The low down on low carbs !

For years, you have seen low-fat products all over the grocery store aisles from low-fat ice cream to low-fat breads, cookies, cakes and more. Well, look out! The low-fat foods are about to be replaced with an array of LOW-CARB foods. In fact, there are “Low-Carb Superstores” that sell about 1,600 products and you should see 5,000 new outlet stores opening up in the next 5 years.

The FDA hammered out a legal definition of “low-fat” but there is no such standard for “low-carb.” So the FDA is taking notice and there are some manufacturer’s printing misleading labels on products that claim to be low-carb when in fact they are mostly carbohydrates. 

Most low-carb products are lower than their regular counterparts. You may wonder – how do they do it? Instead of sugar and wheat flour, they use soy and wheat gluten to make low-carb muffins, cakes, cookies and pasta. If the product does contain a carbohydrate, it is usually oat bran, wheat bran or insulin – which is a fiber-like substance, actually a PRE-BIOTIC that encourages formation of healthy, beneficial bacteria in the intestine. The body can not break down these carbs, so they pass through the digestive system and contribute far fewer calories than digestible carb

Creating low-carb products that taste good has been a tricky business. This is because flour and sugar contribute to taste, moistness, tenderness, texture and structure we have come to enjoy in baked goods. Most of the low-carb pancake and muffin mixes are OK but the pastas and ready-to-eat breads and muffins are disappointing. 

Now, some of the low-carb ingredients are a huge improvement over the heavy-sugar, low nutrient make-up of the LOW-FAT foods. The fact that the low-carb foods are using soy, oat, wheat and rice brans makes them a better choice than the fat-free products because these ingredients help to lower the risk of heart disease and certain types of cancer, diabetes and obesity. 

Low-carb foods are usually sweetened with calorie-free, artificial sweeteners so they do not contain empty calories like SUGAR. You will see products sweetened with sugar alcohols like LACTITOL ( a derivative from milk sugar lactose) and MALTITOL (from malt) which deliver only half the calories from sugar. In moderation, sugar alcohols are fine, however, if you eat too much, you can wind up with diarrhea.

Even though there are healthy low-carb foods, there are tons of low-carb junk food. The sugar is replaced with fat in the OLD LOW-FAT SNACKS but FAT is replacing the CARBS in many of the low-carb products. Some are high in saturated fat like Atkins Advantage Chocolate Coconut energy bar which has 8 grams of saturated fat – half a day’s recommend limit for saturated fat.

The scientific evidence that low-carb diets work is mixed. One study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that after 6 months, low-carb diets lost more weight than those on a low-fat diet. However, after 1 year, there was no significant difference in weight loss between low-carb diets and low-fat dieters. Low-carb diets are too restrictive and if people are substituting low-carb beer and candy for zucchini, it is not going to get them anywhere.
People got fat on low-fat cookies because they were eating the whole box and empty calories can put the weight on fast and leave you feeling less full and satisfied. 

Benefits of low carb foods

• The low-carb products have more protein and fiber which is a very powerful weight loss tool. Protein and fiber help you stay full longer.
• You might eat less of highly processed, white flour products.
• Triglycerides fell significantly lower in the low-carb group compared to a high-carb group in one study.

If you eat large amounts of sugar and refined starches, they up your blood sugar levels, which in turn triggers the release of the hormone insulin. If you are already overweight, if decreases the body’s sensitivity to insulin so the body floods the bloodstream with insulin to compensate. High insulin levels are what can cause diabetes. Eating lots of processed carbs can up your triglycerides – a blood fat that is linked to an increased risk of heart disease. This still means that eating less of processed carbohydrates can lower triglyceride levels.

The key is to eat good quality carbs like WHOLE fruits, vegetables and whole-grains. The high protein diets are high in saturated fat and can increase your risk for heart disease and colon cancer. Too much protein is bad for your kidneys and if you cut your intake of fruits, vegetables and whole-grains you are missing out on nutrients like B-vitamins and antioxidants. 
THE LABEL – how to understand which products are low in carbs an be difficult to read and comprehend. Read the number of “total carbs” to determine the carbs in a food. Then read the “dietary fiber” which is usually higher in low-carb foods because of the wheat and oat brans. Finally, read the protein – most low-carb foods have higher protein content due to replacing wheat flour with soy and gluten. 

• Gluten is a wheat protein that important for giving baked goods texture.
• Soy protein and soy isolate are high-protein, low-carb derivatives from the soy bean.
• Brans give texture and that “grainy” taste to offset the “beany” taste of soy. It is very low in calories.
• Spenda is a favorite sweetener found in baked products that is calorie free and doesn’t break down when heated unlike aspartame (Equal) that turns bitter when heated.

If you insist on eating low-carbs, it might help you to get more fiber into your daily routine. After years of sitting down with people to find out what they are eating everyday, some of the products might be an improvement to someone’s diet. Whatever it takes to have you eat more vegetables and salads or anything from the produce section – I’m happy!