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Thursday, July 31, 2008
Kooky, Crazy, Nutty...And Everything In Between: E-mails To My Low-Carb Blog
Some of my readers must be related to Crazy Harry
I'm gonna be dating myself a bit with this reference, but do you remember the old Jim Henson television program called The Muppet Show? We all know Kermit the Frog, Fozzy, Beaker, Animal, and, of course, Miss Piggy. But do you remember that character named Crazy Harry? He was the strange one who always looked like he was up to no good as he looked for something to blow up. Does that ring a bell?
Well, I must have some long lost relatives of Crazy Harry embarking on my blog from time to time because some rather kooky, crazy, and nutty comments and e-mails have been coming my way lately and it certainly keeps life rather interesting to say the least. That's okay because I get enough of everything in between to help counterbalance the wild and the weird.
One of the most popular kind of blog posts I do feature some of the most intriguing e-mails and comments that come my way and you can see my previous ones here, here, here, here, and here, and here. But I do believe today takes the proverbial low-carb cake for the strangest e-mail I have ever received in the history of my blog. And that's truly saying something with all the bizarre comments that have been hurled in my direction. The good news is one freaky bit of feedback is always tempered perfectly by bunches of normal ones, so ENJOY!
The following was left as an anonymous comment at my blog this week:
Look around your mid-section, you could live off that fat for 6 months. I am highly skeptical that your body needs all that fat. I'm pretty sure your gall bladder will need removal within a few years. Though that's only if you survive the colon cancer from the 15 pounds of fetid low quality hormone laden mad cow meat adhering to you colon. Do you notice how bad your BO is and how bad the toilet smells after you go. If you don't just ask your wife. Chimp poo is nothing like that!
PS - and what is with your so called brother being in hospice and singing karaoke ? I've yet to meet a hospice patient released for a little karaoke R&R. I think somebody is looking for pity points. But if you weren't a drama llama you would not over medicate with fatty foods (formerly sugary foods in your younger years).
Looks like Dean Ornish let one of his wacko radical vegetarians out on the loose again! Does something like this even deserve to be dignified with a valid response from me? I think not (although I thought you'd get a good laugh out of it like I did!).
Now, on to more NORMAL e-mails...
Dear Jimmy,
I am a former vegetarian (16 years with no meat!) who has started eating fish and a hell of a lot more protein and fat due to reading Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories. I have easy access to all the research articles that he sites in his book, so in addition to being persuaded by Gary I have read all the original experiments as well and have changed my eating habits accordingly.
My reason for emailing you is to ask this: when you are talking to people about your diet and your opponent says: "I love sugar! I will never stop eating sugar! My boyfriend/girlfriend/ spouse tried it and they fainted/felt like crap/their heads exploded, etc." How do I defend myself? (I just had this conversation five minutes ago, so I am fuming just a bit.)
I could have been nasty and said, "Well, look at me, and now look AT YOU, YOU FAT SUGAR EATER!!!!" However, as irritating as this person can be sometimes, I did not want to hurt her feelings.
So, Jimmy, could you or any of your fans advise me how to converse nicely with the uninitiated proponent of carbs without sounding like a total jerk?
LOL! I think we all have people like this in our life. The thing I tell people is that you won't have to give up sugar for life if you don't want to on your low-carb diet. You just choose to go without it until your weight and health is under control. But what will happen is they'll reap the benefits of ditching sugar and will decide for themselves to never eat it again. What would you suggest?
Hi Jimmy,
I am hoping you can help me answer a question, or at least point me in the right direction to get an answer. First let me say, I love your blog! Thanks so much for keeping us updated on the low carb lifestyle. Let me tell you a little background about myself. I am a type 1 diabetic on an insulin pump and am a registered nurse. In 1994, I read a book by a doctor in NY, Richard Bernstein, which changed the way I managed my diabetes. Dr. Bernstein advocates a very low carb diet for diabetics, and he has used it to manage his own diabetes for years. I met with him and tried his low carb diet, which substantially reduced my insulin needs. Although I was not able to maintain his ultra low carb recommendations, I have continued to follow a much lower carb diet which has helped greatly improve my diabetes control.
In 2004, I decided to tackle my next health issue, which was my weight. I had about 45 pounds to lose, and decided to join Weight Watchers and follow their core plan. Although Weight Watchers does not advocate low carb, it was easy for me to structure my eating with the core plan and still eat a lower carb diet. Within 7 months, I had dropped the 45 pounds and have maintained the weight loss for the past 4 years. Now, on to my question...
I currently exercise every day. I love it and look forward to it. As is my routine, just prior to exercising I have my one treat of the day, which is ice cream. This helps to keep my blood sugar up while exercising and keeps me on track with my healthy eating habits because I know I get to eat that one sweet treat every day. Recently, Breyers came out with a new line of "Breyers Free" ice creams, which are fat free and have some added fiber. I have been buying this line because the Weight Watchers points value is 1-2 points, as opposed to 4-5 for regular ice cream. But what I have noticed when eating these fat free ice creams is that my blood sugar goes way up, which it never did with the regular ice creams. After looking at the carb values for both, I saw that the fat free had 25 gms of carbs and the regular has 15 grams, which is a big difference since I probably do not stick to the 1/2 cup serving. Because of the difference in the carb value, I end up having to take extra insulin, which I did not have to do with the regular ice cream.
So my question to you is do you think I should switch back to the regular ice cream? I am desperate to lose another 7 pounds, and am afraid that the regular ice cream, being higher in calories, will slow down this weight loss. However, my logical mind also knows that it is generally the extra insulin that the body makes or, in my case, that is injected, that causes me to gain weight. Can you please tell me your opinion on this, as I will feel better hearing it from someone who is familiar with the low carb debate. My doctor basically told me that lower calorie=weight loss, higher calorie=weight gain, but I am not so sure that is true since I have to take more insulin to cover the higher carb value.
Any information you could give me would be greatly appreciated!
Do I need to say how wrong this is on so many levels? I couldn't believe my eyes when I was reading this e-mail. Let me address the reason why fat-free and low-fat foods have more sugar/carbs. When they take out the fat, the food manufacturers have to replace it with something--and most of the time that something is sugar or high fructose corn syrup. That's just the way it is.
Now, about that ice cream before your workout. WHAT?! It's a myth that you need to carb-up before exercise and I urge you to STOP eating the ice cream beforehand. That's not necessary when you are livin' la vida low-carb, eating adequate protein, and fueling up with fat. Read The TNT Diet by Adam Campbell and Dr. Jeff Volek to find out how to implement this way of eating into your regular exercise routine.
My experience with a very low carb, high fat diet.
Started diet at Age 57, weight 186 (highest ever), total cholesterol 207, triglycerides 149, HDL 41, and LDL 136. Blood pressure between high normal and pre-hypertension.
Lost 23lbs in 9 months, with total cholesterol 182, triglycerides 79, HDL 46, LDL 120. Sounded pretty good to me!
3 months later, still on low carb diet, had lost additional 4 lbs, and feeling real good...then I had a heart attack. They placed 2 stents in 2 blocked arteries, also the main coronary artery is 40% blocked and I'm looking at bypass surgery in the future.
Now I'm on a full regiment of drugs. Lost additional 10 lbs, and stayed on low carb, but now also low fat. With the drugs, total cholesterol 110, triglycerides 50, HDL 44, LDL 57. Blood pressure is now very very low.
Ok, what happened?
It's funny how people are so quick to blame their low-carb diet on health calamities when differences suddenly manifest themselves. But you never hear people talk about how much that low-fat, high-carb diet they were eating damaged their health. I've never understood this double standard, but it is what it is I guess.
Anywho, as for this person who says their heart attack happened because of livin' la vida low-carb, he needs to read this recent blog post from a 31-year old man who also had a heart attack. The thing is you cannot underestimate your predisposition for having a cardiovascular event especially at your age and in the short amount of time you've been on low-carb. All those years of high-carb eating can take their toll. Eating low-fat is NOT the answer, but continuing low-carb living is vitally important to preventing ANOTHER heart attack in the future.
Dear Jimmy,
I have a few comments. EVERYBODY says and thinks that they are never gonna be fat again or gain their weight back. Yet many, if not most, do just that. You may be too young to remember when Oprah dragged 90 lbs of fat in a wagon on stage and declared she would never be fat again. She may not be very fat now but she was between then and now, with losses and gains in between. Forgive my skepticism. It comes from my own experiences. I have lost weight, between 50 and 100 lbs several times, and kept it off for an average of three years. So I couldn't take seriously anyone's advice until they'd made it past 5 or 10 years.
I pray that you succeed. I think this must be the first time you've lost a lot of weight or you might not be so sure you won't gain it back. Gaining it back is worse than being fat in the first place. Because I do want you to succeed, I am going to follow your progress. I think it may be wise for you to cultivate a little humility. In my opinion you sound like you are sure that you have THE answers. I wish it were so simple. I do agree that the questionnaires generally are asking the wrong questions, but the one about how you'd feel if you gained the weight back is an important and quite legitimate question that you need not to dismiss so cavalierly, perhaps to your own peril.
Did I mention there was only one psycho e-mail? Okay, I was wrong. I have no idea what this person is talking about, but this is America and he has a right to his opinion. THANK YOU for sharing...er, I think. :)
Hi Jimmy,
I'm a long time listener of your podcast show and I love it!
I've been restricting my carbs for several years - my diet is probably not "low carb" as I eat around 100g total carbs per day (fibre included). However, I'm also vegan. I'm intolerant to dairy and I've never liked meat all that much anyway.
I know that a lot of vegans are opposed to low carb diets and are very vocal about it. I personally don't push my vegan diet onto anyone, mainly because I don't like people trying to force me to eat meat and dairy products. I still prepare meat for my husband and children, I just don't eat any of it.
Just wondering what your opinions are of vegan low carb diets, and whether you think it's even possible! My diet consists of: fruit, vegetables, tofu, seitan, wheat bran, nuts, and seeds. I also boost my protein intake with soy protein supplement because I weight train 4-5 times per week. My non fruit/vegetable carbs are from 1 serving of wheat bran per day, and 1 cup of pea soup 2-3 times per week.
It sounds boring to most people but I genuinely enjoy eating this way.
Just wondering what your thoughts are, and whether "vegan" and "low carb" can actually be compatible!
Thanks and keep up the great work!
I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with a vegan wanting to eat a low-carb diet, but there are many benefits to eating animal fat that you miss out on when you go totally vegan. Plus, you can't eat eggs or other sources of healthy fat and protein that your body needs. I couldn't personally handle a low-carb vegan diet personally, but more power to ya. I just wish the really crazy vegans would just calm down with their rhetoric.
I've got plenty more e-mails to share with you and will do that soon. In the meantime, I always love hearing from my readers whether they agree with me or not. So feel free to drop me an e-mail anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.
Dr. Julie Palmer says don't get fooled into drinking OJ
What could be healthier for you than a icy cold glass of orange juice, right? What could be more Americana and good for you than that?! I mean it comes from freshly-squeezed oranges which are grown on trees, so it HAS to be better for you than sugary soda, doesn't it? Wellllllll, not exactly as a new study published in a major medical journal from researchers out of Boston University revealed this week.
Lead researcher Dr. Julie Palmer, a senior epidemiologist from the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University, looked at the connection between both fruit juice and sugary soda to Type 2 diabetes as part of the enlightening and still-ongoing prospective Black Women's Health Study featuring a whopping 59,000 African-American women from across the United States. Because Type 2 diabetes has hit the black female population especially hard increasing exponentially in the past few years (double that of white women), Dr. Palmer wanted to find out specifically why and what she discovered is gonna shock a whole lotta people.
Initial questionnaires went sent out to the study participants in 1995 to obtain baseline information on height, weight, demographic characteristics, medical history, usual diet and other factors. Then follow-up questionnaires soliciting information with updates on various health conditions, lifestyle changes, and diet among other things have been sent out every two years ever since to see if there are any marked changes in the occurrence of Type 2 diabetes or other such diseases.
In all, 2,713 of the study participants (about 4.5 percent) developed Type 2 diabetes in the first ten years since the study began that paralleled with those women who increased their consumption of both sugary sodas and fruit drinks. According to the study, women who drank 2+ sodas per day experienced a 24 percent increase in getting Type 2 diabetes than those who drank less than one soft drink in a month.
Interestingly, Dr. Palmer also found a curious connection between fruit juice and Type 2 diabetes as well. Those women in the study who drank 2+ servings of this "healthy" drink alternative to sugary soda, primarily at breakfast time, saw a 31 percent increase in diabetes risk compared to those who had less than one glass of fruit juice each month.
Hmmmm...
I can remember growing up how much I LOVED drinking Sunny Delight orange juice. And my mom faithfully bought it for me, my brother Kevin, and sister Beverly thinking it was a "healthy" option since it was derived from fruit. Surely this had to be better than all that soda we would be drinking instead, right? Boy, we couldn't have been more wrong if we tried--and we have to blame it partially on the aggressive marketing of the juice lobby led by groups like the Juice Products Association who are in full spin-mode right now promoting juice as playing "an important role in a healthy diet." NOT!
Some will argue that it's fruit and that alone should make it healthy. While I sincerely believe both whole fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet (including a low-carb one, by the way!), it's a blatant copout to say they're all good for you when clearly they are not. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, and honeydew are excellent choices for fruit in the latter stages of your low-carb life management plan. But juicing even any of these fruits simply concentrates the sugar that much more and you just don't need it. Can you imagine all the sugar you'd be adding to your body with apple, pineapple, or orange juice? EEEEEEK! No thanks! I don't need to get Type 2 diabetes.
The take-home message from this study is that fruit juice is equal if not MORE harmful to your risk for Type 2 diabetes as sugary soda is and should be avoided for the same reasons. Most of the people reading this at my blog are saying to themselves, "well duh?!" But ask just about anyone you know which of the two is healthier between fruit juice and sugary soda and you're gonna have a virtually unanimous choice for the fruit juice. My answer would be NEITHER and I haven't drank either one since I started livin' la vida low-carb in January 2004. And I have NO intentions of EVER doing so again.
Dr. Palmer said fruit drinks were favored over sugary soda by the participants in the study and that fruit drink consumption in the United States has doubled since the late 1970s. This along with the strong marketing of fruit juice as "healthy" beginning in the 1980s and still to this day has led us to higher and higher rates of Type 2 diabetes, Dr. Palmer noted.
"The public should be made aware that these drinks are not a healthy alternative to soft drinks with regard to risk of type 2 diabetes," she exclaimed.
Christin Sherburne leading a lawsuit against the Kimkins diet
Most people who have been following my blog for any length of time over the past year already knows about the Kimkins diet scam and the ongoing class action lawsuit that has been brought up against the diet's founder Heidi Diaz, aka "Kimmer." One of the leading voices against Kimkins now is a woman who was featured on the front cover of Woman's World magazine in June 2007 touting her 100-pound weight loss in just five months. But a series of strange events involving Diaz and some potentially life-threatening health complications opened up her eyes to the dangers of the Kimkins diet scheme.
Click on the "LISTEN NOW" link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 163:
"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 163 [29:56m]: LISTEN NOW | Download
Christin Sherburne takes us through this up-and-down journey over the past year when she was in support of Kimkins because of her incredible weight loss on it and then to her fervent opposition to this diet plan that threatened her health and is harming the lives of real people even to this day. I've been privileged to get to know Christin over this past year and met her in February this year on our first annual low-carb cruise (she'll be coming on the cruise in January 2009 as well!). She really is one of the nicest people you will ever meet.
In the podcast, Christin opens up about those confusing days following her experience as the Kimkins cover-girl when she became the public relations spokesperson for the diet, how she ran into a brick wall when she asked Heidi Diaz/Kimmer to answer some of the questions that had been swirling around the Internet from concerned onlookers, the role Laura Dolson played in helping her see the fraud this diet and its founder is, her unending determination to expose this scam wherever she can to help protect others from falling victim to it, what's happening with the class action civil lawsuit and potential criminal lawsuit against Heidi Diaz, and the positive things that have come out of this entire ordeal that are impacting her life today.
Never miss a low-carb beat and tune in anytime by:
So what did you think about Christin Sherburne? Regardless of your stance on the Kimkins diet, did Christin convince you one way or the other? Share your thoughts about today's interview in the show notes section of Episode 163. Check out more from Christin Sherburne by visiting her at her LivinLowCarbDiscussion.com page as well as her inspirational "The Journey" blog.
Come back next week for a highly-requested two-part follow-up interview with Dr. Keith Berkowitz who will answer a slew of questions that came in following my first podcast interview with him a few months back about the subject of "reactive hypoglycemia" while on a low-carb diet. If you sent me a question about this, then tune in on Monday and Thursday to hear it answered by Dr. Berkowitz. THANKS for listening to "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore."
The Zone Diet will soon be featured in FIRST magazine
I got word from the people at the Zone Diet today that they are teaming up with the popular First magazine to do a story on people who have implemented the Zone strategies for weight loss. What they REALLY want to see are people who have been using fish oil supplements with GREAT success in improving both their weight and health. Here's your chance to have YOUR story heard in a well-known national publication!
Those of us who are livin' la vida low-carb recognize the importance of getting the proper balance of essential omega fatty acids to reduce inflammation and this is a subject that is near and dear to the heart of Zone creator Dr. Barry Sears (who by the way is coming out with a new book in September 2008 entitled Toxic Fat: When Good Fat Turns Bad). They want first-hand testimonials of women (sorry guys!) who have experienced an amazing turnaround in how they look because of the Zone diet and fish oil supplementation (like Zone spokesperson Sue Knorr who I recently featured at my podcast show).
Time is of the essence and this story is on a deadline, so get on this ASAP if you are genuinely interested in sharing what happened to you. Here are the requirements:
- You MUST be female - You MUST be willing to reveal before and after photos - Your story MUST include your testimony about the Zone diet/fish oil
If you fit all of this criteria and can send me your story quickly, then please e-mail this information to me at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. I'll forward them to the people at the Zone diet and cross my fingers for you that yours will be chosen. GOOD LUCK TO YOU and remember--DON'T DELAY! Send your story in today.
There are two ends of the spectrum when people start talking about being on the "Atkins diet"--either they are simply cutting back on their carbohydrates and consuming whatever amounts of meat, cheese, eggs, and bacon they choose to eat or they are following the plan that was written and promoted by the late great Dr. Robert C. Atkins in his various books, most notably Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution.
It's amazing how people can get away with describing both of these as the "Atkins diet" when only those people who have educated themselves about this way of eating in the latter group can honestly say that. Even worse, we've got people who try to debate the Atkins diet without ever seeing what Dr. Atkins wrote. Come on, that's just plain ignorant if you ask me. So I'm ready to help do something about this lack of understanding about the Atkins diet starting right here and right now.
In Episode 48 of "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb On YouTube," my lovely wife Christine and I share about an Atkins Diet Startup Kit that we are making exclusively available to anyone who wishes to learn more about this healthy and delicious low-carb nutritional approach. With all the mounds of misinformation and confusion that has been generated by those so-called health "experts" and the media about this wonderful dietary plan that helped me shed 180 pounds in 2004, why wouldn't you just want to learn more about what it's all about? That's precisely what this 6-item kit will do--EDUCATE!
Learn more about what's in the Atkins Diet Startup Kit in today's video:
Here's a recap of the materials included in this package:
- Why & How It Works video - Staying Slim & Health video - Atkins diet workbook - Atkins meal planner (recipes) - Atkins easy carb gram counter - Basic diet manual
These materials certainly do not replace what you get in Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution or any of his other books. But they do complement those books by putting the Atkins diet in clear and understandable language using a 3-part video explanation of the nutritional plan from Dr. Atkins himself, workbooks and information sheets to help you personalize your low-carb Atkins plan, and then practical information on carb counts, recipes, and other essential information to go on the REAL Atkins diet the right way. This is about a $100 value worth of materials that you can't purchase anywhere else and it's all yours for only $25 (plus FREE PRIORITY MAIL SHIPPING!).
Yes, you get the two videos, the big workbook, the recipe book, the carb gram counter book, and the basics guide to take when traveling all for the flat cost of $25. This includes your PRIORITY MAIL shipping, so you'll get it quickly when you place your order. Please contact me at livinlowcarbman@charter.net and we'll work out arrangements to ship your materials. I want to get these materials about the Atkins diet into the hands of people who genuinely want to learn what this specific diet plan is all about. There are no more excuses for thinking the Atkins diet is just bacon-wrapped-butter-and-brie (maybe Dr. Dean Ornish should buy this kit--HE MIGHT LEARN SOMETHING!).
Give us your feedback on our videos by e-mailing livinlowcarbman@charter.net anytime. We appreciate hearing from you and will possibly use your show ideas in a future video. Watch our previous YouTube videos and join the ever-growing list of people who now subscribe to our YouTube videos. THANK YOU for your support of our video series on YouTube and we'll keep 'em coming!
The New England Journal Of Medicine is highly prestigious
While I was away on vacation in Florida seeing my brother recently, a well-publicized weight loss study comparing a low-carbohydrate, Mediterranean, and low-fat diet was released and published in the July 17, 2008 issue of The New England Journal Of Medicine. All the headlines were screaming how the Atkins diet is best and livin' la vida low-carb is champion of them all. It was in virtually every newspaper (including this Wall Street Journal story I was quoted in), local and national television news outlet, and all the health and weight loss blogs--A BIG STORY!
And because it put low-carb living in such a positive light as compared with the low-fat diet or the much-beloved Mediterranean diet, you would think I'd be a happy camper touting this study as the best thing to happen for low-carb in a long while. But as I stated after this other highly-publicized study out of Stanford published in Journal of the American Medical Association last March, I can't get too thrilled about yet another study that shows such insignificant weight loss on a low-carb diet after two years and doesn't really require the participants to adhere closely to anything resembling the Atkins weight loss diet. This puts me in the minority I'm sure, but I have to say this is one big reason why I was disappointed with the New England Journal study.
For those of you who missed this study, lead researcher Iris Shai, R.D., Ph.D. from the S. Daniel Abraham International Center for Health and Nutrition in Israel, put 322 "moderately obese subjects" on one of three specific diets for a two-year observation:
- LOW-CARB--Two months of 20g daily and slowly increase to 120g maximum for the duration of the study. Calorie-restriction was not required for this group. - MEDITERRANEAN--Calorie restriction of 1500 daily for females, 1800 daily for males consuming a diet with 35 percent fat from olive oil and nuts while consuming fish and poultry in place of higher-fat cuts of meat like pork and beef. - LOW-FAT--Calorie restriction of 1500 daily for females, 1800 daily for males consuming a diet with 30 percent of calories from fat as recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA)
Before I share the results, I have some comments. While 20g carbs is indeed the Induction phase of the Atkins diet, 120g is nowhere close to ANY phase of the Atkins diet. EVER! Why do they put people on a low-carb diet and then let 'em go to town eating carbs later? What's so freakin' hard about requiring them to stay at or under 50g a day? I just don't get that with these studies. I do like the fact there were no constraints on calories with the low-carb group and they just naturally kept their calories in check eating this way.
The Mediterranean diet group looked fine, but I was surprised to see the low-fat diet group to include so much fat. While the AHA may consider a 30 percent fat diet to be low (and it is relatively speaking), it doesn't come anywhere near the kind of low-fat diet that the infamous Dr. Dean Ornish said in my first interview with him suggesting obese and unhealthy people go on to lower their weight and improve their health. His plan is a 10 percent fat diet with upwards of 70-80 percent carbohydrates. That's not what they did with this study which is too bad since it supposedly shows the difference between low-fat and low-carb. We'll have more from Ornish is a moment.
First, let's take a look at the results of this less-than-spectacular study:
The LOW-CARB group lost the most amount of weight with 12.1 pounds followed by the MEDITERRANEAN group who lost 10.1 pounds and bringing up the tail was the LOW-FAT group who only shed 7.3 pounds (confirming the results of this long-term large study that found weight loss was insignificant on a reduced-fat diet). The researchers also observed what happened to HDL and triglycerides on these various nutritional approaches and the results were not at all shocking to those of us paying attention to our health--LOW-CARB saw a greater INCREASE in their HDL "good" cholesterol and a more significant DECREASE in their dangerous triglyceride levels making their ratio of HDL/total cholesterol much better than the other groups. Additionally, the A1C levels, an important marker in blood sugar health, as well as their C-reactive protein levels, a marker look at dangerous inflammation, both improved more with the LOW-CARB group.
Pretty good news, right? Well, it depends on who you ask. Let's see what Dr. Ornish thought about this study in this op-ed piece published in Newsweek magazine. It appears he had an issue with several things that may or may not have validity:
1. The study was funded by The Atkins Foundation, a non-profit organization led by Veronica Atkins that has donated millions of dollars to various researchers looking into low-carb diets and their effect on weight and health carrying on the legacy of the late great Dr. Robert C. Atkins.
This shouldn't disqualify the study altogether, but Ornish seems to think it does. So, are we to negate all the research conducted by you and your group on low-fat diets using the same logic, Dr. Ornish? You're better than this.
2. The LOW-FAT participants didn't eat a "low-fat" diet.
I agree, Dr. Ornish. But neither did the LOW-CARB group eat a genuinely "low-carb" diet beyond the first couple of months of the study. If we are ever gonna see a real comparison of low-fat and low-carb diets going head-to-head, then mandatory compliance is gonna have to be implemented. That's the only way to keep advocates on both sides from whining about the diet not being the actual diet every time one of these comparison studies is released.
3. The study is questionable because of calories difference.
Dr. Ornish claims the study lacks "quality" because the LOW-FAT group ate less calories but lost less weight. He says this calls into question the veracity of the data because it is "physiologically impossible" to eat less calories and lose less weight than the other groups. Ornish believes in the mistaken notion of calories in, calories out, so this is not surprising. How about that metabolic advantage at work? :D
4. The Atkins diet group ate "vegetarian sources of fat and protein" which isn't the Atkins diet with all the bacon and beef you can eat.
I'll agree that vegetarian fats and proteins are not preferred over animal fats on the Atkins diet, it's ludicrous to continue stating that the Atkins diet by the book doesn't include veggies. Anyone who has read the book and doesn't have an agenda like Dr. Ornish knows that you get two cups of green leafy veggies as well as one cup of non-starchy vegetables per day on the most restrictive Induction phase of the Atkins diet. Hello?! You make yourself look idiotic when you keep repeating the same lie over and over again, Dr. Ornish.
As for the actual sources of fat and protein in the LOW-CARB group, low-carb researcher Dr. Eric Westman from Duke University asked Dr. Shai to clarify what kind of foods were eaten by members of the low carb group. The notion that the researchers pushed a "vegetarian low-carb diet" on the participants is NOT what was done.
Here was Dr. Shai's response to Dr. Westman's inquiry:
This is kind of funny that some could think of a "vegetarian low-carb" diet. Is it a new suggested strategy? Could be interesting idea but this wasn't the case here. Our low-carb diet was based on Atkins, the participants read the book and the recipes were more or less comparable to what you know in the states.
Beef is the main red meat. What could be different? People here (in Israel) would not mix in the same meal meat and butter, a salad is considered a very rich one and not a lettuce based, and the main dressing is olive oil. As for beverages, same industry that makes money everywhere.
For example, a plate could include: fish or fried/not bread coated chicken/or red meet, broccoli and mushrooms coated with eggs, roasted eggplants, vegetable salad (peppers, cucumber, green leaves, not lettuce) with olive oil dressing. I understand that some of the low-fat people find it hard to believe that such a low-carb diet was tremendously favorable within 2 years in a well designed study, but these are the facts and the science of tomorrow, with the next long-term studies in the pipeline, may confirm or not these findings.
So, as you can see, the LOW-CARB did indeed follow more of an Atkins diet approach in terms of the specific foods they ate, not the mocking of a "vegetarian low-carb diet" as Dr. Ornish made fun of in his op-ed column.
5. HDL is only a risk factor among many to be looked at.
Oh, how convenient for you, Dr. Ornish. Yes, we know all about your "garbage trucks" analogy for HDL stating that you need more of them when you have more "junk" (LDL) to be removed. But the fact is eating a high-carb diet as Ornish suggests leads to LOWER HDL and HIGHER triglycerides, neither of which is healthy by any stretch of the imagination. And the very latest researcher is showing us that LDL and total cholesterol are not nearly as important as the HDL/triglycerides ratio that is becoming the new standard bearer for heart health. Dr. Ornish may dismiss these improvements with HDL and triglycerides by the LOW-CARB group as insignificant, but we know better.
At the end of his op-ed trying to dismiss this study as irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, Dr. Ornish states that it's time to "call a truce in the diet wars." That's something I've tried to do before noting all the areas of agreement between low-fat and low-carb, but the fact does remain we don't all agree on what is healthy, Dr. Ornish. To state so bluntly that "an optimal diet is one that is low in fat" shows just how entrenched you remain in your ideology without looking at the latest data (and I'm sure you STILL haven't read Gary Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories because you're afraid to have your lifelong beliefs about health challenged with evidential facts!).
Okay, enough about what Ornish thinks of this study. Let's see what some other prominent and REAL health experts think about the New England Journal study:
"Call me crazy, but I can't help wondering if the low-carb group would had lost even more weight if they had eaten less than the 120 grams of carbs these folks ate, all the while keeping calories at a moderate, reduced amount and incorporating other lifestyle changes like exercise and stress reduction. Can you imagine? A more reasonable level of under 100 grams a day (or even less) might have made a lot of difference--that's a level that seems to work the best for people who have problems with sugar, insulin and carbohydrates in general."
"This study adds to the body of evidence that suggests that lower carb and carb-controlled eating has distinct merit and generally has the capacity to out-perform low-fat diets in the weight-loss stakes (and without any conscious restriction of food intake, either). The results of this study suggest that such a diet may be superior in terms of cardiovascular disease risk too."
DR. RICHARD FEINMAN
"The major significance of the NEJM paper is that it is confirmatory of much work that has gone before. It is really not, as portrayed in the media, revolutionary. Much prior work from the laboratories of Jeff Volek, Eric Westman, Steve Phinney, Jay Wortman, Mary Gannon and Frank Nuttal and others has shown that carbohydrates, beyond simple calories, have a role in controlling how fats are used or stored. Directly or indirectly through insulin, carbohydrates encourage the storage rather than burning of fat and lead to the organization of fat into the cholesterol-containing particles that have been associated with cardiovascular disease. At the same time, the NEJM paper also confirms the evolving picture of fat as playing a passive role and emphasizes that what was once thought to be an intuitive benefit for lowering fat has consistently not panned out. The new article is a key block in a scientific structure that has been put together by many previous investigators. If the NEJM paper finally catalyzes some recognition of the scientific principles of carbohydrate restriction it will be a very important contribution."
"For years, carbohydrate restriction and the low-carb folks, those of us who really spent our lives telling patients they could regain metabolic control and kind of being ostracized for it, we’re finally validated."
DR. JEFF VOLEK
"The findings from the recent NEJM study that showed a diet lower in carbohydrate outperformed a low fat diet confirms our previous work and that of many others. It is unique in that the intervention was 2 years and yet there was a very low subject attrition rate over such a long period of time. The low carbohydrate diet was only moderately restricted in carbohydrates (about 40% of calories). Based on our research, had the level of carbohydrate restriction been in the 10-15% range, the results would have been even more impressive. The results add to a growing body of work supporting the value of restricting carbohydrate as opposed to fat for superior weight management and metabolic health."
"These latest trials just happen to be the best data we have on the long-term effects of saturated fat in the diet, and the best data we have says that more saturated fat is better than less. It may be true that if we lowered saturated fat further — say to 7 % of all calories as the American Heart Association is now recommending — or total fat down to 10 percent, as Dean Ornish argues, or raised saturated fat to 20 percent of calories, as Keys did, that we’d see a different result, but that’s just another hypothesis. The trials haven’t been done to test it. It’s also hard to imagine why a small decrease in saturated fat would be deleterious, but a larger decrease would be beneficial.
It’s also true that I don’t think that LDL is a particularly meaningful predictor of heart disease risk, and I think total cholesterol is meaningless (based on the evidence that I recount in the book). But the point is that the AHA and the National Cholesterol Education Program and the authorities at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute do think LDL is meaningful, and that’s the basis by which they have always recommended low-saturated-fat diets. They also think that total cholesterol/HDL is the single best predictor of heart disease risk, so by their assessment, more saturated fat is better than less. I think the best predictors of risk regarding cholesterol profiles are HDL and the size and density of the LDL particles themselves, and maybe measurements of a protein known as ApoB (the protein component of the LDL particle itself) — and the existing diet trials in those cases also suggest that saturated fats are at worst harmless and perhaps even beneficial.
Last point, the funding. It’s true that the study was financed by the Atkins Foundation, but to assume that the researchers went out and falsified their findings or twisted their observations to satisfy the source of funding is naive. Regrettably, the only institutions that will finance clinical trials, for the most part, are those that stand to gain from the results. That’s why the pharmaceutical industry finances drug trials. It would be nice if the government financed all these trials, but they don’t. So it’s up to the Atkins Foundation and any other organizations that might hold similar beliefs. In this case, the Atkins-funded diet trial observed the exact same results as similar NIH-funded diet trials."
Incidentally, Taubes says the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has spent $5 million for a large (300+ subjects, two-year-long) Atkins vs. AHA low-fat diet trial--the REAL THING! This is a larger and longer version of a pilot trial that observed results similar to the Israeli trial. This is the largest diet/weight loss trial the NIH has ever funded. The principal investigator is Gary Foster of Temple University, currently the president of the Obesity Society. In February 2007, Dr. Foster told Taubes the researchers had "completed the final 2 year assessments on most but not all" of their subjects. Currently the paper is "in the peer review process" and that's all we know at this point. Cross your fingers that this is the great elusive study that actually looks at low-carb vs. low-fat once and for all.
Coming as a shock to nobody, the AHA weighed in on this study expressing their concerns over the long-term weight and health impact of low-carb diets and saturated fat consumption and the lack of application to women since the majority of the study participants were men. Yadda yadda yadda...what do you expect from a group pushing two cartoon characters known as "The Bad Fat Brothers" named "Sat" and "Trans?" These people lost all dignity a long time ago.
I have long held the position that if low-carb is at least as effective as low-fat for weight loss and health, then both should be recommended alongside one another as healthy options for people to choose from. The American Diabetes Association recognized low-carb diets to diabetics for the first time beginning in January 2008 and the AHA, AMA, and other health groups should follow suit. The evidence is there if you'll simply open your eyes to it. We don't need another study, flawed or otherwise, to tell us that one way of eating that is working for so many people is livin' la vida low-carb. GIVE PEOPLE THE TRUTH and then let them choose. It's that easy.
Although I'm not particularly overjoyed by this latest study out of Israel, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the way it helped carry on the conversation about low-carb living across mainstream America. My stepdad Frank, who only recently started on the Atkins diet to lose about 50 pounds along with my mother, was all excited when he saw the television news coverage about this study a couple of weeks back. If this excites people and gets them interested in learning more about the healthy low-carb lifestyle, then that's awesome! I can't wait to see that new NIH study Taubes was talking about, though. That one looks like the REAL DEAL.
You can e-mail Dr. Iris Shai about this study at irish@bgu.ac.il.
Charles Washington makes a compelling argument for zero carbs
Oftentimes people who are unfamiliar with livin' la vida low-carb mistakenly describe it as a "zero-carb diet." Anyone who has ever read Protein Power, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, or any of the other respectable books about low-carb dieting knows that NONE of them advocate NO carbs. Not a single one. It just doesn't exist despite that pervading stereotypical view of what this way of eating is all about. But today's guest not only eating zero carbs, but he is also an active athlete running in half marathons.
In Episode 162 of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore," we hear from Charles Washington, one of my moderators at the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Discussion" forum, and he's proudly zero-carbing and loving it. After following the low-fat diet dutifully and losing a good amount of weight on it, Charles gained it all back when he started lifting weights. That's what drove him to learn more about low-carb nutrition, led him to my blog, and put him on a learning path that has him doing what he is doing today.
Click on the "LISTEN NOW" link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 162:
"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 162 [31:10m]: LISTEN NOW | Download
There's one thing about Charles Washington that you cannot deny--he backs up everything he says with the facts from researchers, authors, and people who survived and thrived on basically a zero-carb diet. For someone who has not been trained in medicine or nutrition, he articulates his point of view clearly and logically. That can be difficult to pull off when you are suggesting something like eating only meat for your diet, but Charles does it.
He's been sharing his views on the zero-carb path at my forum with quite a response--it's the #1 most-read thread at "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Discussion!" Today's podcast is the first time many people will hear Charles talking about eating this way, why he chose zero-carb over low-carb, how Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories changed his life, what he does to prepare for a half-marathon eating no carbs, his response to Dr. Mike Eades' recent blog post stating that calories count on a low-carb diet, and so much more! I've been dying to share this interview with you and now it's here.
Hear all kinds of perspectives on low-carb living anytime by:
What's your impression of Charles Washington and his zero-carb diet? Were you persuaded that perhaps eating no carbohydrates is possibly a healthy way not just to live, but also a preferred method for runners and athletes looking for maximum performance? Tell us about what you think in the show notes section of Episode 162. Read more from Charles Washington by visiting LivinLowCarbDiscussion.com.
Coming up on Thursday's podcast--another one of my moderators at my forum named Christin Sherburne. This former cover girl in Woman's World magazine last year is one of the central characters in the continuing Kimkins diet scam saga and she wanted to provide an update about what is happening with the continuing lawsuit against Kimkins founder Heidi Diaz. You'll enjoy hearing from Christin pouring out her heart and soul about how this entire experience has changed her life.
Atkins Nutritionals Wants YOUR Atkins Low-Carb Success Story
Atkins Nutritionals looking for low-carb testimonials
The Atkins Nutritionals web site is in the process of being updated right now and they are looking to add some Atkins weight loss success stories and testimonials to the new and improved site. If you've experienced weight loss, successful weight maintenance or improved health and energy from following the Atkins Nutritional Approach, then they'd love to hear from you. And there's a payoff for those of you who do--you'll win a special Atkins prize if your story is chosen.
What they are looking for is first-person stories about how the Atkins Nutritional Approach, Atkins products and the Atkins community have changed your life. Here are a few questions to consider as you write your story:
- When did you start following the Atkins approach, and over what period of time? - What inspired you to try the Atkins Diet™? - Are you still following the Atkins principles? Which phases, principles and aspects of the Atkins Nutritional Approach have proved to be the most practical, helpful and easiest to follow? - What Atkins products have helped you with your weight loss goals? We want to know if you used Atkins products, which ones you used, and your opinions about our products. - Did you succeed? What were your keys to success? Did you modify the Atkins plan to suit your own lifestyle and preferences? - What has changed in your life–for example, if you lost weight, have you maintained your weight loss and how have you benefited from following Atkins? - What obstacles did you have to deal with while following the Atkins Nutritional Approach, and how do you overcome them?
If you send pictures, these should also depict your personal experience–from before you started on the Atkins Nutritional Approach to your "after" picture, showing where you are now or when you finished your last Atkins phase.
You can e-mail your first-person success story to testimonials@atkins.com. Be sure to include your name, address, and the best way to contact you (phone and e-mail address). If you have an Atkins weight loss success story, then send clear digital .jpg before and after photos (be sure the pictures do not include other people). When you send in your story, keep in mind you will be contacted by Atkins Nutritionals if they are interested. It may take some time for them to go through the submissions, so be patient.
If your story is chosen, then they will send you a release form to sign. They will not use your story unless you send the signed release form back to them. They will not use anything you send them without your explicit permission and they will not use anything without a signed release form from you.
GOOD LUCK to everyone who shares their Atkins success story! :)
Is your low-carb diet relying too much on Ketostix?
One of the most interesting tools we have at our disposal when we start livin' la vida low-carb to let us know whether we are doing it right or not is a testing strip that measures ketone levels called Ketostix (there are other brand names for ketone sticks, but this one from Bayer is the most common). Basically, here's how it works: you can check your urine on this testing strip to see how many ketone bodies you are excreting out of your body. Ketones are present when you are in ketosis which is instigated when you keep your carbohydrates at a ketogenic level (usually under 50g carbs daily).
I recently asked a group of low-carb experts the following question--"Is Ketosis Necessary On A Low-Carb Diet?" That seems to be a "well duh" kind of question which is why we use things like Ketostix to see whether we are in ketosis or not. But where people seem to get most confused is with the color of the testing strip. If it's light pink, then I must be doing something wrong. My Ketostix need to be dark purple if I am experiencing "deep" ketosis, right? I get these kind of questions every single week and they miss the point of the testing strips.
In Episode 47 of "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb On YouTube," Christine and I seek to better explain the purpose of Ketostix by telling you what they are for, what the various colors actually mean, why showing no ketones on these strips may not be a bad thing, and how you can virtually guarantee your body is in ketosis. I'm astonished by how many people are still so concerned about the results of their Ketostix, but hopefully this video will clear up some of the miscommunication.
Find out all you need to know about Ketostix in today's video:
Noted biochemistry professor Dr. Richard Feinman from SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, New York provided a very succinct explanation for how these Ketostix are supposed to work:
"There is a continuum of ketosis. In fact, one of the features of ketone bodies is that, unlike other fuels, glucose and fatty acids, they can be present in plasma over a wide range of concentrations. What is true is that Ketostix measure ketonuria (ketones in the urine) which may or may not give you an accurate view of plasma ketone bodies. If ketone bodies are used as fast as they are made, you may never see ketosis."
This should give those people who see pink or even beige on the ketone testing strips hope that they are indeed in ketosis even if the tests say otherwise. The bottom line you should remember is that Ketostix are merely a low-carb guide to provide proof that you are livin' la vida low-carb in a ketogenic state, but they're really not that necessary if you are keeping your carbohydrates significantly reduced below 50g daily. When you are doing that, then you WILL be in ketosis. Hopefully this clears up some of the confusion about why some people seek purple and others see pink or beige.
"The Biggest Loser" 4 contestant Isabeau Miller
Also in today's video, Christine and I share about our upcoming trip to Nashville, Tennessee to attend "Biggest Loser" 4 contestant Isabeau Miller's FitCamp. Since landing in the final four last Fall on the hit NBC-TV weight loss reality series, Isabeau Miller has taken her passion for her own personal weight loss journey and is now helping others who struggle with obesity like she once did before Jillian Michaels got a hold of her tail and whipped it into shape. Today she is a personal trainer and is giving me and several of my readers a chance to experience what it was like to be on "The Biggest Loser" over a special two-week period.
The first session of FitCamp in July just concluded and our session in August will commence on August 17th. We will be doing a daily video log of this experience and sharing it on YouTube as part of a FitCamp series of videos. Isabeau said she will not be allowed to be videotaped because of contractual obligations from her stint on "The Biggest Loser." But I'm gonna ask permission from the other people who will be there going through this experience with me to talk about how FitCamp is helping them. I am super-excited about this, especially in light of my recent 30-pound weight gain I've experienced. Perhaps this will get me back to where I need to be. I sure hope so. :)
We LOVE making videos for you and doing them on topics that YOU care about. Tell us your show ideas for future videos by e-mailing them to livinlowcarbman@charter.net. Check through all of our previous YouTube videos to make sure we haven't already tackled your favorite subject! While we were away last week, there was a sudden surge of people decided to subscribe to our YouTube videos and now we have well over 600 subscribers! WOW! Join in on the low-carb fun on YouTube and help us spread the positive message of livin' la vida low-carb to the masses!
One of the most fascinating things I have noticed since I began blogging about the healthy low-carb lifestyle back in 2005 is how amazingly diversified the low-carb community is about the "proper" way a low-carb diet should be done. The definition of "healthy low-carb living" varies depending on who you talk to. In fact, if we had a room full of 100 low-carbers I would bet you'd have at least 50 or more different versions of livin' la vida low-carb. And that's okay because individualization of the diet is what makes it work in the long-term.
Some people believe you should only eat whole foods all the time. And for the most part, that's a good philosophy to live by. In fact, if you look at my low-carb menus then you will see that's precisely what I eat the vast majority of the time. Of course, I also like to add in some chocolate and other treats from time to time to enhance my low-carb lifestyle. It's what helped me lose 180 pounds in 2004 and I've been doing it ever since.
However, with my recent 30-pound weight gain in 2008 that has pretty much sustained for the past six months, I've been looking at ways to bring that weight back down. I now know that I'm dealing with an erratic blood sugar issue that is tied to an unusual insulin response even after a low-carb meal. Frustrating doesn't even begin to explain this process, but I'm certainly not giving up.
After interviewing Dr. Keith Berkowitz in June (and I'll be having a follow-up interview with him coming the first week of August) about his "reactive hypoglycemia" theory, I decided to implement a strategy of eating more often with lots of small "meals" throughout the day and I saw some success. But then the weight started going up again and I cut back on my protein intake to slow down gluconeogenesis. Again, good progress, but then the weight came back up yet again. I even cut out all of my favorite low-carb products a couple of months back for two weeks--DIDN'T LOSE A SINGLE POUND! UGH!
So, imagine my discouragement to see the following recommendations for getting my weight to reduce from my low-carb doctor this week:
1--no low-carb "treats" or substitutes for otherwise high-carb food (although sugar-free Jello and other desserts such as we allow our patients would be okay in limited amounts) 2--foods should be chosen from those listed on the "No Sugar, No Starch" guide we give patients 3--adequate protein (as determined from lean body mass) should be consumed, but care should be taken not to exceed protein requirements 4--portion-control and calorie-restriction should be implemented, as determined by BMR
No "treats" at all are allowed right now for me, including my chocolate bar, low-carb wraps, bars, or anything. NONE! I'll skip the Jello thank you very much, but I'll make some cheesecake out of cream cheese, heavy cream, and other REAL foods. I'm well aware of what's good to eat that is non-sugary, non-starchy, so that won't be a problem. Getting that "adequate protein" is the tricky part for me right now, although I've done well with it as of late. Controlling portions and calories goes against everything I've ever done with livin' la vida low-carb, so that's gonna be hard.
But I'm game for it and starting today I'm doing all of this. I'm gonna go low-carb product-free as an experiment and see if it makes a difference in my weight. I feel fantastic right now health-wise, but the sustained weight hovering around 260 is getting old quick. Even my stepmom Faye said to me during my visit to Tennessee earlier this week, "Oh no, Jimmy, you're not gaining back all that weight again are you?" What a slap in the face when I'm busting my butt trying to figure out what's going on. I'll be blogging more about this soon.
In the meantime, you can track my progress on this new diet experiment to see what if any impact cutting out the low-carb products will have. Based on my previous experience, it's not gonna do anything to help with this issue I have now. I've eaten these things throughout my 180-pound weight loss and ever since, so why would it suddenly be impacting me now? I don't understand that logic at all.
Here we are, though. I'm doing it and you can see what I'm eating at my low-carb menus blog. I'll share how my weight is doing each day along with the meals I am eating. I'm not convinced this is the answer, but nothing else has worked yet--WHAT THE HECK! :)
If you or someone you know has no clue what they are doing in the kitchen, then listen up. Do you burn water when you try to boil it? Is your idea of cooking slapping together a cold cut sandwich? Then you could appear in a brand new show coming to The Food Network for a "culinary competition" with other similar contestants from across the United States.
The more incompetent the cook, the better. And they truly want "the most disastrous cooks in the country" to step forward and claim their title of worst cooks in America. Your reward for outing yourself as a bad cook is to have the chance to work with some of the finest professional chefs in the country as they teach you the secrets to being a great cook. Of course, you'll need to be an interesting, outgoing person with a personality that will capture the attention of the television viewers at home.
If you genuinely can't cook but wish you knew how and want to be considered for this new show on The Food Network, then nominate yourself or someone you know to be on this show. Are you the kind of person that is asked to bring the napkins and plates rather than food? Or do you have someone in mind who fits this mold? That's who The Food Network is looking for, so don't be shy. ENTER TODAY!
Keep in mind if you nominate someone, then you will need to attend the interview with your friend or loved one as well. How often do you get a chance to be on television because you are BAD at something (okay, American Idol is the ONE exception!).
It's super-easy to apply--just send an e-mail to hopelesshomecook@optomenusa.com with an explanation about why you or the person you are nominating is dubbed in your mind as "the most disastrous cook in the country." Don't forget to include your name, age, hometown, occupation, contact phone number, and a recent photo of the hopeless, helpless, hapless cook. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE and here's hoping your "bad" cooking turns into a chance to be on TV learning how to cook well.
By the way, remember when I told you about a new show coming to The Food Network in August called "Ask Aida" and I submitted a couple of videos to be considered for that show? My first video was about how to brown mashed cauliflower and my other video featured how to make eggs more interesting. Well, they chose one of my videos to be featured on the show and I now have a date when it will air.
On Saturday, August 23, 2008 at 12:30pm EST, Aida Mollenkamp will do an entire show on the subject of eggs. My video will be played and then Aida will share some wonderful recipes that feature eggs. She's already posted two recipes featuring eggs here and here (I LOVED this one!) and I can't wait to see what she shares on the show. WOO HOO! I'm gonna be on The Food Network for about 45 seconds. :D
Getting to know about chiropractic neurologist Dr. Peter Jo
If anyone can relate to the intense amount of negative feedback that people who support livin' la vida low-carb receive, then it has to be chiropractors. These outstanding professionals working in the field of alternative medicine have been mocked, ridiculed, and scorned by the traditional medical establishment. And yet anyone who has ever gone to see a chiropractor like I have been off and on ever since I was in a car accident in the 1990s will testify how AMAZING you feel after seeing one. Today I have a special two-part interview with a nutritionist and chiropractor from Bellevue, Washington.
Click on the "LISTEN NOW" link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 160:
"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 160 [21:50m]: LISTEN NOW | Download
I had only planned to go a total of 20 minutes with the interview, but Dr. Jo was so enthralling I kept him on for 45 minutes! You can access Part 2 of this interview with Dr. Peter Jo in Episode 161 of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" by clicking on the links below. :)
Click on the "LISTEN NOW" link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 161:
"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 161 [25:33m]: LISTEN NOW | Download
Dr. Peter Jo is so well-versed in low-carb nutrition that I'm surprised I had never heard of him before now. I have no doubt there are more physicians out there just like him who espouse these same views--they just need to be given a platform like my podcast to be heard. One thing Dr. Jo brought up in the podcast was the relationship between the hormone insulin as well as the less-talked-about stress hormone cortisol on weight and health. I'd never quite heard anyone pinpoint BOTH of these before, so it was good to hear Dr. Jo talk about this. He provided some amazing and unique nutritional tips for controlling insulin and regulating cortisol, too. DON'T MISS THIS PODCAST!!!
Discover low-carb experts like Dr. Peter Jo anytime by:
What are your reactions to Dr. Peter Jo? Does what he said about healthy living make sense? I was thoroughly impressed by everything he had to say and I invite you to discuss your thoughts in the show notes section of Episode 160 for Part 1 and Episode 161 for Part 2. Visit Dr. Jo's web site at BellevueChiroNeuro.com and send him your appreciation for the positions he holds on healthy nutrition through his contact page. This was an extraordinary interview and I'm so glad to have been able to share it with you.
Don't miss next week's podcast shows because I'll be sharing interviews with two of the moderators at my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Discussion" forum--Charles Washington is up first on Monday to discuss what it's like to eat a zero carb diet while running marathons (his Zero Carb thread is the most popular one at my forum!) followed on Thursday with Christin Sherburne who was the Kimkins diet cover girl in Woman's World magazine last June updating us on all the latest information regarding the class action lawsuit and actions being taken against Internet diet scam artist Heidi Diaz. Tune in! :)
God Watching: Seeing Kevin, Visiting Dad, And Driving 1300 Miles In A Busted Car
Christine's picture shows God was watching over us
Oh, it just feels so good to be home! This past week has been filled with all sorts of emotional ups and downs, but I am glad I was able to be away to be with my family. Thanks for indulging me in my longest absence from the blog since I started it. As you know, we drove 450 miles down to Pensacola, Florida to see my brother Kevin and most of the family I grew up with last Tuesday.
Our original plan was to stay until Tuesday this week, but a telephone call from my stepmother Faye last Thursday changed our plans. That day we learned my father was going to be going in for quintuple heart bypass surgery this week. So we took a detour on Sunday north to Bolivar, Tennessee before coming back home to Spartanburg, South Carolina on Tuesday night. It was quite a memorable week of events.
We had an awesome time seeing my brother Kevin who has been told he only has a few more months to live. In 1999, he suffered a series of heart attacks that basically killed 85% of his heart function. The doctors cut out the majority of his "dead" heart a few years back and he only has one artery functioning now. That artery is 95% blocked and stents don't do any good anymore. He's too high-risk for any surgery and he's pretty much given up on changing his diet at this point.
The thing that struck me about seeing Kevin was how "normal" he looks right now. Yes, he's a very large man weighing about 350 pounds. But he's out and about doing the things he loves the most--playing Texas Hold 'Em, bingo, flirting with the ladies, and singing at the local karaoke bar. We did a little bit of all of that together last week (sans the flirting for me since I already have my woman!). And yet he's on morphine and oxygen for comfort because he's easily out of breath and starts sweating profusely even in a well air-conditioned room. This is Kevin's life right now.
Despite my little "accident" earlier this year on the cruise to Mexico singing karaoke, I ventured back on the stage again to sing "You Are So Beautiful" and Roy Orbison's "You Got It" to my lovely bride Christine while Kevin sang some country music songs that I'd never heard of. It was a lot of fun, although not something I'm accustomed to doing around midnight on a Friday night. :) But I wanted to be there with and for Kevin. We made some great memories together.
We stayed with my beautiful sister Beverly for the week who was a very gracious host making us homemade meals, driving us around everywhere we wanted to go, and just being a good little sister. In fact, Kevin came and stayed with Beverly too during the week. Since we all grew up together as kids, it was pretty neat all being under the same roof again as family. That has been a rarity since we all became adults.
When we went over to mom's house for dinner to watch some Jeff Dunham DVDs together (HILARIOUS if you have never seen this funny ventriloquist--he's the "on a stick" comedian with Walter, Peanut, etc.--Kevin was laughing so hard I was worried about him, but it was great seeing him enjoying himself so much), I took a photo of a picture when all of us kids were young. Beverly was about 3, I was 5, and Kevin was 9 or so in this photo. Don't you just love looking at how dorky you are when you were a kid (no Christine, I don't STILL look dorky today!).
My mom and stepdad Frank surprised me while I was there--they said they started livin' la vida low-carb to lose about 50 pounds each. As you know from my podcast interview with my mom last Fall, mom has struggled keeping her weight off despite having gastric bypass surgery in December 2003. I was so tickled to hear how enthusiastic Frank was about the low-carb lifestyle and his eagerness to be doing it for his weight and health (he cited that study that came out last week because he saw it on the news touting low-carb over low-fat--ummm, I haven't heard of it! LOL!). And they've even got Beverly to join them on this. I suppose this situation with Kevin has caused them to get serious this time around. Here's hoping.
It was hard to say goodbye to my family in Florida on Sunday, but I had to be there for my dad and his surgery on Tuesday. We hit the road early that day to be in Bolivar, Tennessee before dark and met up with my half-brother Nathan, his wife Stephanie, and their new son Hunter. As you know, Nathan (or Nat as we called him growing up) was one of my inspirations for starting low-carb since he was so successful on it. Interestingly, he's not doing it now, but he knows it works for him when he does it. It was awesome seeing their new baby. I WANT ONE! :)
We also had a delightful visit with my Aunt Mary Jane while we were there. She told me about how much she enjoys reading my blog (HEY MARY JANE!) and feels like she's been talking with her nephew when she reads it. In fact, my computer illiterate dad finds out more about me through Aunt Mary Jane from the stuff she reads here at my blog and tells him about. That freaks out my old man out when she tells him some of the things I'm up to. He is so 19th Century!
Of course, the reason we went there was to see my dad in support of his heart surgery early on Tuesday morning. We had hoped to spend most of the day Monday with him, but my dear old dad had other plans to "tie up loose ends" and working all day. He has the kind of job where he is a Jack-of-all-trades (or a J.D.-of-all-trades as I call him--J.D. is his name!). And he was up bright and early at 6:00am Monday morning and worked until nearly 9:00pm the day before having his open heart surgery. That's my dad for ya.
We were up obscenely early on Tuesday morning--like 3:00am to get packed up, hit the road up to Jackson, Tennessee, and be there with dad before his surgery. On the way to the hospital, my check engine light started going crazy on me. I noticed when I pressed the gas the engine would struggle. Uh-oh, not NOW! More about that in a moment! Needless to say, we prayed without ceasing for that little Escort to keep going.
Imagine my surprise when less than an hour before he was going in to have his chest cut open here comes about 20 people to be there with my dad to pray and support him during the surgery. In addition to me, Christine, Nathan, and Faye, there was dad's older sister Mary Jane, dad's brother Paul, dad's younger sister Gaylon, and I do believe the entire Sunday School class from dad's church in Middleton, Tennessee as well as the pastor. What a blessing it must have been for dad to see all these people fawning over and sacrificing their time early in the morning just for him. He's not used to this kind of attention. But I know he appreciated it more than he'd ever admit.
That sunset from my dad's front porch is all he is gonna be working on for the next few months as he recovers and heals from the surgery. I had no idea they actually had to break his chest bone to get inside his heart. OUCH! That's gonna be the hardest part whenever dad will want to cough or sneeze (which he is prone to do with his allergies). Don't you know he'll be squeezing a pillow with him a lot? The really GREAT NEWS is he got through the surgery and is now up and alert with no complications. Praise God! THANK YOU so much for your prayers and happy thoughts.
Now, about our car. Our beat-up and nearly broken down 1998 white Ford Escort was literally on its last leg although we didn't know how close it was to dying on us as we traveled through the mountains of Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee on Tuesday--but we kept praying for God to just get us home. After driving 1300 miles in the span of a week to be with family in their time of need, we NEEDED that miracle to happen for us...and it did. The car ran perfectly until I went to the post office on Wednesday morning and that was all she wrote.
When the car started shaking violently and making a loud rickity-rackity noise, I knew it wasn't good. Turns out my timing belt broke and the valves were all shot to you know where. The expense to repair would have been about as much for another vehicle, so we decided to get a new car for us. That car in the picture above is our new 2002 Buick LeSabre with less than 50,000 miles on it--and it cost us less than $10,000. WOO HOO! I couldn't have been happier with that deal. We'll be making payments on it, but at least it's a car we can rely on as we travel around to various places with our business.
I am beyond tired right now and need to get some rest. But I will be back to full-time blogging again starting on Thursday and for the next few weeks until my trip to Nashville, Tennessee in mid-August for former "Biggest Loser" contestant Isabeau Miller's FitCamp where I'll be joining other "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog readers and people wanting to get into shape on a two-week journey to whip themselves into shape. I can't wait to provide daily video updates of this experience for you.
Plus, while we're in Nashville, I'd like to have a get-together meetup with the low-carbers in that area, so let me know if you're interested in coming. I don't have a specific date or time yet, but we're staying in the Franklin, Tennessee area on Murfreesboro Road. Drop me an e-mail if you think you can possibly come in late August at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. Let me again say THANK YOU to everyone who has prayed and thought about us this past week and a half. It really means the world to me that so many people care and love us like family. I gotta tell you I've missed blogging, though, so I'll be back at it hot and heavy in very short order. SEE YA!
In Episode 159 of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore," we get to hear from an extremely fired up, low-carb lovin', hunka-hunka burnin' beefy bodybuilder named Eric Morrison. He has been reading my blog for a while now and wanted to share about what he is using with clients to help them transform their bodies by reducing body fat, total weight, and getting muscular. After reading Dr. Jonny Bowden's Living The Low-Carb Life, the low-carb lifestyle made more sense than ever and put Eric on the life path he is now on.
Click on the "LISTEN NOW" link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 159:
"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 159 [34:28m]: LISTEN NOW | Download
Eric Morrison, aka "The Body Transformer," started bodybuilding early in his life after being tired of his scrawny little body. He just read everything he could about doing it and then DID IT! The results have been phenomenal for him and it drove Eric to continue the education process. And about 10 years ago he came across all the compelling evidence for livin' la vida low-carb which went against everything he'd ever known about healthy weight loss and fitness. But what he read made sense and today he is professing the positive health benefits of this way of eating to everyone who'll listen.
Get tips and inspiration for your low-carb life anytime by:
How about that Eric Morrison? What did you think about what he had to say regarding weight loss and health? And how about his idea of a weekly "refeed" day, does that make any logical sense to anyone (I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one)? Talk about it in the show notes section of Episode 159. Visit his web site at IconsFitness.com.
Come back next week for a two-part interview with a low-carb chiropractor from Bellevue, Washington named Dr. Peter Jo who is one of the most refreshing new voices in the low-carb community to come along in a long time. I can't wait for you to hear from him. SEE YA!
