angelweave

November 09, 2003

Trickle Down


    A sign in Stephen Lanzalotta's bakery reads, "Senza il pane tutto diventa orfano." In Italian, that means, "Without bread everyone's an orphan."

    But fewer customers are buying his European-style breads and pastries these days — thanks to the Atkins diet, many regulars are cutting back on carbohydrates. Lanzalotta says the low-carb diet has contributed to an estimated 40 percent drop in business at his shop, Sophia's.

    Some customers have even stopped by to apologize.
Nice, eh? Atkins' "gospel" strikes the small business owner. I can't help but smirk.

Baaaa! Bread bad. Baaaaa!

    The National Bread Leadership Council, which says 40 percent of Americans are eating less bread than a year ago, has scheduled what it calls a summit this month in Rhode Island focusing in part on low-carb diets and how to educate the public that breaking bread is still part of a healthy lifestyle.

    "It's too bad that we just can't eat all foods in moderation. But no, we have to do something dramatic all the time," said Judi Adams, president of the Wheat Foods Council and a registered dietician, referring to the Atkins diet. "We have to look for this magic bullet."
But no, we have to do something dramatic all the time. Indeed. Yes, this comes from a "biased" source, but it's spot on. There IS no magic bullet.

hln

Posted by hln at November 9, 2003 08:07 PM | Health/Fitness/Nutrition | TrackBack
Comments

I am a little chubby, its my own fault. I love eat a lot of everything. If people actually ate in moderation and exercised they wouldn't need the Atkins diet.

Posted by: Tom at November 9, 2003 09:17 PM

Can someone please explain the existence of the "National Bread Leadership Council?"

Responses can be address to the "Global Committee for Fajita Advancement."

Thank you.

Posted by: Trey Givens at November 9, 2003 11:15 PM

I will confess to having tried Atkins years ago. Despite the naysayers, the diet is effective. I lost 35 pounds and no, it wasn't all water weight. There were a multitude of noticeable side effects which will prevent me from trying it again:
1) I felt washed out. SInce I rarely add salt to my food, the constant kidney flushing made me borderline dehydrated. High fat and protein with more salt. Heart failure are us.
2) When I'm exercising regularly, I prefer endurance activities. Do NOT try those while on Atkins. The lack of glycogen in the bloodstream makes serious exercise problematic.
3) I love vegetables. And baked potatoes(hold the butter and sour cream). And rice. And bread.

Diets are not the answer. You must change your eating habits so that you're grabbing an apple instead of Twinkie when you want something sweet. Unfortunately, too many people want a solution that doesn't take any effort. It took them 2 years to put on the weight, but they want to lose it overnight. The culture of instant gratification is not helping.

Posted by: physics geek at November 10, 2003 06:31 PM

No bread? Then perhaps we should all eat cake.

Posted by: D4V3 at November 11, 2003 10:56 AM

Bread is the staff of life. I'll admit to omitting the "starch" course from dinner sometimes because we get plenty of it from other sources, but really . . . not only is it unhealthy to cut carbs out too drastically, but it's also not the life I'd want to lead.

Posted by: Little Miss Attila at November 19, 2003 03:35 AM