Happy New Year!

It may not need saying, but this year was wonderfully hectic here at Wilshire Central - we've enjoyed a visit from my parents, a visit from my inlaws, hosted our first big party in our new house, hosted another smaller get together this weekend, and are now getting ready for a much needed vacation! So, while I've only had time to post a couple of articles the last couple of weeks, you'll have to forgive my continued absence from the blogosphere until January 15th, when I'll be back from vacation and ready to settle back into life as we know it after the holidays.

For now let me direct your attention to some interesting posts and headlines you may be interested in reading....

Derek A. Paice maintains a free e-book online, Diabetes & Diet (PDF), that details his experience controlling type 2 diabetes with diet. It's a fascinating read and chronicles his success in bringing his A1c from 9.0 in 1993 to 5.4 in 1997 to 5.2 in 2000. No matter what your opinion about carbohydrate restricted diets or glycemic index-load diets - this is worth reading to understand the value of testing, testing, testing and using that data to make adjustments to your diet based on how your body reacts to various foods - also known as eating to your meter!

The People Magazine cover story this month is about people who lost weight; one woman, Mary Smith, lost 125-pounds using a low-carb diet (Atkins) as her weight loss approach. The People Magazine site also includes a video of all the individuals featured in the cover story.

For some reason we love the idea of a paradox - the French Paradox, the Spanish Paradox and the Swiss Paradox are all ways we try to explain why some populations eat a diet so contrary to our dietary dogma, yet remain healthy and live longer than we. Discover Magazine has an article, The Inuit Paradox, that explores the traditional diet of the Inuit - and, like the other paradoxes, sets the stage that this society thrives despite their diet, rather than because of their diet; "Today, when diet books top the best-seller list and nobody seems sure of what to eat to stay healthy, it’s surprising to learn how well the Eskimo did on a high-protein, high-fat diet." Setting aside the assumptions the article makes, if you're interested in learning just how the Inuit eat (traditionally) this is a must read!

While some may feel my position - that government regulation is not the solution to our obesity epidemic - take a gander at this article that highlights the scary ideas some have come up with to reverse the obesity epidemic! Gillian McKeith, an anti-obesity campaigner, had proposed, in addition to mandatory school lessons for children and tax breaks for the slim, that "nutritional hit squads" be deployed into private homes of obese people to clean out their pantry, cupboard and refridgerator to get them to eat healthy! Government ministers in Scotland rejected the idea.

Dr. John Salerno has joined the ranks of bloggers with his new blog, The Salerno Strategy. He's a board-certified Family Practice physician who brings 15-years of experience in Family Medicine and Complementary Medicine to his blog.

So....now I'm off for what I'm certain will be a great vacation and I hope you'll check back again on January 15th when I'll resume writing and posting here!

Happy New Year!