>> from morocco to vegas. what a cool idea. more stories when "cnn saturday morning" continues. first, sanjay gupta m.d. begins now. here's a question. have you kept your new year's resolution? dropping extra pounds without a diet. this way, it will make you feel better. and this boy almost drowns, and then he went on to become the first african-american to break a swimming world record. and you submitted your ireports, competing for a spot to try with me. this morning we unveil the 2012 "six pack." first, the nfl playoffs are starting and after a season where the issue of player safety and head injuries landed center

stage, at all levels of the game. more than 100 former professionals are suing the league over safety and health issues. one a former star on the road at georgia tech, latary pro bowl running back with the green bay packers and played for the giants and eagles. retire fld 2004 and now making a documentary. about the struggles of many former players. i start way clip. you're about to see ellis hobbs talking about the hit he took running back a kickoff that ended his career. >> as i braced myself, there he was right in my face, and my next reaction was, just like last time, even worse. i just ducked, buckled in. it just so happened he did the exact same thing with his helmet. when he hit mine, had compressed my head down worse. when you see it onni inning ang the initial camera, okay, he got hit. when they flipped it around and

i saw it from the other side. my neck just slink ed and just went all the way in and, like -- right when i got hit, everything went blank. >> still amazing to hear him tell it. joined by dorsey levens. your first interview, i believe, since the lawsuit was filed. thanks for joining us. us a know, we've been staying on top of this topic for some time and i'm very interested in it. i think millions of people probably watched what happened to ellis hobbs that time he subsequently need and operation to stabilize his neck. was it hard getting him to open like that? >> not at all. we sat down. it wasn't scripted. i asked what happened, i let him talk. >> so he had a disc problem, from my understanding, in the neck that required surgery. did he have other lingering affects? >> not that i'm aware of. still pain in his neck. he needs another surgery to stabilize his neck, but that's all i really know about it. >> i'm always curious about what it really feels like to get hit that hard, to the point where

you get a concussion, which is a brain injury, and it's worth using that term. you've had them. what does it feel like? how would you best describe it? >> never been knocked unconscious, but i've got a ton of dingers, which we now now are, as i call them in nigh documentary, getting your bell rung. small concussions. what it really is, a fogginess. you kind of can't get your thoughts together. a little blurry. you see some stars and it's just really a hard time getting yourself back to the level, mentally that you were before you had taken the hit. >> and you go through the line, have a lot of players coming at you. are you worried about your head getting hit? you're a smart guy. you're trying to protect yourself. how much pain are you enduring when something like this happens? >> at the time i wasn't. i wasn't worried at all, you know, because that's the way you play the game of football. we weren't aware of the long-term ramifications of concussions like we are today. so i didn't worry about it when i played. >> as far as pain goes, i guess probably in part of same answer?

>> part of the deal. comes with the territory. when you're hurt, you still have to play. >> a lot of people are paying attention to concussions, part of this documentary you're working on, you talked to a lot of players. i want to show a clip. first let me ask you, why did you start doing it? what sparked your interest? >> a high school buddy of mine, nick, said i was getting into the film industry. i have an idea. initially, his idea do something on hockey and concussions. obviously, my background is football. i know more about football. that's the direction we went in. doing the research, we find alarming data, what happens long term or short term to younger guys if you've had too many concussions. i had guys in my neighborhood, guys lined around the country that couldn't make it that i played it i know have had concussion issues. those guys couldn't do it. i picked up the phone, talked with guys i used to train with. guys i used to party with back in the day and got all of this information in my backyard.

i didn't have to go anywhere. quite alarming -- >> shows how prevalent this is. >> exactly. >> let's look at a clip and then i want to talk about the research you're referring to. watch this. >> how many concussions have you had? >> totaled them all up, probably about eight. eight to nine concussions, probably. >> probably close to 15 to 20 times. >> i have had a few. >> yeah. i had several of them. >> i had at least one dinger, and i had more, but at least one dinger every game. >> from what they didn't tell us when we were coming in -- probably 20-plus. easily. >> you know, it's sort of interesting, because you hear this common refrain, players going right back in. that's just the way it was. i've spoke ton football players, that was part of the culture. the bigger part of what's happening, this concern the nfl knew there was damage caused to the brain. damage that would be lingering, and that that damage was hid

from players. do you have evidence of this? i mean, i've been researching this for some time as a neurosurgeon and journalists and have seen stupdies that have come out. what happens if the nfl was hiding this from players? >> i'm in a lawsuit and can't talk about the particulars about it, but it's been a problem for a long time and hasn't been addressed. the goal here is to make more people pay attention, to focus on the issue at han. >> in balancing, you were saying earlier, the culture of football and obviously wanting to win, can you create a safer game and still win and still have football be football? >> i think you can. you know? you have to be creative. back in the day we wore leather helmets. somebody decided that wasn't a good idea. so we made a bunch of changes. back in the days goal post was on the goal line. now it's back. i'm not sure how, but it needs to happen. >> congratulations on the

documentary. i hope you had a chance to watch ours as well. we're staying on top of this topic. hopefully good will come from it. thanks very much. >> thank you. there's no truth from suggestion hidden knowledge about long-term dangers but not just the pros. there are questions about safety in all levels of football. in fact, i am just finishing a documentary we were talking about, about high school team in north carolina that's trying to turn tragedy into triumph. can they play a safer game, still win and still can it be football? big hits, broken dreams, sunday, january 29th, right here on cnn. fresh off this surge in iowa, just how well do you know rick santorum? the gop hopeful opens up about his family life. that's next.ie lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. millions of men, forty-five or older, may have low t. so talk to your doctor about low t. hey, michael!

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the man with momentum in the republican presidential race is rick santorum, the former senator from pennsylvania. now, he lost the iowa caucuses to mitt romney by eight votes, you probably know by now is campaigning hard nowadays in new hampshire. in the coming weeks and months we'll look at how the various candidates want to change your health care. this morning we wanted to share something with you you might not know about rick santorum. something very central to his life. >> we have a little 3-year-old little girl who's our special child. she was born with a -- a genetic disorder, and is, was told, we told she would not live a few day, and she is now 3 1/2 years

old and it's just a miracle every day and really in many respects the center of family life. not every life, you know, is meant to accomplish great things in terms of economics. in terms of utility that some would see to our society, but the utility of these children in showing the dignity of human life and the pure love that he mitt and how they really, at least, i always say bella gentled my condition. people say, santorum is so intense. you should see me before she was born. >> now senator santorum mentioned his daughter isabella was born with a genetic dit disorder, an extra copy of chromosome 18. and also senator santorum said only 5% to 10% of these children live past a year. in most cases the disease is not inherited and rare. affects 1 in 5,000 children. chances increase in older

mothers. thanks to senator santorum for sharing, she's just a beautiful little girl. coming up, though, the perfect time to do this. a quick check of those new year's resolution. how's your doing? diet fads, crazes, we have a guest that says something about all of that. we'll explain. so stay with us.] taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. man on tv: two outs with a runner on first base. now the big guy comes up to bat, hitting .342 with 92 rbis and 36 homers. [fans whirring] [ding] announcer: chill raw and prepared foods promptly. one in 6 americans will get sick from food poisoning this year. keep your family safer. check your steps at foodsafety.gov.

every new year we promise ourselves we're going to eat better, drink less, maybe even exercise more. sound familiar? just a few weeks later, most of us are back to our old ways. almost three quarters of us. this year, things will be a bit different. i challenge you with this and start with the food you put into your body. with us here, creator of the venice nutrition program, and author of "body confidence." you see it there. people should read this book, by the way. thanks for joining us. >> thank for having me. >> this is new year's resolution time. a lot of people have made them and by the end of this month, a lot of people will have already

broken them. one of the most common, i want to ge on a diet. i want to lose weight. what do you say to people who say, that's my goal? >> most people, we hit our tipping point. a point where your weight's higher than it should be. clothes are too tight and we get so upset about that we start cutting everything. they think they have to give up their carbs, cut calories, have to ramp up exercise and as you said, 30 days later, 60 days later, life pushes back. what i share, let's get a better way. let's educate you how to pace yourself better, stabilize your blood sugar and actually teach you how to take the food you love, work them into your day and get the right exercise in. >> people think about calories and calories out. not a bad way to think about things. how important is blood sugar and then also the insulin response? blood sugar goes up and insulin response, how important is that whole thing? >> it's all -- when we talk about hour first breath. a baby feeds every three hours.

stop eating when satisfied. start eating when hungry. >> good model. >> that's how we create energy and stabilize blood pressure. second year of life, shift more to eating three meal as day. there's a cost. every time you miss a meal your body burns muscle, not fat, slows down your metabolism. when year hungry, not craving chicken or tuna, we're craving pizza. rather than using nutrition to lose weight, stabilize the blood sugar and use it to create incertainly balance, releasing stored fat. >> what you're saying if i'm hearing correctly, certainly don't skip meals. in fig eat more meals throughout the day and when you eat the meals make sure you're not suddenly spiking your blood sugar? don't eat things that will cause sudden spikes? >> exactly. our body are refuelled machines. the only thing great at storing that is fat.

whenever we miss meals and don't eat, calories in, calories out. if i'm eating 1,000 or 2,000 calories a day, it doesn't matter if i do it in one meal or five meals. it does matter. it makes the difference. >> it's a great read. thanks for being here. i love the fact that you practice what you preach. it's really important, and i think people will get a lot out of it. thanks so much. >> appreciate it. >> thanks for being here. >> thank you, sanjay. every year nearly 3,500 people die from accidental drowning in the united states. when colin jones was a child, he almost became one of those sticks. today he's the first african-american male to hold a world record in the sport of swimming. b beijing, the 2008 olympics. colin jones win the relay becoming the second african-american swimmer to take home gold and the first to hold

a recoworld record. growing up, learning to swim was the last thing on his mind. >> my dad was a basketball player. you want to be in the nba. >> reporter: a trip changed his life. >> went down a slide and the flipped because i was so light. i almost drowned. my mom tried to save me. she couldn't swim. so the lifeguard had to come get me. my dad had to get my mom. >> reporter: after that, learning to swim became a priority pi not easy growing up in an inner city neighborhood, i grew up, it wasn't the nicest area. >> reporter: he found challenges and simply being different. >> 15 years old. dad, there's no black people here. >> he was like, well, you sucked at basketball, you wouldn't have this problem. we laughed about it, but, i mean, that was a big, you know, step more me and overcoming it was hard. >> how many of you guys have ever had a civilian lesson? >> why it's important to him to

inspire oh kids like him. >> i was getting sixth and seventh place. and now it's a gold medal. there is hope. you have to keep with it and stick with it and that's what i tell kids. >> go. >> reporter: jones is sharing his story with kids who never imagined they would be getting swimming lessons from an olympian. >> this has really given me a lot. i want to make sure i give back to it and shine the path to another kid. >> reporter: and he's not stopping there. he's going for gold again. and he hopes to compete in the summer olympic games later this year in london. >> colin jones, winning a time of 22:52. >> anything for my story, it can happen. as long as you stick with it, there are going to be rough days. i still have rough days. it's not easy. it's never easy. but it's worth it. when you can sit back and you're standing on the podium and you hear your national anthem, that's what i swim for.

>> we also asked colin what he does to keep his energy level you have before a race. he sticks to the basics, eggs for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, always keeping an energy bar nearby, and most importantly, stays hydrated to prevent cramps. that tips will come in handy for the "fit nation" challenge. we've had more people enter than ever before. the viewers joining my team for the first try, that's next. dad, why are you getting that? is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ welcome. i understand you need a little help with your mortgage, want to avoid foreclosure. smart move. candy? um-- well, you know, you're in luck. we're experts in this sort of thing, mortgage rigamarole,

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we are back for an exciting announcement this morning. the participants for the 2012 fit challenge. viewers joined me in training for this triathlon, they're going to get the royal treatment. we'll have every person with the bikes, gym membership, we'll take everyone on training trips around the country, and hook them up with a triathlon trainer

in their own area. the goal is the triathlon in september. several hundred people submitted entries through ireport, and this is who we chose. >> my name is nancy, and i am sending you this video on a really chilly november night here in acton, minnesota. >> reporter: nancy is recently separated from her husband after 26 years of marriage. although she's in okay physical shape, mentally she's finding it tough to stay motivated. >> just dealing with life changes, some family changes. and going through a stage where i'm finding yet i'm a bit lonely and i'm finding it really hard to generate the energy needed to get through the day. let alone get some regular exercise. >> reporter: keller is a truck driver from texas. he runs-a call-in ministry. >> i want to let everyone know

what they can accomplish, what they can do, yet i'm at least 100 pounds overweight. i need to make a difference in my life. and how much more of an impact would that have on others. we're looking forward to taking advantage of an opportunity to come to malibu and be a part of not the triathlon, but i want to come to the do-athlon. >> reporter: a tragic accident on the field forced doctors to amputate her leg. >> there are no words to describe the moment when somebody tells you that they're going to have to amputate your limb. i have always prided myself on being a top-notch athlete, and i miss that. and i desperately want that back. i'm hoping to be that inspiration that somebody needs when they feel defeated. >> reporter: growing up in southern california, carlos was headed down a bad road. drug use, gang violence, but some well-meaning adults helped him get his life back on track, so now as an adult himself, he's dedicated his life to helping other troubled kids.

but he often doesn't take time to focus on his own health. >> i am a type 2 diabetic. my doctors have told me i needed to lose weight. diet and exercise, and bring my sugars under control. as a california public schoolteacher, i want to be able to show my students that you have diabetes, or if someone in your family has diabetes, you can break that chain of ever getting it. >> reporter: rick morris is a web designer, and volunteer firefighter in north carolina. but the smoke he's battling most often comes from his own cigarette habit. >> after my career in the army, i started smoking, and quit exercising. and for the past 12 years, i've eaten mostly only the things that taste good. you know, food that comes from a box, or drive-up window. i've seen six relatives die from heart disease, lung cancer, and throat cancer. i'm worried that if i don't make

some life-changing decisions about my health, i'll soon join the family statistics. i want to live. >> reporter: and a journalism teacher from maryland has a big event coming up. just two weeks before our big race day. >> i'm getting married to the father of my twins, chris, after eight long years. and the biggest gift i could give him is starting our life in fitness and health. this teacher wants to be your student. >> i can't wait to start training with these guys. last year we called our team the six-pack. this year, it's the lucky 7. you may have noticed, there were only six videos there. that's because we saved one for last. a nationally syndicated morning show based here in atlanta, i've been on jeff's show, but we never talked about his health or his fitness. then my producer showed me this ireport video from jeff. >> i've had an interesting 18

months, with a lot of personal challenges. and during much of this time, i felt very out of control. i was waiting on other people, i was dealing with personal issues i didn't even know i had, and i'm kind of a control freak and that bothered me a lot. i didn't like being out of control. and at some point during that process, i realized that one of the only are things that any of us can control in our lives is our bodies. what we put in them, and how we take care of them. no matter what's going on in our lives. >> i think a lot of people are going to relate to the issues he's facing. so we've invited him as well to join the challenge. all of our triathletes will be here in atlanta next month. they're going to be your partners. think of them like that. join us for the ride. we're posting our workouts at facebook.com