We’re already into the Fall season now and October is coming later this week bringing with it cooler weather, Halloween, Election Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and then New Year’s 2009. Yes, it does seem like this time of the year speeds up as our breakneck schedules get even more hectic than normal. But that doesn’t mean life stops happening or healthy headlines you should know about go ignored. I’m not gonna let that happen here, so here are some hot health headlines you may want to check out.
NEWSWEEK WRITER GIVES UP HER DIET SODA
I can admire anyone who decides to give up something they feel is bad for them. That’s what Susan Shapiro from Newsweek magazine recently did by publicly writing about giving up her beloved diet soda. After a series of problems hit her, including losing her voice due to acid reflux from consuming the zero-calorie bubbly stuff, Susan gave ‘em up for good. And I say GOOD FOR HER! I tried giving up my diet soda last year, but I couldn’t sustain it at the time. That doesn’t mean I won’t try again in the future, but I haven’t seen any downside to drinking diet soda as part of my low-carb lifestyle–especially since I stick with the caffeine-free, Splenda-sweetened ones over the caffeinated NASTY-tame flavored ones. Kudos to Susan Shapiro for doing it and sharing her story.
COMPARISON OF 1970 DIET TO TODAY IN NY TIMES
This is one of the more intriguing graphics about the decline of our nutrition in the past nearly four decades since the inception of the low-fat diet lie. As you can see, it shows that Americans did precisely what the government and those so-called health “experts” recommended in terms of reducing saturated fat and increasing their consumption of fruits, vegetables, and “healthy” whole grains. They even followed the recommended switch from red meat to more fish and poultry. Keep in mind obesity rates have gone completely bonkers during this period of time. You can’t help but notice the VAST increase in carbohydrate consumption which no doubt drove people to be hungrier and hungrier explaining the 1.8-pound increase in weekly food intake over that period of time. Do we need to even doubt why we’re so fat as a nation anymore?
CANADIAN COLUMNIST CAN’T HOLD BACK ABOUT HIS LOW-CARB LIFE
I love it when I see people who have changed their lives by simply making simple yet effective efforts to reduce their carbs consciously. That’s what my friend and fellow blogger Brian Cormier has done losing over 100 pounds in the past year by livin’ la vida low-carb. But my Canadian friend has quite a platform to share what has happened to him as a columnist for the newspaper Moncton Times & Transcript. His “Hump Day” column is a regular feature and I’ve even blogged about his previous writings before. But in this column, Brian outdid himself! He blew most of the myths about low-carb that continue out of the water just by telling his story. Sure, it’s only anecdotal as all the naysayers will say, but for Brian Cormier–IT’S REAL! For Jimmy Moore–IT’S REAL! For all of you whose lives have been changed forever by healthy low-carb living–IT’S VERY REAL!!! Never stop being proud of what you have accomplished changing your life forever because of livin’ la vida low-carb. WAY TO GO, Brian! I’m proud of you, buddy!
SIOUX FALLS TV REPORTER EXAGGERATES BEING ON ATKINS
Unlike our previous headline featuring Brian Cormier finding great success following low-carb, this one highlights the supposed failure of the diet for news reporter Doug Lund. On his “Atkins experiment” as he calls it, none of the benefits have come his way yet, so Doug decides to throw a temper tantrum about it. He starts longing for sweet corn on the cob and realizes he can’t have it on his new way of eating. Plus, it’s odd he complains of being hungry–something most low-carbers know happens because you’re not eating enough fat to replace the carbs in your diet. This is a MUST! Hopefully good ole Doug will figure this out before he drives himself crazy. E-mail him your encouragement to keep on livin’ la vida low-carb at dlund@keloland.com.
NEED PROOF OF HOW “HEAVY” COKE IS COMPARED TO DIET COKE?
This video speaks for itself–I don’t think I’ll EVER be drinking another Coca-Cola again!
SEWAGE TREATMENT ACRYLAMIDE FOUND IN HIGH-CARB POTATO CHIPS
Need more reason to skip the potato chips and turn to the low-carb lifestyle? How about avoiding the exposure to a dangerous chemical called acrylamide whose primary function is to treat sewage water. Ummm, in a word, EWWWWW! It turns out that potatoes and other high-carb starchy foods produce this naturally when cooked at high temperatures making people very susceptible to the cancer-causing agent. This story details the settlement agreement from a lawsuit against the manufacturers of potato chips containing this ingredient, including Procter & Gamble Co. makers of Pringles, Frito-Lay Inc., maker of Lay’s and Ruffles, Kettle Foods Inc., maker of Kettle Chips, Lance Inc., maker of Cape Cod chips, and H.J. Heinz Co., maker of Ore-Ida French fries and tater tots. Don’t think this is just a California issue either…other states may soon follow with their own class action lawsuits!
IS BLOOD GLUCOSE UNDER 100 REALLY ENOUGH?
We often accept nutritional information as pure gospel without really knowing for sure if it is. From the low-fat diet recommendations for good heart health to consuming less cholesterol and fat to lower cholesterol levels, there’s a whole lot of misinformation out there. And it’s no different with blood sugar levels either. Unless you are diabetic, you probably don’t think too much about your blood sugar. But as one of my recent podcast guests Dr. Jim LaValle says in this column, you may be at greater risk for insulin resistance leading to diabetes than you think if your fasting blood glucose numbers routinely run in the 90-100 mg/dL range. If you haven’t bought a blood sugar monitor yet, then perhaps you should make that investment to know where you stand. I’m glad I did a few months back because it certainly explained a lot about my own health situation.
SYRACUSE TV REPORT GETS IT RIGHT ON TRIGLYCERIDES
Usually whenever you hear about cholesterol from a traditional media source like radio, newspaper or television reporter, they focus almost exclusively on LDL and total cholesterol as the main instigators in heart health. But looky here everyone–this reporter Marcie Fraser dug a little deeper and found a cardiologist named Dr. Nick Kondo who said people need to pay attention to their triglycerides and HDL, too. And it’s absolutely true–the triglyceride/HDL ratio is a MUCH BETTER indicator of heart health than LDL and total cholesterol will EVER be! And interestingly, eating the recommended high-carb, low-fat diet leads to lower HDL “good”cholesterol and significantly higher triglycerides. FINALLY–the truth is getting out there! And don’t miss what Dr. Kondo says is the best way to get your triglycerides under the magic number of 150–A LOW-CARB DIET AND FISH OIL SUPPLEMENTATION! Are we seeing a low-carb breakthrough at long last? It’s about time!
LOW-CARB DIETS STILL HURTING BOTTOM LINE AT GENERAL MILLS
We’ve seen the bread companies admit it after declining sales and even doughnut companies filing for bankruptcy from it, too! Now even cereal giant General Mills can’t ignore the financial impact that low-carb has made on its business. In this fiscal analysis of the makers of such morning-time favorites like Cheerios, Chex, Fiber One, Lucky Charms, Trix and Wheaties, the occurrence of “slowed sales” is blamed on “the recent popularity of low carbohydrate diets.” Oh, so now low-carb is popular again…ahhh, so why do we always hear stories about its demise in the news, hmmm? I thought is was quite telling in this report how ignorant General Mills’ attempt was to respond to the low-carb dieters by offering their own “low-carb products” that are mostly “grain-based.” The report concluded that this was a financial disaster for them because of “consumer preference for low-carbohydrate diets.” In other words, we don’t like grains in our diet, General Mills! Just call this the facts of life in a free market society. Bread, doughnut and cereal companies need to face the facts that their heyday has come and gone and the gig is up now. People don’t want their high-carb crap anymore!
A LITTLE DIABETES HUMOR COURTESY OF YOUTUBE
If you have diabetes or know someone who does, then you should check out this Bob Hawkinson who wrote a book entitled The Joy Of Diabetes. I’ll be interviewing him soon about his book, but this quirky, yet very realistic video he put together about the shocking aspect of being diagnosed with diabetes will give you a newfound appreciation for what people go through when they get this disease.
THE MEAT/CANCER LINK IS ON VERY SHAKY GROUND
One of the oft-repeated claims made about meat by vegetarian and vegan groups especially is that it is linked to cancer. A lot of this stems from the perception that the sodium nitrite and nitrate content of meat is extremely high compared to other foods. But a report by a group of experts has found that fruits and vegetables contribute far more nitrite and nitrate to human daily intake than cured meats do. However, even the notion that nitrites are bad for your heart health are coming into question as this incredible report details. This is a MUST-READ if you or someone you know still has concerns over meat giving them cancer.
FORBES REPORTS CARBS CAUSE HARM TO BRAIN HEALTH
I love it when mainstream news sources report the TRUTH about what carbohydrate consumption is doing to our bodies. While much of the media focuses on the weight loss aspect of low-carb living, it’s the health ramifications that deserve to be lauded. And that’s exactly what happens in this column about “surprising” things to impact memory. Under the section “How and What We Eat,” there’s an amazing quote from a brain surgeon named Dr. Vincent Fortanasce when he says “carbohydrates are to the brain what cigarettes are to the lungs.” WOW, I LOVE THAT!!! And I’m sure my friend and brain surgeon himself Dr. Larry McCleary is smiling at this because it echoes everything he wrote about in his incredible book The Brain Trust Program.
ATKINS UK TO ANNOUNCE ‘HOLLYWOOD A-LISTER’ TO MARKET COMPANY
In my podcast interview with Atkins Nutritional spokeswoman Colette Heimowitz recently, we heard about the many changes that are happening at the company founded by the late, great Dr. Robert C. Atkins. The British marketing arm of the Atkins company has hired Tangerine PR to get a well-known Hollywood celebrity to endorse and promote the bars and shakes in their advertising. I don’t know if this “Hollywood A-Lister” will be used in the United States marketing of Atkins or not, but it should be interesting to find out who this mystery star is.
SCIENTISTS SHOW CARBS DAMAGE OUR BODIES AS WE GET OLDER
We probably had an inkling of suspicion about this already, but now there’s research published in the August 2008 issue of the scientific journal Nature from Dr. Zane Andrews that found those cells in our body that regulate appetite-suppression become damaged by high-carb, sugar-filled foods we consume as we get older. People between the ages of 25-50 are at the highest risk of being affected by this and should be mindful of their carb consumption. The cellular deterioration that is happening because of carbohydrates is going to be further investigated by Dr. Andrews and his team to see if there is some connection to neurological diseases like Parkinson’s. Wanna bet they’ll find something to it?
TAMPA BAY DOCTOR REVERSING TYPE 2 DIABETES WITH LOW-CARB
You gotta love seeing stories like this where a doctor named Dr. John Young started implementing the principles of livin’ la vida low-carb on his diabetic patients and their blood sugar and insulin levels came down to normal without the use of medications or extra insulin. And all the ADA representatives in the area can say is that it’s a “mystery” to them how this can happen. Uh, I have four words for ya–LIVIN’ LA VIDA LOW-CARB!
BREAST MILK ICE CREAM CONE, ANYONE?
I wish this was a joke, but sadly it’s not. I’ll give you three guesses who’s behind this and the first two don’t count (if you need a hint, then look no further than this previous blog post example of the radical behavior portrayed by the instigating group). Have these people no shame in their disgust for anything having to do with the consumption of animal products?
ORLANDO SENTINEL COLUMN SHOWS WE’RE STILL BASSACKWARDS ABOUT DIABETES
Just when you think we might be making some strides in helping people with diabetes overcome their disease, along comes a story like this one from the Orlando Sentinel that takes us back 20-30 years with archaic advice that has been proven over and over again to be a dismal failure. Why must we keep doing the same thing over and over again thinking we’ll get a different result? Are people who still espouse this kind of nonsense really THIS insane? Apparently.
Alrighty then, that’s enough health news for now! If you see something in the media you think I should know about, then feel free to pass it along to me at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. I’ll compile the best headlines and share my thoughts about them in a future blog post. THANKS so much for reading!!!
