Transcript: Jimmy Moore Radio Interview About The Atkins Diet (Part 2 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 two of four which will run concurrently over the next few days.)

RALPH BRISTOL, HOST OF THE RALPH BRISTOL SHOW: Who was it, was it, um, was it Mark Twain, or who was it that said, "The rumors of my death are premature." I don't remember, do you know who that was, Jimmy? Do you remember who that was?

JIMMY MOORE, AUTHOR OF '"LIVIN' LA VIDA LOW-CARB": It sounds like something Mark Twain would say.

Ralph: I think it might have been. Do you know, was it Mark Twain, Skip?

Skip the Producer: I'm pretty sure you're right.

Ralph: You think it was Mark Twain. Um, that's what Jimmy thinks about, that's what Slim Jim, Jimmy Moore, thinks about the Atkins diet. Jimmy has a, has a, he blogs about the Atkins diet, he's written a book now about the Atkins diet, he defends the Atkins diet in every opportunity that he gets. When he sees newspaper articles that are attacking the diet, he writes nasty letters to the authors of the article. (laughter)

Jimmy: Ah, that's not quite true. I do certainly want them to be educated. And I think that's my #1 goal. I feel like I was able to lose weight on low-carb and my duty now because that happened is to help inform and educate both journalists and people.

Ralph: This really has become a mission for you.

Jimmy: It really has, it's given me a little bit of a purpose in life, not that I didn't have one before, but it certainly has given me a focused purpose inasmuch as this is something that I can do. I like to write, I like to talk, and so it's just definitely a, uh...

Ralph: I would think anybody who thinks that they've got a serious weight problem and you had a serious weight problem...

Jimmy: I did.

Ralph: And you conquer it, and you believe you have permanently conquered it, that that is a, that is a major, major event in your life.

Jimmy: It certainly was. I would certainly rank it up there with my marriage.

Ralph: Which, by the way, congratulations, this is your tenth anniversary.

Jimmy: Thank you. Thank you to Christine who's here, uh...

Ralph: You and Christine are all dressed up and ready to celebrate your tenth anniversary tonight.

Jimmy: Absolutely.

Ralph: 232-9673 in Greenville, 574-WORD in Spartanburg. Let's talk with, uh, Raef on a cell phone, Raef, welcome, you're on WORD.

Caller Raef: Hey, uh, Ralph. Um, shouldn't, uh, wouldn't the, uh, the mismanagement of the business or maybe just because Dr. Atkins died in the last couple of years, uh, have something more to do with the business going bankrupt than maybe the diet itself?

Ralph: Sure, I mean that's very possible. I think that's possible. Yeah, when, when a movement or a business or anything is based around one person and even takes on his name, when that person disappears it's got to put tremendous pressure I would think on that business.

Jimmy: Well, absolutely, Dr. Atkins was the focus of that business forever. And Veronica, his widow, hasn't really played an integral part in terms of the business end of it. She's kind of just let it run on its own. And she actually branched off from Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. and formed a Foundation, the Atkins Foundation, and through that they do a lot of charity work that you don't hear about, frankly, in the media. They like to complain about the diet and how unsafe it is, but, uh, they don't focus on how much, uh, she's given back of those millions that he's made.

Ralph: I want to take another phone call and then on the other side of the news I want to talk more about the whole process, not just what foods you can and cannot eat. There's more to it than that.

Jimmy: Right.

Ralph: There's water, there's exercise, there's, there's lot of ... Jimmy carries around a five-gallon drum of water. (laughter) He constantly is drinking out of and that's (laughter) ... what is it a four liter, er, uh...

Jimmy: This is a one and a half liter bottle.

Ralph: Oh, just one and half liter bottle.

Jimmy: They joke me at work, they call me 'Waterboy.'

Ralph: (Laughter) Here's Hank in Spartanburg, Hank, welcome, you're on 950 WORD.

Caller Hank: Well, it's so good to be here.

Ralph: Thank you, Hank.

Caller Hank: I've been on the Atkins diet now for, gosh, five years, six years.

Ralph: Five years, good for you.

Caller Hank: That, uh, Barbara Mandrell song, you know, "I was Atkins, when Atkins wasn't cool."

Ralph: There you go.

Caller Hank: And, uh, I lost about 45 pounds on it right at the beginning and then I started adding a few carbs back again and whenever the weight starts creeping back up, I just take a few carbs out and it goes back down to where I want it. I've been staying around 230 or thereabouts for all that time.

Ralph: And haven't had any problems staying on it. You're accustomed to the diet.

Caller Hank: Well, yeah. Yeah, it depends on what you eat normally I think. I mean, for me, all I had to do was quit eating potatoes and bread and everything else was what I had been eating anyway. So it was really easy to get on to start with.

Ralph: That does for sure make it a lot easier.

Caller Hank: My only kicks with the diet are, I guess about three. It's expensive. It's boring. And, uh...

Ralph: Ah ha!

Caller Hank: Well, you know, you eat nothing but meat, you're shopping in the expensive aisle of the grocery store.

Ralph: Mm hmm. Okay.

Caller Hank: And you don't have a lot of choices. But, you know, when you eat meat anyway like I do, it really wasn't that big a deal.

Ralph: Gotcha.

Caller Hank: But the biggest gripe is, it doesn't teach you any portion control. The things that are on the diet, you can eat all you want. So, if you get off the Atkins diet, start going back to carbs and other stuff, you know, you're in the habit of just stuffing your face until you can't breath:

Ralph: Ah, okay.

Caller Hank: At least I have.

Ralph: All right, Hank, thank you. He's given us a whole bunch of things for you to...

Jimmy: Oh my goodness! (laughter)

Ralph: To, to, talk about, yeah. Jimmy was over there shaking his head saying, "No, that's all wrong. That's all wrong." So, so, we've got, we'll talk about expensive, we'll talk about boring, we'll talk about lack of choices, we'll talk about portion-control, when we come back from the news with Jimmy Moore, the #1 defender of the Atkins diet in the, uh, country. That's the new label that I've given him here on The Ralph Bristol Show on WORD.

NOTE: If case you missed Part 1 of Jimmy Moore's interview with Ralph Bristol about the Atkins diet, then you can read it here. Part 3 of the transcript will be posted at "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" on Thursday.