Here I thought LC was supposed to make you feel younger?!

I have to pipe up and vent a little here folks.  Because as I approach 50, I realize that I'm far from an old person ... and I'm getting increasingly annoyed by those in their late 30's/early 40's talking as if they've already got one foot in the grave.  One in particular, who just turned 40 and has brought that fact up repeatedly on his blog, podcasts, interviews, etc. etc.  Yep, I'm talking about one Jimmy Moore.  Really, you'd think the man was 80 the way he talks sometimes about his hopelessly damaged metabolism and such.   But what do you think when you read defeatist comments from a 40 year old?  I hear excuses, mostly.  Barring some major complicating circumstances, so should you.  It's funny, Jimmy is lamenting how the paleo crowd tend to be young and fit so they just can't relate.  Actually, I remember being young and fit, and if anything, back in my 20's, I would have bought into the excuses because back then 40 sounded SOOOOOO old (heck, 30 sounded pretty ancient) and I didn't know too many very active people of that age.  Certainly it seems (and it could be perception but I think it's mostly true) that more people are aging more gracefully, remaining active and youthful looking longer, etc.  You used to hear how 40 is the new 30 ... well now 50 is the new 30 and such.  Most of our friends and cousins are already 50 and they're not running around complaining about their broken metabolisms and such.  

But what's with the bellyaching at all.  I thought Jimmy was brimming with good health eating his high fat, moderate protein, low carb healthy lifestyle.  Is that just really all an act?  It must be, because this guy has been drastically restricting his carbs for 8 years now, which puts his transformation beginning in his early 30's.  Jimmy was about 230 lbs on his 33rd birthday -- and eating all his healthy foods for a year by then -- and therefore spent the majority of his 30's eating what he promotes as a super healthful diet.   My own body endured over a decade more abuse than Jimmy's before I took control of my diet.   So on the one hand, Jimmy regales his readers with how much healthier he is than before.  He'll remind you of his triple digit weight loss and his grand success in 2004.   But what does his bellyaching at 40 ultimately say?   He'll brag about his newfound athleticism and how now at 40 he's pumping iron (I guess either he's losing his memory or he expects his readers have because this isn't the first time he's lifted weights) ... but his metabolism is just not cooperating.  There's an inconsistency here.  IF his diet is healthy and providing his body with all the nutrition it needs and all that, then he should feel young and fit and all that.  Or is his diet falling short?  Because if someone on the SAD, or a vegetarian, or a WW person complains of this and that, you can be sure Jimmy would be encouraging that person to go LC.  Remember how that's all Tara Parker-Pope need do to conquer her weight problems?  

Let's look at it this way.  If eight years of low carbing can't at least help a person forestall some of the aging of one's thirties, is it really this holy grail after all?  It seems not.  And I'm one who is going to call foul on this whole damaged metabolism excuse.  Diana Moon who comments here has lost over 20 lbs going off low carb in her mid 50's.  I eat more carbs these days -- now up to a good 100g starch -- and feel just as good or better than I did eating VLC.  Now I never ate quite as much as Jimmy, and I never was quite as obese either, but I have done damage.   I do know that I'll put my formerly damaged metabolism up against Jimmy's and I'm hear to tell you that to cry over this is the biggest load of bull that's come down the pike.  There are many MANY more cases out there.  Can one damage their metabolism?  Certainly.  Is that permanent?  In most cases it appears not.  

I'm going to address Jimmy's bellyaching over perceived antagonism against LC these days and such at a future date.   But what does it say for low carbing, that someone who has low carbed their 30's away is complaining so frequently about his age and hopelessly damaged body.  Meanwhile, he's never giving up!  Oh yeah ... never giving up waiting for the answer to some supposed mystery to unfold.