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!
Aggressive Hacker Attack On My Forum, PayPal, And E-mail Is Obviously Personal
Somebody out there must really be mad at me right now. I don't know what I said or did to deserve any of the things that have happened to me this week, but whatever it is I apologize. Since Monday, I have been under a daily barrage of hacker attacks on my forum, PayPal account, and e-mail account from someone who no doubt is holding a grudge against me since they are doing their best to make my life a living Hell.
Here's a brief timeline of events that have taken place this week:
MONDAY, APRIL 7 My discussion forum was taken over by a hacker who replaced all the low-carb threads with ones about marijuana, cocaine, and pornography. The hacker totally disabled my administrative access to the forum as well as to all my moderators. Additionally, this person began posing as other people on the forum, including me, claiming that I didn't want to talk about low-carb anymore because "we all know you need carbs" and that I'd rather talk about drugs instead.
TUESDAY, APRIL 8 My PayPal account which had a good amount of money in it was hacked in the amount of $81.93 made payable to a digital video download company called Movielink, LLC. Since I had never even heard of this company, I thought this was one of those fake PayPal "phishing" expeditions that sucker people into giving their username and password to crooks. But when I went to the PayPal site to inquire, I noticed my balance was reduced. I immediately contacted both Movielink and PayPay to report this unauthorized charge and transferred all of the money that was there to my checking account. Around midnight, the Admin of my forum told me it was back up again, but he said we lost about 6 months worth of posts and subscribers.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9 When I logged in to my e-mail account this morning, I noticed several of the "new" e-mails in my box had been marked as "read" because they were no longer bold. I immediately got on the phone with Charter and changed my password. Additionally, a PayPal debit card was created in my name without my authorization. The $81.93 charge was refunded to my PayPal account. But worse than all of that, the hacker got the forum again (just hours after it came back) and sent the following message to the entire member database at my forum posing as me:
You must click the following link in order to recieve our new information on the forums. Nobody can be trusted as we have lost everything and only the few of you loyal members will receive the information on our new whereabouts.
Here is the link. Open it on your computer and you will be asked to enter a code. After that it will give you the link to the new website. This way the hackers cannot follow us.
Sincerely Yours, Jimmy Moore
DON'T CLICK ON THIS LINK! IT IS A VIRUS FROM THE HACKER!!!
So, how's YOUR week going so far? Can you believe the audacity of someone to put together such a string of nuisances in the span of just a few days? Well, it's happened now and at such an inopportune time since I am leaving out of town today for that trip to Atlanta and then Phoenix (I'm already running late so I could write this post). And I can't help but think the timing is almost TOO perfect.
While I don't have any specific proof yet about who is doing this obviously personal attack against me and the people who support me this week, I have my suspicions that it is related to a now infamous diet scam artist who has her reasons for wanting to come after me. Again, this is just a gut feeling, but I don't really know yet. All I do know is that person had access to my username and password at her web site and made the connection to my forum, PayPal account, and e-mail account. I have since changed all my passwords everywhere.
As I previously wrote in this blog post, if you were at all affiliated with that web site in any way, then you need to take precautions to protect yourself against an attack like this, too. CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS and get protection from companies that guard your personal information. Thankfully I had already done that with my credit months ago.
What happens next? Well, stay away from the forum until I can sort out how to place more protective measures on it to keep it safe from hackers. My public relations company says I should probably start over from scratch with a brand new site and I may just have to do that when I get back early next week. In the meantime, there are some EXCELLENT low-carb forums out there and you can find links to them at my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Links" blog.
When I am finished writing this blog post, I will be contacting my local police department to advise me about how to proceed forward investigating this crime which I believe is "terrorism." That may sound like a strong charge to make post-9/11, but this person is doing their darndest to terrorize and bully me with these cowardly tactics. Too bad for them, it ain't working. I'm not going anywhere, so you might as well get used to seeing and hearing from me early and often.
Please feel free to e-mail me at livinlowcarbman@charter.net if you have any information to share with me about prosecuting the person or persons who have perpetrated this crime against me this week. If I can prove who did it, I will bring charges against them to the fullest extent that the law will allow. This is uncalled for and I do not take it lightly. The person who did this doesn't know who they're messing with.
THANK YOU to everyone from my forum who alerted me about the virus message today and I do apologize for that. Please delete that message immediately and I'll communicate to you through my blog when we are ready to relaunch the forum. One thing's for sure--you can't say this low-carb lifestyle thing is boring anymore, can ya? :) Take care everyone--it's time for me to hit the road! SEE YA!
Help some darling kids raise money for their 4-H Club
When Christine and I bought our first home in Spartanburg, South Carolina in January 2001, one of the most memorable and rewarding things we did almost immediately was go out and adopt a pet. Christine REALLY had her hopes set on a puppy dog, but I wanted a kitty cat. When we got to the animal shelter place to look at the animals, there was one little cat that stuck her paw out of the cage at Christine. She was hooked!
Seven years later we still have that kitten who has grown up to be a very big cat weighing in at around 17 pounds right now. Her name is Muffin. Here she is:
Since then, we've adopted SEVERAL more kittens to help brighten our lives over the years with endless hours of entertainment, cat-fighting, and overall feline stupidity (isn't that redundant?! LOL!). Here are Ginger, Smokey, and Peaches (our little terror!):
We LOVE our animals and they are our babies since we're not able to have any children of our own right now. It was really upsetting a couple of years ago when we had to put our 10-month old kitty Millie Jo down because she had feline leukemia. But we got Peaches in her stead and she has been a bundle of joy for the entire household since she arrived in 2006. Never a dull moment in the Moore household!
Why am I telling you about my cats today? Well, it just so happens that two very special kids in my life decided to join the 4-H Club this year and their group is selling dog, cat and horse treats to raise money. Matthew and Rachel Dungan, whose momma is fellow low-carb blogger and friend Amy Dungan, are asking for your donation of $4 plus $1 shipping for a 5-ounce bag of gourmet pet treats from a Louisville, KY-based company called Best In Show Pet Treats. Made in America and helping out a good cause make this fundraiser one I enthusiastically support!
Matthew and Rachel are BEGGING you to help them out!
In fact, I just bought five bags of the treats for my cats today by checking out the treats I wanted and clicking on the DONATE button at the bottom of this web site Amy set up for her children. If you have a horse, dog or cat, then why not check this out and show some love for these kids trying to raise funds for their 4-H organization in Marion, Illinois.
Their chapter gets 50 percent of the sales, but I like what they're doing as a community project, too. They're taking 10 percent of the proceeds they make from the pet treats sales and donating that to a local animal shelter. SWEET! That's such a worthy cause since Christine and I have strongly supported our local animal shelter and giving a good home to four very happy cats (aren't you happy, girls? They're nodding...oh, wait a minute, they're just ignoring me as usual right now. HA!).
If you wanna help out Matthew and Rachel, then you must hurry. They'll only be taking orders through Monday, March 17, 2008 and the shipments will begin going out by the end of the month. Amy will give you a status report when the treats will be headed your way.
Incidentally, even if you don't have any pets, you can still help out these precious children by donating money to purchase treats for homeless animals at the local shelter or you can donate cash to go straight to their 4-H Club. I know it would mean the world to them if you could spare just a few bucks to help out with this worthwhile cause.
You can pay by PayPal or by check, so CLICK HERE to find out more about how you can help with this. If you have any questions about this fundraiser, then please send an email to amydungan@gmail.com. She'll be happy to answer your questions and personally thank you for your generosity in supporting her kids in this endeavor. THANKS so much everyone and get your orders in TODAY! :D
This was what Christin's vehicle looked like after the accident
I have always been a strong believer in the concept of helping someone out in their time of need. It is one of basic tenets of human nature to rally behind and support someone who has fallen prey to unfortunate circumstances. We've all had those times in our lives when the unexpected event suddenly happens and that's when you truly have the opportunity to see this on full display.
Right now, that need is with friend and fellow low-carb blogger Christin Sherburne and her family. On New Year's Day, Christin and her husband Brian along with their two children ages 2 and 4, were driving back to their home in Round Rock, Texas from a family gathering when they were involved in a horrific three-car pileup. As you can see from that photo at the top of this post, this was no simple fender-bender. It was life threatening.
But God's angels were certainly watching over Christin and her family because they all survived and none of them sustained any broken bones. The children were fine (Praise God!) and Brian who was driving received his share of bumps and bruises. But it was Christin who received the worst of the injuries with a concussion, swelling and bruising to her brain, a cut on her right eye, and severe bruising across her entire body. It really is a miracle she survived this, but Christin's faith is strong and she believes the Lord spared her life.
And let's not forget Christin has already been through her fair share of stressful health issues in recent months. After falling prey to the Kimkins diet scam in 2007 and appearing on the front cover of Woman's World magazine, Christin began having health problems with heart palpitations because of the dangerous starvation diet which led her to begin passionately warning people in a video plea about the dangers associated with Kimkins. She also bravely appeared on national television to share her side of the story about what Kimkins did to her.
In fact, she's so committed to exposing the lies and deceit of Kimkins diet founder Heidi Diaz that she published this new blog post on Monday even while she's still lying down in a hospital room bed! Here she is thinking of others not wanting them to fall victim to a diet fraud like she did all the while she is in the midst of fighting for her own health. It's this selflessness about Christin that makes her so special and I'm very proud and honored to know her as my friend.
Although she is expected to fully recover from her injuries over time, the medical bills are beginning to add up. Even before this accident happened, Christin and her family were struggling somewhat financially. She had taken on a side job waitressing to help supplement the family income and it was taking a toll on her. Since the accident, now she can't work at all and these hospital bills are expected to run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Yikes!
Here's where WE come in. I realize that most of us aren't even close to being rich by any stretch of the imagination, so I would never ask you to give hundreds or even thousands of dollars towards a cause like this. But regardless of the financial situation you are in, we can all contribute SOMETHING to help this dear woman and her family as they go through what could have been a fatal event.
Whether you know Christin personally or if this is your first time hearing about who she is, I ask you to participate in this fundraising drive to help her. She needs to focus on getting better right now and and not worry about how they're gonna pay the bills. Your contributions would certainly go a long way in bringing her and her family the much-needed peace of mind as they go through this. I could not imagine if my wife and I were involved in a similar car accident. It would be devastating!
So, what can we do? How can we help this family? Here are some simple instructions about how you can make YOUR contribution to the Sherburne family:
1. Go to PayPal.com 2. Click on the "Send Money" link 3. Enter bsherburne@dellmail.com next to the "To" 4. Enter your e-mail address next to the "From" 5. Enter your donation next to the "Amount" 6. Mark "Service/Other" next to the "For" 7. Click on the "Continue" link 8. Fill out the payment information 9. Pay with Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express 10. Click on "Agree & Continue" for final confirmation
Let's all do this RIGHT NOW and flood this family with a much-needed financial blessing today. I just sent my donation to them and I encourage you to give generously from the abundance of blessings you have been given. If you can give $100 or more, then that would certainly help them out tremendously. But even a $50, $20, $10, $5, or $1 gift would add up if we all participate.
There are thousands of readers like you who visit the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog on a daily basis, so it wouldn't take very long to get them a substantial cumulative donation if EVERYONE participated to get Christin and her family the money they need to take care of these medical bills. And I encourage you to share about this genuine need with your church, your co-workers, at your blog, on your favorite forum--EVERYWHERE you can think of to get the word out! They need us and we would want the same thing done if it was our family going through something like this.
THANK YOU for the generous outpouring of support that I know you are going to give Brian, Christin, and the kids to help them through this troubled time. Strengthen my belief in the strong spirit of charity that I feel exists within the heart of every man and woman who is reading this right now. Let's rally around this good cause and provide a glimmer of hope for some remarkable people.
After you donate, come back here and share in the comments section below that you did and provide any comments you'd like to share with Christin and her family. I know this will be an encouragement to them and uplift their spirits during this time. God bless you guys for what you are gonna do. Let's step up to the plate! :)
