What A Weekend Meeting Lora Ruffner, Being Filmed For An Obesity Movie

This has been some weekend with two momentous events:

1. MEETING LORA RUFFNER

When I blogged a few weeks ago about what has happened to Low-Carb Luxury magazine since there hasn't been an updated issue since February 2007, I soon received an e-mail from the wildly popular online low-carb magazine's founder and creator Lora Ruffner.

She agreed to meet with me this weekend while visiting her son who lives in South Carolina to talk about what's going on with the magazine. We had a delightful time chit-chatting about what's going on in her life, where her heart is regarding the future of Low-Carb Luxury, and some rather shocking circumstances that she has been going through over the past year.

I will be publishing an interview at my blog with Lora Ruffner very soon and am working on a podcast interview with both Ruffner and her business and life partner Neil Beaty in the near future. You'll be pleased to know that Lora does not want Low-Carb Luxury to go away, but it's gonna take some changes to make that happen. More about that coming soon.

2. BEING FILMED FOR "INSPIRED: THE MOVIE"

I'm thrilled to tell you about an upcoming independent documentary film that I was asked to be a part of called "Inspired: The Movie". The film's director Steve Yu asked if he could come interview me about my 180-pound low-carb weight loss success, my popular low-carb blog and podcast show, and what I am doing to continue to inspire and motivate others to take this journey that I did.

It's a unique obesity movie because it is a snapshot of a bunch of people who come at the subject of weight loss from many different paths--Dr. Jeff from The Biggest Loser, Tony Little who's most famous for his Gazelle exercise equipment, Dr. Brian Wansink who wrote the book Mindless Eating, noted Harvard researchers Dr. Walter Willett and Dr. Frank Hu, and even professional wrestler Diamond Dallas Page!

This movie is going to be phenomenal and I was privileged to be filmed for a couple of hours on Sunday telling my story to hopefully help others who watch this when it comes out. I was encouraged even by the personal health improvements that both Steve and his beautiful wife Mariah have been able to find as both have lost weight and are in fantastic shape.

Be looking for me to share more about this movie soon. Steve said he would send over some exclusive video clips from my interview with him today in the coming weeks. I can't wait to share more about this amazing new movie that is sure to inspire the masses. Special thanks to Steve, Mariah, and the crew who came to Spartanburg for a visit. It was so much fun and I wish you all GREAT success with this venture!

Needless to say, I am just plain pooped tonight. I need to get some rest so I can be ready to take on the new week that starts on Monday. THANKS for your support for my blog and I look forward to sharing more with you soon! SEE YA!

Lora Ruffner's 'Long Story' About 'Low-Carb Luxury' Laid Bear In My Upcoming Interview

"Low-Carb Luxury" creator Lora Ruffner contacted me this week

One week ago today, I asked the question here at my blog, "Have We Seen The Last Of Low-Carb Luxury?" after several of my concerned readers inquired with me about the future of the Internet's most prominent low-carb magazine.

Where has it gone? Is it ever coming back?

It has now been over three months since Low-Carb Luxury magazine was last updated and many of us who have enjoyed the high-quality, professional layout of this remarkable low-carb resource want to know what has happened to it. Did they just pack up their bags and call it a day after eight wonderful years of excellence?

Let me tell you, I wouldn't blame Low-Carb Luxury creator Lora Ruffner if she ever decided to do that because pumping out brand new information, especially with a niche subject like the low-carb lifestyle, can be a real challenge sometimes. Sure, there are always things to talk about, but keeping it interesting and building on an ever-changing base of readers takes a lot of work.

But Ruffner, along with her devoted life partner Neil Beaty, has been plugging along beautifully up until February this year. I suppose people had gotten so used to seeing new articles each month at Low-Carb Luxury that they now realize how much they probably took it for granted now that it's missing. It's too bad it takes circumstances like the sudden absence of something you love so much to realize how much you enjoyed having it.

So what's the deal? Is Low-Carb Luxury no more?

That's the million dollar question I wanted answered when I blogged about this last week and I was pleased to hear from Lora Ruffner herself this week in an e-mail. She said that someone she knew who reads my blog had forwarded my blog post to her (THANK YOU to whoever that was!) inquiring about what has become of Low-Carb Luxury and Lora stated she wanted to respond to me "right away."

"There's a long story behind all that has happened," Lora explained, relaying that she has had some pretty major health concerns to come up this year.

Without divulging the specifics to you, let's just say it's one of those things you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy to go through. Just because she has a wildly popular web site about diet and health doesn't mean she's immune to life's unexpected twists and turns. And that's exactly what Lora has been going through in 2007.

After a brief e-mail exchange, Lora and I have set up a meeting in June to get together and find out more about her story so I can share it with you either in a written interview here at my blog or for my podcast show.

"Then I can give you the skinny," Lora exclaimed about our interview next month.

She did want me to reassure fans of Low-Carb Luxury that you shouldn't give up on the site just yet because it is still possible the magazine could come back bigger and better than it ever was before. But it is going to take some hard work.

"There are a number of things that need to happen for the site to survive, but we may be able to make it happen," Lora admitted without getting into the details of what that may entail.

Perhaps we will learn more about what we as low-carbers can do to help in this effort as fans of Low-Carb Luxury following my interview with Lora Ruffner. Now more than ever with the resurgence of livin' la vida low-carb happening in the scientific community right now, we need every positive voice we can get in the diet and health debate. The low-carb comeback is imminent and all hands need to be on deck for it!

Just so you know, your concerns for not just the Low-Carb Luxury magazine, but for Ruffner and Beaty as human beings going through an incredibly difficult situation at this time, have not gone unnoticed by them.

"Thanks for caring," Lora said. "It really does mean a lot to us."

And the "us" in that statement is an important part of where Low-Carb Luxury is headed from here because it is a collaborative effort between both Ruffner and Beaty. Despite the nasty whispers that may have been floating around out there about a rift between them, Lora said it's time to "put all those rumors to rest."

"They're not at all true," she explained. "We're as close as two people can be...without his love and support, I wouldn't be here now."

I'm thrilled to FINALLY have the opportunity to meet Lora Ruffner in person for the first time ever and it's been a long time coming since I've been writing about my nearly 200-pound low-carb weight loss success since 2004. My upcoming interview in the next few weeks should answer a lot of the questions you may have about what is happening with Low-Carb Luxury and where it will be going from here.

As soon as the interview is completed sometime next month, I'll post it for you to read at my blog or hear as a special edition of my podcast show. THANK YOU again to everyone who has e-mailed me over the past few months about the sudden departure of Low-Carb Luxury magazine. There's a story behind everything and soon we will know about all that's going on with this one. Stay tuned!

Have We Seen The Last Of Low-Carb Luxury?

Online since 1999, Low-Carb Luxury has taken a sudden hiatus

Long before the days of the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog began in 2005, there was an amazing low-carb magazine called Low-Carb Luxury that began back in 1999 prior to the big hey day of the "low-carb craze" that hit in 2003-2004. Professionally written and with a gorgeous layout, this was and still is the premier low-carb magazine on the Internet.

The brainchild of a 100-pound Atkins low-carb weight loss success story named Lora Ruffner along with her faithful companion Neil Beaty (an extremely talented photographer by the way), Low-Carb Luxury has been at the top of their game for low-carb information for nearly a decade. I'm very proud of the road they paved over the years so that web sites and blogs like mine could flourish and prosper even after the supposed decline in interest. NOT!

In fact, I named Ruffner and Beaty in my list of the Top 10 Movers & Shakers of 2005. Although I've never had the pleasure of meeting them in person, I am personally grateful for their many years of product reviews, low-carb advocacy, and keeping it all in perspective through their unstoppable resource.

But one of my readers e-mailed me recently echoing the concerns that many of you have had about what has happened to Low-Carb Luxury. Here's what she wrote:

Hi Jimmy,

I read all the low-carb web sites, including yours. I love them all because I like to stay informed and educated. However, I have not been able to find anything new from Low Carb Luxury since February . Have you heard whether this low-carb magazine is finished or what? I am a subscriber to their online magazine and was just wondering if you know anything about their absence.


Was the Feburary 2007 issue of Low-Carb Luxury their swan song?

Great question and I was wondering the same thing since there has been no new content on Low-Carb Luxury since the February 2007 issue just as my reader indicated. Where did they go? Have we REALLY seen the last of Low-Carb Luxury? I hope not.

It is quite a challenge to keep fresh content online all the time (I've only done it for two years--they've been doing this for 8 years!!!), so perhaps a life's circumstance in Ruffer and/or Beaty's life has come up to put things on hold either temporarily or permanently. I really hate to speculate, but I hope and pray everything is okay with them.

If anyone has any other information about what has happened to Low-Carb Luxury, then I'd love to find out. I invite Ruffner and/or Beaty to contact me directly at livinlowcarbman@charter.net to let me and my readers know what's going on. We appreciate all of your contributions to the low-carb community over the years and wish only great things for you because you deserve it.

Anyone who has any information about the future of Low-Carb Luxury, then please feel free to post your comments. Are you a fan of their magazine and have you been wondering where they've been for the past three months? Also, share your thoughts about what that publication has meant to you over the years.

SheKnows LowCarb Magazine Returns Online

SheKnows LowCarb magazine returns with online-only presence

When January 2006 rolled around, there was only ONE low-carb magazine that had survived the media onslaught against livin' la vida low-carb--LowCarb Energy. In February 2006, they changed their name to SheKnows LowCarb and even did a feature story on my 180-pound low-carb weight loss success! That was cool!

Then, right before the summer they announced they would be shifting the low-carb content to their Diet & Fitness magazine, but then Coincide Publishing suddenly pulled the plug altogether on low-carb in June 2006 thinking interest in that subject was long gone. In other words, no more low-carb magazines! Boo hoo!

So imagine my surprise over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend when one of my readers alerted me to the fact that SheKnows LowCarb was back...er, sorta. While they are not bringing back the print version of this once-glorious low-carb magazine that struggled to be profitable enough to continue on earlier this year, the folks over at Coincide must think there is enough of a resurgence in the demand for low-carb information to provide some exclusive online content via their SheKnows LowCarb web site.

Currently there are two special issues for viewing RIGHT NOW!

The first one is a Holiday 2006 special bonus issue featuring strategies for resisting temptation, delicious low-carb dessert recipes and easy-to-make breakfast casseroles with tips for feeding a hungry party crowd for Christmas and New Year's!

The second one is the Winter 2007 issue and contains advice on making low-carb soup, creating a hearty low-carb meatloaf, a reference guide for eating out at an Italian restaurant, unique and scrumptuos omelets, fun and helpful kitchen gadgets and LOTS more recipes that SheKnows LowCarb has always been famous for.

If you are hoping to access this content for FREE, though, guess again. While it would be nice to have yet another place for low-carb recipes and information online at no charge, Coincide Publishing is charging an introductory fee of $9.99 for a one-year online access only subscription to SheKnows LowCarb.

While that is cheaper than the $6 they used to charge for the quarterly print magazine, it's still a little higher than I think most people will be willing to pay since there are many other FREE sources of low-carb recipes, news, product reviews and information like my blog as well as Low-Carb Luxury, among many others that I have listed at my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Links" blog.

Sure, I'm glad to see SheKnows LowCarb is trying to get back in the mix again, at least for the time being. But when their subscribers don't come flocking to them for a fee-based online magazine, I hope they don't get the idea that a low-carb magazine is a bad idea because I don't think it is. I can't tell you how many people have BEGGED me to make a "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" print magazine.

If the number of people reading my blog and listening to my podcast show are any indication of the number of people who are STILL interested in the low-carb lifestyle despite the constant negativity in the media, then it is my opinion that a print magazine is indeed a viable and potentially profitable option to return to the bookstore, drug store, and big box retailer shelves. The only people truly aprehensive about "low-carb" are those who oppose it!

I have contacted SheKnows LowCarb to find out what they plan on doing with their magazine and if there is anything special they will have for subscribers. Before they shut down the print magazine, I was supposed to be one of their contributing writers. In fact, I had already written TWO columns for them that were scheduled to be published in August and October. They never went to press. :(

If I hear back from them about their return, then I'll let you know what they have to say. Until then, if you'd like to subscribe, then CLICK HERE. If the online version is anything like the print version was, then this magazine will be well worth your time to check out. Let me know how you like it if you decide to subscribe.

A Holiday Classic: Low-Carb Gingerbread New York Style Cheesecake

Nothing beats a well-made cheesecake just about any time of the year. But when Thanksgiving and Christmas roll around each year, there's something special about creating this decadent and delightful dessert for friends and family members.

Your cheesecake need not be loaded with carbohydrates either and I've got just the recipe for you, too! Using the unique secret ingredient--DaVinci Gingerbread Syrup--this is a cheesecake you can be proud of and delight your guests with whether they are livin' la vida low-carb or not. You'll make this recipe a holiday tradition for many years to come!

Special thanks to our friends at Low-Carb Connoisseur and Low-Carb Luxury for sharing this simple yet festive cheesecake recipe with us today. ENJOY!

LOW-CARB GINGERBREAD NEW YORK STYLE CHEESECAKE

1 cup Now almond flour
6 Tablespoons Splenda
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
5 (8-oz) packages full-fat cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups Splenda
1 Tablespoon Oat Flour
1 Tablespoon Singing Dog Sugar-Free Vanilla Extract
3 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup DaVinci Gingerbread Syrup

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix the first three ingredients and then press into bottom of springform pan.

Mix cream cheese, Splenda, flour, Da Vinci Gingerbread syrup and vanilla with an electric mixer until blended. Add eggs one at a time, mixing on low after each, just until blended. Blend in sour cream and pour over crust.

Bake 65-70 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knife around the rim of the pan to loosen cake and allow to cool before removing the springform pan ring. Refrigerate overnight.

Total carbohydrates: 97.3g
At 20 servings: 4.8g carbs per slice
At 24 servings: 4g carbs per slice