Life After Carbs

A real person eating (mostly) real food

Why Americans say they diet

By

More American adults say they have changed their diets to increase their intake of fruits and vegetables (71%) than say they have changed their diets to lose weight (65%).  Right away, you have to wonder how honest the people polled were.  Or you have to wonder if they know what constitutes a fruit and vegetable. Two-thirds of Americans say they changed their diet to improve their health.  Only one-third say it was to change their appearance.  I'm with the majority on this question, but who … [Read more...]

McDonald’s makes changes, but so do I

By

It's common place to criticize McDonald's and other fast-food franchises for marketing fattening food to kids.  This week McDonald's has responded by changing the composition of their famous Happy Meals.  The toy is still in the box, though. McDonald's and I go back a long way.  I'm old enough to remember when they sold their hamburgers for 15 cents.  There was no seating. You just walked up between the Golden Arches and placed your order.  Then you went home, or sat in your car, to eat … [Read more...]

Pasty cravings

By

I am just back from a quick trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It was my first visit to the UP  since going low-carb.  My main observation from the trip is that someone needs to invent a low-carb pasty. First, a little history. In 1835-36, the Territory of Michigan and the State of Ohio fought a war over the Toledo Strip, a parcel of border land that includes the present-day city of Toledo, Ohio.  You may think Ohio won the war, given that it currently possesses the Toledo Strip.  In … [Read more...]

Setting the stage for tragedy: changes in the U.S. diet, 1970-2006

By

In the years 1977-1984, the U.S. government pushed out dietary recommendations to the American people to cut their intake of saturated fats (as in butter, lard and red meat) and increase their intake of carbohydrates and fiber (as in grains, fruits and starchy vegetables) and of "healthy" fats (as in poly and monounsaturated vegetable oils). The goal was to prevent heart disease. The theory was, dietary fat -- especially saturated animal fat -- causes a build up of fats in the blood, leading … [Read more...]

Two upward trends: drinking calories and getting diabetes

By

I was born in a simpler time.  Back then, soda pop was an occasional treat, not an everyday (or twice a day) habit. In 1952, Americans on average drank 11.5 gallons of carbonated, caloric soft drinks per year.  I doubt that I personally accounted for any of 1,786,100,000 gallons of cola, root beer, red pop, etc., produced and consumed in the U.S. that year,  but a decade later, when per capita availability had increased to 14.5 gallons  per year, I was doing my part. I continued drinking my … [Read more...]

Big lunch can be dinner, too

By

It's funny how after you've been eating low-carb for a while, you look at food differently than you did before. Looking over the high-calorie entrees pictured in the Xtreme Eating Awards 2011 (PDF file) from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), I notice the carbs first, which come in the form of bread, buns and fries. There's also a pasta dish and a porterhouse steak accompanied by a big serving of mashed potatoes. The accompanying text from the CSPI focuses on the … [Read more...]

Have we been “brainwashed against carbs”?!

By

“We are brainwashed against carbs. But it is the wrong message" -- Frances Largeman-Roth, RD, coauthor of The Carb Lovers Diet and  senior food and nutrition editor of Health Magazine, quoted in Diet Review: The Carb Lovers Diet and Resistant Starch Foods. WebMD. Before I discuss this brainwashing claim, let me explain the context. Most mornings, I get up early, brew coffee, eat breakfast and turn on the TV to catch the local news and weather.  The best local TV news happens to be on an … [Read more...]

Keeping cool, low-carb style: simple salmon salad

By

When it's hot, most people like to eat light.  Low-carb makes that easy. Lately, it's been hot all over, including here in Michigan.  Locally, our temperatures have been in the 90s all week; today's high is predicted to be 98 degrees with a heat index of 110. If you live in Oklahoma or Texas, that may seem like a cool breeze to you, but up here, we aren't accustomed to temps in the upper 90s. After all, not only is Michigan a northern state, but it's surrounded by the largest bodies of … [Read more...]

Dealing with the risk of hidden calories in restaurant meals

By

Half of Americans eat out three or more meals a week, and 12% eat out more than seven meals a week.  These statistics are cited by the authors of a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) to establish the importance knowing how many calories we're getting in all of those restaurant meals. It turns out we're often getting a significantly different number of calories than we think we're getting, at least where individual menu items are concerned. … [Read more...]

My latest good numbers: 110/65

By

Every now and then, I'll have an anxiety dream. I guess it happens because I hold things in and don't express my feelings enough.  Or maybe because my subconscious is a big baby. Either way, it happens. For instance, just before the start of a new semester, I'll dream that I can't find the right classroom.  Why I, as the teacher, should be worried about that, I don't know.  In all my years of teaching, I've only gone to the wrong room once. That was in the middle of the semester.  I got … [Read more...]