Low-carb diet? Fat chance, say stodge loving Kiwis


SUNDAY , 25 JANUARY 2004

By MEGAN NICOL-REED
Give us this day our daily bread. Indeed give us our rice, our potatoes and our pasta, too.

Across America and the UK, Atkins diet disciples are purging their lives and their cupboards of the cursed carb.

But rather than follow in their newly svelte steps, increased bread, pasta and rice sales show Kiwis are continuing to embrace starchy foods with abandon.

It is easy to see the appeal of a diet that eschews fruit and bran flakes for breakfast in favour of bacon and eggs.

While reliable estimates are yet to be made for Australia and New Zealand, published figures suggest anywhere between 25 and 50 million Americans have leapt on the Atkins bandwagon, and more than 3m Britons are avoiding stodge.

The Atkins diet appeared in 1972 and rocketed in popularity in the late 1990s with celebrities reported to be devout converts.

The basic tenets of the diet are to control the intake of carbohydrates, avoid refined carbs - like sugar and white flour - eat a balance of fats, and a variety of protein sources, such as red meat, fish, poultry, eggs and tofu.

The diet remains controversial. The widow of founder Dr Robert Atkins yesterday demanded that New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg apologise for calling the late diet guru fat. Veronica Atkins said she was "sick and tired of my husband being always maligned and his life's work being trivialised".

And in America, at once a nation of over-eaters and professional dieters, there is talk of an Atkins economy.

Restaurant menus increasingly flaunt low-carb offerings. Since December last year, restaurant chain TGI Friday has offered diners a separate Atkins-approved menu.

And there are some 200 low-carb concept food stores across America, with fast-food chain Burger King even announcing the arrival of the "bunless" burger.

Producers of traditionally carbo-loaded goods are reported to be suffering. Even in Britain, where plates of white bread, thinly sliced and margarined, are the essential culinary accompaniment, bakers are concerned.

In June 2003, the British Federation of Bakers said bread sales had fallen 2 per cent a year since the Atkins book was reprinted in 1997.

In the US, the newly formed National Bread Leadership Council telephone polled a random sample of 1000 adults and found that 40 per cent of respondents had reduced their bread consumption in the past year.

Conversely, the diet has been a boon for some industries.

In America, eggs, cheese and bacon sales are up, and the beef industry, after a generation-long decline, is experiencing a 10% turnaround in consumption.

But in New Zealand sales of carbohydrate-based foods have increased. AC Nielsen figures show that during 2003, $315m worth of bread was sold - or 163m loaves - a 2.9 per cent increase on 2002. Kiwis spent $164m on breakfast cereals - almost 8 per cent more than in 2002. Our rice consumption was up by 3.10 per cent, and we bought 14m packets of pasta, up 2.4 per cent on 2002.

Will we be seeing a low-carb aisle at the local supermarket any time soon, then? Not likely, say the CEOs of Foodstuffs (New World, Pak 'N Save, Write Price, Four Square) and Progressive Enterprises (Woolworths, Foodtown, Price Chopper, Countdown). Neither was even familiar with the Atkins diet.

And will restaurants be serving filet mignon "sans" spuds? Not really, says Celia Hay of Hay's Restaurant in Christchurch. "I'd generally say New Zealanders are not so well-versed in diets."

How about in Auckland, home to some of the country's swankiest restaurants? Michael James, executive chef at the Viaduct's Euro and Pasha restaurants and Wellington's Shed 5, says if restaurants are serving low-carb meals, it is not a response to the Atkins craze.

"I know a lot of people in the restaurant industry are on the diet. That's all you ever hear - no carbs, no carbs, no carbs! But as a rule I don't think it's a reflection of New Zealanders. We have such healthy diets anyway."

Amanda Morris, head chef at Rice restaurant in downtown Auckland, says: "I'd never change my menu for a diet fad.

"If you did that, this month it'd be one thing, and next it'd be another."

Is it just that we're behind the times? Dietitian Jeni Pearce thinks not. "Although New Zealanders are interested in taking on new things, I think we are generally more sensible in our approach. We can pick and choose, and do."

30+ years is a "fad" diet?!?!?!

Interesting story!

I don't blame Mrs. Atkins for getting upset with the mayor. I'm sure she's also upset that Mr. Bloomberg apparently said that there was a coverup, too, as to Dr. Atkins' cause of death!

N.