I’ve always got my eyes and ears open to what’s happening online in the world of diet, health and fitness because there are exciting new developments unfolding constantly. Sometimes the information comes out at such neck breaking speed that it can be difficult to keep up with it all. But my goal is to always bring to you the most pertinent information as soon as I possibly can. This is where my Twitter and Facebook pages become an excellent place for distributing these kind of things first and then hopefully to my blog in the days thereafter. Those social networking sites are awesome places for distributing health headlines that capture your attention, commenting on them, and then retweeting or posting on your own FB page. You gotta love how these have made the world a much smaller place.
Here are just a few items of interest that caught my attention in April 2011:
Last week I had the opportunity to interview a Belgian researcher named Jeroen Raes from the Flemish Institute for Biotechology in Brussels. He was the lead investigator in an intriguing new study about gut health published in the scientific journal Nature on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 entitled “Enterotypes of the human gut microbiome.” I was able to conduct a brief 10-minute interview with him about the research which I’ll share with my podcast listeners at the beginning of my “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show” coming up this Thursday. But I wanted to get the information out there ASAP and posted a video of the interview on YouTube:
A couple of days after my interview him was posted on YouTube, imagine my surprise when one of my readers informed me that my interview with Jeroen Raes about the three kinds of gut flora was quoted in a news report from Newsy.com:
http://www.newsy.com/videos/study-humans-differ-by-gut-flora-types
That was pretty neat and I appreciated the mention of my podcast. This was a gentle reminder that the work I’m doing is important and making a difference. I’ve already got another interview lined up with the author of bombshell study examining the therapeutic effects of a high-fat, low-carb diet on kidney function in diabetics conducted by Mount Sinai School of Medicine researcher Dr. Charles Mobbs published last week in the journal PLoS ONE. As soon as I’m finished speaking with Dr. Mobbs, I’ll post it on my YouTube page.
It’s nice to be recognized by medical professionals around the world for the work I am doing through “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb.” One of the leading low-carb voices in the UK is Dr. John Briffa (listen to my podcast interviews with Dr. Briffa here and here) who recently started his own engaging podcast called “A Good Look At Good Health” where he discusses various concepts about nutrition and healthy living with his listeners. In his April 8, 2011 podcast near the end of the show, Dr. Briffa and his co-host Carl Munson began spontaneously talking about “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” and me:
So awesome! THANK YOU Dr. Briffa for your very kind comments about me and what I do. It’s an honor and a privilege to be doing this alongside such giants in the field like you. Ironically, on the same day that Dr. Briffa’s podcast aired, the #1 health podcast on iTunes also aired an episode all about praising the role dietary fat plays in a healthy diet. Yep, this podcast started off by saying “Dietary fat is NOT the enemy!” Who is this podcaster? Believe it or not, it’s none other than Jillian Michaels from The Biggest Loser! Ever since she debuted “The Jillian Michaels Show” in February 2011, this podcast has dominated the top of the charts for health podcasts (much to the chagrin of us lowly health podcasters grinding it out without the luxury of a worldwide television fan following). But if she keeps saying stuff like this (except for her ignorance about calories and carbs), then I think the message might actually get through to people:
Wouldn’t you just love to have Jillian Michaels talk like this on camera to the contestants on The Biggest Loser? I’m sure when the cameras are turned off that some of this has crept into her pep talks with her clients. But it’s nice to see her becoming more bold about why fat, especially saturated fat, isn’t the big evil health destroyer we’ve been led to believe that it is. Welcome to the conversation Jillian! Keep learning about all the other conventional wisdom you thought was true that may not be–such as oatmeal, brown rice and quinoa being a healthy carbohydrate for everyone. Baby steps in the right direction, though.
I found a video clip of an interesting scene from the 1974 Paul Newman film called The Towering Inferno. One of my Twitter followers was watching this the other day and found this scene about eight minutes into the movie that captured her attention as a low-carber. Can you say a low-carb love scene?
“You’re better than a cheeseburger. All protein. No bread.” I LOVE IT! Wouldn’t you love to hear something like this from Angelina Jolie in one of today’s movies? I think it’s coming since Hollywood actress Courtney Thorne-Smith told me that everyone in television and film these days is eating low-carb. They could try Kent Altena‘s new “Low Carb Pecan Pie Cheesecake” on for size:
And finally, just when you think we’re making progress promoting real food to consumers, along comes a shocking story like this one about what researchers have been concocting in a laboratory over the past ten years to feed the world a “better” kind of chicken:
Seriously? Fake soy “chicken” as a substitute for the real thing? Have things really gotten THIS bad? Man oh man oh man. There’s still much work left to do…but I’m committed to staying on the front lines of this debate because this issue is far too important to remain silent. If something you’ve seen or read has piqued your interest and you think I should know about it, then please e-mail it to livinlowcarbman@charter.net. I always appreciate passing along information that will help others in their healthy low-carb lifestyle.
