Transcript: Jimmy Moore Radio Interview About The Atkins Diet (Part 1 of 4)

(The following is a transcript of a radio interview conducted with Jimmy Moore about the Atkins diet by Ralph Bristol on Newsradio 1330/950 AM in the Greenville/Spartanburg, SC area on Friday, August 5, 2005 from 5:00-6:00pm. This is part one of four which will run concurrently over the next four days.)

RALPH BRISTOL, HOST OF THE RALPH BRISTOL SHOW: Is the Atkins diet dead or dying? Every newspaper and television station in the country ran the story this week about the Atkins organization going bankrupt. "It was predictable," some say. "You know you just can't sell a weight loss plan that eschews fruits and vegetables. Sure people lose weight, but they can't stick with it. Nobody can just eat that stuff forever." There is among us one very, very active voice of dissent and he is our guest in this hour of The Ralph Bristol Show on WORD. Welcome in, 232-9673 in Greenville, 574-WORD in Spartanburg, e-mail ralph@entercom.com. He is Jimmy Moore, the author of a book that is not out yet, but will be soon called "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb." Actually he is half of Jimmy Moore, the other half of Jimmy Moore disappeared thanks to the Atkins diet. Jimmy Moore, welcome to The Ralph Bristol Show.

JIMMY MOORE, AUTHOR OF '"LIVIN' LA VIDA LOW-CARB": Hey Ralph, how are you?

Ralph: Good, great to see you...

Jimmy: Great to be here

Ralph: Or half of you... (laughter)

Jimmy: Well, you were saying my name, it's like I go around and they say "what's your name?" and I say "oh it's Jimmy Moore ... or less!"

Ralph: "Moore or less!" (laughter) Or as D.R. has now pegged you, Slim Jim. You are now Slim Jim.

Jimmy: I take whatever names I'm called. (laughter)

Ralph: Because with the Atkins diet you lost how much weight?

Jimmy: 180 pounds.

Ralph: A hundred and eighty pounds in how much time?

Jimmy: In one year.

Ralph: One year, one-hundred and eighty pounds. That's almost half of what you weighed.

Jimmy: Pretty close.

Ralph: You started out at a little over 400.

Jimmy: I was 410.

Ralph: 410. And, um, we had a weight loss contest called, uh, "Ralph's Incredible Shrinking Ton." Slim Jim here was the winner of the contest, you write extensively about low-carb, Atkins diet, and you're now writing a book about low-carb living.

Jimmy: Absolutely, in fact I just finished the book, sent it off to the publisher, should be out early next year.

Ralph: What do you think about this? Atkins is bankrupt, I mean you can't deny that. That part is not true, Atkins as an organization has filed for bankruptcy, um, isn't that an indication that this diet isn't very popular. And if it isn't very popular there must be something behind its unpopularity.

Jimmy: Well, Ralph, I think the media has latched on to this because of their negative perception of, uh, the diet itself. I think this announcement of the bankruptcy has nothing to do with the diet itself. This is totally a business story, not any indication that the diet itself is dead. I mean people aren't going to just automatically stop doing this just because...

Ralph: But, but, isn't it an indication that not enough people are doing it to keep the business alive?

Jimmy: No, I disagree with that, um, simply because Atkins is not the only manufacturer of food products that those of us who are livin' la vida low-carb do. I mean, I probably never have bought very many of the bars...

Ralph: You don't buy their products.

Jimmy: I don't buy the products. I like the chocolate milk that they have, I like their breads, but I mean as far as going out and that's all I buy is Atkins products I probably hadn't bought enough to...

Ralph: Yeah. But it's not just their products that they make money off of. It's their book and don't they have other income-producing, uh, things that generate income other than just their products? One would think that there is some relationship between the popularity of a program and the financial health of the company that is pushing that program.

Jimmy: Correct. And, the Atkins book are still selling very well. I mean there's statistics that come out, um, Amazon.com just did a Hall of Fame of their bestselling authors of all time...

Ralph: Mmm hmm.

Jimmy: and Dr. Atkins was the #1 health seller of all time.

Ralph: Do you know how many books?

Jimmy: Um, I didn't get the statistics, but that's, of course, he's written very many throughout the years.

Ralph: Okay, what do you say to those who say "come on, it just can't be possible that a diet can be good for you if it doesn't have, uh, healthy doses, portions of fruits and vegetables. Those are, those are staples of any good diet."

Jimmy: And that's a lot of the misinformation that you read in the newspaper all the time that you can't eat vegetables, you can't eat fruits. I eat fruits and vegetables all the time. I enjoy a really good salad, I can load it up with cheese and eggs and broccoli, I mean, I eat lots of vegetables. And as far as fruits go, you can have strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, I put it in real whipped cream and it's wonderful. I mean, it's just a misconception that I think a lot of people just don't understand fully what low-carb eating is about.

Ralph: But there are a lot of vegetables and fruits that you do have to stay away from.

Jimmy: Yeah, I can't have oranges and apples because there is just frankly too much sugar in them. There's as much sugar in them as there is in soda.

Ralph: Watermelon, pineapple...

Jimmy: Right, that has sugar in it.

Ralph: I mean you go to the grocery store, you buy one of these prepared things of mixed fruit that everybody, you know, the lazy people like me go there to take home and eat, um, so I don't have to prepare it myself. That's what it's for, it's got, uh, cantaloupe and watermelon and pineapple and grapes, all good stuff and supposedly good for you.

Jimmy: Well, and certainly those are options that you can do once you've lost your weight. Like now that I'm maintaining my weight loss, I can have those in smaller quantities. But when I was losing weight, there's just too much sugar that will kick you out of ketosis which is the fat-burning mode when you are trying to lose weight via low-carb.

Ralph: 232-9673 in Greenville or 574-WORD in Spartanburg. I want, I want people to call us, uh, I want anybody to call us. But I'd like to hear from people who tried and couldn't stay on the Atkins diet. I wanna hear from people, who, uh, like Jimmy tried it and do like it and you're still on it. Uh, those who have heard about it and have reservations about it for one reason or another. Uh, the Atkins diet is in the news because the Atkins organization has filed for bankruptcy and people are saying "well, there you go. Uh, if an organization is filing for bankruptcy that's an indication of the unpopularity and the, uh, and the poor quality of the products that they've got. Jimmy disagrees with that somewhat vehemently I would think.

Jimmy: That would be a safe assumption.

Ralph: 232-9673 or 574-WORD. What's been the ... your whole lifestyle has changed. Do you ... I mean, people talk about changing lifestyles as they're dieting. It wasn't an easy thing for you as I have read through some of the chapters, it wasn't easy. But once you got into it, you actually, it's easier now than your previous lifestyle. The change was difficult, but the new lifestyle is actually easier for you, is it not, than your previous lifestyle?

Jimmy: You know, Ralph, before I get into that I remember calling your show the very first day I was on the Atkins diet. It was January 1st last year and I said, "Ralph.." You were talking about Atkins and New Year's resolutions and things like that. And I said "Ralph, this is the worst I've ever felt on a diet in my entire life..."

Ralph: (Laughter)

Jimmy: "Please kill me now." I mean, I was just, I was dying that first day and actually the first two weeks on the Induction. It was the roughest time. But once I got past the two weeks where my body was literally detoxifying itself...

Ralph: Yeah.

Jimmy: Once I got past that, it was a lot better from there on. And, as you stated, my lifestyle has totally changed and it's for the better because I learned good habits that I continue with today.

Ralph: And those good habits are actually easier than your old bad habits.

Jimmy: Absolutely. And...

Ralph: And a lot more fulfilling.

Jimmy: Well, there's a consciousness about it. In other words, before I would just eat just because okay I'm hungry or I think I'm hungry. Now, I eat with a purpose knowing how many carbs I am putting in my body and what kinds of foods I am putting in my body and I'm very careful about what I allow to come inside me now.

Ralph: Let's grab a few phone calls, we start with John in Greenville. John, welcome you're on 1330 WORD.

Caller John: Hey Ralph, how are you?

Ralph: Good John.

Caller John: Hey, um, I just wanted to tell my story, uh, real quick...

Ralph: Please.

Caller John: I did the Atkins diet, uh, a year and a half ago for the first time for two weeks. I lost ten pounds. I was the heaviest I had been, about 215, and I've never been above 205 since. And I contribute it to the Atkins diet because what it did was I was very religious to it and it got me off sugar. I can no longer drink a soda and enjoy it or really sweet tea anymore. I realized how much sugar I was putting in my body and it actually changed my taste buds in a matter of two weeks.

Ralph: Changed your taste buds? Did you notice that happen too? Did your taste buds change, Jimmy?

Jimmy: I didn't notice...

Caller John: I was wondering if anybody else had experienced that where they literally didn't like that much sugar or it was just distasteful for them after they tried the Atkins diet.

Jimmy: I noticed after a while being on low-carb when you cut out sugar, anything that has just a little bit of sweetness in it becomes sweet to you. Like I didn't realize almonds, almonds are sweet.

Ralph: Really?

Jimmy: I had no idea.

Ralph: Aw be darn.

Caller John: Right.

Jimmy: (Laughter)

Ralph: So you say sweetness in almost anything that has just a little tiny bit of sweetness in it, that sugar jumps out at you.

Jimmy: When you cut sugar completely out of your diet, that happened for me.

Caller John: Exactly.

Ralph: And that's what happened with you. Now did both of you then stay away from those things because you didn't like that. I mean it became distasteful to you.

Caller John: It was a combination of I knew drinking four or five cans of pop a day I knew it wasn't good for me.

Ralph: (Laughter)

Caller John: Getting that much sugar, but it really didn't, it doesn't attract me anymore. You know, I drink water or...

Ralph: Okay, John, you still on the diet, uh, or not?

Caller John: No, no, no, no. I've only done it, I've only done the diet hardcore twice for two weeks.

Ralph: Oh, okay.

Caller John: But I have been more conscious about the amount of carbs and how I eat, but not...

Ralph: Is that working, is that working for you?

Caller John: Yeah, uh, I mean...

Ralph: Just being...

Caller John: Yeah, I have a physical, uh, job and everything...

Ralph: Yeah.

Caller John: You know, maybe more conscious of it. I'm not a religious person about it.

Ralph: Yeah, gotcha. Okay.

Caller John: It was helpful for me.

Ralph: John, thank you. Which brings up a good point. If people can't just do the whole regimen and stay on it, is it still a good idea for them to be like John, be carb conscious and at least try to lower those carbs.

Jimmy: Ralph, I think that's the whole purpose of Atkins and any low-carb program is to get you to become conscious. In fact, one of my chapters in my book, I say how to become carb-conscious and the importance of it. And absolutely, John may not feel like he's still on the program...

Ralph: But he's still benefitting from the program.

Jimmy: But the fact that he's watching his carbs is definitely benefitting him.

Ralph: The Ralph Bristol Show on Newsradio 1330/950 WORD. Jimmy Moore is our guest. Probably the, uh, most, um, let's see, eager, um, defender of the Atkins diet in all of the Upstate of South Carolina and maybe in the country. (laughter) Here on The Ralph Bristol Show and we welcome your questions for him when we come back from First WORD traffic.

NOTE: Part 2 of this transcript will be posted at "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" on Wednesday.