Dr. William Li On How To Protect Your Health: What To Eat, What To Avoid & The Daily Habits That Help Fight Disease & Slow Aging

22:47Dr. William Li:And that actually is a great way to think about how to preserve your health. So something that is universally good for our circulation over the course of our lifetime, green tea. Many people hear about green tea being antioxidant, whatever. Not that microplastic. You got to have the peak tea, right? Well, so I'll give you some little tips about tea. I personally like loose, use loose leaf tea. Yeah. I agree. You can go with a little filter. Yep. You can put it into a tea ball or a tea filter and you can brew it in a teapot and you're good. All right. Tea bags are convenient, but actually they're not that great for the environment because you dunk it and you toss it.

23:32Dr. William Li:Right. But you're also not getting all the good stuff out of the tea bag. Huh. Right? Because all those polyphenols are still kind of stuck in the, still stuck in the aquarium, so to speak, you know? So, and if you really want to get polyphenols out of a teabag, you want to really dunk that teabag. In about two or three minutes, you want to dunk it in after it's been soaked in a teacup. So I like to use a loose-leaf tea. I grew up in an Asian family, and, you know, in Asia, they just, like, put a handful of tea down into a regular cup. Who cares if you get a little in your mouth or in your teeth?

24:05Dr. William Li:No, if you want to know when it's actually ready to be consumed, you let the tea leaves settle to the bottom. And by that time, Michael, it turns out that the water has cooled off a little bit. And that's really important because it's been shown that if you actually drink something good like green tea, if it's too hot, it actually can scald and damage your esophagus. And drinking hot liquids has been linked to a higher risk of esophageal. We need to talk about this. Oh, no, this is his favorite thing to talk about. So my grandmother, you wouldn't know, and some people get annoyed when I bring this over to the show, she was a full Japanese woman.

24:44She was born in Yokohama. So I'm a quarter. And so my whole life she spent, she would not let me drink hot drinks. She did not believe in drinking hot liquids. It would only be lukewarm. And she also would not let me drink cold drinks. Does this make sense? She didn't want me to have anything with ice. It had to be just room temperature liquid. That's the Negroni that you had last night over ice. But her thought was, I don't think she had your education or your background. She just said, this is not good for you to drink too hot or too cold. It has to be room temperature.

25:16Dr. William Li:It's the Goldilocks principle, right? Not too hard, not too soft, not too hot, not too cold. But I want you to elaborate on why. Graham's newer stuff. Yeah. Well, okay. I'll tell you what the data shows. The data shows that if you drink really, really, really hot liquids quickly, You know that cup of coffee you get from the drive-thru and it's so piping hot that like you can't really hurt you. But if you're like really coffee starved, you're going to chuck it down and like it just burns your whole mouth going down. Your tongue gets numb. Your throat feels like it's been scalded. No good. And it's no good because that temperature will damage your cells, creating a greater chance you'll actually have a mutation, which increases the risk of throat cancer and esophageal cancer, no good.

26:02Dr. William Li:You definitely want to stay away from that. So as it turns out, the old ways of actually brewing tea were by the time the hot water is properly brewed, it'll have cooled down in its temperature. And so it's a little bit safer to drink. And by the way, you never hear people talking about for a hot tea, warm tea, chugging tea, you sip your tea, right? Even like English breakfast tea, you sip it. So what have I done in terms of my research? What's amazing is taking a look at, and this is that little jaw-dropping stuff, there are polyphenols in teas. We even know what the names are. One of them is called EGCG.

26:43Dr. William Li:It's called epicatechin-3-gallate. Don't worry about the fancy Latin. I mean, leave it to the people who deal with it. But that's a polyphenol that cuts off the blood supply feeding cancer cells. It lowers inflammation. It actually also contributes to lowering your blood pressure. So you feel calmer after drinking a cup of tea. And so a lot of these kind of folklorish cultural things actually are true. And back to your grandmother, you know, what I would say is that there's other larger principles of temperature and food and hot and cold. uh i you know i don't know if those have been adequately researched but definitely not drinking piping hot scalding liquid is is a good thing what about freezing cold okay so so i read so i wrote a book called eat to beat your diet which is about how do you have a healthy metabolism and still eat and drink foods that you enjoy without having to go on a diet and so one of the interesting things is that a lot of people don't realize is that we have our own thermostat in our body, okay?

27:52Dr. William Li:Temperature receptors. So, you know, the thermostat in your house, right? It gets really hot. You set it, you know, AC will kick on and then it'll bring it back down to a nicer temperature. It gets too cold. Thermostat kicks up. It'll put the heat on and now you'll actually be okay. So that's how you keep your temperature regulated. It turns out your body can actually do the same thing. So we've got temperature receptors. We've got a thermostat in our stomach. When you drink something really, really cold, it catches that on the thermometer in your stomach. And it says, dude, like it's getting really cold in here.

28:32Dr. William Li:We're going to turn up the heat. So how does a body generate heat? It generates heat through something called thermo heat genesis, thermogenesis. And what's pretty amazing is that as it's generating heat, where's it going to get the heat from? It turns on the metabolism and it's got to burn down fuel. Where does it burn it down from? Body fat. So when you drink something really cold, your stomach senses it, the thermostat goes off and it says, we need to put a little heat in here and it starts to burn down body fat. So drinking cold water actually from a scientific perspective is beneficial. If you have the fat to burn.

29:09But I think a lot of people, you know, if they're struggling with that and they want to maintain their weight, I think from her perspective, if you don't want that to happen, you should not have to do that. Because like, you know, we're wired as humans evolution to survive and so you need to store. So a lot of people would get, she believes a lot of people would get sick and die if they burn down their fat storage cells.

29:30Dr. William Li:Right. Well, I think we've got plenty of fat in our body. Now we do. Like we now know that body composition is not just what you can see in the mirror. It's also inside. And, you know, you can be overweight and clearly, you know, there are people who are struggling with obesity. They got lots of subcutaneous fat. You can see it, you know, that's under your arms or it's the muffin top on your thighs, all the stuff that people don't like under the chin. But it turns out, even if you're skinny, like skinny as a rod, you can actually have inside the tube of your body, you can actually have visceral fat.

30:08Dr. William Li:It's another kind of dangerous, more sneaky fat that grows even inside a thin tube. And it gets packed inside that thin tube. And it's like bursting inside. That actually increases your risk for all kinds of diseases, including 14 different types of cancer. What did you have for breakfast today, Dr. Williams? I had coffee. That's it. And a little bit of fruit. Okay, so you're kiwi? Did not have kiwi today. What about coffee in relation to tea? So I think the good news is that the fundamentals of beverages are really healthy. In fact, I call them the holy trinity of beverages. Water, which of course we need for hydration, which is really important.

30:56Dr. William Li:And if you want your immune system to work properly, you need to actually be properly hydrated. If you want to actually be, you know, healthy overall, you want to grow your muscles, you want to be hydrated. Absolutely. Drinking your water, right? So make you think about it. Now people are asking, what about microplastics and water? Well, that's why you ideally drink out of a glass bottle, right? But even then, you know, like I'm really now alert to home testing of water. I think that, you know, although it's difficult and expensive to go test your water at home and, you know, people rightfully question, you know, like town tests for their water.

31:35Dr. William Li:Much better to actually get a home filter, you know, where you can actually do reverse osmosis and really make sure you're drinking really, really clean water. But water is very important, number one, as part of the Holy Trinity. Tea, which you started talking about, not just green tea, black tea also is good for you. Turns out studies have been done in Italy looking at black tea and found that drinking black tea can also mobilize your stem cells for healing. Which is pretty cool. So again, you don't need to go someplace to get your stem cell injections. Just drinking black tea, English breakfast tea, Irish tea can actually be helpful as well.

32:12Dr. William Li:And then coffee. So water, tea, coffee. Coffee has got something called chlorogenic acid. These are natural chemicals found in the coffee bean. There are thousands of potentially healthy molecules, but chlorogenic gas has been really studied. Anti-inflammatory, it turns on your metabolism to help burn down excess harmful body fat, okay? And, you know, when I was a kid, people were saying, don't drink too much coffee, it'll give you heart disease. Not true. Some people are very sensitive to caffeine, and you've got to be careful. Everyone's a little bit different, but for the most part, in fact, coffee drinkers have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.

32:54Dr. William Li:Oh, thank God. If you are not on the creatine train, you got to get on it. I take creatine every single day. I have it, stack it with my workout. I love it. I cannot recommend it enough. The one that I have really been liking is by JS Health Vitamins. I have told you guys about this brand multiple times. It's a really good one. and it's known for its research-backed supplements. Everything they do is made with the highest quality ingredients. And if you look at the Lean Plus creatine, it combines pharmaceutical grade creatine at over a 99 % purity with areoman. So what areoman is, is it's a natural extract and it's clinically shown to boost GLP-1 levels by up to 22%.

33:41So this brand's really thought of everything. Their creatine is a plus because it's a three in one formula. So it's the first creatine that I've ever specifically found that's designed for women. And they have a clinically studied probiotic for gut health within the creatine. So this means that I get all the benefits of lean body mass and metabolic support, but without the unwanted bloat. I also really like that it's a lightly pineapple limed flavor. It tastes really refreshing on its own, or you could mix it in with their Vitality Plus Collagen Powder. I like to froth it. I like it over ice. And it's a great way to get high quality creatine in.

34:24There is a reason that JS Health Vitamins has sold over 10 million bottles and counting. Go to jshealthvitamins.com slash skinny and use code skinny at checkout for 15 % off your order. That's jshealthvitamins.com slash skinny. Let's talk about Caraway products. This company is one of our favorite companies. When Lauren and I found out about Caraway and had the founder of Caraway on this show, we switched every single cooking supply basically in our house to Caraway products. We use their skillets, we use their pans, we use their glass storage containers, we use their utensils. We basically use everything because we know we never have to worry about forever chemicals and that they never compromise their ingredients when it comes to cookware.

34:59So many people focus so much on the ingredients in their food, but they don't think nearly enough about how they store their food and what they cook it on. So we love this company because we never have to worry about it. And it's just another thing that gives us peace of mind. Now I'm even more excited because Carraway has just launched their brand new 10 cup coffee maker. So many people don't realize that when they're making their coffee, they have all sorts of plastic runoff. They have things that are compromising their coffee. And again, with Carraway, you never have to worry about that kind of stuff.

35:23It uses glass and stainless steel in the parts of the brewer that touch hot water and coffee instead of the plastic used in a lot of traditional machines. And they have a 90 minute warming feature, which means the pot is still good for a second or even third cup later in the busy morning. and it's perfect for top-offs if you want to add a little extra to your first cup. So check them out if you've been thinking about making a switch when it comes to your household cooking supplies, utensils, coffee maker. This company is the best. We don't use anything else in our kitchen. It's become an absolute staple in our household.

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36:20Autumn Smith on this show and learned all about their bone broth protein and their organ complex supplement. Ever since then, we've really broadened our horizons when it comes to this company because with Paleo Valley, you never have to worry about poor ingredients. We use this for our protein sources. We use this for organ complex, for supplementation. We use their meat sticks because they're fermented and they don't have any citric acid and they don't use any bad ingredients for snacks when we're on the go, for our children when we're on the move. We keep them in our packs when we're on flights.

36:46And this company is just great because they have something for everyone. What I love about this company is it was created by a founder that cares about the ingredients, that never wants to compromise what she's putting out not only for herself and her family, but for her customers. And Lauren and I love companies like this because when we choose products, we choose things that are good for us, good for our family, good to recommend to our friends and to our great listeners and viewers. One of my favorites is their bone broth protein. The chocolate is absolutely incredible. I put it on Greek yogurt.

37:11I put it in smoothies. They also have their organ complex. If somebody has not necessarily maybe been eating their organ meats, but they want to get the benefits of those minerals and vitamins, their organ complex is a great way to start. And their beef sticks, they have all sorts of different flavors. And like I said, they're all fermented. So there's no citric acid. There's no preservatives, no artificial flavors. just great healthy snacks. So if you've been looking for healthy alternatives for snacks in your home or when you're on the go, Paleo Valley has you covered. All you have to do is head to paleovalley.com slash skinny or use code skinny at checkout for 20 % off your first purchase.

37:40That's paleovalley.com slash skinny or use code skinny at checkout. And I also highly suggest you check out the episodes we've done with Dr. Autumn Smith diving even deeper into Paleo Valley and the incredible company they're building. You know what I love every single day? Don't miss a day. Bread. I love bread. I'm a bread person and I like a good bread that tastes good, but I also like one that is packed with nutrition. So enter Hero Bread. You would never know that this bread is zero to five net carbs and has 11 to 32 grams of fiber. A bread that has fiber is my kind of bread. I also like it soft and fluffy.

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39:15Dr. William Li:what is your opinion on meat great question um okay let me kind of lay it out for you the way that i think about it first of all um i'm not a vegan or vegetarian although i eat mostly a plant-based diet i will eat meat um when if i eat meat i will eat uh fish and seafood i will have chicken, but I will occasionally have pork or beef. All right. And, you know, and this is whether you won't, you will occasionally, you will occasionally have, I will occasionally. All right. And, you know, listen, who doesn't really, really enjoy an incredible juicy ribeye steak or a wagyu? I mean, you know, like these things are just tasty.

39:56Dr. William Li:Our brains are hardwired to appreciate that. And by the way, just so you know something about me and people listening, I'm somebody who really enjoys exploring food. I don't like being a glutton. I don't like stuffing my face with food, but I enjoy exploring and I enjoy exploring taste. When something tastes good, I want to savor it. I want to enjoy it. And so what I tell people is that, listen, we do know that red meat can have a lot of saturated fat, depending how you cook it. It could actually have additional chemicals that come off a grill or get burned on. We also know that when you process red meats, you can wind up actually creating even carcinogenic concepts on it.

40:45Dr. William Li:But by and large, if you eat meat like the Mediterranean stew, which is sort of in moderation. And by the way, this is also true in Asia. in, if you look at Vietnam, Japan, China, like they'll eat meat, but it's actually mixed in with veggies. Usually you don't have a big, thick, you know, T-bone in front of you that you're, you know, like you get on a plate, everybody shares it or it's cooked right into vegetables. So it's really kind of like integrating it more into your diet with moderation. So I think eating meat in moderations is fine. I think you should, if you're going to eat meat, eat the highest quality meat you can.

41:27Dr. William Li:Don't go for the cheap stuff and eat a ton of it and all the time, right? So that's the, I think that's where the, that's where the slippery slope goes. And then I also think that there's a lot of things in meat that people criticize. I just, I just identified some of them, but there are also good things in meat like carnosine and creatine. I think there's an undiscovered country when it comes to health that remains in our future to take a look at all the beneficial things in addition to the protein and a carnosine and a creatine and the iron that actually our body needs to stay healthy. And so this black eye that meats and red meats actually get, I think is a little bit of a, I don't know, it's an exaggerated reaction to a healthier movement.

42:18Dr. William Li:That said, I think if we're designed to be omnivores, Uh, I think that, you know, if you look at how our teeth and jaws are evolved, we're designed to eat meat and plants. We can eat both. And as long as you don't eat one to the exclusion of the other and everything in moderation and you don't eat too much meat. And, you know, now we can get into the whole discussion of like, where does your meat come from and how is it raised? And, you know, what kind of chemicals might be and how you cook it. All these are the subtleties. But I think for somebody who just wants to know, Dr. Lee, is it okay to eat meat?

42:53Dr. William Li:What I would say is that, you know, if you enjoy meat, eat it, but get the best quality meat you possibly can and don't do it too often and don't eat too much of it and make sure however you're going to cook it is sort of in the most natural, healthiest way possible. I think some of the frustration from viewers or listeners when it comes to just the topic of the quality of food is unfortunately in a lot of places, people may not have access to the quality. And so we had this, again, we had a guest on and he was saying in an ideal world, you would shop organic with the highest quality meat, with stuff that was raised right, all these things.

43:30And he made a line like basically, don't shop on the perimeters and the outsides of the grocery store, which I think is good blanket advice for basically anyone looking to change their health. But where some people had issue with it was it was, you know, there's an economic factor. There's an access factor. And so I think that's frustrating, especially to people in this country.

43:49Dr. William Li:So I have a completely different point of view on that. First of all, I think people should shop. They should get produce. That's the first thing you go to the grocery store. You're encountering healthy, fresh food. Or you go to the farmer's market. But I think after you chop the perimeter, you should go into the center and go on a treasure hunt because there's a lot of really healthy things that are found in those middle aisles. And I wrote about that in my book, Eat to Beat Your Diet. Like, I literally took people through kind of like my mental grocery shopping experience. And, like, you can treasure hunt in the middle aisles.

44:25Dr. William Li:Okay, if you don't buy, you know, junky snacks and candy bars. Clammy hots, Cheetos. Yeah, you know, all the stuff that you know, you know, not going to be that great for you. You know what's in a middle aisle that's good for you? You've got dried beans, canned beans. You've got tinned fish. Little seaweed. Little dried seaweed, dried mushrooms. You have cacao for baking. You've got honey. Canned foods. So, middle aisle. Tinned fish. Make a beeline for the middle aisle after you shop the perimeter. Go for some canned foods. Beans are particularly good for your metabolism. Great source of dietary fiber, plant-based fiber.

45:07Dr. William Li:Extra virgin olive oil. It's a great place to go find it. A lot of variety. I like to tell people what kind of olive oils to look for, but make sure it's extra virgin for sure. Tomatoes, canned tomatoes, tomato paste. There was actually a study that was recently published, actually this morning I saw it, that looked at a study out of Spain looking at people who were given tomato paste to eat every day as part of an experiment. And they actually did brain scans on them. and compared them to people who did not have tomato paste. And tomato paste improved brain scans, improved the interconnection of the part of the brain that helps memory.

45:53What about a little sardine and anchovy?

45:56Dr. William Li:Absolutely great. And you know why? Because sardines and anchovies. Listen, I've got to confess something to you. When I was growing up as a kid, I'd follow my mom. She'd go into the middle aisle, and I'd see all these cans of fish. I opened one up once, you know, when she brought it home, and it looked like cat food to me and smelled like cat food. And so I sort of had developed this kind of like aversion to canned fish of any sort. Like a lot of people. Like a lot of people, okay? But I will tell you that what you might not realize is that if you go to some of the healthiest countries in the world, Italy, Spain, Greece, south of France, these areas around the Mediterranean, Mediterranean diet, But tinned fish seafood is a delicacy.

46:42Dr. William Li:They're called conservas. They're just conserving fish. They get the fish on the boat. They flash cook it. And then they mix it with some olive oil, some spices. And they put it into a tin. And it'll preserve for a long time. You can store it. This is how they used to do it. And they are delicacies and absolutely delicious. Sardines, mackerels. You can get squid, clams, all kinds of things you can actually get like that. and you can find these like in a regular grocery store it's the clams it's the part that people ignore right like you just zip right by the uh tin seafood canned seafood section i would tell you to stop and take a careful look i think that's great advice there's some really delicious stuff in there also you can make some great things there was this recipe on instagram that i saw where it they had like some potato chips that were just potato and um what's olive oil and they just They sprinkled like the potato chips and then they put olives on top, a little bit of raw cheese, some prosciutto and then anchovies on top and they cooked it and it looked incredible.

47:48Dr. William Li:I'm going to come back at you with my recipe for that. Please. So, you know, when I am busy and I don't have time to plan dinner, sometimes it'll be like, gosh, 930 at night and I'm like, oh man, I was so busy to get a chance to plan a dinner. I'm not going to have time to cook a dinner. And so I just open my pantry and I see what I have. So I've got some whole wheat pasta, like, you know, like thick pasta or whatever. I got some tinned mackerel or sardines. Okay. And I have some capers. Yeah. And I have some breadcrumbs, you know, stuff that you have in a pantry. And like panko breadcrumbs. And boil the pasta.

48:31Dr. William Li:and I saute the, I take out the tin fish after the pasta's cooked, mix it in there, a little extra virgin olive oil, throw some capers on there, squeeze a little lemon, and then take some breadcrumbs. You toast the breadcrumbs with a little bit of garlic. Yeah, sounds good. Until it's crunchy and a little brown. And then you just pour them right on top. And now you've got this crunchy, sardini, lemony, capery salty I'm telling you it takes me less than 20 minutes to do it is this recipe in your book I don't know if it's in my book but I've actually I cooked it on television before I was on a Rachel Ray show and I and I knocked it out um because it was that quick you can actually do it I'm gonna go to the Rachel Ray show and look at this recipe that sounds delicious yeah and it and by the way, this is a traditional Sicilian recipe.

49:24Dr. William Li:This is for poor people who are not reaching for the elite seafood distributors. And that's my point. It's accessible. That it's accessible. You can have delicious, healthy things. What's in sardines? Healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Good for brain health, good for heart health, good for immune health. What else do you get? You get calcium because with these little sardines, you're eating their bones too. Amazing. That's a great way without having to take a big chunky calcium supplement to get a little extra top yourself off. I like to go to bed like with my skin looking so glossy and dewy because I feel like it just multitask as I sleep.

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50:56You can even hear my voice is like crazy from travel right now. And I need to make sure my skin is feeling hydrated. So if your moisturizer isn't doing enough, it might be time for an upgrade. Discover Paula's Choice Peptide Intensive Moisturizer at Paula'sChoice.com. Use code SKINNY25 for 25 % off your order of$100 or more. That's Paula'sChoice.com, code SKINNY25. I love my organ meat. And a lot of people will ask me how I've gotten my hair so long. And one of those things I think is due to organ meat. But a lot of people like get grossed out when I talk about eating liver. And so I always give a recommendation to a supplement.

51:39So enter Primal Queen. Have you guys heard about this? Okay. So this is an ancient source of nutrition, which makes it realistic for modern women to get that nutrient dense grass fed beef organ right to them. So you do two easy capsules. It's made specifically for women. And Primal Queen's formula was built around women, not just organ nutrition in general, which is why it also includes female organs. And this is really cool. Like the uterus, ovaries and fallopian tube. There's almost no other organ supplement that does this. So if you're looking to get all of the benefits of organ meat and you want something that's efficient and quick, that has all the superfood benefits, try a Primal Queen.

52:27Organs are a nutritional powerhouse. And I mean, I can't even tell you all of the benefits. I'll give you liver, for example. It's one of the richest natural sources of B12 and vitamin A. For a limited time only, our listeners get a free month of Primal Queen, plus four free gifts at primalqueen.com slash skinny. Again, that's primalqueen.com slash skinny to get a free month and four free gifts today. After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and let them know we sent you. I want my bras to be as comfortable as possible, but I also want them to have a good fit.

53:03I like my bras to be supportive. I like them to be quality fitted and that is why I love Wall Cool. So I've told you guys about this brand. They have a great push-up bra. I love a good push-up bra. I have had a lot of things happening to my body. Three kids, stress, hormones, weight fluctuations, postpartum, and I need a bra that's designed to support me through all the changes. This brand focuses on taking women throughout their day. And it's not one of those bras that you want to immediately take off when you get home. Having the right bra is so important, whether you're going to work or working out or for me doing the show or going out.

53:42And the other day I spoke at Dear Media by day, and I needed just like a perfect bra to lay under my, like I was wearing like a white chiffon shirt and I grabbed their pushup bra and it was perfect. So if you're looking for support and comfort and a brand that has been doing it for more than 40 years, check out Walkhole. Support for every you. Underneath it all lies Walkhole. Visit walkhole.com and use code skinny at checkout for 10 % off your first purchase. That's W-A-C-O-A-L.com. Use code SKINNY for 10 % off your first order. Offer valid for new customers only. Limit one coupon code per customer.

54:19This episode is brought to you by I Stand With My Pack, my favorite charity. It's a female-run nonprofit, and they're all about saving animals and preventing cruelty locally and globally. I have put a bunch of their dogs on my stories to get adopted, and it's really cool because they're so focused on rescuing dogs from high kill shelters across Southern California. And what they do is they place them in loving foster homes for rehabilitation. So if you're interested in donations, fosters, they need adopters, please check them out. You can visit istandwithmypack.org to donate, foster, or adopt.

54:56Every bit of support helps cover medical care, food, and transportation for these dogs. That's istandwithmypack.org. Before you go, leave our audience with the top three things that they can do tomorrow to improve their health? One thing that you can do is think about your favorite foods

55:17Dr. William Li:and write them down. And if you come up with 10 foods that you really enjoy eating, and think, go all the way back to when you were a kid and write down, like, it could be your mom's comfort food. It could be like a pizza. It could be anything? It could be anything. There's no rules, okay? And then take a look at that and then try to think about what kind of ingredients are in there. And the ones that have the most plant-based ingredients, circle that with a highlighter or whatever or Sharpie, okay, and start eating with that because that's actually one way to say, I already like this and it's really good and it's going to be good for me.

55:54Dr. William Li:So I think that builds confidence that you're an okay person. Your instincts are actually good. And so that's what I did in my book, ETP Disease. I created lists of hundreds of foods, and I tell everyone who reads my book, go into the charts. Even if you don't read every page, go into the charts. Assume I did the heavy lifting for you. These are all good for you. And just take a highlighter or a Sharpie. Circle the ingredients you already like. And then now, you know, now you've got a little AI helper. Just load them in and say, with the ingredients you already like, and say, make me a recipe.

56:28Dr. William Li:a restaurant worthy cookbook formatted recipe for it. And it'll knock out something for you to make. And you can say like that I can make in 20 minutes or less. And it'll actually show you something you can actually make. And that's one thing that I would say is part of confidence building. You got to practice in ways that don't make you break into a sweat. And you're like, and you get this positive feedback. Number one. Number two, I would say, you know, drink more green tea. I'm adding that to my list. Loose leaf. Could be loose leaf. would be great. Okay. Yep. And don't add dairy or sugar to it.

57:04Dr. William Li:Have it plain. Okay. And, you know, and if you don't want the hot, a really convenient way is just to make some ice green tea in the fridge. Now you can have it all day long. You hear that little ice? Yeah. Cold is actually fine. I'm going to reassure you. The science shows that it's actually fine. I'm going to pull this up. And so I think green tea would be the second one. And then the third thing is, I would say try not to fear produce. And I know that it's a little hard now with everything in the news about contamination and E. coli and salmonella and all that kind of stuff that's going on.

57:41Dr. William Li:But honestly, for the most part, we've got to trust our food system. We've got to trust our local farmers. We've got to trust growing. If you can find a good, reliable source that was producing a food that you like to eat, get the produce. like I love berries, for example. You know, I love blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries. It's just something I learned the other day. You know that many foods that we think of berries are not real berries. Strawberries are not a real berry. Blackberries are not a real berry, nor a raspberry. They're called aggregate foods. A five-year-old told me this, by the way.

58:15Dr. William Li:And I looked it up and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's absolutely true. Blueberry, true berry. Okay. And then foods that we don't think are berries are actually berries. Did you know that a banana is a berry? I did know that. I did not know that. We have to tell our kids that. I did know that. It's like a trivial pursuit question. I heard that in a weird place like that, like some kind of game. Yeah. Anyway, so the point is that I would say have berries, have tea, and build confidence that your own instincts, the things that you actually enjoy are actually good for you. And if you want a cheat sheet, just go into my book and look at those charts and tables and circle the ingredients you love and start there.

59:01Dr. William Li:You're already ahead of the game. I'm going to do that. Eat to beat your diet. Where can everyone find your book and your Instagram? Oh, so you can find me on social at Dr. Dr. William Lee, L-I. You can get my book, Eat to Beat Disease, Eat to Beat Your Diet, anywhere books are sold. And listen, I also, by the way, do these things called Grand Rounds where I take the principles that doctors use to get together every couple of weeks and share research information, the latest information and talk about like what's new that can be breakthrough that we can we can use in our own practices. Now, that's for doctors.

59:40Dr. William Li:For people, I like to bring that same mindset of science to people, easy to understand ways, kind of like we've been talking about today, make it as easy as possible. So you can sign up for that. I do this every couple of weeks. And yeah, my mission is to really get information that people can use. Yeah, no, I told you I love following you. You make it very digestible, very easy. You're always dropping things that you can do right away. I'll be eating my kiwis. Don't touch my kiwis now, Lauren. I won't. Get your own stash. I won't. Don't touch my anchovies, Michael. Dr. William, thank you for coming on the show.

1:00:11Dr. William Li:Real pleasure. Thanks for having me. Thank you very much.