Dr. Oz and Julia Collin Davison decode canned tuna, revealing albacore holds three times more mercury than light skipjack or yellowfin, recommending a weekly limit of 12 ounces with only four ounces of white tuna. They advise water-packed options over oil to reduce fat and warn against vegetable broth masking twice-cooked fish, followed by a tuna puttanesca recipe demonstration. Dr. Oz then debates Dr. James D. Nicolantonio's claim that salt is an essential nutrient linked to longevity in Mediterranean and Japanese diets, countering nutritionist Maya Feller's warnings about hypertension risks before suggesting moderation. Finally, Tanya Zuckerbrock presents a 28-day inflammation-busting plan targeting 28 grams of daily fiber through high-fiber breakfasts, cabbage soup lunches, and bean-rich dinners. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, WAV2VEC2_ASR_BASE_960H, sat-12l-sm, script v26.04.01, and large-v3-turbo
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Mercury Levels in Tuna00:08:45
Tuna fish.
Costing as little as $1 per can.
But it may cost you your health.
And the canned white or albacore tuna has almost three times more mercury than the light tuna.
It's very confusing.
What do you buy?
We decode canned tuna.
Plus, could eating salt actually be good for you?
I used to think of salt as this poison almost to be avoided.
Will this change the way we eat forever?
Coming up next.
Are you ready to save some lives today?
I love you, Becca.
It contains more than 20 grams of protein, less than 3 grams of fat, and just 100 calories.
Costing as little as $1 per can.
Tuna Fishes has been on America's grocery list since it first hit the market in 1904.
That's a long time ago.
But with serious questions about mercury levels and confusing labels, it's hard to navigate which canned tuna is best.
So today, we are setting the record straight.
And to help us decode what canned tuna you should be buying for both health and flavor is Julia Collin Davison from America's Test Kitchen.
Billion dollar industry.
I had no idea how large this was.
It's huge.
Help me figure out how to tell these different tunas apart.
Yeah, because at the supermarket, there's tons of cans, lots of confusing labels.
I mean, you have chunk, you have solid, you have white, you have light, oil packed, water packed, and some don't even come in a can anymore.
They come in different pouches and have flavoring.
So, yeah, you look at all this and there are different prices.
What do you buy?
So, there's two basic cans, right?
Yes.
Yeah, two basic styles.
And it's white and light.
Just focus on those two words, white and light.
So, the difference between white and light is the type of tuna in the can.
So, if it's white, it's albacore.
It can only be called albacore.
It's called white because albacore tuna is lighter in color and has a milder flavor, which some people like.
This is an albacore tuna.
Oh, it's a beauty.
Now, this is a small fish.
These can be a lot.
Is this small?
Yeah, right?
This is about 20 pounds, but these guys can get up to 70 or more.
So, this is in a big, so they're bigger fish.
Now.
Not to brag at all, but let me just show you a big version of this.
Caught this week by myself.
Really?
Oh, look at that.
That's a 100 pounder.
That's a good cat.
I'm kidding, it's not 100 pounds.
No.
But I learned this little trick.
If I could get one of these cameras, you just hold it out like this, and look how much bigger it looks.
Look at that.
Look how big that is now.
Yeah.
Right?
Just hold your finger.
I say 150 pounder.
All right, so aside from fish stories, so the Albacore tuna is the white tuna.
That's the white tuna.
And the light?
The light tuna can be a couple different varieties.
Most commonly, it's skipjack or yellowfin.
And it has a darker flesh color, sometimes a little tan or pinkish tan, and it has a stronger flavor.
And also, this actually is the smallest version of this fish, because I know they get up to.
Four times this size.
Easily.
And the reason that's important, everybody, is the older a fish is, the more it's eaten other smaller fish and gotten their mercury into themselves.
So that's why the smaller tuna has less mercury in it, which is a big concern for me because, you know, I don't know if you all know this, my mercury levels are really high.
Wow.
I've done a lot of things.
And the canned white or albacore tuna, which has almost three times more mercury than the light tuna.
Right.
The jack, right?
The skip jack.
The skip jack.
Yeah.
So you've got to limit your mercury exposure.
In order to do that, you're going to choose light over white.
And you want to stick to about 12 ounces a week.
Yep.
If you really are a white person, I'm going to have white, I want this kind of fish, and you only get about four ounces.
Okay.
All right, so how does it get into the can?
Yeah, now this is what makes the difference between good tuna fish and bad tuna fish, is how it gets into the can.
And so there's two main ways.
One's a really easy way for the manufacturers, and one's a bit harder.
The easier way, you cook the tuna first, and then you put it in the can, and then the can gets processed.
And then the really good producers of canned tuna pack the fish raw into the can, which is harder, more expensive, less yield, but then the tuna gets cooked.
As the can is processed.
So if you start with cooked fish and it goes in the can, it's twice cooked by the time you're done versus this, which is just cooked once.
And does it say on the can that it's cooked or not?
No, it's very confusing.
If you want to look for fish that's been cooked once, you can see cooked just once on the label, hand packed.
Hand packed.
Yeah, or packed raw.
Sometimes you have to do a little digging.
You have to go onto their website.
And then the brands that really are proud of their product will walk you through how they can their tuna.
And they're very specific.
That's an important point.
I'd rather have it raw.
Otherwise, you're cooking it twice.
Wait, twice cooked fish tastes about as good as it sounds.
Okay.
Because, yeah, because when you put it in the can, you have to heat it again.
That's right, to sterilize the can so it's shelf stable.
Oh my goodness.
All right.
Second thing is canned in water versus canned in oil, packed in oil.
Yeah.
There are some really fancy canned in oil tuna brands and they're delicious.
But if you're just making tuna salad with mayonnaise, you might as well go with water because there's a big difference in the fat and calories.
How much?
Well, if it's packed in water for a three ounce serving, it's about 100 calories and one and a half grams of fat.
If it's packed in oil, 160 calories and seven grams of fat.
So it's a big difference.
But if you're making a tuna nassua salad where the tuna just gets sprinkled on top, The olive oil one's going to taste better and be great.
Right.
And then there's the issue of packing them in water, which you say is a problem.
Well, it can be a problem sometimes, especially if it's twice cooked, because they've cooked out all the flavor.
And so manufacturers will get sneaky and put some other things in there, like vegetable broth.
For taste.
Yeah, for taste.
To try to give it a little something.
We found you can't really taste the broth, it just makes it taste a little saltier.
Even if it doesn't mention it normally in the ingredients, they have to mention vegetable broth.
That's it.
So it's a tip.
Yeah, it's a tip that the tuna probably doesn't taste like much, and they're trying to give it a little love.
And is it and but why don't you just put the tuna by itself in the can?
Yeah, well, that's great.
And some brands do that, that's a bit more expensive and they're delicious because they're cooked in their own juices.
There's no extra liquid.
So, how much is the difference?
Does it make?
Oh, well, here I have a sample now.
We just took the lids off these two different brands, and you can see yours.
I mean, look at that.
You can see the difference.
And you know, you're paying for water because you're buying tuna, but you're paying for it could be at least half an ounce of water.
And here, if you drain them, you can see it's like cat food.
Mine doesn't look good.
Oh, yours doesn't smell good either.
Oh, my goodness.
Smell it all the way over there.
Look at all that syrupy stuff down there.
Yeah, look at that.
Whereas this is a lot less.
Can you all see that?
Yeah, so you're paying for that, which is not great tasting and making it more expensive.
Did you have any at all?
I had a little bit.
I shook it a bit though.
Yeah, but look at that.
That's like four times more water now.
I was eyeballing that thing.
Yeah.
All right, so this is all the theory.
Yep.
And now I know what to get.
Yeah.
But let's go to the taste issue.
So we have a few brave women who are here.
Myla and Ro are here.
They are taste testing two different types of tuna salad to see if they can tell which is the better product.
Yeah, man, one of these is packed raw, right?
And it's in its own juices.
That's like the one we just showed you over there.
And Julia says she believes that you'll be able to tell the difference between the one that's packed in its own juices and the one that had other things added to it that, you know, were done to adulterate the taste a little bit.
So walk me through what you think.
Well, I thought that the one on the green plate was really like fresh tasting and juicy.
It felt real.
I don't know.
And then the one on the blue plate felt a little bit like, Fibrous, it wasn't as salty.
I really like salt.
It just felt like it had kind of no flavor, just kind of like.
What did you think?
I actually would have to agree with my girl over here.
The one on the blue plate was kind of fishy, even though I know it's fish, right?
But it's like old fish.
Yeah, it was kind of funky.
It was kind of funky.
Yeah, it was kind of funky.
I really like the one on the green plate by the way.
Which is the better one?
Oh, the one on the green plate is hand packed, cooked one.
Oh, God, I love the water.
It makes a big difference because you wonder once you mix it with the seasonings and the mayonnaise, are you going to be able to tell?
Absolutely.
And then, what about the packs over here?
I'm seeing more and more of these.
These are great for travel.
Yeah, they're very good.
But a lot of times they're much bigger than this.
Yeah, so they're handy.
And it's just the same tuna you find in a can in a pouch.
The thing is, of course, the pouch is malleable.
So if you throw it around and it gets beat up a bit, that's going to break down the pieces of tuna.
But that's the only downside.
And what about the ones that have flavoring on those all over the place?
Oh, those are crazy.
There's barbecue and jalapeno and that.
Potato chips.
Yeah, potato chip flavors and put them in tuna fish.
No, right.
I'm not a big fan of those.
I don't think the flavors taste very good.
You know, a ranch style flavor into tuna.
It's a lot of dried and dehydrated products, which I don't think are that good for you.
So I'd say flavor it yourself.
Hand Packed vs Canned00:02:44
Let me be all my bottom line.
This is really important for all you busy moms striving to be healthy.
Here's what you're going to look for when choosing a low calorie, low cost tuna.
You want to get light, right?
Remember light because it has less mercury.
Packed in water only.
You don't want any vegetable broth hiding in the ingredient list, in part because it tips you off that they have to adulterate the taste.
You can choose either tuna in a can or a pouch.
Either one's fine, but you want to limit your serving size to about three ounces to help with all the issues we've been talking about.
Did I get it right?
You got it right.
All right.
Up next, the hack to easily upgrade your canned tuna, transform that old can, In your pantry into a delicious, delectable, healthy boy.
Stick around.
A dad's desperate plea to find his kids.
Who went missing three years ago, last seen by their mother with reported history of mental illness.
The goal is to find them no matter what condition they're in.
Plus, her fiance drowned while they were kayaking.
I did say that I wanted him dead.
She's telling her side of the story.
I was portrayed in the media as a cold blooded murderer, and I'm not.
Mystery on the Hudson.
All new Oz.
That's coming up.
tomorrow.
Dr. Ask, can you please show me what to do with all this tuna?
We feel your frustration.
So, we are back showing you the trick to upgrade a can of tuna, just like the one you have in your pantry right now, into an easy, healthy dish that tastes great and it's just going to impress your family so brilliant.
Julia Colin Davidson from America's Test Kitchen is going to show us exactly how.
Home cooks everywhere desperately need you.
Yes.
Show us how to transform that little can stuck in your pantry.
Pantry friendly recipe starts with sauteing a little bit of garlic.
We're going to add two cans of tuna.
Oh, yeah.
And we're going to make a tuna putneska.
Well, in pasta, it's delicious.
Delicious.
And so instead of anchovies, you're going to add cans of tuna.
It's a tuna putneska.
Yes, it's delicious.
I like that.
So we're going to add two cans of tuna.
Those are some capers, about a third of a cup, about a half a cup of black olives.
All right, here, I'm going to let you take over.
While you're doing that, I'm going to add some diced tomatoes.
This is a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes.
Just a little bit of sugar that helps bring out the sweetness in tomatoes.
A little salt, a little pepper, and it's that easy.
We're just gonna let this simmer for about 20 minutes.
So you cook your pasta.
Yep, you cook your pasta.
You got a little trick that I know you have.
Yeah, so I'm gonna add the pasta that I cooked.
And also, when I was cooking the pasta, I saved some of the pasta cooking water before I drained the pasta.
Do this every time.
It'll help loosen up the sauce and give it a little viscosity.
Salt and Gut Health00:15:55
A little bit.
Oh, just dump it all in there.
That fresh basil is the best.
Yeah, right?
And it looks like this when you're all done.
Yep.
Which I will do the taste testing.
Actually, who wants to taste this?
Oh, over in that corner, they were hungry.
In that corner?
Yeah.
They're jumping up and down.
Y'all wanna taste it?
Who wants to taste it?
Okay, here you go.
You take the taste.
You speak for everybody here.
Okay.
But I want to, it's going to, your face will tell us the story if the tuna fish puttinesca worked.
You know the story of puttinesca?
Yeah.
Oh, you do know it?
No, I don't know.
Yeah, I can't say it on air.
Okay.
It's a very interesting story, though.
The original puttinesca story.
What do you think?
This is good.
I'm really happy.
She's happy.
You got a happy guy.
Julia's fantastic.
As always, wonderful advice.
Lots of more amazing recipes to all your friends and family in Julia's new book, which is so well done, called Cooking at Home.
We'll be right back.
It's good, huh?
Coming up, a controversial new claim being made by a scientist who says you should be eating more salt for better health.
You heard me correctly, more salt.
We're getting to the bottom of it.
Here's the brand new controversy sending shockwaves through the nutrition world and causing an uproar in the medical community.
A scientist is coming forward arguing that everything you've ever heard about salt being bad for you is a lie.
And they're eating more of it.
Yes, don't clap quite yet.
We've got to find out if it's true.
And they're eating more of it might actually save your life.
So not only is it not bad for you, it might be really important for you.
Will this change the way we eat forever?
As a cardiac thoracic surgeon, I deal with heart disease all the time.
I am skeptical, but I invited that scientist here.
Today, to plead his case.
So, you can decide for yourself.
So, please welcome Dr. James D. Nicolantonio and the documentarian, always on the cutting edge of challenging the traditional status quo, Max Le Goodbear.
Max, appreciate you being here.
You actually brought to our attention this big debate, the controversy over this.
So, Dr. D. Nicolantonio, let's get to the root of this issue.
You've had a lot of folks raising their eyebrows more than usual over your claims that the medical community has gotten it all wrong.
So, walk me through it.
Sure.
Basically, salt is an essential mineral.
Our body needs to consume it.
If we don't get enough of it, then we can become dehydrated.
We can deal with muscle cramps.
You know, we can't exercise as well.
So, exercise and eating healthy are the two most important things people can do for their health.
And salt is what allows people to do that.
So, I've seen personally low salt diets be beneficial to patients of mine.
Lots of heart patients have high blood pressure.
So, specifically the blood pressure.
If someone's having a problem with their blood pressure, why would they not think salt's a problem?
That's what they've been told.
I was taught that in medical school.
Because when you cut your salt intake, you're just dehydrating the person.
I can lower your blood pressure by telling you to just drink one cup of water per day.
And that's virtually what you're doing.
You're just depleting someone's blood volume.
So it's not even a good reduction in blood pressure.
So if the medical community is off, where do they get the wrong data from?
You're a cardiovascular researcher at a Heart Institute.
Yep.
You do this for a living as well.
How can this all have been mistaken for generations?
Well, just like all our other nutritional advice to eat a high carb diet, to limit our cholesterol, it all came back from the 1977 dietary goals, only based on a few expert advice.
Opinions and low salt was one of those opinions.
It was only based on blood pressure, but as I show in my book, the reduction in blood pressure is not even beneficial.
You're just depleting someone's blood volume.
All right, so Max, your view towards this has completely changed.
Yeah, I mean, finding out about Dr. De Nicola Antonio's work was a paradigm shift for me because I used to think of salt as this poison almost to be avoided, and it really opened my eyes to the fact that sodium is a nutrient.
So, for example, I drink a lot of coffee, as you know.
Yes, I do.
And I drink a good amount of coffee.
I also love to exercise, and so that can cause you to lose sodium.
When you lose sodium, I mean, that's an electrolyte that needs to be replaced.
All right, so I like your answers.
You should be thoughtful about them.
I'm skeptical.
Obviously, you're challenging something that I've always thought was real.
So I'll give you a chance.
You walk over with me.
Show me some diets from around the world.
I know that you pointed out that if left to our own devices, we would actually eat between three and four grams of salt a day.
Is that right?
That's right.
Across the world, that's what you're finding.
Right.
Let's talk about some areas where we know the diet is healthy.
So the Mediterranean diet, which is the one I generally use, is one that we have probably the best data for, especially cardiovascular health.
Exactly.
So the Mediterranean diet is not a low salt diet.
They actually consume in the Mediterranean the same exact amount of salt that we consume in America.
It's just that they're eating real foods.
So if you look at anchovies and sardines, feta cheese, just seven ounces of feta cheese will give you a full teaspoon of salt.
And supposedly, that's supposed to be our maximum.
So if you look at on average what the average person in the Mediterranean is consuming per year, this is what it looks like in salt.
And so they eat a pretty high salt diet.
And we know, like you said, the Mediterranean diet is beneficial for reducing cardiovascular events.
Preventing increasing longevity and even brain health at Mediterranean diet is very important.
Now, Japan, Korea, these are, and just to point out, this is how much salt they have there, which is even more than what we eat in the United States.
And I'm finding out now in the Mediterranean diet.
Correct.
So if you look at Japan and South Korea, they literally eat the highest amounts of salt, and yet they live the longest.
And they also have the lowest rates of coronary heart disease mortality in the world.
But what their salt looks like is you have miso soup, which is very high in salt, seaweed, kimchi, which is vegetables fermented in salt, soy sauce, crab, and clams, which are extremely salty.
So you're getting your healthy omega 3s.
But you're also getting good amounts of that essential nutrient salt.
And you're eating real food and they're salting to taste.
All right, so if this is the salt that we eat in America, let's go look at the American diet.
So I'll put this right over here.
Walk us through it.
These are the foods that we have.
The real villain, you argue, is because of this.
Exactly.
So if you look at the typical American diet, you're dealing with granola bars, crackers, white bread, cola, soda pop, right?
And so if you think that that's a lot of salt over there, what we're consuming.
So, but what is this?
This is salt, right?
This is salt, but this is really what's killing Americans sugar.
And so, what this is, this is sugar weed.
This is 66 pounds of sugar per person per year that the average person consumes.
Compare that to the salt.
Oh, my goodness.
Wow.
So, we're trading out salt for sugar.
For sugar, exactly.
So, if you look at the countries that are living long, the Mediterranean diet, the South Korean diet, the Japanese diet, it's low in sugar, but it's high in salt.
The reason this battle is really important is whenever I have chefs on the show, they always scoff at the idea that you can substitute with salt.
They say to make food taste great, you have to use salt.
Absolutely.
But they argue, You don't want the salt hidden from you.
You want it added by yourself with your little dainty fingers into the foods that you're actually eating, which makes it taste so good you won't crave other foods.
You actually argued that salt changes how much you crave sugar.
It does.
So, what the body's defense mechanism, if we don't get enough salt, what ends up happening is the body activates its reward system in the brain so that you seek it out and that it tastes better, right?
That prevents you from becoming salt efficient.
The problem is the other white crystal sugar can hijack that activated reward system.
So, low salt diets may actually lead to sugar cravings and sugar addiction.
All right, well, you're all here with me.
We've just started to uncover these very controversial claims.
Up next, a nutritionist who says Dr. Nicole Antonio's message could cause a public health crisis.
We're going to hear from her when we come back.
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Until now.
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All nuanced.
That's coming up on Wednesday.
Can eating salt actually be good for you?
A lot of people would think that.
Today we're examining this controversial claim made by cardiovascular research Dr. James D. Nicolantonio in his new book, The Salt Fix.
The American Heart Association recommends everyone ought to be eating exactly this much salt every day if they're healthy.
This is one teaspoon, which is about 2,300 milligrams.
So you argue that these recommendations are far too broad and, for that reason, are not helpful.
Exactly.
So, some people lose a lot of salt and others don't.
So, some people exercise a lot, they drink caffeine, maybe they're on a low carb diet and they're getting flushed out of salt.
And if you just tell that person to consume only one or less teaspoon of salt, they can become depleted and they can honestly wind up in the hospital with dehydration and other symptoms of low salt like muscle spasms.
So, we went too far because 80% of people with normal blood pressure are not salt sensitive, and even people with high blood pressure, one out of two, actually aren't salt sensitive.
So, if you have a blanket statement, you could be harming the majority to benefit the minority.
Or, if nothing else, torturing them for no real benefit.
Exactly.
Which I always worry about when I give you all a message, even though only a few may benefit.
Oh, come on over here.
So, you think we've painted this whole issue of salt too aggressively.
So, I want you to meet someone who disagrees with you.
So, nutritionist Maya Feller.
Maya, how are you?
She's joining us.
You've been listening to Dr. D'Antonio, D'Antonio.
So, your thoughts.
Would you recommend any of this to your patients?
So, no, absolutely not.
This is not something that I would recommend to my patients.
I mean, I really feel that this is not something that I can suggest.
I can't say to people you should self treat or self diagnose a diet related illness.
We know, just as you say, the typical American diet is.
full of calories coming from fast and processed foods.
They're laden with sodium.
In this country, there's an ever-growing population of people who have diabetes, pre-diabetes, hypertension, pre-hypertension, overweight and obesity.
I really feel that if we open the door and step back and say that sodium is not the culprit, people are going to be confused.
There may be misinterpretation of sound diet-related advice.
We could also risk putting those people in jeopardy and telling them To engage in behavior that's simply not good for health outcomes.
Dr. Nicolantonio, you actually argue, this is the paradox that I'm trying to wiggle through, that the salt may help people with diabetes.
It may be beneficial for some folks with high blood pressure.
Why do you think that's safe advice?
Yeah, so basically, if you look at the studies, even in type 2 diabetics or in people with high blood pressure, those who consume a normal amount of salt are actually at the lowest risk of dying from cardiovascular events like strokes and heart attacks.
It's the people who consume the lowest amount of salt, being too restrictive, that are actually at the highest risk of dying and having a stroke or heart attack.
But how could that be?
Why would that be?
Because salt is that essential mineral, and so many things deplete us of salt.
And so, if you, the main message of my book is to eat real food and salt to taste, right?
And to exercise more.
And so, when you cut out processed food, you're cutting out the salt.
So, if you don't put it back, you can become dehydrated, you can have muscle spasms, you can even go into arrhythmias.
How do you respond to the belief that giving some salt to folks outside of packaged products might actually be beneficial to them?
So, when I worked in South Brooklyn as a community dietitian, and in my practice now, the truth is that people are really eating fast and processed foods.
This is not in line with what's happening in the country.
Americans are not sitting down and making every single meal from scratch.
It's simply not happening.
The people that I work with, their mothers, their fathers, their aunts, uncles, these are people that have families, and the families have the expectation that they're going to be around to help them.
I want to make sure that we're giving advice that is sound and that is also safe.
I simply cannot counsel my patients to engage in behavior that could be detrimental.
Is that something that you feel you could do?
Well, as we just saw, the populations that eat the highest amount of salt are living the longest.
They have the lowest rates of heart disease death.
And salt provides another mineral that a lot of people are lacking in this country, and that is iodine.
So, salt provides iodine, which is extremely important for brain health, reproductive health.
And so, if you can find those real salts that have good amounts of iodine, you're bringing back a nutrient that a lot of people are lacking in the diet.
So, let me just offer some final thoughts.
I know this is confusing for a lot of you at home.
I've heard both sides of the argument, just like you have, and it confirms to me that we need to change the way we talk about salt.
This is not a one size fits all number.
To describe how much salt we ought to be eating, it's just hard to do that.
And that said, in a world where we cannot customize health recommendations, because, Maya, you're right, right?
Every individual has his own personal things, but I got to stand by the American Heart Association's recommendations to reduce salt intake because it's part of a healthier diet, because you're not getting all the processed foods, because I know that's where most of the salt we're eating comes from.
And the simple reason is that it's out there.
We don't know who's at risk for problems with salt.
But a lot of you are, you don't even know it.
And the salt that you're eating comes in very unhealthy forms, the processed foods that Maya was talking about.
So for those people, Without question, just focus on salt.
But I want to pay credit to you.
You've done your homework, you've challenged orthodoxy.
I always respect that.
And I think if you want to add salt in your home kitchen to your otherwise healthy meals, and your doctor hasn't had a big problem with salt in your life because it's a medical problem, then I think you might want to start enjoying it more using flavoring in moderation so you don't create things that you shouldn't be eating.
Thank you both for being here.
We'll be right back.
Up next, our 28 day experiment to up your fiber.
Find out the surprising results plus the new science about why fiber could be the secret weapon for your gut.
We all know fiber is good for us, but new research has uncovered its true power, lowering dangerous inflammation that can lead to heart disease and cancer.
And get this, even if you eat this, it looks good.
Fiber may help tamp down inflammation in your gut and shield you from gaining unwanted pounds.
Today, a brand new 28 day inflammation busting plan.
And we put it to the test with our viewers.
And the results of this fiber experiment will surprise you.
I brought an expert in, registered dietitian Tanya Zuckerbrock.
I want you to start, if you don't mind.
Thank you for being here.
Explain to everybody why this new news is unbelievably changing how we think about fiber.
Recently published, by the way, this is breaking news.
I have never been so excited to share research with the public.
I have dedicated my entire career to prescribing high fiber diets for weight management and health benefits.
But what this new research is showing us is that fiber has anti inflammatory properties.
Inflammation is correlated with cancer, cardiovascular disease.
Autoimmune diseases such as Parkinson's and MS, GI disorders such as Crohn's and colitis.
There are so many conditions that are going to benefit from this study.
It's a simple concept, but we got into the grooves of it.
Come on over here.
I'm going to show you the exact reason why science now believes fiber works to calm inflammation.
So, I built you a very high tech replica of your gut.
There it is.
The food comes in here.
The fiber, if you're eating a lot of it, goes down your throat, through your intestines.
And we used to think that basically it just came out the bottom.
And the main reason you want to eat fibers was that it would race out the bottom like that, right?
How many times have I talked about fiber and pooping?
Right?
We've all got that.
But this changes that equation.
Yes, you get the pooping.
That's your side benefit.
But inflammation is the problem because the gut is made up of bacteria.
And those bacteria aren't just sitting around doing nothing.
If they're not behaving themselves, they get inflamed.
And when they get inflamed, they cause lots of angriqueness inside your gut.
They can lead to a civil war inside your body.
And that chronic inflammation is a big problem.
Here's the deal the fiber doesn't just hang out.
Go ahead and race that down there, Tanya.
The fiber is doing something really important.
It's feeding the bacteria.
And so, not only do you adjust the inflammation, you can actually change some of the bacteria.
So, they become the friendlier bacteria, which, yes, they signal, go, car, go, get out of your body, poop, but they also can lower inflammation, they lower chronic stress, and that does a lot of things from reducing diabetes to changing the amount of weight that you have on your body.
Fiber Fights Inflammation00:11:27
But give me the science behind this.
So, this is where the science was so disruptive because we all understood that fiber either acts like a sponge, which is why it absorbs cholesterol and estrogen, and Toxins and usher out of the body, but it also acts like a broom sweeping them out.
So, the idea was that fiber was indigestible to us as humans, but now we know differently.
The microbes in your gut can actually break down fiber.
The byproduct is a compound called butyrate, and butyrate will minimize the production of cytokines, and it's the cytokines that increase inflammation.
So, the more fiber you're eating, the less inflammation you will have in your body.
So, restated, it's not just passingly going out of you.
These race cars are changing the way the bacteria in your gut work, which changes how your body works.
We did our own little experiment.
Come on over, Tanya.
A real world experiment.
We wanted to find out how much of a difference up in your fiber could make in just 28 days.
We asked a group of 10 ladies, there's two of them, to come join us for a 28-day, 28 grams-a-day plan.
Both.
It's 28 days long, and you've got to get 28 grams a day.
So it's easy to remember, simple goal.
Not the 10, 12 grams most people are getting, but the 28 grams.
Two of these testers are going to tell us your stories, but I think you're emblematic, representative of the larger group.
So I've got Tracy to start off with.
And Tracy, take us back to when you were having the average amount of fiber that the average American's eating.
What was your body like?
I was just putting anything into my body, really not paying attention to what I was really eating.
And I just wasn't feeling good.
And with the 28 grams a day, how did that change things?
Well, first of all, I lost eight pounds.
Did you really?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's good.
Yeah.
So it was great for that, of course.
But I was eating so much more healthy.
And we weren't doing takeout.
My family benefited from it because we were having home cooked meals.
My husband, of course, then loved it.
And I love, adore that.
Yes, absolutely.
That whole tire feeling, like I said, just went away.
So I went one step further.
I looked in your blood, and Tracy's triglycerides, that's the fat in the blood, that also decreased and started her cholesterol.
So it was a double whammy, which is fantastic.
Now, Vanessa, how was the experiment for you?
It was really good.
I lost three inches, so I could get back into my skirts.
That was that.
Also, the shortness of breath was gone, and I can hit three flights of stairs really quickly now.
Yes.
I love when people brag.
I can't do three flights of stairs.
So let's look at your blood results as well.
Your triglycerides was body fats.
They were in your blood.
They also came down.
Your LDL cholesterol, the bad, lousy cholesterol, that went down.
And you know what's really cool?
Your healthy HDL cholesterol went up, which is hard to do.
We don't have a medication.
You don't have a medication that takes that protective cholesterol level up.
And yet you took fiber, the most basic of the nutrients that Tanya or any other dietitian would ever recommend.
Nutritionists brag about it, but now we know it can do things deep inside your body.
So we're going to be enjoying these results.
You're going to be focusing on them.
Yes.
Let's get to this 28 day information busting plan.
Thank you very much.
Over the next 28 days, we're going to ask you to gradually increase your fiber.
And I know a lot of you tell me when you increase your fiber, you start to feel bloated because you do it too quickly.
We're going to be very gentle about this, and you've got to stay on it for a while.
It's not hard to do, but you've got to stay on it.
All right, let's start off with the first seven days is all about a high fiber breakfast, which we're going to call a faux meal.
Get it?
Oatmeal, faux meal.
Oh, come on now.
My best stuff.
So, what is this fake oatmeal?
So, the reason that we are substituting Traditional oats for a high fiber cereal is that oats only have three grams of fiber.
The high fiber cereal has 13 grams of fiber, and when we put the berries in it, we're gonna get this to be 21 grams of fiber, which is going to help everyone to meet half of their fiber needs before lunchtime.
So, this is a fiber packed breakfast that's gonna help with weight management, controlling your serum glucose levels, and now we know also inflammation.
So, this is so simple, guys.
All you need to do is begin with a high fiber cereal.
Look for a brand cereal that has 13 grams of fiber or more.
This is 13 grams in a third of a cup.
And for weight management properties, it's only 70 calories.
To that, we're going to add a scoop of protein powder.
That's going to provide protein to keep you feeling full all morning long.
Another antioxidant boosting and anti inflammatory spice is cinnamon.
This adds a ton of flavor, but also reduces inflammation.
And it helps you with blood sugar, too.
And then, of course, we're going to add berries.
Now, this entire thing cooks on the pot, on the stove, just like you would do a traditional oatmeal.
The result is a fiber packed, sweet filling oatmeal.
I'm sold.
Great.
So, you're going to add this to your breakfast every day for the first seven days.
After seven days, your body should be getting used to that fiber.
And we're going to get into a lunch and dinner comparison.
So, lunch is a new spin on an old classic, which is cabbage soup.
And Adonica's here.
And Adonica and I, both of us, big time cabbage soup.
I mean, I like that.
I like the taste personally.
So do I.
I love all types of cabbage Napa cabbage, any type of cabbage.
I'm in.
And why would you like them so much?
I like it because it's tasty and it's also fiber.
You know, got to get that moving.
And it was a weight loss tip, right?
The cabbage soup diet, many of us did it.
So, you could eat something and still lose weight.
It's one of the first ideas I'd heard of when I was in med school that gave you that combination.
But you've given us a little twist.
Yes.
She's promising so much better.
It will take over the cabbage soup world.
So, we have updated a weight loss classic, the traditional cabbage soup diet, by adding in a lot more fiber rich vegetables.
So, we have scallions and we have celery and string beans and carrots.
This entire bowl is just barely over 100 calories, and you're getting nine grams.
Of belly filling, weight loss losing fiber that lowers inflammation.
But here's the thing nobody cares unless it tastes good.
Does it really?
This is great.
I'm looking in your eyes and I believe you.
It is.
Is it savory?
It is savory, it's tasty, and it is definitely an upgrade from amazing, from the original.
Good for you, Tanya.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
And finally, dinner.
Super simple.
Dinner is half beans, half meat.
This is a big component of our Piggin 365 plan, which is an incredibly popular plan you guys are all losing weight on.
So, how much fiber do you benefit from if you can make this swap?
So, I think it's important for everyone to understand that protein has no fiber.
So, back in the days where people embraced a high protein, high fat diet, and we know what those diets look like, there was no fiber and it always led to constipation and heart disease.
So, if you're only having protein at dinner, you're not getting fiber's benefits.
So, what we've done is we've taken traditional protein rich recipes and we've swapped out some of the protein that has no fiber.
For beans, which have fiber and protein.
That's what's amazing about beans.
They have fiber and protein in one food group.
Adding the beans to the turkey chili brings this up to 13 grams of fiber.
This is loaded with fiber.
And by replacing half of the meat with black beans in the burger, you're getting four grams of fiber.
I can't taste the difference.
That's great.
It's wonderful advice.
I especially love a cabbage soup hack.
It's fantastic.
Remember, full meal, cabbage soup hack, and replace half your protein at dinner.
And you're on our 28 day plan with the same kinds of results, I believe, that those wonderful women we spoke to earlier had.
Download the entire 28 day inflammation busting plan on drroz.com.
It's also on my app.
Check it out.
And for more high fiber recipes that work on our 28 day inflammation busting plan, pick up a copy of Tanya's wonderful book, The F Factor.
F stands for fiber, of course, and many other things as well.
We're all going home with one today.
Enjoy it, my audience.
Make lots of fiber rich foods with Tanya's recipes.
When you come back, the new high fiber food finds that you need to put in your shopping cart starting today.
A dad's desperate three year search to find his missing kids.
We're last seen by their mother with reported history of mental illness.
The goal is to find them no matter what condition they're in.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
We are back revealing our 28 day inflammation busting plan, which focuses on a nutrition power food, fiber.
Now, we just revealed what to do for the next 28 days to get at least 28 grams of fiber per day.
We had a breakfast with faux meal.
Sort of like oatmeal, but.
Full meal using a high fiber cereal instead of oatmeal.
We got lunch, new spin on the old classic cabbage soup, and we got a dinner here which is unbelievable.
Half beans, half meat, whatever protein dish you're making, make that swash.
Now, of course, this plan allows for snacks, which we're always scouring the supermarket aisles for.
And there are the latest and greatest food finds are there.
You gotta find them.
So today, our highest fiber food finds.
And here's how I found them.
I emailed a fiber supermarket scavenger hunt that I created for some of my audience members.
So I wanna see what they found.
First, I asked to find the highest fiber chip for the salty snackers.
Sierra's here with the answer to that one.
Hi, how are you?
You were a salty snacker.
What did you find us?
Yes.
So I found this delicious snack.
Crispy broccoli florets.
Now, I'm a college student, so by default, I'm a bit of a snacker, but I found that these are a great replacement for chips.
The entire bag is one serving, plus there are seven grams of fiber in there.
This is superb.
Right?
I thought so too.
I could not have known about this.
Right.
And what do they work with hummus, I guess?
Is that right?
Yeah, they taste great with hummus, salsa, just like any regular chip.
Brilliant.
Nice job, Sierra.
Study hard now.
Thank you.
The next item on the list is the highest fiber sweet snack.
And Kathy did a supermarket sweep, and you found something cool for us.
Well, Dr. Oz, it's not easy to find a sweet snack for a chocolate lover like myself, but what I did find were these protein bites.
They are really small.
There's eight to a serving, and it's five grams of fiber.
They're really superb.
I would recommend a florette personally, but if you want a little sweet, just everything the right size.
I think they're fantastic.
How does it differ from eating a regular protein bar?
To me, it's like popping candy.
I get to have them throughout the day.
If I want them in the afternoon, I can, or in the evening, and it fills that craving.
Very clever.
Diabolically so.
Nice job.
And finally, the next item on the shopping list was the highest fiber savory snack.
Paula, when you swept the supermarket, you found a very hot idea.
Yes, wasabi bean crisps.
Wasabi.
And how did you find these snacks to be most useful in your personal life?
Well, they're 100 calories per serving and five grams of fiber.
And they're great.
They're delicious.
They're really good.
They're delicious, but they sort of blow out your sinuses.
Have another one, you'll feel better.
No, I won't.
You said.
Why would you tell me that?
You have to get used to it.
It's a great idea.
We're going to put these stats on the whole plan, and with the whole plan, by the way, all things we've been talking about on droz.com.
Get your fiber load up, it'll make a difference.
Be right back.
Your coughing cold just won't go away.
Until now.
A new device that claims it can help get rid of your coughing cold for good.
Oh, I like this device.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Wednesday.
Homemade Meals Matter00:02:47
Today, we investigated the truth about the salt controversy, and there's not some special one size fits all number to describe how much salt we should all be eating.
But I wanted to share one more thing that changed the way I look at salt.
The viral sensation known as Salt Bay is here, whose salt sprinkling is practically an art form.
There he is 11 million of you follow him on Instagram.
He's Turkish like me, his name actually means salt sir, and I was so curious about him.
I stopped by his new restaurant to see his salt skills in person.
There you are, watch it.
Look at this.
There's the salt coming out.
That's pretty good, that little salt thing.
Can I hold the salt?
I'll hold the salt.
I got the salt.
This is his talent.
Whoa!
All right, all right, ready, ready.
Go get it.
To show you how to add salt with a little pizzazz, the most famous chef, Sope, is here, so show me the technique.
Whoa, whoa!
Like he's like a surgeon, doesn't even look at his knife.
I look at my knife still.
How many, don't do this at home, by the way.
This is how you get world famous.
He tells me he never cuts his fingers, which is unbelievable.
All right, so we got the butter.
This beef tenderloin, by the way.
Hot plate.
Oh my goodness.
Don't cook with this much butter at home, by the way.
I didn't talk about butter today, I talked about salt today.
So the beef tenderloin strips, which you've delicately cut.
Oh my goodness.
By the way, the restaurant food is spectacular because you're basically doing this backstage.
Oh my goodness.
Look at that.
Now, I love that.
I want to help.
Can I help with the salt?
Let's do it together.
You got the salt?
Now, this is the art form.
In Turkey, this is how you pour your salt on.
The beauty of salt, as you know, and every chef I've ever talked to, including Salt Bay here, says you cannot make great food without salt.
So I recognize that it's not the salt that's the problem, it's how much salt and where you get the salt from, all that processed junk.
So if you make your meals yourself, like Salt Bay is doing for us right now, you can get away with the salt.
It makes it taste alive.
But frankly, it's moderation.
Because when you're done, oh, look, it's cooked.
I can't believe that works.
You may actually heat the plate up in the oven, and then by the time the very thin pieces of beef tenderloin are on there, I'm gonna be ready to eat one of these in a second.
The Real Challenge of Salt00:01:03
I can't wait to get these in my mouth.
Can I taste it?
Please.
Mmm, mmm, mmm.
They're so good.
Look, come over here.
The real challenge for you, put this down.
I wanna brag on him.
The real challenge is not with the meat, it's the meat inside of him.