Katt, it might give you some hope to know that a lot of restaurants here took a long time to get on the LF bandwagon, too. In my opinion, it's a lot easier to produce a low-carb menu than a low-fat.

It sure would be nice to see a low carb restaraunt, like a juicy burger on a soy bun....low carb pasta---->Ready made...it would be GREAT to stop in a place after work and order everything your heart desires and not worry about cooking. I work at a restaraunt as a waitress for a second job, YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE THE PEOPLE LCING!!!! I am baffled, so as a waitress being an LCER....I always have the remedy for them....as a matter of fact the cooks are learning to make some wonderful sweets for these customers and I am trying to get them to cook the breads and pastas....and freeze them...then put it all on the menu.

I am still working on it, the cooks are always complaining...."too many people are doing the Atkins thing...we need a new menu just for them"

I'm amazed that both fast-food and regular restaurant have not begun offering LC choices before now.

Ruby Tuesday has a new LC menu, but they, like KFC, didn't do their homework - the cauliflower has hydrogenated margarine in it and the steak marinates have a ton of sugar (enough to add 5 carbs to a steak ). I emailed them about this - it appears they assume as KFC does that as long as it is LC, people will eat it.

If there is an entrepreneur reading this - there is a huge market waiting to be tapped - suitable LC prepared food - both 'heat & eat' from the grocer and in restaurants - for LCers. About a fourth of the people in every adult organization I belong to is using an LC WOE of some sort either to lose weight or for helath reasons (mostly Type II diabetics) and I don't think my friends are a lot different from others in the US (not sure if this applies to other areas). I hear LCers complaining regularly that they have to cook all the time because suitable choices aren't available in the 'heat & eat" items at the grocery store or at restaurants.

Although a quick dinner is nice sometimes, I have found that one of the things I like best about this WOL is that it forces me to get off my lazy butt and start preparing good meals. It was too easy in the past to throw a pizza in the oven or boil some pasta, so those became all too often dinner choices. My family deserves better than that. I grew up fat due in no small part to the vast quantities of mac and cheese that my mom fed me because it was easy and I liked it. I have vowed that none of my children will have to follow in my footsteps and suffer the pains of being the picked on chubby kid.

The other day my daughter won student of the week in her first grade class. The teacher does a little poster with a few facts about the student and hangs it up in the classroom for the week. When asked what her favorite food was, she responded mac and cheese. My daughter absolutely despises mac and cheese ever since she got a bad batch of it from Outback Steakhouse and it made her sick. She said this because she thought the other kids would make fun of her if she admitted that her favorite foods were bloody rare steaks and guacamole. I just hope that I can ingrain healthy eating habits in here strongly enough before she reaches the age where peer pressure starts to effect her more strongly than my advice.

While home-cooked meals are certainly best, the reality for many is that they are working parents - many of them single working parents - that don't have enough hours in the day to cook such meals. I know when I was raising my son alone and working 10 to 12 hours a day much of the time, we had to eat fast-food, restaurant food, store-deli food or nuke & serve a lot. It was the only way to have time to eat and still do laundry, homework, baths, hockey practice, etc. I have a feeling some here can relate - most who can relate don't have time to be here.

I find it funny that one person is saying the salad is the problem, so people actually eat that junk? I always throw that away.

The problem with KFC is that you can FEEL the pounds adding on to your body. Calling it a low carb alternative because it is chicken is ludicrous. if they really were interested in people's health they'd sell the chicken without the bread or skin, but they know it wouldn't taste that special without that stuff.

I found a very good frozen lc food selection, food bowls by Chef's Choice. The ingredients are relatively wholesome and they taste very good. I would highly recommend them.

Secondly there is a brand of frozen pre-cooked hamburger patties that are really great. Made by Smithfield, they are delicious and quick with no nasty ingredients.

If you are doing Atkins, you want the skin. It is the white flour breading that we want to avoid. Actually, I have cheated with the chicken but I didn't inhale. Actually, I will remove a portion of the breading ( not all ) and I have just one thigh.I have no problems with KFC

I used to work at a KFC and the chicken is NOT fried in shortning or oils it is PREASURE COOKED!!! so it is cooked in all it's own natural oils. That would be why it has less carbs than a normal fried drumstick.

My wife and I were in the Las Vegas area a few months ago, and went to a Carl's Jr., something that apparently is a West-Coast phenomena only. We ordered a pair of "six-dollar" burgers wrapped in lettuce. Not bad, and LC-enough to satisfy two people who hadn't eaten in 9 hours [jet-lag etc. Nothing LC on airplane food these days - AND YOU HAVE TO BUY IT!]

My only worries about all of this is that the bandwagon is allowing EVERY food business to claim it's "LC" when all they are doing is touting the lowest carb count food they have pretty much always had, leave out the buns/bread, and you get a number you MIGHT accept, but it's not really what you would chose in a home-food situation more carefully chosen.

Now they have beer commercials ("All light-beers" are LC"). Where does it end?

cjl (one gram packets of sugar have LESS THAN TWO GRAMS of carbs!)

yeah its correct.

karthik bala guru

frying it in oil or cooking it in its own juices doesnt effect the carb count. Just the calorie count and fat content.

Oils have no carbs, breading does.

I dunno. We make burgers here at home with our favorite condiments (mustard, mayo, pickles, tomato) and wrap them in lettuce. We eat at Carl's at least once a week--it's convenient and it's cheap when we're in town. You can order any sandwich you want 'protein-wrapped'. Unless I'm super starved (9 hours without food would do it for me, too, LOL) I can't even eat one of those $6 LC burgers.

Oh, and Carl's Jr. is Hardee's east of the Rockies.

Thanks, Lila. I've been trying to remember that one. My parents are currently travelling in the east and Mom complained that there were no Carl's to eat at. I knew there was an eastern version, they're talked about a lot on this forum, but I couldn't remember the name for the life of me. I just sent an email to Mom to let her know. So now, if I could remember the name of the eastern version of Best Foods mayonnaise, I'd send that one to her also.

Would the eastern version of Best Foods mayo be Hellmans?

Beth