You don't have to dedicate yourself to any diet plan or low-carb regimen to lose weight. Just substitute what you might eat in carbs with fat instead, bacon vs donuts, cheese vs cereal, or a sandwich with mayo without the bread.  Doing this will have much less impact on insulin levels, where upswings cause weight gain.

Of course, later on when my mouth could handle it I too started eating like my Dad,  a way that I convinced myself had me enjoying food more. I didn't just pick up this eating style during my stint in the Marine Corps, although I ate fast because I either had to or was in a hurry to get somewhere. The marines will tell you "eat all you want, but eat all you take".

Unfortunately, as a result of his eating habits,  Dad became extremely overweight, developed diabetes and died at the tender age of 62 from complications of a gastric bypass operation.

After I joined the marines I had to learn how to eat all over again. In USMC boot camp I was always hungry, not because they starved me (just the opposite) but because I was expending so many calories in training I needed the nourishment. And the food was darn good too! Since leaving the marines I have had to watch what I eat and was not always successful, I gained weight and before I knew it had gained more weight than I thought possible. Before I discovered the low-carb lifestyle I was headed toward repeating my Dad's mistakes and fortunately I woke up in time to reverse it.

As a low-carb aficionado my sandwiches (I call them roll-ups) now consist of ingredients such as ham, turkey, roast beef, tuna salad, cheese and lettuce, minus the bread and I don't really miss it. I may never be able to give up bread completely but the carbs I have resisted not eating bread with a sandwich allow me to eat other carbs I enjoy, especially pasta (low-carb) and fruit.

What brought all this up was  coming across an article in Men's Health titled Chew on This which brought back memories of Dad's eating habits because the article is about what Dutch researchers discovered;  that big bites (and fast chewing) can lead to overeating. I didn't know about this and was surprised to read that people who chewed large bites of food for 3 seconds consumed 52 percent more food before feeling full than those who chewed smaller bites for 9 seconds. Their findings suggest that tasting food for a longer period of time (no matter how much you bite off) signals your brain to make you feel full sooner.

I wish these Dutch scientists had discovered this in time to help my Dad, he might have lived longer had he been able to change his eating habits by taking smaller bites and chewing longer. If you find yourself doing the same thing, taking big bites and gulping, remind yourself to slow down, try taking smaller bites and see what happens. You might be surprised at what you discover.

Stories about a crew member jumping from a cruise ship in Miami harbor to escape immigration issues are not very exciting and reflect badly on the whole immigration thing but if a person bothers  to read the whole article it's pretty easy to infer what really happened.

A crew member, not a passenger, took a flyer off the back end of Royal Caribbeans Majesty of the Sea as it was approaching Miami harbor. Why? No one is talking right now but the ship did what it was supposed to do, radioed the Coast Guard with a "man overboard" call, turned around and assisted in pinpointing the man in the water. The Coast Guard picked him up and he is now in a Miami hospital being treated for injuries sustained by a seawater enema.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and the other cruise operators that take us on water-borne adventures work really hard to ensure their passengers comfort and safety. These ships are so majestic in size that anything that happens on them can get totally blown out of proportion.

When headlines like these appear the cruise PR firms go into damage control mode.  Just a whisper of any kind of trouble on a cruise ship can effect thousands of bookings, many resulting in canceled cruises from the nervous Nellies among us. That costs the cruise line money, money that is later made up by rate increases passed on to the consumer.

All because some reporter needed some drama for a non-story.

Get Me OUTSIDE!

This is why I don't like treadmills in the spare bedroom, garage, working out at health clubs or other forms of indoor exercise,  other than they are boring, boring, boring, wall mounted TV or not. I don't care if Oprah has Michelle Obama, Tom Cruise, David Letterman, Ellen, Donald Trump and Tiger Woods on the same show! (wouldn't that be a show?), indoor workouts just don't work for me, even if I have a window to look out of.

If you ever wondered why your new year's resolution to exercise and lose weight lost it's momentum after only a few weeks here is a clue:

Hello! It's winter out there, cold, rainy, gloomy, etc. Your brain wants to be doing something outdoors, walking, hiking, just about anything as long as it's outside while your body cringes at the thought. Some refer to exercising outdoors as eco-therapy, or green exercise, although I think that word green is overused. Did you know for example that the color green balances the nervous system and is supposed to have a calm, soothing, effect?

When there isn't a whole lot of green around during winter where you live it can be tough to get motivated, much less stay that way until spring. But don't despair, just by seeking the natural world you can reap the benefits of re-connecting with the environment – a reduction in anger and stress levels only to mention a couple. Take the dog for a walk, bundle up and breathe the fresh air.

We can only list the major cruise lines here so if we don't include your favorite let us know by checking "other" and leave us a comment about them. We will do a story on any of those that don't make the list and will mention the person leaving the comment in the article (if you want).

Time to Vote!

So if I go I will write about the adventures of Low-Carbers on a cruise ship. Should be interesting. Real Low-Carb Houswives of ?