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Nov. 18, 2024 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:47
Thanksgiving Special: Tips for a Healthy and Delicious Holiday | Dr. Oz | S7 | Ep 55 | Full Episode
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Time Text
- Everyone is so rushed around the holidays.
Thanksgiving's right around the corner, and it's tough to get dinner on the table on time.
Oh, that's much better.
And then there are the age-old arguments, like does your family ever bicker about the turkey?
Mine does.
Or the healthiest way to prepare your stuffing?
Well, today we're selling all the family feuds about the food, even giving you the lowest calorie wines that no one will complain about.
Mm.
That's good.
And none of them will break the bank.
It's all about the gobble, not the squabble.
Am I right?
Let's get started.
Woo!
Thank you very much.
Ha ha ha.
Today!
Thank you.
We're calling off all your Thanksgiving food fights, starting with a big debate that has many families feuding.
Is a frozen turkey as good as fresh?
What do you guys think?
I'm not sure, are you?
Finally, to find out, here's what they all.
I enlisted Mark Shasker.
He's an OzCorp team expert and an award-winning food journalist.
And last time he was here, remember, he revealed the little-known pork industry secret.
There's a drug that's fed to nearly 70% of pigs in our country.
This time, Mark headed to New Jersey to a turkey farm to get the food truth about that frozen turkey.
Americans everywhere are looking forward to one of the most beautiful days of the year.
Now, I'm not talking about the Black Friday sales at the shopping mall.
I'm talking about this.
Thanksgiving.
Everyone will get along and enjoy a delicious meal.
Unless the most divisive topic in the history of Thanksgiving comes up.
Not white versus dark meat.
I'm talking about the fresh versus frozen debate.
I wanted a definitive answer, so I went to Lee's Turkey Farm in New Jersey, which has been in business since the 1800s.
Ronnie Lee is a fifth generation turkey farmer who raises and sells turkeys.
How are you?
Doing just fine.
Both fresh and frozen.
Ronnie, you've got this beautiful 54-acre farm.
You raised 3,000 turkeys.
I'm sure you could sell every last one of them fresh, but you still freeze some of them.
Why is that?
Well, absolutely.
It's because, you know, we want turkey more often than just on Thanksgiving.
And I believe that if you freeze them properly, they have the exact same quality as the fresh.
So can I see some of your turkeys?
Absolutely.
Follow me.
Hey, guys.
So Ronnie, what is the shelf life of a fresh turkey?
About a week.
So you got one week to get all these turkeys ready for Thanksgiving?
There's no way I could get all these turkeys ready for Thanksgiving, so we start in October and we will freeze those.
So you're telling me they're just as good as the fresh ones that you do right before Thanksgiving?
Absolutely.
Let me show you how we do it.
Ronnie told me he first air chills his birds in a cooler for 48 hours.
Chilling lets enzymes start to break down the muscle fibers, making the meat more tender.
Next, they're flash frozen.
Oh my god, it is cold in here.
It is a bit chilly, isn't it?
What is the temperature?
Minus 10. And it's got to be this way because you have to flash freeze the meat very quickly at 10 below and you keep it at 10 below until you're ready to thaw it.
Okay, I am ready to thaw.
Let's get out of here.
Come on, let's go.
Ronnie, tell me about the fresh turkeys that you find at the supermarket.
Well, the supermarket fresh turkeys aren't sometimes all that fresh.
So you see, they can be held down to as low as 26 degrees.
And that actually causes the meat to freeze.
And if it's not frozen quickly, there goes your quality.
Flash freezing is different than the fresh turkeys you find at the supermarket where it's just sort of partially frozen.
Absolutely.
And that messes up the texture.
It does.
Either serve turkey really fresh or flash freeze it, but something in between is where you run into quality problems.
Correct.
This all made a lot of sense.
But before we go cold turkey on fresh birds, I needed to know for sure.
Can a frozen turkey really taste as good as a fresh one?
So Ronnie introduced me to his wife, Janet.
Oh, perfect timing!
Who had just cooked a previously frozen turkey.
You wanna see?
The official unveiling.
Oh wow, that looks awesome.
Would you like to try some?
Now we get to eat it.
Okay!
Moment of truth.
That's delicious.
Thank you.
So here's my advice.
If you live near a farm where you can get a truly fresh turkey, well there's really nothing better.
But if you don't have access to a farm like this one, then the next time someone in your family makes a fuss about Frozen, just tell them to let it go.
Let it go.
Frozen, really?
I apologize.
I became a punster.
So basically, basically, it's easier to keep a frozen turkey frozen than a fresh turkey fresh.
So frozen turkey is just as good or maybe even better in some ways than fresh turkeys.
That answers that question.
But now, Judge Mark needs to rule on the next big turkey squabble.
What's the best and safest way to go from this, the frozen turkey we're talking about today, to this?
Melting you in your mouth, crisp and ready to eat.
To answer that question, mother-daughter duo Markia and Tracy have decided to join us.
They each say there's a best way, a best way to defrost a turkey.
Why is it such a foul topic in your home?
Because I like to soak it in water.
But I have a problem with my daughter because she...
I like to actually just sit it on the counter and let it defrost by itself.
It's less work.
Daughters.
So you don't want to copy your mom's technique?
You don't like that?
No, I don't.
What's the problem with it?
I just think it takes too much work.
I have to pour the water and then put the turkey in.
I could just sit on the counter and walk away and do what I have to do.
Laziness.
So in my house, you've actually settled this question.
The biggest argument we have is whether they have the tofu turkey or not, which I don't particularly like, but my wife's a vegetarian.
There we are, by the way.
That's our typical dinner.
We invite everyone we can meet into the house, and then they fight over the tofu versus real turkey.
But there are actually four different ways.
Of thawing out a turkey, right?
When you defrost a turkey, you can put it on the counter, to your point.
Like me?
That's the easiest way.
You can put it in the fridge.
Takes a long time.
In the microwave, hmm, that's an idea.
You can put it under water.
That's sort of a pain in the neck.
So Mark, which one of these is a bad idea?
The worst idea is what we're looking at right here.
My apologies.
When you defrost a turkey on the counter, you're setting yourself up for a food safety problem because the interior of that turkey is like an iceberg.
You think it's still frozen, but the exterior is in the danger zone, over 40 degrees.
Sits there for a long time.
Not a good idea.
Can't control that.
What else would you like up there?
Microwave.
Sounds easy.
Yeah.
Doesn't work very well.
We've all been there.
You put your frozen turkey in the microwave.
If it even fits, you bring it out and like the leg is completely cooked and the rest of it's completely frozen.
It's also not safe, so I do not recommend the microwave.
The texture's not as good.
It's just not.
This is that one time of the year you got to do it the right way.
So that leaves us with the idea of thawing it out.
Yes.
So now you're proud, huh?
You can go home and brag a little bit.
Yes.
Alright.
So, let's show us how we can decide between the two options here.
So, you got two thoughts here, right?
We can either put it in the fridge.
How do you know if that makes sense?
Yeah, the fridge, this is the best option.
From a food safety point of view, it's the best because your fridge is never above 40 degrees.
It's also the best from the point of view of texture and turkey quality.
However, it takes a long time, 24 hours, for every four to five pounds.
So a really big turkey can take up to a week.
So if you're really good at thinking ahead, the fridge is your friend.
The fridge is the best way.
If you're like me and you keep forgetting to think ahead, there's another option.
Grab it back.
They better buy their turkey today if they want to do that refrigerator technique.
This is a technique that you're sort of advocating for, I guess.
It's the water method.
This can save you some time.
It's about a half hour for every pound.
So it's not...
It's still going to take some time.
And you've got to do it right.
So you have to make sure your turkey is wrapped in plastic.
You don't want water getting on that bird, and it's got to be fully immersed.
So you need a big container like this.
Some people do it in the bath.
Don't get in the bath with the turkey.
And you've got to make sure the water stays cold.
So you might have to change it to make sure the water doesn't get above 40 degrees.
There could be little chunks of ice in there.
That's okay.
Notice, by the way, this started to float.
And so a lot of folks actually have to put something on the turkey.
In fact, I have some social media images that I fell in love with.
Take a look at this one.
See, they put a pan on top of the turkey.
Not only does it keep the turkey submerged, but it keeps the cat away.
And here's another picture.
This is my favorite one of all.
The caption says, I'm a little bit jealous of the turkey that got to relax in the spa.
It looks like a spa treatment in there.
All right.
One more big argument, Mark.
We're helping everyone today.
And we're going to answer this with some of our guests today.
We have got these wonderful friends.
For the rest of the show, they're going to be here.
They're going to help me taste the food, and they're going to help me weigh in on what makes sense.
They're my favorite food editors and food Instagrammer.
Kristen Akin is here.
She's executive food and lifestyle editor of The Huffington Post.
Stephanie Smith, senior editor of Yahoo Food.
I'm short, that great book.
She's called 300 Sandwiches.
And Christine Yee is here with beautiful Instagram photos.
You can find it at CYEats.
So...
One thing that even in my household we still quibble over is whether you rinse the turkey to get it clean before you put it in the oven.
You guys want to go through that in your home?
Right.
So you want it to be as clean as possible.
What do you guys think?
What are people saying to you about that?
It is definitely a controversy.
There are two different aspects of it to think about.
First of all, the food safety.
No one's really sure.
We'd love to get your opinion on whether it does get rid of the bacteria.
But then speaking in culinary terms, you really don't want a soggy skinned turkey.
It's the worst thing you can end up with.
And if you wash it and don't properly dry the skin out, you don't get that great crispy skin.
Judge Mark, settle the argument.
Should you rinse the turkey, announce it to America?
You should not rinse the turkey.
It doesn't help from a food safety point of view.
It is not so good from a quality point of view.
And the worst of all is that that water splattering, you're getting potentially bacteria in other parts of your kitchen, on your cutting board, on your counter.
So do not rinse the turkey.
People are going to love when you tell them that.
Season a step.
All right, I'm going to check in with you guys throughout this show.
Thank you for being here.
You can start eating.
I made this for you myself, by the way.
I didn't.
The next big turkey debate, is it okay to cook the stuffing in the bird?
Families have fought over this for generations.
Mark led a doctor on a show test kitchen experiment to find the best, safest way to stuff your turkey while keeping the flavor and moisture where it needs to be.
The results are next.
We'll be right back.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So what's your preference, fresh or frozen?
Don't listen to that guy.
He doesn't know what he's talking about.
You've been called a sex addict.
Yeah.
You think you are?
Charlie Sheen announces he has HIV. Now, in an exclusive, his ex-girlfriend, who has had unprotected sex with him, speaks out.
Having sex with Charlie is like playing Russian roulette.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
When it comes to cooking, I would like to think I taught my daughter very well.
I love my mother's cooking.
Please don't get me wrong.
But she always seems to make one fatal mistake when it comes to cooking our Thanksgiving turkey.
She always puts the stuffing inside of the turkey.
And I don't understand why she does this because it always comes out so dry.
And I disagree.
That's the way I was taught and I would love to keep it traditional.
I love to cook the turkey and the stuffing separately.
Never together.
Today, we're settling those long-time Thanksgiving food arguments, and now Mark Shaskier will help me answer one of the biggest Thanksgiving debates.
Is it okay to stuff a turkey?
You know what they call turkey in Turkey?
America?
The jokester, jokester and the journalist.
It's actually, they call it Hindi, which means India.
Because a turkey bird came to Turkey from India.
I bet the turkey that we eat probably came to Europe, I guess, first from Turkey.
But now you learn everything on this show.
Incredible!
Alright, let's talk about the big issue.
What do the experts say about stuffing a turkey, smart or not?
More and more they're saying not smart to stuff a turkey because problems happen.
Most of us test the turkey for doneness, the meat.
We want it to get to a minimum of 165. What we forget to do is test the stuffing.
Now, some of us do know you should test the stuffing.
We wait for it to get to 165, but by the time your stuffing's cooked, your turkey's overcooked.
So it seems like it's just not possible.
It looks like that.
See, burnt in the inside there?
You're doing your best, but to get that stuffing where it needs to be, you end up with a charred turkey.
Not just the skin, by the way.
The whole thing gets dried out like it's the Sahara Desert.
No one likes that.
Nobody likes that.
They get mad, don't they?
But you're all upset at me now because I said you can't stuff your turkey.
Am I right?
Yes.
Alright, but here's the general rule.
General rule, keep the stuffing outside the bird.
Mark just announced that.
However, you can actually get past this.
Why give yourself a headache and stress and risk food safety?
It's not worth it, but I know you're traditionalists.
So if you're going to do this the way you grew up doing it, you're going to want to do the same for your family.
So Mark took a stab at a scientific approach to cooking a stuffed turkey.
But there's something inside the turkey instead of beside it in order to maximize the flavor and the safety.
So take a look at what happened inside the Dr. Oz test kitchen.
Let's face it, stuffing just isn't stuffing if it isn't inside your turkey.
And as long as you know what you're doing, there's no reason to be worried about stuffing your turkey this Thanksgiving.
Now, we've done all the research, keeping in mind flavor, texture, and safety.
And we're going to show you how to do it right.
Now, with me to make sure this bird tastes fantastic is show chef Uli Stachel.
And with me to make sure this bird is a safe bird is the head of our medical unit, Dr. Michael Croupain.
Now, Michael, From a safety point of view, we want to get this bird to 165, right?
That's right.
We want the bird to be 165, but also the stuffing.
That's really important.
And what's really important is to get them to 165 at about the same time, and that's what Uli's going to show us how to do.
So, Uli, tell me about the stuffing.
The wet ingredients are as hot as possible, and you mix the dry and the wet together last minute just before you stuff the bird.
And you want to keep the wet ingredients hot so that your stuffing gets to temperature faster.
The general rule is one cup of stuffing per pound of turkey.
And you also want to leave some space in the turkey because the stuffing expands.
Now, the way we're going to get the stuffing and the meat to hit the same temperature at the same time is by cooking low and slow at the lowest safe temperature, which is 325. Dr. Croupane is going to put a thermometer probe in the stuffing, but also in the thigh, and that way we can compare so we know that they're getting to the temperature at the same time.
And now we wait.
So this is going to take a few hours, but we're going to keep an eye on it.
So, Michael, it's been two and a half hours.
There's a 20-degree spread between our turkey and our stuffing.
What are your thoughts?
No matter what, we need the stuffing at 165, so it might end up that the meat ends up being a little higher than that in the end.
Okay, guys, the stuffing's at 155, 10 degrees below where we want it.
We think it's going to heat up a bit more as we rest it, so I say we get the turkey out now.
So we're gonna tent it now to keep the heat in, let that heat recirculate, let that stuffing get hotter.
then we wait.
So the stuffing's at 165, And the bird is at 176, which means we haven't overcooked it.
The big question, though, is how does it taste?
Looks amazing.
So our food editors are here.
They're tasting the stuffing and the turkey from the experience.
So load your forks in the mouth.
I want your honest opinions.
Watch their eyes.
That's where the truth is.
Mark, what do you think?
After all the hard work and hours of slaving over the stove, what do you think about the result?
I am thrilled.
I was really rooting for the stuffed bird.
I think the reason is when I look at a stuffed turkey, it reminds me of how stuffed I'm going to be after I eat the turkey.
I tell you, this is worth it.
This is worth the effort.
But it's not easy.
There was a time during the experiment where there was 20 degrees difference, and we were really worried that actually we were going to overcook that turkey.
But it all came together in the rest.
We took the turkey out, we put foil over it, and the heat just radiated into the interior.
And the stuffing got up to 165, but most importantly, our meat didn't get overcooked.
That's the best part.
Stephanie, what do you think?
It's not bad.
You know, it's tender.
It's good.
The stuffing's flavorful.
It's not bad.
It's a chestnut.
There's shiitake mushrooms.
There are pecans.
Wow.
Did you really?
Uli, not me.
Oh, above and beyond.
For the discriminating palates of our food, you're just like this.
You're happy with the stuffing as well?
Delicious.
Both good?
It's delicious.
So the experiment, is it a success?
Yes.
Let's toast our forks.
A fork toast.
Success!
Alright, so listen, I'm posting a video with the full instructions on how to safely stuff your turkey.
It's tried and tested.
It's on my Facebook page.
Tag someone in your family who you squabble with over the stuffing.
If you're not going to follow those instructions, then do the turkey and the stuffing separately.
Mark, thank you very much as always.
Up next, the lowest calorie wines that you can serve on your table next week.
And I promise none of them will break the bank.
Be right back.
Next, we're sampling the best wines you need to serve this Thanksgiving.
Our experts put them all to the taste test.
Low calorie, low cost, and good for heart health.
Now who is happy about that wine news?
Great wines that will complement your holiday meal.
Coming up.
Today we're answering your biggest Thanksgiving dinner questions like, what are the best, lowest calorie wines that won't cost you a lot of money?
But first, to make us all feel really good about drinking wine, a groundbreaking study is making headlines about wine and heart health.
And it is very, very good news.
Over 200 people with diabetes.
One clinical study.
They were put on the Mediterranean diet, but researchers were really looking for something else.
The real purpose?
To explore the role of alcohol on blood sugar and heart health.
Participants drank either one glass of white wine, one glass of red wine, or mineral water daily for two years, as thorough as a clinical drug study.
The results?
The red wine group improved HDL, or good cholesterol levels, by two points.
Both white wine and red wine drinkers lowered their heart disease risk factors.
Both wine groups also reported better sleep.
Bottom line?
Researchers found no bad health effects from enjoying a daily glass of wine.
Cheers!
Now who was happy about that wine news?
You guys happy about that?
You can drink wine now and make your heart healthier.
That kind of study I like.
The question is, which wines have the lowest calories and price tag that can stand up to that Thanksgiving meal?
The wine coach is with us, Lori Forster, and she and our food editors are back and going to be tasting with us.
So, let's get into red wines.
In my family, when I was growing up, it was a $6 bottle of wine.
I used to get the Lancers bottles after I was done drinking the Lancers and put the candle in there.
You all did that?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that was the big deal back then.
I thought it was so cool.
But elevate me a little bit.
For the same six bucks or roughly the equivalent price, we could actually get a really good bottle of wine.
Well, I love Beaujolais for Thanksgiving.
It's fun, accessible, and affordable.
I know it sounds fancy in French, but it's really a great festive wine.
They make a wine called Nouveau, and it comes out every third Thursday in November, which is this week.
It's always right around Thanksgiving, and it's not spent time in wood, so it's bright, light, lots of berry flavors, but what's important is acidity balance to stand up to that Thanksgiving feast.
Low alcohol means low calorie, and this is only about 12% alcohol.
Oh, you're tasting.
Thanks for waiting.
They already drank the wine.
There's lots of different kinds of Beaujolais, and they're actually tasting this one here.
But it's really super food friendly, and again, because of the low alcohol, low calorie.
All right, let's go to the whites.
So we got an affordable white that you think might match up pretty well for Thanksgiving as well.
We do.
It's called Vino Verde.
It's from Portugal.
It's usually only about 9% alcohol.
So again, low alcohol, low calories, and most of them under $10.
Christine, what do you think?
I love this.
The acidity and it's great.
It definitely is going to go really well with food.
It's fantastic.
I'm surprised.
A lot of times white wines either are too sweet for me or they don't fill the palate quite as nice.
This is very nice.
Under $10.
I know, and some people think it means cheap and cheerful.
I'm okay with that.
That would be a great brand.
Yes.
I really do.
Kristen, would you buy a wine that was called cheap and cheerful?
Sure, why not?
It's a thought, it's a thought.
Listen, the reason we've talked about percentage of alcohol, it's one way of keeping track of how many calories you're getting into your diet, because, as you said, the more the alcohol, the more the calories.
To make it easier, however, because I know you want to keep track of all that and do the math equation, Lori's created a chart.
It looks like this.
There it is.
It's a chart of wines from the lowest calories to the highest calories.
You can find that on our Holiday Survival Hub along with more wine tips from Lori.
Thanks for being here.
Up next, you are 30 seconds away from better cranberry sauce.
Well, after this short commercial break.
See you then.
Next, cranberry sauce.
A Thanksgiving staple, but a constant source of conflict.
Whether you like it homemade or straight out of a can, we've got three delicious ideas to add flavor and nutrients in 30 seconds.
Coming up.
Charlie Sheen announces he has HIV. His ex-girlfriend, who had unprotected sex with him, speaks out.
Having unprotected sex with Charlie is like playing Russian roulette.
All new Oz.
that's coming up tomorrow.
I like mine from a can.
I think it's easy and I like the taste and think it's great.
I find it very boring to have canned cranberry sauce.
I make it from fresh cranberries, orange juice and sugar.
It's not hard to make.
Well, I feel hers is still sugary and mine tastes great and it is a lot easier.
The canned cranberry sauce is processed and it is not as healthy.
What do you think, Dr. Oz?
Well, I don't know if the Pilgrim's planned for it, but it turns out cranberry sauce is a big source of conflict around your Thanksgiving table every year.
My art director, Diane, loves to eat it straight out of the can.
There she is.
Mmm.
Looks good.
So, Kristen, will a true foodie ever eat cranberries?
In fact, anything, it looks like a can.
You know what, actually yes, it's become a trend to make homemade cranberry sauce and put a little pectin in it so it'll set up nicely and actually pour it into an empty can so that when you let it set up you can unmold it and it'll have those ridges but it'll still be like, you know, you can control the amount of sugar and everything that you put in it.
But people are just so attached to that shape and that texture.
So I'm curious about this.
These are battles that wager all the time.
So Stacy and Andrea are here in person.
They have been feuding about cranberries since 1998. And there is a way to make peace in your home.
I've got three cranberry sauce stir-ins and flavors that have nutrients as well that you want to have in them that will taste fabulous.
So are you ready to help me with this?
Absolutely.
And you're open-minded now?
I'll try.
All right, Andrea.
So I actually don't even do all that fancy-dancy stuff.
I just eat the cranberries coming right out of the can.
In my family, we think it tastes better.
Because I think the regular, you know, natural cranberries are a little bit tart for me.
So, get your spoon and your fork.
You gotta mash up what's in the can so it looks like it didn't come out of a can.
Not because you care what it looked like, but because you gotta mix things into it.
Then, take a little bit of this orange juice.
Right?
Go ahead and add that in there, Andrea, since you're the stickler on this.
And these are some orange peels.
You just grate it up a little bit.
But keep stirring, keep stirring, keep stirring.
And then put some mandarin oranges in there towards the end.
The mandarin oranges are great for fine lines and wrinkles.
I like that.
You like that, don't you?
That's enough to get you to mash it up a little more.
All right, I'll put you back into it.
Come on now.
Stephanie, you doing okay over there?
All right.
Now, this is your base material.
And frankly, anybody would look at that and say, oh, you made that yourself at home.
As long as you try to convince them of that, right?
See if yours looks like mine.
They look similar.
Now, you can start and stop and be done with it right here.
It doesn't take that much time.
Or, you can stir in more things.
Now, you know I love real food, so I can put some pineapple in there.
You can put some apricot.
Go ahead, you guys do it as well.
And my favorite is some pecans.
You know I go nuts for nuts.
And mix that up in there.
Now, that's a good place to stop, and a lot of folks will do that.
Give me an idea.
taste mine because I put some real love in the mine that's good Just good?
After all that, all I get is a good...
All right, all right.
It's okay.
I understand.
I can take criticism.
It's good.
So I have a little extra add-in.
Red Zinfandel.
This will put you over the top.
Red Zinfandel, by the way, has a little bit more of that good health heart stuff that we talk about with wines.
It can lower your cholesterol more than the other wines.
So a good Red Zinfandel.
Here's a little bit.
There's a little bit for you.
There's a little bit more for you.
Stacy, you only get this little bit there.
Thank you.
Look what you did to mine.
I'm drinking, I'm drinking out here.
All right, here, I'll give some Mike.
Oh, God, what a picky, picky, picky person, Andrew.
All right.
Now, I made this for our food editors over there.
I'm taking the whole bottle with me over there.
You keep mixing.
What do you guys think about it?
Give me a taste, see what you think.
Oh, wait.
Now, I can give you a little bit more wine if it sort of moves.
Yeah, I don't know if ours has as much.
I think we need that.
You guys have driven me to drinking.
Very terse responses.
I get a good, maybe, with a little bit of hesitation attached to it.
But Zinfandel's a wonderful wine, so a little more is always better.
I would never guess that this came from the can, though.
So you did a good job of tricking it.
Well, thank you very much.
I'll toast to that.
Talk to you guys.
When we come back, DrRaj.com has got this recipe for you if you need to learn.
It was pretty straightforward.
Up next, three healthy pastas you haven't heard about yet, but here's the one question.
How do they taste?
We don't have Andrea, although she's tough too.
We had real Italian grandmothers.
Try them out, and they can be very critical.
See you then.
Next, what happens when these real Italian grandmothers try healthy pasta for the first time?
This is not pasta.
Do I have to eat it?
Healthier twists on their favorite classic dishes.
What is it?
Mamma mia.
Mamma mia.
Can we get them to change their minds?
Coming up.
Today we're selling food feuds within our families and help you serve up the healthiest meal for your brood.
I've got some good ideas, and I've been told no one is more feisty about their feast than Italians.
So, we wanted to find out what happens when real Italian grandmothers, the real things, the nonas, try healthy pasta for the very first time.
Take a look.
I don't like this right.
Would you give this to your kids?
I would not give this to my kids.
Tell me I'm so great about Italian food.
Italian food is love.
I make everything from scratch.
What is this?
Edamame.
Do you know what edamame is?
No.
What is it?
Do I have to eat it?
Mamma mia.
Mamma mia.
This is not pasta.
No, no, no.
I really can't.
Carmella.
No, I can't!
Rose, it's not good.
You want to eat it, you eat it.
I'm not eating it.
Buckwheat?
Buckwheat.
Does it grow like in the wild?
It's not Italian.
Fa pena.
What does that mean?
It's gross.
It's not disgusting, it's just nice.
You can't call this lasagna.
It looks worse than it is, the way you're mixing it up.
Okay, here, I'll put the cheese back.
Does that look better?
It looks better.
Okay.
Kiwam?
Kiwam.
Kiwam.
Do I have to taste it?
What else?
This is good.
I like this.
Really?
Yup.
It tastes like something that went bad in the refrigerator.
This is Italian.
This is for sure.
I'm surprised we're related.
You guys were some tough, tough customers.
Very hard to please, but I noticed we began to break you down towards the end.
So it can be hard to try a new twist at any healthy meal, but I want to show you why I think these healthy pastas are worth a shot.
If you give me a chance, maybe I can change your mind.
Is that okay?
Let's try.
They're not answering my questions, even.
They're so mad at me.
All right.
Healthy pasta starts, for me, looking at different ingredients to make the pasta.
Okay.
You made a lot of interesting faces in that little segment, by the way.
I know.
I'm really a bad critic.
You are?
Let me see it again.
I'm going to...
So, edamame bean pasta.
Doesn't sound so good at starts, but it's got 21 grams of carbs rather than 42, which is, you know, what normal pasta has.
So it's half the amount.
It also has got 25 grams of protein compared to 7 grams of protein in regular pasta.
Lots of nutrients, all those good things.
Change your mind at all with that news?
I don't know, maybe, but nah, I wouldn't eat it, I'm sorry.
Well, I added your pasta to it.
Your sauce, rather, to the pasta.
What do you think?
Maybe give that a shot?
Okay, I'll try.
Let me see.
Listen, here's the thing.
If you think about it, the pasta has to have the right texture, but the taste comes from the sauce a lot anyway, right?
And I know that Nona's only like their own sauce, so I didn't try to crack that nut.
But if I can get you to like the sauce on my pasta, if the texture's okay, a little al dente maybe?
That's a resounding yes.
From you, I'll take that as a yes.
Listen, it didn't get stuck in my throat again like last time.
That's a good start.
So it's okay.
Yeah, let's see.
It's okay.
The sauce is a little bit better.
All right, thank you.
The next pasta that I think you should try out is buckwheat noodle pasta, but make lasagna with it, which is, you look scared.
I am.
You're right.
So you were really tough on the lasagna meat taste.
You were mixing it up.
You pulled the cheese off the top.
I had a tough time with it.
The cheese was okay, but the other stuff, I don't know.
The thing about the buckwheat noodle lasagna, it'll make your teeth stronger and your bones heftier, so you'll live longer and be able to taste longer in your life as well.
That's great, but I got caps.
You got caps?
All right, I'm tasting it.
You might be right.
You want lasagna?
Come to my house.
I make you lasagna.
I'm coming for Thanksgiving.
I'm getting for you.
All right, come over here.
Come over here.
Now, this is your aunt, right, John?
Yes.
All right, so what we're going to do is we're going to tie quinoa pasta together.
Anna, please take this version.
We added a little bit of pasta sauce on it.
Go ahead and give it a shot.
This is the penne that might change your life.
The question, of course, here, taste it on the knife.
Really?
I don't have another fork.
No, I mean, really?
I got to taste it.
I got to taste it.
Yeah, hear that.
And I want to know, would you serve this to your family?
Would you give this to your niece at Thanksgiving?
She doesn't like it.
No.
I know, that's what I'm asking.
No, she doesn't need it.
No.
You don't like it either?
I have to tell the truth.
That's a good thing to do.
It's not a fettuccine alfredo.
No value to say it.
Oh, my God.
This is an Italian dish.
I'd rather have half.
All right.
Here, try these.
They're uncooked.
What is that?
Maybe they're better.
All right.
So after you eat the food I'm recommending, you might get indigestion.
And if that's the case, I want you to stick around because up next, I've got three all-natural ways to table the indigestion you get after having a big meal like this, the quinoa pasta.
We'll be right back.
Next, you've overeaten and are stuffed with turkey.
That tight, full feeling you get after your Thanksgiving dinner.
I have three all-natural ways to table the indigestion after any big meal.
Easy fixes you can find right in your own home.
Coming up.
Charlie Sheen announces he has HIV. His ex-girlfriend, who had unprotected sex with him, speaks out.
Having unprotected sex with Charlie is like playing Russian roulette.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
After the big meal is the big game.
But by then you've got indigestion and it can really tackle you.
So I've got three next level fixes for that tight, full feeling you get on Thanksgiving night.
And today's, it's my fix or fail.
Now there are some natural ways to table that icky feeling you get after having a big meal with stuff that you have around the house.
Easily available.
But first I want to actually show you what happens inside your body when you get indigestion.
So let me give you your intestines.
They literally look like that.
They fill almost all of your body from your nipples down to below your belly button.
Now when you've overeaten or eaten too quickly, the food that extra little bit goes down to the stomach, and there's Uncle Eddie in the recliner over there, and food hits his stomach too, and all of you start to bloat up a little bit.
What's happening is the food inside of your stomach is starting to ferment, so it clogs up the stomach, you get extra gas, and you see the bowel down below here?
It starts to get a little swollen as well, so this bowel is trying to push the gas downstream, you can't do it, you get that crampy pain that goes up into your chest, sort of feels like everything is getting pushed out too much.
I think you've all felt that.
So, Christine, how do you treat your indigestion?
I actually juice my own ginger, and I drink that pretty much every day.
I should try that with the Nona, see what they think of it.
All right, so I got three all-natural fixes to help you with all these problems.
The first is to rescue yourself with soda.
Now, it's very straightforward.
You're going to think, well, soda, how effective can that be?
What you're going to do is start with a few drops of lemon juice.
This is important.
Now you have to add to that a teaspoonful of baking soda.
Now what's happening is as you mix this up, the baking soda when it goes in your stomach is going to neutralize that acid.
It gives you instant relief.
But you need the lemon juice because you need to actually rebalance yourself so that reaction doesn't happen too aggressively in your stomach.
Looks like this.
Straightforward to make.
Easy and inexpensive.
You got the stuff lying around the house.
Spread it around and putting Uncle Eddie on the recliner after a big Thanksgiving meal before the big game starts.
That's tip number one.
Next is a four-seed chew.
It's a popular blend of herbs that can combat indigestion by helping you, well, I'll just say it.
It'll help you pass gas.
So don't give this to Uncle Eddie on the recliner.
Use this for yourself.
Grandma Carmella, come over here, Grandma Carmella.
So I want you to help me with this.
Hello again.
How are you?
So the food you make, you may actually eat, unlike the food that I made.
So if you get overstuffed, you're going to do this.
An equal amount, let's just say a teaspoonful, of fennel seeds.
Grab that.
The dill.
You brought your purse with you, I see.
I have something.
You have something?
I thought you were leaving.
To show you.
Do you want me to leave?
I'll leave.
No, I want you to stay.
Oh, okay.
I thought you wanted to leave.
No, I don't want to leave.
Put that one in there.
So again, the Anise and Carraway are in there.
Then you close it up like this.
Shake it.
Shake it, shake it, shake it.
And then whenever you have a little indigestion, you can take us on the row with you.
Take a little pinch of this.
This is used in cultures all over the world.
It gives you a pretty easy and reliable relief.
Yeah, please.
What do you think about the taste as well as the potential effect?
Well, I like all these because I use them in my food, but I carry citrato with me.
This is Italian.
What is it called?
Citrato.
Citrato.
It's Italian briozki.
What is briozki?
It's made from lemon and baking soda, and you're supposed to dissolve it in water, but I just have it like this.
Whoa!
I shouldn't chew it, I guess.
I've got to swallow it.
No, I'm not going to chew it.
It doesn't blow your mouth out?
It's supposed to dissolve it in water, but I keep it next to the bed.
So instead of going through this, you can make it more all.
Say the name one more time.
Citrato.
Stephanie, say that.
Citrato.
Citrato.
That is amazing.
That's amazing.
Italian mothers know everything.
It's amazing to me.
I made you the quinoa pasta.
Can I eat this?
Absolutely.
I'll send you a jar.
A little something for my effort.
I'm going to learn about this, and I'll put something up so I can at least be knowledgeable.
Okay, last thing.
If you're really in a pinch and you've got half an hour to make it work, you're going to take a bitter beer for very sweet relief.
It actually works.
Beers have hops in them, right?
You all know that.
And these bitter hops actually are very effective in stimulating digestion.
So unlike the seeds over here, which will get the gas going, this will just sort of relax you and let things happen the way they're supposed to happen.
Most of your pale ales have lots of hops.
IPAs have even more hops.
And so you can put these in your fridge, have them ready after your Thanksgiving meal.
So have you been drinking?
Not yet.
Not yet.
You were pretty harsh on those comments about the foods.
I'm sorry.
Did you, like, actually make that pasta?
No.
Oh, okay.
Thank God.
But I thought of it.
Here, you can have the American Pale Ale.
Come on over.
We'll take these to my friends over here.
Let's all have a taste.
See what you guys think about the hops over here.
Step past it over there.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Cheers.
You drink for me.
I like your taste.
You're my official taster and drinker.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
What if I don't like it?
Oh, please.
I didn't make this either.
I'm sure you'll tell us, though, if you didn't like it.
I'm sure I'll know.
Let me see.
Let's go through the exercise.
I need an ice mug.
Oh, please.
Next, I'm going to show you why you've been eating this food, this simple egg, wrong your entire life.
life.
You're going to love this.
All this season, we're celebrating our nation's nurses.
We're calling our campaign, Hashtag Nurse Nation.
And at the heart of it, our search for a nurse to join our core team of experts to provide wisdom, commentary, and advice.
Now we're introducing our candidates, and we want you to weigh in.
All this week, you can go to DrOz.com and tell us your favorite.
We'll announce our choice on November 25th.
Show your appreciation and be a part of #NurseSearch.
It is one of the most frustrating and anger-inducing foods to eat.
Food editors, am I exaggerating?
No, not at all.
No one's getting my puns today.
Thank you for the polite applause.
All right, so what do you guys think?
Does it frustrate you endlessly?
Yes.
In culinary school we learned all of these incredibly difficult techniques for things and honestly one of the hardest things that no one ever figured out how to do the right way was peeling a hard-boiled egg.
It's so nerve-wracking to get those tiny little shells.
In the Huffington Post we're always trying to help people learn new ways to do it.
One technique you put a spoon around it, one technique you actually blow it out, but none of them do several at once so I can't wait to try.
You excited?
Yeah.
I mean, I want to know how it takes less time.
Thanksgiving dinner is long enough.
I tried to make deviled eggs once and it took me like four hours just to peel the eggs.
No, it's a frustrating problem.
So this is going to...
Look, I want you to eat the eggs.
It's so good for you.
But it turns out we've been eating them wrong our whole lives.
I don't know why someone didn't tell me about this earlier, but are you ready to do it the right way?
Yes.
Very simple.
You take your eggs.
Put them in boiling water, but the boiling water has to have a little baking soda in it.
Put like a teaspoon in there.
Not that much.
That raises the pH of the water and makes it easier once the eggs have boiled to remove the shell.
So again, you boil them.
They're hard boiled.
I've got four in here.
You've got yours.
Then put them in a container.
That's about halfway up, but there's too much there.
A little bit halfway up with water.
So the top of the eggs can be seen, right?
Then put a cover on, a lid on, make sure it's tight so you don't spill it on you.
Are you ready?
Now shake!
Shake, shake, shake.
You can dance to your music.
You can get your kids to do this.
All right.
Now, we didn't do it for that long.
I told you to make sure it was tight.
I tried.
I'm the host.
I'm allowed to make mistakes.
You saw those nonas earlier.
All right.
Are you ready?
You open them up, and guess what?
The eggs are completely off.
Look at that.
Is that really cool?
Now, here's the question.
Can you juggle your eggs?
Can you juggle the eggs?
Oh!
I got one.
Listen, everybody.
Today was all about the food.
We joked about the fighting.
But we hope you took some of the guesswork out of your holiday meals at the same time because this holiday is about something much bigger than just the food.
In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, I want you all to have a great attitude and an attitude of gratitude.
Take a moment each day to remind yourself what you're really thankful for.
Personally, I'm very thankful about my family.
We all are.
But we've got a little new addition to our Oz football scrimmage team.
There's little John John.
That's Daphne's little baby boy.
Do you think he'll be more of a linebacker or a quarterback?
Quarterback.
Quarterback for sure.
Right now he looks like a kicker.
We'll find out.
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