Wacky Week: Konstantin Monastyrsky Is Fighting the Fiber Menace (Episode 199)
20 11 2008
Hello and welcome back to another installment of “Wacky Week” here at The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore!
In Episode 199, Jimmy shares his conversation with Konstantin Monastyrsky, a trained pharmacist, burglar alarm installer, computer programmer and the self-proclaimed “Russian Atkins.” Ostensibly, Mr. Monastyrsky was asked on the show to discuss his fabulously researched book Fiber Menace. But as you’ll see, that didn’t really happen at all.
Monastyrsky instead chose to spend half the interview giving a tireless account of his personal life and curriculum vitae since the 1970’s. When Jimmy was able to steer the conversation to Fiber Menace, rather than answer the simple questions Jimmy asked about the book, this guy launched into yet another breathless tirade in which he managed to imply that Veronica Atkins is a liar, and part of a conspiracy to cover-up the REAL reason how Dr. Atkins died. Furthermore, he goes after Dr. Mike Eades and other authors as well for failing to live up to his lofty expectations.
The essential gist seems to be that while Konstantin Monastyrsky does endorse a low (actually a zero) carbohydrate diet, he feels that every major book written on the subject by actual doctors has very basic errors that only HE has been able to discern. The source of this wisdom seems to be the 30+ year old Soviet anatomy textbooks which he held onto since studying pharmacology in the 1970’s.
Add to that the notion that he apparently doesn’t think dietary fiber is very good for you either. He felt strongly enough to write an entire book about it but didn’t offer much in the way of support for his theory beyond saying “… I realized…” We are actually inclined to agree that fiber is not a “cure-all” for weight and health and may even be harmful in certain circumstances. But it seems odd to assert that one Indian dinner has enough fiber to cause a man to be hospitalized for bowel obstruction or to take the bombastic attitude to assert, “Give me the name of a disease and I say, well, carbs are somehow implicated.”
Of course you are invited to draw your own conclusions, but this is certainly, undeniably, a memorable (dare we say Wacky) interview we’ll not soon forget!
LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE 199
- Biography of Konstantin Monastyrsky
- Fiber Menace: The Truth About the Leading Role of Fiber in Diet Failure, Constipation, Hemorrhoids, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, and Colon Cancer
- FiberMenace.com
And as always…
Add the show to your iGoogle or Google Reader page
Add the show in iTunes (No ipod required!)
Get the show in your inbox every Monday and Thursday
Popularity: 3% [?]
From over 400 pounds to 230, Jimmy Moore is 
“When a person is an autodidact, they carry the extra burdens of proving legitimacy, accuracy and even sanity. If they fail to shoulder those burdens adequately, they only hurt the cause they are championing.”
I’m not sure who said that, but it has a certain ring of truth about it.
I agree 100% with Konstantin. The less he says during an interview the better.
All kidding aside, kuddos to anyone who can write 600 pages on the topic of constipation.
You’re a patient guy Jimmy – that was absolutely painful to listen to – it must have been ever so more painful trying to conduct the interview.
Yep! Painful is putting it nicely.
Gee, I didn’t think the interview was THAT bad! On the other hand, I do agree that Monastrysky’s review on Amazon of your book seems meanspirited.
He seems to be a stickler for accuracy, and he thinks he found “errors” in other books. Too bad he didn’t tell us what these “errors” were . . . Does he do that in his book?
Just because he besmirched Dr Atkins doesn’t mean that there weren’t “errors” in Atkins’ books and works. We’re learning more every day.
My opinion is that Konstantine Monastrysky could potentially help himself interact better with people if he seriously studied Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and applied it through hind site to his past relationships that he mentioned. This would probably work best if he studied it under a professor and didn’t teach himself though.
Listening to him made me cringe and reminded me of a person I know who actually has NPD.
However, I did enjoy listening to the interview although this will be one of the select few that I only listen to once.
Jimmy, I applaud you for conducting an interview in a proffessional and cordial manner. The interview was indeed a bit too lapsided. Konstantin needed at least an hour just to warm up. Gee, can he ever talk. He sounded at times like he was enjoying himself too much. He was telling stories and lauphing, even though the topic was far off his anecdotal stories. Kudos to you for giving us a chance to see the difference between Dr Eades, who by the way my favorite low carb Doctor and Konstantin!
True, Paula, regarding Dr. Atkins’ work, but someone like Konstantin should not be so dismissive of his work and others. I was trying to give him a chance to say they contributed great things to the learning process, but he never availed himself of that opportunity.
Steve, I agree. When he was laughing uncontrollably about being left out of the loop when a business went under that he was involved with, it makes you wonder if he had something to do with the demise. NPD could explain it.
THANKS Vadim for suggesting him for the interview. I sincerely wanted to interview him about his book FIBER MENACE, but Konstantin was more interested in telling about his career history and how much he loathes the low-carb icons of our generation. It was an interview that showed such great promise…and then disappointed.
Did I just missed it or did he say what exactly in Atkins diet makes you constipate and how to fix this?
I hope you interview him again and this time actually talk about fiber and the evidence against it.
Cheers.
Guillermo, I tried…I REALLY tried to get him to talk about the subject of his book. But he didn’t want any part of it. We will not be interviewing Konstantin Monastyrsky again.
Regarding “constipation” on the Atkins diet, I’ve NEVER had an issue with this because I drink plenty of water to prevent it from happening. LOTS of water does beautiful things for the body.
Unfortunately he talks so fast and his accent is such I just couldn’t decipher what he was saying. He almost sounds manic though.
I think you got your underwear in a bunch over the Atkins comments. Thats why you referred to him as wacky. He was actually spot on IMO.
Here is a link to Konstantin Monastyrsky’s website where he spells out his problems with Atkins:
http://www.fibermenace.com/fibermenace/fm_chapter3.html
Here is a ink to a PDF of a chapter of his unpublished book, _Fixing Up the Atkins Diet_
http://www.fibermenace.com/pdf/Fixing-Up-Atkins-Chapter-3.pdf
Thanks for the links, George,
Here’s a link of him completely failing to explain why he regards Jimmy’s weight loss as “impossible.” (Monastyrsky here and elsewhere furiously attacks Jimmy because Jimmy’s Amazon review of Fiber Menace gave him “only” three out of a possible 5 stars.)
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1G5JG5YYGGVAE/ref=cm_cr_rev_detup_redir?_encoding=UTF8&cdPage=1&cdSort=oldest&newContentID=Mx2JYOVSOEP9ROV#MxFSZCZI8E27R2
In fact, Monastyrsky then turned around and gave Jimmy’s book a 1 star rating in a review where he admitted that he had tried to buy a good review from Jimmy with a free copy of the book. When the inadvisability of admitting this publicly was brought to Monastyrsky’s attention, his negative review of Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb magically dissappeared!
And here’s a link to him humiliating himself (in the comment section) with a very polite and forbearing Dr. Mike Eades (Whom Monastyrsky attacks viciously from the word go, over a perceived slight):
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/lipid-hypothesis/video-of-the-starvation-study/
What was Dr. Eades’ horrible attack on Monastyrsky? He felt that Fiber Menace would have benefitted from better editing!
Monastyrsky himself is no shrinking violet about calling others liars and incompetent. An earlier commenter’s armchair diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder seems completely plausible.
Monastyrsky has a degree in Pharmacy and is only an “armchair proctologist” when he writes on intestinal health matters; he has even less grounding in diet and nutrition. Gary Taubes has no formal degree in health either, but he has the sense not to rant like a sociopath when criticized.
Classic NPD and very painful to listen to. Jimmy, I commend you on your professionalism during the interview. The guy may have some good points and valid information to share but I can’t get past the messenger. If he wants people to respect him, he should treat others with that same respect.