LLVLC On YouTube (Episode 24): Help Me With My C-C-C-Cravings!

There are some issues a male blogger without any education or experience in medicine and health just shouldn't be asked about. And yet it still happens! Remember this blog post when I got asked about whether livin' la vida low-carb will prolong your period. Uh, riiiiiigght! I know all about that kinda stuff, you know, so I'll just whip out my pat answer and give it to ya. HA! No, I needed to get my female low-carb blogging friend Regina Wilshire from the "Weight of the Evidence" blog to help me out on that one.

With that said, in Episode 24 of "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb On YouTube," we've got another one of those "girly" questions--how do you handle those intense cravings around your time of the month? AAAAAACK! Not again!!! LOL! Seriously, I wouldn't even begin to try to understand what those cravings are like or how to combat them, but I know someone who does. And she just so happens to co-host my YouTube videos with me--the beautiful and talented Christine (that's my darling wife, ya'll!).

Ironically, when we shot this video, Christine just so happened to be on her TOM (no, that's not her boyfriend, TOM is short for "time of the month"). So it wasn't very hard for her to talk about his subject so freely and openly on camera. She did most of the talking since it's that woman thang, ya know?

Learn how to tame those c-c-c-cravings in today's video:



I wasn't a complete mute in this video and shared from my own experience about how to tackle general cravings when you are livin' la vida low-carb. Christine verified that some of the strategies I shared with how to deal with those kind of cravings also help with the special once-a-month female cravings, too. She did such a GREAT job in this video and I'm so proud of her (right, honey, you did good...is that what you wanted me to say? Yes ma'am!). :P

As always, we'd love to read your thoughts about Episode 24 of "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb On YouTube" with any tips and advice about what YOU do to prevent cravings from ruining your low-carb lifestyle. We all deal with them in our own way, so I'm very interested in hearing some real-life examples of what works and what doesn't work. SHARE SHARE SHARE!

Our list of YouTube videos is growing by leaps and bounds and we appreciate the faithfulness of those of you who watch them each and every week. Sometimes I don't get a chance to post them here at my blog for a few days, so be sure to subscribe to our videos to see them within minutes after they are uploaded to YouTube. Today's video was inspired by several suggestions from our viewers, so please don't hesitate to write to us anytime with show ideas and other feedback at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. THANK YOU again for supporting "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb On YouTube!"

Five Tasty Low-Carb Stories For You To Chew On

So much to blog, so much to blog!

WOW, I wish I had more time in the day lately to be blogging about the low-carb lifestyle, but it's just not happening. The explosive growth of my new "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Discussion" forum (quickly approaching 1,000 members and a half million pageviews!) and my increasingly-popular video series with my wife Christine called "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb On YouTube" has taken up time I would normally dedicate to blogging.

I'm not complaining by any stretch of the imagination because I'm lovin' every minute of what I am doing, including my continued work on my podcast show, my "30-In-30" blog, my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog, writing my second book, and having the opportunity to start writing columns for a MAJOR health media outlet coming soon (more about that when I'm allowed to talk about it in detail).

Life is quite busy, but I wanted to get you caught up on a five items of interest that caught my attention lately that you should know about and chew on a while:

DANA CARPENDER COLUMN ON THE TRAVESTY OF SCHOOL LUNCHES

If you missed this month's nationally-syndicated "Cook Well, Eat Well" column from low-carb cooking goddess Dana Carpender, then you need to read it, print it out, and take it to your next PTA meeting at your child's school to share with the other parents what they can pack their little munchkin to eat for lunch instead. Dana details what parents can pack for their children to eat in her piece entitled "School lunches leave a lot to be desired for the taste buds." Giving alternatives to the nutritionally bankrupt foods like cereal, yogurt, and a roll for a meal (yep, that's the totality of this so-called "meal" that was served to students), this column is classic Dana Carpender and you won't want to miss it!

JONNY BOWDEN EXPLAINS HOW TO FIGHT FOOD CRAVINGS

If you haven't signed up for the FREE Total Health Breakthroughs newsletter yet, then you don't know what you are missing out on. One of the contributing writers there is none other than a real health expert named Dr. Jonny Bowden. I LOVE Jonny and have highly recommended his Living The Low-Carb Life and The 150 Healthiest Foods On Earth books to everyone I know. Jonny's writings are so infectious and educational, too!

This week's newsletter featured an article by Jonny entitled "How to Fight Cravings -- and Win!" that will knock your socks off! He goes into the psychology of overeating beyond mere hunger and how you can stop that vicious cycle in its tracks. Or, as he says, you need to "short-circuit the chain" as he outlines in his audiobook "Change Your Body Change Your Life." He encourages you to WRITE DOWN your five biggest hunger triggers and to put a plan of action into place when those triggers begin to start happening. Check these out:

1. Brush your teeth.
2. Eat a pickle. Eating something completely different from what you’re craving tricks the brain and kills the craving. Try eating a hot pepper when you’re craving chocolate and you’ll instantly see what I mean.
3. Reward yourself with a relaxing activity you normally wouldn’t do. Try a warm bath or uninterrupted reading of your favorite magazines.
4. Go for a walk. The endorphins released will often balance the chemistry of a craving brain.
5. Write down what you’re feeling. Try “being” with that feeling for five minutes.

I'm sure there's more where that came from, but those tips for beating your cravings and resisting the urge to eat when you shouldn't will get you started off right.

NEWSPAPER COLUMNIST TRUMPETS ATKINS DIET FOR HEALTH

Imagine my surprise when I was doing some research recently and came across this newspaper column from my own home state of South Carolina called The State and discovered a very positive review of livin' la vida low-carb for those seeking to improve their health, especially diabetics. WOW!!! The writer Cindi Ross Scoppe said there are other ways like drugs and supplements to improve blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and stabilize blood sugars, but the best way is...

"There’s an easy-to-stick-to diet that also does a good job of lowering blood pressure and stabilizing if not reducing cholesterol: the low-carb Atkins diet."

You read that right! She named the much-vilified Atkins diet in this story about healthy living. Incredible! I was so pumped about seeing this by a writer just down the road from me that I e-mailed her to thank her for that positive coverage. She never wrote back, but I'm sure she is aware of the media bias that exists against this way of eating and is roundly ignoring it herself.

Scoppe makes some excellent observations about the low-carb lifestyle ("Many foods that drive up cholesterol — eggs, steak, cheese, bacon, butter, cream — are on the all-you-can-eat buffet. No one has figured out exactly why, but apparently the bad foods don’t hurt you if you’ve sworn off carbs.") and even questions some of the illogical thinking of so-called diabetes advocacy groups ("When I did the American Diabetes Association’s 'Rate your Plate' exercise, dragging an Atkins-perfect meal of chicken, broccoli, lettuce and tomatoes onto my plate, I got a scoldy message that said: 'You have too many vegetables and not enough carbohydrates. Try again.' Too many vegetables?"). This one is too juicy to pass up, so take some time to check it out and encourage Scoppe in her low-carb journey to better health!

STANFORD DIET STUDY AUTHOR SAYS LOW-CARB 'BETTER, SIMPLE'

In March this year, there was a rather eye-opening study released in the most prestigious medical journal in the United States--The Journal Of The American Medical Association--by Stanford University researcher Dr. Christopher Gardner comparing various diet plans against each other measuring weight loss and health. The conclusion? The Atkins diet was best among several other plans, including the low-fat Ornish diet and "balanced" Zone diet.

There was debate about this study in the weeks following its release as many low-carb advocates like me called for low-carb to be promoted alongside low-fat in dietary recommendations so that the public could have all the facts to make the best decision about their own health. No such luck on that one, but I was pleasantly surprised to see this Scientific American story that quotes Dr. Gardner saying something that blew me away. Keep in mind that he is a vegetarian and it makes this quote all the more profound.

“Maybe low carb is a better simple message to the public than low fat,” Gardner says. “We tell them low carb, and they get it. They cut out a couple of sodas or a couple of cookies, and that adds up.”

That's it, Dr. Gardner! You've hit the nail squarely on the head and with amazing precision, too! Cutting carbs is simple, yet so much easier to understand and enjoy than cutting fat. Can we get you to shout that message over and over again to get people to understand it at last? Of course, with well-meaning but DEAD WRONG people like National Weight Control Registry co-founder Dr. James Hill quoted in the story as saying "There’s no way you can do it [eat low-carb] forever,” it's gonna be an uphill battle!

LOOK OUT GUYS, THE DIET INDUSTRY IS GUNNING FOR YOU NEXT

We all know the target audience for most diet companies these days is women. With an overwhelming number of people joining groups like Weight Watchers and Curves, it's almost as if the weight loss industry forgot about the guys. Well, not anymore according to this Chicago Tribune column that found they're now gunning for the men. They cite Nutrisystem and their use of former NFL players like Dan Marino as evidence of a new trend. It's nice to see these efforts, but all the male folks need to do is go on low-carb and the weight comes pouring off! Maybe if Weight Watchers would come up with a low-carb version of their plan, they could pull more men into their system. Wouldn't be surprised at all if that's what happens REAL soon!

I've got a ton more to blog, but that's all the time I have for now. We'll hit some more later, but for now I need to get some rest and get reenergized for the upcoming week. THANK YOU for your devoted readership and keep on livin' la vida low-carb!

Survey: 94 Percent Women Chromium Deficient, At Risk For Impaired Insulin Function

O'Neil says women especially need to better understand insulin health

A new survey conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by the National Women’s Health Resource Center (NWHRC) found some disturbing statistics regarding women and their awareness of the symptoms of impaired insulin function, among other things.

The survey of 1,377 U.S. adult women showed that three-fourths of women between the ages of 40 and 65 who were not diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease, although they have a family history of these conditions, were likely to be overweight, experience chronic fatigue and endure intense cravings for carbohydrates. Even more startling is the revelation from the survey that one-third of all women had no idea these symptoms are tell-tale signs that they have an impaired insulin function, a precursor to the development of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Additionally, this survey, which was funded by an unrestricted grant donated by supplement manufacturer Nutrition 21, found that 53 percent of the women took a daily multivitamin, but just 11 percent of the women surveyed took a chromium supplement. Sadly, a dismal 94 percent of the women surveyed had no idea that running low on the mineral chromium could negative impact their blood sugar.

Chromium is an essential mineral for improving insulin health just as calcium promotes strong bone health. The average American only gets about 1-2 mcg of chromium and just one in ten women gets an adequate amount of this mineral in their diet according to the USDA.

The lack of education regarding poor insulin function includes:

- 58 percent did not know carb cravings were a sign
- 48 percent did not know excess weight in the belly is a sign
- 65 percent did not know feeling fatigued is a sign
- 59 percent did not know being over 40 is a sign
- 78 percent did not know family history is a sign

The most common symptoms reported by the women surveyed:

- 62 percent have excessive weight in the mid-section
- 36 percent have frequent bouts with fatigue
- 30 percent have uncontrollable carb cravings

There is a special web site set up to help women who want to stay abreast on all the latest news and research regarding insulin health. It's called BloodSugarFactor.com and can answer many of your questions regarding this important health issue. Additionally, NWHRC has some downloadable tools as well or they can be reached toll-free at 877-986-9472.

If you are interested in seeing the survey results for yourself, then you can download it as a PDF file by clicking here.

The following is a special question and answer session from nutrition expert Carolyn O’Neil, MS, RD. O'Neil is a former CNN nutrition correspondent and co-author of "The Dish: Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous!" and she answers some common questions about insulin health to help women better understand how important chromium is to that equation.

What is insulin?

Insulin is known as the "master metabolic hormone." Normal insulin function helps the cells use glucose, our body’s energy source. However, in some cases the body is unable to use the insulin it produces. When this happens glucose, or blood sugar, levels rise above normal, which can lead to type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

If I don’t have diabetes why worry about insulin health?

If you don’t have diabetes and you hear the word ‘insulin’ you may tune out because you think it doesn’t apply. It is critical to understand that insulin health is important for everyone, particularly if you have a family history of diabetes or heart disease, as you are at higher risk for these conditions.

Why should I be concerned about diabetes or heart disease?

You may think of heart disease as a "man’s disease." However, heart disease is the number one killer for women, too. Additionally, the American Diabetes Association estimates 9.7 million women 20 years or older have diabetes, although nearly one-third don’t know it. Improving your insulin health today can help lessen the risk for these chronic diseases in the future.

How can I improve my insulin health?

Above and beyond eating right and exercising, you can proactively improve your insulin health by supplementing your diet with chromium picolinate. While the body makes insulin naturally, chromium enables insulin to work at its best.

What is chromium?

Chromium is an essential mineral required to metabolize carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Without adequate levels of chromium in the body, insulin cannot effectively do its job. Numerous human studies support the role of chromium picolinate in helping to improve blood sugar, promote cardiovascular health and fight carbohydrate cravings.

Do I need a supplement?

Chromium is found in many foods at low levels, but it’s often poorly absorbed. This is where a chromium picolinate supplement can factor into your diet. Supplementing with Chromax chromium picolinate – the most studied commercially available form of chromium – will help balance insulin levels.

How much chromium picolinate should I take?

Research suggests 200-500 mcg of chromium as chromium picolinate daily will help achieve optimal health benefits.