Montel Williams has launched a new online health and fitness show
that will bring viewers health and science news. We caught up with
Williams to get the skinny on the show, and how he stays healthy while
living with multiple sclerosis. The TV host told us about his low-calorie diet, rigorous exercise routine and mental calming techniques.
Everyday Health: Tell us about your new show. How will it address MS?
Montel Williams: It’s called "Living Well With Montel." Every week we’ll have a brand new show, and in January, we’ll have two.
I’m launching what I think is going to be a new format for TV. I’m going to launch the show only within an online community. We have a premium membership that will have access to the show but also tons of other innovative new information – all health and wellness-related.
The site will have a considerable amount of information about MS. I’m also going to be sharing my personal journey. [But] it’s not just going to address MS. We’ll discuss everything from women’s health issues to men’s health issues to children’s health issues.
I intend to provide information to people so that they can look at their own health and seek out the information that’s pertinent to them. Most of the medical shows, it’s like I’m watching "Captain Kangaroo" – it’s dumbed down information. We’re going to have information about exercises, about health, about recipes, and then we’re going to invite our community to exchange information that we’ll validate.
We need to be our own medical sleuths and learn about the illness before we walk into the doctor’s office so we know the right questions to ask.
EH: How do you use diet to stay healthy and manage your chronic condition?
MW: I’m eating a different diet. It’s extremely anti-inflammatory.
Studies have proven that green vegetables and fruits of color are high in antioxidants that you can’t get anywhere else. I go to the store – anything that’s got color in it I buy it. I liquefy whole fruits and vegetables. I blend the entire fruit, and I just make smoothies.
Every one of my smoothies has coconut water in it. I use that as the base and then I mix with it four or five fruits: watermelon, pineapple, apple and blueberries, and I put spinach in it and drink that throughout the day.
I can drink 15 pieces of fruit in a day. Nobody is going to sit down and eat that. I drink about 48 ounces a day. That constitutes about 50 percent of what I eat. And then I have one meal a day, some protein. I restrict calories.
EH: What is your exercise routine like?
MW: When it comes to exercise, everybody has to find what works for them. I watch my body. I look at myself in the mirror once a week – not because I’m vain, but I’m looking for moles and changes in my body.
For me, I exercise every morning. I exercise every day. I work out about an hour and 20 minutes, which is aerobics and resistance training. I work on agility and balance. I work on the things that are going to help my condition. I do agility training. I walk on a treadmill. I use an elliptical. I use weights.
It doesn’t matter whether my time is 20 minutes or an hour. I’m moving, which means I walk better for the rest of the day. This is information that we all can use.
EH: You’ve gone through some severe bouts of mental illness. What are you doing to take care of your mind?
MW: The best thing I did for my emotional health was getting a correct diagnosis. I had every MS doctor diagnose me as having clinical depression, but the truth of the matter is that I’ve been diagnosed with emotional lability – an inability to control crying.
It’s a disorder that is brought on by brain damage. When you look at MS, the scars in my brain are minuscule brain damage.
I don’t suffer or feel I suffer from anything that’s not normal. We want to be happy all the time, but real human beings experience feelings and learn how to cope with them. When those feelings are predominant, like you walk away and you’re sad all the time, then you have a problem. But most times sadness is not depression. [For] a lot of people who have MS, depression is part of the disease, [but] it’s not a lifetime situation.
We go through periods when we feel worse then better. We need to stop beating ourselves up for feeling as bad as we think we feel. Let’s get a real diagnosis. Let’s make sure we’re really depressed, and let’s start working on those things we can work on. Even if you’re clinically depressed, doctors are trying to bring you out of that hole.
We are in more control than we think. The second I started to realize that, instead of walking around identifying myself as someone who was depressed, I had better days. This is the Montel Williams philosophy.
You can talk yourself into a good emotional state. I stop for a second, take a deep breath and think about something that’s beautiful. A beautiful thought for me is cutting the umbilical cord for my child. I can guarantee you that your emotional state will change.
EH: What’s your greatest health challenge, and what are you doing to overcome it?
MW: Right this minute, I’m trying to overcome this reduction in my pain threshold. I have to figure out how to cope with a raised pain threshold. I can hurt myself and not know that I’ve done so because I don’t feel pain the same way other people do. I’m trying to get a grip on how to handle this in the future.
I exercise every day, but I also push myself a little hard, and I need to figure out how to not do that anymore. I broke my knee cap [but still] worked out on it every day.
I broke a rib, and it wasn’t until that happened [that] I went to the doc and said, "It hurts but not that bad." That’s the idiot I am. If someone had a correct pain threshold it would have hurt enough to convince me to go to the doctor.
I could kick a curb and not realize I broke a toe. I’m working with a podiatrist and a therapist to realign my workouts.
EH: What advice do you have for those who are newly diagnosed with MS?
MW: Seek out as much information as you can, and become your own medical advocate. You need to go online, study, learn as much as you can. Arm yourself before you see the doctor so you have the appropriate questions.
Photo courtesy of Montel Williams
