No-Carb Runner Takes Exception To Georgia Nutritionist Pushing Carbs For Athletes

Chris Rosenbloom, meet zero-carb runner Charles Washington!

We are surrounded by people who insist on repeating the same health mantras we've always heard over and over again until they're blue in the face. I'm sure they mean well with their conventional advice and had the right motives when they continued their education into the subject of diet and fitness. But somewhere along the line, many of these people who are placed on a pedestal and declared "experts" have lost their objectivity and ability to think logically about the advice they are sharing. Such is most definitely the case with those healthy journalists at major newspapers.

Whether it's Sally Squires from The Washington Post, Heather McPherson from The Orlando Sentinel, Juliette Kellow from the UK Mirror, Bill Laitner from The Detroit Free Press, Bryant Stamford from The Louisville Courier-Journal...the list goes on and on...one thing always remains the same. These people need to be educated about what life is like in the REAL WORLD outside of their monopolistic world view that oftentimes does not match what is happening to real people. As you can tell from those links above, I LOVE challenging these darlings of the health media to do a better job of researching before they go off talking about something they obviously don't have a clue about.

But today I wanted to bring in a special guest to respond to a rather ludicrous column that appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week by Chris Rosenbloom, Ph.D., R.D. called "For runners: 'A low-carb approach...can spell disaster'." She asserts in not-so-uncertain terms that a runner absolutely NEEDS carbs for fuel during their workout and that a low-carb diet is NOT recommended for running. We already know the "body needs carbs" mantra is nonsense because of a fascinating metabolic process that is essential to livin' la vida low-carb called gluconeogeneis where the body makes its own carbs through the liver from the dietary protein you consume. You never hear any of these "experts" even mention this--EVER!

This topic about carbohydrates being needed for running and training is something an Olympic athlete repeated to me in August 2007 reacting to a blog post I wrote about about a study showing more athletes are choosing low-carb diets to help them achieve maximum performance. Then you also have people like world-class marathon sprinter Roy Pirrung pushing a high-carb, low-fat diet for runners while my blogging friend and fellow Atkins diet weight loss success story Kent Altena talks about how you can burn fat for fuel when you are running in marathons. There's a great disparity between these two camps and very clearly this Rosenbloom lady is heavily espousing the high-carb theory.

How about we hear from someone from the OTHER side who chooses to burn FAT for fuel during his running experiences? His name is Charles Washington and he is one of my moderators over at my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Discussion" forum. For those of you who have not heard about Charles, this man is simply amazing. He runs in half-marathons throughout the spring and summer and does it all eating a ZERO-CARB diet. That's right, he doesn't even eat veggie carbs. He's hardcore on what he describes as the "Zero Carb Path" and I'll be sharing an interview with Charles on my podcast show coming up in July.

For now, I wanted to introduce you to Charles by allowing him to respond to Rosenbloom's idiotic column. As you will quickly see in this guest blog post from Charles, he is quite knowledgeable about what he writes about and has the personal experience from his own life to back up everything he says. I appreciate his willingness to share today and I hope you enjoy this very intelligent rebuttal to the claim that you need carbohydrates for athletic performance. ENJOY!

Here's what Charles wrote in response to Chris Rosenbloom:

Dr. Barry Groves observed that athletics is becoming increasingly competitive. More and more stress is being placed on how well we perform. To reach our highest potential, all of our body systems must be perfectly tuned. Nothing is more important to our well-being and ability to perform than good nutrition. Eating the right foods helps us to maintain desirable body weight, stay physically fit, and establish optimum nerve-muscle reflexes. Without the right foods, even physical conditioning and expert coaching aren't enough to push you to your best. Good nutrition must be a key part of your training program if you are to succeed.

The problems arise when deciding the best nutrition for exercise and athletics.

Chris Rosenbloom of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently posted an article describing the preparations of runners preparing to race in the world-renowned Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. She quoted Lee Fidler, an area running coach since the early 1980’s:

"Nutrition is an important part of preparing for a road race. I try to get a balance of fruits, vegetables, dairy products and some high-quality protein, but I also use sports drinks and energy bars to boost my calorie and fluid intake. I see too many runners try a low-carb approach, but that can spell disaster for a runner."

That's very interesting because I am a runner and I have no carbohydrates or sports drinks as a part of my diet. Has it always been this way that carbohydrates were totally necessary for athletics?

The late Gordon Pirie, an Olympic medalist from the 1952 games in Helsinki wrote a book called Running Fast and Injury Free. There he wrote:

“Never eat white flour or its products, nor any sugars, nor any milk that has been homogenized. Scientists can tell you this, unless they are funded by one of the major food companies. Do not believe scientific 'facts' that have been purchased on the backs of food packages.”

Nowadays, athletes regularly use sugar and sugar drinks as training aids. How did we get to this point and is this a healthy way to achieve the performance we all seek?

Chris Rosenbloom quoted athletes as all agreeing that carbohydrates with some protein are crucial for training. Pasta and pizza were top choices, with potatoes, brown rice, whole grains, fish and chicken all making an appearance at their training tables. Some rely on energy bars and energy drinks, but most stick to real foods for their training.

To this information, Rosenbloom assigns a letter grade of “A” because in her opinion, carbohydrates fuel runners. “Protein, while important, is not a good substitute for carb[ohydrate]s.” She would love for runners to have iron-rich foods as well to help carry oxygen to muscles.

Unfortunately, advice like this is peddled about in most major athletics publications and most of us accept these so-called truths without qualification. However, upon closer inspection, we find that there is:

No mention of the best fuel for the body: fat. In fact it says earlier that “Carbohydrates are crucial for training.” There was not even a mention of the essential fatty acids necessary to sustain life. Neither does the advice recommend that the fruit and vegetables be cooked. As we know any minerals and vitamins these may contain (and there are actually precious few to begin with) are not released from uncooked fruit and vegetables.

It is also important to note her understanding of what constitutes a “low-carbohydrate” diet. The emphasis is on protein, not fat. We need to understand that low-carbohydrate diets are not high-protein diets. Rather, they are high-fat diets and they regularly only contain little more protein than that recommended by so-called balanced diets. Consuming a high-protein diet causes serious problems as the Inuit Eskimos sometimes learned in the springtime when only lean rabbits were available. They suffered a malaise that swept over the entire population. They called it rabbit starvation. In scientific terms, Dr. Groves explains:

"Excess intake of nitrogen leads in a short space of time to hyperammonaemia, which is a build up of ammonia in the bloodstream. This is toxic to the brain. Many human cultures survive on a purely animal product diet, but only if it is high in fat. A lean meat diet, on the other hand cannot be tolerated; it leads to nausea in as little as three days, symptoms of starvation and ketosis in a week to ten days, severe debilitation in twelve days and possibly death in just a few weeks. A high-fat diet, however, is completely healthy for a lifetime."

Therefore, one would not want to substitute protein for carbohydrates as Rosenbloom assumes. Those like her who recommend carbohydrates as the “best fuel for the body” don’t seem to realize two very important points:

First, the body can't store carbohydrates in large quantities and most people already get more than enough carbohydrates to fuel their bodies' daily activities. All carbohydrates, whether they are bread, pasta, sugar or jam when you put them in your mouth, enter the bloodstream as glucose. And the bloodstream can only hold so much.

The body, being a well-run power plant, puts the leftovers in storage to use in the future if it's needed. Some is stored as a type of starch called glycogen, but as it can't store much of this, the body turns most of the excess into fat and keeps it on deposit in the body's fat cells. We see it walking around the streets wherever we go, hanging off bodies in a most unattractive way.

Put simply, carbo-loading cannot work simply because excess carbohydrates are not stored in a readily usable way.

The second problem lies in how the body uses its various options for fuel. Each of our body's cells contains lots of very small power plants called mitochondria. It is they that produce the energy we need from the food that we consume. Glucose is usually called the body's 'preferred fuel' because, if it is available, our bodies have been conditioned from birth to use it first. But it is not the best fuel. That distinction belongs to fats--or fatty acids, to give them their scientific name. Before the mitochondria can use either glucose or fatty acid as a fuel, it has to be transported into the mitochondria.

Fatty acids are transported into the mitochondria as completely intact molecules. Glucose, on the other hand, can be transported only after it has been broken down first into pyruvate by the process of glycolysis. This is then used anaerobically to produce energy with lactate as a by-product.

The by-products of the energy-production process when fatty acids are used are carbon dioxide and water, both of which are easily excreted. But when glucose is used, the lactic acid produced in the conversion process can build up in muscle cells and make them ache. It is this that is the cause of the aching muscles or pain involved in strenuous exercise--'the wall' as athletes call it. This 'wall' severely limits an athlete's performance.

So why would a person want to limit their performance by using carbohydrates for fuel?


Ethiopian Olympic sprinter Mamo Wolde

Don’t take my word for it, how about the 1968 Olympic Marathon Champion, Mamo Wolde? It was 1968 at the Mexico City Olympic Games. The spectators at the marathon went wild as a relatively unknown Ethiopian, Mamo Wolde, won the marathon. Not only was the thirty-five-year-old runner the oldest man ever to win this prestigious event, he did it in record time. He also was a silver medalist in the 10,000 meters at the same Olympics.

Wolde grew up in an Ethiopian village. His life consisted of running after and hunting wild game on foot. His diet was high in animal meat and fat, with practically no carbohydrate. Subsequent tests showed that Wolde's body, under conditions of physical load, readily burned fat as its main energy source. Wolde had no concept of 'hitting the wall'. It never happened to him.

While there is little or no scientific evidence that carbohydrates are a particularly good energy food, we know that fats are. Dr. Groves explains further why the best performance is only possible with the correct diet and this applies to humans and animals. With the correct diet, constant exercise and practice to maintain muscle suppleness, strength and stamina doesn't seem to be needed either.

It is well known that carnivorous animals such as lions and tigers are fed their natural diet of fatty meat, even when confined in cages or small pens in zoos for long periods of time, without the opportunity to exercise, do not lose their vigor, strength and endurance. Such animals in circuses are even more confined but they are still able to make prodigious leaps when called upon to do so.

Eskimo sled dogs are normally kept on leashes or in small kennels during the summer months and fed fat meat and fish. When, after some months of such inactivity, the winter arrives and they are required to pull sleds again, they have no need of a period of training or conditioning before they go about their arduous task. And they still manage to pull heavy sleds for up to twelve hours a day. The same applies to English hunting dogs. They do not lose their ability to run hard for long distances when correctly fed.

The same is true of Man. The Eskimo spends most of the year in practical inactivity during the winter months. Confined to his snow-covered hut or igloo, eating meat, fish and fat, he rarely ventures outside for months at a time. But when spring arrives, he immediately begins a very strenuous life, traveling many miles to hunting grounds. He, too needs no period of conditioning after his long winter of inactivity. He also requires less sleep and is much more resistant to fatigue.

In 1895 two Norwegians, Fridtjof Nansen and Frederik Johansen, landed on an island of the Franz Joseph group. They had 'conventional' provisions to last for several weeks but, as there was abundant game in the form of walrus and polar bear, they decided to live off the land and save their provisions until the following summer. From the end of August 1895 until the spring break up of the arctic ice they got no exercise, did not wash themselves or change their clothes, yet they remained in perfect health and were able to do a full day's sledging on their first day of travel.

Rear Admiral Robert Peary also noted the ability of Arctic explorers to subsist for more than a year with no food other than pemmican twice a day. Men doing heavy work required two pounds of pemmican, which was the equivalent of six pounds of meat and a pound of fat per day.

This ability to do fantastic feats of strength and endurance was not confined to the Arctic. Native porters in Australia, eating only kangaroo meat, carried heavy loads for up to twelve hours without rest or refreshment; and Aborigines in the desert, would lope for distances of up to twenty miles, with occasional bursts of speed to catch game, on a handful of worms, bugs and insects, and kangaroo meat.

What all these people (and animals) have in common is their carbohydrate-free diet. Fat is the best fuel for an athlete, carbohydrates are the worst. It really is as simple as that.

THANKS for that well-reasoned retort to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution column touting carbohydrate consumption for runners, Charles. You know from whence you speak and I look forward to sharing our interview with everyone in July. Let's e-mail Chris Rosenbloom at dietitian@ajc.com and let her know about how high-fat, low-carb living (or in Charles' case, NO carbs!) has positively impacted your athletic performance.

Olympic Athlete Questions Whether Low-Carb Diet Proper For Training

Should you train for a decathlon on a low-carb diet?

Since my blog has been online for a little more than two years with nearly 2,000 columns, all kinds of people are finding my older columns in Google searches. In fact, if you want to know if I've blogged about a certain subject, simply type in "livin' la vida low-carb" and whatever topic interests you into a search engine. I use this tool all the time when I need to look up something I've blogged about before.

Because of the sheer volume of traffic my blog receives, many of my columns rank very high in the search engines for various keyword searches. This enables articles I've written long ago to come to the limelight anew when someone finds it for the first time.

Sometimes the people reading these previous columns will have some expert knowledge on the subject they would like to add to the discussion and such is the case today with this blog post I wrote just a few weeks after I started the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog back in 2005. In that column, I shared about a survey conducted at the annual meeting of the International Society of Sports Nutrition that found most athletes have now shunned the idea of loading up on carbohydrates to boost their athletic performance.

That survey asked marathon runners about their training schedule, their diet, and how it all came together to help them perform their best. The results? One-third of the respondents who had weight to lose chose the low-carb lifestyle over the low-fat/low-calorie diet. Most of these athletes stated that livin' la vida low-carb was extremely effective for weight loss and aiding them in attaining their athletic performance goals.

The point of my blog post was that the idea of carb-loading on energy bars, sugar, pasta, rice, etc. is an outdated way to get your body ready for performing athletically. Sure, you may need to eat a few more carbohydrates than someone who is merely on a carbohydrate-restricted diet for weight loss purposes. But it won't be all those JUNK carbs I listed above.

This is something that countless numbers of highly-respected experts and fellow low-carbers would absolutely agree with me on, including Anthony Colpo, Mark Sisson, Cassandra Forsythe, Ray Kelly, Kent Altena, Adam Campbell, Dr. Jeff Volek, Dr. Donald Layman, and MANY MORE!

Even still, the gentleman who e-mailed me is currently training for the upcoming 2008 Olympics and wanted to add his own personal experience as it relates to the proper diet needed for the highest levels of athletic competition.

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

Jimmy,

I just read the article you posted about "Study: More Athletes Choose Low-Carb To Maximize Workouts."

I agree with the aspect that athletes should not rely on energy bars for sustenance, but I disagree that a low-carb diet maximizes workouts. I am a decathlete, NCAA Champion in the decathlon, and currently training for the 2008 games in Beijing, China.

Your article pumps up looking great much more than athletic performance. I can run a 46-second 400 meters, a 10.6 second 100 meter dash, and a 4:23 1500 meter. As a decathlete that is pretty darn good.

The fuel that feeds the muscles is glycogen, which is found in carbohydrates. This is why carb-loading before a major event is important. How can I race at a high level if I can't train at a high level?

Yes, losing the unnecessary fat is important, but fueling the body during workouts is most important. Eating right even when you aren't training for competition would eliminate the need for so much of this stuff anyway.

My point is this: Cutting carbs may make you look great, cut, and lean; however, for a world-class down to even the local athlete, doing that only robs the body of proper fuel for training which means a really sucky performance. You may look cut crossing the finish line, but you'll be sub-par in your performance. For a sedentary person on the sofa, low-carb may be okay (but only temporary to possibly help you lose weight, blah, blah, blah).

On the flip side a diet that is balanced and high in protein allows for proper protein synthesis. Keep in mind that this can only happen if there is proper balance of carbohydrates in the body! The principle of synergy is crucial for the body to do what it needs to do to the human to win a gold medal in the Olympics or run a personal best in the local Thanksgiving Day 5k. Carbohydrates and protein are both SO necessary.

Thus, I disagree with your article's slant. This article should have been entitled, "Weight Loss for Normal People." Take the word athlete out of the picture. Dr. Stuart Trager is getting paid the big bucks to lie by not telling the full truth. His two cents on power bars and energy bars is a no-brainer, but it is a poor attempt to woo athletes to the Atkins fan club.

What does he have to say about carbs that he didn't or can't say in this article? I know he didn't compete on turkey and chicken two days before a big race. Anyway, that's enough about that.

I'm doing additional research on this matter for athletes. Athletes can't survive and expect to perform well on a low-carb diet. Will they look great? Maybe. But they will undoubtedly suck in training and in competition.

If they want beauty, then they should be a model or something--not an athlete. Models don't run track meets to meet their beatification goals.

Okay, I'm done. Thanks for reading. Congrats on your success.

I requested an interview with this upcoming Olympian, but he never responded to my request. This is obviously an issue that he is looking very closely at right now both personally and for his future in athletic competition. Much of what he espouses resembles what people like Roy Pirrung and others like him feel is necessary for their training routine.

At least I give this young athlete credit for not tee-totally dismissing livin' la vida low-carb altogether. His position is clear: if you need to lose weight, then low-carb may be an option for you; but if you are training for competition, then you need to eat your carbs. The only gray area here is what kind of carbohydrates.

Feel free to chime in with YOUR experiences and I welcome the feedback of experts on this subject to either defend or dissent from the point of view presented by the future Olympian today. This should make for an eye-opening discussion.

8-21-07 UPDATE: I was hoping my friend and fellow blogger Mark Sisson from "Mark's Daily Apple," a former world-class competitive athlete, would respond to this post. Here's what he had to say:

Interesting thread. I was a top marathoner and triathlete years ago and spent years on a carbo-intensive lifestyle. I had to in order to replenish 500-600 grams of total glycogen each and every day. However, it was a choice I made (to compete at an elite level) just like our decathlete friend here. And with those choices come sacrifices, for which I still pay today.

He says it best with this quotes "I'm doing additional research on this matter for athletes. Athletes can't survive and expect to perform well on a low-carb diet. Will they look great? Maybe. But they will undoubtedly suck in training and in competition." This higher carb diet is probably essential to compete at the Olympic level, but it is not without its costs.

For those of you interested in my extended point of view on this, I just wrote an in-depth piece for one of the largest online endurance communities in the world. The piece is titled "Training is no Guarantee of Health."

Needless to say, it prompted a large discussion. Bottom line, while I live, eat, sleep and breathe low carb today for my health AND my vanity, I'm not sure I could find a way to successfully compete at the highest levels without major compromises.

Also, what do you mean, Science, that no one has run faster than Mamo Wolde? The world record is now 15 minutes faster than he ran in 1968 (even I have run faster in my day).

Keep up the great work, Jimmy.

Mark Sisson

Former Triathlete Promoting Primal Nutrition

Mark Sisson helping people learn the importance of good nutrition

Have you ever wondered when you stepped inside of your local drug or health food store and saw all those vitamins and other dietary supplements lined up in such an intimidating display exactly how much of what you really need? Believe me, I have and you can go broke buying the WRONG kind or quantities if you don't know what you are doing.

If anyone knows what proper nutrition and healthy supplementation is supposed to look like, then I would think a former marathon runner and world-class athlete would qualify. That's exactly what Mark Sisson is which explains why he is the perfect person to create a business called Primal Nutrition.

You may recall when I blogged earlier this year about Mark's incredibly entertaining and educational blog called Mark's Daily Apple where he espouses healthy living the low-carb way. Mark and I have a mutual respect for each other since our basic dietary and blogging philosophies are mirror images. You could even sense that when he interviewed me for his blog back in March.

But Mark Sisson is a much more professionally qualified health and fitness blogger than I'll ever be because he was a key player in bringing the triathlon to the Olympic games as an official sport. Yep, Mark is a bona fide athlete who deserves to be heard because he knows from whence he speaks.

When he retired from professional competition, Mark decided he wanted to build upon his own personal health experiences to provide high-quality supplement information and products to the public. He began by publishing numerous articles on fitness, health and wellness which you can enjoy at his blog as well as at my LowCarbNewsline.com web site now (check out his latest column making the "Case Against Cardio"--AN INSTANT CLASSIC!). Additionally, he has been interviewed by the health and fitness media as well as participating as an in-demand consultant in professional sports.

Prior to founding Primal Nutrition in 1996, Mark was the chief operating officer and head of research & development for America's #1 top direct-to-consumer nutritional supplement company. In other words, he has a solid reputation for knowing his stuff as it relates to vitamins and supplements.

As a strong supporter of livin' la vida low-carb, Mark wants to help his fellow low-carbers get the most potent, complete, cutting-edge, premium nutritional supplements available on the market today. He knows you don't have time to research the ingredients in thousands of bottles with stuff you can't even pronounce in them! That's why he created Primal Nutrition.

The first thing you'll notice is the product line is quite small--JUST FOUR BASICS IN ALL! But that's by design. Mark wants people to get what they need to be healthy and then just live their life without worrying about whether they are getting the right supplements or not. Primal Nutrition gives you the peace of mind to know you are.

No matter how young or old you are, these supplements will help with such health ailments as aging, blood sugar control, weight and pain management, mental health, sleep, performance, energy, and more. As a 52-year old man, Mark knows firsthand how important it is to remain healthy as your body naturally matures and goes through the life cycle. He's living proof it CAN be done!

Wanna see the full line-up of Primal Nutrition products? CLICK HERE to check 'em all out for yourself, including three versions of the Damage Control Master Formula multivitamin packs, Vital Omegas essential fatty acids, Proloftin for natural stress-fighting, and Responsibly Slim protein powders.

I have personally used the multivitamin packs, omega supplements, and Responsibly Slim products for the past month and would like to share my experiences with each.


DAMAGE CONTROL MASTER FORMULA

Most of you know I have been a big proponent of taking at the very least a multivitamin when you are livin' la vida low-carb. Regardless of your dietary preference, though, a solid multivitamin will help ensure you are getting exactly what you need nutritionally.

This beautifully-packaged product holds a one-month supply of 60 little waterproof packets each containing six capsules (taken twice daily!) with the right amount of 51 healthy nutrients your body needs (you can see a complete listing of these nutrients by clicking here). If you were to try to purchase all of these on your own, you could very easily spend up to $500 for just a one-month supply of products you can't be sure about! Yikes!

I replaced much of my supplementation (except fish oil which I'll discuss in a moment) by switching to the Damage Control Master Formula and feel absolutely fantastic. It sure is convenient just ripping an easy-to-open packet of six capsules in the morning and then again at night instead of opening 8 or 9 different bottles as I have been doing for the past three years. Not anymore!

This literally is a premium multivitamin for anyone looking to get everything they need in one dose. You'll be interested to know that there's also a "junior" version with 42 vital nutrients as well as a basic "budget-conscious" version that is perfect for children and youth. You'll never have to worry about your multivitamin again!


VITAL OMEGAS

I love my fish oil supplements and consider them a key part of my low-carb lifestyle. There are so many health benefits from adding this supplement to your diet that I don't know anyone who shouldn't be taking it. But getting the wrong kind can actually cause damage to your body rather than help it. EEEK!

One of the most common problems with fish oil capsules is most of them go rancid sitting on the shelf in the drugstore or at Wal-mart for months on end. One surefire way of knowing whether your fish oil supplement is rancid or not is if you have fishy burps soon after taking them. Not good!

That's what I have enjoyed about taking the Vital Omegas. No more fishy burps, so I KNOW I'm getting a top-of-the-line fish oil supplement that will help rather than harm me. This is the purest, most concentrated form of fish oil I've seen available on the market today--BAR NONE!


RESPONSIBLY SLIM

When you are livin' la vida low-carb, protein is a crucial part of your weight loss and muscle-building routine. Most protein powders are simply overloaded with sugar and lack enough fiber to be as useful to the people using them. That's what makes Responsibly Slim protein powder different.

It is both high-protein (24g) and high-fiber (8g) to give you a nice one-two punch in your weight loss routine. Responsibly Slim comes in either chocolate or vanilla flavors and tastes fantastic. I've had the chocolate and mixed it with water and ice in a blender for a delicious low-carb snack or meal replacement.

One word of caution for people on Induction or in the early stages of livin' la vida low-carb: Responsibly Slim contains 7g sugar per serving to improve the taste and texture. However, those low-carbers who are in the midst of or near their goal weight with a higher carbohydrate allowance can add this product into their routine.

Take a moment and check out Mark Sisson's Primal Nutrition health supplements for yourself sometime! They will help you become healthier that you ever thought possible!

'Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show' Episode 51: Another Low-Carb Podcaster, Taking On Obesity

Nathan Stanley is an athlete who is gladly livin' la vida low-carb

In Episode 51 of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore," I have the distinct pleasure of introducing you to another voice of support for the low-carb lifestyle embodied in a man named Nathan Stanley. He is a weightlifting champion who just so happens to go against the failed carb-loading strategy recommended for athletes these days. You'll get to hear a sampling of Nathan's new segment on The Health Hacks Podcast.

Also, I dive right into the subject of obesity and what we are doing to try to slow down the rate at which it is growing in this country. I can tell you this: NOT MUCH IS HAPPENING, but something needs to change. Not surprisingly, I think livin' la vida low-carb is a major part of the answer if the government and health "experts" would simply open their minds to the possibilities. Listen now to hear my impassioned plea for sanity on this important topic of discussion:

 "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 51 [12:05m]: Play in Popup | Download

When will the message of low-carb finally break through the barriers standing in the way of mainstream acceptance? The science is already there and still coming in droves, but there is still such a stigma attached to livin' la vida low-carb preventing it from being as universally accepted as the low-fat diet. Tell me your thoughts about what you think can be done to turn the tide of public opinion in favor of the low-carb lifestyle.

"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show" is also available by:

1. Listening at the official web site
2. Going to iTunes
3. Calling (818) 688-2763 to listen via Podlinez
4. Subscribing to the RSS feed

Please leave your feedback abot Episode 51 and to let us know what you liked or disliked about the show. Is there anything we can do to make it more enjoyable for you as you listen? Many of you have been kind enough to share how much the podcast has meant to you as you are livin' la vida low-carb, so we are grateful to receive your praise as well. :)

Be sure to tune in on Thursday as I air another interview from my trip to the American Society of Bariatric Physicians (ASBP) obesity conference in Nashville, TN earlier this month. We'll hear from a bariatric physician who will openly share the strategies used to help the overweight and obese get healthy again. You WON'T want to miss it! SEE YA!

Colpo Creates Low-Carb Bodybuilders Forum

Anthony Colpo proudly presents the "Low-Carb Muscle" forum

In a recent blog post about "The Great Cholesterol Con" author Anthony Colpo's decision to shut down his popular Omnivore.com web site, I told you about a new project Colpo was working on that will focus specifically on those low-carbers committed to bodybuilding and athletic performance.

Well, now it's here: LowCarbMuscle.com!

The forum is already up and running with topics such as physical performance, fat loss, muscle gain, research & media, supplements, bodybuilding, strength and cardio training, and so much more. Created specifically as a "forum for low-carbing bodybuilders and athletes," Colpo said he wanted the "Low-Carb Muscle" forum to be different from the other low-carb forums that already exist out in cyberspace.

"There are few if any forums dedicated solely to athletic low-carbers, despite the fact that low-carb diets have long been used by bodybuilders and other athletes," Colpo explained, citing Arnold Schwarzenegger's first U.S. trainer Vince Gironda as an example of those bodybuilders who recommended being on the low-carb lifestyle long before Dr. Atkins came on the scene.

This study released in 2005 confirms that more and more athletes are turning to livin' la vida low-carb maximize their workouts and attain optimal results in their fitness training. The fact is that the latest research has confirmed a low-carb, high-protein diet is conducive to losing body fat while preserving and building muscle mass.

Colpo believes this is a subject worthy of more discussion within low-carb and bodybuilding circles, but it is generally pushed to the backburner since it doesn't appeal to the typical low-carber who does little to no physical activity as part of their low-carb lifestyle. How sad.

"I think the status of low-carb nutrition in the athletic and strength-training world has risen to the point where it deserves to be treated as much more than a mere side-issue on mainstream forums," Colpo remarked. "Highly active low-carbers deserve a place where they can gather and discuss diet, supplementation and training with other like-minded folks."

Thus was the reason that LowCarbMuscle.com was created

"If you are a serious exerciser or athlete, and use low-carb nutrition or are seriously contemplating doing so, then please feel more than welcome to join the forum--it's FREE!" Colpo said.

Ironically, it was the fact that his previous web site, TheOmnivore.com, contained tons of "FREE" information on it that the "freeloaders" took advantage of that disgusted Colpo to the point that he removed the content for good in June this year.

But it appears he is content with having this new forum be open and available to anyone and everyone who is genuinely interested in living an active physical low-carb lifestyle. Anyone else need not bother with the "Low-Carb Muscle" forum.

"If your idea of strenuous exercise is walking your dog around the block, or if you think a 'post workout drink' means stopping at the pub on the way home from the gym, then this is not the forum for you," Colpo commented, adding that casual low-carbers might want to try one of the other general low-carb forums out there to discuss the various low-carb diet plans and ask non-fitness questions about low-carb living instead of this one.

Colpo has set up this forum to reach a niche audience by design.

"LowCarbMuscle is for people who want a forum where they can discuss becoming stronger, faster and leaner, not to talk about which is their preferred flavor of low-carb candy bar!" he said.

Looking for only those people who are dead serious about their desire to "strive to excel physically" and "who use low-carbohydrate diets as the high-octane fuel source for a highly active lifestyle," Colpo hopes the "Low-Carb Muscle" forum will become the most prominent place on the Internet for low-carb bodybuilders and athletes to come discuss their workout and diet.

Welcome back to the online world, Anthony! I know there are a lot of people who are glad to see you back providing a service to those in the low-carb community again. When I interviewed you in June, there was no denying that you still have a fire that burns within you to help people better understand what healthy living is all about.

I wish you well with LowCarbMuscle.com and invite my readers who think they are up to the challenge to get their bodies into the best shape of their lives to join your forum so they can begin transforming their bodies into lean, mean low-carb fitness machines.

Study: More Athletes Choose Low-Carb To Maximize Workout

More athletes have chosen to follow a low-carb lifestyle to preserve lean body mass and improve body composition to maximize their workout performance, according to a new survey presented at the 2nd Annual International Society of Sports Nutrition Conference and Expo in New Orleans, Lousiana this past weekend.

The research revealed on June 16-18 from this not-for-profit academic society dedicated solely to sports nutrition blows a huge hole in the age old myth that claims you need to load up on carbs to achieve a high-energy workout. In fact, what the study found was that just the opposite is true for many athletes now.

The survey was conducted at the 26th Annual Broad Street Run that took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 1. Participants in the 10-mile competitive race were asked a variety of questions about their training schedule regarding their specific fitness and nutrition methods. The study results have sent shockwaves through the health and fitness industry.

Close to one-third of the respondents who had 10 or more pounds to lose said they are livin' la vida low-carb to lose weight rather than following the traditional low-fat/low-calorie diets that have been implored by the experts for managing weight. Interestingly, the vast majority of people who began a low-carb program said this way of eating provided them with enormous success in their weight loss and athletic performance goals.

I have found this to be true in my own workout and nutritional experience. Since I first started a low-carb lifestyle on January 1, 2004, I have lost 180 pounds in all. But more importantly, I have totally changed my body from a fat blob of body mass into a muscularly-toned and physically fit one. I'm no Arnold Schwarzeneggar, but my body looks a lot better now than it did a year and a half ago! I credit my workout routine and low-carb for helping me reach this point in my physiological turnaround.

Eight-time Ironman competitor and Medical Director for Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. Dr. Stuart Trager responded to the findings of this survey by highly recommending that more athletes begin to realize the tremendous benefits of making smarter choices regarding their carbohydrate intake.

While many of them have traditionally eaten such products as a PowerBar before workouts, recent research by the Stone Foundation for Sports Medicine and Arthritis Research actually found these to be no better for an athletic performance boost than a sugary food product like a Pop-Tart, Trager explained! In fact, the research concluded that it did not matter what food the athlete consumed to provide fuel for their body before and during a workout. Instead, athletes should concentrate on finding foods that are high in protein and fiber and without added sugars as part of their general nutritional approach to generate the best benefits to their workouts.

"An energy bar high in sugars may fuel many during a workout, but active people rarely spend all their time training," says Dr. Trager. "To truly manage weight, improve body composition and preserve lean muscle mass, athletes must concentrate on their nutrition choices for the other 22 hours in a day. Too many active people are sabotaging their workout results in their day-to-day life by eating energy bars packed with sugars."

In fact, research in the past few years has shown livin' la vida low-carb is an excellent workout companion.

In the January 2002 edition of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, researchers found that athletes who control their carbohydrate intake were better able to maintain their endurance performance as a result of a higher level of fat burning during rest and exercise. And in the July 2002 edition of Nutrition & Metabolism, a controlled-carb approach to eating was found to produce better fat loss and preservation of lean body mass than a low-calorie diet program.

As more and more evidence like this is published, people will realize that the low-carb lifestyle is not only healthy, but necessary for even the most intense workout fanatics and those who need to be. If I can go from flab to svelte, then anyone can!