Nutrition news: Told ya' so: Americans head back to bread for 2005
Dayle Hayes
NUTRITION NEWS

I received an early Christmas present last week. One morning when I logged onto to my computer, a Web news page featured the "hot trends" of 2005. One of them immediately caught my eye - carbohydrates.

It was just a brief bullet in a list of what-to-watch-for-in-2005, but it made my heart sing. It suggested that Americans were going to back to carbohydrates - and with great gusto, mentioned bread, pasta and potatoes.

Trying hard to resist the temptation to say, "I told you so" - I am not the least bit surprised to read an increasing number of reports that the low-carb boom has gone bust.


As a nutrition professional, I could not be happier.
The back-to-bread trend was confirmed in an Associated Press article earlier this week. While the Atkins nutritional folks continued to defend their position, virtually all the other experts and consumers told the same story:



<LI>The percentage of Americans following low-carb diets had peaked and fallen dramatically.



<LI>"Virtually none" of the people surveyed were following the strict recommendations of the "popular" low-carb diets.



<LI>The basic problem, as with any extreme diet, is that eating becomes monotonous and boring, and people couldn't stick to the low-carb plans over the long term.

OK, OK, I can't resist a little gloating, I did tell you so - over and over again. My mantra about successful weight management has been the same forever: The only "diet" that works is finding a way to eat and be active that you can do for the rest of your life.

Forever is the key word. If you want a healthy weight, you have to develop habits that will last the rest of your life. And, as the news stories document, very few people can live without carbohydrates for the rest of their lives.

So, as America moves back towards carbo-sanity, I have some suggestions about ways to celebrate. Pick one - or pick several - and bon appetit.





Enjoy carbs with nutrition-power.



Get your carbs in foods packed with nutrition - protein, vitamins, minerals and disease-fighting phytonutrients. Skip the king-size candy bars and the super-sized drinks and stick with whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and delicious, nutritious dried beans and peas, such as chickpeas, pinto beans and spilt peas.





Support your local bakery.



We're lucky to have a growing list of local bakers using Montana-grown grains to produce some tasty breads, rolls, cereals and carbo-treats. Stop in at long-time favorites like Stella's Kitchen and Bakery, Poet Street Market, Great Harvest Bakery or Grand Bagel. Or visit some of the newer kids on Billings' blocks: The Hearth Bakery downtown or Wheat Montana on the west end.





Cook up some homemade carbs.



Upcoming winter vacation days are the perfect time to practice your carbohydrate culinary skills. Fill the house with the always-popular smell of baking bread. Simmer some chili or black bean soup to warm your family's hearts and bellies after a hard day of skiing or snowshoeing.

Need more information on whole grain goodness - or some new recipes for your holiday feasts? Want to try an exotic grain, like teff - but don't know how to prepare it? One of these Web sites is bound to have what you are looking for:


Whole Grains Council
www.wholegrainscouncil.org/
The goal of this organization is "to close the whole-grain gap" and make sure all Americans are eating at least three whole grains a day. This site, packed with nutrition details on every page, features a list of grains from A to Z, as well as holiday recipes for many uncommon grains.



National Pasta Association
www.ilovepasta.org/
The URL says it all. The site has plenty of pasta tips and information. It features recipes galore, including two extremely useful sections: Pasta Pronto features hundreds of recipes in categories from 30-minutes to super low-fat - while Pasta Improv has ideas for using whatever you have on hand.



Potato Board
www.healthypotato.com/
As accurately promoted on this site, potatoes are "naturally nutritious, always delicious." Did you know that a medium potato has almost twice the potassium of a banana? Visit this site for more nutrition trivia and all sorts of potato recipes. The "Chipotle Mashed Potatoes" look pretty good to me.



USA Rice Federation
www.usarice.com/consumer/index.html
If you'd like to get out of the plain white rice rut, this site is for you. Just go to the "Rice to the Rescue" contest section and check out several years of winning recipes such as Cremini Mushroom and Roasted Garlic Rice Soup (Best Whole Grain Recipe Winner for 2004, from Gloria Pleasants in Williamsburg, Va).



Wheat Foods Council
www.wheatfoods.org/
Last, but not least in any way, the Wheat Food Council site has been a voice of reason in the carbohydrate wars for years. You can trust the accuracy of its nutrition information and the flavor of the recipes. You can also order a copy of "It's the Calories, Not the Carbs," an excellent guide for healthy weight management strategies

http://www.billingsgazette.com/inde...-nutri-news.inc

Ignorance, of course, is bliss! Either this guy's a comic or he's out-of-touch with reality. Whoever drummed-up the statistics to prove his pet opinion? Furthermore, whenever one enters a supermarket what confronts them; masses of carbohydrates specifically designed to tickle our fancy. The temptation to waver is strong. Most people don't like to step-outside the throng, and this author, in particular, is one of them! He should remember that it's a scoundrel who hides behind patriotism.

Thankfully for me, I do not believe everything that I read!!

and this is why the author is gloating? a "web news page" came up with a "hot trends" lists for 2005 and this is the basis on which this woman is going to say "i told you so!". what we have here, my friends, is a nitwit.

the author's email address: EatRightMT2000~aol.com.

Seems to me most of these articles are written by nitwits!

She sounds awfully much like a carb addict, doesn't she, you know, one of the people who'd benefit most from LC?

just because she says it's a hot trend for 2005, doesn't mean that we need to listen. i know that i am not.
if this lo carb diet is slowing down, why do i see more and more low carb foods out there? i think dayle hays needs some more information before thinking that the lo-carb way of life is going anywhere anytime soon.

Wait a minute. Wasn't one of the reasons that all these nutritionists bashed low carb was because it was "a fad"? But now we have a website that lists the "hot trends" of 2005 as carbs and we're supposed to jump on board with gusto?

Whether the low carb "Trend" is slowing down or not, I know that it works for me. Since I am the one who is eating that way, that's all that matters to me.

As for the claims that people get bored with the same food all the time- I rarely have the same thing for dinner in a week (unless i found a new recipe that I love). I am cooking more now (and with more variety) than I ever did before and with greater variety. The people who claim that there aren't enough food choices, I would guess, have not read the books for their plan of choice, and make assumptions that they can only eat meat and cheese.

The only "variety" that I am missing is sugar, flour, etc. that isn't good for me anyway.

Well that's it then, good-bye low-carb. Back to being overweight with pimples and migrane headaches.

That's funny. There seem to be lots of low carb foods in my market - meats, cheeses, vegetables, nuts. They don't seem to be going away.

That's what I was thinking!

You know what would make my heart sing right now? The taste of cake, cookies, gooey pastries, and doughnuts would. Does that mean they are good for me? Of course not!

I'm not sure those things would make my heart sing. Palpitate, maybe...do a tap dance inside my chest, perhaps, but not sing.

I like the way the discussion slips from whole grains to bakery rolls and pasta - fresh vegetables to mashed patotoes. Real nutritious. How do these people get a nutrition diploma? Is it something you can do online - in a day or so maybe?

Let's see .. pre-LC my menu went something like this:

• Breakfast - whole wheat toast or a bowl of shredded wheat cereal
• Coffee Break - bran muffin (wheat)
• Lunch - sandwich with bread, pita or wrap (wheat) and/or soup with noodles (wheat) and/or salad with croutons (wheat), or fast-food burger with bun (wheat)
• Snack - cheese and crackers or melba toast (wheat)
• Dinner - pasta (wheat) or pizza (wheat) or potatoes or rice

Yep, lots of variety there ... not!

Nowadays, the only food I tend to have almost daily is eggs, which are prepared different ways .. I'm definitely not bored! And I eat more variety of vegetables now than I ever have in my life, even as a vegetarian a decade ago.


Doreen