Today I read an interesting article on LiveScience.com titled “Obese People Have ‘Severe Brain Degeneration“. I couldn’t find the link to the actual UCLA study text (sorry – please let me know if you find it) it cites, but you’re likely to see many articles parroting the same basic info that the LiveScience.com one did. In fact, as of this writing, Google News reports that over 158 publications have published articles on this study so far today – with a helluva lot more coming I’m sure.

Excerpt from the LiveScience.com article regarding the study (and most other articles citing it):

A new study finds obese people have 8 percent less brain tissue than normal-weight individuals. Their brains look 16 years older than the brains of lean individuals, researchers said today.

Those classified as overweight have 4 percent less brain tissue and their brains appear to have aged prematurely by 8 years.

The results, based on brain scans of 94 people in their 70s, represent “severe brain degeneration,” said Paul Thompson, senior author of the study and a UCLA professor of neurology.

“That’s a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer’s and other diseases that attack the brain,” said Thompson. “But you can greatly reduce your risk for Alzheimer’s, if you can eat healthily and keep your weight under control.”

The study was partially funded by The American Heart Association, so it doesn’t surprise me that they are magnifying the results under the usual low-fat obesity lens and come out with their own press release demonizing fat, sunbathing, or cattle ranchers (or whatever the popular scape-goat is lately). As we all know the media loves any story on obesity and gobbles them up (pun INTENDED) right away.

If you read any of these stories citing this study as news, you’ll see that they pretty much just echoes out the initial press release and maybe adds a bit of zing to the headline (I think I actually saw one that said, “Fatties have Small Brains”). Its all business as usual with scientific studies and news media outlet “health writers”…

What really DOES surprise me is that no-one has really tried to draw any conclusions from this study.

Basically, they are saying that there is a correlation between obesity and lost brain tissue (and along with it cognitive ability), and this leads to a higher risk for Alzheimer’s and other cognitive disorders later in life.

That’s all well and good – but blaming “OBESITY” is a bit short-sighted and generic if you ask me. Obesity is not a “disease”. Obesity is a symptom of underlying metabolic and behavioral issues. Saying that Obesity is the DIRECT correlation is like saying “Being drunk causes liver damage” instead of “EXCESSIVE DRINKING of alcohol causes liver damage”. See the difference? We need to go a bit more granular in order to pull any useful inferences from this article.

Let’s look a little deeper then…

What causes obesity?

Obesity is caused by insulin resistance, forcing the body to store much of the calories consumed as fat.

What causes insulin resistance?

Chronic high-insulin levels. In a nutshell, insulin resistance is caused by extended periods of time on a diet that keeps the body’s insulin levels elevated. The insulin receptors in a sense get so bombarded with it that they get “used to it” and require a higher level to do their job adequately. (effectively causing a higher insulin level for a long period of time = i.e. the body is spending much more time in “fat storing” mode)

Ok, well then what causes high-insulin levels?

Eating carbohydrates (sugar, grains, starch, and all their associated foods).

Then would it be out of line to go back to the headline and say “Carbohydrate intake linked to Brain Degeneration and Alzheimers Disease”?

You be the judge…

UPDATE: Here another relevant study regarding Alzheimers and hyperinsulinemia (aka insulin resistance).

Related posts:

1. Another Worthless Study and Pointless Anti-Fat Article from the New York Times
2. What the experts say: on Potassium intake

Sorry, its been a day or so without a post – work has been brutal lately (at the day job). Anyways, we’re back on track with my weekly Wednesday question. So given that – I have a nice relevant question this week…

What do YOU do for a living?

Fill in the blank: I’m a low carbin’ / primal ______.

It could be a tax attorney, brick layer, lawyer, forensic anthropologist, shoe maker, burger flipper, mechanic or advertising executive. What ever it is – tell us! I love to know all the people out there who have risen above the seriously flawed nutritional environment of the day – and what they do in this world (if anything – we don’t judge).

Bonus question – has your diet / liefstyle change success caused you to change jobs OR changed your situation within your current job? For example, I lost virtually all my excess weight while at my current job. It was a few years ago, but I’m definitely treated differently than I was before – in fact, I only recently got a new photo id / laminate (we’re a criminal justice / law enforcement agency, so people are pretty crazy about security and ID badges), and it was shocking to people how different the old picture looked and they remember me than as a pretty different person (which is interesting and disturbing at the same time). At the very least, I’m definitely a bit more outgoing and I dress pretty differently (obviously)…

What about you? I’d love to hear it.

Related posts:

1. Wednesday Question: What turned you on to low-carb living & where did you first go for info?
2. Wednesday Question: What is your favorite low-carb treat?
3. Wednesday Question: What is your favorite low-carb website / blog / forum?

Eggs – they are possibly one of the most perfect low-carb foods that there is. They’re a great source of protein, healthy fats, and low in carbohydrates – and they also happen to be delicious! imagine that! Now, I don’t know about you, but years ago (before my low-carb journey started) Fried Eggs were right up there with Pancakes in the category of “Things Ryan will always ‘eff up while cooking”, and if I didn’t destroy it – it never really tasted quite right (READ: it tasted like ass).

So, in honor of my early to mid 20s stupidity, today I’m going to spread my knowledge so none of you ever have to eat horribly cooked fried eggs again (assuming you we’re as hopeless as I was).

I mean, lets be honest – What’s better than a couple (or a dozen) fried eggs in the morning? Hell, you can have them for lunch and dinner too – they’re “all purpose” as far as I’m concerned. Throw in some bacon – Canadian or otherwise – and that’s a damn fine meal (and quite low-carb to boot).

My old method of egg frying was basically by the seat of my pants and included lots of broken yolks, large burnt sections, and general pan dirt and nastiness. Not good. My new method is simple, easy, and doesn’t make a mess…

What you’ll need (at a bare minimum):

1. Eggs (pretty much any animal will do – but you’ll have a hard time finding Bear eggs out of season)
2. Non-stick pan or skillet
3. a cover for said pan (that is at least as big as the pan itself, if you’re using another)
4. a shot glass full of water (maybe 1.5 shots depending on the size of the pan and number of eggs)
5. a Pam-type non-stick spray

I like to use a regular non-stick pan, it seems to work the best and is the easiest and quickest to clean up. I set the burner for medium-high (about 4 o’clock on the dial) and give it a few minutes to get up to temperature. We want it HOT HOT HOT, baby!

Once its hot enough (usually when water sizzles and evaporates on the pan) quickly get your eggs, shot glass, and spray ready. Quickly spray the pan down with the non-stick (I think mine is “butter flavored” or something like that). You’ll want to do this IMMEDIATELY before you put the eggs on, because some cheaper sprays will turn into brown goop is you let them just hang out in a high-heat situation.

Now, break your eggs onto the pan – when you’re done, pour the shot of water into the pan (I like to kind of sneak it down the side of the pan so it ends up underneath the eggs, but either way should work) – and quickly cover it up with the lid.

The high heat will fry the bottom of the eggs, while the evaporating steam from the water cooks the tops. Its almost like 85% frying them with 15% poaching at the same time.

“Is that cheating? Well, if cooking them this way is wrong…
I don’t wanna be right!”

Give it a minute or two (depending on how hot your stove is) and check them out, if they are white on top of the yoke and the sides don’t look runny or watery – take them off the heat and serve with salt and pepper.

Bam. Mission accomplished. The great thing about the cooking spray is that with a little hot water, the pan is virtually clean again. No scrubbing eggy burn marks out…

Depending on the quality of the eggs, you’ll be getting 7g protein per egg and <= 1g carbs – which is a pretty good ratio, all things considered.

I know its simple and short write up, but hey  I couldn’t make it complicated if I tried – Besides, I’ve Googled to find out how and cook even easier things than this before.

Anyone else want to share a magic egg recipe?

Related posts:

1. 3 Carnivore Kitchen Essentials for Low-Carb Cooking Excellence
2. More Low-Carb Cooking Excellence – Stupidly Simple Meat Cooking

Sigh, Its Wednesday once again – the week is half over and I am thankful (its been an odd week so far)… But, hey, I’ve got to keep the Wednesday tradition here at LCFC, and this week I’ve got a really quick and easy one for you.

As well all know very well… There is a lot of stuff on the ole’ interwebs… some good, some bad, & some just plain stupid…

My question is this:

What is YOUR favorite low-carb / health blog (or forum, website, or other online resource)?

Don’t be afraid to come up some obscure ones, I’m always looking for more good sites out there to add to my “daily reading list”. Hey, I’m even down with shameless self-promotion posts. Have at it and spread the love on this unceremonious “hump day”.

Link away, my ketone powered friends!

Related posts:

1. Wednesday Question: What is your biggest hurdle in eating low-carb for life?
2. Wednesday Question: What is your favorite low-carb treat?
3. Wednesday Question: What turned you on to low-carb living & where did you first go for info?

Rat Scientists abound! Ah, yes, here we go again. Bad science reigns at The New York times ‘Well Blog’ this week by Tara Parker-Pope (technically, it was from last week, but I just discovered it on Slashdot). Its sad that the NYT was also the original publication where Gary Taubes published his brilliant ‘What if its all been a Big Fat Lie’ article (which is the exact opposite of what this article is trying to say). I guess that’s some fair and unbiased journalism – we give credibility to all kinds of information:  right, wrong or otherwise!

Just to give you a taste, here is the intro (which can double as the conclusion too, really)

“Eating fatty food appears to take an almost immediate toll on both short-term memory and exercise performance, according to new research on rats and people.

Other studies have suggested that long-term consumption of a high-fat diet is associated with weight gain, heart disease and declines in cognitive function. But the new research shows how indulging in fatty foods over the course of a few days can affect the brain and body long before the extra pounds show up.”

[Note: The study that the article was written about is 100% RATS, not PEOPLE as the lead-in sentence alludes to]

We (the enlightened low-carb community) know that it is complete rubbish, but the American public is always hungry for some anti-fat biased lies.

Go ahead and read the article if you want (to get angry), but the study basically showed that rats fed high-fat / low(er)-carb Rat Chow did worse than the low-fat / high-carb rats in maze performance as well as treadmill performance.

Special Announcement: This year, The Rat Olympics will be sponsored by Kashi and Special K.

Anyone who has thrived on a low-carb (and therefor high-fat) diet knows that the first few days to a week can be trying. This is because your body has to “change gears” (or have your metabolism get acclimated) in order to process all the fat and protein efficently. If you we’re asked to run a marathon during your first week on low-carb – and you collapsed in a pile during it, would that mean that low-carb is bad? Not at all.

The comments are full of moronic “That’s Right!” comments, but thankfully also have a healthy amount of actual free thinkers and readers to pick apart the conclusions as well. I’m going to post a few comments down below, but feel free to check them out – it gives me hope that we’re starting to assemble numbers (almost) equal to the standard “nutritional sheep” (Mmmm, sheep!).

Regarding the “change-over effect” into high-fat diets by ‘Trent’

“Speaking from personal experience, I went from eating a mixed diet to a high fat diet (low to no carb diet) during the first two weeks I felt groggy, weak and unable to focus. However, once my body “detoxed the carbs” my energy levels went through the roof, my cognitive functions are at least par with my pre-diet abilities and my lifting strength has actually increased with exercise. Not to mention that with no added exercise I have gone from 24% body-fat to less than 12%. I have received several test throughout my diet showing a clean bill of health, including blood work, cholesterol, and ekg/stress test.

I pose two possible answers to your findings:
1. The lab rats were in the first phase “carb” detox and there had not been sufficient time for their systems to adjust.
and/or
2. As I have personally experienced, I no longer have cravings for carbs as I once had, and hence the rats had little or no motivation to retrieve a “sweet” treat.”

..and more by ‘Murray’

“The transition period from an extreme low-fat diet to high-fat in the experiment seems inadequate. Personally, I have evolved to a high-fat low-carb diet (55-25-20 fat/protein/carb) over the past few years as I have read more nutritional studies. (The fat is predominatly from nuts, seeds, avocado/olive oil, 100% chocolate, yoghurt, fatty fish and artisan cheese).My percent body fat decreased in lock step with decreased starch/sugar, and is now at about 7.5% b.f. This weekend I set a personal best for a 5km kayak, immediately followed by a 10km bike ride in hills and a 2 km swim. My blood sugar (12 hour fast) is between 3.7 and 4.3. All of this leads me to question whether the experiment sheds much light on the effect of fat per se, as much as the effect of a dramatic and abrupt shift in diet pattern.”

By ‘Thomas’

“This research is as relevant as feeding elephants with medium done stakes would have been. Then applying the results to the humans.”

By ‘Dr. E. Franes’

“Sorry but this is bad science and poor journalism. What a tragedy to those who take such nonsense to heart (literally).

1. Rats evolved to eat a grain-based diet. Humans evolved to eat mostly meat with some nuts and berries (we didn’t discover carbohydrate until about 10-15000 years ago, which is a nanosecond in our history.) Rat data doesn’t correlate with humans even a little.

2. Look at the photo above. How much carbohydrate is there compared to nutritious protein and fat.

3. Read Gary Taubes’ Good Calories Bad Calories, or any book by Dr. Michael Eades to understand the real science behind human metabolism. Not this nonsense.

Unbelievable. Who sponsored this study? The corn industry or some such?”

Check out the rest, you’ll be impressed. (unintentional rhyming)

If anyone brings this study up in regards to your diet… Tell them that it doesn’t apply to you – since you’re not a rat coming down from a sugar addiction.

UPDATE: Oh snap, I was just informed that Mark’s Daily Apple just did a complete once-over of this study the other day – and its completely unstoppable – seriously, its that good. Thanks @CastleGrok!

Related posts:

1. “Eco-Atkins” Vegetarian Protein Diet Study = Meaningless

Imagine with me for a second, if you will…

“The bright sunshine blinds your eyes, you can feel its undeniable radiant warmth on your face, a light fragrant breeze blows across it just enough to cool and soothe, but not enough to annoy or chill. As the world fades into focus, you look down… You’re awash in a yellow sea of poppyseeds. Their colorful brilliance is a stark contrast to your brown pant-legs. Nature in its original state brushing up against the human manipulated cotton of the pants, completely wrong and somehow perfect at the same time. Looking out at the blooming sea before you, several things immediately rush to your mind..

It reminded you of that scene from The Wizard of Oz you saw as a child – and simultaneously that episode of Seinfeld with Elaine’s drug test being thwarted by a poppyseed bagel. For a moment you chuckle, shaking your head at the inexplicable pop-culture snippets that have fused themselves together by the smallest threads in a attempt to create an unending tapestry of relevance. Man, you think, compared to the brain – Google indexing capabilities are seriously Mickey Mouse primitive. A smile slowly crosses your face as you survey the poppy waves rolling across the plain.

Suddenly, a loud buzzing sound comes from overhead, it repeats… louder and louder… the pulsating buzz creates an uncomfortable, almost crushing, pressure that brings a sense of dread with it… like a cross between a black-hole and an Apache helicopter… the whole world is closing in from above with each passing “Bzzzzzzz”, you try and close your eyes to block it out – and are suddenly jolted up in bed, breathing hard.

The buzz wins again. Ah, yes, the sound of modern alarm clock slavery.

Its another Monday morning, and time to get up for work aka “paycheck hell”. Like a suburban version of Dante’s Inferno – this is the eternal Monday that never seems to get any better, no matter how many times you re-live it. Your own personal Groundhog Day – having Bill Murray’s hairline without his sense of humor. “Rise and shine, campers!” Yeah. Rise and shine indeed.

Maybe we can find solace in this week afterall – as you stumble to the bathroom you slowly being to try piecing together your dream. Hmmm, something about Julia Louis Dreyfus and Bill Paxton’s Twister movie? Bah, who the hell knows knows – crazy ass dreams. “I shouldn’t have had that last Diet Coke at 11pm”, you think “That stuff’ll kill me one day”. Apparently today isn’t the day. Anyways, its morning ritual time – after a quick “nature calls” trip to unload some very unneeded bladder weight – you step on the scale and hold your breath…

“What?!? Only one pound lighter than last week! Ugggghh!” – Frustrated, angry (and only one pound lighter than last Monday), Monday morning begins. I pity the fool who crosses your path before you’ve had a liter of crappy coffee…“

Sound familiar at all?

I think one of the biggest stumbling blocks that we all face is the concept of time versus results. While a low-carb diet is probably one of the fastest and easiest ways to lose weight, eventually you will find yourself in the “steady loss” territory. I define “steady loss”, as, well… just that. A time when you are still LOSING weight – but no where near the speed at which you were during the first month or so. I’m talking a pound or two a week.

Note that this is technically NOT a plateau. I find that most people who actually DO plateau are people who have ramped their carb intake back up to a level where ketosis is no longer happening.

What can you do when you hit a your “steady loss” territory?

• Just try to have Patience

This sounds simple, right? Well, its not – as I’m sure most of you can attest to. There are weeks when the scale just doesn’t want to move, and while there are plenty of ways to explain this scale stubborness (muscle gain balances out fat loss, random water retention, etc) is still doesn’t bring comfort when we’re trying to “be good” and keep up our low-carb plan. My advice – just ignore it and try to remember that low-carb eating is a lifestyle choice and not a 2 week long miracle Sandra Bullock Diet. The road to being healthy, thin, and strong is a long-term commitment. As long as your in for the long-haul -don’t sweat the scale. It may think its won the battle today – but soon enough (probably sooner than you think) you’re going to be making that scale your bitch. Once you get to that point a funny thing happens… when you are happy and look GOOD your tune might change from “I hate the scale!” to “Scale? Fuck the scale.” Weight is just a three digit number – you reflection in the mirror is practically a novel. “If a picture is worth a thousand words…”

• Keep your motivation level up

How do we do that? Invest in your new life by trying something new. For me it was cardio boxing and strength training (which is slowly leaning to ‘real boxing’ but I digress). It gave me something to focus on that was secondary to the diet – but was still working toward the same goal. Maybe for your it would be some light jogging, or free-weights at home. Its developing new habits (much like stopping bread and sugar consumption) that will be a ‘two-pronged’ attack on your old toxic lifestlye.

• Stop Obsessing over the weight!

If you’re eating well, not losing as you’d like and getting frustated over it. Then stop checking it constantly! Put the scale away for awhile. If you follow the plan and don’t cheat – you will be in ketosis and you will be heading in a positive direction even IF it doesn’t show on the scale. Just like the “Patience” comment above – good things are silently happening, you just need to wait for the payoff.

Think of it like interest on a savings account. If you check your balance everyday, you aren’t going to be very happy. Even month by month.. the balance gains will seem small and pitiful. But eventually, with some waiting (and compound interest, also known as muscle gains) you’ll see the profits…

What was that Aesop’s Fable that we were taught as little kids? The Tortise and the Hare? “Slow and steady wins the race”… (maybe a modern version of that tale would have the rabbit get banned for illegal steroid abuse – but still, its the same overall moral)

Does anyone have any kick-ass methods to fighting the slow-scale blues?

Related posts:

1. Wednesday Question: How often do you weigh yourself?
2. Bariatric Surgery: Weight-Loss Miracle or just a Hardcore Dietary “Enforcement Tool”?
3. Basics 1: Easy, Quick, and Safe Weight Loss

You’ve heard of this Twitter thing, I’m sure. All the “kids” are doing it these days – and its way more useful than just finding out what Lars Ulrich had for breakfast this morning.

Just for a change of pace this Friday, here’s 5 quick low-carb / primal / zero-carb people to add to your list – well, besides ME that is (tee hee). Have some to add to the mix? Well, you know the drill – drop us a line!

@DrEades (Dr. Michael R. Eades)

Dr Michael R. Eades – The man, the myth, the legend (ok, ok, so I exaggerate a bit, but its ok, he won’t mind). Dr. Eades is half of the team that wrote ‘Protein Power’ and its follow-up ‘The Protein Power Lifeplan’. The good Doctor tweets a lot of interesting links that are of interest to anyone who is into health and carbohydrate restrictive living in general.

@Mark_Sisson (Mark Sisson)

Mark Sisson of MarksDailyApple.com and author of The Primal Blueprint. Pretty much responsible for giving a total “reboot” to the primal / paleo type lifestyle – with his own twist and flare thrown in. Great site, Great book, Quality content (including on Twitter)

@GirlGonePrimal

Great primal blogger, food experimenter, carnivorous Chef and all-around Aussie Sensation.

@DannyRoddy

Runs CarnivoreHealth.com – makes his own homemade Pemmican, Beef Jerky, and built a bad-ass meatgrinder by hand. What else can you ask for?

@AtkinsInsider

All Atkins! All the Time! (gets kinda overly “self-promote-y” at times, but good links come out too – its a worthy trade-off, trust me)

This was only 5 and is barely a drop in the bucket, more coming soon. Like I said, do you have anyone else that I should have included? Maybe YOU? Let us know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: Lars doesn’t post his daily breakfast and in fact doesn’t even use Twitter. Maybe its a Danish thing, I mean, Denmark thing – I don’t want you to think I’m still talking about breakfast.

Related posts:

1. Coming to a telephone pole near you – Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint Flyer
2. A Fun Friday Potpourri Post
3. A Fun Friday 6 Punch Link Combo

Admittedly, that is a really long question – ok, you got me, its actually 2 similar questions merged together, but (like any annoying news reporter) I needed to get a follow up question in there.

Let’s break it down using my own personal answers as an example…

Basically, where did you first hear of low-carb (or zero-carb, Primal Blueprint, Atkins, carnivore, whatever your preferred “flavor” of) dieting?

For me it was just growing up in the 90s (Hey I was an impressionable teenager for most of them). I had always heard to thrown around as kind of a soundbite term, especially in the News and Health Media at the time.

I actually think that the late 90s and early 2000s were the “low-carb heydays”, where public opinion was at its highest and commercial restaurants and food retailers all tried to cash in.

Like many people at the time I kind of wrote it off as “some crazy diet”, and didn’t give it much thought. It wasn’t until I sat down and read Protein Power in 2004 that I actually “got it” – and then in 2005 when I lost all the weight I “became a believer” (Not to sound all cult-ish or anything).

So, that answer leads me to the second part of the question. What was your primary source of info when you went “full bore” into low-carb eating? For a lot of people it was a book like Atkins Diet Revolution or Protein Power -for some maybe it was a wise friend – or maybe even a website (imagine that)!

I guess what I’m really asking is…. Whats your low-carb ‘discovery story’?

I’d love to hear all about it in the comments – c’mon – let me have it!

Related posts:

1. Wednesday Question: What is your favorite low-carb website / blog / forum?
2. Wednesday Question: Whats are your preferences on alcoholic beverages when eating low-carb?
3. Wednesday Question: What is your biggest hurdle in eating low-carb for life?

Ok, let me re-phrase that – the fact that Dr. Atkins is dead is NOT the misconception. So, I hope you didn’t open this up hoping for an Atkins conspiracy theory about him retiring to Lake Tahoe with Elvis and Tupac. I’m sorry to report that he has passed. Thankfully, he has a whole team and corporation carrying on his message (and selling lots of “Atkins” branded food products to boot).

The misconception that I’m “aiming at” here is this one: “Atkins died of a heart attack, induced by following his own diet!”

Yes, yes, it would have been a conventional nutritionist’s wet dream for a headline, however it is quite untrue. I’m always amazed how many people bring this up thinking that they’ve got the ultimate zinger for my “low-carb craziness”. Just for those of you who have been living under a rock for the past 35 years, Dr. Robert C. Atkins is the originator of the ‘Atkins Diet Revolution’ – one of the most well known low-carb diets ever popularized in America.

The facts regarding his unfortunate death are this:

On April 8, 2003 Dr. Atkins slipped on some ice on his way to work, hit his head on the pavement, and had to be rushed to the hospital. Surgeons removed a blood clot that resulted from the incident, but he went into a coma. Two weeks later he suffered multiple organ failure. The death certificate lists the immediate cause of death as “blunt impact injury of head with epidural hematoma”.

When admitted to the hospital it was reported that Atkins was roughly 6 feet tall and 200 lbs. I don’t think any of us would consider that “fat” especially for a 73 year old man. Sadly, at the time of his death (2 weeks later) his weight was listed as 258 lbs reportedly because of massive fluid retention due to his condition and subsequent care in the intensive care unit.

The origin of all the “he died from his own diet” lie comes from the ‘Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’, who (shockingly enough) is a vegan group who was very anti-Atkins. But they weren’t the only ones trying to distort the facts to further their own agenda…

In March of 2007, Newsweek magazine printed an opinion piece written by classy carbohydrate-loving pal Dr. Dean Ornish, also not an Atkins fan, where he repeated the same lies regarding Atkins death. Thankfully, Newsweek had this brought to its attention and quickly published a retraction, saying “An earlier version of this story contained an inaccurate account of events surrounding the death of Dr. Robert Atkins. Newsweek regrets the error.”

Still, this seems to be one of those “vampire rumors”, you know, the ones that refuse to die. Not everyone in the low-carb camp agrees with the Atkins Diet 100%, but, I think that we can all agree that he dedicated his life to helping people – and succeeded. Cheers to that.

“My English sheepdog will figure out nutrition before the dietitians do.”

- Dr. Robert C. Atkins

Only one thing you can say to that. Word.

Related posts:

1. Top Misconceptions about Low-Carb Diets: Kidneys

(Photo by Oskarm’s Flickr Stream)

Let me just re-state that. Contrary to popular belief, you do NOT need to consume carbs to compete in athletics. In fact, you will not only be able to compete, but you can excel as well.

The whole “high-carb diet is needed for proper training & sports performance” myth is one of the biggest misconceptions out there about. I hear it so much, that I usually don’t even bother to discuss it with people anymore. They’ve been so brainwashed by the “experts”, that they can’t even fathom that it might not be the only way (or even the “right” way).

Lets face it, we live in a world of “sugar-fueled sports”. So it shouldn’t be any surprise that most so-called “Sports drinks” are LOADED with the stuff. I’m sure that everyone from marathon runners to bodybuilders would not hesitate to tell you that sugar and carbs are a “necessary part” of their training and recovery routine. The funny thing is, they’re dead wrong.

Case in point #1: Charles Washington.

Charles is a 41 year old distance runner who has been living (and competing in races) on a Zero Carbohydrate diet since January 2007. Now if there is ANY sport that is deeply committed to carbohydrates – its distance runners. While other runners are feasting on heaps of pasta before a race, Charles is eating a nice big juicy steak (or two).

Check out Charles progress and story at his blog and zero carb forum.

Case in point #2: Stephen McCain.

Here’s a nice NBC Sports article regarding low-carb catching on with Olympic Gymnasts – specifically Stephen McCain.

“With rock-hard biceps and abs that would make a bodybuilder jealous, Stephen McCain doesn’t need to lose weight. Yet count him as a devotee of the increasingly popular low-carbohydrate diet.”

The nutritional info in the article is pretty lame and weak (hey, it was written by a “Sports Writer” after all), but the message is sound. I wonder how Steve is doing these days.. Any gymnast fans out there know?

Case in point #3: Jonas Colting.

Jonas Colting is a Swedish triathlete who won the Ultraman World Championships in 2004 and 2007. He credits his low-carb, high-fat diet for not only making him a healthy as he can be – but giving him a performance boost that helps him edge out his high-carb competition.

Jimmy Moore also did a podcast interview with Jonas not too long ago.

The best and most efficient fuel for your body is FAT, not carbs. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about a pair of love handles or a T-bone steak. Don’t listen to the carb hype – and don’t drink “the haterade”. ;)

Does anyone have any examples of low-carb athletes they’d like to share?

No related posts.