The Livin La Vida Low-Carb Show

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Could this be the English teacher who dissed Jimmy in the 8th Grade?

Hello and welcome to the Internet’s longest-running and best-loved low-carb podcast, “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show With Jimmy Moore!”

When taking a journey to lose weight and get healthy, it is sadly common to run into negative people with their “stinkin’ thinkin’” who think they know what YOU need and don’t need to do it. You know the ones–those people who undermine your self-confidence by insinuating or even saying straight out that you will NOT succeed, or worse yet, that you CANNOT succeed. How many would-be weight loss success stories have been discouraged from even trying before they even start.

Well, our host Jimmy had a personal life experience very much like that when he was in the 8th grade and he’d like to share an awesome story of how rebelling against that bad advice has lead to the rewarding career he enjoys today! It’s an inspiring behind-the-scenes story of that beloved man who lost 180 pounds in 2004 who was likely prepared for anything that came his way by this event that happened over two decades ago.

PLUS–Please join us in supporting Dr. Mary C. Vernon as she competes for the prestigious “Diabetes Educator of the Year” award! Please vote for her today!

LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE 109
- Dr. Mary C. Vernon a finalist for “Diabetes Educator of the Year”
- Jimmy Moore’s interview with Dr. Mary C. Vernon in Episode 50
- VOTE NOW for Dr. Vernon
- Mr. Terrible-In-English wrote a book
- Mr. Not-Good-Enough-Writer has a popular blog

Did you miss anything Jimmy said? Don’t worry, there’s a full transcript waiting for you — just click the following link!

Transcript Of Episode 109:

Coming up…never let anyone tell you what you can’t do.

It’s time again for another exciting edition of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore.” We’re up to Episode 109 now and cruisin’ along here bringing education, encouragement and inspiration in your own journey to better health and weight loss. THANK YOU for being so faithful to me and the work I am doing because the best truly is yet to come. And this message I have for you in today’s show is aimed at anyone who feels like they aren’t good enough to accomplish something amazing like weight loss because that’s what you’ve always been told. Stay tuned as I share a personal story with you about how I took a negative event in my life to totally transform my way of thinking forever.

First, I wanted to tell you about an opportunity to do something that will make a direct impact on our culture for the cause of low-carb living. Last Fall, nominations were held by a group called American Diabetes Wholesale for the “Diabetes Educator Of The Year” award. They wanted to identify those diabetes practitioners who are making a difference in the health of patients suffering from this disease and honor them for their service. At the time, I suggested at my LivinLaVidaLowCarb.com blog that we all rally behind one such low-carb diabetes doctor from Lawrence, Kansas named Mary C. Vernon and guess what–she was one of the five finalists for the award! In fact, there were TWO low-carbers in the final five because the legendary Dr. Richard Bernstein was also nominated. This is great news for low-carb in the world of diabetes care. As much as I love Dr. Bernstein and the work he is doing, I believe we low-carbers need to rally around Dr. Vernon for this award. She has established herself among the medical mainstream while still holding true to the low-carb philosophy when she was named the President of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians (ASBP) in 2007 following her win as Bariatric Physician of the Year in 2005. She co-wrote a fantastic book with Jackie Eberstein explaining how the Atkins diet can help control Type 2 diabetes in “Atkins Diabetes Revolution” and her continued published research into this subject area reveals her genuineness about presenting factual data for informing her patients. You may recall my podcast interview with Dr. Vernon in Episode 50 last year where she talked about the work she is doing. I’ll provide a link to that podcast in the show notes section at TheLivinLowCarbShow.com. Let’s not forget that Dr. Vernon was featured in Men’s Health magazine in November 2006 for the work she is doing on behalf of thousands of diabetic patients. That media attention gave Dr. Vernon quite a platform for speaking out on television and in various other news mediums talking about livin’ la vida low-carb all year long. She is certainly a worthy recipient of the title “Diabetes Educator of the Year” for 2007. To vote for Dr. Vernon for this award, go to AmericanDiabetesWholesale.com/Contest and click on the “Cast Your Vote Here” button at the bottom of the page. Then mark “Dr. Mary C. Vernon” and vote. You only have until next Friday, February 15, 2008 to cast your ballot, so DON’T DELAY and do this TODAY! The winner will be announced on March 1st and then recognized in a special ceremony in Boca Raton, Florida. Let’s make sure that’s Dr. Vernon they’re applauding for her fabulous work with diabetes patients. THANK YOU for rallying behind her nomination and putting her over the top for “Diabetes Educator of the Year.”

Today I wanted to share a personal story with you in Episode 109 from my life to illustrate an important point as it relates to your quest to lose weight and keep it off forever. I’ve never shared this in any previous podcast before because it is incredibly personal, but I think doing so today will encourage those of you who have been told you can’t do something.

Here’s the story:

When I was in the 8th grade, I was finally getting serious about my studies. My 7th grade year was absolutely fabulous–I excelled academically like I had never done before scoring all A’s and B’s and getting on the honor roll for the entire year. Yes, I was a nerd and proud of it, too. I realized my tremendous potential at the time and the seeds were planted within me that I was good enough to go to college someday. So I applied myself to every single subject I could to excel and become the person I was meant to be. One of my favorite subjects at the time and even still today is English. Because of my accomplishments in the 7th grade, I was placed in an advanced English class in the 8th grade. It was further affirmation that I was on the right track in school and I excitedly embraced the challenge of the more difficult assignments. Bring it on, baby! I remember the day my 8th grade English teacher, an elderly lady who looked liked she could keel over at any moment and whose name totally escapes me now, announced the school-wide poetry contest on a Monday. She encouraged anyone who enjoys writing poetry to submit their entry by the end of the week. So, instead of listening to yet another boring lecture from her that day, I decided to write a poem right then and there in class. Letting my imagination go wild in the unpredictable mind of a coming-of-age 13-year old kid, I wrote the following poem in about a half-hour:

Nature is a special thing

that sometimes makes you want to sing.

The birds flying across the sky

to make you even want to sigh.

How beautiful nature can be

the sights and sounds you can hear and see.

The birds, the trees, the squirrels around

every move makes a sound.

Nature is hard to say “goodbye”

and even makes you want to cry.

But don’t let tears come out your eyes

cause nature is never going to die.

I called the poem “Nature” and submitted it to my English teacher after class. She raised her eyebrows as if to say, “You can’t possibly expect to have a poem for me already!” But I did and I felt good about it, too. Thinking nothing more of my little poem, I went on about life until one day an announcement came on over the P.A. with the winners of the poetry contest. “And in third place…” they started and it wasn’t my name. “And our runner-up winner…” the announcement continued–again it was not me. I wasn’t really listening anyway. The next thing I know, they played a drum roll and with an enthusiastic voice exclaimed, “And our first place winner for the best poem in the entire school is Jimmy Moore.” What?! Me? REALLY?! Cool! I remember sitting in my 8th grade advanced English class with all my classmates looking at me like I was some superhero or something. It was thrilling, a bit embarrassing since I was a LOT more shy then than I am now, but I’ll always remember how incredibly magical that day was for me. I was the top poetry writer in my school and nobody could ever take that title away from me! Or, at least I thought.

While the accolades for having the best poem in the school entitled me to a complimentary dinner for two at the district contest (I didn’t win there, but I got to take my mom out for filet mignon for the first time–I’d never seen bacon wrapped around a steak before!), little did I know my 8th grade English teacher wasn’t very impressed by me. At the end of the year, the teachers were required to make recommendations about which high school classes the students should be placed in. So imagine my horror when I saw Ms. What’s Her Face put me in a regular English class–NOT in advanced English–for my freshman year in high school. I was totally devastated and steaming mad about it, too! I confronted her about it and she said, “Jimmy, I just don’t think you are gifted enough to be in an advanced English class in high school. You’ll never be that good at English.” I pleaded and begged with her, but she wouldn’t budge from her opinion. The questions started flooding my mind–WHY? Who is this decrepit old lady telling me I don’t belong in advanced English in high school? How dare she judge me and put me in a box like that. Did she conveniently forget I won the poetry contest in the whole school and performed well in her class? ARGH! But you know what? This experience served as a motivational moment in my life that I needed to prove to her just how wrong she was if it was the last thing I do.

When I got to high school, I sat in Mrs. Huhn’s (yes, I remember her name VERY well!) regular English class for a couple of weeks with classmates who obviously did not want to be there. That’s one good thing about the advanced classes–most are college-bound and the behavior problems that run rampant in regular classes were virtually nonexistent. My teacher almost IMMEDIATELY noticed how well I excelled in her class in the first couple of weeks and asked if I was placed in the wrong class. You can say that again! She came up to me one day after class early on in the school year and inquired, “Why aren’t you in my advanced English class?” When she said that, I bet your bottom dollar I probably had the world’s biggest grin on my face! Mrs. Huhn asked if I’d like to transfer to her advanced English class and I said I’d have to think about it…NOT! Of course, I jubilantly accepted. All of my friends from the 8th grade English class were there and I finally knew I was where I belonged all along. I remained in advanced English classes every single year until I graduated from high school. But I still wasn’t satisfied with that. Probably because of that 8th grade English teacher telling me I wasn’t good enough in English, I decided to do something incredibly challenging academically–not only would I pursue a Bachelor’s degree, but I would pull a double major when I got to college. Can you guess what one of the subjects I chose was? Yep, it was English! And not only did I do that, but I finished my degree work in just three years at the age of 20 since I took a full course load, including summers, and worked full-time jobs to pay for my education in full by the time I graduated. When I walked that platform to receive my Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and ENGLISH, I imagined the look on the face of that 8th grade teacher who told me I wasn’t good enough. So how ya like them apples, Ms. 8th Grade Teacher?! Not only that, my GPA in English was 3.9. It would have been a perfect 4.0 had it not been for my only B happening in the last English class I took in my senior year because I made a D on the final exam. I woke up with the stomach flu that day and the teacher would not let me reschedule the test despite the fact I was running out of the classroom every 10 minutes to the bathroom. I’m surprised I even got a D on the all-essay test, but I think my teacher felt sorry for me.

Anyways, after college, I took a year off and then went to graduate school to get a Master’s degree–something that required a culminating thesis to get your degree. Yes, it required quite a bit of English skills to accomplish, but I did that, too! Then, after my 180-pound weight loss in 2004, I embarked on a journey to write a book about my lifechanging experience which culminated with the release of “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb: My Journey From Flabby Fat To Sensationally Skinny In One Year.” Add to that my highly-successful “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” blog along with all the other sites I write for and I’d say my writing skills and talents have been fully validated some 20 or so years after that teacher in the 8th grade told me I would “never be that good at English.” OH REALLY?! It’s 2008 now and I am working on a second book, my blog is still breaking all kinds of traffic records, and the opportunities in my life have never been better. Writing has now become my full-time career–a dream of mine since high school–and the best days for me are still ahead. I’m anxious to see what will happen next in this rollercoaster ride I’ve been on and I’m sure it will include a whole lot more writing for many years to come. I know she’s long gone by now because she was about ten years older than God when I knew her, but I’d love to look at that 8th grade teacher in the eyes just one more time and say, “Na na na na na na!” I don’t like anyone telling me I can’t do something when very clearly I can.

You might be wondering, why did I share this story with you today? Well, it’s simple. There will always be those people who will readily tell you what you CAN’T do in ever aspect of your life. I don’t know if they are just natural pessimists and don’t even realize they’re dragging you down with them. But they can and unfortunately do have a devastating impact on the lives of so many people. Or, as my story shows, they can motivate you to be that much more determined to do what you’ve been told you can’t do. Applying this to your low-carb weight loss efforts, the moral of the story is to NEVER let ANYONE tell you what you CAN’T do! People will always have their opinions like that 8th grade teacher of mine (God rest her ignorant soul!), but that doesn’t mean they are right. Respond the way I did and you can’t help but be successful at weight loss and in life. It’s a lesson in life that I’ll never forget!

That’s all the time we have now for Episode 109 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore.” So how do you handle negative comments about your diet from people who say it just can’t be done? Do you let them get under your skin and eventually agree with them or do you suck it up and move forward with what you know is right for you anyway? Share your comments in the show notes section at TheLivinLowCarbShow.com. Don’t forget to go vote for Dr. Mary C. Vernon for “Diabetes Educator of the Year” and I’ll have a link to it at the web site as well. Come back again on Thursday as we once again share with you another topic about the amazingly healthy low-carb lifestyle. So, until next time, keep on livin’ la vida low-carb!

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