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Nov. 17, 2025 - Dr. Oz Podcast
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Investigating The Shocking Truth About Microwave Popcorn | Dr. Oz | S10 | Ep 101 | Full Episode
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Press a few buttons and pop!
An instant healthy snack.
Or is it?
More additives, more chemicals, more stuff.
Is there a microwave popcorn cover-up?
And the extremely candid Busy Phillips gets her very own house call.
I'm going to have my Dr. Oz, and I'm going to ask you questions all the time.
Plus, it's the dish on Oz.
This week, the best leftover makeovers, coming up next.
Y'all ready for season 10?
I love you, Becca!
There's nothing quite like microwave popcorn to turn your comfortable living room into a makeshift movie theater.
We all love this, right?
But alarming headlines are threatening to turn our movie nights into real life horror films when ingredients in microwave popcorn become allegedly linked to things like a dangerous lung disease, right?
That they're lagging when removal of those harmful trans fats.
And of course, there's always the rumors of cancer.
So today we ask, is microwave popcorn safe to eat again?
Or are there still some health risks being covered up?
To bring us the truth behind the headlines is investigative reporter Tia Brown.
Thanks for being here as always.
Thanks for having me.
So health-wise, compared to that old-fashioned bag of pre-popped popcorn, right, that we just love having, right?
What is microwave?
How does it differ?
Microwave popcorn is different because the manufacturers have to put so much in it for it to live on the shelf and to withstand the heat.
So one of the first things is they have to put a lot of oil in it for it to be able to stay on the shelves and the oil not melt.
Don't do this at home, by the way.
Don't do this at home, but I want to show you what it looks like.
Oh my goodness.
Okay, I'm going to just push this out here.
And all of that oil has to be able to stay congealed at room temperature.
All of the stuff that's put in here, not necessarily healthy, but needed in order for it to withstand.
Another big thing that they put in it is flavor.
We love the buttery flavor of popcorn, but guess what?
When we get the microwave popcorn, it's not real butter.
They have to put a lot of different additives and chemicals just to get the buttery flavor.
And it has to be able to what?
Live on the shelf and withstand the heat of the microwave.
So that and tastes great.
Let's not forget about taste.
So that means what?
More additives, more chemicals, more stuff, right?
And then there's one other thing, serving size.
When it comes to popcorn, one bag, we're getting 10 servings.
A lot of times when you pop, you don't consider that you're eating that much popcorn.
Who here can not finish the bag of popcorn when they pop it?
I didn't think so.
Nobody.
We're all like that, right?
How could you possibly leave?
First of all, I never knew this was more than one serving.
Forget about 10.
All right, lots of issues, but microwave popcorn in Ferris is held up to a lot of heat, forgive the pun, throughout the year.
So let's go one by one through these claims.
The first is this link between microwave popcorn and cancer.
And again, this is something that's always worried me.
I want to explain why would we even have the discussion?
What was the benefit of putting these chemicals in there?
So first, let's say it's not the popcorn itself that's causing the cancer.
It's PFCs, which is a chemical that's placed on the bags in order to make sure what?
It doesn't look gross and greasy when we pop it.
Now, PFCs have been in the news for a long time because they're used in pizza boxes.
They were used on Teflon pots, all because of the way they react with grease.
But guess what?
When it hits the heat, it goes into the food and then it gets into our bloodstreams.
And that has been linked to cancer.
Now, here's the scary thing.
98% of Americans have PFC in their blood system.
20% of it comes from, guess what?
Popcorn.
You're talking about it.
Microwave popcorn.
Absolutely.
And just because they have to put something to coat the surface here.
That's it.
It's all about this.
It's all about the sale.
It's all about the sale.
So is there still a concern?
Well, industries have regulated specifically for certain PFCs like PFOA because it's become such a big deal.
And the FDA has even stepped in and banned about three PFCs.
But the thing is, we don't know what other chemicals they're using to make sure that we still get the result that we want.
So we have to be mindful of what we're putting in our systems.
All right, so with the assumption that they're trying to clean up this problem, we reached out to the popcorn board for a statement and they confirmed that these chemicals have been removed from food packaging and microwave popcorn bags are considered safe and approved by the FDA in their current form.
So it makes me feel better.
Great.
All right, next.
Big issue.
Does microwave popcorn still cause a serious lung condition that is called, wait for this, popcorn lung.
First of all, how could popcorn affect our lungs?
We're not inhaling it.
I mean, we are inhaling it, but into our stomach.
Again, you know, we talked about the butter, and it's not the popcorn itself, it's the fumes.
And they put a specific chemical called diacetel into popcorn in order to make sure we have what?
That buttery fragrance when it's popping and that buttery taste when we're eating it.
But guess what?
When you're exposed to that for a prolonged period of time, it can actually impact the lungs.
Again, the fumes, not the popcorn itself.
Let me explain what popcorn lung looks like.
And it's important to get this.
So inside your lungs, there are these little branches where the air travels, right?
In the bronchi, and there's the air molecules going through.
And that's all how it's supposed to be.
It helps transfer oxygen as you inhale into your blood.
Popcorn lung happens when these small airways begin to squeeze down because you're inhaling these fumes and they get scarred.
And notice the oxygen can't move there.
If the oxygen's not there, it can't give it to your blood.
So you end up with shortness of breath.
It's very similar to the symptoms you'd have if you had COPD, right?
What many of you have heard of.
So if that's, you know, it's scary, it's worrisome.
How much popcorn do you have to eat or inhale in order to get popcorn lungs?
So many, many people who worked in manufacturing plants, in fact, hundreds, developed the popcorn lung, right?
And some of them even died.
But we don't want to just think that it's people who worked at the plant that can be infected.
There's actually a case of a man in Colorado who had just two bags of popcorn every day and he developed popcorn lung.
So you know, a lot of times kids will like popcorn, families like popcorn.
It's something that can really impact the average person.
But this one guy said two bags every day.
Every day.
Every day.
So he was eating a fair amount of popcorn.
So the popcorn board also weighed in on this.
They confirmed that microwave popcorn no longer contains diacetyl.
It's a big move.
But let me be clear on this.
If they've taken out the diacetyl, so people don't get popcorn lungs, so they don't get the buttery taste from that.
And if they can't use real butter, because you just showed us that that won't last under the conditions, you can't heat up in the microwave the way you want to, then what do they use to get the buttery taste?
We don't really know.
Now, we've reached out to some popcorn manufacturers and some said it's proprietary information, which means we won't tell you it's our secret formula.
Others said, you know, look on our websites.
And what they said on the sites was that it's oil, coloring, and artificial flavors.
So here's the thing.
You see this.
We're also finding this.
This is where the diacetyl was hiding before in artificial flavors.
And while they may not necessarily have that specific chemical, we don't know what chemical they're using to actually give us the result.
So we still have to be very vigilant with what we're eating.
Dear thank you as always.
I see some effort being made here by the industry.
Last question.
Does microwave popcorn still contain trans fats?
America's test kitchen, Julia Collin Davison is here.
She looked into this.
I trust you on these issues.
I thought trans fats were a forgotten issue, but most people took them out.
Yeah, no, they still can be found in popcorn.
Now remember that goo that Tia showed you earlier in there?
That's why they're hard to get rid of because that goo really is good for storage.
It prolongs the shelf life.
It also has a very high melting point.
So it doesn't make an oily mess all over your cabinet.
It just melts in the microwave.
And also it's cheap.
So it's good for the manufacturers.
Now when this goo was related to heart disease and heart health issues because of the trans fats, some manufacturers get this, tried to come up with a fat-free version of this fat.
I know, but it sounds a little scary.
They weren't successful.
It was too expensive.
It was an arduous process.
So that didn't work.
So some manufacturers are still using this.
But in theory, it's much smaller amounts than they used to have.
It is.
And there are some microwave brands that don't use these.
So you have to be careful and look at the label.
The label will tell you everything you need to know.
You want to look for the words hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil.
If you see that, stay away.
Those are trans fats.
Again, guys, it's an example where some guys are doing really well by us.
Others are not.
Reward the good guys by buying their products.
Look at the back of the label.
When we come back, we're revealing the truth behind the stiddy popcorn boom taking over the snack food aisle in your supermarket.
What's really in that low-calorie bag of popcorn that you cannot stop eating?
Thank you.
You plan all year for that time away.
But what if your next trip turned deadly?
Tourists are extremely vulnerable and valuable.
I heard him screaming on the phone.
She was found dead with her throat slashed.
Vacation nightmares, plus the dark underground world of child labor.
I was eight years old.
I was there to clean and to feed everybody.
The slave next door, all nuance.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Bad popcorn boom.
It's taken over the snack food aisle.
And many of the popcorn bags are being sold to you.
Say that they're healthier than potato chips.
But what's the truth behind that low-calorie bag of popcorn that you just can't stop eating?
Well, today we find out because some folks are calling it the jekyll and hide of the snack food aisle.
Why is it so hard to know what we're getting?
Yeah, it's a very controversial snack.
Some people think it's evil.
Some people think it's healthy.
So to understand that, let's walk down the history of popcorn to see where we've been to understand where we are now.
All right, so movie theater, popcorn.
Movie theater, this is where it all began, especially in the early 40s, during World War II.
Think of Casablanca was out there.
Meet Me in St. Louis was in the theaters.
People were going.
Sugar, because it was World War II, was being sent overseas to support the military.
So we didn't have a lot of candies and soda, but we did have popcorn and salt.
So this became the snack of the movies.
So it really became part of the culture of America.
It wasn't for the lack of sugar.
We never had popcorn.
It's true.
So move on to the 50s.
Now think about the 50s.
This is when TV started coming into homes and popcorn came home too to give you sort of that theater experience.
And now popcorn became a staple in your pantry.
So now it's in people's homes.
You all remember this I listen to Love.
Oh yeah.
Watch when they come up.
Yeah.
There was something so visceral about seeing pop.
Yes, and wearing it.
I'd wait there like this.
Just waiting at the pop.
I can picture you as a kid doing that.
Pop pop pop.
All right, so welcome to the 80s, the fabulous 80s.
Microwaves were around.
Microwave popcorn came in.
And of course, microwave popcorn is very convenient, but controversial.
This is when the controversy came out.
Is this healthy or not healthy?
And so this is when people started to wonder about the health of popcorn.
And then moving on to today, people are really into pre-bagged popped popcorn, and it's being touted as being healthy.
So now we're back.
The sales of popcorn are skyrocketed over the past 10 years.
It is the snack of the snack aisle.
So how did the popcorn manufacturers take over the health food store when just a few years ago is getting all that bad pressure?
Some junky, salty, you know, simple carbohydrates.
Yeah, well, it's a little bit of advertising.
If you look at this bag, gluten-free, okay, popcorn's always been gluten-free.
Pork doesn't have gluten.
No cholesterol.
So they made a fat swap from maybe the microwave stuff to the pre-bagged stuff because they didn't have the same shelf life issues, right?
And only 35 calories.
Again, looking at the calories.
Also, whole grains.
Think about the whole grain aspect here.
So it's pretty easy to tout.
And in fact, it's pretty healthy stuff.
It's my favorite late night snack.
Seriously, if I just feel I need something, but let's go into what's actually in this bag of healthier popcorn.
Because I want to understand if it's a head fake or there's really something there we should be talking about.
So reveal the truth, Julia.
Yeah, so this is a classic bag of popcorn that you'll find in the store.
And look at the ingredient list.
Pretty small.
Popcorn, sunflower oil, and salt.
I'm in.
Yeah, most bags of popcorn, you think about those microwave bags where they had all those ingredients, not here.
This is really healthier stuff.
But mind you, this is just salted popcorn.
When you get into the flavored popcorns, I know this sort of cheddar popcorn is really tasty and really popular.
But when you get into the flavors, that's when things get a little dicey.
And you get a lot of other ingredients, some of which are a little scary, a lot more fattening.
And so that's where you want to be careful.
That's a lot of ingredients.
It's a lot of ingredients.
Some of them, I don't mind cheddar cheese.
That actually looks pretty good, but I can't pronounce most of the other things over here.
Yeah, those lames are pretty long.
So you really want to read your labels.
All right, so Christy's here because she loves healthier popcorns, as her family does as well.
So here's what 100 calories of popcorn looks like.
This is the old-fashioned traditional buttered popcorn.
Okay, that's 100 calories.
You can count the number of kernels.
That's not enough.
White cheddar, guys, right?
It's just one cup, just one cup.
It's about the same as traditional butter.
So it sounds healthier.
I mean, you just look at the fact that there's a lot of ingredients in there, but it actually is not very different.
On the other hand, the slim popcorn, so-called SimPopcorn, 2.5 cups, gives you the same 100 calories.
This is the winner here, right?
Almost naked popcorn.
Just a hint, just a little whiff of oil, four cups.
It'll work.
All right, Christy, thank you very much.
Here, take that home with you.
Share it.
All right.
Now, if you don't like the taste of almost naked popcorn, because some of you purists out there say, well, you know, it doesn't have any calories in it, but it doesn't taste like anything's up there.
You're going to be surprised to learn that it's not the amount of fat or calories that affect the taste sometimes.
It's how it's popped, the way it's popped.
Your team at Cooks Illustrated actually looked at this.
Yes.
Oh, only you guys would do this.
What did you find?
Oh, say, so you know, we opened bags of popcorn, we dumped them out, and we shaped, we divided them by shape.
You have unilateral, where it really just popped in one direction, kind of looks like an octopus.
You have bilateral, looks like a butterfly, it popped out on the other side, and multilateral.
And they have an effect on flavor, most likely texture.
You're kidding me.
This has more texture, has more crunch.
This was a little softer.
This, much too soft.
So our tasters almost unanimously liked unilateral popped popcorn.
And so we went through all the brands to figure out which ones had the most unilateral, and that was one of our favorites.
Thank you, Julia.
Make sure to check out America's Test Kitchen's newest book.
It's called Air Fryer Perfection.
Offers 75 new recipes, one of the hottest cooking gadgets out there.
We'll be right back.
Coming up, it is Insta Health with the one and only Busy Phillips.
She has a story about what landed her in the hospital unexpectedly that every woman needs to know.
Girl Power, stick around.
Busy Phillips has starred in some of the biggest TV shows around, like Dawson's Creek, right?
And in Cougar Town, and has walked the red carpet alongside some of the biggest celebrities, like her best friend, Michelle Williams.
But behind the scenes, demands of her professional life did not work for her personal life.
So she decided to cast herself in the role of a lifetime, literally featuring her own life in the most unfiltered way out there, sharing absolutely everything, and I mean everything, with her followers on Instagram.
Maybe even oversharing with millions of people every day about her career, about being a mom, and of course her health.
Take a look.
Oh my God, do raccoons murder one another after they have sex?
Because that's what it sounds like is happening.
I hope that there's not a dead record on the balcony.
Oh my God.
What do you think if this was your hair color?
I don't know, Dale.
My mom's dying.
It's not really pink.
Is my redish?
I think Cricket looks funny with this color hair.
What?
Look, she looks adorable.
He's in that corner.
He has to do this all over again.
Oh, no.
He's not.
Busy Phillips, come on out.
Thank you very much.
Oh, my goodness.
Thanks for having me.
Well, they're more excited than I am even.
They're jumping up.
I'm very excited.
Hi, everybody.
Hi.
Wait, how do you like the couch?
I made it look like yours.
This is a little bit like mine, and I do sit on this side, but I normally cozy up.
I pull my legs up and I put your feet up.
I thought you'd enjoy this.
Yeah, I really like it.
Thanks so much.
Thanks for having me.
I'm just happy you're here.
I was very worried about you.
You had severe cases of some hive ailment.
It's always something with me, Dr. Oz.
Yeah, I took a nice long, warm bath in this eucalyptus thing, and my husband came in and was looking at the package, and he said, How much did you put in?
And I was like, I don't know, I just dumped a bunch in.
And he's like, it says to use a tablespoon, one tablespoon.
I probably put in like three cups.
So, anyway, needless to say, the next morning I woke up and I was covered in hives.
And then this week, they were kind of like coming and going.
And I don't, I had another, they showed up last night and I had to take Benadryl, but it helped me sleep.
So, do you have a doctor on Instacall?
No, I mean, I have my doctors in Los Angeles, and I call different doctors depending on what is happening to me.
So, there was one health scare you had that was a very serious one, which is this ovarian torsion.
Yes.
Which I love you can explain.
This is a picture you posted in the hospital.
Yeah.
There I was.
Yeah, you're not very happy.
I was wearing a hysterical female t-shirt, and I thought that that was pretty funny.
The irony of that.
Yes.
When I was struck.
How did you know that you needed to go to the hospital for an ovarian torsion?
I didn't know what it was.
All I knew was that I was curled on the floor of the hotel.
I couldn't get up.
And I just knew something was very wrong.
Not since I gave natural childbirth have I had that kind of like pain in my abdomen.
Come on over here.
Okay.
I want to actually show you what ovarian torsion is.
Oh my gosh.
Dr. Oz.
This is a highlight.
By the way, I know you have Oprah on speed dial.
I mean, you have Oprah on speed dial.
Oprah called me one time, and it was the highlight of my show.
If you haven't watched it, you can watch that clip on YouTube because I can't stop crying when she called me.
She's like everything to me, Dr. Oz.
She's the fairest woman I know.
She's on that note, though.
Okay.
She loves organs.
Are you ready for your organs?
Okay.
All right.
Is that an ovary?
This is actually the uterus.
Oh, what?
How ovary?
How small a uterus is?
Yes.
Go ahead and feel it.
You see how strong the muscle is?
You can hold a baby in there.
Yeah.
So what happened to you is this ovary twisted like this.
It flips.
You flipped.
And when it flips like that, you can see that torsion there?
That little twist?
That's the pain.
Yep, that's the pain.
It doesn't feel great, you guys.
It hurts.
And the problem with that is that when it twists like that, it suffocates the ovary and the ovary dies.
That happened to a good friend of mine from high school.
Oh, no.
Yeah.
And she had her ovary removed.
She had to have it removed.
What happened to you?
My ovary flipped back around non-surgically.
Only busy Phillips would have an ovary that flips on it.
Yeah.
Now here's the thing.
The reason I want to talk about this is not because you got lucky and didn't have the ovarian torsion, it's because there was a caption on the post that you made that I want everyone to see.
Okay.
It's very cool because you say, don't be a hero, go to the doctor.
And then you called yourself an idiot, right?
I felt like an idiot, you know?
See, I don't think anyone should be afraid to go to a doctor.
Yes.
And in order to celebrate that, I got you a little present.
What?
Yes.
From now on, I want you to spread the message.
Yes.
Dr. Oz!
Your own cutout.
So I'll say like this.
Now you have a double of me.
I'm so excited.
Can we send this back to LA for you?
Because you know I have a cutout of my best friend, Michelle Williams, and she's in my office.
I know about this.
She is.
So now I'm going to have my Dr. Oz, and I'm going to ask you questions all the time.
That's what I want.
I want you just to post, say, I've got questions for you.
I have questions for you.
But I really do think, and part of, you know, when you talk about Instagram and you talk about oversharing and all of these things, and part of what I think needs to change is especially for women.
Like we know that women sometimes feel like we're just going to power through and we're not going to go to the doctor.
And, you know, I feel like it's so important to get the message out.
It's okay.
Go to the doctor.
You can go get help.
Please.
Embarrassment is a foolish reason to die.
Yeah.
All right.
Up next, Busy's biggest health questions answered, and she opens up about a comic condition that many are embarrassed to talk about, but she is not a deal.
Exactly.
Stay with us.
Oh, my God.
I love getting to talk with you on my show every single day.
But when the cameras stop rolling, the conversation is not over.
I still have a lot that I want to talk about.
So download the Dr. Oz podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
So Bizzy's been very candid about her life and health on social media, especially on Instagram, as you've been seeing.
So we've got what we're calling insta health with Busy.
Take a look.
I'm doing this prep for the colonoscopy.
I'm about to have to drink that stuff that makes you empty everything out of your system.
I hadn't picked my face in so long.
I was doing so well.
And then last night I was really stressed.
I had had a hard day and I just went crazy and I went there and there and there.
But then this is a real scene.
Wait, come on.
My observation about the whole 30 is that I didn't realize how addicted to sugar I was.
And that was really hard for me.
All I wanted were those gummy bears.
And I was like, I love mashing and I have a whole jar of masks.
Don't judge me.
I'm getting an IV, guys.
It's all happening.
All happening.
Look at that hair.
I was about to do a show and I got an IV before my show.
We'll do whatever it takes.
Whatever it takes.
Show must go on.
All right, sinus problems.
Yeah.
Focus on that now.
We have a big nose to demonstrate.
This is a picture of what Busy posted after having sinus surgery.
What kinds of issues were you having?
Well, I had chronic sinusitis from the time when I was 21 years old.
And finally, I had the sinus surgery in May.
So you know more about this than probably most people, but your severe sinusitis means, yes, your nose drips, but the sinus is back here.
Everyone can do this.
You press under your eyes, right?
Right above your eyes.
Those are all the sinuses.
If you push there and it hurts, you've got sinusitis.
So I know you're using a neti pot.
I am using a neti pot.
So here's what it does.
So just to be clear, your nostrils are both connected, right?
So pretend this is the water.
It goes up one side, comes down the other side.
You basically are scrubbing your sinuses when you put the neti pot in there.
But despite my enamorment with the neti pot, which I actually like the old-fashioned way of pouring the water in, the aerosolizer does well.
I saw a picture of you in agony because of using garlic.
This is a picture of this.
What is going on here?
Someone told me that a holistic way of maybe clearing out your sinus passageways was by making garlic water and putting it up your nose.
And so I tried it and it really burns, you guys.
It's very painful.
I don't think garlic should be inside our cavities.
Okay.
Anywhere.
Okay.
I like it in your mouth for immune support, but not anywhere else.
Okay, well that I would have liked that tip before.
I'm trying to do it.
Next time, next time.
But it's not going to happen again.
So I did have the surgery and they rotor you out, I guess.
Does it feel better now?
Yeah, 100% feels better.
But I also, post-sinus surgery, no one told me about this.
I lost my sense of smell for a few weeks, which I was devastated by and was afraid.
What's this?
This is what I would do for you from now on.
A humidifier?
Yes.
I'm not using one.
It's the craziest, simplest thing.
I didn't know I should do that.
The last thing I want to talk to you about says so much.
I could keep going for hours.
I know, we really could.
Iritable bowel.
Yes.
Which no one talks about.
No.
Tens of millions of folks have issues with it.
And you actually got public.
How do people react?
People are like, yeah, me too.
I also suffer from that.
I mean, I cannot tell you the number of people who bring up digestive health to me and say thank you so much because I was, but Dr. Oz, can I also give you a little bit of credit?
Because it was you on Oprah when I was many years ago talking about poop for the first time when I was like, oh, something is definitely wrong with my system.
Like I'm even, I was a young woman.
I mean, I was like 19 maybe at the time.
And I was like, that's not what I experienced.
And I was young at the time.
So it wasn't coming out like an S?
No, it was not.
Little periods, exclamation points.
I was having like diarrhea.
I was having like attacks of like diarrhea and with like a hard cramp on the left side.
So then I got my first colonoscopy when I was like 25 years old, was diagnosed with IBS.
I just had another colonoscopy recently and she's still like, yeah, it's just IBS.
So, but digestive wellness is something that's like very important to me and talking about it and destigmatizing it.
Well, you had a solution.
I know.
Well, I partnered with Kellogg's for their new cereal, which is called High, Happy Inside.
And it has the three things that I like.
It's prebiotics and probiotics that work together to help your digestion.
And then fiber, which we all need fiber.
And so much of like my job and, you know, I think it's like all about balance and all about finding easy solutions.
And I was really happy to, I don't partner with like a ton of brands, but when I do, I have to really like them.
So they sent this over to our busy tonight offices and we all went crazy and love it.
We ate all of it.
And all fully formed stools now?
They look so good.
You would be so proud.
I really enjoyed meeting you.
Thank you.
We'll be right back.
The dish screw is here and they are serving up recipes for leftovers that you have to see to believe.
And taste to believe.
You're always correcting me.
Stick around.
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My cooking is like me.
A mix of Caribbean heat, meat, southern sweet.
This is like my girlfriend in the kitchen.
I am, as a chef, first and foremost about flavor.
It's simple, it's celebratory, and most of all, it's about having a great time in the kitchen.
What is going on?
I'm trying to help.
Let's Dish Today, a huge celebration of all of our love for leftovers.
Don't throw it out.
Make it over with recipes that you have to see to believe.
Daphne, take it away.
Yeah, this is a big deal that we're making over leftovers.
So totally new takes on your leftovers.
We are starting with an indulgent makeover for one of my dad's favorite breakfast foods, plus leftover boring Chinese takeout white rice, gotcha down.
They send so much of it.
No problem.
We are transforming it into an impressive Italian entree and a skillet dinner you can make with any leftover chicken in the fridge.
All coming up at this hour.
Okay, so here's the deal.
Americans, we are eating fewer and fewer leftovers.
Studies are showing that more and more food is winding up in our garbage, which is throwing money down the drain.
So if we can figure out how to make our leftovers not feel like eating the same thing twice.
So we have some hats, especially if you have kids out there who are like, I don't want to eat, but I ate that yesterday.
This is a great thing to keep in mind.
Okay, so starting with a leftover makeover for one of my dad's all-time favorite breakfasts.
He loves his oatmeal.
I make lots of oats.
I'm with you.
I love it.
It's kind of like the breakfast of champions in many ways.
Nice, complex carbs, keeps you full, plenty of fiber.
This is going to blow your mind though.
This is my new favorite way to eat oatmeal.
So we took the oats that we made yesterday and put them into, I just lined a loaf pan like this with plastic wrap, cover it up and put that in your fridge overnight.
Okay, so done.
So you had oatmeal yesterday, put the leftovers in the fridge, let it sit like this.
Take it out of the loaf pan, and then you're just going to give yourself like a two-inch slice, okay?
So slice that into a couple two inches.
Perfect.
Like you're slicing banana bread.
That's a little thick.
That's a little thick.
You said two inches.
That's an inch and a quarter.
You know, if we're dealing with hearts, I want you to know that that is the difference between two inches and one and a half.
Okay, good.
All right, then.
That looks lovely.
Very nicely done.
Thank you.
Now, are you all ready to have your minds blown?
We are putting this oatmeal, regular oatmeal, oats, water, a little cinnamon in there, into a waffle maker.
I love it.
That we have sprayed or lined with a little bit of coconut oil, a little bit of butter if you have it.
And you want the, like we said, you want about an inch and a half, two inch thick slices.
Close that down, clamp it, and you want this to go nine to ten minutes.
That's when you're really going to start to get that caramelization, that golden brown crust.
Are you ready for the reveal?
Come on.
Good.
Now, I don't know about you.
I have to fight with my kids to eat oatmeal, but for a fast weekday meal, I'm going to do a little banana.
Maple meat, please, Alex.
Oh, yeah.
Maple meat.
I'm going to maple her.
Oh, slow-mo that, baby.
Go for it.
Okay, a little banana.
Now, I got to before it and after.
You're doubling up?
Yeah, I made a few for these just to warm up for the show.
Okay, look, it's before and the after, guys.
Prepare.
This could be your life.
That's me before.
This is after Daphne's modification.
Oh, yes.
Okay, yes.
Daphne, I am very proud of you.
Not so much syrup.
I stop the syrup.
It's enough syrup.
Just I only put a little.
That's only a little.
Just a little.
What do you guys think?
It's tripping off.
Dad, here, Dad, dunk it in the syrup and try it.
This is so amazing.
Because I don't like the texture of just plain oatmeal.
So putting the waffle maker makes it crispy, adds a little texture.
I love this.
It's good.
That's what we like.
And it's a good vehicle, too.
You could do anything with it.
You could do the plain oatmeal or you could put stuff in it.
Like, I like to do overnight oats with chia seeds and some coconut flakes.
Like, that would be really good in this, too.
Delicious.
How about the chocolate chips and whipped cream?
Mm-hmm.
Oh my goodness.
My coroners are hardening up speaking to you.
All right, the next leftover makeover is that boring leftover white rice.
It comes from the Chinese foods.
They give it to these boxes, but actually you don't even want it.
Or you make too much sometimes because you don't have a lot of time.
So what do we do with it?
Alex, take it away.
I thought I wasn't so busy eating.
I've noticed.
I wait for the bite to go in your mouth and I ask the question.
All right, so I have my little recipe.
It's a little rice cake, which is really easy to make.
You basically brown it in a pan.
You combine the rice with parmesan cheese, eggs, mozzarella, peas, a little bit of cooked pancetta, and the grease from the pancetta.
Brown it on the stove, pop it in the oven about 350 for 25 minutes, and just unmold it.
And it's hot.
Oh, wow.
Look at it.
Dig in is right.
Dig in.
That was nice.
Really nice.
And it's really good.
If you want, you know, you can have it and then you can reheat it or you can hide it in a burrito or taco.
Thank you.
Want to share?
Yeah.
I think that's really important.
It's like how you're going to left over the leftovers.
Grammy it like this, but here's a before and an after.
Your boring genius, lonely white rice.
And after Alex's modification, look at that baby.
This is phenomenal awesome.
That's so smart.
So smart.
And you want to eat it creative, which I love too.
Yes.
We try to have the younger, less experienced cooks make the family.
If it's not good, you know, you get the Darth Vader stare for 50 people.
All right, we have one more leftover dilemma from one of our viewers.
This is a big one.
This is for their dish foodies to soft.
Can they do it?
Hi, ladies.
My name is Deanna and I am bummed.
I have all these half bottles of wine and I'm wondering if you have any suggestions on what the hell I can do with them.
Don't want to throw them out.
Don't want to drink them, but there's got to be something to do with the wolves bottles of wine.
Thanks.
Cheers.
She sounded like she's been drinking a little bit.
Exactly.
I think she's from our home state of New Jersey.
That's what I found.
She's a wine.
So you do not need to dump those bottles out just yet.
Jordan created a cocktail just for you using leftover wine.
Give us the details.
It's essentially a winter sangria.
So you take all of the half-full bottles that you have and you kind of mix them together.
So with this, we have some wine, we've got some brandy, we've got some orange liqueur, we have some sugar, some orange juice, pomegranate juice, and then you have some apple slices, some orange slices, and some pomegranate seeds.
Voila.
Wow.
Wow, wow.
And topped with some club soda.
So go ahead and pour me that.
How much?
How about go ahead and fill it maybe halfway?
Is that the water in your other hand?
Yep.
This is club soda.
We're going to top it off with some club soda.
To give it a little bubbles here.
I'll take a look at it.
Oh, I like that you can get it.
I drink out of the sort of guest.
You can really park a lot of leftover liquor bottles of red wine, white wine, because you sometimes have a little white, some red rosé.
I've always wanted to mix them all together and just serve it.
Here, and you can use your leftover fruit too.
So that's great.
Yeftover cheap wine, which you use with this.
Yeah, everything.
Put in one thing, it's very effective.
It's very effective.
Up next, got some leftover chicken.
Did your family want touch?
Don't worry, I have the recipe that will transform yesterday's dinner into something delicious your entire family will enjoy.
Oh, yes.
They're called smash and grab robberies.
Scott the Purse.
We have tips to protect possessions and yourself.
Next Oz.
That's coming up on Friday.
For me, it's always a party in the kitchen.
What is going on?
I'm trying to help.
For us, as the Oz family, food might be the most important thing.
From the time I was a small kid, I remember cooking with my mom and my grandma.
I was learning what it meant to be one of us.
The kitchen is still the center of my world.
Cooking and a bank goy.
Now I have my own family, three little kids who have so much fun with me in the kitchen.
I am, as a chef, first and foremost, about flavor.
A bunch of herbs to a salad, a beautiful pesto into a tomato sauce.
Don't tell anybody.
It's simple, it's healthy-ish, it's celebratory, and most of all, it's about having a great time in the kitchen.
We are back with more leftover makeovers that you have to see to believe and taste to believe.
That's what's next.
Well, we challenged our viewers to empty their fridge and create the most delicious meals they could using what they had lying around.
Take a look at the pictures of what At Lil Slipper made.
She took these chicken breasts and turned them into, wait for it, potato chips.
Chicken chips, I should say.
So wild.
So we're going to put the recipe online at druz.com, but apparently she uses gelatin to make the transformation.
Wow.
Alex, what's the next one?
So at Nikki's Guide took rice and beans and turned them into veggie burgers.
Smart.
That's really smart.
Yeah, like that.
That looks really good.
It does.
I love a veggie burger.
I love that wedge of onion.
I could get lost in there.
Yeah.
You can find all these recipes on druzz.com slash the dish.
Our viewers aren't the only ones we're putting to the test.
In fact, Jamika recently got challenged by my dad to make over her leftovers.
Take a look.
Call Jamika.
Hey, Jamika.
Hey, oh my goodness.
Hey, Dr. Oz.
So I got a little challenge for you.
I love challenges.
Is that a refrigerator behind you?
Here's the fridge right here.
Yeah.
All right, tell me what you got.
Just the first things you see in your fridge.
Uh-oh.
Okay.
I got some good.
I got some, oh, I got some chicken.
Chicken fajitas.
I got some rice.
I got a lot of joke in there.
So here's the challenge.
Take those leftovers, whatever you got in the fridge, you're allowed to use that.
You got to craft something great tonight.
Are you up for it?
All right, I got it.
I'll see you later.
So right here, I have chicken fajitas from two nights ago, and it's just grilled chicken with little peppers and onions.
And I'm going to transform this into my curry chicken skillet dinner.
You're going to love this.
So in a pan over medium heat, I have a tablespoon of olive oil.
And to this, I'm going to add two teaspoons of curry powder, half a teaspoon of garlic powder, and a tablespoon of flour.
The chicken.
Pour that right in there.
Perfect.
It's going to take on a whole new flavor here.
It's time to make our sauce.
I have one cup canned pineapple, and we're just going to add in the juice with it as well.
So that's going to add a little sweetness to our dish.
Got a little spiciness going on with the curry.
This is so easy.
And it just wouldn't be me if I didn't add a little bit of heat.
So I have some chili flakes, just a little pinch.
Or two.
Got some leftover rice here.
Spoon it over.
Make sure you get that sauce in there too.
All right, Dr. Eyes, what do you think?
Thank you.
Tamika, you've exceeded my expectations, except you better be expecting more Skypes from me.
This is unbelievable.
All right, when the doctor calls y'all, you better answer.
Yes, yes.
Calling a house call.
I can be taking over curry seriously in your house, don't you?
Oh, I do, because it's a moment for me.
It's like I eat at like two in the morning, leftovers.
I sit on my kitchen counter in my pajamas.
There's nobody to bother me, and I just load it in.
It's like my moment.
I know, but I will tell y'all, there's a rule of leftovers, okay?
Because my husband and I, if you want that leftover, you better write your name on it.
You see, he writes his name on.
Don't even think about it.
Like, he writes passive aggressive messages to me.
Like, I love that.
There we go.
That's our secret to a happy marriage.
That in the second bathroom.
That's it.
Write your name and get it to the bathroom.
That's how it's going to be.
I love pineapple in this.
It's so good.
It's a nice little, sweet little touch to it.
And you have canned pineapple in your pantry, so just throw this in.
A nice little bit.
I love that you made it look easy.
And Caribbean.
What's going on?
All right, up next.
The new Low Guard pasta hack that you're going to want to try tonight.
Stay tuned.
You won't want to miss this.
You plan all year for that time away.
But what if your next trip turned deadly?
Tourists are extremely vulnerable.
She was found dead with her throat slashed.
Vacation nightmares, plus the dark underground world of child labor.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
We're back with a dish on Oz.
Dishing on recipes and hacks that are perfect for the foodies in your life.
I know a lot of you are in the low carb diets like the keto and the paleo we talk about all the time.
You're losing weight, you're feeling great, but I hear a lot of you feel like you're missing something big.
Crucial.
Like pasta.
And you have a low carb pasta hack that everyone's going to adore.
Tell us about it.
I do.
You guys are going to get excited about this.
It is the secret ingredient of the day and it's called Palmini Pasta.
Made 100% from Hearts of Palm.
This stuff is incredible.
I have to tell you about it.
It's low carb, it's sugar-free, it's gluten-free.
And here's the best part for moms at home, anyone busy in the kitchen.
It comes ready to use, which I love.
It has this really nice Al Dente texture and you can pair it with a ton of different things.
But best of all, this is seriously going to blow your mind.
It is only 20 calories and 4 grams of total carbs per serving.
You heard me right, four grams of total carbs and you get that pasta sensation.
So take a look at this just to put this in comparison for you.
Here is what four grams of carbs, a regular pasta, looks like.
Oh, one for you, one for me.
That's it, really?
Two strands of pasta?
Four grams of carbs.
And now I like to not think about this when I'm having pasta, but that is the case.
Now here is an entire serving of Palmini pasta for the same amount of carbs, an entire serving.
And this product is available at selectstores in addition to amazon.com, so it can come right to your house, which is great.
I wanted to show you how versatile it can be, Dad.
I whipped up a little Alfredo chicken here, Alfredo with chicken with the Palmini pasta for you to try.
Really simple sauce.
But you'll see, oh, I'm going to join you.
You'll see how nicely it pairs with this flavor.
Oh, it's Aldante.
It really is.
The Palmini holds that texture, and that's what happens when you use it out of the bag.
If you want it a little softer, you just boil it a little bit or add it with a hot sauce.
But it's so versatile.
It can take on, it's really a blank slate, and it can take on the flavor of any different sauce you might want to use.
I have a pasta with pesto here.
I have it with marinara for you here.
I might like it more than pasta.
It's got a little crunchiness to it.
It's really good.
Earth-shattering.
With the pesto especially special.
Here, I want to thank our sponsorship partner, Palmini Pasta, because guess what, my audience?
You're all going home with a pouch of Palmini pasta.
One for each of you.
The dish crew is back next Wednesday.
Is that right?
That's right.
The dinner is back, NecroMunching serving of tasty recipes and food hacks that your friends and family will love.
The other change is happening, my friends.
Our journey is just beginning.
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