Anderson's Food Intervention
Friday, December 30, 2011
Anderson also speaks with one guest who has only eaten hash browns and French fries for the past 50 years. A nutritional therapist joins the conversation to help identify the different types of eater one can be, including restrictive, picky, avoider, vampire, fearful, liquidator and more. Anderson gives his in-studio audience a super taster test to see what kind of tasters they are.
Finally, Anderson is joined by Laurie David, author of “The Family Dinner,” who helps him launch the Anderson Family Dinner Challenge, in which one’s family has to cook and eat dinner together five nights in a row.
Community Question
What type of eater are you?
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Comments
I'm very, very confused. I just watched an episode of Iron Chef America, filmed in 2004 and aired in 2005, in which Anderson was a guest judge. I just watched him eagerly sample all sorts of unusual foods featuring scallops -- he even ate raw scallops. And he described the foods he ate with the aplomb of a certified "foodie." Is this the SAME Anderson Cooper? What in the world happened to him between 2004 and now?
I'd always been slightly picky...result of upbringing, Mom and Dad's habits, etc. But my son takes a lot of flak from people because he has texture issues. I'm sick of people sticking their noses in and harassing him for eating or not eating certain foods. Why can't we all just let each other be? The family doctor recommends that I serve healthy varieties and that's what I do. We cook mostly unprocessed meals, and eat together at a table. He doesn't drink soda or eat fast food. We're doing a lot of things correctly--so what if he doesn't like foods mixed together or touching, and doesn't eat spongy things (like bread and cake)? Let it be. You've seen on today's show that everybody has something they have an aversion to. Take the lesson in tolerance and quit judging and making fun of each other.
Wow! I was really surprised to learn this about you. I was wondering what you do when you travel. Do you bring your own food when you go to remote locations for work? Also, you seem to be pretty physically fit, yet I wonder how you keep up your energy to stay that fit. Now, with regards to you trying spinach, there are a million better things they could have given you to try. Finally, I like the idea of the dinner time challenge. I grew up in a typically dysfunctional family, yet dinner time was always sacred. I've maintained that tradition with my own family. We always eat dinner together...it is a great time to reconnect with each other after a busy day.
Anderson,
Saute the brussel sprouts in olive oil and garlic and then they are very good.
As for spinach try putting fresh spinach in salad and you may like it better that way.
I was excited when the network announced your new talk show. I fully expected an hour of intellectual, stimulating conversation with guests that had made a meaningful contribution to society. Imagine my disappointment when the show turned out to be just a step above the Jerry Springer dribble.
You have more strange foibles that Howie Mandell. Your show would be more interesting if staged in your therapist`s office with you on the couch. Disappointed viewer.
This is my second time catching this episode. The first time I didn't see the 1st half of the show.. Well, I am so glad I caught the entire show! I am a 43 yr old female, married with now, grown children. I literally forced myself to cook through their young years. I absolutely hate taking the time to prepare anything to eat! My mother has fought this losing battle with me since I moved out on my own. It's just the thought of shopping for the food, to preparing it, to thinking of what to have, trying to time everything just right, etc... I also, eat late in the evening, when my husband comes home from work, I do not eat anything throughout the day and then it's very fast and over! When we do visit my parents for "Sunday dinners," I am teased, because, I eat very well, but nothing on my plate can touch & I eat one item at a time...usually the least appealling first, and so on, until I am done. Thanks to the Anderson Cooper show and this episode, I can now prove to my mother that I am not strange... lol there are many others like me! Thank you for this episode; I feel less stressed about my eating habits, thank heavens, 40+ years of guilt, dissipated!
Interesting that your taste buds did not register the bitter taste. How is your sense of smell? If it is not that good, discuss with doctor. I am a Parkinson's patient and the taste issue struck me as important if coupled with loss of smell.
Great show today Anderson, I'm just a new member and would have liked to tape this program. Will it be rerun anytime soon?
I was so relieved and happy when Anderson described his eating habits. I sometimes have to remind myself to eat. I don't like veggies either. Whenever I go out to eat with family someone always has to make some comment "really loud" about how I don't eat vegetables. It is very annoying. I manage to get by and I am hardly ever sick. Thank you so much Anderson for this show. I don't feel so weird anymore.
Just saw rerun of eating show. What a relief everyone tells me how bad I am at eating and now I can say to others thank god i am not anderson. Hate eating never liked it but had to. Made it to 65 and still hassled by people try it. Dang don't you think I would know by now if I don't like it or not. Chocolate yuck fish pee yew meat nasty poultry only it it is ground and I don't know what it is. No eating after nor drinking after 7 no alcohol. As Anderson says i just don't get it. I feel so much better about my eating now, almost normal whatever that is
I'm a 57 yr old man. I was stunned with relief when Anderson said that he feels food is just something that one must do. My relationship with food is frustrating because I don't want to eat. I don't like food but eat it because of "peer pressure" (my family)to eat. I feel like a "disordered eater" and not one with an eating disorder. I know this sounds all chopped up. I'm just excited that there is someone out there who feels like I do about food; take it or leave it. Sincerely -
I am raising two grandchildren, ages 12 and 14. I think it is very
important to have a balanced meal every night after school and I
use my dishes to serve dinner. I think they would like it if I would use paper plates so they would not have to help with dishes but I feel this will help them in the future by eating right, doing chores and spending time talking with family.
Where is the $50 gift card?
I am searching for the $50 gift card. Where is it???
My address is:
219 Oakmont Drive
Advance, NC 27006
I eat a 'normal' eater for the most part but usually have one food that I need to eat everyday for weeks or months at a time. For years I had the same fast food breakfast M-F but didn't feel the need to have on weekends. I am going through several months of ice cream daily, portions that are double the size what carton shows as a serving. Ive been through having same thing for lunch weeks at a time then something else catches my attention and that becomes the new flavor of the months. The really odd part, to me anyway, is that dinner is NEVER affected; it's different all the time. I believe it goes back to only having certain foods once or twice a year as a kid, mostly due to cost issues. So now I decide when I've had enough of a food.