Oprah’s plight
The media is alive today with advanced reports that the January issue of O magazine contains an interview with its namesake Oprah Winfrey in which she divulges that she has once again become obese. (here, here and here)
Apparently the queen of daytime TV (and my neighbor down the street) has ballooned up to 200 pounds. And, if her statement on the cover of her magazine can be believed, she wonders how it happened. I’ve read a few of the articles, most of which quoted her from the advance copy of her January magazine. As I read her quotes I realize that despite all her fame and wealth, she is basically just like any other middle-aged woman prone to obesity. Let’s let her talk.
I’m mad at myself…
I’m embarrassed. I can’t believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I’m still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, ‘How did I let this happen again?’
I was so frustrated I started eating whatever I wanted — and that’s never good.
I felt like a fat cow. I wanted to disappear.
I definitely wasn’t setting an example. I was talking the talk, but I wasn’t walking the walk. And that was very disappointing to me.
When it comes to maintaining my health I didn’t just fall off the wagon. I let the wagon fall on me. I didn’t follow my own fundamental rule of taking care of self first.
Sound familiar?
During my recent Photo food diary blog, a number of people commented that I had it easy because MD prepares all my food, as if the only reason I can stay thin is that someone waits on me hand and foot. Well, Oprah has an entire staff to prepare whatever she wants whenever she wants it, and it hasn’t helped her. Apparently all the money in the world and all the ability to hand pick any expert or consultant she might want to hire have not done the trick. What’s the deal?
Why does Oprah have such a problem?
As you might imagine, I have a few thoughts on the matter.
According to Oprah’s biography, she was born to a poor single mother in rural Mississippi. I would assume that her mother, like most poor rural people, consumed primarily a carb-based diet. Why? Carbs are cheap. One of the reason poor people are fatter in general than well-off people, is that poor people eat a lot more carbs for budget reasons. Another reason poor people are fatter is a little less known, but surely applies to Oprah.
When pregnant women load up on refined carbohydrates during pregnancy, especially during the first trimester, they end up damaging the developing pancreas of the fetus. The pancreas is pretty much developed during the first trimester, so a chronic high load of glucose in the mother’s blood that crosses the placenta ends up programming the fetal pancreas in much the same way that a huge chronic glucose load over a long time in adults creates insulin resistance. This situation has been published about extensively in the medical literature. The phenomenon is called fetal programming. Babies born are basically programed to become insulin resistant and obese. These kids tend to develop obesity and insulin resistance more easily than others and have a tougher time dealing with it. I’m sure that Oprah falls into this category.
Just like any adults who have glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, and/or diabetes, these fetally-programmed people tend to do better on low-carbohydrate diets than on low-fat/high-carb diets.
The only diet Oprah really did well on was the Optifast diet, the one on which she lost 67 pounds and looked great. The Optifast diet is the high-protein, low-fat, low-calorie diet that Oprah followed for four months. She then appeared on her show in a pair of size 10 jeans. The problem with the Optifast diet is that people who finish the program are encouraged to begin following a low-fat maintenance diet. Many people lose a lot of weight on the diet, then turn around and go face down in all the food they’ve been denying themselves while they lost. Oprah is no exception. She speaks of her experience after the show with the size 10 Calvin Kleins.
I had literally starved myself for four months — not a morsel of food. Two hours after that show, I started eating to celebrate — of course, within two days those jeans no longer fit!
The only Oprah Winfrey show I’ve ever seen is this very show. She looked fabulous, which is usually the situation when people lose weight while getting plenty of protein. Her face didn’t look gaunt. She didn’t lose her muscular tone – she looked tight and healthy. She obviously does well on a low-carb, high-protein diet. She just needed to be on a different one, one for the long term.
For whatever reason, Oprah fought the idea of a low-carb diet for years. Then, when she decided to go on a low-carb diet, she ended up selecting probably the worst low-carb diet she could have chosen: the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet (CAD). For those who don’t know, the CAD recommends that people follow a strict low-carb diet all day, then allow themselves to eat all they want of anything they want for an hour – the so-called Reward Meal. I didn’t see the show, but I was told by those who did that Oprah said that she liked macaroni and cheese and wondered if she could eat that on the diet. The authors of the CAD responded that not only could she eat all the macaroni and cheese she wanted during her Reward Meal hour, but that she should throw in some apple pie for dessert. (If any readers of this blog saw that show and have a different remembrance, set me straight in the comments.) This kind of eating is the worst possible way of eating for those with insulin resistance. And those people who try it usually fail because what appeals to them is the idea that they can eat all they want of whatever they want for an hour a day.
Many obese people do this same thing without calling it the CAD. They wake up in the morning, skip breakfast and head to work. Then they eat a salad for lunch. By the time they get home, they are starving, so they eat everything that’s not red hot or nailed down, then promise themselves that they will do much better tomorrow. Then repeat.
It’s no wonder Oprah failed on the CAD. She probably ate 300 gm of carb per day along with everything else. Problem is, she thought she was on a low-carb diet when she really wasn’t. She then made the pronouncement that she had tried a low-carb diet and it hadn’t worked. She tarred every low-carb diet with the CAD brush when she really didn’t try a low-carb diet at all. In fact, the only time she tried anything approximating a low-carb diet was when she did the Optifast program, and those results spoke for themselves. She could do the same thing now with a good quality, whole-food low-carb diet. It may take a little longer than the four months it took her on Optifast, but she could stay on the program forever. Just like I do. You saw my food diary. Did it look like I was denying myself a lot?
The second major problem that Oprah has is directly related to her fame and position. Because she is who she is, she can have access to anyone she wants to have access to. And she makes the same mistake all people in her position seem to make. When she has a health problem, she turns to Harvard or some other big-name institution to get advice. The problem with that is that all the people at Harvard and other big-name institutions are as mainstream as mainstream can get. They are also far removed from patients care. They haven’t had an original thought in years. I would be willing to bet that yours truly has more first hand experience taking care of overweight middle-aged females than the entire faculty of Harvard and Yale put together. But when Oprah (or any other celeb) has a problem, where does she turn? To Mehmet Oz, Harvard grad, and a low-fatter of the deepest dye.
She tries low-fat, stays hungry, and as a consequence binges or at the very least eats a lot of stuff she shouldn’t be eating. She is never going to win the battle against hunger because it can’t be won. Sooner or later, she (and anyone else) will give in to hunger. Fighting it is a losing battle. On a true low-carb diet she a) wouldn’t be as hungry, and b) could eat something filling if she were.
But, unfortunately, she’s tied into all these low-fatters with the big school reputations and she’ll never gain control. And, sadly, she’s taken the tack of the chronically overweight. She’s ‘accepting’ her obesity. According to the reports
Winfrey also writes that her goal is no longer to be thin; instead, she wants to be strong, healthy and fit.
Uh huh. I’m not trying to be sarcastic because I think the situation is pitiful. Here is a beautiful, intelligent, creative, talented woman who is giving up on a relatively easy quest. All her other accomplishments were much more difficult than losing weight, but she knew what she was doing. For weight loss, however, she is listening to idiots. And their advice is wrong. And she hasn’t lost. So she’s giving up. It’s really sad. Especially since one can’t really be fat and be healthy. She’s fooling herself. If she’s overweight, she’s got a metabolic problem that isn’t being dealt with.
Like many unsuccessful dieters, she is blaming her glands.
during the spring of 2007, Winfrey reported that she developed an underactive thyroid problem.
Controversially, Winfrey suggested that she had chosen diet and stress reduction as her thyroid treatment approach, and emphasized that her dietary regimen relied heavily on soy products, antithyroid goitrogens which are known to aggravate and worsen thyroid conditions in some people. Winfrey did an episode of her show with Dr. Christiane Northrup, during which she again controversially signed on to Northrup’s belief that thyroid problems develop in women who suffer an energy blockage in the throat region, and result from a lifetime of a woman’s ‘swallowing’ words she wants to express. [Jesus wept. God help us all.] More recently, Winfrey reported that she was going on a several week vegan dietary “cleanse,” but the diet included tofu, tempeh, soy sausage, soy milk, soy yogurt, and soy products on the menu nearly every day, sometimes more than once. Oprah did not report any weight loss on this diet. To date, Winfrey has not reported receiving any medical treatment, or taking any prescription medication, for her thyroid.
She may well have an underactive thyroid, which may mean that she needs nothing more than a little iodine. Or she may need some thyroid hormone. What she doesn’t need is soy and a vegan cleansing diet. Her thyroid problem, if she has one, can be easily dealt with. What may be more problematic are her sex hormones. She will be 55 in late January of next year, so she’s either menopausal or peri-menopausal, and as such probably needs to have a hormonal workup and bioidentical hormones.
Oprah may have to work a little harder to overcome her fetal programming than others who may not have had her in utero experience, but it can be done. She needs to have a hormonal workup, get things balanced hormonally, get her thyroid dealt with, and go on a quality whole food, low-carb diet. If she were to do this, she could lose the weight she wants to lose and become healthy. There’s really nothing much to it, but if keeps on relying on the people she’s relying on… Well, she’ll keep getting the same results. For her sake, I hate to see it happening.
Oprah is viewing her situation as a hopeless condition and is obviously despairing. I view it as the same problem presented to me by thousands of overweight middle-aged women in my own office. As I explained to them, it’s like any other problem. It’s easy to solve if you have the knowledge and the right tools. And as these patients proved again and again, with the right knowledge and the right tools it can be done.
Camryn Manheim, Cherry Jones, Pam Grier……There have to be hundreds more
Interesting…I don’t know a single one of these women. Not that I don’t know them personally, I wouldn’t know who they were if they walked up and kissed me.
That’s why they’re “marginal” celebrities. And Google is your friend.
Manheim is known for her role on the tv show “The Practice.” She currently has a role on the tv show “The Ghost Whisperer.”
Cherry Jones can be seen as the first female U.S. President on “24″ this season.
Pam Grier is currently a regular on “The L Word” on Showtime. She was in several “Blaxploitation” films in the 70′s. Quentin Tarantino cast her as the title character in “Jackie Brown” in the late 90′s.
Thanks for the update. I’ve never watched any of these shows, so I wouldn’t know.
You’re welcome and thanks for responding. The three I named are talented actresses, mainly seen on TV these days.
Thanks for this blog, I really enjoy it.
I’m late to this post and this blog, although I read Mary Dan and Mike’s first book when they were still practicing in Little Rock. And now that I have moved here, I sure wish there was a good physician here who practiced from a similar perspective.
But my point in terms of this post is that Victoria is correct. Oprah is not dealing with her thyroid issues. There are a number of people who have tried to contact her about this without success. She has followed that Dr. Christine whoever’s approach on this and the woman is just wrong. If Oprah is hypothyroid, it doesn’t matter if she followed the low carb diet perfectly. She would still not be able to lose weight. And she would feel fatigued and likely have other symptoms as well, regardless of her diet. Further, Synthroid may not be the answer either, though most doctors, especially endocrinologists, will insist this is the only treatment. I know I would not take anything other than Armour.
And for anyone who is curious, I have practiced a low carb diet off and on for over 40 years, and steadily for the last 4 years. I have a pretty good understanding of both issues.
Hi Dr. Mike!
I was wondering about Iodine (since Dr. Davis blogged recently about it) and I had NEVER known or thought about iodine, ever. So, I came to my tried, true and trusted site “Protein Power”
and found in one of these 144 comments your reply:
“Go to Amazon (through this site, of course ) and get some Iodoral. It’s a good iodine supplement. I plan a post on iodine deficiency and iodine supplementation soon.”
I will be ordering this; thank you. Waiting on that post about Iodine! Now I’m all interested and want to hear your say!
Iodine is important and many, if not most, people are deficient. I’m working up to the post on it, I promise.
Low carb is the only diet that works for me. It was common sense in the 1960s. The caveman diet was recommended to me for systemic Candidiasis in the 1980s and worked fabulously. After hypoglycemia then Diabetes 2, I followed Dr. Richard K. Bernstein’s Diabetic Doctor Diet of 30 g carbs. However with menopause and depression and being hypothyroid with severe incapacitating chills and normal TSH, I’ve been on and off the carb wagon. Antidepressants work only temporarily or not at all. In Canada, on Vancouver Island, it’s becoming impossible to have desiccated prescribed. Does iodine or Lugols or iodorol substitute for desiccated? I hadn’t realized all these symptoms/diseases were related or that they could(would) be treated. ALL hormones give me migraines — any way around them? Any advice on where to seek treatment?
You might try Dr. Jay Wortman. He’s in your area.
Dr Jay Wortman does not see patients. Have you heard of anyone else in the area treating bioidentical including thyroid (and best of all would be someone who understands and even agrees with low carb so you don’t have to argue and fend off statins etc.) Thanks.
I’m coming way late to this party, but I think I have some info to add. (Sorry it’s long.)
Kathy from Maine wrote: Now I can’t find a doctor who will do the tests.
And
Monet wrote: …the doctors have been refusing to do the proper testing.
This is not an ad for them because I’m a member, but not otherwise affiliated: but the Life Extension Foundation (www.lef.org) will sell you the paperwork to get whatever blood (and other?) tests you need. I’ve done D3, all the thyroid tests, all the various blood lipid etc. tests, c-reactive, testosterone, and other tests. Their prices are great, and they refer you to a couple of local blood labs to have the blood drawn. (They mail the results to you, and to your doctor if you ID one.) (On their site: Click on Products, then Blood tests for the complete list of tests and pricing.)
Here’s my tale about LEF.org: I’m on Armour (have been for a couple years). My refills ran out (with *really bad* planning on my part: It was a Monday, I had pills enough till Thursday!!), so I called my doc’s office to get them to call the prescription in again. They refused, since I had not had a blood test in a year. (EEK!) Should I try to get the LEF lab order mailed to me and then get the blood drawn (at one of several local labs they refer me to) and then wait for the results (and thus run out of pills)? Or just have my doc write the lab order? I decided not to risk the timing, and picked up the lab order at his office on my way to the lab. Three tests: TSH, T3 and T4 –- OUCH! it came to $395!!! (I have no insurance…) Put it on AMEX {sigh}, got home, looked up the pricing on LEF.org –- $83 –- TOTAL for ALL THREE tests!!
I did not go back and try to hassle my doc to lower his pricing; I don’t want to get him annoyed, since he’s quite willing to prescribe as I ask (Such as Armour, and hydrocortisone for my adrenals: I’ll comment on them on another thread, Dr. Mike) , and it was my own fault for not checking ahead on my prescription refill. So, I consider paying off those ungodly fees to be my punishment for carelessness!
Then,
Dr. Mike wrote: MD takes Iodoral daily. It takes a while to build up decent levels.
And
Judy B wrote. :For a less intrusive way to supplement iodine, you can paint regular iodine in a 1”x1″ (or so) patch on your skin.
I’ve been taking Iodoral for even longer than Armour. (The Iodoral lifted a brain fog I did not even know I was under!) A couple years ago, just before xmas, I ran out and, fearing my order might get lost in the seasonal package-overload at the Post Office, I decided to wait till the new year to re-order. (Oh and, I learned much later, LEF sells it for slightly below retail!) Within a couple days of running out, I started having hot flashes. (I was around 51 at the time.) The pills came and the very day I started taking them again, the hot flashes quit completely. My doc said, when I reported it, “Well, you know, LOTS of body tissues use iodine and iodide…” (Yeah, I knew that, but I didn’t KNOW that! )
As for painting it on your skin — while a possibly dubious way to test (the actual testing experiments I’ve read have been equivocal) — it is an okay way to get some iodine into your body! Just be really careful NOT to let it touch anything you don’t want stained until it is well-and-truly dried!
Thanks, Dr. Mike for being such an amazing support to all of us sufferers out here!
Glad to be of help.
I think Vitamin C powder will remove iodine stains
Thanks for the info on Life Extension Foundation and testing, as well as the info on getting out iodine stains!!!
I actually did the carb addicts diet , lost 150 pounds 15 years ago and kept it off……what happened for me was that although you think you can eat mac & cheese and apple pie…..there is really something that happens in the brain and you cannot eat a morsel after 20 minutes..I do a radio show, my radio partner lost 50 pounds on it after watching me and has kept it off and does his”hour” every day..the only thing he misses is that he just cannot “feel” hungry the way he used to during that hour…..so my own experience has been a stellar one on “the carbohydrate addicts diet”..I love your site…..
[...] meal, or even have someone else do it for you. Â Unless you’re Oprah, but that’s not working out for her too well. Â She’s a prime example of someone who falls victim to the deluge of [...]
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I was reading your old posts and came across something that prompted me to ask a question. I was diagnosed with under-active thyroid 15 years ado. I am 50 y.o. now, had been on Synthroid till October 01,2010, now it is the Armour(by my request) . My doctor says it is better to avoid iodine because my thyroid gland is partially destroyed by anybodies (it is confirmed by tests) and iodine may unnecessary stimulate already stressed gland. I didn’t start loosing weight immediately after switching medications, just feel more alive, get cold less, don’t need to sleep too many hours.It is all good. I live in Florida, may be I will sing a different song on summer.
Just because I have the opportunity to communicate with you, I wont to report on my low-carb variation of your program. I noticed, that in order to loose very slowly, I have to avoid all snacks. Right now it is just breakfast (2 eggs+butter, green tea without sugar substitute), lunch(hand size grilled lamb+sourcraut, or other cabbage salad, coffee+cream+sugar substitute+! oz of walnuts ), salad or vegetable soup for diner.
Do you mind to say what is your advice about iodine for people in my situation?
I can’t possibly give you medical advice over the internet. I would have to know a lot more information before I could advise you on your iodine intake, especially since your own doctor – who knows you much better than I do – has advised against taking iodine.
Trust me I been there and done that…research ACIDITY and once I started to ALKALIZE my body and cut out all the acid foods I was able to lose the weight and get my life back… YOU are acidic and the fat is holdiing on because of inflammation. CuT out all the processed stuff and fake sugars and it will come off. I eat real food like farmers and now no weight problem…just organic foods that won’t make me ill!!!
Poor Oprah. She gets such terrible advice on health, fitness and weight loss matters and she blames herself (lack of willpower) for her repeated failings.
I did a 5 or 6yr vegan cleanse with lost of soy (similar to Oprah’s) and now require 2 kinds of thyroid medications (synthetic T3 & T4) to feel right.
I wish somebody would’ve told me about that before I read John Robbins’ nonsense that got me sold on the vegan way of life.
I pay no attention to my diet composition whatsoever, beyond ‘tastes good’. I don’t gain any weight because I rigorously exercise several times a week. Burn more calories than you intake and you will lose weight. It’s physically impossible not to.
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