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Jan. 3, 2024 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:46
The New Face of Heroin Addiction | Dr. Oz | S6 | Ep 105 | Full Episode
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Today on Oz, she went from PTA mom to the heroin addict next door.
I knew through my high school kids who was dealing it.
He showed me how to smoke heroin for the first time.
Are over-prescribing doctors the root of addiction?
That hopelessness of knowing you're gonna die.
And in such a dark place when you do.
The nationwide problem that's finally getting attention.
When was your rock bottom?
When did you realize that a PTA mom had become a junkie?
Coming up next on Dr. Oz.
Meet Cynthia.
She's a mother, grandmother, and was a member of the PTA. And I want you to meet Stephanie.
She's an honor student, all-conference softball star.
So what do these two women have in common?
They both became heroin addicts.
I'm Cynthia.
I'm a mother of eight children.
I was always helping with homework, cooking, and I was a proud parent of the PTA. I'm Stephanie.
I grew up in a really great home with a really loving family.
In high school I received very good grades and played varsity softball.
I was the perfect example of the perfect mother.
But then at age 42 I ran into some trouble.
In college everything was going great and then I came down with a stomach virus which caused me a lot of pain.
And that was my turning point when everything started to go downhill.
After seven C-sections, I had built up some scar tissue, which created some hip pain.
It got so bad that I went to a pain doctor.
I called up my doctor, Feel Good.
He gave me so many different pills that he said would make me feel good, and they did.
I had a script for OxyContin, Oxycodone, Soma, Flexerol, Valium.
He said, try these, you'll really like them, and I did.
I was admitted to the hospital, and they put me on an IV for pain, and when I was discharged, they prescribed me five milligram Percocets.
I like the way it made me feel.
I felt loopy and happy.
It's a feeling I'd never felt before.
After a month of taking these pills, I was off to the races.
I couldn't get through a day without them.
And after six months, I was up to six 80 milligram oxycontin a day.
Back at college, a friend introduced me to 30 milligram Percocet, which is six times more powerful than the five milligram Percocet that I was prescribed.
I crushed it up and I snorted it.
The feeling is indescribable.
I felt like I'd found my best friend.
Then my Dr. Feelgood left town and the doctor that took over his practice took one look at the amounts of prescription pills that I was taking and she said, oh hell no.
And she started cutting me back right away.
But at that point it was too late.
My addiction was in full bloom.
I'd gotten so bad in my addiction that I started to steal from anyone that I could.
My parents from every job that I ever had.
And then the pills dried up.
Ultimately, I ended up on heroin.
I was using up my one month supply of pain medication in one week, and I had to find something that was going to help me get through the next three weeks.
I knew through my high school kids who was dealing it, went over to his house, picked up some balloons, he showed me how to smoke it, went home to my garage, and smoked heroin for the first time.
I was in heaven.
It was a euphoric feeling.
My boyfriend introduced me to heroin.
At first I didn't want to try it because I thought of it as being dirty, that I was better than that.
But it was cheap and it was available and I needed it all day, every day.
Heroin was cheaper to get and easy.
I found that I could sell one of my 80 milligram oxycontin and get enough heroin for three days.
It was more bang for my buck and for me at that time it made complete sense.
I had always tried to be the perfect mom, and I realized I was nothing but a heroin addict.
Here I was, the all-American child.
I grew up in a great home.
I ended up a heroin addict.
I felt guilt.
I felt worthless.
I felt alone.
I felt scared.
Just that hopelessness of knowing you're going to die.
And being in such a dark place when you do.
You okay, Cynthia?
When was your rock bottom?
When did you realize that a PTA mom had become a junkie?
The mirror is a really ugly place for an addict.
I had stopped looking years ago and I got out of the shower one time towards the end of my addiction and actually caught a look at myself in a full-length mirror.
I weighed 95 pounds.
The skin was hanging off of my bones and for some reason I knew in my heart that look told me I was dying.
And all of a sudden I didn't want to die.
And Stephanie, what is it that heroin gave you that you couldn't find anywhere else in your life?
Heroin gave me that filling the void that was so empty inside me.
I felt like an empty shell.
I was hollow inside, and what heroin gave me was it would fill that void, and it became my best friend.
It took over what my family used to do, what everyday life used to do.
That's what heroin began to do for me.
I thank you both for coming here and being very honest about this.
I know some of this is going to be uncomfortable, but it's so important to our nation, especially now.
Let me bring in an addiction specialist.
He's a former heroin addict himself, Seth Jaffe.
You've been listening to the story of Cynthia and Stephanie.
You've heard many others very similar to theirs as well.
How does this happen?
How does heroin addiction occur in people who otherwise seem to be upstanding citizens and free of even risk of this problem?
Well, first of all, I want to thank you for pulling back the curtain to the faces of addiction in our new millennium.
And I want to say how courageous it is for these ladies to come on here.
And that was very powerful watching that and to share their story to try to help others.
I want to say that.
Thank you.
Um, how this happens is that unfortunately this country is being flooded with a tsunami of heavily addicted narcotic pain medication.
And this tsunami is not going back into the ocean.
I'll tell you what this country needs.
This country needs an intervention.
That's what this country needs.
This is here to stay.
And people like Stephanie, Who comes from a good family, because of pain, ends up taking these highly addictive opioids, opiates, gradually getting to heroin.
The drugs, you saw the list of drugs she was given.
Today, they give people fentanyl patches, fentanyl lozenges.
That's for terminal cancer patients.
That's what these drugs were created for, to help people in number 10 pain.
Terminal people.
Today, you have cesarean, oxys, Percocets, 30 milligram Percocets.
And these are so addictive.
That once you take them for a certain amount of time, you build up a tolerance, and you need more and more, and God forbid, like Cynthia, the doctor stops.
Well now, you are addicted, and it's a question of, and, and, and, You said it so wonderfully, only a heroin addict, an opiate addict, understands the heaven, the heaven of being under the influence of heroin and opiates.
So Seth, why is it that folks who start on prescription medications are running off to street medications, you know, things like heroin?
How does that transition happen?
Why would it happen?
Well, the economics.
First of all, you know, all this medication is, your tolerance builds very quickly.
Very quickly.
And then at one point, I mean, Cynthia mentioned taking, I think, 280s or oxys.
On the street, it costs about a dollar a milligram.
So for 20, it would cost $20 or $40, $40.
So if you're taking 280s, it's looking at $160.
Most neighborhoods have street corners or high school kids, and that's so sad, high school kids.
She went to high school kids to buy heroin.
$10 a bag.
You smoke it.
You snort it.
Is $10 a bag for heroin right now?
Yeah, I mean, yes.
Cigarettes, by the way, as you all probably know, $15 a pack.
It's cheaper than cigarettes to buy heroin?
I guess so.
I don't smoke.
Cynthia, if I can, let me follow up on that.
You went to your kids' school.
Well, not actually to their school.
I went to these school kids who I knew dealt heroin.
I went to their house, bought what I needed, they showed me how to smoke it, and I went home to the darkest place in my house, which was the garage, and started smoking heroin.
What level of desperation has to be in your heart to do that?
Actually, there wasn't a whole lot in my heart at that point.
You'll hear addicts say, it's a dark, empty, lonely, miserable place.
And that's where I was.
I didn't want to feel.
You had a trigger recently, I understand.
Yes, about six months ago I was driving in my car so I had over three and a half years and the phone rang.
It was a private number but I give my phone out a lot.
I try to help people and I answered it and it was my heroin dealer from three and a half years ago.
He said, I've got some good stuff.
Do you want it?
And immediately, immediately, my glands started salivating.
I could taste the heroin.
My head says, I've got $60 cash in my purse.
I can go to ATM, get 40 more dollars.
That'll give me $100.
That's seven balloons.
That's good for three days.
And if it weren't for the fact that I daily work a 12-step recovery program, I would have been driving to my house.
Pusher.
Dealer.
Dealer.
Listen, I feel passionate about this.
It is imperative we start having a conversation about this trend.
And just to put some numbers on this, just came out in a recent report last month, heroin-related deaths are up nearly 40% in this country.
And there are people like you.
And like all addictions, it's not just the folks who are the addicts that are affected.
A lot of times it's the community around them.
So if I can, I'm going to bring some other folks into the conversation.
There are people in the audience who know this firsthand.
I'm going to start with Becky.
If you look at Becky carefully, you'll notice her.
You'll recognize her because she's Stephanie's mother.
And she looks just like you, by the way.
You're both very beautiful.
What's it like to watch your daughter struggle the way she did?
When she was in the throes of her addiction, it was really like living in the eye of a tornado.
And I'm a nurse and a mom.
And nurses and moms are supposed to be able to fix everything.
And my husband and I did everything we could and we couldn't fix it.
It was sort of happening and unraveling in front of us.
She's been clean now over two years.
And at the time, you know, three, four years ago when she was in the throes of her addiction, we didn't know where to go to help, you know, for help, where to turn to, who to turn to.
And I just thought it was, like, so simple.
Just stop doing the drugs.
And I didn't really realize how long it takes to actually heal from this disease.
And it is truly a disease.
But she's really my hero now.
She's your hero.
Does us feel pretty good to hear that, I guess, Stephanie?
It does.
We had a very strained relationship and For me to be able to forgive myself first and then go up to my parents and ask them for their forgiveness for everything that I put them and the rest of my family through and for them to forgive me and welcome me back into the family and understand this disease as well.
They've been very understanding.
They've been by my side and been very supportive.
And what I want to say too is she wasn't a bad person trying to get good.
She was a sick person trying to get well.
That's beautifully studied.
Not everyone has the opportunity to look at their loved ones and forgive them.
I'm going to bring Dorothy into the conversation.
Dorothy lost her son from a heroin overdose.
So why is it important for you to be here today?
Well, I'm one of the unfortunate parents.
I lost my only child to heroin three years ago.
And I just want everyone to know that it is behind closed doors, but those doors are next door.
It's your friend.
One in every three families are affected in some way by this drug addiction, whether it be pills, heroin.
Things start out, kids drinking in basements, and then it just moves on.
But the heroin epidemic and the pill epidemic here, especially on Long Island, is so bad.
I lost my son to it.
And if that's the way I have to remember him, by helping somebody open their eyes and their ears to what I have to say, I pray.
That it will do something.
And just listen to what I, and see what I'm feeling.
Just look at me and see what I'm feeling.
Because it's affected me for the rest of my life.
I'm sorry, I had to go through that.
And thank you for being here.
Thank you.
Thank folks for being so honest about this.
Cynthia and Stephanie, I treasure the fact that you're here.
I'm proud of you for making a difference in your own lives.
I love the verbiage forgiving because we have to have that as part of the front conversation element.
So let's do this intervention, everybody.
The road to abuse and addiction has been paved by doctors.
I'll take responsibility for my profession in this.
You know, we've over-prescribed, but people expect these over-prescriptions as well.
But you know what?
You have the power to stop it before it starts.
So I'm going to put a request out there.
I want everyone to put a warning label, a warning label on these products.
This is for you, for the people you love, for the people you care about.
I want you to learn from the pain these women have experienced.
So, have only one doctor prescribe your pain medications.
Only one.
I don't want you doctor shopping.
After a surgery or procedure, like we've been talking about, teeth drilling, sprained ankles, hysterectomies, you take an opioid, like a Percocet or an OxyContin, for one week before asking your doctor to switch you to something less potent.
And when you don't need them, flush them down the toilet, but get them the heck out of the house.
And Cynthia, for someone out there who's debating whether to fill their pain medication prescription for the third time, they've already been through a week of treatment for the third time, what advice would you give them?
You fill that prescription and you are starting down the road to the darkest, loneliest, emptiest place you could ever imagine. emptiest place you could ever imagine.
Some people have to experience that on their own.
If we can save one person from going that way, we are doing what's asked of us.
There is a solution.
You do not have to live as an addict.
There is never going to be a cure to this disease, but I know what I need to do to keep it in remission.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much to all of you Seth as well, to other members of the families.
We'll be right back.
Have you tried everything to lower cholesterol?
You want to avoid medications, but nothing has worked.
Now, new information.
We have the tips that can help you get the same results as taking a statin.
Easy foods to add to your meals to lower your numbers naturally.
Next.
Dr. Oz goes red for women's health with the ultimate guide to heart health.
Five quick questions to determine your risk.
Five habits that can prevent most heart attacks.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
It's February Heart Health Month, which of course is like my Christmas.
So all month long, I'm putting a little love in your heart.
And today, I'm giving you real concrete ways to cut down your cholesterol right now by up to 20%.
Joining me are Linnell and Heather.
They're friends.
They work together as teacher's aides at the same school, and they both happen to have high LDL levels.
Would you mind sharing your numbers?
182. 182. 159. So both those numbers are obviously higher than we want.
Ideally, it'd be less than 100, even.
But you don't have to quite get there.
We sort of had it in the right direction.
So, Lina, what have you tried to get your LDL cholesterol down?
I've been looking on the internet to try to get some information.
I feel like every time I try to do something, it never works.
And I give up.
So...
I've been trying to figure out what the LDL and the HDL is, which I have no idea what that is.
Let me help you with this a little bit.
Okay.
Real quickly.
LDL, imagine a big Thanksgiving float, big fat thing, and it bounces into the buildings.
It actually spews out the cholesterol that it's carrying.
So it's going down your arteries.
It's spilling junk into your body you don't want to have there.
Okay.
The HDL is the good stuff.
It's like Mighty Mouse.
It grabs all the cholesterol and takes it out of your body so you don't have to worry about it.
So you want not too much LDL, but as much HDL as you can get.
And I'm interested in your, you know, you've tried things, you've read things.
I know it seems daunting, but there was a study that showed that you can drop your LDL cholesterol number, the important number, by 20%.
Wow.
That's the kind of drop, by the way, we get when we take medications.
Mm-hmm.
Which I don't want to be on.
I don't want you to be on them either.
And sometimes we need them, but if you can get it with the diet we're about to show you, then I would do it that way.
Since there are two of you and your best friends, we're going to use number two to guide us.
Okay.
All right, so come on over.
All right.
We're going to start off with two servings of something that people haven't heard much about, plant sterols.
Okay.
You heard of plant sterols?
No.
All right.
So plant sterols are like a plant's cholesterol.
We humans have cholesterol, but plants don't have any cholesterol.
They actually make these things called sterols.
But the nice thing about sterols is they sort of confuse the body a little bit.
So we eat a sterol because it's sort of like a cholesterol.
It blocks the cholesterol.
So it helps you.
Which is why I like them.
The easiest way you can get your plant sterols are through nuts, which is one of the reasons people who eat nuts actually do very well in this regard.
Forget about the calories.
You won't overeat them.
So almonds and pistachios, you know, most nuts will help because they have plant sterols.
Do you guys like nuts?
I do, yes.
For sure.
I love to eat nuts, but both my children are allergic to tree nuts.
They are.
So it's hard for me to know how to replace that almond with some other food because I can't have it in my house.
So there are a lot of folks who have issues with nuts.
Either they don't like the taste or they have allergies.
So there's lots of fortified foods out there with plant sterols.
A lot of buttery spreads will have plant sterols.
It'll say it right on the label.
There's orange juice now with plant sterols in it.
They're fortified.
Is the buttery spread like margarine?
Like a margarine, yeah.
Oh, okay.
But they're fortified with plant sterols or made with plant sterols.
Oh, okay.
So actually, they're, you know, quite good for you.
You can try either of those forms.
Again, you want to try if you can.
You get two servings of that a day.
Okay.
Come on over.
Next, I want you to have two meatless meals per week.
Again, number two is a key one.
Okay.
So I understand you guys are sort of meat eaters.
Heather, you in particular.
Yeah.
This is a picture of Heather's family.
These are big meat-eating people, you can tell.
Yeah, well, you see my husband.
So, folks who eat animal fats have more cholesterol in their diets, which is not a problem sometimes, but other times it is a problem, because if you have high LDL cholesterol, you can bump it a bit higher with these animal fats that have cholesterol in them.
So, what you can do is eliminate the animal fats, just two meals a week, and replace them with vegetables, which have...
You know, the sterols I was talking about, they don't have any of the fats.
So, pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans, all wonderful replacements.
You can make lots of meals on Nocturals.com.
We've got tons of recipes for these.
I'm not telling you to give up all your meat.
I'm asking you twice a week to switch out the usual meat and potatoes for these kinds of more vegetable-based meals, and it'll help you get there.
Okay.
Good.
Okay?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And if your husband complains about gas, just wash the beans.
Oh, just wash the beans.
Yeah.
Okay.
Otherwise, they'll blame it on you.
It's their fault.
I have to look up the recipes with the beans because they might throw it.
Yeah.
All right.
Now, I asked the Cooking Network's Kelsey Nixon to help deliver the next step to lower your cholesterol now.
I like to incorporate fish into my weeknight meals at least twice a week.
Personally, salmon is a favorite.
I love that it's a fatty fish full of healthy omega-3 fatty acids.
It's good for me, it's good for my family, and it tastes delicious.
Don't be afraid of exploring your fish market.
Get out there and see what they have to offer.
Kelsey is absolutely right.
Fish is delicious.
I want you to have two fish meals per week.
It's another great way to replace some of those saturated fats we're talking about from animals with the fish.
And the fish has omega-3 fats in them, which have a separate good benefit.
They actually help the HDL cholesterol we touched on earlier.
So you get less of the bad, more of the good, which is what you want.
If you don't like fish, just get omega-3s in a pill form.
They work for you as well.
Okay.
I loved having you, Amy.
Thanks for being here.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I want you all to stay in touch, by the way.
I want to know what your LDL levels are.
Absolutely.
Let's do this experiment as a nation for heart and mind.
Yes.
Okay.
Be kind with the love in your heart as you do it right.
It'll keep you kicking for a whole lot longer as well.
I'll be right back.
Next, are you looking to replace that cup of joe with something healthier but still get that morning jolt?
Medicine hunter Chris Killam is here with three natural energy boosters from the rainforest.
Healthy alternatives to kick your coffee and energy drinks to the curb.
Next.
This February on the Dr. Oz Show.
Heart disease.
You have the power to beat it.
Put a little love in your heart.
All month long, the ultimate guide to heart health.
Feel young and energetic.
Be there for your family.
Stay active for your kids.
You control your health.
You control your destiny.
The power to save your heart is in your head.
All this February on the Dr. Oz Show.
I don't know about you, but when I go on vacation, I bring back some t-shirts, I mail a postcard, maybe a gift for Philomena.
But my friend, medicine hunter Chris Killam, just got back from his trip to the Amazon, and all he brought me were these natural energy bruises from deep within the rainforest.
Here's the question.
Can these drinks replace your morning cup of coffee?
Take a look.
Hello Dr. Oz, it's Chris Killam calling out to you from the great Amazon Rainforest in South America.
The Amazon Rainforest is home to about 80,000 higher plants, Many of these plants are foods that we eat on a regular basis.
Some are life-saving medicines.
And a special few have particular properties in that they boost energy and they also greatly lift your spirits.
One plant in particular, yerba mate, is a staple throughout Latin America.
Rich in flavor, when it's made into tea, it delivers a boost of energy that's packed with a healthy dose of nutrients.
Guayusa is another tea South Americans have sipped for centuries.
It's not only invigorating, but good for concentration.
And finally, cocoa, another rainforest favorite that jumpstarts both your energy and improves your mood.
Today, Chris Killam is here to share more energy secrets from the Amazon.
Medicine Hunter, Chris Killam, come on out.
Always the grand entrance.
Great forest.
Great forest.
So he just got back in the Amazon.
Yeah, two days ago.
Two days ago.
He's got all his bug bites to prove it.
Everywhere.
He's got three energy boosts I want everyone to know about.
And I want to know, especially, how do they compare to where we get our energy from today in America?
So, Gaiusa was what you brought me back.
Where does that go?
Gaiusa goes right after coffee.
It's quite high in caffeine, but we'll get to the special attributes of that in a minute.
Yerba Matei.
Yerba mate goes between guayusa and soda.
And cocoa is only left here.
Very little caffeine in cocoa, actually.
There's a bit, but not much.
Let's start with yerba mate, because folks have been hearing it.
They see it in all the energy stores, in health food stores, but it's in energy drinks right now a lot.
You actually argue that we can replace our morning cup of joe with yerba mate.
You know, yerba mate has enough caffeine that it'll stimulate you.
It's rich in beneficial compounds, about 250 or so compounds that we know of, including theophyllene, theobromine, which are diuretic, and caffeine, which, of course, they're all central nervous stimulants.
So yerba mate is a good choice, hot or cold.
So you mentioned antioxidants.
One of the reasons I like coffee and tea even more is because of the high amounts of antioxidants.
So this has the health benefits that our typical caffeinated beverages have.
Right, right.
Can I give one little bit more caution?
There have been some studies on yerba mate now because it's widely used.
People drink tons of it.
I'm talking about liters a day.
And if they're also smokers especially, they're more likely to get cancer.
So, you know, if you're going to drink this stuff, you know, it's like a once every other day kind of treat, not the liter a day that these studies looked at.
Okay, they actually brought something called gaiusa to us.
This is something that we have not heard of much.
It's a super leaf.
That's what it's called, where it comes from.
It's the second most caffeinated beverage, as you pointed out over there.
It is.
It has more caffeine than yerba mate, but it also is rich in L-theanine, which is a tranquility-promoting amino acid.
So they call this stuff Night Watchman.
You can drink lots of this.
I've sat around with natives and drunk huge gourds of it.
And even though you get a nice lift, you don't get that jittery kind of shaky feeling because of the L-theanine.
So I think Guayusa is well on its way to being a superstar.
I love the flavor.
I love the lift.
And no nervousness.
Taste is appealing.
Oh yeah.
So with this I can get jacked up, but be calm.
Jacked up?
Well, yeah.
I'd like to say a nice, smooth, easy lift at be calm.
Very new now.
You can find it at a health food store if you don't know much about its safety.
So I still think I go with coffee or that just because I know more about it, but over time I can see it evolving into that.
Okay.
Finally, you brought one of my all-time favorites, cocoa.
And this, Chris says, is actually called the food of the gods.
Now why is it the food of the gods?
Well, first of all, the botanical name Theobroma cacao means food of the gods.
Are you kidding me?
No, no.
The ancient Mexicans actually said that their god made humans in part out of cocoa.
It's been used as currency.
It's considered sacred.
It has a fabulous flavor.
It has more differences in flavors than wine does.
It's very versatile.
You know, you can make confections out of it, desserts.
I love the Mexican mole sauces on chicken and fish, so it doesn't have to be sweet.
This is a great, great food.
Now, I don't want folks walking into the grocery store and picking up the old-fashioned cocoa powder, because I know that's what you like to ever do, and it's a mistake.
I'd love you to walk us through how we picked the right cocoa powder to make things like hot chocolate with, and then you have a little concoction you've made for me.
I do, I do.
Well, first of all, you want to get pure cocoa powder, not cocoa powder with sugar, because you can always sweeten it.
I always prefer organic, but you want to look for cocoa powder that is not It's alkalized or dutched, being the same thing, because that process, which makes it taste a little smoother, radically reduces the antioxidant value.
I should mention that cocoa is significantly psychoactive.
It's mood-enhancing.
There's probably not a woman in this room who hasn't self-medicated with cocoa at some point.
True for the men, too.
Right, true for the men, too.
You look for cocoa without sugar.
If you're buying chocolate, Then you look for the very high percentage cocoa chocolate, like 85% so that it has really little sugar.
And this, I do want to say, Dr. Oz, as far as I can figure from every analysis I've seen, this is the single healthiest food in the world.
It smokes all the other superfoods.
It embarrasses the superberries and red wine and green tea.
This is the stuff.
It's a very competitive bean.
All right.
Show me how you make your version of hot chocolate we can all start using and maybe as a replacement to our coffee.
Yes, yes.
Although I don't want to replace my coffee, but I use almond milk, I'll use some honey, I'll use a little bit of vanilla extract, and I like to use a lot of cocoa.
So I'll use a couple of tablespoons full and blend it up and you get a nice rich drink.
You know, I would combine these.
That's what I do.
You do?
I take a nice, big, strong, bracing, shake-the-change-out-of-your-pockets cup of coffee.
That's this.
I throw in a bunch of cocoa, blend it up, and then you've got, you know, the real deal.
Let's just see.
Yeah.
This is the deal.
We found gold.
The food of the gods.
The final list.
Ten more natural energy boosts.
You go to DrIs.com.
We'll be right back.
I love having you on.
Thanks so much.
Thanks so much.
Next.
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And the cost?
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Saving money on health food is just a click away.
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Dr. Oz goes red for women's health with the ultimate guide to heart health.
Five quick questions to determine your risk.
Five habits that can prevent most heart attacks.
Plus, ways to help prevent you from aging faster than you should.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
You ever wish you could buy health food at Costco prices?
One of the biggest barriers I hear, and you're all saying it, the eating clean is, well, let's face it, cost.
But here's the good news.
Consumers have some new options, promising discounts on healthier foods and chemical-free products.
But can they really save you money?
Consumer reporter Elizabeth Leamy is here to find out.
Nowadays, you can use the high-tech to get something low-tech, namely healthy natural foods.
It's a $27 billion industry.
Thrive Market is the latest online grocer to offer natural and organic products delivered right to your doorstep.
One nice option I noticed at Thrive Market, you can actually search for foods according to your lifestyle.
So let's see here.
Cholesterol free, GMO free, low glycemic, high omegas, and a couple dozen other options.
And one of the oldest online grocers, Vitacost, has a new app to make your shopping even easier.
No matter where you are, just tap, and in a matter of seconds, add to cart.
Vitacost used to sell just vitamins, starting in 1994, but now they're offering healthy foods, And even recipes as part of the shopping experience.
So how do these healthy food shopping sites measure up?
Here's my scorecard.
Lots of healthy options.
Thrive Market, check.
Vitacost, check.
If you're on a vegan or paleo diet, Vitacost, check.
Thrive Market, check plus.
There's an actual category for this.
And finally, easy to shop, check and check.
So with more non-GMO, gluten-free, and organic markets setting up online, traditional brick and mortars had better beware.
Think about that.
Online grocery shopping, a $27 billion industry is growing quickly.
What gives?
Time.
It is all about time.
If we can shop from home, from work, at midnight, that is a gift.
So people are really starting to take advantage of it.
And sometimes the online stores stock things that you maybe won't see in your local market.
So it's a chance to try something new.
Let's start over here with Thrive Market.
Take me through some snacks, for example.
How do they pan out?
And how much cheaper were they than if you went to your local health food store?
Okay, so we bought these snack items.
And if you buy enough for a family of four for one week, the price at a health food store would be $60.
But flip over the reveal here, please.
$45 at Thrive Market.
The audience is clapping now, but wait till I tell you what that is as an annual savings.
You ready for this, everybody?
I'm ready.
Yes.
$783!
It's gargantuan different.
And that's just in the snack category.
What if you spread that across more categories?
And you save the time, as you mentioned.
Yeah.
But there's a catch.
You have to pay a membership fee to join Thrive Market.
That's true.
Thrive says its prices are 25% to 50% below the local stores, but you do have to pay that $60 membership fee.
So people do need to factor that in and decide whether it's worth it to them.
Thrive says that's how they're able to offer healthy foods at truly wholesale prices.
Vitacost is another company.
They have an app now, which you pointed out.
It's a very efficient way of going about it.
What's the good buy here?
Let's take the breakfast category of staples.
Right.
So once again, family of four, one week.
If you brought enough of these breakfast items for a week at a local health food store, it would be about $29.
At Vitacost...
Are you ready?
Let's flip it over.
$26.
So once again, let me give you the annual numbers.
On these breakfast items, your savings would be $136.
And I notice you have a lot of dairy alternatives here, things we've been talking about a lot, and stuff that you actually, it's in a box.
No matter where you get it from, it's going to be basically the same.
And these would work for your elimination diet you've been suggesting people try.
So let's take into account all this stuff.
We take into account the health of the food, special dietary requirements, people on different kinds of plans, price.
Grade these two stores.
Give me an idea of how well we're doing in online grocery shopping.
Okay, so Thrive Market over there, I give them a B+. We have those great savings.
Vitacost will give them a B. I would be happy to award A's to either of these companies the day they start finding a way to deliver fresh fruits and veggies to your home, because as you tell people, that's what you really need to stay healthy.
I'm just proud that this stuff exists.
I actually played on these sites yesterday just to prepare for the show today.
Unbelievable insights, and it's well done, too.
Pretty easy to find them, so hopefully they'll do what you're saying as well.
Thank you very much, as always.
Thank you.
Be right back.
Coming up next.
How often do you have trouble going to the bathroom?
When you're constipated, do you find yourself asking why?
Taking the guesswork out of pooping.
The surprising reasons for your constipation and what you can do about it.
Coming up next.
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 DrOdors.com slash tickets and sign up.
Did I get it right?
I'm answering the question today, the age-old question, why can't I poop?
So let's face it, when you're constipated, right, you become detectives.
You're all detectives, you know, don't go to the bathroom.
You start asking yourself things like, what am I doing?
What am I not doing?
What am I eating?
What am I not eating?
Does this all sound familiar to you guys?
We've all been on that path.
Well, I want to take some of the guesswork out of it.
I asked Jennifer to join us from the audience.
She admits that she deals with constipation, which I appreciate the view of you doing publicly.
So how often do you have trouble going to the bathroom?
I would say at least two times a week.
You go to the bathroom twice a week?
You have trouble twice a week.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I have trouble twice a week.
Making sure.
Change the segment a little bit, right?
And what do you usually blame?
Who do you usually blame when you can't go to the bathroom?
Well, I blame myself, but oftentimes I do low-carb diets, so I'm probably not getting enough fruit.
And I'm also a vegetarian, so I eat a lot of nuts at times, and I think that gives me a little bit of trouble also.
Nuts, I think, are probably a good thing, but let me walk you through the usual suspects because you covered a couple of them.
Okay.
All right, so not enough water.
You all know about that, right?
Check?
Check.
Not enough fiber.
You mentioned you know that.
Correct, yep.
To be concerned for some people.
Lack of exercise.
You didn't mention that.
Nope.
Like, because you don't do it or because you don't need to?
No, I do it.
I just didn't necessarily know there was a big correlation between the two.
Everything starts to work, including the muscles of the intestines.
Stress is a problem for a lot of people.
Be a problem with dairy, especially if you have an allergy to it or it irritates your intestines.
And then pregnancy.
So, some of these reasons are not so obvious.
These are the ones I want you all to know about.
So come back here.
I'm going to quiz you.
I want you to look at these less obvious possibilities and tell me which of these Evidence bags describe something that might be causing your constipation.
And audience, you can join in here.
We've got leafy greens.
I've got sugary gum.
I've got over-the-counter medications, breads, nuts.
You mentioned nuts.
So which ones are problematic?
Well, I would say nuts, but you said that might not be a problem.
So I could be wrong about that.
Iron definitely, I think, would be an issue.
Maybe gum if you swallow it.
Actually, that's a myth.
Let me help you with this because you won't expect this.
Okay.
It's actually over-the-counter pills that are one of the biggest problems.
All three of these, the antihistamines, the iron that you took this off about, and antacids can do it as well.
And they do it for different reasons.
Uh-huh.
So I want you to remember these because we use them so commonly in America.
Antihistamines dry you up, right?
Okay.
Including what's in your intestines.
Yep.
So that can cause a problem.
The iron supplements are an issue.
It's not a problem if you eat foods with iron.
Like these leafy greens have iron in them.
Not a problem.
But you give a high dose, it messes with the bacteria in your intestines, and that can really slow you down in a big way.
Plus, it turns into this darker color.
It panics you.
You know, you don't want that.
Nope.
And then finally, antacids oftentimes have a lot of calcium in them.
Okay.
And calcium can constipate you.
Right.
That kind of dosing.
So, periodically, I don't mind it, but chronic antastases are an issue.
So, I'm going to give you a little tip.
Okay.
Simple little thing you can do for constipation that I happen to use in my own life.
Uh-huh.
So, a lot of people think that it's about fiber, but it's actually a lot of times about magnesium.
Uh-huh.
So spinach has a lot of magnesium in it.
It's the opposite of calcium.
If calcium plugs you up, magnesium relaxes you.
Nuts have a lot of magnesium in them.
Beans have magnesium in them.
So if you just get the magnesium into your body, you won't have that twice a week problem that you've been addressing today on the show.
Okay, good.
Thanks for being here.
To learn more about the signs and senses of constipation, go to dros.com.
I'll be right back.
Dr. Oz goes red for women's health with the ultimate guide to heart health.
It's been my mission for six years to convince you that the cure for heart disease is in your hands.
Five quick questions to determine your risk.
Five surprising habits that can prevent most heart attacks.
Plus, would you know the warning signs that you're aging on the inside?
Ways to help prevent you from aging faster than you should.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
That's time for In Case You Missed It.
I was really moved by the stories of our guests overcoming heroin abuse.
America is now in the midst of an addiction epidemic, a tsunami.
And here's the big surprise.
You could be the face of the new addict.
The road to this addiction starts with the abuse of prescription painkillers, and it's easier than you think.
So here's my warning label to save yourself and the women in your life that you love.
If you have a doctor that's loving you and is taking care of you, you only want to have one of them.
You don't need more than one doctor, so only one doctor prescribes your pain medications.
Secondly, after a procedure, any kind of surgery, I want you to take the prescribed opioids.
They'll help you, like Perk said, or OxyContin, but only do it for one week.
Then you're going to ask your doctor to switch to something less potent.
And then when you're done with those pills, and there's more of them left around, I want you to flush them down the toilet.
There is no just-in-case scenario, because believe me, someone else would get their hands on those pills, and it's bad for them, too.
Next, I got a great tip for all you OzNation folks.
You can pass it along.
Here's a new number to cut your cholesterol by up to 20%.
It's the number two.
By the way, that amount of reducing the bad cholesterol is the same as you get when taking a statin drugs in many cases.
So, I want you to take the number two and apply it to plant sterols.
I want you to have two of those per day.
Almonds, pistachios, or any of the fortified buttery spreads that are out there now.
Even orange juice is fortified.
That'll work.
I want you to have two meatless meals a week.
You can add two cans of beans instead of having the meat.
And I want you to have two servings of fish meals a week.
This is how you can get your LDL lousy cholesterol down.
Plus, it tastes so good.
I love sardines.
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