Q&A with Dr. Greger 17

**Michael Greger** (0:00)
Trying to stay healthy can seem like a full-time job sometimes, especially with all the conflicting information that's out there, but I'm here to make that job a little easier. Welcome to the Nutrition Facts Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger. Today we answer a wide variety of your questions, like the best way to eat on a budget, whether or not vegan shampoo is worth it, and some clever ways to get your daily dose of iodine. First question is by aquapumpkin with a name like aquapumpkin. It's got to be good. Hello doctor, is there any real proof that the idea of not combining fruits with other foods like grains in a single meal, Ayurveda, says to eat fruits alone? Not only is there no real proof, there's no proof-proof period, real or unreal.
There, yeah.
And you think about it, how does it make evolutionary sense, biological sense that we'd have to somehow eat fruits different than anything else? Anyway, I'm constantly amazed by some of the tremendous wisdom in traditional medical systems. So for example, there was a recent Nobel Prize awarded for the discovery of a wormwood for malaria. So basically, there's a malaria treatment, goes back thousands of years, mentioned in ancient Chinese medical texts. And now it's like still one of the most popular uses in the world is derived from this particular plant. And it's like, wow, how'd they know that? How'd they know back then? That's amazing. All right. At the same time, you have things like in Ayurveda, where they were giving people heavy metals, literally, mercury on purpose, lead on purpose. In fact, heavy metals, toxic heavy metals, are used in many traditional medical systems around the world, which we now know is just we're poisoning people.
So there's tremendous wisdom, but you can't know whether the wisdom is wise or dangerous unless you put it to the test. That's what we have science for, but it's definitely worth going back to look at some of those traditional therapies and see if there's actually anything there. Anyway, long-winded answer. Let me see if I can do quicker next time. Alan says, someone's eating on a budget. Ah, only has 100 bucks to spend on groceries each week. Within a month, what are the main food items to buy? Oh, well, there's wonderful resources out there. One of my favorites is called Plant-Based on a Budget, where I think they have like $4 a day eating. So forget your $100. How about 28 bucks a week?
And so, I mean, I think some of the healthiest foods are actually some of the cheapest foods, like sweet potatoes. Oh my God, one of the healthiest foods on the planet. One of the cheapest foods.
Red cabbage, dried beans and peas, lentils, right? I mean, literally dirt cheap. Oh my God. And you can make massive amounts of food. You can both cook it like I do. What was I just, oh, I was doing black soybeans yesterday because a tablespoon of black soybeans a day significantly decreases LDL cholesterol. It's part of my, oh, I got it here, actually, in my book that came out in October on lowering LDL cholesterol with diet. And that's one of the natural approaches. It's a table of single types of black soybeans today. So you just batch a whole bunch and you put it in a little silicone kind of baby food trays, keep it in the freezer, pop it out, put it in any meal. I had run out, so I just made some more. I was going to make more of my broil, my probiotic mix of barley groats, oak groats, beluga lentils, and rye groats, but ran out of purple barley and ran out of lentils. I thought I had them. In fact, online, I look at my order history. I bought them. I just don't know where they are. I searched through the pantry. Anyway, just bought some more lentils, but I will be making that soon. Anyway, but all super, super cheap. All right, next up, this is from Video Thousand Nights.
What do I think of no salt, no oil, no sugar, or fowl? I assume that means flour. Too restrictive or not?
No, wonderful. Yeah, we shouldn't be adding added salt. We should get all our nutrients from whole food sources, so whole food sources of fat, not oil. Whole food sources of sugar, like fruit, sweet potatoes, and whole food sources of fat, like nuts, seeds, avocados. And instead of flour, instead of powdering our grains, we should eat groats, or at least whole grains. So yeah, I love it. Do it. Go for it. Keep up the good work.
All right, Alexander is back. I say, I guess if you get up early, put all your questions in, you have more chance of getting them answered. That's awesome.