Oprah Winfrey Shares Diet Secrets In Special Q&A With Fans
Oprah Winfrey has learned a few tricks of the diet trade — and she’s sharing them with her fellow Weight Watchers. According to People, Oprah shared some of her weight loss tricks in an hour-long private Weight Watchers Q&A session with some lucky fans. Winfrey has lost nearly 30 pounds since she first started using the diet company’s Beyond the Scale eating program.
Oprah says that in addition to embracing seafood choices like cod and barramundi in lieu of the higher-point offerings, sea bass and salmon, she also noshes on jicama because “it gives a nice crunch.”
One of Oprah’s biggest tricks is incorporating veggies into some of her carb-heavy favorites. Winfrey adds spaghetti squash to pasta, and she’ll combine cauliflower with her potatoes to make a cauliflower mash. As for water, Winfrey knows she needs to drink a lot of it but she doesn’t really like it, so she’s come up with a way around that, too.
“I don’t like water. I trick myself into drinking ginger-vanilla infused water.”
Oprah told the callers that she basically eats what she wants, in moderation, while trying to calculate how many Weight Watchers points she uses for each meal. If she can’t easily figure out the points totals, she’ll usually just pass on the food item.
While she has made it clear that her love for bread will live on, Winfrey has made the choice to say goodbye forever to some of her old high-fat indulgences, including goat cheese soufflé. And Oprah has some good support on her journey to a healthier lifestyle: Her bestie Gayle King has joined Weight Watchers with her, which will come in handy if they ever do another vacation or road trip together. King has lost a whopping 25 pounds, too.
Winfrey revealed that her biggest lifestyle change is living in the moment, especially when she is confronted with tempting food choices that she knows are not good for her.
“I learned to be fully present. I think about what is the right next step, one breath at a time…When something shows up that is going to make me uncomfortable and that would normally make me want to reach for a bowl of nuts or a bowl of chips…I literally take a deep breath to remind myself I am here right now. I remind myself so it does not overwhelm me.”
Oprah has always been vocal about her weight struggles, and longtime fans have been along for the ride with her for nearly 30 years as her weight has gone up and down. In 1988, Oprah Winfrey kicked off the third season of her syndicated talk show 67 pounds lighter, and she wheeled out a wagon full of fat to symbolize how many pounds she lost on an all-liquid diet. While Winfrey touted the fact that she finally fit into her favorite size 10 Calvin Klein jeans again, critics slammed the media mogul for promoting the unhealthy liquid fast. Oprah ultimately gained the 67 pounds back—and more—when she started eating regular food again.
When informed Oprah was still dieting after so many years, the Little Red Wagon Full of Fat just sat there, stunned pic.twitter.com/vwDeX44BLG
— James (@JamesOstime) January 28, 2016
Winfrey seems serious about her weight loss at this time. While she made peace with her body type when she was in her 50s, the now 62-year-old Oprah bought a 10 percent stake in Weight Watchers and is fully committed to living her best, healthy life.
According to CNN Money, Winfrey paid $43 million for her stake in Weight Watchers, and she is also on the board of directors.
Take a look at the video below to hear Oprah Winfrey talking about her favorite breakfast meal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vptD0huO5ZQ
[Photo by Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for ESSENCE]
