“America’s Doctor”
Healthy living and anti-aging tips from Dr. Oz.
By Michelle Talsma Everson
The name Mehmet Cengiz Öz may not sound familiar but chances are that “Dr. Oz” rings a bell. In 2004, Dr. Oz appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and has been a household name ever since.
In 2009, after multiple appearances on the popular talk show and other shows like Larry King Live, Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions and Sony Pictures launched The Dr. Oz Show, a daily TV program that explores popular health topics. For nearly a decade, Dr. Oz’s show has been topping the charts.
In addition to his gigs as a TV host and author, the 58-year-old Dr. Oz is really a doctor—specifically a cardiothoracic surgeon (specializing in surgery of the heart, lungs, esophagus, and other chest organs) and Columbia University professor.
“Mehmet Oz, MD, is a cardiothoracic surgeon. He has won nine Daytime Emmy Awards for The Dr. Oz Show,” according to his official bio. “A professor of surgery at Columbia University, he directs the Complementary Medicine Program at New York—Presbyterian Hospital and performs more than 50 heart operations a year. Dr. Oz has written eight New York Times bestselling books, including Food Can Fix It, YOU: The Owner’s Manual, YOU: The Smart Patient, YOU: On a Diet, YOU: Staying Young, and the award-winning Healing from the Heart.”
“I’m in love with being able to help people,” Dr. Oz recently told Boca Magazine. “My whole passion, throughout my whole career, is built as a medical doctor, and I still practice once a week. My whole life has been about empowering people. I spend most of my time thinking about how to marry those two disciplines. But you can’t actually practice medicine on television. You have to entertain people and give them advice…the way you would at a cocktail party.”
Not only does Dr. Oz provide health and wellness advice daily on TV and in text, but he launched HealthCorps, a “501 (c)(3) that gives teens tools to improve physical and mental health so they can learn to live more productive and happier lives.”
“Founded in 2003 by Dr. Mehmet Oz, HealthCorps’ mission is to strengthen communities with the most innovative approaches to health and wellness to help the next generation be more resilient, both mentally and physically,” according to the nonprofit. “HealthCorps students exercise more, eat better, and practice positive thought.”
HealthCorps recently was in the spotlight for its annual training program for coordinators who then take what they learn and go out in to the community and put it into practice.
“Through HealthCorps, a national nonprofit founded by Dr. Mehmet Oz and Lisa Oz in 2003, coordinators work with students, staff and faculty on health and wellness, from in-class lessons to pedometer challenges,” cites the Daily Bulletin. “The coordinators run after-school culinary programs, on-campus health fairs, community service projects with students and advocate for wellness policy on campus.”
“Their roles are versatile,” Kelly Nimmer, program director, told the newspaper. “They’re both teaching in the classroom and outside the classroom doing extra curricular activities.”
With the moniker “America’s Doctor,” Dr. Oz’s website and social media channels are full of health and wellness resources, lists of various experts, and his own personal blog that is updated regularly. Alongside Dr. Mike Roizen, chief wellness officer and chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Oz also pens multiple national health advice columns and makes regular media appearances.
One of Dr. Oz’s aging secrets to success may be in the foods that he eats.
“In a world of endless choices, determining what to eat and when to eat it can seem overwhelming. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. In Food Can Fix It, Dr. Oz lays out a simple, easy-to-follow blueprint for harnessing the healing power of food,” cites a review of his popular book. “Drawing on responses from thousands of readers of The Good Life, Dr. Oz’s popular, prize-winning magazine, Food Can Fix It is the ultimate guide to eating for health, and the ticket to living your best life, starting today.”
“Nature has ways of protecting itself,” Dr. Oz told Boca Magazine. “For example, all the colorful fruits and vegetables that you see in the grocery store—they’re not colorful by accident. Those are the colors of powerful antioxidants. Carotene, that’s in carrots. Vitamin C, which is in citrus, is common in South Florida. Vitamin E is found in Brazil nuts. All these powerful foods have colors because they’re protecting themselves from the sun…So when you take those foods and eat them, you give yourself the power of these foods. They’re now converted to you.”
When it comes to anti-aging advice, Reader’s Digest recently asked Dr. Oz for his input.
“According to Dr. Oz, the two most important things you can do to stay young and healthy: Walk. When you can’t walk a quarter mile in five minutes, your chance of dying within three years goes up dramatically. But even a 15-minute walk will offer these health benefits,” according to the magazine. “Second most important is building a community—avoiding isolation. Because if your heart doesn’t have a reason to keep beating, it won’t. If you’re showing signs that loneliness is hurting your health, try these little ways to avoid feeling alone.”
Dr. Oz also commented in a recent Newsmax.com article that relaxing and healthy food choices add to successful, vibrant aging.
“This nationwide (and global) tiredness dramatically affects so many areas of our life from work performance to safe driving, our overall wellness and even our relationships with colleagues and family,” he told CNBC. “More concerning, life or death health problems like obesity and heart health are directly related to sleep.”
When asked by Boca Magazine the secret to making healthy, life-long changes that stick, Dr. Oz says, “You got to love them. If you don’t love what you’re doing, you’re not going to do it for the rest of your life. That’s why I always tell people not to eat food that’s good for them. Eat food you love that happens to be good for you.
Find out more about Dr. Oz at www.doctoroz.com.
