Twelve Black Code Monkeys

This article, published by the Manchester Times, derides low-carb products:

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1614&dept_id=516591&newsid=10826770&PAG=461&rfi=9

The main thing I take issue with in this article is the author’s obsession with calories. We have been told over and over again by the old guard nutritionists that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. But the human body is not a test tube. It is an extremely complex metabolic mechanism that isn’t simply an equation of calories in vs. calories out. Do calories matter? Yes. Are they the end all and be all of nutrition? No. Recent studies have shown that the distribution of calories matter. People eating a restricted carbohydrate regime have been shown to lose a similar amount of weight as those on other types of eating plans but while eating 300 more calories per day. To me this indicates that it’s not as simple as calories in vs. calories out. According to Dr. Atkins, this is from reaching a state called ketosis where the body breakes down fat and actually excretes some of it without using it. According to Drs Eadeses (authors of Protein Power), it is at least partially due to the fact that protein takes a considerable amount of energy to digest, thus decreasing the net energy (caloric) gain from eating it. Whatever the case is, calories are not the main focus of low-carb plans. This isn’t mentioned in the article. Perhaps the author disagrees with the premise, but if so he states no argument as to why.

That being said, I will say that I agree with him in spirit in a sense. Although companies are starting to try to make products that are low in carbs, many are doing this by adding ingredients that are artificial, and not very pleasant tasting. A few years ago before the onslaught of all these new products, those of us eating low-carb were hard-pressed to not eat in a more natural way. Most of what you could buy at the grocery store was high in carbs except for animal products, nuts, seeds, veggies a few fruits - in other words natural, whole foods. Sure there was protein powder and protein bars, but for the most part, the foods that were available were those people were eating 200 years ago. Now that there are so many low-carb foods out there, there’s much more temptation to simply continue to eat the same foods, but just with their low-carb varieties. Even labeled “low-carb,” these products still have enough carbs to where if you have them at every meal, they will quickly swallow up your daily allotment (usually anywhere from 30-60g per day). Because of this there is precious room left for the highly nutrative vegetables and fruits one could be eating instead.

In the kitchen, there are ways of simulating things that are normally high in carbs with items that aren’t. One very popular dish amongst low-carbers is mashed cauliflower. I have tried this myself a few times and it is extraordinarily easy and tastes very much like what it is meant to replace - mashed potatoes. Yet it is high in nutrition and has no artificial stuff at all. All you do is put a head of cauliflower in a blender or food processor with 1/4 cup of butter, heavy cream, yogurt, or sour cream, puree it, and add some salt. Some people get fancy and add cheese to the fix, or other spices, but that’s not necessary.

I have nothing against these low-carb food-products as an occasional treat, but I think there is a great potential for them to be abused, especially when people don’t know a whole lot about nutrition and are just jumping onto a low-carb diet because they’ve heard they can lose a lot of weight really fast and still eat lots of fatty foods. And now that they see they can “have their cake and eat it too,” well, that just seals it for them!