Mark your calendars with a big red circle on Tuesday, August 1, 2006.
What's happening on that date? Well, it is the first day of a new beginning of sorts for me and something that will hopefully motivate and inspire others who desperately desire to lose weight for good. If you are ready to get serious about your commitment to livin' la vida low-carb, then how about joining me in this new journey I am about to begin.
What is this journey you ask? In short, I'm going to consciously attempt to LOSE weight again just like I did when I took that first step on the Atkins diet in January 2004 and I want YOU to join me in this effort I have called the "30-In-30" Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge.
What does "30-In-30" mean? Well, it stands for 30 pounds in 30 weeks and that is my one simple goal in all of this. After this recent blog post about my hanging, loose skin quite possibly being additional fat that needs to be burned, I have decided that it is time to go back on a weight loss plan. If I did it once losing 180 pounds, then why can't I lose a measly little 30 pounds?
I'm proud of the fact that my weight has remained relatively stable for the past two years since I shed 180 pounds off of my body in 2004. But lately I have seen the scale moving ever-so-slowly upward which is a trend I would like to nip in the bud right here, right now. What better way to do that than to set my mind and body into weight loss mode again?
My starting weight for this "30-In-30" Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge is 240 pounds. Yes, I know that's 10 more pounds than what I weighed at the end of 2004, but that is why I am starting this effort at this moment in time. By the end of the 30 weeks, I hope to be down to a svelte 210 pounds. I don't think this goal is unrealistic for me and this renewed commitment to my weight and fitness training will help me refocus on my attention on living healthy and eating the best that I can.
The "30-In-30" Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge will run from Tuesday, August 1, 2006 through Tuesday, February 27, 2007 -- 30 weeks in all! The goal? Lose ONE pound a week for 30 weeks. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? That's right, it does and I am going to show you it can be done even for someone who isn't necessarily obese anymore.
I have some advantages and disadvantages starting this "30-In-30" Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge.
The advantage I have is the fact that I have already been extremely successful on the low-carb lifestyle and long ago committed myself to this way of eating for the rest of my life. I don't have to deal with the sugar cravings, the leg cramps, the headaches and all the rest that you go through when you first begin low-carb. Those issues will not even be a factor for me now. My confidence that I will be successful is off the charts!
On the other hand, I do have a distinct disadvantage because I don't have that much weight to lose and it won't come off as easily as it did for me two years ago. That's okay, I'm still ready to do this, but I realize I have my work cut out for me. When I lost weight in 2004, my average weight loss was about 4-5 pounds a week. I only want to lose ONE pound a week for this challenge which should make it completely attainable.
What I will specifically do to get my weight starting back down again is moderate my carb intake to less than 50g carbs daily and stay in a carb intake range that will keep me in fat-burning mode for the duration of the challenge. Additionally, I will continue my regular workouts at the gym and push myself to keep going a little longer to burn those extra calories that have been making my weight start to go up again. I'm dead serious about this "30-In-30" Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge and have no doubt in my mind that I WILL be a resounding success!
But don't think I'm in this "30-In-30" Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge alone! Oh no, you're not getting off that easy! I want YOU to join me in this effort and I encourage you to take me up on my challenge right away. There's no sense in waiting until New Year's Day to commit yourself to a resolution to lose weight. RIGHT NOW is the BEST time to start making it happen for yourself and I'll be in this with you all along the way.
For some of you, 30 pounds is exactly what you need to lose and this "30-In-30" Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge is just the kick in the pants you needed to get you going. But for others, 30 pounds will merely be the beginning of SEVERAL "30-In-30" Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenges you will need to go through. That's okay and I encourage you to let this challenge get you started off on the right foot towards becoming the low-carb weight loss success that you deserve to become.
The point of this challenge isn't to see how fast you can lose weight (although if the pounds come pouring off, then GOOD FOR YOU!). Instead, it's about keeping your head in this weight loss game and never taking your eye off of the ultimate prize of maintaining your weight and staying healthy for the rest of your life.
That's why I took that first step over two years ago when my life and weight was a complete wreck and on the verge of collapse. Livin' la vida low-carb saved my life then and it's gonna save a lot of you now. We'll go through this effort together and keep each other encouraged as we see the progress we are making. YOU CAN DO IT!
I will keep you updated on my weight loss progress with weekly weigh-ins on what I will call "Terrific Tuesdays" along with the occasional comments about YOUR progress that I will share from time to time with everyone.
Are you ready for the "30-In-30" Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge? Ready or not, here we go! LET'S DO IT!
I never realized how amazing berries taste with chocolate!
You're not gonna believe this, but I used to NEVER eat any kind of berries before my low-carb lifestyle. I don't know why I didn't, I just didn't. It was probably because they weren't sweet enough for my over-sugared taste buds and I thought they were pretty disgusting.
But once you lay off the sugar for a while, something amazing happens to your tastebuds. They become more enhanced so that anything that has even a remote amount of sweetness tastes much sweeter than it ever has before! It's true! If you don't eat sugar, then all of a sudden foods like berries become a sweet treat for you to eat.
However, when I started livin' la vida low-carb, I also stumbled onto something else I had no idea about: combining the sweet goodness of berries with the taste of chocolate. Oh...my...heavens! Berries and chocolate have GOT to be the most ideal combination to come along since peanut butter and jelly! WOWsers!
Melting your favorite sugar-free chocolate bar and drizzling it on top of a bowlful of berries is what this recipe I have to share with you today is all about. Special thanks to Elaine at Low-Carb Connoisseur for this tasty and refreshing dessert recipe. ENJOY!
1. Rinse berries and pat dry. Halve strawberries. Mix berries and divide in 8 dessert dishes.
2. In a double boiler (or in a heatproof bowl set over, but not touching, a pot of simmering water), melt dark chocolate bars with cream. Stir until smooth; mix in vanilla extract. Cool slightly; drizzle sauce over fruit.
When people start livin' la vida low-carb for the very first time, many of them can make certain assumptions about low-carb living that could prove devastating to their hopes and desires to lose weight on this incredible way of eating. One of the most common ones has got to be what one of my readers recently e-mailed me about.
Here's what she wrote:
"I am just starting on a low-carb eating plan and am confused as to whether sugar-free equals low-carb."
What a great question! The answer? Well, not always.
As a general rule it is safe to say that anything that is sugar-free is a lot better for you to consume that anything that still has sugar in it. Although I would advise that you might want to pay very close attention to the sugar alternative that is used in that sugar-free product to make sure it doesn't contain high amounts of the sugar alcohol maltitol in it unless you enjoy the sensation of tooting out of your backside or having to run to the bathroom with diarreah at a moment's notice! :O
But even when the sugar-free product has the right kinds of sweeteners, such as Splenda, ACE-K, or neotame, that doesn't mean it's automatically going to be low-carb. While many sugar-free products are great for people on low-carb as well, you have to watch out for the white flour carbohydrates that can creep into that product you are about to buy for your low-carb lifestyle.
They look innocent enough with the words "sugar-free" and "net carbs" prominently featured on the front of the packaging. But just one look at the nutritional and ingredients information should make you shudder: bleached enriched flour is the #1 ingredient, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (aka TRANS-FATS!) is the #2 ingredient, and that lovely sugar alcohol malitol is also found near the top of the ingredients list. Sigh.
Additionally, this product has 19g total carbohydrates, which includes 3g dietary fiber and 9g maltitol per one-bar serving. That's still a WHOPPING 7g net carbs which is way too many for anyone who is in the weight loss phase of livin' la vida low-carb. But the flour and trans-fats would have me running into the next area code to avoid this product at all costs despite the fact that it is "sugar-free."
Don't miss this lesson: Sugar-free does NOT necessarily mean it is healthy.
Something else to look out for is the deceptive "no sugar added" phrase that shows up on the packaging and in the marketing of so-called "healthy" products. To the unsuspecting new low-carber like my reader, they may think this means the product doesn't have any sugar in it. Not so. What is DOES mean is that there are no additional sugars added than the ones that are already present in the product. As I always say, READ YOUR LABELS!
Before I started livin' la vida low-carb, one of my absolute favorite candies in the whole world had to be Twizzlers. I think I started eating these fruit-flavored licorice sticks whenever I started going to the movies as a kid. It wasn't all that uncommon for me to eat the entire package of Twizzlers in just one sitting. Plus, I ate my fair share of Twizzlers when I was on my low-fat diet in 1999 because they are a "low-fat food." What a dope I was for putting all that sugar in my mouth!
Anywho, when I heard that Hershey's made a sugar-free version of their Twizzlers product, I was excited beyond belief. FINALLY, I would get to enjoy this candy from my childhood as part of my low-carb lifestyle, right?
Well, not exactly. You see, although the sugar has been taken out of the Twizzlers, a 6-piece serving size STILL has an unbelievably high 33g carbs! That's over 5g carbs for every Sugar-Free Twizzlers piece. Yikes!
Why? Besides the fact that maltitol is the #1 ingredient (EEEK!), it also contains flour, cornstarch, and even some corn syrup (that would be sugar for those of you playing along at home!). Oh well, I knew it was too good to be true. :(
The lesson in all of this is you can't just assume sugar-free equals low-carb because it's not always the case. With the low-carb chocolates and hard candies, you can almost always count on them to fit into your low-carb plan if you need something sweet to eat. But the cakes, cookies and other candies that market themselves as "sugar-free" may not work if you are livin' la vida low-carb.
Don't just assume sugar-free foods will be okay when you are livin' la vida low-carb because that might just come back to sabotage your weight loss efforts. And that wouldn't be a good thing now would it? AAAAAAACK!
Rodale has established itself as the industry leader in health books
Rodale, Inc. announced today in a press release that Nancy Hancock, former Vice-President of Marketing, Publicity and Publications for the line of books written by the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins, has joined their team to immediately begin marketing and developing new health and weight loss writers to continue their respectable reputation for producing very desirable, bestselling diet books.
Liz Perl, who serves as the Vice-President and Publisher of Rodale Trade Books, says she is excited to see what Hancock will bring to the table for Rodale with her wealth of knowledge not only with the Atkins publishing line, but also from her most recent stint with Simon and Schuster's Touchstone/Fireside imprint where she has served as Senior Editor since 2004.
"Nancy's expertise in the field of health and wellness, coupled with her marketing and brand-building savvy, make her the perfect addition to the Rodale team," Perl exclaimed. "I look forward to seeing Nancy's authors and books flourish at Rodale, where we support our health and wellness books across a broad range of media platforms, reaching nearly 40 million people monthly."
The Rodale name has quickly become synonymous with high-quality health and weight loss books in the past few years with such bestsellers as The South Beach Diet, The Abs Diet, and The Biggest Loser books. It will be interesting to see if Hancock can recognize and find any of the new and upcoming health writers that are already out there making a difference in their spheres of influence and needing a means for attracting a larger audience for what they are already doing. With her impressive pedigree in this business, I have no doubt she will find those diamonds in the rough in very short order.
I'm sure if Dr. Atkins were still around today that he would be one of the first people to give credit to Hancock where credit is due for making him a household name. Her work not only included five bestselling books, but also a subscription newsletter, multimedia presence and various subsidiary products to complement his books. What a privilege it must have been for Hancock to be such an integral part of something that has changed the lives of millions of people worldwide!
My life will never be the same again because of my decision in late 2003 to read Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. That little book that has sold tens of millions helped me shed 180 pounds off of my body for good in 2004 and now I'm livin' la vida low-carb. I suppose I owe my weight loss success in part to Hancock for her foresight and ability to effectively market the Atkins name as a brand that virtually everyone has heard of by now.
For that, I must say THANK YOU to you, Ms. Hancock, on behalf of ALL of the people who have been on the Atkins diet and succeeded. We appreciate what YOU did to help us find our way to permanent weight loss success and pay homage to you for your role in offering the Atkins diet to the public.
You can e-mail your congratulations to Nancy Hancock for her new position at Rodale by writing to her new boss, Liz Perl or you can e-mail Hancock directly by clicking here.
8-1-06 UPDATE: Nancy Hancock read my blog post about her new hiring at Rodale and sent me this kind and considerate e-mail.
Dear Jimmy,
Thank you for your enthusiastic welcome! I am thrilled to hear of your weight loss success and applaud you for living a healthy lifestyle. I do often meet people with similar stories and I will say that it is very gratifying to be part of something that makes such a huge difference in someone's life.
I appreciate your support and look forward to hearing more from you in the future.
Ever since Bravo's "Work Out" debuted just two weeks ago, many people have been attracted to the show because it showcases the incredible fitness and motivational talents of Jackie Warner and the trainers at her world-famous gym in Beverly Hills.
Last week I offered three lucky readers an opportunity to win a FREE limited edition "Work Out" T-shirt just for sending me their name and address, the name of their favorite trainer on the show and why.
Many of you responded and here are the winners with their responses:
1. Lynn from Redondo Beach, California
"Although I like all of the trainers and would gladly train with any one of them, I'd have to vote for Erica. She's the toughest and most serious of the trainers. I feel she would push me more than any of the others. My personality gravitates more to 'fooling around'--joking and laughing with the trainer--rather than focusing on working hard. I'm basically a slug--and need someone like Erica to really push my lazy butt."
2. Pamela from Garfield Heights, Ohio
"My favorite trainer on the show 'Work Out' is Rebecca. The reason that I like Rebecca is because she is very upbeat and funny. She seems like the kind of trainer that will have you laughing and losing weight at the same time. She is very cute and outgoing."
3. Garry from West Hollywood, California
"God, I wish I had the $135 a session Doug charges as a trainer at Sky Sport. The man exudes charisma along with a friendly, personable, and no 'pretty boy' attitude often found wandering the streets of West Hollywood ... Jesse is cute, but he doesn't hold a candle to Doug the Stud. I'm hooked. I'd love to have a T-shirt, preferably one that he's worn in the gym."
Oooookay, I guess we see 'em all, folks! 8-o
Anyways, CONGRATULATIONS Lynn, Pamela, and Garry. Each of you will be receiving a FREE LIMITED EDITION "WORK OUT" T-SHIRT compliments of Bravo and the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog. THANK YOU for playing!
Speaking of "Work Out," you DEFINITELY don't want to miss the next episode that features an obese woman named Tess who tearfully comes into Jackie's office asking her for help so she can lose weight the right way through diet and exercise. Tess had been told by a specialist that it would be impossible for her to lose weight and get into shape without gastric bypass surgery, but she wasn't convinced which is why she paid a visit to Jackie's gym.
Meet Tess and hear the desperation in her voice to lose weight:
Tune in on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 at 9/8c to see the next episode of "Work Out" featuring the rest of Tess' story. There are a lot of people just like Tess out there who are being told there is no other way except for weight loss surgery. As a man who once weighed 410 pounds and got down to 230 pounds NATURALLY thanks to livin' la vida low-carb, I KNOW that's a big fat lie! You won't want to miss this inspiring episode to watch Tess' life get changed for the better forever!
I will also be conducting an interview with Jackie Warner in the near future and am taking your suggestions for questions to ask her. Feel free to send those to me at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. Do you like the show or have any comments about it that you would like to share? Feel free to post them at the link below.
Geier says nobody knows what the right portion size is anymore
This Washington Post story about a new study regarding the role of portion sizes in the current obesity epidemic is certainly one worth exploring, but unfortunately is not the be-all, end-all regarding why people keep getting fatter.
Soon-to-be Dr. Andrew B. Geier, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, conducted two research experiments to test his theory of "unit bias" which presupposes the amount of food you are given to eat is the appropriate portion size.
EXPERIMENT #1
A large bowl of M&Ms were placed in the lobby of an upscale apartment building with a sign that read: "Eat Your Fill ... please use the spoon to serve yourself." Geier left the candy out for ten days in a row and rotated between using a spoon that held a quarter-up and a teaspoon.
The results? Not surprisingly, when the larger scoop was out, the people gave themselves an average of nearly two-thirds MORE M&Ms than the ones who had the teaspoon.
EXPERIMENT #2
Geier placed a bowl of Tootsie Rolls in a snacking area of an apartment building for ten days in a row alternating between 80 small Tootsie Rolls or 20 of the larger size that are four times as big as the smaller ones. The same amount and weight of candy was kept constant throughout the experiment.
The results? The people took MORE by weight of the larger Toosie Rolls candies than they did the smaller ones.
Geier admits his "unit bias" theory is not the only reason why there were differences in the amount of food taken, but it certainly was an influencing factor that cannot be overlooked.
This subliminal eating hypothesis is quite an intriguing one to me as someone who used to weigh over 400 pounds and never really thought much about what I was putting in my mouth on a daily basis. I'm sure if there was food available like the ones in the experiment, then I would have been one of the people who took a LOT more with the larger scoop and portion sizes. When you're fat, you don't even pay attention to things like that. You just don't.
Geier said this is psychological conditioning that goes on in our brains regarding the supposed normality of what a portion size should be.
"Whatever size a banana is, that's what you eat, a small banana or a big banana," Geier noted. "Whatever's served on your plate, it just seems locked in our heads: that's a meal."
This is so very true. How did our society get to this point where portions are so large and almost universally accepted as "normal?" It's time for a brief history lesson.
I was talking with someone the other day about the whole "Supersizing" phenomenon and whether they remember how that all got started. When the person started scratching his head with a bewildered look on his face, I reminded him that we have the 1993 blockbuster movie "Jurassic Park" to blame.
McDonald's was one of the first fast food joints to begin cross-promoting movies at their restaurants (today it's everywhere!) and they introduced in 1993 what they called at the time their "Dinosize" meals with a 39 cents upgrade for a larger fries and soft drink. Because of the large dinosaurs in the movie, McDonald's thought it would be cute to make super-duper sized portions of soda and fries in these ready-to-serve meals. Before this happened, people were forced to make their own meal by ordering their Big Mac, fries and Coke separately. But not anymore!
After the movie promotion had ended, McDonald's realized they had stumbled on a marketing miracle and decided to keep their "Dinosize" meals which we now know as Extra Value Meals and the upgrade which is known as Super Sizing. I wonder how much "unit bias" is in play all because of the larger and larger portions at McDonald's. Of course, all of the other fast food restaurants followed suit and you can't go out to eat anywhere today without some "meal deal" on the menu. Sigh.
Do you even realize that the smallest size French fries at McDonald's right now is even larger than the LARGE used to be back before the days of Super Size? That's right, today's portions are out-of-control and nobody is upset about it (well, maybe Morgan Spurlock)! Yikes! Of course, there has been a proportional increase in the prices at McDonald's as well which keeps on lining the pockets of this junk-food giant even more to manufacture their garbage to the masses in bigger and bigger containers. Ugh!
"Yeah, would ya like that quintuple bacon cheeseburger in a bucket with your pound of fries and gallon of Coke?!" Eeeek! Is this closer to reality in the very near future or what? God help us all.
Our culture is as much to blame for this as anything, Geier remarked, because we just accept what is placed in front of us is the amount we should eat. This goes back to the importance of reading labels for the portion sizes on everything you eat so you are not overconsuming more than you should, although I don't think it is reasonable to suggest people will eat less just because something is labeled "100-calorie" or not.
How many people even realize a 20-ounce bottle of Coke is 2 1/2 servings?! I would venture to say not many. That's why we are in a crisis in this country that shows no signs of reversing without dramatic changes in the food and beverage industry.
Geier's findings were published in the June 2006 issue of the journal Psychological Science.
I recently blogged about another similar research study by Cornell University professor Dr. Brian Wansink who said bowl and scoop sizes impacted the amount of ice cream that was consumed by his study participants. However, I took him to task on his conclusions stating that real human behavior would dictate people who received smaller portions would go back for seconds if they could, but that was inconclusive in his study. I'm still waiting to hear back from him about that.
This story notes that Dr. Wansink is releasing a book in October 2006 about his research entitled "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think". It may be worth reading when it comes out in a few months. If I can get my hands on a copy, I'll review it for you. :)
But portion sizes in the United States have gone down a dangerous slippery slope over the past couple of decades and how many people have actually noticed or cared? It really has gotten crazy now, but how do you turn back the clock and expect people to STOP getting that Super Double Big Gulp from 7-11 that they are used to now and to suddenly START settling for the Gulp size. HA! Good luck on changing that person's mind about portion size!
In fact, Geier did another experiment using soda in the dining hall on his school's campus to see if the "unit bias" would kick in when students were offered a 10-ounce glass versus a 16-ounce glass. Like the M&Ms and Tootsie Rolls experiment, Geier fully expected the students who were given the smaller portions of soda would consume less. WRONG-O!
What happened was the students who were given the 10-ounce option didn't think that was enough soda to drink, so they got TWO of them for 20 total ounces, four ounces more than the 16-ounce servings that the other students chose.
"I guess I went below what is culturally construed as a unit of soda," Geier conceded.
Yep, and that's why it will be very difficult to change people's habits now. Humans are easily manipulated into certain behaviors by changes in their environment, especially the subtle ones. We have become conditioned to EXPECT more and more which is why a 19-pound hamburger shows up on a restaurant's menu!
Since we have seen such an incremental growth in the portion sizes in America, is it possible that we could also have an incremental decrease over the next decade or two and nobody would notice? It's probably possible, but not very likely. We are fighting an uphill battle and the harsh winds of change are blowing strong and hard to keep us from going back to the way it used to be now. That slippery slope is difficult to grip now.
That's why individuals, not society must make the right choices for themselves about what is an acceptable portion size to eat for them. Weight problems don't have to exist like they do today once people realize just how out of proportion so-called societal norms have become.
The "unit bias" can become a non sequitur when people become their own agents of change and start a weight loss revolution for themselves by bucking the cultural trends that surround them. That's what livin' la vida low-carb did for me and I'll never be the same again!
7-31-06 UPDATE: Andrew Geier e-mailed me about my blog post today.
Congratulations on your weight loss! That is awesome. Thank you for the kind words on my article and posting it on your blog.
Best, AG
We need more research on the psychology of why we eat the way we do and Andrew Geier is a pioneer in this. I look forward to hearing many more great things out of him regarding issues involving diet in the future.
Are you having a "fat day" even after weight loss?
Weight loss should be something that is rather simple, right? You realize that your weight has gotten out of control, you find an effective plan for shedding the pounds, you lose the weight, and then you keep it off forever. What could be easier?!
If only it were that elementary...
The reality of the situation is that people who have ever been overweight or obese suffer from a psychological condition that is very difficult to overcome. It can hit you while you are still losing weight to discourage you from continuing on and it most definitely will hit you when you are attempting to keep the weight off that you have lost. I call it having a "fat day."
See if this sounds familiar:
You wake up in the morning and you step on the scale to find you have GAINED a couple of pounds. Your mind immediately begins racing to answer the question, "What's wrong with me?!" You go into the bathroom and you see yourself in the mirror and start to ponder whether you can visibly SEE the weight gain on your body as you jiggle your stomach from a side view. The feeling of panic comes over you and paralyzes your sense of rationality that this is just a temporary thing that will not last as long as you keep on doing the things that helped you lose weight.
Can I get a witness anyone? Have you had a "fat day" yet? We all go through these periods when no matter how well we have done with our weight loss plan, we become our own worst enemy. Some people do this to themselves on a DAILY basis and can never find the thrill that comes with weight loss success. Others of us only have this happen from time to time, but it can be an aggravating experience that is no fun to go through.
What can you do when the "fat day" comes to bring you down? Well, the good news is you are now aware that you are not alone when this happens and that it even happens to people who have lost nearly 200 pounds! :)
Resolve in your mind that when the "fat day" becomes a reality for you that you will resist the urge to give up on your weight loss efforts, keep a smile on your face and go about your business as if nothing is wrong, eat the way you always eat and exercise the way you always exercise, and press forward with the plan that got you to where you are today.
In other words, go through your day as "normal" as possible even when inside your head you feel like a 400-pound monster of a person who couldn't lose weight if you starved yourself! Why do we do this to ourselves? And I'm just as guilty of it as anyone! But shaking those years and years of living as a fat person is easier said than done.
I'm a huge fan of song parodies thanks to my friends in a Christian band called Apologetix who take classic rock and modern-day pop songs and change the lyrics to make them into Christian songs. The lead singer of Apologetix named J. is an extremely talented lyricist and has an uncanny ability to sound EXACTLY like the artists he is mimicking. It's scary really.
Anywho, I thought I would try my hand at writing a song parody that goes along with the theme of this blog post. With apologies to the original artist, here is my rendition of the amazing song "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter (don't ask me to sing it, though!). For anyone who hasn't heard this chart-topping song yet, you have to check out the music video at DanielPowter.com.
Where is the moment we needed the toast You turn on the oven and cook up a roast They tell me your diet's slippin' away They tell me you don't know what to say And I don't need you to explain
You stand in the line at the grocery store You grab you a Coke and you get it to go You tell me your diet is way off line You're gaining back weight all the time And I don't need you to explain
Cause you had a fat day You're eating once more You're stuffing your face with the things you abhore You say you don't care You're ready to quit You offer excuses why you're pitchin' a fit You had a fat day The scale doesn't lie You're weight comes back down if you recommit now You had a fat day You had a fat day
Well you need a inspirational day The point is you need to find your way And I don't need you to explain
Cause you had a fat day You're eating once more You're stuffing your face with the things you abhore You say you don't care You tell me you quit You offer excuses why you're pitchin' a fit You had a fat day The scale doesn't lie You're weight will come back down if you recommit now You had a fat day You had a fat day
Sometimes weight loss goes on the blink And everything right can feel so wrong You might not believe you'll make it through That you could get this far along And I'm not wrong
So where is your diet when you need it the most Oh you and I You turn on the oven and cook up a roast
Cause you had a fat day You're eating once more You're stuffing your face with the things you abhore You say you don't care You tell me you quit You offer excuses why you're pitchin' a fit You had a fat day The scale doesn't lie You're weight will come back down if you recommit now You had a fat day You had a fat day
I'm here to let you know it's gonna be alright. We ALL have them at some point, so it is completely natural and normal for you to go through a "fat day" from time to time. The key strategy for you is to keep your head up high and refuse to give up just because of some silly feeling of failure that comes over you. You KNOW better and now you know what to do.
One of the great things about livin' la vida low-carb is the opportunity to try some really amazing foods that can help you make this way of eating into a permanent lifestyle change. And there is one low-carb product on the market today that has brought more enjoyment to low-carbers than virtually any other out there: Dreamfields pasta!
Although I recently chided them for seeming to shun people who low-carb, I am still a devoted fan of their pasta products because they really are the most delicious low-carb pastas on the market today bar none! None of the others even come close to matching the taste and texture of real pasta like Dreamfields does.
But there's just one problem: Dreamfields is getting harder and harder to find. Are you running into this problem? I sure am and it has frustrated me to no end. I suppose I should have seen it coming when my local grocery stores put Dreamfields products on closeout sale earlier this year. Sigh.
These discontinued products in the low-carb industry can be challenging for people who have enjoyed using them, but it is a fact of life that you're gonna have to get used to and adapt. The good thing is Dreamfields hasn't gone away completely.
In fact, our friends at CarbSmart have listened to your concerns about trying to find Dreamfields pasta in your area and is now carrying the Dreamfields products just for you.
Here are the ones CarbSmart has available for you to purchase:
In fact, CarbSmart is offering a quantity discount when you buy a dozen or more (and you will DEFINITELY want to stock up on this stuff!) so you will want to place your order right away. :D
Here's a FREE RECIPE to get you started off right using Dreamfields pasta. If you live in an area like me where Dreamfields pasta is scarce, then isn't it good to know you can get it from an excellent low-carb retailer like CarbSmart? ORDER SOME TODAY!
If you haven't met "The Fat Man Walking" yet, prepare to be inspired
There's one date in my mind that I will NEVER forget for as long as I live because it was the turning point in my life when I decided I would no longer settle for being an obese man for the rest of my life. That date was January 1, 2004. Oh, I'm sure I thought about doing something long before that actual day, but my long journey to lose weight and get healthy began on that day.
For Steve "The Fat Man Walking" Vaught, that date would be April 10, 2005. That's the day when this 39-year old father of two from Oceanside, California started his unique plan to shed the pounds while inspiring a nation. It was on that fateful day when he committed himself to begin a trek across the United States from San Diego, California to New York City in an effort to "regain my life" from the stronghold of obesity.
Like me, Steve weighed 410 pounds when his weight loss began
This amazing man has already lost over 100 pounds in a little more than a year despite various injuries along the way and struggling with how he should eat. Steve says it is still a "battle even now" about how he should be eating as he continues seeking what would work best for him. Have you considered livin' la vida low-carb, Steve? :D
If you have not read any of Steve's personal journals, then you are missing out on some of the most revealing commentary on what the mind of a fat person is like and how very difficult it is to adequately describe the emotions that come from being an overweight or obese person in today's society. You can sense the struggle in what Steve writes about regarding his own experience because of the intense and obvious pain it conjures up within him. For those of us who have been through this battle, those wounds are all too fresh.
Amazingly, Steve hasn't always been fat and was even once a Marine. But as most people do after they get married and start settling down into life, Steve just allowed himself to get bigger and bigger until he topped out at 410 pounds last year. I know the feeling because that is the same thing that happened to me before I started livin' la vida low-carb. For Steve, he's now livin' la vida the fat man walking! Go, Steve, go!
Steve's hoping to keep on losing the weight, one step at a time
I sent an e-mail to Steve the other day to encourage him in this journey he is on just to let him know he is not alone in his battle. I shared with him about my own weight loss success and that I believed he could do it, too!
He wrote me an e-mail back today stating that his weight loss endeavor "is a long journey but one that can be done."
That's exactly right, my friend. Keep holding your head up high and NEVER EVER EVER give up on your dream of bringing about lasting weight loss for yourself. I KNOW it can happen for you and I'm here to cheer you on to great success! KEEP UP THE GREAT JOB, Steve "The Fat Man Walking" Vaught!
Now I am proud to tell you about a brand new product from the makers of GoLower nut bars that will surely be a hit when they become available in the United States this Fall--GoLower Chocolate Creme Bars!
One of the main criticisms of the GoLower nut bars was that the "chocolate" flavor isn't very chocolate-tasting at all. Well they put that issue to rest with these new GoLower Chocolate Creme Bars that ooze with chocolate decadence without all the high-carb sugar that comes in most bars of this type.
Available in the same flavors as the GoLower nut bars--Raspberry, Chocolate, and Coconut--these bars do not contain any added sugars, are high in fiber and protein and rank low in both the glycemic index and glycemic load.
I know what you're thinking, though: What about the CHOCOLATE?!
Mmmm, this dark cocoa rich chocolate is the perfect covering for the nougat-like center to give you all the antioxidant benefits of eating chocolate while you enjoy sinking your teeth into an excellent, high-quality product.
What sets GoLower Chocolate Creme Bars apart from other protein bars is the fact that it is truly all-natural with no artificial ingredients, including sucralose or Xylitol, and no sugar alcohols. Additionally, these sugar-free chocolate bars do not contain any fructose, high fructose corn syrup, honey or glucose that would send your blood sugar spiking off the charts! The natural sugars in these bars are a mere 4g per bar.
As for the fiber, you get 7.1g of prebiotic fiber which helps feed the good bacteria in your body and keeps you satisfied for hours after eating it. I can personally attest to this after having these bars and it's a good feeling knowing you have eaten something that tastes good and really is good for you as well. It certainly doesn't hurt that there's also 7.1g protein to keep your hunger satisfied for hours as well!
Here is the complete nutritional information for each of the bars:
Just like the GoLower nut bars, these chocolate bars are sweetened with oligofructose and the natural flavorings of the ingredients included in every delicious bar. As much as I enjoyed the GoLower nut bars, I have to say these chocolate bars are even BETTER! Can you believe that? There's something about the chocolate they use in these bars that will make you want to consume these GoLower Chocolate Creme Bars again and again.
While the Raspberry GoLower nut bars are my favorite, I would have to say the Chocolate GoLower Chocolate Creme Bars are tops with me because it is a rich, powerful punch of chocolate in each and every bite. Oh, I can't wait for you to try these when they come to CarbSmart in just a couple of months. We'll let you know when they are available in the U.S.
Speaking of GoLower, the Founder and President of the company Hannah Sutter was in the United States recently along with her business partner Kevin Dorren to meet with various business contacts here. She and Kevin were kind enough to swing by my hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina to meet me for dinner at the local steakhouse.
Hannah certainly enjoys making life fun. But she is dead serious about her commitment to bringing the best products possible to the market that will help people eat healthier without sacrificing quality. That's something you can take to the bank about any of the GoLower products.
Hannah and Kevin sent me a small gift of appreciation for my hospitality during their visit to the United States that they thought would be appropriate for someone named Jimmy Moore: it's a "jimmy" hat (must be a British thing!).
I can't wait for you to try the new GoLower Chocolate Creme Bars when they become available. In fact, we'll have an exclusive contest giveway for you to participate in when the weather cools down just a bit (they would melt into soup if we mailed them to you right now in these triple-digit temperatures!). Keep reading in the coming weeks for details!
Could simply taking fish oil really help you lose weight?
Before I started livin' la vida low-carb, I pretty much snubbed my nose up at anyone who took vitamins and supplements to allegedly improve their health. I thought it was such a waste of time and money on something that just made your urine more expensive and yellow. :-~
In fact, when I was growing up, my dad used to let the local Shaklee devotees hold their monthly meetings in his restaurant to talk about all of the supposedly wonderful benefits of supplementation to your diet. One lady, no lie, used to take a handful of at least 50 different pills and down them all in one swallow with a glass of water chaser! Eeeek!
Who knew that 20 or so years later this former skeptic would become a believer and join the ranks of the vitamin-popping people as well! But now this Reuters story about a new Australian study showing the healthy weight loss benefits of taking omega-3 fatty acids-rich fish oil supplements to complement a moderate exercise program makes me proud that I have added supplementation to my diet.
Lead researcher Alison Hill, an honors student in the School of Health Sciences at the University of South Australia, observed 68 overweight and obese study participants with high blood pressure and high cholesterol and divided them into one of four groups over a 3-month period:
GROUP 1 - Small doses of tuna fish oil (omega-3 fatty acids) GROUP 2 - Sunflower oil (no omega-3 fatty acids) w/no diet change GROUP 3 - Small doses of tuna fish oil with 135 min exer/wk GROUP 4 - Sunflower oil w/no diet change & 135 min exer/wk
Hill said she wanted to see how well the omega-3's found in the fish oil would help the study participants lose weight.
"The omega-3 found in fish oil increases fat-burning ability by improving the flow of blood to muscles during exercise," Hill noted.
What she discovered was that GROUP 3, who exercised 45-minutes by walking or running three days a week, lost an average of 4.5 pounds over the 3-month study, while GROUP 1, GROUP 2, and GROUP 4 did not lose any weight at all.
The results of this study made Hill "very surprised" because the study participants "were still eating whatever they wanted."
"It's pretty exciting because this implies the results would be even better if you did control diet and exercised more heavily," Hill concluded.
Oh no doubt the weight loss would have been a lot better had they been on some kind of weight loss plan such as livin' la vida low-carb. When I started losing my weight in early 2004, it was not a question of if, but rather WHEN I would start exercising. At 410 pounds, I could just barely breath walking around. But as I started losing weight, I knew making exercise a permanent habit would come into play in my success so I began in earnest one month after starting my low-carb lifestyle.
But I didn't add fish oil to my supplements for several months. I don't know, I guess I just didn't think about it since you don't hear a lot about it and how important it is to your health anywhere. That's one of the reasons I started my blog was to help get information like this out there so that the future morbidly obese Jimmy Moores out there can have access to the information they need to live a long and healthy life. The facts are there, but they're not getting out to the people who need to hear them.
The researchers theorize that it is the better ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids that brings about the better weight loss. In fact, the higher ratio between these two is believed to be protective against diabetes, heart disease, stroke and even cancer. Unfortunately, most Americans are consuming way too much omega-6 fatty acids because of the corn oil that is in everything (I will be reviewing a book that talks about this very soon) and not enough omega-3's, commonly found in fish oil.
So what is it about fish oil that is bringing about the weight loss? Hill explains.
"We suspect that they improve blood flow to exercising muscles and stimulate key enzymes to transport fat that needs to be used as fuel," Hill said. "In overweight people this ability is almost always impaired."
8-3-06 UPDATE: Many of my readers were wondering exactly what amount of fish oil the study subjects were taking, so I posed that question to Alison Hill directly.
Here was her response to me today:
Hi there,
Our subjects took 6 x 1g capsules of a DHA rich (26% DHA) fish oil per day.
This work is part of my PhD and while we need to contribute something new to the scientific body of knowledge to be awarded our doctorate, I am pleased that my work is also something that people are finding interesting and beneficial!
Thanks for your interest in our study.
Best wishes,
Alison
So, this "small dosage" of fish oil was basically 6g of DHA-rich fish oil daily. I appreciate the added information and wish Alison Hill all the success she desires in her scientific career post-doctorate!
Obesity is making it more and more difficult to run medical tests
The problem with overweight and obese people regarding their health is not just limited to their physical condition. This Reuters story reveals that the prevalence of fat in most Americans can make simple tests like X-rays much less effective for finding and treating medical problems that arise.
In a report published in the August issue of the scientific journal Radiology, radiologist Dr. Raul Uppot from the Massachusetts General Hospital said the growing girths of the American people are presenting quite a challenge to the medical community attempting to help their overweight and obese patients.
"We noticed over the past couple of years that obesity was playing a role in our ability to see these images clearly," Dr. Uppot remarked.
In fact, radiologists have already come up with a euphemism for "the patient was too fat to get a good image" on the report. They write that the images are "limited due to body habitus."
In other words, THEY'RE TOO FAT FOR US TO TAKE THE PICTURE OF WHAT WE NEED TO SEE? It's gotten to be pretty pathetic when a doctor can't even have an X-ray, CT scan, MRI, or PET scan done on a patient because their fat hides what needs to be seen or they're too big to fit in the machine long enough to have the test done.
Sheeez people, do you see why weight loss is so desperately needed right here right now. This is a crisis in the medical community and it shows no signs of getting better!
How would you like to be the patient with a potential tumor, blood clot, broken bone or other such ailment and your doctor says to you, "I'm sorry, but due to 'habitus limited' complications during your test, it is unclear whether you have a life-threatening condition or not. Can you please lose some weight so we can get rid of that 'habitus limited' problem?" UGH!
Dr. Uppot noted the number of "habitus limited" reports has DOUBLED since 1990 with many patients not able to receive the best treatment because the radiologists cannot help them as they should.
"It is a major issue because ... the patient may still have a tumor, the patient may have appendicitis, the patient may have other inflammatory processes," Dr. Uppot explained. "This is affecting radiologists all over the country."
I'm just waiting for someone to file a medical malpractice lawsuit because of this. Um, yes, your honor, they kept me from getting better because I had a cancerous tumor inside of me that they couldn't see. Yes, I understand I weigh 450 pounds, but they still should have been able to see through all my fat to get to that tumor. You think I'm joking, but don't be surprised to see this lawsuit pop up in the very near future!
According to Dr. Uppot, the test that is distorted the most is the ultrasound which is "like a snowstorm."
"If you have seen those televisions where it is just whiteout," Dr. Uppot reported. "It looks like that."
Super-sized MRI machines are being created by aggressive medical equipment companies looking to capitalize on the obesity problem, but they are much too expensive for most hospitals to afford. They kinda remind me of those oversized ambulances in Australia!
Problems like these will not be going away and building bigger and bigger machines is NOT the answer. This is yet another reason why people need to find a weight loss plan they can follow for the rest of their lives and then execute that plan. They must do it for the sake of their health and the potential problems that lie beneath all that fat that their doctors may one day need to see. Don't let that happen to you!
If you notice you can fit in airplane or movie theater seats, the booth at your favorite restaurant is getting tight, or even if you can't fit in that X-ray machine, then maybe it's time you should seriously consider a healthy weight loss plan as soon as possible. I suggest you start livin' la vida low-carb TODAY! :D
7-29-06 UPDATE: Dr. Raul Uppot sent me an e-mail about this blog post explaining a little bit more about his philosophy regarding the larger equipment accomodations for obese patients and what the short and long-term plans are to alleviate this problem.
Hello Jimmy -
Thanks for your wonderful blog post. I am happy to see that you encourage weight loss with diet and exercise as a solution. As a radiologist, I believe that we should have both a short term and long term solution to the problem of obesity and imaging.
The short term solution is the responsibility of radiologists, hospitals, and equipment manufacturers to accomodate obese patients and obtain high quality images by learning how to adjust the current equipment settings and redesigning equipment to accomodate larger patients.
The long term solution is the responsibility of patients to have a good diet and exercise and to lose weight so that their care is not hindered in the hospital.
However, Dr. Uppot was concerned about the comments I used to describe his study in the repost of this blog at CarbWire.com. But he wanted me and my readers to know he sincerely desires to see these people lose weight rather than building larger and larger machines and that is his ultimate goal.
Hello again Jimmy -
I was a little disappointed to see your comments [on CarbWire.com] regarding my "ill-advised comments." I appreciate that you promote weight loss. That is the final answer...without a doubt. I also believe that if Americans ate properly and exercised we wouldn't be here.
But as a physician I have a responsibility to help obese individuals who come to the hospital with an acute medical condition. It is irresponsible to ignore their condition when they present to the hospital acutely. I cannot send them home and tell them to start a low-carb diet. If they have appendicits or a tumor they would not survive. It is our responsiblity to maximize equipment settings and design equipment to diagnose their acute medcial condition.
You won't believe how many of your readers have written to me seeking help for diagnosing their medical condition and I have been happy to accomodate.
But again as I have stated this is only a short term solution and the long term solution is patient weight loss as you promote. I hope in fairness you post these comments on your blog as I feel we are both trying to help obese people.
Raul N. Uppot, MD Department of Radiology Massachusetts General Hospital
Here was my response:
Dear Dr. Uppot,
THANK YOU for writing me back and certainly I will post your comments at my blog. My intention was not necessarily a scorn, but rather a sincere concern about the slippery slope we are traveling down regarding growing medical testing equipment bigger and bigger with no end in sight. Where do we draw the line as a society when we say enough is enough?
When doctors start becoming more proactive in helping their patients lose weight, using various means for doing so including low-fat, low-calorie, and low-carb lifestyle changes, then and only then will we see this "growing" trend begin to stop. Again, THANK YOU for your research and I appreciate your comments!
An elegant all-in-one pasta dinner dish to delight your family with
CREAMY PASTA WITH VEGGIES & SMOKED TURKEY
1 bag Al Dente™ Carba-Nada pasta 2 Tbsp. olive oil 1 onion, dried 2 red peppers, diced 1lb. mushrooms, sliced 1lb.smoked turkey or ham, diced 1 cup evaporated milk 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the veggies until soft. Add smoked turkey, evaporated milk & cook until heated through and slightly thickened.
2. In the meantime, cook Carba-Nada pasta in boiling water for 5 minutes, until tender, but firm. Drain. Add pasta to skillet, tossing with sauce, adding parmesan, salt & pepper.
Serves 4-6 people.
NOTE: This is not a LOW-carb dish, but rather a LOWER-carb dish since the Carba-Nada pasta contains 18g net carbs per serving. FYI!
Your T-shirt will include the "We put the Dash in Low-Carb" slogan
Our friends at Low-Carb Connoisseur wanted to offer a special limited edition T-shirt to the readers of the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog when you place ANY order with them through the end of July (can you believe August will be here next week?!).
This beautiful shirt features the famous umbrella logo you see above along with their catch phrase "We put the Dash in Low-Carb." You will have your choice between Large and X-Large when you checkout and it's so easy to get your complimentary shirt.
Here's what you do:
1. Click here to browse around their awesome store. 2. Select any of the wonderful low-carb products they offer. 3. When you are ready to checkout, go to the comment box. 4. Enter the redemption phrase "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb." 5. Be sure to indicate either Large or X-Large.
IT'S THAT EASY! Consider this a special THANK YOU for your faithful readership to the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog and to Low-Carb Connoisseur.
Don't forget about their special Clearance Sale which features many new products that have just been added in the past few days. You'll DEFINITELY want to check it out. Or maybe it's time to restock on your Konjac shirataki noodles!
Show your support for Low-Carb Connoisseur and get rewarded with a FREE T-SHIRT! Place your order TODAY! :)
I was alerted to something quite disturbing today to say the least by my calorie-restriction friend April who told me about a California-based youth "fat farm" called Academy of the Sierras where overweight and obese children are being subject to an extreme low-fat diet consisting of nearly single-digit fat intake daily! April blogged about this here initially, then here, and finally here.
What is most incredible is the diet they have these kids eating is robbing them of some of the essential nutrients their bodies need for them to continue to grow into the healthy adults they are becoming. While they are getting 70g protein and 20g fiber, they are ONLY being fed a measly 10g fat. JUST TEN GRAMS! That's all they get daily. Yikes! They get to eat all the soups, salads, fat-free (and HIGH sugar, by the way) yogurt, fruits and vegetables as part of this wonder diet plan. The leaders of this program claim the kids won't get hungry eating this way.
Well, I guess they don't get as hungry with all of that protein they are eating. But what about the healthy fats these kids NEED for a healthy body and improved overall health? Even the American Heart Association FINALLY admitted this year that proper fat intake is important. Studies have shown eating fat improves mental health. Are these people at the Academy of the Sierras even concerned about the damage they are causing to the developing brains of these children they have been given control over? Helllllloooo?
You would think with the results of a landmark 8-year study on low-fat diets earlier this year showing them to be the big fat lie that people who are livin' la vida low-carb knew them to be would end this madness about being afraid of eating fat as part of a healthy weight loss program. This all-too-obvious fact has apparently left the good folks at the Academy of the Sierras as they continue to live in the past with their dietary recommendations centered around the archaic teachings of Dr. Dean Ornish!
But isn't it borderline child abuse what the leaders of this program are doing to these poor kids? With new research PROVING the theories they are using to induce weight loss in these children -- namely an extreme low-fat diet -- is false, then why would they still insist on using these tactics when there are much better ways to bring about the same results in a healthier manner? They wouldn't need to change their program radically to make it just as effective for weight loss AND be more nutrient-dense.
They could still have the kids eat 70g protein and 20g fiber, but have them instead begin to limit the carbohydrates to 20g daily while allowing 30-40g fat MINIMUM daily and having them avoid sugar, white flour, starchy veggies and processed foods. Why wouldn't this work better for the kids and give them a more palatable menu to eat from?
Wanna see just a sampling of what these kids have to eat now:
low-fat pizza very lean ground turkey tacos (EWWWW!) fat free bean burritos veggie egg white omelettes (where are the yolks?!) oil-free Asian stir fries innovative pastas (what the heck is that?!) spice apple raisin pancakes bagels with fat-free cream cheese Berries (the best item on this menu!) melon wedges fat-free yogurt Boca burgers (mmm, mmm Boca--NOT!) sandwich bar with very lean ham and turkey Mexican pizza fat-free soups fruit salad (can you say sugar?!) honey chicken veggie stir-fry “spinach baked” potatoes (say who what is THAT?!) frozen yogurt salad bar with fat-free dressings carrot sticks fat-free potato chips with salsa (yucky poo!) oatmeal raisin bars
Can you tell me what most of those foods contains gobs and gobs of? That's right, CARBOHYDRATES!!! Jeepers creepers people, let's just send the blood sugar of these kids into overdrive now with what we're feeding them. Sheeeeez! I remember eating an obsessively low-fat diet before and it's not fun at all. If my experience is any indication of what is going to happen to these kids when they get back home, then it would not surprise me to hear that most if not all of them rebel at their new way of eating and gain back every single pound they worked so hard to lose. I don't wish that on them, but it is almost inevitable with a low-fat diet as extreme as this one is.
You can express your concerns about this dangerous and abusive weight loss program for these adolescents by e-mailing them directly. You can address your e-mail to Phil Obbard who is the Executive Director for the Academy of the Sierras. Ask him to specifically answer your concerns about the lack of good fats in the diets these kids are being put on and let me know if you hear back from him or another representative. This blatant abuse by the Academy of the Sierra MUST be stopped immediately!
Wansink says you can lose weight by using smaller bowls--HA!
This Forbes Magazine article shares about a new research study from a food marketing professor who found people actually eat more calories when they are given larger dishes. However, there are a lot of assumptions made about what this means for people desiring weight loss because it is missing a key element that exists in people who struggle with being overweight or obese.
Lead researcher Brian Wansink, director of the Ithaca, NY-based Cornell University Food and Brand Lab with expertise in Food Marketing, Consumer Behavior, and Food Psychology, conducted an experiment with 85 food and nutrition experts by inviting them to an ice cream social. The study involved randomly distributing one of two sizes of bowls (17-ounce or 34-ounce) and one of two sizes of serving scoops (2-ounce or 3-ounce). Everyone at the ice cream party was responsible for dipping their own ice cream.
Wansink noted that those study participants who were given the 34-ounce bowls, or double the size of the smaller bowls that were distributed, actually served themselves 31 percent MORE ice cream than those with the 17-ounce bowls. At the same time, the larger 3-ounce scoop resulted in a 14.5 percent INCREASE in ice cream serving size than the smaller 2-ounce scoop.
What was most amazing to Wansink, whose teaching and research interests look at how packaging and human behavior can impact how often and how much consumers use food products, was the fact that his unbeknownst to them study pool included so-called nutrition and food "experts" who would know how many calories are in a certain portion size. Nevertheless, they STILL ate more with the larger bowls and scoops.
"The fact that even they end up being tripped up by these cues just helps to show how ubiquitous and how subversive these illusions can be," Wansink exclaimed.
This is why restaurants keep serving larger and larger portions so they can charge you more money. And yet we still are encouraged as a society to clean our plates because we were taught to do that growing up (because God forbid that kid in Africa who is starving will be even hungrier if I don't finish every last morsel on my plate!). Is there any wonder how America got to be so fat?!
But I must take Wansink to task about one assumption he is making regarding his study and it is not directly addressed in the story. For those study participants who ate out of the 17-ounce bowls, how many of them went back for SECONDS (or THIRDS!) with the noticably smaller bowls? Hmmm?
While the 34-ounce bowls may have included about one-third more ice cream than the 17-ounce ones intially, you can't help but wonder if the bigger-bowl group skipped the second go round while the smaller-bowl group felt jipped and double-dipped! I sure would have back in the day when I weighed 410 pounds with a bottomless pit for an appetite!
You know, I bet they were cruel for this study and removed the ice cream before anyone could ask for seconds. Eeek! Tsk tsk to them if they did this because it totally ruined what would likely have happened had they continued to make the ice cream available. Lines would have started to develop with all the 17-ounce bowls getting filled up yet again. There's no doubt in my mind that this would have happened. We'll never know for sure with this study.
However, if you want to see some REAL human behavior concerning food, Mr. Wansink, then why don't you conduct THAT experiment again and watch what happens to your theory about smaller bowls when you let people eat all they want of the ice cream uninhibited by the self-imposed limitations of your study? That's precisely why I oppose the move to make restaurants cut portions and calories because people will simply order more food to satisfy their appetites. Plus, people now EXPECT to get large portions when they go out to eat and are disappointed when the portion sizes are TOO SMALL!
Since I started livin' la vida low-carb in 2004 and lost 180 pounds on this amazing lifestyle change, I have never once watched my portions and have simply let my body tell me when I have had enough food to eat. Some low-carbers have told me that they HAVE to watch calories and control their portion sizes, but I haven't run into this yet. While I certainly agree people should be eating less food and calories than they are right now, I don't think artificially trying to fool people into eating smaller portions by giving them smaller tableware is necessarily going to help people lose weight because they'll just go back and fill those smaller plates up again and again until they have eaten the amount they really want.
What people need to do is make BETTER food choices and stop worrying about calories and portions to help lower their weight and get healthy. That's why the 100-calorie foods are the biggest diet gimmick out there on grocery store shelves today. The formula I have used during my success is STILL working well for me in maintenance mode, too. Why should I change my strategy now?
Wansink said previous research has shown that many other factors influence how much food is eaten by people, including the different kinds of foods available, background music, how hot or cold the eating environment is, and the speed of the eating patterns of your dining partner. He said we can add to that list the size of the plates, bowls and other dishes now.
"Four ounces of ice cream in a small bowl may appear an appropriate amount for a mid-afternoon snack, but the same in a larger bowl may appear too small, leading one to over-serve," he concluded.
8-7-06 UPDATE: Brian Wansink was on vacation when I wrote this blog post, but he was kind enough to reply to it upon his return.
Hi Jimmy,
Thanks again for sending me your link and for the thoughtful column on the "Ice Cream Illusions" article. You make excellent points in the article. I very much agree with your big point that if a person wants to lose a lot of weight a serious diet a low carb approach like the one you recommend can be very useful for a disciplined person (By the way, I LOVE the name of the book, Livinlavidalowcarb, very cool).
The main point of the ice cream illusions study (the bowls and spoons study) was to show how the environment can trick even experts. The people in the study were nutritional science profs and should have known better. I would have been just as guilty.
It was also a good point you made about people overcompensating by eating seconds. This can be a real problem in some studies and I've seen a number of studies in which it can really hurt the conclusions. To get around this problem we always try to use bowls that far exceed the size a person would fill.
For instance, in this study we gave people either 17 oz or 34 oz bowls. Even with the smaller 17 oz bowls, the average person fills it less than 1/3 full. The size of the bowl is no real constraint in how much a person eats. It can however be a perceptual constraint.
These ideas are a couple of the chapters in a forthcoming book (Oct 17 from Bantam Dell) called "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think." Let me know if I can be of help to you in the future, and best of luck to you and your readers.
All my best,
Brian
EXCELLENT! Brian said he would be sending me a copy of his book to review when it is available. Stay tuned...
Introducing the next great artificial sweetener: Neotame
A few days I blogged about the FDA granting their approval for the various popular artificial sweeteners on the market today, including aspartame, ACE-K, saccharin and sucralose.
But there was a fifth sugar substitute on that list that I had personally never heard of called neotame that many of you have asked me to blog about since it seems to be a relatively new sweetener on the market without a lot of information available about it. In fact, one of my readers said he noticed the new Atkins shakes contain neotame in them along with ACE-K and sucralose.
Although it is made by the same company that makes Nutrasweet and is similar to aspartame inasmuch as it is an artificial sweetener as well. But neotame is decidedly different than aspartame. It is an amino-acid-based sweetener which is -- get this -- 10,000 times sweeter than sugar! Whoa, that's a high-intensity sweetener, baby! And unlike aspartame, which does not hold up well under heat making it impractical to use in recipes, neotame is heat-stable just like sucralose is.
For people with the condition known phenylketonuria need not worry about consuming neotame because it is metabolized differently than aspartame which has considerably higher concentrations of phenylalanine, a common ingredient found primarily in aspartame-sweetened diet sodas (isn't that just about ALL of them nowadays?!).
While aspartame has a very distinctive (I call it NASTY!) taste, neotame, on the other hand, tastes somewhat better and is completely safe to use as an artificial sweetener. However, it is so powerful that only a tiny amount is needed to pack a powerful sweetening punch. Check this out: 1/4 TEASPOON of neotame has the same amount of sweetness as 22 POUNDS of sugar! Woo wee, my tastebuds would be zapped completely off the charts if I had that much of something sweet in my mouth.
Obviously neotame is not a a sweetener you will be consuming high amounts of anytime soon and it is generally combined with other sweeteners (namely sucralose and ACE-K) in most products. My trusted source for this information about neotame described eating straight pure neotame as "an insane experience" because "you literally have never tasted anything nearly so sweet in your life." LOL! You may have to use a whole box of salt just to get the sweetness out of your mouth after doing that! :D
For anyone who has sensitivity to aspartame (and I'm one who gets headaches from consuming too much of it while others I know get physically sick to their stomach worse than overeating products with sugar alcohols in them), it appears neotame does not cause these same kinds of side effects in most people because the amount of neotame is so much smaller in comparison to aspartame. Any concerns over methanol poisoning from the breakdown of this sweetener are virtually nonexistent considering fruits and veggies have exponentially more methanol in them than neotame!
One interesting point that my source told me about neotame is the fact that it could immediately start being used to replace some of the large amounts of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in most sugary soft drinks and not change the taste of it one bit. How about that? An incredible 25 percent REDUCTION in the amount of HFCS would mean less calories and less sugar, both of which you would think should be something soda manufacturers fall all over themselves to make happen and market that fact. It would make their products HEALTHIER and they're refusing to do it in America! Go figure!
Interestingly, though, Coca-Cola has already started using neotame in place of some of the HFCS with their products overseas and Walmart-brand soft drinks also contain neotame. It really makes sense and cents for these companies to do this since most consumers are unaware of the change (I still get funny looks from people when I reveal to them that Coke Zero has aspartame in it!) and it costs 80 percent less commercially than sucralose does. With that said, it does start to make you wonder -- why don't they just go ahead and get rid of the other 75% of that disgusting and unhealthy HFCS already?! Hmmmmm?
As it stands right now, neotame is not available to consumers for purchase in little packets like Splenda, Nutrasweet and Sweet N' Low are. Because it is so concentrated and it is so similar a product as Splenda, you probably should not expect to see it on your local grocery store shelves anytime soon. But don't be surprised to find more and more of your favorite sugar-free (neotame is diabetic-friendly!) and low-carb products containing this incredible new power-sweetener called neotame. Now you know what it is!
For even more information, be sure to visit Neotame.com.
NBC's "The Biggest Loser" is coming back in September for Season 3
As one of the show's most supportive fans for Season One and Season Two, people are always asking me when the new and exciting return of the hit NBC weight loss show "The Biggest Loser" will be coming back for Season Three. Well, I have some very good news for all of you who are fans of the show -- your wait is almost over and you're never gonna believe what they've done to the show to make it even MORE appealing for people in all 50 states to watch this time around.
There are several changes for the new season of "The Biggest Loser," one of which is the conspicuous absence of the Red Team trainer Jillian Michaels. It will be interesting to see how NBC handles this on the air. While it is unclear whether Jillian decided to move on from the show on her own or not, she has since been replaced by a perky new fitness trainer named Kim Lyons who joins the very popular Bob Harper this season to motivate these contestants to victory over their weight problems. Perhaps I can do another interview with Bob or Kim later this year. We'll start working on making that happen.
One of the first things you will notice when the two-hour season premier airs on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 8/7c is the large number of contestants this year -- 50 of them, in fact, one representing each of the 50 states in America. That was a pretty ingenious marketing strategy to give the viewers at home at least one person to root for from their home state. We'll see how well that does in the ratings for NBC.
Of course, with that many contestants all in the same show, it will be a lot more difficult for the viewers at home to connect personally with any specific contestants like has happened in the first two seasons because the limited "face" time on camera that will have to be a lot less to accomodate the extra people. Even still, each of these would-be "losers" have a story to tell and I will attempt to introduce them to you right now going through the states in alphabetical order.
With a combined starting weight of 14,384 pounds, or an average of 288 POUNDS PER CONTESTANT, these people have a lot to prove to themselves and their loved ones becoming more physically active and to start eating better than the nearly 3,000-calories-per-day average they did in the week prior to beginning their journey on "The Biggest Loser."
It's time to meet all 50 of the "Biggest Loser 3" contestants:
Another 27-year old who has eaten poorly his entire life and now he wants the buck to stop here. He hopes to one day compete in an Iron Man triathlon to inspire his family and America.
A hilarious 32-year old whose mouth will either get her into trouble and make her triumphant. She says she really hates running (guess what they'll have her doing the first day!), but she's willing to do what she has to do to lose weight.
This shy 41-year old father of six kids desperately wants to be around for his kids and grandkids. He wants to increase his energy and feel better about himself to feel like he did when he was in a heavy metal band in his youth. When he loses the weight, he plans on taking his kids hiking up the Grand Canyon.
A 32-year old father of twin girls who has hidden his face and body with a beard and baggy clothes because of the shame he feels from getting fat. His strong-willed determination and dedication to his family, combined with a timely sense of humor, will make him a player to watch.
Affectionately known as "the fat kid," this 33-year old aspiring actor is tired of worrying about getting diabetes like the rest of her family has. She wants to make herself healthy through dedication to whatever she must do to lose weight.
A 29-year old registered nurse, he has seen patients die right before his eyes because of their obesity. His greatest fear is to end up in the ER as a patient because of his unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise. He hopes to lead by example with what he will accomplish on "The Biggest Loser."
This 29-year old middle-school history teacher was a college baseball star, but now he can hardly keep up with his students. But they will serve as a source of support for him while he is on the show.
A 32-year old mother of two whose weight zoomed after each pregnancy is looking to find her way back down to that size 1 she was in college. She wants to do this to teach her kids the importance of remaining active.
A 34-year old flight attendant who never seems to find the time to eat, sleep or exercise the way she should wants and hopes to get rid of that title she hear passengers call her -- "the big one" -- so she can find Mr. Right in her life.
A former professional baseball player with the New York Yankees, this 52-year old has been through tragedy early in his life when his wife died of breast cancer. To cover his pain, he used humor and ate more than he should which later led him to become diabetic. He hopes to get back into playing shape again.
This "over 50" contestant is a single mom who wants to fall in love and is coming on "The Biggest Loser" to put herself in a better position to attract the man of her dreams.
This 34-year old had part of her thyroid accidentally removed when she was a child which made her rapidly gain weight beginning at the age of 10. She has always felt the real her is waiting to come out.
This 25-year old corporate sales work-a-holic is always eating on the run and has never found time to take care of herself. Now she wants to make that happen on "The Biggest Loser."
This 40-year old had admittedly eaten the wrong foods and not exercised his way to obesity, but he wants to get his body back into his old state-ranked tennis playing days again.
A 29-year old has three goals in mind: wear a string bikini, run a marathon, and skydive. That's all! She wants to be thinner although most people tell her she looks fine. She knows better and wants to shock the world.
This 30-year old father of three is a devoted youth pastor who gained 100 pounds since getting married by eating too much and not exercising enough (in fact, he's too heavy for his treadmill now!). He wants to be a physical and spiritual example for the youth of America to follow.
A 35-year old hairstylist who wants to be "hot" now after enduring years of painful weight gain following the tragic loss of a close friend when she was younger.
This 25-year old former high school athlete and class clown drives around in a car with a license plate that proclaims "I'm Fat!" A compulsive eater, her wants to be a better role model for the kids he teaches at his school.
This 42-year old motorcycle police officer gained weight following an accident when his bike was hit by a car. He wants to shape up for his bride-to-be so he can get back to doing those things he loves the most.
A 40-year old author and motivational speaker learned how to overeat when he was asked to gain weight as a college football player. But he never stopped eating. Now he needs some motivation to whip himself into shape.
This 21-year old University of North Dakota senior started gaining weight as a freshman and can't seem to stop it. A hard-working, determined young woman she is ready to do this and get her life back.
A 38-year old yo-yo dieter has to overcome her adoration for fast food and Mexican food to begin eating better and to stop using food as a way to comfort herself. She wants to take up salsa dancing after her weight loss on "The Biggest Loser."
This 37-year old father of three is a fun-loving guy who endured tragedy right after college when his father died suddenly. That experience shook him to the core and led to his weight gain. He says he is now ready to be "Mr. Popular" again.
This 34-year old Home Economics teacher tells students about cooking and wants to help make heathier recipes for her students. She wants her students to see the importance of living a healthy lifestyle.
A 34-year old teacher who gained weight in college and realized her need to lose weight when she couldn't ride in a roller coaster. Her dream is to run a four-mile trail in 40 minutes and ski the mountains of Colorado.
This 34-year old Army helicopter pilot was actually one hour away from having gastric bypass surgery and walked away from it thinking there's a better way. She hopes to be a fitness motivation instructor someday.
A 30-year old mother of three who gained weight during her pregnancies and wants that "blur" called life to slow down enough for her to regain control of her life.
A 21-year old college student who was active in high school got overweight by eating junk food and slacking off on the exercise in college. She feels ugly with the extra weight and avoids people she knows like the plague.
A 32-year old doctor who has always had trouble with her weight, she said her divorce made her turn to food to deal with the stress and emotions. She hopes to use her success on "The Biggest Loser" to start an obesity prevention practice that focuses on natural weight loss without the need for pills or surgery.
This 26-year old hasn't weighed herself in 13 years because she has always hoped her weight problems would just go away on their own. But the weight can piled on her steadily because of a regular diet of junk food.
A 43-year old father of two teenagers, people remember him as much for his weight as they do that strange hairstyle he has! Back injuries have kept him from exercising like he wants to, but he wants to make his health #1 in his life again.
A 23-year old whose family is all big, he generally dines on fast food as part of his busy job as a college recruiter. But his grandmother's death due to obesity got him rethinking the way he lives his life.
This 25-year old full-time student and future bride has a personality that attracts people to her. But she wants to become healthier and more attractive to herself by losing weight on "The Biggest Loser."
WHEW, did I get all FIFTY contestants in there? Man, that's a lot of people, but in just a few months their lives will be radically changed for the better as they all seek to become the winner of Season Three on "The Biggest Loser." I know I'll be watching to see them compete and I hope you do as well. Whether you need to lose weight or if you know anyone who does need to lose weight, I cannot recommend this show highly enough as a way to motivate and inspire you to great success.
The slogan may be cheesy, but don't go it alone with weight loss
There's a new web site I want to tell you about that could be just the thing you have been looking for to help you progress even further as you are livin' la vida low-carb. I often talk about how important it is for you to have a strong support system around you while you are losing weight for comfort, motivation, encouragement, and accountability. But many people have trouble finding this all-important aspect of a successful weight loss program because they can never seem to find anyone to help them.
Well, that excuse is out the window now thanks to a creative web site entitled Weight Loss Buddy. I cannot tell you how pleased I am to share with you all about this incredible community of people dedicated to helping people lose weight for good!
We're all in this together so you can't help but be successful
Bringing the power of the Internet to your weight loss efforts, Weight Loss Buddy is a 24-hour online community made especially for people desiring weight loss and improved health. Take it from me, weight loss can be a VERY LONELY thing that can quickly discourage you without the right kind of reinforcement. That's what this program offers people who seriously desire weight loss and are committed to doing it for themselves.
The <Weight Loss Buddy system is pretty simple: they pair you up with a Weight Loss Buddy whose job will be to be your support throughout your weight loss experience. Additionally, there will be a team of people who will always be available to you when you need help.
"That's our pledge and our promise," the web site boasts.
Twelve weekly activities from proven experts that you will be doing simultaneously with your Weight Loss Buddy. You will also begin looking into why you have been eating poorly in the past and gradually learn to change your behavior to more healthier choices. Their philosophy is that "behavioral change is the only really permanent weight loss solution."
2. Your Personal Page
You get to create your very own "Personal Page" that lets you enjoy some "me" time to evaluate how your weight loss is going. This page is not visible by ANYONE else and let's you work on self-development through resolution-building, reading tips and advice, inquiring with one of the many weight loss experts, write in your personal diary, take quizzes and vote in polls. People need to be alone from time to time and this page enables participants to do just that!
3. The Team Page
When you become a member of a weight loss team, you will have access to the "Team Page" featuring the "Clubhouse" of all of your team members going through weight loss with you. Throughout the 12-week plan, you get the support of these teammates as you all seek to attain your goals together. You can talk to your "Buddys," see the updates on any weight loss challenges that are ongoing, check in on the progress of your other teammates, plan events, exchange favorite recipes, get coupons and so much more.
In a nutshell, the Weight Loss Buddy program is a kind of "Pay It Forward"-type of support system where people who have lost weight can help others lose weight who will help others, so forth and so on. The motto that best describes this is encompassed in the phrase, "By helping others, you help yourself."
So how did this Weight Loss Buddy system get started anyways? Well, we have two wonderful ladies to thank for bumping into one another at the grocery store one day: Joan Myron and Wendy Hillard-Green.
Joan was reading the ingredients in that "healthy" cereal at her local supermarket when she noticed Wendy doing the exact same thing. So they struck up a conversation about desperately desiring weight loss and all the temptations that come with doing it by yourself. Wendy mentioned that they should become "Weight Loss Buddies" and they started exercising together and seeing how each was doing quite often.
After a few months, Joan had lost 25 pounds while Wendy shed 30. That friendship grew even stronger and got both of them to thinking about starting a weight loss support system designed to connect people together who wanted to lose weight and have the support that they had. Thus was born Weight Loss Buddy.
There is so much more to this program that I encourage you to just check it out for yourself and see if this may be the missing element in your weight loss plan. While you are surfing on the Weight Loss Buddy web site, be sure to click on the "Meet Our Experts" link which features some familiar names you may have heard of before, including Dr. Fred Pescatore, Jeremy Likness, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Julia Havey, Dr. Seth Roberts and MANY MANY MORE!
Oh, yeah, there's another "expert" you'll recognize there as well -- Jimmy Moore! HA! How about that? I was asked last week to join their panel and I am honored for the privilege of being listed with such a distinguished list of leaders in the health and weight loss industry. That's pretty neato mosquito! :D
Do you need a Weight Loss Buddy? Then how about giving them a try. The only thing you have to lose is the rest of that weight you've been hanging on to forever. This may be JUST what you need to become that success you've dreamed about. Let me know how it works for you!
Last week I introduced you to a hot new show that debuted on the Bravo cable television network called "Work Out" featuring some of the brightest and best personal fitness trainers in the world. These eight men and women are dedicated to helping people get into shape through pinpoint exercise and toning routines.
Don't forget to tune in Tuesday, July 25th at 9/8c, just before the hit show "Queer Eye For the Straight Guy" to see the next episode of "Work Out." Tuesday nights at 9/8c is the regular time slot for this new series on Bravo.
As an EXCLUSIVE just for the readers of the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog, Bravo has offered two videos clips featuring exercise advice from two of the trainers appearing on "Work Out."
Rebecca will help you work your obliques
This 30-year-old beauty was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia and grew to love exercise because of her parents -- her mom loves to do yoga and run in marathons while her father is a competitive power lifter. She's inherited some good genes to be doing what she's doing today. In fact, both Rebecca and her father hold world records in bench pressing.
Remember this infamous team from "The Amazing Race?"
Fans of reality television might even remember seeing Rebecca as one-half of the third-place "Amazing Race" team from last season. Oh yeah, I remember her. Now she's back on TV again doing what she does best -- helping people get into shape!
Here's an exclusive routine from "Work Out" star Rebecca:
Brian (aka Peeler) will help you tighten up your abs
Brian is a 27-year-old Southern boy hailing from the small town of Salisbury, North Carolina where he always excelled in sports as a kid. He likes a good challenge that will motivate him to perform at his very best. Brian thoroughly enjoys his role as a fitness trainer because he likes to see others attain what he has been able to accomplish in his own life. In fact, he's now married to one of his former clients named Kate. His fitness philosophy is to enjoy life and work off your lifestyle mistakes in the gym.
Here's an exclusive routine from "Work Out" star Brian:
As promised last week, I have some exclusive limited edition "Work Out" merchandise to give away to THREE LUCKY WINNERS this week! How would you like to show off your brand new "Work Out" T-shirt the next time you step into your local gym or health club to flex your muscles or sweat on the treadmill? Well, all you have to do is send me an e-mail telling me who your favorite trainer from "Work Out" is and why. I'll choose three of the entries as my winners and announce those winners this weekend.
Send me your name, address (no P.O. Boxes please), city, state, which trainer you like and why you like that person no later than this Friday, July 28, 2006 at 11:59pm to enter. GOOD LUCK to everyone!
Also, I have been given the opportunity to conduct an personal one-on-one interview with one of the trainers on the show. Your entries in the "Work Out" T-shirt contest will help me determine who I will interview in the coming weeks. So start sending me your entries TODAY!
Ever since I first blogged about shirataki, the reaction from people to these incredible Japanese wonder noodles has been a sight to behold. If you haven't tried them yet, then you really ought to see all of the fun new shapes that are available now.
This wonderful recipe features the penne-shaped Konjac Shirataki noodles (you can order some by clicking here) to help you create a low-carb seafood pasta masterpiece with healthy portions of essential fatty acid-rich salmon. Mmmmm, I can smell the aroma of this one already. Doesn't it make your mouth just start to water?! ENJOY this incredible recipe compliments of our friends at Low-Carb Connoisseur.
LEMON KONJAC SHIRATAKI WITH DILL SALMON
3 cups Konjac Shirataki Penne 4 salmon fillets, 3/4-inch to 1-inch thick (about 24 ounces) 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest 2 (8 oz.) bottles clam juice 1 cup heavy cream 2 tablespoons Expert Foods ThickenThin not/Starch 1/3 cup fresh dill, chopped 1 cup frozen peas, blanched (optional)
1. Preheat broiler. Prepare pasta according to package directions; drain and transfer to a large bowl.
2. While pasta is cooking, brush salmon with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Broil 4” from heat source, skin side up until skin is golden, about 4 minutes. Flip and broil just until cooked through, about 4 more minutes. Set aside.
3. To prepare sauce: In a large pot, combine lemon juice, butter and lemon rind. Cook until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add clam juice and cream and bring to a boil. Add thickener and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 1 minute.
4. Mix in dill and peas (optional). Toss pasta with sauce and cook until pasta is heated through, about 3 minutes. Gently flake fish on top of pasta and serve immediately.
"Low-Carb Dave" has become an ardent supporter of the Atkins diet
I am thoroughly convinced that there is nothing more lifechanging that can happen to someone in this world than to overcome a lifelong struggle with obesity. Unless you have personally gone through the pain and agony of living this life in the body of a fat person, then you will never understand what attaining victory over that does to you not only physically, but also in so many intangible ways that cut to the very core and fiber of your being. And the millions of internal changes are even bigger than the external ones.
That's why it gives me great pleasure to offer my heartfelt and sincere CONGRATULATIONS to one of the truly good guys in this world who is affectionately known as "Low-Carb Dave" because he is celebrating his official one-year anniversary on the Atkins diet on July 25, 2006 after losing an amazing 130 pounds! WOWsers, Dave, you lost a whole person already, buddy! Way to go!
This 30-year-old Melbourne, Victoria Australia native, who I have previously blogged about, has thrown himself fully into the low-carb lifestyle and the proof of its effectiveness in his life is in the unbelievable results he has experienced. Like me, Dave is tall standing at 6'3" which makes him a formidable presence with or without the weight.
But what a change has happened in his life over the past 365 days as a result of this way of eating that has been much maligned over the past year or so. That is something that us "big" low-carb weight losers are trying to change by sharing our stories of success and victory thanks to livin' la vida low-carb!
In this blog post he wrote today at his blog, Dave said he finally "made the connection" about the low-carb lifestyle and has "made the lifelong commitment" to stick with it forever to continue losing weight and then keep it off for the rest of his life.
Before low-carb, our friend Dave was a ticking time bomb on his way to an early grave -- 473 pounds, an off-the-charts BMI of 60(!), insulin resistant, always hungry, severe sleep apnea, edema in his legs, and even asthma. To say his health was declining last year is an understatement. I can certainly relate as a former 410-pound man with a BMI of 52, borderline diabetic, always hungry, on medications for breathing, cholesterol and high blood pressure, and living a miserable life. Being morbidly obese really sucks, doesn't it Dave?!
But just as my weight and health improved in 2004 after shedding 180 pounds in one year as a result of the Atkins diet, so too has Dave's condition improved -- he now weighs 343 (an eye-popping 130-pound weight loss!) and is still losing at a very healthy 2.5-pound-a-week average. He has also seen his BMI drop to 44, an incredible 27 percent drop in just 12 months. YEE HAW, Dave! Keep it going, mate! :D
Even better is the fact that Dave says his "health has improved greatly." No doubt! And the best is still yet to come as this energetic Aussie keeps on keeping on to prove livin' la vida low-carb is STILL changing people's lives in the year 2006 and beyond whether the media and the so-called health "experts" like it or not.
Dave, you are making a bold and thunderous statement with your weight loss and I am so very proud of you for what you have been able to accomplish thus far! You carry the torch for the Atkins low-carb diet high for so many who desperately need to do it for themselves. Here's hoping they'll give it a chance before it's too late.
Imagine my surprise when "Low-Carb Dave" starts thanking the people who have helped him endure through his fantastic low-carb weight loss success when he mentions me and my blog.
"I would also like to thank Jimmy Moore for his inspiration and friendship over at his Livin' La Vida Low Carb Blog. Jimmy's incredible enthusiasm and his own inspiring weight loss story provided a rock for me during those early days."
Aww, Dave, you're gonna make me cry, man! Shoot, there goes my mascara now! LOL!
I could certainly reciprocate those comments about you, too, Dave, for your faithful readership at my blog and posting your unique perspective on the low-carb topics of the day. You certainly have a lot of credibility in my eyes to speak out as someone who not only theorizes about low-carb principles, but is actually LIVING THEM! The authenticity you bring to livin' la vida low-carb is why I always admired what you have to say even when I disagree with you.
With one year now under his belt (in that area of his body that is vanishing right before our eyes!), Dave says he looks forward to "much more weight loss, exercise and fitness, and lots of really enjoyable low carb food." Amen, brother! Wouldn't it be neat if we could have a low-carb feast together sometime in the future? What a party that would be!!! Whatcha cookin' on the barbie?! :)
Wanna wish "Low-Carb Dave" a hearty atta boy about his Atkins weight loss success? Just click here to read what others have written to him and to post your own encouraging comments. There's nothing more motivating in this world than to know that people are behind you supporting what you are doing 100 percent. Let's all let "Low-Carb Dave" know how much you appreciate what he has been able to do with his weight loss and share the love of the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog readership with him.
"Hey, you've lost weight on that low-carb thing, so how many carbs do you eat per day when you are on that diet anyway, dude?"
You know, I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard that question asked. I would be a very rich man. But the answer is simple and complex at the same time.
First the simple answer: When you first start livin' la vida low-carb, the object is to keep your carbohydrate intake near 20g to help get your body into ketosis so it will start burning fat. This two-week Induction phase is absolutely necessary to rid your body of sometimes years of built-up sugar and carb addiction that MUST be dealt with before you can move forward in your weight loss.
When this happens, your body can go through some pretty radical changes for a few days which can make you feel absolutely awful, with extreme weakness and tiredness like you've never gone through before, and basically make you think you're going to die. For people like me who were VERY addicted to sugar primarily, that was my experience.
But the great part of this is that it doesn't last for more than a few days. Once you get past the addiction-breaking aspect of livin' la vida low-carb, the rest of the diet is a breeze in comparison! It always cracks me up to hear people talking about how they went on low-carb to lose weight and it was the worst week of their life. LOL! Yeah, that's a good one...worst WEEK of their life. Hee hee! HA HA! Try committing yourself to a bare minimum of six months to give low-carb a fair shake people!
Now to the more complex answer: After Induction, the carb intake will vary from person to person depending on their body. For me, I had to eat between 30-40g carbs daily to lose weight. I know others who are in ketosis and losing weight as high as 50-60g carbs. We are all different and so you will need to find the level of carbohydrates that works for you to lose weight. Of course, that number will rise even more AFTER your weight loss as you seek to maintain your loss.
To find your personal level of carbs that you need to eat daily when you are livin' la vida low-carb after Induction, slowly increase your carb intake by 5g per week until your weight loss stops. When this happens, back down 5g carbs and stay there until you reach your weight loss goal. Of course, when you hit the inevitable stall, resist the urge to lower your carbs again to try to jumpstart your weight loss. Just be patient and let your body adjust because it will.
Remember, you can contact me ANYTIME if you have a question about low-carb living or if you just need a word of encouragement as you go through this amazing lifestyle change for yourself. Don't be bashful, I'm always here for you. :)
Don't you just hate it when you hear somebody utter that infamous silly phrase that is bound to come up during a discussion of the various weight loss methods out there? You know what I'm talking about.
"Just eat in moderation and you'll lose all the weight you want."
Everytime somebody says that to, I just want to throw up and beat them with a wet noodle (a low-carb one, of course!). But that's exactly what this American Council On Science and Health article written by their research intern Julianne Chickering is proposing. Oh brother!
In a stern rebuke of the various weight loss plans out there, including livin' la vida low-carb, Chickering said these different ways of eating are all just "madness" because having so many choices for would-be dieters makes it so confusing for people to differentiate between what is healthy and what is not when it comes to losing weight.
No it doesn't. What it does is it provides people with various ways to lose weight since we don't all do well on a "one-size-fits-all" diet plan. If we did, then EVERYBODY would be on that plan and there wouldn't be a need to have so many diets. But the reality is that people should find something that works for them and then they need to keep doing it forever to maintain their weight. As strongly as I support low-carb for me, I very much realize it is NOT necessarily for everyone.
Refusing to buy into the organic food trend that's all the rage right now, Chickering said the fruits, vegetables and meats you find at your local supermarket are just as "balanced" as the fresh ones are. The perceived need to buy from specialty stores is a useless endeavor, she claims, because the nutritional quality is virtually the same.
I'm sure my friend Richard Morris would have to disagree with that assertion since his life has been radically changed and "unburdened" by the discovery of fresh organic whole foods that have been the cornerstone of his incredible weight loss and improved health. It is incredibly shortsighted of Chickering to claim these foods are not superior to the ones you purchase in the grocery store in terms of nutritional value. I personally prefer buying my fruits and vegetables from the Fresh Market or Whole Foods stores better than my local grocery store because the quality is so much better.
Chickering made one statement that got to the root of her diet philosophy:
"Food choice alone does not make a person healthy or unhealthy."
I could not disagree more. Food choice is PRECISELY why most people have gotten fat in the first place. They chose to consume too much sugar, fast food, junk food, and the like over and over and over again. Those choices have made the majority of the two-thirds of Americans who are overweight or obese get that way. There's just no denying it!
At the same time, food choice is why people like me who have overcome their obesity problem were as successful as they were. When I started livin' la vida low-carb at 410 pounds, making the conscious decision to stop eating sugar, white flour, and other refined carbohydrates as part of my new healthy lifestyle, that move alone was the beginning of a dramatic change in me that made me much more healthy in the end when I lost 180 pounds. You can't tell me that my food choice did not contribute to my success, Ms. Chickering.
She quickly added that genes, how you live your life, the type of diet, and your level of physical activity also play a factor in determining what happens to your weight.
Sure, lifestyle choices can make a difference in controlling your weight, but it goes back to what you are stuffing your face with that lays the groundwork for whether you are eating healthy or not. A diet consisting of McDonalds, Dairy Queen, and Krispy Kreme will not put you on the road to becoming skinny!
In a definite rebuke of low-carb diets, Chickering noted that "eliminating completely or over-emphasizing the importance of a certain food" is not the best way to lose weight.
Too bad for Chickering livin' la vida low-carb doesn't eliminate any foods. Had she read up on what the low-carb lifestyle is about, then she would know that most low-carbers eat between 20-60g carbohydrates when they are losing weight. This isn't "eliminating completely" the consumption of carbs. It's simply bringing the intake of this macronutrient down to a level that will enable fat to be lost while stabilizing blood sugar levels. What's so wrong with that, Ms. Chickering?
Continuing with her theme, Chickering said "people should eat a wide variety of foods in moderation and get regular exercise."
"Fruits, vegetables, bread, dairy, and meat all have their place in a healthy diet and the occasional brownie or beer isn't going to instigate a medical nightmare either as long as they remain an occasional treat. Walking to the store will do you more good than worrying about the nutritional value of the pasteurized milk you get once you arrive."
I agree with you on the exercise comment, but this "eat in moderation" advice is just plain silly. When do you know when you've gotten enough of something, Ms. Chickering? How much sugar is needed for my diet to be "in moderation?" How about white flour, processed foods, and starchy veggies? What does a serving of arsenic look like "in moderation?"
Does anyone else see the nonsense of just eating everything "in moderation?" If people knew how to moderate their intake of food, then why would they need to go on a diet? People need direction about how to eat because most of us haven't a clue about what is healthy and what is not. Which goes back to Chickering's point at the beginning of her column.
If there is so much advice out there for people regarding how to eat healthy, then how can we expect them to know what is right? The answer is elementary, my dear. If you want to lose weight and keep it off for good, then find a plan that fits within your lifestyle, follow that plan faithfully even when it gets tough, continue to execute the dictates of that plan until you reach your goal, and then keep on doing that plan as your permanent lifestyle change until the day you die.
Does this mean you will NEVER eat something you shouldn't? Heavens no. But if you have the right perspective about what you need to be doing to control your weight rather than vaguely trying to "eat in moderation" all the time, then and only then will you find the pathway to lasting weight loss and greatly improved health. Sorry to burst your bubble, Ms. Chickering.
You can e-mail Julianne Chickering your comments about her "eat in moderation" column at acsh@acsh.org.
Julia Havey wants you to break those bad habits and get healthy
Before you can share what "vices" you have in your life that are preventing you from moving forward in your quest for weight loss, the first thing you need to know is what that little four-letter word actually means. Do you know what a "vice" is?
The following are just a few definitions of the word "vice" that should get your mind to thinking:
"An evil, degrading, or immoral practice or habit." "A serious moral failing." "Wicked or evil conduct or habits." "A slight personal failing." "A flaw or imperfection" "A physical defect or weakness." "An undesirable habit"
OUCH, OUCH, OUCH, OUCH, OUCH, OUCH, and OUCH! Do all of us REALLY have things like that we allow to creep into our lives? Is it really THAT bad and we've just never realized it since nobody has shined the light on this issue before now?
Think about it for moment. How many of us consciously TRY to cause harm to our bodies with the way we live our lives. Nobody with a sane mind does that, right? But Havey says our small choices in life such as mindlessly drinking sugary sodas, stopping by the local burger joint for a quick meal on the go, or even forgoing exercise just so we can plop down on our couch to watch hours of mindless television are all vices that we need to overcome to lower our weight and get healthy.
Although the word "diet" is in the title of this book, Havey will be the first to tell you she does not and will not ever recommend you go on a diet to lose weight because you will simply set yourself up for failure just like all the other hundreds of them you have been on in your lifetime. Instead, she says people need to make those "simple changes" in their lives that they KNOW they need to make the improvements in their weight and health which will surely follow.
While many diet gurus who write books about weight loss are people who have no idea what it feels like to be fat, this is definitely NOT true about Havey who once weighed nearly 300 pounds. But she overcame her obesity and lost 130 pounds because of the very principles she shares in this book. Best of all, she has kept that weight off for over a decade and has committed her life, along with husband and co-author Dr. J. Patrick Havey, to helping others find the success they so desperately crave in regards to their own weight.
Havey is very crafty in the way she explains how two out of every three Americans got to be overweight or obese and openly shares how their lives could change so much for the better with just a little weight loss, including physical and mental changes that you most of us never even realize is just waiting to explode out of us until you lose weight for yourself.
As someone who has lost 180 pounds personally, I can verifiably attest to each of these remarkable changes in my own life. When you have lived with a belly hanging over your pants, shopping at big & tall stores, having trouble fitting in booths at restaurants and in movie theater seats, constantly feeling sick and tired, and so many more daily inconveniences I could keep sharing until next year comes, you cannot even begin to know how transforming weight loss can be. Havey most definitely hits the nail on the head when she describes how your life will be turned upside down by shedding the pounds!
So how do you lose weight? Sounds like a simple question to ask, right? I get posed that question a lot myself ever since my weight loss and I'm sure Havey has heard it a million times herself in the past decade. She clearly outlines the necessary changes you must make to begin losing weight for good and urges people to seriously commit themselves to her 12-week program to begin moving in the right direction. No, it's not like the 12-step programs where you have to show up for meetings and confess your soul to the whole world about your life. It's sooo much better than that!
In fact, Havey is so convinced you will LOVE her program and start overcoming your diet vices that she GUARANTEES you one thing that is worth more than the cost of the book -- you will never be alone as you go through this. That's right, anytime you need an advocate on your side during your weight loss, she has vowed to make herself available to anyone who purchases her book to "help you keep moving forward" in your progress towards better health. How about that?
She assures you over and over again in her book that "you are not alone" in this battle and that there are many of us "loser" on your side who WANT to see you become a weight loss winner. I offer the same guarantee to anyone who needs to find hope in the midst of that hopeless feeling that you'll be "that fat person" forever. It doesn't have to be that way and Havey understands this! She's showing her authenticity about this subject that is near and dear to her heart. Do you get the feeling she's not like all of the "other" diet book writers yet?
Havey says if you begin replacing your old habits or vices with these new ones that she suggests, then you will be well on your way to becoming that thinner and healthier person you have always dreamed about. She arms you with power-packed advice and practical suggestions about the specific foods you should eat, prepare you for the mental challenges, outlines why you need to incorporate physical activity into your life, and so much more. If you take the "The Vice-Busting Diet" plan seriously, then there is NO reason whatsoever why you can't become the same weight loss miracles that Havey and I have been privileged to have happen in our lives.
What would a weight loss book be without yummy recipes, fitness tips, and resources to help you continue on this journey long after you've read the book from cover to cover? Well, you get all of those, too, at the back of the book.
In case you haven't noticed, Julia Havey is a very special woman who sincerely cares about helping people overcome the vices that stand in their way of success in weight loss and in life. It is obvious by the way she writes that this isn't just a fly-by-night writing gig that she hopes to "get rich quick" off of. Nope, not hardly!
Behind all those words of motivation and encouragement is a beautiful woman inside and out who has been there before and knows the pain and hurt of living inside the shell of an obese woman scared half to death that she will keel over and die at any moment. Just seeing others go through that same struggle is very painful for her to watch and is undoubtedly what drives Havey to do what she is doing today. I'm so glad that she is.
Take it from this former 410-pound slob of a man who was on the verge of an early death due to morbid obesity, weight loss is indeed a lifechanging experience. You cannot even begin to imagine the changes that will occur because they really are too many to count. Julia Havey has hit on something here that really works with her book "The Vice-Busting Diet" and I encourage everyone who feels stuck in their weight loss efforts to read this book. Havey knows firsthand what it takes to do this and stands ready to help you, too.
Once villified, artificial sweeteners have now been FDA-approved
This SAWF News story about the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) encouraging Americans to use more sugar substitutes to help them lower the number of calories they are eating and to help them eat less sugar as part of an effective weight loss plan makes this supporter of artificial sweeteners extremely happy to hear.
The FDA strongly endorsed and suggested people in the United States begin using these products more often to manage their weight and health in a new fact sheet entitled "No Calories...Sweet!" published in the July/August issue of FDA Consumer magazine.
The five sugar substitutes featured include aspartame (aka Equal and Nutrasweet), acesulfame potassium (aka ACE-K), neotame, saccharin (aka Sweet N' Low), and sucralose (aka Splenda). Except for neotame which I've never heard of, I wrote about each of these in the "Sugar Is Rat Poison" chapter of my book. I personally prefer using Splenda, ACE-K and stevia (which was not on the list because the FDA is too hardheaded to approve it as a sweetener just yet), but the FDA gives sweeping approval to all of these products.
Here's what the FDA said about the safety of consuming each of these alternatives to sugar.
"The FDA evaluates a sweetener's composition and properties, how much of the substance is likely to be consumed, and various types of safety studies. For each of the approved sweeteners, the typical amount used by U.S. consumers is well within designated ‘acceptable daily intake levels (ADI),’ or levels that can be consumed safely every day over a lifetime.“
The FDA is calling your bluff on those allegations now, Sugar Association, and I believe they should stand ready to take action against you if you continue to spread these lies about Splenda and the other sugar alternatives in the future. The battle lines have already been drawn in this fight, so let this serve as your warning.
The fact is that artificial sweeteners have been found to help people lower their calorie intake, reduce their carbohydrate intake and give people an effective sweetening product that will not cause their blood sugar levels to spike like sugar does while helping them shed pounds and reduce their need for insulin. With diabetes and obesity getting worse and worse by the day, it's about time an agency like the FDA recognizes the tremendous good these products are having helping people overcome weight problems and manage their health.
A great example used in the story is to do something as simple as buying sugar-free chocolates rather than sugary ones. This will save you 50 calories per day and take off 5 pounds by the end of the year. Just imagine what would happen if you replaced all of those sugar-loaded foods you eat now with sugar-free ones sweetened with any of these FDA-approved alternatives? Badabing badaboom -- weight loss, baby!
Not everyone is so convinced of the safety of these products, but I have absolutely no problem using Splenda or ACE-K especially. What do you think about this move by the FDA to publicly endorse sugar substitutes? What's that all about? If you have been worried about their safety, does this now put your mind at ease about consuming them or do you still stand firm in opposition to using them? Share your thoughts on this subject with everyone.
During my recent blog discussion of what makes up a "healthy diet," a very interesting comment came up from one of my most devoted readers at my blog.
Newbirth, aka Victoria from the Stumbling to Bethlehem blog, wrote in response to my posting of a sample day's menu from my low-carb lifestyle lately that "you're eating too many low-carb 'products.' Try real food in place of the bars."
Those "bars" she was referring to were GoLower nut bars and ChocoPerfection chocolate bars. What's wrong with eating products like these that are sugar-free, made of healthy ingredients, taste great, and oh by the way, YES THEY ARE LOW-CARB? Aren't they "real food," too?
This isn't the first time Newbirth and others have mentioned my consumption of "low-carb" foods as they have previously referenced it many times at my blog and in e-mails to me. So their comments have had me thinking about this topic for quite some time now. What is wrong with eating "low-carb" foods?
I know I'm jumping right into the middle of a debate that's been ongoing for years, but from all observations I have made there are two primary schools of thought on the spectrum regarding the use "low-carb" foods.
1. NO "LOW-CARB" PRODUCTS ALLOWED
People who are on this extreme end are extremely serious about livin' la vida low-carb and believe everything they put in their mouths should be only organic, whole foods that don't need any packaging whatsoever. They've lost their weight "naturally" without the use of anything labeled "low-carb" and highly discourage other low-carbers from picking up these "Frankenfoods." They have kissed the days of packaged foods goodbye forever.
2. ALL "LOW-CARB" PRODUCTS ALLOWED
People who are on this extreme end are wayfarer low-carbers who are gullible enough to buy virtually ANYTHING that blares the words "low-carb" on the packaging whether that claim is accurate or not. They love to find a "low-carb" version of just about anything and everything so they can eat like they always have and call it "low-carb." Then these people get mad at their low-carb diet months down the road when they haven't lost any weight despite the fact they have been eating all of these "low-carb" products.
Of course, these are obviously the two outer ends of the debate and most of us fall somewhere in between these two. For me personally, I am most definitely in the middle of these two and have been from the very beginning. Just as low-carb itself varies from person to person depending on the needs of their particular body, so too are the ways people are livin' la vida low-carb going to be different.
When I was losing weight in 2004, I stayed away from most of the "low-carb" foods I saw in the grocery stores and Wal-mart because most of them just look absolutely disgusting. Shakes, powders and bars reminded me too much of that scary Slim-Fast diet I used to be on and I didn't want any part of that. So I avoided them almost entirely.
However, because I wanted some sweets to eat when I kicked sugar for good in January 2004, I gravitated to the sugar-free sections and would stock up on Russell Stover chocolates, Z-Carb bars (which has since gone out of business, by the way!), and the like. There would be some days I could eat up to a POUND of these products early on in my low-carb plan.
GASP! A pound of chocolate on a diet?! Yep, that's what I did to help me get through those first few weeks and months when I wanted something sweet but had committed myself to NOT eat any sugar. It was a HUGE step for me to do this and I definitely credit those "low-carb" products for helping me eventually reach my goals.
That was the extent of the "low-carb" foods that I used and ate in 2004 and I will never regret it since the results are that I lost 180 pounds that are now gone forever. WOO HOO!
Could I have been as successful without the use of those "low-carb" products? If I'm being honest, I don't think I would have. They gave me exactly what I needed in a form that fit into my new eating lifestyle perfectly. I transitioned from eating sugary products to sugar-free products which helped give me consistency at a time when I very well could have thrown in the towel on my weight loss efforts. That would NOT have been good.
There's no way you could have gotten me to eat straight-up organic, whole foods and nothing else from day one. Nor would you convince me that eating a "low-carb" version of Rice Krispy treats, French fries, and milkshakes would be the right way to get healthy either. I am not ashamed of the way that I lost weight using the "low-carb" products that I did.
Now it's 2006 and there are a lot of new products out there which happen to be "low-carb" that can help people who are livin' la vida low-carb. GoLower and ChocoPerfection are just the beginning. There's also Dreamfields pasta, shirataki noodles, R.W. Garcia Lo's Tortilla Chips, and many, many others. And I have it on good word that there are some exciting new product lines coming out that are going to blow you away by how good they taste and still remain good for you, too. IT'S COMING!
Whereas during the height of the "low-carb craze" a few years ago, everybody and their momma was tripping all over themselves to come out with their own "low-carb" products which were mostly low-quality junk products which still had a lot of sugar in them (no wonder they failed so badly!), today's "low-carb" food manufacturers are the people who are in this to sincerely help people have products they can use that will help them on their low-carb lifestyle and taste great. I don't see anything wrong with this since eating healthier in an incremental process for so many of us.
Weight loss is a tricky issue and I don't think we should be so short-sighted into thinking these "low-carb" products are not serving a greater purpose by their very existence. I believe they are because they did play a major role in my own weight loss experience as well as many other people that I know.
But the battle to make them taste better and better without compromising their nutritional quality is currently on. Let the competition begin to see who can make nutrient-dense, high-quality, and great-tasting products for people to use and enjoy on their low-carb lifestyle. I personally can't wait to see and taste what they come up with because it could very well revolutionize the health food industry and move us away from the low-fat fad we've been on for the past three decades.
While the media has just about stopped talking about low-carb in the hopes it will just go away, the fact of the matter is that several BRAND NEW lines of "low-carb" products are well on their way to the marketplace beginning in the next six months and into 2008 which should have low-carbers thrilled. Unlike those garbage "low-carb" products from years past, these new products are going to fit well into the lifestyle of anyone who is trying to eat healthier and, of course, for diabetics. They may not be described as "low-carb" per se, but they will be. ALWAYS READ THE LABELS!
What say you? Do you see ANY merits in the "low-carb" foods that are out there? If you regularly use "low-carb" products and have found them to help you lose weight or keep the weight off for good, then please share your story. Or, perhaps you've tried some of these products and experienced weight stalls or even a weight gain. Tell us what happened.
The longer I am maintaining my weight loss, the more I am moving away from using these "low-carb" products in favor of the more organic, whole foods just because my tastes have changed and I demand the best quality foods I can find. That's why my menu isn't filled to the brim with "low-carb" foods galore. I only allow the VERY good ones that I proudly put into my mouth knowing they are helping me keep my weight off forever. And that right there is the bottom line for me.
Who are all these bloggers spouting their opinions anyway?
This United Press International story about a new survey on the continued growth of blogging as well as the potential for millions more brand new readers in the coming years has this particular blogger jumping for joy at the possibility of reaching those people with the message of livin' la vida low-carb.
The Pew Research group released the results of their "Internet & American Life Project" this week and reported on several very distinctive trends in blogging and with the bloggers themselves. The blogging format is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with and this new research shows the influence that blogs are having will only continue to get bigger and bigger.
Among the characteristics of bloggers, here's what they found:
- Most bloggers share their personal experiences - Most bloggers are content with small readership - Most bloggers use their blog as a personal journal - Most bloggers don't consider what they do as journalism - Most bloggers write about the things they are most passionate - Most bloggers try to be a leader in the subject they blog about - Most bloggers write daily or almost daily - Most bloggers LOVE to write and are good at it - Most bloggers have a full-time job (and it's not blogging!) - Most bloggers are young, primarily 18-30 year olds - Most bloggers blog about first-hand knowledge or skills - Most bloggers have never published their writings before - Most bloggers remain anonymous using a fake name - Most bloggers spend hours on the Internet per day - Most bloggers enjoy reading other people's blogs - Most bloggers share original works of art or expression - Most bloggers allow people to comment on their blog - Most bloggers post pictures and photos on their blog - Most bloggers are willing to post links to other similar blogs - Most bloggers are not in it to make money
Those are some very keen observations about what constitutes the great bloggers of our day and I can't really disagree with any of them because most of them are very apropos. While all of us bloggers are not all the same, we certainly have areas of commonality that bind us together that define who we are as a whole. Can you think of any other descriptions of what most bloggers are like that the Pew survey missed?
It's the year 2006, but I'm still amazed at the reaction I get from people when I tell them I have a low-carb blog.
"You've got a what? A clog? Do you need some Liquid Drano for that or something? Oh, you said a blog. Duh, what's that?"
Sigh. Thankfully the blogosphere is starting to get a little more recognition now that 12 million adults in the United States (8 percent of the Internet population) are active members of this emerging community of interactive opinion-makers sharing their thoughts and ideas on whatever is on their mind with a whopping 57 million American adults (39 percent of the Internet population) reading these blogs.
So, where are the other 61 percent of Internet users going for information on their favorite topics? Come on people, you've gotta start reading the blogs to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and thought on whatever it is that interests you the most. The two best places to find blog posts that feature up-to-the-minute news and commentary on your favorite topics is either at Google BlogSearch or Technorati. Go ahead, give 'em a try!
Among the different kinds of blogs out there, here is the breakdown:
Personal life - 37 percent (can you say MySpace.com?) Political - 11 percent Entertainment - 7 percent Sports - 6 percent News/Current Events - 5 percent Business - 5 percent Technology - 4 percent Religion/Faith - 2 percent Health - 1 percent
Frankly, I'm surprised health blogs were THAT small. Nevertheless, I believe with obesity and diabetes continuing to grow and expected to remain in that upward direction in the coming years, you will very likely see the emergence of even more blogs that discuss health, diet, nutrition, and weight loss to help people deal with these conditions. In other words, the blog format I have chosen is NOT going anywhere anytime soon. Good! :)
What does this Pew survey mean for the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog specifically? Not a whole lot since I seem to be doing a lot of the right things by offering my readers quality content on a daily basis that they are interested in. I take my blogging responsibilities very seriously and I never want to just settle for anything less than the best I can offer. That's not fair to you as my reader and I wouldn't want you to expect anything less from me. It's the least I can do to reward you for your faithfulness to my blog.
I feel I am offering my readers much of what they are looking for in a blog based on the numbers who visit here daily. Yet, I would be interested in knowing what the Pew people find out about the READERS of blogs and what they expect in a blog and
You know what, though, I'm not willing to wait until they do their research to find out. :D Let's just make up our own informal survey with this blog post right here, right now.
What do YOU as a reader of blogs look for when you visit a blog? In other words, why do you keep coming back to read the same blogs every day or every few days? Are there any specific things you look for in a blog that make you WANT to keep coming back? If so, what are they?
Please feel free to expand upon these questions and share your comments about being a blog reader by clicking on the comment link below.
The blog format is indeed exploding and a lot of companies and businesses are JUST beginning to realize this. The savvy marketing teams are falling all over themselves trying to get in the good graces of the most popular bloggers right now and that only makes good business sense. If you have a blog that attracts a lot of people, then be prepared to be approached by all kinds of companies that have products and services related to your blog topic. If not already, then it is coming.
For me, I'll keep blogging away because I aim to educate, encourage and entertain people with news, information and opinions that will hopefully help them in your weight loss efforts and keep them informed about what's going on in the wonderful world of low-carb. Keep on reading the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog as you keep on livin' la vida low-carb!
Did somebody say "clearance sale" on low-carb products?
The popular online low-carb retail store Low-Carb Connoisseur is having a clearance sale going on RIGHT NOW with a limited supply of some really great products that will help you as you are livin' la vida low-carb. Nearly EVERYTHING in this special sale is HALF OFF or more and includes some very good stuff as well.
Browse the complete list of items available (WHILE THEY LAST!) by clicking here. I'll highlight just a few that caught my attention:
This is but a mere sampling of all the excellent low-carb clearance items available to you during this LIMITED TIME sale. Go visit Low-Carb Connoisseur this weekend to take advantage of the saving while you can! Happy low-carb shopping!
I got into a discussion about livin' la vida low-carb today with my boss at work as she was talking with a co-worker of mine inquiring if she was on the Atkins diet. When my fellow co-worker answered in the affirmative, my boss retorted back, "Oh, that's nice for weight loss but you can't possibly keep eating that much protein all the time."
Now, whether she realized she said this right in front of Mr. "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Man" or not is unclear, but you know I couldn't just let that pass. My response was, "Come on, now, don't diss my Atkins diet like that. It worked pretty well for me, didn't it?" There was no response and she left it at that. It's probably good, too, because I might have let my enthusiasm for livin' la vida low-carb override my better judgment to keep that job that's paying my bills right now. :)
Anyways, earlier today I spoke with that co-worker who is on the Atkins diet and we were discussing the subject of being hungry while on low-carb. She had seen a woman I have blogged about before named Gwen Shamblin who appeared on NBC's "Today Show" this morning talking about her "Weigh Down" diet. I shared with my co-worker about my experience on that diet which I did over 10 years ago and that it is basically a starvation diet.
The basic concept of the "Weigh Down" approach, which is allegedly based on Christian principles (although Shamblin was later found to be a Jehovah's Witness who doesn't believe in the Trinity -- it's a long story!), is to wait until you are hungry to eat, then eat whatever you want until you are just "satisfied" and finally to pray for God to fill you up with His word so you don't desire food as much.
It's a nice concept, but highly impractical for people who don't know when they hit "satisfied." If they did, then they would never have gotten overweight or obese to begin with! But this conversation got me to thinking about this idea of waiting until you are hungry to eat concept.
I remember that first day on "Weigh Down," I kept waiting and waiting for hunger to show up, but it never came. It took 53 hours for me to start feeling hunger for the first time and I basically was starving myself the entire time I was on that diet. I lost some weight, but quickly gained it back and then some because I didn't like the feeling of being hungry ALL THE TIME!
That's why livin' la vida low-carb has been such a godsend to me. I get to eat all of that protein that my boss ridiculed so much earlier today because it keeps me satisfied and filled up for many hours a day. In fact, ever since I started livin' la vida low-carb, I've done something that I have NEVER done on any other weight loss plan in my life -- I ATE WHEN I WASN'T HUNGRY! Gasp! Somebody call the nut farm because Jimmy's gone over the edge now!
Seriously, I consider it a VERY GOOD thing to eat when you are not hungry because you can be more sensible about what you are eating. I don't know about you, but when I am really hungry, my personality changes. That feeling of being so ravenous turns me into a monster that you don't want to be around. Just ask my wife Christine, she'll tell you.
Even waiting for just a little bit of hunger to show up makes it that much more likely that I will overeat. Sure, I could stop at a certain point and my hunger would subside. But when you get to a certain point after being hungry, it's very difficult to slow down that internal mechanism that says EAT EAT EAT! Do you know what I'm talking about?
While the suggestion to "wait until you're hungry to eat" certainly SOUNDS like good advice on the surface, I believe for some people that is a recipe for disaster and keeping them from effectively gaining control over the weight problem.
I can count on ONE HAND the number of times I have been "hungry" while on low-carb and those are days when I have broken from my normal routine. Let me tell you, having a regular time that you eat your meals is very important to making this low-carb lifestyle work to perfection. For me, it's every 2 1/2 hours or so and that keeps my metabolism going throughout the day. I wouldn't have it any other way.
What about you? Do you ALWAYS wait until you are hungry before you eat any food? Or do you do what I do and eat so often that you keep the hunger bug from ever hitting you? What are your thoughts on this subject?
This Ottawa Sun story piqued my interest because it deals with two subjects that are very special in my own life: weight loss and singing.
According to the story, a world-renowned 52-year-old opera singer named Richard Margison who sings tenor was concerned about losing too much weight too fast because it could adversely impact his voice. The story described this as a potentially "career-ending event."
Say what? What in the world is THIS all about? I'm sorry, but that's just a bunch of you know what in my not-so-humble opinion. I'll explain why in a moment.
I have always enjoyed singing throughout my entire life. My mom is an excellent alto singer and passed on her musical genes to me and my sister Beverly. Kevin and dad can't carry a tune on a radio (HA!), but mom, my sister and I are pretty good singers. In fact, my wife Christine is a superb alto as well which is one of the things that attracted me to her. Today, we sing together often at our church because we like to blend our voices in harmony (although she chastises me for getting on her alto notes -- sorry, I like to sing high!). :)
Before I lost my weight when I weighed 410 pounds, I was able to sing with a nice clear tone. However, I did notice my breath support was harder to sustain at times because of my weight and I experienced a constant feeling of gunk in my throat would get to be rather annoying. Singing and doing it loudly had always been no problem for me for most of my life.
Did that change when I started livin' la vida low-carb in 2004?
Well, as you know, I lost 180 pounds, got down to 230 pounds that year and have kept it off ever since. Not surprisingly, my breath support has improved dramatically which gives me much better control over the tone and volume of my voice and that constant feeling that I had a frog stuck in my throat swimming in a bucketful of snot magically disappeared, too. I would have to say my voice didn't change a bit for the worse and is even a little bit better overall than it was before my weight loss.
How about if you see for yourself in this sample audio of my singing:
A few practice notes before I sing "Livin' La Vida Low-Car-buh!"
Hee hee, that was fun! I hope I didn't break your speakers with my voice, but I REALLY love to sing. It's a talent that I enjoy using to praise the God who created me and to make my "joyful noise" from time to time. :D
For Margison, he had gotten up to 320 pounds before he noticed his late-night pizza runs after his concerts were beginning to catch up to him. But the stereotype of a "good" opera singer is that they are SUPPOSED to be fat, right?
Is there something mystical that happens to your voice when you are carrying around extra cellulite inside of your body? Can anyone explain why it is we expect the best opera singers to be fat? I have never understood this image we have for opera singers.
What's really ironic is that we expect EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE from the recording industry singers who make CDs because they have to be skinny and sing well, too.
So which is it? Chunky or bony? Who makes the better singer?
Of course, I'm making light of this issue (although I honestly want to know what people think about whether weight plays a role in vocal quality), but there is some serious--dare I say it--discrimination going on here.
What if your voice is suited to opera singing and you weigh 110 pounds soaking wet? Is it fair to you that you don't get the part just because you aren't overweight ENOUGH?
Likewise, maybe you have the perfect voice for pop or country radio, but you weigh over 250 or 300 pounds. How many tens of thousands of very talented singers are passed by just because they don't have "the look" (interpreted as borderline anorexic or supermodel looks)?
The most famous example of this is "American Idol" winner Carrie Underwood. I LOVE what has happened for her in the past couple of years because she has an amazing voice. I was thrilled for her when she received all of those accolades at the Country Music Awards this year for her powerful song "Jesus Take The Wheel."
But would she have been so successful becoming the winner of "American Idol," recording a multi-platinum album, and winning the admiration of her fans and peers if she wasn't a beautiful, skinny blonde? If we're being honest with ourselves, then the answer is no.
This to me is a BIG problem, no pun intended, but it is one worth getting out in the open to talk about and discuss. As long as people can sing, why does it matter what they look like? The image-conscious record producers are putting unrealistic expectations on those who desire to make it in the music biz. If you aren't gorgeous and thin, then you're not getting in. What's wrong with this picture? But I digress.
Regardless of his concerns about what would happen to his voice if he decided to lose weight, Margison did the right thing and made the decision to start hitting the sack early rather than eating those midnight pizzas. Good call.
When he was awake and ready to start eating healthier, guess how Margison did it? You got it, he went on the Atkins diet. That's right, he's livin' la vida low-carb, baby!!! Best of all, check it out--In a little more than a year, he lost 80 pounds to get down to his current weight of 240 pounds.
Margison said he took his time losing and kept singing throughout the weight loss just to make sure he wasn't losing any of the notes he has always been able to hit. He did say he believes losing slower helped his body and vocal chords get used to the changes. He noted friends who lost weight rapidly after weight loss surgery who "felt it on the voice" and it took some of their "vocal stamina" away. This is his career, so I don't blame him for being tentative about it.
Not content to settle for where he is right now, Margison hopes to eventually get down to 200 pounds and stay there for good so he can fit the mold of "heroic roles and romantic leads" with a little more credibility.
"I at least want to look the part," Margison explained.
Just like me, he said his new physique has helped him not lose his breath when he's singing and moving around onstage.
"It's a conditioning thing, like an athlete," Margison said. "The less weight I have to carry around the easier it is on my knees and breath support."
Gee, imagine that. He's got more energy than ever before, he's breathing better than he ever has, and he owes it all to livin' la vida low-carb. CONGRATULATIONS to Richard Margison for making this amazing lifestyle change in his life at a time when his career is booming. What better example of how making changes in the way you eat can bring about enormous dividends in your life. On behalf of the readers at the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog, we salute you sir for a job well done and we wish you well as you keep on livin' la vida low-carb for the rest of your life!
You can e-mail this incredible man Richard Margison to congratulate him on his low-carb weight loss success at andante@richardmargison.com.
In light of everything I learned about my so-called cholesterol problems that I thought I was having before reading this book, it kinda makes the test results from my VAP test I had done in April that I promised to share with you a little melodramatic now.
Even still, here are my long-awaited VAP test results:
Total Cholesterol - 275 Total LDL - 203 Total HDL - 57 Total VLDL - 14 Triglycerides - 49 LDL-R(Real)-C - 183 Lo(a) Cholesterol - 16.0 Real LDL Size Pattern - A/B HDL-2 Large - 13 HDL-3 Small - 44 VLDL-3 Small - 8
So there you have it, the results from my April 2006 VAP test. Some people would look at that 275 total cholesterol number and freak out. That would be so shortsighted based on everything I've learned about cholesterol. My HDL is fantastic as are my triglycerides and VLDL. The average particle size of my cholesterol is medium to large, which is the good kind.
Let me be very clear: I AM NOT AT ALL WORRIED ABOUT MY CHOLESTEROL NUMBERS! Not one freakin' bit. Sure, the VAP test analysis said, "Due to the presence of several risk factors, considering lowering LDL-C goal." Okay, fine. But if that means taking a nightmare-causing statin drug, then NO THANK YOU!
Why would I do this when my triglyceride/HDL ratio is a microscopic 0.83?! All this worrying about cholesterol problems is actually worse for you than the cholesterol will EVER be! I think they WANT you to worry about it so your cholesterol keeps getting worse and worse. Shoot me for being conspiratorial like that, but it makes you wonder sometimes.
I'm coming up on the end of the four months my doctor gave me to lower my cholesterol without the use of the "s" word. He's probably not gonna be real happy about me ripping up the three cholesterol-lowering prescriptions he wrote for me to take that I threw away in the trash can in May! LOL! But I'm happy about my decision to eat even better than I was and refuse to be suckered into popping pills just to artificially lower my cholesterol. NOT ME, NOT ANYMORE!
This VAP test blood was drawn nearly three months ago. I would bet my cholesterol numbers are even better now than they were then. I may just have to have another test done here in the very near future to see. Until then, I KNOW I'm eating right and exercising as I should. My stress management could use some work after a massage therapist told me how tight my neck was during a visit the other day. Maybe I can work on that area of my life to help keep my cholesterol numbers in check.
THANK YOU to everyone who has expressed an interest in how my cholesterol is doing. I am pleased with my numbers and want to encourage others of you who are livin' la vida low-carb to not dwell so heavily on this. If you are following the low-carb plan as you should, then you have almost NOTHING to worry about. Keep an eye on that HDL number and the triglycerides number to see if you are low-carbin' the way you should or not. Those numbers won't lie to you! :D
The latest Washington Post column from health and nutrition columnist Sally Squires debates the pros and cons of whether people who want to lose weight should go public with their intentions or not.
While I have warned you to be wary of any "expert" advice on weight loss, Squires brings up a worthy topic of discussion that I have a definite opinion about that leans to one particular side of the issue.
Squires referenced the world's most famous dieter Kirstie Alley and other Hollywood stars as evidence that coming out in the open about having trouble with their weight has been a positive thing. You also have the contestants from NBC's hit show "The Biggest Loser" and other such shows that literally shine the spotlight on people as they are in the midst of doing one of the hardest tasks of their entire life -- losing weight permanently!
For me, I decided going public with my desire to lose weight was going to help me become the eventual success I wanted to be. That's why I entered a local radio weight loss contest just one month after I started livin' la vida low-carb. You can find out more about my experience in this contest (which I won, by the way!) by reading this FREE chapter of my book. It's a pretty funny story actually.
I can remember calling into the show every few weeks giving an update to the radio listeners about my progress and what I was doing to shed the pounds off of my formerly 410-pound body. You want to talk about accountability, that's one way to do it. There was no way I was going to be ashamed of my performance in that contest and I gave it everything I had to win it. In the end, all of that hard work paid off.
But it does make me wonder, would I have been able to lose 180 pounds in 2004 had I NOT had that weight loss contest? There's no way to know for sure because we can't go back in time and repeat history (nor would I want to!). If I had to answer that question honestly, I would probably say that my weight loss in that one year probably would not have been as high as it was. The motivation for me was to lose as much as possible within the nine months of the weight loss contest.
The same could be said for the contestants on "The Biggest Loser." Their #1 goal is to lose as much weight as they can. For fans of the show, you know there are weeks that can be challenging, including the week Season Two winner Matt went through when he lost nothing as well as a week he actually GAINED several pounds. And yet he STILL ended up winning the contest. If he wasn't playing for all that money, would his weight loss result have been the same? Maybe, maybe not.
Squires noted that having a wide-open weight loss can help some people "thrive." You can certainly put me in that category for sure because I don't mind sharing with the whole world what I'm going through. While I didn't start blogging until after my weight loss, my blog has served as a way to keep me accountable in my weight maintenance. I have even shared quite openly about my slight weight gain struggles this year which allows me to hook up with people who care about me enough to see me continue to succeed. That's what it's all about (by the way, the weight is coming back down...slowly).
One of Squires' "experts" in her column said some people don't do well getting their weight business out in the open because they allow others to begin criticizing their efforts. People who are sensitive to this kind of thing are who I describe as weight loss wimps.
I call it the "American Idol" effect. You know what I'm talking about. Here are these 12 young people who have the pipes to make a professional recording contract today and yet they've got 30+ million people all critiquing, analyzing, and casting scorn and doubt about their ability to sing on that single missed note or "pitchy" performance. What right do they have to do this when most of these millions of dopes couldn't even carry a tune in the shower?!
The same goes for weight loss. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, who hasn't experienced what it is like to be fat and overcome that can EVER EVER EVER provide any kind of constructive or destructive criticism with any merit behind it in my book. You have to walk a mile in someone's shoes to know where they're coming from and you can't possibly know what it's like to try to lose weight unless you've done it yourself. Period. End of story.
That's why I get literally hundreds of e-mails a month from people pouring out their heart and soul to me about their weight struggles. They do that because they KNOW I understand and can hopefully help them with their own issues to become the success that I did. I do my very best to at the very least encourage and edify EVERY SINGLE PERSON who e-mails me because that's the least I can do to give just a little back for this incredible miracle in my life.
I was thrilled to see Squires mention by fellow weight loss buddy Dr. Nick Yphantides who lost 270 pounds and went on a public tour of major league baseball parks in the midst of his weight loss which helped keep him accountable.
"On my own, I am still a 467-pound slob," Yphantides said.
Today he has a web site where he asks people to make their weight loss public to help them be successful.
Doesn't that just stand to reason? If you have a bunch of people observing you during your weight loss, then aren't you going to try that much harder to prove to them that you WILL do this? Wanna know something that might surprise you, though? PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS WATCHING YOU WHETHER YOU KNOW IT OR NOT when you are losing weight.
My friend from my book named Rodney, a personal trainer at the YMCA I visit, said he was watching me as I was losing weight for about six months before he said anything to me. He later revealed to me how much my dedication and commitment to getting my weight under control inspired HIM! WOW! Never lose sight of the fact that people WANT to see you succeed whether they ever vocalize it or not.
It sure is nice to hear the accolades for your weight loss, but you have to muster up your own kudos and accolades early on to keep you going. Most people didn't begin noticing my weight loss until after I had lost 100 pounds. Yoo hoo, look at me people! I'm shedding pounds and NOBODY'S taking notice!!! LOL! That all changed after I hit triple digits. Now EVERYBODY comments on my weight loss which helps me continue to keep it off. I even had a friend who I hadn't seen in a few years see me today and didn't even recognize me. That NEVER get old! :D
Squires' story said there isn't any scientific research on what impact going public with your weight loss has, but I would hypothesize that it makes a tremendous difference. If you keep it to yourself, then what's to say you're not gonnna get bored or discouraged with it and chunk your plans out the window? When others are watching, it's not as easy to just give up.
The conclusion of the Squires column is that it really depends on the personality of the individual trying to lose weight whether getting your weight loss out in the open is a good idea or not, but I strongly disagree. Whether you are very outgoing or meek and mild, a wide-open weight loss journey will only beholden success in my not-so-humble opinion. You need people who love and care about you to stand side-by-side with you through all the ups and downs that come with weight loss and letting others know about it can make the ride that much better.
Even now, I tell people to keep watching me to make sure I don't gain the weight back. I told them to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep me on the right path and to chide me if they see me going astray. It has worked for me so far, in part, because I have empowered all of these people around me to discipline me if I stop livin' la vida low-carb for even a moment. But now I'm in such a habit of eating right and exercising that the accountability is almost unnecessary. That's just the way I like it, too!
With weight loss blogs (the ones run by bloggers that Squires describes as "mere amateurs") emerging as one of the ways people are using to lose weight, I think it is great that people want to have that support system around them which I wholeheartedly endorse as a key plank in any successful weight loss plan. Don't ever fall into the trap of thinking nobody around you needs to be bothered by your weight loss attempts. Believe me, many of them would be THRILLED to help you improve your health by losing the weight you need to lose.
Of course, I am always available here at my blog to be a source of encouragement and hopefully inspiration to anyone and everyone who wants to lose weight. And if you start a blog about your weight loss, then let me know about it by e-mail so I can send people your way who will keep you from going astray. Weight loss is definitely within your grasp if you first begin sharing your intentions with the whole world.
Is anyone brave enough to announce their desire to lose weight beginning RIGHT NOW by commenting to this post? I PROMISE you there will be nothing but loving support for you when you do. Let that propel you to become another low-carb weight loss success story just like me. YOU CAN DO IT!!!
A reader e-mailed me yesterday about something that reminded me of something my wife Christine has been going through this year. You might remember me talking about Christine having a mysterious pain in her side that was causing her a lot of pain and test after test after test kept coming back negative. Finally, she saw a surgeon about it last month and he determined it was her gall bladder. It was removed a few weeks ago and Christine is now feeling a million times better.
So when I read about this very active 26-year-old, 115-pound woman having "a strange pain appear on my lower right abdominal side," I immediately perked up. However, unlike Christine who is NOT livin' la vida low-carb, this woman has been on a low-carb diet for health reasons since April 2006 and was seeing fantastic improvements in her health and skin.
But then that "strange pain" hit her with a nearly constant feeling that felt like she was "stabbed inside, swollen, crampy." It has come and gone several times, but has gotten progressively worse and worse with no signs of improvement. She has gotten tested with x-rays, an ultrasound of various regions of her abdomen, blood tests and everything has come back normal. In fact, since she started livin' la vida low-carb, her lipid profile has been excellent and she has not had any problems with indigestion or acid reflux.
One area of her health that has change is her period cycle which she said has been "messed up" since all of this started.
"I bleed between periods for a day or two, and also the first period after I began with my low-carb diet was missing (or was at least very delayed)," she wrote.
There are a lot of things this could be and I wrote back to her stating I am by no means an expert on these kinds of conditions, especially regarding women's health. But she's looking for an explanation for what is happening to her and whether it has anything to do with her low-carb lifestyle or not.
"Does this sound like anything you've ever encountered after people went on low-carb?" she asked. "I'm very scared and I really don't know whether to attribute this directly to the diet or if it is indirect (like the diet made some problem I had before obvious, or it was perhaps too rapid a change for me to make?)"
Despite these health issues she is having, she assured me that she thinks livin' la vida low-carb is "really great" and that "it's really hard to imagine for me this could be causing me problems directly, especially in this way and in such a short term!"
Have any of my readers here at the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog run into anything like this before, especially my female readers? She's the first person I've ever heard of with this specific problem. I did have this reader who had complained about her tongue tingling when she was on low-carb, but that's it. Of course, I'm not one to blame my low-carb diet on every little ailment that people have either. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.
By the way, here is a sample menu of what my e-mailer says she eats as part of her healthy low-carb program:
BREAKFAST: 4 eggs with bacon and lard Various vegetables Glass of coconut milk shake with berries Piece of dark chocolate
LUNCH: Nuts Occasionally some fruit (mainly berries or other low-carb fruit) Tea
SUPPER: Bone broth with vegetables Steak (usually fatty, like pork ribs) with salad or vegetables A piece of fruit
Her fat intake is near 150g, including daily doses of coconut oil, and she gets 70g protein along with less than 70g carbs since she is NOT trying to lose weight. As for supplements, she takes cod liver oil and a probiotic. Alos, she does not take any prescription medications.
One possibility that has come up is PCOS, which low-carb has been found in studies to help with, despite the fact that she is not overweight or obese. Only a reproductive endocrinologist or specialized OB/GYN will be able to properly diagnose that condition and she is very seriously considering making that appointment very soon.
The previously next-to-impossible task of coming up with a sample daily menu (something the AHA has not provided to the public) is what made my fellow low-carb blogger and healthy nutrition activist Regina Wilshire move into action by putting her money where her mouth is. She has been dangling a $1,000 cash reward for the past month to the first person who could come up with a sample one-day menu that meets all the requirements set by the AHA. JUST ONE DAY, that's it!
But now the AHA has decided to throw a curve ball in The Wilshire Challenge this week by adding a few more oddball specifics to an already ambiguous and convoluted list of dietary suggestions.
Here is a recap of the NEW suggestions made by the AHA:
Grains: 6-8 servings a day; half from whole grain sources
Vegetables: 4-5 servings a day
Fruits: 4-5 servings a day
Fat-free or low-fat dairy: 2-3 servings a day
Lean meats, poultry, seafood: Less than 6-ounces (cooked) a day
Fats and oils: 2-3 servings a day
Nuts, seeds and legumes: 4-5 servings per week
Sweets and added sugars: Less than 5 per week
Sigh. Doesn't this just clear everything up for you now?! HA!
You know, I wonder why the AHA nutritionists have been so afraid to take Regina up on her challenge since they were the ones who came up with these brilliant dietary suggestions in the first place? Why have they been so silent and refused to even take advantage of this opportunity to silence a very vocal critic of their recommendations? Hmmm? It really makes you start to wonder.
In fact, according to this post at her "Weight of the Evidence" blog today, Regina reports that "none of the menus I've received comply with" what the AHA is expecting people to come up with on their own. How sad is that?! How the heck are all of us average, everyday Americans supposed to know how to make meals for our family if all these "experts" can't even make ONE DAY'S worth of meals, much less a whole week or month?!
This is quite disturbing considering the fact that there have been some very high-profile and very well-trained professionals in the field of health and nutrition who have taken The Wishire Challenge are just kinda scratching their heads trying to manipulate the menu to make it accomodate what the AHA is suggesting AND keep it nutrient-dense. So far, they have ALL failed to do it. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!
But Regina is willing to give all of those who previously failed to provide an adequate menu to try, try again so they can incorporate these new standards that the AHA has mandated as an addendum to their previous suggestions. Of course, The Wilshire Challenge is still open to ANYONE who can come up with their own menu so take your best shot at it.
If you think you are up to the $1,000 Wilshire Challenge, then CLICK HERE to e-mail Regina a copy of your sample menu. GOOD LUCK (you're gonna need it!) and be looking for Regina to respond to you with a yea or nay (including why it was rejected) regarding your submission. I'm anxious to see if ANYONE can actually do this. Come on, isn't there ANYONE who can do this? ANYONE?!
AHA, do you see how incredibly impractical and arduous you have made this that we can even find ONE person who can adhere to the mandates you have placed on what constitutes a "healthy" diet? Doesn't that tell you something?!?!?! It may be time to go back to the drawing board and figure out another way because clearly this one's not working very well.
It makes me proud to see so many BRAND NEW LOW-CARB BLOGS popping up all over the Internet nowadays. With reliable information about livin' la vida low-carb becoming very scarce in traditional information sources such newspapers and television, the growing blogosphere has become a safe haven of rest for low-carbers to unite and share their experiences with each other about this amazing way of eating.
If the growth of my blog is any indication of the sustained interest in this topic, then my bets are that some of the following blogs will be serving the low-carb community with excellent commentary and news for many years to come.
Here are five new blogs that have recently caught my attention:
A 28-year-old Missouri woman named Meredith Curry, aka Megadittles, has a blog that features her quirky, but honest "personal health and diet opinions" as well as a few "tangents on other subjects." As both she and her husband are livin' la vida low-carb, Meredith blogs about just about whatever is on her mind -- good, bad or ugly! She likes it that way and wants you to read what she has to say...BECAUSE I SAID SO! :D
Speaking of quirky, wait until you get a load of Mr. & Mrs. Fat! What a riot! Again, this is a husband/wife team on the Atkins diet and simply sharing what life is like as they go down this weight loss journey together. Aww, that's just sooooo sweet! If you like your humor dry and brutally honest, then you'll find lots to love about this politically incorrect blog!
Of a more sophisticated and professional variety of blogger, we have certified sports nutritionist and author Carol Bardelli who is an active low-carber willing to share her wealth of wisdom about livin' la vida low-carb with the world. Carol's blog reads like a how-to manual for the low-carb lifestyle in language that not only teaches you something new, but also keeps you interested and even entertained. She's a big fan of my blog and I know you'll soon become a big fan of hers!
I've blogged about Rob (whose avatar at the Active No-Carber Forums is ironically the Kool-Aid Man! HA!) and his Zero Carb Path version of livin' la vida low-carb before. But now he has a brand new daily blog featuring regular posts about the incredible health benefits he believes comes from eating virtually no carbs at all. Whether you subscribe to that philosophy or not, Rob certainly makes the information compelling enough to check out!
While this web site is technically NOT low-carb nor is it a blog, I think you'll find the discussions in the forums interesting enough to read. This web site is actually run by a man named Matt who has lost weight on low-carb. He recently added this Atkins Diet Recipes section to his list of forums. This one might be worth a look-see every now and then.
There are PLENTY more new low-carb blogs out there and I want you to let me know when you see a new one that tickles your fancy. Drop me an e-mail to let me know about it and we'll check 'em out! Of course, you can always see the new blogs I'm interested in by looking at my ever-growing list of Blog Friends along the right-hand side of my blog.
Are you thinking of starting your own low-carb blog? GO FOR IT! Just let me know when you've gone live and posted and few blogs so I can see what you're up to. We're all in this together and I'll do my part to help you get the word out about your new blog. Keep spreading the word about livin' la vida low-carb!
Are the days of bringing boxes of doughnuts to work almost history?
I'm sorry that I don't feel remorse for Krispy Kreme because I don't.
This Tampa Bay TV-10 news story about three Krispy Kreme doughnut shops closing their doors for good in the Tampa Bay, Florida area may be a sign of bigger things to come nationwide in the coming year as other businesses that are based on very unhealthy high-carb products must decide whether they can withstand the continuing and rapid decline in sales.
The "unexpected" closing of stores was attributed to a renewed health-conscious customer base concerned about weight gain and the corporate bigwigs at Krispy Kreme still "blames the low-carb Atkins diet fad for its troubles." This is the same old song and dance show they've been giving us for the past year or so!
But, but, but...
Didn't the "low-carb fad" pass us about a year or two ago already? If that "fad" was truly fleeting and is now well in the past, then why the heck would it STILL be having an effect on doughnut sales in the year 2006? Hmmmmmm? Do you think we're all just a bunch of morons, Krispy Kreme? Take a look in the mirror!
The REALITY of the situation is that more and more people are realizing that doughnuts really are the worst possible food you could put in your mouth if you are livin' la vida low-carb. This is bad news for my local state senator Glenn Reese who happens to own the local Krispy Kreme doughnuts shop in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Of course, you've got people eating a donut bacon cheeseburger at a minor league ballpark, so maybe doughnuts aren't completely out of favor with people yet. But their final days are already underway. We can certainly hope.
I for one will NEVER EVER EVER EVER put one of those sugar-infested, flour-filled worthless pieces of so-called food products in my mouth again for the rest of my life. Just the thought of a doughnuts now gives me a gag reflex. Buh-buh-buh-BLECH!!! :P Somebody gotta mop I can use to clean this up? :D
The post that appeared here has been removed for not promoting the low-carb community in the professional manner I have come to expect from myself. THANK YOU!
What they found during their research is that people with high blood sugar levels are at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Previous studies have already shown a link between Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's, but this new research now reveals that even pre-diabetics who have not developed full-blown diabetes yet are in danger of getting the brain-altering Alzheimer's disease.
The Alzheimer's Association has already predicted the number of cases of Alzheimer's disease is expected to quadruple by the year 2050 as the progression of this disease correlates directly with the diabetes epidemic that is now underway.
I have previously blogged about why diabetes can't be cured yet and now we see the unintended consequences of our inability to consider all the treatment options for type 2 diabetes. With the most recent research pointing to the low-carb approach as the best way to help diabetics control their blood sugar levels without the use of medications, then why wouldn't we want to use this miraculous way of eating to slow down the rates of Alzheimer's disease as well?
In fact, we've already seen another recent study that showed a low-carb diet can actually REVERSE Alzheimer's disease completely which went hand-in-hand with this study showing a high-fat, nearly zero-carb diet controlled the symptoms of yet another debilitating neurological disease -- Parkinson's!
The evidence is clear to anyone who is paying attention and can still comprehend what is going on here. Diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are very likely caused by the excessive amounts of sugar we are putting in our mouths which is then leading to the twin health epidemics of obesity and diabetes that brings us back to a higher risk for developing these awful diseases. Eeeek!
Can't we just stop this madness by recommending the low-carb lifestyle as a healthy, permanent way to not only maintain your weight, but also to prevent all of these diseases from inflicting us with unnecessary medical conditions? If low-carb has been shown to work so well in the treatment of all of these conditions, then why wouldn't our doctors want to prescribe it as a natural cure? It just doesn't make sense to me at all.
From what I have heard from the Madrid conference, it sounds like the researchers are looking at diabetes drugs to combat Alzheimer's. Ugh! When are we EVER gonna learn that livin' la vida low-carb works, it REALLY works. Wake up people!
If this is your idea of exercise, then THINK AGAIN!
I recently blogged about why you should make exercise a permanent habit in your life. Now, this Reuters story backs up that recommendation with a new study showing the heart benefits from physical activity that occurs at any age.
Lead researcher Dr. Dietrich Rothenbacher, from the Department of Epidemiology in the German Center for Research on Aging at the the University of Heidelberg in Germany, looked at previously gathered data of patients between the ages of 40 to 68 years old who had been questioned about their lifestyle and exercise habits. They studied what effect physical activity had on patients with coronary heart disease as well as a group of volunteers of the same age and sex who had not developed heart problems.
The patients observed who experienced smoking, diabetes, and high blood pressure tended to be less active and more lethargic than the ones who were healthy. Conversely, the active patients were found to have a 60 percent less chance of developing coronary heart disease than their lazier counterparts. In fact, the people who made exercise a regular part of their adult lives ended up having the lowest rates of heart disease among all the study participants.
However, the most compelling part of Dr. Rothenbacher's research was the revelation that inactive adults who began an exercise routine as simple as walking after the age of 40 were nearly 55 percent LESS likely to develop heart disease than if they had not increased their physical activity.
In other words, IT'S NOT TOO LATE FOR EXERCISE no matter how old you are. This coincides perfectly with another recent study that found senior citizens who remain active late in their lives tend to live healthier, longer lives. This should inspire even the most glued-to-the-sofa individual to get up and move their body!
"You don't have to go to the gym. Just get off the couch," Dr. Rothenbacher exclaimed. "But we also found that people who changed their physical activity patterns in late adult life also reduced their risk for coronary heart disease."
That should be motivation to start becoming more active, right? Nobody wants to develop heart disease, but too often we ignore this very basic element in preventing it from happening -- JUST MOVE YOUR BODY! You don't have to climb a mountain, ride a bike for 30 miles, or run a marathon. Just incorporate regular activities into your schedule that will raise your heart rate and make you sweat a little. Climb the stairs, park at the farthest parking space from Wal-mart, take a stroll down to the park, ANYTHING beats sitting in front of that boob tube stuffing your face with high-carb snacks and sugary sodas!
Dr. Rothenbacher gives the "well duh" conclusion of the year.
"Our results suggest that a more active physical activity pattern is clearly associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease, and that changing from a sedentary to a more physically active lifestyle even in later adulthood may strongly decrease CHD risk," Dr. Rothenbacher said.
Dr. Hu and his Harvard colleagues present their grim study results
We already knew that childhood obesity was a precursor to the development of a variety of health problems as an adult. But now this Reuters story points to a very large Harvard study that showed children who are still overweight by the time they reach adulthood have a proportionally higher risk of premature death due to their poor lifestyle choices and the subsequent obesity-related health complications that follow.
Study co-author Dr. Frank Hu, Associate Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, and his fellow researchers looked at 102,400 mostly Caucasian cancer-free at baseline female nurses ages 22-44 years old and found these women who were either overweight or obese when they turned 18 were much more likely when they were teenagers to drink alcoholic beverages, smoke cigarettes, and not exercise.
Actually, the study showed that even the women who never smoked at all were STILL more likely to die sooner if they were overweight when they turned 18.
As a result, Dr. Hu found the women who fell into the category of overweight or obese at 18 were most likely to die sometime between the ages of 36 to 56 years old. Yikes! In fact, the higher a woman weighs at the age of 18, the greater her chances of dying young will be, according to the researchers. The higher their weight, the higher the mortality rates. Double yikes!
Shockingly, the moderately overweight women at the age of 18 were 50 percent more likely to die before they reached the age of 30(!) while the obese women at 18 years old were MORE THAN DOUBLE at risk for a premature death than their normal weight peers.
Doesn't all of this just take your breath away to hear? This is an epidemic that is killing off people long before they can ever worry about getting old. I mean, come on, the research has found obesity is causing death to come before the age of 30 for those whose weight problem is most severe! Where are the bold headlines on this?! Why do we pay so little attention to a problem that has only been perpetuated by our own poor lifestyle choices? It's all been swept under the rug like it's not happening, but that dust is now beginning to pile up to the point that it can no longer be ignored.
Reading this study just breaks my heart and the saddest part about it is that IT IS ALL PREVENTABLE! Note I didn't say it was easy, but the fact is losing weight can and should happen for these children who are overweight or obese so that by the time they become an adult they will have good habits in place ready to take them forward in life. No, don't expect the government to lose weight for you and perhaps you overcontrolling moms should let up a little.
Unfortunately, so many of us pick up the bad habits we learned as children and carry those over into adulthood. I know I did. How else can you explain someone who weighed 250 pounds when he graduated high school at 17, 300 pounds when he graduated college at 20, 350 pounds when he got married at 23, and kept growing and growing his weight until it reached 410 pounds at the age of 32?
Thankfully for me, the low-carb lifestyle came at just the right moment in January 2004 to save me from the certain devastation that would have befallen me had I not stopped the constantly rising weight gain when I did. I praise God and celebrate the gift of my weight loss experience every day for helping me overcome my obesity problem and take back control of my weight and health.
Of the women who experienced death in this study, 258 of them died of cancer, 55 from heart disease or stroke and 61 committed suicide. That latter group of women are the ones who likely couldn't take the ridicule and scorn of their weight any longer and just decided to give up on life altogether. My heart literally aches for those people now which is why I created this blog as a beacon of hope and inspiration for anyone who believes they'll be stuck being fat forever. OH NO YOU WON'T!
Dr. Hu said his study results should be a wake-up call for parents to do everything they can to make sure their children are living a healthy lifestyle as they are growing up to prevent premature death from happening.
"This paper underscores the importance of efforts to prevent excessive weight gain in children, not only to prevent obesity but also to prevent moderate overweight (people)," he said.
Uh, yeah! I'm gonna step on some toes here (so what else is new), but any parent who allows their child to become overweight or obese and doesn't try to help them lose the weight is guilty of child abuse. That's right, CHILD ABUSE! I know that sounds harsh, but I believe it with all of my heart. Any parent who thinks it is okay for their children to walk around 25, 50 or 100 pounds more than what they should weigh and just turns a blind eye to the problem should be locked up in jail for neglect and should never be allowed to be a parent again!
While I realize there are many reasons for weight gain in children that aren't always tied to their diet, most overweight and obese children got that way because they loaded up on junk food, fast food, and high-carb convenience foods their parents freely bought for them while all but rejecting any form of physical activity in favor of television, video games, and computer work. Parents can create a healthier environment to help their children in this kind of situation eat better and work in fun exercise routines to bring their weight under control. IT IS POSSIBLE!
If you have a chunky kid, then NOW is the time to DO SOMETHING about it. And parents, YOU will need to be the ones who need to take the lead on this by becoming an excellent example for your kids to follow. Don't demand your child live healthier while you plop down in front of that television eating Cheetos and Twinkies right in front of them! How hypocritical!
The fact is they'll eat better and get active when they see YOU doing the same thing. This will also help keep you accountable in managing your own health, which probably needs some work as well. Can I get an amen to that?
Doesn't this seem like a win-win proposition? You betcha!
At the end of the Reuters study, there was a reference to another related study that concluded the best way to treat childhood obesity is with prescription drugs and behavior therapy.
With all due respect to those researchers, ARE YOU FREAKIN' IDIOTS?! Kids don't need medications and psychobabble to help them lose weight! What they need is leadership from their parents about the right way to eat and exercise. We need to stop relying on the pharmaceutical companies to come up with a pill to solve all of our problems and start taking better care of ourselves as well as the blessings that God has given us to watch over. Weight loss is needed at ANY age and parents can make this happen for their families.
Childhood obesity is dead serious lethal, but YOU have the power to change that destiny for your child. You might even consider livin' la vida low-carb for that precious child you love. It's a way of eating that they will thank you for teaching them for many years to come. And it is something they will pass on to your grandchildren someday. What a legacy that would be!
Bravo is running a special debut of their new show this Wednesday
Bravo, the cable network best known for their hit shows "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" and "Project Runway," are back with a fresh, new docu-drama called "Work Out" that is the first-ever fitness reality show on television. Unlike NBC's hit show "The Biggest Loser" which starts off with people are already overweight and need to lose weight, this show features what goes on behind-the-scenes of one of Beverly Hills' hottest fitness clubs, including trying to meet the rigorous demands of looking the part for prospective clients.
Is Jackie Warner the "Simon Cowell" of a new fitness reality show?
Featuring the owner of the Beverly Hills, CA-based Sky Sport & Spa Jackie Warner, "Work Out" follows her and seven of her trainers as they run the business and seeks to grow it into the best fitness club possible for their prestigious clients. Viewers will get an inside look at what life is like inside an impressive workout gym and will be able to see first-hand that it's not all glitz and glory.
The show will be driven by the personalities, especially Warner who could be kindly compared to "American Idol" star Simon Cowell for her crass personality and "don't-mess-with-me" attitude. She demands the best and does whatever it takes to bring that out in her trainers and clients.
There will be six one-hour episodes airing in the coming weeks with the debut episode coming on right after "Project Runway" this Wednesday, July 19, 2006 from 11pm-midnight EST. Then it will move to its regular night and time of Tuesdays at 9:00pm beginning on July 25, 2006.
These are the trainers whose lives you will learn all about
"Work Out" will delve into interpersonal relationships, politics, fitness philosophy, and the facade of trying to have the "perfect body." This soap-opera-meets-reality-show features the trainers Erika, Brian, Andre, Zen, Jesse, Rebecca, and Doug as their personal lives becomes the storyline in the dog eat dog world of physical fitness for the stars.
Wanna see a trailer for this hot new show on Bravo? Check it out:
For more information about the show, be sure to visit the official web site for "Work Out" including bios, photos, and a message board to discuss the show. If you are into fitness (and you should be if you are livin' la vida low-carb), then you won't want to miss "Work Out."
Stay tuned sometime in the next week for a chance to win some limited edition "Work Out" merchandise exclusively here at the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog. Be watching the show so you can be a winner! More to come...
'Great Cholesterol Con': The Most Compelling Health Book Nobody's Ever Heard Of
Anthony Colpo's magnum opus will stand the test of time
Every genius of his day has that one masterpiece from his life's work that has endured throughout the generations as the defining moment in his career when greatness befalls upon him and his name will live forever in infamy.
For Albert Einstein, it was his theory of relativity.
For Leonardo da Vinci it was his painting "Mona Lisa."
For Francis Crick and James Watson, it was discovering DNA.
But even these men of great infamy were not given the immediate critical acclaim and accolades from their peers that such displays of cerebral excellence deserved in their own time. It wasn't until years later in the context of historical significance that each of these discoveries and works of art became known as the brilliant showpieces they are today.
Now we have another candidate that fulfills the litmus test for genius and yet his work is not being heralded by the people of his generation as it deserves to be. I suppose he should feel proud to be placed in the same company as an Einstein, da Vinci, or Crick and Watson because his discoveries about cholesterol are no less spectacular than what they found.
Remember the name: Anthony Colpo. His book is called The Great Cholesterol Con. If ever there was a more compelling health book in my lifetime that has the potential to directly influence the decisions of so many doctors, patients, and researchers on the subject of cholesterol, then I haven't seen it. And yet, how many people have even heard of Colpo and his prodigious independent research?
Not many...yet! But I expect that to change rather quickly as word about this 368-page dissertation about the biggest health scam of the 21st Century spreads from those of us who have had the privilege of experiencing this great work by Colpo.
It literally took me weeks to get through and absorb all of the information contained within the pages of this amazing book, but it was defintely NOT a boring, laborious book of scientific annotations that will go completely over your heard. Colpo writes in a meticulous style that leaves no stone unturned while also captivating your attention with head-on language he dares you to ignore. The time and energy it must have taken him to write his very first and probably best book of his career is clearly evident in page turn after every glorious page turn.
Colpo is a brave fighter who is unafraid to expose the medical and research community for perpetrating an outright fraud on a public who is either too ignorant or uneducated to question their conclusions regarding health. That's why statin drugs have become one of the top moneymakers for drug companies today because of this false illusion that everyone "needs" to artificially lower their cholesterol for the sake of their heart health. LIAR!
The big secret that Colpo exposes is the FACT that the rate of heart disease has not decreased one iota since the introduction of statins, such as Lipitor and Crestor, and yet you never hear anybody ever talking about this. Why?
Furthermore, the suspicious side effects of taking these expensive medications, including intense joint and muscle pain, are swept under the rug as a necessary part of treating cholesterol. What a big fat joke this "great cholesterol con" has become!
As someone who has been fooled into taking these drugs all "for the sake of my health," it angered me that I could be so duped by the very doctors that I trust to provide me with the best medical care possible. Thankfully for me I was able to come off of the cholesterol-lowering drugs after losing 180 pounds on the low-carb lifestyle. But not everyone is able to figure this out on their own, which is why Colpo's book has been so sorely needed for far too long.
Colpo really does deserve a medal for putting himself out there as the direct target of the drug manufacturers, pharmaceutical reps, and doctors who have been making BILLIONS of dollars in profit off of this scheme for far too long. If you aren't outraged about this as much as Colpo is, then you REALLY need to read his book as soon as possible. It will open your eyes to an underground world of corruption and deceit that is jeopardizing the very health of the world's population.
Does this sound like a conspiracy of some sort? I suppose it has those markings. But Colpo is DEAD serious and provides all the references you need to see for yourself how this "great cholesterol con" has been allowed to exist. This book should be a warning to everyone who thinks taking that cholesterol-lowering drug will protect them against a heart attack or heart disease. It's time to stop letting others think for you and to start thinking for yourself by arming yourself with the facts.
In addition to cholesterol, Colpo also gets into such issues as how saturated fat and low-carb diets have been unfairly maligned as health threats while behind-the-scenes they are being proven by new scientific evidence to be a lot healthier and safe for weight and health management than the failed low-fat diets ever will be. My weight loss experience is living proof of that!
An eyeopener for sure, The Great Cholesterol Con will one day become required reading for medical students wanting to find out the truth about cholesterol, diet and heart disease. It is Colpo's genius that we should be celebrating for coming along at this point in time in the history of the world to be the beacon of truth for all the world to see.
Will you remain blinded by the lies you've been told or will you become enlightened by the invaluable information Colpo has provided as his gift to the world? That's a decision YOU and you alone must make which can impact your life more than you even realize regardless of what you choose to do.
Then, if you decide to have your eyes opened, do you keep it to yourself or will you also share it with your friends and family? This is the kind of book that every living man, woman, and child should have to read just once.
If you decide to reject what is contained within the book, then at least you'll be armed with the facts.
But if instead you decide to embrace what you've read and be moved to action, then the legend of Colpo will rise beyond this mundane world of ours to metamorphose into a greater understanding of what healthy living is really all about.
When that happens, the genius of Colpo will FINALLY be recognized and he will take his rightful place in history behind those great names of the past for what he has contributed to the world.
What does an overweight or obese person expect from their doctor?
The morning hosts of my local talk radio station were discussing the topic of lying this week after a new survey was released that shows most Americans believe there are times when telling a fib or two is okay. So, being the devoted caller with an opinion (gee, imagine that!) to share, I used this opportunity to call them up to discuss the issue of how doctors habitually LIE to their patients about their weight problem and that I believe it is actually perpetuating the obesity problem by making it much worse than it needs to be.
Both hosts immediately chided me saying that most doctors they know are VERY responsive to the needs of their patients, especially the ones who are overweight or obese, by providing them with medical advice about how to deal with their health issues. I responded back to them that those days are changing because of the ultra-sensitivity that some doctors have these days about hurting their patient's feelings by calling them "fat" or "obese." That's exactly what got this doctor into hot water last year just because he was willing to be honest with his patient about her weight problem.
Now there's new evidence that shows this "wussification" is running rampant worldwide as more and more doctors either don't or won't tell their overweight and obese patients how to deal with their very real medical problem threatening to destroy their health. This The Age story reports on research out of Australia which shows doctors are not helping their patients near enough with dietary and activity advice because they just don't have the time to devote to it.
Lead researcher Dr. Daisy Tan, advanced academic general practioner registrar at Fairfield Hospital in Sydney, Australia, surveyed 227 patients while they were in the waiting room of their doctor's office to poll them about their expectations regarding the medical advice that would be provided to them that day.
Although 81 percent of the patients who were a part of the survey were considered obese, about one-third (28 percent) of them said their doctor had NOT told them that they need to lose weight.
ONE IN THREE HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN CONFRONTED ABOUT THEIR OBESITY?!?!?! Sheez, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Doctors not only have the right, but I believe it is their responsibility to share their concerns with their patients about a major health problem, which most definitely includes being overweight or obese. This is so very disappointing.
During my conversation with the morning radio talk show, I brought up how my doctor NEVER ONCE told me I needed to lose weight when I weighed 410 pounds. Both hosts responded incredulously stating that their doctors almost always tell them about their need for weight loss and that I must have a bad doctor or something. I don't think so because this is a trend that is showing up more and more in the United States and around the world.
If doctors truly cared about their patients, as I'm sure they will tell you that they do, then I believe nothing is gonna discourage them from sharing the truth with their patients about their weight issues. Or, let's just say, THEY SHOULDN'T! Had I been encouraged by my doctor to begin losing weight years ago, then perhaps I wouldn't have gotten to weigh over 400 pounds or, as in the case of Manuel Uribe, over 1200 pounds before deciding to FINALLY do something about my weight problem.
Of everything that was discussed during my conversation with the radio talk show hosts, one thing really stood out in my mind that I've been itching to tell you about here all week. The host said, "But didn't you realize you were fat without your doctor needing to tell you that?" I get this question posed to me from time to time by people who obviously don't understand what it's like when you get that big. There's a whole host of psychological factors that come into play.
Did I know I was fat? Duh, of course I did! It was hard to ignore all of the signs, including that big tumor protruding out the front of my body know as my 62-inch belly! But what I didn't know was that my weight was progressively getting heavier and heavier to the point that I was in complete denial about just how bad my weight problem had gotten.
Case in point is my brother Kevin. I was talking to my dad on the telephone the other night about Kevin and he told me that Kevin recently told him that he weighs 350 pounds. When I heard that, it took my breath away at the revelation that my own full-blooded brother was deep in his denial about his weight problem. I told dad that Kevin probably weighs closer to 600 pounds and that he is simply not owning up to the reality of his weight. This is a common problem among the obese which makes it harder and harder to help them. That's why I talk about this subject so much in my book because it is one of the keys to helping people triumph over their weight problems like I did.
One encouraging thing about Kevin's situation is that he has read my book about my weight loss now and is going to try to begin losing weight by livin' la vida low-carb. WELL IT'S ABOUT TIME, BRO! With multiple heart attacks, hospitalizations, a tumultuous personal life that includes a recent divorce, and a severely weakened heart that doctors have said may only last until the end of the year, this may very well be Kevin's last great hope for survival from his morbid obesity. Please continue to pray for a miraculous healing in his life. I love my brother, but he's eating himself to an early grave.
My brother's sad story is precisely why this issue about doctors advising their patients about their weight is so significant to me. It hits home and very well could have led me down the same path as Kevin had I not figured this weight loss thing out for myself. Sure, others could do the same thing that I did and start educating themselves about good nutrition, but most people are unwilling to invest the time and energy it takes to do that.
The survey included 70 patients who were were considered overweight, but just one in five of them had received any weight loss advice at all. It makes me wonder out loud if the "eat a healthy diet" or "eat a balanced diet" lecture was getting so old that the doctors just stopped bothering with it.
What a crying shame, although most physicians never move away from the failed low-fat/low-calorie/portion-control dietary advice they've been giving to their patients for decades. This is disturbing since over 80 percent of the patients automatically accept the eating and fitness advice from their doctor as the best solutions for dealing with their weight and at least attempt to follow them. Additionally, over three-fourths (78 percent) desire regular follow-up visits for their doctor to monitor their progress.
There are a few brave physicians who have kept up with the latest advances in medical science regarding the low-carb nutritional approach, including that it has been found to be the BEST diet for treating the symptoms of metabolic syndrome, there are still too many doctors taking the lazy way out by just ignoring the problem or throwing dangerous diet pills or risky weight loss surgeries like LAP-BAND at them as the ONLY solutions to their weight problem which has the effect of discouraging some people from even TRYING to lose weight. How very sad indeed! :(
According to Tan's study, nearly eight out of ten patients EXPECT their general practitioner to help them do something about their weight. But less than half (46 percent) feel their doctors are investing enough time with this issue to address it.
Interestingly, Dr. Tan said most of the patients surveyed said they would prefer to hear from their doctor how natural remedies can help them lose weight over taking drugs or being referred to a dietitian (most of whom despise the low-carb lifestyle and would more than likely put them on that same old low-fat/low-calorie/portion-control diet that we all know works so well. NOT!).
The results of her survey have certainly raised some eyebrows and Dr. Tan said doctors should heed these "interesting" results as an opportunity to be bolder about helping their patients overcome their weight problems once and for all.
"[This study] may indicate that general practitioners should be more proactive in instituting preventive health measures," she concluded.
Ya think? We are on a very unstable slippery slope at the moment with medical professionals trying to keep from being sued by their patients for slander for calling them a euphemism for "being fat" while also trying to treat these same patients for conditions that would improve if they would just lose some weight. Sigh.
There are no easy answers to these issues, but I do believe doctors should stop beating around the bush about their patients' weight problems and start offering them multiple options for attacking the obesity issue with individualized methods that work well for the individual. The decades-old "one-size-fits-all" mentality of the low-fat diet is the biggest joke of our lifetime, but now we know better. I don't believe low-carb is for everyone, but we need to begin helping people find their way to manage their weight and keep it off for good. Isn't this a cause worth pursuing? I definitely think so and so should your doctor.
Best of all, the doctors and patients will both be pleased with the end result!
The latest MySurvey.com poll is about the touchy subject of exercise
I've been a member of an exciting survey web site for several years now located on the Internet at MySurvey.com. This is where I get to provide my own personal feedback on various new product introductions, give my reactions to potential marketing campaigns, and in the process, earn points towards a variety of cash and prize awards.
I'm certainly not getting rich or anything off of taking these surveys, but it's certainly a lot of fun playing a vital role in the rollout of new products to the market. Best of all, you have the option of NOT participating in any survey if you so desire. I LOVE IT and highly recommend it to you to try for yourself by signing up here.
One of the neat new features of this survey site is the weekly poll they started putting out there a couple of months ago. While it is by no means a scientific poll by any stretch of the imagination, it's always fun to see how people answer the questions.
This week's question certainly caught my attention:
"How often do you exercise?"
Since I started livin' la vida low-carb, the answer for ME is virtually everyday with a day off every now and then. Here was the list of answers people could choose from:
a) Less than once a week b) 1-2 times per week c) 3-5 times per week d) 6-7 times per week e) Never
In light of all the news reports you hear about how lazy and slothful Americans are when it comes to moving our bodies, I guess the survey results from nearly 100,000 votes are pretty predictable:
a) Less than once a week - 27 percent b) 1-2 times per week - 23 percent c) 3-5 times per week - 28 percent d) 6-7 times per week - 8 percent e) Never - 14 percent
WOW, some of those numbers are better than I would have expected them to be. But, according to the survey, 59 percent of the survey respondents exercise weekly, with 36 percent doing so a minimum of three times per week. That's pretty impressive in my book and I would be a part of that 6-7 times per week crowd. :)
But what about the other 41 percent who only exercise every once in a while or never (YIKES!)? And let's not forget about those people who voted that they exercise during the week by rationalizing to themselves that walking from the parking garage to their office counts as exercise. We're probably looking at 50-60 percent who don't have a regular exercise routine. As this recent study showed, we are in a very real health crisis in the United States because people just aren't exercising!
I work in an office building with about 300 people and our company is kind enough to offer a FREE employee membership to the local YMCA. What an opportunity for my co-workers and their family members to get a jumpstart on our weight and health management program. You would think most of us would be taking full advantage of this employee benefit, right?!
Unfortunately, I can count on less than two hands the number of people who go to the YMCA regularly. And that is so sad, isn't it? There is no charge for this wonderful institution providing exercise equipment and facilities for getting more active, and only about 2-3 percent of the employees even use it?! What's wrong with this picture? What's it gonna take to get people to take exercising more seriously?
This goes back to the question I had about those people who choose NOT to exercise. What gives? Well, as someone who used to be a part of that group, allow me to shed some light on the situation.
When you are overweight or obese, there are good reasons for avoiding exercise: IT HURTS, you sweat profusely and breathe hard, your muscles and joints get sore, IT HURTS, there's no instant gratification in weight loss or improved health, IT HURTS, it's too embarassing to be around other more physically fit people who workout there, DID I MENTION IT HURTS, TOO?! :)
I remember having all of those feelings in the first few days, weeks and months of starting my exercise routine at the YMCA beginning in February 2004 to correlate with my low-carb plan. The experience was incredibly grueling when I began which I go into great detail about in the exercise chapter of my book "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb." It wasn't fun, but I knew getting into this habit was absolutely necessary if I was going to be the eventual weight loss success that I so desperately desired to be.
For those of you who have read my book, you know the pain and agony of what I went through to make exercise a regular part of my daily life. It was something I wanted so badly I was willing to go through some extremely painful and sometimes humorous (I did something pretty silly one day early on in my weight loss because I was NOT going to be discouraged from exercising -- it's in my book!) experiences to make it happen. Will that be the same thing that others will have to endure? Probably not, but it is a possibility that you must be prepared to take on before you begin your serious commitment to exercising.
The most difficult aspect of getting in the habit of working out is making it a habit you don't even need to think about. For me, I MADE myself go at the exact same time every single day during my lunch break at work so I could never have the excuse that I didn't have time to walk on the treadmill. Oh yes I did and it was during lunch. Day after day after day.
Like a robot, I dutifully obeyed my own mandate to go down to that gym and start walking like I'd never walked before! Even when I felt my legs were going to fall off or that my heart couldn't beat any harder or faster than it already was, I pushed myself forward. All of those efforts eventually paid off and are STILL paying off for me today.
As time passed, I noticed this activity I used to dread horribly was actually becoming more pleasurable because of the weight loss and improved conditioning of my body. I would say after exercising daily for only 10 weeks, I changed my attitude about exercise from one of "have to" to one of "want to." That desire to "want to" is still just as strong today as it was just over two years ago when it became apparent this was going to be a major part of livin' la vida low-carb for me.
The euphoric feeling that comes from exercise keeps me doing it now. I feel better and can destress myself from a rough day at work by spending 30-45 minutes of quality time with the ellipitical machine. LOL! Even when I'm not feeling like it, I MAKE myself go a minimum of 30 minutes. I ALWAYS feel better after I do. :D
So here we are back at the question of the hour: "How often do you exercise?"
If you can't say at least three times weekly, then it is time for you to start taking your health seriously and get moving...LITERALLY! When someone as super busy as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice makes time for exercise, then SO CAN YOU! There's no good reason other than being disabled in a wheelchair why you cannot do SOMETHING to get your heart rate up and make your body sweat. NO MORE EXCUSES!
If you need some inspiration to get started, then you might want to check out "The Biggest Loser Workout" DVD with Bob Harper and the contestants from the hit NBC television show. I think you'll enjoy exercise once you get that habit going strong and this DVD could be just what you need to get moving.
With the preponderance of the evidence pointing to so much good coming from something as simple as 30 minutes of daily exercise, then tell me what's stopping you from getting started on making exercise a permanent habit in your life? Stop thinking of reasons why you aren't exercising and just start exercising already! If it could help me lose weight and feel so much better than I ever have, then it can happen for you, too!
Make me proud. Better yet, make YOURSELF proud and create this positive new habit in your life. Please e-mail me if you decide to start exercising and need a word of encouragement to keep you going. YOU CAN DO THIS and it will literally make livin' la vida low-carb that much more pleasurable. GO GET 'EM!
Walden Farms now has a creamy new low-carb caramel dip
When you think of quality food products for a healthy lifestyle, one name immediately comes to mind: Walden Farms! This company is dedicated to making calorie-free, fat-free, sugar-free, cholesterol-free and carbohydrate-free dips, sauces and dressings for the whole family to use and enjoy.
I recently told you about the Walden Farms dressings, but have you had a chance to try any of their other products yet?
The Walden Farms Dips are lip-smacking good and come in a variety of flavors, including the BRAND NEW Caramel Dip, Chocolate Dip, Marshmallow Dip, Blue Cheese Dip, Bacon Dip, French Onion Dip and Ranch Dip. These dips go great on your favorite low-carb fruits and veggies as well as low-carb crackers and chips.
Then there are those incredible Walden Farms sauces, including Chocolate Syrup, Blueberry Syrup and Strawberry Syrup all guaranteed to tickle your tastebuds with the flavorful sweetness you are looking for.
With 12 servings per container of Walden Farms products, you'll want to stock up on these varieties of dressings, dips and syrups designed to improve the quality of your low-carb lifestyle. And don't worry, NONE of the Walden Farms products contain ANY of those nasty sugar alcohols like maltitol or lactitol in them.
Walden Farms is perhaps the most well-known low-carb brand name that is still around in 2006. And for good reason. Their products are very high-quality because they only want to provide you with the best. TRY THEM TODAY!
Blueberries are a powerfood that can greatly improve your health
Before my low-carb weight loss experience, I wasn't much of a fruit eater. Big surprise, I know! Of course, when I did eat fruit, it was usually the kind that was packaged in so much high fructose corn syrup and other added sugars that the all-natural goodness of the fruit itself was quite literally destroyed by the additives, preservatives, and extra "rat poison" (that's my personal way of describing sugar) the manufacturers thought they needed to use.
But that was then and this is now. Since I am no longer that 410-pound slob of a unhealthy man I was nearly three years ago, I have learned to eat better than I ever have in my entire life. That's what livin' la vida low-carb has taught me. Although I'm eating healthier, that doesn't mean I have to sacrifice taste or quality in the foods that I eat now either.
An interesting thing has happened to my personal tastes over the past few years as I have weaned myself off of using sugar and sugar-based products. It seems my tastebuds are so much more enhanced to savor the flavors of the foods I am eating. While I once needed to add tons of sugar to just about everything to make them sweet enough for me to enjoy (or at least that's what I thought I had to do), the fact of the matter is there are many naturally sweet foods that not only taste good, but are also packed with essential nutrients that your body can use.
The best such food that fits that description is blueberries. Nutritionist Dr. Jonny Bowden calls blueberries one of the healthiest foods you could possibly eat. Man oh man, I had no idea these things could taste so good all by themselves or in a dessert dish. And the best part of all is they are low-glycemic, low-fat, low-calories and, yes, low-carb, so they are perfect for people following virtually ANY weight loss program today.
Why WOULDN'T you want to start eating more blueberries right away?
This small handful of blueberries contains a mere 1-2g net carbs
Another key element found in blueberries is the very large amounts of healthy antioxidants from the anthocyanins in them that have been found to protect against cell damage which can lead to disease and an acceleration of the aging process. Also, flavonoid phytochemicals (which includes anthocyanins) can make blood platelets less likely to stick together and form the type of clots that can cause heart attacks. So eating blueberries is indeed "heart healthy!"
They also contain high amounts of the soluble fiber known as pectin which can lower your cholesterol by preventing LDL "bad" cholesterol from oxidation which then leads to hardening of the arteries. Additionally, the pectin adds bulk to your stools without causing a bowel movement (although if you eat too many blueberries, be prepared for your bowel to shake, rattle, and roll!).
Some more research has also found that blueberries can prevent the spread of infectious bacteria in the urinary tract which can help prevent urinary tract infections. And a Tufts University study showed elderly lab rats experiencing mental illness were able to correct and even reverse that condition just by eating blueberries. Whoa! Blueberry juice is an all-natural remedy for a nasty cough and blueberries can even help prevent macular degeneration. Oh, I see! ;D
With all of these health benefits just from eating blueberries, it only makes sense that people begin eating them on a regular basis, right? Is this the "well duh" of the year or what?
I used to buy frozen blueberries at my favorite grocery store which is a great way to enjoy this delicious fruit when it is out of season. But right now is the BEST time all year long to get your blueberries fresh. When I got off of work last night, I went to the YMCA for my workout and then headed straight for the Fresh Market to pick up several pounds of these delightful little morsels of low-carb excellence! I couldn't wait to eat them right out of the container they were so plump, juicy, and sweet!
In fact, right before I started writing this blog post, I popped some in my mouth:
Mmm, maybe I put a few too many in there at one time. Wanna see?
Hee hee! It's hard NOT to have just a little bit of fun when you're talking about blueberries. I believe from the bottom of my heart without a shadow of a doubt in my mind at all that everyone needs to be eating blueberries. EVERYBODY!!!
Let the excuses start to flow:
"But, but, but, blueberries are so expensive, Jimmy. A little pint-sized container at the grocery store is three bucks! How can you expect me to afford that? It's just not worth it to me!"
Here we go again. Sigh. But there are people out there who say things like that to me all the time as they spout off their "I don't care" attitude at me. Is it any wonder why obesity rages on and will continue to do so for many years to come?
The answer to the question about affordability is simple: If you truly care enough about eating better and healthier than you are right now, then you will do what you have to do to get the blueberries in your refrigerator so they can be available to you when you need to eat them instead of that honeybun, brownie, or chocolate cake. Would anyone disagree with this?
Also, one of the amazing thinga about rationalizing NOT eating how you are supposed to because of alleged financial constraints is that many of those same people will go out to McDonald's for a #2 Super-Sized Extra Value Meal that costs over FIVE BUCKS, but they can't shell out that same amount of money for a couple of pints of blueberries? Riiiiigggght, it's the money. Don't even try to pull that crap with me because I wrote the book on it a long time ago. THAT'S WHY I STAYED SO FAT FOR SO LONG! You're not gonna be able to wiggle your way out of this one!
The month of July is actually National Blueberry Month (you can even send a friend or family member a FREE personalized e-card from Egreetings.com about it!) and has been since the USDA proclaimed it as such in 1999. So it's time to celebrate by getting up from your computer right now (DO IT!), grabbing your keys, going to your car, driving down to the nearest store that sells fresh blueberries, and stocking up! You'll be so glad you did as you begin this new commitment to start eating better than you ever have before.
You and your family will enjoy how blueberries will change the way you thought eating healthy could be. Don't delay on making this a priority in your life because this one little change could make a world of difference. Especially if you are livin' la vida low-carb, eating fruit (yes, you DO get to eat fruit!) like blueberries is A VIRTUAL MUST. So what are you waiting for? GO GET YOU SOME! Go on, I'll be here blogging, munching on blueberries when you get back...
7-16-06 UPDATE: Well, believe it or not, not all low-carbers actually agree with my recommendation to eat more blueberries. Fellow low-carb blogger Rob at his new Zero Carb Daily blog says that all "fruit should be one of the last things you should eat on low-carb."
"Fruit is the worst and most fattening of carbs to eat. I would not advise anyone with serious weight to lose to eat fruit of any kind."
While I do not subscribe to the "you-must-eat-all-fruit" theory of weight loss and healthy nutrition since many of them do contain way too much sugar for your body when you are livin' la vida low-carb, I certainly think it is shortsighted to say consuming blueberries is "fattening" for a low-carber. As long as you aren't eating a pound of them in one sitting, they are low-glycemic and loaded with the nutrients I talked about in my post.
Since Rob is following a near zero carb version of livin' la vida low-carb, I can understand why HE wouldn't want to eat fruits like blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or blackberries. But for the rest of us who are eating between 20-60g of carbs as part of a low-carb weight loss or weight maintenance plan, these wonder fruits are the perfect snack to rejuvenate your body and help you in your path towards becoming as healthy as you can. Sorry, Rob, I couldn't disagree with you more on this.
It turns out obesity has yet another negative side effect and it can take your breath away...LITERALLY!
This WebMD story is about a new study from Australian researchers who were growing lung cells in a test tube experiment and found a type of protein that is created by fat cells in someone who is overweight or obese is actually inflaming the inner lining of the lungs.
Lead researcher Dr. Michael Rolph, group leader of the Asthma Research Group with the Garvan Institute Of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, discovered during a test known as "gene profiling" that the protein aP2 is the culprit behind the fat cells storing fat molecules inside the lung's airways which can restrict the ability to breath and eventually leading to asthma in overweight and obese people. The fat in the body actually stimulated the production of aP2, the researchers observed.
This protein aP2 has previously been found to bind together fat tissue in people with obesity and diabetes.
"We were really surprised to find aP2 in the lung," one of the study researchers noted. "We then looked at what would happen when we removed the aP2 gene in mouse models [of asthma]. Mice without aP2 are protected from asthma attacks."
Before I started livin' la vida low-carb and losing 180 pound in 2004, I had started having some breathing problems already. At 410 pounds, it's almost inevitable that you are putting a lot of strain on your body to begin with pulling a heavy load around with you everywhere you go. All I have to do to realize how physically draining that was is to try carrying around NINE 20-POUND SACKS OF POTATOES now. HA! Yeah right! But that's exactly what I was doing then as it took its toll on my body.
Thankfully, I was able to lose all of that weight in just one year and my breathing problems miraculously went away. Gee, imagine that! I suppose this protein aP2 was getting into my lungs and inflaming them to the point that I needed to take Advair to relieve the pain and discomfort of not being able to breath very well. That's a sick feeling if you've never experienced it.
In fact, Dr. Rolph said obesity makes it THREE TIMES more likely a person will develop asthma. YIKES! Therefore, it shouldn't be surprising to anyone that the best way to reduce this risk of having breathing problems is to lose weight.
Uh, yeah. Wanna breathe better? Lose weight. Wanna lose weight? Find a plan that will work for you and then do it for the rest of your life. People try to complicate this issue way too much by trying to wiggle their way out of doing what they need to do. If you are overweight or obese, then the excuse time is over and it's time to get moving for the sake of your health.
Dr. Rolph said this discovery about aP2 in the lungs of overweight and obese people is the first such scientific connection made between obesity and asthma.
"We thought [aP2] was exclusively found in the fat tissue so it was very unexpected," Dr. Rolph revealed. "Our discovery provides a potential explanation for a link between [obesity and asthma] which wasn't obvious before."
With all the public attention being paid to the dangers of second-hand cigarette smoke to nonsmokers, Dr. Rolph said this problem with aP2 may also be one of the reasons for the onset of lung disease and lung cancer as well and should be given the same amount of concern as smoking. That is why treatment options to target the destruction of aP2 are already underway.
"Blocking aP2 function is a novel approach for asthma treatment and other inflammatory lung diseases," the researchers stated. "It's exciting that we might be able to use our new knowledge to find new therapies for this disease."
I'm not in favor of a developing a new drug to remove this aP2 from the body when the natural remedy of weight loss will do the trick. I know, I know, it's not easy to lose weight and I'll be the first to admit that. But is that a reason to not even try? Absolutely not. When you find what's right for you and vow you will never give up on it for the rest of your life, then you cannot help but become the incredible weight loss success that so many others of us have become, too.
Public health advocate Julia Havey singlehandedly taking on Coca-Cola
In a modern-day David and Goliath story of might versus right, this Associated Press story is about the courageous and bold actions of motivational speaker, life coach, and author Julia Havey who has filed a lawsuit against one of the most recognizable brand names in the world, Coca-Cola, because of their MyCokeRewards contest which she says the largest soft drink manufacturer is irresponsibly using to target children specifically into overconsuming unreasonable amounts of their products in the hopes of attaining prizes that are simply impossible to win according to the rules of the contest.
Havey held a press conference on Thursday to reveal why she is pursuing this lawsuit in St. Louis, Missouri Circuit Court against Coke.
"We're parents, and this isn't right for our children," Havey said at the press conference in front of the courthouse.
Her lawsuit is not requiring any monetary damages to be awarded, but instead seeks to apply a restraining order against Coca-Cola as well as a permanent injunction that would make them drop their MyCokeRewards contest for good. In fact, Havey remarked that she would gladly withdraw her suit if Coca-Cola agreed to voluntarily end the program, make it open only to people 18 and older, or even change the rules of the contest so it does not require contestants to drink Coke products to collect the points for the prizes.
If Coke just did that, then all of this would go away in an instant. But they won't!
I have known Julia Havey for a little more than a year since I first blogged about her amazing weight loss success story and health endeavors in June 2005, so I know a little bit about the person who is behind this lawsuit against Coke. Julia is an extremely passionate woman who cares very deeply about the health and wellbeing of the people she coaches on healthy living, so she is naturally sensitive and aware of how deceptive marketing practices by food and beverage companies can lead to a further decline in people's health while obesity, diabetes and other weight-related diseases continue to bring devastation to the general public.
Two weeks ago, Julia got so fed up with this impossible-to-win-without-dying-first MyCokeRewards contest that she gave the Coca-Cola company an opportunity to make the contest more realistic than the current requirement by its participants to drink over 150 Cokes a day to attain the codes so they can earn points towards a series of exciting prizes, including an exclusive recording session, the famous red couch from American Idol, a real car hood from a NASCAR vehicle, and a round of golf at the legendary Pebble Beach.
But, predictably, Coke refused to budge.
That's when Julia got creative and decided to use the exact slogan that the Coca-Cola company is using to promote their contest -- DRINK CHOOSE LIVE -- in a brand new public awareness web site located at DrinkChooseLive.com to warn others about this deceptive marketing campaign and encouraging them to contact Coke about changing their contest to make it more reasonable.
Again, not surprisingly, Coke thumbed their nose at Julia.
That's why she decided to file the lawsuit because it was "the only way [the Coca-Cola company] will sit up and listen." We'll see if anything is done now that Coke's attorneys are scrambling in search of a logical defense to justify continuing a contest that is flawed at best and purposefully manipulative at worst.
On their DrinkChooseLive.com web site, Julia, along with her husband Dr. Patrick Havey, explain their reasons for filing this lawsuit at this time and issued a public challenge to any of the executives at the Coca-Cola company:
"My challenge to any Coke executive: Drink 151 12-oz cans of Coke in 1 day."
HA! Do you REALLY think any of them would actually TRY to do it? Don't hold your breath. But that is exactly what they are asking people to do for nearly 300 days in a row, so why wouldn't any of them be willing to do it for just ONE day?
They won't do it because they've been caught with their pants down by someone who actually read the rules of the contest and realized it wouldn't be humanly possible to drink that much Coke if you tried. Why can't they just admit they tried to fool an unsuspecting public and just change the stupid rules already rather than playing the super tough guy role continuing on with their irresponsible little contest? This fiasco really makes Coke look unprofessional and outright ignorant.
Of course, Julia has already heard from the whimpering naysayers who claim she is suing Coke merely as a publicity stunt to hawk her new book, "The Vice-Busting Diet," scheduled for release on July 25, 2006.
"This lawsuit is outlandish, frivolous and ridiculous," claimed Coke spokesidiot Scott Williamson who said his company has no plans to change their popular contest. "It's regrettable that Mrs. Havey has chosen this avenue to try to sell more books."
Williamson said Julia was "horribly misinformed" about the MyCokeRewards contest and is misleading the public with her hyperbolic antics to drum up support for her book.
Oh really? May I ask just exactly HOW Julia Havey has been "horribly misinformed," Mr. Williamson? All she did was read directly from the contest rules from the cmopany you represent for the MyCokeRewards campaign which said an individual must DRINK all that Coke to accumulate the points for those prizes. What did she get wrong about that? The answer is NOTHING because it's the truth and you know it! Don't try hiding behind spin-cycle semantics, sir, because we will call you out on it, mister! Is that REALLY the best you've got?
In her own defense regarding the ridiculous assertion that this is all about selling books, Julia responded to that charge directly in a way that shows you the true character of this remarkable woman.
"The sales of books is not the end, but the means to an end," she contends. "What is that end? That 'end' is an end to the overweight and obesity epidemic. Sales of books does absolutely no good if the message is not helping others to live healthy. There is a larger purpose, a mission if you will, at work here and that is to put the overweight and obesity epidemic on a decline so that one day society will be healthier."
In other words, as great as a boost in the number of books she sells to people who desperately need to read its message, the greater good in all of this is to actually DO something that will make a real difference in this neverending battle against weight gain and the natural consequences that result from that.
To me, the "she's-only-doing-this-to-sell-books" rebuttal is a straw man argument which shows me the Coca-Cola company doesn't have a good enough excuse to explain their flim-flam contest being set up the way it was. Why haven't they even TRIED to address the specific concerns that Julia has brought to their attention? Doesn't Coke even care about the health and welfare of the millions of customers who buy their products, especially the most vulnerable and biggest reason why this lawsuit was filed -- THE CHILDREN?! Whose looking out for THEIR best interest in this? It's Julia Havey!
She added in this blog post today at her blog that she merely wants to "make the world a healthier place before I depart it" as someone whose life was changed forever by her own triple-digit weight loss success.
"Please, don't feel the need to buy my books, tapes, videos or advice to make positive changes in your life, it isn't mandatory that you do," Julia said. "But please, DO feel the need to refrain from drinking sugar laden beverages, consuming unhealthy, fried, greasy fast food and from living a sedentary life--get your body moving!!"
See what I mean? Does this sound like the crazed lunatic Coke is trying to pain her as who is just trying to grab attention for her book with a frivolous lawsuit? Not hardly! What I see is a deeply compassionate and loving woman who wants nothing more than to see people be freed from a lifetime of bondage to their obesity once and for all because it is one of the greatest things they'll ever accomplish! As a fellow weight loss success story (read more about my 180-pound weight loss success story), I too have a sincere deep-down desire to help other people lose weight permanently and get healthy. What's so wrong with wanting that for our fellow human beings? NOTHING, which is what makes the actions Julia is taking that much more significant in my mind because she is proving this is so much bigger than merely selling books. A lot bigger!
The bottom line is this: Julia has embarrassed the Coca-Cola company by exposing their scam and now they are choosing to hurl derogatory personal insults at her? In fact, can you believe she has been called a "slime," "bit**," "whor*," and even a "liberal" (as if this has anything to do with politics!) in personal e-mails to her about this lawsuit in just the last couple of days? Oh yeah, it's gotten VERY ugly with these personal attacks against her which indicates to me she is doing exactly the right thing pursuing this. I for one believe in what she is doing and think every red-blooded American who understands what Julia is trying to accomplish needs to rally together in a show of solidarity behind this effort.
For people who support this cause by Julia Havey, she needs you to stand side-by-side with her in this battle. If you believe she is fighting a good fight for the right reasons and wish to cheer her on or even join her in some way in this effort, then you can e-mail Julia Havey directly at Julia@JuliaHavey.com. I know she'd love to hear from you about what she is doing as well as any encouraging words you may want to pass along to her.
You can also donate monetarily to Julia's Legal Fund if you want to put your money where you mouth is in support for what she is doing. I know she would appreciate any amount you could possibly spare as she continues on with this very real uphill battle against big bad Coke.
It's time to stand up for what's right and that's exactly what Julia Havey is doing! GO GET 'EM GIRL and KEEP GIVING 'EM THE TRUTH! Our prayers and support are with you during this time. You are a hero to many because of what you are doing. God bless you!
It's always funny to hear how people who watched me lose weight two years ago question me about what I am doing now to keep my weight off. While some of them realize I am still livin' la vida low-carb and will be for the rest of my life, there are others who wonder what I am doing now "after" being on the low-carb diet to keep it off.
For the life of me, I can't seem to grasp why I would ever abandon this way of eating that has produced such incredible weight loss results just because the weight loss phase is completed. If it helped me lose those 180 pounds, then surely the Atkins diet can help me KEEP IT OFF for good, right? Why wouldn't I keep eating this way forever?
Oh, but the supposed dangers of long-term low-carb dieting is the great mystery of our generation and I suppose you'll have to consider me and the millions of others who have decided to eat this way permanently to control our weight the first generation guinea pigs to prove the safety and effectiveness of livin' la vida low-carb. I'm proud to be a pioneer on the frontline of this debate because the very future of civilization could rest upon it!
The old saying "if it ain't broke, then don't fix it" certainly applies to livin' la vida low-carb for me. Before I started eating this way, I didn't have a clue what eating healthy was about. All I knew was the low-fat diet was heavily pushed as the best way to lose weight, but I don't know anyone who can stand to eat that way for the rest of their lives! That's why it is so amazing when I began the low-carb lifestyle how free I felt to eat with such pleasure and yet still doing my body a lot of good.
Once the weight loss was over, I didn't even think about the "after" part of low-carb because I quickly realized there's no "after" with low-carb living! If I'm not supposed to eat low-carb for the rest of my life to keep my weight off, then how the heck am I supposed to eat? AND DON'T YOU DARE SAY LOW-FAT, LOW-CALORIE, OR PORTION-CONTROL DIETS!
If you don't mind, I think I'll stick with livin' la vida low-carb forever and ever amen. It's worked for me so far and it'll keep on working for me for the rest of my life. What should you do "after" low-carb? JUST KEEP ON LIVIN' LA VIDA LOW-CARB, BABY!
7-14-06 UPDATE: Fellow low-carb blogger and huge weight loss success Kent Altena blogged about this issue today during a recent visit his wife had to her doctor. Can anyone legitimately explain why I should ever get off my low-carb lifestyle...EVER?!
1. In a blender combine Carbquik, eggs, water, maple extract and salt.
2. Heat an 8 nonstick skillet over high heat until very hot. Brush with oil.
3. Pour in 3 tablespoons batter and rotate pan to spread batter evenly. Cook until golden 30-60 seconds, flip and cook other side. Repeat with remaining batter. Keep warm.
4. With an electric mixer on medium, whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Fold in sugar substitute. Serve crepes with sweetened cream and Walden Farms Pancake Syrup.
Servings: 3 Carbohydrates: 5.5 g Net Carbs: 3.5 g Fiber: 2 g Protein:18 g Fat: 20.5 g Calories: 276
Is this beautiful woman the last Atkins dieter left in the world?
Okay, get this. You're at a party with a friend who notices you are conspicuously avoiding the chips, pretzels, sandwiches, and, of course, the dessert table. When that friend asks you why you aren't eating those foods like everyone else, your response is that you have been on the Atkins diet since 2002 and I'm still eating this way to maintain my 95-pound weight loss.
Then you get the response: "You must be the last Atkins dieter left!"
Well, that's exactly what happened to 43-year-old Seattle, Washington resident Kristn, aka Sweet Tart, who has been livin' la vida low-carb for close to five years and has indeed been a nearly triple-digit low-carb weight loss success story serving as an inspiration to the friends and family within her sphere of influence.
Using those famous words that her friend told her at that recent party as the springboard, Kristn created a brand new blog this week entitled (WHAT ELSE!) "The Last Atkins Dieter" where she will share her low-carb insights and other points of interest about this amazing weight loss and weight maintenance journey she has been on. She admits, as most of us long-term low-carbers have, that she has to "work at it every day." AMEN!
She credits the work of the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins and the "low-carb way of life" for helping her accomplish what she has with her improved health and weight. Like me, she still considers herself a "work in progress" and is always looking to tweak her new lifestyle change so she is living and eating as well as she possibly can.
Kristn's main focus right now has been on her exercise routine and increasing her consumption of whole organic foods rather than the man-made, processed foods, including the ones that are supposedly low-carb.
In fact, in this this blog post called "Choices" from an entry on Wednesday, Kristn described the low-carb ice cream a fellow low-carb friend brought over as a "frankenfood" and lamented that this same low-carbing friend was peeling the skin off of the grilled chicken they were eating.
The chicken skin is practically health food!!! So many people have been brainwashed to think that natural animal fat is poison, but that pretend food manufactured to reduce carbs or fat or both is "a healthy part of a balanced diet."
Oh, I like this woman A LOT already! :D Now she's got her own soapbox, too!
When I wrote to Kristn to congratulate her on the excellent new low-carb blog, she was very forthright about why she felt she needed to start blogging about her low-carb/Atkins diet experience.
"I've been so successful on Atkins, yet my friends seem to think I shouldn't continue with a diet (which I call my new way of life) that's allowed me to lose weight and then maintain my loss for 4 years because it's either (in their opinion) unhealthy or fallen out of fashion recently."
It doesn't make sense, does it Kristn? I have run into the same thing with people despite that fact I've kept my 180-pound weight loss on the Atkins diet off for nearly two years! It's mind-boggling, really. You would think people would be thrilled to hear you have found a permanent and healthy way to maintain your weight, but they are so sorely misinformed. That's one of the reasons I started blogging and I'm glad to have your voice added to the debate of ideas over diet and health.
"I want to laugh at the unhealthy critics. I'm healthier and in better shape than I've ever been. And I've never been one to abandon something that's working for me just because it's no longer trendy. I know too many people (mostly online) who've restored their health through the low-carb way of life for me to give up because of someone's opinion."
YOU ARE SO RIGHT, Kristn!!! Man, where've ya been, we've been needing someone like you to step forward and share your story along with the rest of us who believe in this lifestyle change (I call it livin' la vida low-carb!) and want to earnestly help others find the joy that comes from overcoming obesity through low-carb living.
On behalf of my readers here at the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog, I would like to officially welcome you to the low-carb blogging community and look forward to many great blog posts in the coming weeks, months and years ahead!
Please be sure to visit Kristn's brand spankin' new low-carb blog, "The Last Atkins Dieter", to engage in the discussion of the low-carb life she is having over there. Kristn, I'm always available here at my blog to assist you in any way that I can. I'm so proud to know there are people like you who DO exist and are trumpeting the low-carb cause. Isn't it GREAT to know you really aren't the "last Atkins dieter?" :)
You can send Kristn a welcome e-mail by clicking here.
Dr. Manini says seniors should work activity into their lifestyle
It's been an old wive's tale for the longest time, but apparently there is new evidence that proves it's true. This Washington Post story is about a new study found senior citizens who remain active later in life tend to be healthier and live longer than those who slow down or even cease doing any physical activities at all.
Lead researcher Dr. Todd M. Manini, from the Bethesda, MD-based National Institute on Aging, observed 302 adults between the ages of 70 to 82 years old after providing them with water containing heavy oxygen and hydrogen isotopes to drink so it would be absorbed into their tissues and released as they expended energy during the study.
As you know from elementary school science class, oxygen is converted into carbon dioxide when the body is active and so Dr. Manini would be able to visually see what impact various levels of activity would have on the study participants. The more active the person was, the less labeled oxygen there would be while the less active the person was, the more labeled oxygen there should be.
The study participants were split into three distinct activity groups: active, midrange active, and least active.
Each of the people in the study were measured for their labeled oxygen levels every two weeks during the six-year study which began in 1998 and concluded earlier this year where Dr. Manini discovered something incredible regarding the group that was most active: they had better health and lived longer than the other groups.
Here was the mortality rate at the end of the study:
Most active group - 12 percent died Midrange active group - 18 percent died Least active group - 25 percent died
"Simply expending energy through any activity may influence survival in older adults," the report concluded.
Interestingly, Dr. Manini found that the health and longevity from activity didn't necessarily need to come from "volitional exercise," such as on a treadmill at the gym, but could also be fit into a senior citizens' "usual daily activities that expend energy" such as housework and gardening. Basically, anything that causes the body to use energy will provide this benefit to seniors as they age.
My wife's Grandpa Jim stayed very active up until his death at the age of 83 a couple of years ago. In fact, he was still working full-time with his wife at their family-owned flower shop delivering to customers on a daily basis, which kept him moving all day long. He also enjoyed working out in his yard gardening and cutting his grass with one of those old-timey non-motor grass cutters.
Jim was a horse of a man who refused to allow his age to stand in the way of his health and vitality. Only an untimely misdiagnosis about an internal bleeding problem he was experiencing took this remarkable man away from us before his time. I truly believe his commitment to remaining active would have kept him alive well into his 90s. In fact, this previous study found that regular exercise actually can extend the length of your life. That should be motivation enough to get active, right?
This specific study by Dr. Manini didn't address the issue of obesity, but I believe it certainly plays a role in longevity as well. Being a senior citizen is not a good enough excuse for refusing to do something about your weight. You still need to take care of yourself by eating right and getting the right amount of activity to stay around for several more years than expected. Just ask this 66-year-old woman who lost 185 pounds how important it is to lose weight and stay active!
Dr. Manini's study has confirmed what most of us already knew. While we all look forward to that glorious day in the future when we can retire from the rigors of working our entire adult lives, the fact is you will need to KEEP ON being active well into your 70s, 80s, and 90s to extend the time the good Lord allows you to be with your family. Take good care of yourself by eating a healthy diet and always squeeze in an activity here and there to make sure you are around for as long as possible.
These three women lost a total of 100 pounds in half a year on Atkins
Although it has been named one of America's 125 best small towns, I bet you've probably never even heard of Kosciusko, Mississippi. But now you've got a reason to know about three of the nearly 7,500 residents who live there because they are livin' la vida low-carb thanks to a "Biggest Loser"-styled weight loss contest they won using the Atkins diet as their preferred way of eating. Yes, can you believe that this is happening in the year 2006?!
This Star-Herald story describes how three employees at the Kosciusko Medical Clinic named Linda Rea, Darlene Waddell, and Sandy Stahl (that's the order of how they are pictured in that photo at the top of this blog post from left to right) were the big winners at losing weight in a battle between 20 members of the staff at the clinic. They began the weight loss contest on January 4, 2006 and it concluded on July 4, 2006 -- a full six-month endeavor to lose as much weight as possible.
What were they playing for? Well, every other week the 20 contestants would ante up $2 cash to be placed in the prize kitty which would be divided up among the winners using a 50-30-20 split among the first, second, and third place winners respectively.
Just as I experienced with the weight loss contest I was a part of, some of the contestants didn't last for the duration of the contest and wimped...er, I mean...DROPPED out of it before the six months was over. Even still, some of these people who dropped out still kept on contributing to the "pot" despite the fact they were out of the running. That was a nice gesture on their part to support the people who were still trying.
When the contestants were weighed at the end of the six-month contest, the official winners were announced:
1st Place - Waddell with 41 pounds lost, or 1.7 pounds a week 2nd Place - Rea with 31 pounds lost, or 1.3 pounds a week 3rd Place - Stahl with 30 pounds lost, just below 1.3 pounds a week
CONGRATULATIONS to each of these beautiful ladies! As a fellow "loser," I am so happy to hear when others are able to shed the pounds like I did. Unless you've been fat and experienced the thrill that weight loss brings, you can't really describe it to other people. You just have to go through it yourself to know what it feels like! :D
Rea was the one who thought up this idea for a weight loss contest and laid the groundrules about how the weight loss would be allowed to happen very early on: NO diet pills, NO ear stapling, or any other fad diets would be permitted. If you wanted to participate and lose weight, then it would have to be done naturally through a healthy diet.
“We felt that being in a health care facility, it was important that we go about our dieting in a healthy manner,” said Rea.
Good for you, Ms. Rea. In this day and age of quick-fix weight loss gimmicks, you are to be commended for sticking with what works. So what did the winners use to lose their weight? Would you believe the Atkins diet?!?! And they didn't think THAT way of eating was a "fad" diet! There may be hope for dealing with this obesity epidemic yet! WOO HOO!
“I mostly followed the Atkins diet, which stresses low carbs,” said Waddell.
HA! How about them apples?! Waddel, Rea, and Stahl all said they often read the labels on the foods they bought to make sure they were able to keep their carb intake near the 20g carbs daily that the Induction phase of the Atkins diet calls for.
As for exercise, they committed themselves, just like I have since I started livin' la vida low-carb, to exercise during their lunch break at work for at least 30 minutes every single day. Stahl even said she snuck in some extra cardio at the crack of dawn before going to work.
“I started out walking a mile and increased it to 2 1/2 miles,” Stahl said.
Now THERE'S commitment! What an inspiration these three must have been to the people watching their tranformations. I REALLY wish I could have been there during their weight loss cheering them on. It doesn't look like they needed much motivation and prodding to lose weight, though, considering their amazing success.
So what did they eat? Lots of green leafy vegetables, delicious meats and other non-starchy vegetables while completely avoiding the rat poison (that's my euphemism for sugar)-infested desserts except on very rare occasions.
“We always have food here at the clinic, and we really had to exercise willpower to stay away from the sweets,” said Stahl.
It's tough to resist at first, but it gets a WHOLE lot easier over time. Now I don't even have an inkling of temptation when something sugary is brought to work. I'll just take a whiff of it and say, "That's nice. Ya'll enjoy!" LOL! People think I have this great willpower now, but when you have convinced yourself it's rat poison, you just naturally stay away from it no matter what it smells or potentially tastes like. It's working for me so far and I expect it to keep on working.
Another great thing these three did for each other was they kept each other accountable. That is definitely a key aspect in any weight loss success which is why I dedicated an entire chapter to that topic in my book about my weight loss. In fact, Stahl said her thoughtful husband was romantic enough to buy her an exercise bike for Valentine's day. Aww, wasn't that a sweet hubby wubby?! Good boy!
The compliments about their weight loss from friends and family members have made it all worth the hard work and dedication to them, too. I know I used the postive comments from people to keep me going when I was losing weight. Of course, it took me losing 100 pounds before ANYONE noticed! Eeek! But the floodgates opened after that with people STILL telling me how great I look. Now people who haven't seen me in a while say that since I've lost weight I look...um, er, uh to which I respond with a speedy THANKS! :D
At the end of the contest, there was $454 in the kitty that had built up, so they ladies split that money according to the 50-30-20 breakdown. But the doctors at the clinic were so amazed by the progress made by the ladies with their weight loss that they have issued another challenge for them to pursue: maintain their weight within 5 pounds of their goal weight by Christmas and they will match the $454 to be divided among the top three. Now THAT'S an incentive to keep the weight off, although it's too bad they can't keep the weight loss going if they so desire.
Nevertheless, the challenge is on for them to maintain the weight loss they have been able to achieve thanks to livin' la vida low-carb.
What a testimony about how the low-carb lifestyle is STILL changing people's lives in 2006! If this was just a "fad" diet, then why are so many people still doing so well on this remarkable and healthy lifestyle change? Hmmmmm? We heard about this Oregon woman winning a weight loss contest on Atkins last month and now these ladies from Mississippi. Watch out, everyone, we might just be seeing a resurgence and rebirth of low-carb happening right before our eyes!
And the media and health "experts" are having a cow about it! Don't ya just love it! :)
I wish I had a way to contact these three women in Kosciusko, Mississippi to thank them for being such incredible ambassadors for this nutritional approach we know as low-carb living. On behalf of low-carbers worldwide, I salute you Linda Rea, Darlene Waddell, and Sandy Stahl for proving the naysayers who oppose livin' la vida low-carb wrong yet again.
You know, I never get tired of showing these nitwits just how stupid and ignorant they sound for discouraging people away from what could quite possibly be the answer they've been looking for to solve their lifelong weight problem. All of us who have had our lives changed by the low-carb lifestyle just need to keep being shining positive examples of how this simple, yet effective way of eating can transform you from flabby fat to sensationally skinny! Keep on livin' la vida low-carb for all the world to see!
Last year about this time when I was writing the book about my 180-pound low-carb weight loss experience called "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb," I was imagining what it would be like for someone with a similar weight problem picking up a copy of my book and realizing that weight loss is definitely within his ability to do just like I did. While I have heard from so many of you who have bought my book and told me how it motivated you to get started or continue on your low-carb lifestyle, a 405-pound Canadian man named Stephan made my day when he e-mailed me today with his testimony about how my book inspired him to get serious about dealing with his obesity
Here's what Stephan wrote to me in that e-mail:
Dear Mr. Moore,
I have just finished your book and would like to thank you for writing it. Your story has motivated me to do something about my weight (405 pounds) once and for all. I have thrown out all carb-rich food in my house and replaced it with healthy low carb instead (fish, lean meat, eggs, cheese, etc.).
I intend to follow your advice to the letter (nutrition and exercise). I figure, if I adopt the same eating lifestyle (see? I read the book I'm not using the word 'Diet') and do the same workout I should reap similar results.
A quick question, I know that the low carb lifestyle does not count calories, but did you in any way reduce your food intake during that period? Can you tell me how many calories you ate per day?
Again, thank you sir!!!
Stephan
WOW, what a great compliment, Stephan! I was so thrilled with his feedback that I happily replied to address the issues he raised in his e-mail to me:
Dear Stephan,
CONGRATULATIONS to you for making the best decision of your life regarding your health -- to start livin' la vida low-carb! You will be so pleased with the results I am quite sure of that. :)
When it comes to calories, I didn't count 'em and still don't. Never have and probably never will. It reminds me too much of being on a "diet." And you know how much I HATE those.
I also did not portion control during my weight loss. Your body naturally regulates that as long as you aren't gorging yourself on every meal. Be smart about it and allow the protein and fat you are consuming to send you the signal when you have had enough. You'll know.
Don't try to mimic exactly what I did because it may not work for you. But be sure to follow the low-carb plan you have chosen (I did Atkins) and stick to it for the rest of your life. YOU CAN DO THIS!
THANKS again for writing and I wish you only the best as you begin livin' la vida low-carb. I'm always here for you if you have any questions or need encouragement. God bless you!
Jimmy Moore
My reader was kind enough to even post this book review at Amazon.com for me. THANK YOU! By the way, if you've read my book and would be willing to help me with a book review at Amazon, I'd be very appreciative if you would just take a moment to submit one for me. Click here to submit your review.
Stephan said he has chosen the Atkins low-carb plan to lose his weight and will keep me abreast of his progress every few months. CONGRATULATIONS, Stephan and I KNOW you will be the weight loss success you so desperately want to be. I am so proud of you and humbled to know that I played a role in your decision to do this.
Whatever you do, don't ever give up on this at anytime, no matter how hard it may seem. Just push forward and keep going because it is the best feeling in the world to have the weight lifted off of your body and you are free to be the man God intended you to be physically. I'm still getting used to it myself and I've kept my weight off for two years! LOL!
I invite my readers to share any words of encouragement and wisdom with this newfound low-carber, Stephan. Feel free to share any tips or advice that helped you as you were getting started livin' la vida low-carb. We're praying for you, Stephan, and are behind in this 100%! YOU GO BOY!
Sarah Trammel: a small photo to match her itty bitty pea brain!
Did you know The Houston Chronicle actually has a list of local blogs that they feature on their newspaper web site? I sure didn't! That's pretty neat for readers to get exposure to all the latest opinions and commentary from the top blogs in the Houston, TX area.
And they are soliciting other bloggers to begin sharing their voice, too:
"What's your passion? What do you really care about? Want to tell the world? At chron.com, we want to give you the chance to blog on your subject of expertise. If you want to join our selected citizen journalists, let us know."
What an excellent opportunity for someone who lives in Houston and is livin' la vida low-carb to share your thoughts about this incredible way of eating through a blog to make your voice heard on the subject of diet, health and nutrition. If you are interested, then all you have to do is e-mail Dwight Silverman at dwight.silverman@chron.com. Let me know if they choose your blog to be listed among their featured blogs and I'll let my readers know. It kinda makes me wish I lived in Houston! :D
Anyways, one of the blogs featured there is one called Watercooler Confidential described as "a reader blog about the workplace with Donna Hershfeldt and Sarah Trammel." Sounds innocent enough, doesn't it? Both of these Houston residents have worked in an office atmosphere for most of their careers and use this blog to help vent some of their frustrations about working in that kind of environment. Just a playful and fun blog, right?
Well, somewhere along the way the blogger named Sarah Trammel must have forgotten what the main topic of her blog is supposed to be about because her latest blog post from July 11, 2006 entitled "The devil wears pita" is one long personal attack against the Atkins diet and those of us who are livin' la vida low-carb.
You'll never believe some of the stuff she says about us low-carbers!
Of course, the Houston Chronicle is quick to point out that "these bloggers are readers offering their own perspectives on a subject that interests them. The posts and opinions are their own and are not edited by the Chronicle. They are solely responsible for the content of this blog." Yadda yadda yadda! In other words, don't blame the newspaper for the idiocy of the bloggers they feature.
This one is so chock full of the typical anti-Atkins propaganda, it's almost as if Trammel purposefully wrote it so that "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Man" would respond. Of course, I'm all-too-happy to oblige. :)
She starts off her post stating that most people in her office are currently on a diet of some sort. Okay, that's not so bad since at any given time around the country, almost everyone SAYS they are dieting in an office environment. But Trammel didn't mince words when it came to describing how she REALLY feels about one specific diet.
"Heaven help the people trying to stick to Atkins. More importantly, heaven help the co-workers of the people trying to stick to Atkins."
Hoo boy, this is gonna be one of "those" kind of people who won't have anything at all good to say about the low-carb lifestyle. She confirms my suspicions when she cites some 2-year old blog post with a bunch of women who supposedly went on low-carb and they are now claiming "protein overload can leave women grumpy, depressed and even contribute to bad hair days."
At the risk of sounding like a male chauvinist pig, isn't that EVERY day for most women whether they are on a low-carb diet or not? HA! Just kidding. Seriously, where do these low-carb haters come up with this craziness?! I mean, really! Oh yes, didn't you hear? Those of us who are on the low-carb lifestyle run around our offices like rabid lions going into flying fits of rage looking for the next victim who we might devour!
Puh-leeze, Ms. Trammel! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. The people on low-carb that I know are not only mentally stable (which is something that cannot be said about a lot of non-low-carbers, especially those low-fat dieters who are ALWAYS HUNGRY), but actually they are thinking more clearly than they have in many years because they no longer experience the rollercoaster ride of emotions that sugar and complex carbohydrates used to take them on. In other words, we're about as stable a bunch of people you'll ever meet. Sorry to burst your bubble on that one.
Nevertheless, you can tell Trammel is extremely clueless about the REAL Atkins diet when she remarked about how her supervisor had eaten "nothing but eggs, cheese and steak" for the first three days of her low-carb program which allegedly made her fly into a fit of an angry rage.
"It made me want to force feed her old pita sandwiches until she lightened up."
Sigh. Is this the best you can do, Ms. Trammel? You are completely ignorant about what the Atkins diet actually entails by repeating the media version of the Atkins diet (meat, eggs and cheese) and then attempt to be cute about it in the procress by joking about putting bread in your boss' mouth. Hardy har har! That's so funny I forgot to laugh.
If you even spent a nanosecond worth of time researching what the low-carb lifestyle is REALLY about, then you would know there are people like me who not only went on a low-carb diet, be we also lost a whole lotta weight, and survived! Best of all, we also have continued to keep the weight off by staying on this amazing nutritional approach that has a lot more to it than "eggs, cheese and steak" thank you very much.
People who think THAT is the Atkins diet are really showing how incredibly stupid they are because most intelligent people will tell you there's a lot more to the low-carb lifestyle now than ever before as study after study after study keeps on affirming this way of eating as a healthy way to manage both weight and disease.
But Trammel savse her best public display of her ignorance for the end of her post.
Mocking low-carbers for secretly wanting to eat "stale Krispy Kreme donuts" when nobody is looking, Trammel made the claim that people who eat low-carb actually belong in a "mental institution."
You read that right, if you are livin' la vida low-carb to lose weight, improve your health or whatever, then this Sarah Trammel chick from Houston thinks you need to be wrapped up and put in a padded room somewhere. How much more insulting can someone get than to mock the way we eat and then claim we are all loony birds for doing so?! Speaking of mentally unstable!
If you don't like low-carb and prefer to remain fat, then DON'T DO IT! Nobody's twisting your arm and forcing you into this way of eating. But most people who want to do something about their weight and health problems are realizing what an incredible miracle this low-carb lifestyle is and have made the very wise choice to begin livin' la vida low-carb. I know I am a changed man because of it and so are the millions more who have made low-carb their permanent way of life.
All I have to say to Trammel is this: Na na na na na na! The next time you want to try bashing away at my low-carb lifestyle, then you had better be ready for a fight, Ms. Trammel. And I may not play so nice in the future. You know, that rage thing might be kicking in right about now...YOU HAD BETTER LOOK OUT! Hee hee!
Wanna tick of this Sarah Trammel lady even more? Of course, you might actually make her day by giving her blog all the traffic. But how about posting a comment in response to her insane anti-Atkins blog post?
Be sure to let her know how low-carb has impacted your life for the better and don't miss the opportunity to inform her what you REALLY think about her deranged opinions about livin' la vida low-carb (and be sure to tell her "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Man" Jimmy Moore sent ya! I bet she'll never forget who I am from now on!). We'll be watching you, Ms. Trammel...remember, WE are the "mental" ones...HAHAHAHAHAHA! I'll get you my little pretty...and your Donna, too (no offense to your blogging buddy).
7-12-06 UPDATE: I am hearing back from so many of you about your attempts to post your comments at Ms. Trammel's blog. It seems she monitors what comments she wants to post before they are exposed to the world. LOL! I guess she can't handle the heat when someone actually disagrees with her. We shall see.
One of my regular readers wrote this brilliant response to her (awaiting approval for posting, of course!):
Dear Mrs. Trammel,
I have a hard time believing that you are genuinely serious with this blog post. If, indeed, you really believe that the "Fatkins" diet (or any other controlled carb regimen for that matter) consists out of eggs, cheese and steak, you could hardly be more wrong.
You (should) know very well that this a deliberate, insulting, and rather gross misrepresentation of such diets. But what bothers me (even) more is the fact that you, intended or not, make a mockery out of a very intelligent, effective and scientific way of eating.
Low- and controlled-carbohydrate diets, such as the "Fatkins" diet, Mrs. Trammel, are completely based on several decades worth of scientific research and proven clinical results. Results that are often so positively dramatic that the persons in question have a hard time understanding unfounded, baseless (and useless) criticisms like yours.
From my own research, as well as the extremely positive evidence, abundantly documented in literal mountains of peer-reviewed, scientific studies, I can assure you that few diets are as healthy and efficient as well as effective as low-carbohydrate nutrition. Dietary regimens using this effective approach to proper nutrition have proven to be not only completely natural but also extremely beneficial for a whole range of illnesses and diseases, including but not limited to diabetes, obesity, artherosclerosis, kidney desease, BDM, several cancers, heart disease, epilepsy and many, many more.
Why do you try to make a joke out of a dietary regimen that poses so many clear and present benefits? That is not only shortsighted but borders to irresponsible.
Anyone else care to share what you submitted to Trammel's blog? We can hope she does the right thing and publishes our comments, but I'm not holding my breath.
7-12-06 UPDATE: Well, at least she's doing the right thing and posting all of your wonderful comments. If you haven't sent your response yet, now's your chance! Looks like she's posting them all.
7-13-06 UPDATE: Have you seen the comments at Trammel's blog today? Check out what one guy wrote about those of us who are livin' la vida low-carb:
"Right on Sarah! Mostly Bible thumping rednecks believe in the Fatkins crap, it'll be funny when they are all dying of heart attacks years from now, oh wait,they'll be the one's filing lawsuits against Atkins Co."
So, we're all "Bible thumping rednecks" because we believe in the Atkins diet? Really? LOL! Somebody should probably tell that to my atheist and agnostic low-carb friends! HA! You know you're on the right side when all your enemies can do is pull the religion card out on your. LOL! Hee hee! Ha ha ha ha! Oh, that's a good one!
Ruby Tuesday has shifted their business focus away from low-carb
When popular restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday decided to remove their famous low-carb cheesecake from their menu two months ago, I suppose the proverbial handwriting was on the wall regarding the rest of their "Atkins-friendly menu" that they became very famous for among the low-carb community over the past few years.
This Motley Fool column confirms what most of us who are livin' la vida low-carb already knew -- the last restaurant that catered to active low-carbers has now grown tired of the low-carb market and decided to move on.
According to the story, the company has "made investments" into securing their future by making "changes to the menu."
"[Ruby Tuesday is] moving away from diet-related items (such as the Atkins diet), and appealing to a wider customer base. Ruby Tuesday has also decreased the number of menu items available, focusing on burgers in addition to its mainstay salad bar and ribs. And rather than focus on coupons such as those in Sunday newspapers, it has increased television advertising both in local markets and nationwide. This has helped boost sales quite a bit."
Okay, it's time to mope (insert sad face here). I guess we shouldn't be all that surprised by this move by Ruby Tuesday in light of what is happening with low-carb products and businesses lately.
Dreamfields pasta pushing their fantastic product to people who are not livin' la vida low-carb.
Hood changing the name of their popular low-carb milk from Carb Countdown to Calorie Countdown.
This move away from low-carb products was predictable and can actually be a VERY GOOD thing in the long run because it will make people get back to the roots of what made the low-carb lifestyle so fantastic.
Dr. Robert C. Atkins never meant for there to be a bazillion "low-carb" products out there for people to eat. He encouraged people to eat healthy whole foods that satisfied your hunger and were low-glycemic. His basic philosophy about diet and nutrition never meant to include a lot of these low-carb junk foods and to that I say GOOD RIDDANCE!
But the menu at Ruby Tuesday was incredible for people on low-carb and it will be sorely missed because it truly reflected a "low-carb" menu that people following a low-carb plan actually wanted to get, especially that outstanding cheesecake I used to love to get during my weight loss and can't get anymore (BOO HOO!).
Oh well, this leaves the door wide open to another restaurant to step it up and cater to the growing obese and diabetic population. If you make the menu attractive enough to people and still keep the items healthy, then it very well could work. Who's it gonna be? Anyone? The millions of us who are livin' la vida low-carb are waiting...patiently...anyone?...
My friend Michael Kirtley, who owns the Low-Carb Central store in Hales Corner, Wisconsin (right outside of Milwaukee), has penned another excellent article that I thought was worth sharing with you. You might recall this previous column he wrote about all the discontinued low-carb products which garnered excellent feedback from so many of you.
Well he's back again with another gem of a column for you!
As a low-carb retailer, Michael gets to literally come face to face with people who are livin' la vida low-carb day in and day out as they pass in and out of his store. He has seen them all -- from the casual browser to the prudent low-carb shopper and EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN! Because of that, he certainly has a unique position of authority on what constitutes the qualities of a genuine low-carber.
While Michael and his lovely wife Marilyn are both following a low-carb plan for different reasons (Michael for his health because he's fortunate enough to be skinny as a pool stick and Marilyn for weight loss), they know from whence they speak about what it takes to be on this lifestyle change known as low-carb. They try to communicate what they have learned to their loyal customer base at their store.
In the latest Low-Carb Central newsletter, Michael wrote a column entitled "Observations On What Works" that beautifully illustrates what a low-carber looks like where he actually came up with 34 descriptions of people who are earnestly following the low-carb lifestyle. These are REALLY GOOD and I think most of you will see yourself in these traits. I know I sure did!
"OBSERVATIONS ON WHAT WORKS" by Michael Kirtley
I would like to preface this by saying I’m not a dietician or a “health expert." I am just someone who has talked with thousands of people who have come through the door here at our store in the past couple of years. Some have been successful -- others have not, but there are some similarities that are present in almost all of the success stories, whether the goal was weight loss, blood sugar control or better health. So I thought I would share with you some of the comments that I hear repeatedly from the people who have had the most success.
1. They rarely, if EVER say, “I did it following a ‘modified plan’ or ‘my own version’ of a plan”. 2. They read labels, and know what the ingredients are. 3. They are informed about their plan, they understand how it works and why. 4. They count all carbs, except fiber. 5. They don’t pay much attention to dietary cholesterol. 6. They rarely use products with sugar alcohols, and when they do, they prefer Erythritol or Xylitol. 7. They exercise. 8. They don’t really count calories. They just eat until they are full (not stuffed). 9. They choose their carbs wisely. 10. They don’t pay much attention to fat, but they do avoid trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils). 11. The majority of what they eat is meats, vegetables, nuts, cheese, eggs, berries, and some fruits. It’s interesting to note that many of these foods don’t require a nutritional label. 12. They drink lots of water. 13. They take supplements daily. 14. During their weight loss they were at 20-40 carbs per day. 15. They prepare most meals at home. 16. They can tell you exactly how many carbs they eat per day. 17. They don’t consider it a “diet”; it’s just how they choose to eat. 18. They picked a specific plan, read the book, and followed it. 19. They don’t “go on and off of it” depending on the circumstances or when it’s convenient. 20. They know their “carb equilibrium”, which is the number of carbs they can eat per day and not gain or lose weight. 21. They don’t skip meals. 22. They eat foods with nutritional value, not “empty calories.” 23. When you ask them if it was difficult, they say “Not after the first few days.” 24. They take it seriously. 25. They eat several times a day. 26. If a product disappears from the marketplace, they just find something else that works. 27. They keep track of what they eat during the day. 28. They have been criticized by an uninformed person. 29. They plan meals ahead of time. 30. They aren’t too concerned about sodium. 31. They notice the “serving size” on packages. 32. Not one has ever said “I did it with carb blockers”, (or any other type of magic pill, potion or formula). 33. They are very creative in preparing foods. 34. If they have “fallen off the wagon” or “splurged”, they don’t make excuses or blame anyone, they just get back on their plan ASAP.
Well, I hope this helps you to understand some of the things that have worked for our customers. As you can see, there is no reason to re-invent the wheel. I’m not saying you need to do all of these things, but I would bet that the more of these you could implement the better your odds of success. How does that old saying go? If you want to do something you’ve never done, you will have to do something you’ve never done...
Didn't Michael do an excellent job with this list? Can you think of any more that he might have missed? Also, which one(s) do you think are the most important for people who are livin' la vida low-carb? Share your comments by clicking on the link below.
If you hurt, then it MUST be caused by your low-carb diet, right?
Today has been one long, painful day for me. A couple of days ago, I noticed my ear started irritating me with an annoyingly persistent pain that has gotten progressively worse. I cleaned out my ears with hydrogen peroxide, flushed them with this blue bulb in an ear wax cleaning kit and even put alcohol in them to help kill whatever it is that got in my ears to make them hurt.
Since I use a headset at work to talk on the telephone with customers, this made my ear hurt even more. To give you an idea of how bad I was hurting, I took my lunch break which is usually reserved for working out at the YMCA and I drove home to clean out my ears with the peroxide/flushing/alcohol treatment...AGAIN to see if they would feel any better. I also did something else I don't like to do and that's taking some medicine to feel better. One of my coworkers gave me a couple of ibuprofen and I took them hoping they would help reduce the inflammation in my ear.
Whatever did the trick, the pain has begun to subside somewhat. But I can still feel the pressure and pain every time I move my jaw and we'll definitely monitor this the next couple of days to see if I need to go to the doctor about it or not. One thing's for sure, I won't be sleeping on that ear tonight! :-O
Why did I bring this up? Well, you're never gonna believe what somebody said to me about my earache. This person knows I am livin' la vida low-carb and smugly proclaimed that my ear pain "probably has something to do with that low-carb diet you're on." HUH?! Are you kidding me? What the blankity-blank does my diet have to do with my ear hurting?
But you know what, I'm glad this came up because it is something I've been meaning to address for a long time. Isn't it interesting how every little pain or problem that your body goes through ever since you've been on the low-carb lifestyle is now under this gigantic microscope for everyone to analyze and examine as evidence of what low-carb does to you? This isn't fair to the low-carb lifestyle, but that's exactly what happens.
Oh, that low-carber has a cold, he must not be eating enough fruits and vegetables to fight it off. Jeepers, you broke a bone in your wrist, your low-carb diet must not be giving you enough calcium. Gosh, your cholesterol is over 200, you really shouldn't eat all that fat. Have you heard any of these kinds of statements before? I'm sure you have and frankly it's quite annoying.
You never hear anyone talk about how the low-fat diet or vegetarian lifestyle causes the physical problems that those people go through, do you? Then why do people blame low-carb for our ailments other than the obvious disdain that so many have for this way of eating? It's a conundrum that will take real people like you and me to just live our lives as examples of what people following this nutritional approach are really like. One-by-one, we can impact those around us...slowly.
We're not some space aliens (well, not all of us!) roaming Earth with our "strange" diet. We are real live human beings who are eating the way our ancestors have been eating for thousands of years. Of course we're gonna have a sniffle here and there as well as the bumps and bruises that come with living life. Yet, those things are not CAUSED by low-carb living. Things happen and that's that. Enough of this nonsense about low-carb being at the root of all of our health problems already!
Do you have a story like my earache being linked to livin' la vida low-carb that you'd like to share? Feel free to click on the comment link below and tell us all about it. I'm sure there are other low-carbers out there who have experienced lamebrained comments like this as well. Oh, do tell.
I recently shared with you my concern about the seemingly large amount of loose, excess skin in my abdomen and inner thighs especially following my 180-pound weight loss compliments of livin' la vida low-carb. The e-mail volume and traffic to this and my previous blog post about this topic indicate to me that this is a subject matter that is definitely of interest to so many people who are either losing weight or thinking about losing weight.
Let me quickly address this issue head-on as I do most topics. If the prospect of carrying around a little hanging skin is keeping you from losing weight, then you need to get your priorities straight. Yes, the loose skin is ugly and yes it is not a desirable thing to have, but look at the alternative. Who wants to stay fat the rest of their life? I SURE DIDN'T and neither do you. So why would you let something so incredibly petty in the grand scheme of things keep you from taking back control of your health and ultimately your life? The answer is YOU WOULDN'T and better yet YOU SHOULDN'T!
Okay, now that I've got that out of the way, I wanted to share with you an e-mail I received from a 15-year-old girl who has "at least 15 pounds of loose skin" on her body following her weight loss from her starting weight of 320 pounds.
Here's what she wrote to me:
I feel your pain. I know exactly what you're feeling. I have the loose skin around the stomach, but I also have a lot around my upper arms, thighs, and, of course, the dreaded buttocks....it just makes you want to say "ewww" doesn't it?
EWWW indeed! Hee hee! Her comments are just a microcosm of how so many of us huge weight loss success stories feel about all of this skin. Are we really all condemned to live with this for the rest of our lives unless we are fortunate enough to be able to afford the abdominoplasty?
Well, one of my readers doesn't think so and he's living proof of it. After reading my previous blog post about my skin issue, he sent me an e-mail saying I don't need to "worry about that loose skin too much." This 37-year-old former 425-pound man who got that way eating the comfort food of his childhood has lost an incredible 248 pounds over the past two years to reach his current weight of 177 pounds. YOU GO BOY!
After he had lost a considerable amount of weight through last year, his stomach looked very similar to mine:
He told me he hasn't had ANY surgery whatsoever and the skin just tightened up for him. In fact, he said he still wants to lose ANOTHER 20 pounds! Yikes!
Here's what he wrote to me regarding his experience with the issue of that "loose skin":
I thought for sure I'd have to get plastic surgery. But the more weight I lost, the more what I thought was loose skin tightened up and the better it looked. Based on my experience, I don't think you have loose skin; instead there's more fat under there to lose.
So what I think is loose skin may actually be excess fat that I still need to lose? Really? The last time I checked my body fat percentage it was at a mere 11 percent! Do I need to push that down to, say, 4-5 percent to make my stomach look as flat as my reader's? I don't know, maybe I do.
He went on to say that while his stomach has gotten a lot tighter, his thighs "look worse" than mine do now.
But again, there's fat under there. My arms and wrists used to look terrible too, and when I'd go to the doctor my veins were buried so deep that they could hardly draw blood from me. I thought that was loose skin too, but now my arms look fine.
What's funny is the veins are actually POPPING OUT of my hands and arms and they are so skinny now. But there are very clearly areas of my body where I can pull skin for at least three inches. Is that not loose skin? Is that REALLY fat, too?
My reader says it is fat because "skin is just not that thick."
One interesting insight my reader shared with me was how so many of these plastic surgeons are actually playing on the vulnerability of people like me and him who have experienced this incredible weight loss by "manipulating" us into having a procedure done that is very likely unnecessary.
We are already insecure because we're still fat men in our minds and we're sort of convinced that we'll never be "normal." So to make a buck they prey on our insecurity by telling us we have loose skin that has to be chopped off. Those people who weighed like 600-1,000 pounds, they might need surgery, but I don't think we do. There's just not a lot of information for us out there. Not a lot of people lose weight, and especially the amount of weight that we do. We're sort of like pioneers, really.
I suppose we are entering new territory with out tremendous weight loss and hopefully there will be many more success stories to come as people finally get a handle on their weight problems. But he said this is an individual journey of choice that may mean "ignoring people who thought they had the answers (but really just wanted my money!)."
Just in case you are wondering, he didn't lose his weight on the Atkins/low-carb diet. He said he tried it and couldn't afford the meat and was never able to forget "how horrible I felt coming off of my carb addiction" which he compared to "having a three-week hangover." Yikes! It was bad, but I never thought it was THAT bad. :)
He still eats a lot of protein-rich foods to satisfy his hunger as well as the good fats and smaller portions while avoiding simple carbs. If it works for him, then I'm all for it! Even better yet is the fact that he exercises by walking, too.
I don't know how tall he is, but I assume he is shorter than my height of 6'3" and he didn't say anything about doing any ab crunches or other resistance training other than his cardiovascular walking workouts.
What do you think about his theory that this "loose skin" I have is just more fat that needs to be lost? Is there merit in that argument? How much more weight should I try to lose for my "loose skin" problem to go away? As always, I am honestly seeking your input and advice about this topic and may begin to get serious about losing another 20, 40 or even 50+ pounds if necessary. Is that preposterous to even consider? What are your thoughts?
7-12-06 UPDATE: Everyone has an opinion about this issue. Here's one that caught my attention from one of my readers who said my reader who says there's excess fat beneath that "loose skin" is in denial about his condition:
Skin is a bit thicker than he's giving it credit for. The skin is stretched and it's actually thinner so whatever fat is there is spread out more making it seem thick. If it weren't stretched out his body would look like the body of a similarly 'overweight' normal person and it doesn't. It looks like a person who used to be grossly fat. Excess skin is the unmistakable characteristic. Also, the second photo doesn't look all that much better. Still loose. I'm not even sure he didn't tuck in some of his sag but let's say he didn't. That hanging skin in front hasn't budged. No amount of weight loss is going to fix that sagging belly button. Time for the tuck.
How about this? Do you agree? Disagree? Tell me what you think.
I have a brand new reader here at the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog and I quite literally wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her. Allow me to distinct pleasure of introducing to you the "other" woman in my life besides my beautiful bride Christine who I love and adore for so many reasons, Judiann -- aka MY MOMMA! Hey mom, look I'm blogging with no hands. :D Actually BOTH hands are needed to blog.
Momma officially became a member of the ever-expanding World Wide Web over the weekend and decided to see what her middle child and youngest son was up to with this blog thingy of his. As if blogging itself wasn't an enormous challenge to remain interesting and relevant for all of you wonderful readers, now I've got to make sure my own mother would approve. LOL! Just kidding, mom. There's nothing I wouldn't say to you that I talk about at my blog. As you know, I've always been one WIDE OPEN BOOK when it comes to sharing about life, which is sometimes good, sometimes bad I guess.
Regular readers at my blog may recall that my momma has lost 120 pounds after having gastric bypass surgery in December 2003 and has kept it off ever since. CONGRATULATIONS, Mom! I am so proud of what you have been able to accomplish after a lifetime of yo-yo dieting and always feeling trapped by the cage of obesity. NOT ANYMORE! You go girl!
When she hopped on my blog for the first time, mom said it was amazing to read all of the articles I write. When she called me on my cell phone this morning, she had the coolest thing to say about my blog that I took as a very high compliment:
"I felt like I was sitting down talking with my own son about his life," she said.
WOO HOO, even my mom "gets" what I try to do with my columns at my blog. For someone as "green" about the Internet as my momma, I was so glad to hear her make that comment because it has always been my goal to communicate ideas that are easily understandable by the majority of people while also keeping it relevant on a personal level like I am talking directly to you and about your situation. From the sound of my mom's comments, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
I responded back to her by saying, "I try to be real at my blog because there are real people who are hurting and looking for answers about their weight problem. That's my ultimate desire -- to reach the people who need to hear what I have to say."
Despite all the constant negativity and media reports that low-carb has gone away and we've moved on from this passing "fad," somebody apparently forgot to tell all of YOU about that! Even in the midst of low-carb products going away and diminishing desire by the major media to even talk about livin' la vida low-carb anymore (and defintely not in a positive light!), this blog is STILL setting traffic records out the wazoo (that's a lot, by the way!).
June 2006 was my highest month ever for pageviews at 55,000 and July is already on pace to shatter that record number...AGAIN! I can remember it wasn't very long ago that I got excited when I had 300 pageviews in a day. Now, there are 300 pageviews before I wake up in the morning and the total number of pageviews by the end of the day is closer to 2,000 and keeps on growing. WOWsers!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all of you who faithfully support what I am doing at the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog. It is my privilege to write articles that you find useful in your own life or may help others that you know deal with a particular topic I have discussed. Nothing gives me more joy or satisfaction than to hear stories about how your life has been impacted by something I have written about at my blog. That NEVER gets old, so don't stop sharing. :)
In fact, since my momma is reading my blog now (HI MOM!), I would like to ask you to feel free to share any comments you may have about how the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog has impacted your life in ANY way. Even if you just want to say that you are a regular reader, that would be fine. But I think it would be neato mosquito for my momma to visually see all of the people who are being touched by what I do.
Could you all do that for me? I'm not asking for anything fancy schmancy, just a quick blurb about why you keep coming back here reading what this wild and crazy man who lost 180 pounds on the low-carb lifestyle has to say about life. How about it? It's for momma, so it's definitely a worthy cause and won't cost you a single dime. It'll only take 30 seconds of your time max!
Whether anybody leaves any comments at this post or not, momma, I really do feel like I've helped a lot of people by the literally thousands of e-mails I have answered in just a little over a year writing at my blog. If I had known there would be such an incredible connection with people through this blogging format, then I would have lost weight and started doing it a long time ago. Oh well, better late than never, right?
WELCOME TO THE BLOGOSPHERE, MOMMA! Here's hoping you'll keep coming back for as long as the good Lord keeps giving me the strength and stamina to type, type, type away at my keyboard every last thought that comes into my head about diet, health, and most of all life. I love you and THANK YOU for all those years you put up with me as a kid. YOU ARE THE GREATEST MOM ON THE PLANET and I wouldn't trade you for anybody in the whole widey-widey world. :D
Okay, enough of that mushy stuff. I'm not begging, but pleeeaassssse leave your comments below (okay, I AM begging! But it's for my momma, so help a guy out, will ya?!)...pretty please with Splenda on top...
How do you ruin an otherwise excellent news story for a student newspaper on the damaging effects of extreme dieting by college students to look "perfect?" Well, you allow a registered dietitian to start railing against livin' la vida low-carb by comparing it to the truly extreme measures of downing diet pills or laxatives for weight loss (like this Chinese reporter did a few months back in this column about the Atkins diet).
That's exactly what happened with this article written by the summer editor Sarah Michalos for Purdue University's independent student newspaper called The Exponent.
Michalos was doing an excellent job pointing out in her story the unreasonable demands that society puts on young women especially to look a certain way which leads them to begin dieting in an attempt to have "the look" for themselves. It reminded me of this recent blog post I wrote that dealt with this exact same issue.
The focus of the story shifted to the various ways college students, mostly women, decide to lose their weight including skipping meals, exercising excessively, and even becoming anorexic or bulemic. All of these ideas were universally condemned as poor choices for weight management.
But then Michalos asked Purdue University's Nutrition Educator from the Student Wellness Office Annie Mahon to weigh in on the subject and that's when the story took a decided turn for the worse because of this dietitian's apparent dislike for the low-carb plans the South Beach and Atkins diets.
According to her bio page, Mahon is working towards her doctorate in nutrition, so she has undoubtedly been deeply entrenched in the anti-low-carb propaganda that is apparently passed on to students of nutrition who would otherwise think for themselves and realize that livin' la vida low-carb is indeed a very safe, nutritious and healthy way of eating. But she is also into "vegetarian diets" as part of her areas of interest, so there may be some personal animosity towards low-carb there.
While Mahon makes some excellent points about the psychology that goes into trying to have that "perfect" body and the stresses that generally accompany such a pursuit, she completely loses any respect I had for what she was saying when she began lumping together the low-carb diets Atkins and South Beach with "diet pills and laxatives."
Michalos quotes Mahon as saying people can lose weight doing low-carb, diet pills and laxatives over the short-term basis, but they will gain back the weight after they stop the diet.
Mahon said these weight loss methods "are unhealthy and over the long term can eventually have negative health consequences."
If this is how a nutritionist like Mahon honestly feels about the low-carb lifestyle, then I want to see how she came to that conclusion. To disagree with a nutritional approach based on sound research showing it to be ineffective for weight and health management is one thing. But projecting your opposition to low-carb living and using it as an opportunity to liken weight loss achieved through this method to taking diet pills and laxatives is preposterous and irresponsible, especially when you are given authority to speak intelligently as an "expert" on nutrition to impressionable college students (a privilege that this college nutritionist is also abusing).
Ms. Mahon, I'll have you know that my 180-pound low-carb weight loss in 2004 was the direct result of many hours, days, weeks, and months of hard work, commitment, dedication, bullheaded stubborness to stick with it no matter what, endless sacrifices, and never ever ever giving up. It wasn't some fly-by-night "fad" or an unhealthy weight loss plan. It was my PERMANENT solution to a LIFELONG problem!
And guess what? I'm STILL livin' la vida low-carb two years later and it's helping me keep my weight off -- LONG-TERM! It saddens me that you would so foolishly lambaste this way of eating that has not only worked for me, but also for literally millions of other people across the United States and around the world to help them overcome their obesity and begin living their lives as a shining examples of health, vitality and fitness.
It's just such a shame that the students you counsel at Purdue could do well on a low-carb program, but your negative portrayal of this way of eating may be keeping them from even trying it. I tried and failed on so many low-fat, low-calorie, portion-controlled diets over the years that I literally thought I would never be skinny. WRONG!
Thanks to the Atkins diet, I am a physically active, physically fit, 230-pound, 34-year-old man who just a little more than two years ago weighed over 400 pounds and was on medications for cholesterol, blood pressure and breathing. NOT ANYMORE! I'm a new man and I owe it all to this diet you are derogatorily comparing to taking laxatives. What a crying shame to be so educated in nutrition and yet knowing so very little.
Are you that ignorant to think for yourself, Ms. Mahon? Consider this your wake-up call to start studying all the latest research regarding nutrition, especially on low-carb diets, and you might just be able to erase those years of indoctrination you've been through to get your degrees. I know you can do better than you are doing now and I genuinely wish you well as you attempt to help the students at Purdue University live a healthier lifestyle. I wish I had a "wellness" center when I was going to college!
Feel free to share your comments with Anne Mahon about what she thinks about livin' la vida low-carb by sending her an e-mail at mahona@purdue.edu. Be sure to tell her how the low-carb lifestyle has transformed YOUR life and that she is depriving some of her students from getting their weight under control by not telling them about low-carb. Let me know if you hear back from her.
You can also send an e-mail to the editor of The Exponent newspaper Sarah Michalos at editor@purdueexponent.org.
Pharmachem hopes to slow the carb absorption in our foods
New technologies are coming out all the time to supposedly help people eat heathier by preventing the body from feeling the effects of various ingredients we eat in our foods. This NPI Center story about a brand new product designed to lower the effects of starchy foods is yet another in a long line of gimmicks that attempts to make losing weight and eating healthy easier to do.
Pharmachem Laboratories, Inc. is the brainchild behind this next great product called StarchLite®, described as "an all-natural ingredient for use in the food and beverage industry, which has been shown in clinical studies to delay the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates; and reduce the glycemic index (GI) and caloric impact of starchy foods."
Oh brother, just what we need is another carb blocker! What's next? SugarLite? FlourLite? ProcessedFoodsLite? Do these companies even realize how ridiculous they sound when they release products like this?
The entire time I was losing my weight in 2004, not once did I ever think about taking a pill to help block the carbs I was eating from begin digested. I can only imagine how that would make me feel. By the way, WHERE DO ALL THOSE CARBS GO THAT GET BLOCKED? Hmmm? Me thinks there would have been lots more visits to the porcelain queen had I used something like StarchLite®. EWWWW!
Sure, it's nice to dream about a product that will "delay the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates," but why don't you instead decide to EAT LESS CARBS?! Gee what a concept! Is that so hard to do? Do we really NEED a product like StarchLite® to block the carbs for us? I don't think so. Are we gonna start shaking this stuff on top of Big Macs and French Fries to make them "low-carb?" HA! Not in this beautiful temple of God!
In this crazy world of making things easy and convenient for people without requiring them to permanently change their bad habits, this new product idea from Pharmachem is exactly what is wrong with the food and beverage industry today. The companies making products like these actually think they are doing the public a great service and that we as consumers should be bowing down in reverent respect and adoration for what they have offered us. What a bunch of dopes!
If you ask me, they can take their StarchLite® and stick it up their...okay, I won't say it, but I was thinking it REALLY hard! How about we get back to the good ole days of low-carb living and focus on quality foods that add value to our lives rather than trying to squeeze low-carb into this high-carb world we live in. Hey, now THERE'S an idea!
Dr. Rimm says obesity can cause "more immediate" sex problems in men
It's time to be brutally honest about one of the side effects of being overweight and obese that NOBODY ever wants to talk about, but behind closed doors it is a big problem that really wears on the psyche and emotional stability of men especially. I'm talking about the "i" word known as impotence.
Sometimes referred to as ED, aka Erectile Dysfunction, generally the first reaction to this very serious problem is to start making jokes about it. HA HA HA, You're not a real man if you can't do it...are you not "up" to it...is someone having problems...hardy har freakin' har! Is that out of your system now? Good, because this Harvard study actually shows there is an undeniable link between impotence and obesity that could give men carrying around extra pounds just the motivation they've been looking for to lose weight for good.
Led by Dr. Eric Rimm, associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, the researchers conducted a very large survey featuring 22,086 healthy men age 40-75 who had participated in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) which began two decades ago to look at diet and chronic disease among male health professionals in the United States. Each of the men surveyed had previously reported good or very good erectile function with no major chronic diseases prior to beginning the HPFS in 1986.
However, what Dr. Rimm discovered was that 17.7 percent of the men in his survey had developed Erectile Dysfunction between 1986 and 2000, even after removing the results of the men who had undergone radiation or surgical treatments for prostate cancer since those procedures can lead to Erectile Dysfunction. The research showed that the primary reasons for the development of ED in the men surveyed had to do with two preventable risk factors: smoking and obesity.
"We found a 2.5-fold difference in risk of Erectile Dysfunction when we compared obese men who did little exercise with men who were not overweight and averaged 30 minutes of vigorous exercise a day," Dr. Rimm explained. "For men younger than 55 there was a 4-fold difference in risk for the same comparison."
Interestingly, the research also showed regular physical activity could actually reverse the effects of ED and improve sexual performance naturally. At the same time, Dr. Rimm found that drinking alcohol was not a significant factor in the risk of ED.
Okay, it's time for me to open up and confess to you about what my sex life was like at 410 pounds. For some people, this is gonna be TMI time, but for others this may be exactly what you need to hear in order to do what I did by losing a lot of weight. It's a sensitive subject to discuss in an open forum like my blog, but I've always been about sharing honestly with you my experiences both before and after my weight loss.
Before 2004, sex pretty much didn't exist because of my morbid obesity. It's not that I didn't want to do it, but it was quite literally a hit or miss proposition. Besides the problem with um, "getting up," there was also the equally discouraging issues of having a lot of trouble breathing without wheezing very loudly (that always freaked out Christine), the very real danger of crushing this woman I'm trying to show my love towards, the strong possiblity of premature, uh, you know, and so on and so forth. For something that is supposed to be a wonderful pleasurable event, I admit I sometimes dreaded it when I was fatter.
Zoom forward to today and oh what a difference losing weight has made in my life when it comes to sex. I'm like a monster that's been caged up for years and now I'm ready to expend all that pent up energy. The problem down there isn't a problem anymore. Just as my overall energy has exploded like dynamite since I lost 180 pounds, so too has my libido. Again, without grossing anyone out by getting too graphic, let's just say it sustains a whole lot longer than it used to, the breathing issues are a non-factor thanks to my daily cardio workouts (does sex now count as a workout? LOL!), the ability to hold it until just the right moment is so much easier, and best of all my wife is the ultimate benefactor of this new man in bed I have become.
Enough already, that's as far as I'll go, I promise! I apologize if that was more than you wanted to know, but I think others need to be informed about what an unbelievable difference weight loss combined with a regular exercise program can have on EVERY aspect of your life, especially with something as common and frequent (at least I hope it is for you within the confines of your marriage vows) as sex. The man I was before 2004 and the man I am now are as different as night and day in bed. That's exactly what Dr. Rimm was aiming to communicate with his study and he thinks it may get some men to take their weight problem more seriously.
"Many men may choose not to change to a healthier lifestyle, which includes exercise and a prudent diet, because they perceive heart disease as something that may only develop decades in the future," Dr. Rimm noted. "Hopefully, these results will help to motivate men to adopt a more active lifestyle to avoid a problem which may be more immediate."
One would think the threat of developing heart disease would be enough to give men and women a swift kick in the pants to do something about their weight while they still can. But maybe hearing that this sexual "problem" they have been experiencing lately might just improve with a little weight loss will have more and more people turning to livin' la vida low-carb and hitting the gym to work as a natural anti-impotence magic trick. And that would not be a bad thing at all!
Speaking of that, guess who supported and helped fund this study along with the National Institutes of Health? If you answered Pfizer, Inc., makers of the #1 selling anti-impotence drug Viagra, then DING DING DING you would be correct! Hey, isn't that what radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was found with by a custom's agent when he returned from the Dominican Republic recently? Hmmm, I thought he had lost a lot of weight, so what's he doing with these pills? Oh yeah, he IS getting old so he still needs 'em! LOL!
Just like their support for studies connecting cholesterol problems with heart disease so they can sell more of their bestselling statin drug Lipitor, I suppose Pfizer's interest in this study has more to do with the large, both figurative and literally, potential consumer base for Viagra. If two out of every three Americans is overweight or obese, then identifying a connection between obesity and impotence is a cash crop just waiting to be harvested! They don't really care if those men ever lose weight and restore their sex life or not. All they want is for more people to start buying their "little blue pill." NOT ME! Not anymore! :D
. If ever there was a more compelling health book in my lifetime that has the potential to directly influence the decisions of so many doctors, patients, and researchers on the subject of cholesterol, then I haven't seen it. And yet, how many people have even heard of Colpo and his prodigious independent research? 
