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May 21, 2025 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:34
Summer Health Myths Debunked + Dr. Weil’s Grocery Gold | Dr. Oz | S6 | Ep 173 | Full Episode
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Today on Oz, summer health myths busted.
Should you pee on a jellyfish sting?
You've actually had a little bit of personal experience with this.
It was so painful, Dr. Oz.
Will a base tan save you from sunburn?
Will a bunch of grapes help keep mosquitoes away?
I have something for you to pack in your next barbecue.
Plus, keep your lips luscious this summer.
A cure for cracked, dry lips that keeps your pucker perfect.
Coming up next on Dr. Oz.
Hi, everybody.
Today, we are busting the biggest summer health myths.
Now, first, I ask lifeguards from coast to coast the biggest summer myths they hear around the water.
I've got a perfect person to talk about it.
Please welcome first place winner, first place, of the National Lifeguard Surf Race, Tom O'Neill.
*crowd cheers*
He's coming straight up.
Yeah, right out of the water.
How do you actually win?
What are you racing?
You save people's lives?
Well, sort of.
We simulate saving people's lives, but the race that I won is called the Men's Open Surf Race.
It was the 2014 USLA National Championships, which were held in Virginia Beach, and it's just a great venue for lifeguards to showcase our skills and fitness level.
They don't care about it.
The audience cares about this, by the way.
Oh, sorry.
You can talk about all those skill stuff.
All right, so, you know, let's go through this because you guys know a lot about summer myths.
The number one myth that everyone is talking about is one you probably hear at the beach at the pool, which is?
Absolutely.
So, Dr. Oz, the biggest myth is waiting 30 minutes after you eat to go swimming.
That's the number one thing.
Parents are yelling at their kids all summer about this.
So, who perpetuates this myth?
Where does it come from?
Moms and grandmoms.
They're the ones yelling at this at the kids all summer long.
Without stop.
So, here's the deal.
Waiting 30 minutes after eating is?
A myth.
It's a myth.
You can swim afterwards.
It's not a big deal to go swimming.
Explain, if you don't mind, what you guys learned in lifeguard school about this myth.
Sure.
So, in lifeguard training, they told us that nothing's going to happen.
In my experience, nothing has ever happened from something like this.
In all of my colleagues' experiences, nothing has ever happened like this.
So, moms, rest assured, it's okay.
You might get a leg cramp here and there, but it's not taking you down.
All right, next thing that a lot of swimmers believe has to do with these guys.
Look at these folks.
Do you recognize these things?
Ooh, jellyfish.
And here's the thought.
Are we better off peeing on a jellyfish?
I don't know.
Sounds crazy, doesn't it?
Yeah.
Denise, please join us, Denise.
How are you?
Hi, Dr. Oz.
Can I give you a hug?
Yes.
I would love to hear.
Your story.
You've actually had a little bit of personal experience with this concept.
I have.
So what happened?
My husband and I were vacationing in Mexico, and unbeknownst to me, I was stung by a jellyfish.
And then?
It was so painful, Dr. Oz, right here on my shin.
And my husband saw an episode of Friends and indicated that urinating on the sting would obliterate the pain.
Y 'all remember that episode of Friends, right?
It started a major movement.
Pee on your leg.
He did.
And you let him pee on your leg.
And I let him pee on my leg.
And it did not work at all.
It burned.
It even burned even more.
It stung.
It raised.
It was just very, very painful.
Have you gotten them back for this at all?
I have.
You have.
Many, many times.
So here's the deal.
Peeing on a jellyfish, my friends.
It's a myth.
It's a myth.
Now, you actually know a little bit about this.
You've been stung?
I understand.
Yes, absolutely.
So, would you like to see the jellyfish sting?
You want to see a sting?
Here, I'll hold your booty for you.
All right, thank you.
I knew this was going to happen.
While competing in Japan on an international trip, I was stung by a jellyfish, and it actually left a burn mark, a scar on my arm.
Did you pee on that?
No, I didn't.
No, I didn't.
So, what should Denise and all the other...
Use this on your husband.
Yes, absolutely.
What should you use instead of pee?
So, fortunately, the lifeguards there were equipped, as we are here at home.
The first thing you want to do is you want to get out of the water.
Immediately get out of the water, and you want to wash the affected area off with salt water, warm salt water.
That will alleviate the pain and deactivate the stinging cells, rather than using urine or tap water or fresh water.
That can reactivate the stinging cells.
What do you think people are saying to you right now about that?
What was she thinking?
I'm getting sweaty talking about it.
Thank you for sharing your story.
Thank you very much.
Tom, thank you so much.
Thank you.
I want you to pay attention to the inside scoop of your favorite summer treat.
One thing you hear a lot from ice cream lovers is that they get brain freeze.
Well, guess what?
Brain freeze is not a myth.
It's not your imagination.
Even the brains of Harvard research can stop it.
It's a real thing.
What happens is when the nerves of your top touch the cold, your blood vessels expand and it triggers a pain message in your brain.
One easy way to avoid this is to warm the roof of your mouth with your tongue and you can keep eating ice cream all day long.
*crowd cheers*
I don't know about you, but I thought that was a pretty cool explanation.
You didn't get it.
Cool.
Anyway, next, hold up the summer product that you pay for every year.
Let me see it all up there.
What do you guys pay for every single year?
Yes.
Sunscreen.
Sunscreen.
What's your first name?
Christina.
Come stand, if you don't mind.
So, here's the big idea.
How long should we keep that sunscreen before we toss it?
I tend to toss it every year.
Every year?
Is that what you guys sort of do?
Yearly?
Makes sense, right?
It's a cream.
Everybody, that, my friends, the concept of throwing out sunscreen every year is a myth.
Stamp it myth.
It's a costly myth.
I want to talk you out of it.
Have a seat.
You're going to enjoy this.
You're going to save a lot of money today.
Dermatologist Deborah Wattenberg is here.
So why is this a myth?
So this is a myth because sunscreens actually have an expiration date printed on them.
And the shelf life of most sunscreens is two to three years.
Did you hear that?
Two to three years.
That'd make you mad.
It could be yours.
Sunscreens are tested for their stability.
You want to be sure that you store your sunscreen in a safe environment, not in the back of your car for the whole year.
Then it's going to be bad.
You want to throw it away.
If you leave it next to the heater in your bathroom, it's not going to be great.
But if you're storing it in a cool, dark environment through the winter and then it's still there over the summer, you can use it.
The bigger issue is, though, you need to use approximately the size of a shot glass in order to cover your body when you are applying an SPF.
So, one bottle.
Is around four ounces.
Some of them are a little bit bigger, but if it's four ounces, you're only getting approximately four applications worth of sunscreen.
And as you can see, that's a lot of sunscreen to apply.
So the bigger issue for people is to remember you need to apply it.
You want to apply it onto your skin before you go outdoors, at least 20 minutes before heading outside.
And you want to apply it thick so that you get the SPF that's applied or recognized on the bottle.
So if you don't get...
This much used in a summer.
We got a separate issue for you.
Thank you very much for the tip.
Correct.
All right.
Oh, again, one more question.
I hear about this myth.
People always say, I'll get a pre-tan.
I'm just going to get a little bit of sun, but I won't burn.
And then that smart base tan will protect my skin.
So there is no such thing as a healthy base tan.
So can we stamp it with a myth?
Is that right?
Absolutely.
Base tan myth.
Not a smart way.
What does it really do?
A base tan gives you a false sense of security.
It makes you think that you have a little bit of color and therefore you can go out.
You know, maybe it's the equivalent of a sunscreen SPF of a 2 or 3, but that's nothing and it's not healthy for your skin.
So it's giving you a false sense of security.
You go outdoors, you burn when you have a base tan.
You also are destroying your skin.
And if you look at the picture that's on the screen, you can see this woman has a base tan.
But the damage that has been done on the right side of that screen shows that she has hyperpigmentation, discoloration, and damage.
The damage to those cells is DNA damage, and the cells are being destroyed, increased risk for skin cancer, increased risk for wrinkling and aging, and everyone's wearing sunscreen so that they look young and they look beautiful.
If you do that, you get a base tan, you're going to look terrible.
Thank you very much.
Alright, let me go to Ivory and her husband, Carrie.
They believe the sweeter your blood, the more bugs will bite you.
How are you, Ivory?
I'm good, Dr. Ivory.
Are you wearing Ivory?
I am.
She's wearing Ivory, too.
Yes, I am.
So what gives you this belief that it's a sweetness issue that attracts those mosquitoes to you?
Well, I'm always getting bit by mosquitoes like the eyes.
While my husband, he's never getting bit.
He says it's because I'm sweet.
Yes.
Which, he's a smart man.
He's a very, very smart man.
But it's very irritating.
They bite me as itchy and scratchy, and he never gets bit.
So I'm going to share something with you.
A lot of people think what you're saying is true, but the thought that you're sweeter and therefore the mosquitoes like you is actually a myth.
That's not why they're eating at you.
There's another reason they are.
They actually are attracted to your body odor.
Really?
Yeah.
Think about that.
It's our odor they like.
Carrie, do you think your wife smells?
All the time.
All the time.
No crushes ass.
Does she smell good or bad?
Good.
Good.
She's making sure.
Of course he's going to say that.
But it's interesting.
That's not the smell I'm talking about.
There's actually a smell that we can't appreciate that mosquitoes sense.
And when they get that smell, they just go after it.
So besides individual odors, there are things, for example, like mint.
You have a mint julep, for example, here.
This will attract mosquitoes to you.
They love perfume.
So if you have, that might be the difference.
Do you wear perfume?
No.
Yeah, just asking.
So, perfume, unfortunately, women think it's, you know, bad luck.
When you put perfume on it, it smells good for everybody else in the place.
You're also smelling better for the mosquitoes.
And cheese, interestingly.
So if you're putting cheese on something else, or you're cooking and you're getting on you, they're going to like that.
So you're probably wondering, what am I going to do about this?
Exactly.
So, here's what you're going to do about it.
I have something for you to pack in your next barbecue.
It is...
Grapes.
Grapes.
Oh.
Here's why I love grapes so much.
It turns out that mosquitoes detest the smell of grapes.
Really?
They can't stand it.
They run away.
You can actually put this like cisternilla around the dinner table and it'll help steer those little things away.
And you certainly can smear it on you a little bit if you get it wrong.
And unfortunately, here's the only catch, wine doesn't count.
You would think wine will get you there, but there's something about the sugar in the wine or something throwing you.
I don't know what it is, but they don't like that.
But grapes themselves, real grapes will work.
So now you can go outside and keep track of everybody else.
You're a very suave and debonair.
Well stated.
You can test your summer myth knowledge with my quiz on DrRogs.com.
We'll be right back.
Coming up, the annual examination that every woman wants to avoid and doctors are fighting over it.
Some say it could put your health at risk.
Do you still need a yearly pelvic exam?
Find out next.
Tomorrow on Dr. Oz, daytime darling Wendy Williams gets real.
The scale registered a lot.
193 pounds.
Did it affect your self-esteem at all?
Revealing.
Has it been a lifelong issue for you, the weight?
Yes, I come from a place of fat.
My first diet was first grade.
And always entertaining.
You had a little work done.
Yes, I did.
Can you tell?
How her health secrets help you.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Friday on Dr. Oz.
Touted as safe.
Now, e-cigarettes call them to question.
Whether you use them or not, why the smoke-free alternative could be more dangerous than you think.
Plus, how clean is your hotel room?
Dr. Oz uncovers their dirty secrets.
Before you check in, check out Dr. Oz.
That's coming up on Friday.
Today's big conversation is an important topic for all women, especially in their 30s and 40s, who've had kids and think they no longer need to go to their OBGYN.
There's news that says your yearly pelvic exam is no longer needed.
This recommendation is creating a stir among doctors, and some say it could be putting your health...
OBGYN, Dr. Lauren Stryker, is one of them.
So why are so many OBGYNs up in arms over this report?
Well, the American College of Physicians, who's an organization of internists, not gynecologists, has stated that there's no value in an annual exam unless someone has a very specific complaint.
But no complaint doesn't mean no problem.
So gynecologists are really worried that a lot of very important conditions are going to get overlooked.
And the other fact is that less than 20% of women actually go to a gynecologist for an annual exam, which means if your family doctor internist isn't looking in your vagina, no one's looking in your vagina.
This is not good for women's health.
Public exams.
They're an enigma.
Everyone knows the outside part, but explain why they're so important to you.
What actually happens?
Women don't realize how much is actually happening.
And a pelvic exam starts with a very careful inspection of the outside of the vagina, the vulva.
There may be a vulvar cancer, pre-cancer.
There might be genital warts.
There might be inflammation.
There might be a rash.
And then we actually look inside the vagina, at the walls of the vagina, to make sure that there's no infection, that they're not dry, that they're not irritated.
And then we inspect the cervix, the opening to the uterus at the back of the vagina.
And even if it's a non-pap smear year, we want to know if something's And then, of course, the last part of the exam is the bimanual exam, when your gynecologist uses two hands, one inside the vagina and one on the belly, to feel all the pelvic organs, the uterus, the ovaries.
But even if a woman's had a hysterectomy and doesn't have a uterus, there's other things in the pelvis.
There's bowel, there's bladder.
We get a lot of information from this exam.
So pap smears is not the major reason you do a pelvic exam?
No, in fact, it's not the same thing at all.
It leads to so much confusion because a lot of women are told you don't need a pap smear every year, and in fact you don't.
But it doesn't mean that you get a hall pass because someone's got to look at your cervix, someone's got to look in your vagina, and someone has got to feel those pelvic organs.
So Dr. Sarkar has three big concerns with this new report.
The first is that the American College of Physicians has recommended pelvic exams are no longer needed for women without any symptoms who are not pregnant.
Do you think that is flawed?
This is really flawed.
First of all, it puts the onus on the woman to know What her symptoms are, if she even has symptoms.
And very often, women do have symptoms, but they're embarrassed.
They don't want to say, hmm, I have an odor, or my vaginal walls feel a little dry.
So they don't bring it up.
The second is, is a lot of women think their symptoms are just a normal part of aging.
It may be that they're having painful sex, or that they're losing urine, but they think, well, I'm not going to mention that.
That happens to every woman.
Or they may not even know that a symptom is important, like heavy bleeding that's getting progressively heavier.
And then there are the conditions that have no symptoms.
There are a lot of very serious conditions.
Vulvar cancers.
I mean, the list is endless of things that have no symptoms until they're at a very late stage.
And that's not when we want to find these things.
Next, the report says that chances for identifying ovarian cancer during a public exam...
Is there any evidence, really, that you make a big impact on ovarian cancer?
We're in agreement on this one.
This is not what gynecologists are recommending an annual exam.
Unfortunately, we know that even women that have an annual exam do not have a lower rate of dying from ovarian cancer than women that don't have the annual exam.
So that's kind of gotten skewed in that everyone is saying, "Well, you're not going to find ovarian cancer anyway.
Why bother with the exam?" But there's so many other things we're looking for.
This report also cited that public exams are painful and embarrassing, which I'm sure the The audience can attest to.
In fact, before the show, talking about pain, I asked on DrOz.com, our audience, what they thought.
68%, the vast majority, said that they are painful.
Are you surprised by this?
Well, yes and no.
I mean, it depends on which part of it is painful.
A lot of women, when they say the exam is painful, they're specifically talking about the speculum exam.
And every woman here is familiar with the speculum.
And the thing to keep in mind is that just like shoes, speculum comes in many different sizes and many different shapes.
And just like every woman doesn't wear a size 7 shoe, every woman doesn't use the same size speculum.
And too often, if they see a doctor who might only own one size speculum, it's going to hurt.
Also, if the exam is painful, it may be an indication that there is a problem, that there's dryness, that there's an infection, that something is growing that shouldn't be.
I really highly doubt that most patients who see a gynecologist annually would report that it's a painful exam.
Just a clear example.
These are two sizes that are available in the same doctor's office.
That's right.
Mine's much bigger than yours.
That's right.
And I probably have about 30 different sizes.
Please.
Which one would you pick?
Everyone always says to me, I want the small speculum.
Can women ask for the small speculum?
They can ask for whatever they want.
I'm going to use the right size, and the right size is the smallest speculum that will enable me to do what I need to do.
So the speculum that I use for a 22-year-old who's coming in for birth control pills and maybe needs an STD screen is going to be very different than the size speculum I'm going to use for a 50-year-old who's having heavy bleeding.
So it really depends, and that's why you need to go to an expert.
Then there's the really big issue, I think, which is that women are embarrassed.
Yeah.
Is that a valid concern?
Testicular exams are embarrassing.
Rectal exams are embarrassing.
Yes, they are.
Nobody would say that there's no value in those exams.
The problem also, from my point of view, is this is once again making these women's topics taboo.
This is humiliating.
Don't go down there.
And so what happens is that women feel even more ashamed when the doctor says, you don't need an exam, and she's thinking, ooh, Boy, I guess I should be really kind of embarrassed about down there.
I'm not going to bring it up.
We need to normalize, not marginalize, a pelvic exam and make women comfortable.
So give me the bottom line.
What should everyone hear from you right now?
When you go to your doctor, he or she doesn't ask if you'd like your blood pressure checked.
They shouldn't be asking if you'd like a pelvic exam.
This is part of a comprehensive exam which is better for women and which women should insist upon.
Dr. Schrecker, thank you very much.
Thanks for bringing the speculums with you.
Anytime.
We'll be right back.
Next, he's traveled the globe in search of natural ingredients that improve your health.
Now, Dr. Andrew Weil sets a new course, a map through the market.
How to find Andrew's healthy treasures in the aisles of your grocery store.
The best foods for your health.
Next.
Tomorrow on Dr. Oz, daytime darling Wendy Williams gets real.
The scale registered a lot.
193 pounds.
Did it affect your self-esteem at all?
Revealing.
Has it been a lifelong issue for you, the weight?
Yes, I come from a place of fat.
My first diet was first grade.
And always entertaining.
You had a little work done.
Yes, I did.
Can you tell?
How her health secrets help you.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Andrew Weil has traveled around the world searching for the best natural ingredients to heal you and improve your health.
But today, for the first time, he's going aisle by aisle to give you his ultimate grocery store guide.
Please welcome my friend, Dr. Andrew Weil.
I want to be clear on this.
You say we can harvest the healing powers of foods in a grocery store and on a budget.
You don't have to have tons of money to do this.
Absolutely.
I mean, the most expensive things in the grocery store are meats and animal foods, and you can reduce the percentage of those in the diet.
And then vegetables, which are terrific, nutritional powerhouses, most of them are quite cheap.
And there are ways to get even less expensive.
Let's start with the frozen aisle, which is a good example.
We've talked a lot about frozen foods, which I think are a fantastic option.
And a lot of people don't really believe this.
I wanted to bring the guru in to tell us about this.
What do we look for to make sure we're buying the best things in a frozen form?
Well, first of all, I would stay away from vegetables that are peeled, chopped, or crushed.
Look for USDA-certified organic vegetables, which you can find.
And some vegetables...
Frozen corn, for example, actually have more nutrients than fresh corn.
They do?
Yes.
And there are some new frozen super sweet varieties of corn that I think are fantastic, delicious.
So frozen vegetables, you know, if you choose them carefully, are great.
Let me all show you why what Dr. Wiles said, which is so provocative, happens to be true.
And it's true for a lot of produce, actually.
Normally, your produce is picked.
Way before it's ripe.
For a reason.
They've got to get it to you.
So to prevent spoiling, it's picked early, not quite ripe yet.
It's put into the bin.
They never quite developed the full spectrum of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that mature ripening would have allowed.
So your produce is short-changed nutritionally even before it gets onto the truck.
And then once it's on the truck...
The produce typically travels more than 1,500 miles from the farm to your store.
And the amount of nutrients in your produce diminish even more because of exposure to the sunlight, for example, the time.
And then, of course, once it's on your shelf, well, the produce is already about a week old.
And then after it's on the shelf, it can sit there for another four or five days because you haven't bought it yet.
And that produce section happens to be the next stop.
But please remember, this is the reason that frozen stuff might make a difference for you.
There are some vegetables, Dr. Weil, you argue, actually are probably worth buying fresh.
Well, I think all salad greens, obviously.
Things like celery and greens.
I'm a big fan of greens.
And I think they're often missing in the American diet.
They are great nutritional powerhouses.
Inexpensive.
Is there one vegetable in particular you think we're really missing out on?
Well, you know, I love chard, which is sitting here.
But, you know, also collards, kale, which is here.
All of these things.
And I'd like them briefly cooked.
I don't know where this idea came from that's popular in the South of cooking greens for hours, you know, usually in a lot of bacon fat as well.
But, you know, if they're flash-cooked, stir-fried in a little olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, greens are delicious and really good for you.
So 30 seconds, a minute?
I'd say a couple of minutes.
A couple of minutes.
Until they're bright green and still crunchy.
Fruits have been maligned of late.
They have a fair amount of sugar in them.
Right.
What's the rule for shopping?
Well, you want to get low glycemic load fruits and berries you can't beat.
I mean, the pigments in berries are antioxidants that are strongly disease protective.
They're relatively low on the glycemic load scale as compared with tropical fruits.
I would get USDA certified organic berries when you can and look for really dark colored ones.
The next trick on your list is a problem for a lot of us.
The bread bakery.
Where we go in there, we smell it.
It goes your lungs up.
You guys probably smell this bread over there in the audience already.
What is the secret of picking the healthiest bread?
Well, look, here's a little test that I used to do.
When I was a kid and had bread like this, I remember sitting at the table, I would pull the crust off and then see how small a thing I could get it in.
Even you did that.
If you can get bread down to something like that or smaller, that is not the kind of bread you want to eat.
It's like a magic trick.
You want breads that are dense and that don't crush up like that, that are firmer, and preferably ones where you can see some cracked grains in it that have real substance.
These fluffy breads are the ones that really spike blood sugar and are not good for us.
Of the firm bread, which one?
Is it spelt?
Is that your favorite?
I like spelt bread.
That's an old variety of wheat that's got a higher protein content.
And grown in healthier ways.
That's one to try.
See if you like it.
And again, these are not big price differences.
Probably no price difference.
Buy the stuff that makes sense.
The olive oil, if it's not in the red olive oil, it ought to be there because we always eat it together.
Absolutely right.
How do you know if you buy in the red olive oil and how do you get it on a bargain?
Okay, you want to taste olive oil and shop around because price of olive oil doesn't necessarily correlate with quality.
First of all, you want to look for olive oil that is certified to be really olive oil because there's been a lot of adulteration of olive oil.
That's been much in the news.
I use a sniff test.
I like olive oil that smells...
Rich and fruity.
I like olive oils that have a deep green color and also an interesting taste test.
When you taste olive oil, at the end of the taste, often there's a peppery bite or catch at the back of the throat.
That's a good thing.
That's a compound called oleocanthal that has an anti-inflammatory effect as powerful as ibuprofen.
And you want that in your olive oil.
So look for olive oils that have a peppery finish.
Find the canned aisle.
This is a place we can save a lot of money.
And get yourself a lot of health.
Absolutely.
This is high-quality protein.
Really good for us.
We have canned sockeye salmon here, a very nutritious food.
We've got canned sardines.
And I like kippers, which are smoked herring fillets.
Canning softens the bones of these, and that's a good calcium source.
These fish all have a lot of omega-3 fatty acids in them.
And they're cheap.
You know, these are cheap sources of very high-quality protein and fat you can get in any supermarket.
Listen, Dr. O 'Reilly and I teamed up to give you a complete guide.
It looks like this.
It'll tell you exactly what you can take with you when you go shopping and what you should come home with.
To print that out, go to our website, dros.com.
Take advantage of this.
We'll be right back.
Thanks, Brent.
Next, bad weather preventing you from puckering up?
Find out the real reasons why your lips are getting the raw deal.
Kiss those chapped lips goodbye.
Secret beauty tips to keep them protected and healthy all year round.
Coming up.
Tomorrow on Dr. Oz, daytime darling Wendy Williams gets real.
The scale registered a lot.
193 pounds.
Did it affect your self-esteem at all?
Revealing.
Has it been a lifelong issue for you, the weight?
Yes, I come from a place of fat.
My first diet was first grade.
And always entertaining.
You had a little work done.
Yes, I did.
Can you tell?
How her health secrets help you.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
Friday on Dr. Oz.
Touted as safe.
Now, e-cigarettes called into question.
Whether you use them or not, why the smoke-free alternative could be more dangerous than you think.
Plus, how clean is your hotel room?
Dr. Oz uncovers their dirty secrets.
Before you check in, check out Dr. Oz.
That's coming up on Friday.
We'll be right back.
Incredibly common.
They are thoroughly annoying and they hurt.
Talking about chapped lips and everyone blames them on the cold weather.
But today I'm going to reveal three sneaky reasons why your lips are so chapped and what you can do to keep them healthy.
But I need my assistant today to help out.
So how about C...
104.
Where's 104?
Where's 104?
Oh, we got a winner!
We have a winner!
I'm so happy you came.
How are you?
I'm very good.
Let's get you dressed up here.
Good.
Thank you.
What's your name?
Lisa.
Lisa.
Nice to meet you.
Hi, it's so nice to meet you.
Is that a wedding ring?
Yes, it is.
Is that the proposer back there?
Yes, it is.
Wave your hands up there.
You have very good taste.
Oh, thank you.
Now, what's his name?
Aaron.
Aaron.
Aaron, yeah.
So, when you're with Aaron, does he ever comment on your lips?
Yes.
He does.
Now, as a male, he probably only commented on how beautiful they are, but does he ever comment how chapped they might be?
Um, I think...
So maybe if he avoids a kiss or something?
Yes, that would be a problem for him.
So what does it feel like when you get chapped lips?
Like burning and just very dry.
It's the worst.
It begins to crack sometimes and you just don't know what to do about it.
Exactly.
You came to the right show today.
Come on over here.
I'm going to show you why your lips are so vulnerable and what we can do to make sure it doesn't happen again.
So let's first explain what's going on with your lips.
Your lips, in fact, the entire body.
The skin is made up of different layers.
Some parts of the body have really thick amounts of skin.
We have to, right?
These papers represent the different amounts of skin we have in different parts of our body.
So let's say the foot.
You'll notice if you look at a picture of the foot from the side, it'll look like this.
So you have the sole of the foot with the normal skin here.
Then you have these big, thick layers of skin up there so you can dance around.
Do you like to dance?
Yeah.
What kind of dancing do you do?
Oh, anything.
Anything.
Is that true?
Yes.
He likes everything about you.
So you have all the skin here that's there to protect you so you can walk around, do things you need to do in life.
But if you lose a little bit, right?
Go ahead.
Help me a little bit.
Keep going.
Keep going.
No matter what you do to your foot, there's always a lot left.
Yes.
So you need that protection.
So I'm glad you're made with feet with lots of skin on them.
Okay?
Your arms don't have as much as your feet, but they still have quite a bit.
Okay.
So again, if you look at the picture here.
You'll notice that your arms have that same base layer, but just a little bit on top.
So, for example, if you go out in the sun too much, you'll peel and you don't lose that much.
Right.
So out in the sun, go ahead and throw a little bit of that off.
And even with a little bit of sunburn, your skin still has plenty of redundancy on the arm.
Okay.
But your lips, the precious lips, lips he loves so much, the lips that you have chapped sometimes, they look like this.
There's nothing on top of them at all.
It's barely what you need.
And it's like one single piece of precious paper.
You can't afford to waste it.
It's the only one you get.
And because they're so thin, and because they also don't have any oil glands in them, it's like the Sahara Desert.
The lips are always...
Problem, having problems because they can't replenish themselves.
They can't moisturize themselves like the rest of our body.
So that causes up issues.
So many of us face with.
When do you normally get your chap lip issues?
Winter and summer.
Both?
Yes.
When don't you get chap lip?
Spring and fall.
Okay, so come on.
So the winter is actually pretty common because you get cold, dry air.
Yes.
And summer happens for different reasons, often because of the sun.
But there are three sneaky reasons for chapped lips.
I'm going to show them with you today.
Most people don't know about these, but it's going to change you for the better.
The first is we forget putting SPF protection on our lips.
Okay.
So, you actually need to put some protection on there.
I think you ought to get lip balms with at least 15 SPF on them.
Okay.
Nothing less.
It's easy to get that way and make sure every morning, all year round, summer, winter, including fall and spring.
Okay.
I want you to put a little bit on there.
Simple to do.
Okay.
Okay.
The next sneaky reason that your lips are chapped is that you breathe through your mouth.
Oh, really?
Yes.
Okay.
There's a couple reasons for that.
When you breathe through your mouth instead of through your nose, you end up taking all the moisture off the lips.
Oh.
Ventilating, basically, and evaporating all the moisture off.
And one of the signs that we might be breathing through our mouth, and in fact, the time when we often will chap our lips is when we're sleeping, if we're snoring.
Are you a snorer?
Is she a snorer?
Karen, am I a snorer?
She's a snorer?
Yeah, we have it.
Double hands up I got up there.
Oh, gosh.
Okay.
So when you wake up in the morning, if you feel parched?
Yes.
Does that ever happen?
Always.
So you are a snorer.
You can store it any size, by the way.
It's mostly men, but women do it as well.
So I want you to keep on your bed stand something that can allow you to moisturize your lips.
The key ingredients to look for are coconut oil and shea butter.
Perfect.
Okay.
The third one is my favorite one.
The third sneaky reason, and I built you a model all for you, Lisa.
Oh, nice!
The third surprising reason is that you're licking your lips.
Oh.
Let me see you lick.
Oh, you're out.
We all lick differently, by the way.
Notice you're friends.
So, normally it gets dry after you licked it, and then what do you do?
I lick it more.
Lick it more.
We all do that.
So, I built you a model to demonstrate what happens.
So, you get to be the tongue.
There's your tongue.
Okay, put it in the saliva.
That's the saliva.
And lick these lips.
Okay.
Lick them up nicely.
There we are.
Put them up nice and moist.
Now, what ends up happening when you lick your lips is the air begins to evaporate it, right?
So, all of a sudden, you get this stuff going on, right?
And as it evaporates, it'll watch what happens.
It begins to chop it.
You see that?
Yes.
You see that happening?
Yep.
Well, you pull your side off as well.
You see it, all the whole thing begins to chop off.
And you get these sort of raw surfaces here, which we don't want.
All because of a darn tongue licking our lips.
Now, instead of doing this, you can put that down, I want you to do something very innovative.
I've never shown this on the show before, but I want you all to do this for me.
And please...
If you've ever, ever thought you should trust me, trust me this one time.
Okay.
Because it will change your life for the better.
Okay.
So, you're going to take the best source of oil you have.
Okay.
What's the oiliest part of your face?
Um, my nose?
Yes.
You take the oil from your nose, and we'll do this in the audience, take the oil from your nose, like this, natural oils, Mother Nature gave it to you, and then apply it to your lips.
Oh, my.
No, it's not dirty, it's oil.
It's natural oil.
Apply that.
It's nature's lip balm.
Wow.
It's free.
It's all yours.
Oh, come on now, people.
You ought to be doing this.
I'm doing it.
I'm doing it.
And that's how you know that you can protect your lips without having to do anything hard.
You have been wonderful.
Thank you so much.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Take care.
We'll be right back.
Is there a natural remedy you use to keep your lips from getting chapped?
Dr. Oz wants to hear from you.
I actually make my own lip balm.
I use beeswax and coconut oil.
A little labor-intensive, but it works great.
I love it.
Share your story with us on Facebook.
Next, it's the room where you make the most important health decisions and the one we most often clean.
The kitchen.
Learn to wipe out your kitchen dilemmas in just 10 seconds.
Small solutions to make big changes in your life.
Stay tuned.
Tomorrow on Dr. Oz, daytime darling Wendy Williams gets real.
The scale registered a lot.
193 pounds.
Did it affect your self-esteem at all?
Revealing.
Has it been a lifelong issue for you, the weight?
Yes, I come from a place of fat.
My first diet was first grade.
And always entertaining.
You had a little work done.
Yes, I did.
Can you tell?
How her health secrets help you.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
All right, and focus me on the small steps to make big changes in your life, and it starts in the one room you make your most important health decisions, your kitchen.
Sue Perry's joining me.
She's the deputy editor for Shop Smart Magazine.
So what do you do?
How are you?
Thanks for being here.
Thank you.
I went to visit Sue's setup, and I was so intrigued by some of these insights that I wanted to have you here to share with everybody else.
But let's first talk about the kitchen.
Why is it so important for our health?
Well, first of all, it's where we prepare food, so it's got to be super clean.
You don't want to be cleaning, you know, preparing food in the dirty dishes.
Plus, it gets a little challenging because it's the hub of the house.
Everybody hangs out.
Everybody drops the mail and backpacks.
It becomes homework central.
It's more of a challenge to keep clean.
And lots of craziness happens there, which is why we're going to focus on it.
And I asked three viewers.
To send in their kitchen dilemmas.
As soon as the healthy 10-second solution to each, take a look at Evelyn's kitchen dilemma.
I'm sure you will all relate to it.
My dishwasher gets so unorganized and it's always way too full.
And I end up having to do two loads.
I need some tips and tricks so that I have more time to spend with my girls and I'm not up all night cleaning.
So Evelyn's here in the studio.
That's a big pile of dishes.
I know.
How long is it to get through all that?
I feel like it takes me forever to get through those dishes, and I end up having to do multiple loads just to get them cleaned.
So, Sue, the 10-second solution for dishwashing, which is not a major part of our life anymore.
Well, first of all, all dishwashers actually have a pattern of how they should be loaded, and your manual's going to tell you that.
And if you don't have your manual, don't worry.
There's actually a general tip.
The dirty side of the plate always faces in toward the center.
Now, this dishwasher, we looked at the manual, and so we know that all the dishes...
Go in this way.
But look what happens if you did it haphazardly.
The water jets are not going to hit that.
And what you want to do is not block your water jets.
You want to have your dishes sitting upright so that's anybody at home who doesn't know how to load their dishes.
That's one little tip of how you can help.
Again, this is crazy, but in this case, every one of the dishes will be angled in that direction.
That's how it's supposed to be.
That's how it's supposed to be.
Now, the silverware.
It seems like the easy thing to do to put all the spoons together, all the forks together, and all of that.
But you know what they do?
They nest.
They clump together, and they're not going to get the water jets.
It's called spooning for a reason.
Spooning for a reason.
So you want to mix it up.
Okay, great.
So we're all good in here.
Okay, perfect.
Then there's plastic.
If you can address that for me, because this is one big issue.
Plastic never goes to the bottom.
Never in the bottom, because the heating element is there.
It can melt the plastic.
So your plastic goes up here.
Okay, thank you so much.
Irina sent me her kitchen dilemma.
It has to do with a special kitchen odor.
Dr. Oz, I feel like I constantly have an odor coming out of my microwave.
Do you have any tips and tricks on how I can better keep it smelling fresh and clean?
So Irina's joining us.
What have you tried to get rid of that odor in your microwave?
Well, I'm a working mother of a one-year-old, and I tend to use the microwave to reheat food, to defrost.
So I've been using harsh chemicals, and I wish I had another solution.
Take it away, Sue.
Lemons.
Lemons, there's nothing harsh about it, and they're cleaning.
I mean, you think about lemon scent as in all kinds of cleaning solutions.
It just smells so good.
What you can do is just, we chopped up some lemons here.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
You can take half a lemon, chop it up, put it in about a cup of water in a microwave-safe bowl, put it in the microwave on high for about a minute, and let it boil, just about a minute, and then 10 to 15 minutes, let it just sit there, open up the door.
You're going to have some vapors.
Wipe it out.
It's clean.
Perfect.
Isn't it simple?
Very simple.
I don't know why you didn't tell me this before.
I know, and it makes the kitchen smell good, too.
The citric acid, we think, binds up the odor particles, but I love the concept.
All right, we have Charlene.
She has a problem with grease buildup.
Hi, Dr. Oz.
I need your help.
I always have a problem getting the greasy residue off of my refrigerator and even my cabinets.
Is there something that I should be doing?
I need to be a surgeon, just like you, just to clean it.
Can you help me?
Charlene's a surgeon like me.
Thank you for your compliment.
So how much time do you spend trying to get the grease off the top of refrigerators and other places in your house?
I'd say about a good 20-25 minutes just trying to get the gunky oil off the top as well as also the residue that forms on the cabinets.
And I'd like to be spending my time doing more things like watching your show.
Well, you're very kind.
Ten seconds is almost all I'm giving you.
What's the solution?
Okay, the solution is, first of all, you have to clean off the gunk.
So dishwashing liquid and hot water is a great grease buster to clean off the surfaces.
But once you clean it off and you get up here, if you go up there, I'm going to tell you what we're going to do.
This is a really cool idea.
You can't do this in heels.
Here's the trick.
You take the end of this, and I'm going to...
Plastic wrap.
Plastic wrap on top of the fridge.
You'll never have to clean off the gunk again.
What we're going to do is we're going to cover this surface.
If you don't have plastic wrap and you have wax paper, does the same thing, craft paper, anything like that.
And we're just going to cover this surface, overlap, make sure the surface is all covered, and then in a few weeks, ball it all up.
Throw it out and do the same thing again.
You will never have to clean the gunk off the top of your fridge.
Aren't you happy?
You can do it on high cabinets.
Yes, I am.
You can find a gallery of my favorite 10-second kitchen solutions at DrOz.com.
We'll be right back.
What's your favorite microwave hack?
With a young child, we're always looking for ways to save money.
When our sponges get a little old, I moisten them and put it in the microwave for a minute.
Perks it right up.
Good as new.
Share yours on Facebook.com slash DrOz.
Tomorrow on Dr. Oz, daytime darling Wendy Williams gets real.
The scale registered a lot.
193 pounds.
Did it affect your self-esteem at all?
Revealing.
Has it been a lifelong issue for you, the weight?
Yes, I come from a place of fat.
My first diet was first grade.
And always entertaining.
You had a little work done.
Yes, I did.
Can you tell?
How her health secrets help you.
That's coming up tomorrow on Dr. Oz.
We've told you computer games are a great way to exercise your memory, but take a look at this dog.
Violet, the Italian Greyhound, took that tip to a whole new level.
If you look here, that's the best part about this.
This is actually a game for cats.
Those are goldfish.
But Violet doesn't care.
She's pretending she's a cat right now.
We should all take a note from Violet.
She attacks that iPad.
Simple games are easy to access.
They can be played quickly.
They improve the player's mood.
They promote relaxation.
They ward off anxiety.
Violet is a very happy dog today.
Now it's time for, in case you missed it, a couple of things I want you to remember from today's show.
We had a big conversation about pelvic exams.
There's news that says your yearly pelvic exam is no longer needed.
Now this is especially important for all women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who've had their kids and think they no longer need to go to their OBGYN.
But top OBGYNs still say there is value in a pelvic exam.
If your doctor doesn't offer one, you probably ought to take an opportunity to suggest it to them.
Next, good news for anyone who's been caught without lip balm.
Here's what you can do instead of licking your lips.
It's going to sound odd, but I want you to take your fingers, rub it on the side of your nose.
That's where Mother Nature has provided your skin with natural oils.
Remember, it's not dirty, it's just oil.
And then apply it as a balm.
I see you grimacing out there.
I want to do this.
Just try it once.
Please, just trust me just once.
Take the oil from the side of your nose and put it on your lips.
There we are.
It doesn't taste bad, does it?
It's your own oil.
Thank you for trusting me.
I want to close with a warning.
Please be careful about what you buy online, especially weight loss pills.
There are some dubious people online that prey on folks like you who are trying to do the right thing for your health.
Sometimes, they even try to make it seem like I'm endorsing their products, which I don't.
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