Breadmakers feel pain from Atkins diet

Pennlive.com ^ | Nov 8 2003 | DAVID SHARP, AP

[Graybeard58]

I haven't read all the posts, please forgive me if this has been covered.

I heard a nutrionist on the tube say that the number of carbs neccessary for a healthy diet is exactly zero and that the nutrients you get that come with carb laden foods are easily obtained from other foods.

Don't know if it's true or not, I am not a nutrionist.

[.38sw]

Has anyone told you yet where to get the book? I didn't read all hte posts, so I don't know. No, the Atkins diet isn't an urban legend. Atkins has a website where you can get information, and the books are available at any bookstore. I got mine from amazon.com. I think I even saw "The New Diet Revolution" by Dr. Atkins at Costco. HERE is a page from the Atkins Center website where you can buy a paperback version of The New Diet Revolution. Shipping is pretty pricey, though. You may just want find a copy when you're out and about.

[waverna]

Its true, your body will make carbos from protein but not the other way around.

[Mamzelle]

Atkins has worked wonderfully for me--but I still have kids I can bake for!

There is also an opportunity out there for boutique-style artisan bakers to confront the challenge of reduced-carb bakery.

Sugar does such wonderful things chemically and physically--carmelizng and adding texture to baked goods. It's just plain hard to bake without it, though the substitutes are better than they have ever been.

Making fluffy biscuits and scones is hard with the high-protein flours that locarb baking requires.

But with the increased interest in cookery, evinced by the Food and HGTV stations--surely there's an innovator out there!

[Mamzelle]

re: One thing I notice among fellow normal-carbers such as myself on these threads. Many of them are looking for "low-carb" substitutes of foods they just shouldn't be eating in the first place. Ice cream, pies, cakes, cookies, candies, etc. I find it easier just to give that stuff up once and for all. )))

You have a good poing. I did do without these things for almost a year with little problem--and no one loved taters and bread more than I. But having a sandwich (Nature's Own, 5 impacting g's of carbs) does add to a sense of "normalcy." Something to hold your devilled ham...

Nabisco's Snackwell's Sugar Free Shortbread is mighty nice to have with some hot tea.

Variety keeps me on track--and I'm happy to find a few treats now at the grocery store.

Breyer's sugar-free, but blessedly high-fat, ice cream...chocolate...

[Mamzelle]

And you have a good point, too...(g)

[.38sw]

Thanks for the ping, Carlo. I'm gonna get on a short rant here, regarding the naysayers about Atkins, and how Atkins is dangerous. Some people say that Atkins can cause kidney disease. Nope. The problem comes in when a person who HAS kidney disease due to health problems like high blood pressue and diabetes eat a high protein diet. Damaged kidneys can't handle the nitrogen load produced by a high protein diet. But the high protein diet doesn't CAUSE kidney disease. Healthy kidneys can handle it. The experience of people on the Atkins diet is that their blood pressure goes down with the weight loss, as does the liklihood of developing diabetes. Obesity and lack of exercise is a huge cause of adult-onset diabetes. Control your weight and get some exercise, and your liklihood of developing Type II diabetes is greatly reduced, therebly reducing the liklihood of developing kidney disease due to diabetes or high blood pressure. Seems like a simple concept to me.

[carlo3b]

I do not believe that it is ever healthy to remove entire food groups from your diet for any prolonged period of time. A healthy diet is one that has balance between protein, carbs and fats and includes a wide variety of foods, PLUS EXERCISE.

Atkins, and modifications of that method do not shut down Carbs completely, they say, and quite correctly IMO, that too many Carbs will cause too many problems. The same could be said for fats! It's the balance that Atkins discovered was the problems..

That appears to be the struggle that he had with the medical commute, it turns their pyramid on it's head.. They have for years had Carbs a the base of the foundation of a healthy diet, well that became the problem.. They also condemned meat consumption.. I now believe that they were corrupted by the "save the animal, at the experience of whatever else". That corruption caused millions of people their lives, and would continue if it wasn't for doctors and people of courage that forced the issue, and changed the direction.
 
 

[Hank Rearden]

"This one person asked me, 'Can you make a low-carbohydrate bread?' I said, 'I wouldn't know how to do it,'" she said.

Learn or die, lady. High-tech companies face this every day.

Often overlooked is the fact that bread and grains remain an important part of the federal government's diet guidelines.

The Federal Government is heartily encouraged to blow this, along with everything else it meddles in, right out its a$$.

[carlo3b]

Just you watch, there will be many good cooks, and Chefs that will develop great replacements for the familiar carb flavors.. Next, major corporations will put their vast resources to create fabulous low cost, low carb foods.

Until that happens, within 5 years, there exists is vacuum that will be filled by enterprising entrepreneur, and we will all make them wealthy.. Been there, and done that..  :)

[Mamzelle]

There is also a potential to reduce sugar greatly, but still take advantage of a small amount. For instance, when I locarb bake cookies(and I hardly ever)--I cream the butter with about a teaspoon of sugar to break down the butter and add air--also put in the salt at this point. Then use faux sugar, but sprinkle some sanding sugar on the finished cookie. Next time I make my sugar-free brulee, I'm going to add a bit of sugar to the top and try broiling it.

People on maintenance can have more carbs than when in the weight-losing stage--

[Library Lady]

Do you have a recipe for low carb homemake vanilla ice cream? Please share if you do.

[carlo3b]

Everything in your rant is true, and I hope everyone that needs to, reads it.. Thank you..

[Library Lady]

Please include me on you ping list. Many thanks.

[SamAdams76]

Bumping your rant as I also think many need to read it. I dodged a Type II bullet by going on a normal-carb diet. At my last pre-diet physical, I was told by my doctor that I was "borderline" Type II diabetic. I was over 100 pounds overweight, had high pressure and was tired all the time (physically).

Do you think the doctor asked me what my diet was like? Hell no. All he did was tell me in a jocular manner that I should "take a little weight off" (like I didn't know that) and that I should "hit the salad bar more often." In other words, I should go on the traditional low-fat diet.

That was about two years ago. I went another year of avoiding stuff like bacon and eggs in favor of pancakes without the butter and syrup and dry toast. Instead of ordering steak in a restaurant (what I really wanted), I'd get a pasta dish or fish with rice. I thought I was making the right choices because everybody was preaching on how bad fats were.

Fortunately I discovered the low-carb threads on Free Republic and started participating. At first, I was a skeptic. It didn't make sense to me. But finally around the end of March, when I returned from a business trip having gained over five pounds, I was at my wits end. I now weighed in at around 300 pounds. Which was 115 pounds over what a man of my height (6'3") should weight. My waist size was now 48 and I started buying size 50 pants because loose pants made me feel better - they allowed me to fool myself into thinking I wasn't so fat after all.

So in spite of my skepticism of the normal-carb way of eating, I decided to give it a try. After all, every other diet I tried failed miserably (even when combined with exercise).

BTW, you might be confused with me calling this a "normal-carb" way of eating. This is because I think "low-carb" is the wrong way to describe it. I eat carbs. I just don't eat the ridiculous amount that the government says you should eat under that food pyramid. I think the problem is that we have set the threshold too high for carbs. The average American eats 425g of carb a day. I was eating over 600g of carb a day easy during my fat days.

Well since April, I have reduced my carb intake to 100g or less. I didn't do this consciously. That is, I didn't walk around all day with a notepad counting carbs like some folks do with fat or calories. I simply cut all the junk out of my diet. All the sugary junk. Fast food. Processed food. By sticking to natural foods like meat, fish, vegetables, eggs, berries, nuts, yogurt, etc., I automatically limit my carbs to a tolerable level.

This isn't Atkins officially. I don't think I ever went into ketosis. But it's the same basic idea: By reducing my carb intake, I have forced my body to burn fat instead. I have accelerated the fat burning by incorporating two workouts a day into my schedule. I get up at 5AM and walk for an hour. I then walk another hour either at lunch or right after work. So I walk (briskly) for two hours a day at a 4mph pace. That's at least 8 miles a day right there. And on weekend, I usually do more than that.

So you don't have to be a gym rat or an athlete to boost your metabolism. Just walking two hours a day will do it. This exercise, combined with the normal carb diet, allowed me to lose over 100 pounds in just over 7 months. It works.

And if I hear any skeptic prattle on about how eliminating food groups are bad for you, I ask "what food groups"? I eat more vegetables than I ever did before. I eat berries every day. So what food groups are you talking about? Domino's Pizza? Reese's Peanut Butter Cups? Lay's Potato Chips? Donuts? Cakes? Candy? Those are the only kind of food groups that I cut out.

[CajunConservative]

You know, I think part of the problem is everyone's trying to reach the lowest net carbs per slice possible. But since most standard breads come in at 14-18 grams per slice, if they only brought it down to 8 grams net that would still be a big improvement.

There is a good 100% whole wheat bread by Nature's Own that is 10g Carb, 3g fiber, net carb 7g per slice that is very good. They make several lower carb choices but the loaves are smaller and more expensive and none lower in net carbs except their Low Carb bread, only by 2g carb though. That low carb bread contains soy flour and I can't stand it so I settle for the 2 extra carbs.

Nature's Own

[CajunConservative]

Nabisco's Snackwell's Sugar Free Shortbread is mighty nice to have with some hot tea. Variety keeps me on track--and I'm happy to find a few treats now at the grocery store. Breyer's sugar-free, but blessedly high-fat, ice cream...chocolate...

Russell Stover's sugar free chocolates are pretty good too. My favorites are the Pecan Delight and the toffee squares.

Sugar Free Chocolates

[carlo3b]

Steamed Clams

• 6 dozen clams (if open, tap on shell. if it does not close, toss it)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup melted butter
• chopped parsley

With metal brush, under running cold water, scrubs clams free of
sand.  In steamer over high heat, heat enough water to cover bottom
to boiling. On rack in steamer, place clams. Cover steamer with
tight fitting lid. reduce heat to low and steam clams just until
they open. approximately 5-10 minutes. Serve clams in soup bowls
with melted butter on the side.. Pour broth from clams into mugs
or large bowl.  Sprinkle with parsley.

To eat: with fingers pull clams from shells by neck. dip first in
broth to remove any sand, then into butter (all except the tough
skin of the neck may be eaten. when sand settles to bottom, the
broth may be drunk, if desired.

[RJayneJ]

The obvious answer is to make more bread with lower carbs. I found some that is outrageously expensive at 3 grams a slice and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I also found some with 6 grams a slice that has less fiber and it is good too. I've had a good time making grilled cheese sandwiches and French freedom toast for the last week or so.

[TEXOKIE]

"Ezekiel Bread is wonderfully healthy. I try to get hubby to buy it when he goes to Wegman's in Syracuse. I'm salivating at the thought. I hope he goes in soon! M "

:-) My husband's favorite brown bag to take to work is two peanut butter sandwiches made with the raisin cinnamon. Neither of us can stand the bakery bread anymore. There's just nothing to it! While there are more carbs listed on the label of the Ezekiel bread than are allowed on the induction phases of ATkins, my guess is that for maintenance, they are good. I lost 30 pounds a few years ago with basically a low carb approach, and have kept it off. I've been using the Ezekial bread during my maintenance time.