Oprah talks new cookbook, Weight Watchers, and Michelle Obama
Oprah Winfrey’s career has taken her from talk show host to author to cable network founder. Now she’s releasing her first cookbook, “Food, Health, and Happiness: 115 On-Point Recipes for Great Meals and a Better Life.”
The media powerhouse is feeling “healthier, more alive, more connected” than ever before, she revealed Tuesday on “CBS This Morning.”
“People, particularly who watched the show with me all those years, have seen my struggles,” she said, pointing to her fluctuating weight, a thyroid issue and efforts to find balance with food.
“I was at my lowest point with food because I’d hurt my ankle in Maui, and I’d use that as an excuse not to work out. Actually, I couldn’t work out. And Weight Watchers called me. Which I always think is the funny point,” Oprah said.
She eventually ended up investing in Weight Watchers, which she said is not a diet, but a “support system” and community.
“I only invested because I believe if you’re going to do anything, go all the way,” Oprah said. “So, since, you know, the owning of my show, I learned that lesson. You’re going to be in it, go all the way. Own it.”
She lost 42 and a half pounds, she said, adding, “If I lose 10 more, 20 more, fine. If I don’t, I’m OK with it because I’ve finally gotten control.”
She spoke about a time when she stood in front of a mirror reflecting on her body, which she writes about in her book.
“I started to thank my body, my heart, that’s done this for now – soon it will be 63 years. I started looking at myself from head to toe and appreciating what my knees had done – as shaky as they are sometimes, I can’t run as fast as I used to – but appreciating my body for what it is,” Oprah said. “And so operating from the place of being thankful and grateful for what you have, then moving out into the world, becoming more conscious of what you’re eating. Balancing that. Food which I love. We love food. Balancing that with health has made me a happier person, too.”
Among her accomplishments in 2016, Oprah conducted first lady Michelle Obama’s farewell interview in the White House. Oprah said there was a “sense of transitioning” and “moving on” in the conversation.
“The fact that she really was packing up to leave, at least telling other people what to pack up, to do – so there is a sort of resolve that comes with that,” Oprah said. “I felt that that special that we did here on CBS was a force at letting people see the work she’s done in the past eight years. And her work with girls. And her work with changing the way we think about food for young obese children. And I was really impressed with her.”
Oprah, who has known Mrs. Obama since President Obama was still a senator in Illinois, said she felt the first lady was “more willing to speak her true mind.” Asked what she thought Mrs. Obama will do when she leaves the White House, Oprah pointed to Mrs. Obama’s speech in New Hampshire denouncing then-candidate Donald Trump’s “locker room talk.”
“I told her this, actually. I go, ‘Your speaking fee just went up. It just quadrupled.’ I think she will be speaking around the world and will be a powerful force for that. That’s what I think,” Oprah said.
