Pinch of ...

Low Carb Chilli Nut Chocolate

2010-02-16T16:16:00.004+10:30

Sorry I have been so quiet.

I posted this the other day and thought you guys might like this as well for Easter, it is very yummy. This is a low carb version of a Jamie Oliver recipe, you can read about what I changed here: Low Carb Chilli Nut Chocolate

Low Carb Chilli Nut Chocolate

300g (10.6 oz) Lindt 85%, broken into smallish pieces
300g (10.6 oz) raw mixed nuts (I chose almonds, hazelnut(remove skins after roasting), pecan and pistachio)
1 Heaped TBL sunflower or pumpkin seeds
A little sweetener to taste (I use a mix of erythritol and stevia)
pinch of salt
1/2 red chilli, seeds removed and finely diced

Melt lindt over hot water, stir in sweetener and salt.

Roast nuts and seeds in oven, just before ready add the chilli. Jamie says to add the chilli at the start but it roasts too quickly and burns.

Chop nuts, add about 2/3 of the nut, seed and chilli mixture into the chocolate and pour into a corningware type baking dish or a tray lined with baking paper (not quite roasting tray length), sprinkle remaining nut mixture over the top and press lightly. Set in fridge. Once set, stab gently with a sharp knife to form a bunch of jagged bite size peices.

Very yum, we all love it. I used one of my own chillis this time and it was quite hot compared to when I use the long red chillis from the supermarket or fruit and veg.

It is a little similar to the Low Carb Chocolate and Hazelnut Higgedly Piggedlys without a base.

Enjoy! :)

Low Carb Lemon & Sage Ice Cream (Egg Free)

2009-09-14T21:21:00.004+09:30

I was about to give this recipe to Nicky in the comments section and thought I should add here in case anyone else in interested, this recipe does not require an ice cream maker.

This is a recipe I posted on the forum a couple of weeks ago, it is quite yum and I found it got better each time I had it. I also made a choc chip version using lindt and just replaced the lemon juice with a dash of milk just incase I needed it for consistency. This turned out good also and everyone loved it but I found the bits of frozen lindt left an aftertaste at the end. Next time I might try just a choccy ice cream. If anyone has a play please share: Low Carb Lemon & Sage Ice Cream (Egg Free)

Low Carb Lemon & Sage Ice Cream (Egg Free)

500ml Cream
Juice and rind from 1 lemon
2/3 cup sweetener (I used 1/2 xylitol and 16 splenda tablets ground finely)
1 tsp sage leaves, chopped finely (I used 4 leaves)

Place cream, lemon rind and sage in heavy based saucepan and slowly bring to boil, allow to cool and infuse flavours.

Whisk the lemon juice and sweetener with a tablespoon of the hot cream until sweetener is dissolved. Add cream mixture and whisk really well. Cover and chuck in freezer for 1 hour.

Remove from freezer and give ice cream a really good whisk and return to freezer for 2 hours. Remove from freezer and give it another really good whisk then place in a freezing container with airtight lid (I just used one of those pyrex dishes with silicone lid), seal and put back in freezer until firm.

Low Carb Lemon Curd

2009-08-10T14:22:00.010+09:30

Hey there :)

Sorry for being so slack, I never know what to post as I feel I am just repeating things that I post on the forum. I guess there's quite a few that check here that wouldn't otherwise check on the forum, whom might benefit from a recipe or a post here that they may otherwise not see.

Anyway I love lemons, I use them a lot in savoury cooking, but am just starting to use them in sweet foods as well. I have a lemon ice cream recipe that I am hoping to convert during the week. Recently, I made a lemon curd that I just love and thought that perhaps I should share it here. You could interchange the lemon with other flavours, such as passion fruits or berries but I haven't tried myself. I do plan on trying it with passion fruit at some point.

With sweeteners, I am starting to dwindle down on the splenda use and for this I have used a half/half mix of xylitol and splenda tablets. One splenda tablet is the equivalent of 1 teaspoon of granula splenda but with a lot less carbohydrates. I guess, they would be similar to liquid splenda? I have actually started buying some things from the US again, it's amazing how much cheaper it is to buy something from there then it is from here, even the postage is cheaper then ours. I finally bought some erythritol to experiment with as well as an erythritol and stevia mix but I was too chicken to use it in this as I was worried about the erythritol crystalizing as well as how it would go taste in lemon curd. Next time, when I buy some stevia on its own I will try a mix of xylitol and stevia instead, but for now splenda will do. I actually quite like the taste of these two combined.

These measurements are metric but converting metric cups to the US equivalent is pretty easy. An American cup is 237ml whilst a metric cup is 250ml (8 fl oz) which leaves 13ml. A US tablespoon equals 15ml so simply add 1 tablespoon extra per cup. So, for this recipe with the lemon juice, just add an extra half a tablespoon - but really the difference in half a cup is so small I wouldn't worry too much. With the sweeteners, I wouldn't worry as I find it quite sweet anyway so a little less won't matter, the 16 splenda tablets is the equivalent to 1/3 a cup of granular splenda. The second time I made this, I used less sweetener again but because I used thin skinned lemons which are sweeter I still found it very sweet. The first time I used large thick skinned lemons. So a little trial and error I guess but every time I make it I just want to eat it off the spoon regardless, very yummy :)

Oh and this curd which is essentially a custard is made direct in the saucepan so make sure you have everything with you ready and be careful not to let it curdle. This is the recipe I used as my guide so have a read of the method first. At the first sign of a lump lift the saucepan straight off the heat and give it a good whisk before putting it back on the heat.

Low Carb Lemon Curd

Lemon rind from two lemons (mine were medium to large), finely grated
1/2 cup (4 fl oz) lemon juice
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 egg yolks lightly beaten
115g (4 oz) butter, melted
1/3 cup of xylitol
16 splenda tablets

Grind xylitol and splenda to a fine powder, I use one of those cheaper version of the magic bullets, works well. I chose to do this, because the xylitol is very grainy in texture and I want to make sure it dissolves properly.

Push the eggs and egg yolks through a sieve and place in a heavy based saucepan, add other ingredients and whisk.

Turn on stove to low or medium depending on how game you are and whisk continuously until starts to slightly thicken then stir continuously with a flat bottom wooden spoon making sure to scrape bottom of pan. If you see a slight lump forming take straight off heat and whisk until smooth then place back on heat. Continue until very thick and coats the back of the spoon. I switched from low to medium heat a few times and found this didn't take very long at all. Make sure to have a look at the pictures in the original link to get an idea on how thick it should look.

The author of the recipe suggests to strain the lemon curd through a strainer to ensure a smoother consistency but I found that mine was looking pretty smooth anyway, perhaps because I strained the eggs prior which was a tip I saw elsewhere when I was searching for a recipe to try.

Pour into a sterile jar and place a piece of baking paper (cut to fit shape) with a tab sticking out so you can grab it easy, cover and chill.

Note 1:

I found this very yummy and sweet, I will probably drop back a touch on the sweetener next time, perhaps 1/4 cup xylitol and say 10 splenda tablets and see how that goes.

I forgot to take any pictures when I made it, but the picture above is how it looked today when I was making my tarts (recipe to follow shortly).

Note 2:

I made this again with less sweetener as I said I would. It is still quite sweet. The only difference is the lemons, this time I had small thin skinned lemons, they are obviously sweeter then the bigger ones which makes sense. Still want to eat the stuff off the spoon

Some recipe ideas that you can use the lemon curd for:

Low Carb Lemon and Almond Tarts

Low Carb Lemon Swirl Cheesecake

Lemon Coconut Slice

Plus another one from one of our members that doesn't have a picture:

Chocholate tarts filled with lemon curd

Enjoy :)

The forum is back online!

2009-01-31T14:04:00.004+10:30

Hey Everyone :)

Just wanted to let everyone whom had been clicking on the links to some recipes on my forums such as the chocolate cheesecake brownies that I posted the other day only to receive a web page saying that you're suspended, know that the forum is working again!

It seems a meal replacement product that had been discussed on my forum a while back appeared on a popular current affair program down here and guess who was number 2 in google? Our thread!

Needless to say, at one stage we had over 1500 concurrent guests on my forum and my webhost had a hissy fit and suspended my account. 1500 might not seem like that big a deal compared to some of the popular forums out there but for a non monetised forum like mine on shared hosting, it was!

I have since had a hissy fit ;) and moved us, so now everything is back up and running, make sure to check out those brownies they are very yummy :)

Low Carb Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

2009-01-27T09:50:00.008+10:30

Hey there, I have been slack again, sorry :)

Thought I'd share this recipe for Jennifer and anyone else that would like it. It is very good, I have never been a big fan of baked cheesecakes and apart from the low carb pumpkin cheesecake I have always found them too dense and gluggy - alongside the difficulties with them cracking no matter how well you follow the recipe. Then I came across this one and the cooking method seemed to me, to be much more logical, that I decided to give it a try.

This is actually a recipe by Gordon Ramsay which I de-carbed, it is a really great recipe, a couple of people from the forum tried it and loved it, a couple of us served it at Christmas dinner. I have made it a few times now and still has not let me down yet. You can read the discussion on it here plus if you make it please let us know what you think: Low Carb Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake You will find a couple more pictures of how it turned out there as well.

Low Carb Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Base:

150g/5.3oz Almond meal (I didn't blanch mine this time)
50g/1.8oz Desiccated/finely shredded coconut
60g/2.1oz butter, melted
12 splenda tablets, crushed or 1/4 cup of granular splenda
dash of vanilla

Filling:

600g/21.2oz Cream Cheese
250g/8.8oz sour Cream
2 Eggs
25 splenda tablets, crushed or 1/2 cup splenda granular
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g/2.6oz Lindt 85% dark choc, melted

Butter a 23cm spring form pan and preheat oven to 170C/340F

Combine base ingredients and press into the base of the spring form pan and bake for 15 mins or until golden. Reduce oven temp to 140C/284F

Beat together all of the filling ingredients EXCEPT the chocolate and pour over the base. Tap gently to burst any large air bubbles and swirl the melted chocolate over the top.

Chuck in oven for 30mins and then turn the oven off and leave it alone for a long time, preferably overnight to cool. If you take it out to soon it may crack. When cooled, chill in the fridge.

That's it, how easy is that and it came out perfect!

Nutritional Information for 10 serves:

(only thing not included is the dash of vanilla in base)

Per Serve

Using splenda tablets:

518 calories, 10.9g protein, 50.5g fat, 5g carbs

Using splenda granular:

523 calories, 10.9g protein, 50.5g fat, 6.5g carbs

Now any other sweetener should be fine, I tend to use a lot less sweetener these days so always taste test the batter first in case you need a little more but I find if I keep the sweetness down I am not likely to crave it. You can also reduce the carbs and calories simply by cutting into smaller serves, what I do is just have a piece for my breaky, it keeps me satisfied until lunch at least!

Whilst we are talking cheesecake and chocolate, here is one I added today:

Low Carb Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

Enjoy!

Low Carb Recipes for Christmas

2008-11-21T12:26:00.013+10:30

This is the biggest question usually asked on any low carb forum during this time of the year. I don't know about other forums but it never really gets addressed that much in the form of low carb Christmas recipes, usually every body forgets about low carb for the day. One thing I have noticed over the years is that, when fellow lowcarbers go all out on the carby stuff on Christmas day they end up in an all out carb fest which leads to a carby boxing day then the day after that and so on and before you know it, it is News Years Eve, you get the picture. A lot of people tend to get totally derailed with trouble getting back into the swing of things.

Now I don't do low carb completely, I do still treat myself on Christmas day but I try to eat mostly low carb. I find this helps getting straight back into it the next day, particularly because it is usually at my place so there's always plenty of leftovers so the more leftovers that are low carb, the better!

Because of this, I decided that I would have a play with some low carb recipes and thus as promised in a previous post I thought I would share what I have done so far, click on the recipe name to go to the recipe:

Low Carb Buche De Noel (Christmas Yule Log)

Inside:

Low Carb Pumpkin Cheesecake

And for something savoury:

Low Carb Slow Cooked Roast Lamb with Cranberry Sauce

The last pic doesn't really do it justice, the lamb is really, really yummy:)

Dying to be thin: The diet craze sweeping Britain with a punishing 500-calories-a-day

2008-11-13T14:59:00.004+10:30

Remember, Kimmer and the concerns for members following her plan Kimkins, where calories appeared to often fall close to and even below 500 calorie's a day?

Whilst they were eating real food, there was no real plan behind it to ensure members were eating adequate nutrients to meet their most basic needs...

Actually I should rephrase that because not all were eating real food on kimkins, she also had a shake plan and it is to my understanding she also had given out advice for an even low calorie version for faster weight-loss. And these shakes were just protein shakes you buy yourself from your local store which could have been anything...

During this time when everyone was in an uproar, I posted about sudden deaths in the old protein shake diets in my post here: Rabbit Starvation, Sudden Death and Resting Metabolism. It was thought that a lot of the issues with these deaths boiled down to the amount and the type of protein in the liquid diets at that time however, here is an article on a current liquid diet known as Lighter Life. In this article, they discuss the side effects and also the death of one lady whom had been following this diet for 6 months:

A LighterLife slimmer dies
Two years ago, 25-year-old Matilda Callaghan died from heart arrhythmia after spending six months on LighterLife.

The coroner recorded an open verdict, as to what caused the fatal arrhythmic heartbeat, recognising that while - as the company argued - being obese can kill, so too can losing weight quickly.
But leading obesity expert Professor John Garrow was unequivocal: he blamed Matilda's death on her rapid ten-stone weight loss which, he said, reduced the lean tissue in her heart.
Professor Garrow says: 'Studies show semi-starvation diets deplete the protein and muscle of internal organs, resulting in an increase of heart arrhythmias among obese people following them.'

And of course, like many stories I have read by former kimkins followers this articles finished off with a story about a lady whom developed an eating disorder.

Read through this article and remember, this is a diet that is supposedly designed to ensure adequate nutrition. If these are the risks, what about very low calorie diets designed by just your average person trying to make a quick buck with no professional nutritional and medical background or input from people with such qualifications?

No matter what diet you're on, don't let some numbers on the scale cloud your judgment and possibly destroy your health...

Low Carb Vege Garden

2008-11-12T12:35:00.007+10:30

Hey Guys :)

Sorry for being so slack, my forum has been very busy and I have been struggling to keep up with it at times as well as struggling with motivation.

Whilst my last doctors appointment showed I had great cholesterol numbers despite my high fat diet, it was a horrible appointment with her and really took the wind out of me. I have been struggling to get my thyroid/chronic fatigue looked at for over 5 years. Anyway, I have been doing lots of reading on this subject and will post about it soon. The good news is, I have an appointment that I have been waiting for almost 3 months coming up in 2 more weeks, that I hope will start solving this once and for all. Getting very anxious now!

On a better note, I have been looking at starting my first vegetable garden. My partner and I, decided some time back that we want to live in the country and aim towards eventually being self sufficient. We have been renting a place out here since Maya was born to get a feel for it and make sure this is what we want, with plans to buy a property as soon as prices start coming down (they are extremely inflated here at the moment). Anyway, I decided now is a good a time as any to start learning this stuff ready. It is currently spring here and I have been buying wine barrels etc in hopes to learn to grow veggies in pots with an aim on using non-hybrid and mostly organic seeds and growing them in an organic way. If anyone has any tips I would love to see them!
I was in a funk for a while but last week I finally planted a bunch of seeds which are just starting to come up this week. The ones in the photo above are cucumbers.

I have also started playing with some Christmas recipes, I made a low carb yule log which turned out good I will post it soon. Oh and the other month I made some yummy low carb friands that you might be interested in. Friands are like a yuppie type of muffin: Low Carb Dark Chocolate and Strawberry Friands.

Anyway, I just thought I'd update, I will post some more recipes soon and hopefully will be able to show more progress with my veggies, wish me luck as I do not have a green thumb but I am trying! :)

My Cholesterol Numbers

2008-09-09T17:24:00.003+09:30

Thought I'd share my cholesterol numbers from my blood test last Friday. I should say that last year I went off LC to do an elimination diet for my daughter though my only fat source during that time was butter, eggs and meat, not even any fish or fish oil (amines). I have been back to Atkins style low carb for the last few months and I am still eating mostly lots of butter but I also add in some olive or macadamia oil with the occasional shot of cod liver oil. I started low carb (Atkins) in 2002 and started maintenance in 2003.

When I had my bloods checked in 2003 my triglycerides were 0.5 and my total cholesterol was 5.6, ratio was not checked.

This time my results are:

[mmol/L]

Total Triglycerides 0.4 (0.3-2.0)
Total Cholesterol 5.6 (<5.5)
HDL Cholesterol 2.0 (1.0-2.2)
LDL Cholesterol 3.3 (<3.7)
Total cholesterol/HDL ratio 2.8 (<5.0)

The numbers in brackets are the desired ranges.

Low Carb Lemon and Garlic, Roast Chicken

2008-09-04T15:47:00.004+09:30

One of my favourite chefs as far as recipes go is Jamie Oliver as I find a lot of his recipes suit the tastes of my family and myself very well. Two of our favourites is his Polla Alla Cacciatore and his Lemon and Garlic Roast Chicken with the roast even being fussy eater friendly (tested by my extremely fussy brother last Christmas). This roast is very popular, I do it a lot. There's a couple of minor deviations from Jamies recipe but otherwise it is the same.

Low Carb Lemon and Garlic, Roast Chicken

1 chook over 2kg (4.5 lbs)

2-3 lemons (squeeze lemon juice over any veggies you roast)

Half a bulb of garlic, gloves separated and peeled

Bunch of fresh thyme

Extra Virgin Olive oil

Butter

Salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190/370F

2. Boil up 1 lemon and some garlic cloves and if you want to spuds for the high carbers for about ten minutes, then chuck the spuds in the roasting dish around the chicken.

3. Prick holes in the lemon whilst it is steaming hot and shove it up the chooks butt with some fresh thyme and half of the garlic cloves.

4. Rub the chicken with salt and olive oil and remaining garlic cloves, squeeze lemon juice over it and any lemon pulp that comes out of the lemon all over the breasts etc and chuck in the oven. [The time varies between ovens and the size of the chook so I will leave it up to your judgement. Jamie says 1.5 hours but I always need much longer]

5. Half way through I turn the roasting tray around, slice up some butter and put it over the top of the chicken and chuck back in the oven. YUM!

Low Carb Chocolate and Hazelnut Higgedly Piggedlys

2008-08-29T10:28:00.003+09:30

I have made a few new recipes lately which I will share sometime but this one would be my favourite as far as chocolate goes, it is very moorish so consider yourself warned :)

The image button doesn't seem to be working for me at the moment? but you can see what it looks like here: Low Carb Chocolate and Hazelnut Higgedly Piggedlys

Low Carb Chocolate and Hazelnut Higgedly Piggedlys

Note: non metric users, for each cup add an extra tablespoon, for each half a cup an extra half a tablespoon, as metric cup measures are slightly bigger.

200g/7oz Lindt 85% (broken into smallish pieces)
200g/7oz hazlelnuts, freshly roasted and either chopped or halved (I halved because they look good)
1.5 cups blanched almond meal
1/2 cup dessicated coconut (unsweetened finely shredded coconut, but coconut flour works too)
1/2 cup splenda
1tsp vanilla
50g/2oz coconut oil (I suggest trying first with an extra 50g or so of butter/coconut oil as my last batch turned out crumbly, see here)
50g/2oz unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt (perhaps add half and taste in case its too much for the amount of base I made or do what I did and accidentally omit it and use salted butter)

Preheat oven to 180C/350F and grease baking tray with butter.

Melt butter and coconut oil, mix in vanilla.

In a large bowl mix together the almond meal, salt, coconut and splenda then mix in the wet ingredients. Press into tray firmly and bake until it starts to brown and smell like a yummy almond cookie!

Take out of the oven and let sit for a minute to firm then sprinkle the chocolate evenly over the top and place back into the oven for one more minute or until chocolate is melted.

With a palette knife spread the melted chocolate evenly and then scatter over the hazelnuts and gently press into the chocolate. chuck in fridge for a few hours to set.

Once set take out of fridge and using the tip of the knife stab it gently allowing it to break into jagged pieces, don't try to slice it because then the hazelnuts break up and it will look more messy. Store in a container and chuck into the fridge.

Rethinking Low-Fat Advice and Living in Starvation Mode

2008-08-12T20:49:00.002+09:30

I was looking through the forum for some articles on fat for one of our new members whom is a little worried about fat, particularly saturated fat, we have all been there, right?

Anyway, whilst doing so I came across a couple of little nuggets that I posted ages ago which were such a good read. I would link to the original articles but it seems they are no longer online which is such a shame, I am very grateful that I quoted them otherwise I would never have come across them again. I really enjoyed reading these again and wanted to share.

These articles are from 1998 published in the Healthy Weight Journal, yet so applicable today.

Rethinking Low-Fat Advice

Living in Starvation Mode

Enjoy :)

Low Carb Buttery Almond & Coconut Cake

2008-07-18T08:30:00.006+09:30

This is a HUGE winner, definitely a keeper that I will be making over and over. It is a recipe by an Australian Author/Chef Belinda Jeffery that I converted to low carb (wasn't hard!), this lady is a genius!

Now if you wish to get the carb count down more I am sure you could simply replace the splenda with one of the various versions of stevia or you could use splenda tablets or the liquid splenda. Also, if your worried about the calories you could simply cut it into more portions or do what I do and have it as a meal rather then a snack. I found it made a yummy breakfast!

One of the ladies uses this recipe for muffins so you could try that too. We have a thread for it here: Low Carb Buttery Almond & Coconut Cake

Low Carb Buttery Almond & Coconut Cake

180g Blanched Almonds, ground (6.3 ounces)

1 cup of splenda or equivalent

2/3 cup of dessicated coconut/finely shredded coconut (I was a bit heavy handed and probably used around 3/4 cup)

2 TBL Flaked Almonds (2 American tablespoons and 2 teaspoons)

1/4 tsp salt

200g butter (7oz)

4 eggs

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond essence

Method

1. Melt butter and allow to cool

2. Blanch and grind almonds, this is a good opportunity to make a big batch so you have extra for other recipes. See this thread for tips on blanching and grinding almonds: Nut Meals and Flours

3. Preheat oven to 180 C (350F)

4. Whisk the dry ingredients in a medium to large bowl. In a smaller bowl whisk the eggs, vanilla and almond essence then add the butter mixture and whisk well. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir, this will be a sloppy batter.

5. Next either grease or line a metal springform pan or use silicon. I used the silicon and it worked fine for this. Pour mixture in and spread evenly then sprinkle almond flakes over the top of the cake.

6. Chuck in oven for about 40 minutes or until cake springs back slowly. Let cool in pan.

Notes: Belinda recommends that you eat this at room temperature or slightly warmed, though it still tastes good cold just chewy like candy. Keeps in the fridge for up to a week (won't last that long!) and freezes well for 3 weeks.

Nutritional Information:

Total: 101g protein 307g fat 39g carb 3442 cal
Per serve (8 serves): 12.6g protein 38.3g fat 4.8g carb 430 cal

Note: I had to guesstimate the flaked almonds as 30g (1oz) because I forgot to weigh them!

Low Carb, Cream Cheese Muffins

2008-07-17T09:46:00.007+09:30

Nance, asked in the comments section for the recipe so I thought I'd take a picture of one I made last night and share here. Now this may look very plain and basic but it is actually very yum. Don't be afraid to try it if you don't like baked cheesecakes, as I didn't like them either, until now so you never know you may love these too!

The recipe is from the Low Carb Friends Forum, make sure to check that thread for the many variations, it is long but worth the read. Also, you're more then welcome to pop into our thread I made as well: Low Carb Cream Cheese Muffins (Cheesecakes)

Anyway here's the metric version:

Low Carb, Cream Cheese Muffins

500g cream cheese
1/2 cup splenda
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Cinnamon for dusting

Preheat oven to 180C

Soften cream cheese, add eggs, splenda and vanilla and beat until smooth. Pour into a greased 12 muffin pan (I use silicon patty cases). Sprinkle with cinnamon and wack in oven for 20 minutes then leave to cool in oven.

These are the counts for the metric version which uses a little extra cream cheese.

Total 25.2g carbs 48.9g protein 177.4g fat 1982 calories
Per muffin 2.1g carbs 4.1g protein 14.8g fat 165.2 calories

Now I make them a little different but I stick with the main theme as I find these are very satisfying as they are despite being so basic.

What I do is I add an extra egg, a couple of dollops of pure cream and 1 tsp of vanilla instead of half. I also cook them at 170C as I find they cook too fast at 180C. I don't have a problem with these sinking in the centre, just cracking.

Low Carb Easy Eggs

2008-07-01T15:12:00.007+09:30

I thought I'd share my favourite way to eat eggs, I call them Easy Eggs because they are just that, easy but also very yum. If your feeling sick and tired of eggs try this, but remember don't have it every day or it will end up just like every other egg dish!

This is a picture of my eggs that I had last night, they actually look better then that when they first come out of the oven. I did plan on taking a photo whilst they were all puffed up but Maya had other ideas...

Anyway this is how I do mine, you could add other ingredients to it like a slice of tomato or mushroom. You could also line the ramekin with nitrate free bacon or ham, I used to make a similar dish, Ham and Egg thingos but I like these better.

Easy Eggs

2 Large eggs
Cheddar cheese
Parmesan Cheese (the powdered kind)
Dollop of pure cream
salt and pepper
butter for greasing

Preheat oven to 180C which is about 350 F

Grease a ramekin with a little butter, crack an egg into it and season with a little salt and pepper. Add a little cheese on top then crack another egg, season and and more cheese. Next, add a dollop of pure cream and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Chuck in the oven until cooked to your liking and thats it!

The Metabolism Society needs your help, please sign.

2008-06-24T10:48:00.006+09:30

I received this in my email today for my website and promptly posted it on my low carb forum but just now realised I should probably chuck it up here too for my readers whom don't frequent the forum:

I just received this in my inbox from Richard Feinman, founder of the Nutrition and Metabolism Society and editor for the journal, Nutrition and Metabolism.

Basically, it is a petition for the goal on bringing more research and acknowledgment into the effectiveness of treatments of Diabetes 2 through low carb diets rather then just intensive drug therapy which seems to be the focus. With two latest studies doing just that, resulting in one of them having to finish their study early due to too many people dropping dead!

I posted about a Management of Diabetes Case Vignette once where doctors from around the world were given some information on a 55 year old woman with diabetes 2 and asked to vote and comment on their treatment from 3 options. None of these include a low carbohydrate diet, just drugs, drugs and more drugs... go read the various comments by doctors, rarely do you see lifestyle mentioned, there was one comment where they recommend diet and exercise but not to treat the diabetes but to treat the side effects of one of the drugs!

Crazy stuff!

----------------

The NIH must acknowledge the existing science and fund more research by the experts who have experience with carbohydrate restriction as a means of treatment for diabetes.

June 12, 2008

New England Journal of Medicine published the ACCORD study results. "We investigated whether intensive therapy to target normal glycated hemoglobin levels would reduce cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes" (intensive therapy meant intensive drug therapy).

Conclusion:
"As compared with standard therapy, the use of intensive therapy to target normal glycated hemoglobin levels for 3.5 years increased mortality and did not significantly reduce major cardiovascular events. These findings identify a previously unrecognized harm of intensive glucose lowering in high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes."

An elementary understanding of science lets one recognize that it is likely the treatment (intensive drug therapy) that has the (unrecognized?) harm. A substantial background of studies shows that not reducing glycated hemoglobin is a health risk.
It is the absence of any consideration of dietary carbohydrate restriction, the most safe and effective method of improving glycemic control that is so objectionable.

Scientists are stymied. Fighting with the NIH is not simple, generally not a career builder, and the number of people involved in this trial is in the hundreds. Only the public can help. We need your help in reaching them.

Please ask your readers to contribute by signing this petition.

Thank you.

Richard Feinman
Professor of Biochemistry
Founder, Metabolism Society
www.nmsociety.org

Low Carb Flourless Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake

2008-06-16T08:35:00.009+09:30

I have been really enjoying the cream cheese muffin recipe from LCF for my breakfasts. I am currently debating between making another batch today or decarbing another yummy looking recipe thats a cross between cheesecake muffins and cake and yes you guessed it, it involves chocolate ;)

But anyway, last week I had something different for breakfast, something chocolaty and something surprisingly not rich despite all the 85% lindt chocolate, yet very satisfying!

But be warned, it is calorie dense and it is not ultra low carb, so do what I do and make it a meal such as breakfast, or save it for a treat. I cut mine into 12 slices, you could cut yours into 16 if you want, I have worked out the counts for both. The original cake is said to store in the fridge for 2 weeks. Do not eat this straight out of the fridge, always bring your peice down to room temperature first, I like to bring mine down to room temp then quickly put it in the oven just long enough to make the ganache all goey (shown in photo). I was thinking for the US visitors that you could probably bring the carb count down some more by using unsweetened bakers chocolate and a little extra sweetener, over here lindt 85% is the lowest you can find. Plus you could experiment with other sweeteners to bring the carb count down. Let me know how you go, we have a thread for it here. This is a de-carbed recipe by Belinda Jeffery and she is my new found favourite chef!

Low Carb Flourless Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake

serves 12 - 16, American conversions in brackets.

180g Lindt 85% broken into smallish peices (6.3 oz)
5 large eggs, separated
240g hazelnuts (8.4oz)
1 cup splenda or equiv (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
120g unsalted butter, cubed (4.5oz)
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 180C (356F) and roast hazel nuts for around 10-15 minutes until skins start to split, turn off oven and cool for a few minutes then grab a handful and rub them in your hands so the skins come off, don't be afraid to take them out early if you need. Remove skins as best as you can but don't worry if they don't completely come off. Chuck these in the freezer for a while so they get really cold and then grind them in small batches being careful that you don't grind them too much or they will start to turn into a paste!

Preheat oven to 180C (356F)

Place chocolate, butter in a big metal bowl and melt. I like to do this over just boiled water, but you could just do it on the stove over simmering water. Sometimes I will need to replace with freshly boiled water near the end just to smooth it out more. Stir in splenda and let chocolate cool

Whisk egg whites with salt until soft peaks form and set aside.

In a small bowl give the yolks a quick whisk then add the yolks to the chocolate whisking as you go, then add the hazelnuts. Stir in one third of the egg whites then fold in half of the remaining egg white and then the other half.

Scrape into a greased spring form pan and chuck in oven for around 30-35mins until centre is firm and springy. Cool in pan.

Ganache

250g lindt 85% (8.8oz)
125g butter (4.4oz)
50ml water (1.7 fl oz)
You could add say a tablespoon off splenda to take the edge of if you need

Melt the same way as before until smooth being careful not to over heat, immediately remove once smooth. You might not need to use it all (if you don't it will help bring down carb count if needed), just store the rest in an airtight container and chuck in fridge or eat it by the spoon like I did :p

Let ganache cool until a thick consistency then spread over cake. Belinda suggests doing a crumb coat first where you spread a thin coat over first, chill and then re-coat. This is said to help achieve a smooth coat.

Counts for cake with Ganache:

12 serves

per serve:

494 cals
10.5g protein
47.4g fat
10.3g carbs

16 serves

per serve:

403 cal
8.6g protein
35.5g fat
7.7g carb

Is www.lowcarbshop.com.au a scam?

2008-06-04T14:09:00.004+09:30

Just wanted to do a quick post in hopes to get the message out there to any fellow Aussies that don't frequent my forum. Basically, we have a few complaints dating back to December from people whom have ordered from this website, had their credit card charged but have no received the goods!

People have tried to contact them with no response and when they call the business behind the shop they are told that they are new owners of said business and that the previous owner still owns that online shop and refuse to give out the contact details for the old owner...

When looking at the website you will find various complaints by customers hoping to warn potential customers through product reviews such as...

NEVER TASTED THEM AS THIS SITE TOOKM MY MONEY WITH NO DELIVERY. I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HOW THEY HAVEN'T BEEN CLOED DOWN. $80 TAKEN MONTHS AGO FROM MY ACCOUNT AND NO F***ING PRODUCTS.

DO NOT BUY FROM THIS WEBSITE! Trying to stop someone making the same mistake I did with ordering from this site. This company has taken my money and not supplied me with my goods - has now been over a month and I've sent 3 emails since the order was placed and my money was taken with absolutely no response. If this has happened to you also please email me on ***********@hotmail.com as I'm trying desperately to find a way to get my money back and it would be better to have all of us try.

It's true, this site is so unprofessional, no communication, no goods ever get sent, but their happy to charge your credit card!!!

Ordered these too...still haven't received - owner cannot be contacted - he does not reply to his emails - but will take your hard earned cash and give you nothing in return - DO NOT USE THIS WEBSITE - YOU WILL NOT GET YOUR GOODS!

YESSS just as I was pasting some of the reviews here their website was taken down!!!! I and others have been reporting them and trying to get their web hosts to take the website down, looks like they just did!!!

Lets hope it stays down! if only another website was so easy eh? ;)

With that said, considering this has been happening since at least December last year I suspect there's many more out there whom have been ripped off by this company!

If your out there we have a bunch of information of various contacts to help get your money back listed in this thread: Low Carb Nutrition, when I reported them to the ACCC they called me and said they needed more customers to contact them so they can see a trend and do something about it so please contact the ACCC and fair trading!

Good luck!

Sodium Benzoate and DNA damage

2008-05-28T11:36:00.002+09:30

I have mentioned before about my reservations towards aspartame and recently there was that aspartame experiment on rats. There is a good list of aspartame side effects and some of the various articles here: Aspartame.

A fellow low carber Cleo shared her experiences recently as well: No More Aspartame For Me.

However one thing I ponder is if some of the reactions people report due to aspartame could also be tied to another additive, sodium benzoate. Sodium benzoate is very common in soft drinks, and other acidic items such as fruit juices, salad dressings, sauces and vinegar as well as cosmetics and mouth wash and has been linked to hyperactivity in children and DNA damage amongst other things as well as being thought to interact with other additives, E211 Revealed: Evidence highlights new fear over drinks additive

With that said, there is some good news that I wanted to share this article and a quote: Diet Coke to drop additive in DNA damage fear:

Coca-Cola is phasing out a controversial additive that has been linked to damage to DNA and hyperactivity in children.

Sodium benzoate, also known as E211, is used to stop fizzy drinks going mouldy.

Coca-Cola said it had begun withdrawing the additive from Diet Coke in January in response to consumer demand for more natural products.

By the end of the year no can or bottle will contain E211.

Lets hope they don't replace it with something equally as bad or worse!

Pricasso

2008-05-22T15:16:00.003+09:30

Okay this is on my local news and I just had to share but be warned as there is nudity!

Make sure to watch the video and see how he paints his paintings ROFL!!!

Pricasso unveils tribute to Adelaide

Low Carb Chocolate and Pecan Brownies

2008-05-17T11:05:00.007+09:30

I went off the elimination diet a while ago now, have toughened up on my carbs and have started playing in the kitchen. I am a chocolate lover and the elimination diet meant no chocolate so what do you think I wanted to play with first?

Chocolate!

These are yum so I thought I'd share, these are a low carb version of a Jamie Oliver recipe. Strangely enough, I find these very satisfying. I have another variation that I did the first time which is more chocolaty which you can find in my low carb brownie thread plus another member has posted another recipe which looks good but I haven't tried yet.

Now I will tell you straight off, that my taste buds are well adjusted to low carb, so depending on where you are at, you may find you need a little more splenda. I am thinking these would be even better with a sugar alcohol like erythritol or xylitol for that sugary type mouth feel.

Oh I should say that the picture is from my first batch and this is my second batch but they look exactly the same :)

Low Carb Chocolate and Pecan Brownies

Serves 16

200g lindt 85%, broken into smallish peices (7 oz)
250g butter, cubed (8.8oz)
100g pecans, chopped (3.5oz)
4 large free range eggs
1 cup splenda (US= 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
50g almonds, ground (1.7oz)
50g pure cocoa powder (1.7oz)
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180C/350F

Grease or line a 30cm/12inch rectangular baking tray, I just greased the tray.

Melt chocolate and butter until smooth, what I do is place them in a steel bowl which I then place over a sink of boiling hot water. Mix in pecans.

In a separate bowl sift dry ingredients and mix then add to chocolate mixture making sure to mix well. Next add each egg in separately mixing well after each addition.

Chuck mixture into baking tray and wack in oven for 25 mins.

Jamie says you want it lightly springy on top but still gooey in the middle. Let cool in tray then cut into 16 slices/fingers.

Nutritional info:

Total: 76.7 carb 74g protein 420g fat 4351.6 cal
Per Serve: 4.8g carb 4.6g protein 26.3g fat 272 cal

I thought I should add for those interested that we also have a low carb chocolate fudge brownie recipe here: Low Carb Chocolate Fudge Brownie

Oink Oink

2008-05-16T11:16:00.004+09:30

To those that liked the spider I thought you might like her pig that she did a while back :)

She turned 3 at the end of April and boy am I starting to regret showing her how to use MS Paint. In some ways it was good because she would go through so much paper in a day it's not funny, she'd do a quick sketch then bang onto the next piece of paper. She got to some of Ryans spare school books and before you know it, each page had been "christened". Sketch books do not last very long... If you left the room she was in, she would start drawing on the walls and tiled floor, she loves to draw LOL

Shes stopped drawing on the walls for now, and even though the novelty of MS Paint is wearing off, she has become quite proficient with the use of computers. It is amazing how fast she picked it up. I had to set her up with her own account, just so she doesn't do any harm when she is on there. I also have to be careful of not leaving my computer logged in. The other day, I opened up one of Garry's cover letters for a job to print out, to find she had opened it up, deleted stuff and replaced with mumbo jumbo and then saved it!

I have created a monster! :eek:

Look, Spider!

2008-04-20T15:35:00.005+09:30

I can't help myself, I have to share with everybody...

My daughter (nearly 3) did this today on Paint without any prompting or help, then turned around and said "Look, Spider!" so cute... :)

Scam Watch: Weight Loss Scams

2008-04-20T09:42:00.003+09:30

Here is one for people from Australia and NZ that have been scammed or are concerned about a weight loss scam that they have seen and wish to report it. I reported Kimkins...

It is an Australian government website called Scam Watch and they have a page for weight loss scams.

From their website:

What are weight loss scams?

These scams promise weight loss for little or no effort. The scam may involve an unusual or restrictive diet, ‘revolutionary’ exercise or fat-busting devices, or products such as pills, patches, or creams.

Scammers exploit the fact that people can often be attracted by promises of success with little effort. Many weight loss scams suggest that you can achieve great results without having to do any extra exercise or even modify your diet.

Often, attractive people or celebrities are used to sell the products. These may be people with a different body shape and metabolism to you and who use the product in conjunction with an exercise regime and strict diet.

At best fad diets and products might result in a temporary weight loss in the short term and can be dangerous if followed over a longer period. Unless a person develops and maintains a better diet and physical activity habit, any weight lost (often water or muscle rather than fat) will soon return.

Warning signs

The weight loss scheme or product:

lacks scientific evidence or demonstrated links between the result and the effects of the program, food, supplement, gadget or process being promoted
is sold outside normal commercial distribution channels. For example, through the internet, by unqualified individuals or mail order advertisements
claims effortless, large or fast weight loss such as 'lose 30 kilos in 30 days' or 'lose weight while you sleep'
claims that you can achieve weight loss without exercise, or without managing food or energy intake
fails to recommend medical supervision, particularly for low-calorie diets
claims to reduce fat or cellulite in specific areas of the body
uses terms such as 'miraculous breakthrough'

Sound familiar? :)

Kimmer: Cut Calories and Take Laxatives

2008-04-17T10:21:00.003+09:30

Have you guys seen this conversation that was allegedly in private messages from Kimmer?

If true which IMO I am 100% sure it is, this is a good example of the kind of crap that came out of Kimmers mouth in private messages on her forum. Here she is trying to help a lady lose weight faster, a lady averaging somewhere close to a mere 600 calories a day. She tried to go even lower but gets dizzy at 450 cals. Kimmer seems to think the only reason for her dizziness is her 8 or so carbs a day in that shes having too many carbs! :eek:

Basically, shes telling this lady to lower her calories even more, take laxatives and even lower carbs more because they are causing her blood sugar issues and perhaps she has diabetes!

An example of her advice to this lady:

I can only give you my opinion. I don’t think your calories are as low as you think — but that’s only my opinion.

However, let’s say they are. Let’s analyze why would feel faint? There’s no reason. Except for the Mona Vie (2 oz = 8 carbs), you’re not taking in any carbs, right? Carbs are the ONLY thing that affect blood sugar (dizzyness).

If you feel dizzy and eat chicken and feel better, it’s not from the chicken. It has no carbs.

If you need 1500 calories a day, we’ll say to maintain your current weight and only eat 500 (to make my math easier), then your body takes the other 1000 calories from body fat. Again, nothing to be dizzy about.

Somehow I think those super low calories may have something to do with the dizziness!!!

But as an aside to this suggestion in her having diabetes, I wonder if she has seen this study that I have listed up top of my Very Low Calorie Diet Research page:

Starvation diet and very-low-calorie diets may induce insulin resistance and overt diabetes mellitus

We have observed seven initially obese individuals who, during the course of a strenuous weight-reduction program, developed diabetes mellitus: non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in five cases and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in two cases. None had any sign of prior diabetic symptoms. Although weight reduction is encouraged in obesity, crash diets without proper medical surveillance may have deleterious effects. This sequence of induction of diabetes has not previously been reported in the medical literature. The metabolic situation in extremely low-calorie diets may be comparable to that in starvation. An attempt is made to explain our observation concerning the induction of a diabetic state during such diets, on the basis of increased insulin resistance in states of starvation and anorexia nervosa, with a concomitant role in stress hormones.

Koffler M, Kisch ES, Starvation diet and very-low-calorie diets may induce insulin resistance and overt diabetes mellitus. J Diabetes Complications. 1996 Mar-Apr;10(2):109-12.

Its just a small one, but certainly makes you go hmmmm

Anyway go check out these private messages, and keep an eye out for more on Truth's blog: Kimmer: Cut Calories and Take Laxatives

To this lady that had this conversation with Kimmer, please get in touch and let us know that you're okay!

Apparently, consuming one lousy egg a day will kill you...

2008-04-11T10:24:00.006+09:30

Well it seems the latest study to make the news every where is this one that demonises egg consumption, but whats new...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Middle-aged men who ate seven or more eggs a week had a higher risk of earlier death, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

Men with diabetes who ate any eggs at all raised their risk of death during a 20-year period studied, according to the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Seven or more eggs a week raises risk of death

Surely, you would think there would be an awful lot of low carbers dropping dead by now?

After reading that, I went and tracked down the study (only abstract was available) as well as an editorial, in hopes to find out more about it but alas, I didn't find much:

Egg consumption in relation to cardiovascular disease and mortality: the Physicians' Health Study

Egg consumption in relation to cardiovascular disease and mortality: the story gets more complex

A couple of quotes that I think are important:

Egg consumption was not associated with (heart attack) or stroke

Men who ate the most eggs also were older, fatter, ate more vegetables but less breakfast cereal, and were more likely to drink alcohol, smoke and less likely to exercise -- all factors that can affect the risk of heart attack and death.

Now, I don't know how eating less breakfast cereal is a factor that can negatively affect the risk of heart attack and death... lets ignore that one...

When I read the editorial, I get the impression there really isn't a great deal of data - other then they just happen to have been eating more eggs...

I wonder about these older and fatter men who just so happened to eat more eggs, did they also happen to be more likely to be taking a cocktail of drugs such as blood pressure medications, statins etc? and what about the rest of their diet?

What puzzles me the most is the advice from the editorial:

So, if you are a male physician and are going to eat ≥1 egg/d, why not eat the whites only?

Despite that they found no association between eggs and myocardial infarction or stroke?

Despite from what I can tell, from his statements that the study didn't provide information on LDL and other markers?

Despite his statement questioning the consistency of an association between cholesterol and CVD risk...

He draws the conclusion that it must be the cholesterol in egg yolks and that physicians whom want to eat at least one egg a day should just eat egg whites instead?

Personally I find it a bit hard to believe that one egg a day could be bad. Of course, with all the crap they do to hens these days such as the crap they feed them, the antibiotics, hormones and the fact that most are caged can't be good for the eggs they lay!

If eggs are a problem, thats where I would personally be pointing my finger...

But with that all said, let me leave you with these two studies published back in Ferbruary that I recently found when working on my low carb research page:

Dietary Cholesterol from Eggs Increases Plasma HDL Cholesterol in Overweight Men Consuming a Carbohydrate-Restricted Diet

Carbohydrate-restricted diets (CRD) significantly decrease body weight and independently improve plasma triglycerides (TG) and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C). Increasing intake of dietary cholesterol from eggs in the context of a low-fat diet maintains the LDL cholesterol (LDL-C)/HDL-C for both hyper- and hypo-responders to dietary cholesterol.

In this study, 28 overweight/obese male subjects (BMI = 25–37 kg/m2) aged 40–70 y were recruited to evaluate the contribution of dietary cholesterol from eggs in a CRD. Subjects were counseled to consume a CRD (10–15% energy from carbohydrate) and they were randomly allocated to the EGG group [intake of 3 eggs per day (640 mg/d additional dietary cholesterol)] or SUB group [equivalent amount of egg substitute (0 dietary cholesterol) per day]. Energy intake decreased in both groups from 10,243 ± 4040 to 7968 ± 2401 kJ (P < 0.05) compared with baseline. All subjects irrespective of their assigned group had reduced body weight and waist circumference (P < 0.0001). Similarly, the plasma TG concentration was reduced from 1.34 ± 0.66 to 0.83 ± 0.30 mmol/L after 12 wk (P < 0.001) in all subjects. The plasma LDL-C concentration, as well as the LDL-C:HDL-C ratio, did not change during the intervention. In contrast, plasma HDL-C concentration increased in the EGG group from 1.23 ± 0.39 to 1.47 ± 0.38 mmol/L (P < 0.01), whereas HDL-C did not change in the SUB group. Plasma glucose concentrations in fasting subjects did not change.

Eighteen subjects were classified as having the metabolic syndrome (MetS) at the beginning of the study, whereas 3 subjects had that classification at the end. These results suggest that including eggs in a CRD results in increased HDL-C while decreasing the risk factors associated with MetS.

Abstract: Mutungi et al: Dietary cholesterol from eggs increases plasma HDL cholesterol in overweight men consuming a carbohydrate-restricted diet. J Nutr 2008, 138(2):272-276.

and..

Eggs modulate the inflammatory response to carbohydrate restricted diets in overweight men

Background

Carbohydrate restricted diets (CRD) consistently lower glucose and insulin levels and improve atherogenic dyslipidemia [decreasing triglycerides and increasing HDL cholesterol (HDL-C)]. We have previously shown that male subjects following a CRD experienced significant increases in HDL-C only if they were consuming a higher intake of cholesterol provided by eggs compared to those individuals who were taking lower concentrations of dietary cholesterol. Here, as a follow up of our previous study, we examined the effects of eggs (a source of both dietary cholesterol and lutein) on adiponectin, a marker of insulin sensitivity, and on inflammatory markers in the context of a CRD.

Methods

Twenty eight overweight men [body mass index (BMI) 26–37 kg/m2] aged 40–70 y consumed an ad libitum CRD (% energy from CHO:fat:protein = 17:57:26) for 12 wk. Subjects were matched by age and BMI and randomly assigned to consume eggs (EGG, n = 15) (640 mg additional cholesterol/day provided by eggs) or placebo (SUB, n = 13) (no additional dietary cholesterol). Fasting blood samples were drawn before and after the intervention to assess plasma lipids, insulin, adiponectin and markers of inflammation including C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-8 (IL-8), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1(VCAM-1).

Results

Body weight, percent total body fat and trunk fat were reduced for all subjects after 12 wk (P < 0.0001). Increases in adiponectin were also observed (P < 0.01). Subjects in the EGG group had a 21% increase in this adipokine compared to a 7% increase in the SUB group (P < 0.05). Plasma CRP was significantly decreased only in the EGG group (P < 0.05). MCP-1 levels were decreased for the SUB group (P < 0.001), but unchanged in the EGG group. VCAM-1, ICAM-1, TNF-α, and IL-8 were not modified by CRD or eggs.

Conclusion

A CRD with daily intake of eggs decreased plasma CRP and increased plasma adiponectin compared to a CRD without eggs. These findings indicate that eggs make a significant contribution to the anti-inflammatory effects of CRD, possibly due to the presence of cholesterol, which increases HDL-C and to the antioxidant lutein which modulates certain inflammatory responses.

Full Text: Ratliff et al, Eggs modulate the inflammatory response to carbohydrate restricted diets in overweight men. Nutr Metab. 2008 Feb 20;5:6.

Been MIA And Some Interesting Links

2008-04-01T13:25:00.006+10:30

Hey Guys!

Sorry I have been so quiet, I have been struggling with what I like to call - considering I am not a writer, "Blogger's Block" :)

When this whole kimkins thing really started to come to my attention early last year, I started to feel a fire under my belly and had lots of ideas to blog. But, then came the trouble with researching them and putting my thoughts into words, which I was really struggling with and I will explain why in a moment. I am still not happy with the kimkins posts I wrote at the time because I feel like I forgot to mention so much that I really wanted to convey in those posts. Then, it seemed people weren't so interested in the health side of it at all but rather the scam itself which I wasn't really into so much myself, so then my desire to blog about it started to slide... plus I was feeling burnt out.

Here's the thing, I am finding it awfully difficult to think of and write up posts, whilst being interrupted by what feels like a constant occurrence. It totally breaks my train of thought, but also distracts me so much, that I come back and find myself working on something entirely different and this will go on, back and forth all day. It seems, I am not a good multitasker at all and I end up with a dozen unfinished projects!

The worst bit is, I am finding it is just getting worse the older Maya gets, I guess shes such a "social" personality that she really needs a playmate but I don't think I want to go there again hehe

I try all sorts of things to give her something fun to do, but it seems the only time she wants to do something on her own is when she wants to draw on the wall with her pencils when I am not looking!

In the afternoons, she starts to quieten down a little sometimes but then that always coincides with Ryan coming home from school whom now wants my attention, then before you know it I have to cook dinner!

Her dad is exactly the same, so once I get her to bed and think "ah now I can go do some reading and actually sink some of it in" there he is vying for my attention as well. By the time hes off happily re-reading his Wheel of Time books or watching an X-File rerun (bought him the collection for Chrissy) I am so dog tired that I can't concentrate on anything (Maya still wakes at night).

Plus, as most of you would know I run an Australian based low carb website as well and ever since the domain hit the two year mark, traffic has been increasing and with new year resolutions and summer just ending over here, we are getting lots of newbies which is also keeping me busy. My days go so fast, I never seem to have enough time, and with all the pulling in different directions sometimes feel I never accomplished anything!

How do other people do it???

Anyway, I have two things I want to blog about, the first one being some articles and the next one which I will work on after this post, stems from a conversation I was having with some friends this morning about maintenance, which I thought would be a good topic to blog about.

I haven't had much time for trying to keep up with everyones blogs but I have been shown lots of interesting articles recently which I want to share, some I am still trying to finish reading myself.

The first one is a blog post by Lyle McDonald, I planned to blog about over the Easter weekend because I found his perspective so similar to how I felt, its a bit late now (sorry!) but interesting all the same. Now I know a lot of my readers are far from bodybuilders but it is his perspective that I think we could all benefit from:

Flexible Dieting

On the low carb front, I had shared a news article on the forum a little while ago and forgot about it until Malcolm posted some really interesting links on it from Regina's blog. Basically, a community of Aborigines in Canada, were put on a low carb diet and followed. The study, has been made into a documentary.

You can read more about it through these links:

West Coast aboriginal community tests low-carb diet

Getting to Know Dr. Jay Wortman

My Big Fat Diet - Aim High, Think Big, Score One More!

Dr J Wortman's blog

Next, was a link that was sent to me by the website owner. They are putting together a database of peoples reviews on their experiences taking various supplements and medications and asked me nicely if I would link to it if I found it of value. I think this could have a lot of promise but on my brief look there was one aspect that bothered me. It seemed that people that wrote reviews were being paid, this must cost the owner a lot of money which brings me to my concern, how does he plan to pay for that? The first thought that comes to mind is advertising by manufacturers of said supplements? This could bring a potential bias?

Who knows, I could be totally way off the mark as I have only had a quick look, but if this isn't an issue then I think this could be a really good tool:

Substance Reviews

Then, there is a blog post that was bought to my attention by Laura and that is a post by PJ which I thought a lot of folk would connect with:

A Dose of Sanity

This one was shared by BG (Bamagal) which I simply have no words for, you will see what I mean:

Alarm as dolls get breast implants in 'Miss Bimbo' game

A couple of interesting articles shared by Nat:

Gluten and rheumatoid arthritis

Research review: Crosstalk between estrogen and leptin signalling in the hypothalamus

Plus a couple of interesting articles on Science Daily:

Can Allergic Reactions To Soy Be Overcome Through Fermentation?

Tendon Complications, Though Rare, Linked To Statins, Study Shows

Link Between Pesticides And Parkinson's Strengthened With Family Study

Teenage Risk-taking: Teenage Brains Really Are Different From Child Or Adult Brains

Plus, if you are interested in the one above, you may be interested in this old one that I found some time back:

Feelings Matter Less To Teenagers, Neuroscientist Says

Oh and that reminds me, another interesting article that Malcolm shared on our forum:

The "Fat-Free Fallacy:" Is It Obesity's Great Enabler?

Oh and last but not least, here's a funny article that popped up on yahoo as I went to check my mail earlier :)

Naked NZ cop nabs would-be car thief

Oh, and how could I forget the latest kimkins video, I haven't had time to watch it yet, but it is supposed to be very good. I am hoping to be linking to the 30minute one so if this is shorter please let me know and I will hunt the link down again!

Headline Legal News: Kimkins Diet Scandal | John E. Tiedt of The Law Office of

There have been heaps of great articles about recently so I have probably forgotten a bunch from the many interruptions just writing this post but I think there is more then enough already :)

MY ASPARTAME EXPERIMENT.

2008-03-14T16:57:00.006+10:30

"A FEMALE RAT DEVELOPED A MAMMARY TUMOR SO LARGE SHE OFTEN USED IT AS A PILLOW"

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words...

LC Dave showed me this and straight away I posted it in an aspartame thread we have going then later though I should share it here too. I don't know how legit this is and I never did ask Dave how he came across this. I couldn't see any contact info and when checking their domain they were using domain proxy but, if this is true...

According to this website the rats took aspartame to the human equivalent to less then 1 diet coke a day! :eek:

Read about it yourself here: MY ASPARTAME EXPERIMENT

Anyone heard of Clinifast?

2008-02-21T21:21:00.006+10:30

If you think kimkins has the potential to be very dangerous...

I just came across this today and all I can say is what the...???

One of Clinifast's great products is called Ultra. It is designed for many uses including meal replacement shakes. One serving of Ultra has only 45 calories, 11 grams of protein and only 1 carb!

Correct me if I am wrong but a meal replacement shake is when you replace an entire meal with it, yes? So, what they are suggesting is that you replace say a typical 500 calorie diet meal with one that doesn't even come up to 50 calories and only a measly 11 grams of protein???

This is the blog here called living the low carb life... yeah right, since when were protein shake meal replacements a low carb life??? clinifast

Has anyone done this?

For those new here, considering this diet, I would highly suggest you check out my kimkins posts and the kimkins links to the right as well as check out some of the research into the health risks of very low calorie diets, particularly shake diets.

Treating Epilepsy in Adults with Low Carb

2008-02-21T08:38:00.004+10:30

We have all been reminded in the press lately about the benefits of a ketogenic diet in the treatment of children with epilepsy.

Well today I just spotted this new abstract for a study on treating Adults with Epilepsy with a modified Atkins diet, which I thought was good to see as you never see it recommended for adults. I thought I'd share here, as I add it to my low carb research page :)

A Prospective Study of the Modified Atkins Diet for Intractable Epilepsy in Adults

Eric H. Kossoff, Hannah Rowley, Saurabh R. Sinha, and Eileen P. G. Vining

Purpose: The ketogenic diet is not typically offered to adults with epilepsy due to the significant lifestyle alterations needed for its use. The modified Atkins diet has been recently demonstrated to be therapeutic for children without the need for an admission, fasting period, weighing of foods, or fluid, calorie, and protein restriction.

Methods: A prospective, open-label study was performed of adults over 18 years of age, having at least weekly seizures and prior use of at least two anticonvulsants. Carbohydrates were initially restricted to 15 g/day, fats were encouraged, and fluids, protein, and calories were allowed ad lib.

Results: Thirty patients, with age ranging from 18 to 53 years, were enrolled. Using an intent-to-treat analysis, 47% had a >50% seizure reduction after 1 and 3 months on the diet; 33% after 6 months. In those with seizure reduction, the median time to improvement was 2 weeks (range: 1–8 weeks). The mean weight loss was 6.8 kg, p < 0.001. Body-mass index (BMI) decrease correlated with efficacy at 3 months, p = 0.03. Ten subjects (30%) discontinued the diet prior to 3 months. Side effects included increased cholesterol (mean 187 to 201 mg/dL), blood urea nitrogen (BUN; 13 to 16 mg/dL), and urine calcium to creatinine ratio (0.14 to 0.19).

Conclusions: A modified Atkins diet appears to demonstrate preliminary efficacy for adults with intractable epilepsy, especially in those who lost weight. Considering the rapid response in those who improved, but somewhat high discontinuation rate, a 2-month trial period may be adequate to assess for efficacy.

Kossoff et al, A Prospective Study of the Modified Atkins Diet for Intractable Epilepsy in Adults. Epilepsia. 2008 Feb;49(2):316-9.

Apology to Australian Aborigines

2008-02-13T19:16:00.001+10:30

I wanted to share this with my non Aussie readers. Our new Prime Minister apologised to our Aborigines today for the stolen generations. I have always felt sorry for them since I was a kid because of how we invaded their country and treated them, but only until a few years ago I never knew we were stealing their kids. It's not exactly something they taught you in school history lessons!

What is worse is that, this is pretty recent, Aborigines my age and even younger were stolen from their families up until the mid 70's, I find that all very barbaric and disgusting. There was a touching movie called Rabbit-Proof Fence that I think everyone should see.

Of course, this has been very controversial with our previous Prime Minister refusing to apologise. Frankly, I don't see the big deal, regardless of what this may mean compensation wise, what our previous governments and people involved did was wrong, very, very, wrong and we should say that to them, give them that validation for what happened to them. I know, I sure as heck will never understand why this happened and I am not aboriginal!

Our opposition leader then did an apology speech and I wish he never spoke, he turned it into a speech about our good intentions back then and how now there are some horrible things such as the raping of young children happening in the aboriginal communities up north. Yes it is something that desperately needs to be addressed but not today. Today is a day where we apologise for non Aboriginal people committing such crimes.

Here's a few quotes I found on a page showing children's experiences during that time. There is much worse but this is a "G" rated blog:

"Y'know, I can remember we used to just talk lingo. [In the Home] they used to tell us not to talk that language, that it's devil's language. And they'd wash our mouths with soap. We sorta had to sit down with Bible language all the time. So it sorta wiped out all our language that we knew." Confidential evidence 170, South Australia: woman taken from her parents with her 3 sisters when the family, who worked and resided on a pastoral station, came into town to collect stores; placed at Umewarra Mission.

"If we got letters, you'd end up with usually `the weather's fine', `we love you' and `from your loving mother' or whatever. We didn't hear or see what was written in between. And that was one way they kept us away from our families. They'd turn around and say to you, `See, they don't care about you'. Later on, when I left the home, I asked my mother, `How come you didn't write letters?' She said, 'But we did'. I said, `Well, we never got them'. We were all rostered to do work and one of the girls was doing Matron's office, and there was all these letters that the girls had written back to the parents and family - the answers were all in the garbage bin. And they were wondering why we didn't write. That was one way they stopped us keeping in contact with our families. Then they had the hide to turn around and say, `They don't love you. They don't care about you'." Confidential evidence 450, New South Wales: woman removed at 2 years in the 1940s, first to Bomaderry Children's Home, then to Cootamundra Girls' Home; now working to assist former Cootamundra inmates.

"I remember this woman saying to me, `Your mother's dead, you've got no mother now. That's why you're here with us'. Then about two years after that my mother and my mother's sister all came to The Bungalow but they weren't allowed to visit us because they were black. They had to sneak around onto the hills. Each mother was picking out which they think was their children. And this other girl said, `Your mother up there'. And because they told me that she was dead, I said, `No, that's not my mother. I haven't got a black mother'." Confidential evidence 544, Northern Territory: woman removed to The Bungalow, Alice Springs, at 5 years in the 1930s; later spent time at Croker Island Mission.

"They changed our names, they changed our religion, they changed our date of birth, they did all that. That's why today, a lot of them don't know who they are, where they're from. We've got to watch today that brothers aren't marrying sisters; because of the Government. Children were taken from interstate, and they were just put everywhere." Confidential evidence 450, New South Wales.

"I grew up sadly not knowing one Aboriginal person and the view that was given to me was one of fear towards [my] people. I was told not to have anything to do with them as they were dirty, lived in shabby conditions and, of course, drank to excess. Not once was I told that I was of Aboriginal descent. I was told that with my features I was from some Island and they [foster family] knew nothing of my family or the circumstances." Confidential submission 483, South Australia: woman removed to a children's home at 18 months in the 1960s and subsequently fostered by the caretakers.

"When I was 14 years old and going to these foster people, I remember the welfare officer sitting down and they were having a cup of tea and talking about how they was hoping our race would die out. And that I was fair enough, I was a half-caste and I would automatically live with a white person and get married. Because the system would make sure that no-one would marry an Aborigine person anyhow. And then my children would automatically be fairer, quarter-caste, and then the next generation would be white and we would be bred out. I remember when she was discussing this with my foster people, I remember thinking - because I had no concept of what it all meant - I remember thinking, `That's a good idea, because all the Aborigines are poor" Confidential evidence 613, New South Wales: woman removed to Bomaderry Children's Home as a baby in the 1940s; foster placement organised from Cootamundra broke down after 17 months and she was then placed in various work situations.

... the consistent theme for post-removal memories is the lack of love, the strict, often cruel, treatment by adults, the constantly disparaging remarks about Aboriginality - and the fact that the child should be showing more gratitude for having been taken from all that - and of course, the terrible loneliness and longing to return to family and community. Some commented that "I thought I was in a nightmare". "I couldn't work out what I'd done wrong to deserve this". "It was like being in prison". "It was very strict - you weren't allowed to do anything" (submission 20 page 6).

"There was no food, nothing. We was all huddled up in a room ... like a little puppy-dog ... on the floor ... Sometimes at night time we'd cry with hunger, no food ... We had to scrounge in the town dump, eating old bread, smashing tomato sauce bottles, licking them. Half of the time the food we got was from the rubbish dump" Confidential evidence 549, Northern Territory: man removed to Kahlin Compound at 3 years in the 1930s; subsequently placed at The Bungalow.

"I've seen girls naked, strapped to chairs and whipped. We've all been through the locking up period, locked in dark rooms. I had a problem of fainting when I was growing up and I got belted every time I fainted and this is belted, not just on the hands or nothing. I've seen my sister dragged by the hair into those block rooms and belted because she's trying to protect me ... How could this be for my own good? Please tell me." Confidential evidence 8, New South Wales: woman removed to Cootamundra Girls' Home in the 1940s.

Girls were more at risk than boys. For girls in particular the risk of sexual assault in a foster placement was far greater than in any other.

Almost one in ten boys and just over one in ten girls allege they were sexually abused in a children's institution.

"We were totally isolated in the Home. You never knew anything of the outside world. We didn't know if that was right or wrong. Every time I knew she was coming, when matron was going on holidays, I would beg to matron not to go, because I knew she'd be there. She was always there - in my life, in my life in the Home. Her bedroom used to open out onto the dormitory ... I'd hear my name being called ... It was always me ... One night I hid under the bed. I held onto the bed and she pulled me out and flogged me with the strap. She is my biggest memory of that home." Confidential evidence 10, Queensland: NSW woman removed to Cootamundra Girls' Home in the 1940s.

"When I was at Castledare I was badly interfered with by one of those brothers. I still know the room [in the church]. I was taken, selectively taken, and I was interfered with by one of those brothers. And if you didn't respond in a way, then you were hit, you were hit. I never told anyone that." Confidential evidence 679, Western Australia: man removed at birth in the 1940s.

"I ran away because my foster father used to tamper with me and I'd just had enough. I went to the police but they didn't believe me. So she [foster mother] just thought I was a wild child and she put me in one of those hostels and none of them believed me - I was the liar. So I've never talked about it to anyone. I don't go about telling lies, especially big lies like that." Confidential evidence 214, Victoria: woman removed at 7 years in the 1960s.

"I led a very lost, confused, sad, empty childhood, as my foster father molested me. He would masturbate in front of me, touch my private parts, and get me to touch his. I remember once having a bath with my clothes on `cause I was too scared to take them off. I was scared of the dark `cause my foster father would often come at night. I was scared to go to the outside toilet as he would often stop me on the way back from the toilet. So I would often wet the bed `cause I didn't want to get out of bed. I was scared to tell anyone `cause I once attempted to tell the local Priest at the Catholic church and he told me to say ten Hail Mary's for telling lies. So I thought this was how `normal' non-Aboriginal families were. I was taken to various doctors who diagnosed me as `uncontrollable' or `lacking in intelligence'." Confidential submission 788, New South Wales: woman removed at 3 years in 1946; experienced two foster placements and a number of institutional placements.

It has been known for years that these unfortunate people are exploited. Girls of 12, 14 and 15 years of age have been hired out to stations and have become pregnant. Young male aborigines who have been sent to stations receive no payment for their services ... Some are paid as little as sixpence a week pocket money and a small sum is retained on their behalf by the Board. In some instances they have difficulty later in recovering that amount from the Board (quoted in NSW Government submission page 41).

One NSW employer pursued her servant's former employer with rape charges. `In 1940 she arranged for a state ward formerly in her charge to sue her [previous] employer for assault' (Read 1994 page 8). This servant, a Koori girl of only 16 at the time the allegations were made public, had been raped by her previous employer. This was confirmed by two subsequent medical examinations. Nevertheless, the Aborigines Protection Board officials to whom the matter was reported `accused the girl of being a "sexual maniac" who had lived with "dozens of men" ` (Hankins 1982 page 4.6.6). In 1941 this young woman was `committed to Parramatta Mental Hospital where she remained for 21 years until the authorities discharged her as having no reason to remain' (Read 1994 page 8). No charges were ever laid against her attacker.

In WA even the Chief Protector himself recognised the sufferings of many of the children he had placed `in service'.

"A good home with a kindly mistress is heaven to a coloured girl of the right type, yet failures are often due to the attitude of employers and their families. It does not help matters much to have the children in a family refer to their mother's coloured help as a `dirty black nigger' or a `black bitch' - such are amongst the complaints that the girls used to bring to me. One lad told me that when he asked for his wages, the Boss said, `What does a black -- like you want with money, you ought to be shot' ... I must confess that as regards some of the homes I personally visited, I could not blame the employee, indeed I felt like apologising to him for being the means of placing him in such a position" (Neville 1947 page 190).

"We didn't have a clue where we came from. We thought the Sisters were our parents. They didn't tell anybody - any of the kids - where they came from.Babies were coming in nearly every day. Some kids came in at two, three, four days old - not months - but days. They were just placed in the home and it was run by Christian women and all the kids thought it was one big family. We didn't know what it meant by `parents' cause we didn't have parents and we thought those women were our mothers.

When you got to a certain age - like I got to 10 years old ... they just told us we were going on a train trip ... We all lined up with our little ports [school cases] with a bible inside. That's all that was in the ports, see. We really treasured that - we thought it was a good thing that we had something... the old man from La Perouse took us from Sydney - well actually from Bomaderry to Kinchela Boys' Home. That's when our problems really started - you know!

This is where we learned that we weren't white.

First of all they took you in through these iron gates and took our little ports [suitcases] off us. Stick it in the fire with your little bible inside. They took us around to a room and shaved our hair off ... They gave you your clothes and stamped a number on them... They never called you by your name; they called you by your number. That number was stamped on everything.

If we answered an attendant back we were `sent up the line'. Now I don't know if you can imagine, 79 boys punching the hell out of you - just knuckling you. Even your brother, your cousin." Confidential evidence 436, New South Wales.

"They [foster family] started to get very nasty towards me. Every time I would sit down at the table for meals [they] would always have something to say to me: about my manners at the table, how to sit, how to chew, how to eat, when to eat. If I would make a mistake they would pull my hair bending my head until it hurt. I would cry saying sorry. I couldn't understand them. It seemed like I was always in the wrong. I started to feel very uncomfortable. I kept crying and thinking about my family. I wanted to go home. I was sick and tired of this sort of life. I hated it. I was very upset with this family. I couldn't even see anybody to tell them what was happening. A lady from the welfare came to see me. I told her how I was feeling. She just took no notice of me and done her reports saying I was very happy with [them]. I just had to put up with it all. So one day I went to Port Adelaide and stole a pocket knife from one of the stores just so I could get into trouble and leave this family." Confidential evidence 253, South Australia: man removed at 7 years in the 1950s; his second foster family treated him well and assisted his reunion with his natural father.

"I was very fortunate that when I was removed, I was with very loving and caring parents. The love was mutual ... My foster mother used to take me and my sister to town. Mum used to always walk through Victoria Square and say to us, `Let's see if any of these are your uncles'. My sister and I used to get real shamed. I used to go home and cry because I used to get so frightened and could never understand why my mum would do this to us, when it made us upset. Only when I was near 29 did I realise why ... I know my foster parents were the type of people that always understood that I needed to know my roots, who I was, where I was born, who my parents were and my identity ... I remember one day I went home to my foster father and stated that I had heard that my natural father was a drunk. My foster father told me you shouldn't listen to other people: `You judge him for yourself, taking into account the tragedy, that someday you will understand'." Confidential submission 252, South Australia: woman fostered at 4 years in the 1960s.

"The authorities said I was removed from my parents so I could receive an education but the fact is the nuns never gave me that education. I didn't receive an education. I was very neglected." Quoted by WA Aboriginal Legal Service submission 127 on page 49.

"I don't know who decided to educate the Aboriginal people but the standard was low in these mission areas. I started school at the age of eight at grade 1, no pre-school. I attended school for six years, the sixth year we attended grade 4, then after that we left school, probably 14 years old." Confidential submission 129, Queensland: man removed to Cherbourg in the 1940s.

What education was provided generally aimed at completion of their schooling at the level achieved by a ten year old child in the State education system. It emphasised domestic science and manual training, thus preparing the children for a future as menial workers within the government or mission communities or as cheap labour in the wider community (Loos and Osanai 1993 page 20).

"I finished school in fifth grade. I think I was 17. I did alright at school but they wouldn't allow us to go on. They wouldn't allow us to be anything. I would have liked to be a nurse or something but when I finished school they sent me to work as a domestic on stations." Confidential submission 277, Queensland: woman removed at 7 years in 1934 to the dormitory on Palm Island.

Fifth grade here is primary school...

"I wanted to be a nurse, only to be told that I was nothing but an immoral black lubra, and I was only fit to work on cattle and sheep properties ... I strived every year from grade 5 up until grade 8 to get that perfect 100% mark in my exams at the end of each year, which I did succeed in, only to be knocked back by saying that I wasn't fit to do these things ... Our education was really to train us to be domestics and to take orders." Confidential submission 109, Queensland: woman removed at 5 years in 1948 to the dormitory on Palm Island.

"I was the best in the class, I came first in all the subjects. I was 15 when I got into 2nd year and I wanted to ... continue in school, but I wasn't allowed to, because they didn't think I had the brains, so I was taken out of school and that's when I was sent out to farms just to do housework." Woman removed to Cootamundra, NSW, quoted by Hankins 1982 on page 4.2.5.

"They sent me when I was 16 from Parramatta Girls' Home out to M, a property 137 miles from Nyngan. We never had a holiday. We weren't allowed to go into town with them. If you did go in or go anywhere and you saw any Aboriginal people, you weren't allowed to speak to them. So you had to live that isolated life. We never, ever got our wages or anything like that. It was banked for us. And when we were 21 we were supposed to get this money, you see. We never got any of that money ever. And that's what I wonder: where could that money have went? Or why didn't we get it?" Confidential evidence 11, Queensland: NSW woman removed to Cootamundra at 2 or 3 years in the 1940s, spending the ages of 13-16 in Parramatta Girls' Home.

"[Chief Protector] Neville got our money. We were working on a station. Some of them worked six or seven years. And the money come down here to that office here in Wellington St [Perth]. When I finished up, coming back from the Territory, I told who I was and I said, `There's money supposed to be here'. I got 30 shillings - one pound ten - a red, white and blue blanket, and a pass to the Settlement [Moore River]. I said, `Hey, I don't want your pass to the Settlement. I can go to the Settlement. That's my home'."Confidential evidence 333, Western Australia: man removed to Sister Kate's Orphanage in 1933 and probably working during the 1940s.

It has been argued that early loss of a mother or prolonged separation from her before age 11 is conducive to subsequent depression, choice of an inappropriate partner, and difficulties in parenting the next generation. Anti-social activity, violence, depression and suicide have also been suggested as likely results of the severe disruption of affectional bonds (Australian Association of Infant Mental Health submission 699 page 3 citing Bowlby 1988 page 174; supported by Dr Nick Kowalenko, Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Royal North Shore Hospital, NSW, evidence 740).

"I remember when my sister come down and visited me and I was reaching out. There was no-one there. I was just reaching out and I could see her standing there and I couldn't tell her that I'd been raped. And I never told anyone for years and years. And I've had this all inside me for years and years and years. I've been sexually abused, harassed, and then finally raped, y'know, and I've never had anyone to talk to about it ... nobody, no father, no mother, no-one. We had no-one to guide us. I felt so isolated, alienated. And I just had no-one. That's why I hit the booze. None of that family bonding, nurturing - nothing. We had nothing." Confidential evidence 248, South Australia: woman removed as a baby in the 1940s to Colebrook; raped at 15 years in a work placement organised by Colebrook.

"There's still a lot of unresolved issues within me. One of the biggest ones is I cannot really love anyone no more. I'm sick of being hurt. Every time I used to get close to anyone they were just taken away from me. The other fact is, if I did meet someone, I don't want to have children, cos I'm frightened the welfare system would come back and take my children. Confidential evidence 528, New South Wales: man removed at 8 years in the 1970s; suffered sexual abuse in both the orphanage and foster homes organised by the church. It's wrecking our relationship and the thing is that I just don't trust anybody half the time in my life because I don't know whether they're going to be there one minute or gone the next." Confidential evidence 379, South Australia: woman fostered at 9 years in the 1970s.

"When I first met my mother - when I was 14 - she wasn't what they said she was. They made her sound like she was stupid, you know, they made her sound so bad. And when I saw her she was so beautiful. Mum said, `My baby's been crying' and she walked into the room and she stood there and I walked into my - I walked into my mother and we hugged and this hot, hot rush just from the tip of my toes up to my head filled every part of my body - so hot. That was my first feeling of love and it only could come from my mum. I was so happy and that was the last time I got to see her. When my mum passed away I went to her funeral, which is stupid because I'm allowed to go see her at her funeral but I couldn't have that when she requested me. They wouldn't let me have her." Confidential evidence 139, Victoria: removed 1967; witness's mother died two years after their first and only meeting.

And then, you have their families, having your child(ren) ripped away from you, it must have been so devastating, how could you live with something like that.

The interesting thing was that he was such a great provider ... He was a great provider and had a great name and a great reputation. Now, when this intrusion occurred it had a devastating impact upon him and upon all those values that he believed in and that he put in place in his life which included us, and so therefore I think the effect upon Dad was so devastating. And when that destruction occurred, which was the destruction of his own personal private family which included us, it had a very strong devastating effect upon him, so much so that he never ever recovered from the trauma that had occurred ...

Progressively the shattering effect continued in my father's life to the point that he couldn't see the sense in reuniting the family again. He had lost all confidence as a parent and as an adult in having the ability to be able to reunite our family. Confidential evidence 265, Victoria: woman removed with her sisters from their father and grandmother in the 1960s.

Mum was kidnapped. My grandfather was away working at the time, and he came home and found that his kids had been taken away, and he didn't know nothing about it. Four years later he died of a broken heart. He had a breakdown and was sent to Kew [Psychiatric] Hospital. He was buried in a pauper's grave and on his death certificate he died of malnutrition, ulcers and plus he had bedsores. He was 51. Confidential evidence 143, Victoria.

I remember my Aunty, it was her daughter that got taken. She used to carry these letters around with her. They were reference letters from the white fellas in town ... Those letters said she was a good, respectable women ... She judged herself and she felt the community judged her for letting the welfare get her child ... She carried those letters with her, folded up, as proof, until the day she died. Quoted by Link-Up submission 186 on page 21.

Professor Beverley Raphael told the Inquiry,

"Part of the reaction to being traumatised, like suddenly having your child torn away from you, is what we call a high level of arousal ... that heightened arousal can stay on a heightened level with physiological responsiveness for the rest of one's life ... so that people are aroused, alert. And one reason they take alcohol and other substances is often to dampen this down and they don't know its cause" (evidence 658).

"My parents were continually trying to get us back. Eventually they gave up and started drinking. They separated. My father ended up in jail. He died before my mother. On her death bed she called his name and all us kids. She died with a broken heart." Confidential submission 106, New South Wales: woman removed at 11 months in the late 1950s with her three siblings; children fostered in two separate non-Indigenous families.

"It has left me sick, also my son sick too, never to be the same people again that we were before, being separated from one another, it has made our lives to be nothing on this earth. My sons and myself went through a lot of pain and heartbreak. It's a thing that I'll never forget until I die, it will always be in my mind that the Welfare has ruined my thinking and my life. I felt so miserable and sad and very unhappy, that I took to drinking after they took my sons. I thought there was nothing left for me." Confidential submission 338, Victoria.

"I often used to ask my foster mother who she was, this old lady who would come to the gate, and the answer I always got was, `She is some silly old black woman'." Confidential evidence 56, Tasmania: man removed 1930s; his grandmother died before he was able to find her.

"I was there for 16 years and I was brainwashed every day of the week. You never go near Blacks. Your people don't want you anyway. They're just dirty. They don't want anything to do with you ... We were playing in the schoolyard and this old black man came to the fence. I could hear him singing out to me and my sister. I said to [my sister], `Don't go. There's a black man'. And we took off. It was two years ago I found out that was my grandfather. He came looking for us. I don't know when I ever stopped being frightened of Aboriginal people. I don't know when I even realised I was Aboriginal. It's been a long hard fight for me." Confidential evidence 10, Queensland: NSW woman removed 1940s and placed in Cootamundra Girls' Home

On that note I wish to also say I am very sorry to the stolen generations and their families...

If you have Diabetes 2 you're screwed...

2008-01-31T12:43:00.000+10:30

Okay that may seem harsh but after reading this you may not think so.

Granted I am not talking about those whom are using lifestyle changes consisting of diet and exercise, specifically low carbohydrate diets, but after reading this I wonder how many actually do.

I am referring to this diabetes 2 case vignette, I was just reading on The New England Journal of Medicine website where doctors are given a case study for a 51 year old lady seeking advice on managing her diabetes. They are given 3 treatment options and are then asked to vote on and discuss these options.

None of these options are lifestyle changes, not only that, out of all the replies, there's barely a mention, though I did see a couple of doctors question the pharmaceutical influence of these options. Low carb and weight loss through lifestyle changes are mentioned a couple of times but considering the amount of comments by doctors there you're looking at maybe a couple of percent that were for diet and exercise.

What is worse, is that the majority of the doctors don't seem to be very confident in the safety of these drugs besides insulin, yet due to their patients not wanting insulin injections, they are recommending them anyway instead of lifestyle changes or a combination there of that includes diet and exercise.

There was one doctor that not only recommended a plethora of drugs but he also chucked a statin in there as well???

Now, I am no expert on this nor am a a doctor, neither I or anyone in my close family have diabetes, I am simply a fellow low carber with an opinion *wink*

Am I right to be disgusted and horrified by reading that?

For those that haven't read this article yet, this one is really good and shows where I am coming from:

The Cure for Diabetes

Kimkins

2008-01-24T13:07:00.001+10:30

Looks like it is time for another kimkins update on the whole kimkins diet saga :D

It was a big week last week for Kimmer and in my opinion, her starvation diet.

As most of you should know by now, the Kimkins diet scam was featured on Good Morning America on the ABC network, if you haven't seen it check it out: Kimkins on GMA.

For those whom have trouble with watching these due to dial up or they can't use sound, due to being at work. Elle, from the blog, Grilled Cheese Sandwich With Pickles, has taken the time to type out a transcript of the show here: Kimkins on Good Morning America Transcript

One interesting tidbit for those whom have watched the video, GMA repeatedly mention the 500 calorie limit during the show. Kimmer has since claimed that this is untrue and has posted a rebuttal on her website.

Mariasol has addressed this here: Calories on Kimkins

A point to remember, though Kimmer never advertised an amount of calories for her boot camp plan she did have limits on allowed foods and portion sizes which forced a calorie limit of around 500 calories which I have previously addressed, scroll down to my quote on kimkins boot camp

Also, keep in mind the efforts Kimmer and co went to, to cover up these allegations such as, the alleged deletion of incriminating posts and private messages as well as the kimkins banning's of members whom were spotted posting negatively on other forums or whom dared to challenge unsound advice or discuss the kimkins controversy on the kimkins forums. And we will never forget her fake kimkins success stories including Kimmer's after photos!

But not only that, Kimmer made a second appearance in court for the deposition for the civil class action lawsuit thats pending. I haven't seen any details about this released publicly yet, but hopefully some information on that will come up on the courts website soon. Maybe some footage from last weeks deposition will appear, like the previous one showing Kimmer on KTLA? That would be good, I don't know about you, but I am totally itching to find out how it all went :)

Would love to see how the kimkins diet is really working for dear old Heidi!

Whats more, is on the Kimkins front, there's some real, well researched and thought out posts on some of the health risks of very low calorie diets like kimkins that have been popping up lately that make me proud to know these people, fighting the good fight.

Medusa for instance, is spitting them out left right and centre, I highlighted some of these in an earlier kimkins post but there's many more such as, her great post addressing Kimkins and Diabetes as well as her various posts covering Anorexia Nervosa

Another anti kimkins blogger known as Honeybee wrote a great post on Kimkins and Eating disorders

Also an interesting post by Kimorexia addresses research on the benefits of eating fat with your salads and nutrient absorption:
About those Kimkins salads...

Plus don't forget some of the other side effects which I have highlighted here:
Kimkins and research on the health risks of very low calorie diets
and remember rapid weight-loss is not healthy!

Kimkins Scam

2008-01-16T14:23:00.001+10:30

I thought I'd help out these bloggers and share their latest posts on how you can help:

First one could be quite interesting, as this diet scam is soon to make it to national TV yet again, this time by ABC. They are looking for people whom have been harmed whilst doing this diet, if you have been harmed then please consider coming on their show. Whilst it's great to see Christin and Deni on the Morning show it would be great to see some others whom were purely just a regular member trying to lose weight.

If you can help please do:

Harmed by Kimkins? Share your Story on National TV

Another fantastic effort I see is a competition aimed at encouraging people whom do not approve of kimkins to be more pro-active.

Take Down Kimkins Contest

Kimkins

2008-01-11T08:34:00.000+10:30

I was just posting about these posts on kimkins and eating disorders on a kimkins diet forum thread we have when I thought that I should add it here too in case some of you haven't been to Medusas blog this week or for anyone new that comes across my blog through googling kimkins.

Are you guys ready to be shocked like you have never been shocked before?

This is why I (and many others) am so passionate about kimkins, I know there are other very low calorie scam diets out there and we can't win them all, but that doesn't mean we should just sit on our hands if there is something we can do to help.

This is a collection of few blog posts regarding someone in kimkins whom is eating very, very little and exercising like crazy (running and weights), and is looking like she is experiencing problems with her electrolytes (and seeking advice from Kimmer rather then a doctor!). For those that don't realise, if the electrolyte imbalance gets too bad you can die suddenly. Check my VLCD research page for some studies on something similar. This person looks to be eating around 200 calories a day and running and doing weights? every day. There are 3 blog posts posted on medusas blog about this girl called Jane Doe (to protect her identity). I will list them in the order that they were posted and they will get more shocking each time:

Jane Doe 1

Jane Doe 2

Jane Doe 3

Also here is a great post by Bamagal

Eating disorders in older women

Type 2 Diabetes and Carrot Cake

2008-01-09T17:56:00.000+10:30

Lol have you guys seen this gem?

From Eureka, courtesy of the sugar Bureau:

Carrot cake study on sugar in type 2 diabetes
New study adds to new thinking on sugar in the diabetes diet

Patients with type 2 diabetes are often advised to cut out sucrose (table sugar) all together. However, in recent years this traditional advice has been questioned by some researchers who suggest that moderate amounts of sugar can be safely consumed as part of the diet of patients with diabetes. Now a new study has been published that is consistent with this revised approach. It showed that patients who increased their daily sugar intake (in the form of carrot cake) but maintained a stable body weight, showed no adverse changes in their blood glucose.

The study was conducted by the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at London’s Hammersmith Hospital. Three slices of carrot cake were added to the daily diets of nine, overweight type 2 diabetes patients over 24 days (bringing their daily total to 88g or 18 teaspoons of sugar). Consumption of the carrot cake slices was evenly distributed across the day. Several measurements were recorded at the beginning and end of the study, including the patients’ weight, blood sugar (glucose) levels, cholesterol levels, and insulin sensitivity (which is a measure of how well the body responds to the hormone insulin).

Professor Gary Frost, who led the study, explained ‘In this study, the energy intake of these patients was balanced to their body weight, and their sucrose intake was spread evenly over a day. Correspondingly, they did not gain weight or show an increase in blood glucose levels at the end of the study; in addition, their cholesterol levels and insulin sensitivity did not change.’ He added ‘the results of this small, short-term study support other scientific studies, which suggest that there could be more flexibility with sucrose in the diets of patients with type 2 diabetes. There is evidence from other studies (reviewed by Kirk et al 2000) that inclusion of sucrose may help people to lower their fat intake, which in turn may be beneficial to overall health’.

Professor Frost continued ‘This research is in line with the dietary guidelines set by the American Diabetes Association (2007), which state that sucrose does not cause a greater increase in blood glucose levels than an equivalent amount of starch. Therefore sucrose or sucrose-containing foods should be treated similarly to other carbohydrate containing foods by people with diabetes; either substituted for other carbohydrates in the total daily intake, or managed with appropriate diabetes medication.

I found the Abstract:

Increased Sucrose Intake is not Associated with a Change in Glucose or Insulin Sensitivity in People with Type 2 Diabetes

A study to investigate whether a 50g increase in daily sucrose consumption, in combination with an increase in monounsaturated fat intake (20% E), affects
glycaemic control or insulin sensitivity in people with type 2 diabetes. This study involved a re-examination of results from a larger study. Nine overweight
people with type 2 diabetes received a high-sucrose, high-monounsaturated fat, isocaloric diet for 24 days. The additional sucrose and fat was provided in the
form of a carrot cake, which subjects were instructed to swap for high-GI carbohydrates, while keeping the total protein and energy intake constant. Body
weight and HbA1c were stable throughout the study. There were no significant changes in fasting or postprandial insulin or glucose, fasting triglycerides, or
total/HDL cholesterol ratio. Insulin sensitivity was not changed. The authors conclude that over the 3-week intervention period, dietary intake of 13% of
energy as sucrose in combination with a high monounsaturated fat intake, was not associated with a decline in glycaemic control or insulin sensitivity in these
subjects.

Byrnes AE & Frost GS International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 2007; DOI: 10.1080/09637480701395523

Santa Claus, Santa Claus You Are Much too Fat....

2007-12-31T07:40:00.000+10:30

Santa Claus, Santa Claus You Are Much too Fat

I heard a reindeer hoof, then Santa dressed in red,
came crashing thro’ the roof and landed on my bed.
I thought it was a dream, but quickly did I wake,
as soon as I heard Santa scream, “I want a piece of cake!”

CHORUS
Oh, Santa Claus, Santa Claus, you are much too fat;
I was sleeping peacefully but now my bed is flat. Oh!
Santa Claus, Santa Claus, how much do you weigh?
I’m glad I’m not a reindeer that has to pull your sleigh!

He got up off the floor and said, “How do you do?”
I said, “My back is sore, my head is black and blue.”
“So sorry!” he replied, and then he asked my name.
He offered me a ride, I said, “No, thank you just the same!”

CHORUS

I heard a “ho, ho, ho,” the sleigh was in the sky.
but it was moving slow and wasn’t very high.
It wobbled in the air, I hoped it wouldn’t fall;
Said Santa, chewing cookies, “Merry Christmas, one and all!”

CHORUS

I found this in a good blog post titled Cute or Horrifying?, Make sure you check out the rest of the post.

It seems this is the type of Christmas songs they teach in schools these days. I know its good to have a sense of humour and all that but for those on the receiving end it is pretty mortifying, ESPECIALLY when you're a kid. People always say that children are very resilient but frankly I don't buy that, I don't believe children are as tough as we give them credit for, they just appear tough because they don't know how to or feel they can't express themselves. E.g. show hands if you have or had some type of hang up that relates back to when you were kid?

Well that's just my unprofessional opinion :)

But not only do we feel it is fine to mock fat children in our schools, now our governments feel it is fine to mock them too, even to the extent of scrutinising children that may be simply tall and solid because their BMI says they are fat?

For example in America, Regina Wilshire had this to say about new recommendations to tackle childhood obesity:

"A new report, Expert Committee Recommednations Regarding the Prevention, Assessment, and Treatment of Child and Adolescent Overweight and Obesity: Summary Report, issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) this month, is designed to tackle the growing prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States.

Its recommendations should make any parent shudder - not only does the position of the AAP assume overweight and obesity in children is a problem of behavior, it assumes every child in the United States, with the exception of those classified as "underweight" by BMI, is in need of routine intervention and prevention to avoid overweight and obesity in adulthood.

I kid you not.

Every child in the United States, except those with a BMI classifed as "underweight," will now be subject to a risk assessment and prevention measures at every doctor visit. The implication within the document is clear - parents simply cannot be trusted to know how to raise normal healthy weight children over the long-term, even when their child is a normal weight, thus routine, repeated messages must be delivered at each and every opportunity."

Read the rest here: Growing Pains

It is starting to happen here in Australia too, with a four year health check being introduced next year, excerpt taken from Sydney Morning Herald:

"ALL four-year-old children will have their weight checked as part of a Federal Government strategy to make tackling chronic levels of overweight and obesity a national priority.

The Minister for Health, Nicola Roxon, told a Sydney conference yesterday that from next year there would be a $45 Medicare rebate for GPs and community clinics to conduct the Healthy Kids Checks.

By 2009 all four-year-old children - about 255,000 each year - will have their body mass index (a measure of a person's weight scaled according to their height) measured when they are immunised.

The idea was first raised as a pre-election commitment by Labor in April last year and was designed to give professional advice to parents on how to look after their children's weight, Ms Roxon said.

"The Healthy Kids Check will help ensure all our four-year-olds are healthy, fit and ready to learn when they start primary school," she said yesterday."

Oh Great!

I am sure this great nutritional advice will get them ready to learn... just like their great nutritional advice helps diabetics manage their diabetes [sarcasm]

This has me concerned for my daughter, as she was a big baby being above the top percentiles for both age/height and age/weight on the old formula growth charts despite being fully breastfed. I would imagine they would have a field day with her!

Of course if you look at the photos I put up in my post just under this you can see at just over 2 years and 8 months, she looks very healthy. When I checked recently, on those same old growth charts she was still over the top percentile for height but under the top percentile for weight, in fact I think she went for a year or close with out gaining weight as she went through a huge growth spurt.

I don't immunise Maya anymore so hopefully she will slip through.

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2007-12-27T14:05:00.000+10:30

Sorry I haven't wished everyone a Merry Christmas but I have been very busy. Also sorry I haven't been updating much but apart from being busy I have also been feeling a bit burnt out with kimkins and have been spending lots of time trying to help with the cause where I can. I haven't really known what to blog about.

Anyway I wanted to share my Christmas present with you guys, Garry booked me in for a joy flight in an old warbird, I was packing it at first but it was really fun and left me wanting more :)

Here is a pic of my parachute, you will notice there is padding down the bottom as the seats in the plane are just metal bucket seats:

Here's a pic of me in the plane that the pilot took, it didn't turn out very good in that it it was very washed out/bright on me so I tried to fix it up a little but I don't know how to use photoshop so this will have to do lol

This is one of the plane just before we start to go down the runway:

Here is a pic of Maya whom is a little scared of what was going on at first. She is watching whilst the pilot does an engine test before we take off:

Now, when Maya does something good like a wee in the potty we always cheer her on saying "you did it, you did it!" same thing is we do something cool together, we cheer each other on. Apparently as the plane took off Maya was cheering me on saying "You did it, you did it, mummy did it!"

I thought it was very cute :)

Kimkins, dieting and eating disorders

2007-12-04T17:48:00.000+10:30

I was reading this post and was really moved by it so I wanted to share, it is kimkins related but I found it to be much more then that:

"People don’t see eating disorders with fat people. They see desperation and lack of self control. They’ve eaten so much they deserve to be that way. They’ve let themselves go. They’re disgusting, it’s their fault.

I am fat. I am overweight. I do not overeat. I am not lazy. I am not gluttonous. I have not let myself go. I do not sit on my ass all day. And I have an eating disorder."

Read the post here: Diet fraud: redefining anorexia

Kimkins Diet Scam

2007-11-16T11:01:00.002+10:30

An alleged picture of Kimkins founder Heidi Diaz (aka Kimmer) taken during her deposition on the 12th of November 2007. See kimkins works! :p

Okay, I just wanted to make hopefully one last post on this controversial diet scam named Kimkins. I have been procrastinating on this for a while, because as passionate as I am about the potential health risks of the kimkins diet I do feel that posting on the other aspects of the kimkins scam doesn't really fit with this blog and is much better left to the others. But, with the latest publicity Kimmer and her kimkins diet has had from the Morning Show, which apparently is pretty major, I have been a little concerned that this would send a lot more her way especially considering the 40,000 new members kimkins received after the womans world article in just a few short weeks. Granted, this wasn't positive like the WW article, but we all know how easy it is to let our desperation to lose weight get the better of us, as well as how damn convincing Kimmer can be.

A diet that promises fast weight loss - we all know how the quick fix (or pop a pill) mentality feels like and how easy it is to think:

"oh it won't happen to me"

or

"I will get the weight off quick and then get the heck out of there before anything bad happens"

Also, I am sure there are still a lot of people whom think they are untouchable so long as they are fat. For those that don't know, she also allegedly spouted this rubbish to a 14 year old girl whom wasn't even overweight consuming just 500 calories a day. Even if that may be true in some instances, just keep in mind, how are you going to get off that roller coaster once you are slim and the risks more dangerous?

How do you think you will feel about food mentally?

You might scoff at me for saying that, but I have heard so many stories now of people coming off kimkins with disorded views on food, it is seriously not funny. A quick squizz on kimkins survivors will show you what I mean.

Another come back I see often is in reference to WLS (weight loss surgery). Heidi often says that people are put on diets of 500 calories after weight loss surgery to justify her very low calorie diet. Here is a great post by someone whom has had gastric bypass whom explains why this isn't so: weight loss surgery

I have wrote a few times on the risks as well as working on a page outlining some of the risks shown in research on VLCD diets (you can also do a search on my blog for kimkins posts) so I won't repeat myself:

Research on the risks of very low calorie diets

Gallstones

Muscle Mass, Rabbit Starvation and Thyroid

Also here is an article by Carol on losing muscle mass.

Also if you followed kimkins and have not received a refund you can join the lawsuit that began last Monday...

You can find the blog with information about it here: Kimkins lawsuit plus you can find a video explaining the process of how to join the lawsuit here: Kimkins lawsuit video.

Also kimkins scam has a page of links to what you can do to take action here.

For those interested in the scam part of it you can find some of the blogs in my menu to the right of this page plus you can find all the links to both The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet and KTLA TV stories as well as links to the surveillance videos done by the private investigator on the left of BG's blog here and you can find all the current photos of Kimmer by the person whom hired the private investigator on his blog here. Plus Juliet mentioned Mondays show on her blog here.

I also wanted to mention for those that have watched the Morning Show last Monday, please don't let that turn you off from considering a low carb diet, they can be very beneficial for many reasons (see low carb research), particularly if combined with resistant training. Both the doctor and nutritionist really didn't appear to be that informed about the importance of fats and the merits of low carbohydrate diets thus the doctors confusion regarding ketogenesis, ketosis and ketoacidosis plus you don't have to be in ketosis to do a low carbohydrate diet.

*Kimkins Update*

I have updated this post with a picture of Heidi taken during her deposition for the kimkins lawsuit on the 12th of November. I would also like to add a link to a news story that aired last night on KTLA TV showing a video tape of Heidi during her deposition: 11/29 - Founder "Kim Kin Diet" Admits Diet was a Lie, Chip Yost Reports

This was the same day Kimmer made her IMO pathetic attempt at an apology and uploaded a photo of what she claimed to now look like on her website. As you can see by the picture I have added to the top of this post, the picture she uploaded to her site does not appear to be accurate as it is not consistent with the women in the deposition photo. Whilst I believe it is her, in my opinion, it looks like it has been heavily altered in photoshop or a similar program.

*update* she has since removed the altered picture from her website and replaced it with a more realistic one. If I find a picture of her altered one for those whom missed out I will edit the link in here so you can see for yourself :)

Sept 22: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Rabbit Starvation, Sudden Death and Resting Metabolism.
Sept 11: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Gallstones.
Aug 17: My reply to Deni
Aug 13: The low fat side of the Kimkins Diet, Part 1
July 18: Is Kimkins okay simply because it is low carb?
July 15: Kimkins and Kimmer
June 13: Okay Some Kimkins Stuff...

A Low-carb Diet May Stunt Prostate Tumor Growth

2007-11-15T07:43:00.000+10:30

Hey, I just came across this today in Science Daily. We all know how beneficial low carbohydrate diets are for various cancers and there are more and more studies out there that show this. Now, another on prostate cancer, but be warned - it is a mice study. This will lead to a human one and hopefully more recognition for low carb diets.

In the study they compared tumour growth in mice fed a low carb diet, a low fat diet and a western diet that is high in both fat and carbohydrates. The low fat diet had a shorter survival time and large tumour but western diet faired the worst with the shortest survival time and biggest tumour out of all three. Naturally the low carb diet faired the best with the longest survival and smallest tumours but as well as that not only did they share lower insulin levels like the low fat group they also had lower levels of the form of IGF, which is capable of stimulating tumor growth.

I liked this quote:

"This study showed that cutting carbohydrates may slow tumor growth, at least in mice," said Stephen Freedland, M.D., a urologist at Duke University Medical Center and lead researcher on the study. "If this is ultimately confirmed in human clinical trials, it has huge implications for prostate cancer therapy through something that all of us can control, our diets."

:)

Mother Jailed, Put On Trial for Curing Her Son of Melanoma

2007-11-04T19:24:00.000+10:30

I was reading this after one of the ladies posted about this today on our forum. Have you guys in the US, heard about this?

Mother Jailed, Put On Trial for Curing Her Son of Melanoma

Very freaky... what do you think?

*update*

I just wanted to say I found an article with a different perspective here. I did mention it in the comments but the link didn't work so thought it best to add here.

I also found a few records of traffic violations dating from 2004 for a Laurie Jessop born in 1961 and a Chad Jessop born in 1990 so there does appear to be a 17 year old Chad Jessop in Orange County. I also found records of a family court battle between a Laurie Jessop and a Markus Jessop whom have a child dating back from 2003 which seems to have been revived this past August. So it may be true, or at least these identities exist, maybe someone should try to contact them to see if it actually happened?

Low carb diet now extends benefits to IBD

2007-10-25T15:10:00.000+09:30

Hey I was just reading this news article and thought I'd share, I found it interesting that they removed onions, I wonder if it was because of fructans anyway here it is:

Low carb diet now extends benefits to IBD
A special low-carbohydrate diet has been found to relieve the distressing symptoms that afflict people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) – an umbrella term that covers Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
The Australian study, from Box Hill Hospital Victoria, found the diet, which involves cutting back on foods including wheat, onions, milk, ice-cream, apples, honey, stone fruits and legumes, to be effective in more than 50 per cent of patients with IBD who have co-existing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Read the rest here

I found the abstract if anyone is interested: The effect of reduction of poorly absorbed, highly fermentable short-chain carbohydrates (FODMAPs) on the symptoms of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (scroll down)

Avocado, Pancetta and Pine Nut Salad

2007-10-25T15:00:00.002+09:30

I found this recipe in the Delicious magazine, it is a Jamie Oliver recipe and looks really yummy and would be very low carb!

Avocado, Pancetta and Pine Nut Salad

12 thin slices of pancetta
6 Avocados (ripe)
4 large handfuls of baby spinach
50g pine nuts
2 Tbs of Olive oil (extra virgin)
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
extra oil for frying

Fry pancetta in a little olive oil until crispy, remove and set aside. Add pine nuts to pan and lightly toast until golden, set aside.

Peel and cut avocados into wedges and toss with with pancetta, pine nuts and spinach.

To make dressing, with a whisk, combine balsamic vinegar with the olive oil and season with freshly ground salt and pepper then drizzle over salad.

Kimmer, Defammation of Character

2007-10-25T06:39:00.000+09:30

I just got word that Kimmer is allegedly suing Jeanessa's attorney John for defamation.

How did she work that one out? I assume the KTLA series? LOL

The Right Brain vs Left Brain

2007-10-22T08:07:00.000+09:30

I keep meaning to post this here for some fun, have a go! :)

The Right Brain vs Left Brain test ... do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it. MORE

Some Home Made Dairy Recipes

2007-10-13T07:57:00.001+09:30

photo courtesy of geek philosopher

I love buying cooking magazines, I try to buy one every fortnight during our main grocery shop. This time I bought one called Donna Hay Magazine, I had never bought this one before and it was really good. I found a bunch of LC suitable recipes and shared some of them here

But what was even better was the home made dairy recipes inside which looked very simple. There's ricotta cheese, curd cheese, clotted cream and yoghurt. With Maya being sensitive to the proteins in regular cows milk I have to give her A2 milk. I have yet to come across any cheese or yoghurt's (which she loves) that are made with this milk so I thought some of these recipes would come in handy.

Anyway I thought you guys might like them too :)

Keep in mind that the cup measures are metric cup measures so use the other measure in brackets if you don't use metric and metric tablespoon are 20ml where as US tablespoons are 14 ml which is about half an ounce, measurements and conversions.

Ricotta

Makes 1¼ cups or 10 oz

1.5 litres of full cream milk (48 fl oz)
2 TBL white vinegar
candy thermometer
fine muslin

Pour milk into saucepan with thermometer and heat to 80°C (176°F). Remove from heat, add vinegar and set aside for 5 minutes to curdle.

Sit colander over a deep bowl and then line colander with the muslin. Using a slotted spoon, gently spoon the curds into the colander and leave to drain for 5 minutes. Need to be gentle with the curds so they don't go dry and grainy.

Next just gently spoon into a class or ceramic dish and cover loosely with cling wrap. Can store in fridge for up to a week.

Curd Cheese

Makes 400g or 14 oz

¼ cup (2 fl oz) water
1 tsp liquid rennet
2 litres (64 fl oz) full cream milk
table salt
candy thermometer
fine muslin

Bring water to boil and then cool completely. Stir in rennet and set aside.

Pour milk into saucepan and with candy thermometer heat to 32°C (90°F). Remove from heat, add water/rennet mixture and gently combine for 5-8 mins until curds form.

Place colander over a deep bowl and line with muslin, pour the curd mixture in to the muslin and allow to drain. Using the muslin shape the curd into an oval and twist any excess whey out.

Remove the cheese from the muslin, sprinkle with salt and then place in an airtight container and refrigerate for 2 hours before its ready.

This cheese will last for 2 days. I wonder if you can freeze it? Anyone know?
I just noticed there's some recipes where they fry it, maybe it could be fried and then frozen?

Clotted Cream

750ml (24 fl oz) of double cream

Preheat oven to 80°C (176°F).

Place cream in a ceramic baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 8 hours or until thickened slightly with a pale yellow skin on top.

Allow to cool completely then cover with cling wrap and chuck in fridge overnight to set. Once set it should be firm.

Carefully scrape off the buttery top with a spoon before serving. Can be stored in fridge for 3-4 days.

Yoghurt

Makes 1 litre or 32 fl oz

1 litre (32 fl oz) full cream milk
¼ cup (2 ¼ oz)natural thick yoghurt.
1 sterilsed glass jar with tight fitting lid.

Using a candy thermometer, heat milk in saucepan until it reached 95°C (203°F)
Pour into sterilised jar and cool to 42°C (108°F), stir in yoghurt then put on lid.

Wrap jar in a cloth and leave for 8-12 hours to sit in room temperature until yoghurt has thickened.

Drain excess liquid from the top of the yoghurt and your done. Can be stored in fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Kimkins Diet Scam on KTLA Part 2

2007-10-04T15:54:00.000+09:30

Yay its up, I am watching it now :)

10/3 - Exclusive! Popular Internet Diet May Be A Sham...and Unsafe. Part 2.

Kimkins and Kimmer on TV!!!

2007-10-03T15:51:00.000+09:30

Check it out: KTLA Exclusive: Internet Diet Scam Exposed

Oh and notice how she sounds just like Jimmy's podcast!!! :)

Oh and by the way, for those on Dial up, Serenity from LCF went to the trouble of writing out a transcript and sharing some pics from the video, check it out here

Also now that this is all out I wanted to mention a new blog post on the PI's blog that you will find interesting :)

Private Investigator's Notes: The Surveillance of Southern California Diet Scammer Heidi Diaz of Kimkins

Edited to add I changed the link to KTLA above to a direct link as it saves looking for it plus the viewing window is larger but the original link is here. There is another show tonight which I believe is covering the lawsuit and health risks. Use this link when waiting for the next show to come online, the first one uploaded after the show had finished airing so I'd expect the same to happen this time. The news program airs at 10pm pst and goes for an hour so expect it to go online after 11pm sometime.

Enjoy :)

BMI

2007-10-02T17:02:00.000+09:30

Hey I was just visiting Burning the Scale blog and came across this flickr gallery displaying photos of people representing various BMI's

Some are really surprising: Illustrated BMI Categories

The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Rabbit Starvation, Sudden Death and Resting Metabolism.

2007-09-22T19:10:00.000+09:30

Low Fat Side of Kimkins parts 1 and 2

As discussed in the previous article, very low calorie diets like kimkins can cause gall stones due to rapid weight loss as well as the lack of fat that is commonly seen on this diet. This, may also be a danger for low calorie diets like Tony Ferguson which also commonly results in rapid weight loss, very low fat and can easily slip into the VLCD category for some as well.

Liquid Protein diets and Sudden Death

A concern is the sudden deaths associated with the liquid protein shake VLCD diets in the 70s and 80s. Now yes, there was a major issue with the type of protein used but it wasn't the only issue. Of course there have been improvements in the quality and thus safety of these liquid meal replacement diets over the short term (though they still carry lots of risks) BUT they do not show any safety for unsupervised diets, let alone ones that are simply a stab in the dark and offer no real nutritional guidelines and minimums, to avoid risks associated with VLCD dieting and fasting.

I should add to this that a little while back in the space of a little over a week I had heard of two incidents by people whom had allegedly run into heart trouble whilst following Kimkins. The last person apparently had dangerously low levels of potassium, that is not something to be messed with. The fitday in which allegedly belonged to this person appeared to be kimmers experiment with fat under 30g but mostly under 20g. Protein choices were mostly protein shakes, chicken, egg, fish and turkey and went back to early June so this person would appear to have been on this diet for over 2 months when they ended up in hospital. I haven't heard any more of these two incidences since.

"IN 1976 a book entitled The Last Chance Diet was published and almost immediately, several liquid-protein-modified-fast (LPMF) diets became very popular and fashionable as means of rapid weight reduction. These diets were intended to serve as the dieter's only source of calories. Between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1977, it was estimated that more than 100,000 persons had used one or more of the LPMF diets as their sole source of nourishment for at least 1 month. By August 1977, however, sudden death in several young LPMF diet users was reported to either the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and between July 1977 and January 1978 at least 60 deaths among avid users of the LPMF diet were reported to the FDA and CDC. " [16]

One study discussing the dieters that died from sudden death in the late 70's and cardiac dysfunction, speculated that "Although little is known about the pathogenesis of the acquired QT syndrome exhibited by certain persons during and for a variable periods of time after prolonged caloric restriction, it is likely that severely obese individuals who have lost 30% or more of their body weight rapidly, either by fasting or by means of VLC diet, are at substantial risk of developing this dangerous cardiac disorder. Less obese persons who reduce their weight rapidly on similar regimens may develop a prolonged QTc interval after losing as little as 10 to 15% of body weight, In such individuals, death from ventricular arrhythmia could occur within 2 months of dieting." [17]

Some other studies regarding these PSMF shake diets and sudden deaths [18, 19]

This is why I have a problem with the kimkins diet for ANYONE. Who is to say, that a or a future member or two (or three) of kimkins does not have the potential for sudden death through following her diet plans and advice? How do we know that her plan as vague and nutritionally unsound as it appears to be, is any better then the old liquid protein diets of the past that were associated with sudden deaths?

Don't forget she also has a shake plan, a shake plan I might add that even allows for home made shakes that have no proper nutritional guidelines other then protein and carb limits and thus are pretty much left up to the dieter to formulate. Dieters that will have no experience or knowledge in formulating such a thing in order to ensure adequate safety. This is why I believe her shake plan has the potential to be one of the worst plans of hers though eating 4 bites of lean chicken and a coffee is certainly not any better!

But to make things worse, not only does she have an 800 calorie shake plan (4 x 200 calorie protein shakes) amongst her official plans, she has also advised on her forum her recommendation to do, a 450 calorie version of her shake plan, consisting of 3 x 150 calorie protein shakes and that's it... for fastest results. This 450 calorie version, she claims is her fastest plan.

Rabbit Starvation

But there's more , there is also concern regarding diets consisting of mostly lean protein, a concern that was commonly shared by arctic explorers.

The term "Rabbit Starvation" is well known amongst explorers. I have seen this term mentioned in a lot of discussions regarding lean protein and low carb including low carb research papers. If you have been keeping up with this whole kimkins controversy then you have probably seen the term mentioned many times amongst kimkins related discussions as well. The one they usually refer to is, Vilhjalmur Stefansson whom spent many years with the Eskimos, which included eating their diet. I found some of his writings which I will share:

Quoted by Vilhjalmur Stefansson in an article on the weston A Price web site [20]:

"The groups that depend on the blubber animals are the most fortunate in the hunting way of life," wrote Stefansson, "for they never suffer from fat-hunger. This trouble is worst, so far as North America is concerned, among those forest Indians who depend at times on rabbits, the leanest animal in the North, and who develop the extreme fat-hunger known as rabbit-starvation. Rabbit eaters, if they have no fat from another source-beaver, moose, fish-will develop diarrhea in about a week, with headache, lassitude, a vague discomfort. If there are enough rabbits, the people eat till their stomachs are distended; but no matter how much they eat they feel unsatisfied."

He and other explorers termed this diet 'Rabbit Starvation' or 'Rabbit Malaise'.

I was reading his book titled, My life With The Eskimo on google book search [21] and I found this on page 27 and 28:

"In certain places and in certain years rabbits are an important article of diet, but even when there is an abundance of this animal, the Indians consider themselves starving if they get nothing else, ~~ and fairly enough, as my own party can testify, for any one who is compelled in winter to live for a period of several weeks on lean meat will actually starve, in this sense : that there are lacking in his diet certain elements, notably fat, and it makes no difference how much he eats, he will be hungry at the end of each meal and eventually he will lose strength or becomes actually ill."

Then page 140:

"Of our entire seven I was now the only one not actually sick, and I felt by no means well. Doing hard work in cold weather on a diet nearly devoid of fat is a most interesting and uncommon experiment in dietetics, and may therefore be worth describing in some detail. The symptoms that result from a diet of lean meat are practically those of starvation. The caribou on which we had to live had marrow in their bones that was as blood, and in most of them no fat was discernible even behind the eyes or in the tongue. When we had been on a diet of oil straight, a few weeks before, we had found that with a teacupful of oil a day there were no symptoms of hunger; we grew each day sleepier and more slovenly, and no doubt lost strength gradually, but at the end of our meals of long haired caribou skin and oil we felt satisfied and at ease. Now with a diet of lean meat everything was different. We had an abundance of it as yet and we would boil up huge quantities and stuff ourselves with it. We ate so much that out stomachs were actually distended much beyond their usual size ~~ so much that it was distinctly noticeable even outside of one's clothes. But with all this gorging we felt constantly hungry. Simultaneously we felt like unto bursting and also as if we had not had enough to eat. One by one the six Eskimos of the party were taken with diarrhea.

By the 10th of January things were getting to look serious indeed. It was apparent not only that we could not go on indefinitely without fat, but it was also clear that even our lean meat would only last a few days longer. We had on December 11th estimated that we had two months' supplies of meat, and now in a month they were gone. Our estimate had not been really wrong, for if we had had a little fat to go with the meat, it would no doubt have lasted at least sixty days, but without the fat we ate such incredible quantities that it threw all our reckoning out of gear. "

[I can't access the next page so I have no idea how much more he goes into it, if anyone does please share :)]

I found another book by Stefansson on google books titled, Unsolved Mysteries of the Arctic [22], here's an excerpt from page 248-249 which whilst discussing rabbit starvation also discussed something that is so relevant today, lets see if you can pick it:

"It is widely accepted, and probably correct, that the chief difficulty in shifting from a mixed to a meat diet is psychological~~a digestive revulsion based upon the idea that meat is dangerous. For, until recently, it has been a common belief that you cannot be healthy unless you have a varied diet, that meat is injurious if taken in large quantities, and that you become "tired of a monotonous diet". The Andree party do not seem to have had any such inhibitions. This may have been because they were familiar with the history of human diet and knew that nations and races have lived for centuries and millenniums on a diet mainly or exclusively meat. More likely they expected the desirability and palatability of a meat diet through the recent experience of Nansen and Johansen who, as we have noticed more then once, spent a whole winter (a little farther north than the Andree party would be spending theirs) on an exclusive meat diet, coming out in the spring with the best of health.

It is a nearly universal experience, when a shift is being made from a mixed to a meat diet under such conditions as those of the Andree party, that there is little or no prejudice against the lean of the Arctic animals but considerable against the fat. This fat is called blubber, is supposed to be a reprehensible, and the very thought of it commonly nauseates the inexperienced.

But it has been found in various parts of the world that a diet of lean meat exclusively will cause diarrhea in from three days to a week. If no fat can be added to the lean, the diarrhea becomes serious and will lead to death. A well known field where such deaths occur is the northern edge of the forest in Canada where Indians are sometimes unable to find any food except rabbits. The expression "rabbit starvation," frequently heard among the Athapsc Indians north-west of Great Bear Lake, means not that people are starving because there are no rabbits but that they are going through the experience of starvation with plenty of rabbit meat. For this animal is so lean that illness and death result from being confined to its flesh.

When a party like Andree's are making a gradual shift from a mixed to a meat diet, no diarrhea will appear in the early stages; for there is still a considerable percentage of sugars, starches and the accustomed fats such as butter and bacon. When these elements are materially lowered, and meat begins to play a larger and larger part, you approach the diarrhea stage. The trouble, once begun, will continue until the party overcomes its prejudice against "blubber" and begins to use fat enough to make up for the things (like potatoes, bread and sugar) which are normally eaten by a man fond of beefsteak who, when he eats steak, trims the fat away."

They also did a study a few years later where both Stefansson and Anderson lived for one year on an exclusive meat diet [23]. Also if you are interested in reading more there is an old article by Stefansson available called Adventures in Diet [24].

I find these excerpts above very interesting... Here's a quote from a study on hunter gatherer diets [25]

"Many historical and ethnographic accounts have documented the deleterious health effects that have occurred when humans were forced to rely solely on the fat-depleted lean meat of wild animals. Excess consumption of dietary protein from the lean meats of wild animals leads to a condition referred to by early American explorers as "rabbit starvation," which initially results in nausea, then diarrhea, and then death. Clinical documentation of this syndrome is virtually nonexistent, except for a single case study."

"Muscle tissue of wild ungulates typically contains 2.0–3.0% fat by weight. Lean muscle meat of ungulates (2.5% fat by wt) is composed of 79.8% of energy as protein and 20.2% as fat. Consequently, consumption of lean ungulate meat as the sole daily energy intake would rapidly exceed the ability of the liver to eliminate nitrogen as urea and, hence, produce symptoms of rabbit starvation."

According to the nutrition data web site, stewed chicken breast without the skin and bone contains only 18% fat as energy whilst, roasted turkey breast meat 5% fat, light canned tuna in water (drained) 6% fat, egg whites are a mere 3% and protein shakes most likely even less. Keep in mind that the lean meat they are referring to in the quote above is 20% fat. Then we have a quote by Loren Cordain [26]:

"The human physiologic protein ceiling is, in short, the upper limit of dietary protein that humans can digest. Small animals have less fat and more protein for their size than large animals do. The total protein content of a rabbit may be as high as 75%, with 25% fat, while a large animal may be only 35% protein and 65% fat. The maximum amount of protein humans can process at one time is about 35% to 40%. Therefore, using rabbits as a food source will rapidly exceed our protein ceiling, causing a syndrome referred to by early arctic explorers and frontiersmen as "rabbit starvation." Despite eating huge amounts of lean meat, men afflicted with rabbit starvation quickly became lethargic and developed diarrhea; death eventually followed."

So if you think this couldn't possibly happen to you or someone close, think again...

I know of quite a few that have tried kimmers experiment (KE) where they eat lean meat and egg only and after a few days they go nuts and start binging through no fault of their own. I wonder, if there was nothing else available-so that all they could binge on was the lean meat, if they would then get diarrhea and so on as described by Stefansson?

Of course, granted there are tons of people doing kimkins that have the opposite problem, so I am not sure what that means. I have read in the ask kimmer thread of others having unexplainable diarrhea, and I recall Kimmer in her reply to one of the ladies who had diarrhea saying that her sister suffers the same thing and she doesn't know why. Makes me wonder if this was the same?

Muscle and Metabolism

Stefansson speaks of this unsatisfying hunger, I feel it certainly fits with the thought that excess protein converts to glucose, doesn't it? [27] it would also explain some of the incidences where people go right off the rails despite doing every thing right... of course I do think this protein theory as in how much you convert to glucose and how often and how it effects you is individual, but I have seen it myself where some people seem to do this very easily.

The worst bit about the possibly in that environment, is that if your protein is being converted into glucose so much as to invoke such hunger, then would that also keep your glucose metabolism dominant and thus more likely to burn muscle when calories are low?

Burning muscle is something you really want to minimise when trying to lose weight. Other then the more obvious benefits of having muscles, it also uses up more energy then fat just to maintain thus the higher your muscle mass the higher your energy needs. The more muscle we lose the more we lower our energy output which for obvious reasons impedes weight loss. Granted, some muscle is going to be lost during weight loss anyway, but if we lose too much particularly in comparison to our fat loss, we pretty much shoot ourselves in the foot.

There is a good article I found a while back that explains it really well [28]

Being a fertile woman I found this paragraph towards the end of the article scary:

"PHYSIOLOGICAL PHENOMENA OPPOSING WEIGHT REDUCTION

As we saw, if the energy intake is permanently reduced, body weight also reduces until it produces en energy expenditure equal to the intake, and the size of the reduction is inversely proportional to the consumption of the weight loss, which in turn depends on its composition that is determined by the starting weight. As already mentioned, a drastic diet, either in absolute terms (less than 1,200 Cal/day) or in relative (more than 500 Calories less than the starting TEE), causes the loss of a weight containing a percentage of lean body mass greater than what would be physiological for that definite starting weight. This phenomenon, which was proved in fertile women, while the clinical experience and the results of our studies suggest that it does not occur in postmenopausal women or in men, has two types of negative consequences. On one side, starting from the same body weight, since the weight loss consumes more, for a definite cumulative reduction of energy intake less weight is lost, even if in shorter time, than what would be if the weight loss composition was the physiological one. On the other side, with the weight attained being the same, since more lean than due was lost, body weight contains less lean and more fat, and then it consumes less. This means that to maintain any weight after a drastic diet one has to eat less than another person who has lost the same weight with the physiological composition, or a person with equal body weight who never lost weight. But the worst aspect of this phenomenon is that the alteration of body composition that it causes is permanent. In fact, in the case of weight regain after a drastic diet, the composition of the weight regain is the one physiological for the starting weight. Thus, less lean and more fat are regained in comparison with what was lost, and consequently also the maintenance of a weight equal to that prior to the diet entails an energy intake smaller than that before dieting. And, since the alternative is to go back to the previous energy intake stabilizing at a higher weight than that before dieting, it is easily understood how a series of such ups and downs (which is defined as "weight cycling") may lead to a progressive weight gain progressively more difficult to control. Many young women with no genetic predisposition to obesity, misled by mass media and not protected by specialized surveillance, vainly pursue unrealistic beauty ideals and eventually condemn themselves to become obese or to stay on a diet all their life."

I will have to see if I can find anything that backs this up, but its not just about muscle mass as there is also an impact on our thyroid which regulates our metabolism amongst having an effect on other important things such as our cardiovascular system, central nervous system (e.g.: mental state), growth and development and our reproductive system [29].

An interesting study I found explores the effect of a high protein VLCD on resting metabolism, thyroid hormones and energy expenditure of obese middle-aged women. [30]. Whilst they found that RMR dropped due to muscle loss they also found that the extended dieting itself had an effect on T3 levels which did not return to normal within 5 weeks of refeeding. RMR dropped significantly during the diet and upon refeeding returned to near baseline but still lower then baseline.

They note that changes in thyroid metabolism may be a factor in decreased BMR which occurs as a result of prolonged severe caloric restriction. They mention that fasting or semi-starvation leads to decreases in serum T3, increases in rT3 and little change in T4. Whilst rT3 initially increased, they found by 10 weeks it had returned to baseline and kept on dropping until significantly below baseline which they feel may indicate an adaption to prolonged caloric restriction. During the 5 weeks of refeeding that followed the VLCD they found that rT3 and T4 did return to baseline but serum T3 whilst increased, it did not reach baseline levels. They state that declined serum T3 resulting from severe caloric restriction has been linked to diet induced decline in BMR. They mention a study by Moore et al that found that those whom had the slowest weight loss during a 320 cal liquid diet had the lowest RMR and serum T3 levels. They also mention supplementing T3 to counter this was not effective and if I am reading this right suggested that such supplementation promotes protein wasting in luei of fat loss. I should note for those interested that they mention a link between carbohydrate restriction and decreased plasma T3 levels during caloric restriction, click on the link above and scroll down to thyroid hormone changes. I thought I would mention that tidbit as some members on LCF (Low Carb Friends) have been recommending that those with thyroid problems shouldn't go below 30g to 40g per day.

Another study [31] found that RMR was still depressed 2 months after the completion of a PSMF (protein sparing modified fast) and that reductions in fat free mass again did not account for all of the reductions in RMR. Here's an interesting quote I found in this paper in regards to RMR changes in lean and obese individuals:

"Refeeding experiments with lean individuals suggested that the RMR decrement associated with severe caloric limitation reverses within days of resuming maintenance caloric consumption. However, the RMR of our obese subjects remained depressed after massive weight loss despite increased caloric consumption to a level that allowed body weight stabilization."

Leibel and Hirsch [32] found that during weight maintenance some reduced-obese or even partially reduced patients must restrict their food intake to approximately 25% less than that anticipated on the basis of metabolic body size.

This study [33] found a significant reduction in serum T3:

"Serum T3 decreased by as much as 66 percent in VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) patients during consumption of the 400 kcal/day diet, whereas rT3 increased by as much as 27 percent. T3 increased when patients were realimented with a 1000 kcal/day balanced diet but remained a significant 22 percent below baseline."

Plus another study on the metabolic adaption in women during a very low calorie diet found that after 21 days the decrease in RMR-LBM ratio was near to that of those suffering chronic under nutrition[ 34 ].

Carol Bardelli also discusses the issue of lean body mass and VLCD dieting which you might find interesting [35]

If anyone comes across any more research on this topic please feel free to share so I can add it to my VLCD Research page and possibly this page as well. The list of references for this article as well as the previous article on gallstones is available here: Low Fat and Very Low Calorie Diets: References if needed but I have provided the links to the references through the article, just click on the relevant number to go there.

Other Kimkins articles by me:

Nov 16: Kimkins Diet Scam
Sept 11: Gallstones
Aug 17: My reply to Deni
Aug 13: The low fat side of the Kimkins Diet
July 18: Is Kimkins okay because its simply low carb?
July 15: Kimkins and Kimmer
June 13: Okay Some Kimkins Stuff...

The low fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Gallstones

2007-09-11T18:12:00.001+09:30

Low Fat Side of Kimkins parts 1 and 3

Hey guys sorry its taking me a while but I've been very busy and keeping up with this whole kimkins controversy isn't helping LOL

Anyway the article is still very long so I am breaking it up more, I am still touching it up but the next part on gallstones is good to go:

When I began researching the risks of very low calorie and low fat diets I was surprised at just how common gall stones really are, because of this I thought this should be discussed first.

It has been well documented that weight loss, in particular, rapid weight loss increases your chances of developing new gallstones. It has been shown in more then one study that new gallstones have formed in as little as only 4 weeks into a VLCD [1]. One study claims 25-35% of people who experience rapid weight loss form gallstones after their VLCD diet [2] and then another one that is higher again with 54.5% developing gallstones [3], not very good odds!

The reason this is thought to happen is because, during rapid weight loss, cholesterol concentrations in the bladder increases (keep in mind this is said to have nothing to do with dietary cholesterol). To top this off, when you eat very low fat and/or skip meals you do not stimulate your gall bladder to empty itself as often, which worsens the situation, allowing gallstones to form [4]. In fact, one study found a doubling of incidence of hospitalization for gallstones amongst women who fasted overnight for more than 14 hours compared with women who fasted for 8 or fewer hours [5].

But, this isn't just associated with VLC diets. A study was done to see if this also happens on a LCD (low calorie diet). Calories were approximately 925 calories a day spread across 4 liquid meals and one solid meal. By 17 weeks into the study, Six of the 47 patients (12.8%) displayed gallstones with 5 being asymptomatic (no symptoms). The sixth however had severe pain and required a cholecystectomy at 30 weeks from the beginning of the study. [6].

Another study showed an increase risk of symptomatic gallstones with weight cycling, weight cycling is where people intentionally lose weight through diet but then later regain some or all of it back, rinse and repeat, this is otherwise known as yo-yo dieting. They found that weight cycling of more than 10 lb of weight loss and regain led to a 31% to 68% increase in the risk for cholecystectomy [7].

To add to all this, obesity itself is a pretty big risk factor for gallstones [8] with many already having silent gallstones (unsymptomatic), in which symptoms may be triggered when doing a VLCD [9]. Other risk factors are diabetes, metabolic syndrome, some medications including oral contraceptives or postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (estrogen) [10] as well as females having a higher risk for gall stones which is thought to be due to estrogen increasing cholesterol concentrations in the gall bladder [11]

I was just reading a book called Gallbladder and Biliary Tract Diseases by Nezam H. Afdhal in Google book search [12]. On page 370 under the heading Lowering of the rate of weight reduction, it said this:

"Several Prospective studies have examined the relationship between weight loss and gallstone formation in the placebo arm of randomized controlled trials designed to prevent gallstone formation during rapid weight loss. In the study by Yang et al, patients who lost more then 25% of their baseline bodyweight during a 16 week very low calorie rapid weight loss diet had an incidence of new gallstone formation more then twice that observed for patients with a lower rate of weight loss. In two other studies, the rate of new gallstone formation increased stepwise with the rate of weight loss. Gallstones developed in only 8% of patients who lost less then 10 lb per month. This increased to 31% in patients who lost 10 to 15 lb per month and 49% in patients who lost 15-20 lb per month. The relationship between rate of weight loss and gallstone formation appeared to be stronger in women then men. These data suggests that the risk of weight loss is limited to only 1 to 2 lb per week."

One study that I was reading suggested a minimum of 10g of fat with every meal to reduce risks [13] (Keep in mind when I mention that minimum, it is in the context of trying to prevent gallstones only, personally I do believe we need more fat then that for other nutritional reasons). I have also read another study that claims physical activity helps in the prevention of gallstones [14] and another stating that 34% of cases of symptomatic gallstone disease in men could be prevented by increasing exercise to 30 minutes of endurance-type training five times per week [15].

Now if you think "well this won't happen to me" think again. There is a low carb, low fat diet in Australia that is very popular. Over here diets like Atkins aren't very popular at all ever since the Atkins craze slowed down a few years ago. But then you have the Tony Ferguson Diet which is advertised very heavily on TV and is available through a chain of chemists, their forum is very busy. This diet is not as bad as kimkins calorie wise (unless it was abused) but it can still fall into the VLCD category simply by limiting the veggies and fruit. It consists of a meal replacement for breakfast and lunch along with a fist sized portion of lean protein for dinner plus veggies/salad and fruit for snacks. The meal replacements are protein shakes or soups full of MSG. The shakes if memory serves me correct only contain around 2g of fat so as you can imagine gallstones seems to happen a lot or at least that's what I have been told by regulars on their forum. I was poking around on their forum the other day after a member bought up an issue with gallstones happening a lot there on a thread we have going, The Tony Ferguson Diet.

Now go to their forum, the url is:
http://forumDOTtonyfergusonDOTcom/Search1-1-1.aspx

(replace the "DOT" with a ".")

Do a search on gallstones and see how common they are. But check this out, this is a comment by one of their staff members on this issue which I found on their forum:

"If you are prone to gall stones, then any form of weight loss can bring them on. There really is no reason why you can't remain on the program with gall stones. Due to the fact is has such little fat content, then it should not trigger a gall stone attack."

Now if you looked at just some of the links on gallstones I have just provided, you would see just how crappy this response is. Kimmer isn't the only one whom appears to be dishing out misleading and inaccurate advice and unlike Kimmer this person I would assume is a trained professional.

As you can see, the odds are not great, seriously it seems pretty essential that you participate in regular exercise, make sure to eat enough fat regularly to encourage gall bladder emptying and avoid rapid weight loss unless medically necessary and under medical supervision.

Other Kimkins articles by me:
Sept 22: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Rabbit Starvation, Sudden Death and Resting Metabolism.
Aug 17: My reply to Deni
Aug 13: The low fat side of the Kimkins Diet
July 18: Is Kimkins okay because its simply low carb?
July 15: Kimkins and Kimmer
June 13: Okay Some Kimkins Stuff...

Formaldehyde in clothes

2007-08-29T07:24:00.000+09:30

I just wanted to quickly share this article, I was looking at it last night, almost every clothing item of Mayas that I have checked are from China...

Heres a snippet:

New Zealand's Target program tested common items of clothing made in China but New Zealand, like Australia, has no safe levels for formaldehyde, a known cancer cause.

At just 20 parts per million, the chemical can induce rashes, headaches, dizziness, joint pain, fatigue, asthma and in the extreme case - cancer.

Remember 20 parts per million is considered high, but the test results from New Zealand were incredible.

Women's corduroys: 290 parts per million.
A spiderman T-shirt: 1,400 parts per million.
Pyjamas: 3,400.
Kids pants: 16,000 parts per million.
White stain resistant pants: 18,000 parts per million.

That's nearly 900 times a reasonable safe level.

Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister, Peter McGauran, ordered authorities to find out what's going on.

"(It's) totally unacceptable. Australian authorities have been caught unprepared," he said.

Article: Formaldehyde in clothes

Low-carbohydrate nutrition and metabolism

2007-08-23T16:03:00.000+09:30

Hey I just found this review and wanted to share, you can read the full text here on American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Abstract:

Low-carbohydrate nutrition and metabolism

The persistence of an epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes suggests that new nutritional strategies are needed if the epidemic is to be overcome. A promising nutritional approach suggested by this thematic review is carbohydrate restriction. Recent studies show that, under conditions of carbohydrate restriction, fuel sources shift from glucose and fatty acids to fatty acids and ketones, and that ad libitum–fed carbohydrate-restricted diets lead to appetite reduction, weight loss, and improvement in surrogate markers of cardiovascular disease.

My Reply to Deni

2007-08-17T09:31:00.000+09:30

Okay first up sorry I haven't put up part 2 yet of The low fat side of the Kimkins Diet but I have been busy and the yesterday got caught up in chatting which I think is stemming from me not being focused . I don't know if its like this with everyone or I'm just a wierdo LOL but I'm either totally focused/in the mood or I'm not. Yesterday I was not, I will try to be today and finish it off, I promise :)

Anyway, I just wanted to post a reply of mine to a comment made to me by Deni on her blog. She is a moderator for the Kimkins forum and unfortunately when I try to reply, I get an error saying that only "team members" are allowed which I found disappointing, as I have not been rude or anonymous.

Anyway, this is for Deni, so you don't have to read on but I don't care if you do. It appears, one of the anti-kimkins sites picked up on her blog post, so you have probably read about her post that I am referring to in my reply to her.

-----------

Deni, everything I said was in line with the focus of your post. First off, I pointed out that there are plenty of limits in fats and proteins. But more importantly, one of your points was that it was the people on the plan who were at fault for any bad eating?

That I find totally wrong and I do not think that way of thinking is what ANY lord would want to encourage.

Let me explain...

The reason why I bought up Christin and Kimmer is because like yourself, they set a huge example to the followers of the plan. People are encouraged to emulate the weight loss journey of success stories like yours and Christin. People look up to you, they have total faith and trust in the things you say. People are doing what they are doing UNDER your influences.

The majority of people on your forum are put onto a path of doing a VLCD. VLCD's whilst well known to curb hunger, also come with a lot of risks and thus should only ever be instructed and supervised by professionals experienced in their application.

I should add just in case you don't realise a VLCD is anywhere (depending on the study) from ≤ 800 to 1000 calories per day.

Just because someone doesn't feel hungry doesn't mean that they are totally out of harms way.

The worst bit is people aren't made aware of the inherent risks nor is their any true science behind the diet, you can't just pop a multi vitamin and hope that covers everything. The attitude in regards to dietary fat is also not true, particularly in the context of a low carbohydrate diet. Sure you have body fat, but body fat provides calories only, it does not provide any other nutrition. But on top of that rapid weight loss alone comes with its own set of risks to health.

There is also a huge risk in gall bladder health from VLCD, skipping meals and rapid weight loss alone let alone together, infact I have seen in studies risks go up to 54% and stones occur in as early as 4 weeks during VLCD diets. Plus obesity, diabetes etc are all risk factors on their own as well.

Also this abstinence with beef/red meat/dairy that most people seem to follow is also potentially risky in regards to important fatty acids, proteins and minerals. Minerals that are also important for weight loss, hormonal and mental health.

You know there are people that seemed perfectly fine suddenly die from doing VLCD diets with inadequate nutrition.

I could go on...

Your plans that you guys promote have no true scientific or nutritional background, just a set of vague and misleading rules. There are no minimums to ensure adequate nutrition other then a multi-vitamin which IS NOT satisfactory. There are no real warnings of the risks either. But not only that there is the mistaken belief that simply by not feeling hungry whilst eating little reassures you that your eating enough and if you feel sick to your stomach (SNATT) then that means the diet is working.

In fact, it is all pretty much left up to the interpretation of the dieter and with all the anti-fat guidelines, promoting of rapid weight loss and ignorance there is no question where that interpretation will most likely lead.

A prime example of this is through your very own Christin whom was mentioned on the kimkins exposed blog. Here are some examples allegedly in Christin's own words that I found on this blog all the whilst her average calorie intakes over six months fell below 700 calories a day (See what I mean about Kimmers Experiment still being low calorie despite not having an "official" limit in calories!):

There is nothing “magical” or unique about what I was able to accomplish. It is not an easy journey though, and I wanted to give you a few things that have helped me a long the way and hopefully answer some of your questions as well….Under the guidelines given by Kimmer this program consists of lean proteins, no extras. So, during the time I was using KE I did just that. No EXTRAS no cheese, no extra fats, no supplements. I found that the best and quickest loss for me was attained when I stayed within the list…

Fat – The point of this program is QUICK and HEALTHY weight loss. One of the things that sets Kimkins apart from other Low Carb programs is the fact that we chose to use the leanest proteins that are available to us. We will still be consuming some fat with our proteins, but the goal is as little as possible. This can also be attained by choosing even lower fat options of allowed proteins. For example: boneless/skinless chicken breast vs whole chicken on the bone; egg whites or egg beaters vs whole eggs, lean fresh ground turkey breast vs pre-ground turkey, and of course fresh fish is always a fantastic option. These are just some options that are available to you in choosing lean proteins. If you want a number to shoot for though, my guideline for myself was under 20g of fat per day, never over 30g.

That is what your members are seeing Deni, and that IS NOT HEALTHY. I don't care what her blood test results were, that doesn't speak for everyone or make such advice good and responsible advice which it is not.

You know those improvements in cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugars can be found on the numerous low carb diets that are out there absolutely jam packed with fats, you do not have to starve your body and risk it's health to achieve that. In fact if I can find it again I will post a study sometime that I read a while back that showed some negative effects on HDL/LDL and trigs through a VLCD diet.

You can turn around and say well shes just sharing her experience, we're not telling anyone to do it or we said you should check this with your doctor, all that is, is a legal formality, morally it does not excuse it.

Before I decided to take a stance on this I contacted many researchers that were not only doctors but experienced in researching low carbohydrate diets and treating obesity for advice. Not one could support it Deni.

Its great to share experiences and support people Deni, but at the same token we have to take responsibility for what we say, support and encourage when we put ourselves in a position where people look up to us. Even if say the advice your giving is really good, by turning a blind eye to other potentially dangerous advice you are still supporting it. By linking to the website, by telling people to join, by being an affiliate, by having your success story up there, YOU ARE STILL SUPPORTING ALL THAT GOES ON THERE.

What experience do you have in VLCD dieting, nutrition and obesity for you to know for sure that yours and others advice and the kimkins plans full stop are nutritionally sound?

You can't just expect to place all blame onto the members joining, that is simply just not fair.

I don't think ANY lord would want that.

This all said, I don't think you mean any ill will but at the same token morally you still have to be accountable just like Christin, Kimmer and anyone else. After all, these peoples health, trust and possibly even their lives are in your hands.

Some Kimkins articles by me:

Nov 16: Kimkins Diet Scam
Sept 22: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Rabbit Starvation, Sudden Death and Resting Metabolism.
Sept 11: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Gallstones.
Aug 17: My reply to Deni
Aug 13: The low fat side of the Kimkins Diet, Part 1
July 18: Is Kimkins okay simply because it is low carb?
July 15: Kimkins and Kimmer
June 13: Okay Some Kimkins Stuff...

Kimkins Petition

2007-08-14T06:46:00.000+09:30

Just wanted to share, that someone has put up an online petition against Kimkins:

To: Federal Trade Commission, Better Business Bureau, California Attorney General

Believing it to be true that Kimkins.com is promoting medically unsound and potentially life-threatening diet plans in which many followers have complained of one or more of the following:

� Dizziness
� Nausea
� Muscle fatigue or weakness
� Heartbeat palpitations
� Moderate to severe hair loss
� Bone and joint pain
� Mental changes - irritability, forgetfulness, confusion
� Bowel complications/symptoms of laxative abuse

And that the founder of Kimkins, known as �Kimmer� ;

� is not certified or licensed in any way to dispense nutritional and medical advice
� claims to have lost 198 lbs. but has never provided solid evidence of such loss, having refused to be interviewed in person
� has advised the daily use of laxatives extended beyond products� warnings
� has pushed diet followers to stay as low in calories as possible, even as low as 0-300 calories a day
� has used questionable marketing techniques to generate membership revenues by:

-- displaying false �before/after� testimonials
-- using viral marketing techniques such as the willful misplanting that young celebrities have followed the plan in order to target a younger demographic, including pre-teens
-- has allowed affiliates to spam many valid forums with misleading information
-- advertising the acquisition of an e-book as included in the membership fee, which she never produced

We, the undersigned hereby request that this website, Kimkins.com and its founder, �Kimmer� be properly investigated in an expedient manner so as to prevent harm from coming to more individuals who might try these plans.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

If you agree with these concerns, you can sign the petition here: Request For Kimkins Investigation

The low fat side of the Kimkins Diet, Part 1

2007-08-13T12:13:00.000+09:30

Low Fat Side of Kimkins parts 2 and 3

Hey guys I am splitting this up in two parts as it is getting awfully long. I have been working on this for a couple of weeks now but with us being sick, Maya having food intolerance reactions and then some dramas with my website being down the last four days my time or ability to concentrate lol hasn't been too crash hot. Anyway I have not quite finished the last part but I thought I should put the kimkins bit up now and then tommorrow put up the rest as it is looking too long as I type it out. I have also just started putting together some of the research on VLCD's that I have bookmarked into a page but there is still tons to add but feel free to have a look: Research on Risks of Very Low Calorie Diets.

This post here is just some concerns of mine regarding kimkins, I have seen a lot of people try to deny the very low fat and calorie side of this diet or people try to say claim the safety of Kimkins based on their own success when they did not really do it. So I wanted to make a few points about why I don't see it that way.

The next part I will go into concerns regarding gallstones, rapid weight loss and lean protein (aka Stefannson and the "rabbit diet").

I thought, a good topic to post on would be the fat intake, as the more and more I read up on about kimkin's and other's fitdays the more I see how extremely "anti-fat" this diet is.

There are 2 reasons why this concerns me, first and foremost is health reasons, more on that in part 2. But second is the association of this with low carb diets, low carb was never meant to be low fat, pure and simple. As a low carb community we have fought tooth and nail to show that good stable fat's are not unhealthy, particularly in the context of a low carbohydrate diet, same thing with cholesterol. Yet on the various kimkins plans both saturated fats and cholesterol are kept extremely low. This diet isn't about low carbing in the true sense of the word, in my opinion, carbs are only reduced in order to make the VLCD (very low calorie diet) more tolerable. In other words so you can starve without hunger...

Then you have Kimmer and crew (whomever does the web and SEO stuff with her) promoting Kimkins as the "healthy" alternative to Atkins with this anti-fat, saturated fat garbage....

For those that don't know there are a bunch of dummy sites aimed at bringing in more members by touting the same anti-Atkins garbage.

The last thing I want to see is low fat being made fashionable in low carb circles and undo all the work that has and still is being done by the various doctors, researchers and other people to prove the merits of low carb, fat and cholesterol.

If you are new to low carb and are following Kimkins or any of the said to be low carb "shake" diets such as Tony Ferguson which I have posted about before then I encourage you to read at least one of the more popular low carb books such as Atkins New Diet Revolution (2002 edition is a good one), Protein Power Lifeplan, Natural Health & Weight Loss and Life Without Bread so you can understand the true meaning of low carbohydrate dieting and understand where many of us are coming from. I will make sure to add some links to some good articles on fats at the bottom of this article as well.

I have seen many retorts that go something along the lines of...

"the kimkin's plan I am on does not limit calories"

"Kimmer says you can have just enough fat that makes your menu work, so it is not low fat, just moderate fat"

"I am doing mine a bit different so it has more fat and calories"

Hey if you are doing yours a bit different and eating above your BMR then good for you but that doesn't mean Kimkins per se is okay. Considering, her plans and guidelines (let alone advice) for such plans don't really advocate that if you want the kind of results the diet is popular for, it just means your really just doing a typical low carb diet like Atkins whilst watching your calories!

I hear of many people doing the Kimkins diet more sensibly such as, higher calories and fat and cycling one week of kimkins with four to six weeks of Atkins. That's certainly a lot better then doing Kimkins the way it is meant to be done, but it doesn't validate Kimkins whatsoever. Kimkins promises you rapid weight loss, that is the krux of her plan and why it is sooo popular. BUT in order to achieve those promises that Kimmer and her crew promise you, that her success stories claim... then the majority of you will have to cut your diet down to the bare bones. Thus, I cannot see how doing the kimkins diet in a more sensible manner can vouch for her diet being a good one let alone for its safety.

Her success stories, the stories that are the "proof" of how successful her diet is... how much were they all eating?

How much was Christin eating?

What about all the other girls that newbies are pointed to, to use as a guideline for their own kimkins weight loss?

I think we all know the answer to that one...

And another thing to keep in mind, when you come across websites for kimkins success stories, they are most likely an affiliate that gets paid to promote it and thus may have a hidden agenda.

In my opinion, Kimkins is NOT a low carb diet it is a VLCD diet and thus the dangers that go along with a VLCD diet go right along with the Kimkins diet except the Kimkins diet has no real scientific structure behind it nor is it and the advice, medically supervised like all VLCD's should be.

For those that still insist that any of her plans are okay and not low fat or low calories. Apart from the fact that all plans involve lean protein, how about we look at the alleged kimkins guidelines and tips that are presented with these plans when you sign up, such as...

"Use minimal fat for cooking"

"Use low calorie salad dressings and "light" butter substitutes"

"Don't add fat when preparing foods, e.g. grill meat, discard dripping, steam and bake fish, boil and poach eggs"

"LEAN PROTEIN: Bake, boil, broil, grill, poach, roast, steam, nonstick spray"

"Cook by any low fat method listed above"

"Remove the skin before cooking"

"Trim all visible fat"

"Replace meat with fish as often as possible"

"Replace red meat with white meat - eat chicken, turkey or ostrich instead of steak or chops"

"Beef should be eaten rarely for fastest weight loss results"

"Have meatless meals regularly, replacing meat with pasta or legumes (dry beans, peas and lentils, Toppers and textured vegetable protein dishes)"

"Save fat calories by mixing 2 egg whites + 1 whole egg for scrambles or omelettes. Choose low fat cooking methods and low fat mayonnaise to cut calories. Eggbeaters are excellent"

My gosh what fat does that leave???

Then you have her protein shake plan, where you can replace your meals with "homemade" protein shakes with guidelines on the limits of calories, carbs and protein but no guidelines for fat, minerals or any other nutrients!

Example, in Australia at least, you buy a tub of low carb protein powder designed for bodybuilders from a health food shop and right there on the label with the directions is a warning that it can not be used as a meal replacement... why do you think that is?

I have seen menus where people are eating 5-10g of fat a day, menus where people are only eating egg whites or just 4 bites of chicken and a coffee but not only that she tells them if they are not hungry then its okay!

I have seen people try and justify their fat intake with percentages, sure the percentage of fat isn't extremely low for some BUT if you are following her guidelines then it will most likely be because you are already eating low calories. Bring those calories up to a sensible level whilst keeping the fat to a similar level and watch that percentage plummet!

If you are following any authoritative type of "guidelines" to justify your fat percentage, just keep in mind that as well as the fact that these guidelines are in the context of a high carb diet, these types of guidelines use percentages based on say a 2000 calorie diet not a 500 calorie often seen on Kimkins. That makes a big difference in the amount of fat you eat as I will illustrate below...

To show this I made up a kimkins bootcamp menu minus the small amount of limited veggies. I used 2 large eggs, 2 oz lean ham, and 2 times 4 oz raw chicken breast. This gave me:

477 cals 20g fat 1g carb 68g protein and the percentages worked out to be 39% fat 1 % carbs and 60% protein

So then I decided to use kimmers maintenance menu that she posted on LCF which allegedly runs between 1200-1400 calories as an example for foods to add to it plus I added in a glass of milk as she claims in Jimmy's interview that she has a little milk...
Now I was hoping to go for a higher calorie menu by using her as a guide, but I had trouble getting over 1200 calories (suprise, suprise) which was supposedly her bottom end. But if you go by her interview with Jimmy it is now 1400-1700 calories (yeah right!). So the menu of 1168 calories will have to do. I did not add any sauces etc as she states in that post that she doesn't use them for maintenance. What we have now is:

2 large eggs, 2 oz lean ham, 8 oz whiting, 8 oz raw skinless chicken breast, 2 cups salad greens, 1 cup spinach, 1 cup raw cauliflower, 1 cup boiled potato, 1 x 100 calorie danone yoghurt, 1 cup no fat milk and 1 medium banana.

This came to 1168 calories, 26g fat, 86g carbs and 150g of protein. Percentages were, 21% fat, 25% carbs and 54% protein.

So here we have a 477 calorie menu with 39% fat turn into a 1168 cal menu and 21% fat even though the fat has increased slightly in the second menu by 6 grams. Could you imagine the fat percentage if it was 1500 cals with fat kept low? :eek:

This is why when eating low in calories you shouldn't be relying on a percentage to say that you are eating enough fat and why you should be adding fat back in to increase those calories. Do not make the mistake of increasing your calories with low fat products or fruit and veggies only. Of course, if you have been low fatting it and want to change that, then please add your fats in gradually to give your body a chance to make the enzymes needed.

If you are interested in working out calories based on your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), I have put up some information here: BMR and Calories

For those that are new to low carb I want to add here some good articles off the top of my head for you to read regarding fat and low carb:

The truth About Saturated Fats

Why low carb diets must be high fat not high protein

The Cure For Diabetes

Eat Fat to Lose Fat

What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?

Regina's Keys to Success Series

Okay that should do it, look out for part 2!

Other Kimkins articles by me:

Nov 16: Kimkins Diet Scam
Sept 22: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Rabbit Starvation, Sudden Death and Resting Metabolism.
Sept 11: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Gallstones.
Aug 17: My reply to Deni
July 18: Is Kimkins okay because its simply low carb?
July 15: Kimkins and Kimmer
June 13: Okay Some Kimkins Stuff...

Kimkins is not Atkins

2007-08-05T06:23:00.000+09:30

Sorry I have taken so long but we have all been sick over the last few weeks, started to get better and then by the end of last weekend it started to hit again, so we're all sick again *bleh* but on the mend now!

I am working on a post as we speak but I just saw this article by a lady who worked along side Dr Atkins for 30 years and wanted to share it with those who get Atkins and Kimkins confused as they are nothing a like.

Check it out: Kimkins is not Atkins

Totally off topic, just a blogger type question.

2007-07-26T12:07:00.000+09:30

Does anyone know how to do a search on your comments to other blogs?

I am always leaving comments on other blogs in my travels and I am always forgetting where LOL. Sometimes I find a new blog I like, leave a comment and then totally forget what the url was or what it was called etc.

Now I swear when I first started blogging last year that I was able to do this but I am baffled as to how I did it, I just don't remember LOL

So can anyone help me, please? :)

Is Kimkins okay because its simply low carb?

2007-07-18T12:03:00.001+09:30

I keep seeing Jimmy, Kimmer and some others play the "low carb" card in regards to the Kimkins diet which really annoys me. So what if kimkins is low carb, low carb isn't perfect as like any other diet, it can be abused. I knew a girl who lost a lot of weight on the lettuce diet, should I advocate that too? after all, lettuce is low carb, right?

We actually had a girl join our low carb forum briefly once, she was pro-ana and said that low carb made it easier... You could imagine the shock when one of the ladies decided to find out what pro ana meant and let me know.

Heck, even Atkins can be a problem for some, because sometimes people don't snap out of that low fat mentality they were in previously - powered with the satiating effects of ketosis end up eating similar to kimkins and wind up stalled and rebounding.

But the difference between Atkins and plans like it and Kimkins, is Atkins doesn't encourage abuse of his plan, rather he assumes you will eat enough fat and in fact warns not to do his plan and low fat at the same time, whereas as on kimkins, it would seem that abusive behaviour is the "crust" of her plan.

People say its just her advice and her plans are fine, seriously do you think they are healthy?

A 500 calorie boot camp with daily rigorous cardio is healthy?

800 calorie shake diet, healthy? A shake diet I might add that doesn't even have any standards in place and so can be very dangerous and extremely low in fat, so get ready to kiss your gall bladder goodbye.

I wanted to update that Kimmer has also allegedly advocated a 450 calorie version of her shake plans for fastest results on her forum. This consists of 3 times 150 calorie protein shakes, note I said protein shakes not meal replacement shakes.

The 1000 calorie vegetarian plan? I don't know much about that plan but I have heard about a friend seeing someone posting nicely recommending B12 in the vegetarian forum, as we know this is very important for vegetarians, guess what happened? it was deleted. So how do we know that is healthy and well researched? :rolleyes:

The other two plans that aren't limited in calories... Kimmer is banking on the fact that SNATT (semi nauseas all the time) will bring you down to similar calorie levels to the other plans. I recall her stating herself in the ask kimmer thread that the only reason calories are unlimited is because they will be bought right down to these levels "naturally"

You see this is where low carb can be abused and why Atkins can be unintentionally abused, it is the satiation effect of ketosis which should be a good thing and for most of us it is, well until now....

On top of that, people on the various forums generally don't encourage that kind of behaviour, there will always be heaps of people that will say "you need to eat more" whereas in Kimkins circles it's the opposite. Your encouraged to believe that there is no starvation response and you won't lose muscle after 2 weeks that heck it is safe to water fast for 382 days. And if you say otherwise, if you dare question too much, your post will be deleted making the kimkins forum very biased and one sided.

Then to make matters worse with Kimkins, the big weight loss is emphasised so much more with people complaining if they only lose 10 pounds in a week or because they only lost a quarter of a pound that day. That is a very dangerous mindset to encourage and I was very disappointed to see Jimmy encouraging it too, even more so when he announced he was doing it because as we all know, many would follow.

Having stalls and slow loses at times aren't a bad thing, apart from being safer, its usually then when you learn about your body that little bit more.

*edit* Forgot to add this:

Shouldn't we as a low carb community show some responsibility and principles here and set some kind of standard of what a healthy low carbohydrate diet is?

I can tell you, it is not Kimkins, nor is it the lettuce diet!

Other Kimkins articles by me:

Nov 16: Kimkins Diet Scam
Sept 22: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Rabbit Starvation, Sudden Death and Resting Metabolism.
Sept 11: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Gallstones.
Aug 17: My reply to Deni
Aug 13: The low fat side of the Kimkins Diet, Part 1
July 15: Kimkins and Kimmer
June 13: Okay Some Kimkins Stuff...

Kimkins and Kimmer

2007-07-15T21:40:00.001+09:30

Boy has the kimkins controversy been running hot the past week or two? Did you know in around 3 or so weeks her member base has grown by 7000 members?

People have been going on a lot lately about Kimmer, particularly regarding the validity of her pictures. Personally, I don't trust her and I certainly don't believe that most of them are hers but I am not greatly concerned about that. A lot of people have been questioning her weight loss and again I'm not too concerned as its the whole Kimkins diet and mentality that really bothers me.

Did she lose it? probably, particularly considering she eats very little even when maintaining. Did she keep it off? I am assuming that shes been struggling there.
Another concern lately is that she has no maintenance plan, from what I've read she maintains by eating little and water fasting over the w/e once a month so I figure that is what others would be doing. If anyone has more info there, please share :)

Originally, I was going to plaster up a whole heap of famous quotes by Kimmer to try and show where exactly I am coming from, but then I thought my point might get lost in the clutter, so I decided to just post some of the good ones occasionally.

Now, as you know I am not a fan of ANY of her plans, but what grates me even more is the message she brings, what she and those around her encourage and teach, particularly her advice which to me, is very dangerous. I tried to explain this to Jimmy but I don't think he gets it or rather he doesn't want to get it.

The fact is she encourages people to eat very little food as well as daily use of laxatives and water fasting or should we say diet soda fasting. That is not healthy, it will not help people attain success in their weight loss goals over the long term and frankly encourages very dangerous eating pattens. We critise various weight loss drugs and crash diets yet how is this any different?

Anyway, enough ranting, here is a typical example of what I mean, I found it a couple off weeks ago in the Ask Kimmer thread on LCF"

A response to someone who ate half a chicken breast one day and nothing the next, wanting to know if its okay to not eat when shes not hungry…

Kimmer:

“I don't see any point in forcing yourself to eat. If you read the water fasting links you'll see that if you have enough body fat, your body is fine without food. Dr. Joel Fuhrman supervises water fasts for 5+ months for overweight patients.
Will your body use it's own muscles for protein? Yes, for 2 weeks, then it stops (confirmed by studies in the "Make It Fast" thread). We are always "eating" our own muscles ... diseased, old, whatever. Even poor people who have literally starved to death retained full size internal organs (heart, kidneys, brain), reducing only 1-3%.
I have done many 10-15 day, a couple 30 day and one 48 day water fast.”

2 days later when this same person who is still eating almost nothing (4 bites of chicken, a coffee and 2 diet cokes!) posts again that she didn’t lose any weight that day she is given this advice by Kimmer:

Kimmer:

“When did the water fast end? You are losing at this very minute! Keep in mind that meat, chicken & fish have zero fiber so there's nothing to "push them through".

Have you considered taking a mild laxative each night you're doing "protein only"? Or, hate to even suggest it, make up a batch of the horrible Epsom salt solution and take a couple tablespoons each night?”

Can anyone tell me, that advice is safe?

I am still gathering a bunch of studies on VLCD's (Very Low Calorie Diet) etc. I think what I am going to do is consolidate them all onto the one page, kind of like what I am doing with the low carb studies though that is VERY unfinished. I have heaps more to add just from my forum alone plus I expect there is lots more out there. Your welcome to take a peak: Low Carb Research Plus I want to do an article on what I learn from that (VLCD Research) and use some kimkins related examples. What do you think?

*update* I should mention the VLCD page I was thinking of doing has been started here: Research of the Health Risks of Very Low Calorie Diets (VLCD)

Other Kimkins articles by me:

Nov 16: Kimkins Diet Scam
Sept 22: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Rabbit Starvation, Sudden Death and Resting Metabolism.
Sept 11: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Gallstones.
Aug 17: My reply to Deni
Aug 13: The low fat side of the Kimkins Diet, Part 1
July 18: Is Kimkins okay simply because it is low carb?
June 13: Okay Some Kimkins Stuff...

Okay some Kimkins stuff...

2007-06-13T09:24:00.000+09:30

I actually have another rant coming on my thoughts on the kimkins diet which I will post soon but in the meantime you can get a fair idea here: Kimkins. I was just reading Jimmy's 30 in 30 blog and just had to post a quickie.

I want to state this is nothing personal, this is purely based on some comments I read. I just hate the thought of misinformation particularly when it will cost someone their hard earned money and health. I am posting this here simply because this is my blog and I can say what I want to.... (sounds like a song I know!)

Okay firstly, I want to say if you see someone promoting Kimkins on their blog or their website, remember they get paid to do this, I read somewhere the other day that people are getting 20 or 25% just from referrals or something similar. Hence, there will always be an obvious bias...

Now we all know Jimmy has been promoting Kimkins for some time, to be honest I have never been a big fan of this simply because I think a lot of people idolise him and trust him and it contradicts the message I thought he was trying to get across on such topics as fats and yo-yo, crash dieting but that is not what this post is about, I am just being upfront. I will get into those things that concern me about Kimkins in another post.

What I want to get into in this current post is some comments I have read by him.

The main difference between Atkins and Kimkins is fat. On Kimkins, you reduce the fat slightly as a means for reducing caloric intake.

But I'm not eating that much less fat now than I was during my weight loss days on Atkins. The only difference is I'm counting fiber and sugar alcohols in my carb counts on Kimkins.

Is he serious, reduce the fat slightly???

He is doing kimmers experiment now which is basically just lean meat and egg, that's seriously all he ate when he lost all his weight before, no lashings of butter, fatty meat, chicken skin and the like, no salad or veggies?

Kimmers experiment is not like Atkins induction!

Next is this comment to someone mentioning the calorie limit of 600 calories:

I'm afraid you have fallen for the rumors and innuendo that have been spread about Kimkins on forums and web sites that would just assume the plan go away. I've looked at all of the Kimkins plans and NONE of them call for only 600 calories in a day.

NONE OF THEM!

The calorie restrictions that are placed on a couple of the plans are designed to speed up weight loss and then higher numbers are allowed once you reach your weight loss goal.

All of them are above the 1200-calorie level, again unlike what you may have "heard" about Kimkins.

Is this for real? Has Kimmer changed her plans somewhat in the last few days or is there something awfully misleading about this comment? Am I and many others that have talked about this on various forums and the like, now liars and just plain stupid and blind because we comment on things we have read straight out of the horses mouth (Kimmer as well as her followers) so to speak.

Okay lets look at her plans which are very well known, they are posted everywhere particularly on the low carb friends forum. I have asked people who do Kimkins if this is true and they say it is. I have no idea what the vegetarian one is other then the calorie limit but I know about the other four.

First you have Kimmers experiment where you eat lean meat and egg and minimal condiment and spices used sparingly. You are not allowed any fat or fatty meats, dairy etc, just the lean meat and eggs. Yes it isn't limited but how much can you eat and for how long?

Next is her plan where she adds minimal fat to make your menu work and minimal veggies.

Okay so far not too bad you think as there are no calorie limits, but how much meat do you think you can eat? The veggies will bring bugger all calories as you are counting fibre, so will the fat considering there's bugger all so all it leaves is meat. To reach 1200 calories you would have to eat just over 600g of lean grilled rump steak or just over 700g of grilled skinless chicken breast. Okay some of you might be able to put that away but how many of you will especially if you are deep in ketosis from such little carbs...?

But hey lets pretend they are 1200 calories as we still have 3 more to go...

The next one is boot camp which anyone who has read up on kimkins via the low carb forums are familiar with. This one is the worst, it is 500ish calories and a required minimal 30 minutes of daily cardio *eek*

With these 500 calories, protein is limited to something like 70-90g a day.

Some specifics of the boot camp from the LCF forum and I will add the calories and protein that I worked out in bold:

Boot Camp 'Mess Hall"
Bare Bones Menu

Breakfast
Up to 2 eggs (cooked without fat) * 2 large poached eggs = 161 cal, 13.8g protein
Up to 1/2 cup List 2 veggies
Up to 2 oz lean ham or other lean protein (raw/cured weight) * lean leg ham = 61 cal, 10.8g protein
Unlimited non-calorie beverage

Lunch
Up to 4 oz lean protein (raw weight) * raw chicken breast no skin or bones = 125 cal, 25.6g protein
Up to 2 cups mixed greens + Wishbone Spritzer dressing (or caloric equivalent)
Unlimited non-calorie beverage

Dinner
Up to 4 oz lean protein (raw weight) * raw lean rump steak = 133 cal, 26.7 protein
Up to 2 cups mixed greens + Wishbone Spritzer dressing (or caloric equivalent)
Unlimited non-calorie beverage

Take a complete multivitamin each day plus other desired supplements

2 cups of salad is 1 large handful.
If Wishbone Spritzer is not available, a small amount of other 'light' dressing may be used sparingly.
Diet drinks with zero or nearly zero carbs and calories are permitted.
Low-carb protein shakes (1-4 total carbs each) may be used as lean protein/meal replacements.
Stallone-type low-carb protein 'puddings' (1-4 total carbs) may be used as lean protein/meal replacements.
Sugar-free gelatin is allowed in moderation, no more than 1 cup per day.
Those who wish may skip the salads and vegetables. Do not add anything extra to make up for it.

Now lets add those up, the meat and egg equal 480 calories and 76.9g of protein *eek*

Then you have her protein shake one which is limited at 800 calories with up to 80 grams protein per day.

Or her vegetarian one which is up to 1000 calories a day.

How do they pan out to not being under 1200 calories? Can someone tell me what I am missing here?

Now as I said this isn't a personal attack, I just think people should know the facts.

Other Kimkins articles by me:

Nov 16: Kimkins Diet Scam
Sept 22: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Rabbit Starvation, Sudden Death and Resting Metabolism.
Sept 11: The Low Fat side of the Kimkins Diet: Gallstones.
Aug 17: My reply to Deni
Aug 13: The low fat side of the Kimkins Diet, Part 1
July 18: Is Kimkins okay simply because it is low carb?
July 15: Kimkins and Kimmer
June 13: Okay Some Kimkins Stuff...

Mentally Winning or Mentally Losing the Game

2007-06-08T16:34:00.000+09:30

I was reading a post on another blog just now and really enjoyed it so I wanted to share :)

Mentally Winning or Mentally Losing the Game

New blog I found and upgraded template

2007-06-05T08:40:00.000+09:30

Hey I found a new blog today, this is actually a lady whom belongs to our low carb community we have on my website named Prothvar, but she never told anyone she had a blog. It wasn't until I noticed it in my webstats as someone followed a link to my site from there that I realised.

Anyway, I always thought she was pretty funny from getting to know her on the forum but her writing style in her blog is even funnier :)

I love her sense of humour, check it out!

Psychic Rations

Also wanted to mention that I upgraded my template, I am still fiddling with it so if anything looks odd or missing please feel free to let me know!

Low-carb diets have higher death rates

2007-06-01T05:46:00.000+09:30

I was just reading this article from New Zealand, this post isn't about the topic per se, so if your concerned, Regina covered it nicely here.

What this post is about however is a couple of quotes in the article that were so moronic they made me laugh so I thought I'd share :)

Heres the first one which I think is a real gem:

Dietetic Association president Jan Milne said people who cut carbohydrates out of their diets missed out on an important source of nutrients, including B vitamins and iron.

"If a parent goes on a low-carb diet, the rest of the family sometimes ends up on it by default,"she said.

"This is particularly dangerous for children, who typically get a lot of their iron from bread."

Now I am sure I do not need to explain the stupidity of that comment, I mean if anything it is the other way around...

Heres another, just as stupid:

Mrs Milne said many foods marketed as "low carb" or "low fat" actually contained large amounts of sugar, which was "incredibly dishonest".

Low fat, YES... but low carb products containing large amounts of sugar *laugh*

Scientists breed skim milk-producing cow

2007-05-29T07:12:00.000+09:30

Found this on Science Daily:

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, May 27 (UPI) -- Scientists in New Zealand have successfully bred a cow that produces skim milk and the firm behind the process said herds of the animals are on the horizon.

*sigh*

"She produces a normal level of protein in her milk but substantially less fat, and the fat she does produce has much more unsaturated fat," Snell said. "She also produces milk with very high levels of omega3 oils."

Of course it has to be the saturated fats, next we will have low fat cows...

Hey

2007-05-26T21:34:00.000+09:30

Sorry for not updating for some time, just wanted to let you know I'm still around. My other half has been sick for some time but this really came to a climax this month. He's been too sick to work, well to do anything really so hes been at home with me. So, with taking care of him and the kids and trying to get everything done, pay the bills etc I have been very busy and frankly not in the state of mind to put too much thought into anything.

Heck, you know what they are like, even when not sick they are too distracting when around. ;)

Hes hoping to be back at work in another week but I dunno today he seemed to go backwards a little so we'll see. If he does then things should get back to normal and I'll be able to catch up on things here and around the house.

So yes I'm still around and anyone can find me online, no worries there I'm just not productive enough to be blogging much for another week or so.

Cheers :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Maya

2007-05-03T17:06:00.000+09:30

This is a picture of my daughter Maya blowing out her candles. It was her second birthday last weekend. The cake is a flourless carob cake from the Nourishing Traditions book and I used a carob vienna icing from the failsafe cookbook. It was actually quite a nice cake, much better then I expected though the icing was too sweet.

Anyway just thought I'd share :)

Carb Controversy: Tackled From Both Sides.

2007-04-30T11:21:00.000+09:30

Okay here we go...

Have you guys seen this 5 part series by Diabetes Health?

It is a joke...

Firstly, they start of with an article by Dr Barry Groves. He believes that it is carbs not fat that causes weight gain. Fat does not raise our blood sugars or insulin levels, but carbohydrates do. Insulin is a fat storing hormone shuttling excess carbohydrates and other calories straight to our fats cells. This is what makes us put on weight and what prevents us from losing it.

They then forward this theory on to two other doctors, one a low fat vegan and the other a low carb diabetic.

First reply is from the low fat vegan who also happens to be president of PCRM, Dr Neal D. Barnard.

His response, basically is that he believes that populations such as Asians who stick to a a typical rice based diet, enjoy low rates of diabetes and obesity. He then, goes on to say that when these people drop their rice based diets in favour of meatier western diets, that somehow their carbohydrate intakes fall (yes you heard that right) and their weight problems and diabetes increases.

But also he comes out with the usual rubbish that animal protein diets lead to renal damage...

On a side note, if you look in the comments section of that article you will see this:

As Dennis Kucinich said this week, since adopting this diet, he feels so much younger, energetic and is able to campaign for president like he never could have before.

This is nothing personal against vegans BUT the US have a low fat vegan campaigning for president?

OMG... I will say no more! ;)

Back to the topic, next we have the response from Dr Richard Bernstein. He comments that virtually the entire evolution of mankind occurred when our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, well before the inventions of agriculture and animal husbandry. He states that they ate lean meat and fish, as well as small amounts of lowcarb vegetables, whilst others lived on just high fat and protein, from mammals and fish, for example, Eskimo's. Both of these enjoyed no coronary, kidney, or arterial disease as well as no diabetes or tooth decay.

The series then moves on to the final article, their proposed optimal eating plan for type 2 diabetes.

Instead of discussing the three views that were just expressed and their validity they instead ignore that saying Let’s be realistic and take a long-term perspective in this “which diet is best” debate, rather than wasting time quibbling over extremes—from low-carb to vegan and conclude:

A number of studies that compare low carb diets to conventional diets demonstrate early initial weight loss and improvement in other health parameters, such as blood glucose control (1,2). But studies of lowcarb diets that last longer than six months do not show significantly more weight loss. They do show that many study subjects drop out of the study and are unable to stick with the diet. (1,2)

Okay so lets just say there is no statistically significant difference in weight loss after 6 months... what about the other health parameters that are statistically significant by a mile compared to their low fat counterparts?

What, they don't mean anything? Not even to the many people suffering diabetes and the assorted complications that come with it?

How can that go by un-mentioned, something SO SIGNIFICANT something that it seems only LOW CARB is capable of doing so well...

Proof? here are just a few:

Beneficial effects of ketogenic diet in obese diabetic subjects and Reginas article about it.

Dietary Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus in the Pre-Insulin Era (1914-1922)

Low-carbohydrate diet in type 2 diabetes. Stable improvement of body weight and glycemic control during 22 months follow-up

The metabolic response to a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet in men with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

A Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet to Treat Type 2 Diabetes

Effects of a Low-Carb Regimen on Glycemic Control and Serum Lipids in Diabetes Mellitus

A low carbohydrate diet in type 1 diabetes: clinical experience--a brief report

Virtually continuous euglycemia for 5 yr in a labile juvenile-onset diabetic patient under non invasive closed-loop control.

They then go on to say...

Low-carbohydrate diets are not recommended by the American Diabetes Association for two key reasons. First, avoiding carbohydrate, as some lowcarb diets suggest, does not entirely return blood glucose levels to the normal range after meals.

What... low carb doesn't and low fat does?

If it isn't capable of that, then why have I heard so many stories over the years of some low carb diabetics even being able to cease taking their drugs? What low fat or vegan diet does that?

And even if it doesn't entirely, from my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) low carb diets usually provided marked improvement in blood glucose levels... is that not good enough?

Proof? Read the studies I linked above!

Second, an adequate amount of carbohydrate is an important component of a healthy eating plan, providing essential fuel, vitamins, minerals, and fiber.(3,4)

Essential fuel? Since when have carbohydrates been essential?

I have heard plenty about essential amino acids and essential fatty acids but essential carbohydrates? That's news to me!

Simply put, diets that force people to dramatically change their eating style are not maintained over the long haul. These diets require too dramatic change compared to the common, albeit not healthy, eating habits of the 21st century.

So what does that mean, that we should continue eating our albeit not healthy diet and take drugs instead?

Or we do a high carbohydrate, low fat diet and... take drugs instead...

And is the retention rate on a low fat diet any better then a low carb one? Personally, my guess would be no, and I'd imagine even worse as low carb diets and fat satisfy our hunger better then anything else. But that's just my guess... ;)

Does anyone ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe one big reason why people have trouble sticking to a low carbohydrate diet is because of all this low fat, low protein propaganda floating around being thrown at them every where they look?

By their doctor, their diabetes educator, the heart foundation, schools, dietitian's, government, television, absolutely EVERYWHERE...

It is crazy, absolutely crazy, lets all sell ourselves short so people can make money off of our bad health.

Just to finish this off, considering it wasn't addressed in the series (heck was anything addressed?), here is a couple of research articles regarding the low carb and kidneys arguement. I thought there was another study, which I can't think of right now (if anyone knows please share):

A low-carbohydrate diet may prevent end-stage renal failure in type 2 diabetes. A case report

Prolonged Meat Diets With a Study on Kidney Function And Ketosis

Anyway, just keep in mind that there is a very strong association between metabolic syndrome and kidney disease... Now, what diet is best for improving metabolic syndrome? That's right... Low Carb :)

Food Additives

2007-04-23T07:33:00.000+09:30

I have decided to do some posts on some of the nasty food additives that we commonly eat. I think we tend to just focus on the carbs being evil too much and forget about what else we put into our mouths and our children's mouths. No-one really seems to talk about these much in low carb circles even though, there's plenty of endorsements for low carb products. Yet, when you look at their ingredients list *gasp* sometimes I wonder if they are any better then the item they are trying to replace...

If you feel you do fine with food additives well that's your decision but, that's no excuse for ignorance. The reason I say that is, because when it comes to our children this is a much bigger problem so it really is good to be aware. Children generally eat a ton of additive laden foods in fact, for many children, that's practically all they eat. When you consider how small they are you realise, that's alot of additives per pound of their body weight.

No wonder theres so many kids climbing the walls these days!

However, even if you feel that additives don't effect you, just keep in mind in cases of food intolerance's, effects often don't become apparent immediately, it can take up to a few days for the effect to become apparent. Not only that, intolerance's are often cumulative in that, they build up in your system over time until you reach your tolerance level. Also, your tolerance level can change through out your lifetime and be triggered by all sorts of things such as hormones, illness, medications and stress.

Today, I am going to focus on a preservative, calcium propionate or otherwise known as the number 282. This preservative is way too common in Australia and to my understanding, that it is also common in the US as well. The worst thing about this preservative is that it is in our daily bread, and yes we lowcarbers don't escape it either as it is in our low carb breads too. Not, just loaves of bread but any bread product like bread crumbs and wraps. For the low carb Aussies you will find it in your Empower and Subway wraps. Apparently, this can now be found in cheese, dried fruits and juices as well. Not only that, but because you find it in bread crumbs you also find it in sausages, stuffing, crumbed meats, meat patties etc...

Why is it used? Here is a quote from a fact sheet from fed up with food additives that explains it well.

Isn't it important to keep our bread fresh?

Contrary to what the food industry would like you to believe, this additive is not to keep your bread fresh. Calcium propionate (282) is added to inhibit the growth of mould. There is no mould on a freshly baked loaf of bread, so why use a mould inhibitor? Bakers who keep their work benches and slicer blades clean and mould-free, by wiping with vinegar every day, do not need this additive. However, bakers in large factories prefer the less time-consuming method of "fogging" their equipment with a chemical spray. Putting hot loaves in plastic bags makes the problem worse. Preservative 282 is for the convenience of the manufacturer not the consumer.

Like MSG, 282 can also be hidden on the label, I don't know about in the US and other countries but in Australia it can be hidden in whey powder because, like MSG, it can be produced naturally. To avoid listing it in their products, they culture it in whey and can still label their product 'preservative free'. Sometimes you can spot this when they list it as cultured whey butapparently they don't have to list it as cultured whey.

282 can effect both adults and children as well as be passed through breast milk. Some common symptoms include asthma, bed wetting, behavioural disorders and ADHD, concentration and memory problems, congestion, depression, fatigue, a host of gastric upsets, headaches and migraines,immunosuppression,irritability, learning difficulties, nightmares, sleeping problems, skin rashes and the list goes on.

And before you fob this one off, I have known of quite a few families that have found 282 effects their children. It seems very common place,at least here in Australia, so common that some major manufacturers have bowed down to public pressure and lobbying and stopped using it in their products.

Research on 282:
Controlled trial of cumulative behavioural effects of a common bread preservative.
Numerous anecdotal evidence as well as details on research on rats I urge you to go have a read through peoples experiences with 282 and their children.

Preservative 282 isn't the only proprionate that you need to look out for, there are 3 others as well:

Propionic Acid - 280
Sodium Propionate - 281
Potassium Propionate - 283

We have a thread going which I will try to keep updated with anything new I come across on 282, Bread Preservative (282) and if anyone else comes across anything new I would love to see it there!

Exclusive Breast-Feeding and HIV Transmission

2007-04-13T10:07:00.000+09:30

Sorry about being a bit slack with my posting of late but life has been very hectic for me lately.

This isn't a low carb article but it is very interesting all the same and I wanted to share it:

Basically what it was about, is the rate of HIV infection in newborns from infected mothers in South Africa and whether exclusive breastfeeding from the infected mother helps or hinders the rate of infections.

You would assume that breastfeeding from infected mothers would make things worse yet according to this article these were the statistics:

Of the 1372 HIV-infected women, 1132 (83%) chose exclusive breast-feeding.The median duration of exclusive breast-feeding was 159 days(67% for ≥ 3 months; 40% for 6 months). Among exclusively breast-fedinfants who were HIV-negative at or after 6 weeks, the cumulativerisk for infection after 5 months (i.e., at about 6 months ofage) was 4%. Infants who received solids along with breast milkwere nearly 11 times more likely than exclusively breast-fedinfants to become HIV-infected. Infants born to mothers withCD4 counts <200>3 were more likely to become HIVinfected or to die than were those born to mothers with counts>500 cells/mm³. Overall mortality at 3 months was more thantwice as high with replacement feeding as with exclusive breast-feeding(15% vs. 6%).

Here is the article with the link to the abstract:

Exclusive Breast-Feeding and HIV Transmission

Low Fat Stigma and Low Carb

2007-03-29T23:45:00.000+09:30

Now I had already linked to this article on my low carb forum but after seeing it pinned up on everyones blogs I figured I should too. I won't bother posting the article in its entirety but instead just post the link as that is what is important. The majority of you already know what I am talking about. For those that don't enjoy :)

More Science and Less Zealotry, Please

Now speaking of bacon and brie, I don't know any low carbers who don't eat bacon but for those of you who havn't tried Brie the recipe I posted recently is just the thing to fix that:

Low Carb Brie, Leek and Pumpkin Quiche

Seriousely, it is really good, if none of you have tried it yet then hop to it because it is yum!

I don't know if you guys in the US just call the big halloween type pumpkins, pumpkin or you have smaller ones as well like us? My favourite is a Jap or kent pumpkin (do you have them?), otherwise theres the butternut pumpkin which I believe you call butternut squash?

Anyway you really must try it. Here I am on the blandest of all bland diets lol I havn't eaten any form of chocolate all week and do you know what I am craving right now? Yep thats right Low Carb Brie, Leek and Pumpkin Quiche hehe

I have made this a few times now, and each time it is even better!

Of course I can't have that either right now because both the brie and pumpkin are full of salicytes or amines *sigh*

Oh but heres one for any failsafers out there, I made this tonight and it was very tasty. Actually this would be good for all low carbers!

Chicken, Cabbage, Alfredo

Enjoy :)

The Elimination Diet - Take 3

2007-03-27T11:41:00.000+09:30

DAMN I just did a very long post, took me ages and blogger only published the first two paragraphs, the rest is lost... *sigh*

I will try again!

I am starting an Elimination Diet today. It's for my daughter because she is - lets just say, a handful and has been since she was conceived! (lol)
What I am planning to find out with this diet is - if my daughter has food intolerance issues.
We already don't eat preservatives etc or well, at least ones that aren't hidden under the 5% rule. I hope I find something because I really need her to settle down a tad. My daughter is still breastfeeding (a lot) so I have to do it too! (arghh)

The elimination diet, comes from the Allergy Unit of the Royal Prince Alfred hospital (RPA)and is also known here in Australia as the Failsafe diet, it is basically an updated and much improved Feingold Diet. Here is a list of what I can actually eat (highlighted in blue) made by Emma from Plant Poisons and Rotten Stuff: The RPAH Elimination Diet (Failsafe)

For the Aussies, I found a free booklet by Sue Dengate that has a list of Australian products as well as some recipes which others may be interested in as well: Failsafe Booklet

I actually meant to start this earlier in the year but, with everything going on and with Garry in and out of hospital, I was not in the right state of mind. I am probably still not, and never will be because, I don't want to do this diet (yuk) but if I don't, I will be the one in and out of hospital haha.

For those that are wondering why I think Maya may have food intolerance issues, do you remember when I mentioned that we both had bad gastro last Christmas?

Well during that time Maya was not feeding much and when she did she promptly vomited it back up. Despite all this, (apart from when she was vomiting) she was CALM, like a totally different baby/toddler. She slept lots and happily played on her own. When she is well, she seems to hate sleep and she is very temperamental and demanding. Don't get me wrong, this will sound contradictory, but shes not an unhappy baby nor does she cry a lot, but she seems to need my attention practically 24 hours a day. People go on about terrible twos and tantrums, Maya has been having tantrums since the day she was born!

Now I eat pretty good and the solids she eats are good as well. I don't feed her junk and the only drinks she has are breast milk or water, which leads me to believe that she may have a problem with natural chemicals in foods. She was also very late with solids due to a sensitive gag reflex so I can't attribute this all to solids either.

Here's an example of something crazy she did just the other day. She placed one of the small cushions from the lounge on to our tiled floor, walked back to the other side of the room for a runway then ran up and dived into the cushion, face planting into the floor!

Now I know toddlers are a tad crazy but surely that is a bit wild for a 23 month old girl. If she keeps this up we will be seeing her in the next Jackass movie!

I am in a bit of a dilemma here though, because a lot of the foods here go against what I learnt through out my low carb journey in that they are very processed (eg refined white sugar and canned pears in sugar syrup). Obviously, I'm not going to be able to bring myself to eat all of the allowed foods which will limit me more but I am going to have to make some concessions. I can't just eat meat and egg because too much protein makes me hungry, VERY HUNGRY. Also after I lost my weight on Atkins I was diagnosed with a goiter, so I stopped eating goitrogens. But, it is looking like I am going to have to start eating some brussel sprouts and cabbage.

I also have to try and attain fresh meat to reduce amines, not sure how I will do that. I know not to buy vacuum packed meat and I have read that very bloody meat is a sign it has not been hung properly so I assume that could be a reflection on freshness as well?

This will also mean I have to be careful in cooking meats, now I don't like meat that are not cooked properly so not sure there. I wonder if I can use a slow cooker? I am not sure if I can because of the length of time it takes to cook.

Urghh I am not liking this already because I hate plain, bland foods!

It doesn't stop there either as I also have to look at chemicals and fragrances in my toiletries, laundry and cleaning products. Probably doesn't help that my house is surrounded in lavender and I have to do lots of weeding this weekend lol

If anyone is interested in checking this diet out, Emma has heaps of info on her blog and website. I have also made a thread where I will chuck any good tidbits I find: Elimination - Fail Safe Diet

Wish me luck! :)

I have a feeling I am missing something but this is all I can remember, now I will save it, just in case it happens again.

Update it did happen again. After saving it I clicked on edit and it was blank. Luckily, this time when I clicked on back in my browser, most of my post was still there!

I am having issues with characters too. My title looks like it is in Arabic LOL

Okay, happened yet again after saving, luckily I saved it into my clipboard first, I hope this publishes properly!

Updated Links

2007-03-20T11:52:00.000+10:30

I have finally got off my butt and updated my links. I have been planning on this for a while but keep getting distracted :o

I know there were some more I wanted to add but they escape me right now, I will add as I come accross them so I don't lose them again!

Enjoy :)

Fast-food chains in Australia to curb trans fat

2007-03-16T09:18:00.000+10:30

I just got around to reading this article, at first I thought okay thats a start, then as I kept reading I became very annoyed. Heres a snippet of what our Assistant Health Minister Christopher Pyne and the Heart Foundation communications manager Monique Blunden had to say:

Mr Pyne said Australians consumed 0.6 per cent of their daily kilojoules as trans fats.

"While we are doing well, I would still like to get that level down further and the reliance on saturated fats down also," he said.

"It is important when we reduce trans fats in our food supply that we do it in the context of a balanced diet.

"We don't wish to decrease trans fats by returning to the use of saturated fats such as palm oil, tallow and lard."

Heart Foundation communications manager Monique Blunden said dealing with the use of trans fats was important because of the amount of people who ate fast-food every day.

"While we are certainly thrilled with the initiative Christopher Pyne has taken, we want to make sure that saturated fats are lowered as well," she said.
"There are healthy alternative oils out there, I would encourage the industry to seek them out."

Fast-food chains to curb trans fat

Low Carb Brie, Leek and Pumpkin Quiche

2007-03-13T22:41:00.002+10:30

Okay this is something I have just discovered. It is a recipe from an old Goodtaste mag but minus the carbohydrates.

I just can't stop going on about it LOL I have shared it on my website (link in title above, for anyone interested) but dang I think you guys need to try it too, it really is that good and its the kind of recipe that grows on you each time you make it. I think I will make it tommorrow :)

I have a quick reference chart here to help you with any conversions: Measurements and Conversions

Give this a try, if you havn't had Brie before, the first couple of mouthfuls may seem a tad unusual but trust me it grows on you!

Brie, Leek & Pumpkin Quiche

2 Leeks, pale part only
200g pumpkin, peeled
250g Double Brie
300ml carton of pure or double cream (basically you want a cream that has between 45-60% fat and no thickeners added!)
4 eggs
butter
olive oil
1 heaped Tbl Mustard powder

Preheat oven to 180C

Cut leeks in half lengthways and give a good wash then slice thinly. Fry in a pan with some butter and olive oil untill soft. Put in a buttered quiche dish.

Cube pumpkin in 1 cm cubes and fry in pan with some butter and olive oil until brown then add the mustard and fry for another 2 minutes. Place on top of leek in quiche dish.

Whisk up eggs and cream then season with a little salt. Pout over leeks and pumpkin.

Slice Brie lengthways then place over egg mixture in a nice pattern and chuck in oven for around 25-30mins until top is golden.

Another reason why trying to lower cholesterol in women does more harm then good

2007-03-11T14:43:00.000+10:30

Hey I was just reading this article and thought I'd share, another reason for us ladies to eat up in regards to animal products!

Cholesterol is so important to fetal development that pregnant women who do not have high enough cholesterol levels are at increased risk of having babies with developmental problems, even without consuming alcohol.

And the article finishes off with:

the findings provide further credence to current practice of ensuring that pregnant women should not lower their cholesterol too low. A recent study found that women who took cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins were at greater risk of giving birth to babies with developmental problems.

Cholesterol aside, in regards to alcohol they say this:

Li said that the keys to fetal alcohol syndrome's severity are the amount of alcohol consumed, the duration of the consumption and the timing of the pregnancy. For example, alcohol consumed by a mother with a one-month-old fetus could alter the development of the brain; at four to eight weeks, facial structures, heart and eyesight could be affected. Two to three months into fetal development, alcohol consumption could lead to the growth of extra digits.
"The amount of alcohol consumed is important as well," Li said. "Even the equivalent of one 12-ounce beer, consumed at the wrong time, could disrupt the signaling pathway and lead to a defect."

I don't drink alcohol at the best of times, but that certainly puts me off the idea of even having a sip if I was pregnant!

You can read the article here:

Cholesterol Could Be Key To Treating Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Diabetes 2, sugar, weight gain and drugs...

2007-03-05T09:18:00.000+10:30

I was just reading this article on the threat of diabetes that had some pretty alarming numbers:

According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, the number of people worldwide with diabetes climbed from 30 million in 1985 to 171 million in 2000.

Some 4 percent to 6 percent of adults aged 20 and over are now affected. Developed nations tend to have a higher prevalence, but developing nations are fast catching up.

There was a 69 percent increase -- from 5.2 percent to 8.8 percent -- in diabetes prevalence from 1995 to 2005, exceeding the WHO's estimate of a 60 percent global increase between 1995 and 2030 and a 39 percent increase between 2000 and 2030.

"Every estimate I have ever seen for prevalence has been surpassed the next time you get a chance to look. It's quite frightening," he said.

Now obviousely (well to us anyway!), our diet has a lot to do with this, particulary where highly refined processed foods are concerned, but I also wonder how many drugs out there that we are put on in the hope of curing our ails are also to blame?

My partner has been having a huge battle of late with major depression. They think now that it is a symptom of something else but they don't know what so they are just throwing drugs at him and seeing if they help basically *rolls eyes:
To date every treatment they have given him has made him worse. His previous medication was clearly causing blood sugar issues as I watched him begin to turn back into a sugar addict and gain weight. His eating didn't get too bad but it was only going to get worse and he wouldn't believe me when I said he was having problems with his blood sugar.

Last week he was changed to another drug (Zyprexa) which I looked up and OMG lots of side effects but the ones that stood out to me were major weight gain, syndrome x, hypoglyceamia and diabetes 2 caused by changes to your glucose metabolism.

I talked Garry into mentioning this to his shrink, in which the shrink seemed to have played it down.

I have been hunting for the research article that I was looking at last week, but I seemed to have lost it but here are a couple of articles for anyone interested.

Olanzapine (Zyprexa) on Wikipedia.

Recently the FDA required the manufacturers of all atypical antipsychotics to include a warning about the risk of hyperglycemia and diabetes with atypical antipsychotics. Additionally there are some case reports of olanzapine-induced diabetic ketoacidosis. There are data showing that olanzapine can decrease insulin sensitivity.[citation needed] In addition, increased triglyceride levels may also be an issue with olanzapine. Impaired glucose metabolism, high triglycerides, and obesity have been shown to be constituents of the metabolic syndrome and may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The Zyprexa story (Transcript should be up by Thursday but you can listen to it now)

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly (makers of Prozac) have agreed to pay upwards of 1.2 billion US dollars to nearly 30,000 patients who claim their bestseller antipsychotic medication, Zyprexa (Olanzapine) has resulted in diabetes, weight gain and other complications and that these risks were downplayed. Secret documents are leaked, the newspaper headlines start screaming, and citizen journalists spread the word - but where is the real advocacy for better drugs with fewer side effects?

Zyprexa Documents

I wonder just how many drugs out there have these types of side effects?

Cereals and soya

2007-03-04T15:35:00.000+10:30

Geez they must be getting desperate...

Cereal linked to heart health

Magic Beans: Anti-obesity Soya Could Help Prevent Diabetes

Anonymous posting.

2007-02-24T08:48:00.000+10:30

I have disabled anonymous comments as the spam has started. Making an account is free and you do not need to have a blog so please sign up :)

Folate and Low Carb

2007-02-23T10:13:00.000+10:30

A few years ago when I was doing very strict low carb to lose weight (20-30g and lots of exercise, particulary weights) I was having problems with fatigue, strength, funky hormones etc which persisted during maintenance and I was diagnosed as having a goiter I had a whole load of blood tests done. I never did get that figured out as before you know it I was pregnant with my daughter and I never got anywhere with the doctors and endo prior to that other then being sent home with a print out on CFS, so all that went to the back burner.

Anyway, I was just mentioning to a lady on another forum about my achey joints and how after losing 2 litres of blood after they did an emergency cesaerean, part of me felt really good in regards to my joints and muscles. Anyway she was suggesting that I had iron overload so I pulled out all my blood tests results when I was feeling at my worst. Turns out my ferritin was on the low side of normal but guess what my folate was after around 23 months of low carbing?

Serum Folate: 33.1 nmol/L in which the reference range for deficiency was <> 10.0

Low carb diet being deficient in folate, my bottom... well it certainly wasn't for me!

Also to note:

B12 670 pmol/L (deficient <180> 210)

Plus my Trigs were 0.5 (Normal range < 2.6) and glucose 4.5 mmol/L (3.0 - 11)

Wonder how they would be on a low fat diet!

Red Meat Marketing in Australia

2007-02-22T08:15:00.000+10:30

I thought you guys from overseas might be interested in the commercials for red meat we have going down here using an Australian actor Sam Neill. Of course, even these guys seems to be fat phobic with their term 'lean meat'

Maybe we should all email them and tell them to stop being a wuss and promote the fat too!

Here they are:

Evolution commercial (3.8 MB)
Instinct commercial (1.9 MB)
Library commercial (1.9 MB)

Posters:

Brain development (PDF, 950KB)
Evolution timeline (PDF, 1.3MB)
Instinct posters (PDF, 3 MB)

The marketing campaign is called Foundation Food

Could low-carb diets lead to birth defects?

2007-02-21T09:45:00.000+10:30

Sigh, just did a low carb news search and what do I see:

Could low-carb diets lead to birth defects?

Can't we just educate people to eat more greens and perhaps supplement if trying to concieve rather then get fat and sick on this rubbish!

Is it that hard???

Okay we may reduce birth defects this way but what do we do, replace it with disease and obesity?

Makes no sense!

And while we are at it, encourage everyone to eat their meat with their leafy greens. A Post I read the other day, from Dr Mike Eades: Folic acid and cognitive impairment

A Calorie is a Calorie Again...

2007-02-13T13:04:00.000+10:30

Hey Guys and Gals!

Sorry I havn't posted in a while but life has been, lets just say, full on these days, I hope it settles down real soon!

Anyway I have got a couple of things I wan't to post about when I get time but I wanted to point to this post I read on Reginas blog because it compliments my last blog post and the comments that went with it: A calorie is a calorie: Is it really that simple?

This is her post here: Adaptive Thermogenesis Can Impede Weight Loss

And this is the study in full that she is refferring to: Clinical significance of adaptive thermogenesis.

Let me know what you think!

A calorie is a calorie: Is it really that simple?

2007-01-30T14:45:00.000+10:30

I was just reading this article that I thought everyone might be interested in:

Diet, exercise take off equal pounds, study finds

This is the original study they are speaking of which should provide full free access (need to register) for this article: Effect of 6-Month Calorie Restriction on Biomarkers of Longevity, Metabolic Adaptation, and Oxidative Stress in Overweight Individuals

What do you think?

Study on lifestyle VS Drug interventions on the prevention of Diabetes Type 2 Risk in patients with impaired glucose tolerance.

2007-01-23T10:46:00.000+10:30

This was just published in the British Medical Journal and both of the abstract and full paper are freely available. Here is the abstract and if you go to that link you will find the link to the full article in the menu to the left titled, online first PDF.

Pharmacological and lifestyle interventions to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes in people with impaired glucose tolerance: systematic review and meta-analysis

Their conclusion:

Lifestyle interventions seem to be at least as effective as drug treatment.

Oh really! ;)