To prepare myself for my upcoming 6 mile walk on the morning of April 28th, which is to benefit the March Of Dimes Walk America program, I am starting a training of sorts. I’ll be doing my best to drop as much of this excess weight as I can, since I know that will really help me. I’m currently walking 2.5 miles per day on my treadmill. My goal is to consistently walk 3 miles daily for the next few days and then increase it from there. Hopefully by the end of April I’ll be able to get somewhere close to the 6 miles. I’ve never walked that far before in my life – not even when I was younger and thinner! It will be a challenge, but I say: “BRING IT ON!” :0)

I want to give a public thanks to Jimmy Moore of Livin’ La Vida Low Carb blog for devoting a whole column to my cause. He’s doing his best to promote the walk and build sponsorship for me. And don’t think for a minute that he’s all talk – He was one of my first sponsors!

I also want to thank those who have already signed up to sponsor me, as well as those who are planning on doing so. You have all given me great encouragement!

If you missed my previous posts about this and would like to learn more, please visit my page by clicking here.

I’ll be posting my progress on “training” as often as I can. What I’m eating, how far I’m walking, how much I’m losing, etc.

And be sure to to check back after the walk is over! I’ll be blogging about the experience, as well as posting pictures and totals.

Looking through the backlog of e-mail I have related to low-carb news, I found a headline that baffled me somewhat.

Jar of low-carb energy harbored nasty secret

My first thoughts were:

1. What in the world is a jar of low-carb energy?

2. What “horrible crime” has the low-carb diet committed this time?

I assumed it was bashing some fatty food or telling how someone died from eating all bacon and cheese. Here is the first sentence.

John Burleigh couldn’t imagine that his low-carb diet could ruin a business trip to San Francisco in December.

Well this sounds nice and ominous, doesn’t it? That evil diet he is on ruined a whole trip!!! But let’s look at the next sentence.

Burleigh, a systems analyst in Hillsboro, said that since the beginning of November he’s had a jar of Peter Pan peanut butter on his desk, providing a low-carbohydrate source of energy.

Whoa! Hold it right there! This article is about those tainted jars of peanut butter? What does this have to do with low-carb? And why in the world was this guy using peanut butter for his low-carb energy source?

After reading further down you’ll quickly see this really has nothing to do at all with low-carb. The man they interviewed just happened to be on a low-carb diet and was eating said peanut butter as a snack while on a trip. He got violently ill because of the salmonella contamination. Aside from the headline and first couple of sentences, there are no other mentions of low-carb. None! Zip! Zilch! So why did the write feel compelled to add a completely irrelevant fact in the headline? I’m guessing because they knew it would grab attention. It goes right along with the main stream media’s flawed thought process concerning low-carb diets. This is just another example as to why we need to be sure our message is heard – Low-Carb Is Healthy!

As for Mr. Burleigh, he could have certainly saved himself some pain and anguish by choosing better protein sources. Peter Pan peanut butter? Even if it’s the sugar-free kind, which I dearly hope it was, it’s still not the best choice. Sadly, too many people rely on the sugar-free, low-carb labeled processed junk to sustain them on their diets. Please people. Let’s just go back to the way low-carb was meant to be. This low-carb junk food can never replace making healthy choices from REAL foods.

So what is the lesson here? Eat real foods. And if you ever get a food borne disease, or have any other tragedy befall you, don’t tell a reporter that you’re on a low-carb diet.

(Hey everyone! I’m now a regular columnist for www.lowcarbnewsline.com! This is my first article. Please let me know what you think!)

Hi. My name is Amy Dungan and I’m addicted to carbohydrates. I can’t really say when or where the problem began. I’m sure I could trace it all the way back to my childhood somewhere. I may never be sure. What I do know is that simple carbohydrates are a huge problem for me. One taste of chocolate cake – just smelling french fries – will start my mouth watering and send my willpower into a tizzy. It’s not that I want to eat junk food or be unhealthy, it just seems like I have no control over myself when the cravings hit.

I first realized I had a serious problem back in 2001. I was desperate to lose weight. I had health problems that frightened me and only got worse with each pound I gained. I had a 5 year old, a toddler, and a husband to live for. I couldn’t allow myself to go to an early grave. I envisioned someone one finding me unconscious, face down in the ice cream. What I was doing to myself wasn’t fair to any of us. How do I take care of my family when I can’t even take care of myself?

While doing Internet research on some of the health issues I was having, I came across a website that told about the trials of being hypoglycemic. It sounded very much like some of the suffering I had been enduring. But the author didn’t stop there. She continued to tell how she overcame these maladies by going on a no-sugar, low-glycemic diet. At the time it sounded like an impossible task for me. How could I give up sugar? How could I live a normal life that way? It just didn’t seem realistic. What I failed to see was that I wasn’t currently living a normal life, at least not a happy one. My life consisted of fatigue, pain, IBS, mood swings, severe depression and a general lack of the will to live. I was blind to the answer that was in front of me. I was also scared to give it a try. What if I just failed again? I filed the information in the back of my mind and continued my search for the magic bullet.

A few months later I came across a copy of Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. I sat down to read and spent the first few pages laughing. I was a disciple of the low-fat mantra. There was no way this low-carb stuff could be healthy or even help you lose weight. After reading further I started suspecting that someone had been watching my every move. It was as if he’d written that book just for me. I was the poster child for carb addictions. My mind flashed back to all the foods I preferred. The many times I was embarrassed because I couldn’t seem to stop eating, even though I was full. The shame I felt as I hid in the bathroom while eating a candy bar, fearing that someone would notice and lecture me. The fatigue after a large meal filled with simple carbohydrates and starches. Tears filled my eyes as I realized I truly had a problem. I also experienced a huge sense of relief. I finally had an answer. All of my adult life I blamed myself for my lack of control. I berated myself for eating when I knew I shouldn’t. I would become depressed over my weight, and eat high-carb foods to make myself feel better. I was in a vicious cycle.

I realized low-carb was my only hope. I spent many hours researching and asking questions. I think I lurked on every low-carb forum in existence. When I started Atkins in Nov. of 2001 I was loaded down with an arsenal of information and recipes. It didn’t take long for me to realize I was on my way to a better life. In 2003 I reached goal and maintained for several months. But I failed to realize a very important truth–just as a recovering alcoholic can never go back to drinking, neither can a recovering carb addict go back to carbohydrates.

My backsliding started small. I’d have some pizza crust here, a small plate of pasta there. What I didn’t notice was how often I’d started craving the very foods I had so religiously avoided for 3 years. It snowballed rapidly. The addiction once again had me in its grips.

I won’t bore you with the details, but in January 2007 I started back at square one. Thankfully, I’m quickly losing weight and regaining the ground I’ve lost in the last couple of years. But I’ve learned a valuable lesson: once an addict, always an addict. As Dr. Atkins said, one bite really can be the kiss of death. Trust me on this one. It’s a lesson you don’t want to learn the hard way.