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Ask The Low-Carb Experts (Episode 15): ‘Exploding The Low-Carb Myths’ | Dr. Eric Westman

Jimmy Moore — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 13:11:37 +0000

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In Episode 15 of “Jimmy Moore Presents: Ask The Low-Carb Experts,” we have an amazing bona fide low-carb expert for you in Duke University researcher and health practitioner Dr. Eric Westman. He is a lifestyle medicine physician/bariatrician who specializes in disease prevention of his patients primarily through the use of low-carbohydrate nutritional approaches that often improve conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, obesity, PCOS, metabolic syndrome, sleep apnea, fatty liver disease and more. Dr. Westman is the co-author with Dr. Stephen Phinney and Dr. Jeff Volek on the New York Times bestselling book The New Atkins For A New You (listen to my interview with him about this book in Episode 338 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show”) and he has performed some of the most influential scientific research on low-carb diets in the world over the past decade. He regularly teaches his patients in Durham, North Carolina about low-carb diets and has heard virtually every objection about it over the years. That’s why we were privileged to have him here with us dispelling the myths people still believe about low-carb living. I’m pleased to have brought you a highly-qualified expert like Dr. Eric Westman today joining us on ATLCX answering listener questions about the plethora of low-carb myths in EPISODE 15 on April 26, 2012.

Listen to Dr. Eric Westman “Exploding The Low-Carb Myths”:

His frustration over the “endless” concerns that never come true

There’s a myth that you need 120g carbs daily for brain health

But our bodies make glucose internally without eating it

Low-carbers have to stand up and say “I’m alive!” to dispel this

Mothers are having babies on a carbohydrate-restricted lifestyle

Dietitians are used to talking about calories on a weight loss diet

It’s not that calories don’t count, but you don’t have to count them

Calories do matter with weight loss and yet you don’t talk about them

The science has been done on this but the teaching hasn’t changed

Low-carb is described as “high-protein” by they’re adequate protein

It’s actually a “high-fat” diet despite the negativity against fat

If fat was bad, why would our bodies be storing something harmful

The science has never really proven the low-fat diet saves lives

Fat being bad is the “most pervasive myth that’s still out there”

The French have never feared the fat in the foods they eat

Those who eat the most fat tend to have the best good cholesterol

People mix up healthy nutritional ketosis with dangerous ketoacidosis

Only Type 1 diabetics needs to be concerned with ketoacidosis

The notion that people won’t maintain low-carb hasn’t been tested

There needs to be more support for people wanting to eat low-carb

Negative response didn’t happen to The New Atkins like before

When Dr. Atkins died, nothing changed about the science supporting it

If you have heart disease, a high-fat diet doesn’t make it worse

Cardiovascular health improves consuming a high-fat, low-carb diet

It’s hard to make a whole lot of money promoting knowledge to people

Is There Any Such Thing As “Safe Starches” On A Low-Carb Diet?

Everyone’s blood sugar will go up, but we don’t know what insulin does

It’s the big insulin response that’s “not harmless” and “not healthy”

If you’re insulin resistant, you need to count carbohydrate grams

VIDEO: Dr. Westman’s “No Sugar, No Starch” Diet Overview

Why he uses total carbs over net carbs with his patients

Net carbs are okay for a lot of people if you’re fairly healthy

If you go to his clinic with obesity and diabetes, total carbs matter

The worse your health is the “stricter” you need to be counting carbs

It’s “easier to teach” the total grams of carbohydrate

There are no answers on how much fiber is required in the diet

A high-fat, high-carb diet will lead to Type 2 diabetes

Scientists often blame the fat in studies, but the carbs are high too

A high-fat diet without the carbohydrates is “the cure for diabetes”

The United States may not be ready for low-carb, high-fat (LCHF)

The idea that being in nutritional ketosis is harmful is a myth

Ketones are being used as fuel along with fatty acids instead of glucose

Whether ketosis is “the optimal state” is still a question

Science is showing that ketones reduce cancer and improve aging

Glucose metabolism is creating free radicals that age us

A shift from recommending urine ketone to blood ketone measurement

His challenge to obesity researchers to test one long-term low-carber

No science supports low-carb raises cortisol, burns out adrenals

Many of these issues come up from one individual and are not typical

People who follow the “Chet Atkins” diet instead of Robert Atkins diet

Why moderating protein in the diet is important on a low-carb diet

Researchers recommend 1-1.5g protein per pound of lean body mass

The challenge is whether the diet is high-fat or high-protein

This is certainly one of the “innumerable” number of studies needed

Too much protein converts to glucose because of gluconeogenesis

Whether there’s any validity with the “one golden shot” theory

Anecdotally people think low-carb only works once

Some people may not be as enthusiastic about low-carb second time

There are many changes that can happen to the body as we age

Whether there is any such thing as an “essential carbohydrate”

The body makes all the carbs you need from fat and protein you eat

The very low amount of sugar that is in the human bloodstream

A Coca-Cola has seven times more sugar than what’s in the human body

Diabetics should ask their doctors where the blood sugar goes

Dr. Mike Eades’ blog post “A spoonful of sugar”

Why diabetic teachers are so adamant about patients eating carbs

The unnecessary fear of hypoglycemia vs. hyperglycemia

What about the Asians who eat carbs and are thin and healthy

The Rice Diet in Durham is very low-calorie as well

As affluence increases, so do the calories which can be problematic

Eating carbohydrates is “optional” and not really necessary

A diabetic low-carb diet improves blood sugar levels in most people

Eating more carbohydrates than you can burn will store as body fat

Low-fat diets work because they are also low-calorie (low-carb, too!)

Hunger goes away on low-carb because you burn fat for energy

Carbohydrate gives 2,000 calories, but fat gives 40,000 calories

Fat is more efficiently burned and used by the body than sugar

Muscles and the heart prefer fat for fuel, brain uses ketone bodies

Low triglycerides and high HDL are typical of a low-carb dieter

LDL can be lower, higher or “extremely high” while on low-carb

The type of LDL cholesterol is typically the larger vs. small

The most important thing to look at is the HDL cholesterol

Get your arterial system scanned with an ultrasound doppler to see

A zero heart scan calcium score means “there’s no disease”

Ask your cardiologist what purpose LDL cholesterol has in the body

LDL cholesterol acts as a “boat” for the fat-soluble vitamins

Why low-carbers aren’t perfect bodies, health vs. low-fat vegans

Vitamin B12 deficiency on a vegan diet is a very real concern

Bariatric physicians aren’t using vegan diets for obese patients

The dream of a genuine low-carb vs. vegan diet research study

Low-carb studies don’t tend to keep them on a ketogenic diet

Just because it’s not in a study doesn’t mean it’s not true

If low-carb works for six months, what happens on the next day?

The people in charge of study funding don’t think low-carb is healthy

Why NIH-funded studies provide more prestige in research

Low-carb, low-fat (South Beach) can indeed be difficult to do

Eating a high-fat, low-carb diet with bacon is a “glorious” diet

Dr. Will Yancy doing a study allowing people to choose their own diet

Children without diabetes need calories and protein, but not carbs

School lunches tend to have more carbs because they’re cheaper

Type 1 diabetic kids do need a few carbs to offset insulin injection

Why consuming salt is not as big of an issue on a low-carb diet

We need about 5g of salt a day for what the body can use

When you sweat in the summer, you need to replenish salt with water

What you can tell people who think you need to be eating sugar

Giving a smoker two cigarettes a day gets them back to it again soon

Eating sugar is just as addictive in the brain as smoking, drugs

People who say “you have to eat” doesn’t mean you need sugar

Even Dr. Robert Lustig allows for up to 30g sugar daily

Dr. Lustig’s recent appearance on “60 Minutes”

People on low-carb can have thyroid symptoms, but unknown why

He uses low-carb nutrition with thyroid replacement for patients

“It doesn’t make sense” to add back in carbohydrates to fix thyroid

Whether you never eat high-carb foods ever again once going low-carb

There is “no forbidden food” on low-carb, make the right choices

His work at Innovative Metabolic Solutions with Dr. Mary Vernon

There are four ways you can listen to Episode 15:

1. LISTEN LIVE ON THURSDAY NIGHTS AT 7PM ET by calling (712) 432-0900 or on Skype at “freeconferencing.7124320900″–whether you call or Skype, be sure to use the access code “848908.” You can listen and even participate on the topic discussion by asking your questions directly to the featured expert.

2. Listen at the iTunes page for the podcast:

3. Listen and comment about the show at the official web site for the podcast:

4. Download the MP3 file of Episode 14 [96:01m]:

If you cannot join us LIVE on the podcast on Thursday nights at 7PM ET, then you can still ask your questions of the expert guests in two ways. First, you can visit AskTheLowCarbExperts.com and fill out the form along the right-hand side of the page under “Submit Your Question” to input your name, e-mail address, the name of the expert you want to ask, and your question for them. These questions will be asked LIVE on the show airing on Thursdays. Or, for your convenience we have set up a way for you to e-mail us your questions directly to AskTheLowCarbExperts@gmail.com. Be sure to include your name, the name of the expert you want to ask your question to in the subject line, and your question on the specific topic of discussion. This is a golden opportunity for you to tap directly into the wealth of knowledge and experience on all things related to healthy low-carb living featuring the best and brightest experts in the realm of health!

Did you have any feedback about what Dr. Eric Westman shared about “Exploding The Low-Carb Myths?” Give us your thoughts about it in the show notes section of Episode 15. As I stated at the end of the podcast, we will NOT be having any new episodes in the month of May because of the upcoming Low-Carb Cruise on May 6-13, 2012 and then a couple more weeks afterwards to give me a small break from my podcasting schedule (it’s been nearly nonstop five days a week since the beginning of the year and I’m feeling it). But never fear, we will be back with EPISODE 16 on June 7, 2012 Maria Emmerich and Valerie Berkowitz addressing the very popular topic of “Low-Carb, Pregnancy & Kids.” THANK YOU for your support of this new podcast and tell people you know about it if you like what we’re doing.

Here are the upcoming experts and topics we’ll be covering on #ATLCX:

EPISODE 16: June 7, 2012 | Maria Emmerich and Valerie Berkowitz | “Low-Carb, Pregnancy & Kids”
EPISODE 17: June 14, 2012 | Sarah Fragoso and Jason Seib | “All Things Exercise (Exercise 101)”
EPISODE 18: June 21, 2012 | David Getoff | “The Truth About Sweeteners”
EPISODE 19: June 28, 2012 | Julia Ross | “How To Beat Carbohydrate Addiction”
6-29 to 7-18: NO PODCASTS
EPISODE 20: July 19, 2012 | Dr. Jonny Bowden | “All Things Vitamins (Supplements 101)”
EPISODE 21: July 26, 2012 | Nora Gedgaudas | “Are Starches Really Safe?”
7-27 to 8-15: NO PODCASTS
EPISODE 22: August 16, 2012 | Dr. Kaayla Daniel | “The Truth About Soy”
EPISODE 23: August 23, 2012 | Dr. Stephen Phinney | “Long-Term Stalls & Weight Gain Even On A Well-Formulated Low-Carb Diet”
EPISODE 24: August 30, 2012 | Dr. Donald Layman | “All Things Protein (Protein 101)”
EPISODE 25: September 6, 2012 | Fred Hahn | “All Things Slow Lifting (Slow Burn 101)”
EPISODE 26: September 13, 2012 | Robb Wolf | “Transitioning To The Paleo Diet”

Spread the word about this podcast: PLEASE REVIEW THE SHOW ON ITUNES!

Ask The Low-Carb Experts (Episode 7): ‘The Long-Term Effects Of The High-Carb SAD Diet’ | Dr. Cate Shanahan

Jimmy Moore — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:32:38 +0000

Can’t make it to PaleoFX or AHS12? Check out the “Paleo Summit”:

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In Episode 7 of “Jimmy Moore Presents: Ask The Low-Carb Experts,” we are pleased to welcome a nutrition-minded physician named Dr. Cate Shanahan discussing the interesting topic of “The Long-Term Effects Of The High-Carb SAD Diet.” You might recall Dr. Shanahan was a guest in Episode 459 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show” podcast talking about her two incredible books entitled Deep Nutrition and Food Rules. She looks at treating patients with quite a different perspective than most traditionally-trained medical doctors. Dr. Shanahan is a board certified Family Physician who trained in biochemistry and genetics at Cornell University before attending Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She practiced in Hawaii for ten years where she studied ethnobotany and her healthiest patient’s culinary habits. She’s a big believer in hormone regulation and the impact diet plays on it and did a fantastic job answering YOUR questions related to the long-term effects of eating a SAD diet on your hormones. If you are curious about what kind of damage all those years of eating the Standard American Diet have done to your health and hormones, then you need to take a listen to this podcast! We were so pleased to have Dr. Shanahan join us on ATLCX answering listener questions about the long-term effects of the high-carb SAD diet in EPISODE 7 on February 23, 2012.

Listen to Dr. Cate Shanahan discuss “The Long-Term Effects Of The High-Carb SAD Diet”:

This is a “hot button issue” because so many people deal with it

People are perplexed that their poor diet finally catches up to them

Before we gain weight, our diet dysregulates our hormones

Testing hormone levels is critical because of resistance to them

Women over 50 taking thyroid hormone is a resistance problem too

Leptin is a hormone getting a lot of attention now

Your metabolism can get deranged so you hormone signals are gone

The best example of this is Type 2 diabetes and the hormone insulin

10% of all adolescents already have pre-diabetes

Inflammation is an example of the hormone signal disruption

High-sugar foods (sugar, grains, starchy carbs) get “sticky” in the body

Trans fats (oxidized fats) and vegetable oils are also a culprit

Both of these feed off each other to create glycation and free radicals

You don’t know what hormone is going to go “off” first

For girls, it could manifest itself as irregular periods over years

When you hit a plateau, it’s best not to change ANYTHING about your diet

Fat cells tend to promote “extra estrogen” which impacts fertility

Fertility can come back in your 20s and 30s with the right diet changes

Doing the “Reader’s Digest” version of Paleo or Atkins is not enough

The more you can do to nourish your body with quality foods, the better

The more diverse you get your diet consistently, your body can repair

Whether it is possible regardless of your age to turn around your health

Why it may take longer for you to reach your goals than you want

“Moving in the right direction” is the ultimate goal of making changes

We all need to be on Vitamin D because “we’re not running around naked”

Getting multiminerals like magnesium is a key element in your plan

Hormone supplementation doesn’t seem to do much good for people

You have to lose the resistance that led you to have low hormone levels

There’s a whole other layer of thyroid hormone not usually tested for

Animals tend to sleep a lot and gain weight with this new thyroid issue

Testing is interesting and helpful, but may lead to wrong treatments

She’s “not a fan of running to” hormone therapies as the “first” option

How getting your diet right impacts testosterone levels

My testosterone and other hormone panel from December 2011

Women with PCOS tend to have high luteinizing hormone (LH) and low estrogen

Over time you get down regulation of hormones (“dwindling down”)

We’re trying to get you to “act like a teenager” (sleep and activity)

What’s most important for your health when you travel a lot

Avoiding the things that will “toxify your body” is best

Why she’s become “stricter” with carb control lowering to 30-75g daily

Her favorite things from a Whole Foods store when she’s traveling

It’s okay to buy store-bought fermented foods to save time

Why not make travel days a time to do intermittent fasting

If you are using fat for fuel, you shouldn’t have any trouble fasting

Which is worse: high blood sugar or high total cholesterol?

High total cholesterol is a “totally meaningless” number

The most important ratio is triglycerides/HDL in cholesterol

Chris Masterjohn noted HDL/total cholesterol ratio but it’s not the best

What specific issues do years of eating “healthy whole grains” lead to

Once on the Paleo low-carb diet, you shouldn’t get any new health problems

Why eating after 5PM makes someone feel better compared to before 5PM

Fat-burning enzymes are at the “maximum capacity” in the morning

The diurnal variation of hormones (“burst” of cortisol later in the day)

Everybody has unique metabolic solutions to the challenges to SAD diet

What about the controversy over low-carb causing “permanent” hormone imbalance

The theory that long-term low-carb gets your thyroid out of whack

Carbs are sugar and it’s addicting and people have a hard time giving up

If taking a weekend off plan every six weeks cause any metabolic damage

Every load of sugar and trans fats that you avoid is “a good day”

There are associations with cancer from consuming trans fats and carbs

If you go on “a pro-inflammatory food binge” then a stroke is possible

A stroke is permanent and much scarier than even a heart attack

Hemochromatosis is a genetic disease that stores too much iron

Having a phlebotomy is the best way to lower high iron levels

Maybe avoiding red meat and liver can keep iron levels at bay

Excessive iron causes oxidation that leads to inflammation

Be careful about chelation therapy because it removes more than iron

Can a Type 1 diabetic have permanent metabolic damage from high-carb diet

If you took insulin to cover carbs that your body would have made, no issue

Halle Berry was dependent on insulin and then came off of it

Why hormone levels come back “normal” with PCOS symptoms

Low-carb diets have been shown to help “fix” PCOS

In the absence of trans fats, could we get away with eating more carbs?

There are effects to eating carbs without trans fat (stunted growth)

The French paradox is changing because of carbs and trans fats

What a pregnant woman should do with hormone supplementation

Whether semi-elite athletes have impaired hormonal function despite exercise

There is an expanding camp among athletes that low-carb is optimal

How the SAD diet can cause damage to the health of a fetus

Of all the hormones, which are the most important and why?

There’s no such thing as “one master hormone” (not leptin or insulin)

When you eat a high-carb diet, insulin is VERY important

There are four ways you can listen to Episode 7:

2. Listen at the iTunes page for the podcast:

3. Listen and comment about the show at the official web site for the podcast:

4. Download the MP3 file of Episode 7 [75:25m]:

Did you have any feedback about what Dr. Cate Shanahan shared about “The Long-Term Effects Of The High-Carb SAD Diet?” Talk about it in the show notes section of Episode 7. Pick up both of Dr. Shanahan’s fabulous books Deep Nutrition and Food Rules and visit her superb web site DrCate.com.

Coming up in EPISODE 7 next Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 7PM ET we’ll welcome a long-time friend and incredible low-carb physician named Dr. Mary Vernon addressing the topic of “What Questions Should I Ask My (Non-Low-Carb Friendly) Doc?” I receive so many emails from people frustrated that they can’t find a doctor near them on my “List of Low-Carb Doctors” blog. Many times they like their doctor, but they don’t care for the nutritional advice he is spouting off to them. This is where Dr. Vernon will be able to help! Start submitting your questions for Dr. Mary Vernon about what kind of questions and information you should be asking your non-low-carb friendly doctor about by using the “Submit Your Question” form (on the right-hand side of the web site) or e-mail your name, the name of the expert you want to ask your question to in the subject line, and your question on the specific topic of discussion to AskTheLowCarbExperts@gmail.com (please keep your questions limited to the specific topic for this episode). If you have any burning questions related to what questions to ask your doctor who may not be pro-low-carb, then be sure to tune in LIVE next Thursday night to ask your question directly to Dr. Mary Vernon.

Here are the upcoming experts and topics we’ll be covering on #ATLCX:

EPISODE 9: March 8, 2012 | Mat Lalonde | “All Things Calories (Calories 101)”
March 15, 2012–NO PODCAST–ATTENDING PALEOFX
EPISODE 10: March 22, 2012 | Chris Kresser | “All Things Thyroid (Thyroid 101)”
EPISODE 11: March 29, 2012 | Dr. Jeff Volek | “Saturated Fat Is Good For You?”
EPISODE 12: April 5, 2012 | Denise Minger | “The Fallacy Of Vegan/Vegetarian Diets”
EPISODE 13: April 12, 2012 | Dr. Cassandra Forsythe | “Low-Carbing Women & Weight Lifting”
EPISODE 14: April 19, 2012 | Dr. Larry McCleary | “Dietary Remedies For ADHD”
EPISODE 15: April 26, 2012 | Dr. Eric Westman | “Exploding The Low-Carb Myths”
5-3 to 6-14: NO PODCASTS
EPISODE 16: June 21, 2012 | Valerie Berkowitz | “Low-Carb, Pregnancy & Kids”

Spread the word about this podcast: PLEASE REVIEW THE SHOW ON ITUNES!

Dr. Luan Pho: Gray Hair Isn’t A Sign Of Old Age But A High-Carb, Low-Protein Diet

Jimmy Moore — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:04:09 +0000

I recently interviewed an Allen, TX-based board-certified primary care physician named Dr. Luan Pho, MD for an appearance on “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show” podcast coming up on Wednesday, April 4, 2012. When the half-hour interview was finished, Dr. Pho said, “Oh I wish you could have asked me about how gray hair isn’t a normal part of the aging process.” Since I just turned 40 in December and the seeming inevitability of gray hair coming for me in the next few years, my ears perked up. I invited Dr. Pho to write a special guest blog post about this topic so that you my readers can benefit from his knowledge and understanding of this issue you probably haven’t heard much about. Who wouldn’t want to know how to keep gray hairs at bay and even reverse them? Check out what Dr. Pho says you need to do to make that happen in this special guest blog post!

Feeling a little tired and stressed? Who doesn’t have days like this? We all deal with this as the years pass by.

Then one day you wake up and look in the mirror and guess what happens? Your first gray hair appears. You start to “see” that you look much older than you really are. Then you begin to wonder, “Can this really be happening?” Only “old” people get gray hairs and you are too young to have any already.

Getting your first gray hair is traumatic for many and very difficult to ignore. Sadly, it is also a sign that many more gray hairs are probably soon to follow. Everyone thinks it just seems to be a normal process of aging–one in which you can’t stop no matter what you do. But I challenge you to consider these gray hairs as merely a personal wake-up call for you to improve your health and more specifically your diet.

What if I told you that there is a way to stop or slow down this process of your hair turning gray? Would you believe me if I told you that you can do things to prevent or even reverse gray hairs from forming? Graying does not have to be the inevitable process of aging if you understand what it takes to keep it from happening to your hair.

The reality is our current belief that graying is due to aging and that it is not reversible may not be true at all. So what is the answer? The answer lies in what you have been told before but may not have realized. It’s as simple as “You are what you eat.”

In my nutritional health book Health and Vitality Truths – To Know and Tell, the fallacies and preconceived ideas about what defines “healthy” eating is turned upside down. The sad fact is that the current standard American diet (SAD) is based on the archaic Food Pyramid, Dietary Guidelines, MyPlate or whatever they’re calling it these days. This diet pattern glorifies foods that are high in carbohydrates and drastically underestimates the required and necessary protein that is needed for optimal health.

A high carbohydrate/low-fat eating pattern should not be a guide for anyone who wants to get and stay healthy. We need to look at nutrition in a way in which it would enable us to use it to our advantage. Genuine health and vitality is about giving your body the specific nutrients that it needs on a daily basis.

“You are what you eat” is a truism that you can harness to your advantage if you understand what nutrients are required for better health. Food nutrition should not be based on their physical appearance or form. It should be based on the macronutrients and micronutrients found within them. Let me explain to you what these are.

Macronutrients are carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals. The overabundance of carbohydrates consumed by most people in modern society is the major reason for the increasing rates of obesity and chronic health conditions that have befallen us. In fact, a reduction or possibly even an elimination of carbohydrates is needed in order for your health, vitality, and aging to be improved. The consumption of fat, especially saturated fat, has been discouraged since it is the reason given for the cause of cardiovascular disease. And yet there is no evidence that supports this erroneous belief.

Regarding gray hairs, this happens when your body is unable to synthesize an adequate amount of melanin. Melanin is the pigmentation that gives your hair its natural color. In order to make melanin, your body needs a specific non-essential but yet conditional amino acid called tyrosine. Your body also needs tyrosine in order to make dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, coenzyme Q10, and thyroid hormones. The availability of the needed amount of tyrosine may become deficient due to an incomplete diet low in protein.

As you probably already know, amino acids are the basic building blocks of proteins. There are nine essential and eleven non-essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are synthesized into non-essential amino acids. This fact highlights the delicate balance as to how dietary protein intake acts on the supply of both the essential and non-essential amino acids. Therefore, consuming an adequate amount of protein and supplementation with tyrosine may be the answer to keeping your natural hair color longer.

For more details on the importance of an adequate protein diet and tyrosine, read my book Health and Vitality Truths – To Know and Tell. Learn more about the work of Dr. Luan Pho, MD at LuanPhoMD.com.

The LLVLC Show (Episode 456): Gary Taubes Rebuts Dr. Oz, Ben Hewitt Says Real Food Saved A Vermont Town

Jimmy Moore — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:18:40 +0000

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In Episode 456 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore,” we have another exciting double-header of podcasts to share with you today. Kicking off the show, we’ll have New York Times bestselling author Gary Taubes whose latest book Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It garnered him an appearance on the nationally-syndicated daytime television show The Dr. Oz Show on Monday, March 7, 2011. If you watched the program, then you know low-carb living and Gary were not put in a very positive light. So I wanted to give Gary a chance to spill the beans on the real deal of what happened behind-the-scenes of this appearance in an exclusive interview on “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show.” If you watched that show and had questions about why Gary said or didn’t say something you wished he had, then you need to listen to this interview!

Listen to my exclusive post-Oz Show interview to hear Gary Taubes share:

How he got the appearance on The Dr. Oz Show radio and TV program

The positive experience of his appearance on Dr. Oz’ radio show

His concern that they would try to make him look like Dr. Atkins redux

The absurdity of the “24-hour low-carb diet” that Dr. Oz went on

Why he refused to take the cholesterol test on the air

What The Dr. Oz Show producers were doing with the cholesterol test

His cholesterol numbers when he had them run around 2005

How he explained about LDL particle size, but they edited that out of the show

The concerns he has with a single measurement of LDL cholesterol

How he felt the producers set him up on the show

AND MUCH MUCH MORE!

(You can watch my interview with Gary Taubes that includes images from the television show on YouTube: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3)

In the main interview today, we hear from Ben Hewitt who has written a fantastically inspiring book about real, local food living called The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food detailing the transformation of a Northern Vermont town thanks to the infusion of the local food movement. If you want to see the financial power of how local food can improve a community, then you have got to hear what Ben has to say!

Listen to Ben Hewitt share about the unique role local food played in Harwick, VT:

Why he got interested in local food and Hardwick

The influence of Michael Pollan and Food, Inc.

The history of the economy of Hardwick and how it all changed

His solar-powered home as a commitment to the cause

Why it’s so important local food should be made available and affordable

The circular agriculture that happens in a local food system

The wastefulness of food in America

Why someone shouldn’t eat a banana if they’re not native to their local area

His blueberry crop on his farm

Whether he would change anything about his sustainability model

What his young sons think about local farming

Why he doesn’t have a Facebook or Twitter page

How and why they eat like a “caveman” as a family

Why he thinks the low-fat, high-carb diet is a “travesty” in America

The influence of The Weston A. Price Foundation and real food leaders

There are three ways you can listen to Episode 456:

1. Listen at the iTunes page for the podcast:

2. Listen and comment about the show at the official web site for the podcast:

3. Download the MP3 file of Episode 456 [92:56m]:

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FINANCIALLY SUPPORTING THIS PODCAST! If these twice-weekly podcast interviews from the most provocative and thought-provoking diet, fitness, and health experts have helped you in any way over the past few months and years, then help us keep it going by clicking on the DONATE button on the official podcast web site. We love making these exclusive interviews available to you at no charge so that the positive low-carb message can get out there to the people who need to hear it the most. We are so grateful for your generous donations of any amount so we can keep this going all throughout 2011 and well beyond. I have a fantastic group of fresh new expert interview guests lined up for your listening enjoyment and can’t wait for you to hear them in the coming months! Go to PayPal.com and you can give your gift to the e-mail address livinlowcarbman@charter.net. Your continued financial support and listenership is essential and we THANK YOU so very much for your support!

How’d you like what you heard from Gary Taubes responding to his appearance on The Dr. Oz Show and Ben Hewitt sharing about the local food movement where he lives in Northern Vermont? Tell us your opinions in the show notes section of Episode 456. Watch Gary Taubes on The Dr. Oz Show on March 7, 2011, watch the interview with clips from the TV show at YouTube in Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, pick up a copy of Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It, and visit the official web site for Gary Taubes. And if you liked Ben Hewitt, then you’ll want to get your own copy of The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food. Next week we’ll have triathlete and nutrition/fitness podcaster Ben Greenfield on Monday followed by low-carb researcher and exercise science professor Dr. Richard Wood on Thursday.

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Carb-Loaded Concessions Fueling Football Fundraising: What Can We Do About It?

Jimmy Moore — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 23:35:05 +0000

If it’s Fall in America, then it’s football season. From the kindergardener’s just learning how to play all the way to the professionals in the National Football League, everyone seems to get excited about this time of the year as the temperatures begin to drop and we root for our favorite team. Where I live in South Carolina, football is almost like a religion the way people so closely monitor their local high school or college team and I enjoy watching grown adults get all upset or excited when their team wins and loses. That’s not to say I’m not a fan of the sport, but I don’t get all obsessive about it like some people do.

In high school football stadiums all across the country, there are three things you will consistently see: football players, fans, and food! It’s that latter one where many of the fundraising efforts are focused on by selling overpriced concessions as a means for raising money for the football team, band, and/or the school itself. If you’ve ever been to one of these games and stood in line for 30-45 minutes to get something to eat, then you know the selection is quite limited to mostly carbs, carbs, and more carbs. From nachos to French fries, sugary sodas and corn dogs, it’s almost impossible to escape the overabundance of carbohydrates that fill the air during football games.

The sad reality of this in light of the health and weight problems we face as a nation wasn’t lost on one of my readers who is a parent of a daughter in the high school band. She was recently one of the volunteers working the concession stand at the school and wanted to share her thoughts about this deep-ingrained part of American culture:

So my daughter started high school two weeks ago and she is in the marching band. Right off the bat we have fundraisers to do and you can probably guess what we have to sell. Sugar, sugar and more sugar. No biggie it’s just a few bars and treats. The band gets to run the concession stand at the football game. I volunteer to help.
It’s a typical setup. The men are outside on the grills and the women are in the concession shack selling and preparing. This was a pre-season game and we went through about 40 bags of the big industrial size fries, 20 or so of fried cheese sticks and breaded chicken fingers. The guys that have been there the past years told me this was a light day because it was pre-season. I can’t imagine how much of that junk we will go through during a regular season game. What could be more American than high school football?
And yet that’s the problem. It’s accepted, even encouraged to spend as much money as you can on the concessions to support the band. We need the money since the school only gives a tiny sum to the band. I was able to hold out and not eat any of the free food we get for volunteering, but I can see my resolve weakening over the course of the season.
Maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing, but when I think about all the high schools across the country that do the same thing for all the major sports it probably is a big deal. I don’t have an answer for it. I was thinking about it and was hoping maybe one your crew had a suggestion.

It IS a big deal and something that certainly needs to be addressed. I can remember being in the band and participating in fundraisers selling the “World’s Finest Chocolate” bars for a couple of bucks each. Of course, back then I didn’t care a bit about my health or weight and didn’t make the connection between sugar and my condition. And I would venture to say that most people nowadays probably have that same attitude when it comes to purchasing candy bars or concessions at football games because “it’s for a good cause.” That’s all fine and dandy, but there’s got to be a better way, right? Surely we can raise money where it is needed without exacerbating the obesity epidemic and teaching the next generation that it’s okay to eat carbage as long as it’s for a meaningful endeavor?

We just went through the Halloween season where literally tens of millions of children walk around their neighborhood and churches filling up big bags full of sugar, sugar and more sugar! It’s pretty disgusting when you stop and think about it. Culturally, I don’t see how you break these deeply-embedded parts of Americana. But it’s holidays like Halloween that makes the obesity problem worse and we need to cast a low-carb spell on Halloween to make any meaningful changes come about.

High school football will never stop serving this high-carb stuff at concession stands until people realize it’s unhealthy for them. That’s an education that will take decades, maybe even much longer (if ever!) to beat. In the end, it is the individual who chooses to purchase or not purchase one of those concessions. I can understand wanting to support the school and the activities in it, but is there NOTHING else they can sell besides sugar-filled candy bars?! How about candles, gift certificates, coupon books, or even low-carb, sugar-free ChocoPerfection bars and other such fundraising efforts? And in the concession stands, why not offer beef shish kabobs, grilled veggies, and other healthier options instead? The answer to this problem isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible either. I’d love to see a school just try this one season to see what would happen.

As for my reader who worked the concession stand at her daughter’s school, good for you to care enough about it to want to take a stand. Stay strong knowing you have the truth on your side. And whatever you do, NEVER stop livin’ la vida low-carb! Do you have any suggestions for how we can break this cycle of high-carb madness that swings around every year about this time? Can we really do ANYTHING about it or has Pandora’s box been open for far too long to turn the tide around now? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Studies Show Low-Carb Raises LDL ‘Bad’ Cholesterol, High-Fat Diet Spikes Stroke Risk In Women–But Is It True?

Jimmy Moore — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:50:03 +0000

Two new studies may be leaving you in disbelief about high-fat, low-carb

When I was thinking about what subjects I wanted to hit on while writing my latest book 21 Life Lessons From Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb, one no-brainer had to be all of the ridiculous headlines that have come out about healthy high-fat and low-carb diets under the guise of scientific research. You’ve seen what I’m talking about whenever a new study releases showing supposed damning evidence against this way of eating and that’s what our culture grabs hold of as “proof” that low-carb and high-fat diets are unhealthy. In fact, we just saw it happen just this week with two new studies that I’d like to highlight and obliterate for you.

Cardiovascular nurse and researcher Dr. Teri L. Hernandez

The first one we read about in this FOX News story was published in the March 2010 issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition featuring lead researcher Dr. Teri L. Hernandez from University of Colorado at Denver. She along with a couple of notable names in the world of conventional health–American Heart Association President Dr. Robert Eckel (creator of the obnoxious Bad Fats Brothers campaign and Dr. James Hill from The National Weight Control Registry (which obviously skews towards low-calorie, low-fat diets)–wanted to do yet another comparison study of low-fat diets vs. low-carb diets. This one was designed to look at what happens to the metabolic profile while following the specified diet.

Let me say how much I appreciated the fact that the “low-carb” diet Dr. Hernandez used in this study was truly an Atkins Induction-styled high-fat, low-carb nutritional approach unlike most studies which claim to examine low-carb and then there’s dismal results. This one was indeed what is technically referred to according to what researchers define as a low-carb ketogenic diet (LCKD). WOO HOO! This diet was pitted against a calorie-restricted low-fat, high-carb (55 percent of caloric intake) diet to see what would happen not just with weight loss but key blood markers over a six-week period. So far, so good right?

Well, after comparing these two diets 32 obese study participants to see what impact they would have on cholesterol levels, the researchers zeroed in on one particular health marker as the most important of all: low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Although both groups experienced similar weight loss, the fasting LDL INCREASED significantly in the low-carb group while the low-fat, high-carb group showed a decrease in LDL. This was what made the headlines.

But whoop-dee-doo! What happened to HDL cholesterol on the high-fat, low-carb diet? I have no doubt based on previous research that it increased while HDL most likely remained the same or went down on the low-fat, high-carb diet. Additionally, triglycerides most certainly had to plummet on the LCKD and they had to have gone up with all those carbohydrates consumed in the low-fat group. Why wouldn’t this information be shared? We already know that HDL and triglycerides are better markers for cardiovascular health than LDL and total cholesterol.

Plus, the missing element Dr. Hernandez does NOT talk about in this study is the LDL particle size. I discuss this in Lesson #2 of my new book because it is too important an issue to miss…and research like this totally misses the boat time and time again. When HDL is up above 50 (when you eat plenty of fat in your diet) and triglycerides are below 100 (by reducing carb consumption), then the predominance of your LDL particles will be the large, fluffy kind that are protective against penetrating the arterial wall of your arteries, becoming inflamed, and causing heart trouble. But when you consume a high-carb, low-fat diet, the LDL particles become the much more dangerous small, dense kind that you absolutely want to avoid at all costs. That’s why I so highly recommend people get an NMR LipoProfile test to know exactly what your particle number and size is.

So all this belly-aching and pontification by our media over avoiding a high-fat, low-carb diet is much ado about nothing because it is bogus. That FOX News story I quoted even made the idiotic statement that “high LDL levels are a risk factor for heart disease because they are linked to clogged arteries. Why is it that a non-medically educated layman like Jimmy Moore can understand just how insane a study like this is and yet all these so-called expert medical professionals who attached their name to this study just turned a blind eye to the elephant in the room?

You can e-mail Dr. Teri Hernandez directly at teri.hernandez@ucdenver.edu to ask her why LDL particle size was not taken into consideration in her new study. I’m curious to know what she’ll have to say about it!

UNC-Chapel Hill nutrition specialist Dr. Ka He

But Dr. Hernandez was not alone in the dissemination of bad science this week about healthy nutrition. This New York Times story reports on a new study that claims high-fat diets will raise the risk of stroke in women. The lead researcher is Dr. Ka He, assistant professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health and he wanted to see the impact of dietary fat on stroke risk as part of the huge 87,230-member Women’s Health Initiative. He made his presentation at the annual American Stroke Association conference on February 24, 2010.

Like the American Heart Association, this group is stuck on the conventional wisdom regarding diet–low-fat, high-carb, calorie-controlled. So it’s no surprise that research like this from Dr. He would be so embraced and heavily touted by the media who once again get it “dead wrong” about a high-fat diet as I shared about in Lesson #5 of my new book. The claim is made that consuming dietary fatty foods raises the risk of stroke in women over 50 by 44 percent.

So, what are these “high-fat” foods that are the culprits?

Lemme name them one-by-one as they appear in this story: cookies, pastries,
stick margarine, fried foods, crackers, Snicker bar, Crunchy Cheetos, and Haagen-Dazs ice cream bar. These are THEIR examples of the “fatty” foods that were the culprit in increasing the risk of stroke. Does anybody else besides me notice which macronutrient every single one of those foods is predominantly made up of? Of course–CARBOHYDRATES! Sugar, flour, and just plain garbage! It ain’t the fat causing the problems, Dr. He, it’s the carbs my man. Limiting fat without taking into consideration what those carbohydrates are doing to the health of those women is not going to make the necessary improvements they need to live a healthy life.

Share your positive health experiences consuming a high-fat diet with Dr. Ka He by e-mailing him at kahe@unc.edu. I think people like him need to know that their data is based on a preconceived assumption of fact that doesn’t exist and that this kind of research is probably going to be more damaging than beneficial in the end.

Always be on the lookout for this kind of phony-baloney science that is supposed to make high-fat, low-carb living look like the enemy. More times than not, all it takes is just a little digging and you’ll find that dog doesn’t hunt. Don’t be discouraged as you are livin’ la vida low-carb because of stories like this. Yes, many people will buy into them hook, line, and sinker, but it’s up to people like you and me to keep ‘em educated with the truth and then let them decide for themselves about what to do with that. Knowledge is power!