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  #1   ^
Old Mon, May-19-03, 11:18
gotbeer's Avatar
gotbeer gotbeer is offline
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Plan: Atkins
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Default "Meaty Issues: Are the new low- and no-carb breads, beers, and sweets any good?"

Meaty Issues: Are the new low- and no-carb breads, beers, and sweets any good?

By Kelly Alexander

Posted Monday, May 19, 2003, at 8:30 AM PT


link to article

It's dismaying when, as you're writing about someone, that person dies. Dr. Robert Atkins, 72, the most successful diet guru in the known universe, unexpectedly expired a few weeks ago. His legions of followers breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't been felled by a massive coronary; instead, he fell down, hit his head, and never recovered.

Speaking of not recovering, I have friends who are on the Atkins diet. If you are one of the five Americans unfamiliar with Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution—sales of the book, first published in 1972 and updated 20 years later, have exceeded 10 million copies—you should know what it sets forth. According to Atkins, our excessive consumption of carbohydrates causes our bodies to produce more insulin than we need, raising our blood-sugar levels and making it impossible for us to lose weight; only by severely limiting our intake of carbohydrates can we reverse the course. We are allowed from very little to no bread, pasta, flour, sugar, grains, and fruits. Instead, proteins and fats are our new best friends. Steak, bacon-wrapped steak, bacon-and-cheese-wrapped steak? Go for it, caveman.

Whether or not you buy its science—an article by Gary Taubes in the New York Times Magazine last summer called "What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?" suggested there was more truth in Atkins' plan than food-pyramid pushers had given the doctor credit for—you cannot ignore its effects. If you eliminate a vast number of items from your "things I eat" list, you're bound to lose weight. I dropped a whopping six and a half pounds during a one-week test of Atkins. That was neat, but I still don't like diets, and I especially didn't like this one. How is it OK to eat steak and eggs dipped in butter but not an orange? Why is it acceptable to consume a whole leg of lamb but not a banana?

Fear of fruit is not the most bizarre part of the Atkins phenomenon. The real puzzler is the horde of carbohydrate-substitute foods creeping out of the laboratories. As a study commissioned by the market-research firm Productscan Online and reported by ABC News discovered recently, in the past two and a half years more than 816 products making low- or no-carb claims were introduced in the United States. They cost a lot more, too: A pound of low-carb pasta is approximately five times more expensive than its starchy alternative. The people who give up carbs seem willing to do anything to eat toast without actually eating it.

The Test
It is unfair to test low-carb foods against their "regular" counterparts. That is like comparing Jason Biggs with Vin Diesel. A carb-starved person will overlook important inadequacies in taste in order to eat breadlike things while still slouching toward skinniness. My goal was to determine whether any of the products was remotely tasty, and to what level of desperation one would have to sink into before eating it.

The Science
Ersatz chocolate is sweetened with one of two things (sometimes both): maltitol, a sugar substitute that is absorbed very slowly into the human body, so that part of what is ingested reaches the large intestine, where metabolism yields fewer calories; and Splenda, another artificial sweetener, this one made from sucralose, a calorie-free chemical that contains sugar but is not absorbed by the body. Instead of regular flour, low-carb bread is loaded with fibrous density courtesy of soy flour, soy protein, and wheat fiber. Low-carb beer, according to Ray Daniels, a longtime home brewer, beer-writer, and the organizer of Chicago's Real Ale Festival, is made by utilizing enzymes such as pullulanase. These enzymes are added to beer during its mash stage, and they break down starches, reducing residual carbohydrates in the brew. This is exactly how "lite" beers are made, too, and in truth there is very little difference between the two.


Bread, Pasta, Muffins

Product: Atkins Penne Rigate pasta
Key ingredients: defatted soy flour, soy protein isolate, wheat gluten
Net carbohydrates: 6 grams per 2-ounce serving ("net carbohydrates" is an Atkins trade term, referring to the carbohydrates a food has after its digestible fiber content is subtracted)
Calories per serving: 230
Cost: $4.99 per pound
Taste: Uncooked, this looked like normal whole-wheat pasta. I made a nice, garlicky marinara for it. I should have thrown the sauce away for the good it did. Cooked, the pasta had otherworldly textural problems; each piece seemed to crumble the second you put it into your mouth, and yet, chew as you might, it would not disappear.
Level of desperation: I would not eat this again unless I had lost some of the brain cells governing my memory due to carbohydrate deficiency.

Product: Darielle Penne Rigate pasta
Key ingredients: defatted soy flour, pasteurized egg white, rice flour
Net carbohydrates: 10 grams per serving
Calories per serving: 160
Cost: about $3.79 per pound
Taste: This tasted a little better but still too much as I imagine wet IKEA furniture would.
Level of desperation: If my only choice were this or Atkins-brand pasta, I'd pick this one. And then pray for a Good Humor truck to run over me.

Product: Controlled Carb Gourmet Fiber Rich Bread
Key ingredients: whole-wheat flour, rye flour, wheat bran
Net carbohydrates: 3 grams
Calories per serving: 45
Cost: about $5.99 per loaf
Taste: Eureka! Some tasty Atkins-friendly food—and bread, at that. Slices of this bread are very small—about three inches square—and very thin. But though its texture was a tad cardboardlike, it boasts such ingredients as "spices" and "salt" and made for fine eating. If not exactly the kind of bread that screams, "Use me for French toast," then at least the kind made for absentminded dunks into coffee. It was also put to use repeatedly for making some excellent, Atkins-friendly grilled-cheese sandwiches.
Level of desperation: I'd eat this bread again with little to no provocation. Full-carb packaged brands have basically nothing on it but size. Ditto the Controlled Carb bagels, which were no worse than the grocery store staple Lender's.

Product: Atkins Country White Bread
Key ingredients: water, wheat protein, enriched wheat flour
Net carbohydrates: 3 grams
Calories per serving: 70
Cost: about $5 per loaf
Taste: Whether you toast these slices (also small) or not, or spread them with giant pats of butter (allowed by Atkins) or not, they are the blandest and chewiest food I have ever tasted. I timed my husband while he ate one three-inch piece of celery, the most fibrous food I know; I then timed him while he ate one piece of this toast. He chewed normally, taking a new bite only after he had swallowed the previous one. It took two minutes and 16 and a half seconds for him to eat the celery. It took two minutes and six seconds for him to eat the toast. It took two days for me to be forgiven.
Level of desperation: If I developed a hankering for particleboard, I'd sate it with this. Ditto the fake bagels, also made under the Atkins brand.

Product: Controlled Carb Gourmet Banana Muffin
Key ingredients: water, canola oil, egg whites, maltitol
Net carbohydrates: 1.5 grams
Calories: 330
Cost: about $7.99 for four muffins
Taste: Sticky business, this muffin. It sticks to its cellophane, to your fingers, to a napkin. And because its makers hide the banana (it is but the 16th of 18 ingredients), eating it is a pretty empty experience.
Level of desperation: I would not seek out this food. I would hide if it looked for me. It's a shame, though, because we've seen that low-carb baked goods can taste good.

Sweets

Product: Atkins Endulge Chocolate Candy Bar
Key ingredients: maltitol, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter
Net carbohydrates: 2 grams
Calories: 150
Cost: about $1.49 per bar
Taste: The great doctor scores. The chocolate bar is waxy and sweet and good; although it's smaller and more expensive than other candy bars, I defy anyone to choose, in a blind taste test, which is Endulge and which is Hershey's. If you love ultradark and rich chocolate, Endulge is not for you. If you can slum with a Nestle's once in a while, you'll be able to ignore its only drawbacks: a faintly grainy texture and slightly bitter aftertaste.
Level of desperation: If no one were watching me at the grocery store, I would buy one. Actually, I did buy one—I wanted some chocolate, and I didn't want to feel bad about eating it, which is exactly the point of this entire industry of products. Ditto the chocolate "crunch" version.

Product: Carb Not Beanit Butter
Key ingredients: roasted organic soybeans, naturally pressed soybean oil, soy concentrate
Net carbohydrates: 5 grams per 2-tablespoon serving
Calories: 170
Cost: about $5.99 per jar
Taste: If you like homemade peanut butter, freshly ground with naturally sweet flavor, you will be excited by the look of this product. If you like things that taste good, you will not be enthused. Beanit butter is extremely grainy and not particularly sweet.
Level of desperation: If you find supermarket and even natural peanut butters too sweet for you, as some people do, the Beanit Butter would be a spread of choice. I, however, am sticking with extra-crunchy Skippy.

Product: Carbolite Milk Chocolate Bar
Key ingredients: maltitol, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor
Net carbohydrates: 2 grams
Calories: 250
Cost: about $2.98 per bar
Taste: Nice and creamy consistency here, and no grainy mouth feel. This is a typical waxy affair, no better and no worse than dime-store chocolate candies. It's eminently edible and would be good for those after-dinner, "I don't want dessert but I want a little something sweet" moments.
Level of desperation: If I could erase the word "Carbolite" from the packaging, I would be caught dead eating this.

Beer

Product: Michelob Ultra Low Carbohydrate Light Beer
Net carbohydrates: 2.6
Calories: 95
Cost: about $7 per six-pack
Taste: Beer is a personal passion, especially good beer, especially Belgian beer. But there are times when I have hunkered down at a bar and ordered an Amstel Light because I worried about getting fat. For people who have those moments every time they look at a length of fettuccine, there is this beer, which has only 7.2 grams of carbohydrates fewer than an Amstel and only .6 grams less than a Miller Lite (on the market since 1974). Here is beer-flavored water with a really bad, bitter aftertaste. It contains about 35 percent less alcohol than other beers, too.
Level of desperation: I tried this beer in a number of ways, and the only way I could tolerate it was supercold and enhanced with a generous squirt of lemon. I'd have to be drunk to try it again any other way.

The Low Down

It must be said that Dr. Atkins went out like a champ, enjoying an uncommon predeath rise in popularity that many famous dead people, including Jesus, never got to experience. In his wake, he has given birth to an industry of low- and no-carb foods; clearly in its infancy, this business has spawned an inconsistent array of products. The good news, for subscribers to Atkins and maybe even for people who just want to monitor their carb intake, is that there are reasonable alternatives out there for some hallmark carb and sugar items—specifically bread and chocolate. As for me, if I wanted to Atkins-ize myself permanently (highly unlikely), I would simply eat pork-chop-wrapped duck breasts for every meal.
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  #2   ^
Old Mon, May-19-03, 14:14
Lisa N's Avatar
Lisa N Lisa N is offline
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Plan: Bernstein Diabetes Soluti
Stats: 260/-/145 Female 5' 3"
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Progress: 63%
Location: Michigan
Default Question....

....why is it that nobody batted an eye when all those low fat products started hitting the market in the 80's, but now that we're getting carb controlled products people think it's strange and unnatural?

I'd also like to note [once AGAIN] the complete lack of mention of any sort of veggie eating on the Atkins plan and also a slight technical inaccuracy: unless you are a diabetic, high levels of carb result in high levels of circulating insulin, not blood sugar and this is what makes it so difficult for many with hyperinsulinemia to lose weight.
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  #3   ^
Old Mon, May-19-03, 14:53
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MomSharon MomSharon is offline
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 185.5/185.5/160 Female 66 inches
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Location: Kansas
Default

The same thing struck me reading this article: no/low fat crap comes out of the woodwork and people buy it, no one thinks twice about it, food companies get rich off it.

Low carb??? OMG!

Yep, NO mention of veggies and the inaccurate depiction of fruit is not allowed.

Sharon
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  #4   ^
Old Wed, May-21-03, 07:46
Lessara's Avatar
Lessara Lessara is offline
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Posts: 7,075
 
Plan: Bernstein, Keto IFast
Stats: 385/253/160 Female 67.5
BF:14d bsl 400/122/83
Progress: 59%
Location: Durham, NH
Post Slate talking about Low Carb products

Meaty Issues
Are the new low- and no-carb breads, beers, and sweets any good?
By Kelly Alexander
Posted Monday, May 19, 2003, at 8:30 AM PT


Slate Article


[administrator edit: this article was posted previously. Thankyou ]

Last edited by Lessara : Wed, May-21-03 at 07:48.
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  #5   ^
Old Wed, May-21-03, 08:29
ladybugvv's Avatar
ladybugvv ladybugvv is offline
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 193/193/140 Female 5'3''
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Post Lo-carb food taste discussion

Saw this article on the MSN website this morning and thought I'd share it with you all:

shopping
Meaty Issues
Are the new low- and no-carb breads, beers, and sweets any good?
By Kelly Alexander
Posted Monday, May 19, 2003, at 8:30 AM PT

Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2082965/


[ administrator edit: this article was posted previously. Thankyou ]
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  #6   ^
Old Wed, May-21-03, 08:45
emptynestr emptynestr is offline
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 155/141/135
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Progress: 70%
Location: White Rock BC, Canada
Default The Article

This writer glosses over a number of things...like the fact that our Aktins diet works really well..so is obviously not a person who has experienced dealing with body weight issues on an ongoing basis. If you skip past the "attitude" in the article, the taste tests are pretty funny! However, from the sound of things, we do as well inventing our own Atkins snack foods as buying the pre-fab. Who out there has come up with interesting snack foods on their own vs. buying designated "lo-carb" stuff? Just curious....
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  #7   ^
Old Wed, May-21-03, 08:51
whyspers's Avatar
whyspers whyspers is offline
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Posts: 1,306
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 259/223/148 Female 5'7
BF:No clue
Progress: 32%
Location: Kentucky
Default

I read that last night. I feel the author is definately slanted away from low carb...but oh well. She kills me when she says "That was neat, but I still don't like diets, and I especially didn't like this one. How is it OK to eat steak and eggs dipped in butter but not an orange? Why is it acceptable to consume a whole leg of lamb but not a banana?"

Uhmmm...duh....if she had read the book she would understand that concept...lol. Why does she think that eating a banana is okay? Because the government said so? Because she was told it was good for her...based on what? That is what really gets to me.


L
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  #8   ^
Old Wed, May-21-03, 09:19
Angeline's Avatar
Angeline Angeline is offline
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Plan: Atkins (loosely)
Stats: -/-/- Female 60
BF:
Progress: 40%
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Default

haha I loved this article, it was hilarious and well worth the read. You need to gloss over the usual misconceptions born of of people inability to read past the induction part of the diet, but the product review was funny and informative.

On the subject of low carb food, there was an article on low carb recipes in this month Oxygen magazine. They look quite fabulous, I can't wait to try them. There was a Chocolate Chip Cookie and some Gourmet Rye Bread.

I think that's the best route to go, rather than buying the pre-made stuff. If there is one thing I learned from my low-carb reading is that refined stuff (and that includes low-carb products) is a Really Bad Idea. If you can't buy the individual ingredients in a low carb store in a store, then you shouldn't be eating the product
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  #9   ^
Old Wed, May-21-03, 10:19
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cre8tivgrl cre8tivgrl is offline
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Plan: Low carb
Stats: 20/08/00 Female 5'10"
BF:not/low/enough
Progress: 60%
Location: The great Northwest
Default

Regarless of the author's slant, a taste test by someone not following a low-carb plan is unfair in itself. If you are used to sugar laden foods, artificial sweetener is going to taste different. Look at the difference between Coke and Diet Coke.

But after not eating sugar for awhile, my diet taste like normal pop to me. In fact, if I take a drink of my husband's pop by accident (the old drive thru swap... blechky!!) it tastes like pure syrup now.

It's just another way to put down the WOE. Lets talk about the taste of rice cakes or a dried up chicken breast with nothing on it.

The author did have one point that I think is relevant. Miller Light does taste much better than Michelob Ultra, costs less and is safe carb-wise for that occassional beer. Unless you really like MU, why sacrifice?
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  #10   ^
Old Wed, May-21-03, 10:45
Angeline's Avatar
Angeline Angeline is offline
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Plan: Atkins (loosely)
Stats: -/-/- Female 60
BF:
Progress: 40%
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Default

She didn't review anything sweet, apart from some chocolates... and she was mostly focusing on texture anyway.

I loved her "level of desperation" rating for each product
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  #11   ^
Old Wed, May-21-03, 10:50
gotbeer's Avatar
gotbeer gotbeer is offline
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 280/203/200 Male 69 inches
BF:
Progress: 96%
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
Default

Bump.
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  #12   ^
Old Wed, May-21-03, 11:26
twofoofers twofoofers is offline
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Posts: 293
 
Plan: The Zone-as much as I can
Stats: 231/165/175 Female 5ft9in
BF:?,33+/24.2/22
Progress: 118%
Location: Portland, OR
Default Meaty Issues

I found this article this morning on MSN and thought I would share.

___________________________________________
Meaty Issues
Are the new low- and no-carb breads, beers, and sweets any good?
By Kelly Alexander


[ administrator edit: this article has been previously posted. Thankyou ]
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  #13   ^
Old Wed, May-21-03, 11:32
RachelC's Avatar
RachelC RachelC is offline
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Posts: 27
 
Plan: Low Carb
Stats: 160/154/140
BF:??
Progress: 30%
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Default Atkins article..

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  #14   ^
Old Wed, May-21-03, 12:35
kelsbells kelsbells is offline
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 237.5/209/150 Female 5ft 3in
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Progress: 33%
Location: Midwest
Default

Enjoyed reading the article. Thanks! Good luck on your pregnancy!
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  #15   ^
Old Wed, May-21-03, 12:38
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Christy P Christy P is offline
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Plan: Atkins/Intro
Stats: 194/186/150 Female 66 inches
BF:
Progress: 18%
Location: Long Beach
Default

Hi there,

I'd like to add a review of something yummy that I've just discovered. Doc's Hard Lemon alcoholic beverage.

REGULAR VERSION: 12 oz; 253 calories; 38 grams of carbs.

LOW CARB/LOW CALORIE VERSION: 12 oz; 165 calories; 16.5 grams of carbs, 0 fat.

I must say that the regular versions of this drink is SO sweet, I always watered it down, it was so sour!!! Now the new version is perfect, still sweet but not overboard. Just a nice cold beverage for these hot summer days. I like them as a treat!!

I'm loving these new items, and even I am amazed that they are coming out. I am happy but it's nice to finally see that the other folks are coming around. Too bad Dr. Atkins couldn't be here to see his influence on these items.

My 2 cents..........

Crysti
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