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This has been quite the month for me to try to squeeze in everything I want to blog about, but there's just so much going on I have been having some leftover topics that I REALLY want to blog about still waiting to be blogged. As a result, I have been resorting to something I recently dubbed machine gun blogging to try to catch up. Get ready, get set, because the topics are gonna come at you fast and furious along with my regular commentary. So, without further delay, let's get started!
Starting us off is this Rocky Mountain News column which had some very thought-provoking points about diet and health that you should check out for a few reasons.
First, it features one of my favorite people in the whole widey widey world--Nicki Anderson from Reality Fitness in Naperville, Illinois. If you have not heard of Nicki yet, then you need to get to know her better because she is putting out a positive message of hope for people dealing with living a healthy life (and she's FRIENDLY towards people who are livin' la vida low-carb! WOO HOO!). Visit her web site at RealityFitness.com and sign up for her "Happy Monday" newsletter in the lower left-hand corner of the page. An inspiring message arrives pronto in your e-mail inbox bright and early on Monday mornings and you WON'T be disappointed.
Second, the story features the real founding father of the modern low-carb movement--William Banting. Most people erroneously believe that the late great Dr. Robert C. Atkins invented the low-carb diet, but actually it's been around for thousands of years. It was the ORIGINAL diet that most of our ancestors feasted on throughout the ages. Nevertheless, in the mid-1800s, Banting stumbled upon low-carb when his ENT doctor prescribed it for his hearing problems. He went on to lose 50 pounds by livin' la vida low-carb and wrote down the basic tenets of what many describe as the first diet book ever written entitled Letter on Corpulence . Today, Banting's principles still live on in the millions of people who are losing weight and improving their health with the low-carb lifestyle.
Third, we learn that three of the top ten diets being used in America today according to an NPD Group/Dieting Monitor survey are low-carb. They are Atkins at #6, South Beach at #8, and Sugar-Free at #9. Of course, there may even be some low-carbers in the #1 diet on the list called "my own." But the fact that most people think they know how to lose weight without the use of any specified program may explain why the latest dieting craze is weight gain!
One of my diabetic readers passed on this Diabetes In Control article about fooling your body into losing weight. Some of us have an overactive chemical imbalance in our brains that won't shut off even when we are not hungry. That's why you may get the sudden urge to nibble even after finishing your dinner. Of course, their ONLY answer to this "problem" is to prescribe a drug to control this from happening. I'm still not buying into that line of thinking because there is almost always a more natural way to lose and maintain your weight without such drastic interventions, IMHO! I'll give them some credit at the end of the column, though, when they try to provide practical tips for preventing this from happening similar to the ones Cornell University psychology professor Dr. Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating, outlined in his book. But still no mention of livin' la vida low-carb as a possible solution. :(
Last night, I had the privilege of attending an auction for two young men from my church who will be going on a mission trip overseas for a couple of weeks in February. Members of the church choir (which both Christine and I are a part of) brought items to be sold during the auction to help raise the funds for them to go. You know me, I couldn't resist making up a "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" basket full of all kinds of goodies, including an autographed copy of my Livin' La Vida Low-Carb book, Connie Bennett's fantastic new SUGAR SHOCK! book, all three of Jonny Bowden's motivational audiobook CD collection, and about 50 more items for this total package valued at around $500.
I was hoping it would garner at least $100, but they started the bidding for it at $50 and NOBODY would bid on it. It seems livin' la vida low-carb was not all that interesting to the people there. For a minute there, I thought I may have to bid $50 just to keep them from lowering the price. But finally one of my fellow choir members who is a diabetic and has been asking me LOTS of questions about low-carb lately perked up and bid $50 on it. Of course, nobody outbid him, so he won the basket. I went up to him afterwards and thanked him for getting it because I know he'll LOVE it! He said he wanted to share some of the low-carb books with his daughter who is struggling with her weight. A seed is planted and I'm happy to help water it to blossom! :)
Geting back to some articles in the media from this past week, I couldn't overlook this St. Paul, MN-based Pioneer Press story about a woman my age who was so fed up with her weight that she decided to go on Weight Watchers and their low-fat, low-calorie diet. GOOD FOR HER and I'm proud of her commitment to her new lifestyle change. But she said something about livin' la vida low-carb that I will not let slide without comment.
Here's her quote:
"I had been on the Atkins diet and lost weight. But that lifestyle just isn't maintainable. I had gained some weight back and was holding on."
Actually, livin' la vida low-carb IS maintainable if you make it a PERMANENT lifestyle change rather than just a diet. This is something that people who follow programs like Weight Watchers always fail to acknowledge. Sure, they have their little meetings, but when do you stop, hmmmm? The answer is NEVER and the same goes with the Atkins diet. It's the lifestyle change many have been looking for their entire lives. While some may not stick with the plan and start gaining the weight back (DUH!), most people who didn't fail on low-carb saw amazing long-term sustainable and maintainable weight loss success by staying on the plan. As long as you remember there is no "after" with low-carb, then there's no reason you shouldn't lose weight and keep it off forever!
Have you heard about the latest miracle weight loss food according to this United Press article? You're not going to believe this, but it's white rice. Yep, the same white rice that is absolutely a no-no when you are livin' la vida low-carb. The brilliant wonder-twins of The Serotonin Power Diet are Judith Wurtman and Nina Frusztajer Marquis. They foolishly assert that people need to eat lots and lots of carbohydrates to keep their serotonin levels high enough to control their appetite. Say what? If I nix the carbs and eat plenty of fat and protein, then something tells me I'm not gonna have to worry about hunger. This diet reminds me of another screwy high-carb diet I blogged about before called The Bread For Life Diet.
When I read this BruneiDirect.com story about giving hope to people who are obese that weight loss and improved health can indeed happen for them, I was encouraged. But that quickly diminished when I came to this part of the article:
Nora is also advising the public against resorting to the Atkins diet or the low carbohydrate eating plan to reduce weight. She said that the Atkins diet had been questioned due to its unconventional low carbohydrate but high protein diet. She noted that Dr. Robert Atkins, the pioneer of the diet, died from a heart attack.
Are these people TRYING to keep people fat? Whether they know it or not, by discouraging people from even attempting to lose weight using programs like the Atkins diet, that EXACTLY what they are doing. They turn their nose up at livin' la vida low-carb as if it's worse than obesity itself! Come on, people, get serious about this! Low-carb not only works but it keeps on working for those of us who LIVE IT day in and day out. Stop the scare tactics and give people the truth. And don't get me started on this vicious and hateful lie about Dr. Atkins dying of a heart attack again. We're just not going to entertain such ridiculous and unfounded theories over and over again after they have been clearly debunked. Next subject!
Here's another article from the Ozarks Newsstand that looked like a pretty good one on improving your body through diet and exercise...well, it was good until I got to this part:
The Atkins Diet is built around no carbohydrates. The South Beach Diet stresses cutting sugar-rich carbs such as bread, potatoes and even fruit. But which one is the right one? According to Herman, none of them. Eating healthy boils down to one thing-moderation.
"A lot are full blown on Atkins," he said of the low-carb diet made popular by Dr. Robert C. Atkins. "It does have good ideas and good points. You shouldn't overdo it on carbs. But don't restrict yourself. If you hold back, you'll go overboard. Reward yourself, but do it within reason."
Okay, I'm gonna say this LOUD AND CLEAR so nobody will misunderstand it. There is NO phase in the Atkins diet that requires you to eat NO carbohydrates. Not a single one. Even in the most restrictive phase of Induction during the first fourteen days of your low-carb plan, you still get to enjoy around 20g carbs daily. It only goes up from there eating lots of those low-glycemic foods mentioned with the South Beach diet. This idea of ZERO carbs may work for some people, the fact is most of us who are livin' la vida low-carb are STILL eating the right kind of carbs and gladly so. I like the fact that this expert admits there are good aspects to Atkins, but furthering the misinformation about this remarkable weight loss program is not cool at all. Don't they know Jimmy Moore will call their bluff by now? :D
Finally, have you heard about the controversy happening in Tennessee over the popular weight loss method known as gastric bypass surgery? This Fox News story reveals that healthcare provider BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is now requiring (GET THIS!) an IQ TEST before overweight or obese people will be allowed to try this risky way to shed the pounds. Not surprisingly, people are up in arms about this claiming it's discrimination against fat people. But I disagree.
Before we make it so easy for people to have a surgery like this one, why don't we have them tested not just for their intelligence (which is irrelevant if you ask me), but also do a complete psychological evaluation to get at the root cause of the weight problem to begin with. A lot of people who choose to have the gastric bypass surgery have not exhausted all the natural ways to lose weight first and feel it is simply a quick fix to their weight problem. Getting to the bottom of the REAL problem may prevent many people from having regrets about their decision to be cut open and radically altering their life forever. Besides, they're gonna be eating low-carb when the surgery is done anyway, so why not start livin' la vida low-carb to begin with?
Okay, that's plenty of low-carb morsels for you to munch on for today (but there's plenty more to come!). Feel free to comment on any or all of these topics that may tickle your fancy or get your blood pressure cooking. Don't hold it in, share it with Dr. Jimmy and leave all your burdens behind you. Let's talk it over, shall we? Send me your feedback anytime by e-mailing Jimmy Moore directly.
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