I Added Sugar, Oil & Salt to My Diet... Here's What Happened

One, and welcome to Chef AJ Live. I'm your host, Chef AJ, and my guest today needs no introduction because it's me, Chef AJ in the flesh, solo.

So, how's everybody doing today? Anyway, I have not, you're probably wondering why I'm holding Rice Krispy Squares, but it's going to make sense when we talk about the topic of today. So, I haven't gone live as myself since June 7th, which was a Sunday, which was about a month ago. And I read my newsletter and people seem to like it. And I asked an informal poll, should I do this once a week, once a month? Every other week. The consensus seemed to be every other week. But I have just moved from Northern California to Southern California. Been pretty busy. I'm recovering from a fall. Nothing serious. It was actually, um, somebody else's fault, which is always good when I slipped. And I am doing well health-wise. As far as I know, I'm not doing any imaging or cancer treatment right now. So, I can't really tell you what's going on inside. I'm taking a break from cancer for four months to live my life and enjoy my summer. I'll have a full update on September 21st or maybe September 22nd because I'll see both the surgeon and the oncologist those days.

So, I am going to do the same thing I did a few weeks ago, whereas I'm going to read my newsletter and then we can discuss it. If you have any questions, just put them in the chat and I'm happy to answer them, of course. And let me just, I'll check the chat right now. Thank you. Um, thank you. Thank you for saying I look good. I, I'm, I've been really tired and that we, I'm not sure why. I, I am what they call anemic and iron deficient. And that's kind of an interesting story. I'm, I'm be good, a good one of those waitresses at the uh drive-in, right? Holding this up. Um, to be determined. I mean, cancer can do that, but there's a lot of reasons you can be anemic. But the interesting part of the story is I had to get all new doctors when I moved here from Roseville to to the desert. I've got a gem of a doctor now, actually a resident. But the first one I remember because I came in and I, I was just so tired. I've been taking like two-hour naps every day despite sleeping, you know, what I think is well, eight hours. And so, you know, blood tests confirmed that, you know, I'm not, not that I thought I was faking, but I thought maybe I'm depressed cuz, you know, I miss my friends and it's, it's a big deal moving at this age and really only basically, you know, knowing two people. But uh, it confirmed I was. And he, so he started talking about diet and he says, you know, and you know, what do you eat? And I said, well, you know, I've been vegan almost 50 years. And he goes like this, no wonder. So, I got a new doctor.

Anyway, these are Rice Krispies treats and I'm excited about them for a lot of reasons. Mainly because I can eat them again. I mean, I probably could have always eaten them, but I chose not to for whatever reason to eat sugar for, I don't know, what is it like 25 years or something like that. And that's why the title of this broadcast is, I added sugar, oil, and salt to my diet. And here's what happened. I'm going to tell you what happened. But I made these yesterday and uh, I posted them. If you want the recipe, I, I mean, I guess I could put it in the chat, but it's on social media, so we don't have to have an account on Facebook or Instagram to just go look. It was yesterday's post, and people were saying, "You eat sugar?" Okay. Well, I've been eating SOS for probably a year now. I don't eat it every day. I don't really cook with it. But I don't really avoid it either, which is why I'm going to have to give up my pin if somebody wants it. And uh, if it's in the United States, I'll send it to you. Dr. Goldhammer didn't want it. He doesn't wear pins. It's a metallic pin. It says, "Proud to be SOS free." I'm not SOS free anymore, so I can't wear this. If somebody wants it, first come, first serve. United States only, please. So I don't have to go to the post office to mail it. But I do have this pin now that I love. And I bought one for Chuck Carroll. It says, "Tougher than the rest." So, you know, rather than reinventing the wheel, you know, people come to my journey at different times. And it's so funny because it's been almost four years now since I've been dealing with this lung cancer. And then people go, "You have cancer." I'm like, "Yeah, I've been talking about it for a while." And I've been talking about the fact that I'm not SOS free for, I don't know, probably a year now. I've done a couple of videos, but I'd like to, if you don't mind, I'll check the chat. And if there's no questions, I'll just read my story. This is my story. I'm not telling anybody else what to do. If whatever you're doing is working for you, keep doing it. I've always said do the least restrictive program you can do that will get you the results you seek. If you want to get these newsletters when they come out, which is Sunday morning. This is the one from June 14th. We got about 300 responses to it. And some of them actually said, "F you." I'm not going to say what that means, you know. So, some people weren't happy with my decision apparently. And I get it because, you know, I built a large segment of my audience um just on that. And I'm sorry if I've disappointed you, but I kind of have to like live my life and do what's good for me in this stage of it. So, uh, more people have more subscribers on YouTube than I do, um, on my mailing list, maybe not so much Instagram and Facebook. So, if you want to get it, chefaj.com. Once a week, we send it out with a recipe, that kind of thing. And then you can read it or or you don't have to subscribe. The blog, it gets updated. So, the the ones you might have missed since June 7th are there. So, I'm going to quickly check the chat. So far, nothing there. So, I will go. Just nice comments. Um, I still have your love and kale from when Oh, that nice. Actually, I have this pillow that I need to get rid of, too, because it says eat kale and I hate kale. So, revelation, but true. If you watched the interview last Friday where I received the luminary award with Scott Stole, they that's that's the truth. I, I do like kale chips. So, let me go pull up the blog, put on my glasses, and I will read it to you.

So, here we go. I added sugar, oil, and salt to my diet. Here's what happened. How letting go of food fear and perfectionism finally brought peace to my gut. Hi friends. If you followed me for any length of time, what I'm about to say may surprise you because it certainly surprised me. On Tuesday, I had an appointment with my gastroenterologist at Cedar Sinai and he was thrilled. Not cautiously optimistic, not let's wait and see, but thrilled. In all the years I've been seeing GI doctors, and by the way, I've probably seen at least 30 of them now. That's not a word I've ever heard. Why? Because after decades of digestive problems, many of the symptoms that have affected me for most of my life have completely disappeared. The bloating is gone. The IBS symptoms are gone. And perhaps most remarkably, I now have normal bowel movements every single day without medications, laxatives, magnesium, prune juice, fiber supplements, or any other digestive aids whatsoever. For those of you familiar with the Bristol stool scale, I am a solid type four. If you know, you know. And if you don't know, let's just say this is the digestive equivalent of getting a perfect score on an exam. Now, for someone like me who has struggled with digestive issues since early childhood, like four years old is what I can remember, this is nothing short of miraculous. For decades, normal digestion felt like something other people get to have. I've had stomach problems for as long as I can remember. I was the kid who got sick on car rides and threw up, the kid who always had a stomach ache, the kid whose digestive system always seemed to be protesting something. As an adult, I've dealt with chronic bloating, IBS, constipation, diarrhea, discomfort, and an endless parade of digestive drama. Over the years, I've tried countless approaches, medications, supplements, tests, and strategies. Yet, the greatest improvement happened only recently. And here's the surprising part. It didn't happen when I became more strict. It happened when I became less strict. For years, I was trying to be the perfect eater. Not just vegan, perfect. No sugar, no oil, no salt, no exceptions, no flexibility, no gray areas. I wasn't merely following dietary guidelines. I was trying to achieve dietary perfection. If there had been an Olympic event for food rule compliance, I would have won the gold medal. What started as a healthy way of eating eventually became a source of anxiety for me. Now looking back, I can see that I gradually became more focused on food rules than how I actually felt. I wasn't just eating food anymore. I was constantly evaluating it, analyzing it, and worrying about whether it was good enough. What began as a sincere effort to improve my health slowly became another source of stress. And I understand why. I was terrified. Terrified of gaining weight back, terrified of making mistakes, terrified that if I loosened my grip for even a moment, everything would fall apart. So, I held on tighter and tighter and tighter. But what I never considered was this. What if the stress of trying to eat perfectly was contributing to the very symptoms I was trying to eliminate? What if food fear was creating its own problems? What if constantly analyzing every bite, every ingredient, every meal was contributing to my anxiety and keeping my body in a chronic state of stress? You know, the gut and brain are deeply connected. We know that now. And when I look back honestly, I realized I spent years worrying about food, thinking about food, managing food, avoiding food, analyzing food, judging food, and judging myself. Eventually, I began letting go, not of my values, not of my commitment to being vegan, and not of my love for healthy food. I let go of food fear. I let go of food perfectionism. And I discovered something I never expected. My health didn't fall apart. It improved. In fact, the very things I feared would happen never did. I didn't lose control. I didn't start binging. And I didn't gain a bunch of weight. Instead, I felt calmer, freer, and physically better. Ironically, I may have spent less time thinking about food in the last few months than in any point in my adult life. I also stopped forcing myself to eat enormous volumes of food to make sure I had every micronutrient covered. Now, this may be controversial, but it's my truth. For years, I was eating huge quantities of fruits and vegetables because I believed that's what I needed to be optimally healthy. And there are some people that can thrive eating that way. I did not. I no longer force down mountains of produce because someone says I should. I no longer feel obligated to eat giant bowls of vegetables. Of course, the dogs are barking now when my body is signaling that I've had enough. I still eat fruits and vegetables most every day. And I still eat mostly whole plant foods. But I eat in a way that feels natural and sustainable for me. I listen to my body more than I listen to the experts and their strict food rules. And my digestive system seems to be grateful for that decision. Another irony is that as someone who is now actually underweight, I discovered something else. What surprised me was realizing how difficult it was for me to gain any weight eating an extremely low calorie density SOS free diet. For years, I was terrified that relaxing my rules would cause me to gain weight. Instead, I found myself struggling to gain it. Life has a funny way of humbling us. Apparently, I spent years worrying about a problem that never showed up. The thing I feared most never happened, and the thing I never expected did. I actually became healthier and felt better than I have in years. Now, please understand that I'm not telling anyone else what to eat. I'm not suggesting that my experience will be your experience. And I'm not saying that fruits and vegetables are bad. They're wonderful. And I'm not saying that fiber is bad. It's essential. I'm simply sharing sharing what happened to me after decades of digestive distress. I finally feel normal. And this may sound like a small thing, but when you have spent a lifetime dealing with bloating, IBS, constipation, diarrhea, and unpredictable digestion, normal feels extraordinary. One of the greatest lessons cancer has taught me is that life is too short to spend it chasing perfection. Perfection is exhausting. Perfection is stressful. Perfection is often an illusion. What I found instead is freedom. Freedom from food fear. Freedom from food perfectionism. And freedom belie from believing that every bite has the power to make or break my health. And perhaps most importantly, the freedom to trust my own body. And in doing so, my digestive system has finally calmed down. My doctor is happy. And for the very first time in a very long time, my gut is happy. And so am I. And honestly, life is better with vegan vanilla soft serve from Chef Tanya's Kitchen. Love and loosening up everything but my poops. Chef AJ.

So that is my weekly blog and let me know what you think about it. Uh, there's when you subscribe to the blog, there's more. There's a, there's a, there's like um, a teaching moment like where I write something kind of inspirational. There's something called from the puppy files where I put pictures of my dogs. I'm not going to share screen, so it's much longer, but that's what I got to say. So, let me know your thoughts. Um, Mary, oh, is this Mary Riley from Sacramento? I'm glad you're following and listening to your body. Or could there be another Mary Riley? And if it's Mary Riley from Sacramento, are you coming to Vegas? I want to talk about Vegas for a second, too, because this may be my, I don't want to say it's my swan song cuz like I'm dying. I might retire. I don't know. You know, I uh, I got things I want to do in my life. You know, I am, I'm doing really fun things now. I'm taking in-person improv classes twice a week in addition to the two and three I do online. I found some in-person uh performing opportunities. I'm taking glass fusion. First project, I took it with Lisa and Nate of Raw Food Romance. I've got their projects over there and my friends, my dear friends from San Diego and East Los, Rebecca and Tim. And my, I'll have my next project to show you next week. Is just a little glass dish. And uh, yeah, so that's that. Vicki, oh, hi Vicki. I'm going to see you next month in my Chef AJ and Friends community. Vicki says, "Great to see you. You look wonderful." Vicki is an amazing chef with an amazing blog and an amazing book. She is so talented. Her name is Vicky Brett Gak and I think it's a, your website is hard for me to remember. Post it in the chat, but she's from Michigan and she's amazing. Uh, Jennifer says, "I do the same my OCD with worry about food. It's driving me crazy. I think I'm going crazy. I wouldn't have fried food though, but I'm loosening a bit like you." And again, I am not just so you, thank you for that comment. I'm not telling anybody to loosen the whatever you want to call them, the reins or the whatever you call them, the screws. I'm just telling you that that's what worked for me. And if you watch the show on the 15th of June with Dr. Wayne Dyinger called, uh, does rigidity impair healing? He explained that when you calm down, your vagus nerve calms down and your digestion can improve. So, I'm really happy about this. And uh, yeah, and if I've offended somebody by being true to myself, you know, I'm sorry, but I got to be true to me first. And uh, you know, I, I, it's not like I'm sitting there eating fried food. I don't like eat oil. The only oil in the house is there's a bottle of olive oil I've had probably since 1987 when I got my first Champion juicer because which unfortunately they went out of business in the pandemic because you have to grease this little shaft. I'm sure it's not edible anymore anyway. But I'm not afraid like if a recipe calls for a tablespoon of sesame oil for flavor, I think even Mary McDougall used up to a teaspoon. I will put that in. I don't have any right now. But, uh, you know, if you have to describe my diet now, I'm vegan because I've always been vegan for the animals. And I would say that I'm just a classic McDougaller. You know, a little sugar, a little salt. Um, much higher calorie density. Got to have that now. I can't, I would wither away if I ate the way I ate before. And I did. I got down to 97 pounds. So, which just proves that calorie density works. So, that's that. If you have any questions or comments, we don't have to stay on very long. Uh, put it in the chat. Uh, Debbie says, "I might consider comedy as an extracurricular activity, especially after seeing the movie Is This Thing On?" I think I saw that. I put, put what shows you're watching, too, because I, I don't watch a lot of viewing because one, I don't have a TV. I haven't had one since 2018, but my husband controls it. Um, kind of like you would control snacks. You know, once in a while, we'll watch a show. We just finished Running Point, the second season. Very good. Kate Hudson. It's based loosely on Jeannie Bus and the LA Lakers. We love that. We just love comedies and I've been watching a lot of Andy Huggin. I don't know if you know who he is, but he's an older comedian and he is hilarious. So, that's the kind of stuff I love. So, yeah. Uh, let's see. So, get you guys are talking to each other in the chat, which is nice because a lot of people know each other, which is cool. Oh, here's some comments on Instagram. Okay. Oh, I just wanted to say like, I, I know that after Vegas, which by the way, you know, uh, September 4th, 5th, 6th, we got an amazing lineup. Everybody thinks it's my conference and I feel terrible for them thinking that because then um, I'm not the producer. I'm just the host. So, you know, uh, I don't know if he's going to do it again and if he does, I don't know if he'll ask me again, but I'm going to take some time off after that. And I'm actually might take a couple of weeks off. He won't hear from me in August. I'm thinking of going to the program at Weimart that Dr. Dr. Nedley, who was my doctor when I lived in uh Roseville, had but I never did it while I was there. So, it was always too cold, but this would be a good time to go because it's really hot here and then it'll just be regular hot there. It's funny how the people in Sacramento think like 86 and 90 is hot. That's like normal. We keep our house at 80 all year round. So, three of us are happy. Myself, Charles, and Trixie Shiloh is miserable, but hey, it's three against one. What are you going to do? So, hopefully he'll adjust. Joeet Balsamo almost sounds like Balsamic says, "You are an ever evolving treasure. Thank you for being generous with your knowledge, talents, and personal journey." You're welcome. And Toby says, "Thanks for always sharing yourself. Greek mama's life, thanks for transparency and being you. You have always been an inspiration. It was definitely a moment when I got to meet you at Healthfest 2015, Marshall. What a great time." That was a great conference. I so love Mandy Smith. That was one of the funnest conferences I think I ever did. Uh, it's Kadosh. So appreciate the transparency. To thine old self be true. Very happy your digestion has improved. Yeah. I mean, I had shared pictures and even stood up when when my stomach was just nine months pregnant, which is most of the thing. Rose, you can't hear anything that I think would be on your end because nobody else has posted that. All right. Karen says, "Looking good." How rude of those people. Colleen said, "I actually, you know what? I didn't take I thought it was actually kind of funny because just saying the words the phrase f you I just I I felt like I didn't write back but I felt like saying could you be more specific you know if you take if you have a bone to pick with me say what it is but just to um spew obscenities without you know I guess I let the person down. So I am also suddenly iron deficient. Yeah. Um, I don't know if eating more greens by itself can help. Maybe my my doctor said that if you're going to do that, you want to make sure you have vitamin C with it because that increases the absorption. So if you're having like spinach, put some oranges in it, that kind of thing. The other foods that are high in iron or I believe pumpkin seeds, quinoa, I mean with the the plant-based foods. The thing is is uh they wanted me to take the pills and I refused because I said this is the first time in my life that my digestion is normal and last time I was iron deficient is when I was pregnant and they just messed up my gut so bad. Diarrhea, nausea, you know, vomiting that as I said no. I said just give me an infusion. So now I'm trying to I've got to wait to make sure that the next set of labs it's still low enough and then I'm just going to have to fight them like I do everything else with the medical community because I do think an infusion would be better because it's faster and it's not going to affect my gut because it's going to bypass it. So we'll see what happens. But it is hard being tired all the time. I don't get done everything I need to get done. So that's why you haven't seen me. Uh Karen says, "I bought your sweet indulgence book and the recipes are wonderful." Thank you. Yeah, I still I still cook from that book. I mean, I eat mostly the same food, but I allow myself some grace if I don't. And I just, it's just, it's just so much easier not having so many um rules, boundaries, and limitations, you know, especially what it's easier when you socialize and when you travel. Those I think are, I think you know, if you live at True North, if you're goldammer, it's really easy. But if you have a social life and friends, I'm not saying it can't be done. I did it for years. I mean, God, I went SOS free in uh, was it 200, sugar free in 2003 and then the the the flour, salt, and oil in 2008. So, I've done it a long, long time and it can be done. You know, I'm not saying it can't. And if you love it, do it. But I really like my food better now. So, if I'm being honest and so, um, I just recreated the burger almost perfectly from Sunflower Drive-in in Fair Oaks. I only found out about the place after my birthday, which was in March. And I'm like, "Guys, I've lived here four years. Why don't you tell me about the actual best restaurant here?" And, uh, it's so good. And they don't give out the recipe. They give out some of the ingredients, but none of the spices. I've got the texture right. I've got everything right except my spices don't match their spices cuz I don't know what their spices are. So, I'll be teaching that in the community in a couple months cuz it's really, really good. So, we're, we're loving that so much. And what I'm eating now, you know, and it's like listen, by the way, I made these yesterday. I haven't even had my first one yet. I love Rice Krispie treats because I was denied them as a child. And let me explain why. It wasn't because my mother denied me food. Um, we were raised Jewish and um, I up until I was Orthodox until a certain point. I'm Jewish by ethnically. I'm not religious in any religion, but we kept kosher, strict kosher. And in the '60s, '70s, and I think even in the '80s, there were no vegan marshmallows or kosher marshmallows because they're made with gelatin. So, I don't think I had my first Rice Krispie square till I was in my 30s. And I loved it because, you know, the funny thing about it is I'm not encouraging you to eat dessert, but they are low calorie density. I mean, at least mine because I don't put the margarine or butter in. I mean, compared to a lot of desserts, but I'm a vanilla if there's a lot of people that love chocolate and are chocoholics. I'm more of a vanilla holic and the marshmallows, the Dandies, the vegan vanilla, and there's vanilla powder in here. I love vanilla. And uh, so I'm catching up for all the years, you know, first 30 years of my life. Uh-oh, looks like I didn't mix in the vanilla powder right here. Oh, and also the sprinkles. They didn't used to have vegan sprinkles because they were made with, I think, beetle shellac or something like that. So, yeah. But the thing that I'm enjoying the most now and all my money is going to if any of you ever lived in Southern California or live in the desert, there is a store called Gelson's which is the most phenomenal store. This was when John Mackey wasn't even a gleam, a glimmer in his mother's eye. Gelson's was founded. It was the first like high-end like luxury grocery store. And there's one in, I don't know if the Pacific Palisades one is still open because of the fires, but there's Studio City. There's Sherman Oaks where I used to live and there's one in Rancho Mirage. And it's the only place that consistently carries the sugar kiss melon which is my favorite fruit in the whole world. If I don't, not a melon person and certainly not a cantaloupe person. Sugar kiss is in a class by itself and when they're in season I eat one every day and it's like, I mean, who goes to the store and buys $150 worth of melon every week? But it's that good. And when Lissa and Nate were here, they stopped on the way home because you'll never eat a cantaloupe again once you take taste the sugar kiss melon. Okay. So my screw, my screws are loose if that work. It's what works for me. Yeah. Well, here's the thing. Everybody's different and that's why I'm really not, don't even want to be in a position other than like, I don't mind teaching cooking and showing people how to make recipes, but I don't want to be in a position telling anybody what to do with their life or with their diet. And I mean, I can still teach calorie density because I can do it in my sleep. And I think that's a wonderful system and it always works for weight loss. It doesn't have to even be done vegan although I'm vegan and like people to be vegan but, you know, uh, yeah, love that bowl. How did you make it? Okay. So, it's called glass fusion, Jennifer. And the way it's um, what, what it work, the way it works is you're given a piece of glass, which is the clear part. And, you know, the teacher does the fusing or the, the firing or whatever you call it. And then you have all these different colored glasses, pieces of glass, and then you have these glass. You learn how to cut the glass kind of like you would do in stained glass class and then cut it into little shapes and pieces. And then you glue it on the other piece. And then she fires it. And then so some of the people made votives and they put it on this way. So we did a bowl last week that'll be ready tomorrow and then we're going to work our way up. This is just glass fusion one. But yeah, it's uh, this is fun. And yeah, I, my whole office looks like this. If you could, I, when I'm completely settled, maybe I'll be brave enough to walk around with the camera and show you my whole house cuz I love color and every single wall is a different color. So it's like I love things that are kind of eclectic. That's why my favorite artist over there is Aframov, Cooper Smith, Bridto. Those are kind of, I just, I'm, I'm like, love, love color. Also, I do like Van Gogh, too. All right, let's check the chat. Check the chat. I'll keep you on as long or as short. I really want to get to some of the other um, you know, newsletters, but I kind of feel like do one at a time and then I'll also put it in the chat if people want to, not the chat, the show notes when I'm done if people want to read it rather than watch and that's fine, too. Hey Rich, good to see you here. Rich's old buddy from Sacramento who ate with me at Sunflower Drive-In. We, I almost wore the leggings you gave me today and at the last minute I checked. Mail it to you, Chef AJ. Rich was the first one in the chat that asked for the proud to be SOS free pin. We ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. Rich, text me when we're done. I don't know your address, but we will get that out in the mail to you. And uh, if anybody wants the eat kale pillow, but that, that's going to require some major postage. And uh, so we'll think about that. I actually got one for Annleston a long, long time ago. I still, Okay, let's see. How are you doing, Colleen? By the way, uh, everyone eats different. All is well until disease occurs. Yes. However, disease can occur even if one eats well. That's the problem. And I can give you more examples than we have time for. But that's not what the talk is about. Do not apologize. You have nothing to warn an apology. Well, I feel like I let people down in a way. Um, anybody here like familiar with Dorene Virtue? Before I tell the whole like, not that it's a boring story, but before I tell like that story, I want to know and then I can tell you like what this is reminding me of here for Susie Jane. I sh my spinach. Sure. I sh my spinach, then I slice fresh strawberry, squeeze one lemon over them. I add this to my salted spinach with a serving of pumpkin seeds and a few walnuts. Sounds pretty good. If any of you live in the the Coachella Valley, you know, let, let me know because there's not much going on here with vegan, but I do teach uh cooking classes at a really fine culinary school. So, that's kind of cool. I do in my second class on uh Thursday. It's a repeat of the first class because it's sold out. So, and just regular people come, you know? I mean, everybody's a regular person, right? But I mean, non-vegans. I didn't have any vegans in the class. Had some doctors. It was very fun. A sauté. Okay. Okay, that makes more sense. Yeah, typo, typo. Um, you, we love you whatever you eat. Thank you. Well, believe me, if I went not vegan, I probably would get a lot of the uh hate mail, but I don't intend to do that, you know. So, people can be hurtful. I'm sorry they're rude to you. Yeah, well, that's what happens when you're kind of public with stuff, you know. I'm so glad you're doing well and look beautiful, says Katie. Thank you. Uh, thrilling to hang out with real people. Fanatics aren't as happy. Well, I think they're happy when they hang out with their own kind, maybe. I've been vegan for four years and no SOS for the last 18 months, says John Doe. It's a bit stressful, but so is the vegan diet in general. I'm not sure if I will do either forever. You bring up a good point, John Doe, and I would encourage you to possibly look at Dr. Lyle's podcast, Beat Your Jeans, or uh chapter, I think it's chapter four of the pleasure trap, where he talks about um maybe it's not chapter four, but I know it's episode 161 of the Beat Your Chen Jeans podcast where he talks about the ego trap, how sometimes people fail because they set the bar too high. So, that's a really good one. Kudo, kudos to you. We're all individuals and life is more than the food we eat. Food freedom. Low fat necessitates Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Well, low fat necessitates greater quantities because it's lower in calories. That's just math. So, you're right. And I don't, I don't think everybody's gut is like made to eat those huge volumes of food. I know people that have had gastric bypass can't. And it just, now that I'm not pounding it down, it's just things are working and I'm pretty happy about it. Okay. Uh oh, that's Jody. Hey, Jody. Jody says, "I look wonderful." Jody, when did you come on at the beginning because Rich already won the button. All right. Um, Suzanne says, "I admire you and adore you. Will always be my hero even though we never met. Wishing you a new piece." Thank you. Uh, I found a happy balance. Yeah, I think I did, but look how far I had to go to one side to do it, you know. Um, okay. Glad you are happier now. You look great, says Lori 60. All right. Well, you know, I mean, I just hope nobody um, I don't know what I want to say, but just that so sugar is okay now, too. Well, I mean, depends how you define. That's a great question because let me, let me explain something. You know, I'm kind of rethinking everything that I believe to be true. And when I used to interview like on summits or just, you know, podcasts or they'd have me on their podcast, there's a whole bunch of people in the world that are known as food addiction experts. Are often um medical doctors, maybe some are not, but some are and some are maybe PhDs and they, for most of them believe in for food addiction, a strict weighing and measuring program and not to be vegan. They feel that the animal protein is needed to combat the food addiction. Okay. This is a whole another subject. I don't want to necessarily talk about now, but one of the things that they've always believed is, and I think Dr. Goldhammer may believe this to an extent too, but I don't want to speak for him. But I know he says that with salt. In the SOS free movement, I see people that are SOS free not eating SOS. And I'm not judging it, but I see them eating things at least the way I was taught to diet by Dr. Goldhammer. It doesn't have chocolate. It doesn't have nutritional yeast. It doesn't have bread. It doesn't have alcohol. It doesn't have miso. It doesn't have tamari. I mean, there's a whole list of things that I was taught were not SOS free that I see people creating recipes of and eating and they're saying they're SOS free. And with sugar, Dr. Goldhammer would say, if you're SOS free, if you're salt-free, then you don't eat miso, tamari, or coconut aminos because that's still salt. And he basically would say salt is salt. You know, oil is oil, sugar is sugar. And so even though I never or I didn't for was it 25 years eat refined sugar meaning white sugar, white sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, agave, that kind of thing. I mean, aren't dates sugar? I mean, I know they're better in a lot of ways, the whole date because it has fiber, water, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and micronutrients. But I mean, come on, is date syrup really any better than maple syrup or any worse? You know, they always say in toxicology, the poison is in the dose. And Dr. Clapper always would give talk saying that, you know, these are condiments and if you're using them as a flavoring. So, I don't, I mean, by the way, I love dates and my whole book is based on it and I still use date syrup. However, in certain recipes that I'm creating for my community, if I were to use date syrup and like I'm thinking of one recipe that has two teaspoons of a sweetener, date syrup has a different flavor profile and a different color. So, if I'm trying to make like when I made that amazing carrot cake, if I use date syrup, it's going to be a like a not very attractive frosting. And even though like a lot of the raw food people eat maple syrup and it's not raw. So, I guess the point I'm trying to make is if you wore a CGM, a continuous glucose monitor, which I actually did, by the way, um, when I had pancreatitis because I was basically like fainting and stuff, um, there was no difference. In other words, I mean, if there's any diabetics out here or people that wear a CGM, let me know. But when I wore it for, I think it was about a month, it didn't matter. Like, I mean, I didn't test every sugar. I didn't have any white sugar or brown sugar, but it didn't know the difference between eating a date, having something with date syrup, having something with maple syrup. My body did not know. Maybe in my mind, it was easier to justify that dates are healthier because they're a whole food. But Dr. Goldhammer, even though he allows them, you know, he'll, he, he'll often say a date. Like you don't go on multiple dates, a date. And a lot of these recipes are cups and cups of dates even in my book. So, you know, I always think about what John Pierre, who I worked with for many years in the ultimate weight loss program, would say, are you fooling yourself or are you fueling yourself? Or maybe it was the other way around. Are you fueling or fooling? So, yeah. So, I, I mean, I'm questioning some of my beliefs about that because according to all the people in the food addiction space, it's sugar. Even some of them will say even fruit is sugar and they don't let people do bananas and things like that. So, not do what you do what works for you, but I'm questioning everything now. Um, a lot of my beliefs that I just held so dearly for years and anyway, my hair is looking good. Well, thank you, pretty girls mom, because it took two months to find a hairdresser and I don't have product today. It actually looks better. I, if I put product on. Um, I only have the, my favorite one is like they don't make it anymore, so I just don't use it all the time, but thank you. Her name is Connie and she'll be happy about that. I, I don't really like the sideburns, but I see that the purpose of them is to frame the face, so I'll keep it. How was Chicago? Why do you think I went to Chicago? I'm born raised in Chicago and I haven't been anywhere in a, in a really long time. Oh, Man on the Inside. Is that the one with Ted Dansen? Yes, we saw that. And we saw, what did we see? We, we just love the comedy so much. You know, obviously we've seen Schitt's Creek and Kim's Convenience. Actually, I was recently in San Diego u when I received the Luminary Award. Watch that episode if you can because I think it's inspirational and also funny. It's on my YouTube channel, but I think you got to kind of search for it. And uh, we saw the play Kim's Convenience. Very good. So, if you're late to the show, please help. Just move the thing over and watch from the beginning and you can actually speed it up. Um, okay, let's see. I'm going to go back to the comments. All right. Uh, this is from Susie. I have breast cancer. My nutritionist is encouraging a very vegan diet for me. Increased my types of better fiber. Introduced chia seeds. Feel better already. That's great that you feel better. And I'm so sorry you have any kind of cancer. Don't ever apologize for making changes in life. And the whole date is on the list. You have a sweet tooth and pre-diabetic. Good portion. Yeah, I, again, I, I think dates are wonderful and I live in the date capital of the world and my favorite is the Bahri, B A H R B A H R I. Yeah. So, yeah. So I like to answer your question, uh, I think it was John Doe that asked it. It's not about sugar being okay. It's that when I, Okay. So my salt and sugar is from condiments. I don't sit there and put salt and I mean, okay, obviously this is a dessert and yes, there is sugar in the marshmallows. I have not found sugar-free marshmallows. There's no sugar in the Rice Krispies. I get the one that's just rice and there's sugar in the sprinkles. But I'm talking about these are treats and like Michael Pollan says, treat treats as treats. So my treat is the sugar kiss melon every day. So the where the flexibility if you've watched previous episodes, you know, the flexibility started when I had pancreatitis for 66 days and got down to 97 pounds and without salt on the food, I was never going to eat food because I could pretty much only eat first broth and then it was cream of rice and it was just like without salt, you, it tastes like glue. But then I realized, God, salt is good. I really like it. And then I started buying fancy smoked salt and putting a pinch on. I basically don't cook with salt and have, if people come over, I have the salt shaker, but now I am using miso and coconut aminos more, especially, you know, when I teach at the culinary school, I'm not doing SOS free, trust me, because this nobody's going to pay $100 for that. So I'm doing um, you know, the um, things like miso and and even salt in some of the recipes. I made cheese in one of the classes, but it's, it's the condiments. So for example, we have very few vegan places here in the desert. As a matter of fact, my understanding is there's only two, maybe three fully vegan restaurants. And so there's a place called Flame Broiler that we used to have in Sherman Oaks that I love. It's just steamed vegetables. They steam them when you get there, like four different kinds. And then you can add green onions and brown rice, white rice, both. They give you this generous serving for like eight bucks. It's like the best value in town. And they have something called magic sauce and it's basically teriyaki sauce. It's like got salt and sugar. So I will eat that, for example. Or what else? Um, barbecue sauce. I still like the date sauce and I will order it, but if it hasn't come, I'll buy, I think it's called Kinders or Kinders. So, I don't worry about the salt and the sugar and condiments, which is what Dr. McDougall always taught. I don't buy food that has oil in it. And honestly, I think I only ate oil once. And that was because I really wanted to try this thing at the restaurant. A beautiful day was this cauliflower dish. And, you know, when a restaurant says less, they don't do no oil. Most restaurants, less oil is still oil. And, you know, it does, it, it doesn't feel good for me to eat oil. I still have pancreatic issues, but I'm not going to be so afraid of it. You know what I'm saying? So, that's the biggest difference is, uh, is the letting go. I use herb de Provence to salt my new vegetable-based meals. I need a pinch and it's a powerful flavor enhancer. Uh, Brenda says, "Hope you're feeling well." AJ, love you. I feel fine. And just really, really tired from the iron deficiency. And maybe I should use, use a cast iron skillet, you know? Would that help? Maybe. But anyway, uh, what is going on? Yeah, I, it's, I don't, I don't know what the word okay is because it may be okay for you and it may not be okay with you. I would encourage you to watch the video I did a year ago, why I'm no longer SOS free, that explains it. So, it's not a question of okay because okay by who? By the world, world according to, you know, the SOS free police or Dr. Goldhammer. So, uh, my recommendation is to do what's good for you and eat mostly whole foods and what Dr. McDougall has always said, if a pinch of sugar or salt is going

To help the medicine go down, it's fine. So, I don't think oil is really a necessary food. I'd rather get my fat from whole foods like nuts, seeds, and avocado. I recently had to add salt back to my diet, says Onyx. A lot of dogs here. Onyx dog. After discovering I had orthostatic hypotension due to hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, I'm starting to feel better. SOS3 is not for everyone. True that. Uh, the doctor, David Hansum, last Thursday, I think it was him, talked about Ehlers-Danlos. Was it him that talked about that disease? I'm trying to remember. You do, I do so many shows. Can't wait to try the burger. I'm going to have that in the community. I think it's April 19th is when I'm doing it. Uh, burger is very good. It's, yeah, Dixie. My version is SOS free though, so I mean, um, no. Well, no, it's not actually, 'cause I do put two tablespoons of, uh, the really low sodium coconut aminos in. And and I'm going to tell you, I don't want to create SOS free recipes anymore because I don't eat that way. And so, my palate has changed. But also, I don't want to create a recipe like the sunflower burger that has a teaspoon of salt over 10 burgers. So, what's that? A tenth of a teaspoon per burger. You know, you eat one burger and then tell people, just leave out the salt because that's not the recipe. It's not going to taste good. So, get SOS free recipes from people that are always doing SOS free, like Kathy Fisher, Rams Bravo, kind of thing, you know. And I have like 400 SOS free recipes. Yeah.

Uh, Vice says, "Late to the party. Watch the replay." Thank you. Ann Arbor Vegan Kitchen. That's the name. Sorry, I could not remember that. That's Vicki, and she has a great book. So, uh, I was a winner when I met you, Chef AJ. Happy to find you live, says Julie. Uh, Vice says, "Love the weekly newsletter." Yep. Just proves emotions are involved, says Jennifer. The body is always listening. Gabbor Monte. Yeah, I tried to get him on the show. They said no, but I'm going to try again now that I'm really into this stuff. Maybe they'll say yes. Maybe you guys can write him to me on. But yeah, that's what I'm really into now is not the diet and the and the strictness and the rigidity. I'm into the, you know, the mind-body stuff, and that's why Dr. Matt brings on these wonderful guests that are in that space, like Bernie Siegel. So, I live in the Coachella Valley. Yes. I'm sorry, Julie, that they're both sold out. However, Julie, call, don't write. Call Jan, the the owner of Kitchen Kitchen, because I'm telling you, every class, the last class, two people backed out. Now, they might not tell you till that day, but get on the waiting list. It, it always happens. Okay. Yeah. And because she's because then, um, she's she's not going to have any classes in August or September. Uh, Toby says, "Speaking of teaching calorie density, I always share a video with the jars. It'd be great to have one where all the jars are visible." So, didn't I do a video with all the jars? No salt, no oil made me sick. I have sea salt and cold-pressed olive oil in my salads. Uh, you did what you did in good faith. You're looking well. Uh, does this mean you have forgiven Dr. Gregor for saying it's not good to eat blueberries and bananas together? Craig, listen, you know, he's a wonderful person and he's adorable and hilarious. The thing is, is he doesn't work with actual people in the real world. And like when I do volunteer jobs and stuff like at churches and underserved communities, we're just happy if they eat something that's a vegetable or a fruit. And so to tell them when they're eating a McDonald's diet, well, you know, if you go to Jamba Juice, just make sure you don't put a blueberry with the banana, you know, it, it depends who you're talking to, right? So, actually, and the funny thing is, is I don't do a lot of smoothies because I know I'm always cold, even in the desert, because they keep it air-conditioned everywhere. I don't really like cold things, but if I was going to have a smoothie, that would probably be my favorite flavor. It would be blueberry and banana. So, just funny. I use Bragg's olive oil. Uh, you have to do what works for you. You look wonderful. Thank you. Don't worry if you miss the beginning, Jod. You can just scroll over. I look radiant. Thank you. Uh, Lisa says, "Never apologize for being yourself." Yeah, table salt is not the same as Celtic salt. True. However, you, they, Celtic salt, Himalayan salt, has no iodine. And so, you have to be careful if you're not having iodine from another source. Then, still a fan of Chef AJ, says Bethany. Deathly has her own remarkable journey of, I think what we might call food perfectionism. I like Indian jaggery. I switched to that instead of refined my my sugar. I think most things are good in moderation. What, what, what's that saying? Everything in moderation except for moderation. Or what did May West say? Um, there was May West had a famous quote about mo dates don't raise blood sugar levels. Well, um, my continuous glucose monitor would disagree with you. So, I think it depends on the person. Have you worn a CGM and eaten dates? Uh, because actually, all food raises your blood sugar levels. That's the whole point of eating is to raise your blood sugar levels. So, unless you've worn a CGM, I don't know if that's true for everybody. When is my diet going to change again? I don't know. I don't know. Took a long time to change this way. I have no plans of changing it. Defin I don't think I'll ever not be vegan because it's been almost 50 years. I always eat dates. Rarely a lot though. Did my genetics change? I don't think your genetics do change, but what's that called? Your epigenetics can. Oh, I heard that a haboo. Yeah, haboo is a windstorm, and that's Chef Tanya's word for blizzard because blizzard was taken by Dairy Queen. Recommend shrinking an English teacher. I'm not sure what that means, Vicki. Uh, yeah. My favorite ice cream dessert is the haboo. There are so many ice cream places. I mean, Sacramento was the winner for the best vegan food in the restaurants, but I don't remember having any vegan ice cream there except for at, uh, Press Juicery, which was just dates and vanilla, and it was good, but it was very icy. And then they changed their formula, and it was terrible. I mean, we have Leertz here, L P R S. There's three locations. They've got Dole Whip and six flavors and all these sorbets. But the best I found because I love purple is the place called Cream, K R E M, in Palm Springs. And it's made with sweet purple yams and roasted marshmallows. And the pint is $15. Charles ate the whole thing. It was that good. Um, yeah. I, I've heard of Freely, but I don't really know much about her, so I have, I don't follow anybody anymore. I took myself pretty much off social media and only post when I make a post, so I don't see anybody else's stuff anymore. Uh, I do love the Luminary Award video. I watched it twice. Funny and inspirational, says Yazuk. Thank you for that. Um, well, Southern Biscuit ladies, all my videos, see, you guys are watching on on Instagram. So, all my videos are on YouTube. The, when I do the multistreaming, it doesn't stay on Instagram. It only stays on Facebook 30 days, but it always lands on, uh, always stays on YouTube. And I believe it's called Why I'm No Longer SOS Free. And I can link to it in the show notes. Uh, why not combine banana and blueberry? Cuz, uh, I don't know. Yeah. Everything in moderation but moderation. What was the May West quote? That was the May West. Oh, yeah. Everything in moderation but moderation. Oh, she had some good ones. My left hip is Christmas. My right hip is New Year's. Why don't you come up and see me between the holidays? I remember that one for sure. Stephanie from Maryland. Yeah, other people might have different experiences. And I think you know, a lot of times people are eating dates combined with nuts, like in a date nut dessert. So that could have a different effect on the blood sugar. And also, you know, it depends the glycemic index of a food if you're eating it by itself or you're eating it in in a meal. So I don't know. I make homemade as much as possible, only on a handful of times a year. I think balance is the key, says Cosmic Body Exo. And I love how you said you're questioning everything. Never stop qu I never will never stop questioning. People are ever changing. We need to question what we're doing as we evolve. Uh, what was was your experience with adding oil? I didn't really add oil to the diet as much as I don't avoid it if it's in something. If I'm at some, is somebody's house, when am I going to be go to somebody's house? Nobody invites me. I don't know anybody here. But at a restaurant situation, right? Um, or for example, it's really, I don't know if I want it's impossible to get gluten-free bread without oil. And I'm gluten-free, but I'm also vegan. So that, that's where the oil is coming in, restaurant food and in bread because I, oh, I'm going to be taking a class with Chef Dell. He's going to be on the show Saturday, and you can take the class with me. It's a live interactive class, and he's going to show us how to make bread. So, I'm sure he doesn't use oil, so maybe I can do that. So that's where the oils coming in in that kind of thing. All right. Uh, what worked for you today might not serve you tomorrow. You, as in the general public, says Anna Maria Caruso. Nice name. Uh, I take iodine salt. Doesn't take much, but get enough iodine. I don't have to take a supplement. Okay. I feel better when I made happiness a priority, like you. I eat whole foods, says Dorene. Yeah, this week's, I'm three behind, three blogs behind, but that's this whole last one was just about happiness. Uh, Bethany says, "Great points. Most people think sugar in the Rice Diet was mandatory, but actually Dr. Kempner used it to help patients gain weight. We don't see pounds of sugar in his weight loss protocol." Okay. Hello from Mexico. I hope I get back there soon. They haven't booked me at Rancho. I'm trying. Uh, Virginia says, "You are a great role model for iterating your way to individual health." Oh, Debbie, I'm, I just wrote them. They said there's nothing this year. I asked to be on the waiting list, and I'm, I'm hoping for a date. Maybe you can call them up and just say, you know, you'll come if Chef AJ's there. I can get a group together, you know. Um, so Southern Biscuit ladies, I can give you the YouTube link, but they're not clickable on Instagram. What's my best substitute for oil in dressing? Well, balsamic vinegars. There's so many flavors. I have like four books where tons of recipes based on nuts or seeds or avocado or balsamic vinegar or roasted, uh, uh, vegetables. I have some, some based on steamed cauliflower. Lots and lots of stuff. That's probably the easiest way to not use the oils because there's so many delicious salad dressings that don't have oil. Uh, my recipes and many others that you can find in on blogs and in books, for example. But I just like use, uh, like reduced balsamic vinegar, like California balsamic or the company that we have here. Very delicious and different flavors. I have so much trouble with the banana and blueberry. Uh, I'm not sure who Rhonda Patrick is, but which she agrees. I'm happy to see you transition through your life changes. It inspires me, says Susan. Through my journey, I was hesitant to change, but it is a necessary means to living a life that accommodates what I need. Now, you know, I always think about the analogy. I don't know if you guys are familiar with the, uh, Fiddler on the Roof. It was a movie, and Tevye was in the movie, and I forget, or Toppel was in the movie. There was a play as well, and you could probably rent it or watch it. And the whole, one of the premises of the movie is about being flexible, that if you become so rigid, eventually you break. And that was the, the, the whole theme about with his three daughters getting married back in the day. And this was a long time ago when the pilgrims were in, uh, Russia. You had to get married. For a woman to get married, they, I, I guess it was an arranged marriage, like he, his was. And this, the first daughter, I can't remember their names. It's a great movie though, basically, um, wanted to marry somebody without it being arranged. And that was like, oh my god, you, 'cause that whole song, tradition, she's breaking tradition. And so then the second one wanted, didn't even ask, just said, I'm marrying this guy. I think he was mut the tor. And then the third daughter married a pogram, but somebody not Jewish. And, and then that was the whole pivotal scene where he goes, you know, I've been flexible. I've been flexible, but if I, if I'm any more flexible, I'll break. But then it was so sad at the end. He goes, be, it's so sad that movie at the end. But anyway, it's a good analogy, um, you know, for that. But anyway, but if being rigid works for you, I was, and, and I thought it was working for me, but I didn't realize that so many of my physical health problems were caused, possibly caused by it, or feels like it was caused by it. God bless you on your health journey. I pray for your healing. Thank you, Ranch Girl. Um, okay. Rich says, "What people, Rich, the winner of the proud to be SOS free pin, says, 'What people do not understand is that all fast food and all the salt you get in prepared food has no iodine. They think they're getting iodine and they're not.'" Yeah. Oh, that's the quote. Thank you. Too much of a good thing can be wonderful. I remember that. Yes, I, I do. That is so great. Thank you. So, guys, just tell me what, tell me what you want. What you really, tell me. Tell me what you want from me. Do you want to hang out? I mean, I know you're all not in my community, and that's cool, but, you know, but what can I, how can I serve you best? I mean, basically, I'm just being authentic. I, I would like to get back to doing some recipes, um, the way I do things now, which is kind of the way I did things before. Very easy and quick, but, you know, I'm putting two teaspoons of maple syrup in my marinara sauce 'cause it works perfectly. I know I could probably use a date, but then I got to blend it. And if I use date syrup, it's too dark. So, these are like little tiny things. Or in my Caesar salad dressing, there's two teaspoons of maple syrup 'cause I don't want it dark from date syrup. You're looking great, says Tracy. Sounding good. How's your husband? He's doing great. So, the whole time I'm going through this, he's going through like tremendous fatigue for a year. He had, or maybe he still has, but there's been no evidence, even though he's been healthy vegan and he's trim, atrial fibrillation. And it was really scary because we were driving on the, I think it was the 80 to go to Dr. Nedley appointment I had, and I was always sat in the back seat to be with the dogs, and actually, I think Bailey might, was Bailey still alive at that time? I don't remember. Anyway, he went into A-fib, and boy, that was really scary on the freeway going, you know, 70 miles an hour, and I had to crawl into the front and take control of the wheel. So, he had his ablation in February at Stanford. Stanford's wonderful. He, he did a great job, and he sometimes has to wear the monitor and stuff, and he's had no A-fib, and his, his fatigue has gotten a lot better too. Still has sleep apnea, working on that, supposedly. I do too. But, um, I, they took my machine away. So, yeah, those things are hard to get used to. I'm sure you guys know. So, I may try again with another sleep study test. But every time, you got to kind of like start a new. So, yeah. Um, oh, person was referring to a TV show, Shrinking. You know, I watched one episode, and some guy got beaten up, and I, I just don't do well with violence at all. So, uh, maybe that was just that one episode. Can you quickly tell me how you are doing right now? Oh, boy. Kate, Kate Burnhard TV. I'm doing great. The whole purpose of this was to show how, um, when I loosened up my diet, it lessened my anxiety. It improved my digestion so that I'm pooping like a racehorse every day without supplements and things like that. I feel tired from anemia and iron deficiency. Unknown cause right now. Uh, but having a fun summer. Love the heat here, and love the, you know, the things I'm doing. The live improv classes, the glass fusion. Don't love that I don't have any friends except for Steve and Linda and maybe Debbie and Chuck now, you know. So, I know four people, but they're gone. You know, a lot of the snowbirds are gone. So, I need friends. And that's what that was such, I never saw the movie Sophie's Choice, so I don't really know if this was accurate, but the, the choice to leave Sacramento to come here was so hard. I about a year having sessions with Dr. Lyle, who, by the way, is on the show tomorrow at 11:00. And, uh, because I had so many friends and so many wonderful friends, and the thing is, is I was cold all the time. And I know that Dr. a lot talks about the social ecology being super important, and it is, like your, that's why people live in what I would think of as horrible places. No offense to you, Tim Kaufman, Buffalo, like I could never live somewhere that cold because that's where they grew up, or their friends or family are there, but I like being physically comfortable, and my body, and people say it's 'cause you're thin. I was 180 pounds and I was cold. I was always cold from the minute I came out. I was cold, and I was anxious. So, it's not about my body weight. It's just, and my husband, thankfully, is like me. We just love the heat, and yes, it's going to be 116, and of course, we're not going to sit there in the sun, but it doesn't bother us. It's beautiful in the morning. It's beautiful in the evening. You just can't go out in the middle of the day, and I love being able to, you know, if you ever see, look at some of the videos when I'm doing live shows from Roseville, I'm got like a hat, I got a scarf, I got a turtleneck, and I'm wearing like four layers. Now I'm back to wearing, you know, tank tops and little shorts and stuff like that, which I, I just, I, I love it here. So, my body is very comfortable, and my house is really nice. I'm getting, putting it together. So, I just, you know, my physical comfort is great, and I think that's going to help my healing, and now that I found a doctor who, oh my god, this doctor. So, I was looking into, okay, so give, and nobody from Eisenhower watches me. I can say that. So, Eisenhower is the main hospital here. There's two others, Desert Regional, and I forget what the other one's called, but everybody goes to Eisenhower's. I guess it's the better one. I can't even remember the third one, unfortunately. Sorry about that. Um, but it's very crowded because the snowbirds, when they come here for the six months, you know, they make all their appointments, and it's very hard to get an appointment, and they call it Eisendollar, you know, like Eisen, like money, kind of thing, like they, some people used to call Whole Foods, Whole Paycheck. So, and it's funny because a lot of the doctors don't know that that's what it's been called. But anyway, so I looked into concierge medicine when I got here, and I had a few appointments, and you pay like $5 or $6,000 a year to get the doctor's cell phone. And I met with them, and they were lovely people, but like, there was no heart connection, like with Dr. Nedley, who, oh god, if you, I don't know why everybody that all the friends I have up there, nobody went to him. It's like, you guys got the greatest doctor in the world right in your backyard. Takes insurance, takes Medicare, takes Blue Cross. Oh my god, like, do Dr. Nedley, and he's a GI doctor, too. He's like amazing. So, you know, and there was a real heart connection. And so, not that I expect my doctor necessarily to hug me, but it's always nice if they do, or at least shake your hand. So, I just wasn't overwhelmed. And so then somebody told me about, well, instead of $5,000, if you pay Eisenhower $300,000, which is kind of like more than my first house in the desert cost, you get, I think it's called white glove service. So, if you go to the ER, you get seen right away. And so, you know, I mean, that's just crazy. So, I decided that, you know, and instead of getting a doctor that's been a doctor a long time, you know, looking at all the reviews on Yelp and HealthGrades, I looked at all the people that just graduated, and I thought, well, maybe if I see a resident, they'll still have that like, you know, they'll still care, and they'll, they won't be burned out. So, I went to the prim, you know, I think it's called Eisenhower Primary Care or Family Medicine. And I, I took every, I took all of them, the first, second, third year. I ran them all through Chat GPT, all their resumes, and everything, and she poked out the ones she thought would be the best for me based on their reviews and their personalities and stuff. And so, I, I had appointments with them, and they're all lovely. But then the, the one that, um, the one that both my husband and I chose. So, he, we, comes, I, I go to these appointments, and they're fine. I mean, there's nothing wrong with them. They come and they go, "Hello, I'm Dr. So-and-so." And then they go sit in the corner, and they're typing, and it's like you don't even feel like there's not only there's no heart connection, there's no human connection. So, the third guy, his name is, I don't want to say his name, and his practice will fill up. That's what happened when I was in LA. He comes in, and he says, "Hi, well, I'll just say his name." He goes, "Hi, I'm Dr. Kasmore." And he picks his hand out, and he shakes my hand, and I, like, tears were going down. He goes, "What's the matter?" I go, "I love you." He goes, "What?" I go, "You're the first doctor." Well, the urologist hugged me. He was my doctor before, Dr. John Faulner, the best. But he, I go, "You're the first doctor that like, you know, shook my hand or like actually came close to me. They all sit over there." And like when he was talking to me, instead of being over there typing, he just moved his stool. And so, you know what I did? I came home that night and I wrote a three-page letter to, they have like people that precept them, I think it's called, about what a phenomenal doctor he was. It was like a beautiful letter, and hopefully, they'll share it with him, and I hope it goes on his permanent record, because, you know, there's more to healing than just being smart and knowing stuff. So, yeah. So, I forgot why I brought that up, but it's, um, yeah. So, I'm feeling better because until I got a doctor here, I felt like I was in no man's land because there's an old saying, you can't get a show on Broadway till you have a show on Broadway. Well, you can't get a specialist till you have a primary. And like, I didn't have a primary. So, the specialists that I had were seeing me because I was their patient. Anyway, it's a long story, but anyway, to me, I want some kind of a connection with my doctor, and the fact that he shook my hand at the beginning and the end, and he was just, I mean, 40-minute appointments too, when you go to a resident, you know, it's not wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am. So, the only bad news is he's only going to be here two years. So, what we're going to do is hope that Eisenhower sees how great he is and hires him because I would pay anything to have him as my concierge doctor. Chef Dell, make lentil bread. I don't know what he's making on Saturday, but it's going to be a sneak preview of his gluten-free class. I'm not monitoring my blood sugar now because my pancreas, even though it's got some permanent damage from the chemotherapy, I, I'm not having pancreatic issues. So, there's no, and I'm not passing out anymore. So, no. I hated wearing a CGM because you'd go to a movie. I mean, and you can't shut it off, and you'd be, it just, I, God bless the people that have to wear them again. They're, I found it extremely annoying, and I kind of thought it was a little bit painful, too, putting it on. Yes, Debbie, please call Rancho. Uh, when I come to Palm Springs, I'd love to say yes to an improv night. Louise, you're coming in February. That's a long time from now, but, um, I don't know about live improv here, but we'll, we can find a lot of entertainment here. They've got the McCallum. There's a lot of entertainment here. So, yeah. Uh, okay. Uh, I, I, I mean, I don't know if I'd prefer jaggery. I mean, I, I'm not eating egregious amounts of sugar. I don't have white sugar or honey. Honey's not vegan. And I just have a little maple syrup and date syrup. And, you know, also the thing is, is I, as weird as it sounds, is I tend to prefer things a lot less sweet than my husband. And so, I don't use a lot of sweetener. Like, I make lemonade every day just for hydration. And it's just grapes and lemon juice. And when I make it like with the amount of lemon juice that he thinks is good, I'm like, this is like too sweet. So, I need to put in more lemon juice. So, my sweet tooth. But I do, I'll be honest, I've been eating gummy bears. Not a lot. We, my husband found these vegan gummy bears, you know, no fat. They're sour gummy bears at Whole Foods. And I, I ate seven gummy bears yesterday. It's not like I'm sitting there eating gummy bears. Okay. So, let me see. Please do some recipes. Yeah. So, you, I kind of feel like I can't show the recipes on YouTube that I created for the community, but I hope that there's like a statute of limitations because I have like an one recipe I have that Dr. Lyle Goldhammer wanted was I figured out how to make pasta in the Instant Pot in four minutes because I'm not going to sit there and boil water, and I would really like to show that. I got to ask my husband to, uh, to film with me, uh, with Bailey. Yeah. Uh, I love the recipes and I love this talk about life. Would love some more. Oh, you know, it's so funny. Living healthy and having fun. Would love some more ideas for batch cooking healthy foods that can be frozen in smaller serv. I would love if I do anything else because I'm not going to do probably some. It's for sure not weight loss or food addiction. I, I've always had in the back of my head and even an outline for what I think would be the best, not the best, but a very good, um, food prep batch cooking class to really show you how to do it in the real world and how I've been able to do it this long. And I just have to find a way to create that. Uh, cook for us the way you eat now. Yeah. Well, it's not that different, honestly, other than a little bit of miso, a little bit of coconut aminos, and a little bit of maple syrup. That's, that's pretty much it, you know. And again, here's the thing. I will never choose a product with sugar if it comes without sugar. So, for example, if you, if I could find ve, and again, I'm not going to do fake sugar because I think it tastes terrible. That's just me as a chef. I think stevia and erythritol are don't taste good to me. If I could find sprinkles and marshmallows without sugar, I would use those. I love peppermint candy. This whole thing kind of started. It's, it's really kind of funny because, you know, just like I hid my cancer diagnosis for years because of fear of being judged or people thinking whatever they were going to think, what they think. You know, I caused it because I wasn't perfect. And I actually was perfect. I, meaning in diet for a long time. I hid the fact that I was eating some sugar and salt because I remember I had gone to this event up north, and I, I love the flavor of peppermint. I've always liked the Starlight peppermints that you often see places. And we were at a musical performance, and I, my husband put some in his pocket, and I took one and put it in my mouth, and the person was, I can't believe you're going to eat that. Like, you would have thought that I was eating a McDonald's cheeseburger, and it's like, that's one of the reason, the one of the reasons for being transparent is then hopefully that won't happen because I've admitted that I am not perfect with my diet. I am vegan. I mean, if you see me eating a McDonald's cheeseburger, call me on it, and then you can say, "F you." But the point is, is, you know, I, I had this friend once, he's passed away, but he said, you know, the reason he doesn't lie to anybody is then he doesn't have to remember who what he said to who. And so, it's just a lot easier to, to be transparent, I think. So, uh, do you drink date shakes from Hadley's? So, Debbie, Hadley's is actually all the way in Palm Springs, and Palm Springs is about 36 minutes away. So, I don't, because I'm cheap, and they're like $14. I make my own date shake with the recipe that is in my book, Sweet Indulgence. I don't make a lot. Again, remember smoothies. I, you'd think I would. I do eat ice cream on it. You're right. That is cold. So, my husband loves them, but, uh, when we go to Rancho, we actually make them. People really like them. And I put a little bit of the brown rice coffee in them to make them kind of frappuccino. But I don't, um, I, I haven't made them in a while, actually. I've been do the lemonade every day. It's, I just love it. Two, two cups of grapes, the purple ones, uh, with the stems pulled out. Four cups of water. I like a third of a cup of lemon juice. Charles likes a quarter, and I drink the whole thing. It's delicious. It's like 200 calories for like this much lemonade. So, that's my thing. Uh, I think it's all about finding balance, which changes over time, says Lynn. Good on you for doing what's right for you. Yeah, you know, if you do subscribe to my blog, the message that I'm really trying to teach, and it's maybe not as easy because I'm, I don't have a, like Susanna here today to help me with the chat. Batch cooking would be great. A batch. That's what I'm kind of hoping. Margie, Marjo Joy Cost says, "Well, somebody called you out. What happened to mind your own business?" That's funny. Um, the theme it now is really just, don't die with your music in you, and that's what I try to tell people to do because don't wait till you have cancer or a serious diagnosis to do what it is you love, whatever that is, whether that means eating some vegan vanilla ice cream or taking a class that you might have been afraid of, you know, that's what I'm trying to get people to understand that life, even if you don't have cancer, it's finest finite. Tell us about your trip to the Ravens. I want to go based on your previous comments. Yeah. So, that is like the best part of not being SOS free is to be able to eat there. Okay. So, I am hoping, and if you want to go with me, just write them. Jeff and Joan, awesome people. And Sid. So, the Ravens is, to my knowledge, the only vegan resort, fully vegan resort in the United States. Uh, I could be wrong, but if it's certainly the top one, it has, well, the Ravens is the name of the restaurant, but the place is called the Stanford Inn. It's dog friendly, and we went there for our 30th wedding anniversary two years ago and brought Bailey, and that was like, basically her last month of life, so it was really precious. And they have donkeys and llamas, and it's really fun, and all kinds of beaches and hiking. But the place itself is beautiful. And the restaurant, the Ravens, they use, they do use oil, very small amount. Nothing is fried. Um, and there is some salt and sugar. And the first time I went there is when I was having pancreatitis. I could eat nothing but white rice at that point. And I'm watching all the people with their food. So, we went back for my birthday with a group. I don't know if we had 30 or I don't remember. It was wonderful. And I teach cooking classes, and it's just, we have fun and games. And, uh, yeah. So, that's why it's really like, you know, I can't imagine like going there on purpose being SOS free. You're going to be disappointed, you know, um, or you're just going to not eat SOS that weekend. So, anyway, it's a wonderful place, and thanks for reminding me because maybe I can get on the schedule for next year. Yeah, everything on the menu was great. Now, I couldn't eat everything on the menu because not everything's gluten-free. You know, it's hard being gluten-free. I wish I, I don't, I mean, that's that's almost in some ways harder than being vegan because they don't make it easy for you in this world. My hair looks so good at the beginning of the broadcast, and now it's flattening out from the flat iron. I should have put product on. Oh well, live and learn. Okay, so let's see. I probably should let you guys go. Um, go. Uh, Chef AJ, the chef who says, "How can I Well, yeah, I'd like to know what people want. And I, you know, I, like I said, I got this batch cooking course idea in in my back pocket that I kind of kicked around for quite a long time. I can tell you a lot about hidden iron deficiency. It's not really iron deficiency. Interesting. Pooping like a racehorse should be everybody's life goal. Good for you and all your progress. Yeah, that's funny. My doctor told me my fatigue was a sign of healing, says Susan. My body puts extra energy into healing. Yeah, you know what? That's actually a good point. Maybe that, you know, and also I could be adjusting. Also realize I had an ablation, and like those things are, that was a big one. This last one, they use a double powerful machine, and it was so that could have, that could have contributed to my fatigue, or just coming from cold to the hot, even though I like it. Um, he manages his CPAP, okay, but I'm not sure it's titrated right, but he, he adjusted to it after not wearing it for a very long time. Yeah, Dr. Dyinger's awesome. I'm hoping to get him over for dinner. He doesn't live far, with Dr. Batiste, if they can find a time. And doc, and doc, Dr. Lily Deal. Um, because they all live pretty close. I'll just mention Brian Johnson. He says, "If you could only do one thing, it'd be add olive oil." You know, I don't know. I don't, I don't, I don't want, I, jump here used to always talk about laser beam focus, and I, my laser beam focus is on my healing right now and what brings me joy. So, I honestly, with all due respect, even my friends, I, I unfollowed everybody on Instagram. I think I'm following eight people because, uh, I don't know why they're not, um, they're not in the plant-based space. I, my, so I don't want to, I, you know, I just, I need to just be on my own journey, and it's, it pulls me away, and, you know, it's funny because with, I, I guess you could consider this YouTube social media, but I don't consider it social media in the way I do like YouTube, and especially Instagram, where there's this addictive pull, like you can go to YouTube and just watch it and be done, but, you know, once you get on that scrolling in the feed, especially if you follow people, it just like never stops. And so, my life has gotten so much better and calmer since I only go on social media very rarely to make a post, and that's that. And I don't, I can't look at other people's stuff 'cause it's just too triggering. And I think that, um, other people might do well to take a fast from it. I know sometimes that's people's jobs. If I go to the Weimart program, it's like 12 days, and I won't have a phone at all. So, if I do have an addiction, it'll break it. But see, I'm worried because I'm in a Wordle group with Chuck Carol. So, you know, that's that's, uh, but yeah, I think we all use our phone too much. You know, everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face. Good for you for, I love that expression, punched in the face, because there's a, I got to tell you something funny about punched in the face. And you're going to think I'm a terrible person, but I play Jackbox. Um, not as often now as I did, but especially during the height of the pandemic with my family of dear friends, or my, they're a family, and they're dear friends in Baltimore. So, there's five of them, myself, and my other dear friend in San Diego, and my husband. And we play this game called Fibbage all about you. We also play Quiplash. And the question I got was, so I have to answer for me. The question was, who would AJ most like to punch in the face? And I got to write the truth, and they got to write who they think. And the funny thing was, is there were so many people I didn't know who to put. So, anyway, that tells you a lot about me. This, the side of me you don't see. Oh, uh, plant-based believes will see me in Vegas. I can't. Yeah, guys, come to Vegas. If you want to see me, do it now. I'm not saying that I'm going to die. I mean, I might, but I, I really am thinking of winding it down. So, like, if you said, "Well, you know, I'll go next year to see," or there's going to be a next year for me traveling. I'll do the cruise in in August, but, and Rancho if they call. So, come to Vegas. It's really good. Vegan for 27 years, didn't feel good. Always bloated, flatulence. Well, good. I'm glad it works for you. Good. And, um, a doctor doesn't have to be your friend. If you feel though when you go there that you don't trust him, it's not going to help you. Also need to feel, understand what he's saying. Uh, oh, who's calling me? Well, uh oh, I'll just let it ring. There we go. It's a 760 number. You look amazing. Discovered you during 2020. Praying for your health. Joy and love you do, says Shan. Thank you. Sweet Indulgence is a gift that keeps on giving for me. I'm happy to be able to tell you that. Do you have type O blood? I'm not a, no, I have B. I can't remember if I'm positive or neg negative, and I'm CMV cardgy virus negative. I, it's a B. It's one of the B's, that's for sure. Uh, thank you for sharing your experiences, says Doran. I have a diagnosis, and having you share is helpful. That, that's really kind of why I do it. Yeah, try. Yeah, grape lemonade is good. Cherry lemonade. If I do cherries, I do lime juice. It's really good. Doesn't need, you know, a lot of things don't need sugar. Uh, Bunny, I love that name. Says, "You're inspiring an outstanding human being." Um, yeah, Rich, the baguettes at Trader Joe's. Just don't do it for me. It's not like the bread at Pushkin's. Maynard says, "I look beautiful." Thank you. You need to live and just speak. Yeah, and let others live, too. I had two ablations. Yeah, fatigue is a part of healing. Love my posts. Look at the queen. You being masle. Thank you. Um, the only way I like kale is in a smoothie. The only way I like kale is in a kale chip recipe is on my YouTube page. I'm making them with Colin Campbell. Punch in the face quote is for Mike Tyson, who is al also primarily vegan. Unless he's biting somebody's ear off, because that's not vegan. Um, given that avocados are good, what about using avocado? And I just like to eat the whole food. Oil doesn't set well with me and my pancreas, and I just love avocados. So, did you mean to post that music with a black screen? I don't know. I don't even know what a story is, you guys. I am so Instagram illiterate. I just make a post and, uh, let me, I, I get better check. Um, but okay, let's see. I better go check sometimes. Um, I see something about try do another ice cream session with C. Yes, Kathy Hester contacted me about doing an ice cream session. You know, I ordered the cookbook just, Oh, thank you. All right, let's, uh, or maybe it wasn't my cookbook. Maybe you ordered the Ravens cookbook. I shouldn't say thank you because I don't know. I want to see you, but I hate traveling. I hate traveling, too. There might be a virtual option. I don't know. Okay. All right. Oh, he just bit it off. All right. Um, anyway, I think I've kept you long enough. I'm sure you guys have other fun things to do. I'll try to do this again soon. I am taking improv both Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 3, though. So, that's prime going live time. Let's tell you who's on the show this week. If you want to connect in a more intimate way, chefj.com, you'll get the blog that I just read, and past blogs will be on the blog. Future blogs come on Sunday. Chef AJ Community, I do a, at least one cooking demo a month. And we've got other wonderful people like, uh, Vicki, who's watching live, that's going to do one. We just had Chef Julia Dunaway, and sometimes we have doctors, and, uh, we have a, a wonderful member named Susanna, who's our success coach, who does the weight loss portion and things like that. She's lost almost 100 pounds. Now, tomorrow's Doug Lyle, Dr. Doug Lyle at 11 o'clock. It's called Straight Talk with Dr. Doug Lyle, and we, he answers viewers' questions or people that have sent him in in advance. We have got Dr. Joel Ferman on Thursday at 11 o'clock. He's going to be talking about the harm that osteoporosis, uh, and osteopenia drugs can do, um, or even just non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, I believe. And he'll be in Vegas. And then Friday, we have Linda Tyler, and, uh, we have Donna Spencer with, uh, they're going to be making vegan cheese. So, yeah, that's the, see, that's the other thing, like, uh, if you ever had Rebel Cheese, oh my god, it's funny because I tasted all of them at a Thanksgiving, and the one that I liked the best was the one without oil, and they sell it here now, and it is the Breeze. So, enjoy your life, live your life, be kind, get a puppy if you don't have one, or cat, but just adopt, don't shop. That's my message. And, uh, don't die with your music in you. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Chef AJ, and I hope