4 Experiment and use spices Get used to cooking with a wide variety of spices. It's possible to get fabulous flavor with spices without adding high calorie fats and oils.

5 Read "fat free" labels carefully Many "fat free" items contain additional carbohydrates in form of sugar or fructose to compensate for reduced flavor and can do more to add to your weight than "full strength" product.

6 Use low fat dairy products For adults, much healthier as low fat dairy products have nutrients without extra fat.

However, to be fair, many low carb-ers today are forward thinking, health conscious (not just weight conscious) and intelligent and logical thinkers and do receive some support as I believe there is an Atkins telephone helpline available to U.S. residents, which if you're interested is 1-800-2-ATKINS. As to whether this is purely a promotional tool or truely a helpline, I am not sure.

For many low carb-ers eating a low carb diet is similar to eating way we did years ago before we had access to soda and bagels in mass proportions. Now, I am not an advocate of low carb diets, in fact I don't recommend "cookie cutter" diets, but I do see that for many, it is providing welcome relief to stubborn weight and health problems that previously have been difficult to treat, and that independent research is starting to support results that have been seen in thousands of low carb success testimonials.

As a side note, I feel I must add, if you're new to diet scene and assessing whether or not low carb eating is for you, I do have one word of warning, please be aware that research findings can be manipulated and that findings of research that have been funded by commercial interests such as those within low carb community may not be as impartial as it appears. I am not saying that their research isn't impartial or accurate, but to be really sure, a truly independent study should not have links to interested commercial parties.

References:

Due A, Toubro S, Skov AR, Astrup A. Effect of normal-fat diets, either medium or high in protein, on body weight in overweight subjects: a randomised 1-year trial. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2004 Oct;28(10):1283-90.

Atkins Press Release July 2004: Controlled-carbohydrate research from around world.

USA Today: E.J. Mundell, HealthDay 10/29/2004 Low-carb diets may hurt heart health

Copyright © 2004 Jenny Mathers All Rights Reserved.