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.