Dr. Oertle discusses the new food pyramid and what it means for nutrition on The BS Show with Bob Sansevere. Listen to the interview or read the transcript below.
Bob Sansevere (00:00):
We are joined by Dr. John Oertle, the co-founder and chief medical officer for Solidarity HealthShare at solidarityhealthshare.org. Doctor, I got to ask you. Well, I want to talk about something you wrote very recently, the headline Rebuilding the Food Pyramid and Why ingredient integrity matters for our health. I have discovered … Now, you have Costcos out where you are in Arizona.
Dr. John Oertle (00:29):
In Arizona, we sure do.
Bob Sansevere (00:30):
Okay. I have a couple of things I love. One is their apple chicken Gouda, or Gouda apple chicken. It’s a company called Amy Lou Sausages out of Chicago. Years ago, before I realized they were in Costco, I reached out to their marketing guy and he would ship me in dry ice, like 10 pounds at a time. But then when I saw Costco hat and you could buy big packs of it, I said, “You know what? I’ll just go to Costco.” Get those. But the other thing from Costco I recently discovered, and you got to tell me it’s okay for me, it is a packet of lime infused rice, throw it in a microwave for 90 seconds. Then I throw it in with some chicken in a pan with soy sauce, a little teriyaki. It is better than any fried rice I’ve had anywhere, chicken fried rice.
Bob Sansevere (01:24):
I love it, but I know it’s not good for carbs, but tell me if it’s not bad overall. And I got to throw this in. I saw something the other day where centuries ago, the Japanese were getting a lot of scurvy because they just were given white rice to their sailors
Bob Sansevere (01:41):
And they then had to get more nutrients in it. But is rice always bad for you or is there something-
Dr. John Oertle (01:49):
Well, servy specifically is a lack of vitamin C. And so that’s why, again, it’s having some of that actual citrus on the actual
Bob Sansevere (01:58):
Rice
Dr. John Oertle (01:58):
To prevent scurvy. We discovered it when the sailors were out at sea and if you ever heard the term limes because they would be taught to suck on a lime.
Bob Sansevere (02:09):
Oh, that’s
Dr. John Oertle (02:10):
Why. To be able to actually take care of their scurvy is the actual history of that. But that’s exactly, it’s a lack of vitamin C. So you have bleeding of the gums and that’s the traditional scurvy.
Bob Sansevere (02:20):
Okay. Well, I haven’t had any of that yet.
Dr. John Oertle (02:23):
That’s good.
Bob Sansevere (02:24):
Am I okay with that or is that bad for me?
Dr. John Oertle (02:27):
No. So here’s the deal, Bob, you’re doing what actually the new food pyramid is talking about. Good. Improving proteins in the diet. So proteins are a highlight. And so what you’re doing, even with the rice, I would just say even when you’re incorporating the protein with the rice, you’re helping to slow down that speed of sugar hitting the bloodstream. And so you’re having the protein with the rice. I would just worry about the portion of the rice and then make sure that you’re some biohacking tricks. You could take some apple cider vinegar before the meal to be able to help slow down that sugar absorption, or you walk after the meal.
Bob Sansevere (03:10):
There’s very little sugar in any of the things.
Dr. John Oertle (03:12):
That way you’re able to biohack to be able to still have the foods that you like. But again, it really is about portion control as well.
Bob Sansevere (03:19):
Well, the portions aren’t ridiculously big. I mean, it’s like I would equate it to maybe half a box of when you get chicken fried rice at a restaurant when you take it home. It’s not ridiculous amount. It’s just enough to be tasty for me. But I also got to watch because I do watch my cars.
Dr. John Oertle (03:36):
I think that’s absolutely excellent then, Bob. I think that’s excellent.
Bob Sansevere (03:39):
Now I know what I’m going to eat later today because I had it for breakfast yesterday and for dinner. So because my family, I have a family where we all pretty much, we all eat together on Sundays, but we all have different schedules. So we’re not a traditional sit down 5:00 PM every night and eat. And each of us in our own way tries to eat healthy. There’s a lot of healthy food in our house. But I want you to tell me and the listeners about how the food pyramid has been rebuilt and what is the … Because I’m looking at the new pyramid. I see a hunk of meat. I see cheese, which I love. Love poultry. I like broccoli. Peas, take them and leave them. Carrots. Carrots are not great for carbs, but I like the tomatoes. But tell me what is the biggest difference in the new pyramid for people?
Dr. John Oertle (04:32):
Well, Bob, I feel like we’ve been lied to about the old food pyramid. So let me just start by saying, if you grew up in the 80s or 90s, and the old food pyramid, probably we were told to eat a mountain of bread, cereal, fruit loops, pasta. And somehow we all ended up with more diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. And so this is the problem with this old food pyramid and the way that we were taught. And so when I’m looking at it, it was a bit backwards. And so when we start looking at this new food pyramid, it’s looking at a different way to be able to see food. So one of the things that I like to talk to my patients about is I like to ask if they’re eating breakfast and they still think about breakfast being toast, cereal, a big glass of orange juice.
Dr. John Oertle (05:25):
And then if you do have this kind of a breakfast, are you crashing at around 10:30 and you’re feeling like you’re needing a cup of coffee or you need to be able to reach for other snacks just to be able to survive. And that’s not a willpower issue. This is a blood sugar problem. And so I feel like where this food pyramid really turns this on its head is that it’s really looking at real food first and a priority on proteins and healthy fats. So even when you’re looking at that apple Guda stuffed chicken breast from Costco, what you’re doing is you’re seeing that you’re focusing on protein and even in the Guda, there’s protein and healthy fat. And so this is where you’re not running away from fats, but you’re actually seeing that fat can be, when you’re doing it healthily, avocados and good, healthy fats, it could be a great part of our foundation of this new food pyramid.
Dr. John Oertle (06:25):
Then you want to be able to actually make sure that you’re having your fruits and vegetables as a core because they’re nutrient dense and nutrient rich. I always like to say they’re God’s medicine cabinet for us. And then you really want to be able to have your grains be very minimal, your carbs. And then sugar is recreational. So you want to look at your intake of your carbs because we definitely want to be able to actually just prioritize the ability of good, healthy foods, proteins, and fats. I always like to say too, again, no longer do we need to be able to fear fat. We should fear insulin resistance, Bob. It’s really this insulin resistance metabolic syndrome that’s really fueling this disease in our country. So when you have a diet that’s focused on good whole foods, healthy proteins, healthy fats, good fruits and vegetables, then you start to be able to actually see that you’re metabolically healthy and you can eat like you were when you were 20 and not have these fatigue, brain fog, weight gain and all the issues that we see as we continue to age with this kind of mentality of our health and food pyramid that we had back 50 years ago.
Bob Sansevere (07:39):
Now I have, and I think I see this as a good thing on this, and we’re going to give people the link to where they can find it. But I have extra virgin olive oil that I put in when I’m doing this fried rice thing. I add that’s my final ingredient and it doesn’t stick to the pan when I throw that in. But I’ve tried to put extra virgin olive oil on every type of, as much as I can on things that are appropriate. Now that’s not a bad thing, right? Olive oil’s
Dr. John Oertle (08:06):
Good for you. It’s one of those healthy … Yes, it’s a
Bob Sansevere (08:09):
Healthy
Dr. John Oertle (08:09):
Fat. That is the healthy fat. It’s not an artificial fat. It’s not a margarine. It hasn’t been processed. So extra virgin just basically means an unprocessed, a limited processed olive oil. And so that’s where you want it to actually not be refined. And so it’s very healthy for you, reducing lipids and helping with cardiovascular disease, reducing inflammation, and can be a wonderful source of fat in your diet.
Bob Sansevere (08:40):
And now for people that want to … It’s a great column that you wrote and people need to check it out. Now, you go to solidarityhealthshare.org, that’s the place to start out and just go to where it says news and blog, and it’s like four buttons over from the left. And it’s just like the third story right there, rebuilding the food pyramid and why ingredient integrity matters for our health. And now, are you the one writing just about everything on there? Because a lot of them that are health related, I see the … Also, whoever does your artwork, they’d make a good choice of art for these things.
Dr. John Oertle (09:22):
I appreciate that. I’m usually giving some level of feedback into that, but yeah, I write all of my own blogs and my own content. And so not all the articles on the blog are mine because there’s others about-
Bob Sansevere (09:36):
Sure
Dr. John Oertle (09:37):
Healthcare sharing, about healthcare, these increasing premiums that we’re seeing right now in the health insurance markets. And so there’s a lot of great information just on how to make good decisions in healthcare for yourself and family financially, but also I have a lot of my actual content that is the medical thoughts that I have and how to be able to live a healthy and holy life in a lot of the blogs that I post as well.
Bob Sansevere (10:05): And also solidarityhealthshare.org, great alternative to traditional healthcare. You need to check it out. Doctor, thank you so much. Dr. John Oertle, the co-founder and chief medical officer. We’re going to try that again, at SolidarityHealthShare, solidarityhealthshare.org. Take a quick break. The BS Show’ll be right back.