One of the criticisms frequently thrown at low carbing is "Oh, you just gain back all the weight when you go off that diet." Not to put too fine a point on it, er-DUH! You think that happens with any kind of diet? Maybe? You think the problem is that people go on a diet with the idea already in the back of their minds that they're going to lose their weight and then go off the diet? Of course they do. This is why the regain rate for weight lost is well over 90%.

Dana Carpender has done the HCG Protocol & Atkins Fat Fast at separate times. Now she shares her experience doing HCG & Atkins Fat Fast at the same time. "I had, in the past, tried the much-written-about HCG protocol. I had been willing to try it because it was clear that Dr. Simeons, who developed it, had a deep distrust of carbohydrates. I figured that made him my kind of guy." Indeed, his basic instructions for maintenance are "No starch or sugar for the first several weeks, and be cautious with them for the rest of your life."

Back in the day, there was a "tonic" called Hadacol. It was hyped as vitamin elixir, a dietary supplement, a source of vitamins B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), and B3(niacin), plus iron. Hadacol was advertised as something you would take for your health, that would relieve the root cause of many ailments, from heartburn to nervous disorders.

I understand the public schools long ago did away with cooking class. It's both a blessing and a shame.

First of all, the Atkins Diet is far, far from impossible, as thousands, if not millions, of happy long-term Atkins dieters can attest. Your problem apparently is that you haven't read Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, but rather are sort of making up a version of what you think Atkins is - all meat and eggs - from anecdotal reports and popular press articles. The Atkins Diet does not, does not, DOES NOT ban fruits and vegetables. Am I clear here? Really, it doesn't. Never did.

I have read a big ol' pile of nutrition books in the past 33 years. I generally learn at least a little something from each one, or at the very least am reminded of a point I may have forgotten. But in his new book Wheat Belly, Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist from Milwaukee, and author of Track Your Plaque, and the Heart Scan Blog has written a book in which the majority of the information is new to me. I am agog. And excited - I am a big nutrition geek, after all; it's thrilling to have this sort of stuff presented to me, and presented in such a readable form.

Dana Carpender's CarbSmart Espresso Chocolate Chip Brownies

If you look back through the Ask Dana archives, you'll see I have written, in the past, about pork rinds, the fact that they are not, as some assume, egregious junk food, but actually the most nutritious thing in the snack aisle. In that article, I mentioned that once, years ago, an outraged online detractor of low carb diets threw in my cyberface the accusation that I ate pork rind cake. That accusation is now true.

So what did you do last Saturday? I had several dozen low carbers in my backyard! The Second Annual Low Carb Meet & Greet was a smashing success, or at least I thought it was.

Chances are you've seen the news already: Fructose can cause cancer. Specifically, this study looked at pancreatic cancer, a particularly deadly and intractable form of cancer, and one that has been increasing in frequency. I was unable to find the full text of this article, but gleaned that it demonstrated that cancer cells are particularly able to use fructose to reproduce, fueling tumor growth.