113 : Boost Your Cancer Fighting Cruciferous With These Simple Tips

Anita: 0:58

Nigeria is one as

Jarrod: 0:58

well. I was just gonna say yeah, that's one of the things that we love about the cruciferous is that they're very healthy, they're very health

Anita: 1:04

promoting,

Jarrod: 1:06

and they even help fight cancer. Now, when we were discussing raw vs cooked, I mean, there are benefits for both, but with the cruciferous, now most of them have a component that helps to fight cancer.

Anita: INTRO: 1:20

Hey there, sunshine. Welcome to the power on plants Podcast, where your host cheered enemy to Roussel and we're absolutely head over heels for whole plant foods, and helping you navigate this incredible plant based journey. That's because our lives have been completely changed by plant based goodness, we used to struggle every day with excess pounds and low energy, vascular disease, joint pain and lack of sleep, just to name a few. And even though we're medical professionals, we still weren't getting practical answers that actually worked. So we dug into the research, we started living what we learned, and now we both have our lives back. And that's what we want for you to the truth is you can do this, and it's not hard. You just need a way that will bring real and lasting change. And that path, it has to be simple and enjoyable. And it's got to be delicious to you. So are you ready to live your life to the fullest, then you're in the right place because living without limits. That's what power plants is all about. So pull up your chair, grab a matcha latte, and let's get started.

Jarrod: 2:26

In our family, we love cruciferous vegetables.

Anita: 2:31

Yes, we do. That might be an understatement, actually.

Jarrod: 2:33

Well, I was gonna say you may think this is an overstatement. But no, it really isn't. We love some cruciferous vegetables. Now if you're not familiar with the term, it covers things like broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage, bok choy. I mean, there's a huge number of things that fall into the category of cruciferous vegetables horseradish,

Anita: 2:54

you

Jarrod: 2:54

cannot wash radish out radish, watercress. I mean, the list goes on. Now, you may be wondering, what do these things have in common? Why are they all called cruciferous?

Anita: 3:04

They're delicious?

Jarrod: 3:05

Well, well, cruciferous doesn't mean delicious. And Latin, although it does mean delicious in our house.

Unknown: 3:12

Yeah, I'm pretty sure

Jarrod: 3:14

what it is is what they share in common is that their flowers have a cross shape, which I thought was kind of interesting. It

Anita: 3:20

is interesting,

Jarrod: 3:21

even though they don't look alike, like watercress doesn't look like cabbage. Now, you may be wondering, okay, I kind of like these maybe, which is better for me raw or cooked? Well, if you want to know the answer to that, go and listen to our last episode. But if maybe these things aren't your favorite, I think that if you will give them a try. Like really give them a try that you will learn to not just think they're okay, but actually love them.

Anita: 3:52

Well, the thing is, when you start eating this way, your taste buds change really very quickly. And this is something you'll hear us hammer home time and time again. Because you think because I love to eat this way I'm eating right now that that's the way I'll always love to eat. But I'm here to tell you that is not the case. And the other thing is that things that you like to eat, you're just going to learn new and better ways to have those things. So same things we we said all the time, we still have taco pizza, lasagna, shepherd's pie. Like a lot of the things that were our favorites back then burgers, we've loved eating those now. But with broccoli, same thing with cauliflower. Same thing, you've got to find new ways to even to have those that you like, maybe you had a little piece of broccoli with your plate of cheese. Now I am the Dairy Queen. I loved some cheese. And I honestly I still have to have my creamy things. I mean, are you like me, you've got to have your creamy things too, because it is it's got to happen. So with the broccoli, there are new ways and better ways that you can do that. And you just need to learn the new and better ways. But these are foods you've absolutely got to get into your life. And the reason being is that you want to feel your best to be able to do the things that you need to do or you've been put here on this earth to do and so I know jeers wanted

Jarrod: 5:08

Well, I was just gonna say that's one of the things that we love about the cruciferous is that they're very healthy, they're very health promoting, and they even help fight cancer. Now, when we were discussing raw vs cooked, I mean there are benefits for both but with the cruciferous, now most of them have a component that helps to fight cancer. It's not originally found in the raw kind of food by itself until you crush it.

Anita: 5:38

And what's that thing called?

Jarrod: 5:40

Well the cancer fighting compound is called sulforaphane. It's a little bit of a tongue twister okay sulforaphane, but it is not formed until the plant is crushed. Like

Anita: 5:50

so let's crash with your teeth maybe?

Jarrod: 5:51

Well, yes, I mean, that would be the primary way however you can also and that's one of the things we want to share with Do you want to share a few ways that you can maximize the health benefit? If you are a total fan like us, you'll get more health benefits from it. If maybe you're just starting to love cauliflower and broccoli and some of these others, well, hey, if you're gonna do it, you might as well get the best out of it that you can

Anita: 6:15

write. And these are the things we want you to know. Because if you're eating it, why not get the maximum nutrition out of it? Right? So you want to know how if I'm eating cruciferous, if I'm eating broccoli, and cauliflower, these are things to worry about. They're just things once you know them, then you know them, right. So then you can take advantage of all the benefits. And that's how you start feeling better over time. You just pick one thing like this, you can pre crash, your cruciferous chair, it's going to talk about that. And it absolutely boosts in nutrients till they're crazy good. I mean, they're not just good anymore. They're crazy yet, you want to get the most nutrients out of that you can, or else you're just kind of throwing money down the drain plus, you're wasting opportunity to feel your absolute best. And we don't want that right, we want to feel our absolute best. So what is the best way to get the sulfur fame? Yes, out of the broccoli.

Jarrod: 7:08

Well, I want to get just science II just a little bit, I promise just a little bit. There is a molecule that an enzyme will convert into sulforaphane. Now, the molecule and the sulforaphane are actually heat stable so that when you cook the food, those are not destroyed. It takes crushing the food to release an enzyme that converts that first precursor into the sulforaphane. And that's where the cancer fighting comes from. I mean, they've done studies where they take that and they put in a petri dish with cancer cells and the cancer cells die. So I mean, this is very powerful stuff. So if you're cooking broccoli, just whole, you're not going to get that. But now, like we were saying before crushing it, obviously eating it with your teeth and crushing it. Well, we'll release those enzymes, and I'll make the cancer fighting sulforaphane. And then you swallow it and you get all that goodness in your body. But what if maybe, you don't like raw broccoli or whatever. Again, you're just starting out or maybe with with cabbage, we eat a ton of cabbage and all the time, green, purple, we don't care. You know, if there was polka dot cabbage, we do that because it's it's good stuff for you. But what if maybe you want to cook it, but you still want those health benefits? Well, a moment ago, you're talking about crushing your food. I don't know if anybody remembers the comedian Gallagher. This was from yours. Like 3040 years ago, he used to take this big giant hammer. I mean, he totally forget about that. He would crush all kinds of food. I mean, he would do watermelon, which was the messiest and was spray over the entire audience, but I do think he did a head of cabbage or lettuce. That's not the kind of crushing we're talking about. It doesn't have to be that dramatic or mess. Yeah, Gallagher

Anita: 8:52

crushing it right now

Jarrod: 8:54

know what you can do something as simple as like with cabbage, cutting it up into slices, which is or not slices. But you know, the small slivers like what we were for salad?

Anita: 9:05

Yeah, or slaw?

Jarrod: 9:07

Exactly. That's a great example. Many times a will cut it like that for salad.

Anita: 9:11

So by cutting it, you release those enzymes so they can mix with that molecule that's going to bring us give us a create the cancer fighting property actually is going to release the cancer finding nutria Exactly. It's

Jarrod: 9:23

gonna release the enzyme that then makes us sulforaphane.

Anita: 9:26

Now, and you can do that by just pre chopping. So think about pre chopping your broccoli, pre chopping your cabbage, anything like that, or re grading your horse radish sprouts, brussel sprouts, letting them cut and cut them in half, don't serve them whole, cut them at least in half, and then that way, and then you're going to not just immediately cook them, right?

Jarrod: 9:48

Correct. You're gonna let them sit for about 40 minutes. We've heard Dr. Michael Greger mentioned this. And he he calls it hack and hold. So you want to cut it and leave it for about 40 minutes. Right? Which really, depending on what you're doing is is not that difficult. I mean, if you're creating a meal, you could cut that first while you prepare other things. Let it create those compounds in there. Yeah, if you're doing a benefit,

Anita: 10:10

absolutely. If you're doing a star phi, you'd want to cut your cruciferous first and let it sit there while you cut all your other vegetables. And just I mean, you could even just set a little timer and say, okay, you know, or have the kids get it ahead of time for you. I mean, that works. Whatever works best for you. Do that? And if otherwise, and I'll say to you, if you're not gonna have time to pre cut it for 45 minutes, don't think I'm not gonna have broccoli tonight. You're gonna have it. We're gonna tell you a little trick. Yes, where you don't even have to cut it. But honestly, I prefer the flavor of it without this extra thing we're talking about. It can be good, but I just want you to know that if you can't cut it, there's another thing you can do and it will work and you can still get all the maximum nutrients out of the broccoli or the cruciferous, which now

Jarrod: 10:57

why wouldn't you have the time to wait, well, maybe you just don't have the time you're running late, maybe get home late from work or something. And you've got to go ahead and cut the broccoli and get it in the water boiling like we will do that sometimes for a broccoli soup. I love it. It's amazing. Another thing too, is that if you get frozen vegetables like frozen broccoli, many times they come parboiled or flash boil where they're just put in the hot water for 30 seconds, right. And what that does is it helps to break down some of the enzymes and it allows the food to last longer. So if you're getting some of these things, Frozen, this is another little tidbit that you can use. So if you're in that situation, and you haven't

Anita: 11:38

pre cut it right, and you haven't pre cut, or you have frozen broccoli, or

Jarrod: 11:41

frozen broccoli, or you boiled or whatever, you can actually take some mustard powder and sprinkle that I think it's like half a tablespoon. I mean, it's not much. But the reason being is that that same enzyme is called morose. anaise is present in the mustard see, because it's actually present in the mustard plant. So when you take the seeds and you grind them up, then it's in there. So it takes just a little bit. So you have the enzyme there. And then as you're chewing the food after it's been cooked, you put the mustard on it, then it's releasing the sulforaphane. So that's a nice little insider scoop for you

Anita: 12:15

11 solder escapes. That's what it's all about. Because once you learn one of those, you do it

Jarrod: 12:20

and it becomes habit, is it normal routine?

Anita: 12:22

Yeah. And so then it's not anything new. It's just what you do. And we look at these things. And we think, Oh, you know, hopefully plant based is going to be so hard or say you want to learn to draw, oh, that it's going to be so hard. But you just learn one thing. And then another thing, you keep doing it and doing it and then that's your new normal, I hate the term new normal. I don't mean it in the way that it's used today. But really, it becomes your new normal to where you don't think about cutting those things, you know, beforehand, you just do it or you don't think about putting mustard seed on it, you just have it there at the table. And that's what you do. So you get these great things in your body that you normally wouldn't have if you didn't have these insider secrets. And that's what we're all about getting you the information so that you know what to do. And then you get you get the choice, you get to decide, you get to decide, do I want to do it? Do I not want to do it. And that's when the power comes in. That's where you get your power back. Because now you can do something besides sit there and just wait for your genes to play out, right? I mean, it's really, it's amazing, because most of these things, most of these diseases that the majority of people are facing today, even obesity, a lot of it is lifestyle related. And that's not to say it's your fault. It's kind of what we've been put into through ads, and through the food industry and all these other things again, if you have not seen them, go back to get more information about plant base. And just to get inspired, go back and listen to our episode. It was a couple back Do you remember the number with the movie recommendations are top movie recommendations? You need to go back and hear those?

Jarrod: 13:57

It's episode number 107.

Anita: 13:59

How did I know you'd know that?

Jarrod: 14:01

I'm just a technical genius. Plus, I had my handy dandy trusty computer right here beside me who you are as mass. But that's a great episode. And seriously go. Even if it's just one of the five go and watch him. And it'll really open your eyes.

Anita: 14:17

It not only opened your eyes, it's just really inspiring. I mean, we just watched Forks Over Knives again, I don't know how many times we watched it. And a number of times, a lot of times and our kids every time sit there they love living this way, because they understand how it makes them feel. And they can tell a difference if they ever do eat a different way but honestly, none of us are tempted to do so. We just aren't once you do this, you're just not tempted because you remember how when you ate oil you felt sluggish and your joints hurt. And you remember how when you ate a certain way you felt sick afterwards and we just don't have that anymore. It's wonderful. And we want that for you too. It's been great hanging out with you again today. Sister We look forward to seeing you again next time but before you go, be sure to get your name on the waitlist for the power plant society. The membership is going to be opening soon and inside we're working with busy women who want to build their dream body and life and that's what we're all about. The doors will only be open for one week and the memberships only open twice a year so we don't want you to miss out and we'll let all our VIP members know when your names on the waitlist. Go to waitlist dot power on Planet society.com to make sure that you don't miss out and we'll see you again on the next episode.