Atkins and South Beach Diets

[chefbk]

Anyone getting a call for low carb friendly items on your menus?
BK

[shroomgirl]

I was in a friend's restaurant last night and they said the Atkins selections were selling VERY WELL, I walked through the kitchen adn there were burger plates with assorted veg and no breads, pastas or "carbs to be seen"....bummer.

[leezachris]

I can't wait until people start eating normal
I find it's like my grandmother always says - you can eat anything you want, within moderation.

Anyway, in the next year or so, i bet this whole Adkins thing will die down, but it may be worth trying to cash in on it while it lasts.

[leezachris]

Whoops, I mean ATkins

[RitaFajita]

My grandmother says the same thing. She's 88 and in ideal health (and more than a little feisty ). She has always cooked with butter, cream, AND bread, and the only people in my family with weight problems are the ones who seem to have 4 helpings of everything on the menu every meal.

I guess people just really want a magic solution so much that they tend to accept just about anything. I remember wondering when "Olestra" came out, what's the difference between eating an entire bag of chips that your body can't digest and, say, bulimia?

The sad thing, I fear, is that when Atkins does die down, some other ridiculous fad will rise up in it's place.

I won't be putting any of it on my menu, though. I don't want any part of the nonsense. A rep brought me some low carb tortillas as a sample, and I threw them away.

Wouldn't it be great if principles paid the bills, though ?

RF

[Wyoming]

I run one or two low carb specials each day along with a dessert and they sell pretty well.

[leezachris]

RF -

I totally agree - those fat coating pills are sorta like bulemia - my mother in law tried 'em and got so sick.

[Katie Etouffee]

We're getting a lot of substitution requests, i.e. keep the proteins and sauces but 86 the rice fritter or the sesame tuile or polenta or whatever.

As far as people asking us to put things on the menu ...
We don't hear about that.
Maybe my exec or sous might hear something at the end of a shift or at a managers' meeting, but during service, a server would get a limb amputated if they came back to tell us a customer wants to write our menu for us.

By the way, we've just changed our menu for the spring season, and it's just as protein-fat-carb balanced as it used to be. No concessions to the fad dieters, hooray hooray.

[Mezzaluna]

I know the press has lumped South Beach in with Atkins, but they are actually quite different ways of eating. Leezachris, you may be getting your "eating normal" wish answered!

The first two weeks of South Beach do limit carbs to those found in low carb vegetables and light yogurt. After that, GOOD CARBS and GOOD FATS are the rule. You're encouraged to eat healthy fats in moderation- not the same as Atkins. You're encouraged to gradually add GOOD CARBS until you learn your best level to avoid gaining (or to continue losing) weight.

Here are some examples:

Atkins: any cut of any protein source, including skin of poultry; South Beach: lean cuts only, no poultry skin

Atkins: saturated fats are okay, but they don't advocate unlimited sat fats, contrary to popular belief South Beach: healthy fats like olive oil, canola oil and NO transfats, in moderation- use as little as you can but still feel satisfied (i.e., common sense)

Atkins: only low carb vegetables South Beach: enjoy low carb vegetables and others with low glycemic index (not starchy veggies); beans are encouraged; low GI fruits are allowed in moderation

Atkins: no grain products South Beach: enjoy barley, brown rice, whole grain breads and whole grain pasta in moderation. You learn what your body can tolerate.

I left a low carb plan (not Atkins) and adopted South Beach in September. My doctor, after seeing my lipid panel after six weeks and reading the book, opted to follow it herself. It's really just reasonable eating. It's not low carb!

[chiffonade]

Originally Posted by chefbk

Anyone getting a call for low carb friendly items on your menus?
BK

My husband is a corporate chef and nearly his entire menu now reflects Atkins. This puts a terrible crimp in his creativity because how many ways can you throw together meat, cheese, butter and eggs? He brought home a bunch of pasta and oatmeal simply because no one was eating it. I wish this fad would die already.

[genevieve.m]

I am a chef that tried the Aitkins diet quite seriously. I don't have a problem with my weight, I just wanted to see what results I could get.

I soon developed my own variation, no carbs and little dairy after 5pm and no more junk food. It worked, but I needed those carbs in the moring to get through the day.

I learn't alot about myself from this diet and the best we can hope for is that people learn healthy eating habits from it, then adapt it to their own needs and what suits them long term. But...

I would never ask a restaurant to change a menu item for me and my diet. This should be reseved for people with allergy and intolerant deitary problems.
Even on my strictist of diets I would eat what I wanted in a restaurant, it didn't make any difference.

Thats my two cents...

[Miele]

Originally Posted by Mezzaluna

I left a low carb plan (not Atkins) and adopted South Beach in September. My doctor, after seeing my lipid panel after six weeks and reading the book, opted to follow it herself. It's really just reasonable eating. It's not low carb!

It's too bad, then, that the author of the South Beach Diet had to give it such a spiffy name. I guess not enough people want to try the "sensible eating diet" and wouldn't buy that book. RitaFajita is right that people are looking for a magic solution. There's no other way to explain the ridiculous diet ads I hear on the radio.

[RitaFajita]

well, genevieve.m, giving up junk food is always a good idea - especially if it's a habit to eat too much of it. I gave up chips for a while, and the next time I tried them they seemed way too salty. I can't stand them now.

Actually, I don't know too much about South Beach. I just think that looking for a magic solution is missing the whole point about food. Many Americans need to change the way they think about food.

RF

[genevieve.m]

Rita,fajita,
Is it possible that in the effort to follow fad diets or doctor perscribed diets, people can learn better habits?

There will always be a new fad diet because they make so much money and I have seen many an infomericial from the states. Some of them are so convincing it's unreal, because they are such beautiful people.

Time to pull out my copy of "the beauty myth", again.