One of the most favorite parts of my blog according to reader feedback is finding out all the latest news and information in the world of nutrition, diet and health–especially when it is related to healthy low-carb living. You may not find out about a lot of the things I share here which is why I enjoy researching, reporting, and writing about them as often as possible. Today I’m loaded with some more low-carb news and health headlines for April 2009, so hang on tight and let’s learn something together!
NEW STUDY SHOWS TIE BETWEEN FRUCTOSE AND INSULIN RESISTANCE
In the “well, ya think?” department comes a study published in the March 4, 2009 issue of Cell Metabolism that showed mice fed a high-fructose diet developed non-alcoholic fatty liver disease which leads to insulin resistance and eventually Type 2 diabetes. The researchers focused in on a gene called PGC-1b that when inhibited negated the detrimental impact of fructose consumption. No doubt they’ll be looking for some sort of pharmaceutical way to do this while the obvious stares them in the face–TELL PEOPLE TO STOP EATING FRUCTOSE IN THEIR DIET! DUH! No doubt fructose researcher Dr. Richard Johnson would wholeheartedly agree.
NEBRASKA POLICE OFFICER FIRED FOR BEING ‘OBESE’ REINSTATED
When I saw this story in the Omaha World-Herald, it reminded me of a November 2006 blog post I wrote about a police chief who was fired for sending out an e-mail to his officers to eat better and lose weight. 25-year veteran Officer Christopher Parent from the Bellevue, Nebraska Police Department was fired in 2007 after a poor performance in a shooting exercise. Oh yeah, by the way, Parent weighs over 300 pounds on 5’9″ body frame which makes him morbidly obese. The policy at the time was that officers must be physically fit to perform the duties of their job, but there was wording in the policy that only required a “fair” level of fitness following the Wellness Program Manual (this section of the policy has since been replaced with more stringent language regarding fitness requirements). Parent is excited about going back to work again after a judge reversed the termination last month, but the PD is pursuing further legal action to keep the officer off the streets. Is this experienced obese officer that much of a danger to the people of Bellevue that they need to continue to block his access to his old job? What say YOU?
ARTICLE: HOW A LOW-CARB DIABETES DIET HELPS MY DAD
Did you see this story in U.S. News & World Report last month? The author January Payne talked about her father living with Type 2 diabetes for most of his life having trouble getting his blood sugar and A1c levels under control until he started livin’ la vida low-carb in 2008. He learned about the importance of counting carbs and this one line from January says everything a diabetic needs to know about controlling their disease: The more carbs you eat, the higher your blood sugar reading is, and the more you need insulin. Interestingly, her column talked about a Type 1 diabetic who said he learned about carbohydrate counting when he worked with the American Diabetes Association on their board of directors in 2002-2003. What the? Well, if they know so much about this and the benefits of restricting carbohydrates, then why has the ADA been so dead set against low-carb living for so many years? It’s good to know the work of Dr. Richard Bernstein and others is finally receiving the vindication it deserves. Be sure to check out this companion column in U.S. News & World Report with tips for following a low-carb diabetes diet. They’re almost all the way there…ALMOST!
SILVER CLOUD DIET WEB SITE IS LAUNCHED
You might recall my November 2008 podcast interview with Dr. John Salerno where he discussed a somewhat controversial weight loss method that involved a four week “fat fast” consisting of a very high-fat intake combined with a very low-carb nutritional approach. Former Atkins Center contributor Dr. Salerno now has a book contract and will be articulating these concepts even further. In anticipation of the book release, they have created a new web site called SilverCloudDiet.com as well as a companion blog which feature loads of information about this project. Keep checking for updates about this developing low-carb book coming out in late 2009/early 2010.
TOM NAUGHTON INTERVIEWED BY MICHAEL BLOWHARD
The low-carb media darling of 2009 has got to be FAT HEAD documentary filmmaker Tom Naughton. This funny-man-turned-filmmaker has made quite a splash within diet and health circles with his hilariously funny and witty take on the state of nutritional science in America today. As I like to tell people, it’s Good Calories, Bad Calories-lite! Not surprisingly, Tom has had the opportunity to share about his movie with interested health bloggers and this new one from 2Blowhards is yet another addition to the fray. ENJOY! By the way, you’ll recall Tom posted Part 1 of an interview with me yesterday. Well, Part 2 is now online where he asks me about the business of blogging for a living. I’d love to know what you think!
A GRAIN-FREE DIET PLUS VITAMIN D MEANS HEALTHY TEETH?
One of my blog readers told me about this blog by Stephan, a doctoral candidate in neurobiology who has an excellent blog called Whole Health Source. His recent post “Reversing Tooth Decay” was quite educational and gave validation to the low-carb way of eating for dental health. He notes a 1932 study by Dr. Edward Mellanby (who discovered Vitamin D, by the way) that compared one of three diets: A normal diet plus oatmeal, a normal diet plus Vitamin D, and a grain-free diet plus Vitamin D. The first diet led to new cavities, the second diet led to less cavities to be formed, but it was what happened to the third diet group participants that was most stunning. Nearly all the cavities healed and very few new cavities developed. Stephan theorized the phytic acid in grains is the main culprit in tooth decay and removing grains from the diet would show improvements. The great work of low-carb pioneer Dr. Weston A. Price is also noted in the column. This one is worth your time to check out!
MY FIRST GRASSROOTS HEALTH ‘D-ACTION’ RESULTS
Speaking of Vitamin D, last month I blogged about this important supplement to your healthy low-carb diet and noted my relatively low score of 42 ng/mL reading. According to Dr. William Davis from “The Heart Scan” blog, your Vitamin D3 level should be between 60-70 for optimal health. While my reading wasn’t nearly as bad as my wife Christine’s–a mere 9 ng/mL–I knew I needed to do something about it. So in the Fall 2008 I began taking 10,000IU of Vitamin D3 daily. These are pretty inexpensive and can be found in 2,000IU gel caps. Six months after starting this aggressive daily regimen, I had my blood tested again and I’m THRILLED to report the results. As of April 2, 2009, my Vitamin D3 levels are at 68 ng/mL! WOO HOO! I HIGHLY encourage you to get your D3 levels checked and take appropriate action with sunlight exposure, healthy diet, and supplementation to get yours up to snuff.
CARLSON COLUMN CHALLENGES ‘ACCEPTED APPROACH’ TO EATING
I have nothing but respect and admiration for the work Dr. James E. Carlson is doing on behalf of livin’ la vida low-carb right now. His thought-provoking book Genocide: Why Your Doctor’s Dietary Ignorance Will Kill You convinced me that we have a real advocate on our side to articulate the benefits of livin’ la vida low-carb which is why I was happy to have him as a guest speaker on the 2009 low-carb cruise to Mexico in January and why he’ll be coming back again on our March 2010 low-carb cruise to the Bahamas. In a column published at Health News Digest entitled “Eating Healthy–Accepted Approach Is Not Correct Approach,” Dr. Carlson makes a convincing case that the low-fat, high-carb diet that has been deemed as “healthy” for so long is precisely why people are overweight and unhealthy today. You’re gonna LOVE it!
MEN’S HEALTH COLUMN ON DR. MARY VERNON STILL CHANGING LIVES
You might recall back in November 2006 a pretty amazing column entitled “The Cure For Diabetes” was shared in Men’s Health magazine about the work Dr. Mary C. Vernon is doing to help diabetic patients beat their disease with a low-carb nutritional approach. The author of that column was Adam Campbell and he caught a lot of flack at the time about extolling the virtues of low-carb living as a means for controlling diabetes. Despite the negative feedback he received at the time, Adam stood by his story and recently received an e-mail from a man whose life was changed for the better because of his encounter with Dr. Vernon after reading about her in Men’s Health. You gotta read about this on Adam Campbell’s “The Fitness Insider” blog by clicking here. Simply AMAZING!
PISTACHIO RECALL WEB SITE SET UP BY THE FDA
The recent Salmonella scare with pistachios has caused some low-carbers to be concerned about the safety of this popular low-carb snack item. That’s why PistachioRecall.org was created to inform the public of the brands that are not a part of the pistachios from Setton Farms or Terra Bella. You shouldn’t have to give up this delicious low-carb nut if you choose the companies that are unaffected by this recall.
‘KIMMER’ NOW A PAID EXPERT DIET COACH–I’M NOT KIDDING!
If this were only a joke, then I’d be laughing about it now. But unfortunately, it is not. Despite her Kimkins web site being named Worst Diet Product of 2008, Heidi “Kimmer” Diaz is back to her scheming ways yet again. Not only has she created a new diet web site but she is now listed as an “expert” on LivePerson. OMG! Her description states she is a “Diet Coach with 13+ years experience helping thousands with fast weight loss, overcoming stalled weight loss and body cleansing detox.” Did they conveniently forget to mention she also has helped destroy the health of thousands and is the subject of a class action lawsuit against her? How about the fact that she weighs nearly 300 pounds? And let’s not forget the words of “Kimmer” herself where she lied repeatedly to me in an interview with her about her alleged 200-pound weight loss success and a multitude of other subjects. Scam artists like this need to be behind bars and I sincerely hope nobody seriously pays this woman $60/hour for online consulting. And do you notice you can’t reach her by phone? Hmmm…. BUYER BEWARE!
YOU CAN’T BE ATHLETIC FOLLOWING THE LOW-CARB LIFESTYLE?
I’m cranking out the podcast interviews this month in preparation for the next few months of my podcast “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore” and I had the chance to interview a man named Dr. Joe Leonardi from the “Fat Then Fit Now” blog two weeks ago. This man is a barrel of energy and living proof that low-carb and fitness are NOT mutually exclusive. He read my previous low-carb news and health headlines post where I featured a column by an athlete who called us low-carbers a bunch of “carbophobes” and that you can’t properly train without eating carbohydrates. Dr. Leonardo thought that was bologna and penned his brilliant personal take on the issue in a response column called “You can’t be athletic following a low carb lifestyle?” ENJOY!
GOOGLE CHROME SOFTWARE DESIGNER AN ATKINS SUCCESS
This Financial Times story on Lars Bak who created the new Google Chrome web browser had a very brief mention about a recent diet he went on to lose weight. “The developer community in the US can be intense, the lifestyle unhealthy. When Bak returned to Denmark, he lost 20kg in two months (thanks to that very American phenomenon, the Atkins diet), and he hasn’t put it back on. SWEET! That’s a good chunk of weight to lose in such a short amount of time and to keep it off he’s probably still livin’ la vida low-carb. I’ve contacted Google about setting up an interview with Lars, but no response yet. We’ll keep trying! There was one other line in the article about his diet that you might find interesting: “But there’s no canteen, just a kitchen with a nut dispenser and a fridge full of bottled water and Diet Coke. Bak has introduced a no-sugar policy: ‘It’s not no sugar as such – you get natural sugar from fruit. But no chocolate, no obvious candy.’” Sounds like an excellent low-carb plan to me!
STUDY: WALNUTS, FISH IMPROVE HEART HEALTH RISKS
A new study published in the April 1, 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that omega-3-loaded low-carb walnuts helped to reduce total and LDL cholesterol compared to consuming fish. However, the omega-3 fatty acid-rich fish tended to raise HDL “good” cholesterol while lowering triglycerides. Many studies have been conducted on the role of omega fats in heart health, but this was the first study to look at the different role various types of omega-3s played on cardiovascular disease risks. The take-home message: EAT MORE WALNUTS AND FISH! They’re both low-carb and delicious.
STUDY: JUNK FOOD MAKES KIDS FATTER, BUT HAPPIER?
What a dopey study published this month in the Journal of Happiness Studies (is that a REAL journal or is this some strange prank?). Did you see this one yet? The researchers attempted to examine the childhood obesity epidemic and wanted to look at the relationship between unhealthy eating and how children feel about themselves. For their study, they looked at how fast food and soda impacted body weight and their happiness level. Not surprisingly, the more fast food and sugary soda the kids ate, the fatter they got. But also the HAPPIER they got. But so freakin’ what! I guess this begs the question: is it better to be fat and happy than thin and unhappy? And what’s to say that these kids couldn’t find happiness in eating something healthier than junk foods? One more question–what kind of happiness will those fast food eating kids have about themselves when they grow into morbidly obese adults? Just something to think about.
MODERATE PROTEIN BETTER THAN HIGH-CARB DIET FOR HEALTH
If you have not been following the research of Dr. Donald Layman on the role of protein in a healthy fat-burning diet, then you owe it to yourself to check it out. His latest study published in the March 2009 issue of the Journal of Nutrition found that replacing at least some of the carbohydrates in your diet for protein–upwards of 30 percent of daily calories–will produce fat loss and improvements in HDL and triglycerides. Cutting carbs alone will do those things as well and my only concern is that Dr. Layman doesn’t encourage a low enough level of carbohydrates with his Zone diet-like recommendation of 40 percent carbs to go along with 30 percent fat and protein levels. I’ll be meeting him in person again later this week at the Metabolism Society conference in Charleston, SC and will be requesting an interview with Dr. Layman to discuss this further on my podcast show.
MICHELLE HEATON SHEDS THE POUNDS ON A NO-CARB DIET
You gotta love any positive publicity for livin’ la vida low-carb when it is embraced by a celebrity and this Daily Mail column about Michelle Heaton’s low-carb transformation is incredible! A former member of the British pop group Liberty X has done so well in her carb-shunning eating that she is showing off her new body to the world in a photo shoot mimicking the one done by supermodel Cindy Crawford tearing a loaf of bread in half in last month’s Allure magazine. It’s a pretty cool shot and they show both Michelle and Cindy’s photos in this story as well as what Michelle looked like before her weight loss. Be inspired!
Got a low-carb news or health story to share with me? I’m all ears anytime, so feel free to e-mail me the details at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.
