Health

Jori Lynn from Corsica is 51 years old and 5' 3" tall. Jori Lynn's high weight as a teen was 187+ pounds. She began low carbing following Dr. Marvin Anchell's Steak Lover's Diet at when she weighed 167 pounds, and reached her goal weight of 127 pounds. Jori Lynn then switched programs, and has been following the Atkins program since June of 2003. She began low carbing in a size 18 and now wears size 8!

ZACK GRADY writes from Southern California. He reads cookbooks, but mostly, he just adds garlic and hot sauce.

There are certain instinctive drives that all human beings share. Hunger is one of them. Eating is necessary for our survival as individuals, so we eat. We can't live without eating, so the drive to eat is hardwired into our psyches. As individuals, we can live without sex, but as a species we cannot, so that drive is also hardwired into our psyche.

We all know what it feels like to be overweight. The self-disgust. The shame. The exhaustion. Unpleasant physical symptoms abound; maybe we even have to have our blood taken regularly to test for diabetes. A trip to the doctor's office includes the inevitable rationalizations about heavy clothing as we step on the scale and later dire pronouncements of doom and gloom from the doctor if we don't do something.

LBJ from Minnesota is 53 years old and 5' 4" tall. LBJ has been low carbing for since April of 1999, and has been at the maintenance level for nearly four years. She follows the Protein Power program. When LBJ began low carbing, she weighed 150 pounds and wore a size 14. Currently, LBJ weighs 114 pounds and 1s wearing a size 3. She has dropped 36 pounds and more than 5 dress sizes!

Laura from Illinois is 45 years old and 5' 9" tall. Laura has been doing her own version of the Atkins program, and has lost 74 pounds, dropping from gone 199 pounds and size 16/18 to 125 pounds and size 9.

The idea that starch or fat can be blocked from digestion appears to be an appealing idea. For the past thirty or more years, these products have come to the forefront periodically with promises for a new generation of overweight people. Each time they come on the market, they offer up suggestions that you can eat what you want so long as you take their product. The product, so goes the promise, will protect you from the consequences of eating the blocked food group.

Dr. Gruber is a graduate of the Southern California University of Health Sciences, and has been in private chiropractic practice in Long Beach, California since 1964. She also received both a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree from California State University at Long Beach. She has written on health-related subjects for over 30 years, for several different publications. She lives in Southern California with her husband of 33 years. Both she and her husband follow and live the low carb lifestyle full time.

The combination of ephedrine, caffeine, and aspirin is commonly referred to as the "E-C-A Stack" or just the "Stack". Many of the herbal products on the market contain ma-huang in combination with willow bark, a naturally-occurring source of a chemical similar to aspirin, and with guarana or kola nuts, sources of caffeine. There are also products that mix chemical sources of caffeine and actual aspirin in the mix with the ma-huang. Some people who take the Stack prefer using ephedrine/ma-huang alone, and accompanying it with a caffeine-containing beverage and a half an aspirin.

Mike from North Carolina is 43 years old and 5' 10" tall. He has been following the Atkins program since September 9, 2002, and in just 8 1/2 months has shrunk from 230 pounds and size 44 pants to 179 pounds and size 34 pants!

I don't know anyone who hasn't cheated on their diet. I'm not talking about just low carbers here, but about all dieters. Everyone I have spoken to, written to, or heard from has cheated on their diet at one time or another. Why do we do this to ourselves?

Josie from Texas is 33 years old and 5' tall. Josie has been following the Atkins program since August of 2002. Her starting weight as 130 pounds and she was then wearing a size 9/10. In just three months Josie reached her goal weight of 115 pounds and goal size of 3/4.