Absolutely Lessara,

Once of the things which I find most disturbing about Atkins (in it's current form), is the emphasis on all the carbs substitutes. More and more low-carb products are coming out. Lots of these products are loaded with chemicals. The whole situation reminds me of when all the low-fat products first started coming out. In retrospect, I am sure everyone agrees that we would have been much better off health-wise staying with the original full-fat products than switching over to the chemical cocktails that now passes itself off as food.

The real problem with the Americans way of eating is not even carbs, it's their culturally-induced food preferences. Americans, as a whole, aren't particularily picky on quality, so long as it's abundant, cheap, filling and fast. As for taste, sugar will cover a multitude of flavor sins. If it's got sugar in in, it will do. Everyone who arrives for the first time in the USA will tell you that everything tastes sweet.

I think that's what caused the obesity epidemic. The food industry started out with this cultural prefence, and through aggressive marketing actually expanded it and eventually shaped American's food preferences. They have shaped people's expectation of what food should be. They have created a environnement where, outside the home, there is little room for anything else but fast food.

Last summer I had an American friend come and visit me in Montreal for a few days. One of the first thing he noticed was the amazing availability of affordable restaurants Montreal offers. For a few dollar more than the cost of a burger and fry, you can pick among a wealth of good restaurants; greek, japanese, indian, french, italian ect... those are just the ones near my work place. He commented that he would never feel the need to eat in a fast food restaurant if he was to live here. In fact I have not set foot in a McDonald, Burger King, KFC for years.

As Tassara pointed out, low-carb food can become a crutch. Replacing sugar with splenda does not wean you from liking sugary food. Replacing high-carb bread products with low-carb version of it does not teach you to cut down on the amount of refined man-made product in your diet. In fact, it only encourages you to eat more of it. If you know something is high-carb, you might rightly consider it a special treat and therefore keep the portion small.

Recently I've read a book called The Fat Fallacy : The french diet secrets to permanent weight loss by Dr Will Clower. You ought to give the book a look. It might open your eyes on what is wrong with the way Americans eat.... and it's not just too many carbs.