Al Roker has opened up about the realities of battling a food addiction and admitted he doesn’t ‘judge anybody’ who turns to weight loss drugs such as Ozempic in order to shed the pounds.
The Today show host, 70, who underwent a gastric bypass in 2002 after his weight reached 340 pounds, has revealed that his relationship with food changed after he ‘learned about portions.’
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com to promote his new cookbook, Al Roker’s Recipes to Live By: Easy, Memory-Making Family Dishes for Every Occasion, the TV star shared his thoughts on people turning to medication to lose weight.
‘I’m not gonna judge anybody. Listen, it’s unlike any other addiction or dependence. You can live without alcohol, you can live without cigarettes, whatever that drug of choice is… but you’ve got to eat, and so for some people, it’s just difficult,’ Roker said.
‘If this is what works for them, I mean, who are we to say, “Oh, don’t do that.” As long as it’s safe and effective, good for you. I think everybody’s journey is their journey.’
Al Roker has opened up about the realities of food addiction and has admitted he doesn’t ‘judge anybody’ who turns to weight loss drugs
The Today host marked 20 years since his 2002 gastric bypass by posing with a pair of his old jeans
Al, pictured here in 2001, opted to have surgery after his weight reached 340 pounds
When asked what advice he would give to anyone who is struggling with their own relationship with food, Roker replied: ‘I am very loath to give people advice about that because it’s like anything – you have good days and not so good days, you still have emotions, things like that.
‘So I tend not to go down that road because it’s tough and everybody’s got to face that and they’ve got to figure out their path.
‘And if that path is one of these drugs and that works for them, great. And if it helps you, if that’s the thing that gets you over that point where you’re able to be healthier and lead a more active lifestyle, that’s great.’
The father-of-three explained that he thinks social media has made it ‘more difficult’ for people to have a better relationship with food because ‘when it comes to food, it’s very hard to multitask.’
‘So, you could finish a plate of food reading and not realize that you ate,’ Roker said, before adding: ‘Well, today, everybody’s on their phones and doom scrolling and eating or having snacks and so I think the trick is to try to be more present.’
He then confirmed that his wife of almost 30 years, Deborah Roberts, enforces a very strict ‘no phones at the table’ rule in their household: ‘They get left in a basket and that’s that.’
Referring to his new book, which he compiled with his daughter Courtney Roker Laga, the weather anchor said: ‘There’s all sorts of recipes in the book. Not all of them are what you’d call healthy, but there’s some vegetarian recipes in there, there’s salads and different things.
Al recently released a cookbook alongside his daughter Courtney Roker Laga called Al Roker’s Recipes to Live By
The father-of-three, pictured here in April, said his relationship with food changed when he ‘learned about portions’
‘I guess what I’ve come to [realize with] my relationship with food, which has happened over a period of time, is that I’ve learned about portions,’ Roker continued.
‘My daughter Leila lives in Paris [and] what I’ve realized is that the Parisians… look it’s not low fat, it’s sauces and bread, carb-loading and cheese, but they’re small portions, so that this way you don’t have that guilt.
‘And so I think our portions… I think if you look at our cookbook, and I think a lot of contemporary cookbooks today, and compare them to even 10 years ago, the portion sizes are smaller,’ he added.
Roker also shared his thoughts on enjoying a treat from time-to-time and said: ‘A little is okay, unless there’s some medical issue I suppose.
‘Listen, the problem had been for a long time, for me, it’d be one thing if you stopped at a scoop of Häagen-Dazs, but no, we finished the pint! That’s where you get in trouble!’
The TV star also admitted that he doesn’t take notice when people share negative comments about what he’s eating when he posts about food on Instagram.
Al and his daughter Courtney cooking up a storm at the New York City Wine & Food Festival in October
Al revealed that his daughter Sky already has a ‘good palette’
‘Listen, [if] you want to comment, good for you. The gratification of clapping back to somebody is hard to resist, but at the end of the day, if you want to comment on it, good for you,’ Roker said.
Instead, the NBC host is looking forward to some wonderful family time with his nearest and dearest over Thanksgiving and Christmas, and revealed that is granddaughter Sky is already a foodie.
‘It’s funny, she really does have her mother’s palette,’ Roker said, referring to daughter Courtney. ‘She leans more toward savory than sweet. She’ll gnaw on a lemon like anybody’s business!
‘She likes chicken, she likes shrimp, she’s had some eel sushi, she’s got a good palette this one,’ he gushed.
