Tom Naughton from 'Fat Head' is really funny. He is very clued up on the Low Carb lifestyle and he got to roast all of us lecturers at the pre-cruise dinner.

Have a watch and a laugh!

John Briffa and I connected immediately. I got myself a new friend, a really awesome friend! He also reminds me so much of my brother in SA, quite scary resemblance in fact, and at the same time a reassuring feeling.

John Briffa is a practising doctor in London, UK, and author to several books....

This is what you can read about Dr. John Briffa on his website 'drbriffa':

"Dr Briffa is a former columnist for the Daily Mail and the Observer, and former contributing editor for Men's Health magazine. He has contributed to over dozens of newspaper and magazine titles internationally, and is a previous recipient of the Health Journalist of the Year award in the UK. He has been listed by Tatler magazine as one of the UK's leading doctors, and has twice been on the judging panel of the prestigious Prince of Wales Integrated Health Awards."

About his lecture....

I loved the way Briffa started his talk.

He started by saying that he is English, not Australian nor South African. He is not married, but is not single – he has a girlfriend since some years back. He is an Aries....

"People often wonder about things like this, and have many questions in their heads so I want to clear all of that up right from the beginning, just in case you are all wondering..."

John Briffa is a medical dr. who got sidetracked into nutrition through personal health issues. He continued to say that he does not know if USA have the same problems as the UK with junk foods like: pizza; beer; KFC; smoking; sodas; etc...

When he changed his own diet he then got interested in nutrition. He did not know that there was a thing called nutrition, he had only spent many years in medical school and there he learnt nothing about the subject.

He was a diet doctor helping people without really knowing how to help them. He made it his mission to understand why people were yoyo dieting and which results they obtained.

People can take control over the weight so much more easily than what they have been taught through the' traditional' way of eating, by eliminating carbs and adding fat.

John Briffa does not call the diet by any specific name, why bother to eat low carb/lchf/paleo.

"Something that is low carb does not really mean that it's ok to eat it. Like perhaps the carpet on the floor. The carpet is low in fat too, AND high in fiber, as is potatoes... And also dog shit, and even more, dog shit is also low in cholesterol AND it's fresh!" These things are low in carbs, but not edible!

What happens when people go on a low fat diet? Not much! Actually something does happen – they gain weight actually.

There was in fact a study done on this, but the study was withdrawn without being published (?)!

We should forget about calories. Forget them! FORGET!!!

Is a calorie a calorie?

Plenty of studies show that low carb diets don't have positive affects. But these studies are very short studies. So they have given up before the positive effects have been established...

Imagine that a calorie is a calorie... IF that was true. Then people cannot afford to get hungry. You then exert your will power, and land up feeling more bad about yourself than you did prior.

Instead a high fat diet is like a bear hibernating, you don't get hungry!

It's not that diets don't work, they fundamentally cannot work!!!

John Briffa says he is positive to anything that is better than what the person was eating before, but he does not use branding (naming the diets as lche, paleo, atkins, low carb, etc...)

He also briefly mentions exercise and whether that works, or more, what does work? Resistance exercise helps as it is strengthening and toning, but it's not necessary for weight loss.

John brings up the American 'my plate' which all are recommended to follow in USA!

He showed slides with how the myplate looks today, and how he would like to see it change...

'Myplate' does not work for me, it's not working for anybody actually!

I also must just add, that on the last day of the cruise we had a question panel for all the lecturers... Briffa was asked:

"How do you as a dr. handle collegues that are critical towards you for treating patients with a low carb diet?"

Briffa has a standard answer which is as follows:

"Sir, I am afraid you have mistaken me for someone that gives a shit about what you think!"

After a wonderful week with amazing people and some new friends, the week came to an end and the good byes were taking place.

One new friend I made was John Briffa - we will definately stay in touch, and as we said good bye at the pier he gave me a signed copy of his new book.

An hour bus trip to Houston and then off to New York for a stop-over...

Have had a wonderful time, truly!

Laura Westman is another friend I made on the cruise. We will certainly be in touch! :)

A little bit here and there we could find this pamphlets telling us how much more fun life can be, a whole 17% more (?), with alcohol consumption. I wonder how they measured that???

The last evening on the ship was great fun! Lots of laughs, lots of people from our group in the piano bar and quite a bit of alcohol!

Dr. Eric Westman is a researcher, a medical weight loss dr. and author of the book: "New Atkins for a New You".

He tells us that he was trained to giving pills for ills, but now he rather removes the pills and instead prescribes low carb eating.

Essential nutrients you have to eat, but carbohydrates the body can make by itself – so we don't need to eat them! (Important words these...)

Calories in and calories out, Eric Westman says: 'Let's put them to rest!' BUT if you don't talk about calories, dietitians would not have any jobs.'

Counting calories is not helpful when eating a low carb diet.

You don't need to talk about/restrict calories to get people to loose weight, you just need to restrict the carbs.

Eric Westman speaks of the myths around low carb eating. For instance those that eat low carb increase their protein intake. BUT as long as people increase their fat intake their protein consumption will more than likely stay the same as before.

Another myth was that of the brain needing carbs in order to function. He continues to say that this is however true, BUT we do not need to EAT these carbs! Our liver produces carbs (glucose) for the brain automatically. The brain needs100g – 140g carbohydrates (glucose) and our liver does this per automatic, our liver produces over 250g glucose so our brain gets exactly the amount it needs...

Eric talks also about ketogenic diet and the roles of ketones.

Eric Westman is a researcher and from what I can tell, he likes to see evidence for different statements being made. Having that said, it does not mean that if there is no study – it can't be true. He asked the audience how many believe they get hungry from carbs. A large (all?) amount of people put up their hands. So experience and anecdotes are also important. So is it true?

Another example he used was that of a lady at the check out counter at the store that wanted to warn him about all the eggs he was buying. She had said he should be wary of all those eggs as his cholesterol would go up. To this Westman answered 'Don't worry I am a dr.' The person was not reassured.

This due to what 'people' through the years, media and bad 'research' have been taught (brain washed?)!

He gives hands on tips about what choices people can do to easily follow ketogenic diet by eating a maximum of 20 g carbohydrates per day.

In his tips he does use fast foods, with this Eric Westman means that the majority, at least a very huge amount of Americans do eat fast foods, and that changing their eating habits to ketogenic diet / low carb will not stop them from eating fast foods. Therefore it is better to give advice and tips which the general American can follow and adapt to his or her lifestyle.

I like the way he thinks and really listens and follows the individual person and their needs.

Eric Westman also brought up the increasing popularity of LCHF in Sweden. He showed a slide with a picture of google search on diets.

He concluded his lecture with: 'How can we fix all this? Dr's need to firstly start prescribing a good diet (low carb) BEFORE prescribing medication.

The last slide shows facts about low carb, high fat diets. When reading these positive and simple steps, it's difficult to understand who would not want to try out low carb eating!

I sat next to Eric Westman during a few of the dinners on board the ship. He is a very easy going, funny and interesting man. We spoke about food, health, teenagers, sweetners (will get back to that conversation - a very interesting one) and life in general.

Dr. Michael Fox sat next to me several times during the cruise. Already during last years cruise we got on really well. Especially having children of exactly the same ages (except his youngest are triplets)... And both of us eat as strictly as the other. He is one of the only dr.'s that does not either eat fruit, sweeteners or any other light products with artificial sweeteners.

During his lecture he spoke briefly about his life as a reproductive doctor at his fertility clinic in Jacksonville.

In the 90's Michael Fox had a simple association in the shower one day – we eat too many carbs. Maybe those that are having trouble falling pregnant would be helped by eating less carbs. When he decided to reduce drastically the amount of carbs in PCO patients the pregnancy rates both doubled and tripled.

He also works with menopause / hormone replacement therapy. He was taught to give everyone hormone replacement, same for all. They thought it was good for everybody. But now he realizes this is very individual. Even with the hormon replacement woman were still getting hot flushes, headaches, sleeping badly, etc. So instead he started to apply nutritional therapy. All the symptoms improved.

AND the same is for men, treating med and measuring testosterone levels. If their testosterone levels were low, then also their sperm count was low. This, instead, could be helped by changing food consumption and diet.

The second of the two formal evenings was a huge success. What fun!

Lots of pretty dresses and good looking suits!

We had an awesome evening with excellent food, good wine and great company.

We all know eachother a bit better by this stage, which is very nice! After dinner we met up in the piano bar, and then dancing after that.

Good morning! Just landed in Stockholm after an awesome trip to the Caribbean where I met so many new and wonderful people.

Morning here and midnight in my mind and body! But on low carb there is endless energy!

The breakfast on the flight was, however, very sad! Bread, jam and fruit! Oh well, I did eat the butter though. Will get something to eat on the way home. A 3 hour drive is awaiting us!

Hope you all have a good day!

There were many lecturers that were on the cruise from last year, but that were not lecturing this year. Jimmy Moore likes to introduce new lecturers every year.

Although these lecturers were given only 10 min to talk.

Dr. Mary Vernon

This is a very popular, well liked doctor in US. She is well known for her research and enthusiasm within the low carb diet. Mary Vernon writes, researches and educates doctors.

She told us how she says to patients that if what you do works for you, then keep on doing it. 'Get where you need to get, what works for you to balance your metabolic balance. Be it Paleo, low carb, whatever. You need to meet and maintain quality of life function.

Our body should work optimally as it does at the age of (25 -) 35 years. That we need to look at our hormones, and not only insulin. Hormonal balance is important.

Mary Vernon said that she is on the cruise, so everyone that wanted to talk to her, get advise and help could just grab her during the cruise for a chat. BUT you don't get off the hook by talking to her, you are the one that puts whatever you want to put in your mouth!

She is inspiring. We sat at the same breakfast table the one morning.

This was the first time I have tasted frogs legs. Similar to chicken, very nice indeed. Great starter! As main course I received pork, a HUGE portion (but I had actually ordered a fillet steak. So dr. Michael Fox offered to save me from overeating and happily took over my plate. I did get to taste, and it was very nice.

Others at the table did raise their eyebrows, ever so slightly at the commotion at the other side of the table.

But we were having fun!

After dinner, we moved ourselves to the popular pianobar, which has become the social meeting place for our low carb group.

Service is truly excellent on the ship. I am so impressed. I received my special starter a'la LCHF ordered: sashimi. It was awesome! As was the lamb shanks – really good food. The meat just melted in my mouth, and the butter too.

Today we spent the day in Montego Bay, Jamaica. We were amongst the first off the boat and found a taxi that took us to an awesome beach. Warm waters and white sand!

At the beach café there was in fact wifi, but I did not have my mac with me, so iPhone had to do, which is fine just to check emails.

For lunch we could order hamburgers without bread and fris and with extra mayo! Perfect.... A wonderful day at the beach!

Two of the evenings on the ship are formal evenings – we all have to dress upp for dinner. It's really pretty neat, and good fun.

The dinner consists of Maine lobster with melted butter (we ordered two each) and to this, just to top it off – some champagne.

At our dinner table we even have a couple Anna and Dr. Jeff Volek and their two little charming boys. Jeff is known as one of the leading researchers in the world on the topic low carb (and training).

At the formal dinner we even invited Dr. Michael Fox who runs a fertility clinic and is an expert on hormones. Which I found very interesting to talk to (being 40 these days...).

So, as you might understand – there is not much time over for anything else after all the lectures which run all day, and then all the socializing.... By the time my head hits the pillow I am out for the count!

Sunrise is at 6.30, Andreas, dietdoktor.com, and I met at the sky gym (outdoors) at 6.20 to enjoy the sunrise and have a good morning workout too.

Stunning sunrise! Back again tomorrow! :)

There are activities all day on the ship, for e.g. dancing by the poolside! Looks like fun actually, but I just enjoyed if from a distance...

Daniel and I are enjoying the sea-views and a glass of something to drink. The feeling of awesomeness is how I would describe things at the moment, using one word!

Lunch and a glass of wine... There is a tremendous amount of food, all over! I took some roast meat, a few veggies and some butter.

Andreas was faster than me this year at blogging!!! But I just enjoyed the feeling of being...

On board the ship! Great feeling... The first hour we spent exploring our new 'playground' where we will be spending the next week.

Outdoor gym, water slides, climbing area, spa, casino, disco, library... a sea of activity areas.

Bags are packed, bus loaded and we are on our way to the harbour for our Low Carb Cruise on Carnival Magic, a brand new boat!

Very exciting!

I don't know how much blogging I will be doing onboard. Would love to blog loads, but I remember last year how poorly the internet connection was!

So if you don't hear much over the next week, please bare with me! Hopefully I will manage a few blog posts!

If not, I wish you all a good and healthy week! Eat fat and be happy! :)

This weeks motto!

The Low Carb Cruise has oficially begun! And it starts with a big gala dinner.

Great atmosphere!

Lots more pictures here on FB!

Dinner was really good. A celery mash, steak and veg. I left out the carrots...

Afterwards it was berries and cream, but the cream was sweetened with sweetner (don't understand why that is so necessary - but that's how it is here).

The Swedes all skipped the cream part, but enjoyed the berries.

With some nice wine too...

After dinner, comedian Tom Naughton (from the film Fat Head) spoke about us speakers, for 1,5 hours! It was so funny!

He started off with dietdoktor.com, Andreas. See the slide below to give you an idea!

Then it was my turn!

Tom spoke a bit about who I was and that I had lost weight, about as much as this and some... (see slide below):

Tom also spoke about my fanatic use of lipp gloss (so true). Zumba, and some more things... Lots of laughs!

My wonderful son recorded what Tom saig about me, hope the sound is good, co's then I shall post it here shortly!

Tom finished the evening talk with thanking Jimmy Moore for all he does, his enthusiasim and his continous work and encouragement to the Low Carb community. He mentioned how Jimmy is always reaching new heights, new goals and doing new shows and blogs... The next one might just be this:

Jimmy Moore and low carb experts with awesome hair and cool accents!

Wow! What an evening.

Before this evenings gala dinner I had a nice long lazy time by the poolside. Met Andreas (dietdoktor.com), his brother and Jimmy Moore.

Tonight it's my new dress and new shoes :)

Jimmy Moore just came past again, waving and saying that I should say Hi to all you out there reading here! :) So 'greetings from Jimmy'!

Full moon, a singe seagull - peacefull!

But soon it's party time. A whole lote of low carb folks meeting up for a fun, get started, evening! Tom Noughton the comedian will be entertaining us and talking about all of us that are giving lectures on the cruise. Can't wait!

A fun evening ahead! :) Looking forward to it!

At this stage we were pretty hungry actually. At La Guardia there was a food court of restaurants. Different restaurants all around, and tables in the middle. Donuts, prezles, pizzas and Chinese food. Chinese seemed the best option here!

I asked which meals were with no sugar, and the reply I got was none. All meals have sugar, it tastes better then, the waitress explained!

She did say there was a hamburger place farther along, so off we went in that direction! In search of a good low carb burger!

The service, I must say, is always good in the States! They want to serve, and to please the customer. Never a problem, everything is possible!

So my burger without bread and fries but with bacon, cheese and extra majonaise and toppings (mushrooms, lettuce, onion) was no problem at all!

It tasted soooo good and was really filling!

Tonight my son and I are leaving for USA and the Low Carb Cruise. I have just started packing. USA is shoppers paradise, so how much should I pack and what will I shop when there!

I guess a few more things will be added to my case before we leave in a couple of hours!

What a line up.... Start saving now and let's meet up in May 2012 for a blast of a low carb time!

The great low carb blogger Jimmy Moore (the largest low carb blog out there) 'Livin´la vida low carb blog' has something called podcasts.  I asked myself - what is that?

I started to ask around on the cruise amongst us low carbers what a podcast was and how exactly it works. What I found out was that a podcast with Jimmy is an interview, in a group and with a fellow guest.  A conversation that gets recorded.  It is live, nothing gets deleted and there are no re-takes.  *Getting nervous at this point*

Present was Jimmy Moore, his wife Christine Moore, Debbie Hobbs (fellow guest) and Mindy Noxon Iannotti (working with Jimmy).  Jimmy let us know what the topics were and what we were going to discuss: LCHF in Sweden, tips on snacks for kids and a recipe that I should suggest (I suggested my egg wraps).  He also wanted to know our favorite speaker that day on the cruise!

Let the show begin: Low Carb Conversations with Jimmy Moore and Friends

It was really fun! And Jimmy and Mindy (the interviewers) are so down to earth, fun and easy going people!

I LOVED this!!!!

Of course I will let you know when it sends (early June)... Keep ears posted!

What an absolutely awesome trip I have had! WOW!

Till next years Low Carb Cruise....

Andreas continued and spoke about LCHF in Sweden.  That the Swedes are good at cutting out the carbs and eating 'real' foods without substituting for imitation products under the disguise of 'low carb'.

He hade a graph where he showed how his blood sugar had increased drastically when he ate 'low carb' pasta(!), the results were the same when he compared them with results after eating standard pasta.  FICTION pasta, as are many 'low carb products'.

This was a big topic at the dinner! That 'we' don't use imitation products, we just cut out.  It got many thinking!  Just because things are called 'low carb' does note mean they are low carb!  Andreas said: "Low carb pasta is only starch! They claim it’s good for low carb dieters. That is too good to be true!" 

I had a PT booking with Fred Hahn (from NY) and did a slow burn workout.  WOW!!! It was so slow and it hurt! A really tough workout.  I worked hard and heavy and I felt it!  This is def. a way of working out that suits me!

Going home and starting to train 'slow burn'! :)

Two of the evenings on board were formal evenings.  Always a bit extra to dress up... The food was great, the wine good and the company excellent! Loved all of it! 

The tall Dr from Sweden had 'different' shoes on anyway - good with people that dare to chance a change! ;)

Gary Taubes book 'Why we get Fat'!

On the cruise they were having lots of lotteries and I won one of them! *Lucky me*! Now I have a good book to read on the flight home tomorrow! Thanx Cruise low Carbers....

And it's signed by Gary Taubes... AND I got two copies, one to give my Dr... ;)

I tried and tried to write som news from the ship, but the internet connection was painfully slow! :((( But here I was sitting doing my best and enjoying the moment at the same time!

Adult's only area on the ship which means pretty quiet and peaceful... :)

Coconuts are available all over.  I love that! They are just so good for you, in all ways... Google coconuts! 

Filling and healthy in one! The way I like it...

Milk at breakfast went from reduced fat skimmed milk, to fat free milk, to strawberry milk and also chocolate milk! *Sigh*! What a nightmare....  I wonder how long it will take till people will learn what is healthy and what is NOT!

Very happy to say that the ship personal did have HEAVY cream for us low carbers! I could have my coffee then and the trip was saved! ;)

And the cereals are horrific! They actually put candy IN them! I say no more!

*Cringe*!!!

A year ago I booked this trip! Now the day has finally arrived, the low carb cruise is about to disembark from Fort Lauderdale harbor!

I am very excited, both about meeting and listening to all the interesting people who will be giving lectures on the cruise and all the interesting low carb food! 

I will be holding 3 morning Zumba classes too, which feels like great fun! :)

So let the adventure begin.... 

*Waving from the ship* Bye so long...

Argentinian steakhouse with a steak and sallad buffet! It was awesome!

And the best of all was that if we wanted chips, potatoes, rice or pasta it would cost extra! Me: just smiles... "No thank you, we don't need any of that, just some extra butter thanks!" ;)

Landed in synny and HOT Miami! Wow, what a place.  Like walking in the movies!

I am going to love this, I got a feeling!

Done the yellow cab ride now! Shopping next!