During my recent blog discussion of what makes up a “healthy diet,” a very interesting comment came up from one of my most devoted readers at my blog.
Newbirth, aka Victoria from the Stumbling to Bethlehem blog, wrote in response to my posting of a sample day’s menu from my low-carb lifestyle lately that “you’re eating too many low-carb ‘products.’ Try real food in place of the bars.”
Those “bars” she was referring to were GoLower nut bars and ChocoPerfection chocolate bars. What’s wrong with eating products like these that are sugar-free, made of healthy ingredients, taste great, and oh by the way, YES THEY ARE LOW-CARB? Aren’t they “real food,” too?
This isn’t the first time Newbirth and others have mentioned my consumption of “low-carb” foods as they have previously referenced it many times at my blog and in e-mails to me. So their comments have had me thinking about this topic for quite some time now. What is wrong with eating “low-carb” foods?
I know I’m jumping right into the middle of a debate that’s been ongoing for years, but from all observations I have made there are two primary schools of thought on the spectrum regarding the use “low-carb” foods.
1. NO “LOW-CARB” PRODUCTS ALLOWED
People who are on this extreme end are extremely serious about livin’ la vida low-carb and believe everything they put in their mouths should be only organic, whole foods that don’t need any packaging whatsoever. They’ve lost their weight “naturally” without the use of anything labeled “low-carb” and highly discourage other low-carbers from picking up these “Frankenfoods.” They have kissed the days of packaged foods goodbye forever.
2. ALL “LOW-CARB” PRODUCTS ALLOWED
People who are on this extreme end are wayfarer low-carbers who are gullible enough to buy virtually ANYTHING that blares the words “low-carb” on the packaging whether that claim is accurate or not. They love to find a “low-carb” version of just about anything and everything so they can eat like they always have and call it “low-carb.” Then these people get mad at their low-carb diet months down the road when they haven’t lost any weight despite the fact they have been eating all of these “low-carb” products.
Of course, these are obviously the two outer ends of the debate and most of us fall somewhere in between these two. For me personally, I am most definitely in the middle of these two and have been from the very beginning. Just as low-carb itself varies from person to person depending on the needs of their particular body, so too are the ways people are livin’ la vida low-carb going to be different.
When I was losing weight in 2004, I stayed away from most of the “low-carb” foods I saw in the grocery stores and Wal-mart because most of them just look absolutely disgusting. Shakes, powders and bars reminded me too much of that scary Slim-Fast diet I used to be on and I didn’t want any part of that. So I avoided them almost entirely.
However, because I wanted some sweets to eat when I kicked sugar for good in January 2004, I gravitated to the sugar-free sections and would stock up on Russell Stover chocolates, Z-Carb bars (which has since gone out of business, by the way!), and the like. There would be some days I could eat up to a POUND of these products early on in my low-carb plan.
GASP! A pound of chocolate on a diet?! Yep, that’s what I did to help me get through those first few weeks and months when I wanted something sweet but had committed myself to NOT eat any sugar. It was a HUGE step for me to do this and I definitely credit those “low-carb” products for helping me eventually reach my goals.
That was the extent of the “low-carb” foods that I used and ate in 2004 and I will never regret it since the results are that I lost 180 pounds that are now gone forever. WOO HOO!
Could I have been as successful without the use of those “low-carb” products? If I’m being honest, I don’t think I would have. They gave me exactly what I needed in a form that fit into my new eating lifestyle perfectly. I transitioned from eating sugary products to sugar-free products which helped give me consistency at a time when I very well could have thrown in the towel on my weight loss efforts. That would NOT have been good.
There’s no way you could have gotten me to eat straight-up organic, whole foods and nothing else from day one. Nor would you convince me that eating a “low-carb” version of Rice Krispy treats, French fries, and milkshakes would be the right way to get healthy either. I am not ashamed of the way that I lost weight using the “low-carb” products that I did.
Now it’s 2006 and there are a lot of new products out there which happen to be “low-carb” that can help people who are livin’ la vida low-carb. GoLower and ChocoPerfection are just the beginning. There’s also Dreamfields pasta, shirataki noodles, R.W. Garcia Lo’s Tortilla Chips, and many, many others. And I have it on good word that there are some exciting new product lines coming out that are going to blow you away by how good they taste and still remain good for you, too. IT’S COMING!
Whereas during the height of the “low-carb craze” a few years ago, everybody and their momma was tripping all over themselves to come out with their own “low-carb” products which were mostly low-quality junk products which still had a lot of sugar in them (no wonder they failed so badly!), today’s “low-carb” food manufacturers are the people who are in this to sincerely help people have products they can use that will help them on their low-carb lifestyle and taste great. I don’t see anything wrong with this since eating healthier in an incremental process for so many of us.
Weight loss is a tricky issue and I don’t think we should be so short-sighted into thinking these “low-carb” products are not serving a greater purpose by their very existence. I believe they are because they did play a major role in my own weight loss experience as well as many other people that I know.
But the battle to make them taste better and better without compromising their nutritional quality is currently on. Let the competition begin to see who can make nutrient-dense, high-quality, and great-tasting products for people to use and enjoy on their low-carb lifestyle. I personally can’t wait to see and taste what they come up with because it could very well revolutionize the health food industry and move us away from the low-fat fad we’ve been on for the past three decades.
While the media has just about stopped talking about low-carb in the hopes it will just go away, the fact of the matter is that several BRAND NEW lines of “low-carb” products are well on their way to the marketplace beginning in the next six months and into 2008 which should have low-carbers thrilled. Unlike those garbage “low-carb” products from years past, these new products are going to fit well into the lifestyle of anyone who is trying to eat healthier and, of course, for diabetics. They may not be described as “low-carb” per se, but they will be. ALWAYS READ THE LABELS!
What say you? Do you see ANY merits in the “low-carb” foods that are out there? If you regularly use “low-carb” products and have found them to help you lose weight or keep the weight off for good, then please share your story. Or, perhaps you’ve tried some of these products and experienced weight stalls or even a weight gain. Tell us what happened.
The longer I am maintaining my weight loss, the more I am moving away from using these “low-carb” pro
ducts in favor of the more organic, whole foods just because my tastes have changed and I demand the best quality foods I can find. That’s why my menu isn’t filled to the brim with “low-carb” foods galore. I only allow the VERY good ones that I proudly put into my mouth knowing they are helping me keep my weight off forever. And that right there is the bottom line for me.
