Curves (the gym) has struck a marketing agreement with Krafts Foods.

My local gym is having a promo-exercise 12 times in May and win a totebag of food. I was staggered by their food choices after I have done the Curves diet group(suppossed to be LC) The display was a box of Nilla wafers, 2 boxes of low fat Mac&Cheese. A couple of bottles of salad dressing-one saying fat free one saying 1g of sugar.sugar free jello(I idnt know that was Kraft)Minute Rice-brown(an oxymoron of the highest level) and a few other bizarre items I am blocking.

Oh geesh. Wonder who thought that promo up,lol.

<sheesh> Why not just "Win your weight in marshmallows"?

I actually went to a networking event downtown and happened to meet a marketing person from Kraft...we talked about the huge impact Atkins/low-carb is having on their bottom line. Unfortunately, Kraft tends to hire a lot of naive, book-smart-but-not-street-smart people who view marketing as a way to "push" what they have to sell onto people -- rather than creating something that people want. There is no desire to understand the market or apply creative thinking -- hence all the low-fat, sugar filled items.

The person I talked to happened to work for one of their pizza divisions - I asked her about adding gourmet salads to the menu. But she stopped me saying, "Salad is such a commodity....we aren't going in that direction. You can even get a fancy salad at McDonalds these days." Hmmm...well personally, I don't feel like paying $14 for a personal size pizza (of which I can only eat the toppings) because they won't offer an entree salad - I'll eat somewhere else when I go out with my friends.

If you happen to win the "bag of goodies" it would make a great donation to a homeless shelter. The mail carriers in my area had a food drive last weekend -- it was a great chance to donate some of the high-carb food I had in my cupboard.

Potatofree... lady, ya kill me with yer wit...lol

Too bad. I thought Curves was on the right track in reguard to LC.

I agree with GrlyGrl, if you win, donate the items to a food pantry or a collage student in your area.

Just another conglomerate out for the almighty buck. They could have done something still considered controversial (LC), but instead they chose the safe route.

LL

as far as the diet plan that curves has they do not suport low carb over low calorie/low fat .. there is a test in the begining to see which one you should do
so perhaps its not useful to those on the low carb plan but to others some of it might be... and of course what is not can be donated

I just go to Curves to use their equipment, and could care less about their diet. I've seen the Kraft food thing at my Curves too, and just roll my eyes at it.

My Atkins diet works for me - and so does my Curves workout - that's all that matters to me!

And yes, I too took advantage of the Post Office Food Drive last weekend and cleaned out my cupboards of a bunch of high-carb stuff! At least I made more room for the low-carb goodies!

I gave to the food drive too-but my pantry was clean of carbs so I gave tuna and green beans.
When I worked on food drives in Oregon they said they liked getting things like sugar free jello because many recepients were diabetic and were able to have a treat" theycould not afford to spend foodstamps on.

That's a great thing to know, bevbme! I cleaned out my cupboards last summer and gave three grocery store bags to the Community Pantry...we were wondering what to get for the next food drive (we'd been buying canned vegetables and little canned meats) so this will be a nice thing to add next time.

Good to know bevbme.....I also heard once that no one ever donates spices or condiments to food kitchens, but that they would be very much appreciated. I travel a lot for work and I always get these little tiny condiment jars/bottles with my room service meals -- ketchup, mayo, steak sauce, jelly, mustard, etc., so I saved them up and included them in the donation.

Goodness, this tread has taken an interesting and informative turn. We also had a postal food drive and (sadly) I forgot to put anything out for them. However, I would have never thought of the SF jello or condiments. I will make a mental note and be sure to donate those types of things in the future. Thanks guys for insight.

That's a great idea. I have sf pudding and jello mixes, and I'm pretty sure I'll never use them. If my daughter doesn't want them when she moves out - I can get them to the food bank and not have to move them when we go.

Awesome - I wonder what else I can find that doesn't have to be moved? The packers are going to be astounded at the quantity of tuna, salmon and sardines in the cupboard, though, I'm sure.

Thanks for the info. on that Bev - it just further convinced me that there is a huge correlation between poverty and obesity, high carb (cheap) food and diabetes. I have thought this for years, but up until recently I didn't find many who agreed with me. The fact that many people receiving food benefits are diabetic is a sad result of filling up on junk when higher quality nutritious food is too expensive.

As a poor college student, I was eating ramen noodles and rice almost exclusively, and was gaining 2 pounds a week on average. Glad those days are over for me! And I am glad so many folks are catching on to the connections between diabetes, obesity, and high "bad" carb food.

In other countries, poor people get thin. In the USA, they get fat because there is such an abundance of junk food; white flour and white sugar are incredibly cheap and easy to produce. What's really heart-wrenching is when low income people fill up on "carbage", and then develop a host of health problems without the money or health insurance to get better.

So folks, when donating to your local shelters or drives, check if there are pantries and churches (there are in Oregon) that accept produce, meat, and perishables, in addition to boxed and canned goods.

"Doctors should teach nutrition, not pharmaceutical addiction."

Peace!