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MY NEW BLOG ON MY OWN SERVER

I have enjoyed the WordPress format immensely and this new version of the “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” blog will implement the WordPress tools on my own server. This move cost me a pretty penny, but it was worth every dime I am spending on it to make it happen. You’ll notice the new blog has some ads from sponsors on it which is something WordPress did not allow me to do on their format. I appreciate your continued support of those who support the work I am doing.

So come on over to LIVINLAVIDALOWCARB.COM/BLOG to join the fun. We’re gonna be there a while, so make yourself at home.

Whenever you have the chance to hear some of the world’s best and brightest speak about a subject they are keenly interested in and have studied for many years, then you’ll want to have a front row seat to listen to what they have to say based on their experiences. In the realm of low-carb research, we have names like Westman, Feinman, Vernon, Layman, and more. But two men stand out above all the rest for the incredible advancements they have made looking at carbohydrate restriction over the past few years–Dr. Stephen Phinney and Dr. Jeff Volek.

Dr. Phinney is as close to a rebel researcher as you will ever find. Professor Emeritus at the
University of California Davis, he is well-known for his studies looking at low-carb nutrition and metabolism, fatty acids, inflammation, metabolic syndrome and obesity. I’ve had the privilege of hearing him speak on several occasions at Nutrition & Metabolism Society events like this one in Phoenix, AZ earlier this year over the past couple of years and the man is brilliant. He also hard to catch as I’ve been working on having him appear on my podcast show since its inception. We’re still working on it.

Dr. Volek is another rebel with a cause for sharing genuine science behind carbohydrate restriction as it relates to exercise, nutrition, weight loss, and dieting. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Connecticut and co-wrote the fabulous low-carb workout book The TNT Diet with Men’s Health editor Adam Campbell. His studies over the past few years have been groundbreaking to say the least, including his finding that people who consume more saturated fat in their diet have lower saturated fat in their blood than those who eat less saturated fat. It’s counterintuitive, but that’s what the data is showing him!

In light of that recent study published in the July 18, 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine that found low-carb diets produce more effective results in weight loss and cholesterol profiles, Atkins Nutritionals is hosting a teleconference call to have Dr. Phinney and Dr. Volek comment on the latest evidence behind the Atkins diet. Atkins Nutritionals VP of Education and Nutrition Communication Colette Heimowitz, who will be my guest this Thursday on “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore,” will moderate the teleconference and briefly discuss the benefits of the Atkins Nutritional Approach. Dr. Phinney and Dr. Volek are both members of the Atkins Science Advisory Board.

Here’s the info on teleconference and how YOU can participate:

DATE: Thursday, August 14, 2008
TIME: 1:30-3:30PM EST
HOW: Click on this link
WHAT: Dr. Phinney and Dr. Volek will be sharing the scientific history of the low-carb diet as well as their ongoing research and highlights from some of the upcoming studies that continue to support the overall health benefits of diets with reduced levels of carbohydrates. After the Atkins diet was introduced to the public over 35 years ago, more than 50 studies have emerged supporting its principles and the science has demonstrated that a diet with reduced levels of carbohydrates, which encourages the consumption of protein, green leafy vegetables, and fats, is a sustainable way to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight while reducing risk factors for lipid profiles and lowering risk factors for diseases such as diabetes and obesity.

Some of the key topics that Dr. Phinney and Dr. Volek will address include:

* The Evolution of the Atkins Diet
* Myths and Facts of the Atkins Nutrition Approach
* Aboriginal low carb diets and history of safe use
* Maintenance of well being and physical performance following keto-adaption
* Beneficial effects of carbohydrate restriction on serum lipo-proteins
* Reduced relative and absolute saturated fatty acids in serum triglycerides during carbohydrate restriction despite greater saturated fatty acid intake
* Anti-inflammatory effects of carbohydrate restriction (with anticipated benefits for coronary risk, diabetes, and pulmonary function).
* Debunking the myth of “ketone toxicity” (separating “nutritional ketosis” from keto-acidosis)
* Micronutrient adequacy of carb restricted diets

HURRY because this teleconference is coming THIS THURSDAY! CLICK HERE to be a part of this FREE historic event in the world of livin’ la vida low-carb!

One of the biggest supporters of the work I am doing here at my “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” blog from the very beginning has been the amazing Dr. Jonny Bowden. Jonny is the author of Living The Low-Carb Life, the book I describe as “the must-have book for everybody doing low-carb,” but he’s also been releasing some truly fabulous books on Fair Winds Press over the past couple of years that look fabulous and contain some of the best diet and health information on the market today!

In Episode 166 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore,” we hear from Jonny as he discusses his brand new book Healthiest Meals on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What Meals to Eat and Why–the third in his trilogy of new book including The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth and The Most Effective Natural Cures On Earth. He also tells us about his new Diet Boot Camp program as well as his upcoming appearance in January 2009 at the 2nd Annual Low-Carb Cruise to Mexico. It’s always good to hear from Dr. Jonny Bowden to hear his encouraging and uplifting message of hope through a low-carb strategy for success!

Click on the “LISTEN NOW” link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 166:

“The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore” Episode 166 [28:10m]: LISTEN NOW | Download

If you like what you heard from Dr. Jonny Bowden today, then be sure to check out these other great interviews with him:

- Jonny interviewed by Renegade Health
- Part 1 and Part 2 of my interview with Jonny about his Natural Cures book
- Jonny interviews Jimmy Moore

Learn from the REAL experts like Dr. Jonny Bowden anytime by:

1. Listening at the official web site
2. Calling 818-688-2763 to listen via Podlinez
3. Subscribing to the RSS feed
4. Going to iTunes–Click here to subscribe!

Check out this witty video tutorial from my podcast producer Kevin Kennedy-Spaien about how you can sign up for the podcast RSS feed, listen on iTunes, and all the other ways to access the show.

What’d ya think about Dr. Jonny Bowden in today’s podcast? Share your feedback the show notes section of Episode 166. Be sure to check out JonnyBowden.com to stay current with what’s happening with this amazing man headlining our upcoming 2nd Annual Low-Carb Cruise to Mexico. If weight loss is what you’re looking for, take a peek at Jonny’s Diet Boot Camp. And don’t forget about all of those delicious and nutritious recipes in his new Healthiest Meals on Earth book! I’m sure we’ll be hearing from Dr. Jonny Bowden again in future podcasts.

Come back on Thursday for my interview with Atkins Nutritionals spokeswoman Colette Heimowitz. You may have seen some of the new marketing for the Atkins company lately that has probably raised an eyebrow or two. What the heck is going on and do they still care about their core low-carb consumers? And what’s with this “lean protein” and “healthy whole grain” verbage on the new web site? Find out the answers to these questions and more later this week on “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore.”

Here’s the upcoming Fall schedule of podcast interviews:

EPISODE 167: Thursday, August 14, 2008–Colette Heimowitz
EPISODE 168: Monday, August 18, 2008–Becky Gandy
EPISODE 169: Thursday, August 21, 2008–David Mendosa
EPISODE 170: Monday, August 25, 2008–Dr. Mary C. Vernon Part 1
EPISODE 171: Thursday, August 28, 2008–Dr. Mary C. Vernon Part 2
EPISODE 172: Monday, September 1, 2008–Bill Kurtis
EPISODE 173: Thursday, September 4, 2008–Mark Sisson
EPISODE 174: Monday, September 8, 2008–Pete Bils
EPISODE 175: Thursday, September 11, 2008–JJ Virgin
EPISODE 176: Monday, September 15, 2008–Dr. Steven Gundry Part 1
EPISODE 177: Thursday, September 18, 2008–Dr. Steven Gundry Part 2
EPISODE 178: Monday, September 22, 2008–Dr. Barbara Berkeley
EPISODE 179: Thursday, September 25, 2008–Bob Proctor/Melonie Dodero
EPISODE 180: Monday, September 29, 2008–Dr. Geoff Rutledge
EPISODE 181: Thursday, October 2, 2008–Nathan Eliason
EPISODE 182: Monday, October 6, 2008–Dr. John Salerno Part 1
EPISODE 183: Thursday, October 9, 2008–Dr. John Salerno Part 2
EPISODE 184: Monday, October 13, 2008–Mark McManus
EPISODE 185: Thursday, October 16, 2008–Dr. Lana Boter
EPISODE 186: Monday, October 20, 2008–Dr. Michael Berglund
EPISODE 187: Thursday, October 23, 2008–Penny Hoff
EPISODE 188: Monday, October 27, 2008–Dr. William Davis Part 1
EPISODE 189: Thursday, October 30, 2008–Dr. William Davis Part 2

If you have any special requests for me to interview, then send those in an e-mail to livinlowcarbman@charter.net. I want to provide quality information from the best and brightest in the world of healthy low-carb living, so let me know who you’d like to hear from the most. As always, THANK YOU for listening!

I’ve heard it so much over the years from people considering the low-carb lifestyle. It’s an excuse that people like to use against this wonderful way of eating that has helped me and others get our weight and health under control. You’ve no doubt heard it yourself–low-carb is too expensive! All those meats cost money and I just don’t think I can afford to do this diet.

In Episode 49 of “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb On YouTube,” Christine and I share some tips and ideas about how to low-carb on the cheap and show you it’s not really that hard to do at all. Low-carb isn’t all about meat as you well know, but even getting inexpensive meats isn’t difficult if you know what you are looking for. If I had a dollar every time somebody has told me they can’t afford to be on a low-carb diet, then I’d be a millionaire by now!

See how to low-carb on a budget in today’s video:

Got a low-carb topic you want us to make a video about? Send us your ideas at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. Catch all of our previous YouTube videos and we’d love to have you subscribe to our YouTube videos. THANK YOU for watching and commenting on our “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb on YouTube” videos.

We’ve been planning a trip to Music City USA, aka Nashville, Tennessee, for months and now it’s almost here. Christine and I will taking the 5-hour drive up to Nashville from our home in Spartanburg, South Carolina next weekend for a two-week visit to attend former “Biggest Loser” contestant Isabeau Miller’s FitCamp. Beginning on Sunday, August 17th through August 31st, I along with several of my readers from across the nation who won scholarships to attend through an essay contest at my blog and others will begin an intense “Biggest Loser”-styled weight loss camp featuring morning and evening workout sessions and more. It’s gonna be an exhausting couple of weeks, but I’m looking forward to the challenge and documenting the experience on YouTube. Perhaps this is what I need right now to break my current weight stall. Here’s hoping!

Before FitCamp gets going, though, I’d like to invite anyone and everyone who reads the “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” blog, watches our YouTube videos, listens to “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore” podcast, or has been touched by low-carb living in some way to come out and meet with us for dinner on Saturday, August 16, 2008 at 6:00PM. We’ll be meeting at the LongHorn Steakhouse located at the following address:

1175 Murfreesboro Road
Nashville, TN 37217
Phone: 615-361-0457

If you can come, then please let us know by sending an e-mail to me at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. We’ll have some special prizes to give away to those who attend and we would sincerely love to meet you in person and thank you for supporting us. So ya’ll come on out and see us, ya hear? We look forward to meeting our Nashville fans next weekend!

Once upon a time in a life that seems so very long ago when I was completely out of my mind thinking the recommended high-carb, low-fat diet was gonna do anything good in regards to my weight and health, I relished the thought of finding foods that were labeled “low-fat” or “fat-free” thinking that somehow these things were healthy for me. I’d proudly turn to the nutritional information label on the back of a product and zoom right in to only one bit of information on that packaging–the fat grams. If it was 1g or less fat per serving, then I bought it and ate whatever it was with pride that I was making a healthier choice that would help me lose weight.

What a dope I was to ever believe the low-fat diet was right for me!

But like most Americans, when all you’ve ever heard your entire life is to cut the fat, cut the fat, and oh by the way, cut the fat, the insatiable pull this message can play on your psyche is virtually impossible to overcome. That’s what happened to me especially in 1999 when I lost 170 pounds eating a high-carb, low-fat diet. Yes, that’s right! I was very successful eating a diet low in total fat and high in carbohydrates. Well, that is if you define “success” merely in pounds lost.

Unfortunately, that way of eating may have led to weight loss, but I didn’t feel right eating that way. It just seemed so unnatural eating fat-free this and low-fat that. I was constantly hungry because I thought that’s the way you are supposed to live eating healthy. Can anybody relate? Plus, this hunger along with an intense feeling of deprivation having to settle for rice cakes, fat-free cheese, and skim milk made me irritable, angry at the world, and thoroughly disgusted with life. It was a sad, yet very predictable and all-too-common state of affairs that I’d been through before.

The only saving grace for me at the time were all of the great fat-free and low-fat products that were at my disposal. While the marshmallow-based circus peanuts and Jelly Belly jelly beans were two low-fat snacks I LOVED to consume on my low-fat diet, there was one that beat them all–TWIZZLERS! Yep, the red twist licorice was a staple in my low-fat dieting days. I could literally eat a whole bag and wouldn’t think twice about it–after all, it was low-fat ya know!

At the time, I didn’t know about or care what a carbohydrate was although I probably should have. Little did I know all those Twizzlers I was eating were actually making my low-fat hunger pangs even WORSE because I was feeding the monster that can never be satisfied with more sugar and carbs. But I was none the wiser because low-fat was where it was at for me at the time. I was deeply entrenched in low-fat living and avoided any and all fat that I could.

How many people do the exact same thing even to this day thinking that’s what makes them healthy? I would be willing to guess it’s a whole lot more than we even realize. This is one of those unintended consequences of scaring people half to death about eating fat that our brilliant government health leaders, those so-called health “experts” and their willing accomplices in the media so conveniently abdicate their personal responsibility for causing–making people fat-phobic has created more obesity and more health problems than ever before!

That constant message of cutting the fat in our diets is what drove me to Twizzlers. What would seem so unconscionable now stuffing my mouth with red licorice and those shoestring-styled version (my former fave!) was just a regular part of my low-fat diet at the time. No, people like Dr. Dean Ornish don’t advocate eating these kinds of foods as part of his low-fat diet plan, but reality is reality. When you push an idea like “low-fat is healthy,” the food manufacturers are gonna take advantage of it. That’s why we have some pretty amazing health claims showing up on food products even to this day.

Christine and I were in Super Walmart the other day and saw that huge 4-pound tub of Twizzlers on the shelf. HOLY COW! That’s a lot of Twizzlers and back in the day I probably would have bought three or four tubs of this stuff. Why? Well, it’s right there on the label–”As Always, A Low-Fat Snack.” See for yourself:

What’s bad is I bought into that! Raise your hand if you’ve done it too (and if your hand isn’t up, then you’re lying!). :p But it’s nothing more than a marketing ploy by the makers of Twizzlers who try to say this product is a health food. You know, as much as Dr. Ornish tries to bemoan low-carb staples like meat, cheese, and pork rinds as not being health foods, I’ve never ONCE heard him dismiss foods like marshmallows, Coca-Cola, or Twizzlers as unhealthy. These high-sugar/high-carb foods are REGULARLY promoted as good for low-fat diets and they’re all fake foods. At least those low-carb foods are REAL FOOD!

You’ve heard the story about my low-fat diet attempt in 1999: I lost 170 pounds in nine months eating that way, but it only took one moment for me to rebel against it. That moment was a visit to McDonald’s to get Christine some French fries (her favorite even to this day–I know, it’s disgusting!). I couldn’t believe she put that temptation out there for me, but I told her I was gonna have a Big Mac meal Supersized with a Coke “just this one time.” What happened after that was predictable from a mile away–all the weight came pouring back on me and more in just a matter of four months!

When I started on the Atkins diet in 2004, once again I was back to reading labels. But this time around fat was not my concern and it still isn’t. Not even saturated fat which I now realize is extremely healthy for you in the absence of carbohydrate in your diet. Today I look specifically for sugar grams and total carbohydrates. Let’s take a look at that nutritional label on those Twizzlers for a moment to see the shocking content of this former low-fat sweet treat:

It’s a little hard to see, but the serving size is three Twizzlers which have 15g of sugar and 29g of total carbohydrate. Sure, that’s only 120 calories and a half a gram of fat, but that’s not a very good or healthy food to be eating no matter what kind of diet you are on! That’s what is so wrong with those ridiculous 100-calorie pack foods that are so prominently marketed these days. Most of them are LOADED with high levels of both sugar and total carbohydrates. They can be “naturally fat-free” or “low-calorie” all day long, but if the carb counts are high they just aren’t gonna be good for you. I can’t say it any simpler than that.

Do I miss my Twizzlers today? Uh, NO! I now realize what a nutritionally bankrupt food product this is and I’m not tempted in the least at the very sight of them anymore. This is a very big deal since I used to eat them like they were going out of style when I livin’ la vida low-fat. Thank God I came to my senses and now realize that it’s the carbohydrates, not the fats, that will keep me from attaining the weight and health that I so desperately desire to have for the rest of my life.

What former low-fat foods did you used to snack on regularly during your low-fat dieting days that you now wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole on your healthy low-carb lifestyle? Share your story in the comments section below.

Continuing what we started in Episode 164 on Monday with Part 1 of my interview with Dr. Keith Berkowitz from the New York-based Center For Balanced Health, today we have Part 2 of that interview in Episode 165 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore.” Dr. Berkowitz is answering all of your questions about the reactive hypoglycemia and low-carb living connection. If you asked a question in an e-mail to me about his “reactive hypoglycemia” theory, then I presented it to Dr. Berkowitz. Tune in to hear your question get answered (and there was even a sweet audio comment left by Della praising the podcast–THANK YOU Della! You made our day with that!).

Click on the “LISTEN NOW” link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 165:

“The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore” Episode 165 [16:33m]: LISTEN NOW | Download

Get connected to people like Dr. Keith Berkowitz anytime by:

1. Listening at the official web site
2. Calling 818-688-2763 to listen via Podlinez
3. Subscribing to the RSS feed
4. Going to iTunes–Click here to subscribe!

Check out this witty video tutorial from my podcast producer Kevin Kennedy-Spaien about how you can sign up for the podcast RSS feed, listen on iTunes, and all the other ways to access the show.

The interview with Dr. Keith Berkowitz is now complete and I’d love to know what you thought about it in the show notes section of Episode 165. Be sure to check out The Center For Balanced Health web site and feel free to contact Dr. Berkowitz directly with any questions you may have for him about this issue. He’s more than happy to offer assistance to my readers and listeners.

Next week we have TWO amazing interviews to share with you: Monday’s show will feature Dr. Jonny Bowden who is back again to tell us about his new book The Healthiest Meals On Earth as well as an exciting new weight loss program Jonny is offering. He always offers a dynamic, encouraging and interesting conversation, so don’t miss that one! Then on Thursday I will be sharing my interview with Atkins Nutritionals spokeswoman Colette Heimowitz as she talks about some of the recent changes with the company that should bring a smile to the face of those who felt they were moving away from the original mission of Dr. Robert C. Atkins for that company. You’re gonna like what you hear! That’s all coming up next week!

In an effort to keep things understandable by the average person visiting my blog, I like to keep things as simple as they can possibly be. You and I both know not everything is so black and white, but the trick is to get people at least thinking about a subject and hopefully digging deeper on their own to learn even more about it. That’s the essence of learning–get armed with a little truth and then investigate it further and further until comprehension takes place.

One such simplistic subject you often see me blog about is sugar. Yes, there’s that sweet-tasting white stuff known as sucrose, or table sugar, that millions of Americans put in their food and drinks each day without any regard for what it is doing to their bodies. An equally if not MORE harmful sugar is the evil high-fructose corn syrup that is showing up in about 90 percent of packaged foods these days. Food manufacturers made the switch from sucrose to fructose in the 1970s and our weight and health has suffered ever since.

That’s why I think it is awesome to see books coming out from major publishers blowing the horn on the harmful impact that sugar, both in the form of sucrose and fructose, is having on us. One such book that looked to be promising was the April 2008 release from Rodale called The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That Is Making You Fat and Sick by Dr. Richard Johnson. On face value, it sounds like a good book for people who are livin’ la vida low-carb to read. We pretty much all agree fructose is bad news and should be avoided.

Questions linger about what role sucrose and even sugar that is produced by starchy carbohydrates play in obesity and disease. Dr. Johnson apparently does not address this in his book and that had one of my readers very concerned. Although I have not yet read this book (but would like to!), this very concerned reader says now he’s confused.

After he read Gary Taubes’ masterpiece Good Calories Bad Calories where insulin was identified as the source of obesity and disease, not just fructose, he’s left scratching his head about what the truth is. In his e-mail to me, the reader asked if I would forward on his questions to Taubes for a response. Below you will see both the reader’s original e-mail to me and Gary Taubes’ reply:

Hey Jimmy, I know you must get a million emails a day, but here’s one more! I just finished reading a new book called The Sugar Fix.

And now I’m REALLY confused. I thought it would be a low-carb message, but it ended up being a low-FRUCTOSE message with the “calorie is a calorie” theory underpinning it. The author Richard Johnson, who is a medical researcher and a kidney transplant doctor (so he should know his stuff), claims that it is only the fructose in our diets that makes us fat and sick.

Following his logic, because sucrose is half fructose and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contains a lot of fructose, all we need to do to be healthy and lose weight is cut out the fructose in our diets. Practically, of course, this means cutting out all drinks sweetened with sugar and HFCS, and cutting down on table sugar, honey, sweet desserts, etc. What really confuses me is that he claims that starch is not a problem.

He says in this book that insulin resistance is caused by FRUCTOSE, not glucose, and that glucose alone causes insulin to spike, but in the absence of fructose, it will not influence insulin resistance in the slightest. So according to this book, if you have your fructose under control (including fruit only in moderation), then you can still enjoy potatoes, pasta and breads because glucose from starch is not a problem.

Now, I’m going through Good Calories Bad Calories for a third time and Gary Taubes argues convincingly that INSULIN is the problem and leads to weight gain and sickness. You see why I’m confused? The author of The Sugar Fix quotes all the studies, is a researcher himself, and now I don’t know WHAT to think.

I thought you would find this interesting, but the real reason I’m telling you all this is that I’m hoping you might pass this note on to Gary Taubes. I would LOVE to hear from him on this, and I know you are in contact with him. His book has been extremely influential in my life, but now I’m having some doubts. THANKS!

And now here is what Gary Taubes had to say in response:

I interviewed Richard Johnson, the author of The Sugar Fix, for my book and have spoken to him a lot since his book came out. He is now trying to get a paper published arguing that fructose and thus sugar and HFCS are the environmental causes of diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

He only read my book after The Sugar Fix was published, so the argument that obesity is not caused by excess calories never made it into his book. That said, it still isn’t in his paper either, so he either doesn’t understand it fully or doesn’t buy it, which is fair enough. Although Dr. Johnson gives my book a very complimentary acknowledgment in the paper he’s trying to get published, I still think he labors under one of the problems I suggest is endemic in the medical research community: that he focuses too tightly on the subject of his own research and doesn’t look far enough outside of it to see what other factors might be involved.

Dr. Johnson does talk about the ability of fructose to stimulate fat synthesis in the liver and, at least indirectly, on its ability in the long term to cause insulin resistance, which, if I’m right, would still be the fundamental cause of weight gain. He’s primarily interested in the ability of fructose to elevate uric acid levels, which could be a causal agent, as well, in causing metabolic disorders in heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

I didn’t get into this in the book because the literature is very sparse and the book was already too long and technical. The fundamental problem here is differentiating between the effect of excess calories and the effect of the nutrient itself on fat deposition, thus allowing for the consumption of excess calories. Dr. Johnson argues that its not possible to induce insulin resistance in animal models by feeding them glucose alone–starches–and can only be done by giving them fructose. Or that it happens far more quickly with fructose than glucose alone. That may be true.

As I say in Good Calories Bad Calories, there is reasonable evidence that sugar is the fundamental problem. But that hypothesis has to be rigorously tested. It’s virtually impossible to find populations that consume refined carbs but not sugars. And, indeed, most populations that are used as counter examples to the carb-insulin hypothesis are those that consumed virtually no sugar–the Japanese, Koreans, etc.

The counter-argument is the one that Peter Cleave made in the 1960s, which is where you can find a lot of extremely fat people who eat no sugar at all but drink a lot of beer, which is another kind of refined carb/sugar–in this case, maltose.

There are four questions here that are key, and I don’t think any can be answered definitively: 1) is fructose alone the problem? 2). Is it worse or particularly noxious, as I suggest in the book, when it’s packaged with glucose, as it is in sugar and HFCS? 3) Does this mean high-glycemic index carbohydrates–white flour and white rice, for instance–are relatively harmless if fructose and so sugar and HFCS is not in the diet? And once sugar and HFCS have caused, say, obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes, can you cure the problem only by removing the fructose, but not the glucose?

One possibility, for instance, is that fructose and glucose are needed to create chronically elevated insulin levels and so cause weight gain, metabolic syndrome, etc., but that once the process is initiated all easily digestible carbohydrates keep it going or make it worse. What’s needed is a research community that takes all these hypotheses seriously and then sets out to find out the answers.

One other point to keep in mind is that there are diets out there that limit fructose dramatically–the DASH diet, for instance, that’s now being pushed to treat hypertension. It’s got virtually no sugar in it, but is still relatively high-carb. It does reduce blood pressure, which would be expected. There’s no reason to believe, though, that it drops weight as dramatically as the Atkins diet can, and Atkins restricts all carbs.

So I think Dr. Johnson’s hypothesis is very interesting and potentially very valuable, if it further directs attention to the potential dangers of sugar and HFCS, but I also think it’s too narrow and misses the effect of other carbohydrates, which also elevate insulin levels. I hope all this helps.

What do you think about all of this? As Taubes states in his response, these are the kinds of questions that the research community should be all over taking a serious look at for the sake of finding the answers for people like my reader who are confused. Unfortunately, most people just look at sugar as sugar regardless of its form and consume it liberally without any regard for what they are doing to themselves. They’re freaked out by eating fat, but sugar has to be okay because it tastes so good.

When did our world turn upside down? I look forward to your comments!

Today is a very special day in my life because it was on August 5, 1995 that I asked the beautiful and lovely Christine Renee Woodward to marry me and become my wife and the love of my life. Little did I know back then what a real treasure I had uncovered and discovered in that gift that God gave to me to enjoy forever and ever. Thirteen years later and counting, we are more in love today than we have ever been! That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

I don’t think I’ve ever shared how Christine and I met and the peculiar place we went to on our first date. In 1993, I moved from Memphis, Tennessee to Virginia Beach, Virginia to pursue my Master’s Degree in public policy. At one time in my life, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. Silly me! After one year of working as a runner in two major Memphis law firms, the loud and resounding answer to that question was NO! But government, politics, and policy always intrigued me which is why I went to school to add another degree to my B.A. in political science and English from the University of Tennessee at Martin.

So that’s how I ended up in Virginia where my future bride was born and raised. About a mile down the road from the grad school I attended was a Baptist church called Atlantic Shores and I began attending there since I enjoyed the style of worship they engaged in, liked the fact they had a personable congregation of members, and the choir was (and still is!) phenomenal. As a singer, I love getting plugged into the music ministry at the churches I attend, so naturally I joined the choir where my future wife and her mother were the music librarians at the time.

After a few months of getting to know my fellow choir members, I leaned over to the one of the guys in my singing section named Dave and said pointing to Christine with my eyes, “Hey, she’s pretty cute. Who’s that?” He went on to explain to me about Christine and encouraged me to ask her out. I responded, “Oh no, she’s way too old for me!” At the time I was 22 and Christine with her hair style, glasses and thin build looked like she was 30-something. She laughs at that now, but it may not have been so funny for her to hear that when she was 21 (today I think she looks like she’s 21, so now I’m off the hook!).

Dave said he’d tell Christine I’m interested in her and introduce us. And so he did and we did. We set our first date at…WHERE ELSE?!…McDonald’s where I had a Quarter Pounder with cheese meal deal with no onions, Supersized French fries and a Supersized Coca-Cola. A typical meal for me back then as I was well on my way to reaching 400 pounds even then. Christine could have probably eaten 10 meals like this and never gained a pound, but that’s just the way her body works. Little did I know that tiny little woman would someday be my inspiration for taking off nearly half my weight!

Interestingly, after our dinner at Mickey D’s, we went to the local bowling alley for the church bowling league and I had NEVER bowled in my life. Did Christine know that? Well, if she didn’t know it beforehand, then it became all too apparent after the first three games I bowled in double digits with a gutter ball here and a gutter ball there. NOT pretty! After a few years of being in this league, I was able to get my average up above 150 per game, so I didn’t stay bad forever!

Oh the memories…we dated for about two months before I popped the question on her. I asked her dad if I could marry her and that was nerve-wracking! Thankfully he said YES and I got down on one knee inside her house while she stood on the stairs and stated that fateful phrase that would change my life forever, “Will you marry me and become my wife?” She said YES and we set a date 18 months later to become Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Moore. It was the most nervous, but also the most exhilarating experience of my entire life. And I’d do all over again just to be with Christine.

Has our marriage been perfect? Ummmm, I don’t know anyone who could honestly say their marriage has been without their share of flaws or problems at times. But it’s how you deal with those problems, the way you respond to adversity when it strikes, and your continued commitment to each other through all the good times and bad times alike that determine whether you’ll make it or not. Love isn’t just some fleeting emotion, it is personified in God himself and made known to us in those people we surround ourselves with and devote our lives to. Christine is my one and only love of my life and I wouldn’t trade her for all the money in the world (diamond ring–$1,500, gold watch–$2500, new car–$30,000, Christine–PRICELESS!).

Send my little sweetheart Christine your anniversary greetings via e-mail to muzikgirl@charter.net. She just LOVES getting e-mail and it would be a special surprise for her to hear from the readers of the “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” blog. THANK YOU!