32: Jimmy Moore Takes On The Vicious Vegans

[podcast flashvars=”titles: ‘The Vicious Vegans'”]http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/wp-content/uploads/llvlcep32.mp3[/podcast]

Have you met “Steven the Vegan” yet? WARNING: Don’t laugh TOO hard!

Greetings low-carbers and welcome to the 32nd episode of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show With Jimmy Moore”…and what an intriguing podcast show it is (so what else is new with Jimmy, huh?).

In fact, we would be hard pressed to say which is more interesting–Jimmy’s appearance on his local CBS television affiliate on Wednesday or perhaps his shocking announcement that he has decided to shun all animal products and become a VEGAN!!!

…Or was that supposed to be EATING all animal products and SHUNNING a vegan? Hmmm…

It can get confusing when you start talking about vegans, but Jimmy should clear it all up in Episode 32 today! A very special welcome to our new listeners who found Jimmy Moore’s podcast after seeing him and this show featured on the 5:00pm news on WSPA-TV in Greenville/Spartanburg, SC!

LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE 32

– Story about Jimmy Moore on WSPA Newschannel 7 in Greenville/Spartanburg, SC (You can even leave a comment there!)
– Gary Loewenthal’s Amazon.com profile page
– Google search on “Gary Loewenthal”
– Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine
– Jody Gorran’s lawsuit against Atkins Nutritionals was dropped

Did you miss anything Jimmy said? That’s OK, you can catch up by reading the full transcript! Just click the following link…

Episode 32 TRANSCRIPT:

This is Episode 32 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore” and today I want to talk to you about veganism. I’m thinking of giving it a try. Let me explain why in just a moment.

First, I’d like to welcome those of you in the Upstate area of Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina who found “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show” podcast today after seeing me and this show featured on the CBS television affiliate WSPA Newschannel 7 on Wednesday. News anchor and reporter Carrie Davis contacted me recently and said she was very interested in my low-carb weight loss success story, blog, and podcast show and wanted to share it with her viewers. What a thrill and an honor it was to tell her about the work I am doing to educate, encourage, and inspire people to live a healthier lifestyle through my book, blog, and this podcast show. Stick around a while and listen to past episodes at TheLivinLowCarbShow.com. And be sure to visit my blog as well for more information about my weight loss story and everything you could ever want to know about the low-carb lifestyle at LivinLaVidaLowCarb.com. You can also e-mail me anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.

Okay, so let me tell you why I’ve decided the vegan lifestyle is for me…psyyyyyyyche! Just kidding! You should know better than that because I’m a proud meat-eating, chargrilling, animal-loving man who happily consumes beef, pork, poultry, fish, and every other meat I can get my hands on because those animals help me keep my weight and health in tip-top shape. From the time I started the Atkins diet in January 2004 to this very day, I have not felt ashamed by my decision to include lots and lots of delicious and nutritious meat in my choice of foods and the result has been nearly 200 pounds lost and a happier, healthier life. Unfortunately, my confidence in and love for the low-carb lifestyle does not endear me to those tastiest of all meat choices–VEGANS! Whenever I come across most vegans and even some vegetarians, you can see the hate-filled vitriol spewing forth out of their ears for miles away! One example is a Virginia man named Gary Loewenthal. He is arguably one of the most vocal vegans I have ever seen. Do a Google search of his name and you will find many of his writings all across the Internet where he is opposed to what he sees as cruelty towards God’s creatures and he uses that as the basis for promoting his support for veganism. For example, in a review of a book about modern poultry practices, Loewenthal asserted that “billions of delightful, smart, social animals” are made to go “through Hell each year because we like the taste of their flesh or eggs.” He added that “It’s amazing how we put animals down, and use that as an excuse to make them suffer.” This is the kind of bleeding heart we are dealing with here and it gets even worse.

Loewenthal is a big fan of the PETA front group called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, or PCRM for short. He says the work they are doing to help promote healthy living should not be discounted. “PCRM’s collaboration on the development of a non-animal insulin test, their diabetes trials in which volunteers on a vegan diet improved so dramatically they were able to quit their medications, and their various articles in peer-reviewed medical journals are done by physicians and PhDs.” Well, yippy skippy, Mr. Loewenthal. But diabetes has also been found to improve when a low-carbohydrate diet rich in animal fat and protein is consumed as well. These patients also got to quit their medications and the study results have been reviewed in various medical journals, too. The point is that your so-called perfect vegan diet is but ONE of MANY ways to attain better health, even as a representative from the office of PCRM wrote to me in an e-mail. Loewenthal has also expressed his great disdain for the late great Dr. Robert C. Atkins and the work he did to fight obesity and disease for three decades. He wrote “Never trust a diet guru who a) is selling books and add-on products to promote his diet, and b) is overweight. The leanest healthy people on the planet eat a ton of carbs–whole grains, not junk. Carbs are essential. Most mainstream health organizations have already soundly criticized the low-carb craze; there’s no need to repeat that here. Fortunately, the fad is starting to fade.” I don’t think anyone has a problem with a man who has found an amazing way to help people lose weight and keep it off forever putting his thoughts down in a book. Nobody made those tens of millions of people buy Dr. Atkins’ books, Mr. Loewenthal. They did it ON THEIR OWN, because they saw how incredible it was working in the lives of people like me. As for this neverending urban legend that Dr. Atkins was “overweight,” this is exactly why nobody takes people like you or the PCRM seriously. You keep telling the same old lies over and over again thinking and possibly hoping they will become true. Try as you may, Mr. Loewenthal, but you will never be able to make that one stick because Dr. Atkins was as healthy as an ox before his tragic slip and fall on an icy sidewalk in New York City back in 2004. Regarding carbohydrates, you don’t need to “eat a ton of carbs” as you claim. It’s just not true. In fact, you could actually live WITHOUT ANY CARBS if you wanted to, but you absolutely must have fat and protein in your body to function. The “low-carb craze” that you describe as a “fad” is indeed on its way out and THANK GOD! But people who are genuinely living the low-carb life never bought into the whole consumer scam of all those so-called garbage “low-carb” products anyway. Instead, we choose those foods that are naturally lower in carbohydrates, including tender cuts of fresh meats along with the very best cheeses, low-glycemic fruits and non-starchy vegetables available. Now that the dust has settled on the “craze” part of the diet, people are finding livin’ la vida low-carb to be exactly what they need to lose weight and keep it off permanently. Of course, Loewenthal endorses the low-fat diet plan promoted by Dr. Dean Ornish and said that his plan has revolutionized thinking about healthy living forever. “It may not be the low fat per se, but the lack of animal fat and animal protein that produces the dramatic benefits. More recent research from Dr. Ornish shows that a vegan diet may reverse prostate cancer, also. Meanwhile, there are thousands of studies that link meat and dairy to heart disease, breast cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and other serious diseases.” Well, good for you. If you choose to NOT eat meat, then that is your prerogative. But don’t go scaremongering or guilt-tripping people into thinking their decision to EAT MEAT as part of their healthy lifestyle change is somehow bad for them. THAT’S A BALD FACE LIE! If it wasn’t for the Atkins diet and ALL THAT MEAT I ate doing it for the past three years, then I would have never been able to overcome my morbid obesity. You see, I tried low-fat and it just plain failed me! Sure, I lost some weight, but I was absolutely miserable. There was no way I could eat that way for the rest of my life. The good news is livin’ la vida low-carb did work for me and I’ll be a changed man forever because of it. Why do we have to make this a debate over which plan is better? I am looking to move the conversation to what has worked and MAY work for people, not squabbling over which eating plan is superior to another. Obviously low-carb worked for me and I’m going to tell people about it. But I just wish that people like Loewenthal and supporters of low-fat, low-calorie, portion-control, vegan, vegetarian, and other such diets out there would just state their case about why their method of eating is preferred without tearing down the low-carb lifestyle in the process. If you want to skip dairy and meat as part of your lifestyle, then nobody’s gonna stand in your way! But don’t condemn me for wanting to eat all those things. Unfortunately, this is exactly where people like me and Loewenthal differ. He actually thinks these animals that I enjoy eating so much have feelings and are being tortured all to be sacrificed at the altar of my dinner table. Here’s what he had to say about that: “Think about how it must feel to be held down while receiving third-degree burns from a branding iron. Think about getting your testicles chopped off without painkillers. Think about dying of thirst in the back of a sweltering truck headed to the slaughterhouse. Think about the repeated reports from slaughterhouse workers of cows still alive, moving, and blinking as their sides are slit open–-the result of super-fast slaughterhouse line speeds to increase profit. Think about more than your own pleasure when choosing what to eat.” Uh, no I’m not going to think about those irrelevant things, Mr. Loewenthal. God put animals on this earth for his chosen creation, human beings, to eat and enjoy while they live on this earth. Unlike humans, animals do not have a soul and cannot attain everlasting life through faith in Jesus Christ. That special relationship is reserved exclusively for humans, not for animals. While I am sure you earnestly believe you are doing the Lord’s work in defending animals against cruelty (and there is real animal cruelty happening with illegal dog fighting and the like), the people you are supporting have nothing but a one-sided agenda up their sleeve. They want to bring down anything and everything that goes against what they believe. That’s why PCRM attempted to do this through the courts by putting opportunist Jody Gorran up to his lawsuit against Atkins Nutritionals. Although the judge in that case threw it out as frivilous and unfounded, these people still relentlessly bash the Atkins diet with all their might. But try, try as you may, you will never convince me that eating this way is anything but the healthy, delicious and nutritious lifestyle that I have seen it to be for over three years now. Despite reports that low-carb is down for the count, there are still tens of millions of people who make this their permanent and healthy way of life now. It’s a fact that makes you animal rights wackos sick to your stomach, doesn’t it? But the truth is what it is. Loewenthal explains his reasons for supporting the vegan lifestyle: “You’re more at peace with the natural world. It’s far more gratifying than taking pot shots at animal activists, and far more permanent than the latest fad diet. I’ve seen family, friends, and co-workers try and fail at Atkins. But, with exceedingly rare exceptions, no one who adopts a plant-based diet out of compassion for animals ever regrets it. Their diets actually become far more diverse and interesting, and they never look back.” My life is very peaceful now that I don’t have to worry about declining health due to obesity. Those people who supposedly did “Atkins” and failed probably never even read his books like I did. This program may not work for everyone, but I highly doubt it didn’t work for ALL of your “family, friends, and co-workers” who tried it. While I have never tried to eat just a plant-based diet and especially never “out of compassion for animals,” I know that I couldn’t last long eating that way for the rest of my life. More power to ya if you can, but not me. Give me a diet that allows me to eat healthy fad-laden cuts of meat with melted full-fat cheese on top and a side salad with Ranch dressing on top and I’ll show you a diet than has helped me lose over 180 pounds in one year. Livin’ la vida low-carb did that for me and no radical, anti-meat, anti-Atkins animal rights activist will EVER EVER EVER convince me that it wasn’t the right thing for me to do.

I did receive a rather peculiar e-mail from a vegan recently and here’s what it said:

“Dear Mr. Moore,

Has Mrs. Atkins informed you of what killed Dr. Atkins? HEART DISEASE!!!…please don’t allow her to convince you it was from some genetic defect, either! I’ve been a vegetarian for 26 years…I’m 53. I don’t look much older than you do…Not only are you ignorant and ill informed, but skating on thin ice with a—low carb/eat-meat-till-you-drop diet. Until you have actually lived as a vegan you have nothing but your blindingly myopic opinions to guide you. As a former meat eating southerner from Texas, raised in ranching and hunting country…I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum. Knocking something because you have no intentions of giving up your cruel, selfish and environmentally destructive ways….because you are guilt ridden about your treatment of the innocent, (and believe me that IS the case…otherwise you would try veganism before publicly denouncing it.) will only hurt you and people gullible enough to follow such lame advice. Do the world a favor….educate yourself first by becoming vegan…then learn something called “balance” in reviewing both sides of the issue. Who knows…if you succeed…you may just be credible. Until then, YOU appear to be the lunatic and extremist.”

Breathe, Jimmy, breathe…Exhale. Okay, my blood pressure’s back down again and I’m ready to use the opportunity of this e-mail to explain why I choose the low-carb lifestyle over the vegan lifestyle. First let me ask, is there not just ONE vegan with a lick of sense out there who can intelligently explain their positions without spewing their hate-filled, anti-meat propaganda at us? Even one?! Whenever the first thing you read in an e-mail from these people is about HOW the late great Dr. Robert C. Atkins died, then you know there’s gonna be trouble and whatever else follows that statement is virtually null and void. The same goes for the good ole PCRM line that Dr. Atkins died from heart disease. I think these people have been tellin’ that lie for so long that even THEY believe it’s true now. Thankfully, most of the general population knows the truth and simply ignores these ridiculous claims that Dr. Atkins’ death was caused by anything more than a slip and fall accident on ice. Do these people even realize just how silly they sound making these absurd accusations? Even worse is the fact they want you to take them SERIOUSLY? Riiiight! You know, I’m happy they have CHOSEN veganism and that it has worked for them over the long-term. But it doesn’t work that well for EVERYONE. My “eat-meat-till-you-drop-diet” just so happened to save my life and got rid of the weight forever. If it can happen for me, then it can certainly happen for others, too. Give me some skates because I’ll be happy to take a ride on that ice, baby! There ain’t no way on God’s green Earth you could ever get me to eat a vegan diet. NO THANK YOU! Not for me! Again, congratulations on making it your lifestyle change and more power to ya. But don’t degrade me for my wise choice to eat a meat-laden diet full of healthy fats and protein to control my weight and make my body perform the best it can. I don’t care that you choose to eat just veggies all the time. So why do you care if I eat meat, hmm? So my decision to eat meat makes me “cruel, selfish and environmentally destructive,” huh? I can live with that as long as I have found a way to permanently keep my weight under control and feel better than I ever have in my entire life. I am not “guilt ridden” about anything, except for the fact that I didn’t start livin’ la vida low-carb sooner. Now that I am, there’s no turning back or looking back on my old obese lifestyle again! Those ways are long gone now in favor of low-carb living! WOO HOO! You challenge me to “educate” myself by becoming a vegan. HA! How about you “educate” yourself by livin’ la vida low-carb?! I’ve found my way and you’ve found yours. Now it is up to each of us to clearly articulate why we support our respective dietary plans to those who are still undecided about which way is best for them. That’s what I do at my blog and in this podcast show. But I guess vegans have to resort to tearing down the low-carb lifestyle to make themselves and their diet look good. Speaking of that, why don’t these people come up with a “Livin’ La Vida Vegan” blog and/or podcast show? Does any vegan dare attempt to make a blog or podcast like mine dedicated to spreading the merits of veganism? I doubt it because none of them have the heartfelt commitment and dedication to their preferred way of eating like I do. The passion for their lifestyle is certainly there, but it is devoid of any (pardon the pun!) meat to it! Let’s see what you’ve got vegans? Would any of these outspoken veganheads be willing to start their own blog or podcast? I’ll be waiting. As for me, I’m done talking about vegans. Next topic!

That’s it for Episode 32 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore.” Thank you for your devoted listenership today and I hope you will come back on Monday for another show dedicated to healthy living the low-carb way. Call our listener comment line anytime at (206) 203-4192. Do you have any comments to share about veganism pro or con? Don’t hesitate to share. You can also leave your feedback with us in the show notes section at TheLivinLowCarbShow.com. Let us hear from you this week and until next time, keep on livin’ la vida low-carb!