Chocolate Torte New York Cheesecake Praline Pumpkin Pie .

NEWS & notesRegainingyour yin andyour yangOILIS WELLLooking for the perfect oil tocomplement your meal? DoctorsMichael and Mary Dan Eades,together with chef Ursula Solom, sayyou should choose a cold-pressed oilwith no added chemicals. “Reservehigh-quality oils to eat unadulterated— for dipping focaccia, on salads,drizzled over tomatoes — or whenyou have a recipe that reallydemands a strong, rich taste.” Thetrio, also the authors of The LowCarb Comfort Food Cookbook (Wiley& Sons, 2002; ISBN 0471267570),further suggest, “Besides extra virginolive oil, you might want to keepsome small bottles of nut oils(walnut, cashew, macadamia,sesame) on hand and try them out,too Experiment a little with thedifferent tastes of these oils. It’s fun.”In alphabetical order, here arenine oils they recommend for salads:1. Avocado oil2. Almond oil3. Cashew nut oil4. Hazelnut oil5. Macadamia nut oil6. Olive oil7. Peanut oil8. Sesame seed oil9. Walnut oilIt’s no secret thattoday’s busy lifestylescan lead to stressinduced headaches.Next time you findyourself with youraching head in your hands, skip the analgesics anddo as the Oriental Medicine specialists do: Restorethe flow of your meridians.Meridians are pathways through which all thebody’s energy flows; when something disrupts thisflow, a body can find itself seriously out of sync.One source of relief is through professionalShiatsu providers, who manipulate the areahalfway between the skin and the first layer ofmuscles to release the blockage within any of the14 meridians in the body. In this way, it’s possibleto reduce headaches, help clear sinuses andloosen neck muscles.To find some at-home relief, use the pad of thethumb to press in with strong pressure and slowlyrotate fingers at the midpoint of your forehead,your temple, and your mastoid process –— thejutting bone area just behind your ear. Thepressure works to increase circulation of theblood and lymph glands, relax muscles and restorebalance. — Michelle SmithLuck out with legumes“Legumes are foods like peas, beans andpeanuts. They are nutritional powerhousesthat add fiber to your diet, are naturally low infat, are a great source of protein, and are veryinexpensive. Look for several varieties at your marketincluding canned, dried, and fresh. Legumes make greatadditions to salads, serve as excellent side dishes, and make healthydelicious entrees in their own right.” – From Low-Carb Dieting ForDummies by Katherine B. Chauncey, Ph.D., R.D. (Wiley, 2003; ISBN 0764525662)6 LowCarb Energy

your HEALTHAtkins diet may reduce seizuresin children with epilepsyThe Atkins low-carbohydrate diet not only helps somepeople lose weight — it might even play a role in preventingseizures in children with epilepsy, say researchers at theJohns Hopkins Children’s Center.In a study of six epileptic patients (including three whowere 12 years old or younger), two children and one youngadult were seizure-free and able to reduce use of anticonvulsant medications after following the Atkins regimen for at least four months, according toJohns Hopkins. The study also found that seizure control could be long-lasting on the diet, withthe three patients continuing to be seizure-free for as long as 20 months.The researchers warn, however, that because of the small number of study subjects, theirlook at the relationship between the Atkins diet and seizure control should not lead to itsroutine use in children with epilepsy. At this point, the Atkins diet should not be used to replacethe ketogenic diet — the rigorous high-fat, low-carbohydrate regimen already proven to reduceor eliminate difficult-to-control seizures in some patients.“We just don’t know yet how effective the Atkins diet is in reducing seizures or if it comes closeto the benefits of the ketogenic diet, but our report raises new questions about the ideal level ofcalorie and protein restriction imposed by the ketogenic diet,” says the study’s lead author, EricKossoff, M.D., a pediatric neurologist at the Children’s Center. “By learning more about how theAtkins diet works to control seizures, we should learn more about which patients may benefit bestfrom either or both of these diets. It may be, for example, that some of those who can’t toleratethe restrictiveness of the ketogenic diet could be helped with Atkins.”Drink up! Water helps with weight lossMost diets, low carb or not, tout the fact that drinking plentyof water each day can help increase metabolism and make youfeel fuller. But the list of reasons to gulp doesn’t end there.“Water can decrease your appetite,” says Mara Z. Vitolins,Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center nutritionist andassistant professor of public health sciences (epidemiology). “It ishard to distinguish between being thirsty and being hungry, sotry drinking water and waiting 20 to 30 minutes to see if you’restill hungry.” In other words, if you think you’re hungry, yourbody might be calling for water instead.Vitolins says drinking water also may help you cut calories.“Most people drink sodas, coffee and other such beverages andtotally disregard drinking plain water,” she says. “Replacing thehigher-calorie beverages with plain or flavored water (withoutadded sugar) can significantly reduce calories.” Also, most ofthese drinks contain caffeine, which she says acts as a diuretic,setting you up for dehydration.Adequate water consumption is particularly important to thelow-carb lifestyle. “Drink til you float,” advise Michael R. Eades,M.D. and Mary Dan Eades. M.D. in their bestselling book, ProteinPower. “The more water you drink, the more urine you make, themore ketones will pass out of the urine, and the more fat youlose. So drink up!”So how much water is enough? Vitolins says one way tocalculate how much you need is to take your weight in poundsand divide by two. The result is the number of ounces of wateryou should drink a day. A 125-pound woman needs to drink62.5 ounces of water each day — just a little more than five12-ounce glasses, or three 20-ounce bottles. Likewise, a 175pound man needs five bottles of water.DON’T REUSE THOSESINGLE-USE WATER BOTTLESDon’t reuse those small bottles of water sold as single servings orsix-packs. Preliminary research at the University of Idaho has foundthat single-use soft-drink and water bottles not only contain bacteriabuildup but also begin to leach out unwanted chemicals whenrepeatedly re-used and re-washed. Such bottles are commonly madeof polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, which may be considered safefor its intended use but begins to break down when used over andover. One of the toxins the University of Idaho researchersrepeatedly found in water samples from the reused bottles wasDEHA, a carcinogen regulated in drinking water because it has beenfound to cause weight loss, liver problems and possible reproductivedifficulties. Instead, use a bottle that is designed for reuse and thatcan be washed in a dishwasher. — Jennifer Newton ReentsLowCarb Energy7

BY FRAN MCCULLOUGHWhyAre We DoingThis, Anyway?LIVING LOW-CARB: THE BASIC IDEAThe objective of all low-carb diets, which date back at least to the earlynineteenth century, has always been weight loss. Although plenty oflow-fat advocates continue to insist that it’s only water that’s lost on alow-carb regimen, many patients using it have lost more than 100pounds in short order. Among the many formerly obese, it’s pretty well agreedthat low-carb is the most effective, most enjoyable, and most successful over thelong term of all the various diets. Despite our government’s dictate that we loadup on carbs to maintain our health, low-carb books have consistently topped thebestseller charts for nearly a decade. Literally millions of people have followedthese diets with no reported ill effects so far. Although low-carb diets are stillcontroversial within the health establishment, they have never been vulnerable tocharges like the deaths that have been associated with fen-phen or liquid diets.The theoretical argument will continue to rage, and it’s extremely unlikely thatany definitive studies will be done anytime soon to settle it.Why do these low-carb diets work so well when almost nothing else does?For a long time the exact mechanisms weren’t clearly understood, but when Drs.Michael and Mary Dan Eades (authors of Protein Power) went back to their basicbiochemistry texts, they discovered not only the weight-loss mechanism but alsothe huge number of health benefits that can accrue to many who follow the lowcarb path. These include dramatically lowering high blood pressure, levels of thedangerous blood fats called triglycerides, and LDL (bad) cholesterol; controllingdiabetes; supplying extra energy throughout the entire day with no up-and-downswings; increasing concentration and focus; enhancing lean body mass with lossof excess body fat; improving immune function; eliminating gout and esophagealreflux; and many other benefits, such as a reversal of inflammatory conditions.8 LowCarb Energy

All this happens, the experts in the areanow agree, because restricting carbohydrates— sugar and starch in whatever form, fromPopsicles to baked potatoes — puts thebrakes on insulin, the hormone that’sresponsible not only for storing fat (andworse, keeping it stored) but also for raisingblood pressure, damaging blood vessels, andwreaking other bits of havoc throughout thebody for those of us who are geneticallypredisposed to obesity, diabetes, and heartcheese, butter, and cream, and manyanecdotal tales tell of people consuming upto 3,000 calories a day on such a regimeand still continuing to lose weight. Otherlow-carb diets limit the consumption offats, or vary the ratios of the kinds of fatsconsumed.So, do calories not count? They do andthey don’t. If you don’t have insulinproblems and have a normal metabolismbut simply eat too much, you can go by theThe nutritional establishment’s thinkingon the subject of dietary fat has begun tochange, partly because the low-fatprescription has had fairly unhappy results,such as continuing rampant obesitythroughout the population and childhooddiabetes increasing by 20 percent in the lastdecade. Fertility levels have fallen, whichmay also be a result of our not eatingenough fat, and leading researchers such asDr. Walter Willett of Harvard have startedAmong the many formerly obese, it’s pretty well agreed that low-carb is the mosteffective, most enjoyable, and most successful over the long term of all the various diets.disease. Incoming sugars and starchesrequire insulin — the more sugar youconsume, the more insulin is needed toprocess it at the cellular level. After anindividual has been on a steady high-sugardiet over a number of years, the insulinreceptors on his or her cells may becomeresistant, in which case even more insulin isrequired to handle the sugar load. Such aperson usually develops insulin resistance,sometimes called Syndrome X orhyperinsulinemia, which usually leads toType II (adult-onset) diabetes. An insulinresistant person usually has an increasedwaist-to-hip ratio, high blood glucose levels,high uric acid, high triglycerides, and lowHDL (the good cholesterol). There seems tobe a genetic propensity to have problemswith insulin. If your family tends to gainweight easily, especially in the abdominalarea, you probably have this syndrome, andare therefore at risk for the related healthproblems (if you don’t already have them)unless you change your diet.The only way to cut back on thisoutpouring of insulin is by reducing yourintake of carbohydrates. Since you alwaysneed the same amount of protein, nomatter what diet you’re on — about 0.5gram for every pound of your ideal weight— you’ll obviously eat more fat on a lowcarb diet. (Remember, there are only threefood groups to choose from: protein, fat,and carbohydrate.) A number of low-carbdiets feature enormous amounts of steak,standard advice: Cut calories and you willlose weight. But if you do have geneticinsulin problems, as you probably do ifyou’re from an overweight family, you maynot fare as well on a reduced-calorie dietunless you also cut the carbs very far back.Except for the amazing tales of the 3,000calorie dieters, though, there’s no free lunchon a low-carb diet: If you want to lose asubstantial amount of weight, you still needto create a caloric deficit, though perhapsnot such a dramatic one as if you weren’tconcentrating on cutting carbs.Many people who aren’t actuallyoverweight adopt a low-carb diet for healthreasons. Some of them are skinny butdiabetic; others would prefer to attempt tocontrol their cholesterol or blood pressurewithout dangerous and expensivemedications. The muscular guys you see atthe gym eat low-carb to build their leanbody mass and minimize fat. Many childrenwith epilepsy have fordecades now beengiven a verysuccessful treatmentthat involves a nocarb, high-fat diet —not only has theirepilepsy beencontrolled whenmedication has failed,they’ve suffered no illeffects from such adrastic regime.Excerpted from Living Low-Carb by Fran McCullough, publishedby Little Brown (ISBN: 0316557684). Copyright 2000. arguing that it’s the kind of fat, not the totalfat consumed, that makes the difference inweight gain. Willett is comfortable with adiet that’s as high as 40 percent fats, as longas those fats are mainly unsaturated.The fact is, we don’t really know verymuch about human nutrition andmetabolism, despite experts’ having madeclaims for “the perfect diet” since thebeginning of time. What our speciesactually evolved to eat, though, is quite likethe low-carb diet: protein and fat fromsmall animals and sea creatures and birds,small amounts of carbohydrate from plantsand berries and seeds and nuts, and theoccasional feast on a major animal. Dairyproducts are quite recent additions to thehuman diet, as are agricultural products,which we’ve had for only 10,000 years — aminuscule amount of time, from anevolutionary standpoint. Many of us maysimply not have adapted biologically to thisrelatively “new” diet, whichmay be one reason we feelso good and flourish sowell on a low-carb plan.Needless to say, thereare many theories withinthe low-carb camp, andmany different low-carbregimens. If you’re seriouslythinking about eating thisway for the rest of your life— as you should be if youhave the insulin problem— you ought to take a lookat all of them and choosethe one that seems bestsuited to you. LowCarb Energy9

proper {fitnessMost fitness experts agree thatlosing weight and maintainingthe loss can be accomplishedwith diet and exercise. Forthose living low-carbohydratelifestyles, however, moderate, notextreme, exercise is important.{FOR LOW-CARB LIFESTYLESBY JENNIFER NEWTON REENTS“Doing the proper, mild to moderateexercise while eating low-carb can helpyour body become a ‘fat burningmachine,’” says Derek Alessi, author of LoseFat Forever: The Only No-Nonsense Guide toMaking Fat Loss Permanent.Alessi states that exerciseis key to maintaining anyweight loss accomplishedthrough diet alone. “I usuallyrecommend my femaleclients to never exceed 30minutes of cardio during oneday, 20 minutes for men,”says Alessi, who has helpedmore than 2,000 individuals— from pro athletes to thegeneral public — get inshape. He says lowcarbohydrate dieters will seethe most benefits with moderate cardio andweight training three days per week.MODERATE CARDIOVASCULAREXERCISE: Walking, biking and swimmingabout 30 minutes a day are all wonderfulfor low-carbers. Alessi says you don’t wantto do too much cardio at one time becauseit can have the opposite effect: more fat.“Your body is always looking for the mostabundant source of energy. Afterphosphogens and blood glucose have beendepleted, the body can finally shift intostored body fat for energy; this is a goodthing,” he says. “However, if too much timeis spent performing cardiovascular training,the body will look for a more abundantenergy source, which is the muscles Ifmuscle is lost during long bouts of cardio,your metabolism will be slower.”10 LowCarb EnergyLow-carb dieters will seebenefits with moderatecardio and weight trainingthree days per week.WEIGHT TRAINING:You need only 10 minutesat a time, three days aweek, says Jon Gordon,author of Become an EnergyAddict: Simple, PowerfulWays to Energize Your Lifeand energy coach(www.energyaddict.com).If you are eating alow-carb diet, duringexercise your body willbreak down body fat forfuel instead of carbohydrates. “The processof breaking down your body fat is called‘ketosis,’ which is associated with adecrease in water in your body,” saysGordon. A strenuous cardio workout willalso cause a significant loss of water, due toperspiration. “Without proper hydration, alow-carb diet with strenuous exercise couldcause you to become dehydrated,” he says.“The lower the intensity level [ofexercise], the greater percentage of fats thebody uses as an energy source,” says MollyKimball, a registered dietician at OchsnerClinic Foundation’s Elmwood FitnessCenter in New Orleans, explaining thatlow-carb dieters need a less strenuousworkout to see results. “The higher theintensity level of exercise, the greaterpercentage of carbohydrates the body usesfor energy.”Thirty-three-year-old Monica Rethmanof Lawrence, Kansas, has been on a lowcarb diet since January 2002. She met hergoal of losing 45 pounds and now usesexercise to maintain that loss. “I work outfive to six days a week. I run three days aweek and do weight training two to threedays.”Michele Blaquiere, 29, of Brooks,Alberta, Canada, has lost 54 pounds so faron a low-carb diet she started in July 2003.“I (joined) a gym about three months after Istarted the diet because I had so muchmore energy, and I knew that if I didn’texercise, I’d have hanging flabby skin,” shesays. “I wanted to start exercising so I’d bein a position to tone when I needed to.”Blaquiere visits the gym at least three timesa week, walking on the treadmill and usingweight machines. “I really find it makes mefeel better about myself and moreaccomplished. And it does help with theweight loss, as well.”DON’T FORGET TO EAT!While you may be dieting, you stillneed to eat every three hours to keep yourmetabolism up, Alessi says. “Never skipbreakfast or any meal. Drink half yourweight in ounces of water daily. Limitalcoholic beverage consumption to twoservings per week. And pay attention tolimiting sugar, certain fats andcarbohydrates. Eat a ‘supportive’ meal: leanprotein, a slow-releasing carbohydrate anda vegetable, preferably green.”Stuart Lawrence Trager, M.D., whoserves as chairperson of the AtkinsPhysicians Council (APC), which providesexpertise and guidance for the educationalinformation products and programs aboutthe Atkins Nutritional Approach says a

combination of cardio and resistance weighttraining

Feb 17, 2004 · sector, bread and pasta, sales are strong for low-carb varieties. ProductScan Online estimates that more than 1,000 new low-carb packaged products have been introduced to meet growing consumer demand. Until recently, most low-carb products were introduced from low-carb niche companies: Atki