Besides tracking my own weight-loss and healthy living progress, recording low-carb recipes, and showing off my considerable vocabulary (or lexicon) on this blog, I also keep an eye on media reports about diet, nutrition and fitness. Frequently, I am angered by the stubborn low-fat, high-carb bias of these reports, as well as their general lack of informed thoughtfulness, as was the case in yesterday's post on the claim that saturated fat may be the cause of inflammation. Every now and … [Read more...]
Beliefs can cause inflammation of the brain
How dangerous is that beef-steak? Beliefs, dogmas and habits of mind are powerful things. I'd sooner have them on my side in an argument than the puny forces of reason and evidence. Take the belief that saturated fat is the source of all evil in the modern diet. It's a deeply and widely held notion in the Western World. Somehow, we all just know that eating red meat will kill us by clogging up our arteries with its saturated fat. Doctors, nutritionists, media pundits and ordinary people have … [Read more...]
Low-carb brunch on a summer Sunday
I took a walk this morning, swinging around the city cemetery (always inspirational), and came loping home with an appetite. That, of course, is the rub for all those who think they can work-out to lose weight. The more you work, the hungrier you get. Having eaten a modest breakfast four-and-a-half hours earlier, I figured a low-carb brunch was in order. Here's what I made myself: Pictured are two eggs scrambled in coconut oil, a salmon patty, and five halved fresh strawberries. The salmon … [Read more...]
Progress Report 8-6-11
On May 7, already a couple months into my low-carb way of eating, I set a weight goal of 215 pounds by Labor Day 2011. At that time, I weighed 241 pounds. Today, I weighed in at 219.8 pounds. Five weeks ago, on July 3 when I gave my last progress report, I weighed 227.6 pounds. Thus, I lost a touch under eight pounds in those five weeks, an average of 1.6 pounds per week. My weekly weight-loss average since May 7 is 1.63 pounds. Before setting my goal, I had already lost about 20 … [Read more...]
Protecting discs, joints, bones: other motives for a low-carb lifestyle
Yesterday I was talking shop with one of my department colleagues when she suddenly switched the topic: "How much have you lost?" she asked. "Twenty-five or thirty pounds?" I told her it was more like thirty-five or forty, but who was counting. She asked how I was doing it, and I said "low-carb," but before I could elaborate, she added: "It's very important for your back." I gathered that by "your back" she actually meant her own back. I haven't had any back pain for years, but the … [Read more...]
Flax seed meal revisited: nutritious and low carb
A while ago, I wrote about flax seed meal in a post entitled Great foods for a low-carb diet (part 2): seeds. I was mildly disparaging, not about the obvious nutritional benefits of flax seed meal, but about the taste and consistency. Having now finished my first bag of flax seed meal, it's a good time for a second-look. My overall impression is positive. Flax seed meal satisfies my craving for a hot cereal that is easy to prepare and non-grain based. Pictured is the actual one-pound bag of … [Read more...]
Taking stock and looking ahead
July 2011 was my first full month of blogging at Life After Carbs. The blog ended the month averaging 51 visits a day, a 40% increase over the June average. The best day was July 2 when 134 visits were recorded. This was thanks to Jimmy Moore, who included Life After Carbs in his list of 50 new low-carb blogs to read over the holiday weekend. Indeed, a third of my visitors for the entire month of July came here via Jimmy's Livin' La Vida Low-Carb blog. (Note that I am returning the favor by … [Read more...]
Coffee = Life = Coffee
Early on in my low-carb adventure, I ran across the advice to stop drinking coffee. That nearly ended my low-carb adventure right then. There are some things you can't give up. Coffee's at the top of my list. Repeat after me, friends: "Coffee is life, life is coffee." That is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Coffee is low-carb -- right? There are carbs in black coffee -- about a tenth of a gram in a cup. S0 coffee is low-carb, though not quite as low-carb as plain water. In … [Read more...]
Yes, tax bad food — after we all agree on what it is
Because thou art vegan-leaning, shall there be no bacon cheeseburgers? Taxing other people's vices always seems like a win-win. It allows the majority to feel holier-than-thou and adds money to the public coffers. For instance, I've favored the enormous taxes placed on tobacco. As you can probably guess, I'm not a smoker. I have no vested interests that keep me from seeing the logic of the standard public health argument. Smoking is implicated in widespread health problems that cost … [Read more...]
Reviewing some good and bad advice for spotting bogus diets
Is a diet "bogus" because it bans "fat, sugar or carbs"? Yes claims an article at USA Weekend: Five ways to spot a bogus diet. I'll get to the other signs of dietary bogusosity in a minute. Let us first examine the assertion that banning or limiting particular foods or nutrients from your diet is "both nutritionally deficient and not sustainable." Sure, banning all fat would create a diet that is seriously deficient and unsustainable; in fact, it would kill you. Therefore, no one ever … [Read more...]
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