I lowered both weight and cholesteral by eliminating sugar, white flour and nearly all "processed" foods from my dietThat'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.
Howdy, Sam, you're looking great! I only lost 25 lbs, but after putting on an avg. 3 lbs/year for 10 years, I was getting resigned to being overweight for life. So I couldn't be happier!
Me & hubby are coming up on our 4-year mark on low-carb. We'll be going out to a nice steakhouse to celebrate, natch.
High-carb? Stick a fork in it
City says goodbye starch, hello Atkins-style diets
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.