Hello all, thought I would introduce myself.

I am a farm boy from rural Illinois, now 40.
I went to college at ISU and studied Animal Science (agriculture) and
Biology. I also did a year at the U of Florida in Tropical Agriculture.
After college the travel bug bit, I went to Europe for the summer,
then joined the Peace Corps and did 2 years in Guatemala, as a
livestock health promoter.
For the last 12 years I have lived in Japan, teaching English.
I am married and have 2 young kids.

I bought Ray Audette's book last July on a whim, after a sudden weight
gain during a three-month stint of office work. I tried it, and also
bought and gave the Atkins book a try (got tired of the pill popping).
I lost the typical water weight from ketosis but not much more. I am
sticking with it because of the other immediate positive effects I
felt. My migraines went from several a week to one a month. That alone
is worth it, but a lot of other things seemed to be working better as
well. I can now jog an hour without pain or feeling tired or hungry,
my body seems to be "well oiled" (sorry, that's my sense of humor)
when I run. My aches and pains mainly disappeared and I even began
running races after 20 years. ETC.

I am sure you have heard these kind of stories before.

You have probably heard a million times that the Japanese live the
longest of any nations people. Okinawans live the longest among
Japanese, even though Okinawa is quite poor comparatively. A
university doctor who was doing research on kidney disease told me
this: Okinawans live longest because they eat lots of pork, which is
good for the kidneys.

I don't know. Just one more factoid.

Tom