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Nov. 27, 2023 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:46
Decoding Cravings: What They Mean & Healthy Alternative Choices | Dr. Oz | S6 | Ep 50 | Full Episode
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Today on Dr. Oz, what does your craving for sweet, salty, or carby snacks really mean?
Dr. Oz decodes your cravings and gives you alternatives to satisfy what your body really needs.
Plus, struggling with willpower?
Take back control.
Simple steps that give you the power to say no and resist temptations.
Coming up next on Dr. Oz.
All right, which foods are you thinking about right now?
Is it something sweet, something salty, or something doughy with carbs?
You love them all, don't you?
It tastes so good.
But today I'm gonna tell you what's behind these cravings because they aren't always what they see.
I'm decoding your cravings and what they really mean so you can give your body what it needs.
So I put a poll online to figure out the top foods you crave the most.
At the top of the list, of course, we're sweets.
Followed by chocolate.
There were so many of you that specifically talked about it.
They had to make its own category.
There are carbs.
I knew that would be there.
And then fried and salty foods, which trip up so many of us.
So dietician Ashley Koff is here.
Helped break it all down for us.
These cravings, they are so hard to predict.
They come out of nowhere.
How do we know what's causing them?
Well, they seem to come out of nowhere.
It is actually what your body wants, but how we answer what your body wants is going to talk to you about how your health is and also what your future cravings are going to be.
So we've got to sort of explore what the craving really is and how we answer it.
All right, let's start with the number one craving, it was sweets.
And Donna says she thinks about dessert all day long.
So I understand from Donna that all you do, stand up to the cupcake here because it's symbolically what you crave, Is it sweets?
Absolutely.
All day long.
I can't wait till after dinner so I can have my dessert.
And I think about it all day.
So what do you feel when you see that cupcake next to you?
Like I want to taste it.
You want to taste it?
Mm-hmm.
Describe that taste, that first morning taste of something sweet.
Well, my favorite thing is a cappuccino cupcake with a mocha frosting and chocolate sprinkles with a dollop of creamy center that's sinful and sweet and savory and scrumptious and delicious.
This is food porn.
And I need one right now!
So, Ashley, if someone like Donna craves these kinds of sweets in the form of a cupcake...
All right, work with me.
What does that mean?
Grab yours.
Grab yours.
Yeah, grab...
Over on the side, let's break through here and see what we actually have going on.
Oh, one of these!
Oh, no, no, no.
I know we have to get rid of all this icing.
Oh, there it is in the bottom.
Oh, what a sin.
So, what it actually means is that your energy is dropping.
You mean I can't eat that?
So, when you have that sweet...
Sweet craving, it means that your energy is dropping, in particular, your blood sugar dropping, right?
So we think if we get that sugar, aha, we're going to give ourselves more energy from that part.
That's exactly what it feels like when I first eat it.
Yeah, there's a part of it that's true, so we'll come over, but we're going to figure out how maybe we can help you out.
Maybe?
What is the solution?
Because one of the answers, the advice we give, get that kind of response.
It's not nearly as tantalizing as that sumptuous.
Was it cappuccino?
Cappuccino.
One of the biggest mistakes that people make is that they actually go for no sugar.
And that's not what we want to do here.
So we do want you to have the sugar.
Smile.
You get to have the sugar.
We're going to do it in the form of fruit.
But I promise we're not just giving you fruit.
What we're actually doing is giving you...
We also want you to have that smooth...
You were describing it.
The creamy.
The texture.
So we actually have organic ricotta there that's going to give you the protein that's actually going to help balance out that craving.
And then chopped pistachio nuts on top.
Because the fat and the sugar together...
Go on, guys.
So this is your no-bake cupcake, and it's a fruit base, and I gotta tell you, everything here we feel great about for you.
Good?
It is tasty.
Would it work for you?
This could be breakfast.
I think I could try it.
This could be a sweet craving.
It doesn't mean, let's be clear, I'm not saying you can never have that cupcake, but it is, hopefully it's getting in there.
From a sweet craving standpoint.
It's satisfying a little bit.
A little bit.
Well, keep eating it.
Not as much as I'd like.
I think I'm doing a milk commercial here.
Keep eating it.
There you go.
That looks good.
That's right.
No, it's good, actually.
Keep eating, right?
If it is healthier for me, I would be willing to maybe substitute once a week for this.
That seems like a great place to start.
Is that enough?
It's probably not enough, but what we need to do is figure out some ways.
Be honest.
I'm going to be honest.
To compromise?
Well, are you having that cupcake every single morning?
No, at night.
Oh, every night.
It's my real one treat of the day.
Yeah, okay.
So what we want to think about is maybe this is a great option for you, but also you could consider having this maybe in the middle of the day, which might help you not having the craving in the evening.
Because part of what may be happening is what you're having earlier in the day may be impacting why you're having such a strong craving at night.
So maybe what I'm depriving myself of during the day is what's making me want it at night?
Or what you're not choosing.
So maybe you're not having the protein and the healthy fat earlier in the day and that might mean like maybe you're just grabbing the piece of fruit or you're not having the carbohydrate and so your craving could be stronger at night.
Or maybe you're tired.
Is anybody tired at the end of the day?
You know, the reason we're doing this show, obviously, besides playing with all these wonderful tasty foods, is we're looking for why you crave them.
And if you are low on energy, you're going to crave sugar.
Your body naturally is going to take you there.
I want you to enjoy the sugar when it's the right time because you want it, not because you have to have it because your energy is so low.
Exactly.
And one time I want you to have no food and actually go to bed earlier.
See how that does.
I'll try my best.
The next common craving has to do with chocolate.
How are you?
So, Andrea here is a self-proclaimed, serious, big-time chocoholic.
I want you to take a look at, if you don't mind, I have some of your pictures on Facebook.
This is my feed of our Facebook photos.
Notice something that's consistent here.
It's chocolate and a smile.
So what kind of a chocolate reaction do you get?
What do you feel like as you're doing this?
Oh my goodness, Dr. Oz.
Wait, first off, is this for me?
It's for you.
It's a little something from me to you on behalf of the show.
Oh, so I can take it with me?
It's all yours.
Oh my gosh, thank you.
This is what I was hoping you would say.
Chocolate, when it hits my mouth, it is just the best feeling ever.
It awakens all my senses.
It's warm, ooey, chocolatey goodness.
How could you not like chocolate?
Who doesn't like it?
It's sweet, it's delicious, it's tasty, it's everything everybody wants.
Everyone, right?
And what's that?
I'm gonna have what she's getting, what she's taking.
So what's behind this chocolate craving, Ashley?
Yeah, so what is behind the chocolate?
Get in here with me.
I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
Come on.
Open it up.
I'm gonna share with everybody.
I promise it's gonna work out okay for you.
Come on in.
Oh, do your best.
I'll let you guys do it.
I don't want to help.
I'm very sad right now.
So what is your chocolate and what's in your craving is magnesium.
So magnesium is a mineral that actually is going to help our body.
It goes inside the cells and helps to turn down our stress response.
So you're grabbing the chocolate to help you get over the stress a little bit, right?
So this is actually what that mineral does.
And it's found in a bunch of foods.
And we don't necessarily turn to the whole grains when we need the magnesium.
So we turn to the chocolate, right?
Because it is so good.
Because it does that.
Yes, absolutely.
Well, I've got some very good news for you.
We know that taking away the foods that you crave isn't the answer.
It's understanding how we can sort of nudge you a little bit.
So we want you to have that chocoholic kind of gusto for life.
Ashley, what options do you have instead?
Well, the genius part is they are all chocolate.
So we are actually, this is pretty awesome.
We're keeping your chocolate in here.
I noticed in your feed that there were a lot of places where you were eating maybe things that were chocolate-flavored, but they weren't a good source of chocolate.
So we want to get that magnesium in there.
We actually have extra doses of chocolate in here because this is chocolate-covered sunflower seeds and chocolate-covered almonds.
Both of those have more magnesium.
I'm hearing some applause.
It's good.
People are liking that.
And I love almonds.
Exactly.
And the other, have you ever, like, had a peanut butter or an almond cup with the chocolate and the nut butter?
So this, I like to call it the magnesium cup.
So you actually, you've got your almond butter here that's giving you magnesium and the chocolate.
So these are actually approved for your craving.
So we're not taking the chocolate away.
We're going to say have it.
Obviously, within a reasonable portion, you're happy.
We're all happy if we get to keep our chocolate.
Well, you actually tried this for a couple days, didn't you?
Yes, I do.
And what was that like?
And it was absolutely delicious.
It's something that I'm definitely going to incorporate.
Yes.
I actually tried mine with, I did dark chocolate with mint, and I tried the peanut butter.
And it was actually really, really delicious.
With a combo punch of putting those together, especially when you get the magnesium that we know is responsible for some of the cravings, will make you a very happy person.
And remember, your chocolate should be greater than 65%.
So if you need that, the 65% or greater cacao, so that's going to mean that you're actually getting chocolate.
It's not, you know, low on the chocolate amount.
That's what gives you the magnesium.
Great.
Thank you very much.
The next craving is for those doughy carbs.
Let me ask the audience up here a question.
Who out there loves those nice, soft pretzels?
Who craves the warm bagel when it's really hot?
How about a bowl of pasta?
A lot of cravers for that?
Everybody, hands up and down.
Take us behind this craving.
What's going on here?
Yeah, when we're craving those things, we're actually our serotonin.
We need some help there.
And so what we do is we turn to those carbohydrates and we think, Ooh, I'm going to eat them.
I'm going to start with the pretzel, and then I want the pasta, and then I want the chips, and then I want more potato.
And what I'm trying to do there is actually get my serotonin to go back up to feel happy again, right?
And we do that, but these carbs that we're choosing, a lot of them are really junk food carbs.
So we like to call them garbage.
They're not going to be that great for you.
Carbage!
And the problem is, as soon as you have them and they go away, you're looking for more garbage again.
So, you know, we want to stop that part.
And we actually have...
The remedy in foods that contain our omega-3 fatty acids and also our slow carbs.
So notice, again, we're keeping the carbohydrates in there.
We're just going to change the choices.
So let's go over some of these options here.
These are very simple.
All these are simple options.
You can incorporate almost immediately.
Yes, and some people really want the crunchy carb.
Like, that's what they're really looking for in there.
So these are actually toasted edamame.
Go ahead and try them.
They're going to give you your essential fatty acids, those omega-3s, and then They have the carbohydrate.
They also have the fiber in there.
So they're also going to stay with you for a longer period of time.
I have other people that are like, no crunchy.
I want smooth.
I want creamy.
I really want to be able to chew through it.
So we did a corn tortilla.
Again, that's giving you your carbohydrates.
And then we have avocado in the form of guacamole to give you healthy fats.
But then your hemp seeds that are on top of there, the hemp seeds are going to give you those omega-3s, right?
Let's share these with the audience.
We're about to rush the stage.
There's so many people who like doughy carbs here.
Go ahead and enjoy yourself.
So next up are salty fried foods.
Who loves salty fried foods here?
I knew everyone would get on board on this.
So I want you all to meet the self-proclaimed French fry crew.
It's what they call themselves.
Here they are.
Once a week they get together to eat french fries.
Now I'm told you guys crave these french fries so much.
It's not just any french fries though, right?
There's something special about them.
You call them disco fries.
So what are disco fries?
They are french fries that are smothered in brown gravy covered with cheese.
And melted cheese.
It's usually mozzarella cheese.
Stringier the better.
Stringier the better.
Again, I've heard that you actually would, for your last meal, if you were going to die, that that's the meal you'd want.
Absolutely.
Uniformly.
With each other.
With each other.
I think it's an emotional attachment thing.
And you're having just two fries or you're having...
Oh no.
Oh no, it's a...
What makes them so craveable?
What makes them so different?
They could either be very well done or they could be soft and it's tasty, they're mushy, they're oily, they're just satisfying.
It's like a...
Where are you?
Let me see these here.
This is them?
Are these what they look like?
Have you ever heard of these before?
I have heard of them before.
I can't say I've had the pleasure as of yet.
They're pretty good.
Yeah.
See?
We told you.
We're dancing already.
I see what I call disco fries.
So why do the French fry crew and many folks like them adore these types of foods that Yeah, our salt and our fried is actually really going to be an issue of dehydration, which is a really interesting one to think about.
Dehydration, you know, we think about that as I need to drink a glass of water, but you're turning to food and in particular your disco fries, right?
So what do you got as an option for them?
So what we've done here is one key piece is portion control.
So that's why I asked you how many you're having.
So we're still...
Get up here.
Come over here.
Come on, get up here.
Let's try these things.
We're still going to let you have some of your fries.
But what we've done over here is I've started off with, I've got celery.
Now the celery's not boring.
What we've done is we put tzatziki on it and then a little bit of hot sauce, right?
And hot sauce is going to get in there.
I love hot sauce.
So you can do that.
Did you know that celery, 95% water, but it actually contains salt.
So we're naturally giving you some salt there, okay?
So you are going to satisfy that craving because the sodium that's in there is going to be an important part of hydration, not just the water.
Our fries over here are made from, hopefully...
Potato.
And potato is actually a great source of potassium, and that brings water inside of our cells, so they're actually helping you with hydration.
That's why I'm not taking them away.
But instead of a disco party over here, what I've got going on is a fiesta.
So I want to see you work with me on the fiesta.
It's still a party.
I love your attitude.
I love it.
I love it.
Get on in there.
Let's have a party.
Let's go over here.
So we've still got some cheese, and we still have a little bit of the salsa on top there.
All right, that's good.
Yeah, and the crunchy that you're into here, you're getting the crunchy.
All right, go ahead and taste the fiesta.
Do I thumbs up or thumbs down?
Okay.
Is that going to work for you?
If the disco goes, you'll be happy.
We can adjust.
We can go to a fiesta instead.
Thank you very much.
We'll be right back.
Thank you.
Follow the cravings.
Coming up, they're fast.
They're strong.
They rule the court.
Basketball players beating the odds on wheels and keeping Dr. Oz on his toes.
Inspirational kids turning their personal challenges into team spirit.
Next.
First, it was arsenic in apple juice.
Now, a new bombshell.
Arsenic found in a food you eat every day.
Dr. Oz reveals what it is and what you can do about it.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
My next guests are not only incredibly inspirational, but also incredibly fast and strong, despite having all the odds stacked against them.
When I heard about them, I knew I had to meet with them.
I have passionately played basketball my whole life, but I have never seen any team play with this much heart or soul.
Meet the New York Roland Fury.
Young athletes with two things in common.
Physical challenges that keep them on crutches or in wheelchairs.
Beautiful play!
And a take no prisoners approach to basketball.
You guys are so good at this stuff.
Can I play with you?
Yeah!
So how do I do it?
Just get in the chair and we'll show ya!
Oh he's faster than I am!
Everyone joins this team for a different reason and with a different story.
Adonis, just 14 when he was tragically paralyzed by a gunshot wound, played basketball before his injury.
So how does it help to have basketball as you recover?
For me, it helps me mentally.
I feel good to know that I can still play what I love.
I bet you because you can play basketball in a wheelchair, you can do anything you want to do.
Anything I put my mind into.
Brianna, 12 years old and in seventh grade, was born with back and knee defects and can't stand without support.
She found her confidence on the team and now wants to play wheelchair basketball in college.
You feel as if you're really part of a team.
You get to help each other out.
You get to defend each other.
It's just really fun.
The first time I saw Brianna play, I cried.
I was in tears.
There's no words I can say for the joy it brought to my heart watching her.
Show me how to do it, too.
Yes!
Team Spirit is also inspiring 12-year-old Megan, who has coped with spina bifida since birth, with no feeling below her knees.
It makes me feel like more confident and like, it makes me feel that I'm not alone and I'm not the only one in a wheelchair.
As a mom, to see your kid who struggles with so many things to accomplish something like that is great.
Great.
The coach leading this remarkable team was inspired by his own son Christopher's journey.
Chris, with a spinal condition, has always used crutches or a wheelchair, but he has always had fighting spirit to burn.
My son Christopher is a twin.
His twin Josh was always competitive.
He's a big-time athlete.
Christopher always wanted to be competitive, just like Josh.
I don't know where he would be without wheelchair basketball.
That's good.
Oh, shoot!
Oh, no!
Yes!
Yes!
Next time I play basketball, I'll remember the final piece of advice I got from the Rolling Fury players.
I think I did pretty well.
What do you guys think?
I'm gonna go home and work on my shots.
Yeah, you definitely have to.
Please welcome the New York Rolling Fury team and Coach Chris Bacon.
Yeah, they deserve a standing ovation. they deserve a standing ovation.
Unbelievable!
Unbelievable!
Oh, it makes me so proud to see them here.
And I got to say, folks, they were so good at basketball.
They can't help but be good at just about everything else they try to do.
Coach Bacon, I'm going to start with you, but I'm going to talk to a couple of the kids as well.
You started Rolling Fury.
Come have a seat.
Because of your son, who just whipped me, just cleaned the floor with me.
He does that to me, too.
That's right.
So how did that change his life?
Huge way.
Just increased his confidence, his self-esteem, helped him in his schoolwork.
Just, he felt a part of something.
And I don't know where he would be today without it.
So when I really knew that Christopher fell in love with this program, I used to help him get dressed, put his shoes on, socks on, pants on.
And one day, I went in to get him up for practice.
He was completely dressed.
Shoes, socks, everything ready to go.
That's when I knew he fell in love with this.
It worked for everybody.
Thank you.
Travis here, you seem to be the spirit on the team that gets everyone going.
Did I get that right?
Is he the spirit?
Yeah.
You get all kinds of stuff that you get to do.
You get away with stuff.
That is so true.
Yes.
And he trash-talked me endlessly, ceaselessly.
Coach, you spoke a little bit about the reality that although, yes, you teach them, you learn from the kids a lot more than you give to them.
Absolutely.
They're inspiring.
And, um, They come to practice every week, work hard, and they just want to be a part of something.
And I'm just here to help them with their future. - You're doing a lot. - One more thing.
Since you did a pretty good job at practice the other day, I get a pretty good job at practice now.
That's what the kids said.
So, since you did a pretty good job at practice, the kids would like to make you an honorary member of our team.
I would love that.
Travis?
Travis, of course Travis.
Now we're talking, now we're talking!
Thank you very much.
I love you all.
Thanks to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
For more information on programs like this, learn to DrOz.com.
We'll be right back.
Thank you for coming.
Who is your biggest inspiration?
My friend Emily is my biggest inspiration.
She was in a car accident six years ago and became paralyzed from the waist down.
Despite what happened, she has overcome all of her obstacles and is thriving.
Share your story on Dr. Oz's Facebook page.
Coming up, do you struggle losing weight?
Can't quit unhealthy habits?
Unable to achieve your goals?
For these three sisters, willpower has been a triple threat to their health.
For everyone who needs help, the power plan to build up your willpower.
Next. Lack of willpower.
It's the most common obstacle keeping people from losing weight, quitting unnecessary habits, and achieving their goals.
But it doesn't have to be.
Today, I want you to meet three sisters who say they lack willpower, and it's a triple threat to their health.
Take a look.
My name is Ellen.
My name is Diane.
My name is Elizabeth.
We're identical triplets.
And we have no willpower.
When we were younger, willpower was never an issue.
We had very strict parents and they basically said, you know, you need to do something and we did it.
So it really wasn't until we were like in our 30s and 40s and 50s that we have absolutely no willpower.
None.
We always make promises we can't keep.
Dieting is a big issue.
We'll start the diet and then one of us will have a willpower slip up.
We've tried every diet on the planet.
I think I've tried the veggie soup diet.
The protein diet.
The juicing diet.
Low carb diet.
Low fat diet.
But it's kind of like a domino effect.
It's like once we find that someone else has blown it, then we're like, well, we're going to blow it too.
It's like, who cares?
It's like, who cares?
Who cares?
When it comes to exercise, we never stick to the plan.
We decided to go rollerblading, and we're all gung-ho, and then about after five minutes, we're sitting on the bench.
We're tired.
We're tired, and we don't end up rollerblading.
I pay for gym membership every month, but I just don't go.
I have a treadmill in my living room, and it collects dust.
What I do use the treadmill for is my laundry, so that's useful.
We feel like now is the time to get our willpower back.
If you don't get healthy now, then we're going to see the repercussions of it for the rest of our life.
So Triplica here, this is going to be a really hard interview because you all do look the same.
So Diane, right?
Yes.
All right.
So Diane, I noticed how the temptation to watch television is overcoming your strong desire to get on that treadmill.
I saw it in the living room with all the stuff on it.
So explain that struggle to me.
Well, basically, I like to eat late at night, and I like to eat right before bed after 8.30, so in the morning I'm very lethargic, to say the least.
And it's just so much easier just to sit on the couch, and sometimes I'm feeling a little depressed or lonely or sad, so it's just easier to stay on the couch.
So you call your sisters.
And Lizbeth, when she calls you, the fact that you have two sisters exactly like you, does that help you or hurt you when you try to accomplish your goals?
I would say it mostly hurts because if I'm trying to be good and I'm trying to, like, have some willpower and I'm right on that verge, I'll call her and she'll go, oh, I just had two pieces of pizza.
And then I'll just say, oh, well, if she just had that, I don't really...
Ice cream.
And then I'll just say...
They're completing each other's senses.
I love it.
That's how we always finish the night is we tell each other, like, how bad we did in the evening.
Right.
We all check in with each other.
We do.
And how much we blew it.
And how much we blew it.
We tried to diet and have willpower.
It didn't work.
I don't have to say anything.
This is perfect.
All right.
So, Ellen, you've picked the time.
You're in your early 50s.
Why is your willpower such an important issue now?
Well, you know, we're not getting any younger, you know, and life is too short.
And, yes, being over 50, you know, your body just starts to wear down.
It's like our knees hurts and our back hurts.
And, you know, we go up the stairs and we're out of breath.
And basically a whole lifetime of just unhealthy eating habits.
Unhealthy eating.
Now is when you feel the repercussions of everything that you've done.
And you know what?
We need to get healthy.
Well, I'm proud of you for all those reasons.
I see you'll nod your head.
Yeah, we need help.
I see you need help.
I'll give you a triple dose of help.
But before we can conquer the willpower issue, I actually have to take you to the Truth Tube to figure out where you are now.
Okay.
Okay.
Is it okay?
Yeah.
Come on back.
Of course, since there are three of you, I've taken the liberty of averaging some of your answers to me, which will still be, I think, provocative.
You know, listen, for all of you who don't have two sisters who are identical to you, this is true among friends as well.
So let's take a look at the Truth Tube.
I had you keep a journal.
Where I wanted to just track what kinds of things you were doing with regard to your willpower.
And in your willpower journal, I tracked the number of times that you slipped up.
And I averaged it.
Each of you, each of you, not all together, each of you over the course of a week had 35 times when you slipped up.
Uh-oh.
I can be like a quadruplet over here.
So what happens when you lose the willpower and you slip up?
What's the experience like?
It's upsetting because, you know, you start the day and you have goals.
And then if you blow it in the morning with one tiny little thing, then your whole day is shot.
Your whole day is shot.
It's like a vicious cycle of self-destruction.
All of us.
All three, the same thing.
And when you call your sisters to say, this happened, what happens?
Any answers?
We say tomorrow's a new day.
Yeah, we feel bad, but we say, right, tomorrow's going to be another day.
We'll have a fresh start tomorrow.
Then it usually doesn't start.
Yeah, something happens, a crisis or something.
Yeah, it's like we always make an excuse.
Tomorrow's a new day.
Or if we start the morning smoking, then the whole day is shot.
Then we just blow it the rest of the day.
Do y'all smoke too?
Yes.
You know what?
On and off.
On and off.
You know, we get together and then we go, well, okay, who's doing no carbs today?
Or, okay, who's not smoking today?
Or who's juicing?
Or who's juicing today?
Or who's doing smoothies?
All right.
That's what we do.
You must have driven your father insane.
My mother.
Your mother even more?
My mother.
All right.
So we asked the three of you what your number one goal was.
And you all three named the same thing, not surprisingly, from this conversation.
Number one goal is, drumroll, to lose weight.
Sweet.
Like most of America, lose weight was there.
So I do want to work on your willpower as a team, but we've got to first start off in the realization that you guys aren't little girls anymore.
As you mentioned, we're in our 50s, all of us.
And we need to be adults and be individual a little bit and be separate and be able to isolate ourselves from falling prey to the mistakes we make just because we love people and we're telling them our issues and they're coming along with us to commiserate with the cigarettes or the diet issues or the fried food or whatever it is.
So I want to show you a list of individual goals.
Ones that are yours personally, that your sisters may not have.
Different ways of envisioning losing weight, for example.
So here's a list of all your individual goals, and I want you to just go through it.
I'll go through the list, Diane, Lizbeth, and Nellie.
Go take one at a time.
Give me your top goal.
How do you see yourself?
Whoever wants to go first.
I'd like to use the treadmill more.
Lizbeth?
I have such beautiful clothes, and they're all size eights, and I would love to fit back into them again.
Alright, so fitting into clothes that don't fit anymore.
Right.
I would like to wear a bikini and walk along the beach in Hawaii.
If I want to get in a bikini, I want to go to Hawaii.
Wow, that sounds great.
They're all coming along.
They're all coming along for the Hawaii trip.
So Diane and Ellen, three sisters.
Again, they have very similar overall goals, but very different individual goals.
What would it mean to your sisters, each of you, if you can complete these goals?
How would they respond?
Proud.
It would mean everything.
Yeah, it would mean everything.
It would make us happier, healthier.
We wouldn't have anything to talk about anymore, but...
Yes.
You have a built-in support system, a love system, like many of us do.
You just happen to be identical to each other.
And sometimes that hurts you.
Sometimes without realizing it, we enable people, we trip them up just because they're trying to commiserate with us.
So we need to find a different way of helping you support each other to reach the goals that you've picked.
Would you do that with me?
Yes.
It's going to take some discipline.
It's okay.
I've called on someone that I really trust a lot in this area.
Someone that you're going to find is very interestingly similar to you guys.
When we come back, we have the power plan to build up your willpower.
Stay with us.
Do you struggle with willpower?
Self-discipline is dissolved.
Stop sabotaging your weight loss goals.
Learn the power to say no and resist temptation.
Achievable steps to get you back on track and boost your willpower.
Next.
First, it was arsenic in apple juice.
Now, a new bombshell.
Arsenic found in a food you eat every day.
Dr. Oz reveals what it is and what you can do about it.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
If you ever struggle with willpower, that ends today, because we're going to give you the power plan to build up your willpower.
I brought in the foremost expert, Dr. Kelly McGonigal.
She's the author of The Willpower and Instinct, but more importantly for the show, she's a twin herself.
I love that!
You time this together?
How do you do this?
Oh, yeah!
Really?
Same timing, Kate?
Fantastic!
Me too!
We just heard these wonderful women struggling with achieving their goals, in part because their interpersonal relations sometimes don't always support it.
But what is the key to getting your willpower back?
Well, most people think of willpower as being just the ability to resist temptation.
And I call that I won't power.
But you also need I will power, which is the ability to do things like get on the treadmill.
And you also need I want power, which is really getting clear on your goals, like Dr. Oz had you do, to really understand what it is that's driving you specifically.
And you guys have already taken a great step in doing that.
We know a little bit more about what your want power is.
Listen, I can give you diet plans.
We've done more than I can count.
They're customized to different needs.
Oh, we know them all.
Oh, we know them all.
Everyone.
Perfect.
Everyone.
But do we do it?
Absolutely not.
We can't do it.
That's the challenge.
That's what I want to change.
Go to DrRoz.com.
Pick the one that works for you.
They all work and they all fail if you don't have the right willpower.
So let's focus on what is required to make something that's Already designed to work for you, work more effectively.
So take us through some activities, exercises for everyone to regain their willpower.
And we'll start with the first, which is a pretty cool one.
Come on over.
I wonder if they all do this the same way too.
We're going to learn soon.
Okay, so the first thing that I want you to do every morning is you are going to brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand.
So go ahead and pick up the toothbrush with whatever your non-dominant hand is.
If you're left-handed, right.
Are you all right-handed?
Right-handed, left.
All left.
I mean, all right.
All right.
Okay.
All right.
So you've got it in your left hand, and you're going to brush your teeth every morning with your left hand.
And I know this sounds really silly.
It's a little hard to try it.
They don't want to ruin their lipsticks.
You're going to do it tomorrow morning.
We will.
This is actually...
He's doing it!
My lipstick's fine.
He has willpower.
So this is actually a willpower workout, and you're going to start the day putting your brain in a state of willpower.
You can even think about what your individual goals are while you do it.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but studies have shown people who do this actually find it easier to make healthy choices throughout the day.
Okay, so that's one thing.
Next big thing is we want to wait 10 minutes, 10 minutes before giving in to any temptation.
So what does this mean?
Yeah, well, so we know your number one goal is to lose weight, right?
Right.
And that's what you want, right?
Right.
Okay, well, what if...
I offer you this.
Now, before you look at that, go ahead.
I'm going to interrupt for one second.
This is really important to understand.
I want you to see temptation from now on like a window closing.
Is that what you want to envision it as?
Yeah.
So, do you want this, by the way?
Yes.
Of course.
This is the problem with temptation, right?
Because just a second ago, you said what you wanted was to lose weight.
But when temptation is right in front of you, it hijacks your brain.
It makes you forget what you really want.
And what studies show is that if you can distance yourself from that temptation for just 10 minutes, it resets the brain.
It gives you a fighting chance of remembering your full goal.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
And then we want to do something else.
In those 10 minutes, hopefully, while you're not eating this pie, you're going to do something that's a routine.
It's the proactive version of this, right?
Not what I don't want to do, but what I'm willing to do for myself.
So, let's walk through this one.
Are we ready?
Yes.
Does it look familiar to you guys?
Yes.
It does.
Is that my treadmill?
This is your treadmill.
That's your treadmill?
That's my exact treadmill?
Yes.
This is your treadmill.
Come on down.
You left the door open.
We left the door?
You should at least...
Hop up here.
Okay.
Oh, my God, Diane.
We're stepping up.
I'm not going to turn it on yet.
You should have clocked your door this morning when you left, by the way.
All right, so we got the clothes on here.
Dr. McGonagall, what is this all about?
Yeah, so I think we can all relate to having something that we say we're going to do, but we think, oh, I don't have the full hour to do it.
You know, what's the point?
Why bother?
So I want you to spend 10 minutes a day on the treadmill.
You can do it first thing, last thing.
Don't worry about whether it's long enough to achieve your full weight loss goals.
You just want to kickstart the habit.
All right, there's one last thing.
Come on over here, guys.
Okay.
Get the triplets together again.
Are we coming too?
Yeah, I'm coming over here.
There's one last thing we want to talk about.
And this is important.
I want you to start making your willpower successes contagious.
So I want you every day, when you do your one thing for 10 minutes or when you are struggling with temptation or you've resisted it, I want you to call one another, text one another, right?
I want you to actually take a selfie of yourself on the treadmill and share it with your sisters and really start to think of yourself as that support system that's going to focus on acknowledging one another's strengths rather than letting one another's weaknesses become contagious.
Okay.
But honestly, what do you guys think?
You know what's really important, too?
When we don't have any willpower, it's because of the stress going on in our lives.
So a big issue, I think, would be to help each other with the stress because stress...
We're emotional leaders.
Emotional.
Huge.
Sometimes we can't wait 10 minutes.
You know what?
It's like we need comfort.
Here's what we're going to do with this.
I have a feeling I'll be seeing you again on the show.
Call it a hunch.
It's called a hunch.
I want to work on the very basics of willpower.
Because for you and for everybody else out there, that's what we need to start.
Exercise the muscle, build it.
When you come back, we're going to deal with the stress issue.
Because they go hand in hand.
But when you gain confidence that you can do what you want to do, whether it's for 10 minutes or 10 seconds, and we begin to do things like getting on that treadmill for those few minutes, just to show you're able to do it, we can now tackle the bigger issue of managing stress.
Probably the number one problem we all have in America.
Yes.
I have adored meeting you.
Really?
We love you.
Thank you very much.
To complete power plants, eat this real power, you can go to DrIs.com.
John, I'll be right back.
Be back.
Be back.
Next.
It's the best weight loss move you haven't tried.
Training your palate to crave less sugar and salt.
Top Chef star Richard Blaze has the taste bud tricks to get you to eat less.
Simple techniques to curb those cravings you just can't resist.
- Can you trick your taste buds into eating less?
Top chef Richard Blaze says yes, and he's here to prove it.
He's the host of a new show called Hungry Games, investigating the science behind our food cravings and choices.
So how does the show change how you cook and how you eat?
It's made me stop and think about every choice that I make, whether it's shopping at a supermarket or what I order off of a menu or even what I'm cooking in my own home or restaurant.
It's just given me that pause to be like, okay, what's going on here?
Why is this happening?
So it's been an amazing experience.
Changed my life.
Alright, so for everyone who loves spicy foods like hot wings, this is a big one.
Richard says that spicy foods like hot wings actually make you eat more, and I actually thought it was the opposite.
You would think that it is the opposite, but it's not the case.
Alright, so we did a little experiment to figure out how to trick your taste buds when eating spicy food.
Take a look.
These are our spiciest wings maybe known to man.
Whoa!
Oh man, my lips are on fire.
Time to test our neutralizers.
What do you think will eliminate the burn the best?
Capsaicin dissolves in alcohol.
So in theory, beer should help.
Try the peanut butter.
Avocado is up next.
This looks like it makes sense, right?
It's so creamy, textured.
Tomato juice.
Honey.
We've tried everything.
It's time for the final verdict.
Let's do a little survey here.
Everyone at home, follow along with us.
Raise your hand if you think the best way to deal with spicy food is beer.
Nobody.
Who thinks there's peanut butter?
Hands up.
A few folks there.
Avocado lovers?
A lot of avocados.
There we have it.
How about tomato juice?
And how about honey?
A couple people, I would say most people picked avocados.
Let me just do this little experiment.
These are pretty hot.
You made these?
They're pretty hot.
Pretty spicy.
Maybe not as spicy as the ones that we saw in the clip.
Oh, my goodness.
They're really hot.
Those were incredible.
Give me that beer.
Yeah, there you go.
That makes a lot of sense.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It doesn't work.
No.
Yeah.
It doesn't work at all.
Mmm.
It's worse.
Yeah.
Natural inclination is to grab a beverage, right?
It makes sense.
You went for the first two beverages.
Give me the answer.
The answer is, surprisingly, it's honey.
Honey?
Honey is the answer.
Yeah.
Because what's happening with the honey...
Well done.
Oh, that worked!
That's a Dr. Ross shot now, I think.
Yeah.
But what's happening with the honey is it's actually tricking your palate, and it's coating your tongue, and the sweetness is sort of masking the spice.
See, this would work.
This could be a Dr. Ross shot.
I think that's it.
I think that the honey lager, I think, might be the way to go.
It's actually very good.
And you know what?
This will work for my wife as well.
Honey, it's the spicy food.
There you go.
Now, the people that said avocado are not that far off.
The honey was instantaneous.
Yeah.
It immediately coats your tongue.
I never thought about that.
Neither did I, but I'm glad I did, because in this segment, those were spicy wings just like they are today.
Next, for everyone who binges on candy, does the color of your candy affect your taste buds?
So, to figure it out, we set up a Dr. Oz experiment to find out.
We set up shop at the Dr. Oz production offices where we conducted an experiment with eight real women.
They thought they were here as a focus group to give their opinion on an episode of the Dr. Oz show, but really, we wanted to see if the color of the candy they were provided affected the amount they ate.
We gave one group a bowl of just green-colored chocolate candy.
We gave the other group a bowl of multicolored chocolate candy.
As they chatted amongst themselves, we watched to see how much candy each group ate.
So would single or multiple colors make a difference?
Very, very tricky question.
Richard, what were the answers?
All right, the answer is, surprisingly or maybe not, that you'll eat more of the multicolored variety.
So variety is the spice of life.
It might be the fat of life, too, because you're more likely to keep going into the bowl with multicolored candies.
So take away the tricky taste buds.
Separate the colors of your candy before you start eating them or serving them to your friends.
That way you'll eat a lot less of them.
You can catch Richard Blaze on Hungry Games Mondays at 8 p.m.
on the Food Network.
work.
Be right back.
Tell us, how has the show helped you lose weight?
I love the recipes on DrOz.com.
I pick two per day, one for lunch and one for dinner.
I've been doing this for seven weeks and I've lost 21 pounds.
Head to DrOz.com slash recipes now.
First, it was arsenic and apple juice.
Now, a new bombshell.
All new Dr. Oz.
Arsenic found in a food you eat every day.
Dr. Oz reveals what it is and what you can do about it.
Plus, TV star NeNe Lee.
I'm very worried because I don't want one to come back.
The condition that has her scared to travel with her castmates.
All new Dr. Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Recently, I did another free clinic in Mooresville, North Carolina.
That's NASCAR's Race City, USA. And Emiha, an ambitious fourth grader, handed me this letter.
This is the actual letter.
I love this.
She writes, I would like to be a general surgeon because I couldn't choose between being a heart surgeon or a brain surgeon.
Don't you love this?
And I know about most body parts because her mother's been teaching her all about it.
Talks about her sibling having autism and the fact that she's remarkably mature for a fourth grader.
So she wants to know in the letter, What's it like to be a cardiologist?
She's asking me this.
So, Mia, a couple things.
First of all, there are two kinds of doctors that take care of your heart.
There are cardiologists.
They study the information about the heart.
And then there are cardiothoracic surgeons, heart surgeons.
That's what I do, actually.
And I use the scalpel when we make incisions and change things inside the heart.
We both work hard together to make sure the heart keeps pumping blood to the rest of your body.
Now, you also mentioned being a surgeon in here.
Let me tell you why I love it, why I adore it, why I still practice every week.
Her surgery is great because we can achieve immediate results while helping people, and I've got to say, it matches my personality.
I like quick decisions with a quick understanding of whether what you're doing works or not, and I like a fast-moving environment, and so it's always appealed to my personality.
So if you want to be a healer, nurse, perfusionist, whatever you want to do, a physician assistant, make sure it matches your personality.
Now it's time for In Case You Missed It.
Today we learned about exercises that strengthen our willpower.
They actually work in simple little things.
For example, we learned that a toothbrush Could work.
Use your non-dominant hand, so if you're right-handed, use your left hand.
Just for two weeks, how you normally brush your teeth, you'll see it feels awkward at first.
Surgeons do this with our shaving.
We use our non-dominant hand to shave to practice.
By creating a habit of self-restraint, you'll restrengthen your willpower and conquer bigger challenges.
Finally, let me close with a warning.
Please be careful about what you're buying online, especially weight loss pills.
Dubious people online make it seem like I'm endorsing their products.
I don't.
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