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Nov. 20, 2023 - Dr. Oz Podcast
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Why Are 1 in 5 Women on Anti-Depressants? | Dr. Oz | S6 | Ep 38 | Full Episode
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It's the worst kept secret in America, but no one expected this.
Today on Oz, the truth one in five women is hiding.
Hooked on antidepressants, but at what cost to their health?
Plus, a big challenge for the little couple.
They battled Jen's cancer while raising two toddlers.
Now, the scare that could have left Bill in a wheelchair for life.
Coming up next on Dr. Oz.
They're being called the silent partner in American motherhood.
Antidepressants.
I just read a statistic that I gotta say as a doctor caught me completely off guard.
One in five women are turning to antidepressants for help.
Today I'm asking why.
Are depression levels really this high?
Or are American women being over-prescribed mother's little helper?
An astonishing one in five American women now take an antidepressant.
And not necessarily for depression.
Some moms argue that antidepressants are a useful tool in getting them through the day, like Carrie.
Antidepressants make me a more functional person.
It makes me a better mom.
I get overwhelmed a lot, so it helps me put things into perspective.
The use of antidepressants in the United States has skyrocketed nearly 400% over the last two decades.
They're now the third most common prescription drug used by Americans, and women are more than twice as likely to take them.
But in many instances, the drugs are over-prescribed.
And if the wrong people take them, they can end up feeling empty and withdrawn.
I feel that the antidepressants not only took away the depression, but it took away everything.
It took away all the highs.
It took away the happiness.
It took away excitement.
It just made me even.
With more women on antidepressants than ever before, any woman taking Mother's Little Helper must now ask, is it really helping?
We just met Carrie and Kellyanne in our tape piece.
Carrie is a mother of two who says antidepressants make her a better mother.
Kellyanne went off the drugs because she said they were turning her into a zombie.
Psychiatrist Dr. Suvarma is also here today.
She's a mother herself and is worried about the wrong woman being overprescribed these drugs.
So, Carrie, if I can start with you.
Help me understand how you feel more comfortable with these medications.
How have they changed your life for the better?
Just being a single mom and having two little girls, it gets very overwhelming.
It really helps me sort through things on a daily thing with dinner and homework and all this stuff to have to do with being a single parent.
It's pretty tough.
Kellyanne, you described a sense of dullness when you're on the medications and you feel differently, I gather now.
Can you describe that change?
Yes.
When I was on the Paxil, I was even keel.
There were no highs, there were no lows.
I was just even all the time.
And now that I'm off of it, I laugh more, I cry a lot more, and I feel that I'm myself again.
I didn't realize for the longest time that I was gone.
I was not my normal person that I grew up to be.
So I feel that now my children are actually getting to know who I am, not the medicated person that I was.
Dr. Farmer, help me understand this alarming statistic.
One in five American women are taking antidepressants.
Is it really possible that one in five women are depressed clinically?
No.
In fact, we see that the incidence of depression is actually more 1 in 10. But what we're finding, and Dr. Oz, this is what's so concerning to me, is that 50% of the time that patients are being prescribed by their family physicians, they don't even have a mental health diagnosis.
And Dr. Oz, in what other field of medicine would we ever consider this acceptable, right, without getting a thorough mental health evaluation or any kind of evaluation to be on medication?
So it kind of, in my mind, even borders slightly irresponsible when you don't have a mental health professional doing a thorough evaluation.
Carrie and Kellyanne, if I can ask.
Did EDV see a psychiatrist before you were prescribed the medications?
No, I didn't.
I did not.
My doctor actually recommended that I go see somebody, and I said, okay, sure, sure, just give me the prescription.
I'll go.
I'll go.
I'm dumbfounded, because it's such an important decision to go on a pill of this nature.
It changes our lives in many ways.
Dr. Varma, if someone is not officially diagnosed with having depression, how are they being given antidepressants?
What's the argument for it?
Yeah.
You know, Dr. Oz, there are so many people who need it and for them I want to say it's very beneficial.
However, we're having a lot of what we're seeing is these doorknob conversations, doorknob dialogue.
And what I mean by that is that family physicians are swamped.
They're discussing your blood pressure, your cholesterol, your diabetes.
How much time do you think that that actually leaves for a mental health evaluation?
Most psychiatrists will spend about 90 minutes.
How much time do you think you're getting in one of these primary care physician appointments?
Maybe two or three at best.
So we're missing a whole number of other diagnosis when, in fact, it might not be depression at all, and you're getting a prescription without being offered legitimate other options in addition to medication.
Medication, I always say to my patients, is one part of a larger tool set.
And there are so many other coping skills and things that people can do instead of medication for the more milder to moderate cases.
Look, there's no question sometimes we need to be on these medications.
I'm not against them across the board, but let me show you what I'm concerned about.
That department, you want to join me?
So since 1994, 20 years, right?
We've seen a 400% increase in the use of these pills.
400%.
It's a big number.
I'm skeptical that we have 400% more people who are clinically depressed.
And of nearly 500 million prescriptions written every single year, 59% of these prescriptions are written by family doctors, and only 23% are written by psychiatrists.
So, Dr. Barma, this might be the biggest concern of all.
Yes.
This is so alarming to me because why is it that less than one-fourth of our prescriptions are written by a mental health professional?
Now, when you go to see your doctor, it's important that you look at a differential diagnosis, right?
So when someone comes in with a variety of symptoms, you might be masking another problem.
So many of these things present initially as depression.
So we must get people to get thorough mental health evaluations and And if there's another underlying problem wreaking havoc in your body, deal with it.
And then deal with the depression as well.
So we're shutting light on an important problem today.
That's why we're having this conversation.
And I think the wrong women are being given the wrong medicines by the wrong doctors.
There's a lot of wrongs in the same sentence.
As you can imagine, this is a hot button issue for moms.
And we wanted to make sure that all those questions that you have were being answered.
So we invited some mom bloggers here to live tweet the show.
and see what's trending in their online communities.
Thank you for all being here.
Thank you.
So the first question, if you don't mind, I'm going to ask, because this is a question that I've heard versions of.
If a patient walks into their family doctor's office presenting with these symptoms of exhaustion, irritability, and trouble sleeping, very, very commonly expressed symptoms, and they're immediately given an antidepressant, without a clinical diagnosis, what can that medication do to their body?
You know, antidepressants, like any other medication, have important side effects, and we need to be aware of it.
So if a person doesn't have depression, they shouldn't be on antidepressants.
Antidepressants can cause anxiety, they can cause insomnia, they can cause headache, GI problems.
If you need it, you take it.
If you don't need it, this is not a medication that's gonna, it's not an opera, okay?
You take it when you need it.
Lauren, you've got a question for us, I understand.
Yes.
One of the main questions that was coming up, actually got a lot of personal emails about it, was how long, you know, do you have to take them or how long is too long?
I actually had a reader ask me, she's been on the same one for 20 years.
What kind of damage has she done to her body in those 20 years?
It's a long time.
Yeah.
It's a great question and it's one that I often get asked by many of my patients.
How long?
So the first episode we typically say anywhere from 6 to 12 months.
But I want to caution you to say that this doesn't mean that you take the prescription from your family doctor and run and come back in a year when you come for your next physical.
Absolutely not.
When I see patients in the beginning I see them on a very frequent basis and then when they're stable you can slowly monitor them, you know, off.
But it's very important that during this time that they get monitored very closely.
And Karen, what kinds of questions are your followers asking?
Yeah, Dr. Oz, you know, in my community, one of the questions that comes up a lot is the effectiveness over a long period of time.
You know, is too much too much?
What to do?
That's another great question, is that sometimes medication, the SSRIs particularly, like many of the antidepressants, can lose their effectiveness.
It's what we call poop-out syndrome.
So again, poop-out syndrome, yeah.
See, there's poop in every single show.
I didn't want a depression.
It used to work great and it doesn't anymore.
And the other thing we want to say is that, you know, in addition to the medication, there are other therapies that you need to add on because a medication will lose its effectiveness over time.
So you have to talk to your doctor about the dose.
Does it need to be increased?
Do you need to add?
Do you need to switch?
Those kinds of things.
But again, this is a conversation you should have with a mental health professional.
Thank you.
Keep feeling all the tweets and everything.
Carrie and Kelly, let me turn back to you.
Do you think there's some misconceptions about moms, especially moms on antidepressants, that we're completely losing the boat on?
Yeah.
I think we get judged a lot.
I think people think we're like crazy, especially when they hear that we're on some type of antidepressant medication.
So it's tough because you're judged on a daily basis.
And I find that they look at you and think you're weak.
You can't handle the problems by yourself.
You can't deal with your anxiety, so you turn to a medication.
And it's absolutely not true.
Dr. Varma, what resources are available out there?
I know it's difficult to act on some of the things we've been talking about, but folks should be alarmed.
I want to help empower women to know that in many of the cases, especially in the mild to moderate cases, that women can do so many things for themselves.
Exercise, social support, sleep, talk therapy.
We have found that all of these things have proven that in mild to moderate cases can be equally, if not more, effective than medication.
In the more moderate to severe cases, see a mental health provider.
And if you cannot make an appointment with a mental health provider for any reason, then schedule, like you did, an appointment specifically to talk to your doctor.
Don't wait until the end of the appointment.
Spend the entire session on your mental health.
Why is it that we don't dedicate enough time to this?
Mental health is equally, if not important, than physical health.
But in fairness, Carrie, when we probed a little deeper, she actually went to the doctor for hypertension.
Then depression came up.
What you're saying is schedule an appointment for depression and nothing else.
That way you have enough time to talk about it.
Listen, folks, these drugs come with significant side effects and that's why you should have a clear diagnosis, ideally from a mental health professional before going on them.
And remember, our physical villages, they are spreading out.
This is in modern America.
I see that.
But I encourage you to take part in the online villages that are resources for women.
The mommy bloggers we talk to here are a great example of that.
Now, I know this is a hot-button topic, so we want to keep the discussion going.
On Twitter, you can use hashtag OzTalk, and we'll have answers to your top questions about depression on DrOz.com.
Be right back.
Are you prescribed antidepressants?
What has your experience been like being on them?
I've been on them for almost five years now, and to be honest, I'm not so sure how right they are for me.
I plan to talk to my doctor about what my options are.
Share your story on Dr. Oz's Facebook page.
Next, they capture the hearts of millions on the reality series The Little Couple.
Challenged with raising two toddlers while Jen battled cancer, this remarkable family faced an even bigger challenge that could have left Bill paralyzed for life.
Their story is next.
Dr. Oz reveals the number one thing you need to drastically stop down-aging.
Now let me just blow your mind.
The anti-aging strategy that keeps you looking and feeling young.
All new Dr. Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow. - Jenna and Bill and their wonderful kids capture the hearts of millions each week on their hit TV show, "The Little Couple." Besides the challenges of raising two high-energy toddlers, Bill and Jen have also faced multiple serious medical challenges, and another big one this past year.
It's something that could have left Bill in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
There you go.
Their dream was to have a family.
And for Bill and Jen?
Oh boy.
Raising their two kids, Zoe and Will, has been a non-stop joyride.
The selfish part of me wants to keep them cute little kids.
Yay!
But at the same time, I am so excited to see what they become.
But America's favorite little family has also faced more than their share of daunting medical challenges.
Still reeling from Jen's battle with cancer...
I was sick for so long and now getting back to normal life.
No more sick mommy!
Daughter Zoe was brought in for important genetic testing to identify what type of dwarfism she has and which medical conditions she might be at risk for.
My hope today is that we can confirm her diagnosis so that we can plan, okay, what are the things that we need to be on the lookout for?
And just when they thought the worst was over, Bill was forced to undergo serious back surgery.
I'm concerned that things could go not the right way.
I love you.
I love you too.
I have to try to get this fixed.
Can't imagine anything happening to Bill.
You know, I need him.
So Jen and Bill are here.
I got to meet your adorable kids.
Zoe, you have a Zoe like I have a Zoe.
So we're going to meet them in a little while.
They're coming out, everybody, to join us.
But let me ask you first.
You were on the show last year, and you had just gone through nine months of chemo, major surgery.
Yes.
The cancer spread to your lungs.
Yes.
So how are you doing?
I was stage four and now I'm in complete remission, cancer-free.
Nine months.
Thank you.
And it's not the only good news.
You actually took Zoe to get genetic testing.
I'd love if you could just explain to folks why it's important and what difference it makes.
Yeah, so we found out, Zoe's diagnosis, that her type of dwarfism is called achondroplasia, and it's the same type that her brother Will has.
And what's really fantastic about that news is that she should not have nearly the number of complications bone-wise and orthopedic-wise as we have had growing up, so hopefully both her and Will will never need as many surgeries as we did.
Just to give you a little bit of an idea, you shared this with me.
Jen's had around 30 surgeries.
Bill, you've had 20, is that right?
20 and counting.
20 and counting.
It's unbelievable.
As a pediatrician, but as parents as well, how does it change your perspective to realize that your kids will have a very different relationship with surgery than you have had?
As parents, I'm very appreciative that they'll have a different life as far as surgery and the complications and post-operative care that they'll not have to endure.
Because it's a heck of a lot harder being a parent than it is being a patient.
I've done both.
I still stick by it.
It's tough being a parent.
To see your child go into the operating room is the scariest thing ever.
And when you know that they'll have that life as your parents knew you would have, but now blessed to know you won't have to face that.
So let me turn to Bill if I can.
In addition to all the other crazy things that have happened over the past year, Bill, you had a major, major back problem.
It could have left you in a wheelchair.
Yeah.
As someone who is a physician, you know actually in detail what this really meant.
Yeah, it's, you know, every time we face a medical issue, knowing a little bit more than the average person is a little scary.
But we knew that essentially, basically, Bill has curvature of the spine, he's got deformities of the spine due to his skeletal dysplasia, and then also had an injury with a kettlebell actually working out.
A kettlebell?
Yeah, I was stupid and tried to stay in shape.
I will go back to the couch.
Yeah, didn't pay to work out at that point.
Never again.
But essentially, he had an injury then on his already, you know, fragile spine and ended up resulting in pinching of the nerves.
He's actually had some compression and symptoms that required a decompression and later a fusion right after.
These are bloody operations.
Yeah.
Yeah, I lost four units of blood, right?
Well, one and a half liters.
One and a half liters.
I got four units back.
Yeah, four units.
Did you have any idea that was going to happen?
No, I woke up to that.
Wonderful news.
But I did, what is it, YouTube, the surgery prior to going in.
Bad idea.
Yeah, I wouldn't advise it.
Yeah, no, wait till after.
All right, let me show you what Bill was going through.
I'll go right over.
This is actually a very, very common problem in America that folks are facing, but they don't actually know what happens to your spine as it starts to degenerate.
And sometimes you get something called spinal stenosis.
So you've been behind the demo tables before.
Yeah.
Oh, yes.
Give me just a moment.
I'm still post-op here.
Yes, you are post-op.
I should help you.
There we go.
Bring it.
You okay?
Yes, sir.
I do want to applaud you.
You're two weeks out now?
I'm six weeks out.
Six weeks out.
Well, I'm happy you're here.
I'm glad you're able to even walk.
You are.
All right, so...
This is the spine, and this tube which represents the little discs in between the actual bones of the spine.
It's pretty accurate.
If you look on the inside, though, that's where all the action is.
On the inside, you see this.
Nice.
All these nerves, which we reflected with these little wires, and then the goopy stuff around it, that's the fluid.
And they act as a cushion.
So you've got actual space there.
See how much room you have there?
And you have the fluid that actually provides a little bit of a buffer.
But with spinal stenosis, what you have Is a narrowing where literally that canal that's supposed to help you begins to get narrowed.
So Bill, yours probably looks similar to this.
And you basically start to narrow off an area that doesn't have much room to begin with.
And you eventually cause the numbness as this whole part of the spine lights up.
So the head is up here pushing the electricity through and the feet down here.
This whole area lights up as you've compressed too much of the spine.
So what the doctors did...
Although it is bloody because you've got to cut through all the bones, is peel off the stenosis.
And when you do that and you relieve the stricture, the tension, the pain starts to slowly dissipate, which is what I'm hoping what you're feeling now.
Some.
Some?
Some.
Better slowly.
Better slowly.
Come on back.
We'll go back to the chair.
Great.
When you say better slowly, are you still having to take a lot of pain medications?
Pain medication's part of the regimen.
Right now, it's just walking as much as I can.
And I'm in constant pain.
I don't sleep as well as I used to.
Thank you.
But supposedly, that'll go away.
Supposedly?
Yeah.
Said like someone going through the process.
Yeah.
Once again, don't read anything online.
Okay.
So I promised everybody that we could meet your kids.
Are you all excited about this?
Will and Zoe are here.
Come on out, kids.
You're so beautiful.
They're my parents, bringing them out.
Come here, Zoe.
Come here, Zoe.
Anyone come here, come say hi.
We're getting nervous.
Hi, Will.
She's beautiful.
She's looking into the cameras, which is a smart thing to do.
She knows where the action is.
Can you say hi, Dr. Oz?
What are we talking about?
No shots?
Yeah, no shots from this doctor.
No shots, Dr. Oz.
He said, he was saying in the back, no shots, Dr. Oz.
I'm not giving any.
Will, do you like having a younger sister?
Is it fun for you?
So, here, I got a little gift.
Now, this is a little doll that I thought might come in handy for you, if you're interested.
You can have that.
Wow!
You want to share that with your sister?
You want to keep it yourself?
Oh, he shared it.
You know what?
He's smart.
He saw this one, too.
That's yours.
After the event.
Nice.
Thank you.
Guys, thank you very much.
But be sure to check out Bill, Jen, Zoe, and Will on The Little Couple Tuesday nights on TLC.
Be right back.
Coming up, it can affect people at any moment.
60% are women.
Every 18 minutes, one becomes life-threatening.
Uncover the symptoms of a brain aneurysm.
The clues you need to look for that could save your life.
Coming up next on The Dr. Oz Show.
We are bringing a healthy back this season and want you to bring it too.
Grab your prescription pad for fun and sign up for free tickets today.
You can go to DrOz.com slash tickets and sign up.
Today I want everyone watching to be their own detective.
I'm going to give you the clues you need in order to help save your own life.
Together we're going to uncover four symptoms of a deadly condition I want everyone to be aware of.
Because you know what?
This condition can affect 1 in 50 people at any moment.
Nearly 60% of these people are women.
And every 18 minutes, one of these becomes life-threatening.
So what is it?
Well, we're gonna find out.
Every clue that we're gonna find today is gonna reveal a symptom.
So keep track of the symptoms so you'll know what to look out for if it ever happens to you or someone you care about.
Vanessa's here to be my fellow detective.
How are you?
Very good.
I like your hat.
Thank you.
But I have a special detective hat for you.
Would you consider switching out?
Oh my God, Dr. Oz, don't you know what you're doing to me?
Take this hat off.
Here, I'll guard you.
I have head hair.
No one's going to see this.
Okay.
Just saying that.
I'm going to wear your hat.
There.
Perfectly done.
I'll wear this hat.
Oh, yeah.
You like that?
Oh, yeah.
It's me.
All right.
So I'm going to talk to you about some things.
If you experience these symptoms, you're going to reflect them back to me.
You must have unusual symptoms once in a while anyway.
Yeah, sometimes.
Come on over here.
The first clue is in this box.
Go ahead and put your hand in there.
All right.
Take what you pull out.
It is a pair of glasses.
Put them on.
Tell me what you see.
Well, I can't see a thing.
You can't see a thing?
That's exactly what you're doing.
That's Vanessa's view, by the way.
It's pretty...
Blurry.
It's blurry.
I can't see.
So that's the first clue.
This problem causes blurry vision.
You ever get blurry vision?
I do, actually.
You do?
I do.
What makes it get better?
When I'm...
Well...
When I stop looking at the computer monitor, and I close my eyes and just let them reset, and then my eyes look better, I feel better.
You look beautiful in these, but you're going to get dizzy pretty quickly.
Alright, so the first clue, well remember this, the first clue is blurry vision.
This mysterious element causes that.
It affects your eyes in a very unique way, and that's why we can't focus.
If one eye is working, one eye is not, you're going to get blurry vision because your brain is not able to cooperate within itself.
Okay, come on over here, second big clue.
Go ahead and dig in there, see what you find.
Second big clue to this ailment is, in a bottle, and it is...
Pins and needles.
Yes.
Do you ever get pins and needles in your hands and your feet?
I'm saying yes to everything, yes.
You get that too?
In the tips of my fingers.
You do?
I do.
Is that a common phenomenon?
When it's cold.
When it's cold.
I typically do.
That happens to a lot of folks because our blood vessels get tight.
Yeah.
You know, let's talk about what this is.
The symptom two really is numbness.
On the way to numbness, you'll feel pins and needles because your body's not sensing things correctly.
This condition causes that because it affects some of the nerves.
Okay.
So we know that it's affecting your vision by making your eyes not speak to each other.
We know that it causes numbness in your fingers because it's affecting your nerves.
When you have numbness, you can also get pins and needles we spoke about.
Sure.
Okay.
You're getting closer now.
It's too close.
All right.
The third clue is a really important one.
Go ahead and put your hand in there.
This is a clue for a lot of problems, and it is a barf bag.
Do you ever use these things?
Um, not really.
Not really?
Finally!
So, listen, nausea is a third condition.
It happens commonly because this condition builds up pressure, especially, frankly, in your head.
And by doing that, it makes you not feel so comfortable with what's going on around you.
So it can trigger nausea and sometimes vomiting and the like.
All right, so I've got the last clue.
I've got three clues so far.
I'm going to start asking you guys what the diagnosis is because I've given you a number of clues.
The last clue is under someone's chair in the audience.
Everyone look under your chair right now.
Whoever's got something weird under there, come on down.
Anyone see it?
Ah!
Come on down, come on down.
I got it, Dr. Oz.
What an interesting little prop you have there.
Come on down.
Come on over here.
Come on down.
You're my co-detective.
So, you've got a brain with a vice in it.
Yikes.
What's your name?
Shari.
Shari.
If I did this to your head, what would you feel?
Pain.
Pain.
That's your last clue.
Okay.
A headache.
Now, very specifically, this is described usually as the worst headache of your life.
And it tends to be a headache that's different from a lot of other headaches because it's all over the place and just, you know, sort of behind the eye, but it's deep.
So any guesses?
Would it be a migraine?
Migraine is close, but it's not migraine.
This is a much more serious problem.
Any thoughts from the audience?
I heard a couple people say it.
You ready for this?
The answer is aneurysm.
Very well stated.
It's an aneurysm.
It's a balloon-like bulging of one of the blood vessels of the brain.
And when that happens, that bulging aneurysm can cause all these symptoms.
And if it pops, it will literally cause the worst headache you've ever had.
Oh, wow.
So if the symptoms appear out of the blue, and it literally is the worst headache of your life, you call 911, you say exactly those words, worst headache of life.
Because doctors and nurses know what that means.
We're trained from the first day of medical school to think brain aneurysm, because we've got to move quickly to save you.
And what you're not going to do is take an aspirin.
Because a lot of folks feel they've got a bad headache, maybe they're having a stroke or a heart attack, they quickly take an aspirin.
Not for this, because aspirin thins the blood, and obviously if the balloon in your brain is popped, the blood is all over the place, you don't want it to bleed more by thinning your blood.
Hmm.
What do you think?
I think I'm going to be very cognizant of that.
You have a very nice hack, by the way.
I like it.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Nice little gift to you.
We'll be right back.
Be right back.
Thank you very much.
Next, fruit used to be the holy grail of diet foods.
But some say the sugar may be doing more harm than good.
So can fruit make you fat?
The surprising facts.
What every dieter needs to watch out for when trying to lose weight.
Next.
Dr. Oz reveals the number one thing you need to drastically stop down-aging.
Now let me just blow your mind.
The anti-aging strategy that keeps you looking and feeling young.
All new Dr. Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
The big conversation today, a question that's being asked in the diet community.
Is fruit making you fat?
Fruit used to be the holy grail of diet foods, but now some say the sugar may be doing more harm than good and is causing controversy among many health experts.
Whether it's by pyramid or plate, traditional dietary guidelines have long served up multiple servings of fruit as one of the key ways to stay healthy and fit.
Packed with water, vitamins and fiber, some fruits have even grabbed headlines for cutting the risk of heart disease by 40%.
But now, some are red-flagging its high-sugar content, singling out fruit as a possible offender in America's ongoing battle of the bulge.
That's because some of our most popular fruits can be alarmingly high in fructose, a simple sugar, and carbohydrates, two culprits that can sabotage weight loss.
In fact, a cup of grapes is filled with as much sugar as some candy bars.
So, is fruit making you fat?
Today, the surprising answers.
Here to give us the bottom line is the director of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute and my colleague and friend, Dr. Mike Roizen.
So, get right to it.
Big controversy.
Can fruit make you fat?
Well, fruit can make you fat if you eat too much of it.
So I had one patient who went on a fruit and veggie diet, and she had 75 portions a day.
Had to have someone else cook, so that's an awful lot of fruit and veggies to have, if you will.
But she was, even at 50 calories a portion, She was eating 3500 plus calories a day.
So it can make you fat.
A lot of bowel movements.
It's a lot of bowel movements too.
So why is it that fruit, which has only natural sugar in it, is able to make you fat?
It's occurring in nature that way.
Right.
It does occur in nature, but it is a matter of whether you eat it while you're using it or whether you eat more than you're using.
So some fruit, there are, fruit has goods and bads.
So the bad part of fruit is it has fructose in it.
That goes to your liver.
And unless you're running on a treadmill or something else while you're eating it, you're going to eat more calories than you're using at that time.
So it goes to your liver.
It raises your insulin level.
Your liver says, I can't keep it all.
So it puts it into storage in your gut or in your liver as liver fat.
And that's a problem.
So should we never eat fruit again?
Where do you draw the line?
Well, fruit is very healthy because it has some other things with it.
So the American Heart Association came out with guidelines for added sugar.
It said 26 grams for women, 36 grams for men.
That's of added sugar.
But fruit has sugar embedded in it.
It takes longer to absorb.
So I say, let's use the same additional guideline for fruit.
So maybe 26 grams a day for women, 36 grams for men.
So here's some numbers for everybody out there.
Look out over here.
So bananas have a medium-sized banana, 18 grams.
That's a serving.
A cup of mangoes, 23 grams of sugar.
And a cup of red or green grapes, 23 grams of sugar.
So these are high sugar levels.
Fruits.
And so you eat only a little of them as opposed to other fruits.
Well, I'll pick a more provocative example.
A cup of raisins.
98 grams of sugar.
That's about four days worth of sugar.
And again, I happen to like raisins.
I like them in mixes.
But just to give you a comparison, a cup of ice cream only has 28 grams of sugar.
But that's added sugar.
Yes.
This is embedded.
So you have just a few of these on salads and with other things, so that's a fine way of eating them.
So the healthy side of the equation, if you're going to eat fruit, which I do think has a value to us in general health, to get the other nutrients, what kinds of fruit make the most sense, especially if you want to keep an eye on your weight?
So you want the colorful ones, because those have a lot of nutrients, And the ones with fiber.
So we've got three or four examples there.
Berries, low in sugar, seven grams per cup, if you will.
And they're healthy because they have a lot of nutrients and a lot of fiber with them.
Apples and blueberries, two other things.
So you can stay within your 26 grams or 36 grams if you're a guy pretty easily by having those and choosing ones that are bright colored, And are low in sugar.
And give me a portion size.
What's the right amount of berries to have if you want to lose weight?
Well, the right amount is, in fact, a cup.
So a serving size is, if you will, a tennis ball or your fist.
That's what a serving size is.
So that's what you want to have.
You'll punch your weight through your fruit.
So we're still okay with fruit.
Just want to avoid the ones that are, what I can tell, uncolored and full of sugar.
You can go to dros.com for a low-sugar fruit shopping list to make it easier.
I'll be right back.
Coming up, he was the homeless man with the golden voice, an internet sensation made famous overnight, who went from panhandling to Hollywood.
Battling addiction, the road to redemption has been long.
Ted Williams, where is he now?
next.
It was the voice you just couldn't believe.
A homeless man named Ted Williams became all anyone could talk about in January of 2011 when a YouTube video of him using his radio voice went viral.
He became famous overnight.
But redemption for Ted Williams took three long years.
And it's only now that he can say with confidence, I have my life back.
Ted Williams was 14 years old when he realized he had a gift.
A golden voice.
But after taking classes to hone that gift, life happened.
This is actually where I lived up until January 4th, 2011. For 18 years, Williams was homeless.
He would often seek shelter inside these overgrown weeds and trees.
I would actually put a little bucket for my bathroom and my bed was here.
But that all changed when this video of a man with a golden voice begging for money was posted online.
Hey, I'm going to make you work for your dollar.
Say something with that great radio voice.
When you're listening to nothing but the best of oldies, you're listening to Magic 98.9.
The video went viral instantly.
And Williams, who was also dealing with drug and alcohol addictions, saw his whole life change.
After everybody seen my video, I went from homeless to Hollywood.
I was getting all kinds of network television shows, professional sports teams, name brand products were asking me to lend my voice to their services.
But sudden fame and all that money came at a cost.
Recovering alcoholics and addicts don't do well handling their money.
I trusted a lot of people, but my choices and my trust were violated.
The past three years have not been easy, as Williams struggled to stay clean and sober.
But now, Williams says he's turned his life around for good, by doing good.
Hey, Tyrell, my baby.
How you doing, man?
I'm doing alright, how about it?
Ted comes every Friday, here from 1 to 3, to our soup kitchen.
He packs, he's served, he's making a difference in this community.
I come here as a commitment to myself, being accountable for something.
This is my way of giving back.
And that's just the start.
Williams has even bigger plans for this community.
I would love that laundry mat to be right where everybody can see it.
Call it homeless laundry.
Ted Williams made a career out of his golden voice.
Now he's using it to give voice to all those who still struggle on the streets, hoping for their second chance.
I'm not necessarily the happiest person in the world right now, but I'm very grateful.
Very grateful.
The man with the golden voice, Ted Williams, is here.
Can you believe how far you have come?
You went from penhandling on a street corner to Hollywood.
Isn't that something, Dr. Oz, truly.
It's a blessing.
I look at it that way every day, you know.
It's been three years, as you mentioned, and I haven't stopped smiling yet, you know, in spite of everything that's happened to me.
How do you stay positive?
I just feel that energy in you.
You know, you've been through a lot that would pull people down underwater.
They'd never come back up again.
They'd drown in sorrow.
Well, you know, I do love giving back.
You know, even if everything was to leave me today, Dr. Oz, I can honestly say I'm rich in spirit.
But I do, believe it or not, I do have a reality television show that I'm crowdfunding with, trying to get the support of maybe some of your viewers or whatever.
You'll get them.
You'll get me.
Me too.
But I'm trying to get a pilot together to do the second chance with Ted Williams.
And I'm going around America giving people a second chance.
Good for you.
So, part of why I wanted to have you on the show today was to give all of you a second chance.
But part of being the person you could be is being as healthy as you could be.
So if you don't mind, I actually did a little testing on you.
Yes, sir.
Just a favor.
Think of it that way.
I do.
Believe me.
I do.
These aren't to hurt you, but I've always adored what you represent.
The ability that all of us have to bounce back from whatever we've done wrong.
That's right.
That's right.
So come on over here.
Okay.
Walk in.
All right.
To our little tube over here.
I love Dr. Oz.
Alright, so I tested some of the basics.
So I looked at your cholesterol, I put it up there, and I looked at your triglycerides, that's the amount of fat in your blood, and they were both normal.
Both normal.
That's a good thing.
It's good, it's good.
I just want to say they're almost too normal.
They were so low, it actually made me worry about your nutritional status.
So I checked your weight.
And your weight is about 151 pounds.
Yes, sir.
How tall are you?
6'1".
So that makes you, you know, 20 pounds underweight, sort of?
Yes, sir.
Are you going to help me with that?
I'm going to help you with that.
And again, nutrition is, you know, it's the building blocks of who we are.
It's how our mind works as well.
And some of the down times that you may have felt, and I do think happened to a lot of us, is when we don't have the right nutrients.
But that wasn't really what bothered me the most.
Because these are things that, over the long term, are problems.
Yes, sir.
There was one number, though, I checked.
Uh-oh.
Yeah, uh-oh.
Uh-oh.
The reason I'm going to show it to you, if it's okay, I'm going to share it with everybody.
Okay.
But it is a problem that Americans face a lot, especially African-American men.
Yes, sir.
The highest incidence of this problem in the entire planet is in African-American men.
And it was the number one killer of all, blood pressure.
Yours was 158 over 101. Okay.
Now, we checked it a couple times.
Yes, sir.
I'm pretty confident that's the right number.
The reason I care about the blood pressure is I look at you on the outside and see a beautiful man who's coming back.
But your body on the inside doesn't get the message yet.
And this is why I think so many African American men have a problem with blood pressure.
And I'm just going to ask you if you feel this is true about your life.
Do you feel like you don't control the pieces as much as you think you should?
True.
Do you feel that sometimes the odds are stacked against you and even though you think you're doing the right things, you just can't get ahead of these problems?
True.
True truths.
True truths.
This is such a huge problem in our country and you are the face of it now, for good or bad.
A man who's been in difficult situations, who's bouncing back, who's got, from all of our perspective, working it out, right?
I mean, he's working it out.
But that, my friend, will strip away your vitality and your life before your time.
So you won't be as great as you can be.
And I know you can be great, even greater than you are now.
So I'm going to ask if you're interested in talking to a man who's helped me in this area.
I asked a gentleman who's an expert in transcendental meditation to teach my entire team how to do it.
But I learned first.
Okay.
And it turns out that for African-American men in particular, translational meditation reduces the chance of having a problem from your blood pressure, like a heart attack or a stroke, which is the most common problems you run into, by 50%.
Oh, really?
We can have the chance you have one of these problems with meditation.
It's not as easy as it sounds.
You've got to work at it.
But I called Bobby Roth.
Who taught me, and he's willing to teach you too.
Wow.
If you'll make time for it.
Yes, sir.
So, I'm asking you to acknowledge that you're worth it.
Deep inside, not just on the outside, because on the outside, that little veneer, that can crack and fall away, but deep inside that you're worth it.
Because when your body knows that you truly have processed that, then it'll drop that blood pressure and it'll let you be the man you want to be.
I love you, Dr. Oz.
I love you.
All right, we'll be right back.
Tell us, how has Ted Williams' story affected you?
I remember when I first heard about him, and I'm astounded he's come so far.
He's an inspiration to everyone.
If you keep pushing, dreams come true.
Share your story on Facebook.com slash Dr. Oz.
Drastically stop down-aging.
Dr. Oz reveals the number one thing you need.
Now let me just blow your mind.
See the anti-aging strategy that keeps you looking and feeling young.
Plus, ever wish you had a reset button to undo your unhealthy choices?
Now you do!
A do-over plan for a healthier you.
Steps to reverse hard to manage habits and lose weight.
All new Dr. Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
If you've ever felt like you're doing all the right things, but are still packing on the pounds, you can identify with this cartoon that I found.
It says, I don't know what to do.
The more I run, the more weight I seem to put on.
Poor stone man.
I love his running little scarf there.
The provocative new study actually shows that those who began to exercise regularly but did not change their eating habits actually gained weight, adding both fat and muscle.
That is important because it means exercise, which has huge health benefits, has to be coupled with eating the right amount of Foods or else you'll be incentivized to eat more than you should and you'll actually gain weight.
Now it's time for in case you missed it.
First, one in five women are taking antidepressants.
Many without a correct clinical diagnosis.
These drugs come with significant side effects and that's why you've got to have a very clear diagnosis, ideally from a mental health professional, before going on them.
This is a hot button topic and we're going to keep discussing it.
In fact, you can go to hashtag Oztalk on Twitter and give us your comments.
Next, we actually played a game today.
I wanted you to be a detective.
I wanted you, in fact, to look for clues to detect And aneurysm.
So, here's the deal.
If you're experiencing blurred vision, it will look like this, guys.
That's what my sexuality audience will look like.
See how blurry that is?
You get blurred vision.
You get pins and needles.
You get nausea or vomiting, like an emotion sickness bag might be handy for.
And most importantly, you get the worst headache of your life.
If you have that, the worst headache of your life, you want to dial 911 immediately and then tell them that you have a sudden headache that was the worst headache of your life.
And if you can do that wisely, then your medical professionals who are trained to think brain aneurysm, when they hear that, will quickly react to you.
Finally, please be careful of dubious people online that make it seem like I'm endorsing their products.
I don't.
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