A California chef said «horrible stomach problems» led him to change his diet, find the kitchen and embrace the Make America Healthy Again movement.
American Gravy restaurant group owner Andrew Gruel appeared on Saturday’s episode of «My View with Lara Trump» to speak about his MAHA journey, sharing a few tips on how to prepare healthy meals and what he thinks needs to change in the food industry. (See the video at the top of this article.)
Gruel expanded on those thoughts with Fox News Digital, revealing how he developed stomach issues in his late teenage years that got so bad he «either had to stay in a classroom or an area effectively near a bathroom.»
«Funny enough, that’s what got me into the kitchen,» Gruel told Fox News Digital. «I didn’t have to go anywhere. I ultimately dropped out of college and just kept working in restaurants. They were my place of safety.»
Then, 10 to 15 years later, Gruel said, he «started cutting out» all processed foods and seed oils from his diet.
Chef Andrew Gruel, based in California, told Fox News Digital that stomach issues eventually led him to cut out all processed foods and seed oils from his diet. (Fox News Digital)
«I was healed,» he said.
«I mean, after medicine and pharmaceuticals and all these different drugs they were trying to put me on, it just never went away. I lived with it. I managed it. Changing my diet ultimately fixed that and changed it altogether.»
That’s when, Gruel said, he started to «believe in the power of MAHA.»
He told Lara Trump on her show that making healthy meals at home is «pretty easy.»
MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN: TIMELINE OF THE MAHA MOVEMENT
He demonstrated that by showing viewers how to prepare fresh scallops with an arugula and green apple salad.
During the segment, Trump asked Gruel what he hopes will change with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services, leading the charge in President Donald Trump’s second term.
Chef Gruel places some scallops on a plate during an appearance on «My View with Lara Trump.» (Fox News)
Gruel said he’d like to see the deregulation of the restaurant industry’s food supply chain.
That would allow, he said, for direct access between restaurants and small farmers and independent fishermen who are «creating all those amazing products that, for some reason, we’re shipping overseas, and then we’re importing products.»
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«It’s very difficult for small- and medium-sized farmers to get their food to restaurants and distributors,» Gruel told Fox News Digital.
For one thing, he said, there are a limited number of processors and packers within the industry.
«We need to break down the consolidation at the top.»
«This means there’s almost a cartel at the top of the food chain that buys all of the products from these small farmers, repackages them, processes them and then sells them to the big distributors,» Gruel said.
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«If the small farmers could bypass the big packers and more easily sell to small- and mid-sized distributors, healthy food would get to the restaurants and wholesale distributors much easier.»
Healthier foods like apples could more easily be sold to restaurant distributors if farmers are able to bypass the big packers, Gruel told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
Gruel said this can be achieved «by making it easier for these businesses to obtain permits, licensing and regulations to cross state lines with their products.»
He believes that if the infrastructure was expanded to smaller distributors, «we will see a lot healthier food at the right price entering the food service sector.»
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«We need to break down the consolidation at the top.»
The National Restaurant Association declined to comment on the subject.
