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Sept. 1, 2025 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:41
TLC’s T-Boz on Sickle Cell, Brain Tumor & Healing | Dr. Oz | S9 | Ep 18 | Full Episode
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T-Boz's Vulnerable Journey 00:15:02
It hurts so bad you couldn't live and breathe.
I was in the hospital for four months.
Today, TLC's T-Boz, her courageous fight.
I've never been this vulnerable in it.
And her devastating loss.
And she's been transforming women's bodies for almost 20 years.
Trader Tracy Anderson, the secret she only shares with the stars.
Plus, it's freaking a lot of people out.
The controversial new film.
The film alleges that drinking milk can cause diabetes.
Coming up next.
Are you ready to say some lives today?
Yeah!
I love you, Deca!
It's an iconic music video moment from Mega Music Group TLC.
You're all excited about it.
Remember waterfalls?
It was a pop hit with a very serious warning that chasing ambition can sometimes come with consequences.
It's a lesson Tian Tbaz Watkins knows all too well from an unexpected brain tumor to a lifelong battle with sickle cell anemia and the untimely passing of her beloved bandmate, Lisa Left Eye Lopez.
Tiana is ready to reveal the source of her strength with you.
You guys excited?
Yes.
Yeah, Dion!
Hi, beautiful.
Hi.
You look wonderful.
Thank you so much.
I felt like dancing when I saw that picture of waterfall.
Yeah, I love to dance.
We go like this.
How many times you get it right?
You did that video in one take?
No, you know, we were out in the water at 4.30 in the morning.
That was a hard video to shoot.
It was three days.
And we shot at a universal where they shot jaws.
Oh my goodness.
All you thought about was a big claw.
So speaking of sharks and deadly encounters, last time you were here, you had just had your procedure for your brain tumor.
Yes.
How's that going?
I am great.
Oh my goodness.
I have to check it every year, but I'm great.
You're lucky.
Yeah.
She had a tumor behind her ear, and it's the kind of tumor that can do a lot of damage if they don't get it out the right way.
I mean, anything in the brain, you figure it's going to be tight.
Yeah.
On the other hand, you've got sickle cell anemia, which you've had your whole life.
You were told, I'm told, at age seven, that you probably wouldn't live past 30.
Right.
Which back then was probably reasonable advice to give a little girl and to her family.
So how do you hear that and then go on to become the pop megastar you became?
The day he told me that, because he also said I would never have kids and I would be disabled my whole life.
And I looked at my mom because my dream was always to sing.
And so she looked at me and she said, God has the last say, so we'll talk in the car.
So I really credit my mother because she has somebody, a higher power with her.
Yeah.
We all do.
Yeah.
This book is fantastic.
Now, I was going to point out that it's called A Sick Life.
Could be a sickle life, by the way.
I never thought of that.
That's good, yes.
But it's a sick life because you've had illness, but it's been a sick, good life, too.
Yes.
You've done some pretty awesome, outrageous stuff.
So can I read this from the book?
Because you have so many Americans, over 100 million living with chronic pain.
So I want to talk about that for a second.
For folks who are looking for a way out, listen to this, see if it describes you.
You describe your pain like knives stabbing you over and over in your joints.
And then you write that you have to gasp for air.
You just, it hurts so bad, you couldn't even breathe.
Right.
How do you cope with that intensity of pain?
Really, it's hard because sometimes you're in so much pain, you're delirious.
I don't know where I'm at.
I have to rely on my friends, my mom, and my family to tell me what's going on or where I'm at right now.
But I get hospitalized, medication, I pray a lot, and I fight for my kids.
Well, we've made a lot of advances, in part because people who are courageous activists like you stood out.
But let's show everybody what we're talking about.
Absolutely.
This is a disease that is happening in your blood.
And I'm going to show you normal blood, and then I'm going to show you yours.
So normal blood cells, you see how these up the round like this, right?
Forget about this thing.
This is a white blood cell.
We're not worried about that.
But these really, these are red blood cells.
And people who have normal blood, these cells, they bounce around, they're going like this, sort of like you dancing, right?
They're going back and forth, they're going wherever they want to go.
Nothing blocks them because they're circles.
They're used to sliding and bending and waving through capillaries.
Now, instead of having these perfect circles, imagine if you had sickle cell anemia.
And this shows you what happens.
See, there's a nice circle here, but what happened here or here?
You see, it's shaped like a sickle, like a crescent moon.
Yeah.
So imagine if you had a cell like that, another one down here that's shaped like that.
These guys, they lock up.
And when they lock up, they can't move back and forth and they can't get through the capillary.
They clump and then they literally clump through each other and they're all over the place.
So there's no way for these cells to go through.
You know that, but for the average person, think about what happens.
If all of a sudden the blood supply to your finger clots off because of these.
You're going to have a ton of pain there.
It's like someone put a tourniquet and blocked off the blood or to your ear or to your knee or some other part of your body, which is something that you've, I guess, gotten used to coping with because it must come up in unpredictable times.
Yeah, I have a high tolerance for pain, but that's not always good because sometimes I don't realize how sick I am.
So I've started paying more attention to my body now.
Well, it's a good thing to do.
And too, the thing is, these issues, most of us sort of sweep away, pretend it's not happening, and you become an advocate for people living with sickle cell.
So for all those folks who want to understand what's the secret to making it happen.
I really mean this when I say when you think sick and talk sick, that negative energy, your mindset and your willpower to live is very important, but you have to be your own advocate because you're the only person that can convey what's going on.
My cousin, he didn't live, and he actually died exactly when the doctor said so because he used to wait around to be sick.
Me, I'm going to live my life.
I'm not going to let a disease take over me.
I'm not defined by that.
So be your own advocate.
Learn about your body because what worked for my cousin didn't work for me.
You have to know your body.
And that's so important.
You have a little T-Boss.
All right.
We come back.
Tean's revealing what happened the last day she saw her bandmate, Lisa Left Eye Lopez, alive.
Be right back.
Is coconut oil healthy or not?
All new Oz.
An alarming recommendation to stop eating this stuff.
And how to determine if you're overfat.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Monday.
We're back with you on T-Boz Watkins from the legendary music group TLC.
Don Tian's new book.
She writes about her band member, Lisa Left Eye Lopez, and the deadly 2002 Jeep accident in Honduras that cost her a life.
Oh, it's a terrible wreck.
But what was the last time you saw Lisa?
I was, we were working on the 3D album at the time, and I got sick, really sick.
I was in the hospital for four months.
And at the time, we were mad at one another.
So she sent me plants every day.
And on the fourth day, I heard this loud voice, I'm coming to see Tian.
And I was like, that's her.
So when I got the first plant, I knew we had already made up, but she came to see me to make sure that we were okay.
What would you fight about?
Was it small stuff?
And then she'd come in.
How do you, what makes you fight that much that you have to have that much of a mend?
It was, oh, oh, my goodness.
If you knew Lisa, you would know why.
I'm stubborn.
She's stubborn.
But it was over music because we had a contractual obligation to finish our album and she started one with Suge Night as a rapper at the same time.
So I never cared that she wanted to go solo.
It was how she went about it and the time that she chose to do it.
And so when I told her what I thought, she got mad.
And then she came to me and was kind of like, you were right and I'm sorry.
Well, that's good.
Yeah.
A lot of folks have lost loved ones.
She's like a sister to you.
So how do you get past that?
The pain is one thing, the physical issues, but then the mental loss is a whole separate level.
You know, it's crazy because I've lost my grandmother, my aunt, and my cousin, but honestly, I didn't get to grieve the way a person should with Lisa because I had to be forced to deal with it with the public.
And it just, I can't give you an answer of how I dealt with it because I kind of still do, but I've tried to turn it since it's been almost 15 years.
I celebrate her life instead of staying down.
You know, she died the day before my birthday.
Thank you.
When do you miss her the most?
When we're on stage, I miss her a lot just period because we're still TLC.
I'm never going to replace her.
We are never going to put an L there.
She's still, we built this together.
We have history.
We have a catalog of music and she still rocks her own part and she lives throughout the music when we're touring and it's just going to stay that way.
It's TLC forever, just like she said.
Your music has allowed you and your fans to sort of go through the ups and downs of life.
Do you feel like it's been therapeutic for you?
This book was therapeutic because honestly, I'm not open.
I've never been this vulnerable to tell people like the darker sides of my life and that part where you know when you're fighting for your life and you want to live, I've never shared that with anyone.
So it's therapeutic for me, but I'm also nervous because I'm like, oh my God, now I'm really open now for real.
Like it's all out there.
I put the good, the bad, the ugly, everything.
You want to know it made me who I am today and I learned and I grew from it, but it's out there.
What is this single?
And it's very well written by the way.
So, you know, if you like it, which you will give it to a friend.
It's of that caliber.
What is the one secret you've wandered into?
The one unexpected place of power, of resilience that's allowed you to get past the darkest moments.
When I'm sick, and this sounds crazy to some people maybe, but I take myself to this peaceful place.
I love water.
So I envision the most peaceful place I could ever be, and it's this stream, and it's a big body of water, beautiful trees, and it's like waterfalls.
And I just put myself there.
I don't really dwell on the past.
I move forward.
I never look back.
One thing you've done is create a beautiful family.
Thank you.
Much of your life has been designed to thwart that doctor all those years ago.
So you've got a 16-year-old beautiful daughter.
You just adopted a little boy.
Yes, from birth, my chancy pants.
The chancy pants.
Look at him.
That is a cute kid.
Awesome.
So how do the kids change your outlook on life?
They saved my life at two separate times.
They did?
How so?
I hate to cry, but my daughter gave me a reason to fight because I had someone to live for, my son.
You just came in my life at the right time.
So I fight to live for my kids, basically.
So it gives me the willpower to keep going because I have to be here.
They need me and I want to raise them.
I want to be a grandmother.
And they're my everything.
Your 16-year-old must know how much you love her.
She better.
She better.
Yeah, check out The Honest New Book, A Sick Wife.
Now, you know what?
They love you so much.
Do we have enough books, you think?
Absolutely.
I hope you guys.
You're going home with Teanna's book.
Enjoy it and share it.
We'll be right back.
It's free class day, and Tracy Anderson is here teaching us her signature method to reshape your body, especially your arms.
Today, you're about to get a free class from one of the most sought-after fitness gurus in America.
From Gwyneth to J-Lo.
She's been transforming women's bodies for almost 20 years.
And her classes are some of the hardest to get into.
Until now.
Please welcome your free class day teacher, Tracy Anderson.
She has spent years perfecting her very specific method for how sculpting long, lean muscles can actually work for you.
And she's about to teach us all the secret sauce.
My wife weaned me on you.
I would always see her doing all these geez arm things and crazy maneuvers, all based on you.
But remind us how you got into this.
What did you come up with the idea?
Your wife and your beautiful daughter.
Yes, I'm Daphne, yes.
Your beautiful, beautiful daughter.
So basically, I wasn't built genetically blessed from a metabolic standpoint.
My father was obese.
He still is, bless his heart today.
And my mother was a ballerina.
So you were cute.
But I wasn't a ballerina.
Like, I mean, I had the talent, but I didn't have the body for it.
So I did go to college on a dance scholarship.
My mom also worked three jobs to put me through school, and she really wanted me to live up to that talent.
And I gained 40 pounds at school for dance, dancing all day.
So I learned at a really young age something that's very frustrating, I think, to so many people where it's like, wait a minute, I'm working out.
I'm eating healthy.
Why am I overweight?
So how can you gain 40 pounds being a ballerina?
Well, you know, stop and go.
This is where it's much more strategic and much more difficult to actually lose and manage weight than people think.
People need to really focus in and understand that exercise needs to be very strategic and it needs to be a protected, focused time of day.
And I think that we confuse daily activity with exercise sometimes.
Like a stroll is our exercise when that's not really getting in there and showing up for our health.
Because you got an audience here, folks, in a classroom with voraciously curious individuals.
They look.
Are you guys excited?
I know we got dumb burning questions.
Chantal, give us one question.
I know that you probably speak for a lot of folks.
Yes, actually, one of my main concerns are my arms and abdominal areas.
So I wanted to know what are some exercises that you recommend that are easy to help tone those areas.
Great question.
Small Pulse Reach 00:09:35
So part of getting great arms and great abdominals is that you need to be doing cardiovascular work.
You need to be also being attentive to your muscles.
So today we're actually, you're lucky enough, we're going to focus on the arms today.
We're going to get to all of that.
So first of all, understanding who you are.
I love that you know, like where your body tends to gain is the arms and the abs, okay?
So you are how you move and you are how you eat.
I really believe this.
So of course I love eating whole foods, lean proteins, vegetables, all of that.
And then making sure that you're getting your exercise routine in.
So the two happen together, yeah.
The exercise routine that you teach is different from anything that I had seen when I first saw it.
Yes.
And it's based on an idea that I was completely uncomfortable with.
I grew up playing football and batting man sports.
So you build big, thick muscles.
Pool players play or take ballet.
Sometimes.
Nowadays they do.
Teach us about accessory muscles and why they're so fundamental to your plan.
Okay, so let me show you over here.
So you have to include the whole body, okay?
So the large muscles, there's no way around moving them.
They're going to move.
So this guy is one of my favorites right here, this Artorius, because it's like, it is what you would call like a synergistic muscle.
And I get to it a lot in transitional movements.
But in our exercise routine, we tend to leave them out of it.
Also, I go where this collection where all these great, the hip flexors come together and these like deep, deep, there's deep six like muscles underneath the glute.
These are all little places that we have to get to and we can't get to them unless we're actually moving our body in dynamic ways.
But you kind of want to be your own Beyoncé, so to speak.
So you want to be like, my whole body's in the game.
I'm in this.
I can move.
I can twist.
I can do everything dynamic with my body.
I don't just have to go like this and be afraid of doing it.
When you get everything in action, these guys come into play.
And that's when everything comes together in a way that's very unified.
And then the skin comes back to the muscle.
So a lot of what we're going to do today, even with our arms, gets these things, okay?
So if you get, even with this little guy here, I'm going to use.
Actually, like orchestra conductors live longer than nearly any other group of people.
They do.
Yes, they really do.
So they're moving their upper body and their arms and circulating and moving to music.
But what's cool about it is that they're also creating like a masterpiece out of the music.
So when you're moving, whoo, this guy, moving like to music, right?
With this, the lever of your arms out against your core.
If you hold your arms out, can you just hold your arms out for a bit?
So you hold them out, but hold them out now, like really with intention.
Like, like, like, push them out.
Like, push them out.
Like, you've got that it factor.
Like, you can stand on a stage and 70,000 people can feel your magnetism, right?
So then you start moving and flapping your arms around and your heart rate starts pumping and your circulation.
But then what I really love to see happen is that you move to music and you include every instrument in your body, every muscle in your body.
You're inclusive in that way.
And then you also let you come up in you.
Like, did someone upset you today?
All right.
Like, I don't care.
Put on MM.
Move on, whatever.
Yeah.
All right.
Are you guys ready for class?
Process.
All right, when we come back, call your friend, your mom, set your DVR because your free class continues next with Tracy's signature arm workout.
You can look like this.
Stick around.
What could possess a 16-year-old high school cheerleader to hire a hit man to kill her father?
I felt like I had no way out.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Tuesday.
It is pre-class day, celebrity trainer.
Tracy Anderson is here.
She's going to show us a secret method, her method, reshaping your body.
So I want you to set your DVR because you're not going to miss this class.
Tell your friends about it.
Tracy, this is your signature arm workout.
Yes.
And I know my wife, my daughter Daphne, my wife taught my daughter Daphne this because of you.
So teach it to everybody.
Okay, great.
So we've got five minutes on the clock to where I can prove to you that you can really get great arms with just your arms.
How about that?
So we're going to start with our arms out.
Let's cue the music.
Cue the music.
We need music.
That's really key.
Okay, so we're going to just press eight times with our right arm forward.
So we're going to go one, two, three, four, five, six.
Your whole body's twisting.
Eight, yep.
Now I want your whole body into it.
You've got permission to shake it.
We already talked about this.
Yep, five, six, seven, eight.
Now, I want you to go forward, out to the ceiling, out.
Reach to the ceiling.
Good.
And see, you're already getting better.
My right arm's getting tired.
This is happening.
Good.
It's getting stronger.
Okay, now what I'm going to have you do is like you're going to rotate your arms up and down, up and down.
Reach through your elbows, though.
Reach through your elbows.
They have to be really straight.
They're a lever of resistance out from your core, which means your core is also stabilizing and helping everything move.
So we're bending our knees because a little bit of whatever feels good.
Whatever feels good.
That's right.
Yeah.
Hear the music.
This is where you're getting into the music.
You're in the game, right?
So hit again.
We're going to go a little faster.
So where it's like a pulse.
Good job.
Hit, hit.
Good.
Job.
To the left.
Yep.
You can go ahead and move your hips a little bit.
You're wiggling around.
That's right.
My whole body's in it.
It's got to be like a boxer or something, you know, you never know.
Move.
Reach, reach, double, reach.
Good job with the ribs.
You're doing great.
Double, reach.
You're the sweetest in the little light blue.
I need you to get a little more angry here.
Something else has to come up.
Legs apart a little bit, legs apart a little bit.
Good job.
Really reach for me.
Reach.
Good job.
Reach.
I can tell that you're like the nicest person ever.
You can see in her movements, right?
Nicest person ever.
No, come on.
Show up.
Stronger, stronger in the movement.
Stronger, really push.
Good job.
Switch, down, down.
Good job.
Up.
Now, people are fading.
So they stop for a second or just do a little bit.
Oh, if they're fading, they're not fading because we're in the game together.
You're asking for myself.
Yes.
Hey, okay.
So here's the deal.
You can take a little pitch stop as long as it's going to get you to the end.
Okay?
So you can take a small pit stop if you need to, only if you're going to come right back.
Not if you're going to quit.
So up, reach, up.
Good job.
Up, reached.
Up, drop, reach, drop.
No small circles.
We are doing okay.
Watch my hips.
They're not so sweet anymore.
I'm so for all of you.
I'm so sweet.
Switch.
She seemed so nice when she was lecturing.
Okay, you're gonna really get your hips involved.
Okay, so we're gonna go here.
We're gonna reach up.
And I want you to pop your hip out to the side.
Yep.
Good job.
Yes, you have to move through your hips too.
Good job.
Switch other side.
Here we go.
Now, we want to get our, we want to make sure that we can move through our torso too.
When we do this, this is a small pulse reach.
Pulse, reach, pulse, reach, pulse, reach.
Now, like you're holding a ball, maybe even a ball of stress, maybe even like you're holding up all kinds of people like we do.
So you're gonna just hold all that in between your hands.
It's gonna become more resistant, okay?
Go low.
Good job.
Yep, go here.
These are getting those accessory muscles going.
Yes, now reach to the side.
Expand it out.
Side.
Posture up.
Posture up.
Good job.
And switch other side.
Good job.
Good job.
Now I just want you to put your arms out to the side and I want you to rotate your hips forward and back.
So curve in and back.
Now we're going to go with the beat of the music.
Out, out, out, out.
Go right, center, right.
Oh, the audience is liking this.
They like this one.
This is my favorite one.
My favorite one to end on.
Right, center, right, center.
This kind of takes your mind a little bit off the fact that your arms are still hanging out there, right?
Center, right?
Center.
Now reach, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Other side, and you're there.
Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Good job.
Whoa, Tracy Anderson.
I'm going to be teacher's pet.
You're wonderful.
You're wondering.
Debating Diet and Disease 00:14:37
You guys feel okay?
You can find this workout at all of the free class k views at drive.com and on our app and please check out tracyanderson.com where you can subscribe to her real-time streaming video servers for weekly classes right in your home.
For today's students, guess what, my friends?
You're all going home with six months for free.
God bless you.
You're going to be here with her.
We'll be right back.
Coming up next, we're deconstructing the controversial food documentary, shaking everybody up.
And I mean everybody.
What you need to know about what the health meet today, my entire audience just watched the controversial new documentary on Netflix called What the Health.
It's pretty scary stuff, isn't it?
Up, down, you're not sure yet, are you?
So much stuff, some of it's so quickly coming at you that a lot of folks are having trouble with it.
And I've been getting a lot of calls.
And the film is getting a big buzz for its shocking allegations into the food industry's role in making you sick.
Take a look.
The diabetes, the arthritis, the heart disease, the dementia, the obesity, the cancers are affecting about 70% of deaths.
Large amounts of these substances have unquestionably been associated with clogged arteries, high blood pressure, diabetes, autoimmune diseases.
Absolutely, the science is solid.
We're talking life and death.
Government's in bed with anyone that gives them the most money.
Please welcome director and star of What the Health, Kip Anderson.
Let me just start with the audience reaction.
But from your perspective, how has it been?
It's been incredible.
It's been really overwhelming.
We get messages, thousands of messages and emails about after watching the film they've gone Whole Foods plant-based vegan and they're reversing their illnesses getting off medications feeling better than they have in the past two decades some of the people 20 30 years amazing you chronicle stories in the movie of people who have experienced these reversals of illness but there are a lot of folks who say well this is just a vegan agenda that's all you're trying to do you're cherry-picking facts that will scare off folks from things like meat and dairy so
So how do you respond to those critics?
What it's really doing is we're really panning essentially for gold in like a murky river of industry-funded studies that you see over and over and over.
Pretty much everything that we thought that we knew that was true from the health perspective, it's really been manipulated.
A lot of it's been manipulated by these industries that fund studies.
So they're not really the true independent studies that we're looking for.
So it took a long time to sift through that and find the real ones that are the true studies.
And just so I'm clear, are you a vegan?
I'm a vegan.
I've been vegan 10 years now.
And it's an incredible feeling.
I feel better than I have 10, 20 years ago.
I not only physically feel better, but mental clarity and also spiritually better, feeling connected more, helping the environment out, not killing any animals.
So it's really a win-win like true health, mind, body, and spirit.
All right.
So I'm going to go through the claims, if it's okay, that you make it in the movie.
Some of them pretty controversial.
The first one, this is an important one, is that processed meat is just as dangerous for you as smoking cigarettes.
Take a look.
Processed meat is clearly linked to an increase in cancer.
Hot dogs or bacon could be just as dangerous as smoking cigarettes.
The World Health Organization had looked at over 800 studies from 10 different countries, finding a direct link to consuming processed meat and cancer.
Just one serving of deli meats daily increases your risks of colorectal cancer by 18%.
Processed meat includes hot dogs, bacon, sausage, salami, ham, pepperoni, cold cuts, and deli slices.
Basically everything I grew up eating.
The World Health Organization classifies processed meat as a group one carcinogen.
The same group as cigarettes, asbestos, and plutonium.
Was this like I had essentially been smoking my entire childhood?
If processed meats are labeled the same as cigarettes, how is it even legal for kids to be eating this way?
Let me bring Neil Barnard, who's been on the show before.
You're one of the physicians featured in the movie.
There are several.
And the average American, just to bring everyone on the same page, eats about five pounds of meat a week.
Protein like beef, poultry, eggs, the things that you guys know.
That's about 21% of all the calories.
As a physician who spends a lot of time studying this, if 21% of our calories come from meat today, what should the right percentage be?
Well, the research is very clear.
People should eat no meat at all.
Zero.
Zero.
And the reason is, if you think about tobacco, tobacco, you inhale a smoke, you get lung cancer.
Meat goes down the intestinal tract, so you get intestinal cancers, and it's good to cut down on tobacco, but there's nothing like being a non-smoker.
It's good to cut down on meat, but there is nothing like getting the animal products out of your diet.
Your cancer risk is as low as it's going to be.
Your risk of diabetes and weight problems and heart disease is as low as it's going to be.
And then we see arteries opening up again, people with diabetes getting better.
That's where the power really comes from.
I rarely make as many phone calls as I did to prepare for the show.
Talk to a lot of folks.
You know many of them.
World experts in the academy.
A surprising number of people agree with you.
I was caught off guard.
But many argued, and I think this is true as well, it's a little unfair to equate them directly.
It does cause fear in people.
When one habit, smoking, probably costs us nine, ten years of real age, if you use that metric.
And eating meat might cost us more of like months of life, even though it might compromise quality of life.
Oh, it can be much longer than that.
Now, I grew up in Fargo, North Dakota.
We all ate meat and that kind of thing.
But the risk of diabetes ends up being close to one in three.
Cancer for men, one in two.
For women, one in three.
A kid who's raised on a completely plant-based diet, the risk isn't zero for any of these things, but it's dramatically reduced.
And the likelihood of ever having a weight problem and ever having to deal with all those diets and so forth, you just set a lot of that aside.
Let's go into that, because this is an area that's extremely controversial in the movie.
The whole argument that, and it's controversial for a good reason, because most of us have been seeing the opposite.
You say saturated fat in our foods and our meat is actually causing diabetes, not the sugar and carbs that everyone's been hammering at for the last, since the show started for nine years.
So Kip, explain that theory.
Basically when you look at the muscle cells, what's happening, it's not necessarily the sugar.
What happens when you have a diet that's high in saturated fat, the muscle cells are filling up with that fat, so the sugar can't get in where it's supposed to, and that's called basically insulin resistance, and that's where essentially diabetes is.
So it's really the fat that's being stored.
The sugar can't go where it's supposed to.
Well, if that was true, Neil, then we wouldn't have any diabetics who are vegans.
Are there some?
Your risk as a vegan is cut by about two-thirds or more.
You could still get there, depending on what junk you might bring into your diet, but the risk for a vegan is extremely low.
And in our research studies, we compare a completely vegan, low-fat diet to a more conventional diabetes diet, and the vegans do dramatically better.
Not only does the diabetes get better, but their weight goes down, their cholesterols go way, way down, their blood pressure gets better.
And then I saw something that I'd never seen in medical school, which is diabetes going away, which I was not prepared for.
And don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean you fire your doctor or throw away your medications on your own.
You work with your doctor.
When people do a completely vegan diet, you're eating healthy foods, delicious foods, and you're getting these tremendous health benefits at the same time.
Let me shift gears.
Kip, you make a very compelling argument in the movie that we are designed to be frugivores.
I know about herbivores, eat herbs and carnivores.
What's a frugivore?
Frugivore is basically one, if you look at other frugivores in nature, it's the apes, it's the gorillas.
Those are the ones that we're closest resembled to, and that's what we are.
We're a frugivore.
We are not only not a carnivore, we are not an omnivore.
So come show this to everybody.
This is, again, an animation that helps us understand exactly what a frugivore is and why frugivores, if we're like them, are not designed to eat the kind of meat.
Again, theoretically, theoretically, we'd eat a quarter to a fifth of the meat we eat just from this basis alone.
So explain your argument.
So essentially, when you look at inside the omnivore's teeth, they are straight and sharp for pulling away, grabbing, gripping away flesh, where you see a frugivore's teeth is very, very flat.
And so you see our canines, they're only designed at the most to maybe pull away to tarot across an apple.
A frugivore's mouth is for grinding plant matter side to side and forward and backwards, where an omnivore is only up and down.
When you look at the stomach of an omnivore, it's highly acidic.
It's very acidic.
And the reason for that is it's very hard to break down animal flesh, so it has to break it down.
Where an omnivore, a frugivore, it doesn't have to have that much.
And as you see the intestines, it's nine times the body length of a frugivore.
And in an omnivore, it's only three times the body length.
Again, because when you have rotting flesh going through your system, it has to pull and get the nutrients out as quickly as possible so it doesn't putrefy in your body.
It leads to a lot of diseases and only.
So if you compare us to other animals who eat the kind of food that you're saying that we should eat, we actually, because we look more like a frugivore, should eat what they eat.
That's the high-level argument.
So for the paleo lovers out there, many of whom don't like this movie, by the way, it spies right in the face of what the paleo diet says, which is lots of meats because their ancestors ate them.
You're arguing our ancestors didn't actually eat very much meat.
We ate berries, I don't know we ate grains either, probably not, but simple stuff.
What's exciting about the paleo too is, and it's all about survival of the paleos back then.
It was 40,000 years ago.
Why emulate someone who's trying to survive on a day-to-day basis?
You're dying in your 30s at best.
Whether when you have the choice to emulate someone 40,000 years from now, what we're evolving to, and to go along with that, a compassionate being that respects all of life.
Let's emulate someone 40,000 years in the future rather than someone 40,000 years ago in the past.
All right, up next, what are the most damning allegations in the film?
We're going to find out which food in your fridge, Kip, says, is a dangerous carcinogen.
Stick around.
What could possess a 16-year-old high school cheerleader to hire a hitman to kill her father?
I felt like I had no way out.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Tuesday.
People that drink milk have higher rates of hip fractures, have more cancer, and live shorter lives.
It turns out that countries with the highest dairy consumption also have the highest rates of osteoporosis.
So clearly, drinking more milk doesn't protect your bones.
Doing more research, I found that dairy was linked to many different types of cancer as well.
There's an association between dairy foods and multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes, which is an autoimmune disease, and other aromatologic problems.
We are back with Kip Anderson, the filmmaker behind the new documentary on Netflix, What the Health, that's raising many eyebrows in the tradition and the medical world.
And frankly, it's freaking a lot of people out.
So we just saw Kip there vilifying dairy as a cause for autoimmune diseases and cancer.
This is again, it's a part of the film when people start to get nervous that using scare tactics.
Do you really think dairy is as bad as it's portrayed in the movie?
I really do.
And there's so many studies that are linked to dairy and diseases.
For example, one serving of whole dairy for a lady who has had someone who's had breast cancer, chance of dying is up to 49%.
That's just whole dairy.
So that's just one yogurt.
Yogurt per day or per.
One per day, yeah, of whole fat dairy.
So there's a lot of links to it, especially when you can just have the incredible nut cheeses or nut dairies or milks that you can have.
I know there are alternatives, but part of the discussion is about whether we should be scared of some of the fundamental foods we've grown up with.
Dr. Bart, let me go to you.
I had our medical unit scour the literature trying to examine the role of dairy.
And you in the movie play up the fact that the dairy industry has funded a lot of the trials, so I understand there's mixed material out there, but frankly, the results are inconclusive.
I see evidence supporting what you're saying, and evidence on the other side.
So how do you make a claim this powerful when the data doesn't seem to be that mature yet?
Well, I think there's certain places where it is pretty mature.
We have two really large Harvard studies linking dairy products with prostate cancer, which is one of the most common cancers we have for men.
And the risk is increased by somewhere between 34 and 60% for the dairy-consuming men.
With regard to weight, Slam Dunk 2, your average American consumes 65,000 calories worth of cheese every single year.
The average vegan is about 15 pounds lighter.
Then with heart disease, dairy is the biggest source of saturated fat, the bad fat in the diet.
All right, let's go to some questions for the audience.
Go ahead, ma'am.
Okay, thank you.
I was very shocked to learn how the health industry promotes the recommended diets for beef, chicken, poultry, pork, and dairy, and the fact-based studies showing health-related illnesses, even with these diets.
Does the industry really have that much control?
The industry is extremely powerful.
It's extremely powerful.
They have so much money, and they take a lot of their lessons from the tobacco industry of what to do.
And with the collusion between these industries, the health organizations and say the meat and dairy industry and the egg industry, rather than fight your enemy, join forces.
So the problem that we really have is more on the health organization side that they're promoting and they're taking money and promoting it.
You know, I've been a member of some of the organizations.
It is not so black and white where the truth is.
And that's why, back to Dr. Barnes' question that I was pestering him about, I wish it was clear.
And I think there'll be a lot of people who walk away from this movie scared more than they should be.
But I do applaud you for at least putting it out there, raising the possibility.
You need to be investigators here.
When you go out and watch this, what you should do, ask yourself the tough questions that they're asking, that they're bringing up, are they the ones you want to focus on?
You're an adult.
You get to make decisions.
Not all the things are as equally at risk.
So, you know, we try to focus on it, and you should, too.
Thanks for being here today and answering those tough questions.
Dr. Barnas, same to you.
You can find out more information about what you might want to eat instead of the foods that they're criticizing.
Jessica and Garrett's Move 00:04:10
Let's link to the What the Health Meal Plan on the Dr.Oz.com site.
I think Kip and the doctors in the film have strong points of view and have gotten us to refocus on the role of food and disease.
I do think the film scared a lot of you, and that's why I wanted Kip to be here today to defend some of his thoughts.
In my opinion, I don't think you need to go all vegan, as the film suggests, but increasing veggie consumption is definitely a direction I'm going to continue to recommend you all head in.
We'll be right back.
A new season of True Crime Tuesdays.
And now, True Crime Thursdays.
The cases that have kept on Dr. Oz.
And they feel really good about it.
For everyone out there who woke up in a can't kind of mood, I want you to take a look at this.
Jessica is a fitness expert and professional bodybuilder who recently went viral when she posted videos of her favorite workout partner, her boyfriend Garrett.
Due to an accident in 2010, Garrett is paralyzed from his collarbone down as C6 quadriplegic.
I dove into the pool and the pool was only two and a half feet deep.
So three days later, I woke up out of a coma in Cedar Sinai Hospital.
Garrett and Jessica met last fall and hit it off right away.
I put my phone number in his phone and I said I never do this.
And then he took three days to text me.
And when he texted me, he said, hey, this is that cute guy in the wheelchair.
The two of them have been inseparable ever since.
Having a girlfriend like Jessica inspired Garrett to become more active despite his paralysis.
Although he can't move his lower body and has limited functioning in his upper body, Jessica tailors workouts that help Garrett gain arm and core strength.
Garrett uses special gloves to grip weights and medicine balls and has wrist cups with hooks to hang on to cable machines.
When Jessica started posting the couple's workout videos online, the immediate response was overwhelming.
People from all over became inspired, commenting that Jessica and Garrett were motivating them to work out and stay active.
The two plan on continuing to post their fitness journey on social media to inspire others.
And while there is no guarantee that Garrett will be able to walk again, Jessica says she thinks he's perfect just the way he is.
Jessica and Garrett just moved in together and they are joining us from their new home.
Thanks for both of you for being here.
I gotta say, Garrett, three days?
What the heck were you doing?
What took so long to call her back?
Hey, you know I'm a professional poker.
I have to play my cards right.
So they're both the I'm a heart doctor, as you know, and I'm interested in all matters of the heart.
So I really want to understand what made the two of you fall in love that very first time.
I mean, if you're asking me, the first time I fell in love is when she came to my house with all these things that I needed, that I didn't realize I needed, but she knew I needed.
And her standing there in front of me with all these items that just enhanced my life, I couldn't help but fall in love.
And Jessica, why'd you do that?
I'm just a very giving person, and he was just very taken back that I actually did that.
Yeah.
Well, it's fantastic that you did.
And I love the fact that you're a good trainer.
Obviously, he's getting the benefits.
Here's the deal.
My friends over at Body Solid want to make sure you guys keep posting those inspirational videos.
You'll do that, right?
Yeah, always.
That's what we do.
So, Garrett, they want you to have this home gym.
It is top of the line with a weight rack, lateral attachments, weights, medicine balls, free weights.
So what is it going to mean to you to have this in your home?
That is so awesome.
I can't believe it.
Wow, I'm ready to get to work right now.
Joy the gym.
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