Liberation Wellness

"For LIFE"

Archive for the ‘obesity’ Category

« Previous Entries

Harvard’s ‘Healthy Eating Plate’ Only Marginally Better Than USDA’s MyPlate

Posted by Jimmy Moore on October 3, 2011

Sometimes these so-called health “experts” just can’t seem to leave well enough alone. Earlier this year the USDA released their long-awaited 2010 Dietary Guidelines that totally ignored low-carb nutrition. Even one of the Scientific Advisory Committee members who chaired the carbohydrate committee said at a conference in Israel in May 2011 that “there is no scientific basis” for the nutritional guidelines being thrust upon the American people. Is it any wonder why nobody in the real world seems to take these people seriously anymore? Sadly, though, many still do–including government programs such as WIC, school lunches, food stamps, military allowances for food, foster care nutrition guidelines, nutritional labeling and more (see the entire list of government programs that follow the USDA’s 2010 Dietary Guidelines here).

Then in May 2011, the USDA decided to come out with a replacement to the archaic Food Pyramid (which had been an abysmal failure in helping Americans eat better) by creating a seemingly more simplistic new (but really not-so-new) image they call MyPlate (which we discussed in Episode 13 of the “Low-Carb Conversations” podcast). Just in case you haven’t been paying attention and missed this marvel of nutritional wisdom (tongue planted firmly in cheek), check this out:

Fruits? Is that any old fruit like a banana? Vegetables? Do white potatoes count in that category? Grains? Somebody up there at the USDA desperately needs to read Wheat Belly. Protein? I bet they meat chicken, turkey and other “lean” meats and not a big fatty steak. Who knows? Dairy? They’re not talking about full-fat cheese or even raw milk here. The big missing element in this supposed improvement to the Food Pyramid is fat. Where is it? How much should you eat? What kind of all these generic food categories are people intended to consume?

These are the questions that the Harvard School of Public Health attempted to answer with the release of their brand new “Healthy Eating Plate.” Yes, folks, we have yet ANOTHER food plate to examine. When I first saw this plate from Harvard, the first thing I noticed is there was more specificity about what people should be eating. Here’s what it looks like:

Do you notice anything different from the USDA’s MyPlate aside from the greater detail about how to eat? It includes “healthy oils” but says to limit butter. Why? What’s unhealthy about butter?

On vegetables, they say to eat to your heart’s content except for potatoes. That’s pretty good. Regarding fruits, they note to “eat plenty” which is a terrible idea if your body is sensitive to the sugar in them. And what’s to stop somebody from eating tons of high-sugar fruits?

Again we have the whole grains on the plate with the caveat to limit refined grains like white rice and white bread. How about NO grains instead? Healthy protein is listed as opposed to just protein. What do they mean by that? Fish, poultry, beans and nuts. As for red meat, it should be limited according to Harvard. And by all means, don’t you dare touch bacon, cold cuts or processed meats. They’re forbidden.

Finally, instead of dairy, they promote the consumption of water, tea or coffee with “little or no sugar” in them, 1-2 servings milk/dairy daily, and 1 small glass of juice daily. I laughed when I saw “avoid sugary drinks” right after the recommendation to drink juice. Ummm, isn’t that sugary? Finally, the small little running man logo in the lower left-hand corner that says “STAY ACTIVE!” is supposed to promote some form of exercise. Not bad in and of itself considering the USDA didn’t even mention exercise.

Harvard has posted a comparison of their “Healthy Eating Plate” vs. the USDA’s MyPlate” if you want to contrast the major differences between the two. But in all honesty, the Harvard plate is only marginally better than the USDA’s version. What about people like me and so many of my readers who are metabolically deranged and/or diabetic (both Type 1 and Type 2) and have to eat a carbohydrate-restricted diet? Sure, the Harvard plate limits carbohydrates more than the USDA plate does, but it still pushes grains, all kinds of vegetables (that may or may not be good for your body) and unlimited fruit (with insulin raising and blood sugar-spiking effects).

Plus, cutting out the major source of fuel for the body when you restrict carbohydrates in your diet–that would be dietary fat, especially saturated fat–is a one-way ticket to discouragement and failure on your low-carb lifestyle. Your body thrives on butter, red meat (especially grass-fed and wild game), and high-fat dairy. Limiting these foods is completely unnecessary and will not improve your health one iota. I would argue adding back in these foods will make you healthier by increasing your HDL cholesterol, lowering your triglycerides, and significantly decreasing the number of Small LDL particles in your body. That’s what livin’ la vida low-carb does for your health better than any of these silly food plates ever will.

Mindy Noxon Iannotti, my awesome co-host on the “Low-Carb Conversations” podcast, came up with her own version of this plate idea by creating an LCHF Plate for those following a low-carb, high-fat eating plan:

This is probably closer to the way most of my readers eat than anything we’ve seen from the USDA or Harvard. And it the reality of how we HAVE to eat if we’re going to remain healthy with the current state of metabolic disorder we find ourselves in. If everyone was perfectly healthy with no past issues with obesity, diabetes, or other chronic diseases, then perhaps the Harvard plan would be an option for people. But it is still unnecessarily fat-phobic. These lipophobes needs to hear from those of us who have had our health changed for the better by eating MORE fat in our diets while cutting the carbs. And now you have an opportunity to do just that!

The Harvard School of Public Health is hosting a LIVE one-hour Q&A session about the “Healthy Eating Plate” with Dr. Eric Rimm, associate professor in the departments of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard, on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 2:30PM EST. You must SIGN UP to be a part of this discussion that is happening tomorrow. Dr. Rimm was one of the people responsible for creating the “Healthy Eating Plate” and he wants to hear YOUR feedback about it. If you are unable to attend the event when it takes place, then they have two other ways you can submit your questions: E-mail them to communications@hsph.harvard.edu or submit them on Twitter using the hashtag #platetalk.

We have an opportunity here to possibly influence and sway Harvard health experts about something they may have missed in the creation of their “Healthy Eating Plate.” To that end, I’d like to request that if you contact Dr. Rimm by attending his Q&A session tomorrow, e-mail him questions, or tweet your feedback, then please send me a copy of the question(s) you send to livinlowcarbman@charter.net. We will NOT be ignored because this issue is far too important for the Harvard School of Public Health to simply cast aside what we have to say about what healthy eating looks like. Here are some sample questions that have already been submitted to Dr. Rimm:

- Is the Q&A session simply to explain your position or can your position change based on information or needs from the questions? Is the Harvard Plate set in stone? Is this the final word?

- What evidence are you using to support your statement that people need to “limit red meat and to avoid bacon?” Is this recommendation based solely on epidemiological surveys or is there actual controlled research to support your recommendations? Do you mean to say to avoid the nitrates and other chemical additives in processed meats? Some processed meats do not contain these substances and are purely meat.

- In deciding that we needed a quarter of our plate dedicated to brown grain and brown starches, could Dr. Rimm explain what the thinking was, considering the growing clinical rather than epidemiological evidence of the link between the intake of starch (albeit brown or white) and obesity? In particular I’m referring to the Gardner Study from Stanford. If the fear is of lack of fiber or nutrients in the diet forcing Dr. Rimm to recommend starch then surely the high levels of vegetables, now recommended, would deal more than adequately with this fear?

- Carbohydrates appear to occupy about 75% of Harvard’s New Healthy Eating Plate. How can you justify this?

- I would love to know why 23 million diabetics (including children, including type 1s and type 2s) are ignored in the Harvard recommendations.

These are merely the tip of the iceberg of the many questions surrounding the Harvard “Healthy Eating Plate” and now it’s YOUR turn to get in on the action. Sign up for the limited Q&A session, e-mail them, or tweet using hashtag #platetalk and don’t forget to copy me on your questions and comments.

If you are a blogger, on Twitter/Facebook or anywhere else online, then considering writing something about this TODAY to help get the word out. This is a really big chance to possibly make a difference if we truly care about this message we talk about here. My blogging friend JP Fanton from “Healthy Fellow” has already gotten in on the action and so should YOU! Send me the link to your post when you write about this and I’ll add it to the end of this post. MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD! Let Dr. Rimm and his fellow nutrition “experts” at Harvard know that you have serious reservations about what they have come up with as ideal dietary recommendations for Americans to follow to improve their weight and health.

Bookmark and Share

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 three cats!

Posted in jimmy moore, livin lavida lo-carb, Nutrition, obesity, red meat, saturated fat, USDA | Leave a Comment »

Animal ID Proposal

Posted by Kevin Brown on September 2, 2011

Dust Flying in Countryside Over USDA Animal ID Proposal

Farmers and Ranchers Appeal to Vilsack for Adequate Time to Respond

Austin, TX:  Forty-nine advocacy groups representing the interests of family farmers, ranchers, and consumers have formally requested that USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack extend the public comment period for a controversial new proposal that would require livestock producers in the U.S. to incur significant expense tracking animals that cross state lines. The comment period on the proposed “Traceability for Livestock Moving Interstate” is scheduled to end on November 9, and the organizations have requested an additional 60 days.

“The period for public comment coincides with the fall harvest and comes during the worst drought ever recorded in some major livestock production regions,” said Judith McGeary, Executive Director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance and vice-chair of the USDA Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Animal Health.  “Our farmers and ranchers are struggling to get their crops in and save their animals, and they need more time to assess the impacts of the proposed rule.”

The groups’ letter to Secretary Vilsack pointed out that many farmers and ranchers are not online, slowing the speed of communication.  “According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, more than 40% of farms do not have internet access,” stated the letter.

“We have a significant number of Amish and Mennonite members, who can only be contacted by mail or through print publications,” explained Mark A. Kastel, senior farm policy analyst at The Cornucopia Institute.  “They, in turn, will have to mail their comments to USDA.  If the agency actually wants to hear from these livestock owners, it needs to extend the comment period.”

Some groups have questioned the agency’s willingness to respond to producers’ concerns.

“A coalition of cattle groups presented USDA with a reasonable plan for cattle identification, but the agency persists in proposing unworkable rules,” contends R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.  “The least the agency can do is extend the comment period so that the cattlemen can comment on the proposal when they’re not in the middle of the calf-weaning and shipping seasons.”

The proposal has raised concerns about the economic impacts on both livestock producers and related businesses.

Gilles Stockton, a member of the Western Organization of Resource Councils said, “It will take a significant amount of time to pencil out the true costs of this proposal.  Livestock producers, sale barns, and states deserve adequate time to figure these costs and give comment.”

“All of our farmers and ranchers are deeply concerned about animal health,” concluded McGeary.  “They work hard every day to keep their animals healthy, and the agency needs to take the time to understand their concerns about this new proposal and address them.”

The organizations’ letter is posted at www.farmandranchfreedom.org/ltr-Vilsack-extension

The following groups signed the letter: American Agriculture Movement, American Grassfed Association, Ashtabula-Lake-Geauga Counties of Ohio Farmers Union, Buckeye Quality Beef Association, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, Cattle Producers of Washington, Citizens for Private Property Rights (MO), Colorado Independent CattleGrowers Association, Contract Poultry Growers Association of the Virginias, The Cornucopia Institute, Dakota Resource Council (ND), Dakota Rural Action (SD), Empire State Family Farm Alliance (NY), Family Farm Defenders, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, Food and Water Watch, Freedom21, Idaho Rural Council, Independent Cattlemen of Nebraska, Independent Cattlemen of Wyoming, International Texas Longhorn Association, Kansas Cattlemen’s Association, Land Loss Prevention Project, Mississippi Livestock Markets Association, Missouri Farmers Union, Missouri Rural Crisis Center, National Association of Farm Animal Welfare, National Family Farm Coalition, National Farmers Organization, Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Association, North Country Sustainability Center (MA), Northern Plains Resource Council (MT), Oglala Sioux Livestock and Landowners Association, Organic Consumers Association, Organization for Competitive Markets, Peach Bottom Concerned Citizens (PA), Powder River Basin Resource Council (WY), R-CALF USA, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Rural Coalition/ Coalicion Rural, Rural Vermont, Rutland Area Farm and Food Link (VT), Socially Responsible Agricultural Project, South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, Sovereignty International, Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association, Western Organization of Resource Councils, and Weston A. Price Foundation

###

For more information, contact:

Judith McGeary, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, 512-484-8821

Bill Bullard, R-CALF USA, 406-252-2516

Gilles Stockton, Western Organization of Resource Councils, 406-366-4463

Mark Kastel, The Cornucopia Institute, 608-778-2038

Enhanced by Zemanta

Posted in blood cholesterol, fasting, Food Safety, homogenization, liberation wellness, liproprotein, obesity, real foods, xylitol | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

2010 Dietary Guidelines Committee Member Joanne Slavin: ‘There Is No Scientific Basis For The U.S. Dietary Guidelines’

Posted by Jimmy Moore on June 22, 2011

When the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) unleashed its long-awaited 2010 Dietary Guidelines on the American public on January 31, 2011, they were heralded that day as “a science-based roadmap” according to the USDA blog. This “science-based roadmap” has since morphed into the new high-grain, low-fat MyPlate introduced earlier this month that will be the new standard for nutrition over the next five years and no doubt will be trumpeted and parroted by nutritionists, physicians, and all the other so-called health “experts” purporting to care about the health of the American people. After all, the 2010 Dietary Guidelines were created by a respected and prestigious group of people who made up the 13-member Scientific Advisory Committee and influenced by testimony from Americans who have changed their lives through healthy nutrition. The credentials of the Committee members in the field of nutrition and health would insure that what would eventually become the 2010 Dietary Guidelines would be iron-clad and impeccable because they would be based on all the latest in scientific research, right? Wellllll, maybe not according to one of the prominent members of the Scientific Advisory Committee.

Joanne Slavin, PhD, RD, professor of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota, was the head of the Carbohydrate Committee and on the Protein sub-committee for the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Scientific Advisory Committee. She was invited to be one of the guest speakers at The 9th Conference on Preventative Nutrition in Tel Aviv, Israel on May 18, 2011. Perhaps Ms. Slavin felt more at liberty to express her true feelings about the final version of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines being overseas and didn’t realize that I’d have eyes and ears listening in to what she had to say. But according to my source who was in attendance to hear her speech, you could tell she had an obvious discontent with the nutritional recommendations that are now being thrust upon Americans.

There is no scientific basis for the U.S. Dietary Guidelines.

Yes, you read that right! Although Slavin was a major part of the scientific panel that went into creating the nutritional recommendations that will become the standard for what constitutes a “healthy” diet for the next five years, she feels the final version was not based on that science. My source noted that she described the review process where members of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Scientific Advisory Committee were asked to base all of their recommendations on the scientific evidence specifically related to humans, especially intervention studies. However, there was only one problem with that according to Slavin.

There are no human intervention studies.

She explained that in the end the Committee had to rely primarily on prospective cohort studies or “expert opinion” which my source said she dismissed as inferior from a scientific point of view. My source said members of the audience were “flabbergasted” to hear such a prominent member of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Scientific Advisory Committee basically dismissing the recommendations that were revealed on January 31, 2011.

Near the end of her lecture, my source said Slavin showed a revealing slide about obesity rates since the very first Dietary Guidelines were published in 1980:

Here’s the story she shared about how she came upon this information:

A friend sent me this slide. Who can tell me when obesity starts to pick up?

My source yelled out, “1980!” Slavin continued with a wink and a nod.

Yes, exactly after the publication of the Dietary Guidelines. But we all know that nobody listens to them anyway don’t we?

At the end of her lecture, Slavin complained that after all the hard work they invested in keeping the scientific integrity of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines as sound and intact as possible, they were basically written by people at the USDA whether there was any connection between the science and the published recommendations or not. When her lecture was finished, my source said they didn’t take any questions nor did they allow any remarks from the audience.

However, he noticed during her speech that she completely ignored the human intervention studies on high-fat, low-carb diets that have shown a spontaneous decrease in food intake as was shown in the Shai study published in The New England Journal Of Medicine in 2008 (ironically, conducted in Israel) as well as many others in recent years. Plus, despite her assertions that people aren’t following the Dietary Guidelines, he noted the consumption of grains, low fat milk, and vegetable oils in the United States have all been on the rise while whole milk, butter and red meat has decreased–all of which have resulted in triple healthcare costs in America since 1980 while food costs have remained constant.

Interestingly, Slavin’s lecture and attendance at this meeting in Israel was sponsored and paid for by Uniliver which has an interesting take on the role of carbohydrates in the diet as the manufacturer of high-carb breakfast cereals. Slavin herself has said “There are many healthy eating patterns, and potatoes, pasta, white bread and rice surely fit into many of these.” Leave it to my buddy Richard Nikoley from “Free The Animal” to call a spade a spade about Slavin. You gotta wonder why she would speak ill of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines when they seem to fit with her personal worldview on nutrition.

What do you think about Professor Joanne Slavin stating quite emphatically that the 2010 Dietary Guidelines are basically a scientific sham? I have been attempting to contact her via e-mail for the past month to get her to comment further on this in an interview, but I have received no response to multiple inquiries. Feel free to share your thoughts about this interesting development with her directly at jslavin@umn.edu. And, of course, you can leave your feedback about this developing story in the comments section below. What’s going on here?

Bookmark and Share

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!

Posted in government, grains, health, jimmy moore, livin lavida lo-carb, Media, Money, motivation, Nutrition, obesity | 1 Comment »

Jimmy Moore’s July 2010 Testimony Before The USDA Regarding The 2010 Dietary Guidelines

Posted by Jimmy Moore on June 15, 2011

It was nearly one year ago that I decided to make my way to Washington, DC as a citizen health activist to testify before the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) about the 2010 Dietary Guidelines that were being formulated by a group of respected scientists and governmental bureaucrats about the best diet for Americans ostensibly to consume for optimal weight and health. When the final version of those nutritional recommendations were released to the public at the end of January 2011, though, nothing much had really changed: it’s still pushing a whole grains-based high-carb, low-fat diet virtually devoid of cholesterol, salt and saturated fats while encouraging people to create a caloric balance, eating lots of fruits and vegetables, soy and vegetable oils, and increasing their physical activity. They’ve since gone one step further in an attempt to simplify the message with the recent release of the much-heralded Food Plate replace the old Food Pyramid (listen to what real low-carbers think about this). All in all, it’s just what we’d expect from a governmental group dedicated to the promotion and marketing of AGRICULTURE!

But despite the disappointing results from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines (and I have some BIG NEWS to share soon about some rather interesting comments made by one of the former members of the Scientific Advisory Board regarding these final recommendations during a recent speech), I think the large turnout of pro-low-carb, high-fat voices that testified before the USDA left quite an impression. They now know the gig is up and they cannot pretend to hide behind the notion that the Dietary Guidelines is based on ALL the latest science when they blatantly and I dare say deliberately ignore the studies showing saturated fat is not as harmful as we’ve been led to believe and that carbohydrate is a much bigger villain in obesity, diabetes, heart disease and more. The USDA minions may think “the evidence is just not there” regarding low-carb nutrition improving health, but we’ve seen the studies pouring in at breakneck speed over the past few years (including this one just released today published in the journal Cancer Research that found a low-carb diet may reduce the risk of cancer and slow tumor growth).

It was an honor standing alongside like-minded supporters such as low-carb researcher Dr. Jeff Volek from the University of Connecticut, Nutrition & Metabolism Society Founder and President Dr. Richard Feinman, doctorate nutrition student Adele Hite, Sally Fallon from The Weston A. Price Foundation, the co-author of The Silver Cloud Diet Linda Eckhardt, and many more at this very formal meeting that featured more lobbyists on behalf of special interests ranging from sugar to dairy to vegan diets (in fact, I was seated right next to the President of the pro-vegan activist group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Dr. Neal Barnard). You can read all about my experience testifying to the USDA last year which was something I won’t soon forget. I didn’t prepare any remarks and simply spoke passionately from my heart of hearts about the incredibly positive impact low-carb living has made in my life since 2004.

So why am I bringing it up nearly a year after it happened? Well, despite the promise by the USDA to provide a transcript of the oral testimonies at their web site shortly after the proceedings, I kept checking back month after month for the past year. August, September, October, November and December. Then they released the 2010 Dietary Guidelines and still no transcript in January, February, March, April and May. But in June 2011, they FINALLY decided to release the transcript of the proceedings to the public. Better late than never I suppose. You’ll slog through reading many of these comments since they were read from a script by these paid lobbyists with special interests in mind. But there are a few golden nuggets in there that’ll be worth your while to check out and enjoy, especially from the pro-low-carb people I shared above and a few others who testified.

Here’s what I actually said verbatim according to the court reporter at the USDA:




What’s funny is I was so emotionally caught up in what I was saying as I was testifying that I didn’t even remember exactly what I said. I know I didn’t even use up the full three minutes that were allotted to me, but I had my say and I was done. My intention was to show them a real person who has been negatively impacted by the information they are disseminating to the public and that they needed to consider other alternatives within the scope of making dietary recommendations for people to consider. Dr. Volek later told me that when I started speaking, every member of the USDA Committee who was present looked up from their papers and was staring at me as I testified. They heard me. They saw me. And I bet they won’t forget me and what I said anytime soon either.

Although the testimony I gave didn’t make an impact on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines, I have a distinct feeling we’re gonna see some pretty radical changes happen when the 2015 Dietary Guidelines start being debated in a couple of years with a new panel of experts that will include at least one low-carb researcher and/or practitioner on it. Call me eternally optimistic, but the growing swell of discontent with the current direction of nutrition in America combined with the continued rise in the rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and more make it virtually impossible for this bureaucratic shell game to continue on for much longer. They can’t ignore the science or the wave of testimonies that continue to be published online from people like me who have seen remarkable turnarounds in their weight and health by “not doing the things” they’ve been telling us to do for decades. We will not be ignored. And believe me, I will be back in 2015 to ask them “why” obesity, diabetes, and heart disease is still out of control despite their recommendations. This nutritional nonsense has got to stop sooner rather than later. Let the low-carb revolution continue!

Bookmark and Share

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!

Posted in government, health, jimmy moore, livin lavida lo-carb, lobbying, Nutrition, obesity, Weight Loss | Leave a Comment »

Top Low-Carb Diet Researchers Volek & Phinney Release ‘The Art And Science Of Low Carbohydrate Living’

Posted by Jimmy Moore on June 2, 2011

What do you get when you bring together two of most brilliant minds examining the science supporting carbohydrate restriction and its beneficial impact on weight and health? It’s a dream team collaboration like nothing else that’s ever been seen in the low-carb community and something that has been sorely needed to cut through the continued nonsense that still persists in our culture regarding low-carb diets despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. For Dr. Jeff Volek (Men’s Health TNT Diet) from The University of Connecticut (one of the featured speakers on the 2012 Low-Carb Cruise) and the legendary Dr. Stephen Phinney, this has actually been a personal passion of theirs for many years to share what they’ve seen first-hand in the study participants they have observed as well as in their own personal experimentations using a high-fat, moderate protein, low-carb diet. They are both already co-authors of the New York Times bestselling book The New Atkins For A New You released in 2010 which was geared more specifically to the general public updating the Atkins Nutritional Approach (listen to these two men share more about their work in Part 1 and Part 2 of an Atkins teleconference call in 2008) to fit more within the 21st Century.

But both Dr. Volek and Dr. Phinney realize in order for a patient to be successful at implementing a healthy low-carbohydrate lifestyle change into their own daily routine, they first need a competent and educated healthcare professional who is willing to learn, understand and embrace the basic principles that make this incredible way of eating so amazingly effective as a therapeutic means for treating obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and a whole myriad of diseases. That’s why they decided to write a brand new book about it in 2011 that does just that. It’s called The Art And Science Of Low Carbohydrate Living: An Expert Guide To Making The Life-Saving Benefits Of Carbohydrate Restriction Sustainable And Enjoyable and is arguably the most important low-carb book releasing this year!

The purpose of this book is really about three main things: giving the reader the proper historical perspective about low-carb diets, explaining why low-carb diets work the way they do in the body, and then showing actual clinical application of how low-carb diets can be used to treat patients. For the healthcare professional, the information contained within the pages of this invaluable 300-page book could radically revolutionize and transform the way they interact with patients transitioning from a pharmaceutically-based to a nutritionally-based mindset for treating chronic health issues such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and more. For the educated layperson, learning more about high-fat, low-carb diets from these top research investigators will bring about changes in their own weight and health that will then have a positive impact on their friends, family, and even their physicians. Then this book can become an outstanding book to be given to the interested healthcare professional who wants to learn more about why people get better eating a diet that includes saturated fat and is devoid of starchy and sugary carbohydrates. It’s a life cycle that I’m sure both Dr. Volek and Dr. Phinney would love to see happen as this book is read, re-read, passed along, and highly recommended for people who are frustrated by the failure of the low-fat diet, something they address right away in the Introduction in their “Five Discords” section.

While obesity and diabetes has gotten increasingly worse and worse with the strong recommendations of a high-carb, low-fat diet, the evidence coming out in the world of science in recent years reveals there is no longer any controversy about low-carb diets–they “have now been resolved” as the authors put it. Now the grunt work of taking the proven science to the masses is the tricky part. It is all predicated on convincing the public that a low-fat diet is not healthy because it is too high in carbohydrate, educating why controlling the hormone insulin by restricting carbohydrates will eliminate hunger and burn stored body fat, revealing the fact that there is no scientific evidence tying saturated fat in the diet to heart disease risk, sharing the truth about what really raises saturated fat in the body (carbohydrates!), and reminding people that there is no such thing as a “one-size-fits all message” when it comes to a healthy lifestyle as the government, media and all the so-called health “experts” would have us believe. Dr. Volek and Dr. Phinney are using this book to “speak up” by releasing The Art And Science Of Low Carbohydrate Living.

The authors have taken every measure possible to insure the low-carb principles they share in this book will stand the test of time. It’s why a low carbohydrate approach is considered a lifestyle change that’s permanent and lasting–not just a diet. They have done this by examining three primary keys to making that happen: Safety, Individual Specificity, and Sustainability.

Dr. Volek and Dr. Phinney have over a half-century of research/clinical experience with low-carb diets using them on a variety of study participants/patients and they are “confident that a well-formulated low carbohydrate diet offers improved low-term health and well-being” for people who struggle on high-carb diets. Therefore, the safety question hasn’t really been an issue because it’s just not a relevant factor. Plus, the whole idea of “carbohydrate intolerance” is something that’s rarely if ever discussed by mainstream conventional wisdom but it is arguably the biggest reason why people turn to low-carb diets to help them when everything else they’ve ever tried has failed. If there was a genuine problem over the safety of low-carb diets, wouldn’t we be hearing about people experiencing these complications? That ain’t happening.

Another concept that rarely gets any attention is the fact we are not robotic machines that operate in the same way. Humans are indeed unique, especially when it comes to how they respond to the foods they consume. The authors point out that anyone with obesity, metabolic syndrome, and/or diabetes already have carbohydrate intolerance and would be best fitted for a low-carb diet change. Otherwise, doing a low-fat diet is like “forcing a square peg into a round hole.” Even more interesting is the observation that even if a low-fat diet is working for you now, your tolerance level for carbohydrates will inevitably get worse and worse as you age–so eventually pretty much everyone will need to start livin’ la vida low-carb! This is why Dr. Volek and Dr. Phinney state that the Dietary Guidelines from the USDA need to have “a separate path from the ‘high-carb, low-fat’ mantra.”

As for the sustainability of a low-carb lifestyle change, the authors note that this is a “complex” issue that serves as the basis for why they wrote this book to begin with. The “casual approach” (as they describe it) to eating low-carb is what gets most people who try to do it in trouble and puts them on the inevitable if not predictable pathway to failure. You can’t just cut your carbohydrates and expect to be eating what Dr. Volek and Dr. Phinney would define as a low-carb diet. They detail all that is involved with creating a “well-formulated low carbohydrate diet” that will last for a lifetime within the pages of this book. As they put it, “This topic is clearly more deserving of a book than a sound bite.”

Some would say that a book about low-carb diets from a couple of low-carb researchers seems self-serving since they obviously have a vested interest in promoting a nutritional plan they’ve committed their careers to. But the authors address this by asking a simple yet poignant question:

“What is the proper response when three decades of debate about carbohydrate restriction have been largely one-sided and driven more by cultural bias than science?”

Indeed. And that’s precisely what Dr. Volek and Dr. Phinney have done with The Art And Science Of Low Carbohydrate Living making a solid case for low-carb diets just as a defense attorney would argue a case before a judge and jury. The evidence is presented with appropriate citations of key scientific studies. Plus, the authors call on three key witnesses for special guest chapters to further embolden their arguments: Dr. Eric Kossoff to share how ketogenic diets are used in controlling seizures and other brain health issues, Jacqueline Eberstein who has experience working with patients using carbohydrate-restriction alongside the late, great Dr. Robert C. Atkins in his complementary medicine clinic in New York City for three decades, and me (Jimmy Moore) providing the unique perspective as a patient who discovered and thrived (losing 180 pounds and coming off of three prescription medications) on a low-carb diet despite the objections of those in the healthcare profession. By the time you make your way through this informative and practical book, you’ll realize as the authors so succinctly state in their closing argument that “it just feels right” to be eating low-carb. The verdict? NOT GUILTY!

Bookmark and Share

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!

Posted in diabetes, Dietary Cholesterol, health, jimmy moore, livin lavida lo-carb, Nutrition, obesity, Politics, saturated fat | Leave a Comment »

A Fasting Challenge

Posted by Maureen Diaz on April 25, 2011

I was inspired last week by Jimmy Moore’s article describing his fast. Like him, I had only managed 24 hour fasts in the past, and had always intended to do more. Also like Jimmy, I am a lover of food; real food, good food in particular! And so I never seemed to quite get around to denying myself the pleasure of my daily eggs & butter,  raw cream or cheese, or grass-fed burger, for more than a day. But after reading Jimmy’s post I figured, “Hey! If he can do it, I can do it!” Thus after mulling over the particulars the weekend, I decided to start this week, today in fact! But I am doing things slightly different.

First, I am starting out with 3 days but am hoping to stretch it to a full week. Does this leave me a convenient out? Well, perhaps, but I am really intending to continue past the 3 day mark and get into days 5, 6, & 7 for the accelerated benefits that a fast of this length can provide. But I’ve a lot to accomplish this week and next, so if I just feel too weak and yucky after 3 days I at least want to have the “out” if needed.

My approach to what will be “allowed” into my body is also somewhat different from Jimmy’s. For instance, no diet sodas (or other) for me! No neurotoxins, no phosphorous acid to rob my body (bones in particular) of minerals. And also no bouillon cubes. Jimmy, shame on you; you should know better than this!!! Isn’t the point of the fast to clear your body of toxic sludge? Why put more of it in there?! (And no, those little artificially-flavored MSG-laden cubes do not provide electrolytes!)

I will not continue with my supplemental coconut oil simply because I want my body to access for energy solely what is already there, stored around my middle. And in the process those storage cells will be releasing needed minerals and electrolytes, as well as toxins. I’m not even sure that I will take my much respected fermented cod liver oil. Perhaps later in the week. What do you think?

The plan is to do 3 days of only water with fresh lemon juice, and my teas (black & herbal) with stevia & raw milk/cream. The tea is my crutch, like Jimmy’s soda only wayhealthier! Additionally I will have a glass of fermented beet kvass each day, as this is a powerful internal cleanser and rebuilder. It has already been nearly 24 hours since I have eaten anything and this is all I have had :-)

I make my own, but in a pinch Zukay is great!

I make my own, but in a pinch Zukay is great!

After 3 days if I feel the need I will allow myself bone broth (again, not commercial bouillon/broth). This is healing, therapeutic, and provides enough easily assimilated nutrition to keep me going for a long time. I will also have cultured raw cream available so that I can have a spoonful 3 times a day if desired. This will also help inoculate my cleansing gut with beneficial microbes which will in turn aid the “housecleaning”!

One more facet to my plan is rather distasteful to most, but very important: coffee enemas. While in little use these days, coffee enemas were in times past a standard of care. This will help push my liver to throw off and purge stored toxins, which is what I am really going for! Weight loss will be embraced as well, but I realize that the reality of a fast is that you are shedding more water initially, than fat.

Exercise is something which has been lacking over the winter, but I plan to continue increasing or at least maintain what I am currently doing: jogging/walking (intermittent intensity) 1+ mile 3-4 times a week, and dancercize 2-3 times a week. Additionally I remain physically active with mucking a barn and running up 2 flights of steps everyday as the need arises (in other words, I don’t send my children on my errands!)

After completing the fast I know that it is important to ease back into eating solid foods, so I will do so with raw, non-starchy vegetables, bone broth, and lightly cooked meat.

I hope you guys can all cheer me on in this endeavor, and that some will join in with me. Let me know if you are fasting and how it is going, and I’ll keep everyone posted on my own progress!

And Jimmy: hey, thanks for the inspiration!

Maureen Diaz is a homeschooling mother of 9, a WAPF chapter leader, and a certified LW Nutritionist. She also has produced 3 cooking DVD’s including her latest, Liberation Wellness Home Cooking. Check out & order her DVD’s on her website, www.nourishingtraditionalcook.com 

Posted in Butter, coconut oil, cod liver oil, exercise, fasting, Fermented Foods, fitness, Food Addiction, grass fed beef, health, Inspiration, livin lavida lo-carb, Maureen Diaz, motivation, obesity, ProBiotics, raw milk, real food, real foods, red meat, Total Wellness, vegetables, wapf, Weight Loss, wellness, Weston A. Price Foundation | 5 Comments »

Take-Home Messages From The 2011 Nutrition & Metabolism Society Symposium In Baltimore

Posted by Jimmy Moore on April 15, 2011

Whew, what a week it’s been getting back into my regular working schedule after a glorious quick weekend trip to Baltimore, Maryland last Saturday and Sunday to attend the 2011 Nutrition & Metabolism Society Symposium. This two-day event that piggybacks on The American Society of Bariatric Physicians (ASBP) conference took a closer look at some of the latest and greatest information about low-carb diets from the researchers and scientists who are studying this remarkable way of eating. I’ve had the distinct privilege to attend this event for each of the past six years and it’s always a great way to connect and interact with the actual professionals who are working behind-the-scenes to examine and prove the veracity of carbohydrate-restriction. These people deserve to be lauded for their courage to study low-carb diets in the face of immense opposition to this nutritional approach from the mainstream, conventional health community. I do believe that someday soon we’ll see mainstream medical professionals universally lauding the groundbreaking, cutting-edge work of people like Dr. Jeff Volek, Dr. Eric Westman, Dr. Steve Phinney, Dr. Mary Vernon, Dr. Richard Feinman, Dr. Jay Wortman, Dr. Eugene Fine, Dr. Thomas Seyfried, and so many other practitioners using low-carb diets with their patients for forging the way with the use of livin’ la vida low-carb to treat not just obesity, but many kinds of diseases as well.

At previous ASBP/N&M conferences we have usually flown in early to hear the last few lectures of the ASBP conference where they tend to have some outstanding speakers in the past like Gary Taubes, Brian Wansink, Mark Hyman and the like. This year they finished off the ASBP portion of the conference with childhood obesity researcher Dr. David Ludwig who has been a guest on my podcast in September 2010. I missed that one since we flew into Baltimore early on Saturday morning. It was such a quick trip, but completely LOADED with lots of excellent information which I shared via my Twitter feed all weekend. Dr. Mike Eades from Protein Power fame usually attends these N&M events, but he just welcomed another grandchild into the world and had to miss this one. He tweeted me about my LIVE updates from the conference saying, “Really spectacular job, Jimmy! Since I couldn’t be there, your tweets were the next best thing. Thanks very much.” It was my pleasure, Dr. Mike, to allow my readers an opportunity to feel like they were there and to benefit from the messages coming from the speakers! In fact, Dr. Westman who was moderating the N&M lectures told me at dinner that he got a kick out of me asking questions posed by people from my social networking sites. Ain’t modern technology amazing?!

There was one really strange thing that happened during the conference I have to share with you. I was pretty surprised by what happened when I got up to the microphone to ask my questions for the first time and introduced myself as “Jimmy Moore from Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb”–the audience members consisting of mostly physicians and nurses as well as a few educated laypeople started cheering with spontaneous applause when I said my name. Okay, that was really freaky to me, but I appreciated the sentiment. It let me know that the work I am doing IS making a difference in the lives of common, everyday people as well as people intimately involved in the health profession. In fact, afterwards I was approached by several doctors in the audience who wanted to know more about me and my work. COOL! I passed out a whole bunch of business cards and networked with lots of new people I hadn’t previously met all weekend. One of the attendees recognized me on Sunday morning and told me an incredible story about how my web site changed her life, helped her lose weight, and educated her further about how low-carb diets can work to help her patients. She said the doctor she works with LOVES low-carb living and is unashamed to use it therapeutically with his patients. It was genuinely gratifying to hear this registered nurse get so excited about livin’ la vida low-carb–and she knows firsthand that it works because it did for her! AWESOME STUFF!!!

There was so much information packed into the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning lectures which focused primarily on ketones, ketogenic diets and their impact on various aspects of health that I could spends weeks writing it all out for you in a series of blog posts. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to do that. But there were some true nuggets of information that I think would be beneficial to share with you as the take-home messages from the 2011 Nutrition & Metabolism Symposium in Baltimore. This isn’t a comprehensive list of everything monumental that was said, but hopefully it hits enough of the highlights to pique your curiosity. I’ll list the speaker and their topic and then provide bullet points to ponder:

Dr. Richard Feinman–“Review of Biochemistry of Ketone Bodies”

  • Ketones are the body’s preferred fuel (not carbs) because they are protein sparing
  • Energy doesn’t just come from carbohydrates–acetyl CoA provides it from fat and protein
  • Gluconeogenesis is a normal part of a fasted state–everyone experiences some form of it
  • Eating low-carb is “fed” starvation by mimicking it metabolically
  • Glucose can’t come from dietary fat but ketones bodies step in as the fuel source
  • Ketone bodies are glucose-sparing because it forces glucose to come from protein
  • Insulin falls significantly during starvation or low-carb diets
  • As ketones rise when carbs are reduced, insulin and glucose drops
  • Ketone bodies kick in to repress reliance on glycolysis by generating acetyl CoA for energy
  • Glucose can come from dietary carbs, glycogen or gluconeogenesis
  • Ketones are an alternative fuel the body can use for optimal health
  • Studies are needed to examine whether high-carb or low-carb diets are best for energy

    Dr. Yoshihiro Kashiwaya–“Ketone Body Effects on Cardiac Energetics and Glycolytic Flux”

  • Ketone bodies form in the liver from free fatty acids released from body fat
  • Ketones are used as energy for the body in a fasting state
  • Sperm motility increases and brain function maintained on a ketogenic diet
  • Ketone bodies decrease oxygen consumption

    Dr. Thomas Seyfried–“Ketone Bodies and Cancer”

  • Most brain tumors are untreatable and patients die from the pressure build-up
  • Calorie restriction is necessary for treating brain tumors
  • The mitochondria are dysfunctional in human brain tumors
  • Otto Warburg noted that cancer leads to irreversible damage
  • Tumor cells are unable to shift from feeding on glucose to ketones
  • Cancer is more of a metabolic disease than a genetic one
  • There’s an 80% reduction in tumor weight when calorie-restricted
  • Calorie-restriction one of the most powerful therapies for killing cancer cells
  • As glucose is decreased, cancer cells reduce as well
  • A low-carb, calorie-restricted diet is better than the best drug therapy for cancer
  • Ketogenic calorie-restricted diets have reduced brain tumors in mice and humans
  • Blood glucose remains too high on an unlimited calories low-carb diet to treat cancer
  • Calorie-restricted low-carb diets create adequate ketones for treating brain tumors
  • Ketogenic, calorie-restricted diets don’t cure cancer, but they come close
  • Tumors can’t grow when calories are cut to create ketones
  • Limiting carbs and calories puts you in the zone of managing tumor growth
  • Brain cancer in children can be treated with ketogenic diets by reducing glucose
  • Avoid radiation therapy if all all possible–ketogenic, calorie-restricted diet is best for cancer

    Dr. Eugene Fine–“Reduced Carbohydrates in Aggressive Resistant Tumors (RECHARGE Trial)”

  • Not all cancers are dependent on glucose for growth, including prostate cancer
  • Hyperinsulinemia is a major cancer risk factor–that’s why reducing insulin in paramount
  • It’s plausible that reducing insulin secretion could inhibit cancer growth
  • The typical American diet contains 300-400g carbs daily–spiking insulin
  • Cut the carbs and you’ll cut the insulin and reduce your cancer risk
  • You don’t want an insulin knockout (Type 1 diabetes), but rather an insulin knockdown
  • A low-carb diet provides the proper control of insulin without eliminating the good it does
  • Reduced carb diets have not demonstrated adverse effects up to 2 years as a medical therapy
  • Humans were built as hunter-gatherers to be in a ketotic state most of the time
  • Fasting is in our ancestral biochemistry with no ill effects
  • There is no known dietary requirement for carbohydrate in your diet
  • Grains and vegetables are only a relatively recent addition to the human diet
  • A very low-carb diet changes the metabolic environment where cancer would grow
  • Too many people are living outside of a sustained ketogenic state leading to more cancer
  • RECHARGE Trial used very low-carb diet on 10 patients who failed on chemotherapy
  • The study placed the participants on a very low-carb ketogenic diet for 28 days
  • Average daily intake consumed by study patients was 27g carbs and 1236 daily
  • All of the study participants were ketotic
  • Future direction of research will be a larger study using ketogenic diets–funding needed

    Dr. Stephen Phinney–“Human Keto-Adaptation: Physiology and Function”

  • Keto-adaptation (the term he coined) occurs when ketones become your body’s fuel source
  • Keto-adaptation can happen within 2-3 weeks of eating an 80/15/5 diet of fat/protein/carbs
  • Study of a very low-carb ketogenic diet and exercise found they exercise MORE
  • Another study of fit bike riders on very low-carb ketogenic diet led to negative nitrogen balance
  • When you eat low-carb, you change your body at the cellular level
  • Ketone bodies are an essential fuel for your organs
  • The future research on low-carb diets should observe renal ketone and urate excretion
  • Inflammation and fatty acid composition impact should also be closely examined
  • Why do low-carb diets fail? Fat-phobia or the wrong kind of fats consumed.

    Dr. Jeff Volek–“Anti-Ketogenic Effect of Insulin and Dietary Carbohydrate”

  • Carbs raise insulin which leads to dyslipidemia and chronic health issues
  • Insulin promote anabolism and regulates blood sugar levels
  • The primary source of glucose is the liver through glycogen breakdown and gluconeogenesis
  • Insulin promotes the uptake of glucose
  • Muscle glycogen synthesis in diabetics is 50% less than normal healthy people
  • Insulin resistance is the reduced ability of peripheral tissues to respond to insulin
  • The most potent blocker of lipolysis is insulin
  • Elevated insulin make it difficult to break down fat–and carbs raise insulin the most
  • Low-carb diet is best for breaking down fat as compared with a high-carb diet
  • Insulin is very easy to manipulate through the diet
  • Fat has no impact on insulin, protein a little, but carbs have a HUGE impact
  • There are only about 2 teaspoons of sugar circulating in the body
  • The average meal Americans eat contains 10X the amount of sugar in the body
  • Concern over carb consumption is regarding the sugar spike then crash–hypoglycemia
  • Avoiding hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia as a metabolic state is critical to health
  • When you consume carbs, it is stored as glycogen until full then converted to body fat
  • Carb consumption leads to large VLDL cholesterol which increase small LDL particles
  • Small LDL-P is the most dangerous kind of cholesterol to form in your body
  • Low-carb diets significantly reduce the amount of small LDL particles in the body
  • Fructose consumption is popular for product properties and low cost
  • We grow a lot of corn in the United States, so we put it in the food supply
  • Fructose has a very high propensity to be converted to fat
  • Consuming fructose leads to obesity, fatty liver, dyslipidema, and metabolic syndrome
  • Eating low-carb is especially good for athletes before exercise
  • Using fat for fuel enhances athletic performance
  • The old paradigm for post-exercise is to carb up–new paradigm is no carbs or slow ones
  • Many pro athletes are eating an Atkins-like diet for optimal performance
  • Athletes now realize that having elevated insulin is not good for them
  • A high-carb diet after exercise may diminish the benefits of exercise on heart health
  • Protein synthesis post-exercise is not enhanced by mixing protein and carbs for recovery
  • Skip the carbs and simply eat fat and protein for your post-workout meal
  • Study comparing low-carb diet over 12 weeks with exercise found 5.3% body fat decrease
  • Study participants did not experience fatigue, lost significant fat, grew muscle eating low-carb
  • The obligate nature of carbohydrates for athletes has been overblown and is unnecessary

    Dr. Mary Vernon–“Clinical Treatments Using Nutritional Ketosis”

  • Metabolic health is not about how much you weigh but rather the fuel source
  • She’s learned from her patients that health is much more important than weight
  • Regularly puts patients on 20g carbs daily–mostly eggs, meat and hard cheeses
  • Don’t let yourself get hungry
  • If you eat preventatively by the clock then you’ll resist temptation to high-carb foods
  • Study of low-carb to low-fat with drugs found equal weight loss, better lipid improvements
  • Just because you aren’t fat doesn’t mean you aren’t metabolically obese
  • Thin isn’t necessarily healthy if your lipids are out of whack
  • Fatty acids and protein can produce all the glucose your body needs for energy
  • Ketone bodies can be used with virtually anyone without concern
  • Your body either makes cholesterol or it makes ketone bodies
  • When low-fat diet do not improve lipid health, doctors blame patients for failure
  • That’s why more and more medications are prescribed for “non-compliant” patients
  • Dietary fat doesn’t lead to fat on the body–patients need to learn this ASAP
  • Control glucose/insulin metabolism to prevent free radical formation and tissue destruction
  • The benefits to being ketotic is converting your body to burning fat for fuel
  • Improving brain function and decreasing oxidative stress are other benefits of ketosis
  • Adiposity isn’t the primary reason for eating low-carb
  • Getting your lipid and blood sugar health under control is the reason for low-carbing
  • If low-carb was a prescription drug, every doctor would be putting their patients on it
  • Ketogenic diets don’t necessarily lead to kidney stones–fix with potassium citrate
  • Two liters of urinary output daily will prevent kidney stone formation from happening
  • Kids especially who are eating low-carb need to be adequately hydrated
  • Get electrolyte support by supplementing low-carb diet with sodium and magnesium
  • Bouillon broth helps prevent fatigue, headaches, and muscle cramps early on a low-carb diet
  • When starting low-carb while on medications, doses may need adjusting as diet improves health
  • Find a good doctor who will monitor your health for you as you begin on low-carb
  • Diabetics who start low-carb should only stay on metformin–decrease insulin use with doctor
  • Low-carb can be done long-term with no ill effects–it just plain works

    Dr. Adam Hartman–“The Ketogenic Diet for Epilepsy”

  • One in 20 Americans have had a seizure at some point in their life
  • One in 100 are currently being treated for epilepsy
  • There’s no known cause for epilepsy
  • Aging population with strokes, dementia, trauma and tumors have increased the numbers
  • Medication is only sporadic at controlling seizures
  • Fasting and a high-fat, low-carb, low-calorie diet controls seizures
  • Metabolism-based therapies are needed to control epilepsy–ketogenic diet most of all
  • Epileptic kids would much rather have a pat of butter than a sugary jelly bean
  • We can’t assume what kids with epilepsy will or will not eat
  • Moderate to severe epilepsy responds well to a ketogenic diet
  • If an epileptic child doesn’t metabolize fat well, they shouldn’t eat a ketogenic diet
  • 2008 study published in The Lancet showed effectiveness of ketogenic diet for seizures
  • Most kids have been on 6 medications before they try the ketogenic diet
  • Drugs are significantly reduced or eliminated when ketogenic diet therapy is used
  • There are side effects of ketogenic diet when used as a treatment for epilepsy
  • Intermittent fasting has been shown to work better than ketogenic diet for seizure control
  • The kind of ketone body for seizure control is important
  • Acute acetoacetane and acetone are both anticonvulsants
  • Ketosis appears to be necessary but not sufficient for the ketogenic diet’s anticonvulsant effect
  • Previous research shows cognitive improvements on a ketogenic diet for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s
  • A high-fat, low-carb diet powers the brain to function optimally
  • Ketone bodies provide an alternative metabolic pathway for disease treatment
  • Ketogenic diet is an underutilized therapy for treating epilepsy
  • Ketones have been shown to be anticonvulsant and neuroprotective

    Hopefully this gives you just a small taste of what the Baltimore conference was like and encourages you to do further research on these concepts for yourself. In case you are wondering, all of these lectures will be available in audio and video format at the ASBP web site in a few months. Call them up and tell them you heard about these Nutrition & Metabolism lectures and that you want to reserve your copy. They’ll be happy to take care of you. And by all means, please consider becoming a member and making a donation to the great work of The Nutrition & Metabolism Society presenting this quality scientific information year after year. If the research continues, then it’ll put us one step closer to having low-carb embraced by physicians which then trickles down to their patients. One step at a time, we’re making livin’ la vida low-carb more and more mainstream. Keep the momentum going by passing this information on!

    Bookmark and Share

    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!

    • Posted in cancer, exercise, health, insulin, jimmy moore, livin lavida lo-carb, Nutrition, obesity, saturated fat, Weight Loss | Leave a Comment »

    SWEETENERS 101: The Bitter Facts

    Posted by Janet Stuck, ND, CNC, MH, CNHP, CWE, LE on April 8, 2011

    In attempts to “get healthy” some think that just substituting table sugar with something else “natural” or “organic” is a big step, and for some it will be.

    However, let’s put to rest all the chatter about the ”natural”  sweeteners  and artificial sweeteners that may sound as if they are actually good for you or okay to ingest.

    Let’s start with the artificial sweeteners:

    SWEET’N LOW (SACCHARINE/CYCLAMATE)–Here’s theme that is recurring – Perform laboratory tests using toxic hazardous chemicals,  spill it on your hand, taste it, give it a name and use it in processed foods as a sweetener!  Sounds like the “Crisco” model!

    Saccharin - In 1879 researchers were at Johns Hopkins University were working on toluene derivatives. Toluene is produced in the process of making gasoline from crude oil and in making coke from coal.  Exposure to high levels can cause unconsciousness and even death according to the U.S. Government’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry under the classification of hazardous.

    One of the researchers spilled some of the toluene derivative on his hand while doing his research that day and later that night while at dinner noticed that his food tasted oddly sweet.  He traced the taste back to the chemicals he was researching that day and named the substance “saccharin” after the word saccharide, which means complex sugar.

    Saccharin–a toluene derivative?  A Derivative of the same toluene used to make nail polish, rubber, paint, and paint thinners, etc., just to add no calorie sweetener to food?  Seriously?

    Cyclamate – In 1937 a graduate student from the University of Illinois was trying to synthesize fever reducing drugs in the lab.  He laid his cigarette down on a lab bench and when he took another puff he discovered the sweet taste of cyclamate from the antipyretic drugs he had on his fingers.

    Sweet’N Low was originally the first powdered no calorie sweetener and blended 10:1 ratio of cyclamate to saccharine.  After all of the disputes over cyclamates, Sweet’N Low today is a blend of saccharin and dextrose.

    SUCRALOSE SPLENDA): Splenda was invented by scientists trying to find a better pesticide. One Scientist said to the other , “test it,” but the other scientist thought he said “TASTE II” and so he did and found that it was sweet.

    A very dangerous new chemical — because in order to make sucralose, chlorine is added to sugar!  Research by the Sucralose Toxicity Information Center showed that years of sucralose use can lead to serious compromise of the immune system and neurological disorders.

    Splenda is only “made from sugar” because they took a sugar molecule and substituted three of its atoms with chlorine. Chlorine when ingested in your body turns to methanol then in turn gets absorbed as formaldehyde.  Isn’t that interesting?  Formaldehyde–that’s for embalming, right?  Just think you can preserve yourself while you kill yourself!

    “The manufacturer’s own short-term studies showed that very high doses of sucralose (far beyond what would be expected in an ordinary diet) caused shrunken thymus glands, enlarged livers, and kidney disorders in rodents. A more recent study also shows that Splenda significantly decreases beneficial gut flora.

    As a side note, more than 90% of my clients have compromised guts (intestines).  Whether parasites, candida, toxicity, or poor bowel function, your health does begin in the gut.  In fact, at least 80% of your immune system is in your intestines!  Why would you want to do anything to compromise that?

    “But in this case, the FDA decided that because these studies weren’t based on human test animals, they were not conclusive. Of course, rats had been chosen for the testing specifically because they metabolize sucralose more like humans than any other animal used for testing.

    In other words, the FDA has tried to have it both ways — they accepted the manufacturer’s studies on rats because the manufacturer had shown that rats and humans metabolize the sweetener in similar ways, but shrugged off the safety concerns on the grounds that rats and humans are different.”

    Sucralose has been implicated as a possible migraine trigger, for example. Self-reported adverse reactions to Splenda or sucralose collected by the Sucralose Toxicity Information Center include skin rashes/flushing, panic-like agitation, dizziness and numbness, diarrhea, swelling, muscle aches, headaches, intestinal cramping, bladder issues, and stomach pain. These show up at one end of the spectrum — in the people who have an allergy or sensitivity to the sucralose molecule. But no one can say to what degree consuming Splenda affects the rest of us, and there are no long-term studies in humans with large numbers of subjects to say one way or the other if it’s safe for everyone.

    ASPARTAME (NUTRI-SWEET, EQUAL)

    Aspartate (main ingredient in Nutrisweet/Equal) in simplistic terms, causes the brain neurons to constantly fire – that’s why it’s called an excitotoxin – these neurons actually keep firing and are literally excited to death.

    Aspartame is so much sweeter than sugar that frequent consumption can lead people to actually consume more calories.  I’ve always said, “fat people drink diet-coke!” The truth is… “phenylalanine and aspartic acid, the amino acids which make up the bulk of aspartame, are known to rapidly stimulate the release of insulin and leptin, which are hormones that signal the body to store fat…”  Sweet Deception by Dr. Mercola

    Glutamate (MSG, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, Glutamaic acid, etc.)is also an amino acid and does exactly the same thing as Aspartate with respect to brain cells.  “Likewise, exposing neurons to glutamate or aspartate can induce paired helical filaments very similar to those seen in naturally occurring Alzheimer’s disease…” (Excitotoxins, The Taste That Kills by Russell L. Blaylock, MD)

    Sadly in a child’s brain, the constant firing of neurons and death of brain cells causes irreversible damage!

    “Aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious including seizures and death.(1) A few of the 90 different documented symptoms listed in the report as being caused by aspartame include: Headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain.

    According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, the following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting of aspartame:(2) Brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, parkinson’s disease, alzheimer’s, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia, and diabetes…”  Mercola

    Don’t you just wonder why people keep drinking toxic chemicals every time you see someone drinking a diet soda??? They are better off with HFCF!!!!

    NEOTAME – Monsanto developed a new version of aspartame which is 72 times sweeter than aspartame and called neotame.  Neotame is chemically related aspartame and is 7 to 13 thousand times sweeter than sugar, stable at high heat and not broken down in the body into the amino acid phenylalanine.  Neotame is aspartame plus 3-di-methyl-butyl, which is on the EPA’s list of most hazardous chemicals.  Wow!  What an improvement over aspartame!  I just bet that it is being used in processed foods under some mysterious ingredient name…

    SUGAR ALCOHOLS – XYLOTOL, MANNITOL, SORBITOL, MALTITOL, ISOMALT, LACTITOL, TAGATOSE ERYTHITOL-Sugar alcohols are found naturally in low levels in some raw fruits and vegetables and don’t cause problems in their raw state.

    However, the sugar alcohols (Polyols) manufactured are quite different in the way the body reacts to them.  Most sugar alcohols are not considered GRAS (generally regarded as safe) under food and beverage law, but are allowed under the American cosmetic, flavor, and pharmaceutical regulations. They can cause the following adverse side effects at only 1½ teaspoons per day and some polyols have been linked directly to malignant tumor activity:

    Bloating

    Gastrointestinal distress

    Diarrhea

    Anal leakage

    These symptoms are particularly dangereous in infants, children, diabetics, hyperinsulinemics of hypoglycemic, pregnamt women, seniors and many other health compromised people.

    Don’t sugar alcohols sound too good to be true?  You would think it’s a miracle sugar substitute in all the hype.  From Dr. Mercola in Sweet Deception,  “… However, even though sugar alcohols do not raise your blood sugar levels as much as table sugar, they do raise them.
    Sugar alcohols can also be converted to fat, and may contribute to an increase in blood triglyceride levels and weight gain.  The exception to this rule is erythritol, which does not appear to raise blood sugars, but unfortunately also has inferior sweetening power.”

    Studies have shown that of the sugar alcohols xylitol is probably the best because of the health benefits associated with it, such as the benefit of preventing tooth decay and ear infections, however, it is still a manufactured,  manipulated product.

    Let’s face it – sugar is sugar and the food industry is constantly trying to “candy-coat”  the fact that sugar is still sugar, no matter what you call it and it still is and always will be very harmful to the body.

    SUGAR - Table sugar, cane sugar, etc. is made of 50% glucose and 50% fructose.  It is recognized by the body as a simple sugar, and it can deal with it, albeit it is stressful to deal with but it does nonetheless.  Too much sugar can lead to diabetes, which will lead to heart disease, renal disease, pripheral vascular disease, diabetic retinitis (blindness), diabetic peripheral neuropathy , etc.

    FRUCTOSE – It’s natural sugar found in fruits, right?  So it should be okay to use as a sugar replacement.  WRONG!  Any type of fructose is very dangerous – it essentially sends the message to the liver to store fat.  That’s why we eat fruit in season and with some type of a fat for a buffer.  The fruit is complete with fiber as well as the fructose.  Please see my earlier blog, Fruit will make you Fat. Remember, fructose raises triglyceride levels and lowers HDL levels among other things.

    FRUCTO-OLIGOSACCHARIDES (FOS) – a type of soluable fiber and is not very sweet and is usually mixed with other more intense sweeteners.  Since it is indigestible, it can cause digestive distress including gas and bloating when eaten excessively.

    Sadly, because of the misleading labeling in  the health foods industry, generally when you see FOS on the label it’s probably really fructose mislabeled in order to deceive you into believing the product is sugar free.

    HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP – We all know it is bad, and to reiterate, in addition to being genetically modified corn, it is anywhere from 42% to 45% glucose and 55% – 58/% fructose. The acid enzyme procedure used to manufacture it aside, your body doesn’t readily recognize the new structure, and that’s where the mayhem  begins—that extra punch of fructose.

    AGAVE NECTAR – Can be 55 percent to 90 percent fructose, depending on brand!

    In spite of manufacturer’s claims, most agave “nectar” is not made from the sap of the yucca or agave plant but from its pineapple-like root bulb[i]. The root has a complex carbohydrate called inulin, which is made up of fructose molecules.

    The process which many, if not most, agave producers use to convert this inulin into “nectar” is VERY similar to the process by which cornstarch is converted into HFCS1.

    Though processing methods can differ among manufacturers, most commercially available agave is converted into fructose-rich syrup using genetically modified enzymes and a chemically intensive process involving caustic acids, clarifiers, and filtration chemicals [ii]. Here is a partial list of the chemicals many producers use:

    • Activated charcoal
    • Cationic and ionic resins
    • Sulfuric and/or hydrofluoric acid
    • Dicalite
    • Clarimex
    • Inulin enzymes
    • Fructozyme

    How natural does this sound?

    Anyway, of the “good” agave syrups here’s a breakdown of three:

    Product % Fructose % Glucose
    NOW Foods Organic Amber Agave Nectar 59.1 12.8
    Madhava Agave Nectar 63.8 10.1
    Wholesome Sweetener Organic Blue Agave 67.0 5.8

    Fructose is Fructose, People!

    GLUCOSE- (dextrose) – You can get dextrose for about $1 a pound at the health food store.   It does not affect the liver the way fructose does.  Glucose does not cause insulin resistance or trick your body into persistant hunger the way fructose does.

    Except for individuals with full blown- diabetes, glucose does not trigger harmful metabolic changes!  It is okay to use sparingly, and is only about 70% as sweet as sucrose so you’ll end up using a bit more of it for the same amount of sweetness, making it slightly more expensive than sucrose—but still well worth it for your health as it has ZERO grams of fructose.  You need to get from reputable source, as it is can be a corn derivative and you want to make sure it is not genetically modified.

    Remember, glucose can be used directly by every cell in your body and as such is far safer than the metabolic poison fructose.

    HONEY –  Don’t be fooled and misled – honey packs a punch in that it can contain as much as fructose or more than HFCS.

    MOLASSES – has a high fructose content, though not as much as honey.   Molasses has 5.5 grams of fructose per 1 tablespoon and honey for same amount is 8.8 grams of fructose!  If you are trying to keep your total daily fructose consumption down at 25, this is pretty high at 1 tablespoon!

    PURE MAPLE SUGAR SYRUP,–By composition, this sugar is about 90% sucrose (remember sucrose is 50% glucose 50% fructose), the remainder consisting of variable amounts of glucose and fructose.  Extreme caution should be taken when choosing a maple syrup, using brands that are  organic or guaranteed not to use formaldehyde .  Formaldehyde is used in the production of mose commercial brands of pure maple syrup!

    FRUIT  JUICE CONCENTRATE, ETC. – When I see these sweeteners, I cringe –concentrated fructose as main component. The juice is particularly bad because it is almost pure concentrated fructose without the benefit of the fiber of the fruit!  How is that healthy?

    BROWN RICE SYRUP – made by fermenting brown rice with chemical enzymes, followed by centrifuging, filtering and purifying to a dextrose consistency.  As you can imagine, all nutrition has been stripped and it is mostly maltose with half the sweetness of sugar.

    LO HAN KUO – fruit of the momordica grosvenori, a plant in the cucumber and melon family the extracts of which can be 250 time sweeter than sugar and tastes like black licorice.

    Lo Han has been used for centuries I Traditional Chinese Medicine to improve skin conditions, sore throats, coughs, purifying the blood and regulating the digestive tract.  Lo Han is actually processed less than stevia, can be heated, can control food and sugar cravings, and like stevia has no calories or sugar.

    STEVIA – Stevia rebaudiana A plant whose leaves when dried are very sweet—up to 300 times as sweet as sugar.  It is a genus of about 240 species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family and native to tropical and subtropical regions from western North America to South America.

    Stevia gives almost no glycemic response and has been used in Japan for decades.  The US banned Stevia in the early 1990s unless labeled as a supplement, but in 2008 approved rebaudioside A extrct as a food additive.

    From Wikipedia, “In terms of weight fraction, the four major steviol glycosides found in the stevia plant tissue are:

    • 5–10% stevioside (250–300X of sugar)
    • 2–4% rebaudioside A — most sweet (350–450X of sugar) and least bitter
    • 1–2% rebaudioside C
    • ½–1% dulcoside A.

    Rebaudioside B, D, and E may also be present in minute quantities; however, it is suspected that rebaudioside B is a byproduct of the isolation technique. [2] The two majority compounds stevioside and rebaudioside, primarily responsible for the sweet taste of stevia leaves, were first isolated by two French chemists in 1931…

    Rebiana is the trade name[4] for a zero-calorie sweetener containing mainly rebaudioside A (also called Reb A).[5] Truvia is the consumer brand for Rebiana marketed by Cargill and developed jointly with The Coca-Cola Company.[6] PureVia is PepsiCo‘s brand of Reb A sweetener. Enliten is Corn Products International‘s brand of Reb A sweetener.”

    Stevia is the preferred sweetener to use, but only in the natural “supplement” form, not isolated, manipulated and manufactured by a company as cited above!

    DATE SUGAR – dehydrated dates ground into powder and is 85% sucrose.  See maple syrup above.

    SUCCANT AND TURBINADO SUGARS –  Succant is a contraction of “Sucre de canne naturel”, which was introduced by Pronatec in 1978 and is a brand name for whole cane sugar. Unlike refined and processed white sugar, Sucanat retains its molasses content; it is essentially pure dried sugar cane juice. The juice is extracted by mechanical processes, heated and cooled at which point the small brown grainy crystals are formed.

    Sucanat may be confused with turbinado sugar; however, the two are fundamentally different. Turbinado sugar contains only a trace amount of its original molasses content, making it similar to refined sugar except with a golden color and a hint of molasses flavor. Sucanat, on the other hand, retains its full molasses content and flavor, thus making it, as stated above, pure dried cane juice. Its grainy form also contrasts with the clear, crystalline form of turbinado.  BUT IT IS STILL SUGAR!

    I think that when you look at the pros and cons of the choices of sweeteners, the best choices are self-evident.

    Resources:

    Mercola.com

    The sugar fix, Dr. Richard Johnson

    Douglassreport.com

    Wikipedia.com

    Sweet Deception, by Dr. James Mercola

    Excitotoxins, the Taste that Kills by Dr. Russell Blaylock

    Bookmark and Share

    Janet Stuck is a Doctor of Naturopathy, Certified Nutritional Counselor, Certified Wellness Nutritional Counselor, Master Herbologist and Certified Natural Health Professional. Janet writes for

    www.LiberationWellnessBlog.com and her website www.onestopherbshop.net.


    Posted in Alzheimer's, blood cholesterol, Blood Serum Cholesterol, cancer, diabetes, Glucose, grains, health, insulin, Janet Stuck, New Year's resolutions, Nutrition, obesity, processed food, real food, sugar, triglycerides, xylitol | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

    Going Low Carb

    Posted by Annette Presley on April 7, 2011

    The common arguments against low carbohydrate diets are that they leave out a whole food group and are therefore unbalanced and they don’t supply enough nutrients. Sugar is hardly a food group and we certainly don’t need that. Starchy vegetables and grains have not been in the diet very long and humans did quite well before those were introduced into the diet so we don’t really need those, either. Animal foods provide every nutrient the body needs. The only nutrient animal foods lack in large quantity is vitamin C, but it just so happens that carbohydrates increase our need for vitamin C, so a low carbohydrate diet that includes leafy greens will supply more than adequate vitamin C. The fears of nutritionists regarding a low carb diet are unfounded and have no basis in science. What the science does show is that low carb diets improve weight, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and heart disease risk factors.

    While you may not be able to get down to a size you want and losing weight might require more sacrifice from you than from someone else, it is possible to improve your weight with the right diet. Carbohydrates are as addicting for some as alcohol and cigarettes are for others, so the first two weeks are going to the hardest as you will be detoxifying. Here are some tips to getting started:

    1.  Decide if you want to reduce carbs slowly or go cold turkey. If you have health problems, are taking medication, and/or are over the age of 45, you may want to take it slow to limit side effects.  Once you get to the point where you are losing weight, you can either stay at that carb level or decrease it further. Once you have achieved your desired weight, you can increase your carbs until you start gaining again. This will tell you your threshold for carb intake. The ideal carb intake for most people, based on 40 years of research by Wolfgang Lutz, MD, is about 72 grams daily.  Some people will lose weight just by eliminating sugars, some may have to eliminate sugars and grains and still others may have to give up most carbs to maintain a healthy weight. That’s where the unfairness of it all comes in. You just have to decide if the weight you want is worth the sacrifice you have to make to maintain it.

    2. Don’t count calories. They don’t matter at all.

    3. Don’t worry about how many meals to eat when first starting. Just eat when you are hungry and until satisfied. It will take a few weeks for your body to adjust to burning fat instead of carb, but once that happens, your appetite and energy levels will change. You will probably find yourself eating less often and you might actually feel like exercising for a change.

    4. Keep in mind that you are not ‘going on’ a diet, but making a lifestyle change. The low carbohydrate diet will have to be maintained for life if you want to maintain the weight loss.

    5. Be prepared for the switch. When the body switches from burning sugar to fat, you may experience fatigue, cravings, mood swings and an overwhelming desire to cheat, so plan for that. For myself, I had no problems the first week of going low carb, but then 3 days of extreme fatigue and cravings. I really, really wanted some sugar. Snacking helped a lot during those 3 days. My favorite snacks were Genoa salami between 2 slices of cheese, raw milk, and carrot sticks with a sour cream based dip. Once the three days passed, I had no more cravings and could easily avoid carb foods. Everyone’s experience will be different, but you will most likely, especially if you go cold turkey, go through a period of withdrawal. You may need a friend who can support and encourage you during that time.

    What happens if you follow the low carb diet and you don’t lose weight? I had a week where I stayed the same weight no matter how little carb I ate. After the week, the weight started coming off again, so, first, be patient as your body adjusts. Thyroid issues and hormone imbalances may also prevent weight loss so if you go two weeks without losing any weight, have those things checked out. You may need to take certain vitamins, minerals or herbs to get things working right again.

    Keep in mind that losing weight and getting healthy is not a race. It took time to put the weight on and it will take time to get it off. Instead of focusing on the number on the scale, focus on how you look and feel as you improve your diet and lifestyle habits and love who you are now. Don’t wait to buy clothes that make you look good. Look good now. In other words, don’t put off your life until you get to the weight you want. Live your life to the fullest now. It will help you get where you want to go.

    Annette Presley RD LD, Chief Nutritionist for Liberation Wellness

    Annette has been a registered dietitian for over 19 years and discovered several years ago that every thing she learned in school was wrong and the nutrition advice we dispense in this country actually causes heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity.  She is now dedicating her life to getting the truth out so people can live a truly healthy life.  She is founder of Find Your Weigh online at findyourweigh.com.

    Disclaimer: Annette Presley RD LD provides nutrition advice and counseling regarding lipid disorders that is not universally accepted as evidenced-based practice in dietetics.  This nutrition advice is neither sponsored, endorsed, approved nor recommended either by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) or the American Dietetic Association.  As such, prior to beginning nutrition counseling with or suggested by Annette Presley RD LD, it is strongly recommended that you consult your physician.

    Posted in diabetes, Dietary Cholesterol, exercise, Family Wellness, fitness, Glucose, grains, health, heart disease, insulin, liberation diet, longevity, Nutrition, obesity, sugar, Uncategorized, wellness | 1 Comment »

    Four Fabulous Real Life Low-Carb Health Stories To Encourage You

    Posted by Jimmy Moore on March 30, 2011

    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!

    Bookmark and Share

    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!

    Posted in blood cholesterol, Cholesterol, cholesterol and health, diabetes, HDL, health, jimmy moore, LDL, livin lavida lo-carb, Nutrition, obesity, Paleo, real food, VLDL, Weight Loss, wellness | 2 Comments »

    « Previous Entries
     
    Follow

    Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

    Join 149 other followers