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Joy Behar Page
Interview With Dr. Mehmet Oz; Interview With Rocco DiSpirito; Interview With Toby Keith
Aired November 23, 2011 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, Dr. Oz makes a house call and answers all of Joy`s questions about sleep deprivation, sex and holiday stress.
Then celebrity chef, Rocco DiSpirito tells Joy how you can stay healthy on Thanksgiving without skipping the stuffing. That and more starting right now.
JOY BEHAR, HOST: He`s the hottest doctor on TV since George Clooney left ER. And to top it off, he still makes studio calls. Joining me now on my studio, is the host of "The Dr. Oz Show", Dr. Mehmet Oz.
DR. MEHMET OZ, HOST, "THE DR. OZ SHOW": What an elegant introduction. I love that.
BEHAR: Really?
OZ: I love that.
BEHAR: Comparing you to George Clooney. Not bad.
OZ: I like it. Can`t fake these stories up. You know, my show is in 112 countries. So one of the countries is Italy. So I went over there, I was doing the promotions for it and I`m doing this crazy little thing in Italian in Lake Como.
So all of a sudden, a helicopter is over me. I`m looking up there and said what the heck is a helicopter doing there? It won`t pass. I figured it`s -- I`m from New York. It is probably a traffic helicopter. They don`t have any traffic helicopters them in Lake Como in Italy. So after a few minutes, the woman comes and (INAUDIBLE), "Dr. Oz, it`s the paparazzi."
I thought, oh my. That`s so cool. There`s paparazzi for me? No. They think you`re George Clooney.
BEHAR: I was there this years. George Clooney is the saint, the king. He`s raised the real estate values there.
Now, you just did your 400 episode and you`re all over the world now. That`s fantastic.
OZ: That`s right.
BEHAR: Congratulations.
OZ: But I`m way behind you and you`re a success. But it is so gratifying to be able to talk to people about their bodies. As I think back about --
BEHAR: Talk to people about their bodies?
OZ: Not skin, but their bodies. So many people they feel trapped inside, they feel like they`re not who they really are. They`re carrying around 50 pounds of weight or they`re suffering from infertility or they`re addicted to salt or caffeine or whatever. Just to have people recognize they can get past that makes me so proud of them.
And so 400th show we just celebrated everybody. All the people who have had been superstars who have shown the way for America. Because you know, Joy, I haven`t had a lot of those problems, so I can`t really speak to it except as an academic, as a doctor.
BEHAR: You`ve had none of those problems.
OZ: I have plenty problems, ask Lisa, my wife. But you know --
BEHAR: But I mean your physical. You`ve never had like --
OZ: No.
BEHAR: -- your cholesterol is low, your blood pressure is low --
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: -- your PSA is low.
OZ: My PSA is low though I`m not sure why people check it anymore. I have been blessed with good health. So to really explain to somebody who is overweight, how to lose weight --
BEHAR: Yes.
OZ: -- your really want to have someone who is overweight and has actually lost the weight because they`ve actually sat up at night looking at themselves when no one else is around and figure out how do I stop those demons, those voices that tell me to do the wrong things. They had the secrets.
BEHAR: Ok. But you`re not fat so you`re not the one to tell them, is that what you`re saying?
OZ: I don`t think I`m the best messenger for a lot of those. I think I`m pretty good conduit. I think I can find out who`s losing weight the right or he`s kicking their salt or caffeine addiction. Who`s being able to beat the problems --
BEHAR: Why do I have to give up salt if I don`t have high blood pressure? What`s wrong with that. I like salt.
OZ: Well, there`s two issues with salt. The first is salt happens to travel with bad things. It`s in processed foods which is where we get most of our salt from.
BEHAR: I don`t eat that.
OZ: But if you happen to get salt in that capacity, that`s where most -- 90 percent of our salt comes from packaged products.
BEHAR: I see.
OZ: But if your blood pressure is normal, to answer your question very briefly, I don`t have a problem with salt.
BEHAR: A little salt on the food, a little sea salt -- it`s the greatest thing.
OZ: That`s fine.
BEHAR: Ok. Now did you hear about the Duggars? Have you heard about the Duggars? 19 kids and now they`re having a 20th.
I mean what do you make of that? This woman, her uterus is like a dairy farm at this point. She has so many eggs. I`ve never seen anything like it.
OZ: Well, first of all, God bless her. She`s 45 years old and still fertile. Which you know -- the big unspoken truth in America, your infertility issues dramatically increase after age 35. For all the women out there watching who think you`ll get pregnant a couple of years from now. When there`s a clock ticking -- and let me just say to be honest, because I care about you. Don`t delay that.
So for her to keep having babies, her 20th, hopefully this year at age 45 is remarkable.
BEHAR: Well, she might have gotten some help, we don`t know. Maybe clomid (ph) or something.
OZ: She may have had some help. I don`t know. But the bigger theme, of course --
BEHAR: Would you, as a doctor, If she came to you after let`s say 15 baby, would you say to her "A basta" --
Oz: "A basta".
BEHAR: Would you say that?
OZ: I would probably encourage her to visit the driving force for having more children. Can I just say --
BEHAR: The driving force is Mr. Duggar.
OZ: It might be Mr. Duggar. He`s the causative force, he may not be the driving force. She controls the gate, so to speak.
Historically, women would have 20 babies in their lifetime.
BEHAR: And they died at 40.
OZ: Sometimes childbirth is dangerous. But you know one of the big issues that changed for women is that they have much more exposure to estrogen now than they ever did before. When you`re pregnant, your estrogen levels are very different. And so that cycling that women have much more fertility now than they did historically maybe causes all the problems they have in later life, some of the cancers for example.
BEHAR: Some of the what? Cancers? Yes, I know. That HRT, no one takes it anymore.
OZ: HRT, before you bash it. I don`t want women taking HRT and going off the rest of your life with it. If you`re having a miserable time with menopause or peri-menopausal rage -- do you ever get that? Just anger --
BEHAR: I still have it.
OZ: You still have it. Right. It never goes away for some people.
BEHAR: There`s nothing peri about it.
OZ: But for those folks, it does make sense to consider that. You don`t have to get the whole Hormone Replacement Therapy. Even the progesterone cream which you can put on the inner side of your thigh, under the spanks. That works.
BEHAR: Well, there are things that you need to do when you get older. You know, I don`t want to go too graphic. But --
OZ: Go ahead, it`s just us talking.
BEHAR: Well, it`s the thinning of the vaginal lining, which is quite annoying.
OZ: Yes. It is annoying.
BEHAR: For some people, not me.
OZ: No, of course, other people. People you`ve heard of.
BEHAR: Mine`s as thick as my head. But a lot of people have this issue --
OZ: The imagery is compelling.
BEHAR: A lot of people have this issue, the thinning of the lining, which is not a pleasure.
OZ: No, it`s not. It`s a big issue.
BEHAR: What do you do about that?
OZ: Actually, the hormones that we`re talking about just -- that you were bashing, the hormone replacement therapy, some of those hormones are very valuable.
BEHAR: Sure.
OZ: There are a couple of things you can do. Lubrication helps because if you`re lubricated, even if it`s thin, you won`t traumatize it as much. Sometimes you want hormone replacement support, even if it`s local and it does work pretty well.
But let me say something. Women should be able to have sex to their dying day. And there are a lot of women who feel --
BEHAR: Why?
OZ: Because it`s fun. Don`t you enjoy it?
BEHAR: In my death bed, that`s what I`m going to say. Come on, jump on top of me.
OZ: One more time.
BEHAR: Let`s do it again before I croak.
OZ: Push me over the edge.
BEHAR: All doctors think that.
OZ: I know.
BEHAR: What about sleep deprivation? We have this case of Michael Jackson who had to take Propofol to fall asleep. He`s an extreme case obviously but many, many people have sleep deprivation issues. Why do they have that, number one?
OZ: There are a bunch of reasons. At the end of the day, sleep is a barometer of your emotional health. And so if you`re not in the right place where you need to be, then you`re going to have voices keeping you up at night because you have to work through those issues.
BEHAR: Really?
OZ: But the other main problem that I find is that we don`t really understand that you don`t fall asleep, you glide into sleep gently. When the sun sets, it sends out long orange rays that turn on melatonin production in the brain. That`s not what happens in modern-day America.
The bright lights are on. So the bright lights turn off melatonin production so you never have the natural hormones released that will get you go to sleep. So there are a couple tips and these will work for folks.
BEHAR: Ok.
OZ: And Propofol is not one of the answers. Now, I have been getting calls about getting Propofol.
BEHAR: Propofol.
OZ: Propofol, with the f.
BEHAR: Yes.
OZ: Believe it or not, we use that for anesthesia all the time. It`s very effective.
BEHAR: I know. But you need an anesthesiologist in the room which is why this guy is going to jail.
OZ: Exactly. And it is a very, very safe drug in the hospital with monitor settings. But people are so desperate they crave -- they chew their sleeping pills sometimes, just to get it to work faster. They take multiple combinations.
So here`s a little -- for everyone who can`t sleep but after the show is over.
BEHAR: All right.
OZ: First off, you want to buy orange bulbs, orange light bulbs and use those in your room late at night. You can still read with them, you can work with them, you can do anything with them but they send off the orange rays that the sun normally would have given off to turn on melatonin secretion. In the morning when you get up, you want a bright white light or go out and see the sun. Either one.
But you have to set this Arcadian rhythm. If you`re going to take a supplement, melatonin is a great one but there`s a big issue. We take too much, we take it too late. You want to take maybe half a milligram to a milligram, which is a quarter of the dose normally you would get. And you want to take it at least two hours before bedtime.
Last issue, caffeine. If you cannot sleep at night, you don`t want to take any caffeine after noon. Because believe it or not, from 12 noon on, it may still be hanging out in your blood.
BEHAR: Really?
What about -- like you said you put the orange light on at two hours before you want to actually fall asleep?
OZ: An hour.
BEHAR: No TV I take it, no exercising?
OZ: Exercising, you can do stretching but nothing more aggressive. If you see a bright light, like a computer screen, a TV screen, it will naturally stimulate the brain.
BEHAR: It wakes you up.
OZ: So it helps -- you sleep well?
BEHAR: Some, not bad. I mean menopause killed my sleep habits. It was brutal.
OZ: It`s the number one symptom for menopause, probably is you can`t sleep.
BEHAR: You can`t sleep.
OZ: Women say it`s just my sleep. It`s not just your sleep. Sleep drives heart disease, drives obesity. You know, we talk about the fact that you have four craving centers in the brain. The brain craves food and water, sex and sleep. You work out the sex yourself but sleep is a big issue for folks.
BEHAR: Yes, yes.
What if you sleep while you`re having sex, you kill two birds with one stone.
OZ: Boom, you`re good to go.
But before (INAUDIBLE) we have our big transformation nation, Dr. Oz`s Transformation Nation this year. We`re giving away $1 million. One lucky person who gets the seven steps right is going to win an "American Idol" type vote off. But everybody else gets to get the seven steps to get healthier and we have huge programs to help you.
One of them is sleep. I made sleep one of those seven steps because it is probably the single biggest thing holding us back to being healthy in America. It leads to obesity.
BEHAR: Yes.
OZ: Right. Because if you`re not getting the sleep --
BEHAR: You get fat.
OZ: You get fat.
BEHAR: You get up in the middle of the night and eat something in the refrigerator.
OZ: Whatever is there. You yell at people, you`re not as efficient, you`re not as creative. The chi is not there. And also again, the barometer, of how you`re coping with stress, as one of our stepping steps how you`re dealing with your family issues, how you`re connecting with your doctor, all these important elements make you healthy together.
BEHAR: Ok, we`ve got to take a break. We`re going to talk some more about various health issues when we return with Dr. Oz.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with my always favorite and most informative doc, Doctor Oz. Ok, you know I was talking -- we`re talking a study that I read about people who are prone to something called broken heart syndrome.
OZ: Yes.
BEHAR: What do you know about that?
OZ: Well, I know a lot about it, you need heart surgery (ph). This morning before I came over here, it was a heart surgery and it`s what I like to do when I`m not trapped in the studio. And we study heart and one other thing about the heart that`s always amazed me it`s our poetic organ.
BEHAR: Yes.
OZ: And the soul is there; literally you can see a spot in the heart where all the electricity comes together. It`s a succulent organ, it`s sort of quivers inside the chest they`re like the curved back of a python.
BEHAR: Right.
OZ: You can see how scary it might have been when we didn`t understand it better. But when you take it and caress it you can understand its power and but also its weaknesses.
BEHAR: All right.
OZ: The reason poets speak about it so frequently is because it`s our internal metronome. What happens when you have great grief in your life is the arteries of that heart begins to spasms down, just literally squeezes down like this because you`re feeling the tension of your life and then the heart muscle itself will also begin -- to get stressed out.
We didn`t think this was possible. But I can tell you Joy, there have been so many times that I`ve walked out of the operating room to tell a wife that her husband wasn`t doing well and have just watched her go down. And sometimes the problems they have -- I mean, literally you`ll be in the IC with husband and wife teams.
BEHAR: Yes.
OZ: They`re both in there. And so big stages came out looking at broken heart syndromes. Ten times more women have it than men, ten times because the arteries of women are much more delicate they are like capellinis (ph), men have linguini (ph) arteries big huge arteries.
BEHAR: Yes, yes.
OZ: They are like lead pipes, but they are rigid they don`t spasm as much. Women are much more sensitive. We know that emotionally but their organs respond to the same degree.
BEHAR: Wow. So when people have heart attacks, a lot of times it`s stress-related.
OZ: Oh stress is a huge factor.
BEHAR: It`s a lot of stress so it`s not just a genetic defect that some people have.
OZ: The major driving force for heart attacks, in fact all aging is lifestyle. It`s not the genetics. Your genetics load the gun. Your lifestyle pulls the trigger.
BEHAR: Right. Right.
OZ: And so when you realize for heart disease that your father had a heart disease and he had a heart attack at 50. You`ve got to first ask your self did he smoke or was he overweight? Because if he smoked, well that means he didn`t have the genes to protect him against cigarette smoking. Not that he had bad genes for his heart.
So if you don`t do the same things that he was or she was doing, you push yourself into a different category. Or that any question at all when I look at a heart, which I do all the time, I look at the arteries in it. You see this sort of cheesy plaque in there. What kills people is not the plaque; it`s the plaque cracking and getting inflamed and angry and made a blood clot formed on top of it like a tick expanding. That`s what kills people.
BEHAR: But you know regarding genetics though, there are young people who die who have no bad habits they are just so unlucky.
OZ: You know sometimes the gun goes off even though you didn`t even pull the trigger.
BEHAR: Yes, that`s right.
OZ: And genes are probably a third of how we age, so they`re not irrelevant, they are very important. In fact for -- for Thanksgiving, I have one favor to ask of everybody. This is part of Transformation Nation 2.
BEHAR: Sure.
OZ: We have a one page family history sheet, please print it off, DrOz.com, take it to your Thanksgiving meal and while you`re making all of this small talk about the turkey and the gravy and grandma`s pudding recipe.
BEHAR: Yes.
OZ: Have people tell you what really happened in their lives to their health. Here`s what a family history means to me, a blood relative younger than the age of 65 had a medical problem. You need to write all those down. You`ll be shocked, shocked at how little you know about Aunt Gwen`s diabetes problem or they had problem with fibromyalgia. He had a problem with -- with the heart vessels.
BEHAR: It doesn`t sound like very interesting conversation over Thanksgiving dinner.
OZ: You know I`ll tell you people can be (INAUDIBLE) at each other`s weaknesses. You`re going to fight anyway. This is a different kind of tension. You had what? How many times did you have VD? You never told me that. Dad --
BEHAR: But no, I see your point. It`s like get the information while you can. Yes, that`s what you`re talking about.
OZ: Exactly. You`re very good.
BEHAR: You and your wife -- you and your wife Lisa, are on the cover of "Shape" magazine. We have a -- a picture of that cover. Look how stunning you two are. You look fabulous. How do you keep this marriage -- you`ve been together how long?
OZ: 26 years?
BEHAR: 26 years.
OZ: Don`t quiz me on that. You know I`ll tell you Lisa is the brains of the family. I would never be doing what I`m doing now -- I wouldn`t be sitting in this chair talking to you.
BEHAR: But you know you did heart surgery this morning and now you`re doing this, you`re doing a show, you`re traveling to Lake Como. When do you have time to spend with your wife?
OZ: Every waking moment that I`m not at work, I`m with the family. I don`t have any hobbies.
BEHAR: No hobbies.
OZ: She says -- no, she says I`m boring because I never go out. But I said, the key to success besides good sex is you really have be able to reinvent the relationship. The fundamental reality for me anyway is that guys out there and please audit this, guys will marry the woman exactly like they want her to be when they get married and then you guys change.
BEHAR: Oh the women change?
OZ: Yes and you marry the guys you think we can become.
BEHAR: And then they don`t.
OZ: We don`t want to change.
BEHAR: Yes.
OZ: So from the moment you get married you start moving apart from each other. So the key to our relationship and the reason that -- I think the reason we are close is that I have not been married to one woman all these years. I`ve been married to four different women, every seven years reinvent the relationship. You`ve got the same name, same Social Security number.
BEHAR: So she changes but you stay the same boring self?
OZ: No I change too.
BEHAR: Is that how this works?
OZ: No I change, too, I just don`t change as wisely as she changes.
BEHAR: But now people are always talking oh after a while the sex gets boring. What do you do about that?
OZ: It`s not been boring for us. But you do have to work at it. First of all sex begets sex. So if you don`t feel like doing it, you`ve got to do it. The average American family -- couple has sex once a week. And you need to take it to at least twice a week.
It does not happen naturally, it happens because you plan ahead. Women, as you know, have a foreplay time zone of about 24 hours. So men out there need to laid, you need to chum the waters the night before.
BEHAR: You know the rhinoceros I was reading, has 30 days of foreplay. Now, that is my kind of animal.
OZ: My kind of --
BEHAR: And you know it`s not a good looking animal but it doesn`t matter because that`s why he knows what he`s doing --
OZ: No, 30 days, exactly after 30 days you`re working out.
BEHAR: Yes.
OZ: But you know we have done so many shows --
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Yes.
OZ: -- on the sexual famine in America. There are not enough rhinoceri in America.
BEHAR: Rhinoceri?
OZ: I think it`s rhinoceri, someone should check that. But I don`t think it`s right, I don`t it`s rhinoceroses but the thing is that a lot of women -- and we had a big national survey this year on the show. This is queer (ph). Half of the women weren`t enjoying sex. A third of the women said they had never had an orgasm.
BEHAR: Oh that`s a drag. Really, if you`re going do it, you want to get where you`re going.
OZ: Yes 30 days of work you`re not getting there, it`s a problem.
BEHAR: How do you feel about apparati for rhinoceri.
OZ: I`m very supportive of that. Maybe that`s what the rhinoceri is doing with the apparati.
BEHAR: There you go.
We have to take a break. We have more with Dr. Oz. Hang in there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Ok. We`ve checked with our crack research department and the plural of rhinoceros is rhinoceroses. Thank you.
Ok. Let`s talk about Obama -- President Obama. Is he still smoking or not?
OZ: I don`t think so. He said he --
BEHAR: He quit with what? He did nicotine gum.
OZ: Nicotine gum.
BEHAR: He did that and that`s why he`s chewing gum when you see him now giving speeches. He`s chewing.
OZ: You know, cigarette smoking has always fascinated me. As a heart surgeon, I vowed long ago never to operate on smokers and I don`t.
BEHAR: Really? Why?
OZ: Because I love them. Because I care about them. And if I operate on you when you`re smoking, then you will just keep smoking. My one chance to get to you is before I take that band saw to your chest. Because that`s the one time maybe you will get the message.
You know what`s interesting, I had Paula Deen on recently.
BEHAR: Paula Deen, yes.
OZ: And we were talking about food. I asked, what`s your biggest vice? And I just love her. She`s been through a lot and she`s overcome it all. She said it`s the fat food and smiled. She`s such great interviewer and the power of silence.
I just waited and I could see there was something else she wanted to talk about. She says, the fat food and I smoke.
BEHAR: She smokes, too?
OZ: And you know what she said to me. It`s fascinating but she`s so real. She said, I`ve gotten through so much in my life, everything I`ve done that I`ve enjoyed and I`m proud of. But there`s one day in my life that I regret. It`s the day at age 15 my best friends pulled me over and offered me a cigarette.
And she started talking about how she wasn`t worthy and she just wasn`t able to stop because she wasn`t good enough.
BEHAR: She`s hooked.
OZ: And what I tell people is all you have to do is love yourself as much as the people around you love you. If you care about yourself as much as they do, you`ll realize you are worth it.
So when President Obama tries to stop smoking, there`s two big messages. One, you realize, my goodness, if cigarette doesn`t really help me get past the stress anyway and yes it has some adaptive value because it obviously keeps my hands busy and my mouth busy which is good in some ways. But the penalty you pay is not worth it.
The second thing he did was use help. The chances of succeeding if you`re going to go cold turkey on cigarettes is about one in 20. Five percent, it will work. The chance of doing it when you have medical support is probably closer to 40 percent. So you know, get some support. Physicians are well versed on how to prescribe --
BEHAR: I don`t understand why anybody picks up a cigarette anymore. There`s been so much research.
Let me ask you about -- before we go, I don`t have a lot of time left -- what about holiday stress. People are stressed at this time of the year. They have to shop, a lot of people are losing their jobs. What are they supposed to do to handle this stress?
OZ: You know, the human spirit is unique, we have been able to weather the storms of adversity throughout our history because we`ve been able to create social webs and networks.
If you look at the impact of financial stress, for example, bankruptcy will take seven years off your life. So will getting sued, by the way. But if you`re close to the people around you, if you`re able to keep those bonds, those connections, which is the number one problem we have in America right now. People feel alone and isolated --
BEHAR: Yes, I agree.
OZ: -- by themselves. If you can rebuild those, the loss of life goes down to just a few months, despite -- no matter what financial all the headaches you`re having.
I just did a big free clinic in Los Angeles which actually is airing today, it was such an experience for me to watch all these people have jobs, pretty much. These people have worked their whole life, either they just lost their job or they`re still working but they can`t afford insurance.
The number one thing they say is I`m ashamed. I just feel like I haven`t been there. I feel like I don`t have any power in my life. I just want to make it clear, especially over the holiday period, people care for you, they`re our support out there; there are resources to help you with those financial needs, medical needs and the like.
And biggest we have is probably listening to you. You know why? Because you make us laugh. And the biggest salvation -- it`s true, the biggest salvation for so many of us in our times of difficulty is we form that connection. We can laugh about difficulty with them.
BEHAR: Right. You have to laugh. I mean really there`s so many tragedies in the world. If you don`t laugh, I mean it`s just -- you should see what goes on here.
You can check your local listings to see when "The Dr. Oz Show" airs on weekdays in your area.
We`ll be right back.
Thanks, Dr. Oz, always a pleasure.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. So will we need to drag out the spanx after the meal? I have a feeling we might. Award-winning chef Rocco DiSpirito is here to tell us how to avoid this with his new guide book, "Now Eat This: 100 Quick Calorie Cuts." Welcome, Rocco.
ROCCO DISPIRITO, CHEF: Thank you, Joy. You look so beautiful. By the way, I walk in wearing spanx. Just to make sure, just to be reminded of what I need to watch out for the whole time. Don`t you? That`s a great diet tip. Right? Wear your spanx before.
BEHAR: A lot of people say don`t wear elastic pants, elastic waist pants, because they stretch with you.
DISPIRITO: I haven`t seen a pair of elastic waist pants. When was the last time you had a pair of elastic waist pants?
BEHAR: Oh, yes, I have them. Oh, yeah. Are you kidding?
But listen, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. And here is the thing. A lot of people are watching and they are going to their family, a lot of these Italian families, forget about it, I mean, food is going to be enormous amounts. So how can you actually get through that day without passing out into a tryptophan kind of like coma?
DISPIRITO: Well, the tryptophan coma is pretty fun, you got to admit that that`s a good part of Thanksgiving. Don`t you think?
BEHAR: Yeah, the men all sit on coaches like this.
DISPIRITO: Exactly. I call the Thanksgiving table a weapon of mass dysfunction. It`s where every argument that you ever had your entire life comes to the surface. So if you have a good excuse for falling asleep while they are in there going, take advantage of it.
But it`s a terrible temptation. The holidays. You just literally, it`s like a war zone. Everywhere you go, there`s the alcohol bomb, there is a minefield of desserts. You have got to watch out. You have got to make a conscious decision to turn temptation into weight loss. So instead of gaining 10 pounds during the holidays, gain five pounds, or lose five pounds, because it`s actually possible.
BEHAR: Or stay the same, just stay the same.
DISPIRITO: Or stay the same, maintain.
BEHAR: If you can do that.
DISPIRITO: You don`t have to just completely throw your hands up in the air and give up.
BEHAR: OK, so what should we do? Let`s say we are at the table. You got the Thanksgiving turkey, you got the candy and jams--
DISPIRITO: Most people starve themselves for the Thanksgiving dinner. Do not starve yourself for the Thanksgiving dinner.
BEHAR: That`s a mistake.
DISPIRITO: It`s a big mistake. When you starve yourself, you then overdo it when the food finally comes out. So if it`s 2:00 or 3:00, and you haven`t had breakfast, you haven`t had lunch, you are definitely going to overeat. And when your body is in starvation mode, it stores all the calories for a rainy day. You know where that goes, right? I can`t find mine. Right into that chair. Exactly. So no starving yourself.
BEHAR: Let`s cut to the chase. How much wine can I drink?
DISPIRITO: Well, every glass of wine you drink is about 100 to 150 calories, right? And every 3,500 calories you consume, you gain a pound, or every 3,500 calories you cut or lose or burn off, you lose a pound. So it`s up to you.
BEHAR: What can I trade? For instance, if I want a glass of wine, what can I trade that for?
DISPIRITO: So if you`re going to have a glass of white wine, that`s about 150 calories, have a glass of champagne instead, it`s only 95 calories.
BEHAR: I don`t like champagne.
DISPIRITO: OK. You`re a cheap date, I like you.
(CROSSTALK)
DISPIRITO: I always pull out the Krug (ph) for dates, so for you I wouldn`t have to do that. White wine spritzer. Do you like that?
BEHAR: It`s all right.
DISPIRITO: Can we force you to drink one?
BEHAR: That`s all right. I mean, I don`t see the point, but you know.
DISPIRITO: You just want to be drunk --
BEHAR: No, I -- I like the buzz of a glass of chardonnay. That`s it.
DISPIRITO: No, I understand, I understand. Chardonnay carries about 12 to 14 percent alcohol, it`s 150 calories. Now, do not forget, when you drink alcohol, your body has to burn through the alcohol before it actually starts to burn through calories, so it`s double duty for your body. So every glass, every other glass maybe have a spritzer instead.
BEHAR: All right. I have a nutritionist who tells me to skip a carb. Only have one carb a day.
DISPIRITO: It depends what kind of carb you`re talking about. Not every carb is a carb that we think of as carbs. They`re not all bad carbs. Look for resistant carbs, slow carbs, carbs that begin to digest in the lower intestine because they`re not really used for calories, same way as processed carbs.
BEHAR: Like?
DISPIRITO: Any legume, lentils, whole beans.
BEHAR: I`m not talking those. I`m talking grain. I`m talking about a grain.
DISPIRITO: Whole grains, yes, exactly.
BEHAR: No, but I`m talking about bread, pasta.
DISPIRITO: Your nutritionist allows you white bread, white potatoes?
BEHAR: No, none of that is allowed.
DISPIRITO: No, none of that, got it.
BEHAR: But even if you do the good grain, it`s once a day.
DISPIRITO: Wow, he`s tough on you.
BEHAR: She. Yes, she is tough.
DISPIRITO: She`s tough on you.
BEHAR: Well, I mean, that`s the way--
DISPIRITO: Doesn`t she love you? This is Thanksgiving. You have to have some--
BEHAR: You know what? It`s the easiest part of what she told me to do.
DISPIRITO: Well, if you do reduce the carbs and you focus on lean proteins. And thankfully, Turkey is a very lean protein. It`s the skin and the gravy that gets us into trouble. So if you focus mostly on the turkey breast without the skin, and you just use gravy sparingly with an eye dropper, you`ll be all right.
BEHAR: OK. Let`s talk about -- when you say turkey is a lean meat, so how many times a week can you eat steak, for instance?
DISPIRITO: A lot of diet doctors -- and I`m certainly not -- I`m not a physician, but most people recommend once a month.
BEHAR: Once a month.
DISPIRITO: Once a month. Unless you`re a real red meat eater. But I eat red meat. I choose tenderloin of beef. It`s the leanest cut, and four (ph) ounces of it seems to be enough versus the 24 ounce cowboy steak. If you`re having a cowboy steak once a week, your cholesterol is not going to (inaudible>.
BEHAR: So four ounces once a month.
DISPIRITO: I am not -- I am not the beef council. You`re putting me into -- if you love beef and you know how to eat it and you eat the right amounts, you can eat it more often, but beef is definitely going to get you into trouble, because most beef has a lot of fat.
BEHAR: All right, and also she says--
DISPIRITO: Are you a beef lover?
BEHAR: I like a steak. Yes.
DISPIRITO: OK. Do you like a cowboy ribeye or New York strip or what kind of steak?
BEHAR: I like a skirt steak.
DISPIRITO: OK. Skirt steak is actually not bad compared to the other ones, but if you have tenderloin of beef, you can probably have it more often. And reduce the portions. Don`t eat the big giant steak. If the bone is falling off the plate, it`s too much.
BEHAR: Of course. So let`s say--
DISPIRITO: You say that, but if you go to a steak house, the steaks are enough for four or five people.
BEHAR: I know, but you should share them.
DISPIRITO: Yes, that`s true.
BEHAR: But she told me to eat at least four or five fish meals a week.
DISPIRITO: Yes. Fish is definitely good for you.
BEHAR: A lot of fish has mercury, so you have to stay away from that.
DISPIRITO: Don`t I know it. Yes.
BEHAR: So I try to do that. What about chicken? I love chicken, especially organic chicken.
DISPIRITO: I think most people agree, most people agree chicken is a great protein.
BEHAR: Is there a way to cut calories in chicken at all?
DISPIRITO: Yes, did you know for example that two chicken thighs has 66 less calories than one chicken breast?
BEHAR: Oh, really? I like the breast.
DISPIRITO: That`s one way to cut 66 calories. If you remove the skin, you know that, that`s about 80 to 100 calories every portion. One piece of chicken skin has about 80 to 100 calories, and most of it comes from fat. You went like that, so you don`t eat it skinless? I just assumed you ate skinless chicken.
BEHAR: Don`t assume.
DISPIRITO: Oh, really? I assumed you took that right off.
BEHAR: I put a chicken in the oven at like 450 degrees, and the outside gets crunchy and delicious. I love that.
But how about in the grocery store, what do you do? You`re going shopping, what should you remember when you`re walking into a supermarket?
DISPIRITO: Shop the perimeters. Shop the perimeters. Buy things that are whole, unpackaged, unprocessed. If you are in the middle of the store, you are typically heading down frozen food aisles, processed food aisles. If you are in the perimeter of the store, that`s where they have the dairy, the cheese, the meat, the fish, the vegetables, the produce. The fruit. And that`s the kind of stuff you want to eat. You want to eat whole things.
BEHAR: No junk food.
DISPIRITO: No junk foods. If I put in front of you ingredients that go into most processed foods and asked you to make it for yourself, the first thing you`d do is throw most of those ingredients in the garbage. You would never put that in there.
BEHAR: You know, I was in Italy about a month or so ago. And --
DISPIRITO: Talk about whole natural food, right?
BEHAR: And the paradox of Italy is that you do not -- you eat pasta, but you don`t gain weight there.
DISPIRITO: It`s amazing.
BEHAR: Why?
DISPIRITO: I was in Sorrento this summer researching my next cookbook. I ate more pasta and more food than I`d eaten in a long time. I had to eat (ph) 15 dishes a day. And I lost weight while I was there.
BEHAR: Because?
DISPIRITO: Because most of it is whole foods, unprocessed, and the amount of the pasta that you eat is very little compared to everything else.
BEHAR: And you walk a lot also?
DISPIRITO: You walk a lot.
BEHAR: That`s the other thing.
DISPIRITO: And you laugh a lot.
BEHAR: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Tell me about this "Now Eat This" truck that you`re driving around.
DISPIRITO: "Now East This" truck is a mobile kitchen that drives around New York City, and I use the Robin Hood method. I sell to grownups, I give away to children. Every Friday, I do something called the free lunch Friday, and most Fridays it`s with the Dr. Oz Health Course School. I saw him in the green room, so it`s a Dr. Oz Health Course School. They have peer mentors in each school, and they organize a culinary demonstration, and I feed 200 kids lunch after. I`m trying to change their minds about what healthy food can taste like.
BEHAR: I think that`s great.
DISPIRITO: Yes, it`s really cool, thank you.
BEHAR: And also you have this new book.
DISPIRITO: Yes.
BEHAR: It says "Now Eat This: a 100 Quick Calorie Cuts," which is a nice handy little book to throw in your pocketbook.
DISPIRITO: And it`s a flip book. If you flip it over, there is two covers.
BEHAR: And what does this do?
DISPIRITO: That`s how we doubled sales.
BEHAR: Oh, naked pictures.
(CROSSTALK)
DISPIRITO: One is 50 tips to cut 100 calories while you are out in restaurants and eating out, and one is 50 tips on how to cut 100 calories at home. So for example, if you ate an orange versus drinking a large orange juice, that`s 100 calories right there.
BEHAR: You need to eat the orange.
DISPIRITO: Eat the orange instead of drinking--
BEHAR: What about water? What is your feeling about water?
DISPIRITO: Drink a lot of water, as much as you possibly can. If you`re in the bathroom all day long, that`s a good thing.
BEHAR: Yes, it`s a good thing.
DISPIRITO: It`s definitely -- it`s a metabolism booster, it makes you feel full. I can`t say enough about drinking a lot of water. Plus, if you drink more water, you might drink less alcohol.
BEHAR: Wrong.
DISPIRITO: OK, wrong again.
BEHAR: You say there is a way to make a low-cal lasagna that tastes good?
DISPIRITO: OK, first thing I did when I started writing is I tackled fried chicken. I figured out how to cut almost 300 calories from fried chicken by microwaving and flash frying. And now for my next book, "Now Eat This Italian," I took on lasagna. So I replaced the layer of -- I use 100 percent whole-wheat pasta, I replace a layer with a vegetable layer, you don`t know it, I use low-fat ricotta, I use sugar-free and oil fat-free marinara sauce. I just -- thoughtful ways of taking it apart and putting it back together. And so what I ended up with is a 279-calorie lasagna bolonaise with a meat sauce.
BEHAR: With the meat sauce?
DISPIRITO: Yes.
BEHAR: But you don`t use any olive oil, it sounds like?
DISPIRITO: No. None in this recipe. Lots of time olive oil is superfluous. You just don`t need it.
BEHAR: And the parts (inaudible), mozzarella cheese?
DISPIRITO: Exactly. And lots of vegetables.
BEHAR: Oh, vegetables.
DISPIRITO: Yes, vegetables are about 30 calories--
BEHAR: What vegetables, like broccoli?
DISPIRITO: I used zucchini in this case.
BEHAR: Zucchini. Is that in one of your books?
DISPIRITO: It`s coming out in my next book.
BEHAR: I look forward to that.
DISPIRITO: Thank you.
BEHAR: But this book is called "Now Eat This: 100 Quick Calorie Cuts." We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
BEHAR: That was country star Toby Keith`s hit song "Made in America" about what he calls a disappearing America. It`s on his new album, "Clancy`s Tavern," and he`s here with me now. Welcome to the show, Toby. Congratulations on the album. It`s a hit.
TOBY KEITH, COUNTRY MUSIC STAR: Thank you.
BEHAR: And everybody loves it. They`re all talking about it, the video, the whole bit, terrific.
KEITH: I think "Red Solo Cups," the new one, the video that`s virally -- that`s an adult nursery rhyme that they`re talking about. But I liked that one. That was my 29th No. 1 song.
BEHAR: We`re going to show that later too. That`s the one they were talking about too.
KEITH: Yes, "Made in America" was our 29th No. 1, and --
BEHAR: Yes.
KEITH: -- in 16 years.
BEHAR: You talk about disappearing America. So talk to me, what are you trying to say there?
KEITH: We globalized a little too much. Like, that song isn`t necessarily about my father, but it`s about everybody`s father -- everybody that`s grown today that has a father that age, that generation. They could go to the bank or the pharmacy or the grocery store, and a lot of times the grocer or the pharmacist or the banker would be second generation in that business, and you could shake hands and say, hey, I need you to cover me, I`m getting a new pickup, a car. I need a loan for my farm or my business, and you had a handshake and a history with the guy. And now it`s -- now we`re globalized and everything`s corporate, and it`s worldwide, and we`ve lost all of those little significant pieces to our country.
BEHAR: Yes, that`s true.
KEITH: Do you believe that?
BEHAR: So do you identify, or what do you think about the people who are doing the Occupy Wall Street protests?
KEITH: You know, as bad a shape as we`re in right now, I don`t know what it`s going to take. But at some point we`re going to figure out what we`re going to do. We have got to have more businesspeople with the sense, business sense and the know-how, and the I.Q. to operate this country, and less politicians.
BEHAR: Yes, and then you have -- on the other hand you have got the Tea Party. Do you think they`re similar in any way?
KEITH: I think they`re all -- all those parties have an extreme nature to them. I think anybody who -- I mean, from one end to the other, I think they`re all equally have some extreme sides to them.
BEHAR: Well, at least -- the thing they have in common is that they`re out there protesting. You know, and I appreciate that. I think that they`re different, though. The Wall Street people are angry with the fact that they`re the 99 percent of the people in this country, and 1 percent controls the wealth, so they`re mad at Wall Street and they`re mad at that. But Tea Party seems to be mad at the government. So they do have different reasons that they`re angry. But one thing they do have in common, is that they`re both pissed off.
KEITH: They speak out, don`t they.
BEHAR: Yes, yes.
Now, you were in Iraq this year I understand for your ninth USO tour. And you know, miracle of miracles, finally they`re coming home these guys.
KEITH: It`s a beautiful thing.
BEHAR: Obama is bringing them back.
KEITH: Beautiful thing.
BEHAR: You know, are you happy?
KEITH: I`m happy they`re coming home. They accomplished any missions that our country sent them on, or whatever their missions were laid out to do. I can`t see it going over there nine years and doing 180 shows, next year we`ll be our 10th year. And I`ve watched every year of that thing over there. And I can`t see any missions left to accomplish. I hope that the Iraqi people get their stuff together and become a nation again that can be another productive country like the rest of them.
BEHAR: We hope so. I mean, the GOP candidates are already all over Obama for pulling out. But it was Bush`s plan. Bush had a plan to pull out in 2011, just like this. So it seems like they just get ticked off at him no matter what he does.
KEITH: Yeah, well, you know, as long as it`s your guy in the White House, you get -- you can rationalize things like that a little better. And if it`s the other guy`s team, you know, then it`s -- then it`s easier to gripe. But it`s difficult being the president of the United States, I don`t care who you are.
BEHAR: It is a tough job.
KEITH: It`s a tough-ass job.
BEHAR: I don`t know why anybody wants it. I mean, I remember when Obama won the election, one of the headlines on the newspapers was, "Black Man Gets Worst Job in America."
KEITH: Have you noticed that whoever takes it in our lifetime anyway, whoever takes the position, it doesn`t take them long to start aging, does it?
BEHAR: I know.
KEITH: It`s a difficult--
BEHAR: He`s already getting white hair. The poor guy.
KEITH: He was such a young rock star two years ago.
BEHAR: Wasn`t he?
KEITH: You know, and now they`ve beat him down.
BEHAR: They beat him down.
KEITH: They beat him down.
BEHAR: But he wants another term.
KEITH: Well, power to him. I`d have to take a pay cut.
BEHAR: So you know, have you been watching the Republican debates at all?
KEITH: I haven`t. I`ve been on my USO -- I mean, my USA tour, and I`ve been doing 65 cities since July. So I`ve watched very little television.
BEHAR: Have you seen Herman Cain`s ads? Have you seen--
KEITH: I`ve heard a little bit about Herman Cain. Is there any other Democrats getting up?
BEHAR: No.
KEITH: So it`s just going to be -- he`s the guy?
BEHAR: They`re against each other at the moment, you have Romney and you have Huntsman, the two Mormons. You have Perry.
KEITH: I met with Perry.
BEHAR: You did? What did you think of him?
KEITH: He`s from Texas.
BEHAR: He`s a good old boy.
KEITH: He`s from Texas, and he was up in my home state, and doing some fund-raising stuff, and wanted to meet some of the people that live there. And coach Switzer (ph), who was the Oklahoma football coach for years, said, come with me, I want you to meet this guy. I sat down with him for 10 or 15 minutes. I don`t know that much about him. I know he likes to hunt and fish. And seems like he`s outdoorsy--
BEHAR: There`s the qualifications for president right there.
KEITH: But -- well, it`s more than some of them, I`ll tell you that.
BEHAR: The thing with him that drives me crazy is that, you know, his home state of Texas is going up in flames, but he doesn`t believe in global warming. You know, at some point he`s going to have to deal with that. Then you have you know, like your Michele Bachmann, who doesn`t believe in evolution. I mean, they`re anti-science, a lot of these people. And I don`t think that`s good for the country, do you?
KEITH: Well, that`s why I`m a -- I was a Democrat and my father was a Democrat, and my grandfather.
BEHAR: Isn`t that odd for a country family to be Democrats?
KEITH: No, Southern Democrats is more the norm.
BEHAR: Is it?
KEITH: Yeah. But now, to support the troops and things like that, it`s more the norm.
BEHAR: Of course.
KEITH: To support the military in the South. But -- or in my field anyway. It`s -- I don`t know, I got four or five years ago, I just went, you know what, I don`t like either side. I don`t. I don`t like either side. I`m a registered independent. And I`m the first independent in my family. And my brother has been moved out of our house since we were kids. And he lives in Florida, and he`s a Baptist preacher, and he`s a Republican. And he`s the only Republican ever in our family.
BEHAR: Really?
KEITH: And everybody else was Democrats as far back as I know.
BEHAR: OK. We`ll have more with Toby Keith in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
BEHAR: That was a cut from the Toby Keith`s "Red Solo Cup" from his new album, "Clancy`s Tavern." I understand, Toby, that they`re going to use that song on "Glee."
KEITH: I just heard that this morning. That`s a square peg in a round hole right there.
BEHAR: Why?
KEITH: Well, I don`t know that much about "Glee," but I think it`s a high school kids and maybe some kind of choir play or something, right?
BEHAR: Toby, it`s the gayest show on television.
KEITH: Is it?
BEHAR: Besides this one.
KEITH: All right, well, then I`m sorry, then it will work. I didn`t know that.
BEHAR: It is the gayest show. But you`re a big supporter of gay rights, right?
KEITH: Doesn`t matter to me what they do.
BEHAR: It doesn`t matter to you.
KEITH: I don`t care one way or the other. You think -- why should I waste my time -- it`s a piece of paper for them to get married and all that -- come on.
BEHAR: Come on.
KEITH: What are you going to make them move out of the house, too? I don`t give a damn.
BEHAR: A lot of people who are very self-righteous about that, they`re all about marriage and commitment, so here are people who want to get married and be committed, have kids, and they say no, the sanctity of marriage. Whose marriage are we talking about? Mark Sanford`s? You know? But let`s say -- I see where you`re at, and let`s say you have the opportunity to sit down with Obama. Is there anything you`d like to tell him? Because maybe he`s watching this show. Yeah.
KEITH: Well, I really appreciate, I really appreciate the fact that he didn`t come in -- I know a lot of his supporters were upset with him because he didn`t go right in and start whacking the troops --
BEHAR: What do you mean, whacking the troops?
KEITH: Bringing them home, cutting them out--
BEHAR: Right away.
KEITH: Right away. You know, in Afghanistan, he -- the information I got was that the forces were tripled after -- at a later date after he took office. And that, to me, shows at least sensibility enough to sit down, listen to reason and go, what do I got to do to end this thing? And they go, first thing we`ve got to do is accomplish some stuff before we abandon it. And so he listened to his national security adviser and some people that he had in --
BEHAR: And the generals, I think he listens to the generals.
KEITH: Oh, no question. And when you sit down behind that desk and you`re no longer a senator, you`re now the man, they open a new book up.
BEHAR: It`s true.
KEITH: And when you page through there, you go, damn.
BEHAR: But did you ever think he would have the testicularity that he has, of capturing Osama bin Laden, working so that Gadhafi gets his, you know? And I mean, he is one tough hombre.
KEITH: The military part of it has been wonderful. The economy, though, because it`s what I`m worried most about -- I know our military is going to be good. I see them every day. I worry most about the economy.
BEHAR: It is, it`s true.
KEITH: The economy is terrible.
BEHAR: All right, Toby, I could talk to you all day, but unfortunately we`ve got to end this.
KEITH: OK.
BEHAR: Very nice to see you.
KEITH: Nice to see you.
BEHAR: Thanks for doing this. Toby Keith`s 16th album, "Clancy`s Tavern" is out now. Thank you for watching. Good night, everybody.
END
