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Oct. 16, 2024 - Dr. Oz Podcast
36:45
Beef Industry Exposed! Dr. Oz Uncovers Shocking Truths | Dr. Oz | S7 | Ep 100 | Full Episode
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Time Text
The beef with America's beef.
Disgusted with the excesses of that system.
See why cattle ranchers are blowing the lid off the industry.
Consumers are voting with their wallets.
What they uncover could change the way you eat beef.
Plus, do you want to beat the vote?
Of course you do.
And see the health foods doctors are begging you not to eat.
coming up next.
We'll save lives today.
day.
We are great, we get healthy.
Sometimes it takes someone with inside knowledge to blow a whistle that creates change in the world around us.
But when it comes to our food, so much is kept a mystery.
From industry secrets hidden away to false information, today that all changes.
We're joined by some of the country's biggest whistleblowers who are signing the alarm on everything from the beef industry to the diet industry.
Today on Oz, I've got two cattle ranchers who became whistleblowers and then turned their back on the corporate beef industry.
What they know about the meat that you're feeding your family.
And I've got an insider's guide on how to eat it safely.
Plus, is it really worth the money?
Find out if the grass-fed beef really makes dollars and cents and how your family can eat the good stuff while saving money in the process.
And if your takeout and your frozen dinners are leaving you cold, then restaurant insider Rocco Despirito is here to the rescue.
He's giving you a better dinner option and foods, all of them, under 50 calories.
But first, in an effort to satisfy America's need for beef, the beef industry has adapted production procedures that some insiders say are hurting your health.
To investigate, I've asked food journalist Mark Shasker to take a trip down south to meet a whistleblower challenging the status quo.
Beef.
Americans adore it.
Last year, each of us ate about 67 pounds of it.
But critics charge there's a lot wrong with the beef we love.
Most beef cattle are given hormones and antibiotics, and some say even the corn we feed them is making the meat unhealthy.
So I wanted to find out, is there such a thing as better beef?
My journey started in Texas, the state that produces more beef cattle than any other.
I met rancher Patty Jacobs.
She told me how raising cattle has changed over the years.
It used to be that we raised cattle like this in the pasture and when they got to a certain age they were taken to market to be slaughtered.
But that's all changed in the last 60 years or so.
What happened?
Well, we started subsidizing corn and grains and they became very cheap and it became extremely economical to put weight on fast on cattle in the feedlots.
The USDA grading system, Select, Choice and Prime, pays more money for more fat.
Farmers responded by producing fatty beef for the lowest possible price.
What it's done is it's developed a product that people have acquired a taste for, which is really fatty meat.
But some experts and farmers believe all that grain-fed fatty beef is coming at a big cost.
I traveled to southwest Georgia to white oak pastures to meet one of them, Will Harris.
Will Harris is a whistleblower, but he blew the whistle on himself.
We raised cattle under the industrial commodity centralized system for many years on this farm.
I became increasingly disgusted with the excesses of that system.
And what was happening to the cattle?
Were they getting sick?
Oh yeah, we used antibiotics routinely.
To stop them from dying?
To stop them from dying, to make them grow faster, to keep them from getting sick.
These days, Will's grass-fed, antibiotic-free, super athletic cattle almost never get sick.
He took me for a ride in his Jeep so we could see them up close.
Will, when you switched from industrial farming to grass farming, did you get any pushback?
No, not really.
I weigh 240 pounds and I come from a culture that doesn't tolerate undue criticism.
So it hasn't been an issue for me.
Will, I'm no cow, but these cows look pretty happy to me.
You know, my job is to create an environment here where this is the best place in the world to be a cow.
And this is?
Cattle Rancher Will Harris is here along with food journalist Mark Shaskier.
So why was it so important for you to take your ranch back to the old-fashioned way of raising beef?
My father's generation of cattlemen commencing right after World War II is the generation that changed, made sweeping revolutionary changes to the cattle industry, the beef industry.
They centralized, commoditized, and industrialized beef production, and they did it for very noble purposes.
But there were unintended consequences.
And the unintended consequences fell on the backs of the welfare of the animals.
I was disenchanted and later disgusted with the excesses.
Of that system.
And by excesses, I mean confinement feeding of unnatural foodstuffs, use of performance-enhancing drugs like hormone implants and super therapeutic antibiotics.
And I just wanted to change that, and I did.
Well, good for you for doing that.
And thank you for being here to talk about it very honestly.
Thank you for having me.
Mark, let me ask you.
I'm going to come back to Will.
What is the difference between how Will raises his cattle right now and how cattle is conventionally raised in the beef industry?
Yeah, because most people see that farm and they think, well, don't all cattle come from farms like that?
You drive down the highway in the countryside and you see cattle outside, and that's where it starts.
Cattle are still born on farms, you know, in many ways just like Will's, but then we send them to feedlots.
It's a big, fenced-off area, absolutely packed with cattle.
Some of them can have more than a hundred thousand head of cattle, and we feed them tons and tons of corn.
We feed them so much corn that it's actually toxic to them.
That's why we give them antibiotics.
Most people think you take antibiotics for, you know, if you have pneumonia or something.
For cattle, these, Will said it himself, sub-therapeutic.
That means the cattle are Eating the antibiotics so that the food we give them doesn't kill them.
Let me bring this alive, if I can, for everybody.
I want you all to understand what Will and Mark have been saying to us.
A cow is born, right?
And they're all sort of born in the same way.
But when you're doing it with the regular beef industry approach, you actually inject these cows.
You can actually implant them, frankly, with growth hormones.
They have it there the whole time.
Then the cow starts eating the grass and starts to grow, and then more hormones can be implanted.
And next, when the cow gets larger, you actually put it into that feedlot that Mark spoke about where it eats corn, not grass.
And it eats a lot of it.
And that corn, by the way, they're antibiotics.
Small amounts always there to help the cow grow.
And it also gets more hormone in plants.
And then things called beta agonists, which help the animal get bigger.
That's the performance enhancing drug that Will was speaking about.
That's the normal way we are growing beef in America.
Let's take a look at the grass-fed farmers' approach.
Once again, cows born.
But this cow doesn't get any of the growth hormone in plants through its lifetime.
It gets to eat grass, and it only eats grass, but there are no preventive antibiotics in that food.
It's never fed any corn or other grains.
It's not part of the culture.
The diet consists of grass for their entire lives.
Now, I want you to notice, it's not quite as large.
That's a big deal.
Not quite as large.
Now Mark, how do we end up going from this, which is what Will's great-grandfather did, to this, which is what Will's grandfather's father and Will spent most of his career And how big a problem is that change?
Well, it all started around World War II. Prior to World War II, about 1 in 20 cattle would eat grain of some kind, and they didn't eat much.
After World War II... 1 in 20. So basically, you know, 1 red out of 20 cows up there is...
Exactly.
So not many.
It was primarily cattle on grass back then, on the farm, just like we think of them.
After World War II, remember how we talk in the video about the USDA grading system pays more money for more fat?
Well, industry isn't stupid.
They said, you want fat?
Well, we'll give you fat.
And they started getting cattle fat the cheapest way possible, feeding them lots of corn.
Then they found, well, the corn makes them a bit sick.
Sometimes it kills them.
Let's give them the antibiotics.
It's gotten to the point where over 90% of the cattle we eat are from that conventional system.
So they're almost all red.
Exactly, yeah.
And only one little one left up there in the corner is the grass-fed type that Will's starting to grow now.
So how likely is it that the beef industry is going to listen to Will and other brave farmers who are bucking the system?
Well, initially, it didn't seem likely at all.
But, you know, it's really interesting.
If you look at grass-fed beef, it's followed the path of organic.
Then they started to criticize it.
And they said, oh, all these health claims and sustainability, that's not really true.
Well, now what we're seeing is they're actually getting on board.
The world's largest meatpacker.
has started its own grass-fed beef program because consumers are voting with their wallets, and that's the best way to make change.
But the other thing is it comes down to farmers like Will.
Because let's not forget, when he started doing this, no one was talking about grass-fed beef.
The reason he did it is because he felt the system was wrong.
He wanted to treat his cattle better, and he wanted his family to eat better quality meat.
And farmers all over the country are making that same decision themselves.
I think we should be supporting you.
A lot of families would support you, but they're worried about the price difference.
Do you think that this price difference, the fact that it's more expensive to buy the kind of beef that you raise is going to continue?
Why is there a difference?
When you, when a farmer or cattleman ceases to use those tools, they add the cost back to production.
In many ways, you know, the cattle don't get as big.
Yeah, we showed that.
They don't gain weight as quickly.
It takes more labor to see after them.
It takes more land because they roam all their lives and graze as opposed to being confined and fed.
Those costs have to be covered, and the only place it will be covered is by consumers paying more for it.
Remember, the system was designed To make beef cheap and abundant.
Cheap and abundant.
So, earlier it was said that the best way to bring about this change is by the consumer voting with their wallet.
I would submit to you that the only way the change will occur is by the consumer voting when they purchase beef.
Which is why this program, today's show, is so important.
So here's gonna be a question.
How big of an impact will grass-fed beef have on your health?
Because it's going to cost you some more.
Up next, the results you need to know next time you spend money at the grocery store.
Stay with us.
Coming up next, is grass-fed beef really that much healthier than grain-fed beef?
And should you pay more for it?
When you compare grass-fed to the conventional, there's a big difference.
We take a look at three key factors to help you decide if it's right for you.
Coming up next.
There were many days that I really didn't want to live anymore.
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Yolanda Foster speaks out about her fight against an invisible disease.
Somebody must have a cure.
Her desperate search for answers.
You went to 11 countries.
Visited with more than 100 doctors.
And her response to the critics who say she's making it all up.
People started insinuating that I was crazy in the head.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Today we're continuing our investigation into beef in Americans.
We just heard from a cattle rancher who says all beef should be grass-fed, but it's more expensive.
We don't have to show you how much more, so we called a number of grocery stores around the country to check prices on ground beef.
Regular beef is about $5.30 a pound.
Grass-fed beef is about $8.20 a pound.
That's roughly $3 extra per pound.
So before you spend the extra money, how big of an impact will grass-fed beef have on your health?
March, ask your turn to another whistleblower to find out.
Here's the question.
Is grass-fed beef worth it?
To find out, I asked scientist and farm consultant, Alan Williams.
Alan.
Hey, Mark.
Great to see you.
Great to see you.
Another whistleblower in the American beef community.
So, Alan, grass-fed beef can cost 20%, 30%, sometimes even more, than grain-fed beef.
Why do you think it's worth the extra price?
Because it's loaded with nutrients such as omega-3s, CLAs, vitamin A, vitamin E, and many essential minerals.
You make it sound like beef is a health food.
Well, it is.
Look, you can see it in the product.
This is a grass-fed ribeye and a grain-fed ribeye.
Look at the difference in the color of the fat.
You see a deep yellow color here and a pale white color here.
This is very indicative of the forage that they're eating and consuming higher levels of vitamin A. So when I see this yellow fat, I'm actually seeing vitamin A. Yes.
The fact that grass-fed beef is healthier actually makes a lot of sense.
Think about it this way.
A cow in a feedlot eating corn is like a human sitting on a couch eating corn chips all day.
We know that's not good for you, but a cow out in pasture eating grass is the equivalent of eating salad, which is a lot lower in calories but really dense in nutrients.
Okay, but what about flavor?
Does a grass-fed steak taste as good as a grain-fed steak?
It actually tastes better.
Very robust and deep in flavor.
And chefs tell me that it tastes the way that beef should.
They can just use very simple seasonings now and allow the flavor of the beef to express itself.
Sometimes I go to a steakhouse, have a big steak, it shuts me down.
I'm in a steak coma.
Does that happen with grass-fed beef?
Not at all.
As a matter of fact, with grass-fed beef, you're left with a very comfortable, light feeling, a lot of energy.
You can get up and go run a marathon.
Or do the dishes.
Yeah.
I was ready to give grass-fed beef the ultimate test.
The moment of truth.
I just ate an 8-ounce grass-fed tenderloin steak, and I gotta say, I feel great.
It looks tasty.
So we're seeing lots more of these grass-fed beefs, the packages in stores.
But why is it more expensive?
It comes down to quantity versus quality.
We figured out how to make really cheap beef.
But quality always costs more.
Like we saw, the cattle don't grow as big.
It takes them a lot longer.
That's just going to cost more.
And that really shouldn't be a surprise.
So when consumers today are making a decision about whether it's worth the extra money, what are the criteria they should use to judge?
I think they should think of three things.
Nutrition, flavor, and texture.
Let's start with nutrition.
It's the most important one for me.
Mark performed a high-tech fat extraction, which you're not going to do at home, but it's going to be an effective way.
You're going to teach us, and when we compare the grass-fed to the conventional, there's a big difference.
Yeah, and you can see it.
I got this extraction done by Dr. Richard Bazinet at the University of Toronto, who is a lipid fat expert.
And here's what we found.
You can see in this sample here, the fat looks yellow, like in the video.
What you're seeing there are carotenoids, the same vitamin A precursors you see in carrots.
That's in the grass.
It's getting into the fat of the cow.
But there's a lot more going on there as well.
There's also higher levels of vitamin E and also omega-3s.
So this is a case of nutrition you can actually see.
When you look at the grain-fed sample, it just looks like empty lard.
It's white.
It doesn't have that biology in it, that essence of the plant.
You know what this reminds me of?
Is olive oil.
That's another fat that we know is good for you.
And it's not just the fat, it's the stuff in the fat.
The reason this is important, I mean, my father-in-law has been giving me a hard time about this.
He argued that we'd find more omega-3 fats in grass-fed beef if we actually looked at enough.
And you're showing that today.
And as a heart surgeon, if you don't have enough omega-3s in our bodies, it causes all kinds of problems with the way we think, right?
Our mentation, with our heart rhythms, all kinds of problems.
So if we can find natural sources of omega-3s, like in the meats, which is not what we normally think about omega-3s, right?
You're all thinking about fish.
Meats can have them as well.
And what's really important is people say, oh, salmon has tons of omega-3s.
Well, Americans eat, on average, more than 60 pounds of beef a year.
There's just not enough salmon in the ocean.
So we're going to eat beef.
Maybe that beef should be healthier.
So you went on this two-year journey.
Two years, guys.
Went all over the world, tasted the best steaks out there, ate more than 200 pounds of meat.
I should check your pulse.
So, you brought me back a sample of what you think is the best tasting beef, period.
This is...
Give us a summary.
This is from Alder Spring Ranch in May, Idaho.
Alder Spring Ranch, yeah.
What makes this grass-fed beef taste better?
I'm going to taste it, just to confirm.
It's the grass.
This will sound odd, but like we see in the fat here...
Compounds in the grass get into the meat.
You are what you eat.
It's also true for a cow.
Now this beef doesn't taste like grass the same way an apple doesn't taste like the earth that it grows in, but it expresses the land.
You know, it's been said, you eat, it's not just what you eat, it's what what you eat eats.
Exactly.
And this is fantastic.
So, the verdict.
Is it worth spending the three bucks extra per pound to buy grass-fed beef versus conventional?
For me, it's absolutely worth it.
Mark, thanks for all your advice.
I'm glad you searched far and wide for the best beef.
You can easily eat the good stuff and save money.
Next, we have the ultimate insider's guide with answers.
It's our beef lover's guide to buying beef.
Stick around.
Coming up next, we put an end to the debate over what makes the best tasting hamburger.
It's all about the beef.
What about color?
You look at this guy, right?
It's pretty gray.
Run away from that guy.
An insider's guide to buying better beef.
Coming up next.
We are back investigating beef in America, capping the knowledge of insiders so you can make the best choices for your family.
Now, we're in the middle of a burger boom in America.
It's an endless debate about what makes the best burger, and everyone knows the best burger is about buying the best beef.
So to help out, I ask the person that knows buying burger beef better than anybody else, a butcher, a female butcher, Jocelyn Guest is here, a New York City butcher from Salvation Burger.
How are you?
How can the right type of beef change the taste of the burger in the right way?
Well, okay, so the best thing to do is to buy, you know, if you're going to buy grass-fed beef, you want to get a cow that's been raised naturally, right?
And then not sort of packed in a plastic bag and stuck in the back of a grocery store freezer or something like that for months and months and months.
All right, so let's get to the beef burgers lover's guide.
And we all love burgers, I think, in America, so that's why we're in the middle of this boom.
The first thing you say we have to do is get the right cut.
Right.
So when a lot of people are shopping for beef, they're like, oh, it's a special treat.
I want a ribeye.
I want a filet mignon.
I want whatever, whatever.
But grinding meat is kind of like this great equalizer, right?
So tenderness kind of goes out of the window.
So you can buy a working muscle that has a lot more flavor, right?
It might not be a great steak, but when you grind it, it's awesome.
So for example, like ground chuck, right?
It comes from the shoulder of the beef.
It gets a lot of work, especially on grass-fed cows that are out running around.
But when you grind that up, it's super awesome.
It's really nicely marbled, and it makes an awesome burger.
You mentioned fats before.
What is the right percentage of fat, if we had ground chuck, for example, that you would give to a customer?
So my recommendation would be about 80-20, so that means 80% lean meat and 20% fat.
So especially in these grass-fed cows, right, they're not eating all this scary corn, so they are a little bit leaner naturally.
So that way you don't have to worry about having the 20% fat.
So if you got like a 90-10, your burger would probably wind up pretty dry.
Pretty dry.
So we can splurge a little bit with the 20% of fat.
Because it's healthier fat, that's the point.
And what about color?
You have three examples here.
Right.
So, okay, so say you go to the grocery store and you're like, okay, it's burger night, what do I get?
You look at this guy, right?
Pretty gray.
Pretty scary.
Doesn't look too good to me.
Exactly, yeah.
So run away from that guy.
And then you see this one, which is more pink than red.
So your fat's kind of emulsified in there.
There's no really good separation.
Not terrible, not the best.
This guy's nice and bright red, right?
So you can see your little pockets of fat in there.
That's what's going to, you know, as your burger's resting after you cook it on the grill or on your stove, that's what's going to kind of go back into the meat and keep it nice and juicy.
So always go for bright red and little pockets of fat.
And of course, you always want to keep in mind, you know, grocery stores, you don't necessarily know when they've ground the meat or maybe what they treated it with.
So if you can, go to a local butcher shop.
They can grind anything you want.
You know, kind of go for the gold and like buy a whole muscle and grind it at home yourself.
All right.
Thank you, Jocelyn.
We're also putting a complete burger lover's guide to decode ground beef labels from consumer reporter Lisa Lee Freeman on DrRoz.com.
Up next, the top food doctors want you to avoid to beat the bloat.
Coming up next, can some healthy foods you're eating be causing you bloat?
Feels like I've gained 10 pounds.
They could be in your pantry right now.
We'll show you great bloat-free alternatives so you won't feel like you're missing out.
And it specifically can help reduce bloating.
Next.
There were many days that I really didn't want to live anymore.
In her first interview, reality star Yolanda Foster speaks out about her fight against an invisible disease.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
If you ever feel so bloated that your pants are going to pop, then it's time to pay attention.
I know you're bombarded with various tricks and tips to relieve the bloating, but what if the problem isn't as obvious as dairy or gluten?
Here to explain is leading gastroenterologist and one of my core team members, Dr. Lashimi Raj.
So when it comes to bloating, a lot of folks are confused, but there are lots of foods that can bother us besides the typical dairy and gluten.
So give me an idea of a surprising health food, one that's typical of these four.
Okay, so onions and garlic.
We love them, we love the way they taste, we put them in our food, but for many people, I know, I'm sorry!
For many people, they can cause bloating.
They're very difficult to digest, and once they get into your intestine undigested, the bacteria work on them, they're releasing gas.
Alright, so Roberta's here.
She says she sometimes gets so bloated she feels pregnant.
Let's join her up here.
So, you must be an onion lover like the rest of us.
What's the worst time of the day for bloating for you?
Night, because I use them in so much of the, you know, preparations that I make.
It's sort of the first go-to.
You saute the onions and then you add everything else.
All right, so we got a little experiment I want to show you all because this is what's literally happening in your body.
So we built your body.
This is your digestive tracking.
Notice all the intestines coiled up in there.
Now your mouth up here doesn't always cooperate.
It puts things in our body.
So put your purple gloves on.
You can be my assistant today of the day.
And I want you to take some of this diced onion that we prepared for you.
And I'm going to lift open this lid here and let the mouth open up to the world outside.
You can pour.
Somebody need help with that?
No, we've got it now.
All right, just pour a little bit in there.
When you put the onions in there, you can actually push them in with this.
When you push the onions in there, that's perfect.
What ends up happening is they react With what's going on inside your gut.
They've got a lot of fructose in them.
And then when the gastric fluids, go ahead and inject that in there, start to mix with the intestinal stuff that you just put in there, the onions in your example.
Oh, God.
There's gas.
Oh, stop!
Oh, my goodness.
That was a lot.
Look at this.
Is that how you feel?
You know what happens?
You burp, right?
Oh, it feels so much better, doesn't it?
Now, Dr. Rice, you saw how much discomfort you created with the audience about this onion comment that maybe causes bloating.
There's dozens of varieties.
Yes.
What are the tactics that might work to help the Roberta's and the Oz's of the world cope with this?
Still have your onions.
Okay, well, raw onions are the worst, so cooking them can actually help.
And then you do have to reduce the amount, but use alternative spices, other things to give flavor to your food, things like turmeric, saffron, and other spices that are actually quite healthy for you as well.
Alright, so you had Roberta eliminate the onions for about a week?
For a week, and I noticed a tremendous difference, actually, yes.
You know the difference between when you're feeling bloated and when you're not, and I like the not better.
If I cook the onions, I'm okay?
It's better.
So reduction is the best, but raw is absolutely the worst, so cooking will help a little bit.
All right, so I want you to take a look at this.
Whenever I'm bloated, I just feel really miserable, uncomfortable, I almost feel like I swallowed a truck.
Painful and extremely uncomfortable.
It even influences my wardrobe decisions.
It just feels like I've gained 10 pounds.
Like a big beached whale.
Bloating makes me feel like I'm nine months pregnant, and I don't even have children yet.
Nutritionist and physician doctor Elizabeth Bolland has the next bloat food, and it's something many of you may eat today.
If you're having bloating, one food group you want to eliminate to see if it's the cause are your protein bars.
Protein bars often have ingredients that can cause bloating in many people.
One ingredient are the sugar alcohols.
These are things like sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol.
These are low-calorie sweeteners that are used to increase the sweetness of the bar without giving as many calories as other sugars would.
But, they end up getting into the digestive system, not getting completely digested or absorbed, and they can cause a lot of gas and bloating when they get fermented by your bacteria.
So, where else are these sugar alcohols lurking, Dr. Raj?
Some places you might not expect, like chewing gum, hard candies, these are also things that for a lot of people can produce a lot of gas.
Sharon, you're joining us because you were willing to go off your little chewables, all the things you were...
You're chewing gum in particular, but everything else that had Serbitol in it.
Did it make a difference?
I was skeptical at first, but it did.
It made a difference.
Oh, I love what these ideas were.
So we thought we'd do a little social experiment.
Not a hard science one, but it's a pretty cool one.
We decided to take a gummy bear, which has the kind of sugars we're talking about in it, the kinds you can't digest, and we tossed it in a little glass of water for three days.
And as we waited and waited and waited over the three days, the gummy bears changed from the normal size, which is this...
To this.
See, it still has the water on it.
It's a little soft little thing, wiggling around like that, right?
And you'll notice, now this is, again, obviously, it's not exactly what's happening in your body, but it's good to remind you that this is a problem for you, and why would you tempt fate if you don't have to?
But I get it.
People like chewing on stuff, and you might as well chew on sugar-free things if you're going to chew on them.
So show us another idea, Dr. Rauch.
What do you chew on instead?
So a great alternative, if you want to get that fix in the mouth, is a ginger chew.
So ginger has been used really for centuries in different cultures to help calm your tummy, and it specifically can help reduce bloating.
So it's a great alternative.
They're chewy.
Yeah, they're very chewy.
They're not sweet, but uh...
They're very delicious.
Good!
And I got all of my friends eating ginger chews.
I walk with my ginger chews.
Oh, she has it in her pocket!
I love it!
Yes, I walk with them.
Here's one for you.
Here's one for you.
Thank you.
I love getting gifts from guests.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Let's get to the last food, which comes from integrative health and wellness specialist Akatazdin Bhatia.
Here's what she wants you to eliminate in order to beat your bloat.
As a doctor, I want you to avoid soy foods in general because soy has estrogen-like effects that cause water retention and bloating.
Believe it or not, tofu can cause belly bloat.
Most of the tofu available to us is processed, contributing to that bloated belly.
If you are going to have soy, consider switching to a fermented soy like tempeh and really get rid of those soy lattes.
So, Carolyn is joining us.
How often do you put soy milk in your coffee?
Well, I'm trying to cut down on the caffeine, so I'd say every other day.
Not too much.
Yeah, not too much.
And were you having some bloating issues anyway?
Yeah, a little bit, I was.
And, you know, I had done a little research on it, and the almond milk actually was supposed to be a little bit better, so I decided to alternate that.
Dr. Raj, what do you think?
Do you agree with that?
Yeah, I think that's a great idea.
I think soy is, again, one of those foods that people don't really realize can cause a lot of bloating.
Almond milk is a great substitute.
If you're having other forms of soy, miso or tempeh, which is fermented soy, it causes much less bloating.
So, some great alternatives.
I think almond tastes better anyway in coffee and tea.
It's got a more full, robust taste, and the texture's better for it.
Yeah, it took me a little bit to get used to it because, you know, it's a different texture, it's a different taste, you know, but the transition was a little bit more smooth than I thought.
I'll toast to your success.
Dr. Raj, that's yours.
Cheers, thank you.
Cheers very much.
We'll be right back.
Coming up next.
Don't know what to cook for dinner?
Still living on takeout and frozen foods?
Help is on the way.
Celebrity chef and author Rocco Dispirito is here to rescue your next family dinner.
Looks like Italians here.
- Thank you, sir. - Coming up next. - You ever come home after a long day and just don't know what to cook for dinner?
Are frozen food stacked in your fridge and takeouts on speed dial?
Well, one viewer wrote in desperate for help.
She says she's a disaster in the kitchen, so I enlisted the help of celebrity chef and author Rocco Despirito to rescue her dinner.
My name is Elaine, and I'm from Staten Island.
I'm a Zumba fitness instructor, and over the past year I've put on 45 pounds, and that's not good.
My husband and I used to eat healthy, but we kind of fell off the bandwagon.
So now we really want to try to start eating healthy again to set a great example for my son.
Because our family's always on the go, we end up ordering out a lot and we'd kind of like to change that a little bit.
So we sent Rocco to Elaine's house to teach her how to make easy swaps that'll keep her and her family healthy while still ordering takeout.
Hello!
Anybody home?
Rocco!
Hey, how are you?
Hi, how are you?
Nice to meet you.
Come on in.
Wow, she's a good hugger.
How are you doing?
It's a pleasure to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
I'm here to help.
I'm here to help.
Let's do this.
First one.
Let's see what it is.
Looks like Italians here.
My favorite!
That's a manja!
Alright, we'll start with your appetizer.
The unhealthy option is antipasto salad.
It's loaded with processed meats, processed cheese, and here's the healthy option, minestrone.
This probably is 250 calories for the entire portion.
Wow.
Now let's look at our main course, Matteo's favorite, chicken parmigiana.
But chicken parmigiana is breaded and fried and loaded with cheese.
Now your healthy option is chicken marsala because it's not breaded and fried.
And look, there's all these mushrooms.
All right, second delivery.
What is it?
Chinese!
My son's favorite.
Elaine, everybody loves Chinese food, but I've got good news and bad news.
Okay, so here we have our egg rolls.
I wish there was an egg inside there because then it would at least have something worth eating.
It's carbs wrapped around vegetable and pork scraps, and then you smother it with duck sauce.
First of all, anything can be healthy in Chinese food because they're all customized, but edamame, steamed soybeans, these are rich in fiber and protein, lots of nutrients, they'll fill you up, and these calories are free, you don't even have to count them.
General South's chicken is everyone's favorite.
I can eat a gallon of this.
This is double fried, tossed in a very syrupy, sugary glaze.
And now chicken chow mein, lots of vegetables.
I see Chinese cabbage, I see celery, I see bean sprouts, and they're clear sauce.
Can you make a better choice?
What do you guys think?
Can we do this or what?
Absolutely.
On three, guys.
Rockin' it with Rocco on three.
One, two, three.
Rockin' it with Rocco!
So Rocco, Elaine, and her son Mateo are all here.
So Elaine, how has Rocco's advice changed your takeout techniques?
It's actually really great.
He was very knowledgeable, informative.
He taught us that there are so many different options instead of the go-to burger, fries, and stuff like that.
And I think it even helped my son.
And instead of ordering a burger now, I'll order a wrap, or even I'll use one bun and turn it into less bread and, you know, it'll be healthy.
Good for you.
So, Rocco's got a new book out, it's called The Negative Calorie Diet, so how does it apply to takeout food?
Well, the best thing to do when you go out is just put the menu away.
Don't get lured in by the boxes and the bubbles and all the things that they want you to buy.
Put the menu down and just tell them what you're going to eat.
These are really good choices here.
So if you're at a sushi restaurant, you can order any sushi with brown rice.
They now have brown rice everywhere.
If you call a diner, they have roast chicken at a diner and sauteed broccoli and green beans.
You can get that.
And then a gyro.
Gyro is a great example of negative calorie foods.
Lean meat, lots of vegetables.
Don't have to eat all the rice if you don't want to.
So, eating out and ordering in is not a no-no.
Turn a negative into a positive.
Ellie, how about frozen food?
What's your technique there?
What do you look for?
Anything that's quick.
Quick and easy.
Pizza, lasagna, anything.
You know, we're always on the go.
So, if I know that I can't cook that day, I'm gonna go right to my freezer.
So Rocco's got a little technique here.
He actually prepared you a little gift.
Give a taste of the foods if you don't mind.
I'm going to quiz you on them afterwards.
So what's the issue?
How do you get negative calorie foods into frozen meals?
Families are busy and they're going to use frozen foods.
They're very convenient.
Now there are a lot of really good frozen foods that don't have added chemicals, preservatives, salts, sugars, but most of them are garbage.
So read the labels.
Read the labels.
Stay away from the ones that have 15 ingredients on them and buy the ones that say, you know, vegetables.
Very well stated.
All right, Matteo, congratulations.
Good luck to you, Mom.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
When we come back, we've got Rocco with his five favorite negative calorie foods.
He's going to show you how to make them.
Stay with us.
Cool.
Thanks, guys.
Coming up next, having lost over 50 pounds, Rocco shows you how he ate his way to weight loss success.
Delicious meals using five foods under 50 calories.
I love meatballs.
I can't live without them.
Next.
There were many days that I really didn't want to live anymore.
In her first interview, reality star Yolanda Foster speaks out about her fight against an invisible disease, All New Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
We are back with "Reck on the Spirit of the World." He describes himself as a former chubby chef.
Chubby chef.
Too many CHs.
He was 50 pounds overweight.
Look at that picture.
What did you discover that allowed you to lose that weight?
I was only 30 in that picture.
Can you imagine if you had the real picture?
My God.
What did I do?
Well, I read a lot of your books and then used that content in my books.
No, I'm just kidding.
That's good.
What I did is figured out that you need an isocaloric balance in your diet.
You need to consume less calories than you burn.
But that involves a lot of tedious calorie counting, and you're always worried about the calories.
So I thought, how can we create a diet where you can eat all the foods you want, as long as they're good foods that are also healthy foods?
And that's how you achieve a negative calorie balance.
What are the guidelines for negative calorie food?
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