Participants: Nick Evenson (Host), Dr. James Marcum
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000100A
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00:16 Have you ever sat down to take your medications and wondered,
00:19 How did I get here? 00:21 Maybe you'd rather use nutrition rather than medications. 00:24 On today's program we're going to talk about that very thing, 00:27 of using food as medicine. 00:29 Stay tuned. The Ultimate Prescription starts now. 00:32 I'm Dr. James Marcum. 00:34 Are you interested in discovering the reason why? 00:37 Do you want solutions to your health care problem? 00:40 Are you tired of taking medications? 00:43 Well, you're about to be given the Ultimate Prescription. 00:49 Hello, and thank you for joining us today for the 00:51 Ultimate Prescription. 00:52 My name is Nick Evenson, and I'm your host, 00:54 joined by Dr. James Marcum. 00:56 And on today's program we're going to be 00:57 discussing food as medicine. 00:59 Dr. Marcum, welcome to the program. 01:00 Thank you, Nick, and this is a very special program for the 01:04 Ultimate Prescription. It is indeed. Yeah. 01:06 Why's that? Well, this is program number 100, 01:10 according to my calculations. 01:11 So you've done about 100 tapings of these programs? 01:14 Is that right? Yeah, more or less, you know. 01:16 And I'm probably... Everyone's getting tired of hearing this 01:19 same thing over and over. 01:20 But sometimes repetition helps us remember things. 01:24 So I sort of have talked about different things. 01:26 And what I try to do in making these programs is try to take 01:30 a little bit different perspective than's out there. 01:33 You know, add something new to the mix. 01:35 You know, a lot of people are doing programs about modern 01:37 medicine, and nutrition. 01:38 But we try to sort of have that balanced approach. 01:41 Now you're not getting paid to be here to make these programs. 01:44 Why do you spend the time? 01:45 You know, you could be just fine practicing cardiology 01:48 like you do every day of the week. 01:49 Why do you do this in addition? 01:50 Well, because I, in my office I don't have enough time to 01:55 sometimes express some of the things that 01:57 a patient should know. 01:58 Yeah. So this expands some of the things that I've learned 02:01 and also gives people a different perspective, 02:04 something else to think about. 02:06 And some people are interested in using a Biblical Prescription 02:10 to change their physiology. 02:12 And I like to go back. 02:13 It helps me grow as a physician, because I can go back and look 02:17 at the different studies, the different things that have been 02:19 proven, and teach people how to apply it to their 02:22 lives one step at a time. 02:24 And that's some of the biggest challenges; getting other people 02:27 to apply this and see that God's way is more 02:31 valuable than man's way. Yeah. 02:34 Not that there's not a place for medicines; there is. 02:36 But it's not what we've really created. 02:39 And we've dedicated today's program to 02:41 discussing food as medicine. 02:42 But before we go down that road, let's talk about what all 02:45 makes the complete picture of health. 02:47 It's not just nutrition. 02:48 It's not just exercise. 02:50 What all encompasses a holistic approach? 02:53 That's a great question for everyone to think about. 02:55 And if you think about it just a little bit, all the inputs of 02:59 life change our chemistry, changes our physiology. 03:04 It could be the food we eat. Right. 03:06 It could be the air we breathe. 03:09 It could be the thoughts we have in our brains. Uh huh. 03:12 It could be our genetics that we're wired with 03:14 that we can't do anything about. 03:16 It might be the toxins in the environment. 03:18 It might even be our belief systems; the things we believe. 03:23 All of these things have been shown to change your physiology. 03:26 And all of part of this makes up health. 03:28 Nutrition is just one part of health. 03:31 Some people talk about that, and we talk about that. 03:33 But I want to let people know that it's much more 03:35 complicated than nutrition. 03:37 So when I see a patient in the office, Nick, I try to... 03:40 First of all I try to deal with their acute symptom. 03:43 You now, get their symptom better. 03:45 Then when their symptom's better we try to get at the cause. 03:48 And I try to identify, Well, what is stressing the body that 03:52 might be triggering this? 03:53 Now sometimes it's food, sometimes it's beliefs, 03:57 people have unhealthy beliefs. 03:59 Sometimes it's relationships. 04:01 Sometimes people are not getting enough 04:03 rest; they're too busy. 04:04 Sometimes it's in the worship and belief systems. 04:07 Right. So it's much more complicated than just the food. 04:10 But the food is important. 04:11 And that's what we're doing on this series. 04:13 And I see we got some interesting things 04:15 on the table today. 04:17 Yep, we've got some beets, and beet greens. 04:19 And you'll have to forgive us, these are a little battered and 04:22 beaten, because they've been in the car on the way up here. 04:24 But these are beets. 04:26 And are beets something that you enjoy eating? 04:28 Yeah, I do in some ways. 04:31 And I really enjoy it once I found out how the studies on 04:35 beets, how beneficial they were for my body. 04:37 I started really enjoying them more. 04:39 And while I don't really eat the beet whole 04:41 like this, the beet greens, but in my store they have beets 04:45 chopped up into little strips, and I put them on 04:48 my salad almost every day. 04:50 I'll get a handful, maybe a quarter of a cup of beets, 04:53 and put it in my salad already cut up. 04:55 It's very convenient for me. 04:57 I don't know if I would get up and cut the beet, 05:00 and the beet greens are very valuable too. 05:02 Did you just come from your garden, Nick? 05:04 No, it didn't. This came from the supermarket. 05:06 But they're pretty tasty though. 05:08 I tell you, as a kid though, I despised beets. 05:11 You didn't like beets? 05:12 My Mom would try make me eat beets and I told her, 05:14 I told my Mom, Mom, why do I want to eat that? 05:16 It tastes like dirt. Yeah. 05:17 You know, it just did not taste good. 05:19 However, now that I'm getting a little older, and more mature, 05:23 a little wiser, I realize there's a lot of 05:25 good health benefits. 05:27 And I've discovered that actually when I'm exercising 05:29 at a high level for a long period of time, 05:31 beets actually make it less painful. Oh, less painful. 05:34 Well, the reason I wanted to talk about beets as medicine 05:38 is because there's been some great studies that have been 05:41 done studying beets. 05:42 I guess the beet industry must have paid for it, 05:45 but there's great studies with beets. Right. 05:48 And I wanted to talk to our viewers about how beets can be 05:52 used as a treatment for different medical conditions. 05:56 Of course, it can be part of a good diet as well. Right. 05:59 Beets do stain. And I admit I'm not... I don't love beets. 06:03 But as cut up as strips into a salad with 06:06 greens, it's very good. 06:07 And now, have you ever had beet greens before? 06:09 You know, I don't know if I have. 06:10 Well, are you brave? 06:12 Are you brave? Sure, sure. 06:13 Well, why don't you taste some of the beet green while I'm 06:16 talking about some of the studies? 06:18 Alright. I just rinsed it very well. 06:21 They were very dirty, kind of sandy, but we'll give it a try. 06:23 Tell me what it tastes like. 06:25 Well, one of the studies that was done was in the 06:27 Journal of Hypertension in 2008. 06:30 And Dr. Webb studied different people, and he found that giving 06:34 them just a cup of beet juice, okay, they could lower 06:39 their blood pressure; the top number, which is called the 06:42 systolic blood pressure, about ten points. 06:44 So let's say you had a blood pressure of 150. 06:48 By having a cup of beet juice they could lower it to, 06:52 guess what? 140. Wow! 06:54 So when they studied that they found that beets 06:57 had nitrates in them. 06:59 Nitrates, when they got in the body turned to nitric oxide, 07:02 which relaxed the smooth muscle, helped the endotherm relax it, 07:06 which lowered blood pressure. Wow! 07:08 So that was pretty interesting. 07:10 So the British Heart Foundation in 2015 wanted 07:15 to study this more. 07:16 And they took another cup of beet juice, and they had people 07:19 drink it daily for four weeks; beet juice. 07:22 Now have you ever done the beet juice? 07:23 That's how I do it when I drink it. 07:25 Well, what's it taste like? 07:26 I have never drank beet juice. 07:27 It just tastes like beets; kind of like dirt, 07:29 but you get used to it. 07:31 Well, how was the green there? was that? 07:32 The green? I didn't finish it. 07:34 Was it bitter? What's it like? 07:36 It was actually, it was pretty delicious. 07:37 Not very bitter. It tasted almost a little citrusy. 07:40 Okay. Kind of like, not too different from arugula maybe. 07:43 Yeah, okay. Well, they repeated this study, 07:46 the British Heart Foundation repeated this study, 07:48 and they, again, found that beets lowered blood pressure 07:52 by about eight points. 07:54 And the optimal dose that they had in their study was not one 07:57 cup but a half cup. Okay. 07:59 So a half cup lowered it. 08:01 Then as they learned more about beets they started studying 08:05 beets and athletes. Yeah. 08:07 Okay, because the theory is if you make nitrates, 08:10 nitrites makes arteries bigger. 08:12 Arteries can carry more blood, more oxygen, more nutrients to 08:16 your muscles; get you to perform a lot better. Yeah. 08:19 So now there's been some studies done that show athletes that 08:22 drink beet juice can improve their athletic performance. 08:26 Yeah. And think I've experienced that same thing. 08:28 Sometimes I go ride my bike for a couple of 08:30 hours with my friends. sometimes my heart rate will get up to 08:31 Sometimes my heart rate will get up to 170, 180 beats a minute. 08:35 And you can't stay there for too long, because it hurts, 08:36 and it's just uncomfortable. 08:38 But I've noticed that when I take beet juice I can stay 08:41 in the zone longer with less pain. 08:43 Right. And it seems to have something to do with nitrates. 08:47 Uh huh. Now this, the beets, we chose the beets, 08:50 because the beets have been studied. 08:51 You know, there's two studies. 08:52 We have some proof. 08:54 They've looked at people and studied it. 08:55 But it seems like nitrate rich foods are what really helps. 08:59 So we want foods rich in nitrate. 09:01 And here's the big quiz of the day: Do beets have the 09:04 highest rates of nitrates? 09:06 You know, we've got a fun fact here I think. 09:09 What can you tell me about a beet? 09:11 The leaves of beets were historically consumed 09:14 before the roots were. Okay. 09:15 And today many people prefer to eat the roots 09:19 and discard the bitter more beneficial greens. 09:23 But I don't think they're that bitter though. 09:24 But they were first consumed in Africa, and then they spread 09:28 to Asia and Europe. 09:30 And ancient Roman populations were some of the first people 09:33 to harvest the beets and eat their brightly colored roots. 09:36 But they're actually not the highest source of nitrates, 09:39 is that correct? That's correct. 09:40 I think that's arugula, right? 09:42 Right. Arugula is much higher. 09:44 You know, in fact it rates number 1. 09:46 They did a study that showed which has the most. 09:48 So it has about 400 milligrams of nitrate rich. Right. 09:51 So arugula is up there. 09:54 Rhubarb number 2, cilantro number 3. 09:58 This is with nitrates. 10:00 As in cilantro. Yeah, it's up there. 10:01 I just use those like a topping. 10:03 So I would, if I wanted to improve athletic performance. 10:05 So if you think about it, if beets will lower blood pressure, 10:08 if beets improve athletic performance, these other foods 10:12 if they did the studies, probably would, too. Yeah. 10:15 So leaf lettuce is high up there, greens, basil, 10:19 oak leaf lettuce, and number 10 was beets. 10:22 So it's not number 1, but it's nitrates. 10:24 Now there's other things in beets that are very 10:27 helpful, too. What's that? 10:28 You know, beets are in the soil. 10:31 Right. And in the soil roots tend to pick up things in the 10:36 soil; trace elements. 10:37 You know, the magnesium's, the potassium, the iron, the trace 10:41 elements that our body needs for chemical reactions. 10:44 You know, you need iron to make red blood cells. Right. 10:46 You need magnesium, potassium, to regulate your heart rhythms, 10:49 and the nerve cells, and lots of different things. 10:51 So beets have trace elements in them. 10:53 They have nitrates in them. 10:56 Lots of good things that help us become super healthy. 11:00 So I want to... I ask everyone, you know, if you don't like 11:04 a beet, you don't like the beet juice, try what I do is I get 11:08 some of those beet strips in the store. 11:10 I cut them up and I put them in my greens. 11:13 And I do really well with that. 11:15 I put some balsamic vinaigrette on that. Right. 11:18 And I mix other different colors. 11:20 And let's face it, beets are purple. 11:22 How many things that you know are purple? 11:24 Yeah. You know? Not a lot. 11:25 No, not a lot of purple food. 11:27 And, again, we talked earlier on other programs about pigment. 11:29 Right. How pigment might have different value as well. 11:33 We talked about, remember turmeric and its pigment? 11:35 We've talked about other colors. 11:38 How it's blueberries, and anthocyanins. 11:40 Well beet purple pigment probably has chemicals in it 11:44 as well that help our bodies do better. 11:46 We want lots of different colors, lots of different 11:49 pigments in our bodies to make us healthier, 11:51 and to help us feel better. 11:52 So this is another study that again showed that to lower your 11:56 blood pressure, maybe your doctor will consider beet juice 11:59 if you didn't want to take a medication. 12:01 Maybe that could reach your goal other than taking a pill, 12:05 which all pills have side effects. 12:07 Beets don't have a lot of side effects unless you eat just 12:10 way, way too many of them. 12:11 I guess they could stain your hands purple if you didn't... 12:15 If you're not careful. 12:16 ...weren't careful with that. 12:17 Yeah, that's right. 12:19 Well, you know, we went and visited our friend, 12:20 Kristina McFeeters, and she showed us the way that she 12:21 likes to prepare beets. 12:23 And we want to take a look at now. 12:27 Welcome to Kristina's Kitchen. 12:29 I'm Kristina McFeeters. 12:31 Today we'll explore one of my favorite ways to incorporate 12:36 beets into my diet. 12:37 Not everyone likes them. 12:39 Some people love them. 12:40 Some people hate them. 12:42 Beets can be sweet, and they should be sweet. 12:45 But if they're grown in poor soil they can 12:48 sometimes be not sweet. 12:50 But today we're going to pickle them. 12:53 We're just going to take our beet, 12:55 and we're going to peel it. 12:57 And, yes, our hands are going to get all nice and 13:00 beautiful rosy red. 13:05 Now we're going to chop our beet into bite sized pieces. 13:20 And we're going to put our beets, 13:22 this is about a quart of beets. 13:24 We're going to put them in our kettle. 13:26 And we're going to chop up the beet greens that came with the 13:29 beets and put that in with it. 13:34 We're not finely chopping these greens. 13:36 We're just putting them in big chunks. 13:47 And they're going to go right into this kettle with the beets. 13:54 Okay, now we're going to put the flavor in with our beets. 13:59 So we're going to start with some lemon juice. 14:02 We need about a quarter cup of fresh lemon juice. 14:05 And if you don't have fresh, you can use bottled. 14:08 You may want to use just slightly less, because bottled 14:12 lemon juice has a stronger flavor. 14:17 We want about a quarter cup of lemon juice. 14:25 And our next ingredient is a quarter cup of honey. 14:29 If you don't have honey you can use any kind of 14:31 your favorite sweetener. 14:33 To help get the honey out, I'm going to put a little bit of oil 14:39 on the measuring cup. 14:49 And next is a little bit of salt. 14:52 I use about a quarter teaspoon to a half teaspoon, 14:56 depending on how salty you want them. 15:03 And then lastly we're going to add some water. 15:07 It's about one cup of water. 15:09 And we're going to put our lid on, and we're going to simmer 15:13 the beets for about 20 minutes, 15 to 20 minutes, 15:17 until they're soft. 15:18 See how simple and easy that is? 15:20 And beets are so full of nutrition, and they taste 15:25 absolutely delicious. 15:26 Be sure and try this at home. 15:29 Thanks Kristina. We appreciate you showing 15:32 us how to make beets. 15:33 That looks like probably a better way than I 15:35 usually had them as a kid. 15:37 Yeah, and I think, for many beets are an acquired taste. 15:41 Remember, you don't have to eat beets as a stand-alone. 15:44 You know, you can add beets to a lot of other things, 15:46 and mix it with different tastes, and get sort of 15:49 a synergistic taste. 15:50 You know, put a lot of things together and 15:52 boom, that's your taste. 15:53 That's right. And as I've drank beet juice, at first it was 15:57 really hard to swallow, but I've gotten used to it. Yeah. Yeah. 16:00 Alright, well we've got a lot more great stuff to cover 16:03 when we're talking about food as medicine. 16:04 So stay with us. But we're going to take 16:06 just a quick break. |
Revised 2017-04-26