My son and I watched a few minutes of Dr. Oz’s TV show on overcoming obesity last night. The show airs on Discovery Health. For fun, we both decided to watch a few minutes of the show and see how many things Dr. Oz got wrong until the next commercial break.
It didn’t take long, I can assure you!
First of all, Dr. Oz seems obsessed with having overweight people work out every single day.
I realize that physical activity is an important part of losing weight, but unless you are eating the right foods to give you stable blood sugar and lasting energy, the fitness habit will just never happen. The participants just get too worn out and quit their required workout routines very quickly.
The next thing that made my son and I nearly fall off the couch was Dr. Oz teaching some poor gal in his own kitchen how to eat what he thought were “healthy foods”.
First, he gives her a bowl of fat-free plain yogurt mixed with some blackberries and a plate of edamame beans to eat.
This guy can’t be that out of touch with reality, can he? Â Evidently so.
If someone fed me a bowl of fat-free yogurt and a bunch of edamame, I would go and very quickly stick my entire head in a large bag of potato chips and I don’t even have a weight issue.  Can you imagine what feeding this unsatisfying fare to an obese person would do to his/her hunger cravings?
Remove the creamy, luscious fat from the top of a container of yogurt and you have a meal that will leave you scrounging for cookies, donuts, and chips in very short order.
Then, there’s the edamame.  Shame on Dr. Oz for not being up on the dangers of soy to the thyroid gland.  An obese person should be running for the hills away from soy, not eating it as a recommended snack! Soy is a potent goitrogen (thyroid suppressor) and contributes greatly to hypothyroidism which an obese person would almost certainly suffer from.  Any doctor who advises an obese patient to be eating soy should have his head examined.
We turned the TV off at that point.  I couldn’t watch it anymore and it had only been about 10 minutes.   Those poor folks trying to lose weight on that show don’t have a prayer of slimming down and maintaining it for any length of time.
As soon as the cameras stop rolling, they will be diving back into their processed foodways once again, I have no doubt.   Only Real Food that contains lots of natural, unprocessed animal fats like eggs (with the yolks!), whole milk, butter, cheese, cream, coconut oil, grass-fed meats with all the fat will satisfy that hunger and stabilize the blood sugar enough to help them finally let go of the carb and sugar addiction that is the true cause of their obesity and ill health.
Until the truth of the nutritional paradox that whole, unprocessed fats do not make you fat actually goes mainstream, then America’s obesity epidemic will only get worse.
Wow, I have thought the very same thing when I have occasionally wathced his program. I remember him saying once that taking birth control for many, many years would have no affect on fertility. I thouhgt that was WAY off.
K SHARP – I taught ESL in Korea for 1.5 yrs. There I ate lots of fish, lots of fermented seaweed, lots of kimchi, beef, pork, veggies and bean flour pasties. There was one soup that had a couple pieces of tofu in it. I aslo traveled to four other Asian countries where the people ate similiar diets. Soy IS NOT a stable in Asia.
Top scientists from Ivy League colleges believe that GMO corn and soy are safe, too.
Tina
Tina– if only you could share this with more people!!! You’re absolutely right!!
Dr. Oz and Dr. Dean Ornish have the same low-fat views on diet for heart disease. As someone wrote above, he is so misinformed about nutrition.
Oh, and the fermented soy would be miso, tempeh and natto. THAT IS IT! Even tofu is a horrible thing to ever put in your mouth.
Hi K Sharp, the only soy that is safe to consume in small amounts is fermented soy as the Asians have been doing for many centuries. Soy as included in modern processed foods is all bad, unfortunately.
But Sarah…fat is bad for you. It will make you fatter and give you a heart attack. 🙂 You know, like all those people who eat bacon and eggs for breakfast and cream or butter in everything…like me. Oh, I just have a huge weight problem (125 and 5'3")! ha.
Sorry, I can't resist. Most people still believe it but it really is ridiculous. I tried to explain it to a bunch of people on Tuesday and it went SO well that people who were wandering through the meeting (this was at a midwives' office) said they were not ready to go back for their appointments yet because they wanted to hear more! Yay for that! The word IS spreading…slowly.
You crack me up! You should write Oprah, or maybe Ellen since Oprah will off air soon. Or the Food Network. You should have your own show.
It really is sad though, all these people trying to be healthy, listening to idiots on TV or magazines and they are just doing more harm to themselves.
Its an intriguing commentary on our culture the degree to which junk science rules the day.
I disagree with Dr. Oz on a lot of things, too. However, I believe you have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. You have completely demonized soy protein. I drink a very healthy soy protein shake everyday for breakfast. I also drink one for lunch. I am very satisfied and very healthy. I have also very easily lost 2 1/2 pounds by following the rest of my inch loss plan. The way a plant is grown is very important. Some companies grow soy beans in a very healthy way.
Have you ever looked at statistics for disease in Asian countries where their soy consumption is very high? Do you know that most of those Asian women rarely have hot flashes, and their men rarely have prostate problems? That's due to their soy consumption.
You may be really knowledgeable about a lot of subjects….and you are correct on MANY fronts. But, you are not a scientist, are you? The products I use are clinically researched by TOP SCIENTISTS…over 75 of them to be exact…and have been independently tested in labs like Harvard, Yale and other prestigious ones to be effective and HEALTHY.
I disagree COMPLETELY with you on the dangers of Soy. Not ALL soy is unhealthy. Can you please at least concede that?
Please read this: westonaprice.org/soy-alert.html
It doesn’t come any more cogent than the way it’s explained in this article. There are other articles at that site regarding soy, too. The really good article has to do with the Chicago prison which changed over to soy and now all the prisoners are sick. Guess — just take a WAG — as to who gets to pay for their “doctoring”?
yes, there is some soy that is acceptable. Naturally fermented soy is ok, like soy sauce, tempeh and miso – anything that is fermented long and slow. Any ‘fresh’ soy, soybean oil or soy product/by-product is most definitely not safe and not healthy. Unfortunately it usually takes years for the effects to show and then permanent damage could be done.
Please, don’t take the word of so-called experts, especially from the top medical schools……just look where the bulk of their research $$ comes from. Promoting soy and other cheap grains is VERY profitable for those universities as well as big food and big pharma. Hopefully you’ll clue in sooner, rather than later.
Give me a break K Sharp! Your ignorance is showing! If you hadn’t noticed, even your beloved “Harvard” doctors are reconsidering their stance on low-fat! Don’t be fooled by the fools. Listen to traditional wisdom based on centuries of proof!
I would also add that while exercise is very important to over all health, it doesn't play as big of a role in losing weight as the "experts" will tell you. Just go to a triathlon and watch the people participating in it. YOU WILL BE SHOCKED! I would say a good 1/4 to 1/3 are obese. Can they swim, bike, and run…. yup… but their diets have got to be nothing but processed carbs and low quality foods.