Dr Oz: Holistic Prevention Guide with Deepak Chopra & Andrew Weil

Dr Oz: Dr Andrew Weil & Deepak Chopra

Dr Oz, together with Dr Andrew Weil and Dr Deepak Chopra, presented a Holistic Prevention Guide for the diseases that we fear most.  Dr Weil has been a pioneer in the field of preventative medicine for many years.  He is a best selling author (with over 10 million books sold worldwide) and is Harvard educated.  Deepa Chopra is a master of Mind-Body Healing and is also a best selling author.  These two super powers of Holistic Health came together on Doctor Oz’s show to teach us how to think differently about our health.

Dr Andrew Weil said that he likes to think about the term “Whole Person Medicine” where you focus on the body, mind and spirit rather than just on the physical body (as many conventional medicine doctors do).  Deepak Chopra told Dr Oz that Holistic Medicine give you control over your life and addresses every aspect of being human.  Doctor Oz asked them why conventional medicine is lagging so far behind Holistic Medicine?  Dr Weil said that conventional medicine neglects areas such as nutrition, mind-body interaction, spirituality and natural remedies.  But even this is changing as medical schools begin to embrace Holistic Health.

Dr Oz: Toxic Fats

The first step in Dr Oz’s Holistic How-To-Guide to Preventing Disease is to avoid Toxic Fats.  Deepak Chopra said that saturated fats or basically anything that you cannot pour out of a bottle is a toxic fat.  For example, margarine, vegetable shortening, and transfats in products like chocolate chip cookies are all Toxic Fats.  Dr Oz said that when these fats get inside of your body, they go into your intestinal tract where the fat gets deposited against the wall because your body does not know what to do with it.  Eventually, it forms a blood clot and can cause your heart to really struggle to stay alive.  Here are Dr Weil and Deepak Chopra’s two rules to avoiding Toxic Fats:

Dr Oz: Oil Sniff Test

Dr Andrew Weil said that by doing an Oil Sniff Test, you can tell if your food has gone rancid.  When food goes rancid, it is because the fats in the food have oxidized and your nose is the perfect instrument for detecting this.  If anything with a fat content in it has a smell similar to turpentine, you do not want to eat it!  Furthermore, Deepak Chopra said that you should not buy your food in bulk and you should always store food away from heat, light and moisture.  Dr Oz took it one step further and suggested that you always keep these foods in the fridge (including nuts like walnuts!).

Dr Oz: Vegetable Proteins

The second tip for avoiding Toxic Fat is to make smart substitutions: replace animal protein with vegetable protein.  Deepak Chopra told Dr Oz that animal proteins have a lot of saturated fat and processed meat can actually cause Cancer.  Instead, try vegetable proteins like Tempeh, Seitan, Quinoa and White Beans – all of which are digestible and have no saturated fat.

Dr Oz: Low Heat Cooking

Next in the Holistic Health Prevention Guide is the importance of the type of heat you use to cook your foods.  Everyone loves to grill, but the higher the temperature that you use to cook your food, the more cancer-causing chemicals you ingest.  Dr Weil said that if you do grill meat, you should make sure to marinate them first.  The best is to use low temperature cooking though.  Dr Andrew Weil specifically likes the idea of low temperature baking or steaming (which uses very little power).  You can even get a really neat food steamer like the one on the Dr Oz Show that has multiple layers so you can steam different foods in separate compartments.

Dr Oz: Anti-Cancer Supplements

Deepak Chopra told Dr Oz that he likes to take the following Anti-Cancer supplements to reduce the chance of getting cancer:

– Vitamin D

– Vitamin C

– Selenium

– Vitamin E

– Carotenoids

Dr Andrew Weil said that in addition to eating a healthy diet that incorporates all of these Anti-Cancer Supplements, he also take the actual supplements as a sort of “insurance plan.”

Dr Oz: Anti-Inflammatory Food Buffet

Dr Andrew Weil told Dr Oz that he loves to eat the following foods because they have great anti-inflammatory properties:

– Berries (which have a low impact on your blood sugar)

– Black Cod (also known as Butter Fish or Sable Fish, it has more omega 3’s than salmon)

– Bok Choy

– Ginger (this is a very powerful anti-inflammatory and you can use it freshly grated or even in a candied form)

Dr Oz’s final tip is to skip using light olive oil, and instead look for an olive oil that says “Expeller” or “Cold Pressed” on the label instead.