Dr. Oz was a relatively unknown doctor – at least, outside the New York area – until he landed on Oprah’s show. Like Dr. Phil and others before him, a coveted spot on the Oprah show turned him into an overnight rock star doc with incredible press coverage. Also like Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz now has his own TV show, as well as a radio show on the Sirius XM channel. He is a cardithoracic surgeon at Columbia, University … and if you’re like me, you’ll wonder what in the world ‘cardithoracic’ means? Well, Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of diseases affecting organs inside the thorax (the chest). Most often this means treatment of conditions of the heart (heart disease) and lungs (lung disease). Dr. Oz has a passion for decreasing obesity and heart disease so, no surprise, he has created his own plan called the Dr. Oz 10 Day Diet.
The Dr. Oz 10 Day Diet contains "10 Commandments" for weight loss and they’re mostly quite sensible.
Dr. Oz Weight Loss Commandment #1:
Dr. Oz is no fan of stretch pants. He says that because they are so forgiving (alias ‘stretchy’) that we often don’t realize we’re gaining weight until we’ve gained waaaaaaaaaaay too much! If those jeans are too tight, the siren call will sound sooner. (This is no problem for me since I don’t even own a pair of stretchy pants. :-)
Dr. Oz Weight Loss Commandment #2:
Once you’ve lost some weight, dump the "fat clothes". This is, of course, pure psychology. If we know we don’t have anything to wear if we gain weight, our motivation will be much stronger.
Dr. Oz Weight Loss Commandment #3:
Limit your consumption of meat from ‘four legged animals‘ to once per week – this means everything except poultry or fish. Foud legged meat is much higher in saturated fat and should be an occasional treat, rather than an every-day occurrence.
Dr. Oz Weight Loss Commandment #4:
I have a problem with this commandment because it suggests not to snack "excessively". Obviously, eating every waking moment can turn us into one of those giant people who need a crane to be removed from their home. He mentions planning a snack – but the idea of a snack is to eat when we’re hungry. If we’ve planned snacks, we might be eating when we’re not the least bit hungry. I could do with more definition than ‘excessively’.
Dr. Oz Weight Loss Commandment #5:
Stop eating by 7:30 PM. Mindless gorging of popcorn and ice cream in front of the TV is clearly a disastrous habit and if we go to bed stuffed with food, our body will have a hard time using that food for energy via digestion.
Dr. Oz Weight Loss Commandment #6:
The doc recommends portion controls: your food should be no more than 1" high and should be no closer than 2" from the ledge of your plate. This advice is a bit lacking. What if your meal was salad? That amount might not be adequate or filling whereas the same amount of fleshy meat would be too, too much.
Dr. Oz Weight Loss Commandment #7:
Chew at least 20 times per bite. This is excellent advice! Slowing down the eating process allows your body the time it needs to make you aware that you are actually getting full. Paying attention to eating makes you less likely to feel as if you haven’t eaten much. It’s healthy to savor each bite of food, so that you appreciate your meals more.
Dr. Oz Weight Loss Commandment #8:
We’re back to snacks again … he makes the obvious claim that it’s not good to share cookies and other treats with your friends and family. He advises that we should stick to our own well-thought out and prepared snacks. My comments on this idea are above.
Dr. Oz Weight Loss Commandment #9:
He observes that we need to avoid vending machines as though they’re a lethal plague. So true, and he further suggests that we don’t carry change or small bills so that we won’t give in to temptation in a weak or hungry moment. There is nothing healthy in a vending machine. Even if the food is ‘sort of’ healthy, it’s likely months old. Perhaps there are vending machines somewhere that are stocked with fresh, healthy food and in that case we might want to include their goodies in our diet plan instead of as unauthorized calories.
Dr. Oz Weight Loss Commandment #10:
Dr. Oz’s last commandment is an excellent one as well: sit down to eat. Eating in our car or while standing up tends to make us unconscious of what we’re eating. Make eating an activity in itself, instead of nibbling on the run.
Commandments #4, 6 and 8 are weak, in my opinion. Yet overall the Dr. Oz 10 Day Diet offers some healthy guidelines which, if followed, can definitely help us to lose that extra blubber.
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