The repeat episode featuring Tony Horton reminds me to remind you that Tony understands that it’s all about a healthy Lifestyle.

He helps people get fit and lose weight not only to look better, but for the feeling it gives the person to give them a new lease on Life. It’s changes their attitude, not just the size of their waistline…

Tony is practical and Dr. Oz and his wife, Lisa, appreciate that about him. They ordered his material and then brought him to the Dr. Oz show. He explained how his system is different from others and why it works. Ladies paraded proudly to proclaim their success on his system.

These were not the usual shallow women wanting to look good in their clothes to impress others, no they are doing it for themselves. They are the ones who will stick with it and thrive…

Dr. Oz and Tony Horton

Tony practices what he teaches. He eats well. He must eventually come to realize that there are healthy brownies and treats, giving him no reason to feel as if he cheats 10% of the time. You can have your favorite foods when you make them from organic natural ingredients without compromising your health and your game plan.

Tony asks for nothing more than 10 minutes a day. You can watch the video that he prepared specifically for Dr. Oz at the link above. It is not too demanding and you can pace yourselves as you begin and progress.

Tony lives in the moment, not the past and not the future…but NOW! When you do the same, it will make a world of difference and you’ll appreciate the daily dividends of a healthy Lifestyle.

Dr. Oz is still enjoying his Christmas Holiday vacation, so we get to see his very own Chia Seed Pet instead with a repeat performance of a previous episode.

The Chia Pet people must think it’s rather funny to make a Dr. Oz Chia Pet. Most physicians would never be recognized by those who buy and grow Chia Pets. But nevertheless, they introduced the head of Dr. Oz as their newest Chia Pet and Dr. Oz laughed about it.

While he is watering his head to grow a few seeds into their green sprouts, you will be busy soaking your Chia Seeds to turn them into a gel to use in food preparation. You are doing something far superior to Dr. Oz.

He may have fun, but you will find the health benefits of Chia Seeds. I think that you are in a better position than the physician. He’s got a wet head of green hair growing and you’ve got solid nutrition from your soaked seeds and gel.

Dr. Oz and His Chia Seed Pet

Dr. Oz is enjoying Christmas with his family playing Oz Football and sampling some of Daphne’s new discoveries from The Chew cohorts.

But the repeat episode of Dr. Oz had the good doctor taking on unwanted belly fat.

He pulled out that gross omentum and made the medical risks of not dealing with the deadly fat more visible to his female audience who were all in their blue sports bras with their big bellies sticking out.

He later gave three options for women to consider to address the rest of that belly fat with diet and exercise, even as the audience did their disco best at the end of the program to get their lethargic bodies moving to the music and the beat.

Dr. Oz and Belly Fat

Dr. Oz reminded people that fermented foods will help to balance the digestive system. Miso Soup and Sauerkraut were two of the foods he suggested that lend themselves to this process. From pickled daikon to Kim Chi to other fabulous fermented vegetables, it is a delicious way to restore the intestinal flora which eventually shows a reduction in the size of the belly.

I have yet to see goldenberries in the stores, so if you can find them…that’s good for you. There are many fruits that have fiber and nutrients that will help to regulate your digestive system and fatty metabolism. Don’t forget grapefruit, lemon juice, the zest of citrus fruits, and vegetables like red peppers. Garlic, ginger, and other spices are equally useful in this department, especially those that are warming or hot…which usually means they are spicy.

Dr. Oz insisted on fiber being added to the daily diet, but there was only one source of whole foods offered amidst protein fiber bars and Metamucil. That single lone orange is but one of many high fiber foods that will help the digestive system become regular and cut down on belly fat as an indirect result.

If you are going to do anything that will reverse the expansion of your belly with unwanted fat; then eating food high in fiber is the most excellent idea shared today. Fresh organic fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, greens, beans, and legumes will all contribute to your success. You don’t really need Metamucil or psyllium husks to do the trick…they are only band-aid solutions that are temporary. Your healthy Lifestyle is the key.

I can think of other exercise regimens that will tonify the belly better than disco dancing, although ballroom dancing is one of my favorite methods for great results. Yoga and Tai Chi will not only shape your body, but they will lend more energy and well-being to your Lifestyle simultaneously.

Whatever you decide to do to deal with that unwanted belly fat, don’t leave it alone like Santa for another year. Trim, tone, and make a new trend with fermented foods that taste good.

So many people stuff themselves for Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner that they don’t enjoy the holiday, because their digestive system is stressed and they have indulged and overwhelmed their bodies in the process.

What would happen if you were to give yourselves the gift of “The Lightness of Being” and be gentle with your body, mind, and spirit every day beginning today? What if you could carry this treasure forward every day and find that you felt better and better?

It would be the best gift that keeps on giving ever…

When you make a conscious choice to eat well and lightly every day, your change in attitude is met with an improvement in your health.

Gone will be that feeling of ‘heaviness’ and engorgement.

Gone will be those frequent trips to the restroom.

Gone will be the extra pounds and the medical problems associated with the excesses of consuming processed food en masse.

Gone will be the risk factors of so many degenerative diseases and health complications that arise when you overdo the food and beverages on holidays and throughout the rest of the calendar year.

That “Lightness of Being” is an incredible and welcome feeling…

You find that you have more energy, more flexibility in all aspects of your Life. You feel as if you’ve been reborn, renewed, and rejuvenated…

Eat Well, be wise, and enjoy the “Lightness of Being” for the rest of your Life beginning today.

I never thought that I would see the day that Dr. Oz learned about the health benefits of seaweed, but it has happened!

It was not the primary segment, but a part of the show was devoted to an expert guest explaining some of the different types of seaweed or sea vegetables to Dr. Oz.

Dr. Oz Search for Seaweed

It’s about time and I hope that you take this opportunity to include several seaweeds in your diet.

Most of you are familiar with nori which is a basic component of sushi. You can make nori rolls at home with rice, vegetables, condiments, and other healthy ingredients. There are sushi kits for those of you who need some assistance to begin to make nori rolls. Once you get the hang of it, you will find your creative juices flowing and experiment with all kinds of ingredients.

We like to finely slice carrot, cucumber, bell pepper, and other vegetables and lay them across the length of the roll. We sprinkle sesame seeds and rive vinegar with toasted sesame oil to enhance the other flavors before rolling it up with the sushi mat. We season our rice with vinegar and occasionally add a little natural sweetener if it goes with our ingredients. We use avocado, roasted vegetables, grated ginger, scallions, and other ingredients that we have on hand in our nori rolls. Wasabi and pickled ginger or pickled daikon are great accompaniments to nori rolls.

You can also make organic brown rice balls with nori and put a variety of ingredients inside with the rice. They make a nice snack or bite with a meal. The nori serves as a wrapper to hold the ball together. We like to dip the nori balls into a dip made with tamari, toasted sesame oil, grated ginger, grated garlic, scallions, and some chili flakes. You can make the dip sweet with honey, too.

Another favorite of ours is wakame. We use it in soups, side dishes, and stews most of the time. The spore leaves of the wakame contain cancer-fighting properties and many people who eat with a Macrobiotic diet use wakame and other sea vegetables to support the body’s immune system.

We like to make salads with hiziki and other seaweeds. With the right blend of ingredients, the hiziki makes a salad into a meal. The first time we ate at The House of Africa in San Diego, we fell in love with their hiziki salad and continued to make them at home. We vary the hiziki with arame, too.

You can find sea vegetables used in Chinese and other types of Asian cooking. You might even take a look in your Hot and Sour Soup the next time you eat out and you’ll find small strands of sea vegetables that make the soup healthy and hearty. Most commercial seaweeds have been dehydrated for easy transport and storage, so you have to soak them in water to rehydrate them before you cook with them the same way you would do with shi’itake mushrooms and noodles.

One of our most common uses of seaweed in soups is kombu. It takes a little time to rehydrate, but then you slice it into short strips and add it to soups. The salty flavor and that extra ‘something’ makes a big difference in a vegetable soup. If you want to add fish to the soup, that will give you an even more nutritious and delicious.soup. The kombu can be used in other side dishes as well.

Dr. Oz and his guest didn’t give much information, but it was a good beginning. The doctor seems to be expanding his horizons and sharing more information with his audience that will benefit their health and well-being. The Asian food scene is rich in history and tradition. It is one of the healthiest cuisines in the world. It deserves a place in your menu on a daily or weekly basis.

Dr. Oz did everything he could to point out the health risks that the 700 pound woman has which she denies on today’s show.

This woman wants to be morbidly obese and is paid by men who have a fetish to watch her eat and eat and eat and eat some more. She is paid to wear super plus sized clothing and she is so large that she in unable to be monitored by equipment by her doctors.

This fat pig of a human in denial thinks she is healthy, but she is delusional and incapable of hearing what people are saying to her. Her brain has been wired to ignore the obvious, refuse to deal with the true warning signs for her health, and convince herself that she is going to be OK.

She is a walking heart attack, pulmonary embolism, and kidney failure just waiting to happen at any moment. She waddles and calls it walking. She floats and calls it swimming. She thinks that her doctors are telling her that she is alright when they feel that she is playing russian roulette with her life.

Dr. Oz sincerely offered to help her, but she doesn’t want his help. She is under the false impression that she has no medical need for intervention in her quest to gain more weight until she is at 1800 pounds. She wants to be fat…

No one in their ‘right mind’ would willingly choose to live in her body. She is delusional and confused, yet convinced that she is OK. It will cost her a shortened life and an early grave. Her two sons will say that she didn’t hear their pleas for change. She can’t afford to, she is paid by men with a fetish for obese women who pay to watch her eat and move. It’s gross, but it’s her life.

There’s really nothing anyone can do for this flabby body of lard. She is not going to do anything about her condition. She certainly has the freedom to choose, but what a high cost she will be paying. I would not take on a patient like this person who has no grasp of reality. There would be no compliance, no effort devoted to any goal, and a waste of time. You have to walk away from a person like this cow. Put her out to pasture and move on…

Dr. Oz and the 700 Pound Woman

You wouldn’t believe it until you listened to her interaction with Dr. Oz. She is beyond reach…

Perhaps her two sons could write her obituary and present it to her for Christmas. If there was anything that could wake her up, it would be her children putting her death into perspective.

The repeat episode of TheDoctorsTV show today reminded me to remind you that children are very flexible when it comes to what they will eat.

Many parents think that they have to cater to their children’s limited preferences and cravings, but I have never found that to be the case…only an excuse.

Children will eat what they learn to eat as sustenance in their parent’s home, so they will either learn to eat a wide variety of healthy whole foods or they will be learning the restricted choices that their parents bestow upon them.

The Doctors TV Show and the Food Choices of Children

Dr. Jim and Dr. Travis were role playing as father and son. Travis, the son, asked for a soda and Jim, the father nearly sent him to his room denying him a soda that he said was not allowed in their household. They didn’t really do the scenario justice…

Parents can learn to give their children choices. Jim, the father could have offered his son, Travis, juice, a natural soda like China Cola or Ginger Ale, or natural lemonade to quench his thirst. When you give your children the advantage of having the freedom to choose from five different healthy beverages; then they will pick one and be happy with it. It’s very different from telling your child ‘NO” all the time. You are guiding and redirecting their behavior and yet giving them the autonomy to decide which one of many suits them at that moment.

When my children were very young, we would make a number of side dishes and a main dish. The table was set buffet style, so the individual could take what they wanted of anything and pass it on to the next family member. It gave them the freedom to choose what and how much of it they put on their plate as well as being able to pass over what they chose not to eat. We never forced them to clean their plates or eat even a bite of something unless they wanted to do so.

Furthermore, they always had healthy snacks that they could nibble on at anytime. We wanted them to self-regulate their eating patterns based upon actual hunger and thirst, instead of arbitrary meal times.

They ate a variety of ethnic foods and cuisines from around the world. Thai food to Vietnamese dishes, Italian to Ethiopian, and Vegetarian to the finest French cuisine were all sampled over time. I don’t think that there was ever any food that they didn’t like. It was all natural or organic and most of it was whole foods to the extent that it was possible in those years.

Children are more fortunate now than ever before. They have even more choices of healthy foods to befriend and find nourishing to the body while being delightful to taste. I wish that I had a Whole Foods Market when I was young and even when I was the parent of a young child. We often ate out of the garden and from exchanging with others who grew their own food.

Children are adaptable and any parent or doctor that tells you otherwise is inexperienced.

If a child avoids a certain food, it could be that they intuitively know that they are allergic or sensitive to that food. Don’t force your kids to eat what they don’t like. Just be patient and allow their natural curiosity to reveal the world of food to them over time.

The doctors gave some perspective on reasons why children gain weight with parents at work and not parenting… If you want to keep your children healthy and keep them from having to deal with obesity or being overweight; then a Whole Foods diet which is plant-based with no processed foods or beverages will ‘seal the deal’. They will learn healthy habits for the rest of their lives and when they are exposed to unhealthy choices at school, in public, or at other people’s homes; they can say “No Thank You”…”I treasure my health far too much to eat this”.

The company has stopped just short of a recall by pulling 12 million bottles of their pain reliever, Motrin, off of the shelves of stores nationwide.

It is not an issue of contamination, but rather of effectiveness. Apparently when the pills come close to their expiration date, they take longer to begin to alleviate pain.

J & J Pulls 12 Million Bottles of Motrin Off Shelves

It’s more of a matter of the caplet dissolving in the time specified on the label. It appears to take longer to dissolve when the expiration date looms. Consumers are not being asked to return the product, but simply to be aware that this is an issue.

When a person is in pain, they seek immediate relief!

Even if you are taking an over-the-counter pain reliever, you can do a couple of other things to alleviate pain using natural methods and products that take the edge off quickly.

First, massage your ear lobes. This is a procedure that is called Auricular Therapy. A trained Acupuncturist knows where exactly to place needles or pellets to instruct the body to either stimulate or quiet different areas of the body. There is a chart that describes the location for those of you who wish to do it yourself when pain is an issue and you don’t have time to get an appointment.

Then again, it’s a good idea to keep some CieAura Pure Relief Holographic Chips on hand to place on your body or clothing instantly which will then activate the Chip within two minutes. The website has a chart which helps you to locate places to apply the Chips.

CieAura Pure Relief Holographic Chips

Then the next product for alleviating pain is the application of Essential Oils. Lavender and other oils are known to reduce pain by addressing the causes of the pain like inflammation.

Naturally, you must know what type of pain it is before determining how to approach it. Is it muscular? Is it affecting the nerves? Is it skeletal? Is it from an inflammatory response? Is it from infection? Is it from injury? Is there any swelling or accumulation of fluids? This is often why it becomes valuable to consult a professional to be sure you are dealing with the source of the pain, not just the pain itself.

Many people are satisfied to simply stop the pain, instead of finding the source for the pain and addressing that first and foremost. It’s your choice, but you can do both simultaneously. One does not preclude the other…

There are other acupuncture points that are used to lessen the pain by moving Chi through the meridians or Blood through the vessels which your Acupuncturist can assist you with for home care or during office visits.

Massage Therapy and Magnetic Therapy are two other useful ways to deal with pain, too. But I won’t go into detail with the methods for these two modalities here. It is more complicated and specific.

Many people find relief using either heat for improving circulation or cold for soothing and reducing inflammation. You can use compresses or water to your advantage. There are other gizmos on the market, but that’s another topic for another day.

Just remember that pain is your body’s signal that there is an imbalance that needs your attention. Don’t ignore it, don’t just cover it up with medication, and don’t hesitate to find natural methods for lessening the pain until you resolve the source of the discomfort.

Dr. Oz brought several experts on his show today to explain why women are feeling so tired. They are not eating properly and hormones alter the balance in their bodies in many cases.

One of the experts told Dr. Oz that he uses Magnolia to help with hormone levels. While it’s true that it is one of many ingredients in traditional Chinese herbal formulations, we cannot recommend that you take it alone. Herbs are best taken in concert with other herbs that provide a comprehensive support system for balancing the human body’s bio-energetic field and physical organs and systems.

If you insist upon taking a single ingredient, then at least take Maca Root. You can get fresh powder that can be mixed into Smoothies or juice with relative ease from Love Street Living Foods here:

In fact, you’ll find many Superfoods and whole foods on this website that will bring balance, rejuvenate you, and help your body produce the energy and the inherent resources to keep you feeling strong and filled with enough energy to breeze through your daily lives regardless of how busy they happen to be…

Dr. Oz also identified that sleeping with your pets is not a good idea, keeping unhealthy food at eye level in your pantry is a problem, and not eating at the most ideal times of the day when you work or commute long distances. I take exception to the advice to eat apples and cheese. It’s better to eat fruit alone or with nuts. Do not use cheese as a snack food…

Most of all, I valued the insight and Lists of Alton Brown who appeared on the Dr. Oz show for the second half of the hour. He has lost fifty pounds by eating well and cutting out fast food, processed foods, and soda pop. He can be found on the Food Network and he is one of many chefs and cooks that Dr. Oz has been bringing to his audience to learn the in’s and out’s of healthy food choices and preparation methods.

Alton made a chocolate pie out of silken tofu, honey, and a few other ingredients. Silken tofu is a great alternative to dairy products. I found that my tofu cheesecake was one of the most valued items on my Menu at my Natural Foods Restaurant in the 1980s. It still holds true today…

Tofu is on Alton’s List for eating three times a week. He had Dr. Oz sample a tofu taco which Dr. Oz liked and of, course, Alton quickly snapped that he knows how to cook. That’s the real deal… Knowing how to take healthy ingredients and making something delicious in your kitchen. It will change your energy level for the better. Alton said that for every fifteen pounds he lost, he felt ten years younger and was addicted to having all that extra energy!

So if you would treasure having more energy with which to smooth your way through your busy day, then allow whole healthy foods to provide it for you. You can check out the 4 Lists that Alton shared with the audience on the Dr. Oz website here:

Dr. Oz and Alton Brown with 4 Lists

People are short-sighted to say the least…

Then again, they think that it’s progress to take down trees and develop property. In some cases, that’s true. But when it comes to cutting down the Boswellia trees, they are destroying a health option that should be protected at all costs.

Frankincense is At Risk of Disappearing

The Boswellia trees produce a resin that is used extensively in the Healing Arts. It’s known as Frankincense.

Frankincense is most often burned as incense. It is refined into Essential Oils and applied to the human body for arthritic pain, stiffness, and musculo-skeletal health. It is diffused using the principles of Aromatherapy for uplifting one’s mood and spiritual experiences.

The spiritual application of Frankincense is perhaps what has given it a reputation that it is one of the Christmas favorites. I personally have felt an increased sense of joy and gratitude when using Frankincense as an Essential Oil.

If the diminishing supply of this resin continues at the current rate, it could disappear or the price could exceed expectation and reason. If any environmental advocates can target an issue that deserves their attention, it would be this aspect of deforestation of trees and habitat that provide a known health benefit to humanity.

This is an ancient tradition. Boswellia is not a new-comer to the Healing Arts. It is as sacred and revered as any Essential Oil, including Myrrh, Lavender, and Helichrysum. For those of us who have used Frankincense, we would not want to have to live without it.

Perhaps the locals where the trees grow do not fully appreciate the natural resource they are destroying daily. Even the beetles, the fires, and alternate use of the land for grazing will take a toll on this resource. It is up to us to help them understand the value of these trees in order to protect a healthy option that has served humanity for centuries. This is one species that we do want to preserve, even if we have to find a new habitat where it will grow in a protected environment.

If you want to sample some Frankincense to see what I am referring to, then AuraCacia, Young Living, and other companies have pharmaceutical grade Essential Oils for this purpose of healing the body that is in pain from afflictions like arthritis or to be used for uplifting the Spirit!