As the season of candy is upon us, followed closely by the seasons of pumpkin pie and cookies, best-selling weight loss author Jimmy Moore will be coming to the Clarion. On Thursday, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m., Moore will share tips for navigating the holiday season without succumbing to sweet temptation, and how to thrive going into the new year.

Moore has written “Keto Clarity,” along with several other internationally best-selling books, is a blogger and has four weekly podcasts on the subject of health and weight loss. He will be joining local health influencer and coach Melanie Miller at one of her popular local low-carb events.

Weighing 410 pounds in 2004, 32-year-old Moore’s health was a ticking time bomb. He knew he needed to make a drastic change. After many failed diets, he tried the Atkins Diet. It took Moore one year to lose 180 pounds, 20 inches from his waist and drop from a five extra-large shirt to extra-large.

With so many people asking him about his weight loss, Moore decided to blog about his experience. His “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” podcast was birthed in 2006, became increasingly popular and continues as the longest running health podcast in the United States.

Poor eating habits as a child, combined with genetic factors and sugar addiction, contributed to continual weight gain throughout Moore’s life. Despite odds being stacked against him, Moore made a decision to lose weight after watching his brother have a heart attack at a young age and then rapidly decline in health.

“I have always loved to write, ever since the fourth grade,” Moore said. “But here’s the thing, I never imagined in a million years that my writing career would be in health. That’s the funniest thing about all of this. I was always ‘the fat kid.’ I was always the kid that got picked on for not being healthy.”

After years of failed attempts with other diet plans and success with the Atkins diet, Moore made the shift to a ketogenic lifestyle. A keto diet differs slightly from strictly low-carb in that only moderate proteins are recommended, as well as a high percentage of “good” fats – like olive and avocado oils, and real butter. A typical nutrient intake would consist of 75 percent fat, 15 percent protein and only 5-10 percent carbohydrates per day.

This diet, although seemingly counterintuitive to what many people have heard for years, improves health by lowering bad cholesterol, blood pressure and putting type 2 diabetes into remission, when done correctly. Weight loss occurs as the body is forced to burn fat stores instead of just sugar for fuel. Moore said he believes that if he had not made this change in lifestyle, he would be dead today.

“Over the years I’ve shifted my attention,” Moore said. “It’s really about your health. If your health is in order and you get everything about your health in line, your weight loss should follow – but not always. It’s an encouragement to look at other (health) markers besides what the scale has to say.”

Moore and Miller, who has also lost 100 pounds due to this way of eating, firmly believe in the power of numbers and that success can be more attainable when people team up with others for support and accountability. As such, they have developed the Keto Clarity Academy, which is a professional keto lifestyle school designed to educate and provide encouragement to help people achieve their health and weight loss goals through implementation of a whole foods, ketogenic approach to health.

“The (Keto Clarity) Academy was born out of the need for more personal attention,” Moore said. “People read the book and they still don’t get it. They might need a little bit of hand-holding, and that’s okay. We are here to provide that. Melanie and her team created a lot of the teaching based on my book. Clients go through a three month course of learning what keto is all about, how to implement it and how to make it work for you. I’m very proud of that.”

Moore is one of several nationally recognized experts in the area of low-carb living to visit the Shepherdstown area, and joins the ranks of Dr. Eric Westman, Dr. Stephen Phinney and Dr. Jeff Stanley, who came to Shepherdstown through the influence of Dr. Mark Cucuzzella.

Miller began this grassroots weight loss movement in October 2015. Since that time, Miller has helped more than 15,000 people begin their own weight loss journeys through her influence at meetings and online.

The event at the Clarion is free, however there is an optional low-carb dinner buffet available for a charge. To register or to find out more information about the Keto Clarity Academy, visit www.ketoclarityacademy.com and click on the events tab.