It’s “Fun-Filled Friday” time again and I’m not feeling well today. After a day and a half of a wicked sore throat, the onset of a cold is trying to bring me down. I’m fighting most of it off, but I’m extremely fatigued right now. So, we may have an abbreviated version of FFF for you today as a result. We’ll see how it goes! Here we go:
In case you’ve been living under a rock the past week or so with all the democratic uprising happening the country of Egypt, there’s some really big news in world history that happened today when President Hosni Mubarak made the fateful decision to step down from his leadership position after serving 29 years in that capacity and cede control of the government to the Egyptian Army. Here was the announcement from the vice-president:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxGpgi-cKBc
This is monumental with nearly one-fourth of the world’s oil reserves in Egypt and one-third of the population of the Middle East residing there. The Egyptian Army is set to preside over and provide protection for the country until new leadership can be voted into place in September. What’s sad is most American children and many adults won’t have a clue about what this day means because they don’t think it has anything to do with their life.
Moving on to something that’s a little more fun and funny, have you seen Steve Harvey hosting Family Feud yet? This little segment from a show last week says it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQRMvg5TAl8
Oh my! A joint gets TWICE as many votes as the offering plate at church! “This is when you know we’re going to Hell.” True dat! Funny stuff.
Shifting gears a bit, have you ever wanted to know what a pastured pigs life is all about? My friend Felix Olschewski from Germany interpreted this documentary he made into English. ENJOY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjf9F5YOq7A
Fascinating! THANKS for this fabulous report, Felix. Speaking of pigs, have you heard about concerned British citizen Tracy Worcester’s exploration into where “cheap” pork comes from and why it is a danger to health? Check out these eye-opening videos about her findings in her film entitled “Pig Business”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfG50ymZUUU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfG50ymZUUU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuMjsM6ZnQE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuMjsM6ZnQE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuw4BrjnxQw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuw4BrjnxQw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIOW2EDOXWw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIOW2EDOXWw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aij9kUy5HgQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aij9kUy5HgQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCa0tkVODOc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCa0tkVODOc
I only wish MORE people in America cared about where their food came from…and perhaps that sentiment is changing. It’s just difficult to see it sometimes with all the people clamoring their local supermarkets thinking they’re getting the best food there. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
I’ve been getting quite a few e-mails this week from people who are frustrated by the lack of weight loss on their low-carb lifestyle. I see this from time to time, but it seems I’ve had at least 3-4 e-mails daily with people pleading for understanding about why they can’t lose weight and what a failure they are. I’ve never quite understood this mentality since livin’ la vida low-carb isn’t so much about weight loss as it is being healthy. Health is and should be the main reason you low-carb and weight loss is merely a side effect of healthy low-carb living. I encourage anyone who feels frustrated about their lack of weight loss to have some blood tests run to see how they are doing in their low-carb lifestyle. An NMR Lipoprofile test will show your lipid health and there are others to run as well like 25-hydroxy Vitamin D test like this one I had run recently:
WHOOP WHOOP! You read that right. After getting my D3 tested in 2009 after taking 10,000 IU of Vitamin D3 gel caps daily for a year, I raised my levels from 42 to 68. So I backed off on the D3 to around 5,000 IU daily and the next reading in December 2009 was 50. That prompted me to go back up to 10,000 IU daily for the next year where my reading came in at an all-time high of 79. I couldn’t be happier with my progress. However, there is one area I could use some work in my health:
These were the results of a recent saliva stress test that measured cortisol levels in my body throughout the day. As you can see, my first reading fell within what is considered normal for waking up. The trend is supposed to be a gradual decline throughout the day–but not for Jimmy Moore. The second reading around noon was abnormally low at 1.43. That was tested right after I engaged in a one-hour yoga class, so I chalked it up to the relaxation and low-stress environment. But then by the afternoon the cortisol was back up to normal range again and remained at this elevated state even as it was close to bedtime. This is not good and may explain why I’ve been having some difficulty with sleep. I’ve added L-Tryptophan, magnesium and GABA to my nighttime supplementation ritual to see if those will help with the sleep as well as scheduling regular massages to help my body relax and lower cortisol. I will get this under control.
I was in Haywood Mall in nearby Greenville, South Carolina recently getting my iMac worked on at the Apple store (the power button went berzerko on me and needed to be replaced) and while I was waiting I went into the restroom to find this shocking thing hanging on the wall:
A “sharps” container in a public restroom? Either we’ve got a bunch of druggies walking around the streets of South Carolina or diabetes injections have reached such epidemic proportions that something like this is necessary. Quite frankly, I’d never seen anything like this in a public restroom before–ANYWHERE! Have you?
And finally today (because my aching body is starting to feel the need to lie down), I couldn’t believe my eyes when a well-known steakhouse like Outback would be so brazen as to promote the fact that their steaks are “grain-fed.”
Seriously? And what’s most disappointing about it is how people will read that marketing mumbo jumbo and see “100% USDA Choice” and think that means something. It doesn’t.It might be “hand trimmed” and “aged precisely for tenderness,” but a grain-fed steak can’t hold a stick to one that’s been grass-fed. Nutritionally and in taste, grass-fed is king–no matter what Outback Steakhouse says about their steaks! If they were really “serious business” about providing their customers with the best quality steaks, then they’d settle for nothing less than the best–GRASS-FED all the way, baby!
Sorry I ran out of energy before sharing some low-carb and health headlines with you this week. Perhaps if I’m feeling better on Saturday I’ll write another post with all the news stuff I found this past week–and it’s a bunch of good ones! THANK YOU to everyone for you well wishes in my current weight loss journey as I pursue 230 pounds by April 1. It’s gratifying to know how much people love you and are rooting for you to succeed. Thanks so very much. I’m going to be in my recliner for a while trying to shake this crazy cold thingy as well as I can. THANKS for reading the “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” blog and we’ll talk at you again soon!
