Today is Friday the 13th, but this current stressor started last Monday, the first day after my 7-day Keto Challenge with Dr. Eric Westman that I did on January 2-8. I lost 6 lbs and lowered my fasting blood sugar from 202 to 114. It actually kept going down to 94, which it was yesterday. Then this morning it was 141 and went up to 172 after breakfast.
It was last Monday when I was randomly searching on Facebook and YouTube, trying to find any of Jimmy Moore’s podcasts that might still be available. The only one I found was an audio podcast (from either 2013 or 2017) of Jimmy Moore interviewing John McDougall, who I knew to be a high-carb vegan. But, oh, he was so much worse than that!
I’ve seen interviews before with high-carb proponents versus low-carb proponents, so I just thought I should listen to the “other side” just to know the kinds of things they are typically promoting so I know what to provide rebuttals for.
John McDougall is the author of a book titled The Starch Solution. So he’s not only high-carb but promotes specifically high-carb vegetables and legumes. The issue was not so much about his viewpoint but about his behavior. He would ask a question and whenever Jimmy would attempt to answer, McDougall would cut him off abruptly, would tell him he was wrong. But the worst thing was how he attacked Jimmy personally, repeatedly, asking him why he’s so fat. McDougall talked in very derogatory language about Dr. Robert Atkins and Dr. Eric Westman, who he incorrectly called “Weston.” When Jimmy politely corrected him, his response was just, “Whatever.”
McDougall would use the same phrases over and over, constantly state that he was a medical doctor, and he would refer to alleged “studies” to prove his point and would dismiss other studies (on low-carb diets) as invalid.
Overall, McDougall was rude, arrogant, pedantic (a word that I just learned from Naomi), and disgusting. Jimmy, on the other hand, was totally polite and professional.
The length of the audio podcast was about 45 minutes, but I stewed about it for an entire day. I tried to share it with my other Adventist Vegetarian Diabetics admins. One was sympathetic but otherwise didn’t comment, and the other one said to me, “I choose not to listen to things that will upset me. I know low carb works, so I don’t need to listen to anyone spout off about high carb.”
My immediate response was, “Normally, I don’t choose to listen to things that upset me. On the other hand, I sometimes feel like I should at least ‘hear out’ an opposing viewpoint. It wasn’t McDougall’s viewpoint that upset me (I’ve listened to a lot of vegan proponents before), but it was his asshole behavior, and the way he was attacking and insulting Jimmy Moore, who was the epitome of courtesy and professionalism.”
After a day of unexplained high stress about this incident, I wrote again to my other admins and said, “I feel much better today. I realize now the underlying reason that disgusting podcast made me feel so upset. I’ve gotten to know Jimmy Moore so very well over the past 8 years, and he has been one of the major influencers in my low-carb diabetes journey. He’s 6 months younger than my older stepson (Steve), and I’ve come to think of him as another “son.” So it upset me much like anytime someone would be rude to one of my bio children. That is all.”
Well, my body typically takes a day to “catch up” to my mind/emotions. So, after having a fasting blood glucose of 94 on Thursday, it was 141 on Friday (this morning). It had been 118 at bedtime on Thursday (last night).
Then today I found out that a friend of mine was suffering from something “that has broken my heart.” I sensed intuitively what it was; and after some searching and digging, I found out that my suspicions were confirmed.
What a terrible way to end this Friday the 13th. I made a batch of diabetic-friendly strawberry mousse and watched General Hospital. I needed to do that to distract myself from my real-life soap operas going on.
Now I’m going to take a hot shower and then check my blood sugar again….
