Frida Kahlo’s final painting “Long Live Life” Viva la Vida

 These are the titles of her last paintings, loosely translated:

“Nature Life”

“Fruit of Life”

“Long Live Life”

Here is Frida Kahlo’s final painting, with the words “Long Live Life” written into the slice of life front and center:

Viva la Vida

Mark Parisi cartoonist at OffTheMark.com

The brilliance of a cartoonist is a day-to-day grace easy to take for granted. But where would we be if magazines and newspapers, and now blog posts, did not share a few.

Please visit Mark Parisi's website.

http://www.dietbites.com/

Day by Day chatting about the narcissistic tale of dieters

At this time I am meticulously updating my enormous website, a tedious yet enlightening process... revisiting the changes in a life time... The Lov-e.com website includes hundreds of pages, created in the early years of web development, with thousands of now deactivated links and antiquated information. It doesn't take long for information on the web to be irrelevant.

In this reflective process, I am witness to my many hand-to-hand bouts with my obesity, my many false starts, great progress and the sad losses of gaining weight step by step in reaction. For older heavy people one's yo-yo dieting for a life time is a bitter closeted recollection.

But I am happy to be playing at dieting again. I need to survive and learning the state-of-art dietary opinions, of the various camps, can be fascinating. Presently I am practicing a low-carb regime. I often feel over-full, because I still eat impulsively, and am undoubtably accustomed to regular refueling with sugar-enhanced carbohydrates. Whether I can ever develop a six sense of awareness, where I might intercede between my compulsive nature and the practical reality of healthy self-maitainance... time will again tell.

Retro Diet Humor Note Cards 

Easier said than done... but worth a try!

from Marisa's Kitchen Talk

Primal Body - Primal Mind hosted by Nora Gedgaudas

A peleo podcast, optimal nutrition...

 Primal Body - Primal Mind Radio hosted by Nora Gedgaudas

Raw Vegan Blogger "Become a Healthier You"

Evelyn Parham has a gentle southern-style warmth as she advises people toward a plant based diet, stressing the health benefits of fruits and vegetables. She is making a life from her blogging while keeping fit. The trick for all of us is the best way to face our addictions and cultural predispositions. With Evelyn the issue she first focused on was the corruption of black hair by chemical straighteners. Her awareness of the beauty and healthfulness in being natural is reminiscent of the primal/paleo philosophy, be who you are. Evelyn understands how important it is for us to also begin where we are. What the raw vegan community offers us is a refreshingly new way to objectify the distinctions between our culturally assumed values and what is really possible. Healthy living examples, like Evelyn Parham, living in the real world... and nothing is more real than a black mother from Tennessee trying to talk nutrition to her Southern peers in Georgia... are the front line in changing the American diet and defeating obesity before it defeats us all.

Marathon fantasy

Listening to a Low-carb advocate's fight against cancer... he mentions he is doing a marathon this year, something radically out of his life long pattern... and I was reminded of how I too would fantasize full physical expression... to complete a marathon... this would be a beautiful miracle for me.
Years ago I purchased a high quality treadmill, imported from Taiwan because Japanese treadmills could not handle my weight. I have used it off and on, mostly off, for years now, but recently I have been enjoying it very much. I have situated my computer monitor in such a way as to permit me to watch video podcasts while walking and running on the treadmill. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the terrible back pain, I feel soon after walking on the street, could be cured by a combination of low-carb dieting and moderate exercise. The key may be in the treadmill and my continuing on my quest to rid myself of this uncomfortable blanket of fat banding my internal organs.

The Low Carb Connoisseur

The Low Carb Connoisseur is dedicated to helping the low carb, sugar-free dieter obtain the highest quality and best selection of products available. Low Carb Connoisseur is proud to offer Atkins Diet products, as well as all your other favorite low carbohydrate brands.We are constantly seeking feedback from our customers in order to make available any new found low carb, sugar free products that our customers may be searching for. We encourage you to contact us and let us know of any low carb or sugar free item you have been searching for! We love to ship to International destinations and Military Addresses!
Why Can't I Lose Weight?
_{An Article by Atkins Center writer Sheila Buff.}

Alcohol on a Low Carb Diet

"Candy Is Dandy; But Liquor Is Quicker!"  - Ogden Nash

The Yogurt Exception

Why Fermented Milk Products are different. . .

Low Carb Articles By April S. Fields

Author of 101 Low Carb & Sugar Free Desserts

Low-Carb Humor

Here is some of the Low Carb Humor out there on the internet
Cartoon from offthemarkcartoons.com by Mark Parisi

A must see  low-carb cartoon collection from shinyhappyhead.com


Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.


(A well-dressed woman and her teenage daughter are out to lunch at one of my tables. I have already brought them their drinks.)
Customer: *waving me over* “Miss! I asked for a diet soda.”
Me: “Oh, I’m so sorry. I must have picked up another server’s order by mistake. Let me get you a new one.”
(I fill a diet soda myself and deliver it. Before even tasting it, she speaks up.)
Customer: “No! This isn’t diet soda! I’m on a very strict diet and I can’t have carbs!”
Me: “I filled it myself. I assure you that it is diet.”
Customer: *poking the drink with a straw* “Then what are these? I can see the carbs everywhere!”
Me: “You can see the carbs, Ma’am?”
Customer: “Yes! Are you blind? Can’t you see the bubbles?”
Customer’s teenage daughter: “Oh my God, mom! ‘Carbs’ mean carbohydrates, not carbonation!”


Low Carb Humor Gifts

Now try Comedy Central's Nick DiPaolo - Food Poisoning 

& Nick DiPaolo - Obese People

On my Low-Carb booklist

Here is Jan McCrackens, and her For Dummies publisher's, own extensive description of "Healthy Carb Cookbook for Dummies":

 

"According to USA Weekend, over a quarter of the adults in the U.S. have tried a low-carb diet. Many people have enjoyed lasting success. Others have felt mystified or deprived and given up!

Whether you’re a first-timer or a “try, try-againer”, this book helps you get with the low-carb program and stick with it! Building on the success of Low-Carb Dieting For Dummies, it gives you loads of nutritional information plus more than 100 sumptuous low-carb recipes like Crunchy Brunch Oatmeal Pecan Waffles, Caribbean Chicken, Chile Spiced Broccoli, and Lemon Torte with Raspberries. Low-Carb Cookbook For Dummies includes:

• A complete nutritional analysis for each recipe so you can’t go wrong
• Lots of recipes for dishes with 5 carbs or less
• Recipes that de-carb no-nos like Southern fried chicken and Philly cheese steak sandwiches
• Recipes for soups, seafood, and meat dishes, including pork chops, lamb and steaks (with a steak chart so you can chart a low-carb course)
• Recipes for great desserts, including chocolate specialties and cheesecake
• Vegetarian recipes and crock pot specialties
• Terrific wrap recipes using lettuce, tortillas, or crepes
• Guidelines for eating low-carb when you’re dining out or brown-bagging it

Author Jan McCracken, a health advocate and low-carber for more than ten years, has written two low-carb cookbooks and is a contributor to numerous low-carb publications. Having fallen off the low-carb wagon several times herself, she alerts you to things that can sabotage your success and clues you in on carb counting and techniques that have worked for her. You’ll get started right with:

• Mini-courses on low-carb math and on low-carb nutritition and the glycemic index
• A shopping list for stocking a low-carb kitchen
• The scoop on different kinds of carbs and artificial sweeteners
• Tips on using spices creatively for variety and flavor
• Advice on incorporating exercise, including taking the first step (and lots more steps) with a pedometer
• Tips for reducing stress (a common cause of bingeing)

With this information, you won’t be mystified. With the fantastic recipes, you won’t feel deprived. You will be inspired to stick to a low-carb lifestyle—one that can help you lose weight and feel healthier!"

Half Ton Man, a thought provoking story

Patrick Deuel, and his fascinating sub-plot 'enabler' wife, are a story you may want to absorb into your body as you evaluate your own relationship to food. The film Half Ton Man has an equally thoughtful follow-up msnbc.com Fitness article online titled 

Half-ton man loses 573 pounds in one year

'I look a little more like a human being'

Eat Meat or Not? Which is best for me or you?

Within the website Acu-cell, in their Vegetarianism section, is a helpful comparison titled 
"Nutritional pros and cons of Meat-based and Vegetarian Diets". A recommended read!


Alden Smith's opinion is available at DoItYourself.com. 
A simple but fair appraisal, stressing nutrition.

 Pros And Cons Of Vegetarianism
in list form... Clear and helpful for reflection, a quick read.


With very few exceptions, the issue of 'meat verses no-meat' on the web is dominated by Vegetarians, Vegans, and Raw-Vegans. The USA, which is historically a meat loving culture, is comparable to Japan in its cultural assumption of fish and fish bi-products. True vegetarians are a radical minority with few commercial consumables, in most of middle America, and in Japan where I live.


The most advertised source of Low-carb products on the internet, Netrition.com, is a US based company out of Albany New York. They cover a wide diversity of dietary disciplines, along with products that supplement muscle-building nutritionalists. The site provides full disclosure of all ingredients for their many products, so consumers have a fighting chance at knowing what to expect before ordering. This would seem a prerequisite, yet there are many on-line sellers, particularly in the legal-gray area of 'supplementation and nutrition,' which provide superlatives but few actual facts. 
As an international consumer, shipping costs can be somewhat discouraging, as are the sacrifices needed to give products a shelf-life. All schools of nutritional radicalism, from Raw-Veganism to Paleo-Primal, encourage buying local, fresh produce... label-less real food.

Steak...Why not the best...

Mark Schatzker, a Canadian food critic with a passion for quality steak, has a book appropriately named Steak. He is the go-to guy in the greater realm of bloody oral gratification. If you are going on a low-carb carnivore life-style, why not learn where and how to find the most orgiastic experience!

Low-carb Vegetarians/Vegans actually Exist

Though it is not the ideal marriage, Atkins-like variations exist in the Veggie-only community. Without the satiating characteristics of fat and protein via meat, one can only admire these sacrificial abstainers and their quest for both beauty and philosophical consistency. This is the book I have ordered to better learn their culinary perspective.

"Rose Elliot is Britain's foremost vegetarian cookery writer and is the author of many bestselling titles. She has written more than 50 books, including Fast, Fresh and Fabulous, Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Meals in Minutes, The Bean Book, Vegan Feasts, and Vegetarian Express. She lives with her husband in Hampshire and London."

Visit sarahcox77 Studiov for an online low-carb vegetarian cooking series from Australia by Sarah Cox.

Sugar: The Bitter Truth

In his lecture, available on YouTube, Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin. 
"Dr. Lustig is a nationally-recognized authority in the field of neuroendocrinology, with a specific emphasis on the regulation of energy balance by the central nervous system. He is currently investigating the contribution of biochemical, neural, hormonal, and genetic influences in the expression of the current obesity epidemic both in children and adults. "

Statistical Review as a Reality Check

In the painful analysis called BMI (Body Mass Index) or Quetelet Index, I have not been of appropriate weight since 'ever'. Now I am still within the clinically obese category and will be for the rest of the month. To actually leave the obese category I would need to be at a weight I have not been in my entire adult life, or at least not since college. To be below overweight I suppose I would need to regress back to high school, where, according to this index, I may have been OK.
 It is hard for me to accept that I have not been 'OK' at my present height 'ever' according to the Belgian polymath Adolphe Quetelet developer of "social physics".

At half my present weight I would be considered 'NORMAL'.

Progress, Concern, and Home Work

 

After one full week, on this Low-Carb life-style, I am down 5 kilo. A routine scheduled visit to my doctor had him complimenting my loss... yet increasing my blood pressure medication. I have been increasing my exercise (from zero to 'some' on my treadmill) and playing with my body chemistry, so there will be changes. I will go along with the medication this month, as I drop more weight. But my medium term goal is 'to do without'.

Here are the two books I am presently reading in this quest to understand the greater Low-Carb community of Primal/Paleo practioners.

Melissa McEwen

"Hi! I originally started eating paleo to heal from chronic health problems and well...it worked! This blog is about the intersection between evolutionary biology and food. But also about practical applications, sustainable agriculture, and general tasty things. These days I'm a co-organizer for NYC's Eating Paleo in NYC Meetup Group." – Melissa McEwen

This site is as handsome as the author, well written, graphically titillating, and chuck-full of right-on info. Follow her step by step for an informative journey through the primal jungle, living Paleo. Brilliant! 

Compare Atkins Diet with Low Fat Diet

Compare Atkins Diet with Low Fat Diet and Mediterranean Diet, Which One Works Best?

There are many type of diets in this world but which one works best? In this video, you will see the result from the study of Dr. Meir Stampfer from Harvard school of public health that comparing Atkins diet with low fat diet and mediterranean diet to see which type of diet is work best, most effect and safest in the long run?

• Low fat diet – Eat little fat and cut their calories.
• Mediterranean diet – Cut calories, vegetable eat.
• Atkins type diet – Replace carbs with protein and fat.
• Which one works best? Find out the answer in this video.

BBC Documentary – The Atkins Diet

Does the Atkins diet really work and is it dangerous? The most controversial diet in history, a new low carb diet revolution from Dr. Robert Atkins, author of the Atkins new diet revolution. Dr.Atkins’s experimental found that you could eat as much as you desire and still lose weight.

In this video documentary from BBC will show you what is Atkins Diet and how it works.

Biography – The Story of Dr. Robert Atkins and His Theory “Atkins diet”This video is a biography of Dr. Robert Atkins and his theory “Atkins diet Revolution” that changed the way people think about food and eating that help people lose their weight.

CarolineJhingory.com

Steve's Original

      "Steve's Original is, at its core, about journeys. Our story is the result of years of searching for a healthier way to live; and eat. Our Originals are about the journey that we all take to find a better way to live our lives and fuel our bodies."