This is the weekly digest for my Low Carb Nugget podcast. The latest episodes look at an expert's argument for feeding your brain meat, not veggies; consider the difference between rigorous exercise and frequent activity, and which may keep you alive longer; and, finally, critique a recent example of dietary advice in mainstream media. … [Read more...]
This week’s nuggets: June 27-July 1, 2017
On the Nugget this week: finding "hidden sugar" on food labels (learn its many names), exercising to lose weight (don't bother), and eating like a Revolutionary War soldier (mix flour and water, form into a cake, cook over an open flame). Subscribe to the Low Carb Nugget via any of the following services: Apple Podcasts Google Play Music Stitcher TuneIn (On the Amazon Echo, use the command, "Alexa, play The Low Carb Nugget Podcast on TuneIn.") … [Read more...]
My LCHF week in review: November 2 – 8
Starting weight = 213.00 lbs Ending weight = 211.8 lbs So I'm up a pound since my last full report two weeks ago, but down a pound since my returning from vacation a week ago. I didn't fast last week. I was consistent in my eating patterns, though. The daily averages shown above are a good reflection of how I ate day to day. But time is running out to reach my goal of weighing 199 pounds by the end of 2015. Indeed, it seems impossible to reach that goal. I'd have to lose 1.8 pounds or better … [Read more...]
Obesity, exercise, and magic bullets
Saturday Short Takes Here's a selection of web articles on weight loss and related topics that caught my eye this week. 1. Looking for Magic Bullets to Fire at Obesity According to an article on the MedicalXpress site, "a number of magic bullets" are needed to fight obesity. It's more like magic shotgun shells. After recounting the usual statistics about the extent of the obesity epidemic and its human and financial costs (in this case, with a UK focus), the article moves on to the "bullets." … [Read more...]
Busting the myth that you must exercise to lose weight
From my personal experience, as well as my reading, I know that it simply isn't necessary to exercise to lose weight. I've lost plenty of pounds following my low carb, high fat (LCHF) way of eating without resorting to what Mark Twain called the "loathsome" practice of exercise. I wrote a blog post about it a few years ago, featuring Mr. Twain, which is one of my personal favorites even though no one else ever cared for it. Maybe readers thought I was advocating a sedentary lifestyle. In fact, … [Read more...]
Leveling off is aggravating
Sooner or later, it seems to happen to every dieter. After a period of steady, or even spectacular, weight loss, the downward trend halts. You have landed on a plateau. Weeks go by, and the needle on the scale refuses to budge. This appears to be my situation. Back on August 27, I weighed 216.8 pounds. Yesterday, September 17, I weighed 215.6 pounds -- up a few tenths from the previous week. Granted, it isn't much of a plateau -- yet. I've read of others who have been stuck at a weight … [Read more...]
Loathsome, tiresome exercise
When it comes to exercise, I'm a Mark Twain kind of guy. At his 70th birthday party, feted by 170 people in the Red Room at Delmonico's in New York City, Twain said, "I have never taken any exercise, except sleeping and resting, and I never intend to take any. Exercise is loathsome. And it cannot be any benefit when you are tired; I was always tired" (The New York Times, Dec. 6, 1905). Twain lived a few more years, dying at age 74. Seventy-four was a decent old-age in that era, and it would be … [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...]
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...]
Healthy weight loss is a patriotic duty
“Today, the state with the lowest obesity rate would have had the highest rate in 1995.” -- Jeff Levi, Ph.D., executive director of Trust for America's Health, in 7 July 2011 press release. Yes, America, you are getting fatter, and sicker, too. So says F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2011, the latest in a series of annual reports on American weight-gain and fitness by the Trust for America's Health (TFAH). In the past year, obesity rates increased in 16 states and didn't … [Read more...]