My pal Jimmy Moore, of Livin' La Vida Low Carb, wrote to me:

I wrote a blog post today about whether a zero-carb diet for a pregnant woman is advisable to instigate a conversation and somehow it turned into a debate about why I suddenly believe in zero-carb instead of Atkins. I'm not sure how people made that leap, but I'm prepared to remedy it by doing a follow-up post asking the question, "Is a zero-carb diet healthy or not?" In it I will express what I believe about a no-carb diet--namely that it is deficient of essential nutrients, variety, and healthy ingredients humans need.

I'd like to get YOUR reaction to that question for inclusion in the blog post. Anything you send to me will be quoted in the column, so please feel free to share your specific answer to the question "Is a zero-carb diet healthy or not?" THANKS!

Is a zero-carb diet healthy?

The Pillsbury Toaster Strudel ad, where they show how their nasty, sugary sugar-and-flour blob comes with icing you squeeze on out of a packet, and therefore is much, much better than Pop Tarts? The tag line is "The one kids want to eat!"

Um... have kids been refusing to eat Pop Tarts? Which kids? Where?

And why, oh, why, does anyone want to make crappy, overpriced, health-destroying junk food more attractive to children? Shouldn't the tag line be "Because you want your children to be even fatter!"?

Ads for diet foods, especially Special K, forward the notion that a good "diet" breakfast should be 250 calories or less. I couldn't disagree more; breakfast is quite genuinely the most important meal of the day. Why shouldn't it supply a third of your daily fuel, or even more?

I have found that a big breakfast, high in protein and, yes, fat, results in my eating far less during the course of the day than a light breakfast would. Accordingly, it's a rare day I have less than three fried eggs or a two-egg omelet with some sort of yummy filling.

What with the economy doing its best impression of the Titanic, the question of the cost of real, nutritious food becomes more pressing every day. So I thought I'd share my latest score with you -- because you might just be able to duplicate it.

It is an inevitable consequence of becoming a big geek about some subject that, when marginally knowledgeable people write/speak about your area of interest, they make errors which have the mental effect of Freddy Kruger's hand running down a blackboard. For me it is the misuse of nutrition terminology.

As I've mentioned, I'm going on Jimmy Moore's Low Carb Cruise in January. I'll be teaching a class in decarbing your recipes and menus. So talk to me! If you were going along on this cruise what would you want to learn? What's your biggest low carb cooking challenge? What are you still confused about? What was the most valuable lesson you learned when you first started low carbing, something you'd pass along to newbies? Talk to me!

Hey, Gang --

Thank you all for the good thoughts, wishes, and prayers. I've been home for just over a week now, and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm moving slowly, can't drive, and am strictly limited in what I can lift, but I can get up and down without help, fix a meal, load and unload the dishwasher, that sort of thing.

Just a quick note to let you all know that Dana came through the surgery with no troubles, and is here in her hospital room watching What Not To Wear. I'd say we're well on our way back to normal! ;-) The doctor and nurses are agreed that she is doing remarkably well already. But damn, was this thing big! Makes it all the better to have it gone!

Anyway, she sends her greetings to all, and should be back online in a couple days.

--Good Old Whats-His-Face (that Nice Boy she Married)

Pasta and I parted ways a long time ago. The traditional white flour pasta is nearly devoid of vitamins and minerals, low in protein, and way too carb-heavy for me. Whole wheat pasta is modestly better, with a little more fiber and a few more nutrients, but it’s still awfully rough on my blood sugar. The low carb soy “pastas” that showed up a few years back were expensive and nasty.

As you may have gathered, I do my best to be a bargain shopper. Part of that is buying what I can at Save-A-Lot, one of those limited selection grocery stores where most stuff is the house brand, and everything is pretty cheap.

Well, I was at my local Save-A-Lot yesterday, stocking up before I go to the hospital on Wednesday, and made a happy discovery: My Save-A-Lot has started stocking Hunt's Traditional Spaghetti Sauce with No Sugar Added. Previously they only stocked the kind with sugar.

Okay, I've tried the Lakanto in a few recipes. So far I've made:

* Flax Granola. Came out great. Really wonderful. I'm going to make more over the weekend, so I'll have it on hand when I get home from surgery on Friday.

* Ice Cream. MAGNIFICENT. Just really fantastic in every way. Here's how I did it:

In a saucepan I whisked together:

3 cups heavy cream
2 eggs
1/2 cup Lakanto
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon butter flavoring
1/4 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
1 small pinch salt

Thank you for all your support and good wishes. Nick came home last night, and I am happy to report that he's the same happy little dog as always. Indeed, he's just a tad too energetic for a dog who will need to be crated for the next couple of weeks.

He's got tons of stitches, 'cause the vet had to do a chin tuck to keep rolls of flesh from occluding the tracheostomy. And he's still on lots of medication, and has to be nebulized three times a day. But cheerful? Excited to be home? As hungry as ever? Oh, you bet.

I've written about Dreamfield's pasta before, but new folks come by all the time, and I recently had an inquiry. So here's the lowdown:

Hi,

I bought one of your cookbooks and I just love it. New hope for a life of low carb.

My question is about the Dreamfield pasta. Is it really only 5 carbs per serving, or would I be better off not eating it. I am still in the losing stage and dont want to ruin my weight loss. Hope you have time to answer. Thanks so much.

Patricia Huhs

Dear Patricia:

Nick's still desperately ill; he's having his third surgery today. We're heartsick -- we're never going to hear his silly little bark again, since, if he makes it, he'll breathe through a hole in his neck the rest of his life.

As you can imagine, I'm not up to a lot of hard thinking or creative endeavor.

I did manage to put together a supper last night from stuff we had on hand that was good enough to tell you about it. Here's what I did:

Nick the Pug is still in the emergency vet hospital. He's already had two surgeries, one to resect his soft palate and widen his nostrils, and the second to try to fix collapsing tracheal and laryngeal cartilage. As of this morning he was "doing great." This evening I heard that he's in trouble again, and if he doesn't improve by tomorrow he'll need a permanent tracheostomy. He'll be at increased risk for lung infection, and never bark again.