Adam Potash, A Better Healthful Path

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Oceane-Group

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/12/24

Adam Potash is a trained chef and health coach passionate about transforming lives through sustainable weight loss and nutrition. A graduate of Johnson & Wales University, his journey began with a love for cooking and evolved into a mission to help others achieve optimal health. After culinary success working with elite clients, Adam pursued health and nutrition studies, creating The Approach, a sustainable weight loss program. Combining intermittent fasting, balanced eating, and emotional support, Adam has helped over 10,000 clients lose weight and improve their health. His goal is to empower others to lead healthier, happier, and more confident lives.

Potash shares insights into his journey from culinary school to promoting healthier lifestyles. Inspired by witnessing his grandmother’s health decline due to poor nutrition and excessive medication, Potash emphasizes the transformative power of food. He highlights the Mediterranean diet, intermittent fasting, and prioritizing fresh, simple ingredients as keys to sustainable health. Potash criticizes food fads and restrictive diets, advocating for lifestyle changes over quick fixes. Working with athletes and private clients, he focuses on balanced meals that fuel performance. His advice includes avoiding grazing, eating nutrient-dense vegetables, and cooking with love to enhance health and enjoyment.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Today, we’re here with Adam Potash or Potash. How do you say that properly: “Pot-Ash”?

Adam Potash: You said it right the first time.

Jacobsen: You have this orientation toward health, nutrition, and weight loss. So, how did your grandmother’s story of illness build up and lead to this particular concern about health and weight loss? Now, that one’s straightforward. So, the term illness can be ambiguous.

Is it cancer, or is it an improper diet? Therefore, is the person physically ill due to lifestyle habits, or is this normal aging combined with other factors? Present that story to me because I think you’re onto something.

Potash: Right, it could be a combination of a few different things—age, illness, and poor nutrition. Listen, in my field, we tackle everything from a nutritional aspect first and foremost.

And yes, you’re right. This is what prompted my journey toward getting healthier myself. Seeing my grandmother deteriorate, for lack of a better word, with one medication, then another, and another to counteract the previous one became this big rabbit hole. I was younger at the time—I must have been 17 or 18 years old when she passed—but I saw this whole thing transpire and said, “There’s got to be a better way.”

Shortly after she passed, I enrolled in culinary school because I wanted to do something related to food. That eventually transitioned into cooking healthy food and cooking for pro athletes and others. I wanted to make everyone around me healthier, and the best way to do that was through food. That happened over a few years—cooking, cooking healthy, and eventually helping people transition to better health.

Jacobsen: Quick question on personal interest stuff.

I worked in restaurants. I used to work in four simultaneously, then did janitorial work overnight for two. Those were seven-day weeks, putting in nine hours a day. It was an intensive time, but I got to see a lot of different styles in how people run restaurants—from pubs to more bistro-style places and an Italian-Jewish-owned and run restaurant.

It could have been more fine dining, but it was aimed in that direction. So, where did you get your experience in terms of seeing a variety of restaurants? How did you observe operations, the quality of materials used to prepare meals, and their health standards? What did you see that made you think, “I could use those ideas a la carte and develop my program”?

Potash: Yes, my career started as a server, working in the front of the house. But I always had this crazy interest in the back of the house.

The short story of how it all transpired is this: I went on a boating trip with the chef of a place where I was a server. It was called Gordon Biersch.

It was a brewery. The chef asked a few of the servers if they wanted to go on a fishing trip. I said, “Sure, I’ll go.” It was my day off. I caught the only fish that day, and it was this grouper.

It was about a 24-pound grouper, right? All day, we’re out there—nothing, nothing. Finally, we’re about a mile from shore, so I hook this grouper.

Of course, whoever’s closest to the line gets it. I fought it for about an hour. The whole scene was there, and we returned to the restaurant. The chef cooked it up in five, six, or maybe seven different ways. From that moment, I was hooked. That was my turning point when I decided, “I’m going to be a chef.”

From catch to feast in a matter of an hour was unbelievable. That started everything.

And, listen, going back to your question about seeing the operations of things—nothing was ever healthy. No matter where you went—this is going back 20 or 25 years—nothing was ever healthy.

When I started cooking for myself, I limited so many ingredients. I cooked. Julia Child has a quote—I’m butchering it, but it’s something like this: “If you cook simple and basic, everything is going to be good.” That’s basically what it comes down to.

If you cook with good ingredients—fresh ingredients—it’s going to come out well. You don’t need to complicate things. That’s the lesson I learned from a young age and as a young chef: make things simple and make them taste good.

Jacobsen: What makes a simple and good meal?

Potash: It sounds like a different question, but we have so many options for food in North America—particularly in the United States—ranging from processed food to unprocessed food, high-calorie food to low-calorie food, nutrient-dense food to not-so-nutrient-dense food, and so on.

How do you consider this when you’re running a restaurant? You’re saying, “This is the menu. This is the schema for what I want people to consume at my business or restaurant.”

I will give you the cheesy, cliché answer: it honestly comes down to love. If you’re putting love into your dishes, it will come out good.

I still cook for parties, private clients, and events. My ingredients and meals involve less than 30 different steps. I use five steps, but those are done perfectly—they’re seasoned right, taste good, and that’s it. If you can do that, you can’t lose.

Jacobsen: What are those five steps?

Potash: Well, obviously, it starts with good, fresh ingredients—whether it’s freshly caught fish or something similar.

Then, it’s about cooking it properly. For example, I cook a lot pan-seared and then finish it in the oven. Not to get too technical, but I do that because I want a nice sear and crust, and then I want it to cook fully from a convection style.

Cook it all the way through or cook it from a broader perspective rather than just using direct heat. That’s how I do most of my cooking. Letting things rest is also very important. Many people cook and then want to eat immediately, but you must let things relax for a moment.

Always have a good sauce. If you ever come to one of my parties or to someone I’ve cooked for, they’ll tell you That sauces are legit. A good sauce doesn’t have to be unhealthy. It could be something like chimichurri, pesto, or similar. A nice sauce complements the dish beautifully.

And honestly, the last step is presentation. Everybody eats with their eyes first, so you must put a little effort into how the food looks.

Jacobsen: Is that called plating? Is that the proper word for it?

Potash: Yes, plating—exactly. I always go with a nice white plate. In my house, we have clean, white plates. It’s like a blank canvas.

Jacobsen: So, let’s say you have this simplified method. When looking at the North American palate and the ingredients available, what do you consider some of the more nutritious meals? How can people incorporate that into healthier living, even if it’s not necessarily a formal meal plan?

Potash: Yes, so we all know by now that the Mediterranean diet will be the healthiest, right? You can’t get away from that concept. It’s about using local ingredients and focusing on a pescatarian-type diet.

I base my cooking on this. I was born and raised in Miami, South Florida, so we always had fresh, local fish—whether it was mahi, grouper, snapper, or something else. That’s the healthiest way to start meal prepping or planning.

It doesn’t have to be fish, but locally sourced-ingredients are always better.

Now, intermittent fasting—I follow a pescatarian Mediterranean diet and practice intermittent fasting. The baseline is a 16-hour fast daily, though I can go up to 20 hours depending on the day. I’m not too strict about it; it’s more of a range.

Jacobsen: What benefits do you see from intermittent fasting?

Potash: Oh my gosh, the sky’s the limit—it offers endless benefits.

It can improve your skin, clear up acne, make your hair fuller, and strengthen your nails—those things people first notice. But it doesn’t stop there. It also provides digestive benefits and helps women dealing with menopause, menopause-related weight gain, and PCOS.

Truthfully, the list goes on. Doctors are now even using intermittent fasting to treat cancer patients because it generates new, fresh cells in the body and removes old, damaged ones.

The benefits—if you’re not intermittent fasting—you’re honestly not feeling or looking your best. It gives your body the rest that it needs.

Jacobsen: Now, when two individuals look at diets, there will be skeptics and even cynics. How do we separate good diets from faulty ones? For instance, some diets are more about branding, like an all-red-meat diet, compared to the Mediterranean diet, which intuitively makes more sense because it has more balance overall.

As an expert, I believe the Mediterranean diet provides a better presentation, covers more food groups, and has a broader palate. How do you ensure there’s enough rigour to prevent a diet from being just a fad with yo-yo effects and short-term results?

Potash: What I always recommend—and for anyone thinking about a diet—is to look at how restrictive it is. For example, you mentioned the carnivore diet or the keto diet. Those immediately become extremely restrictive. Anytime something is highly restrictive, it gets categorized as a “diet.”

Usually, those are short-term and sustainable. You might see results immediately, but sustainability is where it fails. That’s when you get into the yo-yo diet effect—yes, it worked, but you can’t maintain it forever.

On the other hand, when we talk about intermittent fasting or the Mediterranean diet, these are lifestyles, not diets. They’re not restrictive. For example, I go out to eat; I enjoy food with my friends, buddies, and wife—we’re always eating. But it’s good food, healthy food. I never feel restricted or deprived by what I’m choosing.

I’m not putting myself in a bucket of, “Oh my gosh, I can only eat meat,” or, “I have to avoid carbs completely.” That’s not sustainable long-term.

Jacobsen: Could someone potentially do a short-term radical shift and then transition to something more sustainable? Say they want rapid changes first but then move to a longer-term solution. Is that possible, or is that too unreasonable for most people?

Potash: Yes, so I was going to say—it’s generally unreasonable if you do it yourself. When you’re on your own, you become your critic, and there’s no accountability piece to it. You start making up your own rules as you go along.

I’ve been doing this for over 15 years, and that’s what I see people do. They make up their own rules. For example, I know people who do alternate-day fasting. They start applying new rules like, “Oh, I’ll do it tomorrow,” or, “I’ll do it the next day,” or, “I didn’t do it today, but that’s okay.”

There needs to be more consistency and a base to work from, and that’s where it falls apart.

There’s no baseline. So, we teach the 16:8 method because it is the most consistent thing you can do. It’s not depriving or restrictive. You’re eating within an 8-hour window, which you can do daily.

Another great thing about an intermittent fasting schedule is that you can shift it. Some days, you might do 16 hours; other days, you might do 18. You can adjust it according to your schedule. This makes it much more of a lifestyle than a strict, harsh diet.

That’s my approach—set a baseline as a floor, then give yourself a range. If I can go a little longer the next day, no problem. Have an extra cup of coffee and keep going.

Jacobsen: What do you find people typically lack nutritionally—both macronutrients and micronutrients?

Potash: As an executive chef who runs restaurants, I can tell you that people often need to catch up on the basics. Running a restaurant is no easy job—it’s consistently high-stress. Transitioning from front-of-house to back-of-house surprised some people because you deal with difficult customers in the front. Still, the back-of-house can be even more intense. Every position, aside from prep work before service, is constantly stressful.

Jacobsen: So, what macronutrients and micronutrients are people typically missing when looking at nutrition? How can they fill those gaps?

Potash: Listen, we’ve gotten so far away from vegetables. Even when we consume vegetables at restaurants, it’s often not in their purest or healthiest form. The trend now is Brussels sprouts, right? But those sprouts are usually deep-fried and covered in something unhealthy.

We’ve moved so far away from basic, nutritious vegetables. Often, vegetables are treated as an afterthought—the last thing people eat. If you’re at a restaurant, you’re typically filling up on steak or mashed potatoes first. If there’s room left, maybe you’ll eat the asparagus.

My rule of thumb is to start with the good stuff—the more nutritious items. Fill up on those first, then move on to the other things. Save the carbs for last, so you’re not eating as much. Carbs, for the most part, have very little nutritional benefit.

This doesn’t mean vegetables must be plain or steamed, but we must return to basics. Everyone knows about the trend of fried Brussels sprouts. My advice is to go back to simple, clean vegetables. That’s one of my biggest tips when it comes to nutrition.

Jacobsen: What’s the most extreme individual food fad you’ve seen outside of fried Brussels sprouts?

Potash: Food fad? That’s an interesting one. Food fads are everywhere. Fried calamari has been around for quite a while now, especially with all the different sauces—it will never go away.

There are so many unhealthy food fads. For example, many steak places pop up everywhere, and it’s the same no matter where you go. There’s no creativity anymore when it comes to these steakhouses.

I have four different steakhouses within a three-mile radius of my house. And they all serve the same thing—you get your asparagus, filet, and potatoes. Nothing stands out or feels creative anymore.

There needs to be more creativity, at least where I live in South Florida. People in the kitchen seem afraid to try something new.

Jacobsen: When cooking for athletes and celebrities, how does that differ in terms of their requests per meal or meal plan? How different are they from the rest of us?

Potash: Not much, believe it or not. These athletes—I don’t want to say “basic” because that sounds negative—but they are basic because they focus on health. They want food to help them perform better on the field, on the pitch, or wherever they compete.

They’re open about food. They want something simple and convenient and don’t want to use their brainpower worrying about nutrition. They leave that to someone like me.

My job is to ensure that they’re getting well-balanced meals that provide everything they need to fuel their bodies. I’m not measuring macronutrients to the gram, but I understand how to create meals that include a variety of nutrients—the full”rainbow” of food.

They want to focus on their performance: running faster, hitting harder, or excelling in their sport. The last thing they want to worry about is their food. They leave it to professionals to ensure they’re eating right.

Honestly, I haven’t encountered too many picky athletes. They want to know they’re eating well and fueling their bodies.

Jacobsen: So, what do you see as the major health issue for North America? Many of your clients have lost weight significantly since starting this meal plan and program. Beyond the obvious issues of being overweight or having a higher-than-healthy BMI for their height, what do you notice coming up?

Potash: Listen, we’ve been getting more overweight year after year for the last 100 years. A few factors contribute to this.

Number one is breakfast. Kellogg’s introduced breakfast as a marketing concept, adding a meal we weren’t eating before.

Then, if you go to the grocery store these days, everything is snack-sized—snack this, snack that. We’ve become tremendous grazers.

The problem is that our stomachs aren’t designed like those of cows or horses for daily grazing. Our bodies want to digest food and then rest, but we’ve completely eliminated that rest period.

Now, you eat breakfast, go to the office, and someone hands you a treat and grabs it. Then someone else has a snack at their desk, and you eat that too. It’s this constant grazing.

People think, “Oh, it’s not much. It’s just a bite.” But that grazing raises your insulin levels and doesn’t allow your digestive system to take a break.

This constant grazing leads to kidney, liver, and gallbladder issues—it overworks our entire system.

If people need to make one major health change, stop grazing. Eat your meals within a specific time frame and then be done.

Jacobsen: Are there any other areas we missed? We covered everything from restaurants, diets, food trends, and health concerns.

Potash: Yes, you touched on a lot of different points. I appreciate that.

Jacobsen: Any final thoughts based on the interview today?

Potash: No, this was great. Whoever your readers are, it’s good they’ll get a little education from this. It’s great.

Jacobsen: Excellent. Adam, thank you so much for your time.

Potash: Thank you.

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Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the Founder of In-Sight Publishing and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal (ISSN 2369–6885). He is a Freelance, Independent Journalist with the Canadian Association of Journalists in Good Standing, a Member of PEN Canada, and a Writer for The Good Men Project. Email: Scott.Douglas.Jacobsen@Gmail.Com.

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