Who knew that the health guru Dr. Oz was also a chef? Well, a chef in the home at least. His day job has him giving Oprah Winfrey health and diet advice but during his personal time he likes to cook with his wife. He likes to use the grill when cooking and since his wife doesn’t eat red meat he has learned to do plenty of fish and chicken dishes. In addition, he likes to cook because he can save money and he knows what ingredients are being used. He explained,

“You know exactly what you are putting in your meals rather than trusting someone you don’t know to limit salt, sugar and fat.”

Here’s his latest and greatest dish, a spicy chili.

Dr. Oz’s Spicy Chili Recipe
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ pound ground turkey or ground meat substitute
½ onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes, undrained
1 can (15.5 ounces) kidney beans, drained
4 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon maple syrup
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the turkey, onion and garlic and cook for five minutes being sure to stir frequently. Add remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered for 25 minutes.

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A few weeks ago Dr. Oz featured Rocco, a meat-loving cowboy on his talk show. After giving Rocco a televised physical, Dr. Oz was alarmed at how unhealthy the cowboy really was, and concluded that he practically had the heart of an 80-year-old. To save Rocco’s life, the good doctor put him on a 28-day vegan diet, with great results!

Enlisting the help of his friend “The Enforcer”, Dr. Oz helped Rocco replace all the meat in his diet and refrigerator with fruits and vegetables and walking every day.

In the video above, Rocco admits that taking that first step was the hardest, but once he finally realized what it was that he wanted from a healthier life, it became much easier. Having people help you along the way, and maybe even “push you around a little” certainly helped the meat-loving cowboy stick to the vegan diet.

“The thing that surprised me the most is that if I eat the amount of food the size of my palm, I will not be hungry anymore and I will not eat two hours or three hours later,” Rocco says on the show. “I will eat more times than I did before, but I will consume less calories and at the end of the day I would’ve lost weight.”

After 28 days Rocco lost 6 inches off his waist, drop his glucose level from 172 to 99, hemoglobin A1C count from 9 to 7.7, and HDL cholesterol from 33 to 45.

Celeb Diet Doc…
If you thought Atkins was the way to go… check out the amount of arterial plaque Rocco the meat loving cowboy has in his coronary arteries. He’s in the 97% percentile for plaque in his heart arteries.

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We’re all in search of that workout we enjoy so much we want to keep doing. As a result of this search, the ancient Eastern practice of yoga has gone through so many adaptations; from Jivamukti yoga to Hatha yoga, Scientific yoga and even Yogilates. The new craze now, however, is Koga.

Last week  Dr. Oz, featured this new workout which combines kickboxing and yoga. Created by Jon Koga, a yoga and kickboxing instructor, Koga is an interesting blend of yoga’s flexibility and balance training and kickboxing’s strength and confidence building.

If you’ve woken up this morning, looked in the mirror and regret those extra mince pies and glasses of champagne you indulged in over the festive season, let Dr Mehmet Oz help you get back on track with his best weight-loss advice.

1. Clean out your fridge and get rid of all the junk food and snacks that might tempt you. If you get rid of the temptation it’ll be harder to break your diet.
2. Make small changes instead of jumping head-first into a tough diet that requires big sacrifices. Snack on crunchy carrots if you’re addicted to potato chips, or drink tomato juice instead of orange juice because of its lower sugar count. Small changes could also yield big results and help you stay in track easier.
3. Get enough sleep because when you’re tied the body tends to crave carbohydrates. Going to bed early also stops you from raiding the fridge late at night.
4. Don’t starve yourself because your brain will go into SOS mode and tell your body to store more fat as a self-preservation tactic. Your body will fight your weight-loss attempts.
5. If you cheat, don’t fret about it. Rather acknowledge that you made a mistake and learn from it. Ask yourself what made you cheat and do what you can to correct it.
6. Eating spicy food for breakfast will help curb your appetite during the rest of the day. Hot peppers fools your body into thinking you’re full by affecting the satiety centre in your brain.

Dr Oz, a regular on the Oprah Winfrey show now has his own gig called, The Dr Oz Show. Last week he gave some good tips to keep in mind during the holiday season so that your clothes fit after the new year! His tips were quite specific to the holiday parties at the office or with friends. Here are some of his suggestions:

1. Bring your own dish – If you take a dish to the party then you know there will be at least one healthy food to snack on.
2. Scan the buffet – Before diving into the first thing you see, take time to look at all the options. And feel free to pick at things too. If the finger sandwiches are drenched in mayonnaise, just eat the meat filling but not the bread.
3. Make substitutes – If you really want to eat some dip, eat it with raw veggies and not the salty chips that will intensify your cravings.
4. Sit far from the buffet – The less food you see the less you will be tempted.
5. Keep one hand occupied – Carry around a club soda with lime during the party because if you have only one hand free your less apt to pick up another plate of food.

These are all great tips that are easy to follow and there is no suffering involved. We can still enjoy the parties but by making conscious choices before and during the party there will be much less temptation.

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It’s time to review the good, the bad and the ugly in celeb diets of 2008. First a brief recap of 2007. The picks for 2007 were for the most part right on. As predicted, Kirstie Alley did in fact fall off the wagon with Jenny Craig. No surprise, Ricki Lake continues to shine with her remarkable weight loss success as she adopted some key weight loss behaviors. Capping a remarkable turnaround for 2008, Britney went from the worst celebrity diet list of 2007 to the best celebrity diet list this year proving that you are what you eat.

This brings me to theme for the year in celebrity diets of 2008, specifically that “diets don’t work.” The key to sustainable weight loss is not so much a particular diet but the adoption of the proper lifestyle behaviors. It’s the reason why Oprah can’t achieve sustainable weight loss despite trying multiple diets and having all the resources in the world (personal chef, trainer, Dr Oz etc).

You’ll also noticed that this year’s winners all have one thing in common as they develop their new lifestyle dietary behaviors. They achieved their remarkable slim downs by increasing their intake of veggies and fruits. No crazy fasts, diet pills, supplements or miracle cures. Here’s to 2009 and hopefully you’ll find some inspiration from this year’s crop of winners. Enjoy and be healthy, Dr Marc

Best Celebrity Diets for 2008:
5. Jennifer Love Hewitt: Those unflattering bikini photos seem so long ago as this Ghost Whisperer star has been letting her body speak loud and clear; daily fruits and veggies do a body good.

4. Jessica Alba: Jessica exercised her superhero abilities on a regimen of whole foods, cardio and interval training to power her fantastic 25 pound post-pregnancy slim down.

3. Debra Messing: Eating gracefully, Debra lost 42 pounds of her post-baby weight by sticking to a diet high in unprocessed veggies, fruits and lean protein.

2. Kelly Osbourne: By fixing her refined carb cravings with her new addiction to veggies and fruits, Kelly Osbourne is reborn with a healthy new figure.

1. Britney Spears: Since ditching her “Toxic” junk food diet for veggies and lean protein, Britney is sporting a new outlook and an A-list slim down that has everyone wanting “A Piece of Me.”

And the Worst Celebrity Diets for 2008:
5. Carnie Wilson: Carnie proves that even gastric bypass is not a fix for sabotaging behaviors. Despite her much publicized surgery and weight loss, this Celebrity Fit Club participant regained 58 pounds. (Her yo-yo dieting continues; she most recently lost 50 pounds before her current pregnancy.)

4. Monica Seles: This former tennis star may have lost 33 pounds on a high protein diet but she also increased her risk of chronic disease. Advantage: heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis.

3. Hilary Swank: 47 ways to sub-optimal health. Reportedly downing 47 “million dollar” supplements a day, this Million Dollar Baby star is unwittingly subjecting her body to accelerated aging.

2. Kim Kardashian: Kim has kept her shapely “junk in the trunk” figure with exercise and a gig on Dancing with The Stars. However, her junk food diet will inevitably cause… too much junk.

1. Oprah Winfrey: The queen of media and yo-yo dieter is the poster child for “diets don’t work.” Proper weight loss behaviors and habits should be one of Oprah’s “favorite things.”

First I just want to say I love Dr Oz. He rocks! However, I just heard Dr Oz, a frequent contributor on Oprah, give some pretty dubious advice on weight loss. He’s a cardiovascular surgeon which explains why he always seems to have that “I just walked out of the operating room look.” He has also authored a book with Dr Roizen, the “You on a Diet” which I have reviewed previously.

There is an incredible amount of misinformation about diet and weight loss so when I see some bad advice given by someone so influential as Dr Oz… well it’s time for the Celebrity Diet Doctor to speak up:) So what’s his weight loss advice that will get you fat?

On yesterday’s Oprah show, Dr Oz recommended that you should eat whole grain bread soaked in  olive oil before your meals….. whoaaaaa (%%^#(@^%!!!!!.

Dr Oz’s theory is that the olive oil with bread slows food passage. This helps fill you up so you eat less during your meal, saving calories and resulting in weight loss. Interesting theory, but this strategy is absolutely the wrong thing to do. Think about it. What you’re doing here is filling up on highly calorie dense foods first. So yes you’ll eat less of your meal, but you’ve just taken in at least a 200 calorie food bolus that will result in more overall calories consumed. This is what makes Italian restaurants a minefield. Many people fill up on bread soaked in olive oil, before their meals, which is a surefire recipe for a bulging waistline. The bottom line is bread plus olive oil before your meals equals weight gain. So what’s the answer?

Of course, do the exact opposite of what Dr Oz recommends. Start your meal with a low calorie food first, such as an apple. In fact people who consumed an apple 15 minutes before a meal consumed 190 less calories overall. The moral of this story. Consume low calorie foods such as fruit, veggies, salads and soups first. This is the key to weight loss. My advice is to eat an apple and call me in the morning…