Podcast: Eat to Live: Dr. Orlena's Guide to Nutritional Wellness

Introduction

Want to unlock the secret to preventing heart disease, boosting your longevity, and transforming your health? In today's episode, Dr. Orlena breaks down the groundbreaking 'Daily Dozen' nutrition strategy that could quite literally save your life.

Drawing insights from Dr. Michael Greger's influential book 'How Not to Die', this episode reveals three game-changing health insights: First, a staggering 80-90% of heart disease is preventable through lifestyle choices. Second, a simple daily nutrition plan focusing on diverse, colorful plant-based foods can dramatically reduce your disease risk. And third, you don't need to go fully vegan to benefit - a flexible, plant-forward approach can provide all the nutrition your body craves.

Whether you're a health enthusiast, someone looking to prevent chronic disease, or simply curious about nutrition, this episode offers practical, science-backed advice that could add years to your life and life to your years. Tune in and discover how small, strategic dietary changes can yield massive health dividends.

Eat Better Feel Amazing Workshop

Details here: https://www.drorlena.com/eat-better-feel-amazing 

Transcription of Podcast

Introduction to Heart Health and Nutrition

Dr Orlena (00:02.153)
Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to Fit and Fabulous with me, Dr. Orlena I hope that you are feeling amazing today. Okay, today I want to follow on a little bit from the conversation we had last week with Dr. Tracy, the cardiologist. Now, if you haven't checked out Dr. Tracy's podcast, go and listen to it. It is really eye-opening about how we can lead a most healthy...

heart life and she had some pretty scary statistics to share with us. So 80 to 90 % of heart disease is preventable with lifestyle. That's the good news. The bad news is that heart disease kills more men and women together than all the different cancers combined. So it's really the number one killer of men and women. But the good news is we can do something about it. Now.

She talks about lots of things and one of the things we talked about was nutrition. And when we talked about nutrition, what she talks about is that she is vegan and she eats very plant-based forwards. But one thing she did say is, I suspect that if you ask 10 different cardiologists, you will get 10 different answers as to what is the most healthy diet for heart health, which is very interesting in terms of when the...

information that we have is really, really clear. Everybody is saying the same thing. And this is one of the areas where really nutrition remains slightly controversial. Now, one of the reasons why nutrition is controversial is because there are so many studies out there and it is very difficult in nutrition to do a study looking at one particular thing. Now, when we design studies, what we want is big, big numbers of people

The Controversy of Nutrition Studies

And we do this thing called randomized controls trial. So in theory, what you want is for people to not know which treatment they're getting. Ideally, we do something called double blind, which means neither the researchers nor the people who are in the study know which one they're doing. Now, obviously with nutrition, that's really difficult to do because you know what you're eating more or less. And so it's very difficult to design a study that really

Dr Orlena (02:21.625)
answers questions really, really well and answers questions with a big population. So what we see is lots of smaller studies with smaller people and then they prove this small thing and they prove that small thing. Now when I say prove, this is all to do with statistics and one of the things that I think is really important to note with statistics is we have in our brain this idea that, well,

If statistically it is unlikely, it's not gonna happen. So for example, my children have a genetic eye condition of which in theory there is a one in two chance of them having it. Now, unfortunately, all four of my children have it. Now you would think that's like not possible. There's a one in 64 chance of that happening. Well, yes, but one in 64, it does happen. And how is this relevant to...

studies? Well, because if you have a chance, a 99 % chance that your findings are significant, that means that a 1 % chance that they aren't significant. Now on any individual study, means, well, chances are it's significant. But in a hundred studies, one of them is just going to be done down to pure chance. And that's the problem with statistics. Now, ideally you get smaller and smaller, so you get more and more significant.

But often that isn't the case with nutritional studies. So it's very easy for people to take a study and go, this proves my point and this proves my point. And then you get two people who pick different studies. One of them is saying, well, the carnivore diet is really great. They pick a study. And the other person is saying, well, the vegan diet is really the best way. And they pick another study. So it's very difficult for us to decide. Now, Dr. Tracy said that she is vegan and she mentioned that

She follows the Daily Dozen by a gentleman called Dr. Michael Greger who wrote a book called How Not to Die. Now this book was written in 2015, so it is nine years old and a lot has happened in that nine years. Now I read this book, it is an interesting book, but if you see it as a lawyer who is giving the evidence for veganism, so he is taking all the studies and saying, here is my argument for why

Dr Orlena (04:48.187)
vegan is really good. But what he's not doing is looking at the other side of the story and really you want somebody else who's looking at the other side of the story and then we want to be the judge saying okay so which is it what of these things do we want to do. So when I read this book I did think it was very one-sided and I did do a podcast about it years and years ago.

said all of that I do actually agree with an awful lot of the things that he says and when I look at the evidence you don't have to just pull out these little tiny studies there are some big studies that really support a lot of what he's saying so it is quite technical and nutrition is one of those things where you can get caught in the weeds but today I thought it would be useful just to go through his daily dozen so that you can see what it is that he is advocating now

Exploring the Daily Dozen: Beans to Berries

He starts off with beans. Hooray! I love beans and I think that beans are one of the most important food groups that we do not eat enough of. Now, since he has written this book, there was a meta-analysis. A meta-analysis is where you put things together, put studies together, and it makes it stronger. And it basically said that if you eat a portion of beans every single day, you live for longer.

Hooray, who doesn't want to live longer? That's an amazing thing to do. Now what he recommends, he talks about all the different kinds of beans, and he recommends three servings per day. And he says, a serving size is 60 grams of hummus or a bean dip, or 130 grams of cooked beans. Now, I don't quite understand why the serving sizes are different because they're done by weight. So I don't quite understand why a serving size of hummus is less than a serving size of.

cooked beans, but there you go, that's what it is. But I get a tick for beans because I love beans and I think he's absolutely right that we should be eating more of them. Now the next thing he talks about is berries. Let me just, I should have put bookmarks in there, shouldn't I, so I could flick quickly. So berries, he specifically talks about acacia berries, barberries, I don't even know what barberries are. Blackberries, blueberries, cherries, sweet or tart.

Dr Orlena (07:03.657)
Concord grapes, cranberries, goji berries, kumquats, mulberries. I have a mulberry bush and I love mulberries. I put them in the freezer and then I have a few mulberries every day for breakfast, or not every day, when I feel like it. Raspberries and strawberries. A serving size is 60 grams.

Fruits, Vegetables, and Whole Grains

fresh or frozen or 40 grams dried. And he recommends one serving per day. And again, I get a tick for this. Berries are full of fiber. They have so much fiber in them. And they also have antioxidants. And antioxidants are things that we really like. Next up is other fruits. apples, he says dried apricots. I don't quite know why they can't be fresh apricots.

apples, apricots, avocados, bananas, you know, a whole list of different fruits. And he recommends 120 grams, one medium-sized fruit or 120 grams of cut-up fruit, or he says 40 grams of dried fruit, three servings per day. Now, I definitely give a tick to fruit. I suspect that I eat much, much more fruit than he is recommending. Now, remember, the thing about nutrition is it depends what you're doing. I'm a very active person and I...

Fill up on fruit, I hardly eat any white refined carbohydrates, AKA flour or sugar. So fruit is where I am getting a lot of my energy from. And if you are active, you need energy to be driving your muscles and to be living. So it does depend what you're doing. So again, I give another tick to fruit, although I would say for me personally, I eat more than three bits of fruit a day. Next up is cruciferous.

vegetables and those are things like broccoli and cauliflower and again I give them a tick and think yes these are things that we definitely want in our diet because they're full of fiber and they're full of other helpful things. Okay other vegetables no sorry cruciferous, excuse me, cruciferous vegetables one portion greens so things like rocket beetroot greens collard greens kale

Dr Orlena (09:12.797)
cabbage, things like that, spinach, and he says two servings a day. Again, I agree. I think eating greens is amazing. Now I wonder if I eat two servings. I've never really weighed my servings. He has only said 60 grams or 90 grams. I've never weighed my food, so I don't really know, but I would give that a tick as well. And then other vegetables, two portions of other vegetables, and those are things like artichokes, asparagus, beetroot.

Here you're looking really more at your starchy vegetables. And he says two servings a day.

The Role of Nuts, Seeds, and Spices

Next up, flaxseed, what in the UK we call linseed. So linseed and flaxseed are the same. And he has out of all the seeds, specifically singled out flaxseed, which I find a little bit interesting. And he does give his reasons for doing that. What are his reasons for doing that?

So he talks about those including having an impact on high blood pressure and breast cancer and prostate cancer, and generally just being a miraculous defense against some critical maladies. Okay, well, but I think other seeds often offer benefits as well. However, I'm not against flax seeds. So since rereading this book, I have decided to add flax seeds back into my breakfast. I put a teaspoon.

On my breakfast, super easy, I'm putting nuts and seeds in there anyhow. So why not flax seeds? If he thinks they're special, then I'm gonna go with flax seeds, no big deal. Next up is nuts. And I go nuts for nuts. I totally love nuts. I eat a lot of nuts and I suspect I eat far more than his one portion of nuts. But again, it's about...

making your nutrition work for you rather than doing an off the peg thing. So he talks about 30 grams of nuts and those being great, any kind of nuts basically he talks about. As I say, I suspect I have far, far, far more than one portion a day. Next up, he talks about herbs and spices and he specifically singles out turmeric here. And I think I see a lot of people singling out turmeric because of its antioxidant properties.

Dr Orlena (11:31.803)
Now, all spices are good and most of them have antioxidant properties. I personally love spices as well because they're a really good way of adding flavor without adding sugar and salt. And this really helps you to make your food enjoyable because you don't want bland, unexciting food, but if you add herbs and spices, you can add variety, you can just give it a little bit more of a punch. So.

Again, I have started adding turmeric to my breakfast, which I wasn't doing. I was adding ginger. For me, I love ginger. I love turmeric. Turmeric has a little bit more of a sort of, I don't know if it's really bitter taste as opposed to ginger, which is a bit more spicy. Now, I don't know how long I'm going to stick with turmeric for. I might swap to something else. It's Christmas coming up. This morning I had cinnamon and turmeric and actually, strangely, the mixture was perfectly fine. So we'll give a tick for spices.

Now, whole grains. He gives three portions of whole grains. Now, this is where I don't have as many whole grains as he recommends. So he talks about barley, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, oats, popcorn, quinoa, rye, whole wheat pasta, and wild rice. And a serving size being either 100 grams of hot cereal or 50 grams of cold cereal.

Again, I don't quite understand why there are differences in those. And he recommends 30 servings a day. Now there is research to show that there are benefits of whole grains. But in my mind, it's not something that I think I need to increase because I'm not naturally eating so many. I eat oats for breakfast. I might eat some other whole grains, some popcorn, for example, during the week, but it's not something that I really think about. I'm getting my fiber from other places.

and I'm also getting carbohydrates that you're getting carbohydrates from your grains. I'm getting those from my vegetables. So a slight difference there.

Hydration and Exercise Recommendations

Next up, beverages. Yes, it is important to keep yourself hydrated. And I do see people pushing water and saying, my goodness, I really have to drink lots of water. And the answer to that is really, well, you need to keep yourself hydrated. And it does...

Dr Orlena (13:53.319)
how much fluid you need depends on different things. So for example, how hot it is. In the summer here in Spain, I drink a lot more than I do in the winter. How much exercise you're doing because you may be sweating it out. So it does depend. And the best way to tell whether you're hydrated is to look at the color of your urine, your wee, and see if it's light, then you're doing fine. If it's dark yellow, then you are.

looking towards dehydration and you want to be increasing your fluids. Now, what beverages does he talk about? My beverage of choice is coffee. I love coffee. So he talks about black tea, chia tea, chamomile tea, coffee, Earl Grey tea, green tea, hibiscus tea, hot chocolate, jasmine tea, rooibos, water. Now, I personally love cocoa. I have cocoa quite frequently.

I would carry on drinking coffee all day, but I know it affects my sleep, so I drink coffee in the morning or cocoa, which is 100 % cocoa, no added sugar. And then I might have a hibiscus tea. Hibiscus is full of antioxidants, which are good for you or a different kind of infusion. And then I might have a cocoa later on. So.

Lots of different beverages, you don't have to drink the same thing all the time, you want to be steering clear of anything which has sugar in it or has, well I would recommend anything that has any sweetener in it, but sugar or honey, honey is basically the same and you don't want to be doing that. And then his last daily dozen is exercise and obviously that gets a tick tick tick from me. And what he recommends is either,

90 minutes of moderate intensity activity or 40 minutes of vigorous activity and at least one serving a day. And I think, yep, I agree with that. Now, another thing that I really like about his focus is he really focuses on antioxidants. What are antioxidants and why are they good for us? Antioxidants are things that mop up oxidative damage. So just by

Dr Orlena (16:04.339)
being alive, by breathing, by doing anything, oxidative damage happens to our body. It's basically part of the aging process. Now there are certain things that we can do to make it worse, like for example, eating lots of sugar. And there are certain things that we can do that make it better. So eating antioxidants is one of those things because the antioxidants basically go around mopping up all the particles that

potentially damaging our body. So the more antioxidants we eat, the better. Where do you find those antioxidants? You find them in fruits and vegetables, particularly in coloured fruits and vegetables. And one thing that he really points out is, you know, a green apple has less antioxidants in it than a red apple. It's the colourful things that we want to be looking at. Hibiscus tea is an example. It's bright, bright red, and it has lots of antioxidants in it.

so we can just work these into our life without it basically being hard or difficult. It's just, yeah, it's nice to have a nice cup of hibiscus tea, or it's nice to eat a red apple instead of a green apple. It's not a big deal. So that was my summary of his daily dozen. And I think that if you did that, you would be in a good place. I don't think there's anything in that that you think, my goodness. Now, one thing that I think,

Protein Perspectives: Plant vs. Animal Sources

He doesn't address so much that people now are talking about protein and having to eat protein. And my take on protein is, yes, of course we need enough protein in our diet every single day. But what I see is people really focusing on protein, particularly in the media. And this really means that people are less focusing on fiber and antioxidants and eating fruits and vegetables and the other part of.

getting a balanced diet. Now, obviously not everybody, there are still some people who are managing to balance both, but if all you're thinking about is protein, then you're often not balancing your diet. And the other thing that I see is people talking about protein and saying, well, in order to get protein, essentially you need to eat meat and that meat protein is much, much better than plant protein. Now, I'm not 100 % convinced that that is true. And I personally don't eat very much meat and yet I am active.

Dr Orlena (18:30.061)
and I am strong and I get enough protein from plants. And there's a big pool of research that says, actually, do you know what? Plant proteins are just as good for you. and that's, you're gonna be getting your plant proteins from beans. He's really, you're getting your plant proteins from beans and lentils and nuts and seeds and things like that. Now.

You don't have to be totally vegan. If you want to be totally vegan, then there are certain things that you do need to make sure that you're doing, like getting enough vitamin B12 and things like that. Or another way is to not eat meat all the time. So personally, I eat meat once or twice a week, and in meat I include fish. So for me, I tend to eat more fish than meat. And really just having a balance, thinking, okay, it's plant forward as opposed to

totally vegan. It's what people now call flexitarian. So I hope that was helpful for you. If you have any questions, come and join the Facebook group. That is where you can ask questions and really connect a little bit more and get to chat. Have a fabulous week. I look forward to chatting to you again next week. Goodbye.