Rocco is a 53-year-old meat and potato-eating, diabetic cowboy with the heart of a man thirty years older. Terrified that his eating habits were truly risking his life, Rocco sought the support of Dr. Oz who, with the help of Dr. Michael Roizen, followed a month-long diet without any animal products.

After 28 days following the vegan diet, Rocco not only lost weight but his eating habits underwent a drastic makeover from bacon and burgers to greens and brown rice. By abstaining from meat and dairy, he reduced his risk of heart disease, and by increasing the amount exercise he performed everyday, Rocco improved the function of his circulatory system and his sensitivity to insulin.

To learn more about Dr. Oz’s Vegan Action Plan and Rocco’s inspirational journey, tune in to the Dr. Oz Show and check your local listings for show times.

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Tune In: A Vegan Challenge on the Dr. Oz Show

With the assistance of Dr. Oz, 35 people from Oz, Kansas will commit to making small changes in their lives to improve their longevity and overall wellness. This Friday’s episode is the launch of the Highway to Health bus – one of the show’s main events for the entire season.

Bob Harper will be on hand to lend his expert guidance and motivation to these 35 Americans who have willingly opened up their lives (and kitchens) to Dr. Oz as he helps them create a radical shift in how they eat, think, feel and exercise.

Check with your local listings to find out when The Dr. Oz Show airs.

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Tune In: Bob Harper on Dr. Oz

The Dr. Oz Show, which premieres on the same day, will feature everything you need to know about health and happiness as the country’s most famous doctor and another notable consequent of “The Oprah Effect,” Dr. Oz will answer all of your questions with his trademark charm and expert knowledge.

Check your local ABC News listings to find exact show times for The View.

Visit The Dr. Oz Show’s website to learn what television station in your area will run the series.

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Tune-In: Dr. Oz on The View

After five years as America’s doctor on Oprah, America’s favorite (and cutest) medical practitioner is going to launch The Dr. Oz Show on September 14, where the subject is all about YOU: and your health.

From how to breathe correctly in yoga to noshing on the best foods for your brain to learning what kinds of mildew and bacteria live in your kitchen sponge, Dr. Oz is poised to bring you the latest health information with his trademark charisma, charm and honesty. None of your health questions are too personal for Dr. Oz and he goes to great lengths to make sure that you feel safe in asking them and are informed after his response.

The style of The Dr. Oz Show will be just like him: Full of energy and surprises. Be prepared to learn yoga from experts in the audience, or have your door knocked on as Dr. Oz reaches out to households all across the country to help them improve their lives. The show will also feature an “Ask Dr. Oz” section in which he’ll field questions about everything from money and breast cancer to sexual health and relationships.

Check your local listings to find out which network will carry The Dr. Oz Show in your city. You can also watch complete episodes on The Dr. Oz Show website.

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The Dr. Oz Show Premieres September 14

Photo of Dr. Oz and Oprah via Oprah.com

Even though this episode has previously aired, you are sure to learn something new about how to eat your way to a healthier and slimmer life.

Check with your local listings for Oprah show times.

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Tune In to Dr. Oz and Bob Greene on Oprah

There are now many resveratrol supplements on the market that contain a very high concentration of resveratrol.  In fact, to receive the amount of resveratrol in these supplements you would have to drink 1,000 bottles of wine a day, which obviously would not be recommended.

What does and doesn’t resveratrol do for health and weight loss?
The information I found on the product is that resveratrol “activates the body’s natural, genetic defenses against diseases.”  Also, this supplement is supposed to be effective even if you have a poor diet, including consuming a high amount of fat.  The product may not be able to improve your health directly, but it could “slow down” the path that your health is on.  This is where huge red flags come up for me.  So much research is out there displaying how a poor diet is linked to and associated with many diseases and cancer. I’m very skeptical that a supplement would be able to counteract a high fat diet.  How can one lose weight while maintaining the same diet (calories consumed) and not adding any exercise?  Any product that claims to do that is too good to be true.

Is the supplement better than just drinking wine?
As discussed above, in order for one to obtain the potency of this supplement they would have to drink 1,000 bottles of wine a day.  Still in my eyes, eating the whole food is better than taking a supplement for it.  I’m not certain if the drinking 1,000 bottles has any truth behind it, but I’m not ready to depend on a pill to improve my health. Relying on a healthy diet and exercise to improve your life to make you healthier has decades of evidence underneath its belt.  Try to look past the hype of this supplement because it sounds (at the moment) just too good to be true.  To the best of my knowledge there are no long-term studies of this supplement in humans and until there is we will have no proof of knowing whether or not this pill is truly valid and what affects it has on your body over the years.

Before I began taking this product I would research it more and speak to both your doctor and pharmacist.

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Is Resveratrol Really Reversing the Aging Process?

If you have never seen Dr. Oz in action, you must catch an episode of Oprah, where his charming demeanor, frank candor and encyclopedic medical brain tackles the common and not-so common health issues.

This latest book takes a tough look at what we believe beauty to be. It debunks some popular myths about beauty and calls into question many of the supposed beautifying lotions and potions that we have eaten up, slathered on our bodies or shelled over some serious cash for and instead points out why these products actually do more harm to our health than good.

The bottom line from You: Being Beautiful is that beauty is not the lipstick you wear or the dress size you wear, but rather beauty is a combo of these two factors: health and happiness.

If in fact beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, instead by you the beholden who cultivates happiness and health, you will have no choice but to exude this inner and outer beauty and therefore be deemed beautiful in the eyes of those who see and know you.

Drs. Oz and Roizen don’t promise you that by drinking acai juice and practicing yoga everyday that you’ll turn into Heidi Klum, but they suggest that doing a few things to your everyday routine will enhance your health and how you feel about yourself. No lifestyle factor is left out of their equation to help along your beauty journey. From finances to spirituality to eating brain-boosting foods, You: Being Beautiful encompasses the totality of what it is to be alive and beautiful.

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Feel Alive and Gorgeous with You: Being Beautiful

Dr. Oz explains to Oprah how a calorie-restricted diet could be key to anti-aging. (via Oprah.com)

Recently on Oprah, medical guru Dr. Oz discussed the benefits of purposefully restricting your daily caloric intake in order to add more years to your life. A calorie-restricted diet also lowers cholesterol, blood pressure and body fat, all of which, when they are high, are linked to a host of diseases. In fact, Dr. Oz says calorie restriction is the number one way doctors say we can extend longevity.

“The data that we have in rodents and some larger animals now indicate you can probably extend your life expectancy by up to 50 percent potentially from doing this,” says Dr. Oz.

So exactly what is calorie restriction? On a calorically-restricted diet you are reducing the amount of your daily calories by 20 to 25 percent, by consuming foods that are nutritious, low in calories and unprocessed. Tons of fruit, vegetables and moderate amounts of protein with small amounts of fat comprise the basic features of the calorie restriction way of eating; while sugar, processed foods, most saturated fats, flours and some grains are avoided.

A vegetable salad would be a staple of a calorie-restricted diet.

But as Dr. Oz points out, it has to be done carefully, or else you run the risk of becoming underweight, deficient in certain vitamins as well as experiencing bone and muscle loss, anemia and increased susceptibility to infections. In fact, several studies have shown that being underweight (BMI of 18 or below) actually increases mortality of non-cancer-related deaths and decreases the immune system resulting in more colds and infectious diseases.

For a typical woman on a calorie restriction diet, calorie consumption might be around 1,400 calories a day; while for the typical male, calorie consumption might be around 1,800 or 1,900 calories each day. As you replace calorie-dense foods with calorie-sparse, but nutrient-rich, foods research shows that you can lose weight and slow the process of aging.

Since a lot of the research on calorie-restricted diets have been done on animals and rodents, some medical professionals are very cautious about recommending this style of eating for everyone. But almost all medical and health professionals commend the diet for its abundance of fruits and veggies and its dearth of processed foods, sugars and fat-laded meals, which unfortunately make up the typical American diet.

To see the calorie-restricted diet in action watch this video clip from Oprah.

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Dr. Oz Suggests Calorie Restriction Prolongs Life

These Emerald Almond snack packs have only 100 calorie servings and no added salt.

Dr. Oz’s Ultimate Health Checklist says knowing your cholesterol is one of your health’s need-to-know-numbers. Optimal cholesterol should be <100 for LDL (bad) and should be >40 for HDL (good). Here are five foods that will help you get those numbers down before your next check-up.

1. Instead of going nuts trying to lower your cholesterol, eat them! Studies show that nuts, specifically walnuts and almonds, help to reduce blood cholesterol. Walnuts and almonds have shown to lower cholesterol and help keep blood vessels healthy and elastic. It’s recommended to consume a cholesterol-lowering diet in which 20% of the calories you eat come from walnuts. (This has shown to lower cholesterol by as much as 12%)! Remember, nuts are high in calories, so portion control is important… eat a handful a day.

2. Fatty fish pack a punch for heart health. Omega-3 is the miracle worker in fatty fish, which help to lower your cholesterol, blood pressure, and reduce your risk of blood clots. Fatty fish has also shown to help those individuals who have already had heart attacks, by significantly reducing their risk of sudden death. It’s recommended to eat two servings of fatty fish a week (mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna, and salmon). If you’re one to pass on fish, try consuming ground/milled flaxseed or canola oil to get the omega-3 you need. There are supplements of fish oil out there, but remember, its always better to eat the whole-food source (you get a mix of nutrients).

3. Oatmeal helps too!  Oatmeal contains soluble fiber, which has been shown to reduce “bad” low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. This soluble fiber appears to reduce the absorption of cholesterol in your intestines. Only 10 grams of soluble a day can decrease total and LDL cholesterol. One-and-a-half cups of cooked oatmeal gives 6 grams a fiber, to accomplish the 10 needed for the day add fresh fruit to your oatmeal, i.e. a banana to get the other four. You can also find soluble fiber in foods like: kidney beans, apples, pears, psyllium, barley and prunes.

4. The beauty behind olive oil is that it contains a potent mix of antioxidants, which lower your “bad” (LDL) cholesterol while leaving your “good” (HDL) cholesterol alone. It’s recommended to use about two tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil a day to get its heart-healthy benefits. Some research has shown that extra-virgin olive oil is even better for you because the oil is less processed, therefore containing more heart-healthy antioxidants. Note: Avoid “light” olive oils because that usually means they are more processed, lighter in color, and have no fat or calories (remember you are wanting the healthy fat of the olive oil!). Ideas to incorporate it into your diet include: mix with vinegar as a salad dressing, use as a substitute for butter when basting meat, sauté veggies in it, or use it in a marinade.

5. Try foods fortified with sterols or stanols.  Sterols or stanols are substances found in plants that help block the absorption of cholesterol. Foods like margarines, orange juice and yogurt drinks have been fortified with these plant sterols, which have been shown to help reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol by more than 10%. The amount of daily plant sterols needed to help lower cholesterol is merely at least two grams a day. This is equal to two 8-ounce servings of plant sterol-fortified OJ a day.

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5 Foods to Lower Your Cholesterol

Then tomorrow, Dr. Oz steps in and takes us behind the scenes in school cafeterias to show what America’s kids really are eating, hidden truths about the fast-food we feed our kids, introduces nutritional education the entire family can use, and how to pack a low-cal lunch your kids will want to take to school.

Tune In to Oprah, check your local listings for schedule.

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Tune In: Oprah and Dr. Oz Explain Why America’s Kids Are Fat