Available across the Web! My ebook, The Best of Life after Carbs, is now in wider release. You can find it at multiple online stores: Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Just click this Universal Book Link, and then select your favorite store. The book is part memoir, part how-to. The 30+ chapters in the book are based on posts from this blog. Yes, you could read them all here for free, in some form. But if you enjoy ebooks, and want to support my efforts, here's your chance to do us both a favor. I'll take it as a sign I'm doing something right! A few of the questions addressed in the book: Why are pecans an LCHF powerhouse? (Should macadamias be worried?) What's a good time to eat avocado? Why is Peter Tork of the Monkees in the book? What's a pasty? … [Read more ...]
Intermittency in diet (LCN 65)
By JA
Intermittency: a dietary change-of-pace Low Carb Nugget 65 When it comes to diet, "intermittency" means making frequent, significant changes in how much you eat. You need to throw your body a dietary change up, and not let it adjust to a single continuous level of intake. (Programming note: I won't be releasing an episode of this podcast on Saturday, October 7th. Just two nuggets this week.) … [Read more ...]
DNA, diet, and weight
By Jim
Can spitting into a test-tube tell you which diet is best for you? Earlier this year, Anita and I each sent in a sample of our saliva to 23 and Me, a company that does commercial genetic testing. I'm not plugging the service, and this is not intended to be a full-scale review. But some of our DNA test results are relevant to the topic of diet. We both opted to receive ancestry and health-related reports of our DNA. At first, I was only going to get the ancestry report, but changed my mind after getting that report and seeing Anita's full set of reports. (Note: Anita has agreed that I may … [Read more ...]
Eating ancient wheat
By Jim
I fell off the wagon one night, landing mouth-first in a small serving of pasta with meat sauce. Actually, I didn't fall off so much as hop off briefly. It was a calculated act, not a moment of weakness. My wife and I decided to try some fusilli (corkscrew pasta) made with einkorn wheat (a variety now considered a relic, first having been cultivated 12,000 years ago). I had read about this ancient wheat in reviews of Wheat Belly, a new book by Dr. William Davis. (For instance, see the reviews by Dana Carpender, Joe Lindley and Tom Naughton.) According to the reviews, Davis draws a … [Read more ...]
Avocado gadgets reviewed
By JA
The avocado is tops among foods that I've come to love on my LCHF diet. As I wrote in an earlier post, I never even ate guacamole until I was in my twenties, let alone a whole ripe avocado. Now I can't get enough of the berry. (That's what Wikipedia says it is.) Apparently, I'm not the only avocado-lover out there. In the United States, per capita consumption of fresh avocados climbed from just over two pounds in 2000 to seven pounds in 2015. Fresh avocado has become so popular that some emergency rooms have reported an epidemic of serious hand-cuts from improperly slicing through the … [Read more ...]
Sugar: trick, not treat (LCN 71)
By JA
Sugar habits and consequences Low Carb Nugget 71 American teenage boys consume an average of a 161 grams of sugar a day. That's 40 teaspoons of sugar. And you wonder why American children are becoming more obese? When it comes to our bodies and our health, both as individuals and as a nation, sugar is a dirty trick, not a sweet treat. … [Read more ...]
Mindful eating: slow down and smell the pork chop
By Jim
On Episode 6 of The Low Carb Nugget podcast, Jim examines the conflict between "grabbing a bite" and "mindful eating." There's an expression in American English, an idiom, "to grab a bite." Some variations include "grab a bite to eat," "grab something to eat" or just "get a bite." I haven't done extensive research on this idiom, but what I have done suggests it is, indeed, of American origin. That makes sense. The idiom perfectly suits the American mind-set. It turns getting a meal into a quick, decisive action -- quick and a little violent, even. It suggests a busy life-style, a full … [Read more ...]
Intermittent feasting for weight loss (LCN 63)
By JA
Feast, fast, or something else? Low Carb Nugget 63 A study out of Australia suggests that breaking up a calorie-restricted diet with periods of increased eating (relative feasts) could produce better results for weight loss. Researchers at the University of Tasmania reported their findings in the International Journal of Obesity. What exactly were the findings and what might they mean for those of us on a low carb, high fat diet? … [Read more ...]
A typical day in my life after carbs
By Jim
Following up on my post "What is a low carb diet?" I'm presenting here a typical day of low carbing. The day was a Saturday. Breakfast (6:30 a.m.) Most days, I'm an early riser. The sun comes up, and I'm right there with it. no-filler salmon patty (leftover) two eggs scrambled with butter two mugs of coffee, each with two teaspoons of half-and-half one multi-vitamin for men Morning Snack (10:00 a.m.) Having this mid-morning snack was a-typical. Often I make it to lunch without a snack. I ate this one because Anita and I were planning an expedition to Costco, and … [Read more ...]
Sardines: low-carb, high-fat lunch in a tin
By Jim
A tin of sardines makes a quick, easy, nutritious and portable low-carb lunch or snack. It's another food item that I seldom, or never, ate before going low-carb, a hard-to-explain list that includes salmon, almonds, macadamia nuts, and fresh avocado. Lately, I've been buying Season Brand Sardines in five-tin packs at Costco. (For the record, I receive no consideration from either of those companies, but may from Amazon.com, which sells several brands of sardines, including the Season Skinless and Boneless Sardines in Olive Oil, 3.75-Ounce Tins.) Aside from reliable quality and a decent price … [Read more ...]
Low-carb diets and dental health
By Jim
Examining the relationship between low-carb diets and dental health Last updated: April 2017 When you eat a healthier diet and lose weight, you can reasonably expect good news from a medical exam. I've gotten such good news in the past few months: lower blood pressure and improved blood lipid numbers. But I wasn't expecting diet-related good news from my semi-annual dental cleaning and exam. I got some anyway. My teeth were fine. I have a bunch of fillings from years ago, and sometimes one needs replacing, but new cavities have been relatively rare in recent years. Even before going … [Read more ...]