Two items to get out of the way before moving on to the cruise report:
First, a big thanks to The Older Brother for taking over the Fat Head chair while I was gone. Today happens to be his 59th birthday, so wish him a good one and 50 more.
I recall a conversation we had a few years ago as our dad was fading from Alzheimer’s. The Older Brother pointed out that our great-grandfather (who lived to be 101) was sharp until around age 98. Our grandmother began fading mentally in her 80s, and in retrospect it was clear Dad began fading in his 60s. Noting the pattern, The Older Brother said (to paraphrase in polite terms), “We’re screwed.”
I disagreed and pointed out that researchers were beginning to describe Alzheimer’s as type III diabetes. The reason each succeeding generation in our family succumbed at an earlier age was that each generation began eating a crap diet at an earlier age — thanks to arterycloggingsaturatedfat! hysteria and hearthealthywholegrains! nonsense. This isn’t some biological destiny we can’t escape, I said. We just have to ditch the processed carbs and industrial oils and get back to eating real food. Then we’ll be the next generation to be full of lucid and smart-ass comments well into our 90s.
The Older Brother is now a year away from age 60 and isn’t showing any signs of losing his memory. (When he does, I’ll tell him he owes me money.) I like to think our conversation about Alzheimer’s is part of what turned him into the dedicated real-foodie he is now. After all, I owe him for turning me into a libertarian by shredding me in an impromptu economics debate back when I was a wishy-washy “moderate” about such things.
Second, I apologize for the delay in crawling back into the Fat Head chair myself. I came home from the cruise happy but exhausted. As usual, I stayed up waaaay too late the last couple of nights, getting in those last conversations with cruise buddies I won’t see again for a year.
To add insult to injury, whenever I have to catch a flight or leave a cruise ship early in the morning, my brain likes to pop awake at a ridiculously early hour. So I flew home on Sunday after sleeping maybe two hours. Perhaps because of the exhaustion, I came down with some kind of head cold/ear infection annoyance a couple of days later. When Thursday rolled around, I was running a fever and didn’t much feel like writing a post.
Here’s the difference a good diet makes: ear infections used to knock me flat for a week. Thursday I felt lousy and had a high fever. By Sunday I felt well enough to spend four hours pushing the mower up and down the big hill in our back pasture … then go play 18 holes of disc golf.
Anyway, on to the cruise report …
I’ll start with the most surprising news of the week: Jimmy Moore and I won the cruise-ship karaoke contest with our rendition of “Elvira.” We didn’t set out to enter the competition, but when we wandered into the karaoke club on Wednesday night, we learned it was the first of two qualifying competitions. Well, what the heck, since we wanted to sing anyway, we signed up. Applause from the crowd was the major factor in the qualifying rounds, which gave us an advantage … although some of our fellow low-carb cruisers were ticked off by the loud cheers that greeted two Brazilian girls in tight dresses.
I can’t believe you two are going to get beat out of the finals by a couple of dresses!
Uh, look, I replied, you’re taking this way more seriously than I am. It’s just for fun. The winners don’t move on to American Idol or anything.
But the low-carb crowd managed to out-whoop and out-clap the fans of tight Brazilian dresses, so Jimmy and I made it into the Saturday night finals. The emcee announced that applause would only count as 20% of the score for the finals. I have my doubts. Truth is, everyone in the finals could sing. An objective listener could have voted for any of us. So I think applause figured for more than 20%.
Two of the singers (Brazilians, but not in tight dresses) had large groups of partisans in attendance, but I’d say at least of the third of the crowd consisted of low-carb cruisers. When it was time for vote-by-applause and the emcee held his hand over Jimmy and me, the noise was deafening. I told Jimmy I felt like we’d just won an election in Chicago, complete with ballot-box stuffing. But of course, I happily wore the shiny first-place medallion afterwards. It was a great way to end a great week.
There were three seminar days for our group, with so many good presentations, I won’t bother trying to describe them all. That would require a book-length post. Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt posted the seminar schedule on his blog awhile back, so I’ll just link to it rather than type the lineup again.
On last year’s cruise, Dr. Eric Westman announced that he would soon be opening his first HEAL Clinic – a center dedicated to treating diabetics with diet instead of drugs as much as possible. (Imagine that.) This year he was able to announce that the center is up and running. His long-term goal is to open them all over the country.
Low-carb author Dana Carpender wrote the official cookbook for the HEAL Clinic diet. After all, once people leave the clinic, they have to put what they’ve learned into practice in their own kitchens. The recipes – hundreds of them – are mostly of the quick-and-easy variety. If you like low-carb cookbooks, this is another good one to have. If you’re not on a ketogenic or VLC diet, do what I do: cook up one the recipes and add a potato as a side dish.
In Dr. Ted Naiman’s presentation about hyperinsulinemia, we learned why Dr. Westman’s approach is so necessary. Going through a series of studies at breakneck speed (the guy is a fast talker), Dr. Naiman made the case that high doses of insulin are as damaging as high blood sugar. If you’re a type I diabetic and need to squirt a normal dose of insulin into your bloodstream to absorb nutrients, fine. You have no choice. But doctors are treating type II diabetics with ever-higher doses of insulin – several times the dose produced by a person with a healthy metabolism.
The sky-high load of insulin thickens arteries, encourages the growth of tumors, triggers weight gain, and pretty much makes a mess of the whole body. So when I hear diabetes (ahem) “experts” insisting that type II diabetics should eat their carbs and then “cover” with insulin, I want to scream. Or punch somebody really, really hard.
One of the memorable presentations came from one of our own – Ailsa Marshall, a member of the team that organizes the cruise every year. She apologized a couple of times for not being a professional speaker (after, say, pushing the wrong button on the PowerPoint remote), but not being a professional was part of her charm. She was up there as just another person battling both diabetes and the effects of bad medical advice.
As she explained, she had tried following her own doctor’s advice, but her blood sugar kept spinning out of control, despite the insulin and other drugs. It was on last year’s cruise, in fact, that she finally asked Dr. Westman if he could help. (A bit tricky logistically, since Ailsa lives in the U.K. and Westman is at Duke in North Carolina.) Dr. Westman said he could indeed help, but under one condition: she had to be 100% on board. No half-measures, no cheating. She agreed.
A year later, she’s off the insulin and her blood sugar is finally under control. Oh, and she’s also lost 40 pounds. I almost didn’t recognize her at the pre-cruise dinner, even though I’ve known her for a few years now.
As I put it in the title of a long-ago post, This Is Why We Do What We Do. Ailsa’s story needs to become the common story for type II diabetics, not the story of one woman lucky enough to be treated by Dr. Westman instead of some drug-pushing doctor.
As if anyone needed more convincing, Jackie Eberstein (the long-time nurse for Dr. Atkins) gave an interesting/frightening presentation on the side effects of the most commonly prescribed drugs. Nearly all of them create vitamin or mineral deficiencies, yet few doctors know enough to tell patients which supplements to take. Then, of course, the drugs prescribed by different specialists treating the same patient start producing negative interactions. Then another doctor may prescribe more drugs to treat the problems caused by the drug interactions.
Geez, it’s enough to make you want to stay healthy by eating real food.
Real food was, in fact, one of the most common themes throughout the presentations. In his amusing talk about what low-carbers and paleo types think of each other, Jimmy Moore said many paleo adherents see low-carbers as a bunch of fat people swilling Diet Cokes and other treats full of artificial sweeteners. (Low-carbers, meanwhile, see paleo types as born jocks who gobble down treats made with honey and maple syrup and get away with it because they’re born jocks.)
Some years ago, that stereotype of low-carbers may have been true. It certainly isn’t now, at least not from what I’ve seen. Thanks largely to the paleo movement (which Jimmy acknowledged), the low-carb movement has become a real-food movement. Every doctor and researcher who gave a presentation on the advantages of a low-carb diet emphasized that the diet has to be based on real foods.
In a speech about the supposed dangers of ketogenic diets, Dr. Adam Nally pointed out that when people wave around studies of, say, kids who experienced health problems after going on a ketogenic diet to treat epilepsy, they don’t mention that the kids were largely living on ketogenic shakes, not real food. The health problems were caused by nutrient deficiencies nearly everyone who tries living on meal-replacement shakes will experience.
Anyone who thinks a low-carb diet is all about bacon and cheeseburgers without buns should join us for our leisurely cruise dinners. Yes, we ate steaks and lobsters and racks of lamb. We also ate a ton of vegetables. The waiters for our area (who were excellent) figured out our habits right away and took it upon themselves to bring huge serving trays of extra steamed vegetables to the tables – with butter, of course.
I took a camera on board, but as often happens when I’m not with Chareva and the girls, I forgot to use it much. But here are some of my dinner companions for the week. (There were more people at our table, but not when I was snapping pictures.)
Steve and Mariane Cunningham from Alberta.
Jeane Kelly (left) from New Jersey and Lisa Colclasure from Colorado.
Yours truly and Gerd Birgit Hay from Norway.
I sure hope I said something funny just before the picture was snapped. If not, Gerd may have been laughing at me for undisclosed reasons.
The seminars took place on sea-travel days. On port days, most people leave the ship for excursions. I chose not to go on any excursions. Back in my standup days, I was on Caribbean cruises more times than I care to remember. Beaches, beach bars, and souvenir shops have kind of lost their appeal. So I did some reading, watched tutorials on software I want to learn, and walked around the ship while sipping coffee. Here’s what the fifth-deck promenade looks like:
The eighth deck is called Central Park. There are shops, restaurants and an outdoor tavern along the walking paths. I thought for the sake of realism, the crew should stage an occasional mugging late at night, but no, it’s safe even at 1:00 AM. Nobody tried to steal my wallet as I sat there one night drinking red wine and staring at the stars.
I also took some time to re-work the blog a bit, in case you hadn’t noticed. I removed dead links, reduced the blogroll to people who are still blogging, dumped the No-Bologna Facts and Meet The Experts pages, and added a page for articles and studies. I plan to keep updating that one.
This year’s cruise took place during finals week for the girls, which is why they and Chareva stayed home. I missed them. It’s not the same being on a cruise without them. I borrowed Jimmy’s iPhone a couple of times so I could talk to them via Facetime and see their faces. (And when I got home, I finally caved and bought an iPhone.)
But next year … ohhhh, yeah! In case you didn’t already know:
I booked the four of us for next year before leaving the ship. No way I’m letting my wife and girls miss a week in Alaska. I did two weeks in Alaska during my standup days. In fact, I wrote the script for Fat Head during that cruise. (My standup workweek consisted of two shows, so I had plenty of downtime.)
For my presentation this year, I read portions of the book for kids, with Chareva’s cartoons on the screens. I already told Jimmy I’m going to have the film version ready to show in Alaska, no matter what it takes. Perhaps it will be the premiere.
Meanwhile, I saw in the cruise Facebook group that more than 150 people have already signed up. So if you’re planning to join the group in Alaska, best get on it sooner rather than later.
Hope to meet many of you there — or see you again, as the case may be.
Thanks for putting together another terrific cruise and seminar lineup, Big Guy … and for singing “Elvira” with me, of course.
If you enjoy my posts, please consider a small donation to the Fat Head Kids GoFundMe campaign.
What a nice article, Thank you Tom Naughton. I loved the cruise I went on as well.
I have signed on for Alaska, trying to get a group of friend to go. But I am for sure.
PS. You should talk to your older brother again, but it wasn’t about the dresses, jus sayin’ and they didn’t need to be able to really sing either, but glad they could.
Don’t know you, looking forward to meeting you, jus sayin’
How do I find your blog to sign up to receive? Will look around and see. Thank you
I think there’s a subscribe button somewhere. I’m kind of a know-nothing when it comes to WordPress.
There is an Entries RSS link and a Comments RSS link at the very bottom of the page.
I must be missing the most crucial part of the post: the picture of the two Brazilian women in the tight dresses.
Sorry, I didn’t have a camera with me.
I think we’d have accepted any random photo.
That random photo probably exists somewhere in cyberspace.
Yeah, I came back with that same head cold, so it probably wasn’t the flight. I too was sick on Thursday and better by Sunday thanks to real-food LCHF. Wonder if we got what Jimmy had.
Just wanted to add my two cents that the cruise was great. If you’re considering signing up at all now’s the time to do it. Prices start going up and up the closer you get.
Also I’m looking forward to talking chickens and farming with Chareva next year. Did she ever figure out which chicken breed was giving her pink eggs? 😀
She thinks perhaps it’s the Long Island Red. We don’t know for sure because we never see the egg-laying in action.
Check the ear lobes. That’s generally what color the eggs will be.
Cheers
Chickens have ear lobes?
Apparently they have fingers…
C’mon, people!
Earlobes, yes. Fingers, no. Toes, yes. Nuggets, no.
Cheers!
“The health problems were caused by nutrient deficiencies nearly everyone who tries living on meal-replacement shakes will experience.”
I was just discussing this with someone this morning. It had long been theorized that one of the reasons Nomar Garciappara was injured so much throughout his career was due to him exclusively consuming shakes and protein bars.
I saw the talk a few days ago…brilliant as always!
I doubt anyone can create a meal-replacement bar or shake that can provide all the nutrients we need from food.
“The health problems were caused by nutrient deficiencies nearly everyone who tries living on meal-replacement shakes will experience.”
I had a friend who unfortunately came down with stage 4 lung cancer. (No, he was not a smoker and did not live in a polluted city. Very sad. ) But, he had trouble swallowing so they put him on a diet of those nutrition shakes that come in a can. Soon, the nausea was worse the ever and he could not even look at food. One day he calls me and ask me to pick up some burgers and a Sunday at Mickey D’s. I get the food and he chows it down saying he expects he will suffer a lot for this food. The next day he tells me he the nausea and dizziness is gone! Real food (OK, maybe not 100% real but more real than a shake in a can) helped him. I can only wonder why this poor guy had to suffer weeks of extra misery due to canned shakes.
Alas, he did not beat the disease and is no long among us.
Your thoughts on Jimmy Moore’s appearance. Is his diet working?? Looks like the answer is no.
I’ve wondered this for a long time, Charles, and I think you’re the one to answer: does being a @#$%ing moron ever hurt? I mean, does it occasionally make your head feel like when you suck down a slurpee too fast?
Sighhhhh — I was waiting for this, because I knew it would be coming, but at the same time I was kinda hoping it wouldn’t — that he’d wised up or gotten tired of saying hurtful things. There’s a word for people like this guy, but I promised my sainted mother I’d never use it. Maybe you need to do a special post like the one you did for vegetarians explaining why meat does not kill, only explaining for folks like Charles who just don’t get it that people who have lost tremendous amounts of weight carry around a lot of extra skin, that there are different body types that include naturally large people, that people who have been morbidly obese usually cannot become really slender and stay that way because their metabolisms are broken, etc., etc., etc. and many so forths. Then you could just give the twit a link and let it go at that. Or better yet, just block him from the site after the third such post. Actually, you’ve already done several such posts, and they were extremely good and very helpful. Just give him the link and get him out of our hair.
Oh, dear, I’m not sure I should send you this link, and not at all sure you are going to want to publish it, but I just Googled “Charles Grashow” out of curiosity, and found this: http://thelowcarbdiabetic.blogspot.com/2014/04/charles-grashow-wins-golden-gezza.html
I figure when people decide to make asses of themselves in public, let ’em. Charles is one of those born-skinny types who believes being skinny makes him an expert on weight loss.
But — but — but back on this post http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2015/04/16/yes-its-a-high-protein-diet/ you said:
“Okay, Charles, here’s the deal: your constant cracks about Jimmy are beyond tiresome. If you want to contribute to the conversations around here, I welcome your input. But the next time you show up to make what you think is a clever crack about Jimmy — or even if you don’t think it’s clever — you’re gone.
Got it?”
You are being much more patient and forgiving than I would be under the circumstances.
BTW, the reason I had that entry at my fingertips, so to speak, is that I’ve been reading through your archives starting from the very first entry, and just happened to be at 4/16/15 this morning. That’s an especially interesting and helpful post — “Yes, It’s a High-Protein Diet.” Did some figuring, and realize I’m probably not getting enough protein, so will work on that. I started reading your archives around last September, after beginning to read your blog in July or August, so am nearing the finish line. Sort of. Maybe before too long I’ll be able to devote my time to something else — like my long-neglected housework!
Hi Tom, good question from CG. How does he look IRL? Pictures of him are rather disturbing.
No, it’s the typical dumb-ass question from CG, who clearly has a weird obsession with Jimmy. His obsession is doubly weird, given that CG is good buddies with a morbidly obese blogger who considers herself an expert in all things science, including the science of weight loss … and yet her inability to drop below morbidly obese status (despite her deep, deep knowledge of the science) doesn’t prompt constant snide remarks from our born-skinny pal.
These people feed on our attention. Starve them. That’s all I have to say on this subject.
He is not more than 410 lb now, as his weight was before dieting, so he did managed to loose weight on his diet, however, as many obese, people, not all the weight he wanted. You participate in enough diet blogs to know by now it is a common problem.
One of CG’s best buds attacks low-carb bloggers who regain weight, but insists her own weight is no reflection on her expertise because she’s “weight stable” — at a BMI of 38. At Jimmy’s height, a BMI of 38 would be 305 pounds. So I guess for Jimmy to avoid CG’s juvenile comments, he can simply give up on losing weight, settle in at 305 pounds, then declare that his weight is not an issue because he’s “weight stable.”
I wish it would be more widely acknowledged how almost hopeless the situation is for many if not most people who have reached the true obesity. The odds are against them ever reaching so called normal weight, and cases of still obese nutritional bloggers should be considered as a proof of the problem complicity.
Exactly. Once the body reaches a certain weight, it fights to stay there. Bloggers (low-carb or otherwise) who have lost 100 pounds but are still 50 pounds from the (ahem) “ideal” weight are a success in my book.
You know, Jimmy is doing better than 99 percent of people like him that try to lose weight. He’s much slimmer than he was when he started, his health markers are better, and he’s actually, you know, contributing to the betterment of humanity rather than trolling all day. Jimmy will probably never have a six-pack but that’s a lot better than the path he was on before. Yes, his paleo-ish ketogenic diet is working. Sheesh.
What a nice article, Thank you Tom Naughton. I loved the cruise I went on as well.
I have signed on for Alaska, trying to get a group of friend to go. But I am for sure.
PS. You should talk to your older brother again, but it wasn’t about the dresses, jus sayin’ and they didn’t need to be able to really sing either, but glad they could.
Don’t know you, looking forward to meeting you, jus sayin’
How do I find your blog to sign up to receive? Will look around and see. Thank you
I think there’s a subscribe button somewhere. I’m kind of a know-nothing when it comes to WordPress.
There is an Entries RSS link and a Comments RSS link at the very bottom of the page.
If only I knew what those terms meant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_syndication
RSS was a big thing 20 years ago. WordPress apparently generates it by default in their standard templates (and not being a WP author, that’s already more than I know).
Some WP templates do offer email notification separately, but users have to post something to sign up in every instance I’ve seen, and this often encourages pointless ping remarks.
I just subscribed to your Comments feed in Firefox. This creates a favorite/bookmark icon which, when clicked, expands to show links to all the recent comments on any thread. People think of it as a push service, put it really appears to be a pull, with Fox polling your blog every hour or so (or mmediately upon intentional right-click option).
When subscribing, I saw an option to use some feature of Yahoo mail, so it might be possible for people to subscribe and get email notifications.
RSS may be fading because in the general public, Facebook has obliterated what little was left of patience, attention span and short term memory.
I must be missing the most crucial part of the post: the picture of the two Brazilian women in the tight dresses.
Sorry, I didn’t have a camera with me.
I think we’d have accepted any random photo.
That random photo probably exists somewhere in cyberspace.
Sounds like it was great as usual! We hope to join you all next year.
I hope you can be there. The scenery in Alaska is stunning.
Yeah, I came back with that same head cold, so it probably wasn’t the flight. I too was sick on Thursday and better by Sunday thanks to real-food LCHF. Wonder if we got what Jimmy had.
Just wanted to add my two cents that the cruise was great. If you’re considering signing up at all now’s the time to do it. Prices start going up and up the closer you get.
Also I’m looking forward to talking chickens and farming with Chareva next year. Did she ever figure out which chicken breed was giving her pink eggs? 😀
She thinks perhaps it’s the Long Island Red. We don’t know for sure because we never see the egg-laying in action.
Check the ear lobes. That’s generally what color the eggs will be.
Cheers
Chickens have ear lobes?
Apparently they have fingers…
C’mon, people!
Earlobes, yes. Fingers, no. Toes, yes. Nuggets, no.
Cheers!
Nice to see Dana wrote a low-carb cookbook for diabetics (The Low-Carb Diabetes Solution Cookbook). Other than Dr. Bernstein’s books, I gave up on reading books with “Diabetes” in the title. I got tired of reading recommendations to eat HealthyWholeGrains, cereal grains, non-fat milk, margarine, canola oil, drink juice and avoid saturated fat. Someone needs to write a Paleo diabetes book. I mean…Paleo is a hot word these days and diabetes is an epidemic, sounds like a money maker to me!
If it’s important to keep a diabetics blood sugar low…why do the ADA (American Diabetes Association), doctors, nutritionists, etc., recommend things that spike our blood sugar? Are they seriously lacking common sense or simple logic?!?!
“when I hear diabetes (ahem) “experts” insisting that type II diabetics should eat their carbs and then “cover” with insulin, I want to scream. Or punch somebody really, really hard.”
I’m totally with you! [KA-POW!] [SLAP!] [CRUNCH!]
I hate to sound paranoid, but perhaps it’s because treating diabetes with food doesn’t generate business for diabetes doctors.
“I hate to sound paranoid, but perhaps it’s because treating diabetes with food doesn’t generate business for diabetes doctors.”
I think that’s true, but not because it’s a conscious conspiracy. Those organizations’ & doctors’ blind spots, echo chambers, and feedback loops arise based on their financial interests. Same with anyone else.
Not to mention big Pharma and big Farma. And then there is the gigantic dialysis market. Walking down Broadway in Manhattan there seem to be one every block or two.
As has been said, “No cure for cancer will be found until more people are dying from it than making a living from it.
What do expect from a bunch of apes.
re: Nice to see Dana wrote a low-carb cookbook for diabetics…
It appears to be focused on T2D, based on the cover subtitle, and browsing the Look-Inside feature on Amazon didn’t provide much further clarity on that.
I suspect that’s a bit disappointing to those with T1D or LADA, who cannot expect reversal via diet (whereas most with T2D or GD can, absent any irreversible complications).
The recipes that are visible appear to be basically very well-informed keto, which would be of value with any form of diabetes (with disciplined attention to blood glucose). I’m suspecting liability considerations on this.
re: …why do the ADA (American Diabetes Association), doctors, nutritionists, etc., recommend things that spike our blood sugar? Are they seriously lacking common sense or simple logic?!?!
That’s the charitable view.
Did one’s doctor take a Hypocratic Oath or a hypocritic oath?
It’s a growing question.
________
Blog Reply Associate (click my user name for details)
“The health problems were caused by nutrient deficiencies nearly everyone who tries living on meal-replacement shakes will experience.”
I was just discussing this with someone this morning. It had long been theorized that one of the reasons Nomar Garciappara was injured so much throughout his career was due to him exclusively consuming shakes and protein bars.
I saw the talk a few days ago…brilliant as always!
I doubt anyone can create a meal-replacement bar or shake that can provide all the nutrients we need from food.
Apparently the Soylent novelty is getting traction in its v2.0 incarnation (or should it rather be ‘inslimation’ ?), though it might still be a bit early for concluding on its being really complete.
“The health problems were caused by nutrient deficiencies nearly everyone who tries living on meal-replacement shakes will experience.”
I had a friend who unfortunately came down with stage 4 lung cancer. (No, he was not a smoker and did not live in a polluted city. Very sad. ) But, he had trouble swallowing so they put him on a diet of those nutrition shakes that come in a can. Soon, the nausea was worse the ever and he could not even look at food. One day he calls me and ask me to pick up some burgers and a Sunday at Mickey D’s. I get the food and he chows it down saying he expects he will suffer a lot for this food. The next day he tells me he the nausea and dizziness is gone! Real food (OK, maybe not 100% real but more real than a shake in a can) helped him. I can only wonder why this poor guy had to suffer weeks of extra misery due to canned shakes.
Alas, he did not beat the disease and is no long among us.
Sorry to hear that.
Your thoughts on Jimmy Moore’s appearance. Is his diet working?? Looks like the answer is no.
I’ve wondered this for a long time, Charles, and I think you’re the one to answer: does being a @#$%ing moron ever hurt? I mean, does it occasionally make your head feel like when you suck down a slurpee too fast?
Sighhhhh — I was waiting for this, because I knew it would be coming, but at the same time I was kinda hoping it wouldn’t — that he’d wised up or gotten tired of saying hurtful things. There’s a word for people like this guy, but I promised my sainted mother I’d never use it. Maybe you need to do a special post like the one you did for vegetarians explaining why meat does not kill, only explaining for folks like Charles who just don’t get it that people who have lost tremendous amounts of weight carry around a lot of extra skin, that there are different body types that include naturally large people, that people who have been morbidly obese usually cannot become really slender and stay that way because their metabolisms are broken, etc., etc., etc. and many so forths. Then you could just give the twit a link and let it go at that. Or better yet, just block him from the site after the third such post. Actually, you’ve already done several such posts, and they were extremely good and very helpful. Just give him the link and get him out of our hair.
Oh, dear, I’m not sure I should send you this link, and not at all sure you are going to want to publish it, but I just Googled “Charles Grashow” out of curiosity, and found this: http://thelowcarbdiabetic.blogspot.com/2014/04/charles-grashow-wins-golden-gezza.html
I figure when people decide to make asses of themselves in public, let ’em. Charles is one of those born-skinny types who believes being skinny makes him an expert on weight loss.
But — but — but back on this post http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2015/04/16/yes-its-a-high-protein-diet/ you said:
“Okay, Charles, here’s the deal: your constant cracks about Jimmy are beyond tiresome. If you want to contribute to the conversations around here, I welcome your input. But the next time you show up to make what you think is a clever crack about Jimmy — or even if you don’t think it’s clever — you’re gone.
Got it?”
You are being much more patient and forgiving than I would be under the circumstances.
BTW, the reason I had that entry at my fingertips, so to speak, is that I’ve been reading through your archives starting from the very first entry, and just happened to be at 4/16/15 this morning. That’s an especially interesting and helpful post — “Yes, It’s a High-Protein Diet.” Did some figuring, and realize I’m probably not getting enough protein, so will work on that. I started reading your archives around last September, after beginning to read your blog in July or August, so am nearing the finish line. Sort of. Maybe before too long I’ll be able to devote my time to something else — like my long-neglected housework!
Didn’t realize I was being quite that patient with Charles. Probably is time to show him the door.
Charles takes a statin medication because he thinks it is a reasonable thing to do for a person with a Familial hypercholesterolemia. So he does know that some people inherit heath conditions from their family. He may be reminded that in his case diet and exercise are not solutions for everything.
I believe it was Bill Clinton who said, good or bad, he didn’t care what people were saying about him as long as they were talking about him. Sounds like CG.
That’s one theory. The other is that CG is too much of an —hole to recognize he’s being an —hole.
“He’s crazy and doesn’t even know it.” ~ a friend of mine about a mutual friend of ours.
Hi Tom, good question from CG. How does he look IRL? Pictures of him are rather disturbing.
No, it’s the typical dumb-ass question from CG, who clearly has a weird obsession with Jimmy. His obsession is doubly weird, given that CG is good buddies with a morbidly obese blogger who considers herself an expert in all things science, including the science of weight loss … and yet her inability to drop below morbidly obese status (despite her deep, deep knowledge of the science) doesn’t prompt constant snide remarks from our born-skinny pal.
These people feed on our attention. Starve them. That’s all I have to say on this subject.
He is not more than 410 lb now, as his weight was before dieting, so he did managed to loose weight on his diet, however, as many obese, people, not all the weight he wanted. You participate in enough diet blogs to know by now it is a common problem.
One of CG’s best buds attacks low-carb bloggers who regain weight, but insists her own weight is no reflection on her expertise because she’s “weight stable” — at a BMI of 38. At Jimmy’s height, a BMI of 38 would be 305 pounds. So I guess for Jimmy to avoid CG’s juvenile comments, he can simply give up on losing weight, settle in at 305 pounds, then declare that his weight is not an issue because he’s “weight stable.”
I wish it would be more widely acknowledged how almost hopeless the situation is for many if not most people who have reached the true obesity. The odds are against them ever reaching so called normal weight, and cases of still obese nutritional bloggers should be considered as a proof of the problem complicity.
Exactly. Once the body reaches a certain weight, it fights to stay there. Bloggers (low-carb or otherwise) who have lost 100 pounds but are still 50 pounds from the (ahem) “ideal” weight are a success in my book.
You know, Jimmy is doing better than 99 percent of people like him that try to lose weight. He’s much slimmer than he was when he started, his health markers are better, and he’s actually, you know, contributing to the betterment of humanity rather than trolling all day. Jimmy will probably never have a six-pack but that’s a lot better than the path he was on before. Yes, his paleo-ish ketogenic diet is working. Sheesh.
Sounds like it was great as usual! We hope to join you all next year.
I hope you can be there. The scenery in Alaska is stunning.
Nice to see Dana wrote a low-carb cookbook for diabetics (The Low-Carb Diabetes Solution Cookbook). Other than Dr. Bernstein’s books, I gave up on reading books with “Diabetes” in the title. I got tired of reading recommendations to eat HealthyWholeGrains, cereal grains, non-fat milk, margarine, canola oil, drink juice and avoid saturated fat. Someone needs to write a Paleo diabetes book. I mean…Paleo is a hot word these days and diabetes is an epidemic, sounds like a money maker to me!
If it’s important to keep a diabetics blood sugar low…why do the ADA (American Diabetes Association), doctors, nutritionists, etc., recommend things that spike our blood sugar? Are they seriously lacking common sense or simple logic?!?!
“when I hear diabetes (ahem) “experts” insisting that type II diabetics should eat their carbs and then “cover” with insulin, I want to scream. Or punch somebody really, really hard.”
I’m totally with you! [KA-POW!] [SLAP!] [CRUNCH!]
I hate to sound paranoid, but perhaps it’s because treating diabetes with food doesn’t generate business for diabetes doctors.
“I hate to sound paranoid, but perhaps it’s because treating diabetes with food doesn’t generate business for diabetes doctors.”
I think that’s true, but not because it’s a conscious conspiracy. Those organizations’ & doctors’ blind spots, echo chambers, and feedback loops arise based on their financial interests. Same with anyone else.
Not to mention big Pharma and big Farma. And then there is the gigantic dialysis market. Walking down Broadway in Manhattan there seem to be one every block or two.
As has been said, “No cure for cancer will be found until more people are dying from it than making a living from it.
What do expect from a bunch of apes.
re: Nice to see Dana wrote a low-carb cookbook for diabetics…
It appears to be focused on T2D, based on the cover subtitle, and browsing the Look-Inside feature on Amazon didn’t provide much further clarity on that.
I suspect that’s a bit disappointing to those with T1D or LADA, who cannot expect reversal via diet (whereas most with T2D or GD can, absent any irreversible complications).
The recipes that are visible appear to be basically very well-informed keto, which would be of value with any form of diabetes (with disciplined attention to blood glucose). I’m suspecting liability considerations on this.
re: …why do the ADA (American Diabetes Association), doctors, nutritionists, etc., recommend things that spike our blood sugar? Are they seriously lacking common sense or simple logic?!?!
That’s the charitable view.
Did one’s doctor take a Hypocratic Oath or a hypocritic oath?
It’s a growing question.
________
Blog Reply Associate (click my user name for details)
Happy Birthday, Older Brother! And thank you for minding the store while Tom was off cruising.
Thanks. The countdown to 60 has begun!
As always, it’s my pleasure to get to sit in The Big Chair while Tom is out spreading the word.
Cheers!
Happy Birthday, Older Brother! And thank you for minding the store while Tom was off cruising.
Thanks. The countdown to 60 has begun!
As always, it’s my pleasure to get to sit in The Big Chair while Tom is out spreading the word.
Cheers!
Welcome back Tom! I was beginning to go into withdrawal. And Happy Birthday Older Brother!
The cruise, as usual sounds great! Will you post any links to any of the talks here? I know I’ll never be able to go on a LC cruise, but I’ve really enjoyed the talks posted online afterward!
How’s your farm, Tom? I’m sure Chareva has been hard at it while you were away. Always love seeing the progress that’s being made!
Welcome back Tom! I was beginning to go into withdrawal. And Happy Birthday Older Brother!
The cruise, as usual sounds great! Will you post any links to any of the talks here? I know I’ll never be able to go on a LC cruise, but I’ve really enjoyed the talks posted online afterward!
How’s your farm, Tom? I’m sure Chareva has been hard at it while you were away. Always love seeing the progress that’s being made!
Jimmy eventually posts links to the lectures. The farm is looking great, thanks to Chareva’s efforts. I’ll update with a farm report soon.
“although some of our fellow low-carb cruisers were ticked off by the loud cheers that greeted two Brazilian girls in tight dresses.”
Ummm… there’s more to life than low-carb.
You mean like tight dresses?
“although some of our fellow low-carb cruisers were ticked off by the loud cheers that greeted two Brazilian girls in tight dresses.”
Ummm… there’s more to life than low-carb.
You mean like tight dresses?
FWIW, I have read the book “Always Hungry” and am trying out this method of eating. It is what I call a lower-carb diet. But, like others, it is real food, lots of veggies, meat and full fat dairy products. No low-fat foods from industrial plants, but plenty of low-fat veggies for real plants that grow in the soil. Some grains, but in great moderation. For example after the first two weeks you can have whole or chunky grains in small amounts now and then, but no processed, pulverized grains. In the final phase some pulverized grains are allowed but only if they don’t cause weight gain.
The best part of the book is the recipes. They are great! And I would eat this stuff even if my body had no problem with lots of grains, sugar and other junk. It’s just plain tasty.
Over all the message is JERF – Just Eat Real Food. And avoid/limit the junk foods, highly processed stuff and the pulverized grains. However, unlike some low-carb diets it allows one to eat a peach or a whole grain muffin and not feel like like a traitorous fool. 🙂
I suspect low-carb diets work party by eliminating processed carbs and other junk. I don’t think it’s all about the carb count.
FWIW, I have read the book “Always Hungry” and am trying out this method of eating. It is what I call a lower-carb diet. But, like others, it is real food, lots of veggies, meat and full fat dairy products. No low-fat foods from industrial plants, but plenty of low-fat veggies for real plants that grow in the soil. Some grains, but in great moderation. For example after the first two weeks you can have whole or chunky grains in small amounts now and then, but no processed, pulverized grains. In the final phase some pulverized grains are allowed but only if they don’t cause weight gain.
The best part of the book is the recipes. They are great! And I would eat this stuff even if my body had no problem with lots of grains, sugar and other junk. It’s just plain tasty.
Over all the message is JERF – Just Eat Real Food. And avoid/limit the junk foods, highly processed stuff and the pulverized grains. However, unlike some low-carb diets it allows one to eat a peach or a whole grain muffin and not feel like like a traitorous fool. 🙂
I suspect low-carb diets work party by eliminating processed carbs and other junk. I don’t think it’s all about the carb count.
Thanks for the cruise report!
Could you do a blog post of what you guys eat in a week? I am always looking for more food ideas. Thanks!
Thanks for the cruise report!
Could you do a blog post of what you guys eat in a week? I am always looking for more food ideas. Thanks!
I’ll think on that. I eat at work these days (rarely leave the office before 7:30 PM) so what I eat isn’t what Chareva and the girls eat.
Thanks so much! Hubby diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in Jan with blood sugar of 20.5. Immediately cut out all starches and went to 15 carbs a meal. Down within 2 weeks to average blood sugar of 5.0, keeping it there and lot a ton of weight, hope to be of metformin soon.having watched Fathead and following up after that with research and on going conversations, he knew enough not to listen to the ‘experts’. Higher carbs now but only to point of keeping his blood sugar in line and feeling great! All you’ve shared is appreciated.
Thanks for letting me know.
Congratulations, he’s on the right path! If you haven’t already watched them, you should have hubby watch Dr. Jason Fung’s videos on YouTube.
The Perfect Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes (about 12 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFJ5Sv5ifes
Thanks so much! Hubby diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in Jan with blood sugar of 20.5. Immediately cut out all starches and went to 15 carbs a meal. Down within 2 weeks to average blood sugar of 5.0, keeping it there and lot a ton of weight, hope to be of metformin soon.having watched Fathead and following up after that with research and on going conversations, he knew enough not to listen to the ‘experts’. Higher carbs now but only to point of keeping his blood sugar in line and feeling great! All you’ve shared is appreciated.
Thanks for letting me know.
Congratulations, he’s on the right path! If you haven’t already watched them, you should have hubby watch Dr. Jason Fung’s videos on YouTube.
The Perfect Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes (about 12 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFJ5Sv5ifes
Camera.
Brazilian Karaokeers in tight dresses.
…
Where is it? Huh?
Do the right thing.
Sorry, I wasn’t in control of the camera.
Camera.
Brazilian Karaokeers in tight dresses.
…
Where is it? Huh?
Do the right thing.
Sorry, I wasn’t in control of the camera.
“when I hear diabetes (ahem) “experts” insisting that type II diabetics should eat their carbs and then “cover” with insulin, I want to scream. Or punch somebody really, really hard.”
Me too. I’ve been taking a free class for senior citizens about living with diabetes (I’m t2). I’ve learned a lot (last week’s presenter was a podiatrist w/graphic pictures), but the nutritionists all give the same advice – 45g carbs per meal, “healthy” snacks, and cover spikes with meds. I’m the only one not on meds; tho if I could handle them, I would be. Having to eat super low carb (max 10 carbs/day) is really difficult at times.
I’d like to thank the person in a past post who suggested I eat a better breakfast with higher fats – he suggested salmon, eggs, avocado. Been doing this (minus the avocado – it’s pricey) & it’s great! Less hunger, lower bg. I’ve added sardines into the mix & found out that I love seafood for breakfast. Skipping breakfast just wasn’t a good thing for me. I wonder if my body is strange – Dr Fung & others always seem to recommend skipping breakfast; I do better skipping supper.
If skipping supper is easier for you, that’s the way to go.
“when I hear diabetes (ahem) “experts” insisting that type II diabetics should eat their carbs and then “cover” with insulin, I want to scream. Or punch somebody really, really hard.”
Me too. I’ve been taking a free class for senior citizens about living with diabetes (I’m t2). I’ve learned a lot (last week’s presenter was a podiatrist w/graphic pictures), but the nutritionists all give the same advice – 45g carbs per meal, “healthy” snacks, and cover spikes with meds. I’m the only one not on meds; tho if I could handle them, I would be. Having to eat super low carb (max 10 carbs/day) is really difficult at times.
I’d like to thank the person in a past post who suggested I eat a better breakfast with higher fats – he suggested salmon, eggs, avocado. Been doing this (minus the avocado – it’s pricey) & it’s great! Less hunger, lower bg. I’ve added sardines into the mix & found out that I love seafood for breakfast. Skipping breakfast just wasn’t a good thing for me. I wonder if my body is strange – Dr Fung & others always seem to recommend skipping breakfast; I do better skipping supper.
If skipping supper is easier for you, that’s the way to go.
Just received Dana Carpender’s “Low-Carb Diabetes Solution Cookbook” today. The book starts with a couple of chapters of vital information, and the recipes look wonderful — not that I’d expect anything else from Dana Carpender. Many of them are quite simple, too, and all use ingredients that are safe for diabetics and low-carbers. She seems to have a knack for imaginative pairings of flavors. I may have found a new favorite — thanks for the mention, Tom.
Glad to pass along the suggestion. I like how Dana keeps most of the recipes simple.
Just received Dana Carpender’s “Low-Carb Diabetes Solution Cookbook” today. The book starts with a couple of chapters of vital information, and the recipes look wonderful — not that I’d expect anything else from Dana Carpender. Many of them are quite simple, too, and all use ingredients that are safe for diabetics and low-carbers. She seems to have a knack for imaginative pairings of flavors. I may have found a new favorite — thanks for the mention, Tom.
Glad to pass along the suggestion. I like how Dana keeps most of the recipes simple.
Congrats on the karaoke win. I always loved to hear you and Jimmy do “Elvira” on the three LC cruises I went on. Naturally you deserved to win! The cruise to Alaska sounds amazing. I’ve always wanted to go there. But since I don’t fly and have not been on a plane since 1994 I doubt the trip is in the cards for me. 🙂
Boy I’m glad I’m not in the public eye like Jimmy is since I need to lose 100 pounds just to get down into a “normal” range. But OTOH I’ve also *lost* 100 pounds which I have managed to keep off for seven years now – something many dieters of many different persuasions cannot claim. Yeah, I’d love to lose more weight but my current weight seems to be the one I always “settle” at for years on end, beginning with my first LC diet in 1997. I can drop a few with occasional “hacks” but always bounce right back to this weight. I still hope my Fairy Godmother will come along one day as nothing else seems to shift this second 100 pounds! Can’t wait to hear more about the cruise next year.
Anyone who loses 100 pounds and keeps it off is a success. Sorry we won’t see you in Alaska.
Congrats on the karaoke win. I always loved to hear you and Jimmy do “Elvira” on the three LC cruises I went on. Naturally you deserved to win! The cruise to Alaska sounds amazing. I’ve always wanted to go there. But since I don’t fly and have not been on a plane since 1994 I doubt the trip is in the cards for me. 🙂
Boy I’m glad I’m not in the public eye like Jimmy is since I need to lose 100 pounds just to get down into a “normal” range. But OTOH I’ve also *lost* 100 pounds which I have managed to keep off for seven years now – something many dieters of many different persuasions cannot claim. Yeah, I’d love to lose more weight but my current weight seems to be the one I always “settle” at for years on end, beginning with my first LC diet in 1997. I can drop a few with occasional “hacks” but always bounce right back to this weight. I still hope my Fairy Godmother will come along one day as nothing else seems to shift this second 100 pounds! Can’t wait to hear more about the cruise next year.
Anyone who loses 100 pounds and keeps it off is a success. Sorry we won’t see you in Alaska.