Thriving at 87 on a Whole Food Plant Based Diet | CHEF AJ LIVE! with Ann Esselstyn

gotta push that button all right hey everyone and welcome to Chef AJ live I'm your host Chef AJ and this is where I introduce you to amazing people like you who are doing great things in the world that I think you should know about well today is day seven the final day of longevity week on Chef AJ live where we talk to people who have been following a plant-based diet for many years in their 50s 60s 70s and 80s and they're going to tell us the secrets to Health and Longevity how they've been able to thrive and turn back the hands of time and today we have New York Times best-selling author Ann esselstyn and it's so great to see you thank you for completing this wonderful week that we've had thank you Ray Chase yeah hey did you ever did you ever dream that at 87 you'd be a New York Times best-selling author well no but I never dreamed that I would be on your show and I would go to get on and I'd have no internet and I would have to go next door to our to our son and daughter-in-law wait our daughters our daughter and sidelines to get internet but here I am well think thank goodness that you you have that to your disposal because it would be it would be sad if we couldn't complete the week with you because you are the oldest person that we've had this week and I'm not you're not old but but you know I I want to ask you Anna you're just a little old a little older well we had we had an 84 year old yesterday who had been vegan for 50 years but I'm curious you and and your husband Dr esselstyn Who couldn't be here today because he had an appointment maybe we'll have him on again you guys are in your late 80s he has the craziest oh no I mean I mean really such a bad cough that he even we even went to the ER to see if his lungs were clear and they were fine but he is not up for not not up for a live broadcast today well thank you so much for being here I'm curious Ann as far as I know neither of you are on any medication you don't have any lifestyle related or other diseases so do you attribute that to your greens or your jeans certainly absolutely not in the tiniest bit to my genes I've got horrible dreams my mother died at 52 of breast cancer my sister got breast cancer at her late 50s and she died at 62 of that plus a glioblastoma which is nothing to do with food um my brother died of pancreatic cancer mine too it's 60. well yeah and that's a terrible I mean so I don't have I do not have good genes I mean I I the only reason I think I am even alive is because of food how old were you when you changed your diet to one that was exclusively plants and how how good or poorly did you eat before that well we oh we ate the standard American diet actually when we got married and because my husband's father had heart heart attack very early in life we had we had we were feeling kind of cool because we drank skim milk and I don't we didn't eat eggs and um you know we did those silly little things that feel when when I mean was it was it was it through Dr russelson's research that you ultimately ended up changing your diet hey Jay you out before yeah I grew up eating crazy things my father was nutty I mean he was really a Maverick and uh he was a general surgeon but sort of on the side we did underwater diving we would eat whatever we caught but he we also if when it rained he would go out and get snails off the driveway and call them a Scargo with you know butter and whatever um we ate city pigeon pigeons which he called um whatever fancy bird and I mean if it was a roadkill and it was still warm we ate it wow that that yeah oh gosh I actually before I was vegan 45 years ago I ate a pigeon accidentally somebody tricked me they but wow that's incredible I mean I mean for when we were married we had a goat roast the night before we were married when the first meal I had for my father our very elegant landlords was calf tongue I mean so how did I eat before not great wow so how how many years ago did you change your diet and was it because of Dr esselstyn's research that that was that the impetus no it was the impetus yes that was about 1983. 83 so 93 2000 so that's like 40 years ago about wow that's incredible what was it were you uh excited to do this when he presented you with the research were you reluctant was it difficult because I know that you wrote All The Fabulous recipes for his book prevent and reverse heart disease well I think it was if that at first it was a little hard the way a lot of people are where you kind of fight against it but as soon as my sister called with breast cancer it was like okay I'm doing it and that was right very early on then so I mean it just was something we did was it difficult in how hard was it for you to learn to cook not only plant-based but oil-free well first off back then we lived in Cleveland Ohio and we knew I I was teaching I was teaching sixth grade English and two of the vocabulary words I distinctly remember giving my students were one is vegan and the other is vegetarian and they didn't know what those meant and nobody was eating that way back then and there was no internet then and there were no books I mean that's not true because McDougall was on the West Coast but the West Coast was like going to Europe then I mean you just didn't sort of communicate like that so we just started I mean I just had to figure it out and it was slow and bad food sometimes but you know and I'm sure you find this true kind of when you make something you don't think it's so horrible even though other people might but you know it's you know it's okay to eat it well can you remember some of your early uh successes or maybe flops when you were changing your diet it was the hard part changing the plant-based or the oil-free part um I don't think oil free is hard period I mean it's hard to figure out a salad dressing yes but actually no oil you get rid of your oil you have no oil so you use any liquid that works and that's I mean so that's fine I think for um my husband had pets smoke all over uh and uh one of the places he went was Puerto Rico and I went with him and we really love the rice and beans that we got in Puerto Rico so that was where we kind of started with rice and beans actually we haven't left it that's still our favorite meal it's our party meal it's our when we have guests Christmas Eve we have a lot of people we have rice and beans I mean you know you could put all kinds of things on it and so that was an early success always nice absolutely how old were your kids at the time and they were adults weren't they so they all seem to change their diet our youngest was Zeb who was home the rest had gone off to college but we had always and as I had said earlier we had always eaten a slightly bit differently than all their friends I mean still we had plenty of meat and cheese and but and so they um they heard the conversations and they somehow or others started doing it and I know my husband's breakfast which was just oats from the from the jar with an alternative milk and all kinds of berries and flax or Chia on it and he would maybe put some walnuts or raisins um that our kids took off to school and I can remember it so it's sort of fun because the our kids friends would also start eating like that so it was like that breakfast began to have fingers going out that's you know so many people struggle because their family isn't on board but yet your entire family from your four children to I don't know how many grandchildren you have now all eat the same way they all are plant-based it's kind of it's wonderful how many grandchildren do you have 10 10. that's amazing so Thanksgiving is never a problem for you guys you're not never arguing well it's not but we have we have other people that come and everybody can bring something in it somebody may bring a turkey I mean they know it just whatever is there but we always have this fantastic display of great food yeah do you know that your plant-based royalty no you're just Anne right but I have to tell you that our 10 grandchildren one of the one of the things that I did for the uh be a plant-based woman warrior the fair stay bold eat delicious one of the things I did was Interview all 10 of our grandchildren to ask them what they felt about being plant-based and I don't have the book in front of me but I loved their quotes before one of my favorite quotes was by Rip's youngest daughter who at the time was seven and what she said if you eat meat you die adorable adorable well I'm posting the link to the book both in the chat in the show notes so people can check it out and again congratulations on writing another bestseller because prevent reverse heart disease was also a New York Times bestseller that you wrote the recipes for do you enjoy do you enjoy recipe creation or you rather just leave it alone now and just eat rice and beans it's kind of a good question I because I just today now that it's getting a little colder here I'm thinking I gotta get back to doing some some new food but how do you feel AJ do you I I really don't I mean I feel like I mean I've written 400 recipes and it's like I don't need to write the 401 because I eat so simply sweet your rice and beans is my sweet potatoes and broccoli I've eaten every day for the last 10 years and I never get sick of it but other people seem to always be seeking novelty and new recipes have you noticed that yeah no I I I sort of go back on the old ones I agree so okay question for you how do you cook your sweet potato I actually they're roasting right now first of all they're not the orange ones I don't care as much for the orange ones it's the hand of yams and I get the largest ones I can find they're usually about two pounds they're really big I cut the tips off very gently and I roast them in my Breville for for about 90 minutes at 400 and they get caramelized and just so delicious they're called Hannah yams sometimes they're called White sweet potatoes or Jersey or batata so they're not the orange ones they're more like the Japanese they're they're sweeter and they're they're kind of vanilla you've never had them they don't have them in Cleveland I have the New Jersey and they are nice I love I like the flavor of the Japanese sweet potatoes but they are sometimes dry yeah well I find the hand the handles are a little bit less dry but they're they're just they're so delicious I just I love them so one of the things I notice about you because I watch you on social media pulling tires it seems like exercise not just healthy eating has always been part of your life Dr esselson's life and really all your children it's not like we have to make the esselstyn's exercise it seems to be in your DNA that that's just something you do yeah well actually this morning we've got a crazy day here it's it it was sort of dark this morning and then suddenly the sun came out it was great and I went out because there have there's this tree that died and this these dead branches were just driving me crazy so I have this fabulous thing called a samurai saw and I went out and I saw down this tree and then I have clippers and I clear this whole area around one of the pine trees and it was took me about an hour to do this in fact I had to time it so I would get back for you to find that my internet wasn't working but um I like doing anything this movement you've always exercised even before you changed your diet 40 years ago that was something you always did always we've always yes we have yeah well I that's so you know I think I think it's important especially as you get older you get stiffer I mean I you know even things like yoga are good or just stretching is good yeah I don't know if you remember this because we've I've known you about 15 years now and I've had the pleasure more than that come on I think it was 2008 we met so yeah maybe I think it's about 15 but you've been to my house for dinner and I don't know I'm sure you remember this story it happened about 15 years ago we were at a veg Fest where your husband and son rip were speaking and you slipped on the floor on a piece of fruit that couldn't be seen and you broke your hip and the paramedics came and you were 73 at the time and I remember them quizzing you what what what health what conditions do you have and you're like none what medicines you are and you're like none and it's now 15 years later and I think you could probably answer the questions the same way and that's true oh my gosh what I slipped on then was somebody's salad with oil oh see that's another reason not to use oil AJ it was so crazy because rip was talking in fact for some reason he was talking and he he had been a firefighter I don't know if he was still a fighter fighter then he may have just been but suddenly there I was on the floor listening to rep and then going behind him or these fire with these out I don't know ambulance or fire trucks or whatever and I was thinking this is so crazy you were actually telling I remember you were telling the paramedics about your son and showing them his book while they were while you were on the gurney on the way to the hospital anyway yeah that is incredible you've been married over 50 years to Dr russelson right 60 years 60 years wow oh my goodness that's incredible so what what's what of all your recipes what is his favorite he probably likes rice and beans as much as anything wow and he also really really likes his oats for breakfast and if he's he will sometimes have them at night I mean I think if I weren't around that's what he'd eat wow he likes those that's that's amazing yeah so and he he's a kind of I don't know if this he's kind of an exercise fanatic too isn't he isn't he is he still riding his bike like right now yeah in fact AJ he has had two horrible bike accidents and the last bike accident which was maybe seven or eight years ago he actually broke his pelvis and was literally in bed for three months it was awful wow but he got right back on didn't he that's incredible where does he keep his Olympic gold medal is it in the house somewhere prominent it's in the yes we have it in the house as a matter of fact what I did is years ago it was in a drawer and we could we we keep thinking where is it so I took it to a jeweler and had it put into lucite so that it now can hang and sad so it hangs in a little corner that is that is very very cool do you do you have any friends your age or have you outlived everyone yes I do I have friends my age I'm I'm impressed with with how healthy and how with it people are who are older yeah I do yeah absolutely wow what advice can you give people in regards to you know changing their diet to live a long and healthy life because if you notice that you you work with Dr esselson in his program so I'm sure that you encounter sometimes people's resistance I think there is not resistance when there is a reason there is resistance if you're just you know if I stop if I stop that person that I see on the street and say you've got to change change forget it but when somebody has some reason to want to change which is one of the reasons why we have we think that Forks Over Knives has been such a successful movie is that it rather than saying to people you should do this suddenly people look at that movie and think oh my gosh I should change and I think as if if that little switch happens then people are really successful at changing you know uh I am I want to read you something that I happen to come across last night and I was I thought and I thought oh my gosh I've got to save this for for AJ because I my computer craziest thing I got it broke I broke the glass and I got it repaired so I went and picked it up yesterday and when I got home everything was just a mess on my desktop so I was going through trying to put things in order and out of the blue I have no idea where it came from was this quote of Colin Campbell's and I think it you might like to hear it so I'd like to read it there's only one thing that we have to do in life and that is to die I have often met people who use this fact to justify their ambivalence toward health information but I take a different view I have never pursued Health hoping for immortality good health is about being able to fully enjoy the time we do have it is about being as functional as possible throughout our entire lives and avoiding crippling painful and lengthy battles with disease there are many better ways to die and to live now you um so I I just thought oh my goodness that is such an appropriate little quote from Colin I have no idea when he you know where it came from but there it was on my computer last night right I agree with you because there are people that are living longer but in states of debility in nursing homes they're not living better it's that idea of wanting to live a rectangular rather than a sliding life yeah well you guys you guys are just such like role models for for aging gracefully and successful aging you know I mean do you do you ever think about that you know you are I mean like I sometimes don't feel 62 but sometimes I'll look in there I'm like boy I got older the last 10 years oh yeah oh yeah I forgot the mirror that's that's awful you know I mean I look in the mirror and think that is not my legs do not have that many wrinkles my my face no way and so you know if I stand back it's not so bad I just think we you know you just you can't be too worried about how you look just because we always better yeah and I get I bet you feel great I mean I've never known you to be sick a day other than when you broke your hip which was not your fault it was the person using oil that's exactly right using oil oh my God it shows you how dangerous oil is it's not only bad for your arteries and your weight but makes you slip yep absolutely absolutely and this is another little quote JJ and uh and a patient uh plant-based eating is a secret passage to life and health like falling down the rabbit hole and Alice in Wonderland and emerging on the other side where so many of the most common health issues are gone and the food is just all good it is good it is it's delicious in your recipes I still love your original book prevent reverse heart disease those are some of the best plant-based recipes were you a creative Chef or cook before that book came out um no I'm not a chef and I'm still not I mean I'm not like you to AJ I just uh Jane is much more like you I just sort of put things together the way I want them to taste have you finally got over your fear of using the instant pot after all these years no I haven't gotten over it in fact we won't believe this I can't believe it either AJ our daughter-in-law Polly likes the instapot and she was here and so I tried to find my insta pot I couldn't find it I'm I'm gonna just go search again because I can't I don't know what I could have done with it but it was scary that you know oh yeah I had a dog that was scared of it named Sparky but it's so easy and you the food comes out so quickly do you have an air fryer yet I have a toaster oven that has an air fryer capacity but I haven't figured it out oh my God I wish I lived close to you I would teach you it's so it really is so easy wow we could do a zoom session if you ever really want to learn so this is one recipe to put little potatoes in the air fryer oh I I just posted it yesterday on social media they have these new things called veggie crumbles where they dehydrate like carrots and beets and and I I cut the Yukon Gold in half small ones after I steamed them and I used it kind of like as a breading but it was vegetables and then I air fried them they were delicious you cut them in half and smash them up yeah I didn't have to smash them because you know how sometimes like there's little small Yukon Golds that are really small you know and so I I steam them I refrigerated them because I find it works better when they're chilled I cut them in half and I kind of just took the little veggie crumbles and you know cut I didn't smoosh them you know just kind of like a topping and then I air fried them and they were all different colors because the purple was the carrot and the red was the beat and the white was the cauliflower and then they became really crunchy and delicious wow sounds good yeah wonderful okay so there are some questions so many actually for the live viewers so let me uh stop asking you my questions and see if I can answer some of their questions or you'll answer some of their questions so guys please put four question marks first I just oh yeah so what are your oh here's one from Lori what are your sleep habits do you sleep is sleep a priority for you do you sleep through the night do you get a lot of sleep I ideally would like to get at least seven hours sleep and we go to bed between 9 30 I mean 10 30 and 11. almost always wake up at six or six thirty you you go to bed later than me and it just depends like I went to bed at 10 last night but what time do you go to bed I try to go to bed by nine because I get up about five so I like to have you know my full my full eight hours remember that time I woke you up yeah I was teaching at Rancho La Puerta and I was so excited that the students in my class in Mexico you were their fifth grade teacher yeah no that you can always I mean I'm ready to be woken up anytime yeah thank you so um I think it's important to get sleep somehow or other figure it out yeah if you have to get up to go to the bathroom in the night um go back to sleep I don't know what to say if you have those thoughts going through your head and that is very distracting and very troubling to get back to sleep when you're yeah so Linda says what did you do before you married Dr esselstyn I taught school and I coached field hockey for 28 years wow do you did you play field hockey yourself I did wow that's amazing where did you go to school uh I went to Smith College in Northampton wow so there's a question from Elizabeth what's the secret to a successful marriage because yours is over 60 years where did you and Dr russelson meet um it turns out believe it or not that my father went to Yale and Essie's father also did but Essie's father was five four five years older so that but as his father was at Yale medical school and on the side he was coaching uh just a little bit freshman football and it so happened that my father was playing freshman football so they met them and somehow they both were in medicine eventually and when my husband came to medical school at case his father said you've got to look up Barney Kyle and so he did and we met and of course as soon as he went to our house I was in came in Boston teaching my mother said you've got to meet our daughter so that's how we ended up meeting what was it Love at First Sight did you guys date for a long time uh uh we dated maybe about a year okay was he already an Olympic gold medal winner when you met him yes he was wow did you know who he was no I had I mean no do you remember your first date where he took you I think he went he because I was I came home for a wedding of one of my my cousins and invited my mother I think invited him to to come with us so that's what happened that first time nice so Gary who's watching live says and what is the specific kind of rice you have been eating for the past 40 years because he has anxiety and worries about eating rice well I try and eat California rice I like the um I like short grain brown rice the best um and I just the the what'sberg is great I love all their flavors they're wild rice they're red they're black they're white they're rice yeah and you can you can be sure sometimes when I go to get rice for instance at Whole Foods out of their bins I can't tell where it's from so I like to get it in a and not in bulk always but in a bag so I know where it's from yeah I agree uh Shayna wants to know what's your number one advice for staying mentally alert life um I I I don't have any special advice I I think well what makes you get up every day other than having to pee you know having to pee is one for sure honestly I just can't wait to get up and get going I mean there are so many things to do people to see um whether it's emails to look at um things to plant Gardens to grow food to cook people to me places you want to go it's endless wow did you did you answer the part about the secret to a successful marriage I think you need to listen to each other I think you need to um find things that you like to do together but also I think you need to let everybody needs to go his and her own way and and you need to be supportive on those those Journeys yeah thank you how long did it take you to recover from your broken hip 15 years ago and did you do anything special to facilitate that yes I was going to physical therapy and um it was kind of crazy because it wasn't getting better and it turned out that I had that the I had a pen put in and the pen believe it or not had slipped so I had to go in and have it I mean it didn't it didn't they just had to fix that so um but I think physical therapy is key and if it hadn't been for my physical therapist who said this isn't right that you're you can't do this and um so I'm I'm very much uh in favor of just physical therapy for helping people recover I love Physical Therapy too it's always a blessing one that gets ordered so will you be doing any more holiday cooking videos as we get closer to the holidays yes I think we have something coming up for Thanksgiving um Jane is kind of runs that I go along yeah what what do you enjoy the most because you know you're you're a movie star you win Forks Over Knives you're multiple New York Times best-selling author you're a YouTube sensation what what is it that you love to do the most hey Jay I would not be anywhere in public on on the internet ever if it weren't for Jane I would not that's not I mean I don't have a social media presence except through through Jane but you do it so well and people love you and they love the connection and the relationship so maybe not what you love most what do you dislike the least do you like doing the videos do you like what do you like to do that's fun I mean it is fun to do it and Jane really basically organizes it so I don't have ton I have to do except show up and sometimes do the wrong thing but maybe that turns out to be the right thing but you are you're just naturally gifted and you're you're naturally funny you know that right I mean you may not intend it but you are hilarious in in a wonderful way thank you JJ we just we enjoy watching from you yeah well you stood on your head we enjoy watching you so much when when Dr russelson does this program you actually you present you give lectures is that something you enjoy because that's not on social media that's in more of a small group setting no no I I that's fine because I'm doing something I know a lot about and I feel confident about it so that's not I mean AJ you know after having taught sixth graders for so many years that is not difficult yeah that's great what I don't really like is doing food demos and having to prepare all that food and you know it's hard isn't it food demos are so hard yep I remember the first one I did way back I mean years and years ago and I had never done one before and I can't even believe all the things I did it was that um oh anyway it was it it's overwhelmingly time consuming yeah especially if you have to make samples people don't realize when they hire you for a job and they go yeah we need you to make 400 samples of all three recipes and it's like that's a lot of work oh it's a lot of work and I I mean I I admire anybody that does that a lot Sandy says when you cook your rice and beans what do you add as far as spices um well I cooked my rice and I cooked my beans I cooked beans either from a can or I liked a lot doing them from scratch and um I would just put onions and garlic and maybe some green pepper and that but Brian Jane's husband is a wonderful um he spices things up I frankly just take the beans and the rice and then I absolutely love frozen corn thawed and tomatoes and mango on top of rice and beans that's like salsa yeah that sounds delicious love it Joanna wants to know do you take any supplements yes I take b12. great and how do you feel about routine things like mammograms colonoscopies bone density exams right now at my age I don't think I have any interest in any of them period and um less and less uh I um you know I have a mother and a sister who had breast cancer so for many years I did have mammograms but I haven't had a mammogram for years now um so I I but I think at my age if I had breast cancer you know I would probably I don't I mean it doesn't affect me yeah that's amazing do you find out that you you kind of eat the same things yourself every day similar like you know like you like what do you eat in a day like I'm guessing you have those oats every morning as well I have the best breakfast AJ like your breakfast I know is just put as a broccoli and sweet potato no you know what I really I don't get hungry until lunch so it's sweet potatoes and broccoli you get hungry I'll get hungry right after the show I am never I I am not hungry ever I could go until afternoon without eating but I have found as I have aged and I have gone through every kind of breakfast idea that I eat breakfast and I'm I I I can't eat breakfast and it is and if I eat if I can stick to three meals a day and none of this in between snacking stuff I like it yeah but did you were you you say that you were heavier at one point I have a hard time believing that because all that I've known you is is the way you are no yes I was I mean I've always felt like I when I was um I got my period when I was eight and I was by a by I was taller and I was I mean I've always I always think of myself as tall and I was you know stocky and um strong and athletic and um then I guess when we started changing how we ate I I lost weight and and I could always you know as I I think um the in-between meal stuff was is difficult because I never know when to stop you know how many crackers do I finish the Box how much hummus just a few swipes right now Anna wants to know how much water do you drink in a day and I'm curious do you ever imbibe in either coffee or alcohol I don't drink coffee and I don't drink alcohol and I occasionally but not always drink tea I just and my husband is the same and I try start every day drinking two cups of water and I try and drink water throughout the day um yeah I'm the same way I found getting a pretty bottle has helped me because it's purple so just do you have a favorite color blue yeah I can get I was gonna guess that so here's a question on bone density again where I just saw it how do you keep your bone strength up asks Jennifer and stay away from osteoporosis um I think one of the things and this is I'm quoting my husband is he's um that bones love they Thrive with if if you can have weight on them and so um they like exercise and I have always done a little bit of weight lifting and I think that that's been helpful um I think just you know if you can a little of that and helps your bones yeah and it I eat a lot of greens a lot of greens yeah yeah do you guys really do eat greens at every meal uh probably every my okay I have to give me my breakfast because this I love and I feel that if every other meal for some reason I couldn't eat if I've had my breakfast I'm okay I have a half a cup of steel cut oats I have two tablespoons of nutritional yeast not because I feel that's important because but because it really gives it a nice mouth feel I have a lot of turmeric a half a fourth half teaspoon maybe more of turmeric I think everybody should try and get turmeric in every day for um against inflammation and I also put in now this is again for taste I put in about a teaspoon of Sriracha hot sauce but the next pop things are what are so key the half cup of steel cut oats I put in some shiitake mushrooms maybe a handful a half a loose half cup and then about two cups of chopped kale or any green I mean I have used Carrot Tops I have to use the end of radishes I have I mean any any greens at all I seem to love the kale the best but and then I put in two and a fourth cups of water and this is in our new book this recipe and cook it and I I cook it until it's like a soup and by the time I put it in my bowl it begins to coagulate when it's when it's ready to eat and I love it and I put in either Chia or flax or both a tablespoon of each it sounds delicious even for another meal not even necessarily for breakfast yeah what what do you normally eat for lunch I know I always used to watch you do those demos where you would take the pumpernickel bread or you know look like a pumpernickel bread with the lemon and the kale and the hummus oh my that's my kale the kale sandwiches awesome but I mean often we have an Open Face Sandwich and at this time of year is I love just to have a slice of bread a hummus Maybe basil a big huge a lot lots of um uh I was going to say because there's a question if do you sprout do you actually make your own scrubs make my own yes I make I mostly stick with broccoli Sprouts because they work the best and I really like them and I would put about a two inches of sprouts in a sandwich and then a huge slice of tomato and then lots of balsamic vinegar on top and that's good or else soups one of the things that we I like a lot believe it or not is Rip our sun rip uh has come up with some really nice soups and um and and uh or little stews and yesterday we had uh just such a good lunch and we had his white bean wow anyway a white bean what a something and maybe chili not quite being silly it was the um I can't remember the title I'll look it up while you tell us what else you eat but that that was so good and with some lime juice in it and so when you don't have one I mean we were out of food we had everything had been crazy and there they were these little boxes of just delicious things there's a carrot there's a carrot lentil one I like a lot so that is really nice to have on hand in fact all his products have no meat no oil no Dairy and they're low in sugar so salt so they're they're good a lot of people are asking about your vegetable garden my vegetable garden is wonderful and I get I get kale every day from the different kinds I've got about four different varieties and I get that every day from the garden my tomatoes were really good and now they're really bad um one of the things that's happened to my garden which is so sad is that trees have begun to kind of grow so that it gets more shade than I'd like and we are also um for most of the summer months we are not in Cleveland so it kind of takes care of itself the garden you have a garden AJ no not yet I never seem to have a big enough yard to have one but nope but I do Sprout sometimes oh yeah West Sprouts are really key and I also grow basil and and mint and lots of parsley nice people are asking are there certain exercises that you always make sure you do every day or every week um yes I ever I I try and run a little bit every day or not not always every day and in the winter when there's lots of snow I will cross country ski you're still skiing I don't even know how to ski that's incredible cross country I'm not downhill at this point okay but still that's pretty amazing and um I I have some little up until covet I went every morning about 8 30 to our local JCC and did some sort of classes on weights and it was fun I mean it was to music and so it was fun I've been doing it virtually since so I do that as much as I can I mean something every day and also you know pulling that tire is kind of fun yeah yeah I love those those pictures of you pulling the tire that's that's those are adorable what are the three bracelets on your hand by your watch do they signify anything no they just signify the colors I like together oh nice I thought maybe they had some meaning or something like that what what do you do for fun or is just your life so fun that everything you do is fun oh AJ you know covid has has really put a bubble around our lives because being so old we have really paid attention we stopped doing the traveling that we did and although I've done a little bit since um we don't we haven't done that and um oh my gosh the other night I went it was so much fun with Jane and Kyle our her oldest daughter and a couple of friends we went to see women King is that a movie it's a movie and all of your listeners who were women or men should go and see woman King because those are some amazing women wow I didn't even hear him but I I actually just started going back to movies so thank you for the recommendation and we went to a theater where uh which is really nice today when you think about it because the seats they know you can go back and sort of lie back in your seat and you have I mean nobody is too close to you I love those recliners I sometimes fall asleep though because they're so comfortable no you there's no way to fall asleep because these women this is in about 1830. these women became Warriors it's I'm looking it up it sounds like a fantastic movie thank you and they are they are so speaking I mean oh God I would love to be so agile I would love to be able to just leap over fireplaces and do these wonderful crazy things that well definitely going to see it and what brings you the most Joy oh it's one I mean Joy is when we have as many of our kids and grandchildren all together that's that's very joyful well I thought you were going to say that do you have any guilty pleasures nuts [Laughter] nuts are my that's where my undoing I can't even have them in the house no I can't either yeah thank you for concurring that that you and that we don't have to eat nuts every day we won't drop dead no no no I I but I don't have them in the house just because I have one we have walnuts because but forget the other nuts yeah especially those darn pistachios oh those are delicious no but if you get the pistachio at least that have shells it's not as you know yeah as my husband said when one time I came home from Costco with pistachios just already shelled and he called them crack absolutely you remember in the old days when they used to die of them red and then you'd get the dye all over your fingers opening them I had forgotten about that yeah that was really weird growing up nuts were never a problem because they came in a shell right and you couldn't eat that many you know you ate a few I mean I don't think I ever even had eaten a cashew I don't even know what they look like shelled anymore you know do you I I don't know what they look like when they're not the way you buy them at the store it's just too easy because Costco sells like you know three pound bags of nuts huh nope our ancestors couldn't have gotten that many if they were eating them Darius says what is your favorite bread well my favorite bread that I would recommend for anybody is the Ezekiel low sodium bread because one of the the the biggest ways to eat sodium is through bread it's crazy you wouldn't think so um and I just actually today I saw that uh low sodium Ezekiel um tortillas that I had bought I bought and we had for lunch a tortilla with hummus tomato red pepper on um some green onions spinach um and a little balsamic vinegar and then I put I bake them for about 14 minutes they were delicious in that little wrap wow that sounds delicious one of the viewers are asking do you like sourdough bread um it's okay it's not my favorite yeah have you ever had it in San Francisco though then it's really good I know I know I know but it it is usually White is it not usually quite absolutely I've never seen anything but white sourdough bread I haven't either and so I I it's not something I would buy because I don't want to eat it I know what you mean and honestly the bad bread that is easily available today that I like is day's thin sliced bread it isn't absolutely perfect because I think there is some added maybe sugar to it but it I like it thanks so other than the accomplishments of your wonderful family your husband your children your grandchildren and what are you most proud of I don't know um it's I guess um I don't know I'm I'm happy I'm happy with our life yeah and yeah I feel like I feel like the line from I don't know if you remember the movie It's a Wonderful Life with uh Jimmy Stewart when when Clarence the angel shows him what the world would have been like without him and he says see you really had a wonderful life yeah and I think everything together I don't feel like there's anything that I've done that I feel especially proud about I mean I'm not unhappy with what I've been able to do but it has all given a given me great joy yeah well I think and I think also I love I love being able to give people something that really can change their life well and that is a contribution everyone acknowledges you for and and I think in addition to Lifestyle like diet and exercise and sleep having purpose is is something that contributes to longevity as well you need a reason to get up in the morning other than to just pee that's always one so Cynthia says you don't drink alcohol but did you ever and when did you stop I've never um you know in in college I I mean I tried it all and actually I can remember this is something that I remember I lived on the third floor and one time we had been I don't even remember I just remember being up in the third floor and I went to the window I had we had been drinking it in a bar somewhere and I went to the window and looked out and thought you know it would be really nice to just fly out this window and that idea is so scary to me about The Perils of alcohol yeah that's great I've never I've never liked beer I hate the taste of alcohol I mean I wouldn't mind some of these drinks that are filled with sugar but you know they're deadly and it's knocking today the kids are drinking these canned things that are just sugar loaded bombs of alcohol ugh often yeah often often they add caffeine too it turns out Brenda says that um mother's markets sells a whole wheat sourdough so people are saying that there that is available as a thing so didn't know that so thank you for posting uh nice to hear that oh Jennifer wants to know how many greens do you have to buy weekly to last the week for you and Dr esselstyn I grow them and if I'm buying them I would buy I mean um uh you know a variety I think a variety is good so I would buy maybe three or four tails some Swiss chard maybe some collards um beets and beet greens I love beet greens they're so mild yeah get them all and then and then when they're gone refresh absolutely Kathy wants to know what is your favorite sport and have you ever competed in any sports well I did play field hockey I have always I played tennis and I have competed in tennis I um swim uh way long I I've always swarmed All My Life um still swim uh I've skied and we've skied a lot across downhill but I haven't downhill skied for a few years not actually since my husband's uh bike accidents we haven't skied yeah I don't know I'm sorry interrupt but I just thought of something I recently had Dr Michael roison on the show and he was talking about Essie saying that he offered like to give him any kind of a setup for indoor biking with TVs and Essie refused it no he likes biking outside right exactly yeah Mike Rosen is so much fun he is just a fun guy to be around is it true that the only thing you guys argue about is salmon and oil well he you know he is not plant-based so but we don't argue about it that's the way he is and he yeah he he had a big in his office he had a big bowl of walnuts but I think the good thing about his big bowl of walnuts is as I remember they were in their shells right and even better if you don't have a nutcracker I don't know if that is not record one of the viewers wanted to know what did Essie get his Olympic gold medal in and when it was in 1956 in Australia and it was in rowing he was in an eight ORD crew and he represented Yale University and they were probably one of the last um universities to have the to mostly they're mixed up of different different people from all over so I don't know that there's been a college or a university since that all is one school that's fast that's amazing what do you love most about Dr esselstyn and what do you think he loves the most about you ah I tell you he is amazing um if you could hear him with his patients and his patience and willingness to do this just treat everybody with such dignity and such calmness he is amazing amazing and he I mean I I've had an a number of times when I've been in the hospital and I've had some kind of surgery I've had various things and when I came out of anesthesia to have him there oh my goodness what a good feeling do you remember when you were in the hospital it was Tarzana hospital when you were in LA and broke your hip yeah and you were in a shared room with another patient and there was this patient there that didn't realize he was like the famous Dr esselson and she was barking orders at him like daughter and he just did it you know he just like helped her it was so cool that's not you know come on yeah that was just so nice like he didn't say like call the nurse you know he just like went and got our water so that you know he really is a gentleman and a Gentleman uh Meadow says she made your Ohio sheep cake recipe this week and wanted you to know and wanted to know what are your favorite foods for winter you know it's just so funny I woke up today and all I could think about was dolls and I don't know I mean I love things that kind of stick to you yeah so I'm just looking back past recipes and Dolls were ingredients that I have today because it looked like it was going to be cold but I like I love soups when it's cold yeah do you cook every day I do and we don't eat out period yeah that's a good that's a static that's a secret to longevity in itself it is um foreign every day and that's why I like having some of these soups and stews of rips on on hand yeah do you ever do any kind of batch cooking or freezing of some of the recipes you make so you have it for another time a little bit but you know I think for families with kids it's key to do that if I cook a whole lot of potatoes and they're sitting in the refrigerator for just my husband and me sometimes I don't want to I I don't want to go there so I don't do a ton of but I always make extra rice I mean I I make a little extra but I don't make a lot yeah I get it that makes sense what's your best advice for people that want to look and feel their best as their as they age exercise to eat plant-based and you can't eat I mean you can eat plant-based and be marshmallow so I think you need to eat plant-based and make sure that you maybe do a little weight lifting that you do go up and down stairs um just move your body okay yeah I think that I think that's what I'm seeing there's not one person I've had on this week that's saying you know the secret for me being healthy in my 50s 60s 70s 80s is drinking a bunch of alcohol and sitting on the couch nobody's answered that that way no I AJ is so crazy and I know this is going to sound absolutely outrageous I I don't like going to the dentist but I really look forward to going to the dentist because I am lying there on the dentist chair and it's so relaxing because I can't think when else in the day I ever sit down yeah that is hilarious because that's one of the things I'm afraid of is going to the dentist but no I don't but I mean I really like just getting to that chair it's just so I mean I just can't think well I mean here I am right now but you know they you know I've always often heard you being referred to as the Energizer Bunny that's hilarious and who in your life has influenced you the most or who do you most admire I certainly influence the most by with my by my husband and his passion which has become mine um I had wonderful wonderful parents yeah nice what do you want to be most remembered for oh I don't care about being remembered you know I just wanna when I die I just want if I have ashes I just want them to spread around I don't want them in any one place I have no interest in being remembered well I think you will be whether you want to or not so I have one more question I have a feeling this will be a really hard one because uh but I asked this to a lady that I recently had on that had turned a hundred there was a movie and it's a wonderful movie it's a Japanese film that was called afterlife and the premise of the film is that our lives are being recorded by somewhere that and that when we then when we die we're wherever we go we have to kind of watch a movie of our life just kind of like as our education and in order to go to the afterlife we can only pick one memory and keep that one with us which one would you pick one memory yeah so like one one favorite memory if you could only pick one if if this movie was accurate what what because what what what what would you pick I know it's a hard question especially when you don't tell you in advance just pick that um I would pick some of the Gatherings when all of us all 20 of us are together I would pick a time not an inside time but an outside time and one of the times and this was actually pre lots of free grandchild no we had two grandchildren but one of the times that I loved that was so much fun was Jane was married in Cleveland at a place we have outside Cleveland and everybody was here and we were all I oh I can't take that one because not everybody is in it so I would just choose one of the events like maybe our 60th wedding anniversary party where we had everybody present and that was that was really special and we all sat around and shared stories and talked yeah that's beautiful I love doing things I love being part of everybody having like our life for everybody I don't like to cook a meal for people I like everybody in the kitchen doing their something one little thing another thing you know all adding to the great feast yeah that that's beautiful and and I I think whether you want to be remembered or not I think you will be because so many people love you and appreciate you well Ann thank you so much I know you really don't like doing these interviews and you know especially without Dr esselstyn or Jane but it was really wonderful and just to let you know people so much there's there's over 700 people watching they love you they appreciate you and thank you for grant us now we're gonna go to the dentist on a Sunday why don't you get a massage because then you get to lay down for like an hour and they're amazing no but there's something about then something's being done to you in this you're just sitting there and the dentist chair yeah well Dennis have never been my friend and thank you so much and I hope Dr esselson feels better soon and we'll be having your son-in-law Brian on the show a little bit later in the year oh good yeah I can't wait AJ Brian is the best cook in the family well maybe I'm hoping he'll make a recipe then that's amazing yeah Marcia says you're so inspirational what a woman and thank you for the wonderful interview and thank you so much take care Anne and bye-bye and thanks all of you for watching another episode of Chef AJ live please come back tomorrow when my guest is Dr Sal and we'll be talking about how to

Channel: CHEF AJ

Views: 142,741

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Id: NI5vZs6b-Vo

Length: 69min 13sec (4153 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 25 2022