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Jan. 29, 2025 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:52
Diet Ice Cream Exposed: Healthy Treat or Hidden Junk Food? | Dr. Oz | S7 | Ep 141 | Full Episode
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Duped by diet ice cream.
This is the diet one here.
This is the regular one.
There's only 10 calorie difference between those two.
10?
Fooled by Froyo.
Do you think these diet ice creams are really just frankenfoods?
See what's in them that may be keeping you fat.
And shrink your stomach in just 28 days.
This is what a lot of bodybuilders and actresses use.
We have the step-by-step plan to get your body beach ready.
Coming up next.
We'll save lives two days.
We are great and healthy.
Memorial Day weekend is just a calendar page away.
And that means you have only one month left to reach your weight loss goals.
If you're someone who planned to lose weight before summer and still hadn't started, don't panic.
Because today's show will get you ready.
It's going to happen.
Now first, our food truth investigation into those diet ice creams filling up the freezer section.
This has become a billion dollar industry that promises to melt away the pounds one sweet creamy bite at a time.
But are they really the best way to cheat on your diet or are they actually what's ruining it?
We're going to investigate.
And diet ice cream's cousin, frozen yogurt.
Froyo.
It's out there now, right?
It's in the health food stores.
It's a trend that continues to swirl.
But is Froyo just glorified ice cream?
We sent some to a lab to find out what's really in your Froyo.
And plus, just what you've been waiting for.
We are launching our 28-day Shrink Your Stomach Challenge.
It's your step-by-step roadmap to a firmer, flatter tummy by Memorial Day.
Are you willing to take the challenge?
Will you take the challenge?
A lot of folks understand we're going to do that today.
But first, core team expert and award-winning food journalist Mark Shaskier gets the scoop on diet ice creams.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.
Only these days we're screaming for a different ice cream.
With everyone concerned about fat and sugar, more and more Americans are turning to diet ice cream.
Diet ice cream is all of the joy and none of the guilt.
It's just a better option for you.
I sat down with three die-hard diet ice cream fans.
So would you guys ever replace a meal with diet ice cream?
Absolutely.
I absolutely do as well.
I'll eat half of one of those small cartons easily.
Courtney, Julia, and Kimberly are part of the 25% of Americans who opt for so-called diet ice cream.
And it really does sound like a miracle dessert.
Check it out.
This one's got no sugar added.
This one's only 35 calories per serving.
And this one's low in fat, but it's got fudge swirls and a chocolatey coating.
So here's a question.
Is it possible for something to be low in fat, but still have fudge swirls and a chocolatey coating?
And if so, is that a good thing?
Sharon Richter doesn't think so.
I don't recommend this to my patients because I really don't think there's anything good about diet ice cream.
She's a registered dietitian in New York City.
Why are you so alarmed by diet ice cream?
Because of all the chemicals that are in it.
There's usually artificial sweeteners that are very, very sweet and often aren't satisfying.
What I hear from a lot of people is they think it's a guilt-free indulgence.
But some scientists think that actually...
These additives can confuse our bodies and in the long run we end up eating more, not less.
What do you think about that?
I completely agree with that.
Here's the problem.
When you get rid of all that sugar and fat in ice cream, you've got to replace it with something else.
And all those additives might be doing more harm than good.
So bottom line, I would stay away from diet ice cream.
You think that you're going to be at a weight loss or it's going to be good for your body?
It's definitely not.
Have a moderate amount of the real thing.
If diet ice cream seems too good to be true, maybe that's because...
It is.
Mark Shasker is here.
All three of those diet ice cream lovers that you spoke to had different reasons why it was a healthy food for them.
Yeah, it was kind of a different nutritional myth.
One said, well, if it doesn't have corn sugar but it has regular sugar, that's okay.
One said, as long as there's no fat, it's okay.
Another said, as long as there's no sugar but there's artificial sweeteners, well, that's what makes it okay.
But this quickly transforms into this is good.
So they would say things like it's absolutely okay to replace a meal with diet ice cream, that it's a healthy source of calcium.
And vitamins.
So we looked at a bunch of different foods, Mark and I, and one of the diet ice cream sandwiches we saw had 50 ingredients in it.
50!
I don't even know why they came up with these things.
So let's look at the anatomy of a diet ice cream sandwich.
This is what you're seeing.
When you see all those funny sounding chemicals, this is what they look like.
And they're not poisonous.
They're not going to give you cancer.
But what they're doing with these is making something that isn't ice cream seem like ice cream.
So you see things like guar gum, cellulose gum, sodium.
Carbo, oh boy, I can't even say that one.
Carbomeximethyl.
Carboxymethylcellulose.
There we go.
Why would you even make that?
This is what's getting, it's an emulsifier.
These are stabilizers.
They make something that isn't ice cream seem like ice cream.
They don't have any taste at all to them.
No, it's just there for texture.
And you know where it all comes apart for diet ice cream is when it starts to melt.
Then you put it in your mouth and you go, woo, what is this?
So listen, I understand the appeal of diet ice creams, especially when you're trying to lose weight.
But what if they're the reason?
The real reason that you aren't losing weight.
That's the catch here.
So let's talk about some of the issues with the most popular kinds.
And think about that in the back of your head.
What gets me the most upset is when you're doing the right thing for yourself, you think, and you actually got faked out by a marketing campaign.
So first off, these diet ice cream sandwiches and cones.
I mean, I guess I know why they're appealing.
This reminds me of being a little kid.
They used to be, you know, long and rectangular and you'd lick the outside first.
Does everyone like to do this like this?
And you save this outside part or maybe the...
You didn't even trade people after you licked it?
It was the worst.
Yeah, I'm not trading, but...
So what's the...
First of all, which one is which and what's the issue with this?
Yeah, okay.
This is the diet one here.
This is the regular one.
There's only 10 calorie difference between those two.
10?
10. So not that big, but here's the problem.
This one's called diet and in people's heads...
That makes it okay.
So they might eat one, and they go, you know, that tasted pretty good.
I want another.
All right, so what about the low-calorie fudgicles I see out there?
The fudgy pops.
The ingredient that really concerns me there are the artificial sweeteners.
Everyone thinks these are great.
You get the sweetness, none of the calories.
But what we have to remember is our flavor-sensing system is a nutrient-sensing system.
And when you eat sugar, you perceive sweet, and then your body gets this hit of calories.
But when you eat an artificial sweetener, you get this sweetness.
But then you don't get the calories, and your body starts to get confused about what sweetness means.
Now, we have great evidence from animal studies that this sends us in the wrong direction.
They feed artificial sweeteners to pigs to get them to gain weight, because farmers want their pigs to be fat.
But we don't want humans to be fat, so should we be eating these?
Let's show everyone exactly what Mark and frankly scientists around the world are now saying about these foods.
Why they might be making you fatter, despite the fact they have less calories.
Food, no matter what food you eat, it's constantly giving your body directions on what to do.
It's like a backseat driver, right?
Telling you what to do the whole time.
And you're in the front trying to drive.
So let's say you take something that's really sweet and real, like real ice cream, right?
That ice cream cone makes its way up.
Now listen, dopamine is released.
That's that reward hormone.
The body knows it's going to love what it just got because it was sweet.
So dopamine comes out and then guess what happens?
Your ice cream pays the bill.
It gives you calories.
That's good because when you have that combination, the body starts to release hormones like leptin that tell you it's full.
It doesn't have to keep eating.
You can stop.
To Mark's point, it's a nutrient-sensing system.
It sends nutrients, in this case calories, and it's okay.
But when you take the same kind of product with artificial sweeteners, like the ones in those diet fudge pops we just talked about, they come through here.
They also get the dopamine released in the body because the body tasted sweet.
Now the body's really happy.
But they have fewer calories, but you're going to eat more of them.
You trick the body.
The body doesn't like being tricked.
And it's smarter than you think it is.
There's no hormones released to tell you it's full.
Instead, you get hungry.
So your body actually is being reminded to eat more.
The exact opposite of what you want.
So, yeah, it doesn't have as many calories in that diet cone, but you can eat many more of them, so there's no long-term benefit.
Did I get it right?
Absolutely.
That's why pigs get fat when they eat sweetened products that are artificially sweetened.
How about these fat-free ice cream pints?
I see these literally, oh, these are actually not just on store shelves.
I find these in my own freezer periodically.
Members of my family, I won't name, but I'm married to her for 30 years, will buy these.
And I find them in there, which is one of the reasons I thought we talked about it today.
Yeah, this sounds to people like a win-win.
You're getting rid of fat.
Fat is very energy-dense.
But here's the thing.
We got very frightened by fat in the 80s.
We started to pull it out of a lot of foods.
We started to add sugar.
And what we found, we know it didn't work, right?
Obesity just got worse and worse.
Your body can also turn sugar into fat.
And the one thing that fat is, it's very satisfying.
It gives that richness to ice cream.
It's what makes a bowl of real ice cream so satisfying.
So I take my lesson from the country that produces arguably the best ice cream in the world, Italy.
They're not into diet ice creams.
They're not into low fat.
Their ice cream is delicious.
They eat it.
They love it.
They don't eat three in one day.
So we're better off eating the real thing.
I think we're absolutely better off eating the real thing.
Now, I understand, Gorman, that you are.
You actually make your own ice cream.
I make my own ice cream with my kids, with these simple ingredients you see here.
Strawberries, vanilla, sugar, milk.
Cream.
Now, I'm not going to tell you these are health foods, specifically the sugar and the cream, but they're real foods.
And when you put them and you make real ice cream out of that, it is so delicious.
And then you end up tasting one of these fake ice creams and you go, I don't even want to eat that stuff.
I remember being a kid.
We used to actually mix this by hand.
Any of you old enough to do that?
I mean, you got some big muscles.
I mean, you were cut when you were done this.
And you burned more cows than you could ever eat.
Now they have the mechanical ones.
It only takes about half an hour.
Doesn't take long.
It's a great family activity, and you treasure the ice cream because you don't get a lot out of this much.
You realize how beautiful and elegant it is.
Guys, here's my final thoughts on diet ice cream.
There is no, I don't think, option out there that's better than the good, old-fashioned, real ice cream with whole ingredients.
And some of these new, all-natural diet brands out there, they've been trying to give you alternatives to the chemical-laden fake stuff.
By giving you natural sweeteners like stevia.
Try some of these.
Experiment with them.
But get real ingredients.
And for people trying to lose weight, you are much better off with a smaller portion of the real stuff so your brain knows what to do with that direction than the 50-ingredient diet version that Mark and I were talking about today.
Alright, we've covered diet ice cream, but what about the sacred frozen yogurt?
What do you guys think?
Think it's any better?
They're not sure.
Anxiety fills the room.
We'll find out when we return.
Next.
It's been touted as the healthy guilt-free alternative to ice cream.
Lowering fat and calories with the health benefits of yogurt.
But is it really the healthier choice?
We take a look at the cold truth.
Is frozen yogurt just glorified ice cream?
Next.
We're dedicating an entire hour to sleep.
Starting with sleeping pills.
I finished an entire bottle of my sleep.
Why is it America's fastest growing obsession?
We investigate all new Oz.
That's coming up on Monday.
Closing yogurt has been touted as the healthy, guilt-free alternative to ice cream.
Now, they claim it's lower in fat and calories and has the health benefits of yogurt.
Now, you may think you're making the healthier choice, but are you?
Or is frozen yogurt just glorified ice cream?
Mark Shasker investigates.
Is there any dessert more healthy and wholesome than frozen yogurt?
After all, it's just frozen yogurt, right?
Wrong.
To understand how un-yogurt-like Froyo has become, I went to Culture in Brooklyn, New York, where they still make it the old-fashioned way.
Hey, Mark.
How you doing?
Jenny Emerati is the owner, and the Froyo she makes is an endangered species.
So, Jenny, how do you make frozen yogurt?
We take our liquid whey, and we add a little bit of sugar to it, and then we add real strawberries, if it's strawberry flavor, and then we add lots and lots of our own Greek yogurt.
Take careful note of how much yogurt Jenny is adding.
We blend it, and voila, we have frozen yogurt.
Sounds simple enough, right?
But these days, Froyo is anything but simple.
How do the big chains make their frozen yogurt?
I'm not really sure.
You walk into those chains, and you see lots and lots of different flavors.
But you never see anybody making yogurt, so it makes you wonder.
You don't need to wonder anymore, because this is how a lot of mass-market frozen yogurt is made.
With this stuff.
A powdered mix, which has got a little bit of dried yogurt in it, and a whole lot of other stuff.
It's kind of like baking a cake from a cake mix.
Stir it.
And you're ready to pour it into your soft-serve machine.
And presto.
You've got frozen yogurt, which is the industry term of choice for what's more like a frozen processed food.
You want strawberries frozen yogurt?
Just add some of this stuff.
You want bubblegum?
They got that too.
I am not making this up.
If you thought Sharon Richter didn't like diet ice cream, check out what she has to say about Froyo.
Sharon, what's inside the frozen yogurt that many of those big chains are serving?
So what it is is just a bunch of chemicals, a lot of sugar, and different flavorings to make people like the taste of it, but it's not going to be coming from a cow.
Nothing dairy-based.
Is there much actual yogurt in it?
Most of them don't have much, if any, yogurt in it at all.
So the next time you find yourself yearning for frozen yogurt, ask yourself two things.
Is it really healthy?
And is it even yogurt?
Mark Withers, what surprised you the most in your frozen yogurt investigation?
Two things.
The first was how insanely popular this stuff has become.
We had difficulty filming in these locations because I tried to get to the frozen yogurt machine and there's a lineup of people waiting to get this stuff.
The other thing that shocked me was how synthetic it is.
I really, in my head, thought...
They're selling yogurt that's been frozen, but this stuff comes in these powdered bags.
When the machine runs out, the employees just walk over, and they put in the powder and the liquid, and you've got frozen yogurt.
Not quite as romantic as you would think.
So let's go through this.
The cold truth here, guys.
The cold truth.
Frozen yogurt versus ice cream.
We're going to give you a half-cup serving size, which is all you should be taking anyway.
I'll use vanilla as the flavor, so you don't have a lot of additives.
The amount of sugar.
Ice cream's got about 36 grams.
Frozen yogurt, about 32 grams.
So there's not a lot of difference in sugar.
But listen to this.
In the fat content category, ice cream's got about 19 grams of fat.
Frozen yogurt, they make it from skim dairy usually, only about 2 grams of fat.
So there's a big difference there.
And when it comes to total calories, not surprisingly, when you have that kind of a difference in fats, the ice cream's got about 373 calories per half cup.
The frozen yogurt, about 200 calories, almost half.
So by the looks of this, my friends, frozen yogurt just seems healthier.
Now, Mark, do you agree with that, or do you think otherwise?
Well, I think the problem, actually, is that it seems healthier.
People hear information like that, and it goes in their head from being a healthy alternative to being healthy.
And they just really start to go for it.
And I am guilty of this kind of thinking, because my kids...
After school, they say, Daddy, can we go out for ice cream?
And I say no, but my kids are hyenas.
They come right back, and they say, can we go out for frozen yogurt?
And I think in my head...
Well, yogurt's healthy, right?
So, okay, let's go for frozen yogurt.
But the other thing is, when we talk about those numbers, they don't include the toppings.
And no one puts these insane toppings on ice cream.
They're putting chocolate chip cookies.
They're putting candy.
They're putting hot fudge sauce, sugary cereals.
And they think this is a healthy indulgence.
It's not.
People are eating a lot of this stuff.
Another reason folks love it is because it's good for you because it's got probiotics, right?
Yogurt has probiotics.
I'm just getting a frozen version.
It's assumed that frozen yogurt contains the same amount of live and active cultures, what we really want, as regular yogurt.
So to check it, we sent six brands and 19 yogurts to be tested.
Meticulously looked at these things.
Now some claim to have live and active cultures and some didn't.
So when we come back, the results of our frozen yogurt lab test to find out if this yogurt is even yogurt at all.
And the simple fro-yo rules to indulge on without packing on the pounds.
Stay with us.
Yeah!
Next, does frozen yogurt actually contain the healthy ingredients it claims to have?
And is it as good as eating the real thing?
Our lab results reveal all.
Plus, the three rules to keep your fro-yo skinny.
Next. Is frozen yogurt really the healthier alternative to ice cream?
We tested six brands, 19 frozen yogurts to find out two things, whether the frozen yogurts claiming to contain probiotics actually did, and if there was enough probiotics to even be considered yogurt.
Is it what it says it is?
So Mark, take it away.
What did our testing find?
Okay, so probiotics, a big reason people are choosing frozen yogurt.
You even see seals promising probiotics.
People think, okay, this is healthy.
So we tested.
And in order to understand these results, you've got to remember the test we did for our Greek yogurt investigation a few weeks ago.
When we tested real Greek yogurt, we found the very best of them had 36 million cultures per gram. 36 million.
So then we ran the frozen yogurt through.
Here's what we found.
Compared to 36 million, the best frozen yogurts had 700,000.
Oh, my.
This sounds like a lot.
700,000, that's a big number.
That's less than 2% of what you're getting in a great Greek yogurt.
So that's a huge difference.
And this is the best.
It only gets worse from there.
After 700,000, we go down to 300,000.
Now we're less than 1%.
Yeah, and it keeps going downhill.
Next one after that, 40,000.
We found frozen yogurts that had a culture count of 10. Not 10 million, not 10,000.
10. You can count them.
One, two, three.
You can give them names.
This is crazy.
36 million is our gold standard.
Well, that's not even yogurt, frankly, to tell us in 10. It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.
Well, how do they call it yogurt then?
That's the problem.
There is no federal standard.
It seems you can call anything you want frozen yogurt.
People walk in there thinking they're getting a healthy snack.
They're not getting what they think, and this is the problem.
Thank you for doing the investigation.
If you think, if you believe that the right kind of frozen yogurt can be made, and you can make the right choices, then I'm with you, but I'm going to ask an expert to help us out on this.
Nutritionist Sharon Richter is with us.
She has three rules to keep your fro-yo skinny.
The first is to flip your cup.
We're going to do the exact opposite of what we normally do.
You want us to get the filling the toppings first.
Exactly.
You know, I'm a bit appalled by the toppings that they offer.
We have candied coconut, and we have cookies, and we have...
Gummies with food coloring in them and all sugar and sugar and sugar and sugar.
So this is an ideal, but there sometimes are some good choices.
So if we load up the bottom with something like nuts and fresh fruit, you're definitely going to get at least some nutrients in there.
You're going to give your body some calories, so it's going to help with that mind game.
And why does it make a difference to put these fillings in first?
So instead of loading up with all the chemicals, we're actually adding in something good.
To start off.
Okay, so you put the yogurt on top of this.
Exactly.
You also argue that we've got to stick to just one flavor.
Yes.
So I like one flavor because it doesn't confuse you at all by having all these different flavors that are unsatisfying.
And traditionally, I tell people to just go with original because it doesn't have as much sugar as all the different crazy flavors like birthday cake and pistachio and all these things.
Now the biggest little tip that we're going to offer you.
Is to only get $3 worth of froyo.
Keep your order under that $3.
How does this help?
Okay, so when we surveyed all the different frozen yogurt places out there, we found that about $3 is 3 ounces.
So that's a good way to help us control the portions.
And if you're first putting the fruit and nuts in there, you're definitely going to have at least less of the yogurt in total.
So give me an idea.
What's $3 worth of froyo?
All right, so let's trust it out.
So most of the time, you're self-serving.
You're an expert at this, I know.
It's the first time.
I'm just guessing.
Oh, please.
I've never done it.
Look at how experienced she is with this stuff.
All right, let's see my weight.
So is that three ounces worth?
Let's see.
Put that on there.
And it is 264. That's pretty darn close.
Yeah, so that's actually a lot of yogurt.
Yeah, that's a lot of yogurt.
That should be satisfying.
Dumped it like this, and you got your...
Listen, I like the taste, but as long as you get the right stuff, it makes a difference.
Yeah.
Thanks for the tips.
Thank you.
We'll be right back, everybody.
Next, need to get a firmer, flatter belly by summer?
We've got a 28-day shrink-your-stomach challenge everyone can try.
It's the best of the best from our most successful weight loss programs ever.
What to eat and when to eat it so you can stim down by summer.
Next.
We're dedicating an entire hour to sleep, starting with sleeping pills.
I had finished an entire bottle in my sleep.
Why is it America's fastest-growing obsession?
We investigate all new Oz.
That's coming up on Monday.
All month long, we're giving you a brand new approach to weight loss.
We pulled apart the best of the best from the latest research and diet plans out there and broke them down to just the essentials.
It's called diet layering and it allows you to mix and match just what works for you.
It's a game changer for all of you looking for real solutions that fit into your real life.
When you're watching the show over the next month if you see this it means we're giving you one more layer to add to your overall weight loss plan.
This is about you tailoring a weight loss plan for you.
And now the first layer the base plan to get you going.
It all starts right now.
Now, if you plan to lose weight before summer, but, well, still haven't, don't panic.
Today, we're launching a 28-day Shrink Your Stomach Challenge to get you that firmer, flatter belly that you all want.
Remember, this is the base layer for our month-long diet layering movements.
You guys ready for this challenge?
You all in?
All right, let's get started.
First, you can start anytime you want.
If you choose to start, for example, May 1st, which is...
It's right there, May 1st, right?
That's this Sunday.
Now, exactly 28 days later is, guess what?
It's Memorial Day weekend.
That officially starts summer, so you'll be ready for Memorial Day.
Now, you complete the challenge, and you're going to see visible results around your middle part, which is frankly what most of you want anyway.
And it happens to be what I care about as a doctor, and I'll tell you why in a second.
So let me walk you through this.
We designed this plan, this rapid weight loss plan, with a lot of things in mind.
Taking the best of the best from the most successful weight loss programs ever designed.
And here's what we're going to be asking you to do for the next 28 days.
Let me run through it real quick, and I'm going to go back one by one and explain it.
We first want you to eliminate bloating foods to lose these inches, right?
Stuff that you already know you don't want to have.
Then, we want you to have a healthy breakfast.
For example, a half an avocado every day will help you because you want the right kind of fats.
You want a healthy lunch.
Fruit and fiber combos work fantastically well.
High-protein dinners, but you want some whole grains in there.
I'm going to give you some recipes in a minute.
We have plenty of stomach-shrinking snacks that will keep you full all day long.
And I love this.
This is the little secret sauce of this program.
The veggie flush that you can drink all day long.
And a lot of it.
Because I don't want you being hungry.
Then, brand new science on this.
There's a 12-hour fasting window.
This is what a lot of weightlifters and bodybuilders and models and actresses use.
12 hours where you're not going to be eating food.
And a little bonus.
A daily plank challenge, there it is right there, that gets your stomach-strinking results that you need.
Now, before I tell you exactly what to eat and what to do, I want you to meet some women who are up for the challenge.
We're going to start with some sisters, Carla and Tasha.
How are you?
Hi, Tasha.
Great.
How are you?
So, like a lot of you, they're thinking about how to do this over the next month.
So, are you ready to take this challenge with your sister?
Oh, yeah, definitely.
Are you going to fight with each other?
Are you going to support each other?
Yeah.
A little bit of both?
Yeah.
Working as teams is one of the most important things you can do.
It makes you accountable, plus in your dark times, when things aren't going perfect, you'll support each other.
The first thing we'll talk a little bit about are those, for the 28 days, I want you to get rid of those bloating foods that I had up there.
Those bloating foods cause a lot of problems.
But we know about sugar and soda, the diet soda in particular, artificial sweeteners, packaged and processed foods, dairy, alcohol, they're all written there.
There are two problems with these kinds of foods.
One, they do cause bloating in a lot of people.
And secondly, they actually cause a little bit of fat buildup in the middle part of our bodies.
Because they affect our hormones in such crazy ways.
And when we're cycling up and down, our body panics and holds on to fat in a part of the body you don't want it to hold on to.
No.
In fact, I brought that part of the body to you today.
Oh, no.
Come on, join us.
This is why eliminating those foods will make that difference.
You have your own matching purple gloves.
These are sister purple gloves.
Nice.
And you get to share the organs.
These are pieces of momentum.
Now, you know about this, right?
This omentum is that fat pad deep inside your belly.
I'm not talking about the jiggly fat.
I'm talking about the stuff around your organs.
It's in my genes right now.
Yeah.
We stuff it in our genes because we have to.
But it's not the fat itself.
It's what the fat does to your body that I'm worried about.
So, why don't you lift that up if you don't mind.
This is normal omentum.
Sounds like momentum again, but you see I can sort of see through there, little holes, and it's like pantyhose, right?
Now, Tasha, if you don't mind, lift yours up.
Keep holding it, keep holding it.
Now compare these two.
These are both pieces of momentum.
They're supposed to be the same size.
You notice a little difference there?
That's a lot more packed with fat.
It's been stuffed in there.
And that fat becomes a problem.
Because although you may think weighing yourself is the right way to figure out if you're going in the right direction, it's not.
This fat's the right way to it.
That's why I always ask people to measure their waist size.
And the problem with the fat, Tasha, that you're holding is it comes alive in the body.
It starts to mess with your hormones.
So the foods I'm asking you to eliminate for 28 days will shrink this back towards this.
Awesome.
All right.
What do you think?
You can put that down.
What do you think is going to be most challenging about this program?
Probably eliminating my favorite foods just because they're the worst ones.
Those are your favorite foods?
Of course.
Come on.
Who doesn't love sugar, Diet Coke, and all that other stuff?
All right.
And Tash, what do you think?
I'm going to say just being consistent, sticking with it after the 28-day challenge because I want it to be a lifestyle change, not just, you know, not a quick fix.
I want it to be a lifestyle for the rest of your life too, but I want you to start with the first day, which is, let's say, this Sunday or Monday, and I want you to do it for 28 days without looking up, without second-guessing or judging yourself.
You will adopt that habit and it will become part of who you are in the future because you're going to like the feeling of looking like this without all that junk messing with you.
Alright, now, we're going to follow your progress.
But I know, I know for many of you, the reason you won't want to do this challenge is you think you're going to be hungry.
And it's not going to work if you are hungry.
That's why when we come back, it's the 28-Day Challenge Game Changer, including a veggie flush that will keep you full all day long.
Stay here.
Next, when you think of losing weight, you think of just eating salads.
Why not drink it?
We'll show you how to have your daily vegetables and still have your meals.
I'm excited.
I can't wait.
Shrink your stomach without going hungry.
next.
We are back revealing the 28-day Shrink Your Stomach Challenge for everyone out there who wants to sit down for summer.
They're here.
They're ready.
The entire audience is into this thing.
We've got a 28-day challenge.
And we've got best friends Patricia and Flavia to start us off with this.
So Patricia, how much weight do you want to lose before summer?
Dr. Oz, my plan is to lose 10 pounds.
And the reason I want to lose 10 pounds is I want to wear a bikini.
I want to look good.
I want to have a nice shape.
I want you to look even better than you look now.
So 10 pounds will certainly get you there.
And Flavia, why haven't you started on a program already?
10 pounds is a lot.
I just, I love carbs, and that's what I eat all day, and it's just hard to say no.
What's been the biggest challenge as you try to find a program that works for you?
When you actually start the thing, what goes wrong?
I'm always hungry.
Ah.
Always hungry.
That's the perfect solution.
Yeah.
Get the 10 pounds off of the flatter stomach and deal with the obstacles to other programs.
Come over here.
Exactly.
The next 28 days, I want you to feel free to have a veggie flush drink all day long.
This is important, especially for the many women out there who stay there hungry continually.
So please, if you don't mind, give that a little taste.
I'm going to tell everybody, this is the first time we've done this.
We're adding this because we're excited.
Go ahead and taste it.
Don't be bashful.
If you don't like it, you're not going to drink it.
I don't drink anything green.
And all these...
They're already judging it.
All month long, we're giving you layers, diet layers.
But this is the base.
This is the foundation.
And we pulled this idea from experts.
Do you like what the experts made for you?
Yes, it's tasty.
Tasty enough?
Mm-hmm.
All right, so here's the thing.
This is going to be your major addition to your diet.
Now, you may not believe this, but inside that one glass that you're holding in your hands is enough veggies for the entire day.
Wow.
But I don't want you to replace meals.
I want this to be added on top of meals.
Let's go on to specifically what this is.
So it is two cups of spinach.
It's a cucumber.
Two celery sticks, a little bit of water, a lemon, and a pear with the skin on.
So the question is, would you carry around a little canister like this all day long so you have that urge to go to the vending machine or buy that muffin, you'll go for this instead?
I think I can.
You think you can?
I mean, are you really into this?
I am.
Take it down.
I am.
Everyone thinks to lose weight, you've got to eat a salad.
And there's a reason for that.
Salads do work, but they're hard to do.
They're not that satisfying.
Because you're not carrying them around with you, you have plenty of excuses not to use them.
Yes, very true.
So I want you to make this.
You don't need a juicer to make this.
You just need a regular blender.
But you've got to do it the right way.
So you take your spinach, add the water to it, and blend that first.
That gets into a little slurry.
Then you're going to add the cucumber and the celery.
Blend that up.
That way, again, with a blender, if you're only anything expensive, you'll have something that's the right texture.
Then you add the pears for the fiber and the lemon juice as your last coup de gras.
Spin that around.
Dump it in your little canister.
It's a little present for you, by the way.
Thank you.
I only have one.
You've got to share it.
And if done correctly, this will get things moving through you, if you know what I mean, as well.
Yes.
So you won't have any of that issue with the bloating.
And then you'll really feel your stomach begin to shrink down.
And you won't even need 28 days for that.
Okay.
We'll be following with you.
And you stay on this program.
I'm excited.
I can't wait.
Up next, the Shrink Your Stomach Challenge Essential Meal Plan.
All the things you need to know about what you get to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
And it is a lot.
I'm talking about a lot of food.
See you right back.
Coming up next, now that you know what to eliminate, what exactly can you eat?
We've mapped out your month-long choices of healthy meals.
A delicious game plan to get you on your way to a flatter, firmer belly in no time.
Coming up next.
We're dedicating an entire hour to sleep, starting with sleeping pills.
I haven't finished an entire bottle of my sleep.
Why is it America's fastest growing obsession?
We investigate all new Oz.
That's coming up on Monday.
We're back revealing a 28-day shrink your stomach challenge to get you firmer, flatter, and get that belly where you want it by Memorial Day.
Now, we've told you what you need to eliminate, so what can you actually eat?
Joining me now is Adrienne.
So why do you think you're ready for this challenge now?
Hey!
Hello, Dr. Oz.
I'm ready for this challenge now for two major reasons.
The first, I'm a mother of two.
I have a beautiful newborn.
Congratulations.
It sounds good, doesn't it?
It does sound great.
No, she's not a newborn.
She's about to be one.
That's my problem.
I'm still walking around.
Thank you.
But I'm still walking around with all of this baby weight.
She's got these love handles.
About to turn one years old.
It's a little embarrassing.
And my second reason is because of my profession and my body image.
I'm an event planner.
I plan these extraordinary, elegant, beautiful events.
And then I come schlepping through the door.
I just want to be nice and lean and fit and healthy to kind of go with everything else.
I want you to be as elegant as your events.
And that's what this 28-day plan is about for everybody.
So come over here.
So let's get to what you can actually eat.
We're going to start with breakfast for 28 days.
This program is going to teach you to automate your breakfast with MUFAs, monounsaturated fats.
So I gave you an example with avocados.
There are other ones you could use.
But as an example, you can have avocado on toast.
Notice there's no butter on there and all the other stuff.
I noticed.
This is an avocado egg mix that I love.
You put the egg in the avocado and cook it in there.
It's fantastic.
And then the avocado smoothie.
So pick one that you think you might actually have.
And I want you to experiment throughout the month.
But you're going to have to have one of these as your foundation.
You know what?
Let's go with the avocado and egg.
Enjoy it.
Your one-year-old could probably share that with you soon.
Probably.
Now, I like mine juicy like that, but...
I see.
I see.
Thank you for helping me out with this.
Let's give it a shot.
And these are straightforward foods to make, and you're not going to break the bank either.
And half avocado has got 10 grams.
10 grams of the healthy fats, which is really what you want to get in your body early on.
That's good.
I would have chosen this if I were you.
I don't want to.
And I'm going to give you a second chance.
Why do you think you eat the whole thing?
I'll give it a shot.
It's not looking very tasty.
No, it doesn't, but trust me on this one.
Give that a little taste.
This thing would change the world for a lot of people.
And again, we'll put all these recipes on Oz.com, but these are so darn filling and nutritious that you will want to come back to these for the rest of your life.
Don't you like that?
I told you.
And your one-year-old will spill that all over the house with you.
She's going to be jealous of you having that thing.
All right, lunch is all about a fruit-fiber combo.
I'll give you a couple examples.
This is shredded Brussels sprouts with a little bit of apple salad.
Raspberry cabbage salad is another option.
These are soluble and insoluble fiber.
Taste whichever you desire.
I'm going to taste them both.
And I think you'll like, there's a little sweet in there, which is unexpected.
And the beautiful part about this as a doctor is you are actually tricking your digestive system.
Because when you combine those different kinds of fibers, it speeds up the transit time.
I'm being polite.
So that food moves through your body, so you'll be running away from that one-year-old to go to the bathroom all day long.
Which is good, because that means it's not stuck inside of you, messing up you.
The first one's amazing.
I think they're great.
I had that today.
And again, depending on your palate, we'll have lots of other recipe options as well for whatever you wish.
This is awesome.
They're both great.
You think that's great.
It's getting better.
For 28 days, you're also going to want to pick a dinner that's got a lot of protein and also rich in these whole grains.
Do you know much about the different whole grains out there?
Not much.
So I asked someone who's a world expert on this.
He's a guy who knows a ton about a lot of things.
Dr. Andy Weil is going to explain whole grain carbs and why they're in this challenge.
You know, there's a huge difference between a whole grain and flour.
In a whole grain, the starch is enclosed in a tough bran, a tough husk.
It's very difficult for digestive enzymes to penetrate that husk.
So there's a slow, very, very slow conversion of that starch to sugar.
Also, whole grain has a germ, an embryo, which has some fat in it and vitamin E, which slows stomach emptying.
So every week you get a whole new game plan, a whole grain carb to play with.
And I got a bunch of them here.
I got quinoa and buckwheat, barley, these sopa noodles are to die for, farro.
These are old grains, guys.
Our ancestors ate these.
Millet's one of my favorite.
Put a little bit of anything on there and it tastes fantastic.
And you combine whatever whole grain you're going to play with with three ounces of lean meat or a half cup of beans.
I love beans because they're one of the cheapest foods you can get in the grocery store and has so many health benefits, including the fact that plant proteins are sometimes less intimidating than animal proteins and they have tons of protein in them.
And you get unlimited amounts, as you know, of non-starchy vegetables to combine with these.
Now, throughout the day, you can also have snacks, because I know you don't want to ever be hungry.
If my little stirpy green drink doesn't work for you, the snacks will, you can get an ounce of nuts, a quarter cup of sunflower seeds, even nut butters.
I love those two tablespoons.
You can put them on a piece of whole grain bread and it'll work for you.
But that's the basic food.
But I'm going to share something with you that's a big deal.
For the 28 days, we're going to put you on a 12-hour fasting window.
Let me explain what this means.
When you take your last bite of food at night, you are not going to eat again until the next day, 12 hours later.
It's not that hard.
You finish dinner by 8 p.m., you're not going to have breakfast until 8 a.m.
Again, you finish at 9, start eating at 9 a.m.
It's a very simple model.
This time-restricted eating is gaining a lot of popularity and scientific endorsement.
In both animals and in human studies, we've had pretty good suggestions that this practice helps people maintain their weight because it lets your hormones reset.
It lets your body relax for half the day to process whatever you put in there.
And that's why so many people are losing so much weight with this approach.
So what do you guys think so far?
It's straight up.
It's simple.
It's new stuff.
And we're going to keep layering all the time.
We know this challenge won't work Feel like you have the tools to succeed.
So up next, brand new tools that you need to do just that to succeed.
Stay with us.
A little nervous?
I'm very nervous.
A live exam in this studio.
You get pain with this.
I do all the time.
You do.
The diagnosis no one was expecting.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Tuesday.
Alright, for most people, let's be honest, dieting looks like this, right?
A bland chicken, a bowl of lettuce, not so exciting.
But, looking good for summer shouldn't mean you have to deal with boring, dry, and tasteless food.
So for our last minute, 28-day Shrink Your Stomach Challenge, we're giving you the tools to turn this into a foodie's dream diet.
We have food bloggers like Beth, Alejandra, and Kate that are going to be here taking the plan and basics and turning them into delicious recipes.
That they'll be sharing with you over the next 28 days.
I want to get a taste right now of what we could be looking out for.
Beth from Blue Barn Kitchen Blog is showing you 10 ways to use an avocado.
Here's the catch.
None of them, I'm told, are guacamole.
Nope, no guacamole here.
So what do you have?
These are avocado deviled eggs.
Simple, easy to recreate.
There's half an avocado in them, so you're satiated, you're full, and something the whole family will really eat.
You know, simple food that makes healthy eating effortless and feel amazing.
And they're fantastic.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
I got much more coming from you.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
Kate is here from her blog, Simply Savory by Kate, and she's tackling all the grain issues.
Yes.
This is, for this meal plan, these will fit the bill.
These grains will keep you full, you will be satiated, you will not be starving, and you still feel like you're getting that wheat that you really love.
And these are the ancient grains we should be making more of anyway.
Yes, absolutely.
Thank you.
And finally, Alejandro is joining us from Always Order Dessert blog.
She's going to show you how to maximize Mufa snacks in a very sweet way.
I love dessert.
So, these are the best thing ever.
You just roll half a banana in your favorite nut butter, and then in your favorite nuts, you can do pecans, almonds, pistachios, whatever you love.
It's nice, right?
I feel so dumb that I never made this before.
It's so simple.
It's so simple and it's so good, right?
Show off at your next party.
Eat them.
They're fantastic.
All right, so here's them.
The food bikers will be sharing these recipes and more using hashtag 28dayshrink.
I'm going to share them on my own Instagram and Facebook pages throughout the month.
But remember, this is really important.
What's the difference between a challenge and a diet?
You all know?
It's very subtle.
Think about it.
It's about having a community of people doing it together.
If it's a challenge, you're all in it together.
Not beating people.
You can if you want, but you're doing it with them.
So stay active on social media using the hashtag 28DayShrink to share your own tips and results with other people taking the challenge.
And now, big news.
For the first time, we're introducing the Dr. Oz app.
It's a 24-hour tool to use for this challenge and so much more.
Let me show you.
We're going to give you the ability to access specialized resources, the best of the best from the show.
And we want the app to be a personalized experience.
So we're going to give you full access to plans based on whatever you need.
You're going to have the ability to track your progress.
You'll get the support you need.
And because you're always asking for recipes, I want to make it super simple for you to make healthy recipes based on what you already have in your home.
That's why I'm offering this text message feature.
It's a personalized way to get your own prescription.
Take a look at what it can do.
So let's say I'm talking to Jennifer.
I ask her, what ingredients do you have in your fish sticks?
She thinks for a while, and then she says, you know what?
I got avocados, sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, honey, lemon, eggs, I think for not a long time, because I got lots of recipes I can pull from, and I give her three matching recipes for these ingredients.
Any of these will work, right?
You get the lemon avocado, the Moroccan guacamole, smosh, anything she wants.
So then I can actually go on one of them, and there you have it.
You got the avocado dish of your choice, in this case for breakfast.
Or, you know what?
I can help you find a recipe based on whatever you are craving.
So again, we go back to Jennifer.
What are you in the mood for today?
We're all different.
Jennifer's showing off to me.
So she says, oh veggies, Dr. Oz.
So what do I do?
I give her recipes matching whatever she's in the mood for.
Great vegetarian recipes.
So you have no more excuses.
Now this app is here to help you follow the plan and get the support that you need.
Remember everybody, happy and healthy.
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