Tag Archives: Oprah

Oprah’s Favorite Things Returns with 6 Items for a Healthier Lifestyle

In 1996 Oprah greeted her audience with a treasure trove of free gifts and prizes as she debuted the hottest giveaway daytime TV had ever seen. Oprah’s Favorite Things has grown to be the stuff of legends, and people would give arms and legs to have a seat and a chance to take home the media mogul’s top picks for holiday gifts. Oprah’s a giver, a giver of high-quality, high-end, premium gifts and it’s hardly anything you’d find on a clearance rack.

Since the end of her wildly popular daytime talk show, Oprah’s Favorite Things has faded in to TV history. But now through her OWN network, O Magazine, and a new partnership with Huffington Post, Oprah’s breaking the two-year hiatus with the announcement of 48 items on the 2024 Favorite Things list.

Some of it is quite posh and not likely to make it on to the holiday budget of most of her fans (like a nearly $2,000 Jetson-style battery-powered scooter), but some of it is completely in reason. Even better, a few items on her list are even good for you!

Top of the list is the Q37ci elliptical trainer. It’s a pricey addition to a home gym at $3,099, but it certainly pays for itself with dedicated use. She says her trainer Bob Greene turned her on to it and she loves the various options for total body workouts in one machine. (more…)

HealthBuzz July 27: Bad Moms on Childhood Obesity, Paula Deen’s Weight Loss, and Olympic Recipes

The Olympic Games begin this weekend! We can’t wait to watch super athletes compete for the gold. But, before you watch some of the Games get a dose of healthy news from DIR and our friends. We also have mouth-watering Olympic-inspired recipes for you to enjoy.

To Train Well, Train Your Brain: The Difference Between Finishing and Failing

The phrase “everything is mental” should be applied to your workouts and training. Athletes not only have the physical capability for sports and competition, but their mental capability is the driving force enabling them to reach their goal.

A “Bad Mom” Speaks Out: Keep Cartoon Characters on the Screen and Off My Kid’s Food

Cute cartoon characters get the attention of kids therefore putting them on food packages is brilliant for food companies. Wrong. These cartoon characters marketed toward children is another factor contributing to the obesity epidemic. We have testimony from a “bad mom” about how and why she keeps food for her child cartoon free.

Kirstie Alley Being Sued Over Claims of Losing Weight with Organic Liaison

The actress is being slapped with a lawsuit for claiming Organic Liaison helped her lose 100 pounds. However, the brand spoke to DietsInReview calling the lawsuit baseless and defending Kirstie’s weight loss. (more…)

Oprah’s 6 Foods That Feed Your Brain to Prevent Memory Loss

Want to think sharper? Prevent your brain from shrinking? (Yeah, that happens.) Keep your brain from aging? You can’t exactly take your brain to the weight room, but you can feed this muscle a diet rich in vitamins B, D, and E, choline, and omega-3 fatty acids. That’s why making sure your diet is rich in the six foods on Oprah’s Great Brain Grocery List will not only feed your mind, but feed your body with plenty of essential nutrients.

While there’s no cure for Alzeheimer’s or dementia, often times we can do a lot to prevent these memory diseases from taking hold of our lives. New research finds that memory decline sets in as early as our mid-40s, according to O Magazine.

Click through to see which foods you need to start tossing in your cart.

View Oprah's Great Brain Grocery List Slideshow

Also Read:

Grow Some Fresh Brain Cells and Ward Off Alzheimer’s with Daily Exercise

High-Fat Diets Cause Brain Inflammation

Dr. Oz’s 2-Day Detox Diet in PEOPLE is More Proof He’s Sold Out

Why We Are Drawn To And Repelled By Celebrity Weight Loss Stories

As we hurtle toward 2024, you may be feeling inspired and resolute to make this new year a new chance to create the life that you have always wanted or to improve on the life in which you already find so much joy. As we turn the calendar to an entirely new year, it seems easier to find hope and believe in possibilities. Unfortunately, experience has shown us how powerful habits can be, and despite our purest resolutions, most of the time our goals lose momentum before January ends. It is important to find the accountability or inspiration that can keep you on track to achieve whatever goals you have resolved to obtain in 2024.

Some find celebrity weight loss stories to inspire them to begin or stick with their own weight loss journeys. A 15-year old boy from Mississippi named Kris was inspired to drop his weight by Patrick House, winner of Season 10’s Biggest Loser. As reality television stars, those like Patrick may be more capable of inspiring us because it is easier for us to relate to them than it might be to relate to other successful celebrities. If we are able to identify with someone who has faced a similar challenge, we believe that we can experience similar results.

Writer Chamein Canton explains that her 60 pound weight loss “wasn’t inspired by Jennifer Hudson, Kirstie Alley, Valerie Bertinelli, Marie Osmond or anyone else. They were more frustrating to me than anything else because they could afford to take care of themselves with nutritionists, personal chefs, personal trainers and all of the other accoutrements that come with celebrity.” Chamein did not identify with the emotional struggles of temptation and habit change of these famous women because she saw the resources at their disposal. Despite these resources, we have watched celebs like Kirstie Alley and Oprah yo-yo gaining and losing weight over and over just like so many others who struggle with weight. This can be another aspect that helps us identify with a particular celebrity and his or her weight loss journey.

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Bob Greene on the Oprah Show

Tune in this Thursday, January 13 to the Oprah Show when Bob Greene introduces you and Oprah’s audience to his newest book, The Life You Want: Get Motivated, Lose Weight, Be Happy.

On the show, Bob will share the stage with Dr. Oz for an all-star show for how to make 2024 your healthiest, leanest and happiest one yet. Bob has been Oprah’s fitness guru for years. He has helped her along her own weight loss challenges and in doing so, has helped millions of other Americans as they struggle with the relationship to food, their body and their health. (more…)

Bob Greene’s The Life You Want on The Today Show

Tune in this Friday, January 14 to The Today Show when Oprah’s trainer, Bob Greene stops by during the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. segments to discuss his new book The Life You Want: Get Motivated, Lose Weight and Be Happy.

Bob will be sharing tips on how to overcome all the obstacles—a resistance to exercise, emotional eating, poor body image, to give just a few examples—that stand in the way of your weight loss success, and ultimately, your happiness. (more…)

Queen Latifah Tells Oprah How She Lost 20 Pounds

It was Queen vs. Queen today on the Oprah show. Queen Latifah was there to promote her new movie, “The Secret Life of Bees,” and then if you can believe it, talked about her other role as spokesperson for Jenny Craig.

Her campaign for the popular celeb-endorsed diet plan kicked off in December 2024, just as the light was fading on Valerie Bertinelli‘s endorsement. The campaign was different than the previous “lose a lot of weight” attitude, she announced she wanted to be “a size healthier.” She told Oprah today that her participation with Jenny Craig was strictly to improve her health. To date, she’s lost 20 pounds.

 queen latifah on oprah

It wasn’t about body image. I don’t feel self-conscious about my body. I feel proud of myself,” she says. “I feel confident in myself, but [I signed on] for health reasons.”

She said no matter where she is, home, traveling or working on a movie set, the convenient Jenny Craig meals are always with her. Queen Latifah also meets with with her counselor regularly to monitor progress and she exercises more. She’s conscious of portions and the type of food she eats.

The Power of Acai Berry

Dr. Nicholas Perricone has become somewhat of a celebrity/guru in the diet industry. He’s a dermatologist who has written books and has made TV appearances, including Oprah. What has set Perricone apart from the endless supply of other diet talking heads is that he espouses his views from the perspective of how your diet comes into play with your skin and maintaining a youthful appearance.dr. perricone

Dr. Perricone suggests
that your diet can slow and even reverse the aging process, from an external perspective. This can include some less-mainstream food choices. One of his so-called Super Foods is Acai (pronounced ah-sigh-ee).

Studies show that this berry, native to Central and South America, is packed with a powerful nutritional punch.

Acai’s pulp contains:acai

  • A high concentration of antioxidants, which help combat premature aging. It has 10 times more antioxidants than red grapes and 10 – 30 times the anthocyanins of red wine.
  • A synergy of monounsaturated (healthy) fats, dietary fiber and phytosterols to help promote cardiovascular and digestive health
  • An essential amino acid complex in conjunction with valuable trace minerals, vital to proper muscle contraction and regeneration

You can check out all of Dr. Perricone’s Super Foods at Oprah.com.

See our V8 Acai and Mixed Berry Food Find.

Oprah’s 21-Day Cleanse

There is no dispute: When Oprah acts, the country, no, make that the world, pays attention. Whether you love the Queen of Talk Shows or not, Oprah’s ability to change what we read to the causes we champion is legendary and expansive.oprah

Her latest endeavor is putting herself up to a tremendous dietary challenge: A vegan fast for 21 days. Since going on this fast just last week, she has been blogging about her experience as she swaps bagels for steel cut oatmeal, grilled chicken breast for tempeh salad and fluffy flapjacks for wheat-free crepes. No bread. No red wine. No processed sugars. This is the real deal, folks.

What I like about this cleanse is that it puts the red light on your food cravings. It forces you to think about how powerful our minds and emotions are in choosing the foods we eat. It separates need from desire. We don’t need a $5 coffee drink topped with whip cream and chocolate syrup every afternoon. We may crave it, but we don’t need it. Once we get past those initial hurdles, we’re left with an honest examination of food: how it makes us feel and what purpose it serves. And that is the real purpose of the cleanse: to see if we can deprogram our cravings and learn to eat in a more mindful, conscious and enjoyable way.

I don’t know about you, but I’m very anxious to see the finished product of Oprah’s three-week cleanse. I think she is going to have a lot to say about her experience. And we’ll all listen. Keep up with her 21 day Blog if you’re interested in the details.

Peeking inside Mariah Carey’s fridge

Ok. Admit it. You’ve always wanted to take a look in your favorite celebrity‘s kitchen to which food and snacks it’s stocked with. We’re a body image-obsessed culture so it makes perfect sense that when Mariah Carey opened up her refrigerator to the Oprah Winfrey show, peaked with curiosity, we all had a look, too.

Flanked by her personal chef, Patricia, Carey displayed the secrets of the diet that she owes her newly svelte figure to. Her fridge was packed with berries, watermelon, veggies, homemade vegetable soup and fish like swordfish and her chef’s special stuffed clams made without breadcrumbs or butter.

Carey also admitted to not just having her cooks remove butter from recipes, but also from her fridge when her personal chef is not around to keep the kitchen void of indulgences. Watching Carey take us on a tour of her kitchen, I wondered if having a personal chef at your leisure to prepare healthy meals would keep you trim? What do you think? Would it make a big difference in how and what you eat and the eventual number on your bathroom scale?

Bob Greene’s Super Foods

Any healthy diet should include a rich variety of foods from all groups to ensure you’re giving your body all of the nutrients it needs. Bob Greene, creator of the Best Life Diet, recommends these five Super Foods. He says while all foods provide vitamins and minerals, these little gems should appear on your plate as often as possible.

 

1. Olive Oil
Ditch your old cooking oil and switch to Olive Oil. It can raise the good cholesterol and lower the bad cholesterol, has a light and delicious flavor and can be used to cook nearly every meal you make. Request your food be cooked in olive oil at restaurants.

2. Soy
Countries like the U.S. who eat an animal-fat rich diet are more likely to have cancer. Soy is an ideal source of protein, is easy to prepare and can take on the flavor of anything you want. Best of all, it can decrease your chance of heart disease or cancer.

3. Mushrooms
Grill them, bake them, put them in a soup, pasta, salad or kabob- any way you slice them, mushrooms are good to eat and good for you. They are packed with antioxidants, potassium and Vitamin B.

4. Walnuts, almonds and nut butters

While the calorie count might be high in nuts, they offer healthy fats, protein and fiber. Eat a handful of nuts as a snack or enjoy an almond butter sandwich for lunch. You’ll be amazed at all the nutrients such a small food can provide.

5. Eggs

The egg is one of the most versatile foods and has been one of the most controversial. No longer is the egg our enemy. Eggs promote eye health, contain 6g protein, 9 amino acids and 5g of “good fat”, actually work to prevent stroke and heart disease and provide Vitamin D.

Learn more about Super Foods from the original Super Foods list from Dr. Steven Pratt.