It’s no secret that I am not happy with the approach that Dr. Oz takes to nutritional supplements and food. He treats them like drugs.

That’s ridiculous, but leave it to a physician to see the world in ways that reflect his medical training, instead of common sense and experience.

You would think that he would see food differently, since he’s been eating longer than he has been practicing medicine.

While he is still a relative ‘newcomer’ to the field of nutrition, he could have gained a little perspective along the way.

Dr. Oz on Caraway Seeds and Saffron

On Friday the repeat episode for fat-burning fixes brought this worldview to bear on his advice to his audience.

Dr. Oz tried to sell people on the idea of caraways seeds to chew as an effective method for this goal.

Do you know how long anyone is really going to spend chewing a handful of caraway seeds?

Seriously, it is not realistic to think that a person would do this meal after meal for more than two days. The gas and bloating are less of a hassle than all that chewing…

It’s much more reasonable to eat rye bread that has caraway seeds baked in with the whole grain rye flour. Of, course, caraway seeds can be added to potato salad and other dishes that get their fair share of chewing built in automatically.

Recipes using Caraway Seeds

Then there’s the misrepresentation of the use of saffron as a supplement. Saffron is best soaked in liquid to release the active ingredients and goes with the territory of food. Paella and saffron rice with its remarkable color are but two of hundreds of dishes where saffron shines.

Saffron was not meant to be taken as a pill with a single sip of water. It is expensive and takes hundreds of man-hours to gather, dry, and prepare for flavoring our food. If you have seen the women in the purple fields gathering the parts of the crocus flower that are then carefully handled as they dry and are readied for market; then you might better appreciate saffron as it was intended to be used in food preparation.

Recipes and History of Saffron

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 17th, 2012 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.