Low-Carb Could Spell Next Fast-Food Fight

Jeff Endervelt's interest in low-carbohydrate foods began as a personal quest when he experimented with the Atkins diet and spin-offs that helped him shed 20 pounds.

As chief executive of Atlanta-based Blimpie International Inc., Endervelt saw a market worth pursuing when his customers started asking for submarine sandwiches on something other than white bread.

A sandwich shop called Blimpie's might seem an unlikely destination for dieters. It is now also the only national restaurant operator testing a separate menu targeted at the low-carb, high-protein eating craze.

The Blimpie Carb Counter Menu, launched this month in parts of New York's Long Island, offers 6-inch subs with fillings like roast beef and cheddar with wasabi dressing on seven-grain bread. The sandwiches, each with only 7 to 8.5 net carb grams and lacking the white flour eschewed by low-carb adherents, can be paired with a SoBe drink and Crunchers chips from Atkins Nutritionals Inc.

While only a small minority of Americans are following low-carb, high-protein style diets, experts say interest is growing exponentially. Dedicated fare is cropping up in corner delis and unlikely spots like mass retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. . Last week H.J. Heinz Co. even introduced a low-carb ketchup made with less sugar.

"I didn't do a formal study, but I think I've known enough about the Atkins diet and the South Beach diet to know this is a wave that's coming," Endervelt told Reuters. "This is a diet that's been around for a long time. But it has caught on."

Endervelt expects to take his low-carb menu items into some 1,650 Blimpie stores nationally.

Similar experiments are turning up in California, a leader in eating trends. The private Irvine-based In-N-Out Burger caters to low-carb dieters with a bunless burger wrapped in lettuce.

Italian eatery Pasta Pomodoro Inc., another closely held West Coast chain, is selling a variety of dishes made with whole wheat or low-gluten, high-protein pastas. Wendy's International Inc., the No. 3 U.S. hamburger chain, owns 25 percent of the company.

"Every significant restaurant chain is deeply aware of the low-carb demand of its customers," said Dean Rotbart, executive editor of LowCarbiz, an Internet newsletter. But the trend is still in its infancy, he said, and bigger chains have been reluctant to join in.

Instead, in the face of rising U.S. obesity rates and threats of litigation blaming the food industry, big restaurant companies have focused on returning to more traditional health-oriented offerings such as the meal-size salads that have helped reverse McDonald's Corp.'s sagging U.S. sales in recent months.

And Blimpie's larger privately held rival Subway Restaurants has seen great success with the ad campaign featuring Jared Fogle, who said he lost 225 pounds on a steady diet of low-fat sandwiches.

McDonald's, the largest restaurant company, this week tested the low-carb waters. It said it will help customers customize burgers and other foods on its fast-food menu within three dieting styles -- low fat, low calorie, and yes, low carb. The plan, dubbed "Real Life Choices," is being introduced in parts of the greater New York area in January.

The hesitation to roll out dedicated low-carb menu offerings may stem from concern about the safety of those diets. Many nutritionists still conform to the standard dietary guidelines outlined in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (news - web sites)'s food pyramid, whose base is carbohydrates. They question the stricter phases of diets like Atkins, which recommend ample quantities of protein in the form of red meat, butter and other fatty foods, in lieu of breads and starches.

"There are bits and pieces of truth in these high-protein, low-carb diets," said Samantha Heller, a nutritionist with New York University Medical Center. "It's very difficult for people to distill the difference between the truth and twist."

To date, only about 1 percent of the total U.S. population is following a low-carb diet, according to The NPD Group, a market research firm that tracks food trends.

Little research exists on the size of the market for low-carb foods. Matthew Wiant, chief marketing officer of Atkins Nutritionals Inc., estimates the amount of such products sold at retail, excluding restaurants, is roughly $2 billion, a tiny slice of America's food budget.

Wendy's, while a stakeholder in Pasta Pomodoro, said it has no immediate plans to introduce low-carb items into the menu at its mainstay stores.

"It's certainly a trend that we're well aware of," said company spokesman Bob Bertini.

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I lowered both weight and cholesteral by eliminating sugar, white flour and nearly all "processed" foods from my diet

That's exactly what I did and I've lost 92 pounds as of this morning, giving that Jared at Subway a run for his money. Call it Atkins, call it South Beach, call it SugarBusters, it doesn't matter. Cutting out sugar, white flour and nearly all processed foods was the best thing I ever did healthwise in my 41-year-old life. Check out a recent picture of me on my profile page. I'm now six pounds lighter than even that and still going. Did a 12-mile walk this morning in the woods, walking up and down hills, and feel like doing somersaults in my living room - I have so much energy. This on top of walking 17 miles yesterday and spending the entire afternoon doing yard work. I sleep like a baby and get up at 5AM every morning without an alarm clock.

All the naysayers who say the diet is too limited have no idea what they're talking about. I eat more vegetables than I ever did in my life. Instead of rice, pasta, and potatoes, I'm eating broccoli, asparagus, squash and carrots. Instead of pastries, donuts, breads and pies, I'm eating yogurt, eggs, nuts and berries. The diet is vast in choices - a sample meal would be cajun catfish, sauteed mushrooms, jalapenos, and onions, salad w/olive oil sprinkled with some cashews and bits of smoked gouda cheese. Usually skip the dessert because I'm always so full and satisfied, but when I'm inclined, I'll have some plain yogurt with blueberries swirled in - tastes just like ice cream and blueberry pie (without the crust) when that is the only sweet you have.

Whenever somebody tries to tell me that I'm endangering my health with this "restrictive" diet, I come right back with the foods I no longer eat like cookies, cakes, pies, chips, pastries, donuts and candy. I then ask them which of those foods, of which the lack of, is endangering my health. Is it the lack of Twinkies that is endangering my health or is it the lack of caramel creams (that I used to eat by the bag)? I want to know? I have yet to get a cogent response to that question. But they go on with their "you are endangering your health" crap.

Getting back to that "Jared" character from those Subway commercials...did he really lose all his weight on Subway subs or did he use some other method? What did he eat (or not eat) when he wasn't eating Subway subs. Anybody know?

BTW, here's proof that low-carb is experiencing a Tipping Point:

High-carb? Stick a fork in it

City says goodbye starch, hello Atkins-style diets

By ALISON GENDAR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

New Yorkers have seen the enemy, and it is bread.
Popular low-carbohydrate diets are changing the culinary landscape in a city used to noshing on starch-packed pretzels, pasta and the mighty bagel.
Queens street vendors have taken to hawking sausages instead of muffins. An Italian restaurant in Brooklyn has come up with a low-carb pasta.
Even venerable Junior's in downtown Brooklyn has invented a low-carb, sugar-free version of its world-famous cheesecake.
"It ain't a rice-and-beans world no more," said Washington Heights restaurant owner Jesus Ramirez, who serves more oxtail and chicken these days than the old starchy standby.
"People always got to eat. You just make sure you sell what they are eating, and right now, that's meat," he said.
Thanks to the Atkins diet, and spinoffs like the South Beach diet and Sugar Busters, many now believe that a meat- and fat-heavy menu leads to more weight loss than the traditional carb-friendly calorie counter.
The latest diet fad got a big boost in May when the New England Journal of Medicine said that Atkins' high-protein, low-carb, no-sugar program, invented in the 1970s, worked and didn't send patients' bad cholesterol through the roof, as critics had claimed.
"A quarter of the population is always on a diet, that hasn't changed in 20 years," said Harry Balzer, vice president of the NPD Group, a Long Island market-research firm that tracks people's eating habits.
"What does change is what diet they are on, and right now it's low-carb, high-protein," Balzer said.
As with most diets, people don't follow Atkins or the others strictly, but many - even those who say they aren't on it — are riding the low-carb wagon.
At the 2nd Avenue Deli in the East Village, diners still go for the pastrami and mustard - but hold the rye, please.
"Who needs bread?" said Sophia Cohen, 57, ordering a heaping serving of corned beef without the bread.
At another table, owner Jack Lebewohl digs into a steaming plate of pastrami.
"What's not to love?" said Lebewohl, who has shed 45 pounds on Atkins while eating his fill, from the deli's silky chopped liver to its famous hot dogs. "To eat the food you love and lose weight? That's heaven."
Low-carb hits the streets
Street vendor Beatrice Williams, 42, of Glendale, Queens, said she lives on steak and eggs. Ironically, Williams makes her living selling doughnuts and rolls on the streets of Queens.
"I'm getting a new cart - one with a griddle - so I can serve sausage and peppers and eggs," said Williams, who has lost 16 pounds on Atkins since Sept. 10. "My customers are giving up doughnuts for ham."
The new low-carb pasta at Tutta Pasta in Park Slope, Brooklyn, outsells other specials on the weekend menu by 3 to 1. Their creation will hit supermarket shelves in the coming weeks.
"It's the hot thing," said Jerry DiNatale, CEO of Bianca Pasta, which owns Tutta Pasta. "We will expand to low-carb ravioli, rigatoni and then the sauces."
The new eating habits are likely to blame for declines in sales of carb-heavy products, while eggs, bacon and meat snacks are increasingly popular.
Bagels are turning up in only 10% of breakfasts eaten at home this year, down from a peak of13% in 1998, according to national stats from the NPD Group.
Muffin sales tumbled 2% and rice cakes dropped 7%, according to market research firm ACNielsen. And giant white- bread makers bemoan how Wonder Bread became the whipping boy of obesity and carbohydrate issues.
"People are buying less bread, and definitely asking about the ingredients. Is there sugar? How much?" said Michelle Pope, 28, who works at the Uprising Bread Bakery in Park Slope.
Sales of meat-based snacks, such as beef jerky, jumped 17% and bacon increased 5% over the last year, according to ACNielsen.
When people eat breakfast at home these days, eggs play a starring role 12% of the time, up from 10% in 1996, with women — who are more likely to diet — eating more than men.
Alan Rosen, the third-generation owner of Junior's, knows taste is everything.
His breakfasts and entrées — heaping plates of bacon and eggs, jumbo steaks and fish — are perfect for low-carb diets. Rosen himself dropped 14 pounds on Atkins.
"You see it more and more, customers who want bacon and eggs. No toast, extra bacon," he said.
But he couldn't live without the cheesecake. The restaurant just created a low-carb, sugar-free traditional cheesecake with less than 5 net carbs per slice. The treat hit the racks three weeks ago to rave reviews.
"You have to have some sweets," Rosen said.

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