The following segment originally aired on the January 26^th, 2011 show on BrandStar Entertainment’s morning TV show, The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television.  The featured guests were Nutritionist Lisa Dorfman and Chef Ozzie from Heartland Sweeteners.

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: It’s the New Year and that means that you get a “clean slate.”  You can start all over and maybe do thing a little differently in 2011.  One thing that many of us in this country need to change is our eating habits.  Putting the right foods in our bodies and cutting out the wrong stuff with not only help us look great for the New Year, but it will also make us FEEL great.

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: BrandStar Entertainment’s popular “New Year- New You” series on The Balancing Act on Lifetime is going to help clear up any confusing details about our food with Nutritionist, Lisa Dorfman and we’ll get some fabulous recipes to get us on track to staying healthy in the New Year from Chef Ozzie from Heartland Sweeteners.

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: Lisa, there’s so much info out there when it comes to some of the bad things we could put into our bodies.  Fats confuse everybody, so let’s start with the bad fats.

Lisa: The bad fats as we know them are the hard fats at room temperature.  Things like butter and lard not only put on pounds, but also can clog our arteries and increase our blood pressure.  They’re just not generally good for our health.

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: What about the bad fat category called—trans fats?

Lisa: I call the trans fats the Frankenstein of fats because they were created in a lab a couple of decades ago when companies wanted to pull out the cholesterol and the animal fats from their products.  What happened was they put in some oils, but the oils didn’t hold at room temperature.  So, they added back and made them more saturated again—creating these trans fats.  These trans fats are worse than any of the saturated fats on the market.  At a very quick rate, they build up cholesterol in our bloodstream, bring up our blood pressure and cause all kinds of metabolic and health problems for everyone—young and old.

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: That’s what we don’t want—but we do need some GOOD fats in our system, right?

Lisa: Yes.  We do need fats in our diet.  Fats help us to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins “A” and “D.”   “E” and “K” help us to prevent inflammation.  The good fats, known as the Omega-3s and the Omega-6s are essential fats that are found in vegetable oils and olive oils, are good for our health so we do want to include them in our diet.  We have some commercially prepared products now that contain a lot of those good fats.

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: So, keep a smart balance but don’t overdo it?

Lisa: There is definitely too much.  On a 2-thousand calorie diet, most people don’t realize they only need between 44 and 66 grams of fat a day.  Like, when you go to those restaurants and you’re dipping away with the bread and oil—each tablespoon of olive oil has 14-grams of fat so that adds up very quickly.

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: Let’s talk about Fat-Free.  Is that something that’s still important?

Lisa: Ok, if low fat is good for you—then let’s take out all the fat.  But, what happens is then there’s no taste.  So, what companies started doing was adding in a lot of sugar and other ingredients as well as processing.  It’s these things that created a lot more health problems and cravings.  You know, people don’t eat one cookie these days.  They eat a BOX!  So, it’s a huge problem.

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: Chef Ozzie, you’re the guy who knows how to replace the sugar in these things.  So, let’s talk about Ideal No-Calorie Sweetener!

Chef Ozzie: Ideal is the best no-calorie sweetener on the market.  It’s made from Xylitol, which has added health benefits.  What’s unique about it is that you can bake and cook with it.  It’s wonderful and your guest would never know that you did NOT use real sugar.  In independent taste tests, consumer actually picked it over sugar!

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: You’ve brought some great tasting things along with you.  Let’s talk about what you’ve replaced to make yummy pumpkin bread.

Chef Ozzie: This pumpkin bread is absolutely most and flavorful.  You put this on a table and no one would ever know that it’s actually GOOD for you and made WITHOUT sugar!  I made it with Ideal and I’ve also taken out the eggs and used egg substitute—so we’ve gotten rid of some of those fats.

Chef Ozzie: We’re also using alternative spreads.  You can use a 50/50 blend, or you can use a straight commercially prepared.  These new spreads out there are fabulous and you don’t even know they’re in the mix.  So, you can save not only the sugars and the calories from the sugars—but you’re saving all the extra fats too that you don’t need.  This pumpkin bread saves you 25-grams of sugar and 70-calories per slice.

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: So, you’re not sacrificing any flavor, sweetness or ANY taste at all! Now let’s move on to that delicious looking chocolate cake!

Chef Ozzie: This is a no-dairy chocolate cake.  When I say, “No Dairy,” it’s actually healthy, moist and decadent!  In this cake we’re saving 44-grams of sugar and 100-calories.  Per slice!  We’re taking the fats out.  There’s no dairy in the cake, so there’s no eggs or butter.  I’m using other ingredients in there.

Chef Ozzie: All these recipes are in my cookbook and I personally like to use a lot of these different alternatives.  A butter alternative instead of butter—or you can do a 50/50.

Chef Ozzie: I like to use olive oil but NOT the extra virgin because of the very strong flavor.  I use just plain olive oils in the recipes, like canola and vegetable oils in lieu of some of the fats in there.  For example these muffins have a low-fat yogurt, a butter substitute, Ideal sweetener and oils.  So, I’m taking the fats out.

Chef Ozzie: In the cookbook I’ve really taken the sugar out of all the recipes, but these are all great tips that you’re not going to sacrifice a lot of the flavor.

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: It’s time to move on to the muffins!  They look like raspberry?

Chef Ozzie: These are lemon-raspberry muffins.  We’re using fresh raspberries and fresh lemon.  I just like to use all fresh ingredients, even fresh pumpkin seeds on the pumpkin bread.

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: What about these cookies?

Chef Ozzie: These are oatmeal raisin.  I once again used the spread and great raisins.  These are traditional favorites—people love them.  A lot of kids love chocolate chip, but I really like these.  It’s good and healthy.  You have the oats and you’re using the spread instead of butter.  It’s a really good cookie and you’re not sacrificing flavor or sweetness with our product—Ideal.

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: Chef Ozzie, you’re getting people ready for the New Year because you can still have delicious food and you’re saving yourself so many calories and sugar– a perfect way to get on track for the New Year!

BrandStar Entertainment – The Balancing Act on Lifetime: If you would like more information on Ideal No-Calorie Sweetener, visit idealsweet.com.  To check out more tasty and sugar-free recipes, check out Chef Ozzie’s Cookbook, “Sweet Revolution.”

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