Your're right, MikieGirl. That's what I was trying to say in my last post. Rachel doesn't claim to be cooking 100% low carb or for people on induction. That doesn't mean she doesn't have the right to cut carbs in some recipes if she wants to. I don't understand the upset over this.

Not everybody follows low carbing as strictly as others, and if that works for them, then that's fine. I'm sure the network would tell you the same thing; that Rachel isn't claiming to be a Low Carb cook entirely, just lower on some meals.

If we decide to cut our fat a little bit, does that mean we don't have the right because we're low carbers; not low fatters? See what I mean?

The Food Network, should someone write and complain, would probably suggest changing to Geroge Stella's program "Low Carb and Lovin' it" to follow a strict low carb diet. JMO

I was never saying she should have aimed all her recipes at Induction (or the first phase of any low carb diet), I just meant that items like white flour, honey, and pasta should not have been used. Okay, I'll give her the one show w/ the pasta, because she flat out said "lower" carb - okay Rachael, you win that one. But I do hold her accountable for the other ones because low carbers flipping stations may come across these shows (or find them in TiVo) and be misinformed.

I also agree 100% that it is OUR responsibility to know these aren't the foods we should be eating, etc. But I also realize that there are many, many people out there that don't read the books, etc. and try low carb, and they are the ones that will be misinformed and have this diet fail them. I know it's their own fault, that they should research, but it's not always going to happen.

Basically, I just don't like that she's spreading misinformation around just to jump on the low carb bandwagon. I'm fine with her making a few low carb shows, but a) I wish she'd get her facts right, and b) I wish she wouldn't say "I could never do low carb... I love my bread, pasta and rice" over and over again - it's just annoying.

Don't get me wrong, I love Rachael Ray (in an annoying sister-in-law type of way), I just needed to vent about all the stuff saw on her show, but frankly... I still have a TiVo Season Pass to her show and probably always will.

On the lighter side: Did you hear her when she tried to claim she came up with smashed cauliflower!?!?!?! I nearly peed my pants! She thought she had this great, new idea! HA!

"Low Carb & Lovin' It" with George Stella is the best show on the food channel.

I know - I was thinking the same thing. She said that her mother came up with the mashed cauliflower recipe. I was thinking, What?!! - I've seen the same recipe a million times on the net and in books. I do like Rachel Ray - don't get me wrong...I love her shows. But in no low carb plan that I know (and I've tried almost all of them) do they allow white flour. And I will have to watch it again, but I think she WAS saying it was a low carb recipe not that it was just lower carb...I could be wrong...but that is what I got out of it.

I grabbed a "Low Carb" Crockpot cookbook off the shelf without really perusing it - got it home and it was full of medium carb meals - complete with potatoes, white rice, etc. I understand where you're coming from. People who don't really adhere to Atkins pretend to know more than they do and they either intentionally or unintentionally, mislead newbies. But then, if the newbies really read the book, they won't be mislead. I guess it all goes back to being responsible for yourself and doing your own research.

On the topic of Carb Counts, just memorize these (per Cup):

White Sugar: 192g
White Flour: 92g
Splenda: 24g
Milk: 12g
Hood Milk: 3g

Guar/Xanathan Gums, Liquid Splenda/Saccharine, and Stevia Extract (the non-fillered stuff) are Carb-Free. Knowing those allows you to quickly calculate the Carbs in a LC version of many HC Recipes. For example, if a recipe calls for 1/4 cup of Flour and you use Guar Gum instead:

92/4 = 23g reduction in Carbs for the entire recipe. Just didivde that by the number of servings to get the reduction per serving. For example, say it made 8 servings, that would be a 2.9g reduction per serving. BTW, as for Gravy thickened with Flour/Cornstarch...its really not that high in Carbs. Most gravy is actually pretty low in Carbs even with the Flour. But, it could be easily made without the Flour [subbing Guar, Xanathan, or one of those prepackaged LC thickeners,] so there's no reason to use it.

Here's another interesting tidbit, White Breads and Fried Potato Chips have about half their weight in Carbs, unless they have added Sugar [Cake, Fortune Cookies, etc...] 1 oz. is 28g, so there'd be ~14g of Carbs per ounce of any White Flour based coating, bread, cookie, croutons, etc...that does NOT contain added sugars. This does not apply to Gravies, Grits, Cream of Wheat, and such as they are diluted with large amounts of water.

I thought about it and I do half to agree with you Critter. I do the same thing with my family as Rachal does, and you're right she didn't claim to be switching to low carb. I watch the show sugar with Anna Olson and also Bare foot contessa and I would never eat any of the food that that make.

Did you watch the show where she made a Krispy Kreme donut bread pudding? I thought I was going to have a heart attack just watching her

I thought Xanthan gum is a carb?

It is, but it's all indigestible fiber giving it an effective carb count of zero.

A lot of Rachel Ray's recipes are low-carb, even if she doesn't bill them as such. And I find that she does have lots of veggies in her menus. I've gotten lots of good ideas from her. In her older low-carb shows, she said she herself does better with fewer carbs, but the newer ones, (I think) are the ones where she talks about cooking for her friends.

I just watched the one with pasta in it, and it's called something like "Carbing it, but Just a Little" - she doesn't claim that one is low-carb. And I think the flour in the gravy one only had 2 T of flour for 4 servings, which isn't THAT awful. Same with the chicken, I think.

Anyway, I pick up ideas from a lot of different places. And I'm glad George Stella has discovered almond meal and is moving away from those awful soy flour recipes!

Barefoot contessa has some killer recipes for lamb and chicken and other "proteins" that are lowcarb - but most everything else she makes is totally off limits.

LOL I'll have to agree with you on that one! Smashed Cauliflower is not a Rachael Ray signature dish. Not sure who started it but I first read it in Atkins' book. I've been making it ever since.


On the other, as long as she says "lower" instead of "low," I'm ok with it (even though I sit there shaking my head). Having said that, I'm sure they have been bombarded with letters so maybe she'll go back to her ol' Rachael Ray way of cooking; which is fun to watch as long as you don't eat it! The main reason we watch is hubby has a terrible crush on her.

She says both.