I am livid right now with the hosting site of my blogs right now and it has forced me to make a decision I really hoped I wouldn’t have to make. But Blogger has really forced the issue now and I don’t feel like [...]]]>
Now look at the low-carber who’s been blocked as “spam”

I am livid right now with the hosting site of my blogs right now and it has forced me to make a decision I really hoped I wouldn’t have to make. But Blogger has really forced the issue now and I don’t feel like I have much of a choice in the matter all things considered. More about that in a moment.

As you know, my “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” blog was first identified by Blogger’s robots as a “spam blog” back in April this year and it took nearly a week to get it back again. When your blog is locked by one of these computer robots automatically, you have to go through a rigorous waiting period until a real live human being can look at your blog and realize it is not “spam,” but actually legitimate. Visitors coming to the blog wouldn’t know that it’s locked, but the owner is unable to make any new posts or changes until a Blogger representative bothers to take a look.

Adding insult to injury about my particular case is the fact that it was locked for a second time in less than a month AGAIN, although this time I got it to come back MUCH quicker because I had a Blogger employee name that I urged so many of you to write to. Thanks to the efforts of my faithful and dedicated supporters at my blog and on my other web sites, my “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” blog was restored in just two days.

Now we have yet another low-carb blogger who has been locked out of her popular blog. It’s Regina Wilshire at the “Weight of the Evidence” blog who informed me today that she has been identified by Blogger as a “spam” blog. This would be hilarious if it wasn’t dead serious because Regina’s blog has been a longtime source for quality low-carb research information well before Jimmy Moore was even on the scene. It’s such a travesty that genuinely good bloggers are forced to endure this kind of aggravation.

To make matters worse, my “30-in-30″ Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge blog was also locked today, so it looks like Blogger is on the rampage again with the trigger-happy robots. This is utterly stupid if you ask me and I would like to ask for your help yet again. As of the writing of this blog post, it’s late on Friday afternoon. So nothing may come of this until Monday. But it’s worth a shot for Regina’s sake.

The last time I asked for your help with unlocking my blog, I gave you the name and e-mail address of the Blogger employee who was the first one to unlock my blog. His name is Mishka and his direct e-mail address is mishkablogger@yahoo.com. In your e-mail, kindly request that the URLs WeightOfTheEvidence.blogspot.com and 30-in-30.blogspot.com be unlocked since they are not “spam” blogs. Thank him for his prompt attention to this and express your personal experiences reading these sites. If all goes well, then Regina should be back up and running by Monday. And the same with my “30-in-30″ blog.

THANK YOU again for your help everyone! You are the best!

So what am I contemplating doing? Right now I’m moving all of my posts from Blogger over the WordPress and will make a decision soon about making my new permanent blog home over there. You never hear about any issues like this over there, so it’s looking more and more appealing by the moment. I’ll let you know if and when that will happen, so don’t worry. THANKS again for your support!

Ever since I told you about the first lawsuits against Pfizer over their cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor in June, more and more people have stepped up to share their horror stories after taking the #1 prescribed cholesterol medicine in the world currently used by over 22 [...]]]>
Attorney Mark Jay Krum representing dozens of clients in lawsuit

Ever since I told you about the first lawsuits against Pfizer over their cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor in June, more and more people have stepped up to share their horror stories after taking the #1 prescribed cholesterol medicine in the world currently used by over 22 million people.

Attorney Mark Jay Krum has agreed to take on the personal injury lawsuits filed against Pfizer, Inc. over the negative physical effects that Liptor has allegedly caused those who have taken the drug. This class action lawsuit continues to grow and Krum is encouraging people who have experienced lingering symptoms after taking Lipitor to contact him using his Lipitor Litigation contact page or via e-mail at markjaykrum@aol.com.

The lawsuit specifically accuses Pfizer of deceiving the public with their marketing of Lipitor as a “safe drug with minimal health risks.” Krum says Pfizer had a responsibility to give adequate warnings to both physicians and the patients who were prescribed Lipitor to lower their cholesterol of the more dangerous side effects such as severe muscle pain, nerve damage, memory loss, extremely vivid nightmares and other issues involving the brain and central nervous system while taking the drug. The lawsuits specifically state that Lipitor is poorly created and patients are not given complete information about all of the possible side effects.

Statin drugs like Lipitor have long been criticized for causing negative reactions in people which led the University of California San Diego (UCSD) to create a research project called the Statin Effects Study which I participated in since I have had problems after taking Lipitor and Crestor in the past.

Here are just a few of the new plaintiff’s Krum is representing:

1. A pilot from Virginia who says he has permanent muscle and nerve damage from taking Lipitor which has kept him from flying because he can no longer pass the required physical.

2. A former professional soccer player from Amherst, New York has had trouble on Lipitor.

3. A dentist in Long Island, New York is also experiencing issues with the cholesterol-lowering medication.

4. The widow of a former New York Congressman started taking Lipitor in 1999 and now has developed several irreversible health problems such as damage to the peripheral nervous system damage (peripheral neuropathy), short-term memory loss and depression, among others. She recently came off of Lipitor, but still has issues with memory, balance, tingling in her extremities, confusion, and chronic fatigue. Her doctor says she has cerebral atrophy not associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

5. Former UK soccer player and vice-president of a public company in Long Island, New York began taking Lipitor to bring his cholesterol down on the advice of his doctor and noticed that he has nerve damage in his hand, elbows, shoulders, knees and ankles” which has made his workout routine “excruciatingly painful and impossible to carry out.”

These are just a few of the many examples of people who are upset with Pfizer to the point that they are willing to join this class action lawsuit against them. It’s hard to avoid seeing a Lipitor commercial these days because hundreds of millions of marketing dollars have been poured into pushing this drug with massive sales exceeding $12 BILLION dollars in 2005 alone. This is a BIG moneymaker for Pfizer and they would like nothing more than to see these lawsuits just go away.

In response to the lawsuits, Pfizer took out several full-page ads in some major national newspapers extolling the safety and effectiveness of their product. But Krum said it’s not about the effectiveness, per se, but the safety for some people is questionable at best.

“These lawsuits charge that Pfizer failed to adequately warn both doctors and consumers of the drug’s more serious and sometimes permanent health risks — risks that Pfizer was well aware of in its own clinical studies of statin usage,” Krum stated. “Pfizer has apparently engaged in a campaign of misinformation, designed to downplay and cover up Lipitor’s more serious and irreversible side effects, and is willing to promote the drug at any cost.”

As much as cholesterol problems have been given such prominence in today’s society as a health “crisis,” the fact is that cholesterol is a non-issue as defined by the medical standards in place. Anthony Colpo’s “Great Cholesterol Con” addresses the reasons for this and is an excellent resource for anyone who has been prescribed a statin drug like Lipitor to artificially lower your cholesterol. CHECK IT OUT!

The concern over too high LDL, total cholesterol over 200, etc. is just more of the same old song and dance we have been indoctrinated with for our entire lives. It’s time to break those years of cholesterol indoctrination once and for all and realize there are better ways to lower LDL cholesterol naturally with a low-carb diet which along with exercise can improve your lipid profile, including increasing the HDL “good” cholesterol.

For continuing updates on this historical lawsuit, visit KrumLaw.com.

If you haven’t visited the “30-In-30″ blog, then you are [...]]]> Can you believe it has already been one month in the “30-In-30″ Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge? WHOA, this thing is FLYING by! But that’s good because it means so many people are shedding the pounds and getting healthy–all because they are livin’ la vida low-carb!

If you haven’t visited the “30-In-30″ blog, then you are missing out on a lot of comments from people who are not only trying to making this low-carb thing work, but they are DOING IT! WOO HOO! I am so very proud of what these men and women have accomplished so far and I KNOW they will be successful losing those 30 pounds in 30 weeks.

After Week 1 started off with bang and another pound lost in Week 2, I had a push last week in Week 3.

So how did I do in Week 4?

I LOST ANOTHER POUND for a total of SIX pounds lost now. That’s still ahead of my pound-a-week pace and I am thrilled with it.

For Week 5, I have something very special planned to see if we can’t get the scale to move down into the 220s for me in the next week or so. I can’t tell you what it is just yet, but if it works this could be the birth of an amazing new weight loss program that EVERYONE will be clamoring to do. I can’t say much more about it right now, but you will know when the time comes.

Visit the “30-in-30″ Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge blog this week!

This Asbury Park Press story about a new study reveals the disturbing fact that obesity among Medicare beneficiaries has more than doubled while Medicare costs to treat the obesity-related diseases of these patients has tripled.

Lead researcher Dr. Kenneth E. Thorpe, chair of the Department [...]]]>
Dr. Thorpe says “primary prevention” needed for Medicare recipients

This Asbury Park Press story about a new study reveals the disturbing fact that obesity among Medicare beneficiaries has more than doubled while Medicare costs to treat the obesity-related diseases of these patients has tripled.

Lead researcher Dr. Kenneth E. Thorpe, chair of the Department of Health Policy Management at Atlanta, Georgia-based Emory University, looked at Medicare data from 1987 through 2002 to analyze spending on healthcare for Medicare beneficiaries as well as rates of obesity.

In the 15-year period, Dr. Thorpe found that the number of Medicare beneficiaries who were considered obese rose from 11.7 percent in 1987 to 22.5% in 2002–NEARLY DOUBLE! Additionally, healthcare spending over that same time period for those specific Medicare recipients jumped from 9.4 percent to a whopping 24.8 percent–NEARLY TRIPLE!

Dr. Thorpe’s intial reaction to his study results was one of immediate and effective action.

“What this study tells us is that we need to aggressively put in place interventions to deal with obesity and chronic disease prevalence among the elderly to control spending,” Dr. Thorpe concluded.

Yes indeed, Dr. Thorpe, but that’s a lot easier said than done. When you have such poor dietary advice being given to patients about what they need to do to lose weight and get healthy, it makes the ultimate goal of bringing costs down that much more difficult. Sadly, this problem will NOT be going away anytime soon as obesity rates keep going up and up.

Additionally, Dr. Thorpe found that our senior citizens who are entering the Medicare program are already carrying around excessive weight and have developed problems, such as obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. This is a point that policymakers have neglected as they seek to reduce spending on Medicare costs.

Dr. Thorpe notes that most of the increases in the Medicare costs from 1987 to 2002 were a direct result of new Medicare recipients entering the program with pre-existing obesity-related diseases.

The results of this study appear in the August 22, 2006 issue of the health policy journal Health Affairs.

One of the scariest statistics in Dr. Thorpe study was the revelation that the number of Medicare patients being treated for FIVE OR MORE medical conditions went up from about a third (31 percent) in 1987 to OVER HALF of the recipients in 2002! Even more startling is the realization that payments for these Medicare patients accounts for more than three-fourths of all the spending on Medicare in the year 2002, up sharply from the 52 percent in 1987.

Suggesting a plan of action is needed to not only improve the health of these Medicare patients, but also to relieve the financial pressure being placed on the Medicare system, Dr. Thorpe suggested an immediate change or else the integrity of Medicare could be permanently compromised.

“We need to recognize that we need to do much more in terms of primary prevention – diet, exercise and nutrition – not only among the existing Medicare beneficiaries, but among the near-elderly, those 55 to 64,” he said. “These people will be entering Medicare with rates of chronic disease disability that we have never seen.”

You know, that sounds all well and good, Dr. Thorpe. But why do you think anything will change if we keep giving the same lifestyle advice that has been hammered down the collective throats of the American people for decades. Obviously, something is not working or we would be in this big mess we are in. The answer may not necessarily lie in more of the same, but rather new approaches to educating the public about what constitutes a healthy diet and fitness program.

As someone who used to weigh over 400 pounds, I know how frustrating it is to feel like weight loss and health issues only come in one box. Generally, this has been the low-fat, low-calorie, portion control line of thinking that has ALWAYS been considered the only real healthy way to eat. Unfortunately, that way of eating does NOT work for everyone which is why many people are bucking the advice they get from their government and doctor to try the low-carb lifestyle.

That was the best decision I ever made regarding the future of my health and now I am 180 pounds lighter as a result. If you genuinely want to bring about effective change in the hearts and minds of the American people regarding healthy living so they don’t come into the Medicare system a ticking timebomb just waiting to explode and suck every last dollar out of the Medicare budget, Dr. Thorpe, then you will begin to urge government and medical leaders to begin educating people about other alternatives to the failed low-fat diet approach as soon as possible.

It will anger some of the hardnosed bureaucrats who don’t want to hear the truth, but our current dietary recommendations have done nothing but exascerbate the obesity problem and make it worse than it has ever been. The downward spiral we are currently experiencing shows no sign of stopping unless serious and meaningful changes are implemented to allow a variety of obesity-treatment options to be given unabeted access to the American people.

Do we REALLY care about the health and wellbeing of the overweight and obese in this nation? That’s two out of every three people these days who need to find the hope that permanent weight loss is within their grasp. They may find it outside of the traditional means someday, but why not open the door of opportunity NOW so we can bring those obesity numbers and the associated healthcare costs back within a reasonable range.

The government and special interest groups need to stop protecting the interests of their friends in the food manufacturing industry who stand to take a hit if livin’ la vida low-carb goes mainstream. Is it more important to keep the wallets of these big companies fattened while the nation’s obesity rate quickly approaches 100 percent?!

Enough with the talk about helping people change because it is way past time for petty chatter about this serious issue. Are we ready to FINALLY take the next step forward or will we continue to allow the old way of thinking rule the day? Dr. Thorpe, we need leaders on this issue to stand boldly in the face of critics and declare, “This is the right thing to do.”

Will you be that brave and honorable leader? How about members of Congress? Medical professionals? Is there anyone ready to take me up on my recommendation that Americans be armed with the facts about many different weight loss plans so they can decide which one is best for them? I promise you we will see a meaningful turnaround in obesity in America as we set the example for the rest of the world to follow. Can we make this a reality in the United States?

E-mail Dr. Kenneth E. Thorpe with your comments at kthorpe@sph.emory.edu.

8-29-06 UPDATE: Dr. Kenneth Thorpe kindly responded to my concerns about this very important issue with Medicare in an e-mail today:

“Congrats to you on your leadership in t
his. I am doing several talks on this in DC this month to drive home the message. Key here is absent a clear understanding of what is driving up the growth in spending, it becomes impossible to effect meaningful change in Medicare or the growth in private insurance…

Dr. Thorpe was also kind enough to pass along a link to this post to the Health Affairs journal where I was asked to submit a response letter for posting. I will be doing that and will post a link to it here when it is online.

WE MUST HELP DR. THORPE DRIVE HOME THIS POINT. Change is not just an option, but it MANDATORY if we are going to recapture control spiraling obesity rates and the costs associated with obesity-related diseases on a crippled Medicare system.

8-30-06 UPDATE: Health Affairs linked my letter in response to this study at their web site today.

When you talk about the most influential names in the world of low-carb, nobody will argue that television chef George Stella is near the top of the list. This amazing man has done more to share the message of livin’ la vida low-carb [...]]]>
The world’s most famous low-carb chef has a beef with Jimmy Moore?

When you talk about the most influential names in the world of low-carb, nobody will argue that television chef George Stella is near the top of the list. This amazing man has done more to share the message of livin’ la vida low-carb with our culture than just about anyone aside from the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins because lives are being changed for the better as a result of what he is doing.

To say I’m a fan of the star of the hit Food Network television show “Low-Carb And Lovin’ It” would be an understatement. I had nothing but great things to say about his “Eating Stella Style” book and even wrote a feature blog post on his fantastic “Stella Style” web site. My relationship with the Stella family has been one of mutual respect for our respective weight loss successes following a low-carb lifestyle and we had exchanged several very friendly e-mails.

But that all quickly changed when I wrote this recent post.

What did I type in that post that would have George Stella so mad at me? Well, it appears the subject of that particular blog post, Kelley Keener’s inspiring low-carb weight loss success story, was already appearing on the “Stella Style” web site. Actually, I had no idea it was there until well after I had written my blog post.

Let me back up for a moment and tell you how I got Kelley’s story.

One of my faithful blog readers here at “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” is a lady named Kay Witt, the loving and proud mother of Kelley. Kay had been telling me about Kelley’s progress on her weight loss for a while on the “Stella Style” program and would send periodic updates with pictures for me to see. As a proud mother who was pleased to see her daughter get her weight under control at last, she was so excited to share this with me.

About three weeks ago, I received an especially enthusiastic e-mail from Kay telling me how much Kelley had changed and she sent the breathtaking before and after pictures for me to see. When I saw them, my initial reaction was, “WOW! She looks incredible!” Since I am all about encouraging people to lose weight here at my blog, I asked Kay and Kelley if I could have permission to tell her amazing story to my readers. Of course, they both immediately agreed and sent me pictures via e-mail as well as a synopsis of Kelley’s story in her own words so I could write my column.

However, it seems George Stella saw my blog post featuring Kelley and it infuriated him based on some assumptions he made about it. I received an e-mail directly from him demanding that I immediately remove Kelley’s story I had written from the Internet because I had essentially stolen it from his web site.

I WAS REQUIRED TO FORCIBLY REMOVE THIS QUOTE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT (DMCA) BECAUSE GEORGE STELLA COMPLAINED TO THEM ABOUT THIS POST

Well, first of all, I don’t just go around trying to fill this blog with content. I have PLENTY of material to work with in the media, with new products, interviews with people in health, highlighting new blogs and web sites, etc. There is NEVER a shortage of things for me to discuss here. But I didn’t seek out Kelley’s story, her mom came to ME with it! What’s the big deal about sharing a weight loss success story in multiple places anyway, George? Aren’t we all supposed to be on the same team helping others shed the pounds and change their lives forever?

Unfortunately, Stella would have nothing of it and asked me to take down the blog story about Kelley immediately and to stop using likenesses from my site.

Why would I take something down that both Kay and Kelley have said they enjoyed very much? I put a lot of time and effort into writing that column and I don’t appreciate being accused of taking anything from anyone when that story was offered to me as a possible future blog post directly from the person I wrote about. If anyone deserves an apology here, it’s ME for being wrongfully accused of doing something unscrupulous and conniving. As you can see, I clearly did nothing wrong.

Interestingly, another problem Stella shared was my use of the phrase “livin’ la vida low-carb” in my post about Kelley.

I WAS REQUIRED TO FORCIBLY REMOVE THIS QUOTE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT (DMCA) BECAUSE GEORGE STELLA COMPLAINED TO THEM ABOUT THIS POST

Say what? Are you SERIOUS, George? Regular readers of my blog know that I use the phrase “livin’ la vida low-carb” in virtually EVERY SINGLE BLOG POST I write. It’s my signature phrase which is why I had it trademarked. Just because I referred to Kelley as “livin’ la vida low-carb” does not mean she followed some low-carb plan I came up with. In fact, I explain what I mean by that phrase in this blog post. It’s just my way of referring to the low-carb lifestyle. Nothing more, nothing less.

Even still, I clearly attributed Kelley’s weight loss to “Stella Style” in my column about her and even provided a link to Stella’s web site where people could purchase more of Stella’s products and services. Was this not generous enough on my part? What more should I have done? Why is George Stella making such a proverbial mountain out of a molehill here?

Because of my great respect and admiration for George Stella, I decided to respond to his concerns about this misunderstanding in a return e-mail addressing his specific objections and asking for a resolution to this.

“George, I greatly admire what you have done as an ambassador for livin’ la vida low-carb in the mainstream, but I think what you are asking me to do is unreasonable since I was given explicit permission by both Kelley and her mother to write about her weight loss success story and they both enjoyed what I wrote immensely. In other words, I didn’t do ANYTHING wrong here and don’t know why I am being chastised for it.

I will certainly honor your request if both Kelley and Kay ask me to remove her story from my blog. This situation truly saddens me, George, and I certainly hope this does not create any bad blood between you and I as a result. My intention was not to cause harm to anyone in this and I sincerely apologize if you feel that is what I have done to you in this matter. I assure you there was no malicious intent with my blog post about Kelley and that I had no idea you had her story featured at your web site prior to today. At this point, what can we do to resolve this impasse?”

By the way, Kay and Kelley asked me NOT to remove the post as George wanted because they enjoyed it very much. That’s why it is staying up. Unfortunately, this didn’t sit well with George Stella as you will see from his final response to me.

I WAS REQUIRED TO FORCIBLY REMOVE THIS QUOTE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT (DMCA) BECAUSE GEORGE STELLA COMPLAINED TO THEM ABOUT THIS POST

Okay, I have done as I see fit and decided NOT to remove the column, George. It’s the right thing to do since that is what Kay and Kelley BOTH want. As for the profits that I make off of featuring stories on my blog, now we’re getting into the nitty gritty of what this is all about. It appears that George Stella thinks I’m making a killing off of the products and services I offer at my blog. HA! Don’t I
wish!

For someone like Stella who has made this his career–in other words, it’s how he makes his living–then I can see how he would get upset from someone taking something from his web site and making it their own. But that is clearly NOT what happened in this case as he so ardently believes.

Furthermore, it seems he didn’t like the way I improved the flow of Kelley’s story from the one he has posted on his web site. I’m a writer and, as such, I enjoy making stories like weight loss success come to life for others to help motivate and inspire them to do it for themselves. I didn’t change anything about Kelley’s story that made any part of it less truthful than the one on Stella’s web site. Like I said previously, both her and her mother were THRILLED with what I had written.

So, what about this whole soap opera between me and George Stella? What do you think about it and does he have a point? Or am I doing the right thing by keeping the post about Kelley’s weight loss up and running to help others who are overweight and obese to find some real encouragement and inspiration? Is there anything more I should do?

One thing I DON’T want to do is discourage people from taking advantage of the great services that George Stella is offering at his fabulous StellaStyle.com web site. Despite his false accusations against me, I have no hard feelings for George Stella because he is a wonderful man for what he has been able to accomplish in terms of weight loss success as well as television and publishing stardom. Many low-carbers love and admire him for what he has done and rightfully so. He has raised the banner high for people who are livin’ la vida low-carb helping them lose weight and get healthy. Nobody can ever take that away from George Stella.

Perhaps you can get George Stella to explain why he is so mad at Jimmy Moore over this issue by sending him an e-mail at george@stellastyle.com. I’m just wondering what I COULD have done differently to prevent this squabble from ever happening in the first place. It’s baffling to me and frankly I’m pretty hurt by it. Let me know if you hear back from George. Of course, I welcome George Stella to provide any additional insight into why he reacted the way he did by e-mailing me directly at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. I hope to get some answers to this mystery.

8-28-06 UPDATE: Unfortunately, rather than addressing my concerns about this, I received another e-mail from George Stella today about the way I put this issue out in the open.

I WAS REQUIRED TO FORCIBLY REMOVE THIS QUOTE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT (DMCA) BECAUSE GEORGE STELLA COMPLAINED TO THEM ABOUT THIS POST

I’m not at “peace” George because you were WRONG about the accusations you made about me and you are STILL trying to make me feel bad for what I wrote.

Like I said, I support what you do helping others overcome their weight struggles. But the way you have reacted to this issue is an even bigger problem that perhaps needs to be worked on in your own life, my friend. I wish you the best, too, because this kind of attitude is unbecoming of someone in your position. Take care!

Am I moping around sad and depressed because a little machine called a scale didn’t tell me I lost any [...]]]> Be sure to check out my Week 3 results in the “30-In-30″ Low-Carb Weight Loss Challenge. After losing four pounds in Week 1 and another pound in Week 2, this week was a push.

Am I moping around sad and depressed because a little machine called a scale didn’t tell me I lost any weight this week? Not hardly. In fact, it motivates me that much more to keep doing this with everything I’ve got to be the success that I KNOW I will be.

Nothing is gonna keep Jimmy Moore from reaching his weight loss goals and I am STILL ahead of schedule with 5 pounds lost in the first three weeks. One pound a week for 30 weeks. I’m not worried in the least and will pay especially close attention to both my diet and exercise this week to make sure I am maximizing my weight loss.

Check out the “30-In-30″ blog for more about this exciting and motivating low-carb challenge that everybody’s talking about. There are some amazing weight loss stories unfolding there as well as questions and concerns from real people who are on the low-carb lifestyle. Drop in to comment and encourage someone taking this low-carb journey TODAY! THANK YOU!!!