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Sept. 23, 2024 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:45
Boost Your Mood with Food: The Gut-Happiness Connection | Dr. Oz | S6 | Ep 163 | Full Episode
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Today on Oz, is the key to happiness in your gut?
It could be a revolution in the making.
The foods that affect your mood.
How quickly after you started this program did you see changes?
The transformation happened within a week's time.
It was astounding.
Plus, eating healthy when dining out.
How to enjoy your favorite foods, cut calories in half, and still go home full.
Coming up next on Dr. Oz.
Welcome to the show, everybody.
All right, get comfortable.
I've got a question for all of you.
It's an important question.
Where does happiness come from?
Where does it come from?
The medical community has been asking this question, and now some say the key to your mood may not be in your medicine cabinet, but rather in your kitchen cabinet.
It could be a revolution in the making, and neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter is at the forefront of this discovery.
Welcome back to the show.
You've been looking at this issue of happiness in the mind.
That's your specialty area.
Why is it you think the gut is where happiness is actually found?
Right off the bat, a brain specialist, and we're looking at the gut.
We now know that serotonin, this happy chemistry that everyone's talking about, is actually 90% manufactured in the gut.
So all these ideas of getting more serotonin in the brain now really need to focus on maintaining a healthy gut.
What was a smoking gun for you that finally allowed you to connect the gut and the serotonin to the brain?
Lots of smoking guns.
I have to say it's the literature that shows that the gut, when it becomes leaky, When things that are supposed to stay in the gut get out into the systemic circulation and lead to inflammation, so again, it's about maintaining health in the gut, maintaining the right bacteria, the good bacteria that we all talk about, those probiotics that people are talking about.
These things go a long way to improving the health of the gut, reducing the leakiness, reducing inflammation, and helping the mood.
You've been outspokenly critical of prescription drugs.
You're arguing that they're like Band-Aids for things like depression and mood disorders.
It's true.
There's a time and a place for medications.
You and I both use them aggressively when need be.
But the idea of using antidepressants all the time to treat depression is really treating the smoke and ignoring the fire.
The word inflammation comes from inflammar, the Latin meaning fire, inflame.
So it's really time that we get back again to recognizing this beautiful dance between the gut and the brain that takes place And how can we harvest that information to create a better mood and not rely on these drugs all the time?
You have a busy practice.
You have lots of success in that practice.
So I was curious what actually happens when people come see you.
So I want you to take a look at how Dr. Perlmutter helped change Nikki's depression and anxiety.
It all began about four years ago when all of a sudden the person I knew myself to be, happy, social, giving, compassionate person, just fell into sort of this dark depression.
There were days when I wouldn't leave the house.
My body felt hijacked, dizzy, brain fog, unable to read.
I've been to just about every specialist under the sun and everybody always wanted to give me antidepressants, but intuitively I knew that that wasn't the road for me.
Dr. Perlmutter offered me an approach that was completely different.
He suggested that we target the health of my gut.
So Nikki, you look really different from what I expected.
Thank you.
I feel different.
How quickly after you started this program did you see changes?
Literally, the transformation happened within a week's time.
I felt so much happier and clearer and grounded and it was astounding.
Over a six-month period of following Dr. Perlmutter's advice, I mean, it's just been mind-boggling.
What are the biggest changes you actually made to help your gut?
Ate lots of organic fruits and vegetables, really tasty dishes, prebiotic and probiotic foods, learned how to ferment my own vegetables, kimchi, sauerkraut, coconut kefir, really, really amazing tasty foods that just feed the bacteria in your gut and create such a newfound sense of wellness, and it's just amazing.
You look wonderful.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Dr. Perlmutter is going to give all of us a plan that works for your gut.
It's a daily plan.
Everyone can get on the road to happiness if we do this the right way.
The first daily step is to fill your plate with two-thirds veggies and one-third protein.
So Nikki spoke this a little bit, but I want you, if you can, you took pictures actually of what you normally eat during a week.
Show us the kinds of things you're talking about.
How do you How do you make it exactly that ratio of two-thirds, one-third?
Again, the exact ratio isn't so critical, but again, we now need to relegate the meat and the protein to being the side dish, not the main focus, not saying, you go to the restaurant and say, I'll have the chicken, I'll have the beef.
No.
That becomes almost the condiment, and you want to fill your plate With really dense vegetables, colorful vegetables, nutrient dense that are rich in fibers and actually rich in what are called prebiotic fibers, just like Nikki said, to nurture the gut bacteria and that will help the brain function properly.
So I don't see a main course of meat.
I do see lots of colorful things as you mentioned.
Come back.
I want to be very granular.
Walk us through a classic day.
Start with breakfast.
That's your breakfast?
That was actually yesterday's breakfast through modern technology.
Yes, and some nice yogurt with lots of good probiotic bacteria.
Avocados here.
And you'll notice this is all oil.
It's fat.
It's olive oil.
Pure fat.
Who knew?
All those years we were told don't eat fat.
This is kimchi.
We're going to talk about that in just a little bit.
And omelets.
Eggs.
Eggs are really a perfect food.
Rich in brain healthy nutrients.
Typical lunch?
Typical lunch.
This is some shredded beets, chicken salad.
Again, notice it's only one-third of the image.
Wonderful salad.
And again, appreciate the colors.
The colorful nature of the meal is a marker of being nutrient dense.
The first thing I really recognize is the fish in your dinner.
Yes.
And this is one of my favorites.
This is halibut.
Not that I've ever caught one, but I'd love to.
And those are capers on the halibut.
This is some fermented cabbage here.
And look at that big section of green.
Those are dandelion greens.
And we'll talk about that in just a minute.
But dandelion greens, a wonderful fiber-rich, what we call prebiotic, really amping up the ability of the bacteria in your gut to flourish.
How does this actually prime the gut for the success that you're looking for?
How does Nicky get happy from eating this kind of food?
So when the gut is unhappy, when the bacteria are not nurtured, then we have leakiness of the gut.
We have the ability of the gut to allow things to get into systemic circulation, lead to what I mentioned earlier.
The brain is not happy, and when your brain is not happy, you are not happy.
And then you have probiotics there.
We've talked about probiotics on this show a lot, but you say it's more than just the more obvious things like yogurt.
Yeah, well, so here we have lemon preserves.
These are sort of fermented lemons that are also rich in probiotics.
We have cultured sour cream.
Many people are using sour cream.
Look for the term cultured.
This is kefir, which is actually a beverage and traditionally made as a dairy product.
But in this case, it's made from coconut, coconut juice.
So it's a wonderful beverage.
Again, it's loaded with probiotics, really amping your probiotics.
And then kimchi, which has really become one of my favorite foods.
You know kimchi.
Yeah, there's half the dishes here.
Kimchi's very spicy.
It really picks you up, but it's just packed with probiotic bacteria.
Let's go to a surprise that the audience isn't expecting.
Close the refrigerator.
Yeah, this is going to make everyone happy.
A daily treat.
It's a prescription, not to promote it.
A daily treat of either chocolate or coffee or tea or even red wine.
Why are these foods that we like to enjoy life with so important for our gut?
A couple of good reasons.
So these are foods that are rich in polyphenols.
What are polyphenols?
These are wonderful, natural antioxidants to reduce inflammation and reduce what are called free radicals.
And also, polyphenols found in these foods are going to nurture, as I mentioned, the gut bacteria, creating the health of the gut bacteria to get more serotonin, reduce inflammation, and really pave the way for a better mood.
At least we can celebrate together.
Thank you for being here.
Wonderful work in your clinic.
Thank you so much.
For more gut essential foods to make you happy, especially happy, you can check out Dr. Perlmutter's new book, The Brain Maker.
And to find a daily happy gut plan, you go to dros.com.
We'll be right back.
Thank you, Dr. Perlmutter.
Thank you so much.
What's your go-to brain food?
I love olive oil.
It pops up almost every dish that I make and it's super healthy.
It's probably in my head, but I feel smarter every time I have it with lunch or dinner.
Share yours on Facebook.com slash DrOz.
Next, finding it hard to stick with your diet when you're eating at restaurants?
This Hungry Girl's got tips and tricks to keep you on track when dining out.
Slim down with her tasty swaps without starving yourself.
The Survival Guide to Eating Healthy When Dining Out, coming up next.
Tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Junk drawers, cluttered closets, messy medicine cabinets.
This mask can cause you stress by blood pressure, weight gain, anxiety.
Get ready to clean up, declutter your house, and de-stress your body.
Here's the simplest tip you can do to declutter your closet.
Plus, how Al Roker finally figured out how to control his weight.
Why he's never going back to fat.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Coming up on Monday, supermodel Christy Brinkley.
Looking better than ever at 61. Yeah, 61!
Well, how do you stay on the top of your game in the 60s?
Christy reveals her best diet, beauty, and anti-aging secrets.
Where'd you hear about it?
Well, actually, I heard it from your show.
And how she copes with stress, living life in the public eye.
That's coming up on Monday. - Hungry Girl, Lisa Lillian is here with her survival guide to eating healthy while dining out.
Now, all this time, I've been telling folks to eat at home because they actually control what they're eating.
Why are you encouraging them to eat out?
Well, I mean, I have ten cookbooks, so I like when they eat at home, but we're human, and reality is we're gonna go out to eat, and people don't want to feel like they can't, and they want to just be able to survive and have fun and not, you know, do too poorly in the calorie department.
So today, Lisa's got her tips and tricks to keep you on track while eating out, and I've invited a few busy moms who are already on the go, ready to taste Lisa's healthy swap.
Daisy, you ready?
I want you to be harshly critical of these choices we make.
Now, first up is Chinese food.
Lisa, you say that actually we ought to order an appetizer with the main course.
That seems pretty decadent.
Yeah, well, in general, I love starting meals off with appetizers.
You just have to choose the right ones.
It's gonna start you off, get you eating a little bit so your body will start to digest it.
You'll end up taking in fewer calories overall throughout the meal.
All right, let's start us up.
Sylvia, what do you like to order when you go to a Chinese restaurant?
Okay, I'm gonna admit it.
My kids and I love fried dumplings.
Ooh, confession.
And shrimp lo mein.
Those are our favorites.
Okay, I know.
This is sabotaging most of what you're trying to do.
So Lisa, what do you recommend if, like Sylvia, you want to go on with the family?
Please try out what she can recommend.
Yeah.
Okay, you want to reveal?
Okay, instead of the fried dumplings, go with the steamed dumplings because you will not notice the difference.
And then there's some steamed shrimp and vegetables, a huge portion, and some brown rice.
And get a little brown sauce on the side.
This meal is a ton of food and so satisfying.
Damn.
This brown sauce, is this a good or a bad thing to add on?
You mentioned you can touch it, but this is not very much for me.
Well, soy sauce has sodium, but soy sauce is a good option because it's lower in calories.
A lot of the brown, thick sauces at the Chinese restaurants are loaded with oil, and certainly the lo mein is really loaded with oil, so a little bit of soy on the side is definitely your best option.
So Sylvia, please grade.
It's delicious.
I'd swap it out, yeah.
Absolutely.
Is there a comment about the dumplings accurate?
It's great.
I think my children would like it, too.
All right.
Let's see how these wheels stack up against each other.
Just to give you some honest numbers.
Again, I'm not surprised by this first number.
Sylvia's very tasty-looking Chinese food plate, unfortunately, has 1,030 calories, whereas Hungry Girl's Chinese food plate has only 658 calories.
You actually saved more than half the fat that Lisa swapped.
Okay, you know, you saved almost half the fat, by the way, which is part of the difference.
Next up, let's talk about Italian.
Lisa, one of your new rules is that you have to actually look before you go.
You gotta know before you go out.
Yes.
I mean, I am obsessed with Googling everything.
Now, chain restaurants will give you the exact calorie counts.
So there's no excuse when you're going out to eat to not knowing what you're getting into.
And then even smaller, like, mom-and-pop restaurants, you can see the menus online so you can know.
Make your decisions beforehand.
Make your smart choices when you have the time to put into it and not when you're sitting there, you know, feeling the pressure with your friends.
So, Malika, let's say you have not done what Lizzie recommended.
You have not checked ahead of time.
You don't know.
What do you grab when you go to an Italian restaurant?
Dogs are us?
Oh my God.
My family and I, like, we love our chicken parm with a little spaghetti on the side.
Chicken parm with spaghetti?
Mm-hmm.
It does look pretty good, guys.
It looks good.
What do you think, Lisa?
Can you do something with this?
Yeah, actually, my swap, it tastes the same exact way.
And so instead of using the chicken parm, you go for the grilled chicken.
But you have the marinara with a little bit of parm and a small side of whole wheat pasta.
And I'm telling you, it is the perfect swap.
You have a little bit more pasta sauce here.
That's okay?
Yeah, the marinara sauce, typically, I mean, you should make sure it's not loaded down with oil.
You know, when you're at a restaurant, you can make your decisions.
Most of the time, tomato sauce, marinara sauce, is a decent option.
If you see it bogged down with oil, have a little less.
Malika, what do you think?
Is it satisfying for you?
Forever.
I'll keep having it on and on and on.
I love when the head goes like this sideways in disbelief, but it's good news.
I didn't know what was gonna come out.
Let's see how they stack up Malika's Italian plate is, listen carefully, 1,980 calories.
Hungry Girl's Italian plate, 408 calories.
Let me say it differently.
You can get four of these modified meals and still consume fewer calories than this original Pur Malaika's meal over there, which would not do too well for you.
So four of these, for one of these, I think it's a pretty good trade-off.
Finally, let's deal with Mexican issues.
You say, don't give in to ordering peer pressure.
Yeah, I mean, once you've looked at the menu online and you've made your smart decision, go with what you know.
And don't sit and look at the person next to you and say, yeah, that sounds good, so I'll have whatever, some gigantic burrito bonanza.
Stick with what you thought about.
All right, Melissa, take it away.
What do you normally get your family when you order a Mexican?
We usually get tacos and refried beans and rice.
And my kids know that if it's Tuesday, it's Taco Tuesday.
That's how much we have.
I've got to say, of all the options, this seems like it might be the most acceptable to you.
How can you beat it?
Well, I certainly can beat it.
Check it out.
Now that is what I like to call a burrito bowl.
The biggest, one of the biggest problems in Mexican restaurants is that the shells and the tortillas are huge.
So typically a tortilla with a burrito that you're served has about three or 350 calories alone.
So this is just the inside of the burrito.
This is 350 calories, these burritos?
Well, these are taco shells, so they're a little bit less, but these are oily, and usually there's three of those, and those could have 120 to 150 calories each just for the shells.
So you have three of those, that adds up.
But this is like the inside of a burrito, so it's like a big, giant Mexican salad, and you get all the flavors you want.
So you have your chopped tomatoes and onions and cilantro and beans and chicken, and throw a couple of tablespoons of guac, and you're good to go.
So stop the presses here.
This one really surprised me.
Melissa's very innocent-looking choice, 1,471 calories.
Wow.
The Hungry Girl's Mexican Plate, 393 calories.
Very well done, as always.
Be sure to check out Lisa's new book.
It's called The Hungry Girl Diet Cookbook.
Absolutely superbly done, as all of her books.
And for more of Lisa's secrets to eating healthy while dining out, you can go to DrOz.com.
I'll be right back.
How do you fill your cart with healthy Oz approved foods?
I circle around the outside.
In our store, that's where all the natural foods are.
And I make sure my children have a snack beforehand.
Reduces the craving for junk food.
Share your tips on Dr. Oz's Facebook page.
Coming up next, nail biting, overeating, drinking, and smoking.
It's never too late to reverse a bad habit.
Strengthen your willpower with easy solutions to kick your vices to the curb.
The plan to help anyone quit their worst health habits.
Coming up next.
Tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Junk drawers, cluttered closets, messy medicine cabinets.
This mask can cause you stress by blood pressure, weight gain, anxiety.
Get ready to clean up, declutter your house and de-stress your body.
Here's the simplest tip you can do to declutter your closet.
Plus, how Al Roker finally figured out how to control his weight.
Why he's never going back to fat.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
From nail biting to overeating, drinking, even smoking, psychologist Dr. Kelly McGonigal says it's never too late to reverse a bad behavior.
Today, the best-selling author is here to help you quit your worst health habit.
So what is the biggest mistake folks make when they try to break those habits that they really don't like?
I think the biggest mistake people make is they focus only on what they're saying no to.
And it's really important to know what are you saying yes to?
Why does this matter?
Why do you want to make the change?
I call that finding your want power.
Your want power.
All right.
So Dr. McGonagall has a plan to help anyone quit their worst health habit by strengthening their willpower.
Is that true?
Yes.
Everyone's gonna benefit.
Everyone can benefit, no matter what your bad habit is.
All right.
Caitlin's here.
She used to have some of these ideas and she actually put them to use in her life.
She's kept her hands perfectly manicured for four years after having a lifelong problem with biting your nails.
Is that right?
That is correct.
I think I was born doing it.
So you started young, and which of the ideas sort of resonated for you?
How long did it take to quit, and has it really been as easy as Dr. McGonagall's painting it?
Oh, definitely.
It's definitely easy once you decide the want power.
I love that word because you've got to want to not be embarrassed anymore.
You've got to want to stop feeling like you've got to hide your nails from yourself and from everybody.
You just want to Instead of saying, no, I can't buy my nails anymore, I want to feel really good about myself and I want to treat myself to manicures and take care of my hands that I do so many things in life with.
Alright, let's get to the plan.
Let's walk over.
So the first idea of the plan is we have to actually fill up our tank of willpower.
Come next to me.
I want to see what you did in your own life as well.
Dr. McGonagall, what do you mean by that concept of filling up the tank?
Well, it actually takes physical energy to change a habit or resist temptation and most of us are running around on empty.
So it's really important to give yourself energy.
And in fact, when your blood sugar is low or it's erratic, it's much harder to resist temptation.
That's one of the reasons why when you're sleep-deprived or you drink alcohol, it can actually lower your self-control.
It's all about the blood sugar.
And which of the foods you actually want to use?
Which ones fill the tank up the best?
I think really good choices are whole fruits like these, half a banana, a handful of raisins or grapes, foods that are going to give you a boost of blood sugar, but not the kind of foods like processed sweets, soda, junk food that will give you quick energy but then lead to a blood sugar collapse that's going to make temptation harder to resist.
When is the best time to include these in your diet?
Pretty much whenever you're feeling like you're starting to be in that place where you feel the urge, you know, whatever it is, to have a cigarette or to bite your nails, when you start to feel your energy collapsing, it's really important to think, okay, I need to fuel myself now.
I need to take care of myself.
So, Kayla, which food did you use to fill your tank up?
All of these, I eat an enormous amount of all these.
I eat a plant-based diet, so I'm constantly munching on things like bananas.
Sometimes I'll have three or four in a day.
And I teach spinning classes, so I eat raisins.
And in the morning, I'll have applesauce with oatmeal.
Grapes are amazing, especially when frozen.
And I really just like to eat whenever.
I actually do have some natural blood sugar issues that I've just got to keep fueled.
So about every two or three hours, I'll chow down as needed.
It's a big idea.
Fill the tank.
Come on over here.
We're going to delay temptation, which ideally you'd all do, but it's harder to do it sometimes.
Yeah, you know, it turns out that temptation has a very narrow time window in order to hijack your brain and override your goals.
So if you can delay even for just a couple of minutes, just pause.
Even if you tell yourself you're going to give in eventually, that pause can actually calm down a craving in the brain.
And you might find that you no longer actually really feel that urge anymore.
So Caitlin, what did you do to delay that temptation?
Ate some really good food.
I really, really love fruit and stuff.
So that really helped.
And I treated myself to manicures.
I just let myself kind of relax and that actually lowered my stress level and let me stop thinking about it.
And then when you have some nice nails, finally, it took me over 20 years.
They are nice nails.
And they're real too.
Isn't that amazing?
No more acrylics for me.
So, and it's just rewarding, you know, and so it really kind of helps.
But if you have nice nails, then what do you do?
You just paint them all the time so you don't mess them up again?
I do keep them painted.
And you have these great barriers, too, that are literally going to delay your ability to bite your nails.
I mean, if you've got these gloves on, it's going to take a moment before you're actually able to give in to that urge.
And what are these?
The clip-on nails?
So, yeah, these are the ones that you can literally just stick on.
So it's just as easy as just...
Here, show me how to do this.
You did it right!
You did it right!
Yeah, look how good it looked!
They look so good!
I get one for my pinky as well.
Yeah, you stick them right on there.
Why do you use these instead of the acrylics?
So, well, what I usually do, I mean, you can use these.
These are actually quite inexpensive.
I go to the salon and get the gel, but these are a great stand-in if you just can't get to the salon because it covers up your real nails.
And for people like me, you don't like the texture of the real nails.
You see the imperfections around the edges.
You can cover that up and put a shield on it.
You're not so much bothered by the imperfections of your nails, so.
I suspect that stress still is a big part of your life.
Yes.
How would that correlate with your chewing on your nails for all those years?
Oh, goodness.
I'm a perfectionist.
I run two online businesses, and I had straight A's in school, and so I was under a lot of pressure that I put on myself.
And so, gosh, just all that pressure just made me want to just mess with everything and the stress levels and stuff.
And I didn't know I had a blood sugar problem until last year, and so I'm sure that played into it as well.
So I want you all to pay attention.
What you just said was so brilliant, right?
You have good insights, you have little tricks, little tactics, but at his very core, I think the most profound thing Dr. McConnell is going to share with us today is that you have to say yes to stress.
That sounds really counterintuitive, right?
Because stress causes a problem to begin with.
Why do we have to say yes to stress?
Yeah, I mean, almost every bad health habit, biting your nails, indulging in sweets, smoking a cigarette, At its core, it's a response to try to avoid or escape stress.
And if you want to transform those habits, you really need to transform your relationship to stress so that you no longer feel this urge to escape, avoid, or suppress it.
And so what I always encourage people to do now is to think, okay, stress is actually, it can be a good thing.
It's a signal from my body and my brain that I care about something.
When your heart is pounding, it's giving you energy.
Even your own anxiety can become motivation, like rocket fuel.
And so when you feel that stress, rather than think immediately, how can I get rid of it, suppress it, drink it away, or bite my nails until I feel better, you can actually use that stress as a signal to do something positive towards your goals, even reconnect back to that idea of want power, and to think that your stress could be a fuel for your want power.
I love that insight.
By the way, does this come in other colors?
Yeah.
Yes, they come in many colors.
Kelly, thank you very much for sharing your ideas.
Dr. McConaughey's wonderful insights.
You can read an excerpt of Dr. McConaughey's new book, The Upside of Stress.
You can visit DrOz.com for that.
that.
I'll be right back.
What bad habit do you want to break?
Don't worry, you can tell Dr. Oz.
I really want to stop smoking.
I've been addicted since I was in college and it's time to quit.
My goal is to be tobacco free in the next few months.
Share yours on Facebook.com slash Dr. Oz.
Coming up next, are you getting all the good fat that your body needs?
Are all saturated fats really good for you?
We're trimming it all down.
Getting to the truth about the fats we eat.
What you need to know to have a heart healthy diet.
Coming up next.
Tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Junk drawers, cluttered closets, messy medicine cabinets.
This mask can cause you stress by blood pressure, weight gain, anxiety.
Get ready to clean up, declutter your house, and de-stress your body.
Here's the simplest tip you can do to declutter your closet.
Plus, how Al Roker finally figured out how to control his weight.
Why he's never going back to fat.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Thank you.
Today I'm going to do a little trimming and get to the bare bone truth with a special fact or fiction, fat edition.
And you all get to play.
You already do this?
Put your thinking caps on, shout your answers out.
First, is it true or not?
Saturated fat is good for you.
Fact or fiction?
You yelled fact.
Why do you believe it's a fact?
Well, now I'm kind of second guessing that.
Because there's so many different opinions out there.
I guess some are good or some are bad.
Yeah, there's been a lot of pressure.
Someone, who said fiction?
I saw one.
Here, how are you?
Why do you think that's fiction?
Because you always see on things that you're gonna buy that it advertises that it's low in saturated fat, so you would think that you would want to buy that, so saturated fat must be bad for you.
Very good answer.
The answer is fiction.
Nicely done.
That is not true.
Saturated fat is not good for your health.
This can be confusing, especially if you look at the latest headlines in the media.
I'll give you a couple examples.
These are all real headlines.
But you want to limit your saturated fat for a heart-healthy diet.
Remember, the saturated fats are found in dairy, cheese and whole milk.
Meats have saturated fat, especially red meat and pork has it, and beef, of course.
So where's Kayla in the audience?
Hey Kayla, how are you?
I'm good, how are you?
I'm told you're really good at this game.
Is that true?
We hope so.
Alright, here's the deal.
How much meat do you normally eat?
How much cheese do you normally eat?
I love cheese.
And I could eat my macaroni and cheese every day if I could.
And I eat meat with every meal because I thought it was a good source of protein.
Well, that's why these headlines are sort of frustrating to me.
You actually do have to limit how much of the saturated fat you have in your diet.
I just want you to remember that.
I'm not going to pull it all the way out.
You just got to cut back in general in America because we eat too much of the saturated fats.
All right, now, this next question, though, is really important.
And this is a part of our fact and fiction riddle.
Are you ready?
Okay.
All fats and oils should be used sparingly.
Correct.
You think that's true?
What do you guys all think?
We all think it's fact.
How are you?
What's your name?
Brooke.
Brooke.
What did you say?
Fact or fiction?
I said fact.
Because oils...
Like everybody else, I noticed.
Yes.
Oils are high in fat.
And like everything, you don't want too much of one thing because it's unhealthy for you.
Very well stated.
So, it's not that you can't have any, but you've got to have the right amount.
And ironically, we've been saying something about oils, which is not true.
Because it's actually fiction.
Oh.
That's the strangest of mind, doesn't it, here?
We all thought that was fact.
The fact is, we actually don't want a lot of saturated fat, but we want the healthy fats in our diet.
This is the big shift that's happening all over.
You want good fats in your diet.
We want the unsaturated ones.
These are monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats.
Have you heard those phrases before?
Yes.
You guys almost always get these questions right, but today I get to surprise you a little bit.
The good fats, these are mostly plant-based oils.
They come from canola and corn, sesame, soybean, buttery spreads made with plant-based oils.
These actually are pretty reasonable to get into your diet.
Nuts and seeds are another source.
I talk about them all the time.
One of the reasons I love these is because they have these healthy oils.
So almonds and walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, avocados, which I adore.
And fish, which you know I'm a fan of, is also a great source of these healthy fats.
So you want to replace these saturated fats, the ones you talked about from the cheeses and the meats and all, with unsaturated fats.
When you do that, you can lower your bad cholesterol, and that actually may help reduce your risk of heart disease.
All right, now you're warmed up.
I pulled the rug out from you.
Are you ready for one more?
Yes.
All right.
The average American isn't getting all of the good fat they need.
They all said fact.
That is absolutely a fact.
And this one's true.
They've worked all these ways to get good fats.
Many of us still aren't getting enough.
So how do you get more good fat into your diet?
I've turned to our audience.
Deborah Yolanda here.
How are you?
Good.
Thank you.
They've worked out really smart ways of including healthy fats into their diets.
So why don't you start us off?
How do you do it?
I actually include peanuts and all different types of nuts in my salads.
I also use it in the base of my quiches and I also use it like you have here as the breading for my chicken.
My partner is a diabetic and we use it for high protein, low carbs and we absolutely love it.
I love the nuts too and I love crusting things with it.
It's a good idea.
Yolanda, how do you do it?
Dr. Oz, I love avocados.
So what I do, I put them on my salads, I put them on my sandwiches.
But recently I found that if you, after we get in bored with the brothier soups, after you mash the avocados up and put it in the brothier soup, it gives you the creamy-like consistency without the bad fats.
With less fats.
Yeah, it doesn't have to taste the same as what your normal soup tastes like, but it tastes good also.
I love the idea.
Thank you very much.
Let me all give you one more idea.
Another way to get more plant-based oils into your diet is a buttery spread.
Buttery spreads can be used for cooking, for baking, and of course for spreading.
So whisk some into your eggs when you scramble them for fluffy eggs in this fashion.
You can stir them into your oatmeal for added flavor and richness.
And here's a little insight.
You can mix some cinnamon and honey And then mix it into the spread.
So let's spread some on your toast.
Now, what I love about this is it's a smart way of getting those healthy fats that we want in.
And remember, when you're gonna use buttery spreads, you're gonna choose a buttery spread that has zero to two grams saturated fat per serving, should have no trans fats at all, zero grams, no partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, and no artificial preservatives.
Now, now that you got the rules, if you don't like the taste, you're not gonna eat what I'm saying to eat.
So come on over here.
Both of you don't mind me.
Yolanda, come over.
Now, let's see if you like the taste.
Go ahead, give it a shot.
I just want a very quick description of how you feel about the taste.
Buttery.
Buttery.
Very creamy.
Creamy.
Would you eat it?
A little sweet.
It is sweet.
Very good.
In fact, the losing spreads in this fashion gives you a lot more opportunities.
So let me give you guys a little present.
Thanks to our trusted sponsorship partner, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.
Beginning tomorrow at 3 p.m.
Eastern Time, you can go to dros.com to be one of the first to receive a coupon for a tub of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.
It meets the above criteria.
It's made from real simple ingredients and contains zero grams of trans fat and no partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.
Audience, you guys are so good at this game.
You all deserve a present to us.
You're all going home with a tall business as well.
Enjoy it.
We'll be right back.
Next, are you a picky eater?
Does your family shy away from new foods that are good for them?
We're about to change that.
A mystery food full of iron, calcium, and low on carbohydrates.
Try these tasty recipes to cook it, and you'll be a convert in no time.
Next.
Tomorrow on Dr. Oz's.
Junk drawers, cluttered closets, messy medicine cabinets.
This mask can cause you stress by blood pressure, weight gain, anxiety.
Get ready to clean up, declutter your house, and de-stress your body.
Here's the simplest tip you can do to declutter your closet.
Plus, how Al Roker finally figured out how to control his weight.
Why he's never going back to fat.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Coming up on Monday...
Supermodel Christy Brinkley.
Looking better than ever at 61. Yeah!
61!
Well, how do you stay on the top of your game in the 60s?
Christy reveals her best diet, beauty, and anti-aging secrets.
Where'd you hear about it?
Well, actually, I heard it from your show.
And how she copes with stress, living life in the public eye.
That's coming up on Monday.
So when it comes to trying new foods, we've got some picky eaters on our hands to 60% of my viewers say they completely avoid trying new foods.
So I'm just curious, what is it about new foods that petrifies you?
Who wants to talk about this?
What foods you guys scared about?
Let's start with you.
Sushi.
You don't like sushi?
Hate it.
Why not?
Scares me.
Raw fish?
Ugh.
Your jaw's dropping.
You love sushi?
I love sushi.
I think it's delicious.
She's missing out.
Yes.
You see that?
Oh, gross.
Doesn't matter.
What are you worried about?
Oh, I don't like sushi either.
Also sushi.
Poor sushi.
Any other crazy food?
Shut them out.
Things you guys are worried about trying.
Olives?
How about you?
What's bothering you?
Oh, Dr. Oz.
You came to the right person.
Fish eyes.
Fish eyes?
Yes, sir.
Yeah.
I heard you love them.
I actually adore them.
I grew up eating them.
My parents would eat them.
And I love the taste.
I love the gooeyness in my mouth.
It's a crazy sense of desire I have for fish eyes.
But what is it about them you don't like?
Well, as a child, my mother would make a whole fish.
And I love fish.
But in front of me, my sister, she will sit there and suck out the eyes with that slurpy sound and say, what?
It's full of vitamins.
It's good for you.
I said, not for me.
What's your first name?
Murray.
Come join me, Murray.
All right, we're going to do a little game here.
The audience at home is going to know the answer, but my audience here will not.
There's a healthy ingredient that a lot of you are afraid of, and it's inside this box stand right there, right?
And here's the deal.
I'm going to ask you to try to figure out what this is.
It happens to be pretty good for you, and I'm going to share confidentially that I don't like it that much either.
But together, we're going to get through this.
Are you ready?
Everyone at home, look at the bottom of your screen right now.
I'm going to put the ingredient there so you'll know what we're talking about.
But don't yell out.
I guess you guys can't hear them anyway at home.
Are you ready?
Clue number one.
Clue number one is it's rich in iron and low in carbs.
Think about these.
I'll give you all three clues.
Clue number two, normally it's sort of an off-whitish color.
And clue number three, it's a great source of protein.
Any guesses?
No.
At first I thought it was some type of like a beef, but then when you said it was off-white.
That's a little weird.
Any thoughts in the audience?
A lot of different things.
You know what?
I tell you what.
Go ahead.
Don't look in there.
Put your hand in here.
Put your hand in there.
And just feel that.
What do you think that is?
Describe it.
It's cold.
Yes?
It's square.
It feels like a sponge.
A sponge.
Does it feel white?
Is it goopy?
Is it gluey?
Is it syrupy?
It's a bit slimy.
Slimy?
And it's wet.
Like eyeballs?
No.
Any guesses now?
Could be tofu.
Tofu?
You guys think it's tofu?
Yes!
And it is...
Ta-da!
Tofu.
Have you ever had tofu?
In a soup, I believe.
They sneak it in there sometimes.
Yes.
Be so soup and the like.
And what do you think of the taste?
It tastes like nothing.
Nothing.
I love flavor.
That's a definite, but...
You know what?
We're going to change everyone's mind about tofu, because I, as I mentioned, don't like it that much either, and I know I'm not alone.
So, in the hopes of making everyone a tofu convert, I've asked Chopped winner, an author, and he's also the owner of Veg, which is a fabulous restaurant I go to in Philadelphia all the time, Rich Landau, to prepare some of his most popular tofu recipes for us.
So, don't just describe what you made.
Describe why it makes tofu taste like something everyone ought to try.
Well, the thing about tofu is that, you know, you saw in that box, this is a white block of nothingness.
It looks manufactured.
You never see that in a garden anywhere, right?
You want to just pick it off a vine.
But what it is, it's a very natural product.
It's a soybean curd.
They make it just the way you would make cheese.
Great thing about tofu is that that white block I see is a canvas.
You can do anything with it.
For beginners, crush it up with your hands.
Really get in there.
Crush it up.
Add some seasonings to it.
You said you like seasonings.
You like flavor.
These are scrambled tofu tacos.
Great breakfast.
Refried beans.
Spicy salsa.
I could eat that every day of my life.
You see, this is how you trick kids.
That does not look like tofu.
It's not tricking you.
It's tricking me.
It looks like ground chicken.
I think it looks fantastic.
It makes a great substitute for eyeballs as well, which is really nice.
Eyeball alternative.
Exactly.
And what's here?
So now, if you want to take that Mexican theme to the next step, this is a tortilla crusted tofu.
This is like a nice lunch or dinner entree here.
We got a tortilla tomato sauce underneath.
We seared it in Mexican spices.
So it's got a lot of great flavor.
The trick is with tofu, you've got to change the texture.
It's not just the flavor.
People don't like that kind of egginess inside, that kind of gooeyness inside.
You've got to change the texture.
By doing that, you've got to get some high heat into it.
And what that does is it tightens up the texture and makes it a little bit more creamy and dense, and it just eats beautifully, like a real nice piece of protein.
So that looks almost like fish to me.
And this...
Here's the next step.
This is a grilled tofu steak.
The idea here is that you deep marinate it.
Tofu takes so well to marinating.
And then you put on a char grill, high heat, you get a nice sticky sweet Asian glaze on here, a little bit of rice, and it's just great.
It changes the texture and that's what it's all about.
I gotta say, this is fantastic.
You know what?
Try this, because this thing is kick-ass.
Try the tacos there.
What we're going to do is put all these recipes on DrOz.com if it's okay.
Absolutely.
Take a good time, play with the stuff, make what you want.
All these hopeful recipes will change the way you think about something that you always thought was...
Sound bad, huh?
Yeah.
That was fantastic.
We should have had to start there working with you.
Yeah.
I love the metaphor.
Think of it as a white canvas for everybody and paint whatever you want on there.
We'll be right back. - What's your favorite Oz approved super food?
After seeing a recent show, I tried quinoa.
It's delicious.
I used to have fries as a side dish, even though I knew it was unhealthy.
Quinoa, just as delicious and incredibly healthy.
Share yours on Facebook.com slash Dr. Oz.
Tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Junk Drawers.
Decluttered closets, messy medicine cabinets.
This mask can cause you stress by blood pressure, weight gain, anxiety.
Get ready to clean up, declutter your house, and de-stress your body.
Here's the simplest tip you can do to declutter your closet.
Plus, how Al Roker finally figured out how to control his weight.
Why he's never going back to fat.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Coming up on Monday...
Supermodel Christy Brinkley.
Looking better than ever at 61. Yeah!
61!
Well, how do you stay on the top of your game in the 60s?
Christy reveals her best diet, beauty, and anti-aging secrets.
Where'd you hear about it?
Well, actually, I heard it from your show.
And how she copes with stress, living life in the public eye.
That's coming up on Monday...
Tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Junk drawers, cluttered closets, messy medicine cabinets.
This mask can cause you stress by blood pressure, weight gain, anxiety.
Get ready to clean up, declutter your house and de-stress your body.
Here's the simplest tip you can do to declutter your closet.
Plus, how Al Roker finally figured out how to control his weight.
Why he's never going back to fat.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
This is for all you tall ladies and gentlemen.
A new reason to stop slouching.
The height's long been a link to attractiveness and higher incomes, even happiness.
But now science has found that being tall is linked to lower risk for heart disease.
The taller you are, the lower the risk.
It's a big one.
15% for every 2.5 inches of height.
But before you all panic, if you're on the petite side, there are benefits there too.
A recent study showed an older woman that if they had short stature, they had lower risks of cancer.
So either way, you might be okay.
Plus, there are lots of studies that show that short stature is highly associated with having more leg room on airplanes, which may be the biggest benefit of all.
Alright, now it's time for In Case You Missed It.
First, it's a question we've all wondered at some point.
Where does happiness come from?
Some say the key to lifting your mood may not be up here, up in your head, maybe just down here in your stomach.
Today we gave you a daily gut plan to help you improve your mood.
The plan consisted of a few easy steps which included upping your veggie intake, adding pro and prebiotics, and my personal favorite, a daily treat of dark chocolate.
But just don't go overboard, folks.
One of these small little squares like that should do it.
For the full daily happy gut plan, go to DrOz.com.
That's a habit I want you to start.
Next, we gave you a mind trick to end a bad habit.
So if you're biting your nails, or if you overeat, or if you smoke, try making the temptation invisible.
For example, if you're trying to quit biting your nails, you can cover your nails with these fake nails, or you can use gloves, or you can put a band-aid on it.
Frankly, anything you can do to make the temptation invisible will help you because it'll delay the immediate cue to participate in the behavior, ultimately making the feeling of biting your nails less rewarding.
Finally, please be careful of dubious people online to make it seem like I'm endorsing their products, because they don't.
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