Low-Carb Diets Trim Waistline, Expand Food Bill
Supermarket Guru Suggests Food Substitutions

POSTED: 10:09 a.m. EDT May 10, 2004

If you're going low-carb on either the Atkins or South Beach diet, you'd better have a fat wallet.

That's the advice from supermarket guru Phil Lempert, who helps ACNielsen track food trends.

He said they've calculated that if you stick to the recommended ingredients and portion sizes for a week, you'll pay close to $100 on the Atkins low-carbohydrate diet and a little over $91 on the South Beach diet. Compare that to the $59 a week that the Food Marketing Institute says the average single person spends on food.

Lempert said going low-carb means you'll be eating a lot of protein and a lot of fresh meats and fish, as opposed to rice, sugar, grains and other foods that cost less. Plus, there are special low-carb brands and packaged foods that also tend to be pricey.

The cost is an important issue since 17.2 percent of Americans told Nielsen they're currently on a low-carb regimen, and the numbers have been growing.

To curb the costs of a low-carb regimen, Lempert suggests substituting salmon and other high-priced fish with chicken breast or tofu. He also suggested buying frozen fish rather than fresh -- and the same holds true for expensive fruits, like blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.

Substituting canola oil for extra virgin olive oil and using less expensive herbs and spices can also cut costs.

http://www.ksat.com/money/3287314/detail.html

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I know this is a subject which has come up before and a lot of people here have said that they do find low carbing more expensive.

I have found the opposite and spend far less now, possibly because I always bought the same amounts of meat, fish, fruit, vegetables etc, but with added 'junk' on top. Now that I no longer buy the junk, my bill is cheaper.