Jamie Van Eaton: A New Low-Carb Superstar In The Making

Jamie is taking her unique writing style to the next level

Move over all you wanna-bes because there's a new low-carb sheriff in town and she's getting ready to make some major tidal waves like we haven't seen before. Okay, maybe that's a bit hyperbolic, but at least I have your attention now. If you haven't heard about Jamie Van Eaton just yet, then pretty soon you will. She's the brand new columnist at Examiner.com and they've given her a bold and exciting feature of her own called "Low-Carb Examiner."

Jamie, aka Cleochatra from "The Lighter Side Of Low-Carb" blog (which is one of the most hilarious and informative low-carb blogs I've ever seen!), has been featured at my blog previously for her low-carb Italian recipes using cauliflower (see #12) and her now world-famous Oopsie rolls recipe which is royally screwed up the first time before FINALLY reaching Oopsie nirvana last week after two failed attempts. And they were so good for that bacon and cheese sandwich. Mmm mmm!

What was I saying (I got distracted by Oopsies because I'm so hungry on the first day of my intermittent fast!)...oh yes, Jamie! Oh my gosh, what an opportunity she has now to reach so many more people with the positive message of livin' la vida low-carb. This is a golden chance for a real voice of reason to show others that low-carb is so much more than a simple "fad" diet that is only about weight loss. Jamie understands this is about a total lifestyle change that transforms your weight and health to new heights you could never imagine before.

Take a look at some of her posts which already appear at Examiner.com:

Why Low-Carb, and Who is That Chick with the Cool Hair?
Great Low-Carb Blogs (although it was missing at least one! Hee hee!)
Want Supple, Gluten-Free Buns?
Carl's Jr.: A Little Bowl For Your Soul
Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Anorexic (an ode to the Kimkins diet scam)
Help Fix The Food Pyramid (which I blogged about last week)

She is already establishing herself as quite the prolific writer and I say the more she writes the better! This is an entirely new audience of readers who have probably never been exposed to the low-carb lifestyle quite like this before. Jamie Van Eaton is the perfect ambassador for low-carb because she's smart, funny as all get out, writes better than most people I know, and is a fervent supporter of this way of eating we all love and appreciate.

Go visit the "Low-Carb Examiner" page and subscribe to this feed TODAY! And while you're there, leave Jamie comments at each of her posts to let her know how much you support her in this new endeavor. Let's give her the enthusiastic reception she deserves for being willing to put herself out there where not everyone will necessarily be in full agreement with what she writes about. That's alright, she's planting seeds with each new post, so you never know what impact the work she is doing will have.

Send Jamie some encouragement and congratulate her on this opportunity she now has to reach people. Her e-mail address is cleochatra@gmail.com. I couldn't think of a nicer woman for this happen to and I see a new low-carb superstar in the making with Jamie Van Eaton. YOU GO GIRL!!! We are all so proud of you and wish you nothing but success with the doors that keep opening for you. So, before you become too big, can I have that podcast interview with you now? :D

Dana Carpender Quits Syndicated Column To Focus More On Low-Carb

A couple of weeks ago, I dedicated an entire YouTube video to a low-carb legend who has revolutionized controlled-carbohydrate cooking for the millions of people who have bought her bestselling low-carb cookbooks over the years. She's low-carb cooking goddess Dana Carpender and I've got some pretty big news to share with you about a major career change that has been in the works for a while.

Longtime readers will recall I was quite concerned in March 2006 when Dana's popular nationally syndicated newspaper column called "Low-Carb For Life" was abruptly changed to the much more generic "Cook Well, Eat Well" in response to the perception that livin' la vida low-carb had fallen out of favor with the general public. The explanation was that she needed to "broaden the focus" of her column to reach a wider audience focused on healthy nutrition (insinuating that low-carb doesn't fit that mold!).

I was quite critical of Dana after the column name change because I felt she had allowed herself to be sucked into the anti-low-carb movement that for the most part still exists today in the media. That perception was only made worse when she released her Every Calorie Counts Cookbook in April 2006, the first Dana Carpender cookbook that did not include the term "low-carb" in the title. Some people were beginning to wonder if Dana still supported the low-carb lifestyle anymore or if she had "sold out."

In my interview with Dana in September 2006, I asked her about this directly and she was unequivocal and quite reasoned in her response to these charges:

"Truth to tell, in my day to day life I don't much care what others think of how I eat. I do care about what it takes to gain a public forum, which is why the change in the books and the column. It doesn't do anyone any good for me to be a linguistic purist but not have a public voice."

So her philosophy was as long as she had a voice to spread the positive message of healthy low-carb living, she was willing to go with the changes her publisher and syndicate wanted. But you could tell this was gnawing away at Dana in a few of her columns beginning with this one in February 2007 followed by this one in April 2007. All the positive news about livin' la vida low-carb over the past year lit a bright-burning fire within her to get back to her low-carb roots in earnest.

That's why today's announcement by Dana at her new blog is HUGE: she's quitting the newspaper column with United Media effective immediately after she turned in her final column today. To replace that column, she has decided to transform her popular Hold The Toast web site into a new blog that she promises will be updating often for her fans after she finishes up a new book she is working on featuring a variety of low-carb success tips and advice from people who have lived it (I was privileged to be interviewed by Dana for this book) in the next three weeks.

This past year has been a rough one for Dana as she details in her column, so be sure to go check it out and bookmark her blog RIGHT NOW so you'll never miss a single post! And don't you know there will be some delicious recipes featured there too--WOO HOO! She's even promised to show her daily menus beginning with this first one she posted today.

WELCOME BACK, Dana! We can't wait to see what's coming next!

My New dLife Column Questions Why Low-Fat Diets Aren't So Healthy

Starting my very own health and weight loss blog in April 2005 was simply a hobby where I could have an outlet for sharing about my experiences livin' la vida low-carb and all that comes with that. Of course, it grew into something a whole lot more than that in very short order and I am grateful for the platform I have been given to reach thousands of people on a daily basis with the positive message I share here.

Of course, I've expanded the reach of this blog into other areas with my book, my podcast show, my discussion forum, my YouTube videos, and syndication of my columns on a whole host of other web sites across the Internet. I enjoy entering into new areas where people have never heard of me and my writings because it's like starting over on day one here at my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog again. Newbies are always amazed by what they read in my columns.

One of the best opportunities I have been given to expand the reach of my low-carb message is at the popular diabetes and health web site called dLife. In October 2007, they brought me on as a contributing writer for their Food & Nutrition division to write specifically about the benefits of carbohydrate control. I blogged about this and shared a link to my very first column with them called "Research Round-Up: The Case For Low-Carb."

Since this is more of a professional health and information web site than my blog is (which tends to lean on the news and commentary side of things), the style is a bit more stuffy than I would personally prefer. But getting these kind of columns out into the mainstream on a site like dLife is important for people to understand there are dissenting voices that are backed up by the scientific data. And all of the studies cited in my columns at dLife will be listed clearly.

Such is the case with my latest article that was published today entitled "Healthy, Low-Fat Diet? Maybe Not" and it's not very flattering to the low-fat diet. All I did was simply take what has been published in some of the major medical journals this year and put it all in one place for people to see for themselves why livin' la vida low-fat ain't all that!

Here are some blog posts I have written about these studies this year if you'd like to see my personal thoughts and commentary about each one:

- Study: High-Carb Consumption Leads To Lower HDL, Higher Triglyceride Levels
- Study: High-Carb, Low-Fat Diet Ineffective For People With High Insulin Levels
- High-Carb Diet Raises Insulin Levels Which Spikes Blood Pressure, Research Reveals
- Study: High-Carb Diet Leads To Advanced Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Possible Blindness

They just put a brief bio of me up on dLife today and now I've got two column under my belt. I'm contracted for at least one more and hopefully more if they continue to like the content I am providing. Be sure to go read my latest column and tell others you know about my dLife articles. Long live the low-carb lifestyle! :D

Jimmy Moore Becomes Food And Nutrition Writer For dLife

I am now a contributor to the outstanding diabetes site dLife

I'm pleased to share with you another new writing opportunity I have been given with one of the premier health web sites on the Internet today--dLife. They were impressed by my writing skills and strong blog following and asked me to contribute to their Food and Nutrition section on a monthly basis. It was such an honor to have this opportunity to write about livin' la vida low-carb in an arena that is not necessarily pro-low-carb.

My very first column is now available for you to read: "Research Round-Up: The Case For Low-Carb." I shared about how the new Gary Taubes book Good Calories, Bad Calories has brought low-carb back to the forefront again and that some very exciting research has come out in support for low-carb living in 2007.

These dLife columns will feature much of the research showing why carbohydrate restriction is healthy and why high-carb, low-fat diets are not. My column for November will take a closer look at the high-carb diet studies showing how this nutritional approach leads to a decline in health. You'll enjoy that one! :)

Be sure to tell everyone about Jimmy Moore's new dLife column!

Columnist Claims No 'Intelligent Human Being' Would Begin 'Ghastly' Atkins Diet

One of the things I enjoy doing at my blog is helping educate misinformed newspaper columnists as it relates to livin' la vida low-carb. You know, I'm sure these people are well-meaning in their own sick, perverted way thrashing the Atkins diet, but I for one will not allow the ignorance to go unchallenged. It's the least I can do as a public service to society. :)

I've seen columnists who are jealous of how well the Atkins diet works, a low-fat diet apologist, what I would describe as a low-carbophobe, and even a Jewish man who claims he did the Atkins diet (no, he didn't!). My favorite ones are those know-it-all college journalists who rant and rave about low-carb diets when they're still learning how to pull their britches up!

Ah, these people never cease to amaze me with all the ways they try to bring down this healthy lifestyle change that millions of us have made our one and only way to eat for the rest of our lives. And yet they STILL do as I noticed in this East Hampton Star column from a woman named Laura Donnelly. She wrote about the subject of diet in her column this week and had to get in her digs on the Atkins low-carb diet.

Let's take a look at what she wrote, shall we? Lamenting about the "conflicting information" about diet and health that exists in our society, Donnelly said she prefers to implore "basic, common-sense guidelines" in her recommendations for a healthy way to eat and live. First on her list is "eat in moderation."

HA! What a freakin' joke, Ms. Donnelly! This whole "eat in moderation" mumbo jumbo is silly because it is so subjective that it means nothing to the average person. It kinda like telling people to eat a "healthy diet"--but even that isn't so clear to most people as you admitted at the beginning of your column.

My low-carb lifestyle gives me all the "balance" in my diet that I need to eat the most nutrient-dense meals I possibly can. That's why livin' la vida low-carb has become the permanent weight loss solution for so many people, myself included.

But then Ms. Donnelly turns her attention to our cherished and beloved Atkins diet and didn't hold back her angst and fury over this healthy alternative to the low-fat diets. Here's what she wrote:

"Look at the success of the ghastly Atkins diet: How any intelligent human being could think that a diet recommending crumbled fried pork rinds as a substitute for bread crumbs is logical is beyond me, but this diet did appeal to lots of menfolk. And everyone I know who tried this diet has gained the weight back. Again, let me preach: Everything in moderation."

I decided this was just a wee bit over the top for my blood, so I wrote a letter to the editor to the East Hampton Star responding to that one paragraph alone in Ms. Donnelly's article. This was my response exactly as I submitted it to them:

Dear Editor,

I was disappointed by your columnist Laura Donnelly in her recent column entitled "The East Hampton Diet" where she describes the Atkins low-carb diet as "ghastly" and shares her utter ignorance of what this way of eating is all about in her rant about "everything in moderation."

The most absurd statement she made was the following: "And everyone I know who tried this diet has gained the weight back." Well, guess what, Ms. Donnelly? Now you DO know someone who has lost weight on the Atkins diet and then KEPT it
off over the long-term. That would be me.

In 2004, I lost 180 pounds after reading "Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution" and today I am, as I like to describe it in my book, blog, and podcast show, Livin' La Vida Low-Carb!

This truly is the most remarkable nutritional approach I've ever seen in my entire life because it transformed me from an extremely unhealthy morbidly obese 410-pound man on a one-way ticket to an early grave into a physically fit 220-something man with more energy, vitality, and love of life than he ever thought possible!

People who have never read any of the books about low-carb (as is clearly the case with Ms. Donnelly and her obvious ignorance of what low-carb is all about) have not walked a mile in my shoes to know what it is like to live life as a fat person in America. If the Atkins low-carb diet is helping people like me get their life and health back, then why discourage others from trying it, too?

My philosophy is for people to find what works for them, follow that plan exactly as presribed by the author of the plan, and then keep doing it for the rest of your life. Whether that's low-fat, low-carb, or yes, even low-carb, let people decide what's best for them and stop your scaremongering already. That's a lesson that would serve you well, Ms. Donnelly.

Sincerely,

Jimmy Moore

I have no idea if they will publish my letter or not, but I encourage you to submit a letter about your low-carb success as well to inform Laura Donnelly that people really do lose weight and keep it off on a low-carb diet. Send your letters to letters@easthamptonstar.com.

She goes on to push exercise so you can "earn your strawberry shortcake" as a reward. UGH! Will these people EVER learn? I guess we'll have to keep setting them straight when they get it wrong. And they WILL keep getting it wrong as long as they continue to NOT educate themselves about the low-carb lifestyle. Don't worry, though, I'll keep an eye on them. :D

Take Heart Low-Carbers, The Dana Carpender Of Old Is Back

For those of you who are new to the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog, you may or may not be aware of who Dana Carpender is. She's probably the most well-known and prolific low-carb author out there sharing the positive message of the low-carb lifestyle to the masses through her incredible cookbooks.

But last March, I was quite critical of her decision to change the name of her column from "Low Carb For Life" to "Cook Well, Eat Well." Soon thereafter, Dana released her very first cookbook ever that did not have the term "low-carb" in the title. That's not to say the book isn't "low-carb," but it certainly has not being marketed that way.

In this changing media climate regarding low-carb diets, I can certainly understand why she made these changes, but it was still disappointing that this great spokesperson for livin' la vida low-carb had to bow to the publishing gods and remove "low-carb" from the description of what and who she is. In my interview with her last year, she explained why she thinks low-carb is not as important as glycemic load. Okay, I can understand people who feel that way.

But what's the old saying about you can take the dog out of the hunt, but you can't take the hunt out of the dog? Sorry Dana, I'm not calling you a dog except to say you are STILL fighting VERY hard to get the low-carb message out there and your latest column proves it yet again.

If you haven't read it yet, then go RIGHT NOW to read the fantastic article "Take this low-fat diet and shove it." You'll be rolling in tears laughing at the low-fatties with this masterpiece from the Dana Carpender we all know and love.

Okay, okay, I can't resist sharing a few gems with you:

"Is diet season over? I'm weary of ads touting how low-fat this or that food is. If Jared tells me one more time that I ought to eat those sandwiches because they have only 6 grams of fat, I'm going to reach through the screen and smack him."

ROTFLMAO! Now, every time I see those obnoxious Subway commercials with Jared getting in an arguing match with Michael Strahan about those sandwiches having "less fat," I get this picture in my mind of a rabid Dana Carpender yanking her shoe off and throwing it at the television screen! LOL! You get 'em, Dana!

"Let me put it simply: There is no health benefit from a low-fat diet. Is that clear enough?"

Crystal clear to me, Dana! And this study she cites in her column confirms it. She goes on to talk about all the "high-fat foods" that are "healthful," including nuts, olive oil, chocolate, and beef. Not exactly the staples of a low-fat diet, wouldn't you say?

I LOVED this part of Dana's column the best:

"Fat has more than twice as many calories per gram as protein or carbohydrate...the idea behind a low-fat diet for weight control was that by cutting out fatty foods, you would automatically cut calories and thus lose weight. This idea makes sense in theory but turns out not to work so well in real life. As we cut our fat intake, our calorie intake went up, not down."

She's so right and this argument by low-fat supporters like Dr. Dean Ornish that since fat has over twice as many calories as carbs or protein never sat well with me. It totally neglects the satiety factor not just of fat, but protein too.

Dana ends her column with a bang: "Low fat is dead. Americans just haven't buried it yet."

For those of you who were concerned about whether the Dana Carpender of old has changed her message since her column name changed, hopefully this latest article from her will remove all doubts from your mind. It certainly has mine!

Check out more of Dana Carpender at her fantastic web site LowCarbohydrate.net, including her new blog featuring that classic Carpender commentary and her delicious low-carb recipes you can't live without. ENJOY!