I have to vent. I hope you listen.
Last night hubby and I were relaxing in front of a TV. We watched Ask Oprah's All Stars, which we found quite entertaining. At the end of the show, however, Dr. Oz, as he does once in a while, said something really.... well, not really bright--let's just leave it at that.
Last night hubby and I were relaxing in front of a TV. We watched Ask Oprah's All Stars, which we found quite entertaining. At the end of the show, however, Dr. Oz, as he does once in a while, said something really.... well, not really bright--let's just leave it at that.
At the end of the show he was asked by the host of the show, Robin Meade:
[Source]
"Dr. Oz, what's your action plan for all of us for the week?"
Here is his "brilliant answer" [emphasis, and some of my outbursts in parenthesis are added by me ;)]:
"For me it's about a very deep epiphany, and that's that food is sacred. When I walk in to a grocery store, to me it feels like I'm walking into a pharmacy. [So far so good, right?!] That's how powerful nutrients are to our body. So, my assignment is to tantalize your taste buds. I want you to push the limits a little bit and try foods you haven't tried before."
He goes on to talk suggest trying unsalted pumpkin seeds, steel cut oatmeal, black currents, pomegranates. I love his "educated" statement:
About steel cut oats: "It's got B vitamins, all kinds of crazy things that are good for ya." Really? I did not realize that "all kinds of crazy things" is now a valid scientific statement. I know that even I would not use it when talking to people about nutrition. Can we identify what "all kinds of crazy things" are?
It gets better: "Anything with these dark colors, and especially pomegranates, for example, are great for ya, because those dark colors are there to give these nutrients that they need to protect themselves from the outside world. When you eat them you get those nutrients." Wow! That is truly scientifically said. Can we say that pomegranates are full of antioxidants, for example?
What finally got me is his statement about eggs: "And finally, the egg, which is probably the best value in food out there. Wonderful source of protein. [Really? How about I show you where I get my protein, Dr. Oz?!] You wanna lose weight, have eggs for breakfast in the morning. [This keeps getting better and better--if eggs could cause weight loss why half of Americans who crack them every morning, or go to McDonalds for their breakfast egg-McMuffins still have bellies?!] And by the way, eggs do not elevate your cholesterol, being fat does. So cut out the sugar and start eatin' the eggs. You want solid important proteins. [It's] the only white food that I endorse."
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So, by now I am ready to crawl out of my skin. Eggs don't elevate cholesterol? Are you kidding me, Dr. Oz?
But... it gets even better [emphasis mine]: "You know, the yolk is not what gets your cholesterol high. Eating cholesterol does not raise your blood cholesterol except for a rare percentage of Americans. Most Americans get big bellies and that's what gives them high cholesterol. And egg per se is - costs almost nothin'. Make sure you cook it so you don't get salmonella. But you're good to go in terms of your diet for a long, long time."
Dr. Oz, are you really kidding me? I personally know thin people with high cholesterol. My husband used to be one of them. Interestingly it [his cholesterol] dropped from 220 to 149 in 9 months when we switched to a plant-based diet. Maybe you should study nutrition before giving an advice to millions of people who are listening to you?! Or, perhaps, stick to talking about medicine, teaching us things like what a wenus is?!
Chicken eggs have the genetic make up of a chicken--they are undeveloped baby chicks--full of cholesterol, because they need their cholesterol for their development. If you eat an egg you might as well eat the chicken! I would concur with a former participant of another show I am now enjoying: Conviction Kitchen. When the whole team goes to the farm for a real "farmer's breakfast"--raw eggs and then butchers and plucks chicken, one of the participants walks off and calls eggs "chicken abortion". I totally agree with her! If we don't move chicken off her eggs, every single one of them has a chance of becoming a chicken.
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[Some people/countries practice eating a developed, but unhatched chicken embryo as a delicacy. Sounds atrocious, doesn't it? But eating a fresh egg is eating the same thing only at a different stage of development.]
So, dear reader, be careful who you listen to. Having a recognizable name, your own TV show, or being endorsed by a big name celebrity does not make one educated and right about everything. Do your research, expand your horizons, and know--food with cholesterol will raise your cholesterol. I am not a doctor, but I do have personal experience in this field ;).
