with me tonight. Mike, how are things with you?
Things are great? Yeah, run on a bit of fumes right now.
We went camping this weekend and it didn't get the greatest night's sleep last night.
But yeah, appreciate your reaching out and having me all right. Well,
you know, you know, you know me, your family, the
audience knows me in that. I put a lot of emphasis on not just
the the food itself, but it is the the process of preparing meals,
sitting down as a family, getting people interested and excited about foot food and
even the you know, the book I wrote, Eating Yourself Sick. That's
based on my observations that so many people young and old are not cooking,
They're not paying attention to food. There really is a lack of enthusiasm about
food or their meals. Uh. And it's I believe, it's my opinion
that a lot of illness and disease stems from that. And then all of
a sudden you come on the scene and it seems as if you are trying
all kinds of different food techniques, different types of foods, and it is
just so refreshing to see. So, Mike's that as sort of the foundation.
You know, where do you where do you think you got this interest
in cooking, cooking for the family, feeding people? Where do you where
do you think that really stemmed from? Yeah? So, you know,
I think when you say feeding people, the first thing I think of,
of course is your mother. Yes, I mean she like just watching her
in her element. Uh. And you know my mother as well. Yeah,
you saw what joy you know, they had when they would have a
full house and feed everyone an amazing meal. It was, you know,
a very natural thing. And you know you kind of look up to them
in a sense. Maybe not everyone does, but I know I looked up
to them in that in that regard. And you know, i'd say,
early on, you know, watching my mother cooking and whatnot, I always
wanted to help out. And you know, she would maybe give me some
menial tasks to do, peel the potatoes, you know, snap the beans
one by one. Right, But but it still was fun. You know,
it was fun for me to to to take part of that and and
help in any way I could, right, And you know that's that's I
would say, a vivid memory for you. But I wonder how many people
have that kind of a memory of preparing a meal with their family that then
stimulated them to go on, what what do you think? I mean talking
with your friends and co workers, do you do you share stories like that?
Uh? Yeah, to some to some degree. Yeah, But I
think I think one one thing, I think everyone at some point is going
to have some some experience with that, and that I think is enough to
spark an interest. But to become like uh, i'd say, I'm I'm
not saying I'm a highly skilled cook, but to get to the point where
you know, you you feel really comfortable in the kitchen, you need I
think you need to really put the time in and you know. So for
me, that was that was cooking in a in a restaurant in college,
you know, and like, leading up to that point, I really had
no experience at all. I mean, my the way I got that job
was kind of on accident, you know, my my, uh my mother
and I were you know, I was moving up to college and she we
were sitting in a restaurant and she's like, well, what are you gonna
do for a job, and you know, we were just sitting there eating
and she said, well, so they're hiring. Hear on, don't you
see what they're looking for? So I asked them and they said, we're
looking for a cook. I was like, I don't think so she's like,
go for it. And the the head chef he came out and he
sat at the table and basically interviewed her and was like, go, well
can your son cook? And she's like, uh, he can cook a
pretty good egg, you know, yeah, he could snap the piece.
Yeah. So so they gave me a shot and I've failed miserably the first
night, but he saw that I actually cared, and you know, and
then and then so I did that for four years. Wow. And I'll
tell you, like to cook in a and you know I was part time
for them. I was probably working twenty to thirty hours a week. But
you know, you you mess a lot of things up, and you learn
a lot of things and and uh, you learn how to manage your time
effectively, right and h and so yeah, I mean without I think without
that experience, you know, I probably would not be as comfortable as trying
new things. Yeah. Now, would you say, Mike, you're cooking.
I want to get into it a little bit more. But what is
your cooking? Would would you look at it now as a hobby? Is
it a spin off in your background in chemistry you're in the chemical industry,
or is it that you're a very gifted mechanical type of person. And you
know cooking is a lot of tinkering. So where what do you think it
is? Is it a hobby, is a chemistry or just that you like
to tinker? So I think, uh, I think a little bit with
both hobby and UH and tinkering. I do. I do try a lot
of different methods with whatever it is like, and I'm constantly trying to find
what is the best way to do this right? And you can look online
and find a million different ways to cook a certain recipe, but there's certain
recipes that you can just nail because it's basically fool proof if you just follow
these steps exactly. So I do I do like trying to find, okay,
what's an easy way to nail a really seemingly difficult dish to do.
But you know, most people are kind of maybe intimidated to try doing it.
But again, if you just you just follow a step and do you
know, do your research and do it the right way, you know you
can, you can nail it and really nail something. Last question before we
take a quick break here. When you're doing all of this cooking and experiment
and tinkering and trying the best process ultimately, are you looking at it for
the intention of a great meal to feed your family or are you looking at
the nutritional benefits of it for the family or maybe both? Yeah? I
mean, uh, I think both. I mean I like trying to give
people an experience, you know, like we we live up in middle of
nowhere, Pa, I know, you know, I am from New York
but now currently yea, and there's not much to do out here. So
yeah, yeah, I do want my kids to experience a bit of culture
that you really can't get anywhere locally. I mean, there's not much of
a food culture in Pennsylvania. You know where I'm at in Pennsylvania, right
But you know, I think especially you know, my wife, she she
uh, she's really I think set the tone nutritionally for the family. I
think, uh, you know, She's definitely helped me be a little bit
better. But you know, I think I think we do always really try
and put that first. Okay, that is, uh, the kids,
the kid's health. All right, all right, Mike, we're gonna take
a quick break. Lots more to talk about. Talking with Michael Veria in
uh nowhere, Pennsylvania right now, originally from New York, of course,
stay tuned, Doctor Joe Glotti, final segment coming up in a minute.
Welcome back everybody for this Sunday's installment of Your Health First. Doctor Joe Galotti.
Always great to be here. I've got my dear nephew, Michael Verrier
on the phone. We're talking about food and cooking. Mike, You've exposed
your kids to a lot of different foods. What's your approach that, how
they reacted and what would you say is the strangest things you ever fed your
kids. Uh yeah, I mean, uh, I think you got to
make sure to start them young. I do notice them getting pick here,
you know, as time goes on. I think that's just natural for kids.
But but yeah, I mean just trying to involve them and show them
as much as possible and so that they feel like they're a part of it.
Yeah, you know, I think like you know, for example,
you know that each kid, well not each kid, not the youngest,
but the three year old and five year old they both have their own chef's
knife. Actually my mother, she bought them that for Christmas, and they
use them and they contribute to you know, to uh to putting together a
meal sometimes, so they feel like they're actually a part of it. Yeah,
and got something on the smoker, you know, they're they're helping,
they're they're talking, they want to check the temperature and they want to look
at that. So I think, just yeah, involving them and making them
feel like they're part of it. No, exactly. And during one of
the breaks, your mother sent me a picture of your daughter holding a chicken
in the chicken coop that you built, and your son's sautaining broccoli and grinding
pepper on it. I mean, how old is Michael Junior? Three?
Yeah? Yeah, he's three years old, you know, and and you
know you hope that at five and seven and ten, this this persists.
Now again, I look at this as how do we take what Mike Barrier
is doing and replicate this to more families rather than you know, sort of
the old adage of hey, what's for dinner? Reservations? You know,
going out as expensive, you're not getting as good of a meal. How
in your perspective, now, how old are you Mike? Now? Uh?
Thirty four? Okay, so at thirty four? Other thirty four year
old? You know, parents, what are they doing? And what do
you think the barriers may be for them not to just start off with a
little bit of experimenting in trial and error. Well, I know people need
to see the value in it, I think, because I think people want,
you know, generally what's best for their kids. But I think I
think some people they miss out on the real simple stuff, you know,
right, I think, yeah, spending quality time with them and and you
know, doing things a little bit harder way sometimes with a what's necessary?
Yeah, yeah, I mean do you think people look at it as cooking
is some very difficult art, or they don't have the time, or they're
just mentally not suited to methodically try to go through a recipe or even look
for a recipe. Yeah. I mean I see a lot of people.
You know, we cook often at work. Let's say, probably maybe once
a month, we'll cook for the whole staff. You know, we have
a blackstone griddle and a regular grill. And I do see some people get
on there and they're they're you know, maybe a little bit older than me,
and they just don't understand the most basic things. So so, the
basic things of cooking, the basic abcs of cooking. Yeah. So yeah,
it's a it's a little bit shocking that have come this far in life.
And you know, you know, I know single single fathers, you
know who who Uh, Yeah, they just they don't understand the most basic
things. And uh it's got to be tough, you know too, to
put together a decent meal every day. Yeah, if you can't grill a
burger, you know, I mean, it's just it's insane. Yeah.
No, And I and I think that is the problem. And I think,
as you said it, they they want the best for themselves or the
best for their families and their kids. But it's almost like they don't know
how to get to first base. They don't know what the right you know
that that getting that hook or that that cooking hack down. So what would
you say for people listening tonight if if you were going to give them cooking
one oh one ideas, what type of a meal or a resource? Where
where do they start? Because the inertia to get people going is really the
blockade. So how do you sort of flip that rock to start rolling?
I would say, uh, like find a really good YouTube channel. As
where as that sounds, there's a there's a couple of really good ones out
there and their minute their videos are maybe seven minutes long, ten minutes long,
and they take you through a whole recipe and and uh even myself sometimes
I'll get inspired by that and I'll just follow it step by step, right.
Food wishes is one of them. Food wish is a YouTube channel that
I think I've probably copied the most recipes from. Okay, and I think
in I think in today's day and age, people need to kind of see
like reading through recipes and stuff may not jive with people. But I would
I would encourage people to try things, you know, that that they haven't
made before and just follow it step on a video. Yeah yeah, but
you have to take that step and be willing to try. So what is
your latest food foray that you're getting into. I know you, uh,
several months ago you you you you shot a deer and you made jerky out
of it and you were south eating the meat. What what's like on your
horizon to give a go at? Oh gosh, yeah, I'm not sure.
You put me on the spot with that one. Yeah. Well,
well, what's your let's say this, what's your what's your favorite thing to
do that you you get consistently the most amount of joy out of. I
would say making bread. Yeah, and it's something I haven't been I haven't
been baking bread for a few months now. Huh and uh, basically because
I killed my soured old culture. I neglected. But that's something that I
want to get back into. And I know that's not for everyone. It's
uh, and I understand why. It's messy, it's time consuming, and
bread is obviously not the healthiest thing for you. But like as you said
in the segment, before you know about New Yorkers and bagels and the bagels.
Yeah, I think there's something to be said for, you know,
making really good bread and indulging occasionally in that is. I think it's pretty
important. Yeah, that's all right. That's all right. Well, Mike,
me and the family, we're gonna be up in New York in a
couple of weeks. We're gonna have a big feeding fest, I believe.
And I think I've got to get with you and your mom as far as
what you're gonna cook and the girls and what we're all gonna have fun cooking
together. And that's really what it's about, the joy of the family over
food, breaking bread. That is a moment that you just cannot undervalue.
Yep, I agree it. Looking forward to it, all right, Mike,
thank you very much for coming on tonight. Try to get some rest.
Uh after a weary weekend you had camping with the kids. And I
did hear you cooked fried rice out there in the campground? Yeah yeah,
yeah, I brought the whold carbon steel walk out there and uh and uh
yeah, people looked a little confused. They actually worked out perfectly. Yeah
all right, Mike, awesome, Thank you so much. Yep, all
right, we'll see you soon. All right. Well that there you go,
go camping with a iron walk. That's what we need to all shoot
for. All right. I am doctor Joe Galotti. Thank you all for
tuning in tonight. Don't forget doctor Joegalotti dot com. Think about how you're
eating, how you're feeding your family. It really is very very important.
Have a great night. We'll see you next Sunday night. You've been listening
to your Heal First with doctor Joe Galotti. For more information on this program
or the content of this program, go to your Health First dot com.