Liberation Wellness

Low-carb carb nutrition is the Rodney Dangerfield of the diet and health world in our society–it doesn’t get any respect! Despite the plethora of scientific studies that have been published over the past few years along with ample historical evidence of vitality and strength exhibited by our early human ancestors thousands of years ago who survived and thrived on an optimal high-fat, moderate protein, low-carb nutritional approach, the modern-day apologists for healthy living in 2011 still choose to ignore this wonderful way of eating that includes delicious and nutritious sources of quality foods like beef, butter, eggs, cheese, and green leafy veggies.

Of course, these low-fat, high-carb, (mostly) vegetarian advocates usually point to the saturated fat content of the foods allowed on the low-carb lifestyle as the primary reason for opposing it (out of ignorant fears that fat and cholesterol are somehow harmful to your health) followed closely by the assertion that your body needs carbohydrates to serve as fuel for you body (when any basic biochemistry student can tell you that the body truly NEEDS fat and protein but has absolutely ZERO dietary need for carbs). We live in very strange times these days and it can sometimes feel like there are two parallel universes as my sci-fi-loving wife Christine would say–one based on the reality that high-fat, low-carb is the diet humans were likely meant to be eating and one based on fantasy where good-minded people honestly believe nutrition focused on eliminating fat, greatly reducing calories, and making grain and starchy carbohydrate consumption the basis for the majority of calories consumed is viewed as somehow “normal.” At some point in the near future these two worlds will collide, merge to become one, and reality will bring everyone back to their senses again. One can only hope.

In the meantime, real people are living their low-carb lives in spite of the opposition they have heard about low-carb diets because after trying and failing for so long on everything else, this one just plain works for them. There’s nothing that will convince people who finally discover that the low-carb way of life is the diet that they’ve been looking for their entire lives to eat any other way. The agony of being forced to think you have to suffer through the hunger pangs that are associated with a low-fat diet are gone forever when you taste the freedom that comes from the nirvana I like to call livin’ la vida low-carb. And while I began eating this way as a means for helping me lose a substantial amount of weight off of my 410-pound body in 2004, the massive improvement I experienced in my own health convinced me that this diet was so much more than a way to shed the fat off my body–it quite literally restored my health and undoubtedly saved my life!

This convenient fact about restricting carbohydrates and consuming fat for fuel is oftentimes ignored by the media reporting on low-carb diets and is never given credence by any of the “experts” who claim to know what they’re talking about regarding health and nutrition. They instead choose to stick with their template that low-carb diets are a “dangerous fad” that “eliminates all carbohydrates” from your diet. But the truth is we’re talking about eating real food that’s loaded with nutrients that can be used by the body to transform it from the inside out. Regardless of what happens to a person’s body weight, the metabolic changes that take place when carbohydrates are controlled in their diet is a sight to behold. I’ve seen so many examples of this over the years, including unbelievable improvements in my own key health markers.

Today I have four fabulous real life low-carb health stories I’ve received directly from my readers who wanted to encourage you with the changes they have seen in their own health as a result of making simple yet effective changes in their diet. Some people may say that these stories are merely anecdotal and have no bearing on how other people should be eating–but I disagree. Like me, these are people who have been frustrated by the lack of proposed solutions to their weight and health woes proposed by medical and nutritional professionals who thought they were helping.

The advice provide by these well-meaning experts, unfortunately, is based on archaic axioms about what healthy nutrition looks like. That’s why more and more people are turning to the Internet and other alternative sources of information to discover the truth for themselves so they can make the necessary changes in their lifestyle before it’s too late. Let these examples of changed lives inspire you as you continue following your own low-carb journey to better health for many more years to come!

A diabetic reader reverses fatty liver, greatly improves lipids eating very low-carb:

Hi Jimmy,

I wrote to you a couple months ago asking if you’ve read much about whether dietary fat can aggravate fatty liver disease. You wrote back and said everything you’ve read indicates that carbs cause/contribute to fatty liver. I hope this doesn’t bore you too much, but I thought I’d share what happened since:

In mid-December, I had some lab work done and the results were not good:

AST = 78
ALT = 189
Total Cholesterol = 281
HDL = 39

Because my Triglycerides were 444, they couldn’t measure LDL. An ultrasound confirmed fatty liver. I, of course, panicked and made a number of changes. I started eating a very low-carb diet, pretty close to orthodox-Paleo (with the exception of heavy cream, which I sometimes drink a cup per day or more to satisfy a life-long love of dairy); of course gluten-free and sweetener-free.

I cook with only lard, grass-fed butter, grass-fed ghee, and virgin, unprocessed coconut oil – the latter of which I also use as a snack, taking a couple tablespoons per day to satisfy a hunger pang. I eat a lot of beef but switched to grass-fed; I also eat lamb and pastured pork. I quit drinking (though ASL/ALT ratio would indicate NAFLD.) I also started a heavy regime of resistance training 3 times per week. I don’t count calories, though I’m sure I eat fewer of them.

I should mention I was also diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes six months ago and my A1c in December was 8.5. My doctor put me on the maximum possible dose of Metformin and 10mg of Glucotrol before that A1c was taken. As you can tell it did little good. He said it wasn’t working and that I’d probably end up on insulin.

I had lab work done again recently and the results are astonishing:

AST = 22
ALT = 45
Total Cholesterol = 248
HDL = 45
LDL = 179 (at least they could measure it this time!)
Triglycerides = 119

My doc says that without another ultrasound there is no way to confirm 100% that my fatty liver is gone, but those numbers are such solid evidence that there’s no reason to do another ultrasound. I quit my Metformin and cut my Glucotrol in half. My A1c is now 6.3 and my home tests indicate that once a little more time goes by it should be in the mid-5s. My home blood glucose readings continue to drop. If this trend continues I hope to be drug-free in a few more months.

My doctor, of course, took credit for the American Diabetes Association and American Heart Association diet he’d put me on. When I told him I did precisely the opposite of what the ADA and AHA say to do, he argued with me and told me my numbers will turn on me and get worse. So much for letting the results speak for themselves. He also predictably insisted I go on a statin drug, which really annoyed me. My cholesterol is down 33 points in 10 weeks and I just don’t worry much about cholesterol anyway. I’m more impressed with the change in triglycerides and liver panels. He also discounted the health affects of the 28 pounds and 4 inches off my waist I’d lost. Unbelievable. No way am I going on a statin–at least not for those numbers.

A low-carb doctor improves cholesterol ratios for his patient with dyslipidemia:

I previously told you about a patient who lost 40 pounds over the past year and I recently sent out his blood work for particle size testing.

March 2011
40-pound weight loss
Total Cholesterol = 317
LDL = 200
Total HDL = 92
Ratio TC/HDL = 3.45
Triglycerides = 84

January 2010
Total Cholesterol = 192
LDL = 106
HDL = 41
Ratio TC/HDL = 4.7
Triglycerides = 226

This is an extreme example of eating low-carb because his total cholesterol and LDL were much lower before the weight loss of 40 pounds–but the ratio was higher! The point is how to treat this and improve his health? When I met him last year he was already on Simvistatin 40mg/day.

In the old school the doctor would be upset and place the patient on statins and get the LDL down to below 100 because the patient has diabetes. And the doctor would have never been able to get this patient to lose 40 pounds anyway. He would say that the HDL is better but would only focus on the high LDL!

Again we stopped two diabetes medications and one blood pressure medication because of the weight loss attributed to his low-carb eating. I conclude that today his cholesterol profile is much better than it was last year. His ratios look much better now and the particle size is the healthy Pattern A (large, fluffy kind).

A wine-loving reader rejects suggested statin therapy after lipid numbers improve:

I’m sure you don’t remember this as it was so long ago and you communicate with so many people but I frequently forward this exchange to friends of mine when they question me about my health and my low-carb eating plan. I’m still, believe it or not (I don’t) at 208 pounds and that’s with adding water aerobics and weight training and more consistent walking of my dog in the past few months. Regardless, I follow low-carb with more of a Paleo slant to it these days and I’m 90% compliant (although I’m a wino and love my vino)! I’m sure I could probably lose the weight if I just gave up my wine. I’m hoping to increase the weight training and dial in on that so that I can still enjoy my wine and still lose weight and improve my numbers.

I just had blood work done for the first time since this test as best I can remember. Anyways, even with the wine issue the improvements are impressive:

Total Cholesterol = 270
LDL = 180
HDL = 74
Triglycerides = 80
HB1AC = 5.4
Thyroid = 3.03
Liver = Normal

Results were over the phone today so I’ve yet to look at the full test yet.

Of course, my doctor wants to put me on a statin drug but I told the nurse that I want to continue on low-carb given the impressive results (and I told her to pull my last blood test to compare) and that I’d be back in 3 months for another update. I explained to her about the lack of evidence that statins really help and that we don’t know which kind of LDL particles that I have. She had no knowledge what I was talking about regarding the different kinds of LDL–can you believe that???

My doctors are great and they work with me, listen to me and have even advised me on some things regarding low-carb so I’m not sure where the breakdown is unless they are just really clueless when it comes to cholesterol–but I plan to change that! I’ll be printing out information and, perhaps, if I can swing it, buying a copy of Gary Taubes’ Good Calories Bad Calories for them. Anyway, I’m pretty tickled and wanted to share this incredible change with you–mostly because it’s THANKS TO YOU!!

In case you don’t want to look all the way back, here’s what my numbers were in 2009:

Total Cholesterol = 322
LDL = 212
HDL = 53
Triglycerides = 285

Feel free to share this if you want. I’m just so happy to be moving in the right direction health-wise, even if my weight isn’t showing it just yet.

A low-carb Paleo reader sheds 80 pounds and is getting his health back in order:

I got my lipid profile results yesterday and wanted to share them with someone who I figured would care. After just 8 months of low-carb/Paleo and 80 pounds gone…

Total Cholesterol = 165
LDL = 106
HDL = 39
Triglycerides = 45
VLDL = 9

My fasting glucose was 89 which was a bit higher that I would’ve liked. The lab didn’t get the order for my A1c, so they didn’t do one. Although I’m not technically diabetic, it was questionable as to if insurance would pay for that test. I’ll likely run it on my own using a home test.

These are all real people who are living the low-carb life and sharing some incredible stories of change that have been happening to their weight and health. Do you have a low-carb success story you’d like to share with my readers? I’d love to hear about it and possibly feature you in a future blog post. Send me the details about your low-carb health and weight transformation to livinlowcarbman@charter.net anytime. Your identity will be kept anonymous unless you grant me permission to publish your name and it would be my privilege to share YOUR story as a way to encourage your fellow low-carb readers. Hold your head high, my friends, because low-carb is STILL changing the lives every single day!

Jimmy Moore is the popular blogger, podcaster and author of Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb who lost 180 pounds on the Atkins diet in 2004 and quickly established himself as a highly influential layperson in the field of health and nutrition. His wildly successful Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Blog has been educating, encouraging and inspiring readers since 2005 and his accompanying iTunes podcast The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore is one of the most listened to health broadcasts online today featuring hundreds of enchanting interviews with the leading voices in the world of diet and healthy living! Jimmy’s latest book compiling all the knowledge he has learned along his journey is called 21 Life Lessons From Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb: How The Health Low-Carb Lifestyle Changed Everything I Thought I Knew. He lives in Spartanburg, SC with his beautiful wife Christine and their four crazy cats!