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June 7, 2024 - Dr. Oz Podcast
41:58
Amy Robach's Cancer Battle: Hope and Healing | Dr. Oz | S7 | Ep 63 | Full Episode
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Time Text
Surgery, chemo, breast reconstruction.
Are you doing okay now?
Journalist Amy Robach's cancer battle.
Here it already spread to my lymph nodes.
Time was not on my side.
How it stressed her marriage to actor Andrew Hsu.
How do you cope with that?
You feel that fear.
This disease terrorizes people.
And the surprising ally that helped her get better.
She was giving me hope at a time where I felt hopeless.
We're not statistics.
coming up next we'll save lives today okay We are ready to get healthy.
The biggest lessons in life come when you are forced to deal with something unexpected.
It rocks your whole world and brings out strength and resilience we sometimes didn't even know we had.
We also learned the importance of family through the journey.
And no one knows us better than Good Morning America anchor Amy Robach and her husband, actor and entrepreneur Andrew Hsu.
Their lives were rocked after Amy's very public breast cancer diagnosis.
Today, we go into our health journey to find out how they all got better.
Then, we're taking a turn to show you easy tricks to save 15 minutes a day so you can spend more time with your family.
And here's a big question.
Can you make your brain smarter, healthier, and more efficient?
Today, clever tricks to sharpen your brain.
But first, on the surface, Amy Robach and husband Andrew Hsu, they got everything, right?
They may look like a fairy tale.
They have fame, beautiful children, careers they love.
But a serious health challenge has made the past couple years anything but perfect.
A bilateral mastectomy, doctors found a second malignant tumor in her other breast.
The cancer had spread to her lymph nodes.
Stage 2. Amy returned to work within three weeks.
She went on to endure eight rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, and reconstruction surgery.
All while juggling the demands of balancing her high-profile job, her marriage to husband Andrew Hsu, and their shared family of five children.
Amy, Andrew, are both here.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks for having us.
So first up, you know, surgery, chemo, breast reconstruction, it's a lot.
Are you doing okay now?
I am, and I'm on tamoxifen now, so 10 years of drug therapy, and, you know, I've learned very quickly what it feels like to be in menopause, and, you know, life changes, but every time I get that hot flash or I have those night sweats, I tell myself I'm still fighting, and each and every day is a fight.
It truly is physically and mentally.
When you tell your story, and you do it so compelling, and this is the book, it's called Better, and you highlight in the story that it's not just about you, it's about the family.
And there are many provocative parts of it, but I'm going to start in the very beginning, because you talk about your daughter, Abel, who's 10, at least when she was 10 when she wrote this little poem, and you named the book Better because of the poem.
Would you mind just sharing a little bit of it?
Sure.
My ten-year-old daughter Ava wrote me this poem when she saw me at a low point when I was struggling with chemo.
And she ran this over to me and said, read it but not in front of me.
And she ran to her room.
And so this is the tail end of the poem.
This is her worry, and I have no doubt.
She will survive without one pout.
She will be stronger, stronger than ever.
She's a fighter just like her daughter.
It has to get worse before it gets better.
And trust me, it will get better.
What's sage advice from a 10-year-old?
I was blown away at her wisdom and just her knowing exactly what to say.
She was encouraging me.
She was giving me hope at a time where I felt hopeless.
And I just thought it was such a remarkable, beautiful thing that a child could give that to her mother.
And it made me stronger and it did make me better.
And it was, for me, the obvious name of the book for so many reasons.
We can all get better.
We can.
We can.
I've said this before.
I can't stand here and say I'm physically better than I was before this, but I can tell you I'm mentally better, spiritually better, and emotionally better than I was before.
Sandra, take me back to when you first found out.
Amy's 40. You've been married only a couple years.
You hear about this diagnosis of breast cancer.
I mean, what do you feel?
How do you cope with that?
Well, my father had just passed away from cancer, and I knew that this This disease terrorizes people.
It makes you feel like the end is coming, you don't know where it's coming, and so it just grips you, and it's so awful.
We have to, as a country, do more.
We have to figure this out.
It's really terrorizing families all over this country.
But how about you personally?
When you realize this beautiful woman you just met and married in a very short period of time with this wonderful Brady Bunch family, And all of a sudden, her life's in danger.
It's a stage 2 cancer.
And you're young, and you know, you feel that fear.
You feel like, oh no, what are we going to do?
And you just, you go into action mode.
You just say, okay, we're going to do this, and this, and this, and we're going to get all the information, and we're going to get the best doctors, and we are going to do this.
And her parents came in, and we became a team.
We really did.
And you're a control freak, I think.
All journalists are, but you're renowned for this.
Yes.
And cancer doesn't have your agenda.
It doesn't have your schedule.
So how do you give up control and start fighting the disease?
I'm telling you, I make a daily list, hour by hour, what I'm going to do and what I'm going to accomplish.
And so, yes, this threw everything up in the air.
And, you know, fear can hit me at any moment.
I mean, any time I'm talking to someone and I'm hearing their stories or you hear about, you know, a tragic end, And you might even just see, when I saw a group of beautiful grandparents playing with their children, their grandchildren, and I have a dark thought slip into my head, like, will I know my grandchildren?
And I can be happy in one moment and the next moment just in a puddle and reduced to Tears and shaking.
And I'm amazed at how vulnerable I've felt throughout all of this.
And I'm getting better and I'm getting stronger, but figuring out how to live without thinking about the noose that you feel is hanging over your head, that actually has turned into a positive for me.
Because now every time I feel that fear, I tell myself, you know what?
You're right.
Tomorrow isn't guaranteed.
But you have right now.
I have right now with my family.
I have right now with my friends.
And it is a reminder to live in the moment.
God bless you.
Let's talk about your family.
You've got a blended marriage.
Five beautiful kids, right?
Yes.
You probably still wanted to have your own children together.
We did.
That's not possible anymore.
We were actually trying.
And as soon as this happened, you know, my oncologist said, God bless you, Amy.
You have five kids.
You're out of the baby-making business.
And you know what?
It was a death in a way to know that we couldn't have our own child.
And so I was really upset about it.
I mean, fairly devastated.
And so as we were feeling the pain, we decided to...
Get a dog.
Perfect.
So Brody is our child together.
So, you know, and a little humor goes a long way.
And so we just say, oh, look, he has your eyes.
Like, oh, look, he's got your hair.
You know, we just have fun with it because, you know, you have to live in reality and you have to accept reality and you have to move forward and make the best of what you have.
And we do have five beautiful children together and they are ours in a way.
And you just you just redefine what your family is and what whatever you thought it was going to be.
It is what it is right now.
And that's good enough.
Let me engage you in a very public debate.
The American Cancer Society has changed its guidelines.
There's a lot of research to support what they're saying, just in defense of them.
They're saying maybe we should wait till 45 before women start getting mammography, although they're saying it's okay if you get it earlier.
What do you think about that change?
I have very strong opinions about it.
I am the walking, breathing, living example of a woman who was the average woman, who did not have family history, who didn't have a reason to think that I was at a higher risk for breast cancer.
And I got my cancer in my late 30s.
Thank God it was detected at 40. As we mentioned here, it already spread to my lymph nodes.
Time was not on my side, as it very often isn't the case when you're a cancer patient.
And you can throw around numbers and talk about how many lives would be saved versus how many people would experience anxiety or unnecessary tests Or the money involved.
But at the end of the day, if you're one of those women whose lives would be saved, it's everything.
We're not numbers.
We're human beings.
And those headlines are dangerous.
Those recommendations will kill women.
And I feel very strongly about that.
I would have been among them.
You're talking about thousands of people.
We're not statistics.
I'm sensing the frustration.
When we come back, Amy and Andrew are going to stick around for a couple more questions and then a little surprise for everybody.
Stay with us.
Coming up next, Amy and Andrew open up about their marriage, how her illness put it to the test, and what it took to get their relationship back on track.
I'm in the communication business and yet somehow we were failing at it.
Their advice for other couples going through tough times.
Next.
This little pill here.
Promises to help you lose weight.
I've lost 25 pounds.
But there's a downside.
We expose what it's really doing to your body.
When I hear people say they lost weight, they lost the water weight.
But they didn't lose the fat.
And bat wings weigh you down.
How to get rid of them.
Plus, actress Kim Fields.
I thought I had the flu.
The surprising diagnosis she never expected.
What heck of a flu.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
From the start, their midlife romance had the makings of a star-crossed Hollywood fairy tale.
Amy Robach, the GMA anchor with brains, beauty, and down-home charm.
Andrew Hsu, the Ivy League-educated actor and entrepreneur who shot the stardom on Melrose Place.
Both were newly divorced when their paths crossed at a book signing.
Sparks flew.
Within five months, they were engaged.
Five months later, they married.
Amy brought two daughters to the marriage.
Andrew, three sons.
But just three years into their Brady Bunch marriage, Amy's diagnosis of cancer would turn their lives upside down and put their fairytale romance to the ultimate test.
We're back with Amy and Andrew.
So if I can, let me ask a little deeper question.
You've acknowledged, and you write about it beautifully in the book, that this disease really stressed your marriage.
Yet, in the long run, maybe it strengthened it.
How so?
And not maybe, definitely strengthened it.
We learned how to become a team in a way that we hadn't quite figured out yet.
Blending a family is incredibly difficult.
So we were still figuring all that out.
So what lessons did you learn in the tough times that would help folks watching right now?
I think that we learned, you said it best, with being consistent and being there and showing up.
That is half of it.
And reassuring one another that we're in this together.
And to make sure that the communication is correct.
Because you can be saying the same thing but saying it differently.
I'm in the communication business and yet somehow we were failing at it for a while.
I think you have to constantly say, what do you need?
Am I saying the right thing?
Am I doing the right thing?
Because you don't know always.
Because it's constantly changing.
The emotions are changing.
So it just has to be this consistent communication.
And then the trust comes.
And so you have to be vulnerable with one another and talk about your deepest, darkest fears.
I love that you say that because it is about being vulnerable.
It's about allowing someone to help you even though you never need that.
It's about appreciating you might not have all the answers, but you'll just be there even if she doesn't want you in the chemo.
Right.
And if you share that, that's the bonds of love is the vulnerability.
That's literally when it's all happening.
The bond of love.
He's a poet, too.
Entrepreneur poet.
All right, come over here.
You guys love your kids.
You love your family.
One of the things you shared with us is that you love cooking together.
Yes.
We're going to evaluate this process right now.
We have the Schubach.
We'll call you guys the Schubachs.
That's what we call ourselves.
The Schubach Healthy Holiday Pancakes.
So I have preheated the griddle.
Take it away from here.
Okay, so we on Saturday mornings like to make pancakes because they're very easy when you have to feed seven people.
So I like to take a little twist to the regular pancake to try and make it a little healthier and have a holiday twist.
So I have some pumpkin spice mix and some cinnamon with the dry mix, and we put that all together.
And so it smells so good, too, when you're cooking this.
I just smell that.
Mmm, it's the holidays.
And then we do half of...
A can of pumpkin.
Does Andrew ever help?
By the way, he just watches.
I notice how hungry he looks back there.
He does.
I slice it with bananas.
I bring the coffee.
He brings the coffee while I'm doing this.
He monitors.
I love putting a teaspoon of vanilla in here.
He monitors.
She says, are you going to do anything?
Yeah, exactly.
That does happen sometimes.
But I also like to be in control, right?
Did we establish that?
So I mix it all together.
Is that true, Andrew?
I want to give her all the credit.
See, if I did it all, then I'd have to take the credit.
Do you ever cook at all, seriously?
I do, a little bit.
He assembles.
When you're exhausted, I do take over.
Yeah, that's true.
He has.
He's really good with the dishes.
All right.
Afterwards.
Someone has to clean up, right?
Exactly.
So he's really good with that.
So then you mix it all together.
That could take a while.
Yeah, it could.
So we have the pre-mix.
And I just can't stress you how great this smells.
It's kind of like having dessert for breakfast.
That's kind of how I tell the kids.
And so we just put it on the griddle like this.
Ooh.
And then here's how I make it even a little healthier.
Even the sizzling sound is nice.
It smells so good, right?
You want to keep doing that.
And then I slice up some apples that we've picked, usually.
And we just put it in like this.
And then we get a little extra help.
But don't you have to flip the pancakes first?
No, I do it like this first.
And then I flip it, and it always works.
So I don't know if you have a better way of doing it.
Well, how do you know when to flip it?
Because I can see the bubbles pop up.
And so when the bubbles pop up, that's when I flip it.
See, I even knew that.
Oh.
And it's just an awesome treat.
And then sometimes the kids, we have maple syrup, and we also chop up some...
Andrew, pass me one of the pancakes so I can taste one of these things.
Please do.
We chop up some walnuts.
Take some to the audience over there, Andrew.
And they can taste how good it is.
Don't drop it.
Don't drop it, Andrew.
They're really good.
Isn't it really good?
Yeah.
And it's just a little, I mean, I know pancakes aren't the thing that people say, oh, that's healthy.
But when you add bananas and apples, you get a little bit of, you get some fruit servings in there, right?
You know what, the pumpkin is worth it by itself.
And the pumpkin as well.
Exactly.
I'm so happy you're doing well.
Andrew, thank you very much for being a garçon.
We could have told you.
You can get Amy Andrew's pancake recipe on DrOz.com and Amy's book, Better, is available now.
It is fabulous.
We'll be right back.
Next, how far will this family go to get healthy?
Feeding their kids an unusual menu you won't find at any dinner table.
It means many more years of living disease-free.
And what they've been storing in their fridge shocked even me.
Coming up.
I wanted to introduce you to a remarkable family in California who's taken a healthy gut to a whole new level.
Just another day at the Sonnenbergs.
Picking kale, tomatoes and cucumbers in the garden.
That one's nice.
It's not too big and it's not too small.
Grinding flour on a hand-cranked wheat dairy mill.
Brewing beer.
Baking bread.
Fermenting sauerkraut, kefir and yogurt.
Oh yeah, and sequencing the kid's stool.
Yes, that kind of stool.
A stool sequence is a way of monitoring your gut bugs, knowing what microbes are inside your digestive tract.
Meet Justin and Erica Sonnenberg.
They're gastrointestinal scientists at Stanford University who've brought their work home, turning themselves and their family, daughters Claire and Camille, into one giant science experiment.
Their mission, to study the role of lifestyle and diet on the microbiota.
Your microbiota are the bacteria that live in your gut.
She's right.
There are thousands of species of microbes living inside your gut.
And these microbes, we're finding out now, are wired into all aspects of our biology.
The Sonnenbergs, along with a growing number of other researchers, believe the microbiomes in your gut are actually a key player regulating your health.
Which brings us to this inspiration for the great Sonnenberg experiment.
Six years ago, daughter Claire, then three, suffered chronic painful constipation.
We thought of all people we study the gut that we shouldn't have a child that has digestive issues.
So we started examining our diet and noticed very quickly that we actually were eating very little dietary fiber.
So the Seidenbergs overhauled the family diet, switching to foods insanely rich in plant-based complex carbohydrates and natural probiotics.
All stuff your guts bugs love.
And surprisingly, so do the Seidenberg kids.
Once you get used to it, it actually tastes really good.
The Sonnenbergs have been eating like this for five years.
So is the family any healthier?
We do know that each one of our girls has only been on antibiotics once in their entire lives.
If we're right in how we're thinking about this, it means many more years of living disease-free, of being healthy and being active.
So you don't need to create a lab or even sequence your own stools for a healthy gut, but there's one thing we can all do at home right now is to ferment our veggies to help boost the good bacteria in our gut, just like the Sonnenbergs do.
Now, what you all have to have is three ingredients.
Three simple ingredients you all have at home already.
You need kosher salt, you need water, you need a mason jar.
We all have that in our homes?
Pretty straightforward.
All right, the first thing we're going to do is mix up the brine.
So who wants to help me with this?
Who's good at pouring stuff?
You a good pour?
Come on up here.
Come down here.
Don't mess this up.
It's important.
Two tablespoons of salt per cup.
Rather, put it in this.
This is two cups.
So it's one tablespoon per cup.
So you put two in there.
Bounce it out.
So put two in here?
Yep.
Don't spill it.
Don't mess it up.
I won't, I promise.
That's the easy part.
Someone's actually got to start making the veggies for us.
But this actually, this is going to help the bacteria grow with the veggies.
So who's a good grader over there?
Are you a good grader?
A little bit?
All right, don't go away.
Don't run away yet.
All right, you start grating over here.
You want to grate cabbage or you want to grate carrots?
Carrots.
All right, go.
Start grating away.
That's not very good grating.
I can count the number of grates you have.
Four grates.
Oh, come on!
Put your back into that.
Come on now.
Like this?
Yeah.
Don't forget that.
Use the cabbage.
That is one of the worst carrot-grading experiences I've ever seen in my life.
All right, so you grate those babies up.
That's good.
That's perfect.
And once you've got some of that grated up, you're going to push that into this mason jar, which you better help her with, because she can't do it by herself, that's for sure.
Okay.
Wait, it's like a magic act.
Where's it going?
I don't know.
Get a shot of this.
Look at this.
Zero grating.
Oh my goodness.
Do you guys work together?
You guys collect.
Use this side.
Try and see how it works.
There we are.
Have you ever graded before?
You know what?
It's okay.
It's good now.
So, go ahead and take the carrots.
We have more carrots created.
Get those carrots over there.
These beat up pieces over here.
These little things.
And put them in the mason jar.
Put the whole thing in there.
All in there?
Yeah, put them all in there.
Okay.
And you're going to pour your water, which you've got to start stirring right now, on top of it.
All right?
Then you're going to pack it down at the very bottom.
You can pour the water in there now.
And all you've got to do is pour it in there and leave it for a while.
Now, carrots, you want to leave for about four days.
Cabbage, you can leave for 30 days.
It'll turn to sauerkraut if you do that.
And then all you've got to do is eat it.
And you'll have given yourself two things.
You've got bacteria that are growing in this concoction are good for your gut.
And in addition, the carrots, the cabbage, things like this, these are actually called prebiotics.
They feed the bacteria in your gut.
Okay?
Now, you want to taste some of this?
Do you taste your work?
Sure.
Okay, so this is what the Sonnenbergs do, by the way, so it makes sense.
Go ahead and open that up.
Oh, jeez.
Here, get this one, too.
Oh, thank goodness.
All right, let's taste it all here.
They have a little taste there.
If you're not good at grating, maybe you're a good taster.
Taste as well.
And this is what I want you all doing from now, because if the Sonnenbergs can do it in their little place, you guys can all do it in your homes as well.
In fact, I'm going to give Irene this little recipe.
In fact, I'll give her this bottle right here.
Good?
You all in?
All right.
So you can read more about the Sonnenbergs in their book, The Good and Gut.
It's in storage right now.
Stay with us.
Next, want to make your brain smarter, sharper, and more efficient?
This Guinness Memory World Record holder shows us how.
We're revealing clever ways to hack your brain and enhance your health.
I can't imagine you're not feeling more relaxed after doing this.
Coming up, This little pill here.
Promises to help you lose weight.
We expose the downside.
Plus, actress Kim Fields.
I thought I had the flu.
The surprising diagnosis she never expected.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Take a look at this.
It's your brain.
It's unbelievable when it's actually in someone's hands.
It's only 2% of your body's total weight, even though it does so much work.
But it uses 20%, 20% of your body's energy.
That's enough to light a light bulb.
It's a lot of power, believe it or not.
So, how can you make your brain smarter, healthier, and more efficient?
That's what we're talking about today.
And who else to ask but a two-time Dennis Memory World Record holder, Dave Farrell, who's joining us.
How are you, David?
Thank you so much.
He's going to reveal his clever ways to help sharpen your brain.
So what's his secret at a high level for exercising your brain?
Well, I have to say the best metaphor is that small hinges can move big doors.
So it's really the little things, a little exercise, a little brain hack, some of the things you'll learn today that are repeated over and over on a daily basis to get you to the point where you can be in the Guinness Book of Records for memory.
Did you have a great memory growing up?
Actually, I had a terrible memory.
A terrible memory?
I have ADHD and dyslexia growing up.
I learned memory techniques and brain hacks as a way to overcome my own challenges.
I learned the meditation as well.
And probably the biggest secret is that your brain can be hacked.
Alright, so since you're living proof, we're going to trust you on this.
We're going to say a few things about hacks.
We're going to start with one way, a clever way to hack your brain that he learned from a Tibetan monk.
For centuries, scholars and scientists have been mystified by the tales of meditating Himalayan monks who can turn wet towels completely dry just by using their body heat, even in freezing temperatures.
The technique is called Jitumo, or Inner Fire Meditation.
Using breath and visualizing a burning flame in the center of their belly, practitioners claim to be able to raise their body temperature to nearly 101 degrees.
To find out if this ancient brain hack really works, we used an infrared camera to track the body temperatures of two of our staffers who practice Inner Fire Meditation.
Would they be able to raise their body temperatures like the monks?
So the body temperature results are in.
Diane, that's the woman who does all this great artwork you see on the show.
She was able to increase the temperature of her skin by three and a half degrees, which I was stunned by.
I didn't think we could increase it at all.
Eric, who's been a longtime friend of mine, he's a producer on the show, was able to increase his temperature by seven and a half degrees.
He's a pretty centered guy anyway, But these are two people, regular folks, who are able to change the temperature of their skin, The scientists have studied people practicing this inner-fire meditation we're gonna talk about now, and they discovered that it actually does change your brainwaves, and that's why we think it raises your bio-temperature.
But listen, guys, if it can change something so fundamental as your temperature, what can it do to everything else going inside of you?
Okay, so let's try this.
I'm curious.
It worked for Di and Eric.
It might work for me.
So what's the first thing?
We've got three wonderful audience members.
Hello?
Are you guys scared?
Yes.
You should be scared.
Think about it.
If it's strong enough to change your body temperature, what else could it do?
All right.
Well, this is really a lesson that our brain does control our bodies.
And there's so many things that you think you don't have control over, but you really do.
So, what I want you to do is that you just sit comfortably.
This is everybody who's following along.
Sit comfortably.
You want to do something with your hands.
I usually hold my hands like this.
Some people will put them on their knees, but this is my favorite position.
And you focus on the core of your body.
So I'm going to breathe in through my nose, and as I breathe in, I want to fill up my belly.
So I go like this.
Oh, you put your hand on your belly.
Yeah.
Audience, if you guys come along, do this little trip with us, if you don't mind.
See how much we can heat the room up.
Yeah, follow along.
If you want to test, you can put one hand on your chest and one hand on your stomach.
You don't want to move your chest muscles.
Just breathe out with your stomach.
In today's society, everybody has to have ripped abs, so we can't do this, but you can let your belly out for one moment, guys.
Everybody home, just take one minute literally from your crazy day and just do this with us.
So, left hand on your belly, right hand doesn't move on the chest.
Yep.
You breathe in through your nose and breathe and let your stomach fill with air.
Hold it for a few seconds and then let it out through your mouth.
Now this sounds like typical meditation.
What makes it different to do fire meditation?
Well, the addition that you do is you imagine a flame on the inside of your body as if your body is kind of hollow and there's a flame right around your belly button but inside a little bit.
And every time you breathe in, you're enhancing that flame.
You're stoking that fire.
So breathe in through your stomach and feel the flame get bigger and feel it warm you.
And then as you breathe out, you're just concentrating that flame.
And how long do you do this for?
I mean, you can just do this for five or ten minutes.
It doesn't have to be a long time.
The best thing to do it is every day.
Don't just do it on a weekend, but do just five minutes a day and you'll see the best results.
Abigail, what do you think?
Are you heating up back there?
I can feel you from here.
Just a little.
Just a little?
Just a little.
Would five minutes a day do this for you?
What do you think?
I think I need more than five.
Well, five's a good start.
It's a good start to get anybody starting on meditation.
This would work for insomnia for sure.
I can't imagine you not feeling more relaxed after doing this.
I've done this before I go to bed and it overcame my insomnia.
I've noticed that it affects everything from your immune system and everything else.
But really, it's just you feel more energized.
That's the big deal.
I'm having a hot flash.
While we meditate, you guys are going to take a little bit of a break.
When we come back, Dave is going to show us a dance that he says can improve your memory.
You won't want to miss this. - Next, more clever ways to hack your brain so you can work smarter.
Simple exercises to increase coordination and memory.
You never hit that wall where you run out of creativity.
Plus, the fun and easy dance you can do at home to boost your brain.
Next.
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I'm back with Guinness memory world record holder Dave Farrell, who's here to teach you clever ways to make your brain smarter.
Now, we talk a lot about working efficiently in America, but most of the time we just work harder.
How do you actually get your brain to work smarter?
Absolutely.
Well, one of the best ways is to think of your brain like a machine, and one of the best exercises is actually kind of like using interval training, but for the brain, breaking up large tasks into small little chunks.
So you call it the focus burst.
Yeah.
It's an intriguing concept.
Guys, you're going to love this idea.
Please give it to them.
And we've thought about this a lot.
It sort of makes sense when you actually accept it.
Yeah, absolutely.
Essentially, all I do is I take a very large task and I break it up into tiny chunks so that you can focus intensely, get something done, and then give your brain a little break.
And then focus again and get something done.
And it really basically leads to much more productivity.
And half the time you're taking a break.
To be specific, how much time do you work and how much of a break do you take?
Yeah, most of my focus bursts are about five to six minutes and I actually take a break that's just as long.
That might sound really lazy.
It does.
But when you focus intensely for five minutes, you should try this, go through the exercise.
People find they actually get more done and the neat thing is you keep your brain at a very high level of cognitive functioning for hours.
You never hit that wall where you're tired Or you run out of creativity or you're just exhausted.
But I hear an expert like you talk about this.
This is what I'm really taking in.
That most of us are only working at 50 percentile.
Because if you can beat it by literally taking off half the time, think of how much time we're wasting thinking we're working.
Right.
Or actually we're just sort of running in place.
Come on back.
If I can, let me show everybody this basic theory.
So here's again, you're so happy, everyone's happy.
All these great chemicals are in your brain, right?
In the very beginning, you're full of love, everything's working.
But then the bad things start happening in your brain, bad chemicals start to build up, literally short-circuiting, electrocuting your brain, so you become very unhappy and unable to function.
By taking breaks, you sort of reboot this system, allow those chemicals to rebalance, and you're back to the happy self.
So what is it about this memory process that you love so much?
I mean, how do you use something like this to become a memory champ?
Well, you know, essentially, we have to realize that our brains are not really good at working for hours without a break.
Our brains are really good at handling short crises.
So my Guinness record, I memorized the exact order of 59 decks of playing cards, all shuffled together.
59 decks.
It's not 59 cards.
59 decks of cards.
3,068 cards in total with perfect accuracy after seeing it just once.
So zero repetition.
That's why it hasn't been broken in nearly 10 years.
Now, the way I was able to do that with somebody born with 80...
Thank you very much.
Oh, oh.
So let them applaud you, that's crazy.
But the way I was able to do that, I really did it to inspire other people because I started with ADD and dyslexia and I really struggled with my memory, but the way I did it is just a little bit at a time.
So I literally would, I have a technique to memorize decks of cards, I broke it up into a half a deck at a time and I made sure I got that perfect before moving on to the next one, I took short breaks in between and that's really why I've been able to be the best in the world.
Do you ever go gambling?
I have.
How's that work out for you?
I've been kicked out of a couple of casinos.
The last thing you won't have to do in a casino, he'll do this in a club, it's a way of hacking your brain by doing a brain dance.
So I'm going to ask the front row, everyone please stand if you want.
I would have everyone stand, but I don't want you falling out of the rafters.
Come on down this gray line behind me.
So how do you get your brain to change by how you dance?
Oh, this is one of my favorite brain hacks because we know that your right brain controls the left side of your body, your left brain controls the right side of your body, and a lot of organized sports require coordination, like swinging a bat, so essentially coordination between the hemispheres has to do with crossing the midline.
So if I take my right hand and I touch my left knee, take my left hand, touch my right knee, yeah, and then do the same thing behind and behind, alright, and then your elbows, cross them, cross them, and for some reason I feel like ending with that.
Alright, can we all do it together?
Don't kick me.
I see you, I see you.
- Get the brain, okay, so one, two, one, two, one, two.
One more time. - One, two, a little faster.
Two, one, two. - Go faster, faster, faster.
One, two, one, two. - You guys keep going.
By crossing over the ideas that each side of your brain talks to the other side better, includes your coordination, do it a lot, whatever he says will work for him.
Dave's sixth DVD program.
You guys keep going, what are you doing?
He's got a DVD program, The Feral Methods, available for purchase online.
For more clever ways to hack your brain, go to DrOz.com.
I'll be right back.
All right, sir. - Coming up next, love to save time and money?
We have brilliant life hacks that will save you 15 minutes today.
Pinterest moms put them to the test.
Why don't you believe me, Dr. Oz?
I got this.
Clever, time-saving ideas to make our lives easier.
Coming up next.
This little pill here.
Promises to help you lose weight.
We expose the downside.
Plus, actress Kim Fields.
I thought I had the flu.
The surprising diagnosis she never expected.
All nuance.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Who doesn't love to save time and money Well, today, life hacks that will save you 50 minutes or more.
And I want to put these hacks to the test so you don't have to.
And who better to try them out than Pinterest moms?
So I got Aisha, Lisa, and Jen there here.
We're walking through these.
Aisha here says her favorite time-saving hack is to warm a drink in just three minutes rather than the usual whatever it takes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes.
Yes.
So, this is my favorite hack because at the end of the day, who really wants a warm drink?
Nobody.
Nobody.
It doesn't work for anybody.
No, not at all.
But I have a busy 11-year-old.
So when we come home, she's like, Mommy, I want something to drink.
And not all the time, I put the cans in the fridge.
So, this is so quick and it's so fun.
Oh my gosh.
All right.
So, what you do is...
What do you guarantee?
How long can you do it in?
You can do it in three minutes.
The preparation is about maybe two minutes or less.
Alright, so you're saying in three minutes we can get the beverage cold?
Yes.
Alright, so we're going to test that.
We're going to test it.
Alright, so can I open this up?
No, you're not supposed to open it.
Oh.
Well, how are you going to test what the temperature is?
Because we have to put the thermometer in first.
No, how are you going to test the soda before I put it in and see what you did?
No, we test the water.
All right, let's do it your way.
Why don't you believe me, Dr. Oz?
I got this.
You're going to stab me with this thing.
I'll give it right back to you.
I'll give it right back to you.
Here, we can open this up for one second.
Humor me for a second.
Tell me the temperature of that, just to start us off.
Let the audience see it.
You guys, can you all see the temperature?
73 degrees, 72, 70. It's getting colder.
Alright, whatever it ends up being, let's say it's 67. My goodness, it's cold already.
Alright, so 66 degrees, right?
So you're gonna make that into what, a 40, 45 degree beverage?
Yes.
Alright, how do you do it?
Okay, so first, what you do, you have your pot with your ice cold ice and water.
So what we do is we take the can, we stick the can inside.
Make sure that it's all the way submerged inside of the pot.
All right.
Make sure you have your large pot.
It doesn't need to be small.
Okay.
Then you take your ice.
I mean your ice, sorry.
You take your salt.
All right.
You pour a whole cup of salt inside.
Like if you were salting a road in the wintertime.
Pretty much so.
Okay, so take a spoon.
Let me just stir it up a little bit.
And that's it.
And we're done.
That's basically it.
That's it.
Then you take your top.
You have to put the top on?
You have to put the top on.
What happens if you don't put the top on?
I mean, it'll still get cold, but this makes it work faster.
All right.
We got three minutes left to us?
I'm going to go play with your friends here.
I'm coming back in three minutes.
I'm going to see what that temperature is.
Okay.
What is the temperature in this thing now?
Give me one last reading here.
I want an honest assessment.
65 degrees.
65 degrees.
All right.
You got to beat it by 20 degrees.
It doesn't count.
No, it has to count.
All right.
It has to count.
All right.
I'll come back to Asia.
Lisa's here.
What is your favorite time-saving hack?
Well, I think the time-saving hack part of this is kind of a benefit.
What I really love about this is that it gives you an opportunity to do cleaning without all the toxins.
Because we know that we all live in this world that has more and more toxins around us all the time.
I don't want that coming into my home.
So you've got a cleaning hack that's safe?
Yes, absolutely.
And cleaning products that are safe can be really expensive.
This is a lot cheaper.
So we're using things that we have at our house.
Lemons.
I almost always have on hand salt.
Everyone's got it home.
You just use salt over there with Aisha to try to get that beverage cold.
You can use salt for many, many things.
So, you're just going to cut...
Did you see how she almost stabbed me?
Did you see that?
I'm so sorry.
I promise you, no stabbing over here.
Okay, thank you very much.
Okay.
Aisha.
So, you're going to cut a lemon in half, and actually you can do this with me.
All right.
Then what you're going to do is you want to put as much salt on there as you can get.
If you only have a little bit, you lose some of that abrasion.
I'll trade you places.
Oh, thank you.
All right.
The salt is going to be abrasive and it's going to get through some of that grime that you're not really, you know, you don't want your arm to do all the work.
So you're just going to sit there.
You're going to start actually up at the top.
Oh my goodness!
You see that?
It comes right up.
So, is that good enough for now?
We're going to turn on the water and you can just rinse it away.
You can see all that dirt and grime just goes right down.
This is a wonderful idea.
Cool, right?
All right, finally, going over to Jen here.
She's got a time-saving hack.
This is about getting your butter thawed so you can actually eat it rather than waiting the usual 20 minutes for it to get warm and soft.
Yes.
So one of the things I always forget is to take the butter out of the freezer so that then I can use it to bake or cook.
And so it's sort of frustrating when you've got everything together and then you've got to throw the butter in the microwave or whatever.
So what I like to use is a cheese grater, actually.
I just take the cheese grater out.
That's it?
That's it.
It's just something that most people have at home.
You just take the stick of butter out.
I use the long side just because it's a lot easier.
It gives you longer strips of butter, of course.
And you just sort of go to town.
And it's kind of fun, too.
So if you've had a frustrating day, just really get it in there and just go all over the place.
And what's great about it is that...
Instead of, like, cutting off a chunk of the butter, and then you have to, like, wait for it to melt and then mix it in, when you grate the butter, it actually goes all throughout the dish, so it's all over that place.
This is a very smart idea.
It's already melting.
You see these are already...
Yeah, and you can just sort of mix it there, and you don't have to worry about, like, waiting for the clump of butter in the middle of your pasta to sort of melt.
Nice to meet you.
Good luck with the one you had.
All right, back to the moment of truth.
Thank you.
I'm taking this knife with me.
I want to be safe over here.
A deterrent.
Just a deterrent.
You've had your three minutes.
Yes.
We are currently at 65 degrees, I guess, 66. It's sort of warmed up.
Are we ready, audience?
I take the lid off.
I'm still not sure I put the lid on there, but you go and you get like a cop of corn.
Pull it out there.
You pop the lid.
Now we're going to pop the lid open.
And we're going to find out.
66 degrees here.
And the temperature here is?
Let's focus everybody there.
It's 54, 50. Can she get 20 colder?
Then we're 66 for the starting point.
Yep.
And she already did it.
Yep, I did it.
Oh my goodness, 40 degrees!
It worked!
It worked!
Despite the effort.
Nice job.
Nice job, Aisha.
Find out more brilliant life hacks by going to DrRotter.com.
I want you to post your favorites on my Facebook page for a chance to be featured on the show like Aisha was.
Did you have a good time?
I had a great time.
We're right back.
This little pill here.
Promises to help you lose weight.
I've lost 25 pounds.
But there's a downside.
We expose what it's really doing to your body.
When I hear people say they lost weight, they lost the water weight.
But they didn't lose the fat.
And bat wings weigh you down.
How to get rid of them.
Plus, actress Kim Fields.
I thought I had the flu.
The surprising diagnosis she never expected.
What heck of a flu.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Tomorrow, you'll be talking about the most filling 100-calorie snacks.
So forget about all those 100 calorie snack packs that leave you wanting more.
These healthy snacks will not only be tasty, but they'll keep you full until your next meal.
So you wanna go over them?
Alright, here goes.
The first one, my personal favorite.
Cottage cheese and blueberries.
Now, y'all try yogurt, but try the cottage cheese once in a while.
It's a great source of protein.
In this stack alone, the 11 grams of protein.
Of course, the blueberries are rich in vitamin C. That's why they call them brain berries.
So, that's the first one that I personally love.
But my staff, they actually have a favorite they use in the office.
It is a slice of turkey with a slice of Swiss cheese.
Simple, elegant.
You feel like you're taking that little bite into a turkey sandwich, but it only has, you know, a tiny bit of, you know, 100 calories, but it's got 4 grams of protein and 220 milligrams of calcium, which is a ton.
Here's a big tip from the staff.
They always keep turkey cold cuts in the fridge.
That way they can snack on them throughout the day, and it keeps you from pigging out.
You always know it's there.
And then we've got the ultimate, the rice cake and almond butter.
The almond butter is high in fiber, iron, vitamin C, and that rice cake gives that little crunch that you just crave.
Again, it's only 100 calories.
So I've made it really easy for you, really simple.
I've created my very own 100-calorie snack one-sheet.
You go to my Facebook page, print it out, pass it along, and share this 100-calorie snack one-sheet for all your friends.
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