Rampant Abuse Of ALLI Weight Loss Drug Reported

Nicki Anderson exposes a dirty truth about a risky new weight loss drug

My friend and fellow fitness lover Nicki Anderson who owns and operates the Naperville, IL-based Reality Fitness health center wrote an incredible article in her weekly "Happy Monday" newsletter this week about how the allure of "quick weight loss" can oftentimes deter you from the more important job of retaining your health.

Ever since I first blogged about Nicki early last year, I have grown to love and appreciate her perspective as a weight loss and health counselor for those who desire to get fit. She is arguably one of the most enthusiastic people in the health world you will ever meet and I count it a privilege to know her.

Get a taste of Nicki by reading what she thinks about the low-fat diet as well as some comments she made in a newspaper story on low-carb. She's definitely someone who deserves to be listened to when she speaks about diet, health, and nutrition and today's subject matter is no exception.

You'll recall I've come down pretty hard against the new over-the-counter weight loss drug called ALLI. In fact, I dedicated an entire podcast show (which became an instant classic and one of the favorites among my listeners!) to it which precipitated quite a response from both pro and con from those who had an opinion about taking it.

Well, Nicki shared what some of her own clients are saying about the use--or should I say ABUSE--of ALLI as part of the weight loss regimen of those they know. Keep in mind this ALLI drug is available EVERYWHERE now, including Wal-mart, drugstores, and anywhere there is a pharmacy. It ain't cheap, but price is no option for many when they just wanna lose weight ANY way they can.

Click here to read the shocking details of what Nicki's client told her about how some people are using ALLI in their desperate attempts to lose weight and to learn why eating healthy should ALWAYS take precedence over being skinny.

Obesity Virus Talk Makes Treating The Problem That Much More Difficult

Dr. Magdalena Pasarica has found a new "fattening" virus

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 400 million people worldwide are currently overweight or obese. Included in that number is an astonishing 20 million children under the age of five who are getting fatter faster than any other generation before it.

But could there be more to this prescient issue than overeating?

That's something researchers are examining behind-the-scenes right now and they think a common virus found in humans is the culprit in nearly one-third of the obese, according to about the findings presented at the 234th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society on Monday in Boston, Massachusetts.

Lead researcher Dr. Magdalena Pasarica, Postdoctoral Researcher in the Endocrinology Lab at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and her fellow researchers were observing lab tests from adult male and female liposuction patients many of which had a common respiratory and eye infection-causing virus called adenovirus-36, aka Ad-36 as well as E4Orfl.

But they noticed something odd about this Ad-36 virus.

When they pulled the adult stem cells from the tissue samples and infected them with Ad-36, after one week those cells had become "fat" cells while the uninfected ones had not. In fact, when the researchers put more of the Ad-36 virus in the cells, there was an even higher amount of fat developed. The same cause and effect happened regardless of sex.

Even worse, those "fat" cells actually began collecting fat more rapidly than normal which leads to an even greater growth--of the fat cells and then of stored fat on the body. It all leads back to Ad-36 as the culprit in this fat development in the body.

The very likelihood that the Ad-36 virus could be the source of over 100 million cases of obesity is why the researchers will undoubtedly be pushing for that anti-obesity vaccine to specifically treat this viral infection. Oh boy, here we go again!

Where does it end? Sure, I will admit that there is a real possibility that some people are fat because of something other than their diet and physical activity. But don't we all agree that the overwhelming majority of overweight and obese people have gotten that way from making poor dietary choices?

Putting the onus on an obscure virus that may or may not be the cause and making that the presumed reason for obesity grants the overweight and obese permission to do nothing pro-active about their weight and health. Instead, they'll plop down hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars to get these various "miracle" vaccines with a myriad of possible side effects. What's the point?

Click here to read more about this new research on a viral cause of obesity and why I believe studies like this make it more difficult to bring this growing epidemic under control.

Your Diet's Success Or Failure Is All About Attitude

I received an amazing e-mail a few days ago which is making the rounds entitled "All About Attitude" that was extremely powerful as it relates to our perspective while losing weight. I don't usually publish such forwarded messages from my e-mail box, but this one was just too good not to.

Even if you have read this one before, I think you'll agree it is something all of us who are livin' la vida low-carb need to be reminded of from time to time because it's easy to lose your focus. What this will teach anyone is that ultimately YOU decide whether to stay positive or go negative in your reaction to your weight loss progress.

This one's a classic, so I encourage you to print it out as a reminder. Here's a brief excerpt from that story which will inspire you anew about living life:

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it!

You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood."

Each time some thing bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.

Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood."

You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life.

I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

Click here to see what happened to John after his accident and to discover 40 ways to reduce stress in your life and diet through simple yet effective changes.

Study: McDonald's Branding Has Strong Power Over Young Minds

Dr. Thomas Robinson says the cultural influence of McDonald's unmatched

If anyone ever doubted the enormous impact of the marketing blitz undertaken by the world's most famous fast food restaurant on the most vulnerable members of our society--CHILDREN--then I would simply refer you to a brand new study that should scare the living daylights out of anyone who cares about the subject of health. This is just plain frightening if you ask me.

Lead researcher Dr. Thomas N. Robinson, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and his fellow researchers wanted to examine the "effects of cumulative, real-world marketing and brand exposures" on toddlers to see what effect, if any, consumer branding would have on their food preferences.

A total of 63 children between the ages of 3 and 5 from low-income families from the from government assistance Head Start program in San Mateo County, CA were give five pairs of identical foods and beverages--hamburgers, chicken nuggets, French fries, milk or juice, and carrots--that were packaged in wrappers stating they were from McDonald's and another in plain packaging. Each of the study participants were asked to tell the researchers if the foods tasted the same or if they had a preference for one over the other.

The stunning results? The children almost universally preferred the food and said it tasted better when it was wrapped in McDonald's packaging than the plain packaging. Remember, IT WAS EXACTLY THE SAME FOOD!

We've seen what they think is "healthy" in recent marketing efforts and it's a far cry from what it could be. While the new R Gym concept at McDonald's to encourage exercise is a pretty good start, there seriously needs to be a better effort on their part to get the menu choices even healthier for those precious little ones who are the future.

It's amazing how you just call something McBLANK and the kids go hog wild for it like it's the best thing they've ever tasted. That's powerful and absolutely blows my mind. Years upon years of indoctrination through unrelenting marketing by McDonald's has given them such a branding foothold on the competition. Nobody else in the restaurant industry even comes close.

Find out more about the results of this fascinating study and what it means to those of us who are advocates for healthy living by clicking here.

I Say Put That Stupid Scale Away Today To Keep Discouraging Thoughts At Bay

When it comes to making the decision to start eating right and living healthy, it is a huge leap of faith that takes a great deal of courage and tenacity to go into unchartered territory. Especially those of us who have tried diet and after in the past with merely nominal or no success, this is a shaky proposition even for the most optimistic of people. I admire anyone who makes an effort at it because I've been there!

But we are our own worst enemy sometimes, aren't we?

If we as individuals think our diet is boring or too methodical, then those are merely excuses we use to rationalize getting out of our responsibility to do something about our weight and health problem before it is too late. How many of us have been guilty of doing that? I sure have...in the past.

Low-carb living has never been about being the "perfect diet" (although it's pretty darn close!). Instead, what I've learned is that this way of eating is always a work in progress that you will do for the rest of your long and healthy life. It's been nearly four years and counting for me and I expect it to continue for 10, 25, even 50+ more years that the good Lord keeps me here on Earth.

Despite this undisputed fact, some dieters just can't help trying to sabotage their own efforts (whether knowingly or otherwise) to shed the pounds as evidenced by the following e-mail I received from a reader this week who is new to low-carb and has allowed a silly little electronic device to beat her down and spit her out like some worthless piece of trash. How sad!

Here's what she wrote to me in that e-mail:

My husband and I have been on the low-carb diet for about two months now. He has lost 18 pounds so far and I have only lost 5 pounds.

I have to admit that about every five days or so I eat something that is not low-carb and I know that's silly because I'm only hurting my weight loss efforts.

It has been two weeks now and I have not cheated one time and yet I have only lost one little pound! I'm so very frustrated because I am committed to losing weight now. But it just seems like it won't come off.

I have even started going to the gym and doing cardio workouts to see if that would help me any. I was wondering since you had so much success with low-carb if you would have any suggestions for me.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my e-mail.

Oh, if I had a dollar for every e-mail I received like this one, then I could afford to have that tummy tuck I need already! Find out what I think this person and anyone who feels the same way about their low-carb plan should do to get back on track again by clicking here.

UK Health Agency Uncovers Startling Dietary Truth

I came across a brand new study this week from the preeminent UK government health authority that concluded something I really never thought much about: whether it's a healthy or an unhealthy lifestyle change--it's YOUR choice.

Hmm...

Looking at this idea of a weight and wealth connection from an objective position is the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Great Britain--the British equivalent of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States.

The FSA researchers have been closely observing the specific foods consumed by the members of the lowest 15 percent income bracket since early 2006 to determine what if any differences there are between this group and their wealthier counterparts.

When all was said and done, the FSA noticed that the wealthy and the unwealthy all consumed an excessive amount of sugary sodas, fat, and sugar.

Their conclusion: People are making the conscious CHOICE to eat unhealthy.

Click here for more about this remarkable study and what ramifications it could have on dietary recommendations in Great Britain and quite possibly in the United States.

How To Keep That Gung-Ho Spirit In Your Diet

I see the same thing happen time and time again. Somebody FINALLY gets excited about wanting to lose weight and is rip-roaring ready to go with diet in hand and expectations galore! They buy some diet books, read up on the Internet, and go to Wal-mart to buy a brand new scale to get started right.

So they begin their own great adventure towards Thinville with all the best intentions, motivations, and desires to be added to the list of the cherished weight loss success stories only to find themselves quitting for good after only a few weeks or months.

What the heck just happened? Where'd that gung-ho spirit go?

Unfortunately, this is the ruthless cycle that millions of people put themselves through year after year and I think I know why it continues to happen more times than not. I have a working theory about this issue, but I think it applies. See if you agree.

When you begin on a weight loss program like low-carb, the prevailing thought is that the diet will automatically take care of shedding the pounds for you without any effort on your part. And, to the credit of this way of eating, it does indeed work REMARKABLY!

But...(and you knew there was one of those coming, didn't you?)

The thing I see most people forgetting to do when beginning a new journey to lose weight and get healthy is the whole experience of it all. Find out how soaking it all in and allowing the positives that happen all along the way make you successful by clicking here.

Diet-Obsessed People Can Never Lose Weight

With all the debate over the Kimkins diet lately, I couldn't help but think about this subject of weight loss and diets more so than normal. While trying something new to help you lose weight is an admirable thing you can do to shed those stubborn pounds, it's those people who feel compelled and obsessed about trying all the latest and newest diets even when they have found success before.

I recently blogged about this idea of "diet-hopping."

People ask me all the time if I'm still eating a low-carb diet. In fact, one lady from my church recently wanted to know if I'm "still on that crazy diet." Well, I'm still livin' la vida low-carb if that's what you mean and happily so! It helped me lose weight and keep it off for good.

Always dance with the one that brung ya, I say!

Unfortunately, too many people hop around from diet to diet always searching for the next best thing in the battle of the bulge. Such is the case of a woman who e-mailed me about her recent dieting adventures.

Here's what she wrote:

Hello Mr. Moore!

I'm a Mississippi girl who enjoys what you have to say about weight loss. I like the fact that you have tried all kinds of diets.

I didn't start having a weight problem until I had my last child twenty years ago. I did the Kimkins diet and lost 18 pounds and I am still a member. But I have had a hard time getting back on Kimkins.

So now I have been doing Weight Watchers and lost 7.5 pounds in a week and a half. My problem seems to be that I get bored with any diet after a few weeks. I'm also a big cook. I cook meals every night except Saturdays which my husband calls "Sandwich Day" (he likes it).

All the women in my family after around age 35 have huge stomachs. I am medium-boned have small arms and legs and 5 foot 3 inches tall. Right now I weigh 195 pounds after being as small as 115 and big as 235.

I do have high blood pressure and as of right now it is normal. I don't know what my problem is but it seems once I lose about 18-20 pounds on a diet I seem to fall off the wagon.

I commend you for all your hard work in losing your weight and your interesting blogs and web sites. You ARE helping so many people and I want to thank you!

What I wanted to ask you about "30-In-30." I assume you mean losing thirty pounds in thirty days. But but do you mean by choosing my own diet choice such as Atkins, Kimkins, South Beach or Weight Watchers?

I just want to be clear in what your saying. Please let me know. And again THANK YOU for being there for me!

Click here to read my reality-based response to this reader's rollercoaster ride on this diet and that diet. Find out what I think she needs to do to finally lose weight and keep it off for good!

Kimkins Diet Opposition Needs A Dose Of Reality

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!

Read this blog post for more information.

Kimkins Helped Me Lose 18 1/2 Pounds--In ONE Week!

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!

Read this blog post for more information.

With My Weight Rising, I've Turned To Kimkins

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!

Read this blog post for more information.

Where Is The 'Hope' When My Diet Fails?

I want to talk with you today about a four-letter word that so many people going on a diet are desperately searching for. No, it's not "food," although I'm sure that four-letter word is on the minds of many dieters especially early on. Neither is it "luck" because finding a plan that will help you lose weight and keep it off forever takes a lot more than that. The word I am thinking of is "hope."

There's an acronym for this word that has always stuck with me:

Helping
Other
People
Excel

Helping other people excel at losing weight and improving their health is exactly what I am all about with my efforts here at this blog and elsewhere because I know what it's like to be in a seemingly helpless and hopeless situation.

When you weigh 410 pounds, wear size 62-inch waist pants and 5XL shirts, take three prescription medications, constantly feel ridiculed and scorned by staring onlookers, and wonder how much longer you'll have to keep living this miserable existence known as life, there's no other way to feel.

Trapped, imprisoned, and no way out--that was my life prior to 2004. I feigned happiness on the outside, but deep within I was screaming for help looking for just a small glimmer of hope. Oh God get me out of this wretched existence I am living so that I can move on with my life already. Is this the best that it gets? I don't want to die young and I feel like life has dealt me a raw deal!

Perhaps you think I just described how YOU feel. I'm sure my own personal experience with obesity has resonated with many of you because I see the exact same sentiments expressed in e-mail after e-mail from dear souls who want me to reassure them that they can find the same hope for overcoming their weight problem that I did. I never want to get used to hearing these gut-wrenching stories of pain and anguish and I don't think I ever will.

Here's one from a woman in San Diego, California that came this week:

Hi Jimmy,

I am one of probably thousands of e-mails that you get and hope that you somehow run into mine. I was online, yet again, seeking some help for my health, which is being ruined by my obesity.

I have tried them all--from Weight Watchers, to Jenny Craig, to the grapefruit diet, to the original Atkins diet, to LA Weight Loss, to most recently, Slim-Fast. None of them seem to work and I just keep getting bigger and bigger.

I now have high blood pressure and my feet, knees, and lower back bother me when I walk. I'm going to the gym and walking on the treadmill 50 minutes a day for the past month, and every other day, I add in weights, but I still see no improvements.

To make matters worse, I live in San Diego where it's verrrrry image conscious and if you're obese, you wind up being excluded from social situtations and even getting a good job!!

I'm at my wit's end and it's very depressing. In fact, the past few days have been so discouraging for me that I haven't even made it to the gym. UGH!

I have a mild allergy to wheat, so I am trying to elminate that from my diet, but don't know how or what to eat anymore to get the weight off. I've tried to find "The Biggest Loser" trainer Bob Harper online to get his advice but he's nowhere to be found. What would you recommend??

Please...............help....................me....................

Click here to read my response at the "30-In-30" blog to this seemingly helpless, hopeless situation and how I think my reader can rise triumphantly over this seemingly impossible health and weight mountain that she now faces.

Consumer Reports Diet Survey Says We Have High Hopes For Weight Loss, But...

I came across this USA Today story that features a brand new survey about what we think about diet and weight loss. There are lessons we can learn from each other to bring about the highly-coveted success we all desire so much we can taste it. And yet only a few ever attain it.

What the survey found is something I blogged about last week. We lose a little weight, start feeling great, think things will be different this time, but then the stall comes along ruins it all. Self-sabotage and unfulfilled expectations will drive your diet crazy!

The Opinion Research Corporation survey of 2,058 adults that appeared in Consumer Reports magazine on Monday found that four in ten people are trying to lose an average of 40 pounds. If they join my "30-In-30" challenge, then they'll get there by the end of the year and well on their way to their eventual goal.

Three-fourths believe they can do it and should keep that positive attitude even when the going gets tough. Almost everyone (85 percent) have been able to lose weight before, but they somehow gave up on the plan despite their success.

Interestingly, close to half of all women (47 percent) and over one-third of men (34 percent) are trying to get fit. Two-thirds are doing it on their own by watching what goes into their mouth while getting ample amount of physical activity. But the weight loss is right in line with what I encourage at "30-In-30"--5 pounds a month over three months.

That's MORE than a pound-a-week average.

So, where does the disconnect come into play that causes people to diet, get discouraged, and fail, diet, get discouraged, and fail...UGH! A Pew Research study noted in the story from last April may explain.

Click here to learn more about the results of that study which indicates why people don't reach their weight loss goals. But the good news is I share how you can overcome triumphantly over a lifetime of obesity struggles.

The Lamest Excuse For Not Doing Low-Carb

When it comes to being on the low-carb lifestyle or really any diet for that matter, you have to fight the nagging tendency to allow your plan to become so monotonous and predictable that it becomes booooorrrrrrriiinnng! Many of the opponents of low-carb especially try to discourage people from trying this way of eating by scaring them into thinking they'll be bored.

What a crock!

That's about the lamest excuse for NOT doing low-carb that these antagonists have yet to come up with. Their thinking is people on the low-carb life are stuck eating meat, cheese and eggs all day. While eating that way is certainly one way to low-carb, most of us who make low-carb our healthy lifestyle change eat a few more foods than that.

So how do you keep the low-carb diet from being so boring that you feel like ditching it for good? The answer is simple, my good friends. You just don't allow it to bore you stiff. Sounds too easy, doesn't it? But it's a lot more elementary than people make it out to be. Let me show you.

When you think of breakfast while low-carbing, most people just automatically assume you must eat eggs. These are an amazing protein-packed way to start your low-carb day (and I could eat them everyday for many days in a row and not get tired of them with melted cheese on top and a touch of pepper...man, that hits the spot!), but you have other foods to enjoy, too--fresh strawberries or cantaloupe, a low-carb bar like GoLower or Atkins, a protein shake, a ham and cheese wrap, and so much more.

Click here to see more of my tips about how you can ward off boredom when you are livin' la vida low-carb.

Self-Sabotage Is Your Greatest Diet Enemy

In the past week, I have received two similar e-mails from people who have decided to start the low-carb lifestyle in earnest, but...

Don't you just love how we take that little word "but" to justify how we feel. That's exactly what both of my readers did when they went on a low-carb diet. They were all gung ho and excited about what this lifestyle change can do for them until their short-term expectations regarding weight loss didn't match the reality.

Here's the first e-mail:

Hi Jimmy,

I am 25 and after my 2nd and final child I am trying to get my body back into shape and gain some energy. My mom lost over 100 pounds on the Atkins diet and I thought what better way.

Atkins to me is a no-brainer you don't have to think a lot since you don't weigh your foods or count calories. It's very appealing for my lifestyle. Well, I started out at 219 and started Induction gung-ho and yesterday was 2 weeks. My husband is doing this with me so we keep each other motivated.

We both weighed and he had of course lost 14 pounds. However, when I went to weigh I was sure I had lost as much if not more than my husband because I had stuck to it a lot more then he had. But when I stepped on the scale, imagine my disappointment when I only weighed 216.

Aaaaack! What did I do wrong?!

I did do the shakes for breakfast because I'm not a breakfast person but I drank all my water and even pre-cooked meat for lunches. I didn't overeat!

This so disgusted me that I got off the scale and walked to kitchen to eat what was left of my son's chocolate ice cream and I had my favorite chip and dip with triscuits. UGH!

Where do I go from here? Is it okay to start again tomorrow and go back through Induction and try to just stick to meat, lettuce and 3 oz of cheese daily? I start the gym tomorrow I am just so upset with myself that I have done something wrong.

We were eating a lot of zuchinni before and I'm going to cut that out as well as tomatoes. I'll stick with eating just lettuce for my veggies and maybe some celery. So can I start Induction again and lose like I would if I was starting for the first time?

I'm not a quiter and I hate setbacks. I ate that junk out of frustration but I have made peace with my lower than expected weight loss and would like to proceed to try again to get better results. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. At least I didn't gain, but I told myself I just know I should have lost more!

Whew, did that strike a nerve anyone? How many of us have engaged in this kind of self-sabotage because we put the bar so high that we quite literally set ourselves up for failure? That's why I created The "30-In-30" Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge to give people a modest goal of a pound a week for 30 weeks. You don't feel pressured to lose 10 pounds a week and are encouraged to just do the plan.

Click here to read the second e-mail I received as well as my response to this idea of giving up on your low-carb lifestyle when your expectations don't match your reality regarding weight loss. I'm gonna step on some toes here, but this message is too important to be missed.

Is Your Diet Stressed Or Having Desserts?

Last week I received an e-mail from one of my longtime regular readers who quite frankly is feeling the pressure of being overwhelmed by what she is going through in her life right now. Hoo boy!

Can I get a witness anyone?!

When you are livin' la vida low-carb, it seems all the stresses of life are magnified ten-fold which makes things like weight loss, feeling better, and eating the right way seems so insignficant. We've all been through those times, haven't we (yes, even I have had my fair share)?

It breaks my heart to think that many would-be low-carb weight loss success stories get so frustrated, discouraged, and fall flat on their face when these times come that they let their guard down on their diet so they can "comfort" themselves.

May I be just brutally honest with you (I'm gonna be anyway because you wouldn't expect anything less!)--that's just plain STUPID! I realize we are all prone to succumbing to our emotions and letting (mostly high-carb) food become our medicine of choice when we are down and out about life.

But that's where making the right choices BEFORE calamity hits becomes such a critical part of your success in weight loss and in life for that matter. If you know that tough times are coming and prepare yourself adequately for when they do, then you can't help but get through them without a hitch. I realize there are certain things in life you cannot even begin to imagine or expect, but staying strong when life goes AAAAACK on you is an absolute MUST!

Click here to read the e-mail from my reader and to discover how to make that stressed diet into one full of desserts (yep, that's right, DESSERTS!).

Leaving A Low-Carb Legacy Beyond Your Lifetime

I wanted to share with you about a book I bought over ten years ago called Reflections From A Mother's Heart. I picked up this very unique gift by a company called J. Countryman for my own mom and gave it to her for Mother's Day in 1997. Little did she know at the time that this "gift" for her would soon become a gift for me and my future kids.

This was a book of memories that allowed my mother to share her life's story in her own words. The 200+ pages were mostly blank waiting to be filled in to a wide variety of questions about mom's life. From the very basic information such as where she was born and raised as well as some of her favorite items right down to personal questions like "What do you remember about your first kiss." (Mom conveniently left the answer to that question blank! :-~ That's probably a good thing! LOL!)

Anyways, I had completely forgotten about this little book I gave Mom a decade ago until she returned it back to me mostly filled with personal hand-written answers to the questions in the book for one of my presents this past Christmas 2006. Reading through everything my mom had written, I learned much more about her than I ever would have imagined. This is HER legacy that needed to be passed down to me and her future grandchildren.

So that got me to thinking. Should those of us who are successful at losing weight and keeping it off after a lifetime of struggling with it write our own story much in the same manner? We could call it "Reflections From A Low-Carb Dieter's Heart" and provide page after page of the difficult questions of what it was like to be overweight or obese, the thing that triggered your weight loss experience, and what you are still doing today to keep the weight off for good.

Click here to read more about this idea of journaling your low-carb weight loss success so that future generations in your family can learn from your personal triumph over a lifetime of obesity.

Life's Changes Instigate 'Automatic' Reflex

Last week I was attending a huge BBQ convention called the HPBA Expo where there were grills galore to see up close and personal (I've even got one I will be giving away in April). I brought my wife Christine along with me and this trip and she tried to get me to eat a muffin while we were on the plane ride there! What's up with that?! LOL!

Christine said she was nervous and fell back into her familiar routine somehow forgetting I am on the low-carb lifestyle now. Sound preposterous? Try this one for size. When we were in the hotel room last week, I had to access the Internet using a brand new laptop and an unfamiliar WiFi service to be online.

So here I am in new surroundings (albeit for just a few short days) in a hotel room I'm not normally in typing on a computer I've never used. Guess what happened--I fell into some of my old habits from several years back when I first started surfing the Internet in the 1990s! For example, my old e-mail address which I changed two years ago to livinlowcarbman@charter.net was musicbuyer@aol.com. I had this as my e-mail address for over ten years (I used to work as a Music Buyer for a chain of Christian bookstores in Virginia).

Guess what happened when I tried to look up my e-mail account while in Reno--I caught myself typing m-u-s-i-c-b...before I realized I was putting in my old e-mail address to access my e-mails. Why in the world did I do that? It was as if with all the unfamiliar surroundings I had slid into some sort of "automatic" mode to cope with the stress of the situation at hand. Sure, I was having lots of fun and wearing myself out in the process, but it was out of the ordinary for me.

How does this relate to the subject of diet and weight loss? I wonder how many of us, no matter how long we have been on our low-carb lifestyle, sometimes kick into "automatic" mode with our diet. Do you catch yourself doing some of those old habits that made you obese before even now? Man, I sure do from time to time.

Click here to read more about this subject, including an example of this very thing happening to me earlier this year and how I am attempting to prevent it from happening again so it doesn't sabotage my weight loss.

Have You Tried The 'Eat-Like-A-Child' Diet?

Is this the next great weight loss guru to tackle global obesity?

Sometimes we get so caught up in the various complexities of an organized weight loss strategy that we totally forget what really works. Have you ever found yourself in this position? Sure you have and we all have. But constantly reminding yourself of what is most important will keep you on the pathway to the eventual weight loss success that you so desperately desire.

Do you remember that classic book that's been out for over two decades now called All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by that very wise and observant man named Robert Fulghum. I remember the first time I started reading some of the stories he shared in that book about how most of life and the lessons therein are actually taught to us in kindergarten.

But somewhere along the way, we lose sight of those very basic, but always crucial axioms about how to live. Is it because we feel so self-reliant as we get older that we don't feel the need to rely so heavily on conventional methods for living? Or are we all that ignorant that we feel like we can REALLY help ourselves? It's a good question to ponder in your own mind and the answer you come up with may explain why you are overweight or obese to begin with.

Think about it. Many children have a natural ability to just know what to do regarding their diet and don't have to think about calories, fat grams, or carbs. They just do what they do best and that's eat. They haven't been tainted by the allure of being thin, the peer pressure to look like a supermodel, or the insatiable desire to be so self-conscious about their weight that they don't eat for days.

Can I get a witness?

Nope! Instead, a child is more apt to simply listen to his body and take the appropriate actions to satisfy that very basic need to get rid of hunger and provide his body with the energy it needs. The last time I was skinny before my weight loss success on low-carb in 2004 was when I was a toothless, freckle-faced 4-year old with my hair sticking straight up in the back.

I pulled out an old school photo of myself from my baby book recently and was so mesmerized by the photo from when I was in kindergarten. How did I go from THAT skinny and healthy little boy and become this 410-pound behemoth monster of a man in the decades to come? It's elementary--I totally forgot all of the things I was doing at that time in my life to keep me thin (there's more to it than that, but you get the drift!).

So, what are some of the diet lessons we could learn from a kindergarten kid, hmmm? Click here to read just a few examples of what I'm talking about that could very well put you back on the road to weight loss success. It's elementary, my dear! :)

Slaying The 'Negative Naysayers' In Your Diet

I want to talk about those people in your life who I like to describe as "negative naysayers." Oh, you know who I'm talking about. While these people who are your friends and family may come across as very supportive in your efforts to lose weight and get healthy, the truth is they don't want you to do it with a low-carb diet.

Yes, the constant negative bias against the low-carb lifestyle is one of the biggest challenges you will face when you make this way of eating your preferred method for weight loss. I heard so many of these ridiculous excuses for NOT doing low-carb often enough that I had to devote several pages of my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" book to help people counter each of them.

It really is a sad state of affairs when you are sincerely doing what you think is best for YOU to lose weight and get healthy--and yet people oppose HOW you are doing it! What's up with that?! Shouldn't people applaud your desire to shed the pounds for good with a healthy nutritional approach? Don't count on it!

As much as you and I would love to have the approval of our misinformed loved ones, the fact of the matter is most people don't know enough about low-carb living to understand how and why it works. I think the research that is coming out about it is helping, but we are still a long way from universal acceptance.

Click here for more information about why ignoring opponents of low-carb is probably a good idea.