Dr. Oz: Weight Loss for Every Decade

A salad a day helps keep the love handles away! (or the saddlebags...)

Dr. Oz recently highlighted some tactics to use to stave off the weight gain that affects millions of people as they get older.

We all know people who could eat anything they wanted when they were teenagers, and never seemed to gain an ounce. Later in life, those same people (are you one of them?) are putting on 10, 20, or more pounds as their bodies change and start laying down fat.

Incidentally, was anyone else surprised at how Jeff Corwin “filled-out”? I’m not digging on the guy, just pointing out that Father Time eventually gets everybody, even good-looking studs like Jeff!  Jeff recently appeared on the Dr. Oz show. Instead of his previous role as animal expert extraordinaire, he is now an expert on foods to stop aging.  Way to go Jeff!

We already know that Father Time is usually not your friend when it comes to wrinkles, fat, and muscle mass. But there are lots of things you can do to defy your age…

Dr. Oz: Weight Loss Diet for your 50′s

Dr. Oz focused on women in their 50′s, and suggested that due to loss of estrogen, women in their 50′s burn about 200 fewer calories per day than they did in their 30′s.

I’d venture that just being 20 years older, along with probably being less active, busier with work/kids, and eating a Standard American Diet (SAD), accounts for the majority of weight gain in your 50′s.

Dr. Oz said that as a woman’s body loses estrogen, the fat cells try to compensate, and accumulate fat. This extra fat actually produces estrogen. If you supply the body with an alternate form of estrogen (like the phytoestrogens in flax seeds), then the body won’t tend to lay down as much extra fat. That’s the theory, anyway.

So, Dr. Oz recommends 2 teaspoons of flax seeds every day to provide your “estrogen-starved” body with phytoestrogens to combat weight gain. Make sure you use fresh seeds and grind them before eating, as they won’t get digested if you eat them whole.

Dr. Oz says to battle back with a Sinless Watermelon Split:

Dr. Oz offered the following recipe to fight the fat that might become a problem in your 50′s:

• 2 bananas
• 3 scoops watermelon (has arginine, which helps burn calories)
• 3 “dollops” of vanilla Greek yogurt (reduces the fat absorbed from other foods)
• 1 cup of fresh blueberries (contain polyphenols that fight fat)
• 2 teaspoons flax seeds
• granola (for fiber)  Really Dr. Oz? Granola for fiber? Think again.
• dark chocolate chips (70% cocoa or higher)

Dr. Oz showed the finished “Banana Split” to the audience, and said: “This will take care of that 200 calories for you.”

Hmmm…a woman is burning 200 fewer calories a day, and the solution is to eat 400 calories of fruit and a bit of yogurt with granola on top… Really?

And I’m still trying to figure out why Dr. Oz recommended vanilla Greek yogurt. Why eat all that sugar? Far smarter to get plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt.

Dr. Oz: Weight Loss Diet for your 40′s:

The main issue in your 40′s (for women, anyway…he doesn’t seem to think that men in their 40′s have any problems with weight gain…) is reduced testosterone. The ovaries start to shrink and produce less testosterone, which is the muscle-building hormone.

The solution? Eat Roman beans, they have much more protein than other beans.  Eat 2-3 cups per week (I assume he means measured cooked, not raw).  Also, Dr. Oz said to eat two 3.5 oz servings of salmon, for the protein and Vitamin D.  Try to get some sun too.

Eat some broccoli rabe, which Dr. Oz says is high in iron, which helps form red blood cells which help deliver oxygen to your muscles. Squeeze some lemon juice on top, as it will improve the absorption of the iron.  For the record, spinach has twice the iron as broccoli rabe, ounce-for-ounce.

Finally, add some weight training to your exercise program. 30 minutes of weight training a week will help you build muscle, which in turn burns calories all the time, not just when you are exercising.

Sprints and intervals are great ways to boost testosterone as well, but Dr. Oz didn’t mention that.

Dr. Oz: Weight Loss Diet for your 30′s:

Dr. Oz’s strategies for your 30′s center on boosting your metabolism. I wrote a rather lengthy post of fat-busting metabolism boosters HERE.

Button Mushrooms, Pine Nuts, Balsamic Vinegar and Tangerine “Weight-Orade”

1/2 cup of button mushrooms every other day provides CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid), which can help you burn fat. Another way to increase your consumption of CLA (that Dr. Oz didn’t care to share) is to eat grass-fed meat and dairy products.  Meat and dairy products from grass-fed animals has 300-500% MORE CLA than meat and dairy from conventionally raised animals. Oh, and in case you didn’t know, kangaroo meat is possibly the richest source of CLA. (Go ahead, throw another ‘roo on the barbie!)

2 Tablespoons of pine-nuts three times a week can help, but Dr. Oz wasn’t very clear on what they do or how. He just mentioned they are high in PUFA’s (just like most nuts and seeds) They do go well on salads! Incidentally, most pine nuts sold in the U.S. come from China. I know the ones from Costco do, I just checked this morning!

Dr. Oz said that Balsamic Vinegar activates a gene that burns fat.  Whatever it does, Balsamic Vinegar (and all vinegars, for that matter) are wonderful additions to salad dressings. Some studies indicate that vinegar and lemon juice can reduce increases in blood sugar that can occur after eating carbohydrates.

Tangerine Weight-Orade

I like this!

Make 8 cups of brewed green tea (high in polyphenols with a bit of caffeine), add 1 sliced tangerine (found to increase insulin sensitivity) and a handful of mint leaves. Drink this throughout the day.  I would suggest squeezing the tangerine juice into the tea, then muddling the juiced tangerine with the mint leaves to extract all the goodies! (Muddling just means pounding to break down and release juices)

Did you see this episode of Dr. Oz?  What did you think of it?

Robert J. Stone