told and he said they're so grateful. fire crews said it was an electrical fire. >> understandable why it's so great. you don't have to do something valiant or courageous as that. you can did do a little thing every day. we'll see you at the top of the hour. but first, sanjay gupta sits down with joel osteen to discuss the power of prayer on sanjay gupta md which starts right now. >> thank you for joining me. coming from d.c., later in the program, richard blais. and celebrity chef. and first, just in time for christmas, i'm delighted, i finally found time on our schedule to sit down in person with pastor joel osteen. >> pleasure to have you on the program. >> my pleasure. >> happy holidays. >> same you to. >> i've been fascinated by the

intersection between faith and medicine as a doctor and a pastor. this time of the year for you, in particular, do you re-evaluate your faith? what does it mean to you? >> christmas, of course, as we celebrate the birth of christ as christians, i think, we do in a sense, it's, to me, i encourage others to let it be a time of new beginnings, meaning let ghost the old unforgiveness. what didn't work out. start afresh and anew. that's one message of christmas. >> how do you keep so upbeat like this? are you always like this? >> it's funny, my natural personality, i've always been positive and optimistic. i have days where -- all of us have days you don't want to get out of bed. you about you have to fine something to be grateful for. how you start the day determines what kind of day you are going to have. it's easy to say, i have this problem, i don't want to go to

work. you have to say i'm glad to be alive. it will help your day go better. >> i agree with that. this idea of optimisoptimism. spring out of bed, how can i be a bitter person, a percent father and husband. >> so many things affect our lives. i don't have to tell you this. people don't realize, some people have grown up with negative thought, internal dialogue. these negative thoughts always play in. it's just normal to them. you know what i teach on them. it's one of my most responded to recordings. you have to change that to, again, this is going to be a good day. i'm a person of destiny. >> maybe it's worth reminding the people around you as well. these same messages when they're not having a good day. let me ask you about this. patients and families who pray during the time of illness or great need. there was a study that came out

that said people who weren't typically praying, when they prayed, it really did not make a difference in the outcome and maybe even made things worse in part because the idea was that they are praying at this point, it may mean there's no other options here. does prayer have a measurable influence when it comes to health, you think? >> you know, i don't know if it's -- i haven't seen statistics and all. i can just tell you from a pastor's point of view, i see when people are optimistic, when they take time to believe that god's got them in the palm of his hand, it takes away that anxiety. when you can relax and say, you know what, god's in control of my destiny. i am going to choose to believe. if it's my time to go, i'm going to go. i always encourage people, if it is your time, you can go in faith. go with a smile. there's pain, we realize some of that. i think being negative, discouraged, doubtful, i don't think that helps you to heal and

go further. >> this idea of praying for people that don't know you're praying for them and you may not know these people, but you get together and pray for somebody. pastor, do you think there's something to that? >> i do. of course as a christian and pastor, i'm a believer in the power of prayer. i've seen it work. i don't know if you can put statistics to it. we see things happen when people get together and pray. i don't know if you know my mom was diagnosed in terminal cancer in 1981. no treatment they could give her. it's a long story. but all we could do is turn it our faith. my mom, she quoted script toured, prayed. didn't let it get to her. but 30 some years later she's alive. >> that's amazing. the fact of faith itself has value, act of optimism and the act of believing url' recover when things against you. >> people that are feisty,

recover better, that have that will and desire. i read studies. sometimes i teach on this, even doctors have patients get up and saying i'm getting better every day and every way. just get that in your mind and spirit, i believe a lot of health and healing. your body can heal itself. you get the right -- you're at peace, when you have joy in your spirit. >> you brought up your mother and this time of year that the sand witch generation, as you call them, you're taking care of your parent the and taking care of your kids. it's a festive time in the holidays but can be challenging as well, especially for the people in the middle. any advice for them? >> it can be difficult. just take the time knowing that every time you serve, every -- the sacrifice that you're going to be rewarded that you did it. we are not going to always have how loved ones. my heart goes out to people. sometimes it's difficult. i don't get to see my parents as much, and i think exactly what

you said, just reminding myself, we don't get these moments as often as we used to. you want to make sure they're special. not too high of an expectation, that can be a little tough as well. >> how did you decide to write this latest book? >> it seemed like i saw a lot of people, myself included, we tend to -- it's easy to get stuck in life. and i never thought i would be a minister. my dad tried to get me up there for 17 years. i said daddy, i can't get up in front of people? what am i going to say? i'm more quiet, reserved. when he died, i stepped up. it's grown. there are gifts in us that i don't think we have. i said i'm not that talented. never been to seminary, not that educated. we all do that. people put limits on yourself. i wrote the book to tell people to quit putting limits on yourself. god put everything you need to fulfill your destiny. when you start believing, amazing things can happen.

we'll have much more after the break. i appreciate you being on the program. reported a lot on this intersection between praying and health. plus, pastor osteen has a big announcement to make. he'll make it for you right here on the program. ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. this season, discover aleve. don'neutralize them odorand freshen.ash. with glad odorshield with febreze. yep. got all the cozies. [ grandma ] with new fedex one rate,

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[ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! i'm right back with pastor osteen. i've been really interested, again, in part as a physician but just as a citizen. there's a lost stories of people who say they have died, essentially brain dead, gone to

heaven, and returned. and to talk about it, and tell stories and write books, what do you think of when you hear those stories? >> well, i believe, sanjay, that heaven is real and it's interesting to me that the little bit i've staud did on it, we talked early, my dad did a documentary years ago. seems like the stories they've come back with many times are similar. many times, they go to a place of light. they go to a place they've never felt before. i don't know if you can explain it. you hear reports of people leaving their body and see themselves being worked on. i'm a believer that heaven is real. >> you don't hear about people go together other place and coming back. >> you know, it's interesting in that documentary that my dad did, you don't hear that much. there were a couple, i don't remember their names, but they talked about this place that's basically just hell. it's interesting. it's interesting they had a chance to many could back. i don't know. it's fascinating. >> you have a big announcement to make.

i'm excited to hear about this. . i'm excited, too. thanks for letting me make it. we're coming back to yankee stadium august 9th. we're excited to be coming back to new york. >> this is about 50,000? >> that's right. we've done it before. it was full. we feel very blessed to go. a night of inspiration. >> you talk to large crowds all of the time. the fear of public speaking is one of the most common fears. has that happened to you? >> when i first started. i got up in my dad's church and thought why is everybody staring. those thoughts came against me. i said joel, you're not cut out for this. all of these negative thoughts. i said this is coma what i'm called to do. over time it's gotten better. >> it's been a real pleasure. i wish you the best of luck at

yankee stadium. happy holidays to you and yours. >> thank you so much. appreciate it very much. pastor joel osteen, thank you very much. and coming up. really healthy holiday food with richard blais. but first, today's human factor. derek coleman doesn't always hear the roar of the crowd, the din of the stadium dark. >> when i was 3, i haven't heard ever since. >> reporter: he's legally deaf as a result of a rare genetic disorder but that didn't stop him from having a regular childhood. >> i was a normal kid going out and playing football. >> in high school espn ranked him as a number two fullback in the nation, and he started thinking about playing in the pros. . i wasn't thinking about it too much. and i was just going out there and playing hard. i just wanted to play. >> he was a running back at ucla for four years. after graduating with a degree

in political science. he is showing his versatility as a fullback for the seahawks. and he's only the third player in nfl history to be legally deaf. so, how does he do it? on the field, he makes no excuses. >> i can read lips. and i can read lips very well. so what i do, when i can't hear something, i'll always go and make sure i'm looking at the person, the person who i know, the quarterback, whoever, they look at me. >> reporter: his skull cap keeps his hearing aids in place. >> i'm basically just like all of you guys. >> reporter: off the field coleman tries to make time to speak to deaf and hard of hearing children to offer words of encouragement especially those who might be struggling. >> don't let it be an excuse for not wanting to go for your dream, whatever your dream is. certain people, in my opinion, they always find a way. if you want to be in that circle, you have to find a way.

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you know, it's that time of year again, when there's so much

good food around that it can sometime bees hard to control your urges when it comes to eating. if you can't just -- if you can't help yourself, the best bet is make sure that the food you have lying around is actually some of the good stuff. in order to make that happen, we decided to give you a little help. >> hi, i'm richard blais, chef and host of "cook your ass off." it's a cooking show where our guests and chefs prove cooking can be healthy. this guy was living a life style of a hard-work chef. i didn't do very much exercise. this was the exercise i was good at, a fork or spoon. one day i looked in the mirror. i was like, who is this guy. i realized there was a lot of work to do. the changes i made in my diet and life style, one, i just stopped eating and dripping so much in a social setting. i think that was the easiest thing to do, and i found the love of my life, my wife.

my wife had been a personal trainer early in her life. i literally had to run after my wife, so we started running together. i hope i can inspire people. i mean, if i can lose that weight where i was 60 pound the overweight, miserable, totally inactive, anybody can do this. >> and richard joins us now. thanks for being on the show. i'm a huge fan of yours. learning from you and eating and doing cooking on my own, because of you. i had v to ask, not only did you lose that weight, you kept it off. that second part is hard for a lot of people. what was the key for you? >> i kept it of 0. originally it was exercise. once you kick in the fitness plan you can lose a little weight, then the other way is changing the way you eat. eating and drinking in a social setting. we get off work and then want to go out to eat. you eat at 1:30 in the morning. half pizza and bottle of wine,

it's not so good. >> you're putting healthier ingredients in your food because you lived through this? >> originally it was fitness but now food. now, it's how to take the food weise love especially during the holiday season, make them delicious and take away the fat, sugar. and salt. >> we're starting with one of my favorite. mock roney and cheese. what we've done, we've used even wh quinoa pasta. we pureed cauliflower, and we're also adding veg bs. i hate to use deception as a tool when cooking for the kids. >> so the and call

flower, how does it taste? >> this is the stuffing. usually lots of butter. sausage. and this is barley. i love so it's cherry and walnuts and barley. it's not as heavy. there's not a lot of butter in there. it's olive oil and fresh herbs. lots of acidity and fresh herbs. people want to change the way they cook at home and not rely on salt and fat. fresh herbs and acidity. now dessert. dessert is a challenging one. but here this is a sweet potato pie. it's really simple. all we've done is not put the crust on it. so the crust is -- it has all the cashes in it. it usually has butter in it. we replaced it with oats and some almonds. and we made a crumble out of it.

so another really simple way. you don't have to change the recipe. most dessert recipes, my wife is really good at. this cut the sugar in half. that's a good start. >> go crustless. that's a good tip there. >> now this over here. red velvet cake and/or chocolate cake, whatever you want to use as the original inspiration. this is a tar-tar. it is mimicking steak tar-tar. the red velvet cake, we used beats. beats are a source of sugar. a lot of afrpg enlt recipes or old school recipes use beets in chocolate cake. this is sort of like a carrot cake. it's chocolate cake, red velvet, whatever you want to call it. it has the beets in it. >> and then we get into the beverages. this is, of course, holiday time. we're talking about egg nog. and instead of having eggs and or lots of cream, we used greek yogurt and bananas.

we're taking away the fat and adding protein with the yogurt and about a nonyachlt. >> so you blent them together? >> it's a smoothy of sorts. cinnamon and nutmeg and the egg nog flavors. a little bit of rum, of course, because this is the holidays. you can emit the rum if you want. take a look at the recipe and swap one or two things. these are all recipes you can find on upwave.com and recipes can you do 30 minutes, easy to make. >> the new show, i hear you can't say the title of the show in front of your kids? >> well, you know, "cook your ass off" is the title of the show. i talk over it sometimes. but, you know, i love the name of the show. because i mean we are. we're empowering people to get up and get in their own kitchens and think about the way they that eat or the way they cook. to change their lives. i think it's a pretty transformational show. >> as much as we talk about health care in this country and

trying to prevent disease, food can be medicine and still taste pretty good. i've come to believe. that i thank you for your advice over the years. still ahead. keeping in that same topic, we have this radical idea about how to fix our health care system. this is proven, cheap, and if you do this, you're going to feel better and happier than you ever have before. stay with us. farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what?

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earlier this month i was struck by this fact. so many of us sit around waiting for disease to finally strike. it's going to happen. that's what we think. it is depressing in so many ways. i decided to write this op-ed for cnn.com making this case it's time to stop playing defense when it comes to our health. one thing about this as defense, think of it as optimizing ourselves. making ourselves the best that we can be. doesn't that sound good, happier? must next guest launched this program that makes this point and this program is really turning into a movement to help people make the most important commitments they may ever make in their lives.

he is the founder and ceo of lifetime fitness. he is a fit guy himself. i've had the pleasure of seeing if you person. nice to have you on the program. >> thanks for having me. >> one thing i should point out, we're working with your company lifetime fitness on one of the programs that we started at cnn called fit nation. you're doing something known as commitment day. that's what i really want to talk about today. what is the big idea here? what are you trying to accomplish? >> so my goal and vision a year and a half, two years ago, i had this idea to collectively come together as a nation and change january 1st to commitment day and the symbolically we would come together in hundreds of opportunities around the country for these 5k walk/run events. do it all together at the same time and really as a symbolic commitment to beginning

healthier. >> look, i think you and i are similar in this way. most people are, you have a goal and something that you're going to do with community of people, it really puts punctuation mark on this. let me put another punctuation mark. we know, i think, most people know that physical activity is good for you. can reduce your risk of heart disease. you may know, just this week we learned exactly how much of an impact it can have. listen to this. 2,000 steps a day, that is not very many. 2,000 steps a day according to a study that came out thursday is all that it takes to cut your risk of heart disease by 10%. 2,000 steps a day. we're not asking people to change their lives. very, very simple things. but people always say, look, i do have a busy life. i have a busy schedule. what do you tell people when they tell you that? how do you get people to make the time? >> the solutions are actually far more simple than complicated. much like you said. just adding a bit of activity into your life. eliminating things out of your

diet that are known negative things to your life. but to your point, we don't need to wait and do nothing until we get sick, ill, you know, don't eat the wrong foods, not have enough activity and ten we rely on a tellth care system that may be there for us, maybe not. the better solution is try not to get sick. and so i really, really appreciate what you do with all the programs that you bring in. it inspires and encourages me to do as much as i can to help our nation move towards a much healthier way of life. >> i mean the feeling is very mutual. i applaud you. i'm honored to have you on the program. i hope a lot of people hear this message. this is how we solve so many of the health care problems that we've been talking about. thank you so much. >> thank you, sanjay. before we wrap up, a quick reminder about the next

obamacare deadline. in order to have your health insurance kick in january 1st, you need to sign up on the exchanges by this monday, december 23rd. that's all the time we have today. "new day sunday" continues right now with pamela brown and victor blackwell. ice, rain, and freezing temperatures are gripping the midwest as flooding sinks cars, streets and back yards. but sfdespite a storm stretchin from louisiana to canada, the northeast is enjoying spring in december. >> the conflict in south sudan has now become an american problem. when u.s. military members there were fired upon and injured. they had to abort their rescue mission. the question now, how to evacuate those stranded american civilians. >> and a third person is come forward