I'm cranky by nature. I used to blame it on carbs, but now I blame it on...on....ME!

Well, actually, I enjoy Splenda sweetened ice cream as much as anyone, perhaps even more than I do pickled octopus. Let's give Potatofree her chips back, by all means.

I didn't mean to go off on you. I just got irritated by the implication that anyone who uses these products is somehow less serious about low-carbing. I understand you probably meant the ones who try to LIVE on the junk food substitutes, it just hits a nerve when people seem to look down on the substitutes as a crutch for weak people who aren't doing it "right". (Again, you may not have been REMOTELY implying this, but it kind of read that way.)

I'll grant you even I have to laugh at some of the "low-carb" products. I picked up a Betty Crocker Carb Monitor mix..the first ingredients that caught my eye were wheat flour and sugar...I can't seem to find the nutrition info online to refresh my memory. Coincidence?

Oh, please. You know what I mean. Does the word "natural" come to mind? Yes, meat is taken directly from an animal, cleaned, cut up and cooked. Yes, vegetables are picked, cleaned, cut up and cooked. Yes, Tostitoes are...?

Nature's most perfect food. Plucked fresh from it's native growing region in the south of the salty shelf plateau, Tostito Tasteosum has a relatively long growing season despite it's fragile outward appearance.

Your mention of the product caught my attention, just from it's incongruity. So, being Information Man, I looked it up.

http://www.generalmills.com/careero...sp?storyID=1018

Interesting quotes:



70%??? Cool!!



Unfortunately, I find no nutritional information on any of General Mills' products on their website. The new products aren't mentioned either. But 35-45% lower is not very low. Again, another marketing ploy.

So, no answers to your question, but it is interesting to see the baking industry as thinking 70% of all people are watching their carbs. Hmmm.

Plane Crazy.

I do recall the cookies from the mix having around 17 grams of carbs per serving...AS I put it back on the shelf.

I hope the gist of the original article means that the "slowdown" will pretty much separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff...poor example, but you know what I mean. The higher-quality, reasonably-priced alternatives wold hold out, while the "me too" products of little merit fade away, increasing the market share of the good stuff. <crossing fingers and holding breath>

Oh, I remember one day I was so hungry, I was short on time and didn't have a proper lunch. I had to go to the drugstore, there were no Atkins bars (TwighlightZ is cringing at the idea, I'm sure. LOL!) Yes, I know these are not good to eat, but I was desperate at the time. Anyway, no Atkins bars. They had these bars called Slim Down Carb Blockers. I bought two of them. Stupid me, I didn't read the label until I took them out to the car. One of the first ingredients was sugar, along with other high carb things. I ended up throwing them away. How are you supposed to block carbs with sugar? Name was very deceptive. I was so mad! Bad thing about it was, I was so very hungry, that it was the only time I was ever tempted to blow my WOE!

When I first started this WOE I went to a low carb specialty store after my 2 weeks of induction. I spent tons on over priced food just because it was low carb. I bought bars, syrups, cookies, etc.

I had no clue......

I now keep my food very simple and low and behold...the stall that I was in for months has let up. Thank God I learned a lot from this forum.

I still like the flavored pork skins as well as some of the other stuff...but lucky for me I can find a lot of that stuff cheaper at the grocery store now (I still need to go to the LC store for tofu noodles or cinnamon/splenda pork skins). But for the most part I realized
1. I couldn't afford to eat fake and
2. I wasn't getting the results I wanted to see.

I think it's insane we get charged the low carb tax on our foods. It serves them right if their business suffers with all that phoney low-carb baloney!

Getting back to the original article...does anyone really think it is strange there is a drop in low-carb product purchases compared to the first quarter of the year? Do I really have to point out what happens annually starting the first of January and usually ending a couple months later? Go figure! Diet products slowing down three months after New Years resolutions. This article is not newsworthy.

But I agree that some of the horrible tasting products should (and will) go away.

Exactly, and are people really surprised that small businesses like LC shops are going to fold? The products are expensive, they're not the staples of what anyone is eating (hopefully), and even with LC as popular as it is (was), there's barely enough money in it to keep a store afloat. In my town, businesses like that come and go like crazy, average lifespan seeming to be less than a year.

Actually, I'm proud of you. Yes, it blows my mind that carb blockers contain sugar.

Did these food manufacturers ever notice that the LC way of eating works best when people *don't* eat franken-ated formerly high carb food? Did they ever think that maybe the people who would find the most success on LC plans simply wouldn't be buying their junk, and that the people buying the junk would be more likely to quit LC?

Don't get me wrong, I loves my occasional Atkins ice cream, and the LC tortillas are da bomb. I do get LC bleu cheese dressing (which is generally LC anyway). But that's about it. The reason I'm going to stay LC is that the naturally LC foods seem to work best for me.

That thought has never even come close to orbiting their planet. I am quite convinced they would give you blank looks, if you were to even ask. They don't give a rat's as** about people's success, even if they knew anything about LC'ing. LC is a big buzz word right now that has the potential to generate profits. So they are jumping on the bandwagon motivated both by the hope of increasing their market share and the fear of loosing ground. Some companies held off hoping the fad would go away. It hasn't. They are playing catch-up.

That's it. That's the sole consideration.

I've twice emailed manufacturers about removing trans-fats from LC foods....both times got the same response....in effect: thanks for the info, but we don't care.

They just want to sell their products. They don't care if they're producing a healthy product or not.....they only care if they can sell it or not.