Last week when I was cleaning strawberries all afternoon, I flipped on Oprah & Dr. Oz. I probably shouldn’t have done that, some of what I heard made me nuts. But I also heard a few things that made me cheer!
There was a LOT of good advice for achieving better health on this Oprah show, and it gives me hope that maybe, just maybe we might be getting there…
Look over Oprah & Dr. Oz’s Health Checklist from last week’s show and see what jumps out at you.
What made your eyes pop out of your head and brought on the urge to yell at your computer? What made you cheer and amazed that we’re finally hearing some of this stuff in the media?
FINALLY, the words I’ve longed to hear…
I absolutely LOVE that on their list of foods to avoid are anything with high fructose corn syrup and trans fat, and even more exciting, Dr. Oz suggested that we eat more foods without a label. To have these suggestions on a show like Oprah is huge!
There were other pieces of good information here, too, but the rest was mostly the politically correct advice that you’ve heard before.
Here’s the advice from Dr. Oz that got me a bit worked up:
- Avoid saturated fats: “Any fat from an animal with four legs”. Seriously?! Still that old advice? Humans have eaten these fats for thousands of years, and now, just in the last few decades (as our health has declined), now it’s bad for us?! (Read the truth about healthy fats.)
- Eat 1 T. of olive oil a day. That’s it?! That’s your fat intake for the day?! And we’re supposed to stay healthy? I love olive oil, for sure, but we need it with healthy animal fats!
- One woman was featured who lost a lot of weight. She eats chicken for supper. Every day. Wonder how long that will last? How boring! Why not include meat from healthy farm animals, those that aren’t fed junk, and are out on pasture? Or some sustainably caught seafood, which we all know is good for us? Personally I’ve got to change things up or I’ll go crazy. Besides, God gave us a variety of foods to enjoy, and to gain different nutrients from each one!
- No mention (that I saw anyway), of watching out for too many of those carbs that we all love so much. (’m gearing up for another low-carb marathon myself…hopefully I can stick with it long-term this time – at least low-carb, even if it’s not no-carb!)
Now let us know what made you squirm or made you jump for joy?!
- OVERWEIGHT KIDS – 16 Ways to Help – do you know someone who needs to read this? Please forward it on.
- Want some new summer salad ideas?
- Do you feel overwhelmed at times when trying to eat healthier?
Jennifer says
Check out this article on the relationship between overeating and inflammation. The hypothalamus is part of the limbic system that is very sensitive to trauma/stress. Could it be that some of us have dysregulation of the limbic system to greater or lesser extent, resulting in inflammation, and that we eat to self-medicate… the overeating flips the master switch in the hypothalamus that stops the inflammation? (Trouble is, the foods we crave will mostly create new inflammation, I bet.) There are many explanations for overeating and obesity, but this is just one.
Has the GAPS diet been featured on Oprah? If not it ought to be. It is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet v 2.0. Like the SCD, it focuses on healthy foods that end the cycle of inflammation, but it also emphasizes supporting your body through the detoxification or cleansing of the body that happens as a result of ridding your gut flora of “bad bugs” and repopulating with “good bugs.” (And food-based probiotics like SCD 24 fermented yogurt are such a HUGE piece of healing the gut flora.)
Kelly says
Karen, I can’t get that link to work…try it again…? Thanks for your great comment!
Kel
Karen Ferguson says
Hi Kelly et.al,
If you are remotely curious as to how the diet industry thinks, read this from the US NEWS and World Report. It’s 4 years old but is still applicable. https://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/
030616/16profit.htm It’s in the Business section, so they have no shame referring to people as 60% obese customers/ statistics.
There’s a vague number in the article about profits. Nothing truly defined: but I broke it down anyway, pretending it was accurate. It’s the only one I could find for now. But I’m on the look out.
Profits of the diet industry: 40 bilion..I’m assuming this is a year
That’s:
One day: 109 million
1 hour: 4.5 million
1 minute: 76,000 bucks
Even if these are “half true,” in my book, it’s too much profit.
There’s another angle that no one talks about: are the stats correct when it comes to the links between obesity and disease?
I wish Oprah would have on Paul Campos. He wrote “The Obesity Myth: Why America’s Obsession with Weight is Hazardous to Your Health,” (Gotham Books) (2004] It’s brilliant and well researched. I liked it so much, I called him and congratulated him on it. Brilliant chap. Lawyer turned health educator/writer. Still teaches law. Alas, I wonder how much of it was squashed by the diet industry.
I agree w/ Janet: recovering from addiction is not about will power. But again, not everyone is sensitive to sugar/flour. It’s also not about popping thousands of dollars of vitamins that both Gariel Cousins MD and Moss recommend. [I’ve often wondered, when does that end??]
I saw Moss at the NT conference in Burlingame last year. It was almost as if she didn’t believe we can get better without vitamins.etc. I suspect some can and perhaps some can’t: but it’s not as dismal as it was portrayed. The body’s self-healing mechanisms, given the right fuel, is adept at righting itself, beautifully.
Recovery from addiction, according to Carl Jung, is about having a spiritual awakening. There’s a great letter between Bill Wilson and C. Jung that talks about this. And then there’s nutrition, therapy etc…
There are over 400 anonymous programs out there. The courts use the AA rooms for those ticketed with multiple DUIs and eating disorder wings of hospitals have OA meetings weekly.
That’s my 2 cents and experience.
Life is a fascinating journey.
Thanks Kelly for all you do…
Hugs.
Karen
Kelly says
Such great insight and resources, Janet, thank you!
Janet W says
I have to disagree here. Addiction is not about will power (although Macleans had an article last month saying a study has found that addiction is “a matter of free will.” I want to know who funded this study — the alcohol industry? sugar industry? manufacturers of HFCS and MSG? I didn’t bother to read it, but it’s here) and it’s not about spirituality, it is about bio-chemistry, specifically about brain chemistry, blood sugar levels, malnutrition (no matter how much food you’re eating) including low levels of viamins and minerals. I have been dealing with this for too many years, but have read some incredible books that explain how the body works and what to do to end the addiction. These include The Diet Cure and The Mood Cure by Julia Ross; The Schwarzbein Principle be Diana Schwarzbein; and especially, Potatoes Not Prozac and (5 stars for this one) Little Sugar Addicts by Katleen DesMaisons. Little Sugar Addicts is about getting your kids off of sugar, but she says you can’t heal them until you start to heal yourself. I like this one better than her other because she doesn’t “allow” snacks or much fat for adults, but realizes that they are essential for children.
If you are trying to cut out sugar, you must also deal with caffeine, meaning cut this out as well. DesMaisons talks about this as well including pictures of an orb spider’s web after the spider had been given caffeine. I don’t know why the two are so connected, but as a hypoglycemic I do know that I was not able to give up sugar without giving up caffeine. And I feel much, much better for getting rid of both. If you think “I can never give up chocolate” you actually can.
Lastly, I think, and have read, that you must first heal your body without worrying about losing weight.
Depression IS an eating disorder though if your life was full of pain, physical or emotional, that could help cause it. But DesMaisons and Ross talk about beta endorphin levels which help with all kinds of pain. So we’re back, I feel, to depression is an eating disorder. And so is chronic fatigue. And so are probably most every chronic disorder we have now.
Kelly says
Karen,
Even though I’m not 80# overweight, I could still lose a little, and also, low-carb diets are just plain healthier. I will for sure keep striving for less carbs in my life, just not sure if I’ll ever get to a total low-carb way of life like I should!
By the way, yes, I do agree that what we eat/don’t eat can cause depression!
Hugs backatcha! 🙂
Kel
Karen Ferguson says
Kelly,
Please note that I say “most people”….are addicted, not ALL people. And, it’s not will power….it’s spiritual…a 12 step program. When one is a “food addict” all the will power in the world doesn’t work.
And, frankly, at my age, I want the peace and emotional maturity that I’m promised if I take “direction.”
I’m talkin’ to people, especially women, who have TRIED everything and nothing has worked. And, you my dear, are not over 80 pounds overweightlike I was! There’s a theory out there, in the literature, that says depressions causes eating disorder. It’s my belief it can work bboth ways. Eating the WRONG stuff can cause depression!!! Amd, I figure you probably could go along w/ that after all the research you’ve done!!
Keep up the good work….eating the NT way can moves us from surviving to thriving. I’m so happy NOT to be eating low fat anything these days. 20 pounds to go…Yahoo.
Hugs.
Karen
Kelly says
Karen, your comments are always so motivating. One of these days I’ll go cold turkey like you’ve had the will to do……..maybe………..(Maybe not! Don’t hate me!) Until then I really have been leaps and bounds better at reducing my sweets than I ever used to be. Mostly because I have less cravings, not because I have great willpower or anything!
Interesting to read all of your comments – there’s nothing like a community of fellow real foodies to hash all this out with!
Kel
Karen Ferguson says
I gave my books away that Oz wrote and I don’t watch Oprah.
I find it unconscionable, with the huge audience present, that she perpetuates diet myths.
There is no such thing as moderation for most people when it comes to simple carbs like sugar and flour….all sugars and all flours, organic or not. Either one tries moderation and starts thinking about the “next time” they can have cheesecake or the physical craving sets in and fuels the thinking making one miserable.
It takes about a month to physically remove sugar from the body and about 3 more to psychologically understand it all. We’ve been duped into thinking that something is WRONG with us when we can’t do “moderation.” No one I know in the health field promotes “smoking” in moderation or shooting heroin in moderation.
Bottom line: flour turns to glucose, sugar is mainlining a drug. Anything less than that broadcasted on TV is lying by omission and playing it safe. Hence, I lost respect for Ms. Winfry a long time ago. And, Oz….he’s traditionally trained, consiquently, I don’t trust him not to mention, he doesn’t think his audience can actually GO off sugar and flour so he doesn’t say “DON”T EAT IT.” He himself promotes the illusion of “moderation.”
IT’s moderation that is killing us. But you won’t read that on an autopsy report.
Thanks, kelly. You are doing great things by telling the TRUTH and letting the chips fall where they may.
Hugs.
Karen
Celeste says
Love the fact that they say to increase your intake of omega-3 (polyunsaturated) fats, noting that 80 percent of the brain is fat. Yeah, saturated fat! We’d go a lot farther by being liberal with good, old-fashioned saturated fats (think butter, coconut oil, pastured beef) than by limiting ourselves to a tablespoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of omega-3s. Those are fine, but you’re setting yourself up for major cravings (not to mention major health issues) if that’s all the fat in your diet.
Motherhen68 says
Kara, that’s the same episode I saw!
Motherhen68
Catherine says
Bob Greene has lots of junky processed non-foods on his “The Best Life” approved foods list. These products have his “The Best Life” label on them including MARGARINE. Although some of this margarine does have Omega 3 blends they still contain trans fats.
As for Dr. Oz, he is better. But he pushes high fiber (not good for everyone), low sat. fats and whole grains. This is what causes obesity problems.
Years ago, in the early 90’s Dr. Atkins was on the Oprah show. This was in my veggie years and I laughed and dismissed his diet like everyone else. But I remember that show so clearly. In the past winter Oprah published a study in her “O” magazine showing that Low Carb beat out other diets to be the healthiest. Maybe she will come around one day.
Catherine
Kara says
I like Dr. Oz. I don’t watch Oprah, but some years back I happened to catch an episode where he went through a woman’s pantry and took out anything with partially hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, and enriched wheat products. By the end, the woman had five products left that were okay to eat! It was very eye opening to me at the time. Sure, some of the things you mentioned make me crazy too but at least he’s not trying to sell people on a vegan diet a la Dr. Bob Greene, who’s been on Oprah before.
Vin - NaturalBias says
While it’s good to see some better advice, I think Oprah and Dr. Oz will always be politically correct. Besides, I’m still disappointed in Oprah for her KFC grilled chicken promotion.
Vin – NaturalBias
IssacsWife says
Dr Oz & Oprah are mainstream – they can’t give out too much radical advice, so we can’t expect too much from them. but at least they try.
I’ll be glad when the saturated fats are bad for you phase is over and I can enjoy eating chicken skin and bacon in peace. But for now it means there is more for me while everyone else is avoiding it. 😉
though on the other hand, prehaps it is wise that people do avoid the fat of animals if they are eating mainstream meat- toxins in the fat of those animals is probably not doing them any good anyhow ???
Motherhen68 says
If only Oprah would open her eyes and her mind to low-carbing. She’s lose all that weight she’s got and then some.
Before my lowcarb/real food conversion, I was eating the SAD. I watched Oprah & Dr. Oz one day and he scolded someone for eating margarine. He said “the body can’t recognize fake foods like this”. What an eye opening moment for me!
Some things Oz says are good, while others are bunk. It’s hard to watch the people eat it up!
Motherhen68
TeamBettendorf says
I’m sure you have less brain cells – post Oprah. *tsk tsk* Don’t worry Kelly, give Oprah another 5 years and she’ll be seeing things our way. She’s fickle, but the good news is no one seems to notice. 🙂
TeamBettendorf