Today’s show is a little bit different from the norm. I’m catching up with good friend of mine and fellow GP, Dr Ayan Panja. You’ll recognise him from previous episodes where we discussed heart and brain health and he has been practising medicine for 22 years since qualifying from Imperial College School of Medicine (my old university).

He co-founded and teaches on the RCGP accredited course “Prescribing Lifestyle Medicine”, he’s writing a book that I cannot wait to read, due for publication in January 2023, plus he’s the host of a brilliant podcast called “Saving Lives in Slow motion”.

This is where Ayan takes 15 minutes of your time to give his perspective on health and wellbeing which is “quietly-mind expanding” as he puts it. Informal, but professional and very very listenable. So good in fact, that I’ve embedded one of my favourite episodes that you’re about to listen to before me and Ayan chat on my podcast. This is on medical myths it runs for about 12 minutes and then you’ll hear me and Ayan talk about a number of other topics:

• Bereavement
• Lifestyle Medicine
• Ayan’s new book
• Why medics need to take a break
• Some of our favourite UK artists

Do check out thedoctorskitchen.com for links to everything we discuss today and the eat, read, listen newsletter that I send once a week!

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Hey,  I’m basing this end of year podcast on my newsletter format where I share something to Eat, Read, Watch or Listen to every week. Today, I’ll be talking through my top 3 book suggestions, 3 podcasts I reckon you should listen to or revisit from my archive and 3 brilliant movies and series to watch!

Read:

How to Live well Prof Robert Thomas

The Pain-Free Mindset Deepak Ravindran

The Paradox of Choice Barry Schwartz

Listen:

Sustainable weight loss Dr Nick Fuller

Watercress as Medicine Dr Kyle Stewart

The female ageing brain Dr Lisa Mosconi 

Watch:

Road Runner

High on the Hog

Meat me Halfway

Catch the links to them all and the references to what was discussed on thedoctorskitchen.com website where you can also sign up to the newsletter!

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https://www.sabiobank.org/

If you’re listening to this and you are of South Asian descent, this episode might be a bit of an uncomfortable listen. Because what we’re chatting about today is why, despite the advances in medicine, people of south asian origin are twice as likely to suffer cardiovascular disease, three times more likely to have diabetes as well as many other related diseases that you can think of including cancer and dementia. And I know the title of this pod is “Why south asians are at worse risk”, but the honest answer as you’ll hear from my guest today, is still “we don’t have a good idea”.

This is why, if you are between the ages of 18-85 and of South Asian heritage, no matter if you are of mixed background or whatever, look at the description in the podcast notes on your pod player right now. There is a link right at the top of this episode for the BIOBANK study at sabiobank.org. Click on the link, stop listening to this pod for 5 minutes and book an appointment immediately at https://www.sabiobank.org/

My guest today is Professor Jaspal Kooner, who is leading the South Asia Biobank Research study. Professor Kooner is one of the leading cardiologists in the country with over 30 years’ experience in the treatment of general cardiovascular disorders. He is a Consultant at Imperial College Healthcare Trust, and an active researcher who has pioneered some major discoveries and published numerous times in journals such as Nature including research revealing novel genetic variants that underlie coronary heart disease, type-2 diabetes, obesity, and other highly prevalent disorders.

I think this podcast is going to be a real inspiration particularly for young medics out there, or even people thinking about medicine. Prof shares his stories of his upbringing in Nairobi and his move to Kent in England, plus his journey to medicine, his thoughts on medical education today, when he first learnt of the disparity between health in certain populations as well as how he navigated the system.

Full show notes can be found at www.thedoctorskitchen.com.

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What can we learn that’s relatable from a modern day action man, who trained as a marine commando and sniper, who runs into active volcanoes, risks his life interviewing Mexican Narcos, survived Ebola and broke the Guiness World record for rowing across the Atlantic Ocean?

Well it turns out quite an incredible amount!

Aldo Kane is an Adventurer, Explorer, a Fellow at the Royal Geographic Society, Producer, Author & TV Presenter with a penchant for the world’s most dangerous, extreme and remote locations. Aldo was recently the on-screen Expedition Leader for National Geographic’s latest flag-ship feature length Natural History series One Strange Rock, hosted by Hollywood star, Will Smith. This saw Aldo lead a prominent American Scientist deep inside one of Africa’s most dangerous volcanoes whilst it was erupting and the description of this in his book “Lessons on the Edge” is absolutely riveting! 

Over the last 7 years Aldo has worked on many ground-breaking (and as he describes them “fairly tasty”) TV shows! He’s been held at gunpoint, charged by black Rhino, abseiled into an active volcano, escaped Ebola and dived on Captain Kidd’s pirate ship, and that’s just the last year or two. Aldo has appeared with Hollywood A-Listers like Tom Hardy, Adrien Brody & Henry Cavill in some of the most extreme environments on earth. 

We talk about so many themes today:

• Mental fitness
• Compartmentalising
• Flow states
• Consistency over Skill as the secret to success
• Stoicism
• Grounding

A bit of background if you haven’t seen him on one of his many TV shows. Aldo joined the Royal Marine Commandos at the age of just 16 and went on to become one of the youngest Elite Commando Reconnaissance Snipers in the UK armed forces.  No mean feat with the hardest, and longest infantry training in the world.   Aldo saw active military service from Northern Ireland to the Middle East and became a survival expert in many environments.

As you will hear today, he’s probably one of the humblest and nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of interviewing. Calm, collected, jovial, chatty and altogether ‘grounded’, as I would describe it. I could have chatted to him easily for hours, but instead I recommend you either read or listen to his book “Lessons from the Edge” that you can find in all good bookstores. A fantastic book for Christmas, it is perfect escapism. 

Just a bit of warning, the language is a bit salty on this episode. So just take care if any kids are listening in. And remember check out thedoctorskitchen.com newsletter where I share weekly mindset tips, many of which Aldo puts into practice when he’s in extreme environments, such as breathwork and reframing.

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www.crowdfunder.co.uk/noonegoeshungry2022

If you love listening to passionate and enthusiastic visionaries, You’re going to love my guest today. Sarah Bentley is the founder of plant-based community cookery school Made In Hackney. 

They fired up their hobs for the first time in 2012 and if you’ve been listening to the show for a while, you’ll know that I’ve been a supporter and ambassador for them since 2016.

The school delivers cookery and food growing classes across London with the aim to inspire people to grow, cook and eat more plants for the benefit of both human and planetary health. I’ve led a few classes in the past and they are wonderful celebrations of food, community and culture.

Their work crosses the fields of food justice, climate action, community cohesion, health equality and so much more. And now, thanks to their online programme, people can experience Made In Hackney's multicultural plant-based global cuisine focused classes from anywhere in the world. 

In addition to their cookery classes the school provides free nutritious meals delivered by cycle courier to households in need of food support. This was a service started in response to the pandemic that left vulnerable people at risk of hunger and I’m glad to say that this service is still up and running and has been added as yet another service that MIH will offer their community in 2022. They are crowdfunding to support this service here: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/noonegoeshungry2022 for another year so if you’re interested and fired up to support them.

Prior to founding Made In Hackney Sarah was a freelance journalist with a specialism in reggae music and was a community food grower and gardening teacher. You’re going to hear more about her story right now. Enjoy!

Check out www.thedoctorskitchen.com for full show notes and details on this and all other episodes.

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How does our food environment dictate our health? Well, as it turns out it’s incredibly important! Can you believe that in the 1950s and 60s, Americans had comparable obesity levels to the Europeans? What shifted their diets, and ultimately their waistlines, is a number of factors including public policy on nutrition, but also the food environment including portion sizing and the sheer number of choices involved in food consumption.

Jack Bobo is the author of ‘Why smart people make bad food choices.’ He is also the CEO of Futurity, a food foresight company that advises companies, foundations and governments on emerging food trends and consumer attitudes and behaviors related to the future of food. 

Recognized by Scientific American in 2015 as one of the 100 most influential people in biotechnology, Jack is a global thought leader and previously served as the Chief Communications Officer and Senior Vice President for Global Policy and Government Affairs at Intrexon Corporation. Prior to joining Intrexon Jack worked at the U.S. Department of State for thirteen years as a senior advisor for global food policy.

Today we’ll talk about

• Information overload in the grocery aisles
• How decision fatigue affects your ability to eat well
• Why what you believe to be eating can have a powerful physiological effect
• Choice Architecture
• Designing a deliberate foodscape that delivers health outcomes.
• And what we can learn from the infamous Google canteens that could be applied to the outside world

As always check out thedoctorskitchen.com for recipes, our community and links to items discussed on the show.

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What  an amazing conversation of positivity, mindset and resilience you’re about to hear today.

Myra Ali is a freelance celebrity and lifestyle journalist, and BBC Guest Editor with bylines in British GQ, BBC, Marie-Claire, and the New York Post. She Interviews A listers such as Tom Holland, Riz Ahmed, Samuel L Jackson, Jake Gyllennhaal, Timothy Chalamet to name a few.

Myra’s story, however, is much deeper than the glossy magazines she writes for and the  red carpet  events she attends. Myra was born with the rare condition of 'butterfly skin' , epidermolysis bullosa. An extremely rare, life-threatening skin condition that causes her body to blister and tear, and as a result of surgeries has left her with physical disability too.

Growing up with such a severe and disfiguring condition had a significant impact on her self confidence, ability to make friends as well as choose a career suited to her abilities and ambitions. But undeterred by her limitations, her incredible mindset has been key to breaking barriers and stereotypes and has landed her into the career of her dreams.

She has been open in her writing about living with her disability, and the way in which disabled women of colour can be too easily left out of the conversation. I’m delighted to showcase her incredible  story with  you and I hope that  after  hearing  about her perspective  on how  impactful the practice of ‘Gratitude’ has been for her, you’ll also undertake a daily gratitude practice.

We talk about :

Myra’s upbringing and childhood experiences 

The book titled “The Secret” and how that  impacted her life

Gratitude

The connection between Spiderman and Jason Atherton

And Representation of disability in the media

Check her out @myraaliedit

I listened back to this conversation in full and I just had the biggest smile on my face. Myra is such a rockstar and I hope her story and importantly her energy really inspires you.

Do check out The Doctor's Kitchen Website for full show notes and details for this and all other episodes

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Do you calorie count? You’re not alone. It’s a multi-billionaire dollar industry for weight loss, nutrition labelling and of course mandated on food packaging in most countries. Calorie counts are hard to miss. But how accurate are they?

Giles Yeo is a geneticist with over 20 years' experience dedicated to  researching obesity and the brain control of food intake. He obtained  his PhD from the University of Cambridge and assisted the pioneering  research that uncovered key pathways in how the brain controls food  intake. His current research focuses on understanding how these pathways  differ from person to person, and the influence of genetics in our  relationship with food and eating habits. Giles also moonlights  as a science presenter for the BBC and you will no doubt recognise him from a string of programmes.

We talk about:

The Inaccuracies of calorie measurement

Our lack of understanding about the composition of food

The impact of individual differences

Other determinants of weight control

How we got to the calorie calculations

How we expend  energy - through BMR (basal metabolic rate), physical activity and dietary thermogenesis

As well as why protein is more satiating

His fantastic 8-part podcast series ‘Dr Giles Yeo Chews the Fat’  is also available to listen to online, featuring myself as well as the Van Tullekens, Adam Rutherford.

Find show notes and sign up to the eat, read, listen newsletter at www.thedoctorskitchen.com

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Finally, I can say I watched a genuinely balanced documentary about food and the environment. I’ve seen all the classics: “What the Health”, “Forks over Knives”, “Gamechangers”, “Food Inc” “Seaspiracy” and others like “Kiss the Ground”. I’m constantly asked about it on social media and friends. Did you see INSERT DOCUMENTARY NAME. What did you think? And invariably I always have to point out the flaws, the biases, the shock tactics, the spin.

But this documentary is refreshingly different. “Meat Me Halfway” produced by my guest today, Brian Kateman, is a documentary about finding common ground at the dinner table. It poses more questions than answers and it allows you to make your own mind up. It doesn’t have a clear ideology woven through the narrative and it’s more exploratory than it is explanatory or defensive.

When I was watching the movie, I made notes to pick up on with Brian when I knew I was going to speak to the documentary host, but a little later in the movie they discussed the nuance of that topic. I didn’t have any follow up questions to the answers they posed at the end of the movie, because there weren’t any answers. This is complicated. 

And the conversation we’re having within our own avocado toast eating echo chambers,  centres around idealism rather than practicality. And this is why I thought this documentary was particularly great.

Brian is also co-founder and president of the Reducetarian Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy to create a healthy, sustainable, and compassionate world. The ‘Meat Me Halfway book’ is out next year and ‘The Reducetarian Cookbook’ is available in all good bookstores.

Listen the end where I reveal my favourite meat alternatives and hacks to reduce your meat consumption whilst maintaining a nutrient dense diet.  Plus you can find links to the movie at www.thedoctorskitchen.com where you can also sign up to our weekly newsletter.

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Today I’m talking with Dr Sylvia Tara all about the internal and external forces that govern fat. How we gain fat, how we lose fat, why your body refuses to let go of fat and how you navigate the confusing diet and fitness world that is constantly telling us that it’s all about calorie balance.

It’s not that I don’t believe in calories (obviously they exist), but it’s certainly not the most important factor when it comes to weight control for a lot of people. And for too long, people who have failed on diets and find themselves on a downward spiral of negative emotions and feel that they don’t have anything to blame other than poor will power. Today, we are going to explain why that’s not necessarily the case.

Dr  Sylvia Tara has a PhD in biochemistry from the University of California at San Diego and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. As a biochemist, she was driven to get to the bottom of fat’s mysteries and the reasons it vexes us, plus her own struggles with weight and dieting. Her book “The Secret Life of Fat” frames our conversation today and we largely speak about how Gender, Genes, Bugs and even Viruses can determine whether one person absorbs 120 calories and another can absorb 80 calories from the same bowl of cereal labelled as 100. Sounds impossible, but it’s true.

We discuss the complex biology of fat, how it resists loss, and what to do to remove stubborn fat. And stick around to the end of the podcast where I summarise the main tips to help you live a healthier life that balances an appreciation for why fat shouldn’t be demonised and how to live more metabolically healthier.

The topic of weight loss may make some people feel uncomfortable. I do my best to make our conversations as compassionate and approachable as possible but please exercise caution if you feel you might be triggered by these topics. Check out the show notes on www.thedoctorskitchen.com and sign up for my weekly Eat, Read, Watch newsletter.

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