Atkins Diet Producing Major Health Turnaround

We all know how incredibly awesome the low-carb lifestyle is because so many of us have made it a regular part of our lives for months, years, even decades. But there are so many people who are finding out about this way of eating for the very first time week after week that it's fun to see their reaction to it.

While the Atkins diet has been promoted primarily for weight loss (which it does an amazing job of producing--180 pounds lost on it for me!), just as impressive is the way it helps bring about major improvements in the health of the people who are doing it as well.

Such is the case with an e-mail I received this week from a woman who began livin' la vida low-carb to help with her myriad of physical issues. Despite having a typical case of what is affectionately referred to as the Atkins flu (it means you're doing low-carb EXACTLY right!), this precious person couldn't be more giddy with excitement about her health turnaround thanks to Atkins.

Here's what she wrote in her e-mail:

I read your blog, and it helps me stay on track with the Atkins diet which I began a week and a half ago. I am still in the Induction phase, and I have had some side effects--mainly the only trouble so far is headaches and being very tired, but tonight I am headache free, and wide awake, so this could be that burst of energy I hear about. I'm hoping it is!

Despite the crummy side effects I have felt, there are other health issues I have been dealing with for over a year that are subsiding. I have struggled with my weight for most of my life, and have tried many things, all of which have failed.

I even tried medication, which left me with a host of new health issues--Raynaud's Phenomenon and erythromyalgia--both of which are peripheral nerve damage diseases.

One would cause my blood vessels to constrict in the slightest cool breeze or in an air-conditioned room and the other caused my blood vessels to contract in the slightest warmth, even cooking, touching a warm cup of coffee, getting a shower, etc.

It was all painful, my hands would become unbearable, and there was no happy medium with temperature, the slightest change would cause a flare.

My hearing also was affected, I have high blood pressure, very strong palpitations not only in my chest, but my neck and head as well. I am not sure if it was the medication which caused them all or if it was all inevitable. But I can honestly say that since starting the Atkins diet, I have noticed a drastic decrease in all of these conditions.

The flare ups are occurring less and less and I am able to tolerate temperature changes better, the hearing problem I had has improved, this tightened feeling that ran from my ear down to my neck has disappeared, and my blood pressure has gone down. Best of all, my heart palpitations are almost non-existent! Yeah!

I have lost 10 pounds in ten days, even though I was too tired to do much some days, and I hope to lose more. Despite the headaches and tiredness, I feel my overall health is improving and I wasn't expecting it to.

I started this hoping to lose some weight. But now I want to adopt the Atkins lifestyle permanently. Also the anxiety I have struggled with most of my life is completely gone, and for once, I can sleep at night. I don't just lay there for hours tossing and turning because my insomnia is gone.

It really doesn't surprise me that everything I have ever learned about health and nutrition were wrong. The very foods I was taught to limit are the ones that are saving me now.

I am 25 years old and I have previously felt so alone and doomed according to my doctor. I am too young to have health problems, so they don't look as closely at someone my age for problems or take as seriously because I don't fit the profile.

I don't need my blood pressure medication anymore, and I can't wait to tell my doctor the kind of diet that I used to lowered it. ;)

I just wanted to share my story, although I haven't been on this diet long, because I can already see the improvements.

Isn't that just remarkable?! Where's the media reporting of THESE kind of positive results from livin' la vida low-carb, hmmm? If a 25-year old is getting her health in order by eating this way, then why not recommend it for a 15, 35, 55, or even 75-year old who is suffering from illnesses that could be improved by it as well?

We're at the point where the preponderance of the evidence, both scientifically and anecdotally, is clearly showing the low-carb lifestyle is an excellent way both to lower your weight and bring about improvements in your health.

Whether it is lower blood pressure, dealing with hyperinsulinemia, helping teenagers effectively shed the pounds, controlling blood sugars, improving HDL "good" cholesterol and triglycerides, helping with heart health, treating diabetes...I could go on and on.

We know the truth and so do those who are put in charge of protecting public health. The only difference is they won't share the truth with you--but I will! This woman who has begun this new journey for herself is exhibiting the truth with her life and there are millions more just like her who need to start livin' la vida low-carb, too!

If you are thinking about low-carb as a lifestyle change and have any questions about it, then please don't hesitate to contact me anytime via e-mail at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.

Where Is The 'Hope' When My Diet Fails?

I want to talk with you today about a four-letter word that so many people going on a diet are desperately searching for. No, it's not "food," although I'm sure that four-letter word is on the minds of many dieters especially early on. Neither is it "luck" because finding a plan that will help you lose weight and keep it off forever takes a lot more than that. The word I am thinking of is "hope."

There's an acronym for this word that has always stuck with me:

Helping
Other
People
Excel

Helping other people excel at losing weight and improving their health is exactly what I am all about with my efforts here at this blog and elsewhere because I know what it's like to be in a seemingly helpless and hopeless situation.

When you weigh 410 pounds, wear size 62-inch waist pants and 5XL shirts, take three prescription medications, constantly feel ridiculed and scorned by staring onlookers, and wonder how much longer you'll have to keep living this miserable existence known as life, there's no other way to feel.

Trapped, imprisoned, and no way out--that was my life prior to 2004. I feigned happiness on the outside, but deep within I was screaming for help looking for just a small glimmer of hope. Oh God get me out of this wretched existence I am living so that I can move on with my life already. Is this the best that it gets? I don't want to die young and I feel like life has dealt me a raw deal!

Perhaps you think I just described how YOU feel. I'm sure my own personal experience with obesity has resonated with many of you because I see the exact same sentiments expressed in e-mail after e-mail from dear souls who want me to reassure them that they can find the same hope for overcoming their weight problem that I did. I never want to get used to hearing these gut-wrenching stories of pain and anguish and I don't think I ever will.

Here's one from a woman in San Diego, California that came this week:

Hi Jimmy,

I am one of probably thousands of e-mails that you get and hope that you somehow run into mine. I was online, yet again, seeking some help for my health, which is being ruined by my obesity.

I have tried them all--from Weight Watchers, to Jenny Craig, to the grapefruit diet, to the original Atkins diet, to LA Weight Loss, to most recently, Slim-Fast. None of them seem to work and I just keep getting bigger and bigger.

I now have high blood pressure and my feet, knees, and lower back bother me when I walk. I'm going to the gym and walking on the treadmill 50 minutes a day for the past month, and every other day, I add in weights, but I still see no improvements.

To make matters worse, I live in San Diego where it's verrrrry image conscious and if you're obese, you wind up being excluded from social situtations and even getting a good job!!

I'm at my wit's end and it's very depressing. In fact, the past few days have been so discouraging for me that I haven't even made it to the gym. UGH!

I have a mild allergy to wheat, so I am trying to elminate that from my diet, but don't know how or what to eat anymore to get the weight off. I've tried to find "The Biggest Loser" trainer Bob Harper online to get his advice but he's nowhere to be found. What would you recommend??

Please...............help....................me....................

Click here to read my response at the "30-In-30" blog to this seemingly helpless, hopeless situation and how I think my reader can rise triumphantly over this seemingly impossible health and weight mountain that she now faces.

Bulimic Cries Out For Help At Low-Carb Blog

Life has been so super busy for me lately with so much going on that it's hard to fit everything into the day that I'd like to be doing. That's okay because being busy beats the alternative when I was morbidly obese weighing over 400 pounds! Plus the time I am investing in the things I am doing are worthwhile. One of those things is receiving and answering hundreds of e-mails a week from people about low-carb, diet, health, and weight loss.

One of the saddest e-mails I have received in a long time came this week from a woman named Frances. This young lady is going through some very difficult times in her life right now and she really doesn't know what to do. She came to me broken and looking for restoration in what she sees as a hopeless existence. I share this e-mail with you because perhaps you are feeling like a Frances, too.

Read her heartbreaking story and you'll see what I mean:

Hi Jimmy,

My name is Frances and I am 26. I am not obese, but just a little overweight. Weight has been an issue for me ever since I was a child growing up. Sometimes it even had an impact on my social and spiritual life.

I exercise alot, but I eat a lot too! For example, when I started to a eat a little and I can already feel I am very full, I would continue to binge especially on fatty foods for no reason at all. Later on, all I can do is throw it up.

And there was one time, I decided to go to my "bulimia" support session which I ended up missing because I looked all puffy and teary from throwing up, so I didn't want to see anyone or have anyone see me like that. During my fat days after some business travelings, I refused to go to church because I knew I would have received some comments about the extra weight I had gained.

What I ended up doing was hiding at home most of the time. I really missed some of my old high school friends, but I am too ashamed to see them anymore because I feel so out of place!!! I need a lot of self-control and I simply can't resist temptation. I have prayed to God and asked Him for self-control, but I am still struggling now!

I am looking for some advice from you and hope you can help....

God Bless You!

Frances

Click here to read my encouragement back to Frances and to provide her with your own positive comments, especially if you are someone who has been a bulimic and overcome it in your life. Let's flood Frances with uplifting and hopeful messages so she realizes her life is worth so much more than she believes it does now. THANKS for caring for this precious child of God.