'Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Menus' Blog Shows You How One Man Eats Low-Carb

See what I eat at the new "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Menus" blog

You know, I need another blog like I need a hole in the head. I've already got "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog, "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Links," "The 30-In-30 Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge," and "The Quintessential Diabetes Links Resource." Add to this my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" podcast, "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb On YouTube" video series, a dLife column, as well as CarbWire, LowCarbNewsline, CommonVoice, and DietDetective. WHEW!

But here I go creating yet another new blog called "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Menus" that will chronicle exactly what I put in my mouth on a daily basis. I have backdated the entries all the way to December 14, 2007 so there's already well over a month's worth of daily menus for you to see (plus, you can see how I ate through the holidays--it IS possible to stay on low-carb!). Anyone who wonders what a long-term low-carber actually eats won't have to wonder anymore.

Now I realize there will be a small minority of people who will disagree with what I choose to put in my mouth and that's fine. It's my body and my life, not theirs. I have no problem eating the way that I do because for the first time in my life I am able to manage my weight and health while enjoying what I eat in the process. It's so liberating when you are able to FINALLY find what works for you and then executing that on a daily basis. That's what this exciting new blog will illustrate.

In addition to my diet, I've also included any cardio or resistance training exercise (which I have been doing for about a month) in the daily timeline as well. You'll be able to see exactly when I ate and how much exercise I participated in every single day and I encourage you to check it out often. At the end of each day's entry, I include a "NOTE" that provides some commentary about that particular menu. As you know, life can sometimes provide some interesting twists in what goes inside your mouth, so I tell you about that for context.

I'm pleased to offer this new blog for so many of you who have long asked me to share more menus. Well, now all you have to do is go to my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Menus" blog to check it out! Let me know what you think and if you have any other suggestions to improve it even more.

Leaving A Low-Carb Legacy Beyond Your Lifetime

I wanted to share with you about a book I bought over ten years ago called Reflections From A Mother's Heart. I picked up this very unique gift by a company called J. Countryman for my own mom and gave it to her for Mother's Day in 1997. Little did she know at the time that this "gift" for her would soon become a gift for me and my future kids.

This was a book of memories that allowed my mother to share her life's story in her own words. The 200+ pages were mostly blank waiting to be filled in to a wide variety of questions about mom's life. From the very basic information such as where she was born and raised as well as some of her favorite items right down to personal questions like "What do you remember about your first kiss." (Mom conveniently left the answer to that question blank! :-~ That's probably a good thing! LOL!)

Anyways, I had completely forgotten about this little book I gave Mom a decade ago until she returned it back to me mostly filled with personal hand-written answers to the questions in the book for one of my presents this past Christmas 2006. Reading through everything my mom had written, I learned much more about her than I ever would have imagined. This is HER legacy that needed to be passed down to me and her future grandchildren.

So that got me to thinking. Should those of us who are successful at losing weight and keeping it off after a lifetime of struggling with it write our own story much in the same manner? We could call it "Reflections From A Low-Carb Dieter's Heart" and provide page after page of the difficult questions of what it was like to be overweight or obese, the thing that triggered your weight loss experience, and what you are still doing today to keep the weight off for good.

Click here to read more about this idea of journaling your low-carb weight loss success so that future generations in your family can learn from your personal triumph over a lifetime of obesity.

Check Out 'The Google 15' Weight Loss Tool

"The Google 15" lets you accurately track your weight loss progress

I'm all for using anything to help you feel confident about reaching your weight loss goals. Whether it is creating a big poster of the pounds coming off of your body or keeping a journal of your carbs, exercise and water intake daily, these are tools that will help you become the eventual weight loss success that you dream about.

There's a relatively new online weight loss tool that I found while surfing the Internet and it's actually pretty neat, too. It's a Google Module from Google software engineer Brian W. Fitzpatrick (aka Fitz) called "The Google 15." When newbie techno-nerds first start out working for Google, the common belief is they generally gain at least 15 pounds from all the free food at their fingertips compliments of the great Google empire (Google denies this is true, but it makes for a good story).

As a result, Fitz wanted to provide a tool that would help encourage people to track their weight loss. Thus was born "The Google 15."

Unlike traditional trackers which go up and down fluctuating and frustrating even the most devoted dieters, "The Google 15" implores a moving average so it is much more realistic about how you are doing by seeing the trend from the previous two weeks. You weigh yourself at the same time every single day (preferably in the morning) and input your weight online.

While those of us who have lost weight can attest to the thrill of seeing the scale drop several pounds in one day, we've also been hit with the dreaded several pound weight GAIN in one day as well. Too many people start kicking and screaming when this happens and they allow that scale to dictate their attitude about their weight loss.

That's where "The Google 15" comes in.

Looking at the most current trend of your weight loss as you move towards your goal weight, this tool will help you see exactly where you have been, where you are, and where you are going. Most people who are eating right and exercising will benefit from knowing they are doing very well despite a few bumps every once in a while with the scale. It's not a reason to give up on losing weight like so many people do.

Within a week of submitting your daily weight information, you will start seeing a graph of your progress that will compute how much weight you have lost or gained over the past week as well as how much further you are from your goal weight. This can be an invaluable tool for you to use if the constant ups and downs freak you out. "The Google 15" brings it all down to a mathematical equation that equals ultimate success.

Then, even after you hit your weight loss goal, Fitz encourages people to keep using "The Google 15" to serve as an "early warning if you start to pack on the pounds!" What a great idea and it will keep you accountable even if nobody else is watching.

Wanna take advantage of this exciting new weight loss tool? Click on the "Add to Google" button below (or CLICK HERE) and "The Google 15" will automatically show up when you visit Google.



Don't be concerned about your information being stored anywhere because it uses Google's public Homepage API and simply stores your daily weights and your goal weight in your preferences. However, if you are using a shared computer like at the library, then disable cookies before exiting and nobody will have access to your information.

If you have any comments or questions about "The Google 15," then just e-mail Fitz.

'Health Affairs' Journal Posts Low-Carb Blogger's Letter About Medicare Study

Health Affairs journal prints my impassioned letter over obesity

After blogging about this new study that found tripling Medicare costs was the direct result of the doubling in obesity rates among Medicare recipients, I received a very kind reply from the lead researcher Dr. Kenneth E. Thorpe from Emory University.

"Congrats to you on your leadership in this," Dr. Thorpe wrote in an e-mail. "I am doing several talks on this in DC this month to drive home the message. Key here is absent a clear understanding of what is driving up the growth in spending, it becomes impossible to effect meaningful change in Medicare or the growth in private insurance."

Dr. Thorpe was so pleased with my enthusiasm and concern over this issue that he forwarded my comments to Andrea Zuercher, managing editor for the journal that Dr. Thorpe's study was published in called Health Affairs. You can view the full text of the study by clicking here.

Zuercher said she discussed with her editorial staff about having me draft a letter in response to be posted on the Health Affairs web site.

"We'd like to invite you to submit an eLetter in response to his article, for posting on our Web site," she wrote to me.

I'm never one to let an opportunity to share my opinion on such an important subject pass by, so I agreed. You can view the entire response letter that was based on my blog post from the other day with a few additions here and there by clicking here.

Here's are a few brief excerpts from my letter:

"Why do we think anything will change if we keep giving the same lifestyle advice that has been hammered down the collective throats of the American people for decades? Obviously, something is not working, or we wouldn't be in the mess we are in. The answer may not necessarily lie in more of the same, but rather new, fresh approaches to educating the public about what constitutes a healthy diet and fitness program."
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"If you genuinely want to bring about effective change in the hearts and minds of the American people regarding healthy living, so they don't come into the Medicare system as a ticking timebomb just waiting to explode and suck every last dollar out of the Medicare budget, then you need to begin urging government officials and medical leaders to immediately start educating people about other alternatives to the low-fat diet approach. Sure, this will anger some of the hard-nosed bureaucrats who don't want to hear the truth, but our current dietary recommendations have done nothing but exacerbate the obesity problem and make it worse than it has ever been."
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"What we need now more than ever are genuine bold new leaders on this issue to stand courageously in the face of the staunchest critics and declare, "This is the right thing to do." Who will these brave and honorable leaders be? How about members of Congress? Medical professionals? Is there anyone ready to take me up on my recommendation that Americans be given the facts about many different weight-loss plans so they can decide which one is best for them?"

I hope my letter is read by the policymakers and health officials who need to see it. We are at a point in the history of the world where if we don't start changing the way we're doing things regarding health recommendations and information, then the United States of America could very well eat its way to destruction. To some that sounds preposterous, but this problem with Medicare is JUST the beginning.

The people who are preventing the average American from getting the information they need to make lifestyle choices for themselves need to look into the not-too-distant future and see what the unintended consequences of their actions will cause. It's not gonna be pretty unless SERIOUS changes are made about what we call a "healthy diet" in this country.

Do you have an opinion about this and would like to respond to the Health Affairs journal with your comments? You can submit your letter by clicking here and following the instructions provided. If the editorial staff approves of your letter, then it will be posted within a few days.

WE CANNOT LET THIS PROBLEM GO UNADDRESSED!