On Health with Houston Methodist

Digestive Health: Food Has Evolved — Our Gut Hasn’t

• Houston Methodist • Season 10 • Episode 9

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0:00 | 33:44

Modern food looks nothing like it did a generation ago, let alone thousands of years ago. What does this mean for your body? In this episode, we explore how our diets have changed dramatically over time, the types of food our digestive systems are hardwired to handle, and what that mismatch means for metabolism, gut health and more. 

Expert: Dr. Archana Sadhu, endocrinologist 

Notable topics covered: 

  • The evolution of the human diet 
  • How modern diets affect gut bacteria, inflammation and nutrient absorption 
  • Why ingredient lists matter, and how to tell when a food is ultra-processed 
  • Why fiber matters but “fibermaxxing” isn’t always the answer 
  • How pairing macronutrients helps the body digest food more smoothly 
  • The surprising importance of when you eat — not just what 
  • Cultural eating patterns and what the Mediterranean diet gets right 
  • Do vitamins and supplements really help your metabolism? 
  • Small, realistic changes that support digestion without overthinking food 

If you enjoy these kinds of conversations, be sure to subscribe. And for more topics like this, visit our blog at houstonmethodist.org/blog. 

♪ ♪

KATIE MCCALLUM:

Welcome to On Health with Houston Methodist. I'm Katie McCallum, former researcher turned health writer, mostly writing for our blogs.

SCOTT CRAWFORD:

I'm Scott Crawford. I'm one of the videographers here at Houston Methodist.

KATIE:

Scott, I've got kind of a fun question for you. If you had to compare your diet today to your parents' diet at your current age, you know, so when they were your age. SCOTT: Mm-hmm. On a scale of 1-10, how different would you say yours is today from theirs back then?

SCOTT:

Gotta be probably a 5 or a 6. It's pretty different. KATIE: Yeah, okay. Next level of question, what about how different would you compare your diet today to your grandparents' diet? That would be the 7-8 range.

KATIE:

Okay, next one. What about your diet today to prehistoric humans, caveman ages? SCOTT: Eleven. Yeah, yeah, like some astronomical number different?

SCOTT:

Yeah, it doesn't even resemble what they were eating in that time. They probably didn't even cook for the first couple several thousand years. KATIE: Yeah. I mean, I think of, like, people foraging for berries back in the day and, like, we did that as kids because it was fun. But we wouldn't even eat them, honestly. We'd come home with, like, a bunch of blackberries and be like, "Mom, do something with these." We wouldn't even eat them. They're covered in dirt and bugs, you can't eat that. KATIE: Yeah. No, I think it's interesting to think about how significantly our diets have shifted over time, especially when you think about what the body, kind of, learned what to digest versus what, you know, we're putting in it today. SCOTT: Oh yeah.

KATIE:

So different. SCOTT: Yeah. There's very little resemblance to what, even in the past 100 years, what people were eating before. It's so processed, habits around eating are completely different. KATIE: Yeah. I mean, I think -- Even, you know, the obvious offenders are things that are clearly very processed, you have, like, a Big Mac or something. You go to McDonalds you get, you know, one of the most unhealthy meals you're gonna have in the week sort of thing. I'm being dramatic, it's not that bad.

SCOTT:

Could be better. KATIE: Yeah, exactly. But, I mean, I think on the other hand the processed foods are sneaky in other ways. Like, I think of peanut butter. Mm-hmm.

KATIE:

Obviously a processed food because it's not just peanuts anymore, but, like, that was for the better, right? Like, I'm glad we invented peanut butter.

SCOTT:

Right.

KATIE:

Now it's like a spreadable peanut situation. Love peanuts, love spreading peanut butter on bread. But then you, you know, then you fast forward to today where peanut butter crackers… SCOTT: Hmm. I'm not even -- Those are so processed, I mean, I'm sure it's -- Peanut butter that's full of added sugar, the crackers are all refined carbs.

SCOTT:

The peanut spread product it's -- You can't even call it peanut butter. KATIE: Yeah, peanuts -- Yeah. Peanut spread product on a refined flour of some sort, kind of crusty bread, item thing. Like these, you know, we call them peanut butter crackers but in reality, they're so different from the crackers our parents probably ate. SCOTT: Right.

KATIE:

But yeah, I think it brings up an interesting sort of topic and I'm glad we're talking about it today where, you know, our diets have significantly evolved. Even from just our parent's time, not even going back to caveman days. So, who did we talk to about this today?

SCOTT:

Yeah, we talk to Dr. Archana Sadhu. She's one of the endocrinologists here at Houston Methodist.♪ ♪All right, Dr. Sadhu, thanks so much for joining us.

DR. ARCHANA SADHU:

Oh, it's my pleasure, thanks for inviting me. SCOTT: Yeah, of course. So, we're gonna talk a little bit about diet today and how diet has evolved. I guess I'll just start with that. How do you think diets have changed over time for people? I know that fast food probably wasn't a big thing one or two hundred years ago.

DR. SADHU:

Mm-hmm.

SCOTT:

So, how do you think that's affecting us?

DR. SADHU:

Well, I mean, if you look at the historical outline of diets, you know, going back to caveman days, you know, everything came from the earth. Minimally processed, just cooked over fire and consumed. And teleologically that's how our bodies have been programmed to take in nutrients in a very natural state and simplified way. Fast forward thousands of years and, you know, around the Industrial Revolution time we started manufacturing plants and that went into the food industry, of course. So that was a major change in how we accessed and obtained food at a readily source, and convenient source. SCOTT: Mm-hmm. And then you add on, you know, the whole business aspect of rapidly produced, long-shelf-life foods, and that brings us to today's time where, really, that simple, from the earth ingredients are now more processed, made to last forever. So added with chemicals, all the things that, you know, our genetic disposition was not designed to consume.

SCOTT:

So, processed foods are a big topic and it's something that we've actually covered on the podcast before. But can you talk a little bit about what that processing does to a food and sort of how it affects the nutrition profile of it?

DR. SADHU:

So, I'm gonna first -- Disclaimer, I'm not a food nutrition scientist, but just read the label. I mean, it really comes down to very simple behavioral and simple knowledge. Read the label, how many ingredients are in there and what are they? And the order in which they're printed is supposed to reflect the percentage of the content. So, if your first ingredient is high fructose corn syrup, I mean you know right there that is a highly processed food.

SCOTT:

Right.

DR. SADHU:

And if there are -- You know, I remember when I was a kid there was a, I think it was a commercial or some educational, public educational message that if you can't actually pronounce the ingredients on the label, it's probably not something that you should consume, at least in high quantities. So, simply put, yeah, you want to see very natural ingredients, very minimal or no chemical additives, and that's what is the most healthy for us to consume.

SCOTT:

So, in terms of good versus bad digestion, what would be some indicators that -- What would be some, I guess, negative effects of eating a processed food versus a more whole, or natural food?

DR. SADHU:

Yeah, I think this is a really fascinating science of what's happening to our, what we call in medicine, the gut microbiome, right? So, as we're introducing unnatural ingredients into the gut, it is changing the natural bacteria that should be there to allow proper digestion. And then other things too. Medications and other chemical exposures. All of these are eroding these healthy state, balanced microbiota, or different bacteria in our gut that really should be essential for natural ingredients, absorption of key nutrients. And then when we are changing this whole milieu of these bacteria, we're even changing the lining of the gut so that the absorption is affected. Then we're gonna come up with other unwanted effects: chronic inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, etcetera. And then you add, you know, certain disease states on top of that and you really got the setup for havoc. The gut lining is really an inward extension of our outward environment if you think about it. And, in terms of surface area it's certainly the largest surface area organ we have. So what you're doing to the gut lining is really important for the rest of the body.

SCOTT:

Wow. I've never really thought about it that way that it's -- The surface area and how much it's being exposed to what you're putting in your body. It's really almost -- Is it more than your skin?

DR. SADHU:

Oh definitely. SCOTT: Wow. I've never thought of that. DR. SADHU: Yeah.

SCOTT:

That's a very fun fact. So, on the topic of nutrients, one big one you always hear about, in regards to digestion, would be fiber. Beyond the processed versus non-processed, what is the role of fiber, sort of, in your diet and digestion?

DR. SADHU:

Well, it is one of the key macronutrients like anything else, and it should come balanced like anything else. I know there's a recent trend of fibermaxxing, etcetera. That's not healthy either. And if you think about, you know, most science, behavioral science actually, anything that is excessive or extreme is probably gonna have unwanted negative effects. So, yes, you do need an adequate amount of fiber daily, and that does affect absorption of other nutrients, not just the fiber but what are you having with the fiber? For instance, in diabetes, we always say, you know, you have to reduce your carbs because your body can't handle the glucose that's coming in. And how -- Not only do you need to reduce the quantity of carbs but the composition they're coming in with. So, if you have a fruit, for example, that is simple sugars, like watermelon. You have a slice of watermelon, it's all sugar and water it's gonna raise your blood sugar right through the roof. Put if you have it with, the fruit, with the peel, like an apple… SCOTT: Hmm. It has more fiber. So even though there's sugars in the apple, they will absorb more slowly, and your body won't have these spikes. Same thing with other nutrients as well, you know? You want to have a balance when you're eating a food and not a simple ingredient at high quantity.

SCOTT:

So even within a single food or ingredient, there can be a little bit more complex. There's balance even within your one food. So an apple has those different components to it, as opposed to, like you said, a watermelon, which is really just one type of nutrient.

DR. SADHU:

Nutrient. Because we're not eating the peel on a watermelon, that's not very fun. But you can eat the peel of an apple, a pear, that comes with fiber with it. Same thing with, you know, any other meals that you have - a plate of dinner, you want to have healthy fats. SCOTT: Mm-hmm. You want to have protein, and not highly processed carbs, but natural carbs like those that come in vegetables. And that balance is the key to gut health, it's the key to metabolic health. And we try to focus on that with all our patients.

SCOTT:

Right. I know you mentioned eating too much fiber as sort of that response to that recommendation to get more. Do you think people in general are getting enough fiber? I've always heard that it's something that people need to eat more of.

DR. SADHU:

Well, I think our societal eating patterns are becoming so carb-heavy, or have become, I should say, not becoming. They're very carb-heavy. They're very processed, and when they're processed they don't have a lot of natural fibers.

SCOTT:

Mm-hmm.

DR. SADHU:

So we do need to, as a society, reduce the carb intake, increase the fiber intake, increase the healthy, lean protein intake. And you, I'm sure, know about the new Food Pyramid that was released just recently, changing up the compositions of our diet because of all of the metabolic chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure and cholesterol and heart disease. So we have been in the last, I would say, several decades, maybe even 40 years, shifting towards more carb and less fiber and less healthy protein. So as a society, we need to. As an individual, though, it depends on, you know, what other conditions you have, and what are you replacing with by fibermaxxing or doing something to an extreme. What are you lacking that you need? So you do have to have a little bit of individual guidance in there. But as a whole, we do need to eat more fiber, we do need to hydrate, but I'm not talking about those, you know, 100-gallon Yetis.[Laughing] SCOTT: Right. That's also excessive, but adequate fiber and protein and hydration and of course, activity, you know, activity is very important as well.

SCOTT:

Yeah. That's funny you mentioned the hydration, I guess that's a perfect illustration of sort of taking the diet trend to an excess when you see someone carrying around a giant jug of water and it's like, should I be really drinking that much? Because it's a chore to get through all of that, and I think that the, sort of the fibermaxxing you mentioned is another example of that. It's like, that's gotta just be-- too much work.

DR. SADHU:

If you feel like you're putting a lot of work into doing one of these dietary habits, it's probably too much. You shouldn't have to think that much about it. It shouldn't be on your mind every minute of the day.

SCOTT:

Right.

DR. SADHU:

You should drink to thirst, and you should eat, you know, when you sit down to eat, look at your plate, look at your food. Is this the best nutrition I can deliver to my body to perform at its best? SCOTT: Yeah. You just look at it and visually see like, is this really balanced or am I just eating a giant bowl of mac and cheese for dinner and calling that good because I'm full? Exactly. And, you know, it's not a small thing to say convenience hasn't played a giant role…

SCOTT:

Of course.

DR. SADHU:

In how we've changed our habits. Where our, you know, especially the U.S. is a very busy society as a whole, right. You know, I think, historically, other cultures have taken the time to focus on a diet to focus -- For instance, those that have the biggest meals in the middle of the day rather than the end of the day. Those societies tend to be healthier in terms of chronic metabolic conditions at least, because eating your biggest meal at the end of the day and then going right to bed is probably the worst thing you can do for nutrient storage. Yeah.

SCOTT:

I've kind of heard that advice generally, but I didn't know it was actually a significant factor. How much does that really change at the time of day that you eat your food?

DR. SADHU:

Well, you know, it -- for -- So, when you eat and go right to bed, what's going to happen to those calories? They're going to go right into -- When you go to sleep, you release a lot of endogenous hormones for sleep, for recovery, for storage, to be ready for the next day. And all of those hormones will drive these nutrients right into storage mode, right? Just to put it simply, because that's what you're supposed to do in sleep, you're supposed to. You know, the cavemen had to make sure they conserved the calories, keep up, you know, their tissues so that the next morning they can get up and do their day's work. But when you eat a large meal in the middle of the day, your largest meal in the middle of the day, that's when you're doing more activity after the meal, and you're burning off excess calories instead of storing the excess calories. So you have more opportunity to be, physiologic, so to speak. SCOTT: Okay. And, you know, like in European societies where the dinner meal is really a light meal and then they have the big, you know, the cities shut down at lunchtime, have a meal, you get -- get a rest and then pick up thereafter. That tends to be physiologically the healthiest way of meal patterns.

SCOTT:

Yeah. And I think, at least the sort of patterns that I'm used to is dinner ends up being your biggest meal of the day. I know a lot of people will have like, that's their family meal, or that's the only time that they're really able to think about having a meal because you just grab lunch wherever, you may have a bagel or a banana for breakfast.

DR. SADHU:

Unfortunately, that's how our society has structured itself. You know, the 8-5 job, then you get home and that's when you see your friends and family. And of course, those are important psychologically to have that meal time together, whereas other societies have structured themselves as that shut down in the middle of the day, go home, have that meal with your family at home and then maybe go back to work and then do other things. So, unfortunately it's the by-product of how we were scheduled. But still within that, you know, societal schedule, we can still choose to modify how we do things.

SCOTT:

Definitely, definitely.

DR. SADHU:

Have an earlier dinner and go for a walk after dinner does, you know, amazing things for making sure that your glucose doesn't get too high for instance, and then also helps good sleep. SCOTT: Yeah. That's really fascinating to me because I guess for me, personally, I always sort of pictured eating as you're just filling up your gas tank. Like, I'm hungry, so I'm going to eat and that's going to give me X calories, X carbs and that's just going into my daily count. But I'd never really considered that your body processes it differently at different times, and depending on your activity level. It's not really like you're charging a battery, it's like -- Your body is using those nutrients immediately as they enter your body. Correct. Is it using it immediately? Is it going into storage mode? Are as important as what the nutrients are. Because in the end, whether you're eating healthy or not, they're all calories and the body has to decide what to do with those calories. Is it using it for activity or is it using it for storage? And the behavioral patterns are what comes in that equation on what the body is going to do with the calories.

SCOTT:

Wow, very interesting. And, another topic that we, that you touched on is the societal aspect. We talked, you talked briefly about the European style of eating. What are other cultures sort of like in that way? Is that something that you could speak to as far as those eating habits, or even beyond that into the nutrition of their food and diets? DR. SADHU: Yeah. So, of course, a lot of science and evidence has gone into different cultures and geographic regions and what they eat. And I think that, you know, simply put, all of the evidence points towards, or a majority of the evidence points towards the Mediterranean diet being probably the healthiest, even if you don't live in the Mediterranean. Yeah, you always hear the Mediterranean diet come up in these health topics. And I've heard a lot of doctors mention it as well.

DR. SADHU:

Yeah, because in that region you're getting lean proteins through fish mostly, or seafood.

SCOTT:

Yeah.

DR. SADHU:

And they are not carb-heavy producers, rice in particular. So when you go to the South Asian countries and their big staple is rice, you see a lot of metabolic conditions there. So, not having a lot of high, highly processed foods, not having simple carbs like rice. Lots of bread is not part of their diet as well. And then leaning in on healthy fats like the olive oils.

SCOTT:

Yeah.

DR. SADHU:

Leaning in on lean proteins, fish being a big one, seems to be in the literature the most effective universally. It's -- Of course, you have to look at your own medical conditions and what you can tolerate, but if you were to give a prescription for everybody, that's where you would probably focus. The, I think, the Latin countries they also have the behavioral pattern of big meals in the middle of the day and the siesta thereafter, right? So that's healthy. They do tend to lean a little bit more on their carb side though. It just depends on, you know, your, the history of your country and food production, availability in that area as well. But, generally, I think that Mediterranean diet tends to do well in most studies. And most studies will concur that the Western diet is probably the worst. SCOTT: Ah, okay. I was gonna say it's not -- it doesn't seem like we're alone in this, as far as having unhealthy diet patterns. I know that the Mediterranean diet stands out as an example of something that we should be doing, but some of these other regions are having similar issues with too many carbs. And they've been infiltrated with the Western diet.

SCOTT:

Right, of course, of course.

DR. SADHU:

Right, you know, McDonald's doesn't exist here alone. SCOTT: Right. And as soon as these food industries began capitalizing on these other regions of the world they began developing the same issues. It's not a surprise. Similarly, when you have immigrants from these healthier countries and they come here, and their next generation is having these issues at really accelerated rates than the original immigrants or their ancestors. And again, it's the environment, it's the behavior. It's a lot of things, not just one thing, but all of it coming together. SCOTT: Hmm. To change topics a little bit, I wanna talk a bit about vitamins and minerals. So, in addition to those macronutrients we talked about, what sort of impact do those have on your digestion? Of course, they're as important as the macronutrients, right? You know, our body, our cells rely on certain elements to continue their normal function. And so it's important that we provide all of that. And when you have that balanced diet, it will come through those macronutrients as well. Usually not a need to supplement significantly, but you know, there are some with conditions where they may not be able to ingest all of the essentials they need, so a multivitamin is probably enough for anyone who thinks they're not getting their essential nutrients or minerals.

SCOTT:

Okay. This may be getting a little into the weeds, but are there any examples of specific vitamins or minerals that aid in digestion, or are something that have real, notable benefit when you consume them either through a supplement or just through a balanced diet?

DR. SADHU:

I mean, I'm always with the balanced diet, of course but, you know, there are some anti-inflammatory ingredients. SCOTT: Okay. I'll give you an example. Turmeric is a great -- It has been studied and shown to be, have anti- inflammatory processes. But it's not like you would eat a teaspoon of turmeric necessarily. And there's many over the years that have had some benefits in specific ailments. But I think, you know, again, it comes in that balanced diet. In terms of minerals, calcium is a key one, right? For bone, metabolic bone health, for other things. So -- And then that depends on your age. Younger kids, growing skeletons should have adequate calcium so that comes from dairy products most often, and then some green leafy vegetables and such, but you'll get it better in dairy products. And older women with osteoporosis should definitely have enough dietary calcium. So, iron is another big one. This is something that we definitely know for our vegans who tend to be iron deficient on a whole. So these are, I think, calcium, iron, these are things that are basic and then you have the more advanced, you know, what are anti- inflammatory ingredients that come in different foods that you could also focus on.

SCOTT:

Okay. So like you said, it basically comes down to those -- to your balanced diet and even some of these whole ingredients by themselves have health benefit outside of just striking that balance. And it's just things that you would normally include in a balanced meal. DR. SADHU: Right. Like turmeric is just a seasoning that you can throw in there. DR. SADHU: Yeah, exactly. You may not even be thinking about it, but it's good for you to have and it's not a --

DR. SADHU:

And it's cultural too, those kinds of ingredients, but they probably, you know, survive thousands of years of recipes because there is some benefit, not just the taste for many of them.

SCOTT:

You never know where -- how these things got passed down and ended up. They -- we liked this food and we kept eating it because it had an actual benefit, even if we didn't know about it. So --

DR. SADHU:

Exactly, exactly. This evolution isn't by chance.

SCOTT:

Right, right.

DR. SADHU:

I think we have to give a lot of creed to our ancestors for developing these deep-rooted customs, practices, and cultures, because if you look back, you know, they get validated in many scientific ways now.

SCOTT:

Is there any final advice that you would give people to sort of help improve their overall digestive health?

DR. SADHU:

Well, I think, you know, watch what you eat is really a key one. And you are what you eat. These are, you know, phrases that come from hundreds of years ago, but they still hold true. Be careful what you're putting into your mouth because it goes into your whole digestive tract, which then gets absorbed and goes into every other part of your body and affects the function of your body at the cellular level. So if you can look at your food and say,"I'm happy with," you know, "these healthy ingredients," your body will be better for it and will function for you better for it. And, it's not rocket science, you know. If you're gonna eat a donut, you know, that that's gonna do something that you don't want. It's great at the taste receptors but there's a price to pay thereafter. SCOTT: Right. And to think about that. And, you know, early habits are really important, I feel. Getting those children to understand, providing them the environment to eat healthy and the education to eat healthy will change our future generations and that trajectory we mentioned will go down. And we, for the -- It's not easy for everyone to do that, and in medicine, we try to, you know, offer other medical options, obviously. We didn't even touch on weight loss and all the ways to do that with medical therapies, but for those who have many challenges that can't just switch and eat healthy and exercise daily, there are options that will also improve their long-term health. But on the whole, just look at what you're eating and are you happy with that going into your body and waking up with, you know, good energy the next day to do everything you wanna do. SCOTT: Yeah. Yeah, so it seems like even with all of the advances in medicine and technology, and as society has sort of advanced, some things are really just time-tested, and diet, I think, is one of those that's proven to be -- If it ain't broke don't fix it.[Laughing] Yeah. Don't try to take shortcuts, right?

SCOTT:

Right, right.

DR. SADHU:

There's a price to pay. But I have great optimism that I think we're setting a new path. Slow, but at least --

SCOTT:

A new old path.

DR. SADHU:

And things like this are so important to get that public message out. SCOTT: Of course. And hopefully many of your listeners, if not all, have taken away something that they can implement tomorrow, today that will make them much healthier for their rest of their lifetime.

SCOTT:

Yeah, certainly. I'll have to consider more and think about some of these older meals and diets that I -- that might be a good decision to make beyond just the look at my plate and balance it. It's like some of these things are…

DR. SADHU:

Yeah. I mean, how many trends and diets have we had over the years? Which ones have stuck? None. SCOTT: Very few, none.[Laughter] Possibly. Because they're not doable, they're not -- they're excessive in most cases. They come with their own baggage. What is -- What does stick for thousands of years is that fresh from the earth, minimally processed diet. So if you want to do that trend, you're gonna be better for it.

SCOTT:

All right. All right, well, thank you so much.

DR. SADHU:

My pleasure. It's been great chatting with you.♪ ♪

KATIE:

So, Scott, you guys covered a lot there. What was your biggest takeaway?

SCOTT:

I thought it was really interesting how a lot of these traditional cultural meals that have been passed down through generations have a lot of good nutrition in them and they're sort of balanced on their own. And it makes you think about how those traditions got passed down and they intentionally or unintentionally were making and eating healthy food.

KATIE:

Yeah. It's almost like, you know, you know what your body needs and we still do as well. Like, you kind of know when you're making a diet choice that's maybe not quite as good for you. Like when you're going through the drive thru instead of eating those leftovers sitting in the fridge. I did it the other night, I'm guilty of it. Had plenty of leftovers sitting there and I decided to order some Buffalo Wild Wings instead.

SCOTT:

Yeah.

KATIE:

But to your point, then you take a look at sort of what has been passed down and the stuff passed down is all pretty healthy. Yeah. So it's an interesting thing. Even our diets, like we tried to evolve in the right way. SCOTT: Yeah. Maybe we were moving too fast, and thinking too much about convenience and costs rather than the actual health of it. And maybe some of these people were collectively listening to their bodies when they were making this food and that's how they ended up on these, these meals. Yeah. That's a really good point. That's well said. I think one of the really interesting things that she said that stuck with me and I'm gonna -- I wrote it down, so I'm gonna read it. She said that,"Eating your biggest meal at the end of the day and going right to bed is the worst thing you can do for nutrient storage."

SCOTT:

Mm.

KATIE:

Which really stuck with me because I kind of always think about eating too close to bed as like,"Oh, I'm gonna wake up later or something. It revs my body up." I've never thought about how it's gonna affect like what my body's doing with the nutrients and how it's digesting them. Certainly don't want them to be storing things that I don't want them to be storing, you know, stuff like that. My dinner is definitely the biggest meal of the day.

SCOTT:

Oh, absolutely. KATIE: Hands down. And then I go sit on the couch for two or three hours and then I go to bed. SCOTT: Yes.

KATIE:

And so -- And I -- Yeah, I'm sure I'm not alone in that. So, I think -- I liked that she mentioned that, you know, I think a good first step maybe is the walk after dinner, like she recommended. But I don't know, I can see a world where I might try to make the shift where lunch is my bigger meal. Still, you know, cooking dinner at night, just eating less of a portion for dinner and then saving more leftovers so you can have this like convenient lunch that's healthy, and you know it's healthy and it's a big meal that's just waiting for you.

SCOTT:

Yeah. Meal prepping lunch is something I've always considered largely just for saving money and not spending $20 on lunch every time I'd step out the door. But I think there's actually a really good health benefit to it, even if it isn't a salad, your timing of your food is actually really impactful. KATIE: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's a well-balanced meal at the right time. Sounds like it's kind of the better thing to be doing for your body than worrying about like,"Oh, let me have this salad instead of McDonald's 30 minutes before I go to bed." So, I thought that was really cool. A really practical tip that I could probably implement over the next couple of weeks and just build into my schedule. So, I was excited about that. Well, that's gonna do it for us this time on On Health with Houston Methodist. Be sure to share, like, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We drop new episodes on Tuesday mornings. So, until then, stay tuned and stay healthy.♪ ♪