Dr Oz

Doctor Oz gave a list of 5 lifesaving numbers that you must know, called the “Know Your 5″ list.  Here are the 5 numbers that Dr Oz said that we should all know, along with the numbers we should be aiming for in each measurement.  Dr Oz is also giving away the “Know Your 5″ test for free to the first 5,000 people who register for the test!

Know Your 5: Lifesaving Numbers

Blood Pressure – If you have high blood pressure, you can have strokes which is where an area of your brain bleeds and dies.  This happens because as your heart struggles to pump blood, it pumps harder, and blood vessels can pop and your blood can come out.  You can test your blood pressure at a pharmacy, with a test at home, or you can have it checked at your doctor’s office.  The top number (the first number) should not be over 140, otherwise Dr Oz said you should see your doctor!

Waist Size – Measure between your hip bone and your rib cage and suck in… I had no idea that you could suck in when you measure your waist size!!!  Good to know … If your waist size is over 35″, then your chance of other health problems increases dramatically.  So you want your waist to be under 35″ for women.

Weight – Dr Oz starts to get worried if women weigh over 175 pounds, because on average women are about 5′4″.

Cholesterol – A major factor for cardiovascular disease is cholesterol.  HDL needs to be above 50 – this is your healthy cholesterol.  LDL needs to be less than 100 – this is your bad cholesterol.

Fasting Blood Sugar – You can help determine your risk for diabetes by looking at your fasting blood sugar, which should be below 100.  If your fasting blood sugar is too high, you can damage blood vessels, have circulation problems, blurred vision, and a whole bunch of problems with other organs.

To sign-up to be one of the 5000 people to get the free Know Your 5 test, go here at 3pm EST tonight!  If you are not one of the first 5,000 people, Dr Oz said you will still get a very large discount on the test.

Doctor Oz turned 50 over the summer, and to kick off the new season of the Dr Oz Show, he did a segment on colonoscopies where he showed himself getting a colonoscopy for the first time. August 13, 2010 is when Dr Oz went in for his routine colonoscopy, and just three days later Dr Oz got shocking news about having what could become Colon Cancer!!! This was a fascinating segment and it should be a great wake-up call to everyone out there!!! 

Dr Oz said “life is what happens when you are busy making other plans”… which is so true. Everyone is always busy making plans in their life, but relatively few people pencil in to do a colonoscopy and other life saving screens and tests.

Colonoscopy Step-By-Step Guide

Dr Oz’s colonoscopy process the night before the scheduled procedure.  He picked a flavor (lemon lime was his flavor of choice) and poured it into a big jug along with some water.  Oz then drank the liquid (8 ounces at a time) every 10 minutes.  He said it tasted like a mixture of chalk, baking soda and gum.  Having done this test myself, I can also vouch for the less than pleasant taste of this liquid!  The liquid makes you run to the bathroom all night long as it cleans out your colon.  You can also feel bloated, nauseous or have some stomach pain.

The next morning, at 7 am, Dr Oz went to Dr. Jonathan LaPook’s office for his colonoscopy.  Dr. LaPook found a polyp silently growing inside of Mehmet’s colon.  There are no nerves in the colon, so you don’t feel anything when they do a biopsy or remove polyps.  LaPook sent the biopsy to Kathleen O’Toole, a pathologist, to view the polyp under a microscope.  She showed what the polyp looked like under the microscope, and she said that the darkly stained segments were called crypts and she concluded that Dr Oz’s polyp was an actively growing cell population.  O’Toole called LaPook and said that Dr Oz had an adenoma polyp, which is a polyp that can become cancer over time.  A benign and less dangerous polyp is called hyperplastic.

If Dr Oz had not had a colonoscopy, he could have developed Colon Cancer, which is the second leading cancer killer.    32,000 Americans die from colon cancer every year because they were never screened.  Dr Oz said he was shocked, stunned and humbled by his results and that his life was saved because he got screened.  He said that not knowing what the polyp would turn out to be all weekend was like torture, which I can totally sympathize with.  Often, men tell their doctors to just keep them alive so that they can walk their daughter down the aisle at her wedding.  This is one test that can help increase your chances of walking her down the aisle!!!  If Dr Oz was obese and was not a healthy person, that innocent polyp could have already been a cancer.

Colon Cancer Risk Factors:

- 50 years old or olders

- previous polyps

- family history of colon cancer

- diet high in fat content

- obesity

- smoking

- African American

Top Symptom of Pre-Cancerous Polyps:

The top symptom of pre-cancerous polyps is if you say “I’m feeling perfectly fine, lets go to lunch” – so you have NO symptoms.  You must get screened to find out if you have polyps.  Women get it just like men.  70% of people who get polyps have no family history of it at all.

Your colon is 4 to 5 feet long.  I found it interesting that Dr Oz apparently has IBS and that is apparently often found in people with longer colons.  I wonder if my colon is particularly long… I have had a colonoscopy but the doctor never told me one way or the other… during my  next colonoscopy I will definitely be asking about this in advance!!!  During a colonoscopy, they put a long cord or tube inside of you and there is a fiber-optic light inside of the tube.  If the doctor sees a polyp, he can use forceps to go through the tube and use pincers to remove it.  Another options is for the doctor to use a wire to lasso around the polyp, electrocute it and then remove it.  It can take a polyp 10-15 years to turn into cancer, so if you can find it and treat it during that time, you won’t get colon cancer.  If a parent or sibling has had polyps or colon cancer, you should get screened with a colonoscopy at 40 years old.  Otherwise, you should get a Colonoscopy at 50 years old.

Doctor Oz’s Doctor Orders for September 1, 2010 are below. Don’t forget to pass them on to a friend or family member!:

1.  Go gluten free for three weeks and see if you feel better, especially if you have unexplained diarrhea or constipation.  Read more about the G-Free Diet.

2.  Eat cranberries to prevent ulcers and read about other Ulcer Home Remedies.

3.  Prevent ringworm by keeping your scalp dry.  Here is more information about the Most Common Rashes.

Doctor Oz played a game called Rash Round-Up to teach us about the most common rashes: Ringworm, Rosacea and Shingles. See how well you do on Dr Oz’s rash quiz: 

Ringworm

True or False: Ringworm gets its name from a ring that can appear, but it has nothing to do with a worm under your skin?  False

Most common place to find ringworm: Your head.

Rosacea

True or False: Rosacea develops in childhood and grows progressively worse? False!

Where is Rosacea commonly found? Your face.

Shingles

True or False: Everyone who has had chickenpox is at risk for shingles?  True!

Where are shingles most commonly found?  The back.

Doctor Oz was asked by a lady if 6 weeks is really how long it takes to recover from a hysterectomy. She is in her mid-30’s and was told to have a hysterectomy for her fibroids.

Dr Oz said that a hysterectomy is the most commonly done unnecessary operation in this country. There are other therapies that are possible to make fibroids shrink or get smaller, and he highly encouraged her to look at alternatives. He never really answered the question about recovery time for a hysterectomy though.

Doctor Oz was asked about Under-active Thyroids by a lady in his audience (named Porsche… hard to forget a name like that!).  Porsche said that her Underactive Thyroid made her hair brittle and made her feel fatigued.  She wanted to know if Dr Oz knew of anything natural to take instead of Synthroid.

Armour Thyroid vs Synthroid

Dr Oz said that Synthroid is a synthetic, which sometimes people have difficulty with including symptoms like thinning hair or brittle hair.  Another alternative is a medicine called Armour Thyroid.  What I don’t understand is why would people take a synthetic like Synthroid if Armour Thyroid is more natural?  Perhaps someone with more of a medical background could reply in the comment section below.

Doctor Oz said that 30 million people suffer from ulcers. If you feel stressed out and your stomach feels like it is on fire, you could have ulcers. Dr Oz, along with his assistant of the day, looked at a stomach to show what a stomach looks like. If you have ulcers, you can get a big hole in your stomach from where the acid bores through the first layer of your stomach. Dr Oz said it may not be that stress causes ulcers, but rather, the pain from the ulcers also makes you stressed out… meaning that the stress is actually a symptom.

Causes of Ulcers:

1. Bacteria Called H. Pylori.  Dr Oz said you can get H Pylori from kissing people or from eating contaminated foods.

2.  Taking aspirin or ibuprofen can cause ulcers and holes in your stomach as well.

Dr Oz did a demo to show how the protective lining in your stomach keeps the acid inside of your stomach.  But if you get a tiny rip in the lining, it can turn into a big hole as the acid inside of your stomach rips a hole.

Ulcer Symptoms:

- A burning sensation in your stomach, not right after you eat food, usually only a few hours later.  Or pain in the morning when you first get up.

- Loss of Appetite & Weight Loss

- Nausea

Ulcer Home Remedies & Ulcer Cures:

- Antibiotics

- Pepto Bismol – Dr Oz said that people won a Nobel Prize for discovering that the pink liquids like Pepto Bismol helps ulcers by killing H. Pylori.

- Cranberry Juice – also kills the bacteria

- Zinc helps to heal ulcers, so consider eating cashews or taking zinc supplements if you have ulcers.

Doctor Oz found yet another amazingly inspiration woman who lost a tremendous amount of weight in just on year. Heather is a wife, mother of three, and a nurse. She used to weigh 218 pounds and had high blood pressure and cholesterol. She always wanted to start a diet, but never could commit to it. Around a year and a half ago, Heather woke up with a stabbing pain down her arm and she knew she had to change. She began to follow Dr Oz’s advice and cut out junk food, ate fruits and vegetables, and began to workout.

Heather’s Truth Tube Results a Year Ago:

Weight: 218 pounds

LDL Cholesterol (Lousy Cholesterol): 182 (should be under 100)

Blood Pressure: 151/96

Heather’s Truth Tube Results Now:

Weight: 140 pounds

LDL Cholesterol (Lousy Cholesterol): 98

Blood Pressure: 124/78

Dr Oz said that Heather is 34 years old, but last year her body thought she was 45 and today her body thinks she is 29.  Amazing!  Heather said she is so much happier now, has more energy and feels on the inside how she looks on the outside.  She was a late night snacker, so she keeps a photo of the “old her” on the fridge to remind her not to sneak.

Heather’s Secret Diet Tips:

Start Eating Vegetables – Heather planted a garden and started eating more veggies, like a Zucchini Stew.

Dessert Alternatives – Heather likes to put some sugar free cool whip between 2 graham crackers and to freeze it, so that it is like an ice cream sandwich.

Support – Heather makes a checklist of things her husband should do when he gets home so that she does not feel guilty to go off to the gym.  What great weight loss tips!

Doctor Oz did a segment on Celiac Disease with Elisabeth Hasselback, author of The G-Free Diet.  Elizabeth Hasselback said that even if you do not have Celiac Disease or gluten sensitivity, eating a gluten free diet can help you to shed pounds.  Dr Oz also brought a lady named Amy on his show, who was recently diagnosed with Celiac after being told she had IBS for a long time.  Finally, her doctor noticed that her tongue was unusually shiny and found that she was anemic and deficient in magnesium and zinc – which led them to test for Celiac Disease.  Amy knew absolutely nothing about gluten.  In fact, at the time, she thought gluten was a type of pudding! 

The G-Free Diet Plan

You should avoid or carefully read the ingredients labels for the following:

- wheat pasta

- barley

- oats

- blue cheese

- deli meats

- bacon bits

- licorice

- instant coffee

- beer (a brand called Red Branch is gluten free though)

- dressings (look for Amy’s or Annie’s brand, which makes gluten free salad dressings)

- peanut butter, jelly jars, butter (all of these things can get contaminated by other people in the house who make sandwiches or get crumbs inside the container)

- lipstick

- lotion (if your hand lotion has gluten, and you touch your food, you can be adding gluten into your diet).

Dr Oz said that if you have Celiac Disease, you just need to eat 1/8 tsp of gluten to get sick.

The following are good foods to eat:

- Dove soap & Burts Bees chapstick (both are gluten free, but obviously should not be eaten!)

- Amy’s gluten-free soups

- Coffee in pure form (not instant)

- Green Tea

- Rice

- Quinoa

- Corn

- Gluten-Free Pasta (which is better for you in terms of nutrients)

- Wine

Doctor Oz spoke about Celiac Disease in his show “Hidden Epidemic: When Bloating is a Sign of Something Toxic.”  Seliac Disease is an auto-immune disorder that causes a person to have an adverse reaction to gluten, which is found in wheat and certain grains.  This gluten allergy wreaks havoc on your body with symptoms that can point to many different problems, which makes it hard to diagnose Celiac Disease.  Some of the more common symptoms of Celiac Disease include bloating, fatigue and joint pain… but it can also lead to liver disease, lymphoma, infertility, neurological disorders or cancer.  Dr Oz said that 97% of people in America who have Celiac Disease do not even know that they have it.

Dr Oz said that on average, people go 10 years before their doctor makes the correct diagnosis and that 3 million Americans have Celiac Disease, which is more than the number of people who have epilepsy or rheumatoid arthritis.  Dr Oz brought Elisabeth Hasselback (from The View) on his show because she has Celiac and wrote a book called the G-Free Diet.  Elizabeth Hasselback said that she had constipation, diarrhea and a whole slew of problems for 10 years before her doctors figured out she had Celiac.  Hasselback said that she thinks most of the time a diagnosis of IBS is BS!  And I agree!  On a personal note, I have suffered from problems (mainly related to diarrhea) for years.  My doctor did give me the Celiac blood test a couple of years ago, and was convinced that must be my issue, but my blood test came back negative.  So my diagnosis is still IBS, which basically just means that my doctor can’t figure out what is wrong with me… comforting, right?  But back to the Dr Oz Show… Dr Oz said that the small intestine has a complex surface with lots of little finger-like probes sticking out of the surface, which is where we absorb nutrients into our body.  However, if you have Celiac Disease, these little “fingers” get killed off and so your body stops absorbing nutrients, hence why you can become malnourished.

Celiac Disease Symptoms:

- Bloating

- Diarrhea

- Fatigue

- Bone or joint pain

- Mood changes

- Tingling in fingers and feet

- Dermatitis Herpetiformis (a rash)

Dr Peter Greene from the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University is Elisabeth Hasselback’s doctor and said that Celiac Disease can cause all kinds of horrible things like osteoporosis, infertility, and anemia.  Greene also said that if you get the blood test for Celiac Disease and it comes back positive, you do not necessarily have Celiac – you could just have gluten sensitivity.  If you have Celiac Disease, I would love to hear how you manage it and any advice you have… please leave a comment below!