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SANJAY GUPTA MD

Obamacare: Just the Facts; Sugar Hiding in Plain Sight; The Bravest Girl in the World; Is Infidelity Ever OK?

Aired October 12, 2013 - 16:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN GUEST HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin, sitting in today for Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is out of the country on assignment.

We are calling her the bravest girl in the world. One year after being shot by the Taliban at point blank range, Malala Yousafzai shares her story with CNN. New exclusive details and video minutes away.

And sex and relationship expert Dan Savage is here. He is going to make the case that monogamy is not always the best policy -- wait for that.

Plus, you will not believe how much sugar is in some so-called super foods. I'm talking more than what's in multiple donuts.

But first this --

(MUSIC)

BALDWIN: Despite the glitches, the crashing Web sites, many people have finally had a chance to take a look at the cost of new health insurance offered through Obamacare. And I know a lot of young people, you're feeling sticker shock, but if you look closer, it gets more complicated.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN (voice-over): Dan Olkives runs a hair studio in the Trendy Bay View neighborhood in Milwaukee.

DAN OLKIVES, TEASE HAIR SALON: How long do you think you want to go in the long run?

BALDWIN: Before the Affordable Care Act went into effect, it took Dan about six of these haircuts to pay for his monthly medical insurance bill. In Milwaukee, for a single man Dan's age, the average premium for the least expensive type of policy is $200 before the tax credit, more than the national average and about $100 more than the cheapest he could get before Obamacare.

OLKIVES: So, now, all of a sudden this continues to escalate with the insurance and be, like, where are we going to get this money from to cover that?

BALDWIN: According to the conservative Manhattan Institute, a number of states are seeing a jump. In Virginia, premiums for a 27-year-old male have increased 67 percent. And in New Mexico, 146 percent.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: They're surprised their premiums went up. Instead of making it easier for people to get health insurance, it's going to be a lot tougher.

BALDWIN: But in other states including New York and Ohio, rates are down. Economist Jonathan Gruber helped design the health care law.

JONATHAN GRUBER, ECONOMIST: In some states, insurance markets were already regulated to not allow insurers to discriminate against the sick. In those states, premiums will fall like in New York where they could fall up to 50 percent. In other states insurers were freely allowed to discriminate against the sick, and by ending the discrimination, we're going to somewhat raise premiums in state like Wisconsin or in some of the Southern states.

BALDWIN: Insurers are now required to cover people with pre-existing conditions and that drives up prices.

Overall, Gruber says rates are going up for the young and healthy like Dan and down for older people and people who are sick. Despite the sticker shock, Olkives says health care isn't something he wants to live without.

OLKIVES: You know, growing up with a father who was a cancer patient, I definitely learned you have to have insurance, you know, whether you like it or not, you do have to have it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: We're going to continue tracking problems with the sign-up sites and keep the information updated for you. Just go to CNN.com/healthcare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: I went to the doctor, and he said, you know, those high blood sugar numbers you've been dealing with since you were 36. Well, you graduated. You've got type 2 diabetes, young man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was actor Tom Hanks revealing on "The Late Show with David Letterman" Monday night that he's been diagnosed with diabetes.

You know the story, diabetes, it's a disease that means your body has trouble breaking down glucose, and what that really means is you have to be very careful with what you eat and seriously limit your sugar and, of course, that is good advice for every single one of us.

But I want to show you, I want tell you about this report we came across this week. This is "Mother Jones" nine surprising foods with more sugar than a Krispy Kreme donut.

So, let me begin with this. You think you are being healthy, I've picked these up at the store, one Luna bar equals 13 grams of sugar and just over one Krispy Kreme doughnut.

Move over here and you need your caffeine fix, I know I do. So, if you are grabbing a grande Starbucks latte or it's actually the same if you grab a six inch sweet onion teriyaki chicken sandwich from Subway, both of them 17 grams of sugar and over 1/2 Krispy Kreme donuts.

Over here after your workout, how many of you have grabbed one of these, vitamin water 20 ounce, that's 33 grams of sugar and just over three Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

And finally, the Odwalla, you grab something green, it's got to be good, veggies, right, 12 ounce Odwalla super food smoothie, 37 grams of sugar and almost four donuts.

So, you hear all of this, this is the takeaway, this is the bottom line: sugar is oftentimes a hidden ingredient. It goes by a lot of different names, but in the end it's the same thing.

Look at this, on average men should limit daily sugar consumption to nine teaspoons. You see for the women that's just six. And there are a couple of things we can all do to cut back.

First things first, you take your sugar, your honey, and your molasses, take it off the table and out of sight and out of mind, right? Instead of adding sugar to cereal or oatmeal, odd some fresh fruits like strawberries or dried foot like cranberries and raisins, and if all else fails and you are still reaching for the sugar anyway -- guilty -- cut the sugar in your baking recipes by one-third to one- half and oftentimes you will not even notice the difference.

And talk about making a difference, there aren't many kids these days like Malala Yousafzai, so full of courage and conviction and passion. One year now after being shot in the head by the Taliban, she sat down with our very own Christiane Amanpour to tell her story. We will share that with you next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, COMEDY CENTRAL: I know your father is backstage and he's very proud of you, but would he be mad if I adopted you? Because you sure are swell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Did you see that interview this Tuesday night, Jon Stewart in awe frankly as we all are of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who you might remember was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman one year ago this week, and on Monday, Malala became the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

And as her week in New York is wrapped up, but she didn't win, but she did sit down to talk with our very own Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALALA YOUSAFZAI, ACTIVIST: The thing is, they can kill me, they can only kill mala. But it does not mean that they can kill my cause as well. My cause of education, my cause of peace, and my cause of human rights, my cause of equality will still be surviving. They cannot kill my cause.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now from New York is our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour.

And, Christiane, this young woman, she is now 16 years of age. She is passionate. She has conviction.

Where does it come from?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think she's a prodigy. Every time I see her, I'm just absolutely stunned by how un-girl-like she is and how incredibly womanlike she is. She's able to articulate her passion, her dreams, her desires, even after being shot in the head only a year ago.

She was so lucky that the bullet didn't pierce her bones, her brain, rather, some bone fragments did, but she's made a remarkable recovery and she consistently keeps up that spirit of really revolutionary zeal and that is to bring education to all Pakistan but most especially to girls.

And you wonder where does she get this from?

BALDWIN: Right.

AMANPOUR: She comes from a small village.

BALDWIN: She comes from a small village. This is all about education, and the world, Christiane, knows so much of her story, but there's so much that we don't because we know she went to this Pakistani hospital. She was then flown to Birmingham. And I know there was this British doctor, Dr. Fiona Reynolds, who happened in be in Pakistan and was instrumental in her care.

Not many people know about this woman, Christiane. What's the story there?

AMANPOUR: Well, I think it's really important to state that the Pakistani doctors, the medical surgeons, the military surgeons, rather, did save her life initially. For instance, they stabilized her and they saved her life with very, very rapid operations after she was wounded. But then, the aftercare was not satisfactory. And quickly her vital signs started to get weaker. And it just so happened that this doctor. Fiona Reynolds, from the specialized hospital in Birmingham, along with Dr. Javid, who was also Pakistani British, were in Pakistan on a different mission and they were asked to come and look at her.

And Dr. Reynolds is very shy of the spotlight. She says, look, I'm a doctor, patient/doctor conversation is confidential and privileged, but Malala insisted on telling the whole story, on telling the truth, and therefore that is how I became part of the story.

But her role was absolutely instrumental.

BALDWIN: So, here we have with mala this outer circle, if you will, of support, right, the doctors and the staff and then you have her family and specifically, Christiane, her father. Tell me about their relationship.

AMANPOUR: Oh, my goodness, it is remarkable. You know, I know because I grew up in Iran, which even then was a male-dominated society, and I remember my mother telling me that when her friends, you know, had girls, you know, the dads were just distraught. Some even wept at the bedside.

My mother had four girls and my father luckily was very evolved and, obviously, so is Ziauddin Yousafzai, because when he had his little girl, he also had two boys. He said he was thrilled. He looked at the face of this little girl and thought she was miraculous.

And he from somewhere deep in his upbringing and situation is a rare commodity in the villages of Pakistan. He's a free and progressive thinker. And he wanted to bring education, not just to all the children, but specifically to girls. And he knew that that is what he wanted to do with his life. He set up a school and that is where Malala went to school.

But I think we also understand that she's taken an incredible burden on her shoulders. She and her family are carrying a very heavy cross.

The Taliban has continued to say they want to kill her, and if she continues to fight this fight, she's also recognizing that she's doing it at the possible cost of her life.

BALDWIN: Revolutionary zeal, I like how you put that.

Christiane Amanpour, thank you so much. And you can catch and watch the premiere of "The Bravest Girl in the World" this Sunday night at 7:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Christiane, thank you.

Coming up next, relationship advice you probably never heard before. Wait for this. Controversial sex columnist Dan Savage has some savage love for you right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Research shows about one in four men will cheat on his partner. This is over the course of a lifetime. As for the ladies, that number is more like one in five. Either way, infidelity is a leading cause of heartbreak and divorce.

But the always provocative author Dan Savage says that sometimes cheating can actually save a relationship, and he sat down with Sanjay to explain himself and his new book. It's called "American Savage: Insights, Lights and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, HOST, SGMD: You say you say cheating is never okay except when it is. This is the line that caught my eye, Dan Savage, and I'm sure it caught a lot of others' eyes as well. How do you -- how do you reconcile that? When is it OK to cheat?

DAN SAVAGE, AUTHOR, "AMERICAN SAVAGE": Well, life is long and circumstances change and sometimes accommodations have to be made. I don't smile on adultery, serial adultery and people cheating people, violating commitments -- I think that it's a violation and people shouldn't do it.

But oftentimes, as an advice columnist, the examples I'm faced are people who've been together 10, 15, 20, 30 years. One person is done with sex and one person is physically in incapacitated and cannot have sex anymore, and the other person is literally going out of their minds, either from years of sexual rejection, years of sexual frustration. And I'm asked, what should I do in these circumstances? Should I divorce or should I quietly and discreetly and considerately get my sexual needs met on the side and stay in this relationship and stay in this marriage and remain committed?

And there are times when cheating is the least evil option, the lesser evil, and I've given people permission under those circumstances to indeed cheat.

GUPTA: Could going to couples therapy, for example, be just as effective? I mean, this is your area of expertise.

SAVAGE: Yes, sometimes that can be effective, but there are people who have been to couples therapy, there are people who have had their hormone levels checked, who have talked it out and talked it out and talked it out, and there's been five, 10, sometimes 15, even 20 years of no change and no growth and no development.

GUPTA: Yes, I can tell, this is -- I mean, you've obviously thought this through. This is a strongly held belief by you.

Let me ask you a question as a doctor. If someone cheats and they don't tell their spouse, could that potentially be dangerous?

Now, on a medical level, you are opening them, you and your spouse potentially up to sexually transmitted diseases, like HIV, there could be a pregnancy involve, even domestic violence and your spouse suddenly might be confronted with this thing and have no idea what even hit them and come out of nowhere for them? Is that fair?

SAVAGE: Absolutely. Actually, there are risks and people need to mitigate and control for those risks as best they can. I encourage people, when they do decide to get their needs met elsewhere, to do it discreetly, safely, considerately, and make sure they are protecting their partner in every possible way.

Oftentimes, when I give this advice, I'm giving this advice to people who are in sexless marriages. So, there isn't a risk of a sexually transmitted infection passing from a husband to a wife or, a wife to a husband because there's no sex anymore in this marriage.

GUPTA: Again, you are obviously challenging strongly held beliefs and it is provocative stuff, and people should read the book to understand these provocations. Some of this is about sex, Dan, and a lot of this is about trust.

SAVAGE: What I'm talking about those moments when cheating is OK or permissible when it's the lesser of two evils. And trust is important in a long-term relationship.

But the person who has been denied sex for 10 or 15 years, that person's trust has been violated, too. That person went into a marriage with the expectation that sexual needs would be met mutually and this would be something that was ongoing and lifelong. And some people, you know, independently end their sexual -- their partner's sexual lives, and that's not always fair.

And so, it's not just a violation of trust in one direction often in these sexless marriages. It's a violation in both directions.

GUPTA: But this whole idea that it's somehow -- the marriage can be as meaningful or it wouldn't be devastated in some way to render it essentially -- it doesn't just ring true to me.

SAVAGE: People cheat. We aren't naturally monogamous animals, if you are with somebody 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 years and they only cheat once or twice, they were good at being monogamous, not bad at being monogamous. And I think infidelity is something we should expect couples to work through and get past because in all likelihood, every long-term relationship will be touched by Infidelity at some point.

So, what I would say to a couple or what I have said to couples who are facing this is, you know, the day before you found out about this affair you might have said something like I would take a bullet for my partner, there's nothing I wouldn't do for my partner, I would walk through fire for my partner. How about forgive your partner? Can you do that?

GUPTA: It's a provocative topic, Dan Savage. I enjoy talking to you about it. I know you're on book tour now and probably getting a lot of these same questions but thanks for spending some time with us.

SAVAGE: My pleasure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: So, I guess it's all in one's perspective. Definitely controversial advice. The book "American Savage" and there you have it. Still to come meet the NASCAR young gun who is driving to stop diabetes.

Plus, Diana Nyad's swim for relief 48 hours in a pool in New York's Herold Square, to benefit victims of hurricane Sandy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In today's "Human Factor" a young race car driver who had to drastically change his lifestyle after a life-changing diagnosis. Back on track he's competing in the NASCAR's nationwide series at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend and Sanjay's got his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice and smooth. Green, green, green.

GUPTA (voice-over): Against all odds, 20-year-old Ryan Reed is living his dream.

RYAN REED, ROUSH FENWAY DEVELOPMENTAL DRIVER: I've been a race car driver since I was 4 years old.

GUPTA: He was just 17 when Kyle Busch, he's one of NASCAR's top drivers, recruited him for his development team.

REED: It was just like everything was falling right into place in my life, and nothing could stop me.

I was really cranky and I remember being this thirsty a lot. I was using the bathroom extremely frequently, and losing a lot of weight.

GUPTA: Reed was diagnosed with Type I diabetes.

REED: They're like, Ryan, you'll never race again.

GUPTA: But they were wrong. Reed adapted. He's on a strict diet. He has a sensor implanted in his abdomen that transmits his blood sugar readings. There's a continuous glucose monitor that's mounted into the dash inside his race car and that allows him to check his blood sugar during the race.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten-four, how's your numbers right now?

REED: They're good, 120 still, maintaining.

GUPTA: And his fire suit, it now sports a bull's-eye.

REED: We have a guy trained on the pit crew and reach into the window and give me an insulin injection should I need it.

GUPTA: Reed made his debut in NASCAR's second biggest series on April 26th. And just last month he finished in the top ten.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still outside.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Diana Nyad, just a couple of weeks ago, how could we forget the 64-year-old made history swimming all the way from Cuba to Key West without a shark cage. This week, she was chasing life again swimming 48 hours in a specially built pool in New York City to raise money for victims of Superstorm Sandy.

So, every 15 minutes a new swimmer hopped in with Nyad including 11- time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN LOCHTE, OLYMPIC MEDALIST: Forty-eight hours straight, I know I couldn't do it. What she's doing right now is amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: She was also joined by victims of the storm like Elisa Zboinski whose extended family lost a total of eight houses in that storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELISA ZBOINSKI, HURRICAN SANDY SURVIVOR: I'm very grateful that she's doing this for us. It was absolutely incredible to even be in the same pool as someone that's accomplished so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Nyad raised more than $100,000 for Americare. That's the organization helping folks like Zboinskis and so many others, thousand of others get back on their feet.

And that will do it for SGMD. Thank you so much for spending this half hour with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Time to get you now back into the "CNN NEWSROOM" with Don Lemon.