http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2004/lo...carb.count.html

What a joke. CNN has a low carb quiz where you have to pick the low carb choice. Great idea, crappy execution.

The link above takes you to the answer page. 90 percent of the items to choose from have no place in a low carb diet! Most questions you are picking between high carb items A, B, C, and D.

For example, the quiz should have been for breakfast.

Eggs
Cheese
Corn Flakes
Yogurt Smoothie

That might have educated people. It is so obvious from the quiz that they have no idea what a low carb diet is, nor do they help their readers understand. From that quiz, people will think they are choosing wisely by having instant oatmeal for breakfast, a couple of pieces of pizza for lunch, and some cookies for dessert. What a joke.

A complete carb count of all the quiz choices:

Source: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

** Look at the source for the low carb choices... Explains it all...

What a joke!! That is one low carb quiz that I totally bombed.

The worst question for me was which is lowest in carbs

3 chocolate chip cookies
piece of sponge cake
slice cheesecake
chocolate cake slice

uh..... none of the above??

can you imagine all the people trying that.. oh now I know what to order for dessert now! d'oh!

I actually got most of them correct. The one that threw me was the 1 cup of strawberries vs 1 cup raspberries. I always assume raspberries have lower carb counts, but thats because they have more fiber.

What disturbed me the most about this quiz was the little comments like cookies are a great low carb snack or brown sugar maple syrup oatmeal is a low carbers way to start the day. Sugar laden cheesecake is a lowcarbers delight and PIZZA is now considered low carb? And then for snacks there was like popcorn, pretzels, chips and pork rinds and of course pork rinds have the lowest carbs and they say something like who would have thought greasy pork rinds have the least carbs.

ummm...


It was just really stupid, and the people behind it are clueless.

99% of all the foods mentioned werent even close to low carb.

This test is not for low carbers because most items are not items that low carbers eat. Low carbers have already past the test without taking it.This test was for people who enjoy trivia.

pouts! but... but... what if youre a low carber who enjoys trivia too??? lol

youre right. Is just silly and worthless.

I got 6 out of 9

The breakfast line up was all horrifically carby without adequate protein and fat, so I had absolutely no idea since they all looked equally bad... I just guessed and got it wrong.

Regarding fruit, I wasn't sure which was lower in carbs (raspberries or strawberries). I picked raspberries over strawberries and that was wrong.

The chocolate question I also got wrong. I thought it was either going to be the shake or the cookies... I chose the shake because I assumed they probably were talking about big cookies, not little ones, and also because the shake probably only had a little bit of sugar and milk in it. That was wrong.

LOL

Cereals, QUAKER, oatmeal, instant, maple and brown sugar, prepared with water (1 packet)
cals fat carb protein
153 2 31 4
No nutrition in there, just fortified vitamins and raw sugar energy. Almost no protein or fat. Ridiculous this is considered a low carb food. It's high carb by anyone's standards.

Wheaties (2 cups)
cals fat carb protein
220 2 48 6
Same deal as with the instant oatmeal; all vitamin fortification of raw blood sugar spiking energy. Extremely high carb. Slightly better than the oatmeal as this actually contains a tiny bit more fiber which would slow the sugar rush some, but still quite terrible for a low carb diet. High carb by anyone's standards, especially when you consider you'll be eating this with milk and probably sugar.

Pizza, cheese, thin crust (2 large slices)
cals fat carb protein
575 22 67 26
Even though this food has adequate protein and fat, and therefore will stick with you longer and not spike blood sugar like the wheaties and oatmeal will, it is still quite unhealthy.
1) it has a ton of calories (almost 600)
2) it has a ton of refined carbs (64 net)
3) it has ridiculous sodium content relative to potassium (1400 / 400)
4) compared to the calories this food packs, it contains very little vitamins and minerals.

Cookie, chocolate chip (3 large)
cals fat carb protein
202 9 28 2
If you are gonna eat a high carb treat, cookies are actually surprisingly balanced in that they contain enough fat to offset the carbs so they won't spike blood sugar that badly... but it is a LONG stretch to call this food a low carb treat! 3 large cookies still have well over 25 carbs. They contain almost no protein and nutrition other than the raw energy from fat and refined carbs.

Cheesecake (1/12 slice of 9 inch cake)
cals fat carb protein
412 25 37 11
Again, for a high carb treat cheesecake is pretty good... but near 40 carbs and over 400 calories for a treat? Come on! If you ate half a slice, and if the cake was sugarless, it would be good.... but a regular cheesecake shouldn't be a part of a LC diet.

"but a regular cheesecake shouldn't be a part of a LC diet."

Weren't the berries and the steak/broccoli suggestions the ONLY thinkgs that should be a part of a LC diet?

Stupid quiz. What bothers me most is that some people will read this and think this IS LC!

I can just see it now.

Start off your day the low carb way. A nice bowl of maple and brown sugar oatmeal for breakfast or maybe a bowl of wheaties with skim milk. Dont forget that cup of berries in it!


For lunch grab a couple of slices of pizza and top it off with a few chocolate chip cookies.

For a snack you can munch on a bag of pork rinds

Finish the day with a nice juicy steak and broccoli... and who can forget dessert! Some rich yummy cheesecake (hey maybe you can even have more berries)


There is your good low carb day. Hey! maybe the media thinks we all eat like this and thats why they all say low carb diets are gonna kill us all.

Two things:

CNN would back leftist/vegan radicals and their agenda. Undermining Atkins is "politically correct" for the likes of them. This from a hypocritical company that actually wants to make money any way it can, even by screwing the american public. What do expect from Jane Fonda/Ted Turner/AOL/Time Warner, a conglomerate so large that it has no scruples or position at all? I think some of our readership here can comment on the basics of the facts that veganism is actually in part a leftist political agenda tied not only to Peta, but to the likes of George McGovern, etc.

On a much happier note, I want to point out a new product appeared on the supermarket shelves in the NY area:

LandOLakes brand Zero carbs Ultra-Pasteurized Whipped Heavy Cream sweetened with Splenda. Ingredients: Heavy Cream, Sucralose, Vitamin E tocopherols to protect flavor, Nitrous Oxide.

Comes in 14 oz big containers. Only one drawback: Cold heavy cream [most whipped cream in cans is LIGHT cream!] REALLY, REALLY needs to be shaken to get it moving before use!

cjl (whipped cream and other delights!)

Clasys, you might want to try that post again without the paranoid Rush Limbaugh type worldview.

We liberals (or leftists as you seem to prefer) are really just ordinary folks with no aim of world domination (really, I promise).

Here is the e-mail I just sent CNN.com:

Dear CNN.com,

I just looked at your "quiz" intended to educate your readers about low-carb choices. What a disgrace and disservice!

Just because one food in a list of four has fewer carbs than the other three does not make it an ideal low carb choice.

Why don't you run a companion quiz to test people's knowledge of low-fat choices? This could be one of the questions:

Which snack should you choose:
a) A Snickers bar
b) A Klondike ice cream sandwich
c) Three Oreo cookies
d) Two Hostess Ding Dongs

Answer:
c) Oreo cookies - a low-fat dieters dream snack!

7g Three Oreo cookies
14g A Snickers bar
19g A Klondike ice cream sandwich
19g Two Hostess Ding Dongs

Or here's another:

Best low-fat beverage:

a) Suisse Mocha
b) Milk chocolate
c) Coke Classic
d) Soy milk

Answer:
c) Coke Classic - who would have thought that sugar laden Coke has zero fat!

0g Coke Classic
2g Suisse Mocha
3g Soy milk
5g Milk chocolate

Now, how many people would consider the above questions and answers to represent proper choices for someone following a low-fat eating style?

Of the none questions you had, only one was completely reasonable and only two others where even close. The remaining six had NO choices that a low-carb dieter could properly choose!

The dinner question was good.

The Snacks question is correct, but misleading - especially the snide little editorial comment displayed with the answer. While pork rinds are one example of a low carb snack there are many, many others including as celery with cream cheese.

Your Fruit question is misleading in two ways. First, none of the choices would be acceptable to someone in the very low carb phases of many low carb plans. After these restrictions are relaxed, then any of the three become acceptable with grapes having a disadvantage relative to the other three.

You Beverages selection is highly misleading. Water is by far the preferred low-carb beverage and nearly all plans allow diet sodas, teas, and coffee. The fact that bourbon and wine have low carb values is beside the point and nearly all low carb plans strongly discourage the consumption of alcoholic beverages except in strict moderation not because of the carb content but because the body will halt burning fat until all of the alcohol in your system is metabolized.

Ask yourself the following question: If we were to post a low-fat quiz who would we have write it. Just anyone? Someone that is a low-carb proponent and staunchly anti-low-fat? Or would you turn to someone that is a low-fat proponent and follower so that the questions and answers reflect realistic choices available to and made by low-fat followers?

Now ask yourself why you obviously couldn't muster up the integrity to extend the same courtesy and consideration to the low-carb crowd. And you can't claim that it is because you couldn't find a low-carber to consult. I'll bet that there are several within shouting distance of the desk where this travesty of "Special Reporting" was dreamed up.

Sincerely,

A former CNN.com viewer.

This is like the little quizes they used to put in magazines back in my LF Days. They'd ask a question like which of the following is the best option (lowest in Fat and Calories):

1) A Triple Bacon Cheeseburger
2) Half a Large Pizza
3) A Pint of Ben & Jerry's

Nice going wbahn! Let us know if you get a response.