Chicago Sun Times
May 2, 2004

BY JANET RAUSA FULLER Staff Reporter

Coming soon to a supermarket near you: Doritos, Skippy peanut butter and Yoplait yogurt, all -- you guessed it -- lower in carbs.

Food industry experts, gathering here for an annual convention of food manufacturers, retailers, buyers and distributors, say the Atkins diet-inspired craze shows no signs of slowing down, with major manufacturers now driving the push to get more low-carb items onto store shelves.

Also producing buzz this year: organic, regional ethnic and nutritionally pumped-up foods and beverages.

The show, which runs today through Tuesday at McCormick Place, brings together the Food Marketing Institute, the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, the U.S. Food Export Showcase, the United Produce Expo and the Organic Trade Association's All Things Organic Conference.

The show is open only to the trade, not the general public.

''Pretty much every category that has a lot of starch or sugar in it is coming out with a low-carb version,'' said Valerie Skala, vice-president of analytic product management for Information Resources Inc., which tracks the consumer packaged goods industry.

On the plate at Frito-Lay is its Edge line of Doritos, Tostitos and Cheetos, with 60 percent fewer carbs than the regular versions. The snacks, made with soy protein, will be in stores in May or June, spokesman Charles Nicolas said.

Among the offerings of General Mills are Yoplait Ultra, with 70 percent fewer carbs and sugar than regular low-fat yogurt, and a reduced-carb version of Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni.

Unilever's Carb Options line, already in stores, cuts carbs out of its most recognizable brands, including Skippy peanut butter, Lipton soups and Wish-Bones salad dressings.

Low-carb wasn't the only buzzword at the show.

In the so-called fancy food arena, where ethnic flavors like ginger and wasabi have been popular, companies are branching out with products that reflect not just cuisines, but specific regions, said Ron Tanner of the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade.

Organic olive oils from Sicily and Puglia, black truffle rice from Umbria and Taiwanese stir-fry flavoring oils are among the specialty items to be introduced.

Rising health consciousness has helped bring the organic market into the mainstream, and manufacturers are expected to churn out more organic and natural lines alongside their regular versions, as well as more good-for-you items such as fortified juices.


http://www.suntimes.com/output/heal...-newfood02.html

Low carb Doritos. Will wonders never cease.

Now, if one could only get a proper Dorito flavor in this country....

Do I hear that! I loved the original Doritos. They lost a good customer when they changed to the cheesier cheese, and I never have liked any of the other flavors. Ah well, they'd have lost me eventually, anyway, to LCing! LOL

Now, about that Skippy peanut butter. One of our local grocery stores carries it, and I was shopping for peanut butter for my little guy, saw the jar, so decided to take a look. First off, it has one-carb less per two tablespoons than does Adams All Natural peanut butter (no sugar in Adams, just peanuts and salt), so this isn't much of an improvement. To top that off, the list of ingredients look like sludge pond city--definitely not something those of us who try to avoid the garbage want to put into our bodies.

I wanted natural peanut butter and my hubbie brought home the low carb skippy. It is full of hydrogenated fat!!! I threw it out.

Yup - both soy and transfat in that crappy Skippy. Gotta love Unilever (SlimFast) for trying to screw up LC, too.

We got a bag of the Tostitos and I wasn't impressed. $2.99 for 6 ounces. I wasn't particularly impressed, and thought they were maybe a notch better than Atkins Crispers. We buy the La Tortilla shells and sub those in for chips. They're crispier and better than either the Atkins or Tostitos.

I'll no doubt try the Doritos when I see them, as I was a huge Doritos fan before I went Low Carb.

Well they finally hit the shelves in my supermarket. Dorito's low carb brand. They were on sale (imagine that) so I'd thought I'd give them a try. I absolutely love reg. doritos which i haven't had in a while. My initial taste was wow these are good - but after a few seconds of chewing they tasted like chalk! Needless to say, I'm disappointed. Oh well, one less low carb product to be addicted to!!!!

B and I are pretty good at reading labels now. There are so many foods that are marked LC that are simply not healthy foods, such as the LC Doritos and Skippy, because they contain PHOs. <shudder>

One of the most important tips any low-carber can ever learn is to read the labels before making a purchase. Whenever I see "partially hydrogenated <insert type here> oil" or "high fructose corn syrup" and such, I put the product right back on the shelf.

Teach your husband. Show him what can absolutely not be in the list of ingredients if he's going to go shopping alone. I'm guessing he's probably learned about PHOs already.

Having lived in Northern Minn most of my life,PB is a staple,like jelly.I was excited to find a low carb version! Alas it is not peanut butter,it is peanut SPREAD.AKA Peanut Flavored Shortening. It is grainy and greasy.I tried to make Peanut Butter Chicken with it(also missing chinese food LOL) ACK! it was awful! Live and learn.

Ok, so this may sound absolutely disgusting, and I hope nobody thinks less of me after I say this, but I LOVED Hamburger Helper before LC.

Of course you did. Don't be embarrassed. We all loved high-carb foods before we started LCing -- it's called carb addiction. Luckily, LCing helps us get over that addiction and start loving real food.

Although, IMHO, many people who start LCing try to cling to those foods they "loved" so much and snatch up all the "replacements" that are being marketed. I personally don't think that's the way to go -- especially in the beginning when they are trying to kick the habit.

Just Skip the Skippy all together and go for natural peanut butter or my personal favorites Sunflower seed butter or cashew butter....

Adam's makes a nice natural peanut butter, but avoid the no-stir varitey (added fats) . My personal favorite is fresh ground peanut butter, if you can find a store that has it. YUM! (Nothing added. . .)
Carlene

I totally agree with these sentiments.

Although we may moan about not having the same access to low carbs foods etc in the UK as you do in the US and Canada, I feel that we are far better off because of it. We more or less have to eat natural, unprocessed foods, because that's really the only choice we have here ... and probably a good thing too IMO.


BTW, I'm intrigued ... what exactly is hamburger helper ????

It was a meal-in-a-box type of affair where you just add the ground beef (hamburger). There were several flavours to choose from but they all contained some sort of noodles with a colored powder that made the "sauce" once you added water.