I'm back from the 2011 Low-Carb Cruise, and what fun it was! It was my first cruise ever, so I didn't really know what to expect, but I really recommend it as chance to have fun, learn lots of useful information, and hang out with other low-carbers for a week - swapping recipes, sharing experiences, and just having lots of fun! I met lots of readers of this site, which was really delightful. And, of course, I heard lots of stories of lives changed by low-carb eating. The way it worked was that 3 of the days we were at ports (Key West, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica) and the other two full days were crammed with wonderful low-carb speakers, a cocktail party (sugar-free cocktails!), and many chances to connect with each other. At dinner, we sat in the same area, and the speakers rotated so that every night we got to sit with a different low-carb expert. Here's a run-down of the people who shared such valuable information with us (and yes, I'm trying to entice more people to join us next year):
Jimmy Moore of the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog, podcast, book, etc. was the MC of the event. He gave out many prizes (I swear that at least half of the people probably got prizes), introduced the speakers, and gave a great talk at the end called "Following Your Passion to Change the World".
Tom Naughton (of Fat Head fame) did a fantastic presentation called "Science for Smart People" - It was funny and informative all at the same time, with really great illustrations of the concepts. For example, he compared the "healthy" effects of whole grains instead of refined grains to the "protective" effects of smoking filtered cigarettes vs regular ones. I wish I could think of such clear comparisons. I hope he puts it up on the Web - I'll be sure to direct you.
One of my favorite speakers, Dr. Mary Vernon, talked about some of the biochemistry and physiology of why low-carb diets work. Something new to me was when she explained incretins such as GLP-1, which are a group of hormone-like chemicals in our guts and brains. Disruptions in the incretin system may actually be what triggers off the changes that result in the diabetes spectrum of disorders, and through that, obesity. And, get this: there are taste buds in our guts! (I got a chance to find out more about incretins while sitting at dinner with Dr. Vernon, a real treat for me!)
Jackie Eberstein, a nurse who worked with Dr. Atkins for about 30 years, talked about why some of us have so much trouble losing weight. Her vast experience with thousands of patients is such an amazing resource. She talked about the many things that can interfere with weight loss, and gave tips about what to do about them. (One of them is to keep a food diary to make sure "carb creep" is under control.) She also shared that she had a stall that went on for years during her menopausal period, but it finally broke. This gives me hope! I'm going to try some of her suggestions and write about them. Being realistic about weight loss, taking the long view, and focusing on health instead of the number on the scale is crucial for those who are overweight. Personally I've sort of given up on losing more weight, but Jackie and Mary Vernon both gave me ideas of things to try.
Fred Hahn, author of The Slowburn Fitness Revolution, talked about the importance of strengthening exercise. He said that we tend to lose 5-7 pounds of muscle per decade, which of course does not help our metabolic problems! Keeping strong is crucial, and Fred describes how to get the best results in the least amount of time - he advocates the "Slowburn" approach, and he described how to do it. I'm (embarrassingly) off-and-on with strength training, but Fred motivated me to plunge back in.
On Friday, Dr. Michael Fox, a reproductive endocrinologist, talked about "The Effect of Low-Carb Nutrition on the Female Hormonal System". This was fascinating - he took us through the phases of a woman's life from a hormonal perspective and how diet can impact each phase. He talked about polycystic ovarian disorder and how it can be treated with diet. He has seen dramatic results using a low-carb approach, even seeing women get pregnant with only a dietary intervention.
Dana Carpender, it turns out, doesn't just develop great low-carb recipes. She told us how to "Look Behind the Low-Carb Headlines", and see the truth about a lot of the science reporting we see. Her information dovetailed very nicely with Tom Naughton's, and she told us about several great examples. For me it was a stroll down the Memory Lane of Bad Science Reporting (like this one from a couple of years ago).
I really liked Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt's presentation. He is from Sweden, where the "Low-Carb/High-Fat" diet has taken off in a big way - in fact, 20 of our fellow low-carb cruisers were from Sweden! He showed a graph showing butter sales over the last 30 years in Sweden together with a graph of overweight and obesity in the population. You guessed it- they are the mirror images of each other, including the past few years, where butter sales are back up, and obesity leveled off and may be starting to come down. I will definitely be writing more about low-carb eating in Sweden - it's a fascinating story. It was also very fun to see the Swedes dig into the butter at dinner with such enthusiasm! Another really interesting point in Dr. Eenfeldt's talk was about Dreamfield's pasta - I'll be writing about that VERY soon!
More highlights:
-I took part in a "Low-Carb Conversation" with Jimmy Moore, Mindy Noxon Iannotti, and fellow guest Nick Peterson. This is a podcast which is a series of chats with low-carbers. I'll let you know when the episode I'm in will be available to listen to.
-There was a Q&A between the speakers and the audience. Points of consensus include intermittent fasting (bad), sugar alcohols (bad, with probable exception of erythritol), other sweeteners (sucralose and stevia most recommended, but better not to eat sweet foods at all), and detoxifying diets (thumbs down). The Q&A went on well over an hour, so I can't really summarize it all!
- Snorkeling at Grand Cayman. All the ports were great, but this was a true highlight, with plenty of time to observe the life around a coral reef, and also go swimming with the graceful rays.
Last, but certainly not at all least, the most moving thing about the week was meeting readers who use my recipes and find value in this site. Knowing that what I do makes a difference is what makes it worthwhile, and this was real highlight. I hope even more of you come with us next year - Jackie Eberstein tells us that one of the Atkins Cruises had 600 people! Nor do you have to go with anyone - my husband was not interested, so I was paired with Debbie Cusick (who has lost 110 pounds eating low-carb) and we had a great time together.
Next year: April 29-May 6, leaving out of Galveston, TX. Think about it!
Photo © Laura Dolson - Fun Dinner with friends Jimmy and Christine Moore and Mary Claire
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Glad you had a great time Laura! I was bummed I couldn’t go this year, but we will be there next year and I’m really looking forward to it!
HI there! Sounds wonderful! Can you give us a link to the site for the information about the cruse and who to contact if we are interested in going next year?
Thanks and I LOVE your blog!!
Linda
Missed the “up coming event announcement” or we would have loved to come along… we “try” to be as low-carb as possible and cruise, so it would have been a great educational experience… My guess is that most people would thing of a low-carb cruise as an oxymoron but our experience is that most large, long, buffets and even the ritzy sit-down dinners give you ample low-carb choices, if we were better educated, I’m sure we could make better choices… in every day life too.. Hope to catch you on the next cruise…
Thanks for the synopsis! I so wanted to go and begged to be put with someone and was pretty much ignored! Nevertheless thanks much! Karen
Linda, you can get information here. The next cruise will be just under a year from now; I believe the sail date is on or near April 29, and it will be a seven-night cruise. (This year’s was six nights.)
Fred, you’re absolutely right — there are *plenty* of good, low-carb options, both in the buffets and in the dining room. I would typically order two cheeseburgers, hold the bun and fries, then pop over to the salad bar and pour bleu cheese dressing all over them.
Next years cruise sounds like fun. I will start saving my pennies right now. What cruise line is it goingto be on?
Thanks for the info from the cruise. I really want to hear all about dreamfields pasta. would you email me with this info?
Thank You
Hi Laura. It was wonderful meeting you on the cruise. I, too, had the time of my life! All of the speakers were fantastic, especially Dr. Eenfeld. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting low carbers from around the world, and I was especially touched by our many conversations. As I told you, your Monday and Friday emails are something I truly look forward to. Can’t wait to see you on next year’s cruise and to hearing from you twice a week until then.
Susan, it is going to be Carnival, as it was this year, but the ship will be the Magic (one of the newest in the fleet). Carnival did a fabulous job taking care of us. They made us sauces without sugar, low carb cheesecake (both vanilla and chocolate) and sugar-free vanilla ice cream. The food was fabulous and it was so easy to keep up my low-carb lifestyle.
Eric, hi there. Miss you and Dana and our breakfasts, lunches, dinners and karaoke! It was a thrill and a pleasure to meet Dana and to get to know her a little better. And now I know why she calls you “that nice boy I married.”
Laura,
Thanks for writing about the cruise, I really enjoy your site and as someone new to low carb I love all the great information you have here,
Thanks for the excellent recap, Laura. It was lovely meeting you and finding out about your blog!
I am very interested about the tricks if you you are in a stall and are in menopause. Looking forward to seeing what you have learned.
Very curious – why was the consensus on intermittent fasting “bad”? Pretty much everything I’ve seen or read about it has been “good,” and it seems to be working very well for me…
The cruise was indeed wonderful! And I had a great time with Laura, and all the other LC speakers and guests. Fred K. – it’s super easy to stay LC on a cruise. The choices are pretty near endless. I ate like a pig on the 2010 cruise and still lost a pound. I have not had a chance to be near a scale yet since getting back from this year’s cruise. Though currently staying with my son who is anti-LC. See his latest blog post on the issue at:
http://cusickonnutrition.blogspot.com/2011/05/bodys-fatness-regulator-has-been-found.html
Highlights from his post:
“This post is about weight loss and diabetes, why we get fat, and how we can lose it…
Carbohydrates. Fiber-rich, fresh carbohydrates are the “triple threat” for weight loss (emphasis on the fiber). The fiber will ferment into short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the hindgut, turbo-boosting insulin sensitivity and thus lowering blood sugar; the glucose will spike your insulin; and the calories will spike your leptin. Between these three factors TXNIP is toast. Instant leaning out.
Keep protein and fat low. There’s nothing wrong with protein and fat, but they don’t boost insulin or tame blood sugar as well as carbs.
The proteins you do eat should be a mix of “normal” meat and gelatin. Fats should definitely be saturated – especially coconut oil.
Eat the Food. Never skip meals and always eat to appetite. This is about leptin, people! Leptin, leptin, leptin! This woman lost 232 lbs. over two years after switching to a regimen that never skipped meals while making no changes to the quality of her diet whatsoever. I think we can do better.”
So we are definitely not on the same wavelength there, and I’m currently at his house eating stuff his way – but I head home Thursday at long last. Interested to see what the scale will tell me – and have to dig into my son’s theories more also.
Hi, Debbie – So sorry about your son.
He’s smart, though, and I’m sure will come around eventually. (What does he reckon is the cause of the well-known phenomenon of T2 diabetics gaining weight when they start using insulin?) BTW, I want to find out more about your coffee maker, now that I have this can of Blue Mountain Coffee!
Lyford, things mentioned were losing muscle and increasing stress hormones. (Unfortunately I lost my pen right before the Q&A so this is from memory.) I do think there is legitimate controversy on this point.
So great to meet all of you!!!! It makes me feel very good that people are getting value from my site. Thank you for the lovely compliments. And yes, I will definitely be writing more about all the things I learned.
BTW, the Facebook page of the Cruise will be updated with info as time goes by:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_85354194342&id=10150243137874343
AND I just went there – Jimmy says that Gary Taubes has confirmed to be on at least part of next year’s cruise!!! Woohoo!!!!!!
Can’t wait to hear your Dreamfields Pasta story. I love their products but my friend (a diabetic MD) tells me he doesn’t trust their carb count (so I stopped using it and miss it terribly!). Please let us know soon what the speaker had to say! So glad you enjoyed the cruise – hope to join you on another one.
Laura, I missed this cruise, but plan to be on next year’s, thanks to Jimmy Moore’s fantastic idea to change the date to one that is doable for me.
It turns out that the new dates (5/6-5/13/12, but not set in stone just yet) work better for a few others, as well, so I’m just tickled! I just wanted to say thank you to you, for all of the info that you share here. Your low carb blog was very instrumental to me when I first started low carbing in late ‘04, (I think I actually found you in ‘05) along with Dana’s cookbooks, and I still refer to both on a regular basis, and refer others to them, as well. The LC community is full of so many wonderful people, and I am looking SO forward to meeting you and the rest of them live and in person, on next year’s trip! Till then, take care!
Just another update. Laura can certainly attest that I didn’t try to limit the amount of food I ate on the cruise in any way – but, except for the slice of Key Lime Pie that I did eat in Key West, I kept my carbs low. Isn’t it nice that lobster tail with melted butter is low carb?
When I saw Fred Hahn order his 5th lobster tail on our first formal night I went ahead and had a third lobster tail for dessert!
Anyway, today was my first day back on the scale, and I’m three pounds lower than I was the day I left for the cruise, so clearly eating in a low carb way is delicious, enjoyable, and a great way of preventing the weight creep that so many say they experience on a cruise.
But our last day at sea they had an entire section of the lunch buffet FILLED with nothing but desserts of all kinds! And that line had the longest line of all. LOL, I said to Laura, “Luckily there’s one line we don’t have to wait in.”
Can you write just a little more about incretins? They seem to be the reason why gastric by-pass patients (80+%) are “cured” of diabetes w/in a few weeks of the procedure. I would like to understand how to emulate this effect with macronutrients.
Also, to the people inquiring about the dreamfield pasta. If you go to the low carb cruise page, click on the swedish Dr.s name you should be able to go to a page where you can link to his slides. Basically: they have the same impact on your blood sugar as regular pasta! I suggest getting used to shirataki (=konjac noodles=gluccomannan (no they are NOT pasta like in texture, mostly just in form) but will fill you up with soluble fiber and will NOT spike your blood sugar. They are a “carrier” for whatever flavorful spice combinations you can dream up, or something as simple as sesame oil on them tastes wonderful.