LC Trendy in Berkshires
Atkins diet, a Madison Ave. staple, ingrained in ever-trendier Berkshires
By Stefanie Cohen
Berkshire Eagle Staff
Sunday, March 21, 2004 -
Slippery, supple noodles. Chewy grains of rice. Fluffy scoops of mashed potatoes. All once staples of the American diet, they are now suddenly, irrevocably, forbidden, or so diet gurus and TV commercials tell us.
Five years ago, Dr. Robert Atkins was a virtually a cult leader to whom a small number of serious dieters subscribed. Atkins died last April after slipping and falling on an icy Manhattan sidewalk, but his diet and Britney Spears still duel for press coverage, and everywhere people are uttering the new mantra, "no carbohydrates."
From beer manufacturers to Blimpie's franchises, "less carbs" is the new catch phrase with which to snare weight-conscious customers, the new gimmick to get them to open their wallets.
The Atkins diet promotes certain fatty and high-protein foods over those high in carbohydrates, such as pasta, potatoes, some vegetables, rice, refined flour products and sugar.
Berkshire County has not escaped the no-carb epidemic. Some area chefs say they have seen a shift in what their patrons are ordering. Some have begun to include no-carb entrees to give dieters a ready option.
"When we opened, for the first 10 years, 80 percent of what we sold was seafood. Now it is the opposite: 80 percent is meat and 20 percent is seafood," said Urs Bieri, chef and owner of Elm Court Inn in North Egremont. He hasn't changed his menu but will happily replace a carbohydrate-rich side dish with more vegetables at the diner's request.
Ticking off a list of recent food trends, Bieri said he doesn't remember one that has held the nation in its grip like the Atkins/Zone/South Beach diet triumvirate. "There was the nouvelle cuisine of the early '80s, then modern food with fresh ingredients and seafood came up, and now it is Pacific rim and Asian fusion, but this one I think will stay around because people can do it at home, not only in restaurants."
Plus, said Bieri, and even more important, "I haven't met anyone yet who it hasn't worked for."
Likewise, Tom Ellis of Elizabeth's Italian restaurant in Pittsfield said he is happy to help his customers diet and has taken to offering at least one no-carb meal each night, although he personally goes in for starches.
"With the perfect piece of chicken and grilled vegetables, there is something magical that happens with a little curried rice on the side," he said.
"We know our customers well, so if someone is trying to lose weight and get healthy I am fine with it," said Ellis. "But people who pick the carrots out of their salads, I am not suggesting it is obsessive, but who knows?"
Tiffany Robertson, a waitress at the Neighborhood Diner in Great Barrington, said the menu there is extensive enough to accommodate most diet specifications, but at least once a week the restaurant offers a no-carb special. Robertson said she has watched the number of no-carb customers jump over the last year.
"On average, I probably have three to five customers a day that get no-carb or low-carb things," she said.
Pastry holdout
Paula Pickett, owner of Paula's Pastries in West Stockbridge, is not on the Atkins bandwagon. She opened her store about a year ago, just when the no-carb craze started to hit its stride, so she can't compare business to the pre-no-carb days.
"I don't know how to begin to do something that is low-carb," she admitted. "It is not in my repertoire, period. I think I am just going to hold out until the fad of this diet has passed."
Nutritionists and doctors say there are two things at work with the no-carb craze: the concept itself, and the publicity machine behind it. The no-carb concept has followers, if not just because the current mania has increased awareness about what Americans put in their mouths. Others say to replace carbohydrates with protein, especially proteins high in fat -- which is how many have interpreted the Atkins diet -- is a very bad idea. Most all agree that the marketing campaign and the misinformation that surrounds the newest diet fad is farcical.
Not for everyone
"There is cause for this trend to have become so popular," said Michele Chartier, a nutrition consultant and the executive director of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals in Veradale, Wash. She explained that "carbo-loading" leads to overproduction of insulin, which in turn can lead to diabetes and other health problems. Chartier said her association does not believe that one diet can work for everyone, but she also thinks people should stick to whole-food carbohydrates instead of processed or refined versions.
"I encourage people to eat food in its most whole form. Make sure your food looks like what it is. Does the bread look like wheat at all? Do the potato chips look like potatoes, or do the corn chips look like corn?" she asked.
Llynn Newman, a Long Island nutritionist and a member of Chartier's group, agreed that the trendwouldprobablystick around, but she, like Chartier, ascribes to the "good carb" theory instead of the no-carb alternative.
"Extremes in anything are not good," said Newman. "We still need to eat carbs, but not necessarily refined carbs, meaning those made with white flour."
Both Chartier and Newman said the last trend they remember to hit with this sort of intensity was the low-fat craze of the early '90s, which, they noted, many still follow.
"The low-fat revolution was really strong, also," said Chartier. "But people went so gung ho for the low-fat diet that they ended up eating a lot of carbs. Pasta was the food du jour. We went too far the other way. It's human nature, it comes from incomplete information."
The same thing is happening now, she said. People hear that one of their friends was successful on the Atkins diet and so they try it themselves, eschewing all carbs in exchange for high-fat proteins, without learning more about the diet.
"The American public will do everything faddish but nothing sensible. It's scary," said Dr. Gerald Evans, whose group Heart Ventures tries to prevent heart disease through preventative measures, such as diet. Evans is the former head of cardiology at Framingham Union Hospital, and he promotes a low-fat, not low-carb, diet.
"Low fat leads to a healthy heart," he said, adding that when low-carb translates to more fat, he worries for dieters' health.
"If you want to lose weight, eat less food and expend more calories," he said. "There is no great mystery in this."
Still, experts say, the awareness that the no-carb vogue has engendered is a positive thing. They say the recent focus on obesity and disease in America helped push the Atkins diet, which had quietly been around for decades, to the forefront. And whether one agrees with Atkins or not, people are thinking about food more carefully, say experts. Once the misinformation and marketing subside, they say, people may have a greater understanding of what constitutes a healthy diet.
Until the next fad comes along.
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