Hey everyone! I hope you’ve been having a fantastic week!

I’d like you to help me welcome Zevia as a new sponsor of Healthy Low-Carb Living. Zevia is a diet soda I can feel good about drinking and I’m thrilled they’ve come on board to help me spread the message about the low-carb lifestyle! With their help I’ll be able to continue blogging and keeping you updated on the latest in health, diet and fitness in the low-carb world. (I’ll admit to being a slacker on this lately, but that will all be changing soon.)

Zevia is a great tasting alternative to the artificially sweetened diet sodas that are on the market today. Sweetened with stevia, Zevia allows you to enjoy your soda without the worry of chemicals or sugar spikes. They just added two new flavors, so now you can enjoy the following:

Root Beer
Twist (Still my favorite!)
Cola
Orange
Black Cherry
Ginger Ale

Here is a review I wrote last August about Zevia on Examiner.com.

I really appreciate Zevia’s support and I hope you do as well. If you’d like to try Zevia for yourself, check out the banner at the top of this page.

I know I touched on this subject a bit yesterday, but thought I’d talk about it a little more today. I put this together for my examiner column. You can read it here or there, please just remember to go to my column either way so I get credit.

Recently I read an eye-opening article by Dr. Mike Eades, co-author of the popular low-carb plan Protein Power. In this blog post he discusses the difficulties we sometimes have in doing what we know is best for us, diet or otherwise. It all has to do with two areas in our brains called nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and insula. These two areas are activated by different stimuli. NAcc is activated by things that excited you – a new gadget, your favorite foods, etc. The insula is activated by less exciting things – like how much that new ipod costs or knowing you’ll gain 5 lbs over night from eating that donut. It’s kind of the shoulder angel and shoulder devil if you will. The shoulder devil says, “Wouldn’t those cookies taste so good right now? You really deserve to enjoy yourself!” Your NAcc gets excited and makes you seriously consider eating the cookie. But then your shoulder angel, the insula, steps in. “Don’t eat that! You’ve done so well and you know it will make you bloated and feel awful later!” This is the battle you go through on a daily basis, whether it’s food, buying decisions or even ways to spend your time.

Dr. Eades suggests that when surrounded by a high-carb, low-fat society, our insula gets bombarded with all the negative messages about low-carb living that are constantly thrown our way. This nice little area of our brain goes from working for us, in most cases keeping us cautious, to working against us. Now our insula is telling us we should be careful and many people think what we are doing is dangerous. Then the NAcc pushes its way through and convinces you to go ahead and eat that potato because it may not be that bad for you, despite the fact that you’ll regret it later.

Getting daily support and affirmations for your chosen lifestyle is vital to keeping yourself on track. Checking in with like-minded people on forums, through emails, or even just reading blogs and websites, will keep you encouraged. So keep your insula happy by confirming daily in your head what you already know in your heart. Tell that NAcc to take a hike when temptation comes a calling by seeking out your favorite sources of inspiration.

Need some new inspiration? Feel free to check out my favorite blogs and website links listed on the right of this page.

(I want to apologize for being so late in getting this information up. I had planned to do so early last week, but you know how it goes sometimes.)

Ulcerative Colitis is estimated to affect close to half a million people in the United States. No small number considering many people don’t know what it is. Ulcerative Colitis is the inflammation of the inner lining of the colon and rectum. A flare-up is where the colon and/or rectum become inflamed and cause symptoms such as such as diarrhea, rectal bleeding, abdominal pain or cramping, and an urgent need to go to the bathroom. UC is a life-long condition of which the causes are unknown. It can affect people of all ages but is generally diagnosed in early adulthood. There is currently no known cure for UC with the exception of removing the colon. Thankfully there are foundations such as the Chrohn’s & Colitis Foundation Of America who are researching and working diligently to find a cure.

The Celebrating UC Success Program spokesperson is a man named Josh Reineke who, through adjustments to his lifestyle, treatments, and working with his doctor, has learned to control his UC and enjoy life to the fullest. Not only is he controlling UC, he’s also a father, grad student,working full time, and competes in triathlons. Amazing and inspirational! You can read more about him at his blog: http://vitaeeuphoros.blogspot.com/

Do you, or someone you know, live with Ulcerative Colitis as Josh does? If so, the Celebrating UC Success program wants to hear from you. From their website:

Celebrating UC Success is a program developed to recognize individuals who have learned to cope with their Ulcerative Colitis (UC) or have helped others with UC live life to the fullest. We would like to invite you and anyone you know who has an UC success story to participate in the program essay contest. If you’re a patient or a friend, family member or healthcare provider of someone with UC, and have an inspirational story to tell, please share it with us.

Here are the offical rules and here is where you can get your online application.

Here’s what you can win:

Participants

Each individual who submits an essay will receive the following: A certificate of appreciation to recognize his/her achievements and inspiration to the UC community; a copy of Comfort Zones, a book printed by P&G, which highlights the nicest bathrooms in 15 cities around the country; and a one-year membership to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (approx. retail value $30 each), which allows members to receive discounts on the Foundation books and special programs, free participation in group support services through the Foundation and invitations to educational and fundraising events.

Semi-finalists

In addition to the prizes mentioned above, all 20 semifinalists will receive a $50 gift card to the Foundation’s online store. Limit one semifinalist prize per person.

Finalists

The contest winners will receive a 3-day/2-night trip for two to the Foundation’s national advocacy conference “IBD Day on the Hill” held in Washington, D.C. in May 2008. The winners will receive round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations and $250 spending money.

Your entry should be 200 words or less and must be received by 10:00 pm EST on March 14, 2008. If you want to get in on this you’d better act fast because time is running out. Good Luck!