Dr Christian Jessen interview
You’re working with American Pistachio Growers on a new campaign, so what exactly are the health benefits of eating them?
There are lots of new studies coming out about nuts in general, but pistachios in particular. We know from various studies that pistachios are good for lowering blood cholesterol levels because they contain high levels of plant sterols – pistachios are a natural source of that. And very importantly in men there is a biochemical process that comes together to help with erectile function as well, a small study showed improvement in erectile function in men.
These are all quite interesting, but above and beyond that they are just a good and healthy snack instead a bar of chocolate eating a handful of pistachios is a much better alternative.
There is a perception that nuts are fatty and aren’t actually that good for us, what would you say about that?
This is not true, if they’re part of a balanced diet. Obviously if you just eat nuts, like if you just eat crisp or burgers, they’re going to not be good. You need balance in your diet and that’s the key thing.
Also, looking into ‘what is a portion of nuts?’ a handful is probably about right – but that obviously depends on the size of your hands. In America they call a portion of nuts around 50 pistachios, which I’d be surprised if anyone gets through 50 pistachios a day, I think that’s quite a lot. But that puts perspective really. As part of a balanced diet they can be really useful. They do contain fats, but they contain good fats, heart protective fats rather than the saturated fats that we get from processed food, cakes and burgers – that sort of thing. Yes they do contain calories, and yes they do contain fats but they’re the right sorts, rather than the wrong sorts.
Would you class them as a super food?
I don’t believe in super foods and I hate the term super foods. I don’t believe that they exist. There is no one food that will do any marvelous thing for you, it’s a combination of foods that are important. That’s the where it becomes very misleading, just eating loads of blueberries you’re not going to derive any health benefits, in fact you’re going to end up with health deficiencies in various things because you’re excluding other food groups. I think the term super food is very misleading for people. You might have a super diet which includes all sorts of the right amount of foods, but not any one single super food.
Which other foods would you recommend for their health benefits, other than pistachios?
It’s all about variety, the more fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and colour is all really important too when it comes to choosing your diet. Anything that’s overly processed can come straight from the factory is less than ideal put it that way. I don’t want to use the word natural because people always turn that into meaning organic, and I don’t necessarily mean that, anything that comes pretty much un-messed around in a factory is going to be better for me that something that has been heavily processed. Fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, dried fruit and vegetables are good too actually.
Frozen is fine too. I think that people think that frozen vegetables aren’t ideal, but for busy people a lot of frozen vegetables contain higher nutrients and vitamin levels than organic fruits and vegetables. The reason being they tend to be flash frozen as soon as they’re picked, whereas organic fruit and veg tend to sit around for a little while, whilst they’re being transported to the wherever they’re sold because the demand isn’t so high the whole process is a little slower so often they’ve degraded a little bit by the time you get to eat them. It is a bit of a myth that frozen fruit and veg isn’t good.
Are there any foods that you would recommend for an instant health boost?
Anything fresh will do that for you, anything that you grow yourself – that you’ve had control over – is going to do that to you. It’s going back to that whole super food idea, there isn’t one thing. If you take breakfast for example, the traditional breakfast is cereal and a glass of orange juice, well there is a very good reason why you have a glass of orange juice with your cereal, it’s because cereal contains iron and iron is better absorbed when it’s eaten with vitamin C, which is contained within the orange juice. The two together actually increase more of the goodness together, than if you were to eat them separately. Food combinations are more important than just eating one of any particular food.
What other food combinations should we be eating then?
I would definitely say nuts and seeds together with some fresh fruit, the fruit acids and the vitamins in the fresh fruit will help to absorb the nutrients in the nuts and seeds. Sometimes you can get little packets of dried fruit with nuts; those are really clever because the combination of them will ensure that you will get more of the nutrients than if you were to eat them on their own. Although they have sugars and they have fats, they also have high levels of fibre so you won’t be able to eat that many without being fairly stuffed.
When talking about pistachio nuts in particular, what’s interesting about them psychologically is because they come in their shells you have to do work to eat them, this helps to limit the numbers that you eat and when the shells are right in front of you it will indicate how many you have actually eaten and this will naturally slow you down.
Are there any particular healthy foods that you recommend we should be eating more of?
We tend not to eat enough fish, so that’s definitely a good idea – 2 or 3 times a week. People always wonder what’s a portion? About a chunk the size of a pack of cards, that goes for fish or red meat.
I would recommend that people explore the more exotic fruits as well, we tend to stick to apples, oranges and bananas and it’s terribly unimaginative. These days there are plenty more exotic fruits with lots of different types of compounds in them which are all very useful we’re finding massive benefits from some of the more exotic fruits.
Would you recommend eating Organic Foods more than normal foods?
No. They tend to be quite a bit more expensive and they don’t bring any greater health benefits at all, if I’m honest with you. In fact, a lot of the time they have been standing around for a lot longer - it does depend on where you buy them from, if you’re buying them directly fresh picked from the farm then that’s different. But with supermarkets the batches tend to be of smaller quantity they tend to get to the supermarket in a longer time than the mass produced stuff. I don’t think it’s worth it, but you know what as long as you’re getting fruit or vegetables it doesn’t matter whether you go for organic or not.
What foods should people be eating before a workout, and what foods afterwards?
Before a workout it’s definitely useful to get in some complex carbohydrates, brown pasta or rice, that sort of thing. Things that will be used for a sustained release of energy so they will keep you going throughout the workout. I always have a black coffee before a workout because I find that the caffeine improves my physical performance, it gives me increased strength and that energy lift where I feel I do a better workout.
After a workout, protein-containing foods to help with the tissue repair. Nuts are a really good example of those.
People complain about not having the time, so how can they fit workouts into their everyday lives?
You know you don’t have to be going off to the gym everyday there are plenty of other things that you can do and it’s all of the things that you’ve heard of before, walk up the stairs instead of the escalators, take a bike to work instead of driving if possible, or park the car a little further out and do a little jog or speed walk to your destination. Further than this, it’s just not sitting on your bum the entire day. Get off your bum at lunch time and go for a walk around, even if just half your lunch break and spend the other half eating. Movement in general is key. The more you move around the more energy efficient your muscles will become which means you can get away with eating more of the slightly naughtier things.
If you could advise people to make one change for a healthier lifestyle, what would it be?
For the reason I’ve just said it would be to try and increase the amount of exercise that you do. If you do that, you don’t have to change your diet quite much because your now energy efficient body will process the foods you eat better, so you can slip with the diet a little bit more. So, yes I think that more exercise is the most important single change to make.
There are plenty of celebrities out there who embark on detox diets, what are your views on them?
I think they’re very misguided. We know scientifically that the concept of detox is rubbish; there is no such thing as detox. Our bodies don’t store toxins, in fact they’re very efficient at getting rid of toxins themselves through your skin, your liver and your kidneys – no herbal tea or foot rub is going to do that for you.
Dr Christian Jessen is supporting American Pistachio Growers’ campaign to educate Brits about the health benefits of including pistachio nuts in a healthy diet.
Femalefirst Taryn Davies