Low-Carb Could Spell Next Fast-Food Fight
 

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Low-Carb Could Spell Next Fast-Food Fight

By Deborah Cohen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Jeff Endervelt's interest in low-carbohydrate foods began as a personal quest when he experimented with the Atkins diet and spin-offs that helped him shed 20 pounds.

As chief executive of Atlanta-based Blimpie International Inc., Endervelt saw a market worth pursuing when his customers started asking for submarine sandwiches on something other than white bread.

A sandwich shop called Blimpie's might seem an unlikely destination for dieters. It is now also the only national restaurant operator testing a separate menu targeted at the low-carb, high-protein eating craze.

The Blimpie Carb Counter Menu, launched this month in parts of New York's Long Island, offers 6-inch subs with fillings like roast beef and cheddar with wasabi dressing on seven-grain bread. The sandwiches, each with only 7 to 8.5 net carb grams and lacking the white flour eschewed by low-carb adherents, can be paired with a SoBe drink and Crunchers chips from Atkins Nutritionals Inc.

While only a small minority of Americans are following low-carb, high-protein style diets, experts say interest is growing exponentially. Dedicated fare is cropping up in corner delis and unlikely spots like mass retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. . Last week H.J. Heinz Co. even introduced a low-carb ketchup made with less sugar.

"I didn't do a formal study, but I think I've known enough about the Atkins diet and the South Beach diet to know this is a wave that's coming," Endervelt told Reuters. "This is a diet that's been around for a long time. But it has caught on."

Endervelt expects to take his low-carb menu items into some 1,650 Blimpie stores nationally.

Similar experiments are turning up in California, a leader in eating trends. The private Irvine-based In-N-Out Burger caters to low-carb dieters with a bunless burger wrapped in lettuce.

Italian eatery Pasta Pomodoro Inc., another closely held West Coast chain, is selling a variety of dishes made with whole wheat or low-gluten, high-protein pastas. Wendy's International Inc., the No. 3 U.S. hamburger chain, owns 25 percent of the company.

"Every significant restaurant chain is deeply aware of the low-carb demand of its customers," said Dean Rotbart, executive editor of LowCarbiz, an Internet newsletter. But the trend is still in its infancy, he said, and bigger chains have been reluctant to join in.

Instead, in the face of rising U.S. obesity rates and threats of litigation blaming the food industry, big restaurant companies have focused on returning to more traditional health-oriented offerings such as the meal-size salads that have helped reverse McDonald's Corp.'s sagging U.S. sales in recent months.

And Blimpie's larger privately held rival Subway Restaurants has seen great success with the ad campaign featuring Jared Fogle, who said he lost 225 pounds on a steady diet of low-fat sandwiches.

UNTESTED WATERS

McDonald's, the largest restaurant company, this week tested the low-carb waters. It said it will help customers customize burgers and other foods on its fast-food menu within three dieting styles -- low fat, low calorie, and yes, low carb. The plan, dubbed "Real Life Choices," is being introduced in parts of the greater New York area in January.

The hesitation to roll out dedicated low-carb menu offerings may stem from concern about the safety of those diets. Many nutritionists still conform to the standard dietary guidelines outlined in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (news - web sites)'s food pyramid, whose base is carbohydrates. They question the stricter phases of diets like Atkins, which recommend ample quantities of protein in the form of red meat, butter and other fatty foods, in lieu of breads and starches.

"There are bits and pieces of truth in these high-protein, low-carb diets," said Samantha Heller, a nutritionist with New York University Medical Center. "It's very difficult for people to distill the difference between the truth and twist."

To date, only about 1 percent of the total U.S. population is following a low-carb diet, according to The NPD Group, a market research firm that tracks food trends.

Little research exists on the size of the market for low-carb foods. Matthew Wiant, chief marketing officer of Atkins Nutritionals Inc., estimates the amount of such products sold at retail, excluding restaurants, is roughly $2 billion, a tiny slice of America's food budget.

Wendy's, while a stakeholder in Pasta Pomodoro, said it has no immediate plans to introduce low-carb items into the menu at its mainstay stores.

"It's certainly a trend that we're well aware of," said company spokesman Bob Bertini.

Fast food is in large part responsible for the obesity epidemic, I certainly don't count on them to make things better. They are only trying to hang on to their market share.

That's true Angeline....but as long as they do it right, who cares!

I'd like to be able to have some decent choices on going out for lunch. Right now I pretty much have to bring my own food....or get a ceasar salad somewhere....and even that can be a challenge!

The way I look at it, McDonalds double cheese burgers- hold the catsup, toss the bun is the ultimate fast-food LC way to go. Regionally, in the south where I live, Micky-D's is offering a double cheese burger for 99 cents. I'll pick up three or four of them and away I go.

According to their site, the burger, sans condiments, are zero carbs.

Getting a bunless burger at Mickey Ds? Dreck! One thing the Atkins diet has taught me is that hamburger is not made from the tasty parts of the cow.

If I had to go with a bunless burger, I'd rather try Whataburger (Texas chain that will add sliced jalapenos) or at least Burger King for that flame-broiled goodness.

My personal preference for fast LC food would be Mexican. One of our local chains has rotisserie chicken meals that are pretty good -- hold the refried beans and rice. I'd even prefer a Taco Bell Supreme Gordita (eat the good stuff, leave the flatbread) to a nekkid burger patty.

I disagree that fast food is in anyway responsible for the current epidemic of obesity! I just read an article in the Sunday paper that detailed some of the latest lawsuits against fast food places. I think it is a bad idea to blame the food suppliers for an individuals obesity. People have so many choices, they can eat anywhere and nobody is forcing anyone to eat these high fat, high carb, high calorie mega meals.

I did not gain weight by eating fast food, in fact I hardly ever ate it. But I gained weight! I gained over time by eating a well balanced diet! A person can gain 10 pounds a year by only eating about 100 calories a day over what they need. Keep it up for 10 years and you have 100 extra pounds. Combine this with the prevalence of sedentary lifestyles and you end up with a lot of obese people who do not really eat that much more than they need to.

What scares me is that people want to blame the restaurants for their problems. That is just wrong. The article I read had a plaintiff who was suing because of the high fat content in the meals. So what if somebody else sues for a high carb content? Next should we sue the bakery for providing high fat/high carb birthday cakes? The restaurants should provide choices, but the bottom line is that they are going to offer the items that people want. It is simple supply and demand. It is up to the consumer to balance their diets, not the food providers.

Many people will disagree with you regarding where culpability lies. Whereas I disagree about lawsuits I still place part of the responsibility on the fast food industry. The fast food industry cannot in any way be compared to the corner bakery who is passively offering their wares to consumers. They have been much more insidious than that. Anyway I encourage you to read this article that I first saw here on this board. Here follows a small excerpt: It also makes reference to two interesting books: Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation and Greg Critser's In Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World,



here here

A restraunt that serves French Fries, Eggs, Hamburgers, and Salads...with nothing hidden in them...should not be blamed. McDonald's OTOH puts Dextrose (Pixie Stick Sugar -- Powdered Glucose) on their French Fries; Cooks their Eggs in Hydrogenated Oils; Rubs Grill Seasoning which Contains Hydrogenated Oils on their Burgers; and Shoots their Grilled Chicken (same chicken that's in their salad) up with a dozen various sugars, flavor enhancers, and hydrogenated oils...as well as a shitload of chemical preservatives.

Think of it like a Pharmacy...If a pharmacist gives you Aspirin (Salad) that's fine and not bad for you. OTOH, If he laces it with Crack (Sugar), Heroine (Hydrogenated Oils) and LSD (Flavor Enhancing Chemicals)...and doesn't tell you...For the French Fries example, lets look at a Drug Dealer. Your dealer sells you pure marijuana, you know what your getting into (fried brain cells and munchies.) But, if he laces it with Crack (Dextrose)...you have no clue what you are really consuming. Who'd even for a second think that French Fries would contain Sugar; that their "healthy" salad in fact contains dozens of sugars, hydrogenated oils, flavor enhancers (MSG), preservatives, and other deleterious substances; and that their Burger is coated with Hydrogenated Oils, which BTW some fast food joints claim is a "flavor enhancer." Sorry if I don't care for the flavor of clogged arteries !!!

Not only that cc48510, but the Fast Food industry also uses all sort of marketing tricks to increase their marketing share with the end result of making you eat more. Just look at supersizing. That practice, in itself, is responsible for portion sizes increasing to monstreous porportions across the board, from the small corner restaurant to a glass of softdrink (big gulp), to how much the average homemaker puts on the plate she serves to her family. And don't even get me started on the marketing aimed at children. It's almost as bad as the Joe Cool line of commercials aimed at getting children to start smoking.

I'm willing to give the industry benefit of the doubt in that they weren't purposely trying to make people fat. That it was just the unintended result from trying to increase their sales. But unintended or not, that's what they did.

To me it's worse! Regardless of what the hidden agenda behind Joe Camel....at least the ads weren't openly marketing to the kids. The fast food industry, on the other hand is.

Take a look at the KFC Kid's LapTop lunch. It contains chicken! But it's fried. It also contains applesauce, a side (mac & cheese is prob the most popular?) fruit roll-ups and a small drink. Now....isn't that nutritious?

Yumm...think of all that sugar! All those transfats!

The chicken tenders at Burger King have 13 g of carbs.....without dipping sauce!

How about marketing salads to the kids? HOw about "real" fruit?

Yes, the fast food industry is marketing "healthy" food that aren't. There should be regulations on what they can say is "healthy".

CindySue48, what's even worse is the garbage our schools are feeding our kids. What ever happened to the real food we used to be served?

mle_ii - I am a "lunch lady" at an elementary and you would love the food bar I prepare daily for the kids. Two fresh fruits, or one that is in light syrup, carrots and celery, wheat bread, peanut butter (and jelly), lettuce blend, cheddar cheese, grated, croutons and a vegetable (green beans, cooked carrots, sometimes corn). This is all in addition to the main entree - which are not deep fried, always baked. For a sub. for the main entree we offer yogurt as a protein. We only have low=fat milk - no pop or any sugared fruit juices. The only juice we have is for breakfast and that is apple, orange, or grape.
We have an exceptional variety of foods for the kids. But you should see what they bring from home!!! Cans of soda, packages of donuts, cookies, chips, candy - oh, and sometimes a nice sandwich. I think most of these kids pack their own lunches.
Let's face it - proper choices begin at home when a child is very small. Offer them choices of good veggies and fruit, not cookies and chips for snacks. I am so thankful that both of my daughters are teaching their kids better eating habits than I taught them - hopefully they will continue those habits through adulthood, and not end up like their Grannie and fighting obesity in their 50's!!!!!!!!

DD highschool cafeteria:

BIG plate of french fries $3
Chicken Wrap $4
Burger $6

Guess what the kids eat the most?

The fries of course!

I remember in my highschool we had the standard weekly menu, meatloaf monday, macaroni tuesday etc...
We had no junk food well not much anyway.

shari kay, I wish you were in charge at my daughter's elementry school. This isn't even close to what is served there.

Here's the menu for this week.

Monday - Turkey fries
Tuesday - Corn Dog
Wednesday - Spaghetti
Thursday - Quesadilla and a Cookie treat
Friday - Teriyaki Dippers

While I agree that some parents send junk food with them to school in that case the parent had the choice as to what they eat. But if my child wanted hot lunch or we didn't have time that morning to make it for her she would get garbage (as far as I am concerned).

Not getting on you or your schools case, but I would say that you are in the minority rather than the majority as far as school lunch is concerned.

My daughters favorite there is some dish of frito's with chili on top. Yikes!

Yup! Chilitoes -- may favorite in highschool -- and that was 30 years ago! It's been bad for a long time. We had soda machines and fast food. There was a hot plate but it was usually something like macaroni and cheese or a super-carb-filled meatloaf with mashed potatoes and corn or other carb poison. We have a long long time of bad food choices to undo in our schools and other institutions -- including hospitals, they're no better than schools.

Our program might include a mini M&M, or snack sized skittles once a month. We haven't had any in the past month. In fact, we forgot to give them out once last year and none of the kids asked for them!!!!!
We do have chicken fries, but they are baked - we also have taco's in the one form or another almost every week. I personally get sick of serving them, but the kids love them.
We get a lot of our food in our "government orders" and the burger they offer is GROSS! My boss orders from another broker and uses his allotments to buy cases of fresh fruits and veggies.
The Gov't. needs to get better at providing more nutritious foods to the school lunch programs. They do send some really great things, but also things that don't go over real well - like the abundance of asparagus they plan to give to the schools. Make that broccoli and the kids would LOVE it. When I serve that, it is gone in a flash!!
Little steps at a time are changing some things. The parent groups at the schools need to step in and tell the schools that they should remove all pop and candy machines. Let the kids get that on their own after school.
The sad thing is: ala carte items are bigger sellers than the scheduled lunch. Those big plates of fries are usually not part of the reg. lunch - plus they cost more than the gov't. mandated lunch,then the kids leave school to go home and play video games!!!!

My Schools (Elementary + Middle) Served --

Entree: Chicken Nuggets, Chicken Patty, Fish Patty, Turkey (VERY RARE,) Hamburger, Spaghetti, Tacos, Sloppy Joe, Jamaican Beef (God Only Knows What Was in That because it sure as hell wasn't beef,) Corn Dogs, Fajitas, Pork Chops (FRIED AND COVERED IN SAUCE,) or Pizza
...
Potato: Mashed Potatoes (RARE,) Tater Tots (MOST OF THE TIME,) or French Fries
...
Vegetable: Soggy Overcooked Spinach [which noone would eat]
...
Drink: Lowfat Milk
...
Desert: Fruit Juice Bar (ALMOST EVERY DAY)

Chicken Nuggets, Hamburger, Spaghetti, Sloppy Joe, Corn Dogs, and Pizza were the most common Entrees. Tater Tots (Fried Potatoes) were by and far the most common Potatoes. We only had Mashed Potatoes when we had Turkey which was VERY RARE (once a month or less). French Fries were served on occassion, but Tater Tots were the main side. The Spinach always ended up in the garbage, because almost noone would eat it [as it was overcooked and soggy.] Fresh Fruit was almost never served...and when it was, it would be Orange Slices. Fruit Juice Bars were served pretty much on a daily basis.

Breakfast is interesting. Before 3rd Grade, they actually served Eggs and breakfast meats. Sometime around 2nd or 3rd Grade, they decided to go with Cereal, which 90% of the time was Lucky Charms, Trix, or some other cereal that was loaded with sugar. Bread and Milk were always served with Breakfast. Whole Milk was available up until about 3rd Grade, when they switched over to Lowfat Milk. The first day they served Lowfat Milk I grabbed it not aware of the difference [Whole vs. Lowfat.] It was so disgusting, I didn't drink milk for years after that.

In the middle of my 3rd Grade year...they got a Salad Bar. I chose it every time, because it was the closest thing to fresh food there ever was...Unfortunately, the salad bar was dropped and never came back. I actually stopped eating Lunch in the Cafeteria about 7th Grade, because they served Sloppy Joe, Jamaican Beef, Corn Dogs, and Spaghetti [I hate Tomato Sauce and they permeated their Spaghetti in the stuff] 90% of the time. I couldn't stand any of those foods. Plus I didn't like Tater Tots. My favorite food was Turkey with mashed Potatoes...but, that was served less than once a month. So, my dad started taking me to the local Cafeteria (Morrisons/Picadilly/etc...type of place) after school to get something to eat. I'd usually get Roast Beef, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Soda, and Bread.

My HS had an open campus (only one of two schools in the county with open campuses.) That meant I could leave campus during lunch (except during Summer.) So, I would usually get fast foods as that was all I had tiime to get and get back on time. During the Summer, you weren't allowed to leave campus. The only foods served on Campus during Summer terms were Cookies, Bagels, Soda*, and Chips*. The ones with stars came from the snack machines which we had in HS and during the Summers in MS. The others were baked by school clubs who sold them to raise money for trips. After I went off to College, I stopped eating fast foods so often, and mostly ate Spaghetti, Bread, Rice, Crackers, Fruit, and Soda.

you know, for any kind of improvement in nutrition, the kids will need some appetite, which they are never going to have as long as they are taking in a few hundred calories every day of high fructose corn syrup, from drinks. few hundred? that might be conservative. BTW, when I was young, the schools had actual kitchens, where food was cooked, not just meals brought in from industrial plants. People could have dignified worthwhile jobs, add their special touches, one lady made stewed tomatoes that many of us loved - so I suppose they were all fired, so that "meals' could be made by minimum wage employees of agribiz conglomerates. Likewise voicemail, put a few switchboard operators on welfare, spend millions on the systems, a small price to pay for the opportunity to piss off everyone who phones. My, how i do go on.

This thread is interesting. You folks should read "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser (sp?). Just don't read it when you're in already in a low mood - it'll make you angry and hopeless. :exclm:

Yes, did you ever notice that when Mom decides that eating at McD's is ok is only after she realizes they now have salads? As if it's only MOM who should be eating them!?! While the kids eat the fries, shakes, etc! ACK. And yes, in the KFC ads, they say "chicken (yes breaded of course), a side..... then it SHOWS the side.... a HUGE serving of mashed potatoes and gravy!! Two itty bitty pieces of chicken, which altho they are breaded, would at least be better for the kids than all those potatoes and gravy! Then they get applesauce too--ok, fine, that's not that bad, unless it's loaded with sugar--and a fruit rollup thing on top of that! What do you suppose the kids will go for first!?

Why don't they make a lunch with the chicken strips grilled, with a nice salad and the applesauce (why not fresh fruit)? sigh.. sorry to rant and rave but the ads really bug me!

You are SO right! When I was in grammar school (many moons ago) we had REAL food--like you said--and real people who actually knew how to COOK real food! When you de-humanize every industry, you get a country full of lazy, rude people and overweight, unhealthy people. I wish more people would realize that cooking real food from scratch really isn't hard. My dream job... either teaching people to cook... or cooking real food for homeless/helpless people. Someday!

OH! Me too!!!!! They drive me crazy!!!!!

The food ads on the "news" too! Today Mr Food was making donuts out of refrigerator biscuits! OK....Mr Food has never claimed to promote healthy foods.....but still!

One day I was watching the news and one of the local food stores had a segment: "healthy Ideas" or something like that.....well, the woman on there brought out some nice white fish (yum!)....then dredged it through bread crumbs (OK, not too bad, you can lightly coat it)....then cooked it in a frying pan full of hot oil! Oh yea! That's real healthy! Of course they made a point of telling viewers to not use egg before breading....because of the extra fat!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to throw something at the TV at LEAST once a week.

The ones I get a kick out of? Hungry Man! LOL They don't care! "It's good to be full" No health comments, nothing! At least THEY'RE honest! :lol:

Greek honey doughnuts...
 

My mother used to make her version of "leukumathes" (a Greek dish consisting of balls of fried dough with honey poured over it) out of deep fried Pillsbury biscuit dough.

It was one of my favorite treats back then. (No wonder I've had weight issues since I was a kid--favorite foods? sweets, pastries, spaghetti and bread, mashed potatoes, french fries, rice--not that I didn't like my protein, but I ate too amply of these high-carb bad boys--I fact I used to fantasize about a place called Spaghettiland where everything was made out of spaghetti, because I loved it so much... btw, my other genetic background definitely has some Italian in it).

I've see those fried biscuit/donuts dipped in granulated sugar at Chinese food buffet tables. (Not that I've even dared a Chinese food buffet since I started on this diet... way too hard to navigate THOSE hidden or not-hidden carbs).

Yes, they do make great tasting, albeit VERY unhealthy doughnuts.

LC doughnuts? I suppose, with the right LC bread or baking mix.

:doah: Doooo - nuts!

I think the biggest culprit is SODA! Go anywhere and you will see kids drinking it--empty calories, sugar galore.

I just heard a news report that children are now showing up with low bone density and they are blaming the fact that they don't get enough dairy! I almost laughed outloud! All that soda is the reason for the low bone density. When they drink the soda, their body can't absorb the calcium and it just takes what it needs from the bones.

I was thinking for years that when this generation of kids grows up, they will all have osteoporosis and it is already headed that way.

Get the soda out of the schools and make it less attractive for kids and maybe we can save them.

I remember as a child getting a Coke at a soda fountain and it was served in a 6 oz glass. Now you can barely find one under 16 oz and some places serve up to 42 oz in one huge cup.

Atrsy