'Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show' Episode 131: Dr. Yoni Freedhoff Questions Low-Carb Long-Term

Obesity doc Yoni Freedhoff wonders about low-carb long-term

We hear it all the time from people who have genuine concerns about low-carb diets: Can you sustain it over the long-term? It's a fair question and I can appreciate that people who work in the medical community want to be thorough with the information they are providing their patients. Not every doctor asks that question with the best of intentions, but I think the one I interviewed for my podcast show today does.

In Episode 131 of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore," you'll hear from Dr. Yoni Freedhoff in Ottawa, Ontario Canada as he talks about how he got into bariatric medicine, what he does in his office to help the obese, what he thinks about the low-carb diet as a sustainable lifestyle change, and why he believes the pharmaceutical answer to obesity isn't necessarily the primary answer for people desiring weight loss. I think you'll enjoy hearing what Dr. Freedhoff has to say. ENJOY!

Click on the "LISTEN NOW" link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 131:

"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 131 [22:02m]: LISTEN NOW | Download

Dr. Freedhoff is a very articulate physician who sincerely wants to help people beat their obesity through the use of a calorie budget--whether it is low-fat or low-carb--and trying to keep within their individualized parameters. It's an interesting strategy to give overweight and obese people "guidance" rather than shaming them into losing weight. I was pleased to hear him say that he understands fat and protein are filling (that thing called satiety) and are great for weight loss.

Get in on the fun with Dr. Yoni Freedhoff and others anytime by:

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

Are the concerns by Dr. Yoni Freehoff about the sustainability of low-carb diets over the long-term justified? What do you think about his philosophy for people dealing with obesity? Let's discuss it in the show notes section of Episode 131. Check out his blog "Weighty Matters" as well as his Bariatric Medical Institute web site for more information from this fascinating doctor who is helping his Canadian patients lose weight and get healthy again.

Come back later this week when I'll be sharing an outstanding interview I conducted with a man named Doug Kaufmann. One of my blog readers told me about Doug and his "Know The Cause" program which zeros in on fungus as a primary role in obesity and disease. I know, it sounds gross and a little crazy, but I can assure you this will be one podcast you will NEVER forget! That's what I have coming up for you on "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" on Thursday.

Long-Term Weight Loss Success: Does It Take Willpower Or Something Else?

People assume you've got "willpower" if you lose weight

A fiery conversation has ensued over at Regina Wilshire's "Weight Of The Evidence" blog over a topic dealing with a very important aspect of livin' la vida low-carb that I think warrants your attention. Her blog post entitled "What if Willpower Matters Little in the Long-Term for Weight?" has the comments coming in by the droves and I highly encourage you to leave yours as well.

The main point of the discussion is not over how to best bring about weight loss success, but rather how do you KEEP that weight off once it's gone. The subject of willpower that individuals possess within themselves has been theorized as a reason for those few who are able to keep the weight off. But my opinion is it has nothing to do with willpower at all. More about that in a moment.

Regina says too often we focus on weight loss while practically ignoring the more important aspect of maintaining weight loss.

"Weight loss isn't the problem - keeping the weight off afterward is the really critical issue that we continue to fail to address in a meaningful way to actually see long-term results."

Absolutely, this is the critical aspect of a weight management program that most people who are overweight or obese NEVER think about. Unless you are prepared to know how you will live AFTER the weight loss has subsided, then you cannot possibly be ready when the times comes to start maintaining. So choosing a plan that will not just work for weight loss, but also one that has proven to keep the weight off is ESSENTIAL to this diet debate.

This is why you will often hear me talk about finding a proven healthy plan that will work for you, follow that plan exactly as prescribed by the author, and then KEEP doing that plan for the rest of your life. This kind of perserverance pays BIG dividends over the long-term and explains how I've been able to maintain my 180-pound weight loss over the LONG-TERM! And we'll be doing it for many more years to come by sticking with livin' la vida low-carb for life!

Here was my comment at Regina's blog about her post:

Outstanding topic, Regina! As someone who has lost 170 pounds and gained it back in four months and several years later lost 180 pounds and kept it off for three years plus, I'm happy to weigh in on this issue. And I certainly agree that weight loss is NOT the problem with obesity in the United States. Instead, it's weight maintenance and how to help people better manage their weight once it comes off that should be the focus.

For me, the process of figuring out this thing for myself began back in 1999 when I lost 170 pounds on a low-fat (nearly ZERO fat), high-carb diet. Sure, I lost a ton of weight in about 9 months and looked fabulous. There was only one problem--I was HUNGRY, IRRITABLE and DOWNRIGHT NASTY to be around. It should have come as no surprise to anyone that I rebelled against feeling that way and started eating like gangbusters again--and the weight poured back on.

So when I was ready to give weight loss another try in 2004, I knew ahead of time that I needed to implore a different strategy for dealing with my morbid obesity which had me at 410 pounds. If I was going to successfully lose weight, then I needed to find a plan that would work for me once the weight loss ended. Low-fat diets had already proven they were not sustainable long-term for me, so those were off the table right away. After searching and searching for what to do, I decided to read Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution.

Reading the book from cover to cover, I embarked on what I would hope to be a permanent and healthy lifestyle change beginning on January 1, 2004. It was scary at first since the nutritional advice shared by Dr. Atkins went against everything I ever knew about diet and health, but I trusted this cardiologist knew what he was talking about.

It didn't take long for me to experience phenomenal results--30 pounds lost in month one, 40 more in month two, and 100 pounds lost in the first ten weeks! WOW! Screw what anyone says about this diet--IT WORKS and VERY VERY WELL!

And the rest is history...I went on to lose 180 pounds that year, dropped over 20 inches from my waist, went from 5XL shirts to XL, and came completely off my prescriptions for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and breathing problems. I was thin and healthy for the first time in my life, but I knew the REAL test had only just begun. Could I KEEP the weight off now by continuing to eat this way?

Well, here it is 2008--four years since I began this journey to better health and the weight has STAYED OFF! WOO HOO! People always automatically assume that I have some great willpower or something and I just have to laugh at this. My mantra back to them is this--weight loss doesn't take willpower, but a steadfast resolve to make better choices.

That's the bottom line for me when it comes to long-term success. If you had enough willpower to resist food during your weight loss, then how the heck did you get to become overweight or obese to begin with? Where was your willpower then, hmmm? No, it doesn't take willpower to resist temptation, but rather a constant, conscious effort to always try to choose wisely for the sake of your health. Doing that will put you in a better position to maintain weight loss for many years to come. Or at least it has for me.

I recently did an entire podcast show on this topic about why diets fail most people and what can be done to make you more likely to be successful than not. I think this is a topic well worth pursuing further and I'm happy to see the great Regina Wilshire being the one to bring it up. FANTASTIC WORK as always, Regina! KEEP IT UP!!!

Please leave your comments at Regina's blog post too and get in on a very active discussion. Share your thoughts about what it takes to bring about long-term weight loss success. Does diet have ANYTHING to do with it or is it simply behavioral and about some inner strength called willpower? Of the people you know who have lost weight and kept it off, what's their secret? This is a topic that low-fat, low-carb, vegetarians, and everyone else purporting to be about resolving obesity should be interested in discussing.

Don't Get Fooled By Ridiculous Atkins Diet Blood Vessel Study

Dr. Michael Miller puts his personal low-carb bias ahead of science

Despite being called out by Gary Taubes in his book Good Calories, Bad Calories, the use of sensationalism by the active players in modern health research and journalism hasn't changed a bit! Want an example of this? Just look at today's headline from Reuters to see what I mean:

"High-fat Atkins diet damages blood vessels: study"

Most people will simply read that headline and say to themselves, "Oh my God, why in the world would I ever go on the Atkins diet?" Then from there, people will infer that they shouldn't go on ANY low-carb diet at all because we all KNOW how unhealthy it is, don't we? This is the kind of sloppy science and reporting that has prevented the healthy low-carb lifestyle from ever gaining any favor in the public eye. And that's such a crying shame.

Lead researcher Dr. Michael Miller, director of preventive cardiology at the Baltimore, MD-based University of Maryland Medical Center, and his colleagues wanted to see what effect a maintenance diet has on blood fat levels, cholesterol, and other markers for inflammation. They observed 18 people over a ONE-MONTH period following one of three diets:

ATKINS--50 percent of calories from fat
SOUTH BEACH--30 percent of calories from fat
ORNISH--10 percent of calories from fat

The researchers made sure that NONE of the study participants lost weight so the results would not be skewed by weight improvements since it was about weight control and not weight loss. Each of them had their blood tested for all of the health markers checked out for the study.

What was the result?

The ATKINS group allegedly saw an increase in their cholesterol levels and inflammation which the researchers concluded would cause "long-term damage to blood vessels" and could very likely lead to heart and artery disease. On the other hand, the SOUTH BEACH and ORNISH groups saw their cholesterol levels come down and artery function was improved.

Using an ultrasound machine to measure flexibility and dilation of the blood vessels as well as proteins in the blood, the researchers found major inflammation in the ATKINS group.

"Some markers of inflammation were increased by as much as 30 to 40 percent during the Atkins phase, whereas during the South Beach and Ornish phases, the markers either were stable or went down, some by as much as 15 to 20 percent," Dr. Miller remarked.

Oh my God, oh my God, what am I gonna do now?! Oh my God, somebody hurry and call 911 for me or something because this "study" says I'm gonna blow a blood vessel or something, oh my God, oh my God! EEEEK!!! What a freakin' crock of horse manure if you ask me! I've been livin' la vida low-carb for MUCH longer than one month (nearly four years and counting!) and I have not been harmed by my high-fat Atkins diet.

What's most interesting about this grand conclusion about how dangerous the Atkins diet is for people to be on is that it is merely based on the results of SIX PEOPLE! Yep, the millions of us who are enjoying our low-carb lifestyle must now put up with a very small-scale study reported on by an overzealous anti-Atkins researcher and his willing accomplices in the press reporting on it as the gospel truth. And that's the worst part of a study like this one.

So, was this "study" actually published in some prestigious medical or science journal? Nope! Instead, it was presented as a paper at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association help in Orlando, Florida this week. No peer review. No long-term observations. No real proof of anything except a sloppy way to compare the supposed impact of diet on blood vessels. The lack of substance in this study along with some rather suspicious and shady implications about what the Atkins diet is should have made anyone with a brain at this conference stand up and question the validity of such research.

Did it happen? Yeah right!

Was anyone else struck by the almost-exclusive focus on the dietary fat content of these diets? What was the ratio of the other two macronutrients--protein and carbohydrate? If that "Atkins" diet with 50 percent fat was matched up with say 30-40 percent carbs, then it is NOT the Atkins diet. If that's the case, then no wonder their LDL cholesterol went up. Fat consumption is only healthy when carbohydrate intake is kept to a minimum.

Most of us who are doing the Atkins plan as outlined in Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution (the only Atkins diet that REALLY counts since it is BY THE BOOK!) even in maintenance are consuming less than 10 percent of our calories in the form of carbohydrates. My personal diet ratio of fat/protein/carbohydrate is close to 60/30/10.

Obviously, Dr. Miller was no fan of the Atkins diet from the beginning.

"It really is the Atkins diet that is the worst," he told Reuters. "The Atkins diet caused the LDL levels to go up by about 7 percent, whereas in the Ornish and South Beach diets ... they went down 7 to 10 percent."

Yeah, so what? What happened to the HDL "good" cholesterol in the ATKINS group, Dr. Miller? How about the triglycerides? I would be willing to bet that there was a SIGNIFICANT difference in the increased levels of HDL and decreased triglycerides for them compared to the other two low-fat groups. Why wouldn't you talk about that data since these are tell-tale signs of health improvements on low-carb, Dr. Miller?

Describing the Atkins diet as "the worst" is merely your opinion, sir. This "study" of yours shows nothing but what happens when you fail to provide honest and trustworthy research to a world who unfortunately trusts everything people like yourself have to say about your research. They rely on you to provide quality, accurate information about health, not some sensationalist, headline-grabbing ruse of a research scam. These kind of shabby conclusions are what drives people away from listening to anything you have to say because they get tired of hearing you cry wolf when there isn't one anywhere close.

While the diets used in this study were supposed to simulate what would happen when you begin a maintenance plan on the various plans, there is something to be said for those of us who DID actually lose weight on these methods and then continued to follow them long-term after the weight has come off. When I weighed 410 pounds in 2004, my weight was bad, but my health was getting much worse. Without the Atkins diet, I never would have regained my health and become the energetic man I am today.

And my lipid profile did improve and has continued to do so four years later. But Dr. Miller believes any positive impact of livin' la vida low-carb will only reach a certain level before your health declines.

"When you lose weight everything looks good but after a while you plateau and you hit a maintenance stage," Dr. Miller contended.

That's right, you do, Dr. Miller. But that's what happens on ANY lifestyle change when you begin as an overweight or obese person and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Whether you choose low-fat, moderate-fat, or low-carb, the end result is still the same--lasting and permanent weight and health control. If one option doesn't work, then another one should be tried. That has always been my motto in trying to help people in their own journey to better health. Low-carb is definitely one of those permanent weight loss solution options that people should consider.

Sadly, you have people like Dr. Miller who insist on pushing the low-fat lie that is at the root cause of why obesity and disease still exists in America and around the world today. Pushing vegetables has forced people into choosing potatoes and other starchy choices (according to statistics from the American Diabetes Association) while shunning healthy meat selections has made the high-carb beans, tofu, and whole grains the protein source for many people to the detriment of their health. But, no, we can't be having people on that low-carb Atkins diet, Dr. Miller says.

"We don't recommend the Atkins diet," Dr. Miller concluded. "Why not start out with a diet that will be healthier for you in the long run after weight loss?"

And what kind of diet would that be, hmmmm? We have such varying definitions of what constitutes a "healthy" diet these days, Dr. Miller, that you can't possibly expect people to know what that looks like. So please tell us. I'm sincerely interested in hearing what you have to say.

But don't spout off sound bytes like a "balanced" diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains (that's nothing but a big fat copout if you ask me!) because that doesn't mean a thing to most people. Give us sample menus of the foods you would recommend on your "healthy" diet and let's see how it stacks up with how real low-carbers like me eat now. I would not be surprised to find that my diet is as healthy or even healthier than what you come up with, sir. So why pigeonhole people into following YOUR definition of that kind of diet?

Drawing broad-based conclusions about a healthy nutritional approach like the Atkins diet, which was created by a world-renowned cardiologist who clearly understood the science behind eating a controlled-carbohydrate diet, looking at a very short-term study with a small sample size and trying to extrapolate long-term consequences from such limited data is both irresponsible and repugnant. Isn't the very point of research to help people BETTER understand what may happen to their health in a given circumstance?

So then why would you try to purposely manipulate the results of that research just to suit your own personal agenda? That's just plain shameful, Dr. Miller, and I cannot believe you would put your professional integrity and character on the line just to follow the template of your own biased belief system. Tsk tsk!

The general population of laymen like myself who simply want the science to speak for itself deserve better than this--MUCH BETTER! Weight loss, healthy living, and solid nutrition are too important to just be playing games. What we need and quite frankly DESERVE are researchers who can get back to doing what they were meant to do. And that's looking at problems objectively, following research protocol precisely, and then letting the results show what they show. It's the right thing to do and anything else is merely garbled and twisted chatter among ideological zealots like yourself!

The Atkins low-carb diet is absolutely sound nutrition, pure and simple. For the past three decades, we have seen excellent independent research validating every single point that the late great Dr. Robert C. Atkins wrote about in his books as well as real people like Jimmy Moore who lost nearly half of his body weight and now kept it off for close to three years. Is that not long-term enough for you, Dr. Miller?

It's this kind of validation of the low-carb lifestyle that should have researchers excited about looking into this program (and there is "strong interest" behind-the-scenes) rather than seeking to annihilate and destroy it at every opportunity just because you don't like it personally. The history books will look back someday on all this vile hatred for the Atkins diet and livin' la vida low-carb as a sad time in the history of health in the world with so many people clueless to the benefits of low-carb living while people getting fatter and sicker than ever!

Want more helpful insights about Dr. Miller's ridiculous Atkins diet blood vessel study? Check out what the always-entertaining Dr. Mike Eades wrote about it at his blog today. ENJOY!

11-7-07 UPDATE: Here is the official response to Dr. Miller's study today from Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.:

A presentation at the recent meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida, comparing the maintenance stages of three diet regimens, Atkins, South Beach and Ornish, has relied on faulty research and a misunderstanding of Atkins protocols to suggest the Atkins diet may not be heart healthy.

Dr. Michael Miller, who made the presentation, apparently ignored more than 30 years of clinical experience and independent research on low carbohydrate diets, and now four years of trials looking specifically at the Atkins protocols, which have consistently demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of the Atkins diet.

Colette Heimowitz, M.Sc., Vice President of Nutrition & Education at Atkins Nutritionals, commenting on Dr. Miller’s presentation, referenced several peer reviewed studies which report opposite findings. Among the most prominent was a year-long weight loss and health study conducted by Stanford University researchers and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association which showed no increased risk of cardiovascular markers in more than 300 overweight subjects.

In summarizing his study, Dr. Miller acknowledged that researchers considering the effects of low carbohydrate diets have reached very different conclusions depending on sample size, research protocol and any number of other uncontrolled variables. Unfortunately, Dr. Miller's research cannot be fully evaluated since his study has not been peer reviewed or published. But, given the short duration of his study, the very small sample size, and the weak correlations, drawing conclusions about possible long term health risks tied to fat consumption in the maintenance phase of any weight control program is not good science.

According to media reports, the subjects in Dr. Miller’s study were put on what’s described as the maintenance phase of Atkins with 50% of their calories coming from fat. However, this is not the Atkins maintenance phase protocol, nor is it part of the Atkins diet protocols. The lipid response Dr. Miller reported is what one might expect from a combination of rich carbohydrates and fat, but it’s not Atkins.

When it comes to nutrition and weight control, the public deserves science based conclusions. Time and again independent research has shown the benefits of a low-carbohydrate nutritional approach to safe and healthy weight loss and weight maintenance. And that's Atkins!

Low-Carb Diet Is Permanent Weight Loss Solution

Fitness expert Mark McManus heralding healthy low-carb principles

The idea of finding that perfect nutritional approach (which is a nice way of saying "diet") that works for you is arguably the most difficult thing an overweight or obese person will ever have to come to grips with if they ever hope to find a permanent way to lose weight and get healthy. Ever since I blogged about my long-term weight loss success on the Atkins diet last month, I have not been able to get this undeniable truth out of my head.

Of course, there have been a couple of validations for my point of view regarding livin' la vida low-carb's role in bringing about permanent and lasting weight loss. The first one is this column on Helium.com by a woman named Kimberly Townes. In an op-ed about struggling with weight, she so perfectly illustrates why most people are unable to get their obesity under control.

What's her premise? They're OBSESSED with food! Sound familiar?

Describing her weight struggles through college and graduation, Townes admits that she tried EVERYTHING, including laxatives, fad diets, Ephedra, and the like until she "started a weight loss plan that I have kept up with for the last few years." Was it low-fat? Nope! How about calorie-conscious? Not hardly!

Can you believe it was Atkins?! Yep, she said the Atkins diet!!!

"I was finally able to release myself from my fear of food, eat whole and healthy and let go of dangerous weightless drugs," Townes proudly wrote. "By following a regimen of high protein and vegetables and limiting my carbohydrate intake I have been able to maintain a healthy balanced lifestyle."

WOW!!! That's incredible that someone would so willingly publish their success on a low-carb diet and I want to publicly applaud Kimberly Townes for spreading the positive message of livin' la vida low-carb. YOU GO GIRL!

"I still falter from time to time, but I am able to go back to basics and remember what works for my body," Townes concluded.

Amen, Kimberly! You hit the nail on the head, my friend, because most people simply skip past the basics (avoid sugar, remove white flour and processed foods from your menu, skip the junk food and fast food, eat whole low-glycemic foods, etc.) and have no concept of what REALLY works for them because they convince themselves that they MUST eat a low-fat diet because it is the ONLY healthy way to eat. NOT!

That's one reason I was SO glad to see my bodybuilding blogging buddy and regular reader here at my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog Mark McManus write in his "Build Your Life To Order" blog one of the best columns about permanent weight loss I have ever seen. CLICK HERE to read this excellent column for yourself.

Here are the highlights of Mark's post:

- Calories aren't the total picture with weight loss.
- Permanent weight loss takes a plan that keeps you satisfied.
- Getting back to the diet of our ancestors is critical.
- High-protein, high-fat, low-carb approach is far superior.
- Getting and maintaining the metabolic edge is key.
- Ketosis is an important factor in fat-burning.

Mark was even nice enough to include this analogy I featured at my blog about the difference between a carb-fueled diet and a fat-fueled one. I'm so glad people are starting to better understand how and why livin' la vida low-carb works as well as it does to help people lose weight.

More importantly, though, both Kimberly and Mark have hit on something that is completely missing in discussions about the low-carb diet in 2007--it is beyond a shadow of a doubt a permanent weight loss solution that is changing the lives of those who commit to it and make it their permanent lifestyle change. That's exactly how I have lost nearly 200 pounds on it and kept it off ever since!

Sadly, our society is so deeply rooted in sending mixed messages about diet that the general overweight and obese public just doesn't care anymore because they're too frustrated to do ANYTHING. This is a sad place to be in, but it's where we are.

When are we going to see low-carb being actively promoted at the long-term, permanent weight loss solution that it is? How many more years will people be fooled into cutting their fat and calories while their weight problem keeps getting worse and worse?! WAKE UP, AMERICA!