Lessons From Over 17 Years in the Health Space with Bestselling Low Carb Author Jimmy Moore

In this episode, I am talking with Jimmy Moore, author, podcaster, and speaker. You may be familiar with Jimmy from The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show or one of his many books. Jimmy shares his personal weight loss and health journey with us, which is so inspiring! He lost almost 200 pounds by starting with Atkins, later going keto and to his latest way of eating which is more of a keto/carnivore approach. You will learn a lot as we go over topics of fasting and how it is so important when trying to reduce inflammation in the body. We also talk about biohacking therapies like ice baths, red light therapy and the importance of looking inward to heal the body from past traumas. Rest is also so important. Jimmy took himself on a sabbatical and talks about why it happened and the benefits he received from it. Mental health, physical health, cholesterol, and the keto culture are key topics also discussed today. Jimmy shared his whole wellness program, eating regimens and why we need to give ourselves grace. So many important topics were discussed and I cannot wait for you to hear! Did you enjoy today’s show? Let me know by leaving me a review for the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you are listening from today! If you leave a review on Apple Podcasts and follow the instructions here, you’ll have a chance to win a $200 Amazon gift card that we’re giving away November 17, 2021. Watch the interview on YouTube CONNECT WITH CHERYL Website: https://healnourishgrow.com Show Notes: https://healnourishgrow.com/podcastepisodes Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healnourishgrow Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healnourishgrow YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/healnourishgrow Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/HealNourishGrow TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@healnourishgrow Dry Farm Wines: https://www.dryfarmwines.com/healnourishgrow Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/healnourishgrow Links to All of My Favorite Products With Discounts: https://healnourishgrow.com/shop CONNECT WITH JIMMY Website: https://livinlavidalowcarb.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livinlowcarbman Books: Cholesterol Clarity, Keto Clarity Losing 180 Pounds, Finding Greater Health and Becoming a Force in the Keto Community Cheryl McColgan: I obviously introduced you to everybody prior to putting our interview on, but I'd like to hear from you in your own words, you have such a very interesting history about how you got into keto and some of your family health history. Could you share with people a little bit about that and kind of how you got to where you are now? Eating the Standard American and Low-Fat Diets Jimmy Moore:  Oh yeah.  I was eating a low-fat diet before finding low carbs. And I think that we all do that. We all kind of default, when you need to get healthy, when you need to lose weight, what you did, you cut back, right? We all heard that message our whole lives. And if that works for you, you're doing that and over and over and over again. I think what draws people back to it is the reinforcement, when you do that and then you do lose some weight. You feel somewhat better. I would argue because you get rid of the junk in you feel a little better. For me, I had tried all those things and I had been successful up down, up, down, up, down, up down with low-fat diets. And in fact, in 1999, you mentioned family health problems. My brother had a series of heart attacks and one week, so four years older than me, my brother, Kevin. In 1999, he had a heart attack, he was in the hospital for some routine checkup and had a  heart attack while it was in the hospital. Thank God, because it probably would have died had he not been there. Then later, he'd have another heart attack, on and on and on. He died at the age of 41, but when he had the heart attacks and again, that was a wake-up call for me and I lost a bunch of weight. And at the end of about nine months, I'd lost triple digits of weight, but I was miserable, hungry. I was irritable. I was an angry man and never put two and two together. I finally learned the importance of healthy fat your brain is 60 percent made of fat. Yes, you're fat head. When you don't eat fat that has a real effect on your brain. So at the end of that bid, because I was so frustrated, well, this is the way I have to eat forever through that. I'd rather be happy than verbal. And then, and so that kinda got me a full height hall. Ill. I got an eye for fitness and, uh, three, uh, and it was the acting side. I read that book, this guy, he whacked the visual. What? Eat down the car. What do you mean eat more fat than spending 80 cents at all? Based on what we know, but I gave it a go. And so January 1st I got the Atkins book. So after three or four weeks of this, I thought all right, I feel pretty good, this is kind of cool and I did end up losing three prescription meds. Cholesterol, blood pressure readings problems. So I started getting on course, you should write a blog and this was 2005. And so I started a blog in 2005 called  Livin la Vida Low Carb and it's now my trademark kind of name. Everybody knows that's me. Then a year later started the show. It's the longest-running health podcast.  Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. Keto, Cholesterol and Brain Health Cheryl McColgan: That's actually how I came to know you because when I started going lower carb in 2015 and keto in 2016. And of course, your work is what I ran across immediately. Similar to you, I think we're kind of a similar age range, I grew up in the whole era of low-fat. Keto and Brain Health Cheryl McColgan: To your point about your brain feeling so much better, I struggled with anxiety and depression most of my adult life. After going low carb higher fat, I've been feeling so much better, so that's just an kind of an aside for people to know. Basically, so you really dove in and started the longest-running health podcast and that's how I came across you with the other way that I really came across you was I've always had slightly high cholesterol. And when I say slightly high, I'm talking 220 which I now know that is not even a concern Right now it is higher now that I've been on low carb, but the first book I read of yours and it might've been, might've actually been your first book. Yes, exactly. It was Cholesterol Clarity. And so I just want to tell everybody, if you haven't read this book, or if you are worried about your cholesterol, you need to read this book. It just puts everything in a whole new perspective, really. So did your cholesterol go up? Is that one of the reasons you wrote that? Jimmy Moore: Well, let me say it. So at the end, I lost 108 pounds. My doctors, I think I'm rockstar, he was very impressed by the way.  He asked, "are you okay?" I said I did the Atkins diet. I kinda knew what was coming next and I predicted it. Should I Be Worried About Cholesterol on Keto? It's "oh, the Atkins diet, let's check your cholesterol."  The medical system is so broken, so numbers-based, but you're looking at a patient, right? He could have easily looked at it as it's obvious you're far healthier than you were, but no, it was no, that's not good enough. Have to check the cholesterol, so he runs cholesterol and it comes back 260 total cholesterol. I said, yeah, but what about the triglycerides? They were 43. Whoa. That's amazing. Then what about HDL cholesterol? It was 70 or 80, really good and kind of what you should be looking at. Not total cholesterol. So he's well, yeah, those are really good, but overall they're up. Cholesterol Clarity In Cholesterol Clarity I explain why doctors are so incredibly clueless about cholesterol. Then it's that rule came out now brand new recommendation came out that they can put you on statins. But they really should be looking at ratios and other things. And looking at a calcium can so they can look at the actual health of your arteries. Cheryl McCcolgan: Interesting. I didn't know that part of it, but I did actually have that scan eventually after reading your book so I could put that to rest. It was not zero but it was very low, because I think I was a runner for almost 20 years  and my doctor actually told me that there's a study that was done on endurance athletes and they tend to have more calcification because of oxidative stress.  Jimmy Moore: Yes exactly. It's the oxidative stress. When you overtrain, that's almost eating all carbs, inflammation rises, but it doesn't mean don't train guys. Don't hear that as the message to not exercise, no, don't do that. But when you exercise, who is smartly, do short bursts of energy, but don't overdo it and get a lot of runners are friends of mine, always talk about their inflammation marker being high. And I'm like dude, back off of the exercise little bit. Know Your Score, The Calcium Scan Cheryl McColgan: I found I did actually have to give that up. Over 10 years ago now because of my knees. So I'm hoping between my lifestyle now, where I do a much more reasonable amount of appropriate exercise and eating low carb, that that number either will stabilize or go down. It's only  12 anyway. It wasn't very high. Jimmy Moore: Oh, it's well, so I was worried about that too but at 12 I wouldn't worry. Cheryl Mccolgan: Yeah. I'm not super worried about it, but my doctor did still want to put me on Statens after  Jimmy Moore: How old are you? Cheryl McColgan: I'm not going to be 48 here in a month or two. Jimmy Moore: Okay. Well that's good. Actually, for a lot of women and guys of course, heart disease is kind of  the big concern that people have. We all worry about cholesterol, but we're not looking at what's really causing problems. It's not bad cholesterol it's inflammation. So it was the inflammation,