Low-Carb Foods Can Help You Meet Your Weight Loss Goals

I found a new blogger today when he commented on a couple of my recent posts. His name is Duncan Margetts and he has an interesting blog on a variety of subjects. I was especially intrigued by his Diet category where his latest blog entry is likely talking about "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb."

I will warn you now, Duncan has quite a potty mouth on him. If you are offended by foul language, then DO NOT click on the link to his web site.

But if you can handle reading the words of someone who has such a difficult time with the English language that he has to resort to obscenities, then Duncan's your kinda guy. And he targets people who are livin' la vida low-carb in his rant against the Frankenfoods.

You know, those versions of peanut butter, ice cream, pasta and the like that can greatly assist you when you are transitioning to a low-carb lifestyle. Duncan doesn't like them and he lets you know it, too! I have cleaned up his words where appropriate.

Here's what he wrote: "It seems nearly every new diet blog I come across has hints, tricks and recipes for making meals that attempt to taste the same as the crap people were eating when they got fat. Advice on replacement sweetening agents, low carb versions, low GI versions, low fat versions ... Links to online vendors of 'Atkins Super Taste (BLEEPING!) Good Chocolate Bar with only 10 NET (BLEEPING!) CARBS per serve!'.."

Breathe, Duncan, breathe, my friend. It's gonna be okay, I promise you. I cannot speak for other low-carb blogs, but my purpose at this blog is to educate and encourage people about the healthy alternative that low-carb living offers them. If people decide not to take my suggestions on how I do low-carb, then that's okay with me. But as someone who has lost 180 pounds on the Atkins lifestyle, I am constantly asked about the things I did to lose weight and keep it off.

I enjoy low-carb options for foods. They give you and opportunity to enjoy some excellent and legal foods that can keep you from falling off the wagon. It is admirable that you can live without them, but many others enjoy the assistance they get from these products when they are livin' la vida low-carb. It helped me and many others attain the success that we did.

But, with that said, let me say that I only used these products every few days or so during my weight loss and only slightly more frequently now that I am maintaining. The vast majority of my meals are what you would consider natural foods. I love blueberries and strawberries (dipped in Z-Carb bars make them taste great, too!).

Duncan compares the desire for these products to "heroin junkies who go onto methadone programs, permanently.. They’re not giving up their drugs, just sanitising them."

Talk about exaggerating to make a point! While I agree people can be addicted to food, I don't think eating low-carb versions of foods is akin to feeding into the habit. If you are losing weight while using these products, then progress is being made. I know from personal experience that you eventually begin losing your desire for these foods. I detail in one of the chapters in my upcoming book the story of my love affair with a certain food dish that I never thought I could live without. Now just thinking about eating that food again literally repulses me!

"The really nasty part is the Frankenstein like crap that go into some diet-food products, all manner of chemicals, sweeteners, alternative sugars, sugar alcohols, preservatives, flavours, colours, etc.. Its all crap, likely disease inducing and certainly NOT health promoting.

I will agree with Duncan that there is a lot of what he calls "crap" on the market, but not all of it is. You have to pick and choose which products will help YOU on your low-carb plan. If you don't need it, then don't buy it! It's that simple.

"Why the (BLEEP!) we need to find a way of cooking or producing Low Carb Hot Dogs, Low Fat French Toast, Low GI White Bread, Low Carb Chocolate, Low Fat Icecream? Nature provides us with a vast array of wonderful flavours, ready to eat (heat if you want!) and almost ALL of them contain a wonderful array of nutrients, vitamins, phyto-chemicals, minerals, antioxidants and when bought from good sources NONE of them are disease inducing.. when did you last see a headline that said 'Scientists warn, increased apricot consumption associated with little finger cancer'?"

I will give Duncan an "A" for trying to be funny. But he misses the point entirely about these products. It's not that we totally shun those products he is referring to in his blog post. But rather, we choose to eat these other products in addition to them to give us even more choices to eat. The warning that these products are "disease inducing" is just nonsense. But do low-carb in a way that will make YOU successful and don't worry about what naturalists like Duncan will say about it.

"Here’s the contents of an Atkins Advantage Chocolate Bar 'Soy Protein Isolate, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Whey Protein Isolate, Calcium/Sodium Caseinate, Glycerine, Polydextrose (fiber), Cocoa Butter, Peanut Flour, Water, Peanuts, Natural Coconut Oil (non-hydrogenated), Cellulose (non-hydrogenated), Cocoa Powder, Natural & Artificial Flavor, Olive Oil, Butter Oil, Lecithin, Maltodextrin, Guar Gum, Citric Acid (flavor enhancer), Salt, Sucralose (Splenda brand non-nutritive sweetener)'. Here’s the contents of my dessert last night 'Blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, strawberries'."

Well lah-dee-dah for you, Duncan! That's great that you enjoyed a bowl of fresh berries. There's nothing in the world wrong with that. But there's also nothing at all wrong with other low-carbers eating the aforementioned Atkins bars (which are the bestselling in the marketplace, by the way!), Z-Carb bars, or even the new GoLower Nut Bars. These and other foods can and have greatly helped people who are livin' la vida low-carb meet their weight loss goals and attain lasting weight control and greatly improved health. To me, that's what it's all about!

THANKS for sharing your thoughts with us, Duncan. We appreciate your voice in this discussion and invite you to come back again soon. If you dare! :-O

Enjoy the traffic I'm sending your way. :-)