I thought I should pass on this interesting article I saw on MSN's website, Health & Fitness section that rates the sugar substitutes, the good, the bad and the so-called unacceptable. Written by Sylvia Geiger, M.S.,R.D., Eatingwell.com

In my opinion this article is not only a review of sugar substitues but a reassuring bit of information that helps to enlighten the public as to their options when it comes to FDA approved sweetners. A quote that appears in the article by Manfred Kroger, Ph.D., professor emeritus of food science at Penn State says it all for me. "The public should feel confident that any approved sweetener is truly safe and has been closely scrutinized." And it's not just me, most food scientists agree with that statement. That's comforting news for those of us who have been subjected to the cancer scares of aspertame - even though most are aware that you would have to consume buckets of this stuff daily to maybe get the big C. The sugar industry does what it can to mis-direct and mis-inform us about other sweetners that challenge their markets but from the looks of all the low fat foods out there that depend on sugar for taste I dont think sugar has much to worry about. But when I see some of the big guns out there like Coke and RC with labels that proclaim "sweetened with Splenda," it does my heart good.

Ms. Geiger goes on to talk about the fact that sales of "diet-friendly" sugar substitutes have gone through the roof, up a factor of 50% from 2000 to 2006 primarily because health experts are now recommending the use of them to their overweight and diabetic patients. A staggerting 66% of Americans are overweight and 20.8 million have diabetes. She mentions that according to a recent survey, seven out of 10 adults say they want to reduce or avoid added sugars. And in order to do this they are forsaking regular sugar for sweeteners that deliver zero or minimal calories. 

For me Splenda is the only choice for sweetning beverages both hot and cold, especially coffee. I am a sweet freak that has to have sweet in his life and Splenda does it for me. I have to use 10 times the amount of sugar to get the same sweetness and that is just unacceptable. Bottom line is it just depends on what you get used to and what you believe the experts like Sylvia Geiger have to say. I started using Splenda when I read about it in Dr. Atkins book, The New Diet Revolution. He recommended those sweetners like sucralose, not because he thought aspertame caused cancer but because it seemed to derail his patients efforts at the Induction phase of his low carb plan. They were not able to lose as much weight as quickly. Bottom line, read the article and decide what is best for you.

Scottish superstar golfer Colin Montgomery uses the Atkins low-carb nutritional approach to losing weight. This is not exactly a current story since Monty started the plan back in 04 when it seemed like everyone was trying it but it still has relevance here because most golfers know who he is and what he used to look like. Not only that but the fact that he has kept it off using the same plan would seem the bigger story here. I got this story from Jimmy Moore's Livin La Vida Low Carb Blog and he got it from the Glasgow Sunday Mail.

Monty was the guy that everyone loved to hate because he let everything and everyone on the course bother him, especially during Ryder Cup competition, and he was subsequently branded a whiner as a result of his constant complaining. Monty let his clubs do most of his talking and you would be hard pressed to find a guy with a better record in Ryder Cup play. Personally I think this is what rattled his drunken detractors (true golf fans would never be so rude) - he always found a way to beat us. But at some point over the last few years he suddenly became the darling of the US Tour whenever he showed up to play. This might have something to do with his record in the majors here (0 for a million) or his light and funny press conferences about how good a player Tiger is. At any rate the story in the British newspaper reported that he is a big fan of the Atkins lifestyle and has used it to slim down.

I didn't see the original story but Jimmy Moore (my low carb idol) says that it refers to Atkins as a "no-carb regime" (a fine example of a reporter too lazy to do his homework and I agree with Jimmy when he says - when will these people ever learn?!) It still had some great quotes from the man golfing fans (now) affectionately refer to as "Monty Read the rest of this entry »

If you have been away from low carb for a while or maybe even never bought into it in the first place I have good news! There are thousands of people out there that believe, like I do, that the controlled carbohydrate nutritional approach is the best way to lose weight. There are so many resources for great tasting food products out there that offer more variety, are better tasting and a heck of a lot better for you. Weight loss is about substitution, not about depriving yourself of the things you love like bread, pasta and, Heaven help me, sweets, my personal nemesis. Sugar was a staple in my life until I was able to find things that tasted just as good without it. And when I do need something sweet for my decaf coffee or low carb drink I reach for the Splenda!

The typical American diet is what makes you fat, especially if you buy into the low-fat lifestyle. The only way they can make low-fat food palatable is to add sugar. I am all for cutting out fat when I can but not by adding a ton of sugar to food. The best way to cut out fat on a low carb diet is to watch your portions, have two slices of bacon instead of four, 8 oz of meat instead of 12 or mix low-fat mayo with regular mayo for your salad dressings and dips.

If you don't believe me just take a cruise through your nearest health food store or even grocery store. Look at some of the low-fat products and read the Nutritional Facts on the back of the product label paying particular attention to the carbohydrate content. Prepare yourself for sugar shock because 99% of a products carbs are added sugar. Shoot, even a lousy one-cup serving of low-fat 2% milk has 13 grams of carbs and 12 of those grams are added sugar. If you are trying to watch your carbs this one cup of 2% low-fat milk will derail you. You are better off drinking cream!

I don't know about you but when I tried living the low-fat way all it did for me was make me tired, irritable and caused me to lose sleep. I also wondered why I was hungry all the time and why I couldn't resist eating even more sugar-laced "low-fat" products. Well, if you are a sugar slave like I was you don't need me to tell you that sugar begets sugar, meaning, the more you eat, the more you crave. 

Now I am able to eat sugar-free chocolate and actually enjoy it! Malitol, Sorbitol, Splenda and even Stevia have weaned me away from sugar and now I don't miss it at all. Don't believe it? Just visit Netrition.com, try a few things and you will be surprised. I lost 115 lbs doing this and, more importantly, have been able to keep it off. Stay tuned to this site for more ways to overcome those things that made you fail in the past. I am loving life right now every time I put my clothes on and I want you to feel this way too.

You may remember that low- carb dieting became a fad not too long ago and a bunch of us Americans jumped on the bandwagon, thinking this was another quick fix. In restaurants around the country it became trendy to order a hamburger without the bun or to ask for Splenda for your coffee. You might have tried low -carb yourself with some success but went back to your bad habits after losing a few pounds, possibly ending up with a few extra for good measure. This "fad" fizzled because most of us just don't have the staying power and because the low-fat crowd twisted the solid research behind this plan and convinced us that it was "unhealthy." Bullcarb!

I'm here to tell you that the Low-Carb movement is alive and well and is just as active as ever in trying to convert us Americans (who get fatter every day) to a more nutritional approach to eating and losing weight. I personally believe that a combination of the Atkins Low Carbohydrate Nutritional approach combined with aspects of the South Beach Diet AND a low-fat approach are the way to go. If this sounds like an oxymoron bear with me. I know what you THINK you have heard about fat not being a consideration with either Atkins or The South Beach folks - you know those people who just can't let go of their bad habits and start the Atkins diet with a pound of bacon a day!? This is simply a mis-conception and spin from the low-fat folks who support the sugar industry. Just go into any supposedly health food store and look at the low fat stuff. Its all LOADED with sugar. And to us metabolically challenged, processed sugar is our number one enemy! NO ONE, especially Atkins, advocates eating unlimited quantities of fat-loaded foods. PLEASE, if you are going to do this, READ THE BOOKS first, then get with your doctor and see if this approach is something that is safe for you.

If, like me, you can look back at the many diet plans you tried over the years you may recall how you felt when you found a plan where you actually started losing weight and your clothes started fitting better. There was this feeling of. WOW, I'm actually doing this and it's working. Remember that feeling of re-gaining your self esteem - feeling more in CONTROL? But, then after losing a few pounds and feeling cocky about it you gradually started re-introducing those very things that made you fat - and pretty soon, boom!, back to square one - or worse. This forum is about sustainable weight loss and how to achieve it. I want you to have that feeling of control and I want you to like yourself ALL the time. Don't accept that you are overweight and there is nothing you can do about it. Don't utter those awful words to yourself that kill any chance of a better life "well, I'm fat and that's what I am." Bullcarb!

Thanks to my old friend Kris Strauss (a VERY important man in the Scottsdale Golf Industry - but a nice guy regardless!), who also happens to be the Director of Sales & Marketing for OB Sports, our favorite Golf Course Management Company, (a VERY important position - but he still takes my calls!) for his most generous acknowledgment and support of this venue, and who has graciously offered to share with our readers some VERY nice golf instructional tips from some of the better golf instructors in Arizona - a place that is famous not only for it's magnificent courses but for it's depth of Golf Instruction.

We are fortunate in that OB Sports is headquartered in our backyard at Kierland Commons in Scottsdale (a VERY prestigious address I must say - but despite that, manages to exhibit a VERY down-to-earth management style), something that sets them apart from the others who work in that business. Their portfolio of managed golf operations includes courses all over the country and in Mexico too and even though Kris is a nice guy he still won't let me see the super secret list of new projects on the horizon. However, their courses here in Arizona include some of those on our "must play" list for people coming to Arizona for a golf vacation: Eagle Mountain Golf Club, Longbow Golf Club, The Duke At Rancho Eldorado and WeKoPa Golf Club.

I am having some fun with you here Kris but I know your ego can handle it and I have a personal stake in this operation as well because on May 3rd of 2008, a wedding will take place at Eagle Mountain Golf Club. Ms. Kimberli Nelson, Retail Mgr. for OB Sports (a VERY important position - but she still calls me "dad") will marry my wife's son, Mr. Casey Diebold. Here is the lovely couple at their engagement party All kidding aside I think Casey is a VERY lucky man!

Our Golf Tips come courtesy of OB Sports, a Golf Course Management Co. located just around the corner from me at Kierland Commons in Scottsdale, Arizona and they are a bunch of good guys. They manage several properties in Arizona and they are all outstanding golf venues; Longbow Golf Club, The Duke at Rancho Eldorado, Eagle Mountain Golf Club and WeKoPa Golf Club. Our Golf Tips come from the Pro's at Longbow and Eagle Mountain Golf Academy.

Known formerly as the Platinum Golf Academy, the Eagle Mountain Golf Academy is the premier golf school destination in Arizona. Located at Eagle Mountain Golf Club in Fountain Hills, Arizona, just a par 5 from Scottsdale, the Academy is a great place to get your game in shape. And it doesn't hurt to have a golf school situated at the #1 ranked public course in Arizona in 2006 and 2007.  Director of Instruction, Derek Nannen is widely regarded as one of the nation's top golf instructors and is dedicated to making the game more enjoyable for players of all abilities! His experiences on the PGA TOUR, Nationwide Tour combined with his extensive knowledge of the golf swing will make your private lessons or Golf School packages both educational and fun.

Derek is of the opinion that the driver is the most important club in the bag and I happen to agree with him. Drive for show and putt for dough is still true IF you manage to get on the green in regulation. However, if you start the hole with a tee shot that ends up on the wrong side of the stakes - your putter ain't gonna make you much dough.

Does the first shot on every hole set the tone for your entire round? Derek thinks so and so do I. Hit one down the middle and it gives you the confidence to follow up your next shot with the same good swing thoughts. It's when you skank it into the boonies that doubt starts to creep in - and if you can't find it or it's unplayable then you are really behind the eight ball. Unless you think scrambling on every hole is fun you best learn how to hit the driver correctly.

The Driver is the longest and lightest club in your bag but is the most difficult to hit straight. I know guys that will only use a three-metal off the tee or even an iron and that's not good - those long par 4's and 5's need all the distance you can muster. Derek says that a perfect driver set-up will likely result in a correct swing so check this out:

To set up with the big club:

Feet slightly wider than your shoulders at address with the ball positioned slightly forward, well, shoot -  Derek's the Pro, he can tell you better than I can. See his golf tip in it's entirety here - it's worth the read.

BELLY FAT!  That's right, sports fans, this is the #1 cause of an out to in swing path which is a major contributor resulting in the dreaded slice. Forget open club face, forget angle of attack, forget reverse weight shift, it all boils down to an improper approach to the ball (out to in) and a big belly will cause it every time. It forces the club outside because you can clear your hips but you can't clear your belly. The flight of the ball tells all. I am just as guilty as anyone (by the way that's not me in the picture but it could have been just six short months ago). I decided I wanted to be a better player and my golf coach told me point blank I might as well learn to play the slice if I wasn't going to do anything about my weight. Well, my wife and doctor have been telling me this for years but hearing it from my golf pro is a wake up call if I ever heard one!

I asked my doc if I could try the low carb approach since I read that I could still eat steak, bacon, butter, mayo and some other stuff I could not imagine life without and he said, fine, as long as you can give up alcohol (temporarily, then only in moderation), bread, pasta and keep your fat intake moderate. In other words go ahead but don't think you can eat a pound of bacon for breakfast and three steaks for dinner! Thankfully my doctor is a fan of low carb and knows enough about it (he read the books!) so that he doesn't go off like the low fat crowd does, making people think that what Dr. Atkins advocates during the induction phase of his program is what he advocates eating forever. Of course he wants you to eat vegetables, of course he wants you to eat fruit, what moron would say otherwise? Just NOT in the induction phase of his plan which is the first two weeks to get you jump-started on the program. Dr. Atkins was a respected heart surgeon and he developed this program to get his overweight patients ready for heart surgery and the faster he could get the weight off the better their chances were of coming out of the surgery in good shape. Read the rest of this entry »

I keep washed and fresh celery in foil in the fridge to use as dipping scoops for this recipe or I use those terrific parmesan cheese wafers which satisfy the crunchy urge that seems to come over me frequently. This is a filling salad that can be inserted in a scooped-out tomato, set atop a bed of lettuce or eaten by itself.

Two large cans of Chicken of the Sea Albacore Tuna - drained

One can of Maria's quartered artichoke hearts - chopped

Five stalks of fresh celery - chopped or sliced to suit

Enough Mayo to suit your desired texture - remember Mayo is just about carb free and if you can stand the taste use low-fat Mayo

Salt & Pepper to taste

Dash of curry - less than quarter teaspoon

Teaspoon of Dill weed

Three hard boiled eggs - chopped

Finely shredded mozzarella cheese - about 1 cup

1/2 cup Macadamia nut pieces if desired

Mix all ingredients in a serving bowl that has a tight lid or a tupperware container so that you can munch on this later. If kept cold it will keep for 3-4 days without getting soggy or stale. If it has been sitting for a while stir with a fork to mix. Serving size is an ice cream scoop full containing less than 4 net carbs.

Who was that man seen weaving his way through traffic in a golf cart - through the streets of Stockholm?! Why, just Bill Murray, thats all. Yes, it was our famous (and beloved by golfers) actor/comedian himself behind the wheel of a linksmobile that was stopped by the  Stockholm police. Bill was actually on his way back to his hotel after he and some friends had dinner at the club hosting the Scandinavian Masters- he just got tired of waiting for the Limo, figured the hotel wasn't that far and hey, I'm Bill Murray, what can they do? Read the rest of this entry »