Hot Topic:  Are You Really Eating Low-Carb?

From the Headlines:
Think You've Gone Low-Carb?  Maybe Not 

Commentary:
"The NPD Group, a market research company, examined the food-intake records of 11,000 people over three years and found that the 5% with the lowest intake of carbs consumed an average of 128g of net carbs (total minus fiber) a day."

This survey is a great 'first look' in the initial stages of a trend to reduce carbohydrate intake in overall diet. It was over a three year period, so it is no surprise that the lowest carbohydrate intakes are, on average, higher than the typical parameters of the low-carb diets - 20g net to 72g net a day for weight loss. The consumer acceptance of low-carb diets as a means to lose weight effectively has only really taken hold in the last year.  To see an intake average of 128g net as the lowest average in this survey shows a good number of consumers are indeed able to cut carbohydrate intake considerably.  

While the article was quick to point out that eating 128g net a day of carbohydrate is not as low as the recommended level of carbohydrate intake for the Atkins Diet, let us not forget that there are over two dozen different low-carb plans out there - most of them are less restrictive than the initial phases of the Atkins Diet.  It is not unusual to see more people eating more carbohydrate than the 20g net recommended in the Atkins plan when we take this into consideration.

For those eating a low-carb diet or considering one, there are three main points to keep in mind:

1. To maintain a nutritionally balanced diet while losing weight, the largest volume of food eaten each day should be non-starchy vegetables.  These will not be your highest calorie source, but will be physically what you eat the most in a day.

2. It is critical that you be educated.  Starting a low-carb diet without understanding the plan may set you up for failure if you do not understand how to start and continue on a low-carb diet and what is required in the long-term to maintain your weight loss and health.

3. While your initial motivation to begin a low-carb diet may be to lose weight, understand in the long-term, to maintain your weight loss you must make a permanent change to your eating habits.  Low-Carb diets are not a quick fix. Long-term success requires you to modify your eating habits for the long-term.  Once you've lost the weight, to maintain the weight loss and your health, you may require a controlled-carb nutritional approach.

Weekly Feature:  No Potatoes? No Bread? Oh My!

Critics of low-carb/controlled-carb lifestyles offer no evidence that eating potatoes is vital to our nutrition. They continually remind us how nutritious potatoes are and that we must have variety in our diet. Will substituting a low-carb option like spinach deprive us of nutrients?

Potato vs. Spinach

A medium, white baked potato (with skin) offers an abundance of nutrients:
162 calories
3.6g of protein
0.2g of fat 
3.6g of fiber 

On face value, the potato appears to be a good choice. However, lurking within that innocent potato, there are 36.5g of total carbohydrate, with a net of 32.9g after deducting for fiber! 

As an alternative, those following a low-carb menu may choose to have, instead, one cup of cooked spinach. It too is nutrient-rich and provides:
41.4 calories
5.3g of protein
0.5g of fat
4.3g of fiber

Moreover, with just 6.8g of total carbohydrates before deducting fiber, for a net of 2.5g, spinach offers a better choice when counting carbs.

When we stack the nutrients of a potato and spinach side by side we find that spinach provides more quality nutrition too - more calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, copper, potassium, manganese, selenium, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, Vitamin A and Vitamin E.

We find the same kind of reminder to eat bread as part of our diet - we're told it's an excellent source of nutrients (specifically folate and fiber) and needed in a balanced diet.  How does bread stack up against another low-carb/controlled-carb favorite, broccoli?

Bread vs. Broccoli 

One slice of 100% Whole Grain Bread has 
65 calories 
2.6g of protein 
1g of fat
1.7g of fiber

Nevertheless, like the potato, bread of this quality has 12g of total carbohydrates. Even after deducting for fiber, a net of 10.3g remains.

One cup of cooked Broccoli provides
21 calories
2.3g of protein
0.3g of fat
2.3g of fiber

With total carbohydrates of 3.9g, broccoli contains just 1.6g net after deducting fiber. It is lower in calories, provides more protein, less fat and more fiber than the slice of bread.

Similar to the above example of spinach versus potato, broccoli also provides a better nutrient value than bread with more magnesium, potassium, Vitamin C, Vitamin B-6, folate, Vitamin A and Vitamin E. 

Cooks Nook

Picture Perfect Silver Dollar Pancakes
Two Servings

These pancakes taste so close to the high-carb original - you would never guess they are low-carb!

1-Tablespoon Butter
2 Large Eggs
¼ Cup Whole-Milk Ricotta Cheese
¼ Cup Whey Protein Powder (plain or vanilla)
½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ Teaspoon Maple Extract
Pinch of Salt

1. Melt butter in a heavy skillet or non-stick pan over medium heat.
2. In a bowl, mix together the eggs and ricotta until they are smooth. Whisk in the protein powder, baking powder, maple extract and salt until well mixed. 
3. Drop batter onto skillet or into pan by the tablespoon. When bubbles form on the surface of the pancake, flip and cook other side.

Each serving is seven silver-dollar size pancakes (or ½ the batter cooked up for larger pancakes).

Per Serving:
Total Carbs = 4.5g
Fiber = 0g
Net Carbs = 4.5g

Reader Questions & Answers

Question:  Does eating low-carb really help to burn fat?

Answer:  Yes! And the reason is found in your metabolism.  When you eat a meal or snack high in carbohydrates, this generates a rapid rise in blood glucose. To adjust for this rise, the pancreas secretes the hormone insulin into the bloodstream, which lowers blood glucose. If the energy from the glucose cannot be used it is stored as fat.  Insulin is essentially a storage hormone, evolved over those millions of years of humans prior to the agricultural age, to store the excess calories from carbohydrates in the form of fat in case of famine.

Insulin, stimulated by the excess carbohydrates, is partly responsible for weight gain.  This is because high insulin levels suppress two other important hormones - glucagon and growth hormones - that are responsible for burning fat and sugar and promoting muscle development, respectively. So insulin from excess carbohydrates promotes fat storage and then wards off the body's ability to lose that fat by suppressing fat burning hormones.

Do you have a question you’d like answered, email us!  Please be aware we may not be able to answer all questions received.

Quote of the Week

"There are people out there that want you to believe that this is bad for you, and the reason they want you to believe that is because otherwise their economic interests are threatened," said Matt Wiant, chief marketing officer for Atkins Nutritionals in the MSNBC article, Weight-loss industry battles for your bulge

The CarbAware Consumer Bulletin is a weekly feature from the Carbohydrate Awareness Council.  Through April 15, 2004 it is available online for free.  Consumer Members of the council will receive the CarbAware Consumer Bulleting each week via email and have member-only access to the online archives after April 15th.  Please support us & controlled-carb nutrition by becoming a Member today!