Re: Coming to a market near you, low-carb food products

[Guest guest]

All I can say to this is that if I had to get diabetes I'm glad I got it now

rather than years ago. It just seems that it is a lot easier finding lower

carb foods to eat at this point.

The only problem is that you still have to be careful what you get as it

seems to me that a lot of the lower carb foods are higher in fat and

calories. I have to watch my weight as well as my glucose level.

Les

[alldiabeticinternational] Coming to a market near you,

low-carb food products

Coming to a market near you, low-carb food products

By BEV BENNETT

This first of two columns on low-carbohydrate diets takes a look at the

new low-carbohydrate food products introduced at the recent Chicago FMI

Show, sponsored by the Food Marketing Institute. The next column will

discuss the pros and cons of processed low-carbohydrate foods.)

If you haven't seen a low-carbohydrate formulation of your favorite

processed food, just wait. Manufacturers are producing low-carbohydrate

versions of everything from yogurt to pretzels. And no wonder. This is a

multibillion-dollar business, with 75 percent of Americans aware of

low-carbohydrate diets and between 15 to 45 million consumers (depending

on the statistics you read) following a low-carbohydrate regimen.

Whether a low-carbohydrate diet, especially one based on processed

foods, can be effective in weight control is debatable, and no one knows

whether consumers will sustain their interest in low-carbohydrate diets.

People adopt a particular diet because it's easy and they can eat the

foods they like and talk to their friends about their eating habits,

according to Harry Balzer, a vice president of the NPD Group, a market

information provider, based in Port Washington, N.Y.

Low-carbohydrate diets certainly have a buzz. And the routine will

become easier as more foods tailored to the diet become available.

Here are some of the more interesting low-carbohydrate foods that are

coming to your supermarket.

Guiltless Gourmet, makers of baked low-fat tortilla chips, now has

Guiltless Gourmet Baked Guiltless Carbs snack chips. The chips boast a

6-gram " effective carb count, " which is determined by subtracting

dietary fiber from total carbohydrates. The chips are also high in

protein, with 16 grams of protein per serving. Salsa Verde, Southwestern

Ranch and Three Pepper chips come in 1-ounce or 3.5-ounce bags.

Yoplait Ultra yogurt from General Mills has only 5 grams of sugar, 8

grams of carbohydrates and 90 calories per 6-ounce container. The yogurt

comes in Strawberry Creme, Peach Creme, Blueberry Creme and Raspberry

Creme flavors.

Coca-Cola C2, from the Coca-Cola Co., has half the sugar, carbohydrates

and calories - 45 per serving - of regular colas.

Snyder's of Hanover remakes the traditionally high-carbohydrate pretzel

into Carb-Fix Pretzel Nibblers with 50 percent fewer net carbohydrates.

Each serving of Pretzel Nibblers or Pretzels sticks has 9 grams of fiber

and 5 grams of protein.

General Mills, makers of such foods as packaged mashed potatoes,

refrigerated rolls, canned soups and ground-beef kits, introduces its

Carb Monitor line. The products, which are higher in dietary fiber than

the conventional line, include Betty Crocker Carb Monitor Roasted Garlic

Mashed Potatoes with 27 percent fewer net carbohydrates. There's also

Hamburger Helper Carb Monitor Cheeseburger Macaroni.

Progresso Carb Monitor Soups include Chicken Vegetable, Beef Vegetable,

Tuscan-Style Meatball, Chicken Cheese Enchilada Style and Roasted Turkey

Vegetable. Carb Monitor frozen dinner rolls contain flax seed and millet

that provide texture and dietary fiber for 50 percent fewer net

carbohydrates.

Kraft Foods also has a variety of new low-carbohydrate foods under the

CarbWell label. Condiments include CarbWell BBQ Sauce, A.1 CarbWell

Steak Sauce and Kraft CarbWell Salad Dressings in Ranch, Italian, Blue

Cheese and Classic Caesar flavors. Post CarbWell Cinnamon Crunch and

Golden Crunch breakfast cereals claim to have 50 percent of the net

carbohydrates of leading cereals.

Snackwell's cookies, an icon of the low-fat diets of the '90s, are

available as a low-carbohydrate product under Kraft's CarbWell line. The

cookies in Fudge Brownie, Fudge Striped and Fudge Graham varieties have

9 or less net carbohydrates and 120 calories or less per serving.

The American Italian Pasta Co. offers reduced-carbohydrate pastas under

the Mueller's, Golden Grain, R&F, Ronco, Martha Gooch, Luxury and

brands. The brands have been reformulated to contain 19 net

grams of carbohydrates per serving, about half the usual.

The low-carbohydrate pasta products are higher in protein and dietary

fiber than the typical pastas as well.

Atkins Endulge Super Premium Ice Cream keeps its net carbohydrate count

to a low 3 grams per 1/2-cup serving. However, the ice cream isn't low

in fat.

Each serving provides about 6 grams of saturated fat, a third of what

you should limit yourself to in a day. The ice cream flavors include

Vanilla Fudge Swirl, Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl, Chocolate, Butter

Pecan, Vanilla, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Mint Chocolate Chip and Vanilla

Swiss Almond.

Sara Lee Delightful White Bakery Bread has 25 percent fewer

carbohydrates and 25 percent fewer calories than its Classic White

Bakery Bread. Each slice of bread has 45 calories and 9 grams of

carbohydrates.

[Guest guest]

>

> Coming to a market near you,

> low-carb food products

> By BEV BENNETT

>

> If you haven't seen a

> low-carbohydrate formulation

> of your favorite processed

> food, just wait. Manufacturers

> are producing low-carbohydrate

> versions of everything from

> yogurt to pretzels. And no

> wonder. This is a multibillion-

> dollar business, ...

I agree wholeheartedly with that

" no wonder " statement, Marilyn!

What a magnificent scam!

Nothing would persuade me to put

any of that multibillion dollar

junk food in my mouth.

Not a word is lost in the article

about what else is being thrown

out with the carbohydrates.

It is very hard for an outsider

to believe that up to 45 million

Americans are being taken in by

that stuff in these days of

nutritional enlightenment. There

is nothing whatever for a diabetic

to gain from eating processed

food anyway; trying to make

multibillions of dollars by

fooling them into thinking that

they can live off it is doing one

better than selling refrigerators

to eskimos.

Marilyn, all I can do is sit back

and wait to see what those

45 million Americans will look

like in 20 years from now!