DIET FAD $TARVING US: FIRMS

NY Post ^ | May 16, 2004 | STEPHANIE O'BRIEN

[Pharmboy]

May 16, 2004 -- Dr. Atkins' disciples are eating major food companies alive. The low-carb diet trend is turning the stomachs of the makers of traditional staples like bread and pasta, who are blaming their shrinking profits on shrinking waistlines.

[RGSpincich]

without all the injuries and pain that go with running.

No pain, no gain. My standard old school response. Running does push one to the limits while strengthening the body. At 53 years old,I continue to run. Injured only by blisters from lousy shoes.

[SamAdams76]

Interesting thing about corn. Many people think of it as a vegetable but in fact it is a grain. For years and years, I would have corn with my meals as my "vegetable." My typical meal (from my fat days) would be meat, corn and rice. I'd mix the corn and rice together, slather it with margarine (thinking it was better than butter) and think I was eating pretty healthy. I'd even mop it all up with slabs of fresh bread. Then I'd wonder why the pounds kept piling on.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Did you hear that the newest fad diet is to eat copies of your "balanced diet" lecture? -- Just teasing you a little.

[Pharmboy]

Wow! I remember meeting you in '98 at the March for Justice...I prolly wouldn't recognize you now (I think we were hanging out waiting to get into the pizza dinner meeting).

[Pharmboy]

Incredible! Just saw the before-and-afters and I would NOT have recognized you! Good for you--and your family. You have added years to your lifespan.

As an aside, I maintaing that the American Diabetes Association has killed more Americans than Hitler and Ho Chi Minh combined with their ridiculous high carb recommendations over the past 20 or so years.

[SamAdams76]

but I am constantly amazed by the sheer number of people who have been fat their entire lives that go on Atkins for a year, and lose upward of a hundred pounds! Many of them are forty and fifty year olds right here on freerepublic. These same people claim to be consuming five to seven THOUSAND calories a day!

I fit the profile. I was fat my entire (adult) life and then at age 40 I lost 100+ pounds on a low-carb (not Atkins) diet. But no way do I consume even close to that number of calories. I consume between 2,000 and 2,500 calories a day. I am very careful to keep my caloric intake to under 2,500 and I try to walk a minimum of five miles a day (or 10,000 steps on my pedometer).

The low-carb diet allows me to reduce my caloric intake while not being hungry all the time.

[Pharmboy]

It's not just the cookies and chips: it's the bread, french fries (and even mashed potatoes) and pasta.

[Pharmboy]

Not quite--America got to its fattest point during the low-fat phase (remember the Snackwell low fat cookies?). As the low carb diets take hold, we will start losing weight as a society. Be patient, it will happen...

[SamAdams76]

I was in the Marines where "no pain, no gain" was the mantra. I respectfully disagree with that now. Physical fitness need not involve pain. I actually consider myself in better physical shape today then in my Marine days because I'm eating better too. In the Marines, I had a terrible diet. When I wasn't in the mess hall, I'd eat nothing but Twinkies, donuts, chips, cookies, etc.

Now if you are talking about "soreness", that's a different issue. I do get sore after a challenging walk or after doing a bunch of situps and pushups. But I don't consider that pain.

[Maigrey]

oh Carlo.....

[grania]

Can you tell me what is the reason for the more and more frequent nasty practice of ruining yogurt, ice cream, etc with agar/xanthan gum additives? I guess the purpose is more profits and more Krohn disease.

My guess would be that to keep the fat down (that is, to manufacture an ice cream with no cream) it is needed to make it smooth and a solid.

I actually don't mind it when guar gum is added. It was used by dieters as a supplement until it was taken off the market for some reason or another.

[Gabz]

I understand what you mean about the corn. I use it as both a grain and a vegetable.

I have noticed lately though that I rarely bother with a "starch" (rice, potatoes, pasta)when I cook corn. I love a fresh ear of corn slathered in butter. I stopped using margarine years ago, because butter tastes better!!!

As I said before, I am very impressed with your before and after pictures. Because I don't, and never had a problem with pounds piling on, I would never disparage anyone that does and have always tried my best to be supportive of any friend 'battling the bulge.'

As far as I'm concerned all these companies crying poor mouth and trying to blame folks like you for their poor bottom lines have no one to blame but themselves and the government they rely on.

[Gabz]

As the low carb diets take hold, we will start losing weight as a society.

And these companies will continue to cry poor mouth about how it is the low-carb dieters that are hurting their bottom line.

IMO, and I could be wrong, a major part of the problem is the "need" of a long shelf life for products, thus requiring all the artifical additives to them. And that "need" was created by the food manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers themselves, not the consumers.

I am truly amazed at all the "complete" meals you find on supermarket shelves any more.

The food manufacturers convinced people they didn't have the time to fix nutritious meals from scratch and are now crying the blues because many people have finally seen through their lies.

[AlbionGirl]

That to me is a cursory review. I don't remember if I read the New Diet Revolution or one of his previous books (seems to me it was just titled, The Atkins Diet), but I don't remember him going into the same detail w/exercise as he did w/diet.

IOW, he explains in pretty good language and terms what happens when you deprive your body of carbs, and the body is forced to use fat stores to help use the caloric value in protein.

I don't remember him going in to much detail about the importance of maintaining muscle mass and the integral connection between glycogen stores, their combustion, the actual release of fat stores from a cell, etc.

But actually the point that a pervious poster made to me was just, it's a diet book, not a fitness book. I just thought that as he was a Doctor, and took the time to explain the food intake/fuel connection he would have done the same with the food/fitness connection.

[radiohead]

Hey food companies: get with the program--low carb is where it's at.

At least for now.

Here's my take on the low carb thing. There are 18.2 million diabetics in the US. A large percentage of them don't even know they are diabetic. The rate of Type II diabetes in younger people and even kids is rising. Millions more are at risk of diabetes due to genetics, etc.

One of the best things a diabetic can do (I'm one, so I speak from experience) is to throw away the Am Diabetic Assn exchange plan and start eating low carb. They can reduce or eliminate their neeed for meds completely. So-called borderline diabetics on low carb may never turn into full blown diabetics.

People will start seeing lower carb - not NO carb, but a lower carb diet including whole grains and beans, as a healthy way to eat. I think it makes sense for people with health issues to watch what types of fats they eat (maybe more chicken than beef, cool it w/the whole fat dairy, etc.), so a modified Atkins such as South Beach may be more appropriate.

I think we are looking at lower carb as a way of life for millions of people for a long time to come.

[Pharmboy]

ME: As the low carb diets take hold, we will start losing weight as a society.

YOU: And these companies will continue to cry poor mouth about how it is the low-carb dieters that are hurting their bottom line.

The beauty of capitalism is that even though they whine and complain, they eventually turn around the ship and get it going in the right diretion. Or, they will buy a small company that's ahead of the curve.

[SamAdams76]

I remember waiting with you outside the MFJ pizza dinner. I remember getting there late because I tried taking my kids trick or treating (it was Halloween). Didn't have much luck! My kids still remember that. To make up for it, I took them to CVS the morning after and told them they could buy whatever they wanted in the store. We drove back to Boston with two or three shopping bags of Halloween candy (much of it marked down). I was helping them eat it too. Don't even want to think how much weight I gained on that trip!

As for Snackwell "low-fat" cookies, I remember them well. That's an Orwellian name if I ever heard one.

[Route66]

I think you are right about this not being a fad. In my house, we have eaten the low carb way for over seven years. People stick with this for more reason than just weight loss. It has incredible health benefits.

As opposed to before we started to eat this way, everyone in my household now has excellent cholesterol ratios, blood pressure, triglicerides, and blood glucose levels. We each had worse initial cholesterol tests for the first 6 months or so while our bodies were adjusting, but since then the blood tests have been consistently good time after time.

I also got my energy back, lost my migraine headaches and chronic indigestion. Even my seasonal allergies were minimized. This is a very healthy diet for young and old alike. The affect on sales that is being seen by certain companies is not happening because this is just another fad diet. For many of us, it's become a way of life.

[Lakeside]

"Those apples were really sour...but wonderful. I have always wished since for an apple that tasted like that, but never found one in a store."

And you won't find a really good apple in a store here down South. To find the apple you seek you will have to make a trip to Wisconsin or Minnesota in mid to late October and pick up some Haralson apples. Haralson is a "type" apple like Macintosh, Red Delicious(yuck,ptooie,nasty), Granny Smith, etc. are types.

Haralsons are like eating the most delicious apple you can think of soaked in lemon juice. They also make the best apple pies or crisps(sorry, too many carbs?). They are very hard to grow "pretty"---very finicky apples---but boy, are they worth it!

What apples we get in stores down here have been in CA(controlled atmosphere) storage for at least a year or so. Very bad on the texture and taste buds. In short, it ruins good apples. It can't ruin Red Delicious because they all start out ruined. :-) They sure are pretty, though. Use them as a centerpiece during the Holidays then toss them in the garbage!

Ex-apple orchard owner, Lakeside

Oh, yeah, I'm on Atkins, too!

[SamAdams76]

IMO, and I could be wrong, a major part of the problem is the "need" of a long shelf life for products, thus requiring all the artifical additives to them. And that "need" was created by the food manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers themselves, not the consumers. I am truly amazed at all the "complete" meals you find on supermarket shelves

My eyes are open to it now. And if I can help it, I'll never buy another "prepared" supermarket meal again.

Before my lifestyle change, my wife and I (who both work) would prepare these type of meals every night. It was so convenient to just pop them into a microwave and have dinner ready in about 10 minutes.

Here is one example of a popular "prepared dish" we would make. This is actually something that we thought was good for us. It is Trader Joe's Chicken Chimichangas which is chicken, beans, tomatoes, onions and jalapeno peppers rolled into a flour tortilla. Just pop in the microwave for about five minutes and it is ready to eat. Sounds tasty and nutritious, right?

Here are the ingredients for this prepared dish:

Filling
Chicken Leg Meat
Cooked Beans (Water, Beans, Flavorings including Paprika, Salt, Dehydrated Onion, Enriched Flour [Bleached Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin & Folic Acid])
Tomatoes (Tomatoes, Tomato Puree, Salt, Citric Acid)
Onions
Water
Jalapeno Peppers (Jalapeno Peppers, Vinegar, Salt, Water, Calcium Chloride, Garlic, Spiced)
Modified Food Starch
Green Chilies
Bell Peppers, Flavorings including Paprika, Bell Peppers (Bell Peppers, Water, Citric Acid)
Salt
Chile Pepper (Red Chile Pepper, Citric Acid)
Vinegar
Tortilla
Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin & Folic Acid)
Water
Safflower Oil and/or Soybean Oil
Salt
Baking Powder (Starch, Monocalcium Phosphate and Sodium Bicarbonate)
Tortilla sealed with Water and Modified Food Starch, fried in Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil

And mind you, this was purchased at a natural food store know for it's quality foods. What you typically find in the supermarkets have even more artificial ingredients then what was listed.

As for nutritional information, two servings of these Chicken Chimichangas contain 780 calories, 1860 mg of Sodium (78% of RDA) and 104 carbohydrates.

I listed two servings because real world, nobody ever has just one of these ridiculously small "serving sizes" that you see on packaged foods. Otherwise a bowl of Lucky Charms cereal would last a kid for weeks (and we know that that just doesn't happen).

Now we would make somethings like this at home. Ingredients are as follows:

Low-carb tortilla
Grilled fresh chicken
Onions and Jalapeno Peppers sauteed in olive oil
Diced fresh tomato
Beans
Shredded cheese

It would take considerably longer to make something like this at home but as you can see, nothing but natural ingredients.