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Obama at NATO Summit; Orlando Could Boot TSA; Furor over Body Scans & Pat-Downs; Getting Ready for Black Friday; Thanksgiving Menu Makeover

Aired November 20, 2010 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And we begin this next hour at the top of the hour here. I'm T.J. Holmes, I'm glad you could be here with us.

We're keeping an eye on what's happening right now in Lisbon, Portugal. Of course the U.N. -- the summit taking place there right now and some word we're getting from these NATO leaders about how long troops, in particular American troops could be in Afghanistan. We'll have a live report from Lisbon straight ahead.

Also it is that time, I know a lot of you not traveling just yet but some are already starting to travel for this busy, busy holiday travel season. So what are you going to go with? You're going to go with the pat-down or are you going to go with the full body image screener?

We're actually going to separate fact from fiction for you out there; a lot of myth-busting that needs to be done.

Also, a lot of people already thinking ahead to the shopping season; Black Friday is less than a week away. We've got some critical shopping secrets to tell you about.

But I do want to turn to Lisbon. Right now, President Obama is at the NATO summit there in Portugal, he is holding key talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in just a half hour he's going to be holding a news conference.

The president; again, news conference coming up in about 30 minutes, we will bring that to you live. The meeting already producing some headlines about NATO's future and the war in Afghanistan, including specifically how long coalition troops could be there.

I want to turn now to our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux who's live for us in Lisbon. Suzanne hello to you. An important point to make there and a lot of people standing by. What does this meeting mean to us Americans? Well, we're trying to get an idea here when U.S. forces could be coming home.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, T.J. a lot of people are going want to know exactly what is taking place here. What we have here is a new agreement, it's a negotiation if you will between NATO, also the United Nations and, of course, we heard from President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. What do they want to do?

Well, starting next year they'd like to take province by province, region by region, turning over control from the NATO forces, U.S. forces to Afghan forces. They hope that this will be completed by the end of 2014. That of course, T.J., is the goal in all of this.

Hamid Karzai says he believes that this is going to work. He wants it to work. He thinks it's going to work because he says now he has the commitment from the international community and there's also determination from the Afghan people.

Here's how he put it before the world leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMID KARZAI, PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN: We are confident that the transition will succeed to the Afghan authority, leadership and ownership, because I found today a strong commitment by the international community. This strong commitment by the international community will be matched by determination and hard work by the people of Afghanistan. The two combined will give us the results of an effective irreversible and sustainable transition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: T.J., there are a lot of questions whether or not this really is going to happen, if they are capable of making this happen by the end of 2014. Obviously and expectedly there was a lot of public optimism about this.

We heard from the secretary general of NATO Rasmussen who said the reason why at least he's optimistic is because they say when it comes to training Afghan forces that they're ahead of schedule. He says Afghan forces are much stronger, that they've improved in the quality of their fighting.

He also says, too, that what they're seeing on the ground is a lot more fighting between international forces and the Taliban so there's going to be a lot of casualties and blood but they say that is going to lead to progress because ultimately the Taliban is going to be diminished.

So there's a lot -- at least publicly, T.J. --

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Ok.

MALVEAUX: -- there seems to be some hope that this 2014 might be a goal that they can stick with.

HOLMES: Ok, you -- you talked about that public optimism, is there some behind-the-scenes pessimism about this possible plan?

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. Absolutely. You -- you even hear some of it spill out in the public. We heard from the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon who simply said look, you know, this is not about timetables. This is about being realistic, reality, even this document here mentions the fact that corruption is a major challenge for the Afghan government. And even senior administration officials privately are saying, look, if U.S. forces, combat forces may have to stay beyond 2014, that is a decision that whoever the president is, is going to have to decide at that time.

There are some who are saying, Allied Forces are saying under no circumstances are we keeping our troops beyond 2014. So that is why it's in the U.S. interests and all of these guys' interests to try to keep this agreement on track so that 2014 is the date that they can pull out and at least pull out of a combat role.

Make no mistake, T.J., they're going to be there beyond 2014 in a training capacity with Afghan Forces. They may be engaged in fighting as well.

HOLMES: All right, our Suzanne Malveaux for us in Lisbon, Portugal. Suzanne we appreciate you as always. Thanks so much.

And again, a reminder to our viewers we are standing by to hear from the president a live news conference, it supposed to be happening at the bottom of the hour. When that does take place we'll bring you that live.

Also I want to tell you about what's happening in New Zealand, we are following another mine crisis, if you will, another mine accident. We have trapped miners. At least 29, 29 coal miners are trapped. The rescue can't exactly get under way just yet because they are trying to check the levels, the air quality, to make sure it's safe for rescuers to go in.

But this in New Zealand; there was an explosion that happened yesterday. Two men were able to get out but still you've got another 29 miners trap there. The ages are believed to be between 17 and 62 that are trapped down there; that's mostly New Zealanders but a couple of Australians, Englishman also a South African there.

But right now they're trying to make sure the air quality is ok. They don't know the condition of those miners just yet. Everybody is holding on to maybe another mine miracle.

Also this is Saturday, a lot of people going to start traveling Wednesday, next Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving that's considered one of the busiest, but a lot of people already starting to hit the road and already starting to fly around.

Well, one airport is getting some attention right now, the Orlando Sanford International Airport. They're getting attention right now because they say they're done with the TSA. And they want the TSA to go away. There's an increasing number of critics out there, of course, you've been seeing this plenty covered this week, the full body scanners, also the more intrusive pat-down searches, people just don't like them.

Now, Sanford, that airport does not have these particular scanners in place just yet but they could get them and on "AC360" last night, Florida Congressman John Mica told Anderson Cooper the TSA is too inefficient.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN MICA (R), FLORIDA: TSA in my opinion is out of control. I have 3,000 -- 3,590 administrative personnel making on average over $105,000 just in Washington, D.C. I never intended, when I wrote the TSA law, to have that kind of bureaucracy or another 8,000 out in the field and 67, growing to 67,000 people.

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN "AC360": Yes.

MICA: It's a massive, bloated bureaucracy; it needs to be trimmed and tamed.

REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D), TEXAS: I'd like everybody to be reminded that we might have wanted to have this kind of equipment on 9/11; we saw 3,000 or more Americans lose their lives. This is a different America, and a different world, and so we have to confront issues head-on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY DALE, PRESIDENT, SANFORD AIRPORT AUTHORITY: What I have a problem with is the pat-down, standard pat-down procedures that I've seen demonstrated that I can't do as a law enforcement officer unless I have probable cause to put cuffs on you and take you to jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Ok, important thing to note here that even if Sanford airport gets rid of the TSA and has private contractors actually doing the security, the government is still going to play a major role in securing the private screeners; still have to follow the same TSA guidelines on pat-downs or the machines or the body image scanners.

So either way you're going to get the same experience but some airports are able to opt out. You got about 16 already that use private screeners. And they say or the argument is that they are able to give better customer satisfaction.

Well, I want to turn now to a closer look, a closer look now at the furor over the controversial airport screening measures. There's a lot of speculation and possible misinformation out there about what travelers are facing.

So let's bring in our Kate Bolduan who is certainly a friend of our show here on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING. She's at Reagan National Airport outside of Washington and -- and Kate, you're right -- there's so much online, people are out there putting out; some of it is misinformation, some of it is accurate but it's scaring people to the point.

They don't know what's going on at the airports. So please, debunk some of these myths.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly. There is a lot of information out there and you've clearly by now I'm sure you have heard the stories of pat-downs or searches that are more like groping or virtual strip searches as some would call it than a -- than a usual security search but the TSA says these new security procedures are necessary and they are safe.

But as we're heading into these busy holiday travel season we wanted to get people to try to answer some of the questions that will at least hopefully help or at least prepare people as they are heading to the airport.

One of the things -- and I think we have some graphics to help me out here -- but one of the things that many people are wondering when it comes to these full body scanners, are they safe. There has been some concern raised or some people that would say that the low level radiation may not be safe, may be a health risk.

Well, TSA says that the body -- that the full body scanners are safe, that there is less radiation exposure in one -- going through one scan of these full body scanners than any -- than you are subjected to in two minutes of being on a flight at altitude but that still hasn't stopped pilots union who had raised health concerns about it as well as a group of professors in California who have called for suspending the program until further studies can be done about the health risk. But TSA says it is safe. Another thing that we wanted to talk to people about and help you out about is if you don't want to go through the body scanner, if you opt out, what do you do then? Well, that's when these enhanced pat- downs come into place.

But not everyone is -- is exposed, is -- is going to be subjected to one of these enhanced pat-downs. You get a -- you are subjected to a pat-down if one, as I just said you refuse a full body scan or if you go through the full body scanner or a metal detector and an alarm goes off and they need to do another search. It kind of red -- raises a red flag of some sort that they need to look a little closer.

Also there are still randomly selected people, on -- obviously TSA is not telling us how they do the random selections but they are randomly selected for these enhanced full -- these enhanced pat-downs and you can also be subjected to that.

How many people is that? Well, TSA, T.J., they're not saying exactly how many people get these pat-downs but sources do tell CNN it's between one percent and four percent of all air travelers so really kind of showing that it's a low number of people that do get these enhanced pat-downs that someone -- that has kind of raised the eyebrows of so many people.

And TSA does say, T.J., just finally that since November 1st when this enhanced pat-down procedure has been put into place that they've received fewer than 700 complaints about these -- these pat-downs that people call invasive. They say that's basically indicating that's a small amount compared to the nearly two million people we're told daily that travel that go through security checkpoints.

HOLMES: You're right, good to point those out, to give some perspective, but certainly some people have their horror stories and a lot of those are getting a lot of attention. But we should point out --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Right.

HOLMES: -- and I think you talked about it earlier, Kate, that all of the polls showing anywhere between 80 percent and 90 percent of the travelers polled are in favor of these new security measures. People want to get where they're going safely.

BOLDUAN: Right and many people -- and I've been talking to people here, that they -- and they themselves say they're conflicted. They -- they personally don't obviously want to be groped when they go through a security line --

HOLMES: Yes.

BOLDUAN: -- but they also want to know that they are going to be safe on a plane.

So how thorough is too thorough? How much is too much? That's kind of where we are in this debate right now.

HOLMES: Kate -- Kate, I appreciate you as always. It's good to see you, all right. Thanks so much.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you.

HOLMES: All right, we turn to our Reynolds Wolf now, and keeping an eye on all of this talk about what's happening at the airport, a lot of people usually have concerns -- what are you doing?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Eating a little bit of stuff. Just a little bit. We had the cooking segment earlier --

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: You like that --

WOLF: -- and I saw the plate and saw the food and you guys were kind of busy so hey. Food is good eats. T.J. coming up we're going to talk about your weather forecast. It doesn't matter if you've got a hard plan or if you're just -- just winging it. We could have some rough weather coming. In fact, if you were to cut a diagonal line across the country, eastern third of the country is ok but out west that's going to be a problem and that could be a spreading problem moving into the Great Lakes over the next couple of days, more on that coming up. I'll save you some.

HOLMES: Reynolds clearly you were not paying attention. She said you're supposed to use the little saucer, not the full plate for your meal.

WOLF: Yes. Rules shmules, I'm eating some turkey.

HOLMES: All right, thanks Reynolds.

Well, a lot of people are getting ready for Black Friday. Everybody has a strategy for how to get out there to be first, get in line and get the best deals. Your strategy can't beat hers. She's already, yes, already camped out a full week before Black Friday. What?

Thirteen minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, it's 16 minutes past the hour now. We are standing by waiting to hear from the president, President Obama.

Is that right guys? We've got a live picture here? This is -- no, this is video here I'm told now -- this was from Saturday. All right. This is when he arrived.

He has been meeting with other NATO leaders today talking about at the top of the agenda certainly Afghanistan, but certainly other things on the agenda as well including missile defense, an agreement announced missile defense with other NATO leaders.

But we're expecting to hear from the president possibly within the next 10 to 15 minutes, he's holding a press conference there in Lisbon. When he does step to the podium we will take his comments live.

Now, it's time for me to turn to my good friend Reynolds Wolf keeping an eye on some travel weather. But Reynolds, first of all here, travel is going to be up, AAA projects that more than 42 million people are going to travel at least 50 miles away from home, that's an increase of more than 11 percent. 1.6 million expected to travel by plane, AAA cites the improved economic conditions for the boost in travel.

So that's some good news. Nice to see it going in that direction but still way below the levels it was around 2005.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, do you know where all of those people should be tuning in, right here because CNN is your holiday travel headquarters.

HOLMES: Yes.

WOLF: I just thought you might want to know that.

HOLMES: I like that.

WOLF: We wanted to share that message with everyone. If you are traveling, we know there are so many people that are going by plane, train or automobile. It's going to be a tough time out there in some parts of the country.

Right now, we have some delays in Denver, there's ground stoppage until 10:30 local time. In San Francisco about a 50-minute ground delay and the reason for that is actually pretty simple. What we're seeing out west is really a series of two areas of low pressure, two separate storm systems that will bring in some heavy rainfall to parts of the Golden State.

But at the same time the higher elevations it's not really snow biz we're talking about if we go from the rain to the snow. And the reason why, of course, is because when it goes, that moisture rises up into the colder spots, the higher elevations; it makes that transformation from rain drops to snowflakes. You can see that illustrated beautifully here at Mt. Shasta; also in the Sierra Nevada, we've had one wave after another of snowfall. We're moving to that part of the world.

And before all is said and done, you have a break now, right now in Reno. But check out the moisture you have parts of the San Joaquin Valley that's all moving to the east. That's all going to turning to snow and that snow is going to be very heavy.

In fact, take a look at these maps. You notice the area shaded in dark purple? That's in excess -- that's going to be over 20 inches of snowfall. So you could have two -- some locations possibly up to three feet of snowfall so it's going to be pretty interesting to see how that stacks up, especially along parts of I-80 over the next several days.

Now, we've been talking about the snow that we've had mostly in the Sierra Nevada and the Coastal Range, but also back towards the Wasatch Range and the Northern Rockies. The snow is really going to be picking up in those spots.

For today, 44 degrees the expected high in Portland; Los Angeles low 60s; 46 in Chicago but overcast skies here at Wrigley Field for the big game there today; 70 in Atlanta, 76 in Dallas. And we can look at -- very quickly -- in days to come, here's something very interesting especially Wednesday into Thursday. This area of low pressure into Wednesday, pre-Thanksgiving and on Thanksgiving day that pulls likely through the Great Lakes, heavy snow a possibility, lake- effect snowfall for places like Buffalo, maybe even in Cleveland -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, still appreciate that. That doesn't look good on Thanksgiving Day.

WOLF: No. Timing's not too good for us.

HOLMES: Yes. Timing's not good. All right. Reynolds, we do appreciate you, buddy. Thank you so much. About $450 billion, that's how much the National Retail Federation expects stores to take in this holiday season. Of course you know the big kickoff is next Friday, Black Friday.

This lady is not waiting and she isn't playing. This lady is already a full week ahead of time, she has camped out in front of a Best Buy store. This is in St. Petersburg. She is making sure she doesn't miss the first of those deals.

She says she got about ten family members that are going to be actually rotating here and camping out but a week ahead, she will be the first to get in.

You know some people take this quite seriously. But if you need some help for your Black Friday, Josh Levs with some Black Friday secrets for you -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I have some for you right here. Plus I have one of the hot toys that everyone's going to be shopping for. Check this out.

The closest I'll ever be to being a rock star, Paper Jams, love it. I'm going to show you in just a second, how to see the whole list of the hottest toys this season and which ones are good for different age groups.

But first I want to do something more serious. Let me get a start (INAUDIBLE) showing up. I want to tell you about some secrets for Black Friday. I've been learning these as well. Our team at CNN Money put together a great list and I want to bang you through a few of these.

First of all, you might know this one. Limited supplies: a lot of the times you see ads for Black Friday, these door-buster deals you want to get, turns out there's only three or four per store. Read the fine print in the ads. Call the store in advance, even if you're on hold it will save time over waiting hours in line and then they don't end up having it.

These you're less likely to have heard of. This one says beware the derivative. It turns out a lot times in stores you will try to buy a product, it could be an electronics product and what you find is that when you get home, it doesn't have all the features of the standard model. There's actually some features that are missing. So watch out for a derivative.

Also, avoid bad bling CNN Money is saying. And this is common because there's some stuff going on with commodities and gold. Sometimes you see jewelry advertised with the word gold all over it. It's really just gold plated or gold filled. Be extra careful about that.

And one more, don't assume price matching and the reason is a lot of stores are not doing price matching at the time of Black Friday when they might elsewhere during the year. Let me show you some video here. I posted this online for you. This video is when I spoke here in this show with an expert on toys who talked to me about the hottest toys of the season and told me which ones are good for which age groups and why and what to watch out for.

Also one thing I'm going to mention before we go here is this, next week on Saturday; the day after Black Friday will be small business Saturday, when small businesses around the country are pushing for you to go to them. I posted all this stuff for you up on my pages. It's at Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN -- you have my screen there. It's also at my blog cnn.com/josh. Lots of tools, lots of helpful information; all of it coming from our special section on holiday shopping at cnn.com. Hopefully all of this will get you through Black Friday. T.J. back to you.

HOLMES: All right. Josh, thanks.

Well, Sarah Palin's got another book she wants to sell. If you read between the lines, the last chapter could have the former Alaska governor in the White House. We will explain.

It's 22 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We are at 26 minutes past the hour now.

Next week former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, she's going to be hitting the road to promote her new book, "America by Heart". The book tour coincidentally stops in a few early primary states as Palin considers her political future.

Here's what she told Barbara Walters about her future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: I'm looking at the lay of the land now and trying to figure that out, if it's a good thing for the country, for the discourse, for my family; if it's a good thing.

BARBARA WALTERS, ABC HOST: If you ran for president, could you beat Barack Obama?

PALIN: I believe so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Ooh. There you have it. Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser joining us now live in Washington.

And no matter what, she has proven to be a force in politics in this country, whether she decides to run or not.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. Very influential among the Republicans. What do all Americans think about that? President Barack Obama versus Sarah Palin, if she runs and if she wins the nomination. Check it out T.J. A poll, CNN/Opinion Research Corporation we did about three weeks ago. Look at that 52 percent Barack Obama, 44 percent Sarah Palin -- a hypothetical, very hypothetical matchup.

What about her favorable and unfavorable ratings? Look at this next number. It's interesting. Only about four in ten say they have a favorable opinion of Sarah Palin with nearly half those we questioned, 49 percent, saying they have an unfavorable opinion of Sarah Palin.

T.J. as I always say with the polls they're a snapshot of how Americans feel now; 2012 a long time from now.

One other thing I want to show you. Ken T. (ph), our cameraman, zoom right here into the CNN Political Ticker. Another person who may want to run for the White House -- he did last time around -- Mike Huckabee. He's going to be making some news tomorrow in Iowa, the very important early voting state. He's got a speech to a major social conservative crowd.

You know something about Mike Huckabee in Arkansas, don't you T.J.?

HOLMES: Oh, yes. I've chased him around the state capital there in Arkansas for three years as I worked there for a little bit. So, of course.

And isn't it something, Paul, a presidential candidate or I could just say any politician, you can't even have a layover in Iowa or people will think you're going to be running for president in 2012. So there you have it. He's in Iowa.

Paul, we appreciate you as always buddy. Talk to you again here soon.

And again, we want to let our viewers know, we are standing by waiting to hear from President Obama. He, of course, and the other NATO leaders are gathered right now in Lisbon, Portugal, for the U.N. Summit; of course, Afghanistan at the top of the list of things to do. The president, expecting from him a news conference to start at any moment; when it does take place we will take you there live. We are standing by for it.

Stick with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back. We're at the bottom of the hour here now. We'll let you know what we're standing by for.

The president, of course, is gathering with the other members of NATO, having their summit right now in Lisbon, Portugal. The president is expected to come out and make some comments, expecting a press conference from him at any moment. When that happens, we will take you there live. The president, of course, and the other NATO leaders have been talking about what's going to happen for the future of Afghanistan, trying to set a target date of 2014 for when -- to hand over the security operations there to the afghans.

A lot of people think that is an optimistic plan, certainly some public optimism being shown for that plan. But behind the scenes and a little in front of the cameras, as well, a little pessimism about that plan, that that can actually happen. But we'll let this country, a lot of family members, a lot of husbands, wives, a lot of moms and dads who are waiting for their young men and women to come home, could be getting some kind of a sense of what this means for the future of U.S. forces there in Afghanistan.

So, again, when the president steps out -- again, it could happen at any moment -- when he steps out, we'll take to you that live press conference.

Want to in the meantime get a check of some other stories that are making headlines across country.

Their amazing rescue could end up now on the silver screen, but the Chilean miners already getting a taste of Hollywood. Right now they toured Universal Studios theme park, got a trolley ride and got a simulated 3-D clash with King Kong.

They, of course, are here. Some of the miners will be special guests, as well, at the fourth annual "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," which you will be able to see right here on CNN, Thanksgiving night, 8:00 Eastern Time.

Also, take a look at this picture. Can you imagine seeing this on the highway?

It's a revealing billboard, and it has some driving wrecking. No, they're not quite wrecking, but it has some drivers turning their heads. This is in downtown Memphis. It advertises a shoe store.

Shoes? Let me see that picture again.

In case you were wondering, the store's owner calls the billboard, yes, risque, but they do believe it is tasteful.

You be the judge. I didn't know if she was even wearing shoes.

Also, check this out. The holiday lights illuminate. This is -- we're just doing a Memphis block. Who is helping me out here, giving me some Memphis love?

An "American Idol" winner actually did the honors and lit this thing up. But every year, Elvis Presley's mansion is decorated with hundreds of shiny, blue lights along the driveway, life-sized nativity scene, and Santa at his sleigh.

But, again, a lot of Memphis news. Thanks to whoever, the producer who put that in there for me. Well, we are making over your Thanksgiving dinner, all the trimmings, but less of the fat. You think you can do it? You think it can't be done? Don't want to miss this segment I had a little earlier, this showdown between me and a doctor who is only trying to help.

Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. As we know, Thanksgiving, just around the corner. You know you're going to be eating and you're going to be eating a lot. All right? But we're trying to keep you healthy here as best we can, and we've got a bit of a menu makeover here I want to you listen to.

This is from Dr. Felicia Wade. She was in here with us, trying to get to you change your menu a little bit.

We're going to let you hear what she had to say. But I wanted to also give you a heads up that we are standing by for the president as well. Going to be having a press conference over in Lisbon. If he does come up live, we'll break into this piece, so make sure you hear that. So I just want to you know you're not going to miss any of the president, but, still, want to get you started here with the menu makeover.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: This particular day, though, isn't this the day to just splurge? Is this -- even if you behave and you eat well all year, can we not just get one day to just go at it?

DR. FELICIA WADE, EMERGENCY MEDICINE: I think it's important, T.J., to spend time with family and friends. And I think it's important to have the foods that you love.

I think you're right. You're brilliant, T.J. You know this.

But I think it's not the time to have 5,000 calories. I think it's the time to probably have somewhere between 500 to 1,200 calories, but not 5,000. Come on.

HOLMES: OK. That's every day, though, right? We're supposed to eat the 500 to 1,200. But this is the day -- actually, this is what we're going to do. We have my menu up, and we're going to take through -- because I have a fairly traditional meal that I cook.

I grew up, mama, grandma, granddaddy, everybody could cook in the family. All right?

Let's look at this, all right? Honey baked ham, we don't have a holiday without that honey baked ham.

All right. You've got a turkey. I stuff it with vegetables, though, but a lot of butter in there, too. It's delicious. WADE: How much butter, T.J.?

HOLMES: A couple of sticks in the whole -- over time.

Why are you all laughing?

OK. Macaroni and cheese, JIFFY cornbread, and green beans. OK. Let's leave that up. And I put a little bacon and onions in the green beans.

What is your problem with that menu right there?

WADE: OK, T.J. Let's start with the ham, T.J.

HOLMES: OK.

WADE: Can we start with the ham?

HOLMES: Start with the ham.

WADE: Do you know how much sodium is in the ham, T.J.?

HOLMES: Enough to make it delicious.

WADE: Yes. Can I ask you a question, T.J.?

HOLMES: Sure thing.

WADE: What is your blood pressure?

HOLMES: My blood pressure, it was a little high the last time I went to the doctor.

WADE: A little high?

HOLMES: But I have been checking it since I came from the doctor and I'm in a decent range. But go ahead. Your point?

WADE: Yes, because, in ham, in three ounces, just three ounces, there's 1,000 milligrams of sodium.

HOLMES: That's bad?

WADE: Yes, that's bad, T.J. OK? With somebody who has high blood pressure, we don't want them to have 1,000 milligrams of sodium in three ounces of ham.

HOLMES: OK.

WADE: Three ounces of ham, very thin slices is three ounces, little, tiny slices. That's not worth it on one day.

What I'd like for them to do is take that ham, put it in a big pot of water before they cook it in the oven, because my family is from the South, too. They're from Louisiana. You want to spar? Let's spar. HOLMES: All right. Let's do this.

WADE: They're from Louisiana and they're from North Carolina. I want them to put that in that pot, soak it in that pot, on the stove, boil it so all of that sodium comes out in that water. I want them to pour that pot of water in the sink and then I want them to bake it in the oven. OK?

HOLMES: OK. Now, how is it going to taste afterwards?

WADE: It's going to taste fine.

HOLMES: Fine?

WADE: Because you know what I really would rather? I'd really rather than not have that ham with that thousand milligrams of sodium, because I want their blood pressure to be normal.

HOLMES: OK. Put the list back up there.

WADE: Like the American Heart Association, I'd rather them have that turkey.

HOLMES: Put the list back up.

OK. Anything else on that list you have a problem with?

WADE: Oh, T.J., that macaroni and cheese, it just gets me right here.

HOLMES: What am I supposed to eat instead of the macaroni? You're saying eliminate the macaroni and cheese as well?

WADE: Yes. Because do you know one cup of macaroni and cheese, do you know how many calories?

HOLMES: Of course I don't.

WADE: You don't? It's like 600 calories. Do you know how much cholesterol is in that?

HOLMES: So you're saying eliminate it, or we need to put different things in it, a different kind of cheese, a low-fat cheese? A low-fat cheese is what you're saying?

WADE: Yes. I'm so happy now, T.J.

HOLMES: Let me get that other screen.

Give me that second screen, Deirdre (ph), with the stuff on it.

Now, I have sweet potato pie. I do use sweet potatoes.

WADE: Yes.

HOLMES: Lemon meringue pie, cornbread dressing, and mashed potatoes.

Now, what do you have issues -- take issue with that?

WADE: The cornbread dressing, can we change it up a little bit and do whole grain bread? Can we do whole grain brad?

HOLMES: Ooh.

WADE: Four cornbread muffins -- we mix them together, T.J.

HOLMES: OK. So some cornbread in there.

WADE: Some cornbread. And then what we'd have is we'd have mushrooms in there, we'd have onions, a little bit of low-sodium chicken broth. So we do know how to cook.

HOLMES: OK. All right.

WADE: We put that all together. And so instead of 89 milligrams of cholesterol, we now have 59. It tastes very similar. OK?

And instead of the next day having to go to the hospital for high blood pressure, I'm talking about the 41 million diabetics that are out there, the 500,000 people who die of heart disease every year. We want them to enjoy their families too.

HOLMES: I need to get to this one other thing. You call it a magic number that everybody should be targeting for this holiday. All right?

WADE: Yes.

HOLMES: Put that up. Now, what does this mean, first of all, magic number? Whose magic number is that?

WADE: The magic number is we should be having a meal that's really not greater than 500 to 1,200 calories, because we're talking one meal. You know, most people should be eating somewhere around 1,200 to 700 calories for a day. You know, like someone who is my size, I shouldn't be eating more than about 1,600 calories for all my meals.

HOLMES: In a day. OK.

WADE: So that means to sit down for Thanksgiving, I should be -- can I show you the plate?

HOLMES: Please.

WADE: I should be having a plate that looks like this.

HOLMES: What are you supposed to do with that?

WADE: I'm supposed to have my food on it, T.J.

HOLMES: On Thanksgiving? WADE: On Thanksgiving. But most people -- T.J., I know you have a plate like this, don't you?

HOLMES: I don't use a plate. I use a platter.

WADE: T.J., you go back twice, don't you?

HOLMES: Oh my goodness, you have no idea.

WADE: Do you go back three times, T.J.?

HOLMES: Well, maybe a third, but it's not full each time.

WADE: T.J., I can't carry all these plates. OK?

HOLMES: You're telling -- people should use saucers for their meals on Thanksgiving?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: A saucer. She was serious. And it is, it's a serious epidemic in this country. Nobody is doubting, so we certainly don't want to make fun there.

Obesity is an epidemic in this country, certainly. And Dr. Wade, certainly a good sport and good spirits.

She has a book out. "The Heart of the Matter" is the name of it. And she's really trying to get people to be healthy and eat healthy. And, yes, including on Thanksgiving Day. But you make the decision for yourself.

You see at the bottom of the screen there we're keeping a close eye on what's happening in Lisbon, Portugal. The president, expecting him to step out at any moment.

And producer, did you get guidance on when he's stepping out?

Soon is what we're told. I think we might be able to get in a commercial break here, and then we'll take you back live when the president steps out for his press conference. Again, at the U.N. -- oh, excuse me, the NATO Summit taking place right now in Lisbon, Portugal.

Stay with us.

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