Are your eating habits bringing you down? We often believe that what we eat has little, if any, impact on our psychological health. Especially when we are stressed or exhausted, it’s all too easy to slide into unhealthy habits such as eating on the run, binging on sweets, or gobbling up carbs and comfort foods. Unfortunately, when poor eating habits become the rule–rather than the exception–our mental, emotional, and physical health truly suffer. Can you rewire your brain and body to create eating habits that will foster lasting well-being? With a few mindful adjustments to your mindset and food choices, you surely can improve your overall health! Join Dr. Carla and nutrition expert Eydie Desser for a joyful exploration of food, fun, and positivity! Whether you are a carnivore, omnivore, vegetarian, or vegan, you’re sure to discover healthy eating tips that will help you–and those you love–enjoy a positive relationship with food!

 

Books by Dr. Carla Manly:

Joy from Fear: https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Fear-Carla-Marie-Manly/dp/1641701218

Date Smart: https://www.amazon.com/Date-Smart-Transform-Relationships-Fearlessly/dp/1641704675

Aging Joyfully: https://www.amazon.com/Aging-Joyfully-Optimal-Relationships-Fulfillment/dp/1641701412

The Joy of Imperfect Love: https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Imperfect-Love-Creating-Relationships/dp/1641709057

 

Oracle decks by Dr. Carla Manly:

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1757477615/imperfect-love-reflection-oracle-cards  

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Imperfect-Love-Reflection-Oracle-Cards/dp/B0D1Z5M4YK

 

Connect with Dr. Carla Manly:

Website: https://www.drcarlamanly.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drcarlamanly

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/drcarlamanly

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drcarlamanly

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-marie-manly-8682362b

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.carlamariemanly8543

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dr_carla_manly

 

Connect with Eydie Desser:

Website: https://gardenofeydie.com

—

Watch the episode here

 

Listen to the podcast here

 

Unhealthy Food Habits? Rewire Your Brain for Lasting Change with Nutrition Expert Eydie Desser

Simple Steps to Creating Healthy Eating Habits that Will Improve Your Well-Being!

We often believe that what we eat has little, if any, impact on our psychological health. Especially when we’re stressed or exhausted, it’s all too easy to slide into unhealthy habits such as eating on the run, binging on sweets, or gobbling up comfort foods. Unfortunately, when poor eating habits become the rule, rather than the exception, our mental, emotional, and physical health truly suffer.

In this episode, we’ll focus on this reader’s real life question. “I want to be healthy, but I can’t seem to sustain a good diet. I’ve tried everything from prepackaged food plans to rigid diets and nothing sticks. I ultimately get fed up and jump into binging on all the things I love. It’s a vicious cycle that makes me frustrated and depressed. Is this a mental health issue?” That question is the focus of this episode.

 

 

I’m joined by a very special guest, Eydie Desser, who will be sharing her expertise on real food for real transformation. Welcome to the show, Eydie. It’s so lovely to have you.

I’m excited to be here. I love that question.

It’s a terrific question and one that I imagine is not very uncommon.

It’s extremely common. I have people asking me all the time, “How do you stick with it? Isn’t it hard?” It’s very easy, but that’s a whole long story.

Stuck in unhealthy eating habits? When we are stressed or exhausted, it's easy to slide into unhealthy habits such as eating on the run, binging sweets, or gobbling up comfort foods. Join Dr. Carla and expert Eydie Desser for tips on creating lasting… Share on X

You’ll tell us how to make healthy eating easy. Before we dive into that extremely important question or answer, could you tell us a little bit about what makes you, you?

What makes me, me? I want to be happy. I want to help other people. I want to make other people happy. This is how I’ve been since I was a little girl but I wanted to say that I am a whole food plant-based, salt, oil, and sugar-free eater. I developed recipes in that vein. The reason why I became whole food plant-based was in 2013, a friend of mine, who was in the marketing business at the time called me. She said, “I want to be part of the Plant Nutrition Project.” It’s an organization that has plant-based physicians teaching doctors all over the world that the power of food is medicine.

Rewire your brain to create healthy eating habits that will improve your mental, physical, and emotional health! Join Dr. Carla and nutrition expert Eydie Desser for easy tips on creating positive changes that will improve your overall well-being! Share on X

I said, “I don’t even know what that means. I don’t even understand what that means.” The next year she asked me again. The next year she asked me again, and the next year. In my third year, I went to culinary school, the French Culinary Institute in New York after my long career in radio. I decided I wanted to learn how to cook. My mom and I wrote a cookbook with her recipes and it was called Just Add Butter. This is from the French Culinary Institute, and I loved cooking, but I was having some major issues.

I had terrible digestive issues and I had super high blood pressure. I got high blood pressure when I was in radio straight commissioned sales. I called my doctor and I said, “I think my heart’s going to explode.” He says, “Come right in.” He put me on the treadmill test. I was great there, but he said, “You have high blood pressure. It’s genetic. Just take this pill.” I said, “For a month?” He says, “No. For the rest of your life or you’re going to have a stroke and die.” I said, “Oh my goodness.”

Fast forward 28 years later, I’m still on high blood pressure medicine. I’m still super high blood pressure even on the medicine, I learned about this group that teaches cooking classes online and I was a cooking school teacher. I could use their videos if I wanted, but they came up with a new course called Plant-Based Cooking. I said, “There’s that word again, plant-based.” I took the course and I learned so much from all these doctors talking about the power of food as medicine. This one Dr. Klaper was talking about how it helps your digestion. “I’m going to go to TrueNorth Health where he’s a doctor.”

The power of food is medicine. Share on X

I went there for two weeks and ate all that whole food, salt, oil, and sugar-free and my body started working. Not perfectly, it took a while, but I learned there that they reversed super high blood pressure. They reverse all high blood pressure. They did a clinical trial study of 174 people with high blood pressure. They put them on water-only fast. Everyone for different amounts of time and of 174, 174 reverse the high blood pressure that they had to stay on the plant-based diet, salt, oil, sugar-free.

I tell you this whole story because food does matter just like you said in the introduction. I used to think you eat something and it didn’t matter, but it affects every cell tissue and organ in our body, including our brain, including our happiness quotient. Also, because I was able to get off that pill, which does not prevent heart attacks, I’m heart attack-free now because my blood pressure went from 178/115 to 98/60 with no pills.

I had a real reason to say, “This is important.” That’s the first thing. When you say, “How do you stay with it? What is your why? Why do you want to do it?” When you do take care of yourself and when you feel so good, you don’t even realize how bad you feel. When you start eating healthy, your energy gets bigger, you feel great, and you sleep well. The inflammation’s gone. I’m so much more flexible than I ever have been. Even more flexible than when I was a cheerleader in high school. I have no plaque on my teeth anymore. Everything starts to work in harmony. It’s a symphony. Food is the music.

 

 

You are a real-life example of the efficacy of a plant-based diet with no salt, no sugar, and no oil. Let’s take it back to the question of where we live in a busy world. We are not about shaming or blaming our readers. There is no place for that here. It’s about looking at what’s working and what’s not working. Clearly, for this reader, something’s not working in their life. They are in a place where they’ve tried.

It sounds like prepackaged food coming to the door, very rigid diets, and then there is this cycle of immediately going. As soon as that’s done, it’s like, “I’m done with this. Now, I’m going to jump into what I want to do.” It’s almost like they’re retaliating against the strictures of these dietary constraints. What do you say about that rebound effect?

First of all, it’s not your fault. Believe it or not, it is not your fault. Back in the day before industrialism, there were no packaged goods. There were no big brands selling their products. This is true. This is what they do. They do the bliss factor rule. They add just enough sugar, fat, and salt to make something deliciously blissful. Now, what happens is when we eat these things, they’re truly addictive. That’s what big industry is doing to us. They’re making a lot of money. Good on them for figuring out how to make a lot of money, but not so good for us, especially America.

The consequences of our eating habits, which we see. We are invited day after day to go to this fast food restaurant, this bakery, this easy down this meal, down this supersize, treat yourself to that delicacy. We come to see food not necessarily as nourishment and certainly not healthy nourishment, but as, “I’m treating myself to this decadent meal or easy meal or fast meal.” It’s almost as though we’ve been brainwashed.

 

 

We are. A lot of people live to eat and they can’t wait to go with their friends. They go on pizza tours. What’s the best pizza? What’s the best seafood restaurant? What’s the best Asian restaurant? I get that. That is so much fun. I understand this reader’s question and to scooch back a little bit. Sometimes we have to trick ourselves. We had to rewire our brains.

If you have a bad attitude, let’s say you have a bad day. You wake up one morning and you’re not very happy. This happened to me in the sixth grade. It was not the only time. I woke up and I said to my dad, “I’m in a bad mood. I don’t want to go to school.” Dad says, “Life is all about your attitude. If you have a good attitude, you’ll have a great life. If you don’t, that is totally up to you. It’s your choice.” I thought, “That’s interesting. I can change my attitude.”

I looked in the mirror and said, “You’re in a bad mood,” and I started cracking up on myself. I thought, “You are ridiculous.” I got out of that thought process that I rewired my brain and all of a sudden I was happy and I had a great day. Now, I’m not saying I’m happy 24/7, but I work at it. It’s a practice. This is rewiring our brains. If you don’t feel good, there’s a reason why she wants to eat healthy. What is that reason? Do you not feel at your peak? Are you feeling guilty because you know that this food isn’t healthy?

 

 

What is it? That’s the first question, but let’s say you do want to make this thing work. I believe in brainwashing. These big industrial companies do to us. We should brainwash ourselves. The way I did it and the way I’ve done it my whole life in a way is say I want to make something happen. I find everything to support it. One of the doctors, McDougall, who’s a plant-based doctor says that people love to hear good news about their bad habits.

We look for, “How is coffee good for us? How is wine good for us? If you’re not gluten intolerant, you have to have gluten.” We’re working to find that support. We could do just the opposite as well. On YouTube, there are so many plant-based doctors, not that you have to go plant-based. By the way, there’s no science that says a 100% plant-based diet, salt, oil, or sugar-free is any better than 85% or 90%.

Some people will want that salmon or some people will want whatever that’s not plant-based but for the most part, and it does make sense, all the nutrients and all the vitamins are in whole food. I call it garden food. That’s why the name of my brand and everything is called Garden of Eydie. I have an organic garden. My name is Eydie and it’s garden food.

Anything that would grow in the garden, it’s real food like our great grandmothers used to eat, great grandparents used to eat. They didn’t have all this junk. Now other things killed them back then because they didn’t have the healthcare that we do now but we do have healthcare and we do have healthy food available to us.

Let’s slow it down for a minute. For the readers who don’t know what you mean when you say whole food and you are saying, “It’s anything from the garden.” Does this mean that we don’t drink milk or have yogurt? Are you saying to maximize healthy eating, we would ideally, at least 85% to 90% of the time, look for something that’s growing in the garden?

We’re talking fruits. All the beautiful colors of fruits. First of all, they’re very hydrating. You’re drinking and eating water at the same time, plus all the vitamins and nutrients and anthocyanins, which are anti-aging, and all these things. All this food goes to every tissue cell and organ and makes it feel so good. It’s our liver that usually takes the hit because it has to detoxify the body.

If you have an animal, an animal has a lot of fat in it. I know this is going to be hard for you to believe, but beef is less fat than chicken. Even a white chicken breast. They put so many hormones and they push so much stuff into that breast to make it grow big. Can you believe that? Every time I hear it from my doctors, they say, “It’s even worse than meat.

I had no idea. I’m a vegetarian.

I know. It’s interesting. When you eat a lot of fat in your body, which comes from all the meats and oils. Nuts and avocados have fat, but they have a little fiber in them. When you eat a lot of fat, it makes the blood thick. I can go into the science of it, but veins are all surrounded by endothelial cells and they give off nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is this magical ingredient that goes with the fast-moving blood all through your body and then it regenerates and repairs your tissue cells and organs.

What happens is if you eat a lot of fat from animals, from oils, from butter, from all that it thickens the blood and the nitric oxide kind of suffocates and it dies and it can’t get to all the cells to regenerate them. Your liver then has to work so hard to thin out that detoxify that fat and then the blood from your liver goes to your heart. It’s like a teeny little straw now because it’s so thick and it’s sipping up that thick blood. Now, your heart is racing now. It makes your heart work harder.

All of the organs in your body suffer from too much fat and then the sugar. It’s the same with salt. It is so inflammatory. That’s what’s so great. What I suggest to people is to eat all those fruits. That’s the first thing. A lot of fruit and vegetables. Those have a lot of vitamins and minerals, all the dark leafy greens. You hear, “Hail to the kale.” It’s so healthy. All these cruciferous vegetables. Just team them. Don’t put oil or salt in them.

When you roast things and they blacken, it’s aging. It’s acrylamide. Eating burnt food is unhealthy for your body so be gentle with your food. When you’re gentle, you steam and you’re gentle with your body too. We could talk more about that. We have the fruits, we have the vegetables, the whole grains, and then beans. Beans are good. Also, nuts and seeds.

Be gentle with your food. When you're gentle with your food, like steaming, then you’re gentle with your body, too. Share on X

Would you pause for a second on the whole grains just to give our readers an idea of what you mean when you say whole grains?

Oatmeal and gluten-free. I like gluten-free just because gluten can be very inflammatory. I like the gluten-free oats, millet, quinoa, and buckwheat growths. Things like that are whole grains.

Can we pause for a minute on quinoa simply because of the amino acids and the protein? Would you talk about that? It’s because a lot of people miss quinoa. It’s fairly new on our radar and it can be quite delicious.

It’s a seed, but we put it in the whole-grain bucket. It’s easy to digest. There are a million different ways to flavor it. It helps satisfy you. Whole grains and beans are the satiating components of a plant-based diet. I eat huge amounts of fruit and I eat huge amounts of salad and then I’ll find myself a little hungry. One of the questions is how do you stay satiated on a plant-based diet? You add some beans. You don’t even need that much of that protein. Only 10% of our calories need to come from protein. We keep hearing 30%. We are not a protein-deficient country. One of my doctors who happened to be vegan, not 100% plant-based says, “Do you know how you can tell if you have enough protein?”

I said, “How?” He says, “You can stand up and walk into my office. If you don’t have enough protein, you can’t even get up.” All of us have enough protein and I don’t eat any of the animal, and none of the dairy. Dairy is unhealthy with all the hormones. Why do we drink a cow’s hormones? We’re not its baby and it’s bad for women. It increases the estrogen count.

Fibroids come from it and endometriosis. There’s a lot of rosacea and acne. All that dairy, the cheese, that’s what causes stuffed-up noses and runny noses. It is mucus swarming. It’s one ingredient. If you could do almond milk instead, oat milk, hemp milk, or soy milk, that’d be a lot healthier for you.

You were talking about beans. People don’t think you’re referring to green beans. You’re talking about garbanzo beans or kidney beans.

Also, black beans, and all the beans. There are some beautiful beans. There are these scarlet runner beans that are pink, purple, and creams. They are beautiful and they are meaty. Just a few fill you up. They do. That’s why I like to add a few beans to my salad and they’re healthy too because they’re just so filled with fiber. There is much fiber and fiber is important for our gut biome. The more fiber with the salads, the fruit, the beans, and the whole grains, it’s all fiber-rich. What happens is your body digests it so much easier and it creates a very healthy bacteria in your body, your microbiome. It’s so important for the health of the entire body.

Fiber is so important for our gut biome. Share on X

Let’s talk about that gut. We often think about brain health, but we don’t often focus on that gut biome and how the gut biome gives so much information to our overall body. I remember listening to a speaker where she was talking about how 10% of information goes from the brain to the gut and 90% of information goes from gut to the brain. When we look at that and think, “This is an important source not only of overall wellbeing but our guts giving our body, our brain, our mind, so much information all the time.” We want the gut to be as healthy as it can be.

 

 

If you think about it, we’re not just this. There are insides in our body. This is like everything in our house. What’s in your house? How much junk do you have in your house and how many high-quality things do you have in your house? This is our house and we want to keep it super healthy because it will affect every area of your life. Who likes a messy house filled with bed bugs?

Also, we get only one house in this lifetime.

However, the good news is we can fix everything so quickly. Back to the question, “How can she stick with this?” Tell yourself why you want to do it. If we focus on what we do want as far as health is concerned, as opposed to what we don’t want to have. “I don’t want to have to give that up. I want to eat that.” We have to rewire our brains and all of life. The way I look at life is not just the food. The Garden of Eydie is not just about the food because there’s so much more to life.

If you focus solely on one thing, you’re missing out on other joys of life. It’s not what seeds are you planting in your body garden for health, but your heart garden for love and compassion. I’m talking about how it’s so important to love ourselves. I know that sounds narcissistic, but it’s not. It’s the opposite. It’s very generous because when you love yourself, you’re going to say, “I’m going to eat so healthy and I’m going to write down how I feel. I’m so proud of myself. I love myself because I can do whatever I want to do. I have that power. I have that strength.

You then put so much love in your heart for yourself. Fill it up with so much love that goes straight to your brain and from that love from your heart, you’re teaching your brain how to think. You go straight to the brain and now the way you feel with love is now the way you think. When we feel so much love in our heart and we think about it and we act as if we are filled with love, how does that help the world in a huge way? We are being very generous when we love ourselves.

 

 

I am absolutely with you, Eydie. When people think, “Self-care is narcissistic, I am completely with you that it is not. A simple example, let’s keep it to food, is if I imagine me, and let’s pretend I have a little eight-year-old child. I wake up and I’m like, “I love myself. This is a beautiful day. It’s going to be a great day.” I fix myself a bowl of oatmeal and I eat it. I enjoy that oatmeal and maybe a cup of fruit with it. I thought, “This is good.”

What if I not only filled myself up with love, compassion, affection, and then healthy food but this little eight-year-old is watching mom say, “This self-care, this loving myself, giving myself nourishing food is not selfish because it allows me as the mama to give this child whether they’re an infant or eight years old, not only am I modeling healthy self-love, but I’m modeling healthy eating habits.” Also, healthy ways of being, and therefore I’ve done one of the kindest gifts of all. I’ve not only loved myself, but I’ve given my child or anyone in my environment the gift of my more vibrant presence as well as having modeled something and or maybe many things in a very helpful way.

I remember growing up as a young girl. Mom would not keep junk food in the house and she said it’s not healthy. I would go to a friend’s house and they said, “We got some candy. Do you want some candy?” I said, “No. I don’t want any.” I then thought, “I have the better mom because she cares about our health. I’m so lucky that my mom cares so much about my health.” That was powerful. It made me love my mom even more. Isn’t that so sweet of my mom to make sure we were healthy?

It’s absolutely beautifully modeled for you that, “No, this isn’t healthy. Sweets are easy and a great treat, a great reward for kids but not in our household.

It’s bad for your teeth. She explained, “You don’t want that.” I hadn’t thought about that in a long time, but that’s a big hug all around me from my mother.

It’s a lifelong hug because you can look back and remember it and remember the thoughtfulness and the love behind it. We look at this reader’s question. I could imagine if this reader’s tuning in right now and saying, “This is too much. I like my cinnamon buns. I like my ice cream after dinner. I like my hamburgers.” Maybe I can see myself switching to an Impossible Burger, which is probably another podcast altogether. I’ve tried the Impossible Burgers and are they filled with a lot of stuff that leaves my stomach churning.

I have nothing against the Impossible Burgers mind you people, but they’re not whole food. They have been through so much processing. There are a lot of chemicals and anytime we’re buying something, we all don’t live near a farm. I get it. We don’t have a backyard garden. How could someone who wants to maybe not do a complete overhaul but maybe a baby step their way into your world, into Garden of Eydie so that I’m not feeling, especially in the new year when so many people try that first week, sometimes two weeks and they give up?

Research shows most people give up in the first week of the new year. How can these readers and all of the readers take pieces of what you are saying to successfully incorporate one element one day at a time that maybe if they find that it’s wonderful, they can incorporate a more wholehearted plant-based diet if that’s something they want?

I think first of all, take an assessment of your health and see how you feel. Secondly, I would research a little bit. Not a lot because you don’t want to spend your whole time doing that, but research what are the detriments of eating eggs. For instance, dairy. Why shouldn’t I eat this? Give me the real skinny on this thing but besides all that, since you know that whole food is healthiest, it would be wonderful if you took baby steps.

Usually for breakfast, people have cereals. They have oatmeal and fruit. That’s plant-based and switch out that dairy. For lunch, have a big salad. Try your hardest to see what it’s like to eat healthy before dinner because dinner’s the one where you want that hamburger. You want to go out to dinner with friends and all of that but at the same time, when you do have that non-plant-based meal as Dr. Goldhamer at the True North says dead decaying animal flesh.

It’s not a pretty thought.

You can have that, but what if you ate a smaller portion and got a big huge salad? Did you know that when you eat a big salad? I wouldn’t put dressing on it. You could put a little vinegar or squeeze some orange juice or lemon juice on it. Have a lot of tomatoes and cucumbers because that’s like a dressing. There a lot of no salt, oil, or sugar salad dressings that are delicious. You would not miss the oil or the salt or any of that. Get a big salad.

If you eat a big salad before your dinner, you save about a hundred calories because you’re filling up on that salad first before you go to everything else. Fill up on salad first and that’s a really good tip. There’s also a book by Dr. Greger and it’s called How Not To Diet. First, he has a book out called How Not to Die and then he has a book out How Not To Diet. He has all these recipes, but he has these twenty different tricks that you can use that help you lose weight. He also talks about a whole food plant-based diet and he’s all nonprofit. He does this to help the world. He’s an incredible guy, Dr. Greger. Now, he has a new book which I can’t wait to get. It’s called How Not to Age. That’s a good one.

If you eat a big salad before dinner, you save about a hundred calories because you're filling up on that salad first before you go to everything else. Share on X

That does sound like a good one. We can all use that. When I’m looking at tips for our readers to think about, what are some baby steps? “I don’t want to completely overhaul. I’m not prepared to go plant-based without oil, sugar, and salt.” I think that some of the things that I found helpful for people are first, don’t shop for food when you’re hungry.

Second shop the perimeter of the grocery store because that’s where the fresh fruits and vegetables are. You’re less likely to buy the packaged snacks, cookies, and the packaged cereals, although you do have to go into that packaged aisle to get the oatmeal. That’s another tip that I give to people. The other tip that I give to people when it comes to healthy eating is to see if you can make one change per week to see how that sits with your body.

It’s because for some people, if they’re switching to changing breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it’s like, “I can’t do that,” but if they say, “I’m going to try a bowl of oatmeal.” It’s not the packaged one guys with the sweetened or whatever it is that they put into it, but just some regular oats that are as organic as possible and try that so they can see that yes, I can make this one change.

I think those three things we’re finding one change a week shopping the perimeter of the grocery store and then the other one which is simply being careful about what you are putting into your basket that you’re shopping when you’re not hungry. It’s because when we’re hungry everything looks good, especially fast food or comfort food.

I do have a tip on the oatmeal. If you put cinnamon in it, that increases the antioxidant level. Antioxidants are antioxidizing. When we eat all sorts of foods, we are aging our insides and these are the inflammations. These antioxidants are anti-aging. Put some cinnamon and then one little pinch of clove powder and that increases the antioxidant level by 2,000%. What I like to focus on is how much nutrition can I get in my body every single day. What can I do every single day to get more nutrition in my body? One thing I love to do is if I don’t have time to make my own salads, I usually do. I have a salad bar in my refrigerator. I love doing that. Everything you like in your salad, you chop it up on a Sunday. You put it in glass containers in your refrigerator.

I want red cabbage, tomatoes, fennel, all raw and you have a salad bar right in your refrigerator. Also, keep carrots ready, keep celery ready, and keep cucumbers chopped up ready. When you get hungry, grab that. I love dates and apples. I’ll get an apple. I’ll get a date. I’ll take a bite of the apple, a bite of the date. It’s delicious. It’s so filling and healthy. I love focusing on what is delicious. What do I love and how easy can I make it for myself? If you can’t have a salad bar in your refrigerator, I love to go to the big salad bars and I get all the raw food I possibly can. Tons of tomatoes, cucumbers, and celery. It makes it all wet. I don’t need a dressing. Sometimes I’ll add some orange juice or lemon juice.

I love orange juice with lime juice together on my salads. At night, steam some vegetables. In fact, I know this is hard to believe too, but Dr. Greger has done all this research and he says microwaving will retain 95% of the nutrients in your vegetables. I like to chop up some vegetables, put it in a big bowl with a bit of water, put it in the microwave, and microwave it for about 1 minute and 15 seconds or however long it takes. You take it out and now you’ve got delicious steamed vegetables. I like to put all sorts of spices like smoked paprika, a little cumin, maybe some garlic in there, or ginger. You can spice it any way you want and spices are lots of antioxidants in that as well. These are just some of the tips.

Microwaving will retain 95% of the nutrients in your vegetables. Share on X

I understand you shop the parameter. Have fun with it. There are a lot of recipes out there. A lot of plant-based people do eat oil, salt, and sugar. I stay away from it because I do have a propensity to have high blood pressure, but know they’re not the healthiest ingredients. Some people need salt. Some people have very low sodium in their bodies and they have to have it. You have to make sure that you talk to your doctor. Work with your doctor to help you eat the best plan for you and your situation and have fun with it. Let’s not make it so serious. I always say help is serious. Leave fun because when you feel good you can do good and life is a lot more fun.

Eydie, it’s such incredibly wonderful and easy-to-swallow information. I have one more question. It’s a tangent from this reader’s question, but one I think might be an issue for many people because many of my clients talk about it, and friends where pre-diabetes is an issue so they’re taking whether it’s Semaglutide or whatever it is. Again, we’re not offering medical advice here. We’re not going over anything your doctor is telling you. What would you recommend for someone who is facing not diabetes because you want that in the medical practitioner’s hands, but issues where maybe they can get ahead of diabetes? What would you offer?

Pre-diabetes is so rampant and it’s so easy to reverse. In two weeks you can reverse pre-diabetes and people who had diabetes for a while. There is a group called Mastering Diabetes. It’s these two gentlemen. They both have type 1 diabetes. You cannot reverse that but their A1c is below perfect because they eat a whole food plant-based diet.

One of them is completely raw, Robby Barbaro, and the other one at Cyrus Khambatta who is a PhD. I think he does eat some cooked food. I’m not saying you have to do either of these, but if you would look online, Mastering Diabetes on Instagram or on YouTube, they are so filled with information. They’re very inspiring. They want you to exercise. We have to get our body back in homeostasis and it’s so easy to do.

People can reverse their high blood pressure in two weeks. People can reverse a lot of things when you take out all the food that causes it. One other thing I did want to say, is if you could try just for one week, it takes about two weeks for our taste buds to change. If you cut out the oil, the salt, the sugar, and you eat all whole foods. When I eat something oily, I’m telling you it’s awful. It’s rancid.

It takes about two weeks for our taste buds to change. Share on X

The minute you cook oil, it’s rancid. I don’t know. It doesn’t feel good to me. If I accidentally have something sugary or something, I’m telling your taste buds change dramatically. My husband is a carnivore living in the Garden of Eydie but we’ve cut the salt out way big time when I make his food and he can’t handle the salt. He used to love French fries with lots of salt. He can’t even handle it. Now, I used to love French fries. It’s vegan but now I taste the rancidity of the fried oil.

Your taste buds become accustomed to something healthy and delicious, nutritious, and meaningful for yourself. If you could give yourself a try to cut that out for a couple of weeks, I think you would have a much easier time doing this full-time. Once again, you must talk to your doctor and you must do what’s right for you but please, let’s all love ourselves big time. Love ourselves to health and happiness.

 

 

Eydie, thank you so much for your time, and for the wealth of easy-to-digest information. You make it basic for us. Give it a try for two weeks. Listen to your body. Give your taste buds time to adjust.

Brainwash yourself. Find every video on why no oil and salt. Find every video on why vegetables and fruit. Constantly feed that brain why you want this and why you don’t want that.

We might even call it brain cleansing instead of brainwashing. We’re cleansing the brain to see that the food that we consume in this post-industrial world is not what our bodies, which have been around for a very long time without all of this packaged food. It’s what they crave. It’s what they need. It’s what they want. It’s what they deserve. Thank you again, Eydie. I am so grateful. Where can our readers find you?

It’s GardenOfEydie.com. I have a website. I have an Instagram @GardenOfEydie. I do some YouTube that’s just starting and a little TikTok.

Your website’s beautiful. The food you create is beautiful. It’s so enticing. Thanks again, and I’m so grateful for your time.

Thank you for having me and sending lots of love to all of you.

Thank you, Eydie and readers, thank you for joining us.

 

Important Links

• Eydie Desser
• How Not To Diet
• How Not to Die
• How Not to Age
• Mastering Diabetes
• Instagram – Mastering Diabetes
• YouTube – Mastering Diabetes
• @GardenOfEydie – Instagram
• YouTube – Garden of Eydie
• TikTok – Garden of Eydie
• https://www.DrCarlaManly.com
• https://www.Instagram.com/drcarlamanly
• https://www.Twitter.com/drcarlamanly
• https://www.Facebook.com/drcarlamanly
• https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/carla-marie-manly-8682362b
• https://www.YouTube.com/@dr.carlamariemanly8543
• https://www.TikTok.com/@dr_carla_manly

 

About Eydie Desser

Eydie Desser is the founder of the Garden of Eydie. She earned her Grand Diploma of Culinary from The French Culinary Institute after working for CBS radio for many years. A member of The Plantrician project, Eydie also earned a certificate in nutrition from the Center of Nutritional studies with T. Colin Campbell, one of the “fathers” of Plant-based nutrition.

Eydie’s work is focused on the health benefits of embracing a plant-based diet that is free of salt, sugar, and oil. Eydie states, “The Garden of Eydie is all about getting back to our roots and planting the right seeds to create a joyful, fulfilling life. We believe in a whole food, plant-based lifestyle focused on healing the body through science based recipes that feature food to help you heal! We are a whole, plant-based food & Whole Life Garden of ideas, sharing science based delicious recipes, and inspirational ways to live an enchanted life.”