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Dec. 8, 2025 - Dr. Oz Podcast
41:58
The Truth About Packaged Nuts and What to Buy at the Store | Dr. Oz | S10 | Ep 62 | Full Episode
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Time Text
Hello shoppers.
Grab your carts because we're going nuts in the nut aisle.
What's the deal with packaged grocery store nuts?
Just how healthy are they?
Don't miss our oh so hot special on hot chocolate.
And are those hot chocolate packets sugar bombs?
Plus Empire's Jussie Spolette reveals his meaningful health vision.
It's about informing people.
Coming up next.
Are you ready for season 10?
Yeah!
I love you, Doc.
Package grocery store nuts.
Do they all have the same health benefits when they come in a can or a bag?
And those of you on low-carb diets are turning to nuts for that much-needed healthy, that little fat crunch you need.
So today, food investigator Allie Rosen and author of Genius Foods Max Lugover are here to help you navigate grocery store packaged nuts because they are not all the same.
So Allie, what do you have to keep in mind when you go to the grocery store to buy nuts?
Well the biggest thing is actually the location and then there's so many other things you have to keep in mind.
The packaging, where you are in the grocery store.
We are really going to go soup to nuts today if you don't mind the pun and go through all of it.
Bro boom.
She'll be here all the week.
What's the biggest misconception Max that people have about nuts in general?
Well you know nuts are nutrition powerhouses and we're going to talk about this over the course of the show obviously but I think the biggest misconception is that nuts get a hall pass just because they're healthy.
It's very easy to overconsume nuts.
I mean I've been guilty of it.
They're very calorically dense and so if you're trying to either maintain your weight or lose your weight or some weight, you really want to just be cautious of the fact that nuts contain a lot of calories.
See for me if you eat the right kinds of nuts you can get away with a lot of them.
That's the part that's sort of tricky here.
So I want you to eat nuts but it's the wrong ones that give us a hard time.
Come on over Allie.
All right.
Because we're a little nutty every time we reveal something we discovered about grocery store packaged nuts we're going to do it the only way that makes sense with a squirrel meme like this.
Look at the meme.
There it is.
Packaged nuts are processed.
And we're going to start with that one actually because that is the first thing about nuts that I want people to understand right?
I always thought they were just regular nuts.
I can eat processed nuts.
They look like nuts.
Yet we're looking at them.
Allie, we took these nuts out of the packaging so people couldn't tell which ones were processed or not.
So walk us through it.
Right, so you really have to look at the packaging is the key here.
You want to keep with raw and dry roasted and the oil roasted and the flavored nuts are the ones that are considered processed.
All right, so raw I get, that's like the gold standard for me, right?
But what are the dry roasted ones?
Are they always okay and why are they different from the oil roasted?
So dry roasted is exactly what it sounds like.
They're just roasted at a temperature with nothing on them.
Oil roasted is where it can get a little trickier because the oils, it can be healthier olive oils, but it can also be vegetable oils at very high heat.
So that's adding fat, it's taking out nutrients.
So you really want to look at the packaging and try to avoid the oil roasted nuts if possible.
And these flavored nuts have exploded, but they can be calorie bombs, to Max's earlier point.
Are they always a problem?
They're not always a problem.
Again, there are some higher-end brands that are now coming out with better versions.
Look at the packaging, but most of them have a lot of preservatives and they have a lot of sodium.
So you really want to look at the salt content and the ingredients.
And the sugar content, which comes up a lot.
That's absolutely amazing.
If it tastes like candy with a little nut in the inside, then it's just candy with nut in the inside.
Max is a solution to bread everyone.
Coming over, Max.
Who's craving flavor, but doesn't want the extra sodium from the packaged nuts.
Yeah, so this is, you know, as Allie alluded to, it's very easy to buy packaged processed nuts, but it's also just as easy to make delicious nuts at home and to roast them yourself.
So what we have here is we've got delicious raw nuts.
This is actually my preference.
I like to buy my nuts raw.
And what you can do is you can combine them with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, which is incredibly healthy.
We've talked about this on the show a number of times.
It's so good for you.
And then add these delicious spices like cinnamon, cayenne, onion powder, cardamom, nutmeg.
You put cayenne pepper on your nuts.
I like them to be a little spicy.
Yeah.
Gives them a kick.
Going the wrong direction.
All right.
So then you put them in the oven.
How long?
You put them in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
And they end up being so healthy and so delicious.
And you can make them with your kids.
I mean, it's fun to do.
They're fantastic.
But the other thing is, you know how much salt you added, right?
Which in this case is none.
Well, that's a fantastic point.
Yeah, you can add a little bit of salt.
You can add no salt.
You can add a lot of salt.
And I love that they are sprouted nuts now.
Why do they make sense?
And they're packaged.
So what happens when you sprout nuts is that you basically make some of the most nutritious aspects of the nut more bioavailable to you.
So nuts, they tend to come with what are called anti-nutrients when they're in their raw form.
But by soaking them, you know, you put them in water for about seven hours or you can leave them overnight.
It basically deactivates some of those anti-nutrients, which are, you know, it's thought that that is going to make the nuts more healthy.
One thing about this, when a nut falls from a tree, it doesn't want to get eaten immediately.
It's trying to make a baby tree.
Right.
So it protects itself by making itself not so pleasant for some of the animals to eat it.
So if you put this nut in soil, it'll germinate.
Imagine capturing it.
So after the bad stuff's gone with the good stuff starting to prosper through enzymes, it makes theoretical sense.
You can't prove this stuff.
That's one of the reasons that in a lot of countries they do soak their nuts, which I think makes a lot of sense.
It's a very traditional method of making foods more nutritious.
Leave them overnight works just fine.
Next thing about packaged nuts we uncovered is some can ruin your diet.
Max, break this down for us.
Why is it that some dieters should be careful about nuts?
Well, I mean, they are very calorically dense.
Look, they're healthy, okay?
So people should definitely eat nuts.
But you just want to be mindful of portion sizes.
And also, you know, as we've talked about, some can have added sugars and oils.
So when we're looking at raw nuts, you really want to get, you want to make sure that your portion size is about an ounce and a half, which is a little bit over a handful.
Yeah, it's about that.
And what are the best nuts if you're trying to cut down your calories?
So the best nuts are almonds, cashews, and pistachios.
They're also, they happen to be the most nutrient-dense.
And you know, I love talking about the brain.
They have tons of brain-boosting nutrients in them like vitamin E and almonds, carotenoids and pistachios.
So they're very good for you.
But these are the lowest calories of the bunch.
What if you're on keto, which so many of you are, low carb?
What's the best solutions for?
So when you're looking for keto-friendly foods, you want to look for foods that are low in carbohydrates.
And of the nuts, the lowest carbohydrate nuts are pecans, macadamia nuts, and Brazil nuts.
Brazil nuts are also, they're wonderful because they're one of the top sources of selenium, which is a very important brain antioxidant.
People have run away from macadamia nuts for years.
Guys, you could eat macadamia nuts if you're on keto, like they had calories, but no carbs.
You can get away with it.
Next thing about packaged nuts we uncovered, some might be rancid.
Allie, say it's not true.
Well, unfortunately, sometimes they've been sitting on the shelf in the grocery store for too long, so you always want to look at the cell by date.
That's the most important thing.
And you want to write down with a Sharpie on your package when you open them so they don't go bad.
But the best way to make sure that your nuts are fresh is to buy them in the shell because that keeps the air out and it just makes it so that they stay fresher longer.
It also slows you down.
You can't eat them that fast.
Well, that's okay.
Once you bought them, please sell this age-old battle.
What's the best way to store them?
Right, so if you don't want to buy them in the shell because you don't want that extra time, you can just keep them in a container that's opaque and airtight.
And then you also want to store them in the refrigerator because nuts actually keep very well in the fridge and even in the freezer for up to three months in the fridge or six months in the fridge.
People whine, they complain, they say it doesn't taste as safe.
It does.
It tastes just fine.
Let them cool down a while and they'll be fine.
Next thing we discovered is you may be getting overcharged for your nuts.
I did a little experiment.
She went to her local grocery store and bought the same almonds from different sections of the store.
This is going to shock you.
Look at the results behind us over here.
Please walk us through what you did.
Yeah, this even shocked me a little bit because I didn't realize how big the discrepancy is.
If you buy in bulk, you know, those big containers where you pour them into a plastic bag, it was 36 cents an ounce.
So much cheaper.
Whereas in the produce section, it was 56 cents an ounce, and in the snack section, it was 59 cents an ounce.
Those are just the packaged almonds that you see.
The gourmet section is where it gets crazy, 90 cents an ounce.
And the baking section, it was $1.5 an ounce.
So if you're making something with nuts, don't buy everything in the baking aisle.
The other thing to look at is the package size because a lot of these gourmet nuts will look like a nine-ounce bag, but there's actually only five ounces of almond in the bag.
So look at the amounts on the bag.
The best tip for buying the least expensive nuts is buy bulk, always, and go to big box stores and get them as big as you want.
But if you're going to buy a big bag, put them in the fridge.
All right, so we got all the rest tips there.
Okay, find out before you go, Max has got a nut we've never heard of, and it's very, very exciting to him.
I mean, Max, you know, he's very even-tempered, so Felix is probably pretty good.
These are great, they're called tiger nuts.
And actually, Dr. Oz, I've kind of tricked you because they're not technically nuts, and they definitely don't come from tigers.
Max!
They're actually tubers, so they have more in common with a potato than they do almonds.
These are wonderfully healthy for you because they are packed with something called resistant starch, which is very good for gut bacteria.
We now know that the gut bacteria, the microorganisms that live in our large intestine, play a powerful role in our health.
And these are a really great way of sort of giving them a high five.
You hammer them, they're hard.
You chew yours.
Yeah, it takes a lot of chewing.
You burn a lot of calories by chewing them.
I mean, I tried.
This is what it looks like after I try.
It looks the same as before.
It works out your jaw muscles.
Yes, it does exercise.
Max, thanks, Sally.
Appreciate it.
Our investigation into store bought nuts.
Is that over?
Allie's sharing her top tips on how to use nuts that you thought you'd never thought of.
Don't want to miss it.
Stay with us.
Could your loved one be living a secret life as a serial killer?
We couldn't conceive that our own father would murder anybody.
We go inside the minds of murderers.
Are these good people who are compelled to do evil?
And discover how they hid these horrendous crimes from their families.
All news.
That's coming up tomorrow.
So I eat my favorite snacks, which are nuts, out of a plastic bag that I carry around everywhere where I go.
It's never distant from me, but nuts are so good for your health.
Maybe we're thinking outside the baggie.
So food expert Allie Rosen has given us three clever new ways to eat more nuts than you ever could think of.
The first surprising way is to use nuts to batter your chicken or your fish.
This is brilliant.
Shows how to crush it, make it.
This is such a smart thing to do, and you don't get the calories, the empty calories.
Right, exactly.
When people think of batters, they often think of a lot of flour, but you can do a lot of the same thing with nuts here.
You can do it with almonds, you can do it with walnuts, pretty much any nut you can think of.
Today, we're going to make kind of a take on a pesto.
We're using almonds here because pestos typically use pine nuts, which are very expensive, but you can just do it with almonds.
And we're adding a little bit of mustard, a little bit of garlic, thank you, a little bit of lemon juice, a little bit of salt.
I never add the salt.
Someone else is can't force myself to do it.
Yeah, I'm from the South.
I got to add the salt here.
And some olive oil.
And that'll kind of bind it all together so that it makes almost a paste so that you can easily get them and our basil.
You won't get the pesto water.
You won't get the pesto.
And then you're just going to put it in the bumper here.
And what that ends up being is something a little bit like this.
And you can spread it on top of fish.
You can use it as a marinade.
I think it tastes as sweet.
And we're going to give you this beautiful fish here.
This is cod, but you can put it on almost any type of fish.
It would work great on salmon.
Just put it in the oven.
And that's it.
That's the extra little bit you need.
You know, when you cook fish the right way, you don't eat a lot of junk on top of it.
Well, exactly.
And what's also good about this is you can make them in little ice cube trays, put them in the freezer, and then just pop it out anytime you want to put it on your fish.
Perfect.
Bulk pesto.
Exactly.
I get your pesto straight up.
Okay, next up, a surprising way to use nuts includes making quiche or pie crust from it.
I know what you want.
You want that nice, crunchy crust from the dough.
This will taste the same.
It's a method that I've never heard of, but I've tasted it just now.
And pay attention, guys.
Yeah, it's so easy.
People get really, you know, they're trying to use these like gluten-free flours and doing all these things when actually you can really just use nuts and butter.
It's so simple.
So we're using walnuts here.
Again, you can use almonds, almost any kind of nut.
You want to put them in a food processor.
If you don't have a food processor, you can do this in your blender and then you can just grate the butter like we did here just on a regular grater.
But we're going to throw it all in.
Very artistic.
Oh, yeah, it looks so beautiful, doesn't it?
It does.
And then you're just going to add a little bit of water as you go.
Salt and cheese.
And you can do a little bit of salt.
If you want to do this for a sweet crust, you can replace the salt and just add a little bit of honey to have it be a little bit sweeter.
But the ratios here, you're really just going to want it to get that consistency.
If it doesn't get the right consistency, then you can just add more of the water and that's it.
And you'll end up with a dough like this.
You just press it in.
And then we made a quiche here.
Old quiche.
And it's perfect.
It's a really great replacement for regular crust because it's so healthy, as you saw.
It's just really butter and nuts, and that's it.
All right.
The next surprising way to use nuts is to make macaroni and not nacho cheese, but nut cho cheese.
Take a look at this video as we go to break.
Thanks to
Truth About Grocery Store Hot Chocolate.
We uncover the surprising ingredients in those instant mixes and packets.
Plus, I've got the Oz approved hot chocolate you're going to want to be drinking all winter long.
It's the dish on Oz, a brand new series with everyday recipes and easy food hacks you can make tonight.
Can I get an ooh and an eye?
This week, crazy quick meals.
I love that.
All new oz.
That's coming up on Wednesday.
I'm talking about an all-time favorite drink this time of year, hot chocolate.
Now mostly by the powdered mixes, they're quick, they satisfy your chocolate cravings, but are there hidden ingredients in there?
Oh no, Dr. Oz, don't take the word hot chocolate.
I'm not taking away your hot chocolate, but there are better, more chocolatey options.
So let's go find the truth about grocery store hot chocolate.
Come on, everybody.
Chef Danny Boom is here to help investigate this.
I love, I adore hot chocolate.
It was one of the first health drinks you should know.
The Mayans refer to it, that hot chocolate, as the food of the gods, because it was said to help heal and fight off infection.
That's the reasons for that, by the way.
But it's changed.
What was hot chocolate like for you when you were growing up?
It was always syrup with hot milk and it was stirred all together.
there would be like whipping cream on the top then a few marshmallows and sprinkles and everything else but then obviously i'm getting older so my metabolism has slowed down a touch So I have to be a bit careful now.
And what we come across from syrup to then the package stuff is now we've got lots of hidden ingredients, lots and lots and lots of sugar in these basically the hot chocolate packets.
And that's what made me a bit worried today.
So that's why we came to do an investigation.
This is what you normally use, right?
These are the grocery store powder mixes y'all get.
So we're going to walk you through what's in here.
And I'm not taking it away from you.
I'm going to fulfill my promise, but there's some options out there.
So let's uncover some ideas there.
First off, right, there may be more sugar, as Chef Boone pointed out, than chocolate in your hot chocolate.
How much sugar are we talking about?
A lot.
And we're going to talk around this.
We're talking like 27 grams a portion of sugar.
So generally, and when you look at the listings, sugar actually becomes the first ingredient on the nutritional facts list.
Not chocolate, not cacao, not even milk.
It actually is the sugar.
And then we have all these other hidden things like corn syrup, which are basically, they don't really do any good for you, basically anything in your body.
So what kind of chocolate, how much of it do they actually have in hot chocolate?
Well, this is the thing.
We keep looking into that and then it comes down to more of a condensed version.
And what we have is this.
So really, when you look at the outweighing, you have 27 grams of basically sugar, which is going to activate everything in your mind and make you go crazy because you're going to go, whoa, sugar.
But when we come to the actual cacao point, it's basically a concentrated powder.
You're kidding me.
There's other ingredients added and added and added into it.
So that's a major concern, I got to say, right now, even though we got such a favorite part of our culture that I'm taking down potentially, I want to make sure that it's good for you.
But let's just do a quick taste test to find out another surprising ingredient that I never expected, but it turns out it's in your hot chocolate.
Melissa, are you a hot chocolate lover?
I love hot chocolate.
Look at the smile.
Look at the smile on her face.
Now, you have been sipping hot chocolate from a blue and from a green.
And I just want to be, first of all, do you like hot chocolate enough to be able to decide which one you like more?
Um, I...
I would want to say yes.
I want to say yes.
Yes, I do.
I love hot chocolate.
It's chocolate.
How do you?
It's chocolate.
It's chocolate.
But we just found it.
But is it?
So on the taste side, you're speaking for all of America now.
Which taste did you like more?
The green.
Oh, no.
Don't say, I actually think you made the right choice.
It does taste better to most people.
But why is that, Chef Boone?
Because this one actually has more artificial sugars in it.
Okay, so it's basically a drink that's been created for you chemically to make you want it more.
It's so good.
It's so good.
Yeah, but did you ever suspect they would add artificial sweeteners to an already sweetened product?
No, they shouldn't.
It's naturally good.
But it worked, wouldn't it?
It would be naturally good if it was natural.
It was natural.
Okay, and that's the difference.
And we already know artificial sweeteners are a concern to everybody, right?
And they're not just in the low-calorie versions.
They're added to other things to get you in there, but they don't really work, right?
We're actually finding them in the regular powdered chocolate drinks as well.
And it goes everywhere.
And what it comes down to when you're looking at the sugars, you're looking at the oils, you're looking at all these different ingredients, they're engineered to make you want more.
Put that down, put it down.
And they trick your brain.
You think you're getting away with something here?
Believe me, your brain is way too smart for that.
Your taste buds smell and taste sweet.
Your brain says, I didn't actually get it.
They're going to make you go out and hunt for more sweets.
So it's the wrong incentive.
So here, just drink this one.
Okay.
Just confiscate that.
Oh my goodness.
All right, come on over here.
We also uncovered hydrogenated oil in the hot powdered mixes, which again, Chef Boone mentioned, but why would anybody add hydrogenated oil to these things?
Well, first of all, it's an emulsifier.
So basically it gives you that creaminess, that glossiness of what the hot chocolate comes out to once you've added water or hot milk to it, okay?
That's the first thing.
The other thing is, though, they want you to have more, okay?
The bigger thing is, it doesn't matter if it's low fat, low calorie, or anything like that, there's always calories hidden in every packet.
You're all depressed, aren't you?
You're all down.
But not all grocery store hot chocolate powders are problematic.
In fact, you have options that you like, and there are quite a few brands out there now.
Yeah, these, I mean, basically, dark chocolate powder, which you can mix with real milk, and maybe a touch of vanilla will give you exactly the same result.
The deeper, darker, richer flavor, maybe a little bit bitter, but if you sweeten it with a little vanilla, you get just the same result.
This is what we serve to our family.
These kinds of ideas are out there, take advantage of.
But up next, up next, just for you, it is the Oz approved, easy hot chocolate that you can make at home, and everyone will love you for it.
Stick around.
Ready for that?
It's the dish on Oz, our brand new food series.
Take it tasting, Daphne Oz and Friends.
We're serving it up every Wednesday.
We're back with the truth about hot chocolate, and now I'm revealing an easy, Oz-approved hot chocolate that you can make at home.
You'd be a hero, everybody.
Help create the best hot chocolate recipe.
I've invited Mr. Chocolate himself, Jacques Torres.
He makes the most decadent chocolate creations, but you say we can all make a healthier version.
Yes, it's relatively easy to do.
But we cannot make a mistake between the hot cocoa and the hot chocolates.
So I start the hot chocolate with the hot chocolate with real chocolates.
That's the secrets.
So real chocolates will have less sugar.
You know, so you can pick a chocolate with pretty high cocoa contents, maybe 70%, 65%.
I put a little bit of milk powder.
Which one do you add first?
You can add that.
Okay.
A little bit of milk powder and a little bit of starch.
And that's all.
Always take a little tax, by the way.
Take one for yourself.
The rest goes in there.
You have to do that.
A little bit of starch and milk powder.
That's going to make it richer and more Velveti.
So you mix all that together.
And the secrets here is that everything needs to boil together so all the flavor comes together.
But one more time.
So high-quality chocolate, milk, whole fat milk.
No, you can use 2% if you want.
A little bit of milk powder.
You can use also low fat and a little bit of starch to make it Velveti.
Where do you get milk powder from?
From the grocery store.
It sells everywhere?
Oh, yes, everywhere.
Yes.
I'm working too hard.
I didn't even know that.
So, this is what it has to boil, you say, it has to boil so the starch will become a little bit thicker.
Otherwise, you have to put too much chocolate and then it becomes bitter.
So this is the perfect recipe.
And it's very Velveti, it's really chocolatey and it's delicious.
Look, you see how thick that is?
And that's the secret of a real hot chocolate.
It has to be thick.
Cacao doesn't do that.
And cacao has a bitterness that chocolate doesn't have.
So use good quality chocolates.
That's the secret.
This is for the kids.
I'll go ahead and put the whipped cream on there because this, I think, is a secret ingredient that I have to have in my household.
But you say you can spice it up a bit.
You can spice it up a bit with a little bit of encho, chipotle chili, and four spice if you like, or whole spice.
So we have here chipotle chili?
Yes, encho and chipotle.
So don't eat too much of it.
I went actually to Oaxaca and spent time in the family to learn about the spices.
And they use that.
And I love chipotle.
It has a little smokiness to it.
Encho doesn't have much heat.
And then, of course, the four spice who give the holiday spice, you know, the holiday flavor.
So coming over here, before we get to the audience, I wanted to see how the true experts would apply.
This is a tough challenge.
We've got Drew, Mila, and Dylan are here.
We have to say, I did not spice yours up, but I want some honest opinions here.
Now, you've been tasting these.
I saw you blowing and blowing, and then I noticed a few of those marshmallows are missing.
Dylan, just saying.
So, what are your thoughts about this?
It's good.
It's good?
I mean, he is a world-class chef.
Yes!
Would you guys taste this hot chocolate again?
Is it good enough to eat tomorrow too or drink tomorrow?
Drink tomorrow.
You're in?
Yeah.
And I want to ask the most beautiful little one.
What do you think about it?
Do you like it?
Yeah.
You like it a lot?
Is it delicious?
You're going to drink your brothers too?
Yes, here.
This is yours now.
Just kidding, just kidding, just kidding.
I know it felt wild.
Come on over here.
Just for some quality control.
Let's join the audience.
Now they picked on the kids.
Now, I like the regular hot chocolate, but I haven't had the spicy one yet.
You've been tasting it, I understand.
It's delicious.
It has a little kick in it.
It's delicious.
The right kind of kick?
Yes, perfect.
Okay.
And since you didn't have the spicy, do you think, Colvet, if you don't mind?
You think the kids are enjoying it for a good reason?
Are they justified?
Yeah, it's very rich.
Very rich.
Oh.
Very true, yeah.
You know what I have to do?
Very delicious.
We got delicious, we got rich.
Even the kids liked it, and the spicy got kicked to it.
Jacques, this is a winner, my friend.
Vidian, be sure to check the recipe on Dr.Eyes.com.
Make it for your friends.
It's simple to do.
You just saw us.
Share it with your friends as well.
We'll be right back.
Now, up next, Empire Star, Jesse Smollett.
He is here.
I'm revealing the health mission closest to my heart and how to stay healthy on set.
Stay with us.
Listen to him.
You all know him as Jamal Lyons and the hit musical drama, Empire.
But Jesse Smollett is much, much more than a talented actor and musician.
Today he's opening up about his life before Empire and revealing his biggest health mission.
Plus, what he does to stay healthy during those long hours on set.
Please welcome Jesse Smollett.
Is it you?
Oh my goodness.
He's here in person.
I'm here in person.
I'm here in person.
So happy to be here.
I got lots of empire questions, but first, I got to just talk about you.
I didn't realize you're one of six.
I know one of the other Smallets out there.
You know Jazz?
Jazz very well.
Oh, you know Jazz.
But you got six siblings.
Six of us.
And look how handsome they all are.
Thank you.
But I guess what I didn't realize, you guys travel around the country continuously.
What was it like being part of a family?
We just always, you know, I think my parents were just major hippies.
You know what I'm saying?
And my mom was just wherever we needed to go.
We went.
We didn't have a lot of money growing up, so we drove everywhere.
And we drove across country, moved across country 13 different times.
Oh, my goodness.
Can you imagine being the parents with six kids in the back?
Yeah.
At one point, as I got older, I was like, I was like, I think that my parents may have been like spies or something like that.
And we just traveled.
Maybe we were on the run.
I don't know, but we just did it.
And I think that kind of sits with me now still when I'm traveling and people see me and they're just like, why do you travel so much?
I just go where I have to go.
It's just what we do.
All six of you, the kids, are in entertainment.
In some form, yes.
Friendly competition, you guys get into it at all?
Not even a friendly competition, just no competition whatsoever.
But just when one of us wins, we all win.
And I genuinely mean that.
Like I'm saying this in an interview to media or whatever, but it's not, it's the truth.
You know, we just support each other and there's no, absolutely no, there's no kind of any envy or anything.
Tell your mom I'm proud of her.
I'm proud of that interior culture.
She's amazing.
Let's talk about Empire.
Yeah.
So your life, I mean, it must have changed somewhat.
You go to being a household name in a very short period of time.
How has it changed materially?
I mean, I want to believe that I haven't changed because I think that if this happened, I'm in my 30s.
So it's like, you know, if this happened when I was a teenager or, you know, in my 20s, maybe it would have been a different situation.
But I feel like when it happened for me, I was very already grounded and certain of who I am.
And I think that I'm blessed and grateful that it's happening now because I'm able to navigate my own thoughts and my own life much easier than I would have at 21 versus 31.
But definitely it's given me a platform as well.
You know what I'm saying?
It's given me a platform to talk about and tell the stories that I care about and that mean a lot to me.
So that's probably the best thing.
I actually didn't realize, you're not just acting, you're directing some of the episodes.
I don't know how if you all realize, but I guess Taraja P. Henson, so I get, you know, I actually spent the U.S. Open with her.
Oh, really?
I got shoved around by her the whole time.
I'm sure.
What was it like?
There it is.
That's a real picture from just a few months ago.
What is it like directing her?
Does she follow instructions maybe to?
No, she don't follow nothing.
She's incredible.
She's incredible.
She gives me a hard time on purpose, and it's because I give her such a hard time just in real life in general.
So she, whenever I go up to her, I'm like, Taraji, you think you could maybe think about, you know, doing this?
She's like, nah, I don't want to do it that way.
And it just is what it is.
But she always ends up delivering.
And I love, the love that I have for that woman, I don't think is even, I could possibly describe.
I just love her from her little toe to the top of her head.
Oh, my goodness.
For this season on Empire, Jussie's character is featured in an important storyline about HIV and AIDS.
It's actually really important to me.
You all take a look at this.
African Americans represent 12% of the population.
You all know that, but account for 44% of HIV diagnoses.
Just see these on a mission to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS, particularly in the black community.
Just share with us why you think, why are you so passionate about Empire, sharing this information with this audience?
I just think that we have a very, very special opportunity and platform at Empire to, that the eyes are on us.
You know what I'm saying?
And I think that for a show that says that we are rooted in pop culture, we would be frauds if we didn't acknowledge everything in pop culture.
You can't just acknowledge flat tummy tea and not, you know what I'm saying, and not acknowledge the facts of real life.
And the fact is, is that this is something that is, although we're not talking about it as much, it's still something that is very real.
And I know that there are so many things to care about in the world that we're in, particularly right now.
But we as a people have always multitasked.
You know what I'm saying?
So we just have to stay focused on the mission at hand and stop thinking that we get a couple steps forward and then we can just push it to the side because we're not done yet.
You said that you believe this issue of HIV AIDS has become a side story.
That's your logo word in Hollywood.
Why do you think that's the case?
Because there's so many, and that's not to say anything bad about people.
This is the thing, is like there are so many things that we care about in this world, so many things that are ravaging our communities.
You know what I'm saying?
From mass incarceration to racial profiling to police battery, whatever it may be, there's so many things that we are here to care about.
I feel like sometimes, especially in storytelling, it's become the side project or the side story.
And I think that with shows like How to Get Away with Murder and Pose and now with Empire, we're able to tackle certain subjects that people don't.
And you know, this is the other thing, is that to me, one of the most spectacular pieces about this storyline, being able to tell this storyline, is seeing the journey that Cookie goes through.
Because all too often we forget, we only think about the two people that are in the relationship.
We only think about the person that is infected, and we forget to think about the people that are not.
She didn't say the things that she said because she's mean or because she's evil.
She said the things because she's misinformed.
You know what I'm saying?
So it's about informing people so that they know you can not only survive, but you can thrive with this.
You can live and you can love.
And it's not, to me, it's about taking, we won't be able to eradicate the disease until we eradicate the stigma.
And along with that, it comes honesty.
And I think that we're able to entertain while educate.
And what better thing for an artist than to be able to do that?
Just see and his family, hallelujah, have been involved with the Black Gates Institute since he was a teenager.
Let me bring in Phil Wilson, who was the Institute's founder.
He's also a consultant on Empire.
I love Phil.
Thank you for being here.
God bless you.
Phil has been my mentor since I was 15 years old.
Is that right?
Yeah, absolutely.
And there's nothing that I can't call Phil about.
You know, being a gay man, being a gay black man, being able to call Phil and be like Phil, you know, ask him any questions that maybe you're embarrassed to ask someone else, but I can call this man and I can depend on him.
And that's why, like, I just, so I have to say, like, I love Phil with all my heart.
So let me give you the platform a little bit.
What was the most important goal you had when you made this part of the Empire storyline?
Well, there are three things that I really want to see happen.
One is to help people who are living with HIV understand that they can disclose and how to do that.
Two, basically, for people who receive the information, how you can react when someone you love or care about shares with you that they're living with HIV, particularly if it's an intimate relationship, you know, and what are the possibilities there.
And three, you know, individuals get infected, but families and communities get affected.
And that is really important.
So you diagnosed, if I can share this, 30 years ago.
35 years ago now.
Yes, congratulations.
That is fantastic.
Yes.
And that fact right there is really important for us to all get out because most people don't recognize this is an ailment you can live with.
There's still stigma around it.
Why?
Why are we still facing this problem?
And I know we don't even have access to healthcare the way we need to for a lot of folks.
Well, give me a second to kind of respond to my living with HIV for 35 years.
You know, I've been living with HIV for 35 years because I'm on treatment.
You know, this is what HIV looks like on treatment.
The tragedy is so many people, particularly in black communities, aren't on treatment.
One of the drivers around that is stigma.
And that when there's a stigmatizing environment, people are not going to find out that they're HIV positive.
They're not going to get tested.
They're not going to seek treatment.
They're not going to stay in treatment.
And they're not going to disclose.
And the epidemic goes on.
And so stigma is critically important.
The other thing that's really important is that we really have the tools today to end this epidemic.
There are no reasons why anyone ever has to get infected today.
You know, I'm on treatment.
That means that I can't transmit the virus if I take my meds.
Now, undetectable, which is what I am, means that you're untransmissible.
On the other side of the equation, as Jamal talks about on the show, there's PrEP.
One pill a day provides over 90% protection from HIV infection.
And you get to control your own health.
You put those two things together and we break the back of the epidemic.
You know what I love?
It's your passion for this.
Thank you.
And how you're changing.
Well, God bless your belt.
Up next, what Jesse says he does to keep his healthy physique intact during those long work hours on set.
We'll be right back.
Here's your Daily Show.
I am back with a multi-talented Justice Molette, who stars in the hit show Empire.
Today he's revealing how he stays healthy during those long hours on set.
Food and cooking, big part of your family.
Why is that?
Where'd it come from?
My mom, definitely not my daddy.
Definitely my mom.
She just, she is such a stickler.
She's, you know, nutritionist and all of that.
So she'll call us and she'll tell us about what we should be doing as if we're not doing it, but we are because we were raised by her.
So we stay healthy for sure.
So I know she's big into clean eating.
You've talked about the fact she likes roughage in your diet.
Oh my gosh.
Y'all, she will literally like, she'll see me on TV or in person when I'm with her or whatever.
And then she'll send out this shady text message that seems really sweet.
And she'll send out the group text message to all of the family.
She'll be like, hey, sweeties.
I saw Jesse and he has dark circles and I just really want to make sure that you kids are eating your roughage and eating the greens.
And then she'll send us text messages randomly and be like, you've got in all caps, stop drinking alcohol.
And I'm like, what is this?
Like, you see me on TV drunk or something?
Like, what is it?
I don't drink like that.
But that's mommy.
So you just got to.
She didn't text you personally.
It's got to be a group text.
She's a group text for she wants to show you.
She's putting us all on blast.
All right.
So keep her happy.
And just to make it right, we decided to do this.
This is actually what Jesse does to stay healthy.
Every single morning.
Every single morning after my cardio, because I got to do my cardio.
I have my smoothie, and my smoothie has kale, lemon, chia seeds, ginger, and pineapple and coconut water.
Now, sometimes when you know, I come back from hiatus and a brother a little soft around the middle.
I take out the pineapple just so that I don't have the sugar.
But, you know, this is what it usually is.
This is drop dead fantasy.
Tijay.
This is why it's to Jay.
Thank you for stepping by, my friends.
God bless you.
Be sure to watch Jesse every Wednesday night on Empire on Fox.
And Jesse and Siblings just wrote a cookbook together called The Family Table.
Check it out.
There it is.
It's a picture.
And guess what?
What about the audience?
Can we take care of it?
I mean, I think the whole audience is walking away with the family face.
There you met it.
There you have it.
We'll be right back.
Could your loved one be living a secret life as a serial killer?
We couldn't conceive that our own father would murder anybody and discover how they hid these horrendous crimes from their families.
All nuise.
That's coming up tomorrow.
I recently came across a tweet that caught my attention.
Camilla Caballo asked fellow pop star Ariana Grande for advice about ponytail pain.
I'll quote her, I just did a high ponytail for the first time and it's literally pulling on my brain.
It's so painful.
How do you do it?
Ultimately, losing the ponytail all the way, by the way.
But Ariana's response was interesting.
She said she's actually in constant pain from her famous ponytail.
And now Arianda Grande has cut off her famous ponytail with people asking the question, was it the pain?
Today, I'm getting to the root of the problem and revealing how you can avoid the pain without ditching this really popular hairstyle.
Now, I admit, this is an area I don't know that much about, so I had to bring in an expert.
Kelsey Castagnon is here, the senior beauty editor from Pop Sugar.
It's the number one digital lifestyle brand for young women.
Congratulations on that, by the way.
So first, welcome back.
As a guy, if something would cause pain to my head, I wouldn't do it.
Yet women are big into this high ponytail.
Why?
It's easy.
It's a simple hairstyle.
You can just throw it up.
And also, it's trendy.
You know, you can pull something in this slick, sky-high look in it.
It's so popular that her hairstylist, Ariana's hairstylist, has a name for it.
It's called Snatched Ponytail.
So, what that means is you snatch your face, you pull it up, gives you this younger-looking effect, and it just pulls up all your features.
Pursuit of youth, even if you're in pain.
Even if you're in pain.
Come on over here.
I wanted to know what was going on, why it caused so much pain.
So I bought your little model.
Here's Ariana's head, right?
And I want to look to see whether it can really cause damage.
Hair follicles are there, right?
And hair follicles, these little things right here, are small pockets of skin that surround the root of your hair.
When your hair is pulled back into a high ponytail, like Ariana's, it puts your hair in an unnatural tension, right?
An unnatural angle.
So it pulls those hair follicles in a weird way.
And those follicles have little nerve endings.
That tension causes pain.
And for Ariana, it could be even worse because your hair is so long and so thick, right?
That adds extra weight.
So over time, that tight hairstyle can damage your follicles.
It could even lead, believe it or not, to hair loss, which is for me a big-time concern I know for a lot of you as well.
Maybe that's why she cut it off.
Yeah, so the ponytail is not going away, obviously, and really it shouldn't be painful.
Your ponytail should not be painful.
So what you can do is grab a scrunchie.
They are back, but these, obviously, as you can see, are silk.
So they're silk, and so it will hold your hair, but it gives it a little bit of a slip.
So it's not going to be too tough and create that concentrated tension.
You'll get that useful tone.
You can get the younger-looking effect, but not so pulled, you know.
I see these all over the house.
I have no idea what they normally do.
I think the guys are like, sleeves, you know.
They're very, very trendy right now.
And then you can also do.
So they look like telephone cords, right?
Those are coil hair ties, because the number one thing you want to stay away from is the elastic.
The elastic is the enemy for your hair.
So these evenly distribute your hair.
As you can see, the hair will go in these little coil areas.
And that way you don't have to deal with so much pressure in one concentrated area.
Kelsey, thanks for deciphering this enigmatic area.
Oh, Lord.
For many of you, lots more insights you can find.
The health and beauty tips are all there.
You can visit Pop Sugar's website.
We'll link into their very informative beauty section on DrOz.com.
Learn about the stuff.
You'll be happier and healthier for it.
Thanks for watching.
Together, change is happening.
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