Low Carb Circus Acts ...

In the Center Ring:


Jimmy Moore was on the Christian Broadcast Network's 700 Club yesterday.  I was going to leave this just for the social media stuff, but the appearance was quite disturbing in a few ways so I thought I'd share a few thoughts on that.  

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The YouTube is of only the segment.  The full thing is HERE with Jimmy featured in the initial "on tonight's show" segment and Pat introducing the segment at the 5:35 mark.  Robertson's post-segment commentary is quite hilarious (11:20) as he basically disses the diet with the old canard that fat doesn't burn well w/o carb and leads to "clinkers" -- I'm sure he didn't mean it this way, but it is funny that a UK friend pointed out that "clinkers" have a funny meaning in his country (see Urban Dictionary).  But even worse, he closes his commentary by saying that the Atkins diet "violates the principles that God set down".  WOW!  He was also having none of it when the co-host tried to mention how there are some "good carbs" ... no Atkins2013 is pretty much fat with a little protein.  

Jimmy likes to compile pictures from time to time for blog posts.  I have one for you.  A screenshot of his blog post.

I am very uneasy with mixing diet and religion in this way.  And Jimmy Moore pretty infamously hides behind his religion to deflect criticism.  It's pretty appalling really.  He lies yet again -- as if it really matters anymore? -- on the program, and I think it is utterly irresponsible of the program to allow him to present himself as healthy on his diet.  But the praying over one's diet and God speaking to Jimmy to cut the carbs?   OK ... so fine.   If THIS is your angle, what the heck is going on with that screenshot??  You cannot have it both ways.  You just can't.   

Speaking of God's principles, it is rather ironic that they highlighted Westman's plan of limiting carbs to 20g/day.  They then show a cupcake -- too many!  But it's not just the sweets!  It's bread.  


OK.  Now, leaving Jimmy Moore's sideshow performance out of this, Dr. Westman lost any respect I have left for him with his appearance here.  He is, after all, the doctor.  Do we have him "on the record" stating that Jimmy Moore is in good health and that his diet is healthy for him?  Not that I'm aware.  But he makes some extremely irresponsible statements and/or is cited in association with other misleading statements.  We have:
"I separate out fruits and vegetables, I'll never say them in the same sentence.  Fruits basically are high in sugar.  Vegetables have much less sugar.  So we want people to have vegetables.  Fruits are an every now and then treat ... like candy or something that you wouldn't have every day."   ~ Dr. Eric Westman

Yes, the banana is just like candy.  And too many carbs apparently.    I don't want to hear one more time from these shillin' paleo types that their diets are about just eating real whole foods.  No they are not when they embrace this kind of crap.  



"The key to giving up carbs is replacing them with some protein and a lot of fat."  ~ Lorie Johnson, CBN Medical Correspondent
 Actually, this is not what has ever been prescribed.  There is no "replace" there.  Jimmy Moore didn't lose weight by replacing several liters of Coke a day with butter.  In a peer reviewed journal article entitled   Low-carbohydrate nutrition and metabolism, Westman (along with The New Atkins co-authors Volek & Phinney as well as Feinman, Mavropoulos, Vernon, Wortman and Yancy) wrote:
"Because an instruction only to restrict carbohydrate intake could theoretically create a diet containing any level of daily energy intake from protein and fat, confusion exists among researchers and the lay public about what constitutes an LCD.  As early as 1980, LaRosa found that subjects following an LCD do not necessarily replace the carbohydrate with either protein or fat, but that they, rather, reduce starch and sugar intake.  Under such conditions, even though the absolute amounts of fat and protein do not increase, the percentage of fat and protein will increase. Recent research reviewed below has determined that the reduction in calorie intake is a result of appetite and hunger reduction. In this way, LCDs are also low-calorie diets that include an increase in the percentage of calories from fat and protein but not necessarily an increase in absolute amounts of fat and protein."
Of course this sort of straight talk didn't make it into TNA, nor did this publication make their reference list.    So Johnson goes on to elaborate about MUFA and saturated fats ... where Westman is spliced in.  Sat fat raises good cholesterol.  Well, so does alcohol ... 
"When his patients follow Jimmy's diet they lose weight and don't need their medicine anymore."  ~ Lorie Johnson
Really?  Jimmy Moore -- as stated on his own blog -- didn't cease all medications until around 8 months after losing his weight.  He is actually still taking medication, in the form of berberine.  Don't be fooled, this non-pharmaceutical supplement is a highly effective compound similar in efficacy to metformin, that also has cholesterol lowering properties.  Further, Jimmy would be on statins according to accepted clinical guidelines, so it is no "brag" to say he is off them if that just means one refuses indicated meds.  Johnson overstates the efficacy of Westman's diet, because despite the exaggerated statistics, many diabetics are not able to abandon their medications following 4 months or 6 months on his diet.  Of the 19 completers in the 4 month study taking diabetes meds at baseline, 12 (63%) were still taking some at 4 months (with no change in metformin requirements being the predominant outcome).  In the 6 month study we are only given med information on those taking insulin at baseline, of which only 2 of 8 "didn't need their medicine anymore" following the diet.  

Of course during the five or so hours that Jimmy and wife spent with Johnson, it never came up that he is following an extreme version of Atkins?  That he is not following Westman's diet anyway?   Westman has been corresponding with Jimmy.  He co-authored his book.  He is not excused for lending the credibility of his MD and his employer Duke to either Jimmy Moore's "medical advice" or The 700 Club.   Speaking of medical advice ...

The most irresponsible part of this piece is depicted at right.  This is the biggest, skirting on criminal, issue with Cholesterol Clarity.  At the very least it is supremely irresponsible.  Those who are unlucky to have familial hypercholesterolemia have "large fluffy" LDL.  They also get athersclerosis, and tend to die very young from it.   As discussed in my review,  it is particle number and not size that matters.  Also elaborated upon here:  When Size Matters (and when it doesn't) ...   It is utterly irresponsible to describe LDL as "good" and these folks should know better when they rant and rave about "healthy whole grains".  Same idea, but far worse given the obvious about FH.


In the Small Tent:


I decided not to devote an entire post to Scam the Fat-people's Smash the Fat's Sam Feltham and his latest publicity stunt.  It was just too pathetic with a pre-destined outcome.  I discussed his Jokesperiment where he "proved" calories are bogus in some detail.  Well, he repeated this ... with one less calorie per day -- LOL! ... over the past three weeks eating a crap diet.  He has improved his scientific method slightly and will apparently have body composition measured, but it's really silly at this point. 

Here is his latest stunt wrap-up on Facebook.  Of course, he still hasn't addressed the issue of what his actual weight maintaining caloric-intake would be prior to an overfeed.  He also mentions lifting more over the summer.  Sam has conveniently never addressed the issue of his entire calorie surplus in the last experiment consisting of notoriously malabsorbed nuts.  He couldn't even be bothered to match protein intake to his previous experiment just for those science types that acknowledge the importance of this factor.  Since he is generally a low carb guy, he likely added the usual water weight first, and ... well ... it's just not worth the time.  He is currently "rehabbing" with bacon and eggs.  Now what would be interesting is if he kept the calories at these overfeed levels on a diet of bacon and eggs with lots of butter and cream and such.  Nah ... he knows if he did he wouldn't lose the weight.    

Since he chose high MUFA (and PUFA) nuts for his extreme fat binge, one wonders if Sam Feltham is not a closeted sat-fat-a-phobe!!

screenshot from FB as his
webpage is not loading for me

This last experiment seems to have demonstrated that if you chow down on junky refined carbs, you gain weight.  Imagine that.  Rewrite all the government and medical establishment literature advising us all to do just that!  STAT!!  The diet also caused his pecs to migrate south.   Odd phenom that.   


Of course when you up up up the carbs and eat mostly low fat versions of some things (what junk food eater doesn't eat the real Kozy pudding?) you can claim that 140g of fat is a "low fat" diet ...



link, click to view fullsize

UPDATE 10/13/13:  For whatever reason, Sam played with the distance/angle etc. so that his before picture this go round makes him look smaller-than-life.  He "grows" ... see for yourself!  




Which reminds me of the most interesting part of all of the carb bashing and finger pointing.  Inflammation causes heart disease, and carbs cause inflammation, right?  

"Inflammation" screenshots from CBN program
Nutrition info from nutritiondata.com for 1 large donut and 1 oz. plain potato chips.

Notice anything?





Comments

charles grashow said…
God's diet

http://www.edenwellness.org/hallelujahdiet.html

What is the Hallelujah Diet?
God's Original Diet for Mankind

The Hallelujah Diet is based on the physical nourishment as intended from our Provider in Genesis 1:29: “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat [food]

The 85% Raw Portion

This portion of The Hallelujah Diet is composed exclusively of the garden foods God instructs man to eat (Genesis 1:29). The dense living nutrients found in raw foods and their juices produce abundant energy and vibrant health while satisfying our cells’ nutritional needs, controlling hunger efficiently.

Beverages: Freshly extracted vegetable juices, BarleyMax, CarrotJuiceMax, BeetMax, and remineralized distilled water

Dairy Alternatives: Fresh almond milk, creamy banana milk, as well as frozen banana, strawberry, or blueberry “fruit creams”

Fruit: All fresh, as well as unsulphured organic dried fruit (limit fruit to no more than 15% of daily food intake)

Grains: Soaked oats, raw muesli, dehydrated granola, dehydrated crackers

Beans: Green beans, peas, sprouted garbanzos, sprouted lentils, and sprouted mung beans

Nuts & Seeds: Raw almonds, sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, walnuts, raw almond butter or tahini (consume sparingly)

Oils and Fats: Extra virgin olive oil, Udo’s Oil, flaxseed oil (the oil of choice for people with cancer, except men withprostate cancer, who may be better served meeting the essential fat needs through freshly ground flaxseed), and avocados

Seasonings: Fresh or dehydrated herbs, garlic, sweet onions, parsley, and salt-free seasonings

Sweets: Fruit smoothies, raw fruit pies with nut/date crusts, date-nut squares, etc.

Vegetables: All raw vegetables

Soups: Raw soups

The 15% Cooked Portion

Cooked foods follow the raw salad at lunch or evening meals and can prove beneficial for those trying to maintain body weight.

Beverages: Caffeine-free herb teas and cereal-based coffee alternatives, along with bottled organic juices

Beans: Lima, adzuki, black, kidney, navy, pinto, red, and white

Dairy: Non-dairy cheese, almond milk and rice milk (use sparingly)

Fruit: Cooked and unsweetened frozen fruits

Grains: Whole-grain cereals, breads, muffins, pasta, brown rice, millet, etc.

Oils: Vegan mayonnaise made from cold-pressed oils

Seasonings: Same as the 85% portion, plus unrefined sea salt (use sparingly)

Soups: Soups made from scratch without fat, dairy, or refined table salt

Sweeteners: Raw, unfiltered honey, rice syrup, unsulphured molasses, stevia, carob, pure maple syrup, date sugar, agave nectar (use very sparingly)

Vegetables: Steamed or wok-cooked fresh or frozen vegetables, baked white, yellow or sweet potatoes, squash, etc

SO - if Jimmy is truly religious this is what he should be eating

http://www.christianpost.com/news/pat-robertson-claims-low-carb-diet-violates-gods-principles-106191/

"The Atkins diet is almost totally fat and protein. You can eat cheese, you can eat a lot of bacon, but sooner or later it violates the principles that God set down."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/07/pat-robertson-low-carb-diet-god_n_4058987.html
Ian East said…
Someone should do an experiment to check whether fluffier LDL leads to fluffier thinking.


*


As for Feltham, I agree with what you say; but I find it fascinating watching people do things like this to themselves. He has inadvertently demonstrated some interesting phenomena. For example, that a slim, fit person can gain such a shed load of weight in in such a short time. Also, he showed previously that nuts do not completely digest, thus confirming research on much smaller amounts. That makes them rather a good food for a dieter.


What a prat he is, though.
Lesley Scott said…
the "daily bread" observation cracked me right up! honestly, the way this group of diet hucksters lumps "carbs" together like some Evil Nutritionism Empire both mystifies me & pisses me off. A banana has, like, zero to do with a Little Debbie Cake or even these piles of jelly beans the anti "carb" crowd is so fond of. And of course we all put a fresh orange in the same sentence as a 20oz vat of Coke or a donut or potato chips. honestly. remind me again why these people (who are neither sensational nor skinny) have credibility?
carbsane said…
Nice to have you drop in! In another interview Jimmy gave recently he stated he went from 2500 g/day to 20 g/day carbs. Like there's no inbetween there, or distinction. Pitiful!
Mike Victor said…
That narrator is so annoying, like the really overwrought way she says "saturated." Dr. Westman is also in the Stone Age of lipidology if he thinks HDL is "the good cholesterol."
carbsane said…
Berry Interesting ;-)
carbsane said…
We've been having a fun exchange on Twitter ;-) He's a nice enough guy, really, just not worthy of any sort of "expert" title and a shameless promoter. Somehow these experiments also effect the lighting in his home and his hairstyle too
I am not sure if I told this story here or not, but around the time of the nut experiment I was stranded running errands w/o having eaten much all day. So I stopped at a CVS or something and got a can of cashews -- nuts of some sort are a "go to" fast food. I ate some, then noticed the can was 8 oz = 227 g. I was full before getting to half, but since Sam ate 3 x 150g nuts for snack, I tried to eyeball eating 2/3rds of the can and managed to eat that but felt very full. I didn't eat anything else the rest of that day, except I think I had a salad or watermelon cuz I needed something "fresh" in me. I don't know how he even consumed a pound of nuts daily for three weeks.
charles grashow said…
If Jimmy is as religious as he claims to be than he CANNOT eat pork

http://www.planetpace.com/?bible-meat-diet,20

"And the pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch."

SO - how does this devoutly religious man justify eating bacon??
carbsane said…
I agree!
carbsane said…
So long as he doesn't put Eve's apple in the pig's mouth? 3:)
Donnie Reilly said…
Hey, Robb Wolf - Can you shed any light on this forum thread wherein people say you're somewhat lawsuit happy? That's a new one on me.

http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/mma.cfm?go=forum_framed.posts&forum=2&thread=2235983&page=1&pc=17
carbsane said…
Whatareya trying to get ME sued? ;-) I doubt Robb still reads here, but you never know. Some of the comments there are funny. I have heard that he doesn't really follow his own diet and basically has a gluten issue. So as long as he stays away from that he's OK. I also get the feeling he drinks frequently which is not on his diet. I did get a kick out of the Atkins Lite comments. Yeah the modern interpretation sure is ... but his book's 30 day menus are pretty strict and low fat and low carb. Not a lot of fruit AT ALL.
Donnie Reilly said…
I would almost bet he does read here. Maybe I'm wrong.
carbsane said…
He probably does, I know he used to (or he had friends that did and reported back). He's been a bit quiet of late it seems.
charles grashow said…
http://vimeo.com/24404254
Gods way
to Ultimate Health
charles grashow said…
http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/77-year-old-woman-rejects-taking-statin-drug-after-reading-cholesterol-clarity/20141

My 77-year old mother named Joan went to the local hospital recently to have her cholesterol numbers run and she asked me for a copy of your book Cholesterol Clarity
that she had been seeing me reading lately. I have been preaching all this stuff you shared in your book with her and she was curious to see how well her numbers looked.

Here were the results: LDL-C was 135, HDL-C was a whopping 156, triglycerides were a mere 20, and her total cholesterol was 290.

Needless to say, her doctor wanted to immediately put her on a cholesterol-lowering statin medication. Keep in mind that my mom has been on a strict very low-carb, high-fat diet for the past two decades and I was thrilled when I saw her results. But her doctor struck the
fear of God in her that she needed to be on the statin to protect her heart health. He used fear to make his case to my mom, but she was already beginning to doubt whether she needed to be on a medication for her cholesterol.

You’ll be happy to hear she refused to take the statin drugs because the numbers that really count were right where they need to be. As she was showing me her cholesterol numbers, I was praising her for a job well done, especially with her triglycerides (a
microscopic 20) and unbelievably high HDL-C (156) which I told her were the much more important markers on the cholesterol panel as you share about in your book. She downloaded a copy of it to her Kindle and called me back to thank me profusely for researching this and telling her about Cholesterol Clarity.

My mother told me that reading the information shared by all of the great experts you interviewed for your book took a huge weight off of her shoulders about this issue. She has gone from extremely worried to excitedly thrilled by how well she is doing in her health. Now mom is armed with some solid ammunition to take back toher doctor when she goes back to see him for her next check-up. She told me she wants to bring in my hardback copy of your book to show him and educate him about what she has learned. Mom can’t wait to bring someCholesterol Clarity to her doctor!

Thank you so much for this work of art!

This absolutely makes my day. Did you see her numbers? Yes, Joan’s total cholesterol is 290, but 159 of it was her HDL-C…the kind you WANT to have higher. Her HDL-C is an incredible 55% of her total cholesterol. And with triglycerides barely detectable at 20, her triglyceride-to-HDL ratio is the lowest one I’ve EVER seen in my life–0.12! Anything under
2.0 is incredible. WOW WOW WOW! It’s utterly disgusting that her doctor wanted her to take a drug to take away the very thing that is giving Joan vibrant life right now. WAY TO GO JOAN and KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!!
Wuchtamsel said…
lol
10.000 kcals from carbs alone? So he is really trying to convince us his diet was essentially fatfree and proteinfree before he went LC?
That's my conclusion because even with "only" these 10.000 kcals he should have been even heavier than he ever was after all. What an amazing case of dyscalculia.
Sanjeev Sharma said…
I'd guess Fred Hahn is still reporting back to the mothership on these issues.
Sanjeev Sharma said…
Charles, Is statin use supported (by RCTs) for women at that age? Is this one specific instance where the trials either are inconclusive or too few have been done to fault Jimmy?
Sanjeev Sharma said…
do you REALLY believe he doesn't have pat justifications on standby?



That's old testament ... Yahweh/Elohim changed human chemistry when the new testament came along (except for the Jews, of course ... can't be changing their bodies[0])


[0] aside from one notable piece of thuggish, brutal mutilation (why don't they do it to girls too, by the way ... they won't remember the pain either)
Sanjeev Sharma said…
> Robertson's post-segment commentary is quite hilarious (11:20)



and if one is an Atkins dieter originally from Haiti, now living in Dover, PA ...
charles grashow said…
http://www.indiana.edu/~k536/articles/diet/popular%20diet%20JAMA.pdf

Comparison of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone Diets for Weight Loss and Heart Disease Risk Reduction
A Randomized Trial

Look at Table 2 (page 5 of 12) and compare the saturated fat amounts between the Atkins dieters and the Ornish dieters (after 12 months)

Atkins = 13% of daily calories, Ornish = 10.14%

Carbs
Atkins = 40.3%, Ornish = 47.9%

Cholesterol
Atkins = 321 mg/day, Ornish = 280

This is a big difference??
Karin said…
What? I guess I'm in the stone age too. Is HDL no longer considered "good?"
carbsane said…
I'll let Mike answer what he meant there, but I edited my response to indicate that I was agreeing about the narrator. I do think some HDL thinking is "old school" in that while low HDL is a fairly reliable risk factor, there has been quite a bit of recent revelation that higher and higher HDL is not necessarily better.
carbsane said…
Yeah these cases, especially the second hand anecdotal info. Perhaps this woman has the genetically high HDL. I don't see why statins would be prescribed for her. Cholesterol Clarity will not help her cause though :(
Andre5001 said…
Please consider reviewing "Grain Brain" (Wheat belly 2?). It's all the rage in LC circles right now.
carbsane said…
I've heard of it. Not sure I want to waste the $ (even if donated) or time on this though. I haven't heard much from the mainstream whereas Wheat Belly did sorta hit the big time a bit. We'll see.
Sanjeev Sharma said…
just some of the other people he's said dumb stuff about, and if he's right, what would happen to someone who fell afoul multiple things he hates.



The Haitian "contract with the devil" thing, the Dover, PA thing "when disaster strikes your town don't ask God for help" when the school board was voted out (after the Honorable John Jones's decision came down), and now, god christians should follow biblical dietary orders
gundersonrogers said…
try goats milk
Sanjeev Sharma said…
My understanding is all milk including goat has galactose, glucose & lactose, basically 2 of the big 3.


I'm looking to widen the variety beyond the big 3.



I'm doing this now with agar & a variety of mushrooms. The mushrooms contain varying amounts of the big 3 but also small amounts of lots of other saccharides.
Sanjeev Sharma said…
at some point one must triage one's time. "been down that rat hole many times, found only rat cr*p ... a new decoration on the rat hole entry probably doesn't mean the cr*p's been cleaned out.
carbsane said…
Sanjeev is doing shrooms ;-) j/k


On a serious note, do you have a source for the sugar contents of various foods? I am still on a mission to identify the missing carbohydrates in lemon juice!
Sanjeev Sharma said…
last time I trawled for this data I found a couple of isolated reports, thus the mushrooms.


There is a lot of data out there I think but in agriculture much of the old literature while it is on the internet somewhere it's as scanned images, so no way to search & go right to it.


And as an outsider to the field I may not know the right search terms.
carbsane said…
Thanks! Nutritiondata.com can be good for breakdowns of fatty acids, proteins and some carbs ... but it seems to be lacking a lot in the last category. Many times they even forget to itemize the starch :(