4beans4me
Wed, Dec-22-04, 06:46
Counter balance
By Gwen Schoen, Sacramento Bee
Chocolate candy and almond cookies, fettuccine and cinnamon raisin bread, bagels and candy bars. These are some of the favorite things dieters dream about unless they're on a low-carb diet.
So who cares about calories? You can eat your fill as long as it's low carb, right?
"Those Russell Stover candies are a godsend," says Phyllis Powers of Arden Park, Calif., referring to the candymaker's low-carb treats.
"I really like desserts, and for me, giving up sweets is the tough part of low-carb dieting. Then I discovered Russell Stover low-carb candies, and that was the best thing that ever hit the market. I couldn't have made it without them. I'd eat two packages a day."
Like many low-carb dieters, Powers, who has lost 28 pounds, says she doesn't keep track of calories. "That's the beauty of low-carb," she says.
For some dieters, counting carbs works. For others, who load their diet with high-fat meals of steaks, butter, cheese and bacon and then top them off with low-carb candies and snacks without keeping track of calories taking off pounds remains a bloated challenge.
"The bottom line is: Calories still count and they always will," says registered dietitian Judy Fields.
"To gain a pound of fat, you have to eat 3,500 more calories than you need," says Fields, owner of the Nutrition for You store in Fair Oaks, Calif. "It doesn't matter whether those calories come from protein, fat or carbohydrates. If you eat more calories than you need, you will gain weight."
And that, says Fields, is the big problem with low-carb products in grocery stores and the like.
Susie and Vince Leone of Elk Grove, Calif., also have embraced the trendy low-carb diets. Like Powers, the main attraction for them was not having to keep track of all of those calories.
"We'd go out for brunch and have a 12- or 16-ounce steak, three eggs and, instead of toast, we'd have salads with ranch dressing," says Susie Leone. "Those Russell Stover candies, we bought those right and left. They were so good we ate a couple of them a day. We were loving it, and we never paid attention to the calories because on Atkins, you just count carbs."
According to the Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., as long as an Atkins follower loses some weight, there is really no need to count calories. However, if the dieters are unable to lose weight or if they begin to see signs of gaining weight, it is recommended that they closely monitor their calorie consumption as well as carbs.
According to research by Information Resources, Inc., which monitors consumer trends, low-carb brands have grown from nonexistent to $1.1 billion nationwide in less than two years. Nearly 80 percent of that has been snack foods.
Coca-Cola came out with C2, a low-carb version of its Classic Coke. Russell Stover added low-carb candy. Even familiar items now carry "low-carb" labels.
Mayonnaise, for example, is basically just fat with no carbohydrates. Now Kraft has a label which points that out never mind that the mayonnaise has 100 calories per tablespoon.
This flood of those low-carb foods on the market concerns health experts, such as Fields. She worries that dieters will count carbs and ignore the fact that some of these products are just as high in calories as the traditional versions.
The Russell Stover candies that Powers enjoys are 140 calories but just 0.2 net carbs per ounce. A traditional Heath candy bar, which is similar, is 140 calories and 16 carbs per ounce. A carb-counting dieter could justify two Heath bars a day because they'd still keep their carb count down to less than one.
"There's nothing wrong with eating these new low-carb products as long as you include them in your whole calorie plan," says Annette Dreith, a dietitian and diabetes educator at Med Clinic Medical Group in Sacramento, Calif. "The main problem I see is that they are non-food' they have little or no nutritional value. Many of these items do not even taste good."
http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2004/12/22/feature/doc41c8a66cc8b16058353983.txt
By Gwen Schoen, Sacramento Bee
Chocolate candy and almond cookies, fettuccine and cinnamon raisin bread, bagels and candy bars. These are some of the favorite things dieters dream about unless they're on a low-carb diet.
So who cares about calories? You can eat your fill as long as it's low carb, right?
"Those Russell Stover candies are a godsend," says Phyllis Powers of Arden Park, Calif., referring to the candymaker's low-carb treats.
"I really like desserts, and for me, giving up sweets is the tough part of low-carb dieting. Then I discovered Russell Stover low-carb candies, and that was the best thing that ever hit the market. I couldn't have made it without them. I'd eat two packages a day."
Like many low-carb dieters, Powers, who has lost 28 pounds, says she doesn't keep track of calories. "That's the beauty of low-carb," she says.
For some dieters, counting carbs works. For others, who load their diet with high-fat meals of steaks, butter, cheese and bacon and then top them off with low-carb candies and snacks without keeping track of calories taking off pounds remains a bloated challenge.
"The bottom line is: Calories still count and they always will," says registered dietitian Judy Fields.
"To gain a pound of fat, you have to eat 3,500 more calories than you need," says Fields, owner of the Nutrition for You store in Fair Oaks, Calif. "It doesn't matter whether those calories come from protein, fat or carbohydrates. If you eat more calories than you need, you will gain weight."
And that, says Fields, is the big problem with low-carb products in grocery stores and the like.
Susie and Vince Leone of Elk Grove, Calif., also have embraced the trendy low-carb diets. Like Powers, the main attraction for them was not having to keep track of all of those calories.
"We'd go out for brunch and have a 12- or 16-ounce steak, three eggs and, instead of toast, we'd have salads with ranch dressing," says Susie Leone. "Those Russell Stover candies, we bought those right and left. They were so good we ate a couple of them a day. We were loving it, and we never paid attention to the calories because on Atkins, you just count carbs."
According to the Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., as long as an Atkins follower loses some weight, there is really no need to count calories. However, if the dieters are unable to lose weight or if they begin to see signs of gaining weight, it is recommended that they closely monitor their calorie consumption as well as carbs.
According to research by Information Resources, Inc., which monitors consumer trends, low-carb brands have grown from nonexistent to $1.1 billion nationwide in less than two years. Nearly 80 percent of that has been snack foods.
Coca-Cola came out with C2, a low-carb version of its Classic Coke. Russell Stover added low-carb candy. Even familiar items now carry "low-carb" labels.
Mayonnaise, for example, is basically just fat with no carbohydrates. Now Kraft has a label which points that out never mind that the mayonnaise has 100 calories per tablespoon.
This flood of those low-carb foods on the market concerns health experts, such as Fields. She worries that dieters will count carbs and ignore the fact that some of these products are just as high in calories as the traditional versions.
The Russell Stover candies that Powers enjoys are 140 calories but just 0.2 net carbs per ounce. A traditional Heath candy bar, which is similar, is 140 calories and 16 carbs per ounce. A carb-counting dieter could justify two Heath bars a day because they'd still keep their carb count down to less than one.
"There's nothing wrong with eating these new low-carb products as long as you include them in your whole calorie plan," says Annette Dreith, a dietitian and diabetes educator at Med Clinic Medical Group in Sacramento, Calif. "The main problem I see is that they are non-food' they have little or no nutritional value. Many of these items do not even taste good."
http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2004/12/22/feature/doc41c8a66cc8b16058353983.txt