http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/...rb15.a0463.html


Low carbs catching on

As food manufacturers are tapping into dieters' dollars, some people are
issuing warnings

01:21 PM PST on Monday, March 15, 2004
By CARLA WHEELER / The Press-Enterprise

If you don't eat like one, chances are you know one or love one.
They're the folks who push away the bowl of mashed potatoes at Sunday supper, turn up their noses when someone passes the bread or look terrified when the gang orders pizza.

They're the ubiquitous low-carbers, a new economic superpower of up to 59 million Americans who count, trim or drastically cut carbohydrates from their diets to lose weight.

Besides controlling carbs, they're fueling a health debate among doctors, dietitians and nutritionists. They also are starting to control what's sold at supermarkets and restaurants - from low-carb tortillas to beer and potato chips to pancakes - in an industry expected to fatten from $15 billion in revenues last year to $25 billion by the end of 2004.

Locally, businesses catering to the low-carb clientele are popping up everywhere, from a new Low Carb Warehouse Sugar Free Store in Redlands to the Diet Delicious shop in Murrieta that opened last year.

Shoppers at these stores - and guests ordering off the Atkins-approved menu at T.G.I. Friday's restaurants - love to boast that they're "low carbing" or "living la vida low carb," as if they themselves stumbled upon the skinny elixir or the fountain of thin. In truth, the first low-carb diet appeared in the 1800s - eons before trendy diets such as Atkins and South Beach.

"Low carb is not new by any stretch of the imagination. ... (But) this time around, it has found its place, and it has taken a much stronger footing," said registered dietitian Lauren Swann of Concept Nutrition Inc. in Bensalem, Pa. "It's been an increasing mania."

Usually cutting-edge, California caught the craze late - just like many large companies such as Frito-Lay and Coors, which are just now rolling out low-carb merchandise.

"It's kind of a phenomenon, (but) they were slow on the draw by four years," said Larry Wascovich, who owns Vitamins-N-More The Low Carb Shop in Corona, Chino and La Verne.

Wascovich said the trend started in Florida and moved west. He said he started selling more products such as low-carbohydrate pasta and milk about a year and a half ago as people on diets such as Atkins demanded substitutes to replace higher-carb foods.

Otherwise, low-carb dieting "becomes monotonous" for people, Wascovich said. "They fall off the wagon."

Liz Johnson, 44, of Riverside, began to go bunless six months ago at Carl's Jr. restaurant on Market Street in Riverside. Since then, she has shed 25 pounds.
As people around her eat sandwiches demurely covered with bread, the mother of two shamelessly bites into a hamburger smothered with mayo, onions, tomatoes and cheese wrapped only in lettuce leaves.
"Now they taste funny to me with a bun," said Johnson, an Atkins diet devotee who used to custom-order bunless hamburgers until Carl's added the Low Carb $6 Burger to its menu late last year. "I don't even like french fries anymore. French fries taste like cardboard."

Swelling numbers

Some nutritionists warn that cutting too many carbs will trim important nutrients from the diet. But more Americans continue to test the low-carb math. They want to see if subtracting 51 grams of carbs by saying "no thanks" to a baked potato will, over time, add up to squeezing into a smaller pair of jeans.
About 42 million adults now exercise more control over the carbs they eat, cutting back at least somewhat on starchy and sugary foods, says a survey by the Valen Group, a Cincinnati consulting and marketing firm.
The company estimates that an additional 17 million adults stick to a specific low-carbohydrate plan such as the Atkins, South Beach, Zone or Sugar Busters diets. However, a study last summer by the NPD Group, a market-research firm, says the number is closer to 10 million.

Weightier findings from the Valen Group show that an additional 40 million people are thinking of reducing the amount of carbs they eat within the next 12 months.

But as the number of foods marketed to this new carbohydrate-conscious dieter multiplies wildly to include low-carb chocolates, pretzels and pizza, Swann says, "It's almost starting to scare me."
Low-fat revolt

What alarms some health professionals about low-carb diets turns out to be one of the main catalysts for people going low carb: These dieters had failed miserably on plans that emphasized low-fat foods.

That could happen again with low carb, Swann says.
"Low fat was the diet craze in the '90s. What happened was, it didn't work. The country got fatter," said Daisy Whitney, editorial director of LowCarbiz, a Denver-based industry newsletter for low-carb businesses.

This low-fat diet backlash coincided with news that the number of obese Americans has almost doubled in the past decade to 59 million.
People who failed on low-fat programs gave Dr. Robert C. Atkins' controversial theories another look. They liked the message - first presented in his 1972 book, "Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution" - that meat and fat do not make you fat; carbs do. They read that low-fat "no no's" such as thick steaks, cheese and butter keep hunger pangs at bay.

New bests-sellers such as "The South Beach Diet" and "Good Carbs, Bad Carbs" refined Atkins' theory, reminding people to eat low-fat cheeses, choose leaner meats (such as chicken without the skin) and include "good" carbs (such as whole-grain breads) in their diet.

Ken Stanley, 63, of Corona, said he decided that the South Beach Diet was a better way to go than Atkins.
"I've lost 40 pounds and four inches off my waist," he said. "I'm out buying new clothes. My pants are getting too long for me."
Swann and Whitney point out that the low-fat diet was not the sole culprit. What went wrong was that people ate too many high-carb and low-fat foods, they said.

People piled heaps of pasta and rice on their plates and dipped their hands into the low-fat cookie jar too many times.
"A lot of people thought you could eat 10 Snackwells per day," Whitney said. The calorie count for those cookies would be 490 or nearly a third of the calories most women can handle a day without putting on weight.
Whitney's example raises a key question: Will people also overindulge in low-carb snacks, saving little room for pears, green beans and other "good" carbs?
Don't forget nutrition

Whitney said low-carb food manufacturers must remind people to police their eating habits because low carb still means portion control.
"To succeed, low carb can't make the same mistake as low fat," she said.
Moderation, balance and exercise are crucial, said Dr. Steven Wilson, a bariatric (weight-loss) physician at In Your Best Interest Medical Clinic in Redlands. He has recommended low-carbohydrate diets to his obese patients for more than 10 years.

With fewer carbs to draw on for energy, the body starts to burn fat. The process is called ketosis, Wilson said. People also will be less ravenous if they cut back on sugary and starchy carbs, which make us hungry again sooner, he added.

Many low-carb advocates use the controversial glycemic index to govern some food choices. Foods high on the index, such as yellow corn, cause rapid spikes and then declines in blood sugar. These fluctuations spark hunger pangs, leading to a cycle of overeating, said Dr. Arthur Agatston, author of "The South Beach Diet."

Wilson advises clients to steer clear of foods high in saturated fat, such as bacon. He also wants people to back away from "bad" carbs such as sugar-laden juices, white bread and buttered corn. But Wilson believes Americans need to eat more lean protein - including chicken and fish - and "good" carbs such as whole fruits.

Low-carb diets that include fruits, vegetables and lean meats are "a healthy way to eat," Wilson said. "You have to have a balance."

Long-term prognosis

Though media hoopla about low-carb eating likely will die down, food industry analysts such as Phil Lempert think the low-carb trend will become a permanent lifestyle - but in an altered form.

"I see reduced carb as a way of life," said Lempert, who also works as the food trends editor for NBC's "Today" show.

Low-carb food will never appeal to people in the long run, said Lempert, who added that some products on the market "taste terrible."
However, food manufacturers can remove refined sugars from breads, pasta sauce and other products without compromising taste, Lempert said.
He expects the government to set up a system to monitor the "net carb" claims on products in the near future.

Lempert has faith that Americans can beat back the obesity epidemic with help from reduced-carb diets - when used in tandem with tactics such as pulling soda machines out of schools and eating fewer fatty foods.
"We need to lower fats and lower carbs if we want to reverse the health problems in America," he said. "We are going through a nutritional correction. We are at a crossroads. We just need less of everything - except exercise."