What A Day For Tons Of Low-Carb Research

After a long weekend full of activities in Nashville, Tennessee for the 2007 Eastern Regional Obesity Course and Nutrition & Metabolism Society Seminar presented by the American Society Of Bariatric Physicians (ASBP), I am finally back at home sweet home in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Ahhhhhh, it feels good to be back although I was privileged to speak with and learn from so many bariatric physicians and low-carb research experts.

Although I conducted eight interviews with various people on Friday, I was only able to do one more today because the schedule was so jam-packed with presentations on the latest low-carb research from people like Dr. Eric Westman, Dr. Mary Vernon, Dr. Jeff Volek, Dr. Stephen Phinney, and Dr. Richard Feinman. We had to cut out a little early to make it home at a reasonable hour.

I was thrilled to see several other people of interest these past few days: Jackie Eberstein who worked with Dr. Robert C. Atkins for three decades, Laura Dolson from About.com's Low-Carb Diets page, and Collette Heimowitz from Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.

As I was listening to the various presentations about the veracity of livin' la vida low-carb today, the future blog post ideas were popping into my head so fast that I could barely write them all down. But I will attempt to take these and project to you what I have learned based on the knowledge shared in these fantastic seminars from today. If you are a proponent of the low-carb nutritional approach, then take heart...the science is there for all the world to see.

Special thanks to Dr. Mary C. Vernon and Sharon Cooper for coordinating many of the interviews for my podcast show. I look forward to sharing these with you over the next few months likely as a regular feature on Thursdays. There were a wide variety of voices that I'm sure you'll enjoy hearing from, so be sure to check 'em out!

Since I was in Nashville, I decided to look up my high school friend Laura Creekmore who has that fantastic blog called Fixin' Supper. We went out to a nice BBQ place off of Hermitage Road in Nashville and enjoyed catching up on lost time. My wife Christine and I were enamored by Laura's two adorable kids and were glad to be able to see her while we were in town.

Also, I recently blogged about one of my weight loss inspirations being a radio talk show host who held a weight loss contest three years ago named Ralph Bristol. Well, Ralph recently moved from South Carolina to Nashville, Tennessee to become the featured morning host of "Nashville's Morning News" on SuperTalk 99.7FM WWTN. His show is a lot different from the one he did here, but it was neat to hear him on the radio again. I even called up and gave my opinion about something he was talking about on Friday morning.

It's time to hit the sack now (that's going to bed for those of you who don't read Southern!) because I'm just plain TARD! No, not ritard, although Christine has been known to call me that from time to time. The body is slowly getting delirious, so I had better stop typing before I go off saying something REALLY weird. Goodnight John boy! We'll be low-carb blogging again in no time. SEE YA!

Thanks For Changing My Life, Ralph Bristol

Radio talk show host Ralph Bristol instrumental in my low-carb success

While most of the readers of my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog are aware of my 180-pound weight loss on the Atkins diet in 2004, you may not realize there were other ingredients involved in that experience that helped push me to the great success that I was able to accomplish. One of those was a rather unique opportunity to be a part of a weight loss contest conducted by a local afternoon radio talk show host named Ralph Bristol.

I had been a regular listener of "The Ralph Bristol Show" on 1330/950AM Newsradio WORD in Greenville/Spartanburg, SC for several years before 2004 when Ralph announced a brand new contest he was calling "Ralph's Incredible Shrinking Ton" which would pit five contestants weighing a cumulative 2,000 pounds against each other to see who could lose the most weight as a percentage of their starting weight. You can read my CommonVoice.com column entitled "382 1/2!" to get more of the details of the weigh-in day.

If you have read the Introduction of my book Livin' La Vida Low-Carb: My Journey From Flabby Fat To Sensationally Skinny In One Year, then you already know the story. If not, then you can read that chapter for FREE and see exactly what happened during the contest. I will tell you this--I won the contest but in the most peculiar way. You'll just have to read it to believe it! CLICK HERE to view my before and after photos from "Ralph's Incredible Shrinking Ton" contest.

After months of arm-twisting and begging him to write the foreword to my book, Ralph agreed and did a fantastic job encapsulating exactly what I was attempting to convey with the book. I will forever be indebted to him for being willing to do that and even bringing me back on his show for a LIVE one-hour interview about the Atkins diet in August 2005. You can read the entire transcript of that interview I did with him by clicking here.

Of course, Ralph is an equal opportunity radio talk show host and once challenged a local restaurant to come up with the world's largest hamburger when gigantic burgers were all over the news. He pulled it off with this amazing 19-pound hamburger that set a new world record! Gotta love that Ralphie!

One thing Ralph will always be remembered for is his ability to be original in a very unoriginal world. I say "remembered" because he is leaving the Upstate of South Carolina where he has grown fans from towns like Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, and more with his golden voice and firm stands on the issues. He's gonna be moving up in the world to the Nashville, Tennessee market to become a morning show host.

CONGRATULATIONS to Ralph Bristol and I wish him all the best in his new career path. The Nashville market won't know what hit 'em until they get a load of Ralph, so get ready Tennessee! Bristolmania is about to ensue! :D

If I could just say one thing to this man, it would a warm and hearty THANK YOU! You quite literally were a part of the reason I am alive and healthy today. Had it not been for your contest, I don't know if I could have made it to the end of 2004 nearly half of my original weight. It was and will always be my greatest accomplishment and I have YOU to thank for it, Ralph!

So, I guess what I'm saying is thanks for changing my life, Ralph Bristol. I found a diet plan that works for me and I'm still sticking to it some three years later. No matter what happens to you when you get to Nashville, you will ALWAYS have this badge of honor from your days here in South Carolina. Jimmy Moore may not be the "Slim Jim" he is today without your contest.

Goodbye Ralph and THANK YOU for giving me my life back! God bless you!

Record-Breaking 19-Pound Hamburger Debuts On Menu In SC

World's Largest Hamburger You Can Order At Any Restaurant In America

You might have heard the story earlier this month about a 15-pound hamburger being sold on the menu at Denny's Beer Barrel and Pub in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. It was nicknamed the Beer Barrel Belly Buster and got national attention for being the largest hamburger you can order at any restaurant in America.

But not anymore.

That distinction now belongs to Costner's Grill and Entertainment in Easley, South Carolina, who introduced the new record-breaking 19.1-pound hamburger live on the radio station 1330/950 WORD-AM in the Greenville/Spartanburg, SC market on Friday afternoon.

The idea for this bigger hamburger came during a discussion of the 15-pound hamburger story a couple of weeks ago on "The Ralph Bristol Show." Bristol, taking the suggestion of his newsman Ed Jensen, decided to challenge any restaurant owners in his listening audience who would be willing to create an even bigger burger than the one by Denny's Beer Barrel Pub to step up to the plate.

And Costner's Grill and Entertainment did. The rest, they say, is history. At least for the time being.

Bristol came up with the name Costner's Carolina Colossus and customers can now order this unique menu item at the restaurant as long as they call ahead of time and let them know so they can be prepared.

That big burger might look tempting or it might disgust you to no end. But we live in a strange time in the United States. While a greater focus has been placed on weight loss and healthy eating habits to deal with the obesity problem, we simultaneously have stories of even bigger and better hamburgers than ever before...literally! When is the madness going to end? Do we or don't we care about our health in this country?

While this story makes for a good publicity stunt for both the radio station and the restaurant, it sadly does nothing to help change the poor eating habits that two-thirds of Americans who are overweight or obese need to make.

Of course, if you're livin' la vida low-carb, you can have still eat the meat without the bun and make it low-carb. After all, aren't we always told that all you can eat on low-carb is meat! I wonder if they'll make a low-carb version? LOL!