Would You Take Diet Tips From Your Dentist?

Why is it that everybody and their momma thinks they are some sort of "expert" when it comes to diet and health? I’ve seen it from my veterinarian and now it’s coming from my dentist, too! Jeepers creepers!

I’m not kidding.

In the mail this week I received the monthly newsletter from Rocky Creek Dental in Greenville, South Carolina and my dentist Dr. John R. Piccione. I usually enjoy reading this update on taking care of your teeth health, but the April 2007 issue included some rather suspicious diet advice as well. What does a dentist know about nutrition and bodily health aside from the ones in the viscinity of the pearly whites?

On the back side of this newsletter, Dr. Piccione included two recipes for his patients to eat and enjoy as part of their healthy lifestyle. Now, you would think a dentist would discourage people from eating sugar to protect their teeth from decay—nevermind the fact that it’s unhealthy for your body, too.

But, believe it or not, that’s exactly what he did with the following recipe that sounded like something that would be good for you. But this could be very deceiving until you look at the ingredients list:

SPINACH SALAD
1 bag spinach
1/3 cup SUGAR (ARGH!)
2 cups strawberries, sliced
Purple onion (med. Chopped)
1 Cucumber, chopped

Why would you want to ruin such an awesome meal like this by adding SUGAR to it? This would be an excellent recipe if you simply substituted Splenda or some other substitute sweetener in lieu of the sugar. Can you believe a dentist, considered an expert about health-related issues, is allowing this in a recommended recipe for his patients? UGH!

To make matters worse, check out the additional dietary advice he provided in the instructions for making this recipe:

“Combine above and serve with BREADSTICKS, and you have a great meal!”

YIKES! Unfortunately, that doesn’t sound like a great meal to me, Dr. Piccione. Adding insult to injury, you then promote the consumption of high-carb breadsticks to further worsen the problem with this meal. What horrible dietary advice!

I guess our culture has become so accustomed to serving bread or crackers with a salad that people don’t even give a second thought to skipping it altogether. Now there's a thought! And we’d all be a lot better off if we did this one simple step.

How about we make a deal with me, Dr. Piccione? I promise not to talk about how to take care of tooth health if you agree to skip giving out any more advice on a healthy diet? Your patients will be much better off in the end.

You can e-mail Dr. Piccione to let him know what you think about his ridiculous diet tips for his patients at rockycreekdental@yahoo.com.

4-16-07 UPDATE: The good dentist Dr. John Piccione found my blog post today about his newsletter. Needless to say, he wasn't very pleased with what I had written in this post.

Here's what he wrote in an e-mail to me:

Jimmy,

WHOA--I thought I could sneak that recipe in as a way to promote tooth decay. I applaud you for uncovering my evil intentions--the world is a better place because of your discovery and comments.

No sense in calling me first to inform me of this faux pas--it's more fun to have fun with it on the Internet. But I did have a good laugh when I read your posting.

For those who have more of a sense of fairness, you used a little artistic imagination calling this a diet tip in your blog. We do not have a section called diet tips in our newsletter. We have a section where our staff shares recipes with our patients.

I never personally tried the recipe, but I like to give my staff a chance to participate in the newsletter. The contributor of the recipe was probably more interested in sharing her "love of cooking" than worrying about its dietary impact.

Most of my patients are fair minded people with common sense. Certainly they can use a little artistic liberty to substitute the sugar for something more healthful, rather than using the mistake as tool to put someone else down to build themselves up.

I will however be more cautious in the future.

John Piccione

Here was my response to Dr. Piccione:

Hey Dr. Piccione,

I appreciate your note, but this kind of faux pas happens far too often for me to ignore it and let it slide. I apologize if you feel I was demeaning to you or your staff with the comments I wrote, but that was not at all my intention (nor was it to "build" myself up through it).

While it might have been an innocent oversight, the fact is people rely on the information they get from their doctors and dentists to be reliable and safe for them and their health. Unfortunately, the introduction of sugar into a recommended recipe (whether you explicitly provide it as a "diet tip" or not) is neither healthy for your teeth nor your body.

THANKS for your e-mail and I appreciate the opportunity to engage in the debate of ideas about healthy living. Take care and THANKS for helping to educate the public about their health!

Comments anyone?

Fresh Express Donates $2 Million To Fund E. Coli Prevention Research

Dr. Osterholm leads panel looking into E. coli produce outbreaks

After last year's public relations nightmare following the media frenzy that ensued when the E. coli virus contaminated bagged spinach products in California killing over 100 and making thousands more sick all across the United States, the nation's top manufacturer of ready-to-eat salads has stepped forward to take the lead in trying to prevent something like this from happening again.

Fresh Express, a subsidiary of Chiquita Brands International, Inc., is the #1 seller of bagged salads in North America with more than 20 million customers eating their healthy spinach and other green leafy vegetable products every single week. Concerned about the long-term fallout of the spinach crisis in the Fall of 2006, they have made a rather unique and unprecedented move: a $2 million donation towards an independent scientific advisory panel looking into preventing the dangerous spread of E. coli to future spinach and other produce crops.

This is a bold initiative by Fresh Express considering none of their products have ever been shown to cause any food borne illnesses in company history. Even still, they are doing everything they can to regain the public's trust in the safety of their products, something their Food Safety Chief Jim Lugg assured me recently when I interviewed him about this subject.

The panel consists of six nationally recognized food safety experts from both the state and federal government levels who have been looking into the E. coli problems on a voluntary basis since May 2006 to determine why the contamination is happening. Their research is considered vital to the prevention of future outbreaks.

Chaired by Dr. Michael T. Osterholm from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, the panel also includes Dr. Jeff Farrar from the California Department of Health Services, Dr. Bob Buchanan from the FDA, Dr. Robert Tauxe from the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Bob Gravani from Cornell University, and Dr. Craig Hedberg also from The University of Minnesota.

This group of food safety experts has already uncovered five of the most critical research priorities for them to examine in the coming months, according to Dr. Osterholm.

"We systematically used our individual areas of expertise to scrutinize the entire supply chain and ultimately uncover the areas where we collectively agreed more research was necessary," Dr. Osterholm explained.

These priorities include but are not limited to:

1. Determining how E. coli is internalized in lettuce or spinach.
2. Identifying ways to E. coli from spreading to green vegetables.
3. Conducting crop studies to assess the severity of the contamination.
4. Looking into how E. coli can multiply during the harvesting of produce.
5. Finding out if E. coli is able to survive the composting processes.

These and many other kinds of rigorous research initiatives are being conducted by Dr. Osterholm and his team this year to help the fresh-cut produce industry deal with this very serious and potentially costly problem. The results of their research findings will be made public to help educate the entire fresh produce industry as well as consumers about why this is happening.

No date has been set for the release of the panel's conclusions, but it is likely expected sometime in late 2007. The availability of the $2 million donated by Fresh Express is immediate and the panel has free reign to use the money as they see fit to conduct the research process in as independent and thorough manner as possible.

In the meantime, Fresh Express president Tanios Viviani says he is proud to be on the frontlines of the research looking into the E. coli problem which has the potential to completely destroy the industry completely should another outbreak hit as hard as it did in late 2006.

"At Fresh Express, food safety has been and will always be our No. 1 priority in every phase of our operations," he said. "We have long been dedicated to food-safety innovation, and this research effort is part of that ongoing commitment. We are grateful to these leading experts for their generous contribution of time and expertise to guide this initiative."

Viviani added that he is confident the panel will offer plenty of "new knowledge, practices, and technologies that the entire fresh-cut produce industry can use to provide consumers with ready-to-eat produce that is consistently safe and healthy."

The "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog will continue to follow this story in the coming months and report to you any further developments that you need to be aware of, especially when the panel's findings are released.

Lugg: Constantly Improving Spinach Safety Is First Priority For Fresh Express

Find out why Fresh Express spinach is okay to eat

One of the biggest health news stories of 2006 was the E-coli outbreak in spinach in September. Since spinach and other green leafy vegetables are an important part of a healthy low-carb lifestyle, I had some serious concerns about the long-term fallout from this event.

America's top ready-to-eat bagged salad company Fresh Express has attempted to regain the public's trust in the safety of their products. To that end, I recently conducted an interview with their food safety chief Jim Lugg to ask him the hard questions that I'm sure are still lingering in the back of your mind about buying spinach.

I appreciated his candor about the E. coli scare and hope you feel as confident as I do that spinach is indeed safe to eat again (I've already purchased about a dozen bags of spinach in just the past month!). ENJOY this interview and please leave your comments about it at the end of this post.

1. I'm pleased to welcome to the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog the food safety chief for ready-to-eat salad company Fresh Express and 43-year industry veteran Jim Lugg. It's been quite a year for you and your company dealing with the challenges of the last few months of 2006. When the E. coli news started spreading across the media, what was your initial reaction to it?

Our reaction was one of concern: One food borne illness related to the leafy green category is one too many. We were fairly certain we were not involved in the outbreak due to our rigorous food safety programs that actually begin right in the field and carry through all the way to delivery of our products. Thanks to the comprehensive scope of these programs and our day-in and day-out focus on food safety, in our entire 18-year history, Fresh Express has never been epidemiologically linked to a food-borne illness outbreak.

2. Do you think the news media tended to over sensationalize the story in order to attract viewers and readers or was the massive coverage by them warranted?

I think the media is on very, very tight deadlines and don't always take the time to educate themselves about a situation thoroughly enough to write articles that tell the whole story. As a result, they can send incomplete or inaccurate signals to consumers.

3. This tragic event has undoubtedly taken its toll on your company's profits despite the fact that your company had nothing at all to do with the E. coli strand that sickened so many across the nation. What has Fresh Express done to reassure its customers that their products are and have always been safe to eat?

We have stepped up our communications efforts to describe our exceptional food safety programs to help them better understand how detailed and effective our food safety practices are at every stage of the salad-making process.

4. Unfortunately, no matter how much you tell some people about what you are doing to protect their health, you will still have those who want some sort of an incentive to come back. What is Fresh Express doing to woo their skeptical customers into buying leafy greens again?

Our research shows that the price of packaged salads is not the issue among those who have stopped purchasing. So no amount of couponing will influence this group. The main thing we are doing to woo these customers back is to continually improve our food safety program. We've spent millions over the past 10 years to make Fresh Express a leader in food safety and this will continue aggressively.

5. We're getting mixed message from FDA Food Safety spokesman Dr. David Acheson who believes there are long-term food safety issues regarding foodborne illness associated with eating spinach and other green leafy that need to be addressed. What is he referring to?

He is simply referring to the disparity within the industry--that unfortunately, most companies do not have the same rigorous approach to food safety that we do. All companies should adopt comprehensive, end-to-end programs like Fresh Express' stringent focus on PREVENTION. Until they do, consumers need to be smart about what brands they purchase.

6. What steps are being taken by Fresh Express to prevent an outbreak of E. coli or other such virus from showing up among your crops?

Fresh Express developed and implemented the first comprehensive and multi-step Raw Product Food Safety and Quality Program within the industry. That program is even stronger today and is designed to prevent problems through very specific practices in the fields where the lettuce and spinach is grown and harvested. These practices range from testing irrigation water and buffering the fields against wildlife or livestock to strict worker sanitation requirements.

7. Is there anything a consumer should do with the green leafy vegetables they buy from Fresh Express to protect themselves against possible illness? Do they need to wash the vegetables again even if the bag says they are prewashed?

Our salads and spinach are thoroughly washed and ready to eat. All consumers need to do is pop open the bag and enjoy! If consumers do decide to rewash the salads--which we do not recommend--they need to be sure they are using careful food preparation practices in their kitchens. Cleanliness is extremely important and they should especially watch out not to cross-contaminate the salads with other food items such as raw chicken or even other unwashed veggies that might have been in or near the sink or cutting board or so on.

8. The sad part of this E. coli story is that spinach is an excellent part of just about every healthy lifestyle whether it is vegetarian, low-fat or low-carb. What is Fresh Express doing to help educate people about why they should be eating more spinach and are there any practical ways to encourage consumers who may have never eaten it previously to try it now?

We're doing quite a bit. We're using in-store opportunities to communicate directly with consumers. We are also reaching out to the media and have already had various stories and ads appear, with more planned.

9. Nothing beats a big plate of spinach leaves topped with a salmon steak or grilled chicken strips and yet you can't find this kind of meal at most American restaurants. In fact, Applebee's recently pulled all of the spinach from their popular new menu in response to the fear generated by the E. coli event. Is Fresh Express prepared to help reassure these restaurants that their product should be served with pride to their diners?

Our industry associations are working actively with the organizations who represent white tablecloth, themed, casual dine-in and quick serve restaurants.

10. THANK YOU again for sharing just a little bit of time with my readers today, Mr. Lugg! I'm sure this experience has provided a rollercoaster ride of emotions for the leaders of your company as you attempt to deal with a crisis that could very well pop up again in the future. What are you doing right now to prepare for the "next time" because there will inevitably be one at some point? Can Fresh Express survive another E. coli outbreak even if your crops are never compromised?

We stand behind our food safety programs and our products and we've been pleasantly surprised to learn that our loyal consumers are standing behind us as well!

Please visit FreshExpress.com for more information about the company.

By the way, you may want to take advantage of their New Year New You promotion where you can get a FREE PEDOMETER with the purchase of any two Fresh Express products. All you need to do is fill out this mail-in form and you'll have your pedometer in 6-8 weeks.

Your purchase must be made by March 31, 2007 to qualify and postmarked no later than April 7, 2007 to take advantage of this offer. I've already sent my first form off in the mail for my FREE PEDOMETER! In fact, I may do it again with my next purchases, too. Hey, what can I say, I LOVE spinach!

Any comments or questions about the interview?

Fresh Express Attempts To Regain Consumer Trust After Tainted Spinach Debacle

After the E. coli spinach scare, can Fresh Express make a comeback?

I don't know about you, but I am so glad to FINALLY see bagged spinach back on grocery store shelves again following the recent E. coli outbreak in California in September. At the time, I blogged about what the long-term fallout of this crisis would be and whether people would start purchasing spinach again.

Here's what I wrote at the time about what the spinach companies face:

"The spinach and green leafy vegetable industry will be fighting an uphill public relations battle in the coming months. They need to somehow reassure consumers that it really is safe to begin eating their products again. A national marketing campaign on television and radio may be needed to get people to begin purchasing these products again."

Well, I was prophetic with what I wrote because that's exactly what the leading packaged salad company Fresh Express is doing. Just before Thanksgiving, I received a personalized e-mail from a representative at Fresh Express who said they read my blog and appreciate my support for consuming fresh salad greens as part of my healthy low-carb lifestyle.

They said they read about my concerns regarding the safety of their product following the E. coli incident and assured me they take every precaution to ensure the highest safety and quality of their products. Fresh Express referenced this USA Today article that explains the stringent standards that Fresh Express demands of the crop growers which make them the food safety leader in their industry. It's an educational read, so check it out!


Fresh Express Food Safety Chief Jim Lugg inspects the crops

There will be a bloggers-only press conference taking place in a couple of weeks with Jim Lugg, food safety chief for Fresh Express to answer any questions or concerns about the consumer safety of the Fresh Express products. If you have any specific concerns or questions that you would like for me to ask Mr. Lugg, then please e-mail them to me at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. I will certainly report back to you any relevant information that comes out of that.

Then, in today's mail I received the weekly newspaper sales flyer for my favorite local grocery store and noticed they were featuring the Fresh Express product line in a special front-page fold on the right-hand side of the paper. All of the Fresh Express bagged salads, including Baby Spinach, Spring Mix, Green & Crisp and Hearts Of Romaine, among others were featured on sale for BUY ONE GET ONE FREE! Sweet! I LOVE a BOGO sale! :)

At the bottom of the pictures of the Fresh Express ad read this:

"OUR PROMISE TO YOU: When you buy Fresh Express ready-to-eat salads, you have our pledge to provide the absolute freshest, safest, and highest quality salads and greens available. FOOD SAFETY, OUR NUMBER 1 PRIORITY."

I personally started buying spinach again about two weeks ago. This is a product that people who are livin' la vida low-carb should be eating as part of their healthy lifestyle because it is chock full of some essential nutrients that your body can use. Nothing beats a big plate of spinach leaves with some fresh grilled chicken, cheese, sunflower seeds, and Ranch dressing. I could eat that at every meal! :)

How about you? Have you started eating spinach again yet? I think the public panic has now passed and it's probably time we start supporting companies like Fresh Express who are doing everything they can to reassure and protect their customers from harm. The E. coli issue will unfortunately keep some people away from spinach for good, but that's an unreasonable reaction since the source of the problem has been identified and taken care of. It's time to come back to spinach again.

In fact, here's an incentive for you to go buy a bag of spinach this week:


Click on the image above to print the 55 cent coupon

Go ahead, try a bag! Even if you have never purchased bagged spinach before, give it a whirl. You may find like I did that you enjoy eating it more than you think. And it's so incredibly healthy for you, too! EAT UP, low-carbers!

Applebee's Covertly Provides Low-Carb Choice

Have you tried the new "Crispy Brick Chicken" meal from Applebee's yet?

In Episode 3 of my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show" podcast last week, I highlighted this survey that concluded restaurants do not need to ignore the low-carb consumer because they are a growing group of customers who are beginning to frequent those restaurants who actively cater to their dietary needs when dining out. And it's true, too! Some former favorites have been crossed off our list of restaurants we frequent because they refuse to provide flexibility with their menu to make it low-carb.

Unfortunately, not every popular restaurant chain has gotten the message that low-carb living is alive and well despite the claims it no longer exists. You will recall Ruby Tuesday removed their low-carb menu before the summer not long after scrubbing their phenomenal low-carb cheesecake from their menu at the beginning of the year. It's too bad for companies like Ruby Tuesday who once led by example about how to meet the needs of the growing low-carb market. But not anymore and so low-carbers have stopped going there. That's too bad!


Applebee's banking on the star power of Chef Tyler Florence

However, I was encouraged recently when I saw a television commercial for Applebee's touting their new "Huge Flavor" menu featuring celebrity Chef Tyler Florence from The Food Network who is helping the popular mid-scale restaurant chain spruce up their menu a bit with some exciting new meals.

There was one featured item from Chef Florence's new menu in the TV ad that REALLY caught my attention--it was a plateful of chicken grilled up under open flames with a side of some leafy greens. My immediate thought was "Hey, that looks pretty low-carb!" It's important to note that there was no mention of "low-carb" in describing this meal or any of the new menu items during the commercial. Hmmmm.

Because my wife Christine absolutely adores Applebee's and Saturday was her birthday, I decided to surprise her by going there to celebrate. Not surprisingly, I just had to order the meal from the television commercial which I found out was called the "Crispy Brick Chicken." It looked so good on the television commercial and also in the picture on the menu. Would it live up to my lofty expectations?

Here's how Chef Florence describes this meal on the menu:

"I split a tender petite chicken and press it flat directly against a red-hot grill. The light marinade of rosemary, lemon and olive oil gets seared directly into the skin-it's so crisp it crackles with flavor! I complement this dish with a fresh salad tossed with grated hard boiled eggs, caramelized onions, shaved Parmesan cheese and my own warm bacon dressing."

Did you see all of those ingredients? Except for the "caramelized onions," EVERYTHING in it is VERY low-carb. As in, there's almost NO carbs in it at all! WOWsers! Could it be we have a covert attempt by Applebee's to add a low-carb menu choice without explicitly labeling it as such? It certainly seems that way!

Interestingly, this meal was originally supposed to come with spinach leaves and not just salad greens. I saw a sign at the front of the restaurant when you walk in the door that explains Applebee's no longer serves spinach on their menu because of the FDA's warning about E. coli in September. I have been concerned about the long-term fallout of that incident and it seems my worries about it are coming true despite the fact that spinach is back on supermarket shelves again. In fact, I just bought my first two bags of it again in about two months this weekend.

Nevertheless, even without the spinach leaves this meal was delicious! I dug right into the chicken itself which was juicy and moist beneath the slightly hardened chicken skin that had flavors grilled right into it. Mmmm, I was in low-carb heaven eating this! Then I tried the salad and immediately noticed it was VERY sweet. It was obvious the "caramelized onions" were cooked in sugar water. That's okay because it probably didn't have more than 5-6g sugar in it overall. But I thought I'd warn those of you who are watching your sugar intake like a hawk.

If you are diabetic or in the early stages of livin' la vida low-carb, then simply ask for these caramelized onions to be placed on the side or left off the salad completely. They are good, but you really don't need them to enjoy amazing low-carb meal. With the onions, I'd say this meal is about 8g carbs. Without them, maybe as low as 2g carbs. EXCELLENT!

My wife made an interesting observation about the meals we were served--they included NO bread! Most restaurants nowadays offer dinner bread, dinner rolls, or breadsticks. But not Applebee's. Neither one of the meals we were served came with ANY kind of bread. Is the message finally getting through that traditional bread made from white flour is not good for you? This was just another positive move in the right direction regarding our decision to go to Applebee's.

Yet, in my research for this post today, I went to the official Applebee's web site to find the nutritional information about this "Crispy Brick Chicken" meal to give you accurate numbers about the carbs especially. Unfortunately, Applebee's must be one of the few restaurant chains that DO NOT provide this to their customers. I was quite surprised that they didn't considering the move by many restaurants to make this readily available.

Here was their official response about providing nutritional info:

"We provide nutritional information on all of our Weight Watchers® items, including fat, fiber and calorie counts and Weight Watchers Points® values. We do not provide nutritional information on other Applebee's® items - with approximately 1,900 locations in the U.S. alone there are many different vendors, which makes it extremely difficult to obtain nutritional information for our items."

If you ask me, that's a total copout on being a responsible company. How can you blame multiple vendors for NOT providing nutritional information about your menu items, hmmm? Every single restaurant in America gets their food from more than one vendor, so what makes Applebee's any different? If you ask me, it's just laziness from their corporate marketing team. If they cared enough to provide this valuable information to their customers, then they would. So how about it Applebee's? Stop making excuses and start providing your customers with the information they need to live a healthy lifestyle.

Ah, yes, let's not forget about the Weight Watchers menu either. You definitely couldn't miss that at Applebee's! They had ten menu items in a section all to their own for all those people counting their "points" as they stuff their faces with low-fat, low-calorie, high-carb meals that rather conspicuously provided ZERO information about their carbohydrate content. Gee, I wonder why. That's because THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!

In fact, when we were finished with our meal, the waitress asked if we had saved room for dessert. Although I already knew the answer to this question, I asked her if they had a sugar-free or low-carb dessert offering. She immediately chimed in with, "Well, we do have our Weight Watchers dessert!" Of course, she was referring to their "Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake" dessert approved by Weight Watchers for their dieters to eat when dining at Applebee's.


This dessert only has 4 points, but is extremely high in sugar

I respectfully replied, "I don't think that dessert is sugar-free, but thank you for offering." At closer examination of this "diet" dessert on the menu, I noticed it had 230 calories, only 3g fat, and 3g fiber. Okay, that's all well and good, but what about the carbs? Where was this information located? It was conveniently missing and for good reason.

Look at the description of this supposedly "healthy" dessert:

"This chocolate tour de scrumptious is covered in a light cream cheese glaze, dusted with powdered sugar and drizzled with raspberry sauce."

A white flour-based chocolate cake sweetened with sugar, no doubt, with higher carb LIGHT cream cheese also sweetened with MORE sugar, then topped with ANOTHER layer of powdered sugar, and finally finished with a sugar-based raspberry sauce. Yikeseroo! I don't know how many carbs this Weight Watchers dessert had, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was close to 50g! UGH!

Why would ANYONE trying to lose weight on WHATEVER diet program put a dessert like this in their mouth?! Oh, that's right, sugar is FAT-FREE, so it's given a pass to be placed in foods that purport to be healthy. If sugar had fat in it, though, LOOK OUT! It would be treated like the plague and universally condemned. It should be anyway, but sadly the low-fatties like to have their sugar and eat it too!

Although the dessert menu was lacking for people on the low-carb lifestyle, I was highly encouraged by the addition of the "Crispy Brick Chicken" meal to the menu at Applebee's. It's an option for low-carbers that I feel very good about recommending to you if your family wants to go out to eat there. It just goes to show you that something doesn't have to be labeled "low-carb" for it to actually be low-carb. Become your own nutritional investigator and learn to recognize a low-carb friendly menu item when you see it.

Be sure to thank Applebee's for including this new "Crispy Brick Chicken" meal on their menu and encourage them to offer more menu items that are low in carbohydrates, including a sugar-free/low-carb dessert offering, as well as the complete nutritional information about their meals by clicking here. Make your voice heard because they might just listen if enough of us contact them.

11-14-06 UPDATE: After expressing my concerns directly in an e-mail to Applebee's the other day, they were nice enough to respond to me about the carb count in their new menu item as well as other options for low-carbers:

Dear Jimmy,

Thank you for taking the time to write to us about low carb menu selections. We currently have nutrition information only on our Weight Watchers items which is based on calories, fat and fiber.

Although we're not able to provide complete nutritional information on every product due to variations in menus, producers and suppliers, we try our best to give our valued guests like you plenty of options when dining with us.

Each of our Applebee's servers has a "Dietary Alternative" card which lists several options for guests looking for carb-conscious menu items. These options include the Applebee's House Sirloin, Fajitas con Sizzle, Grilled Italian
Chicken Caesar Salad, Bacon Cheeseburger and our famous Honey BBQ Chicken Sandwich.

We hope this information helps you make an informed decision the next time you visit us at your neighborhood Applebee's restaurant. I will also share your feedback with our Menu Research and Development team.

Sincerely,

Applebee's Guest Relations

No, that didn't answer my question. I wanted to know how many carbs are in the new "Crispy Brick Chicken" meal. Was that too difficult a question to get a simple number for an answer? As for those "carb-conscious menu items," I doubt the "famous Honey BBQ Chicken Sandwich" could be considered low-carb on any planet! Oi, these people kill me with the ignorance--knowingly or otherwise. I still think it's a crying shame that they can't post their nutritional info for their customers like every other restaurant chain does. GET WITH THE PROGRAM, APPLEBEE'S!

Long-Term Fallout Of E. Coli Spinach Scare

With the dust settling from the E. coli outbreak, will you be buying spinach?

Okay, it's all clear now. There's no need to panic any longer. The outbreak has been contained and spinach is now okay to be consumed.

That's the message in this Reuters story about the recent E. coli spinach scare that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wanted to communicate on Friday.

You will recall the nationwide uproar that hit in mid-September when E. coli was discovered in spinach in eight states with 50 people sick and one dead. In the two weeks since, the number of states involved has increased to 26 with 97 hospitalized and three total presumed dead because of the outbreak.

If you have tried to purchase spinach over the past couple of weeks, you probably couldn't because there was a total recall of all fresh spinach products in grocery stores and restaurants all across this country. But with the FDA declaring spinach to be safe for consumption again, spinach is expected to return to shelves and on salad bars at your favorite restaurants again within a week or so.

I went shopping at my local grocery store earlier today and the bagged greens section looked pretty skimpy still. Then we went out to dinner at a restaurant tonight and I overheard a server tell a customer that they would not be able to have a certain menu item because it's got spinach in it and they're not serving spinach right now.

Since this was first announced, I've personally avoided eating spinach (obviously!) and even salad greens for the most part until this outbreak with E. coli passed. It was a decision I could most certainly live with and don't regret one bit.

But what now? What will be the long-term fallout from this E. coli spinach scare? Will people feel comfortable eating spinach again despite the assurances from the FDA that everything is fine? Maybe, but the concern may not be over just yet.

The FDA said they are still very worried about a rash of food poisonings resulting from fresh greens like spinach and even lettuce which have all come from California-based farms. That is why stronger regulations are being proposed by the FDA. Nevertheless, they still say so confidently that it's okay to eat spinach again.

Doesn't this remind you of the constant message Americans heard in the days and weeks following the September 11, 2001 attacks when our government leaders said, "Just go about your normal daily lives as if nothing has happened?" While an E. coli outbreak is not the same as a terrorist attack, I think it's safe to say life will not be the same again in either case.

FDA Food Safety spokesman Dr. David Acheson said the spinach that will be available to consumers by early October will "be as safe as it was before this outbreak."

Is that supposed to be reassuring, Dr. Acheson? If it was so safe BEFORE the outbreak, then why did this happen in the first place? Even scarier are the lingering doubts about whether spinach is really safe to eat or not.

"There are some longer-term issues that need to be addressed," he said.

Yes, go ahead and get that spinach Mr. and Mrs. Consumer because we HOPE it's gonna be okay. Argh! Talk about your proverbial rock and a hard place! They're still investigating Natural Selection Foods in San Juan Bautista, California regarding their role in this E. coli outbreak which showed up under the name brand Dole.

What gets me is the fact that Dr. Acheson is still so adamant they have "serious concerns" that need to be addressed regarding leafy greens and even lettuce, but he also says it's okay to eat the spinach again.

"The FDA and the state of California have previously expressed serious concerns with continuing outbreaks of foodborne illness associated with the consumption of fresh and fresh-cut lettuce and other leafy greens," Dr. Acheson said.

Which is it, Dr. Acheson? Is it safe or not? Why all this talk out of both sides of your mouth? He's even discussing what they NEED TO BE DOING to prevent this from happening again and spreading to other leafy veggies.

"And as part of our longer term strategy, FDA and the state of California expect industry to develop a plan to minimize the risk of a further outbreak of E. coli 0157 not just in spinach but in all leafy greens including lettuce," he explained.

EEEEEK! With 20 E. coli outbreaks since 1996, most of which have originated from California, Dr. Acheson said farming practices need to be reviewed to make sure the cattle that caused the outbreak are kept far enough away from the crop fields as possible. Physical barriers may even need to be constructed to keep the animals from endangering the crop again.

"Having cattle that may or may not be carrying 0157 that are uphill and upstream of a field that is growing a fresh product that is going to be consumed without cooking obviously raises concerns and questions," Dr. Acheson concluded.

How does this make you feel if you are used to eating spinach and other green leafy vegetables as part of your healthy lifestyle? Will you be changing your diet to avoid these products now because of the E. coli scare? Or will you go back to eating spinach leaves as you did before?

Before I started livin' la vida low-carb, I didn't even know there was fresh spinach leaves. To me, spinach was a disgustingly slimy glob of green stuff that came in a can with water in it and it make Popeye the Sailor Man grow muscles when he ate it. That's the perception that a 400+ pound man has about anything that is HEALTHY for him.

That was then and this is now.

There's no denying the tremendous health benefits of eating green leafy vegetables. These foods are so full of vitamins and nutrients that do your body a lot of good. I have personally missed having as many spinach greens as I was used to eating over these past couple of weeks. They have helped me tremendously in my nearly 200-pound weight loss and I regularly ate about 1-2 cups of spinach leaves daily prior to the outbreak.

What's gonna happen from here? To tell you the truth, I'm still not fully convinced they have this spinach problem under control, so I will continue to avoid it for the time being. I hate this because I don't want to see companies like Dole that sell this product have to suffer from the lack of sales from customers who used to buy their product. I literally bought 6 bags at a time of spinach leaves to stock up for my healthy low-carb lifestyle. But now...

The spinach and green leafy vegetable industry will be fighting an uphill public relations battle in the coming months. They need to somehow reassure consumers that it really is safe to begin eating their products again. A national marketing campaign on television and radio may be needed to get people to begin purchasing these products again. It's a shame that something like this would deter people from eating healthy, but it has happened and nothing can change that now. The damage has been done.

So what vegetables am I eating instead of spinach right now? I just stocked up on some cauliflower (to make this recipe) as well as French cut green beans today. Mmmm, yummy! I will enjoy these excellent vegetables, although I hope to feel confident enough in the safety of spinach leaves again soon to eat my salads that I cherish so much. Right now, I'm just not so sure it's a wise decision.

How about you? Are you gung ho to start eating spinach leaves again when they begin hitting grocery store shelves next weekend? Tell us about it by clicking on the comments link below and let us know your thoughts.

FDA Warning: E. Coli Found In Bagged Spinach

We can certainly debate the merits of the various nutritional approaches. But when it comes to an outbreak of an infectious disease such as E. coli, we're all on the same team.

This Forbes magazine column reports that one person is already dead and 50 others, mostly women, have gotten sick with E. coli poisoning after consuming bagged spinach leaves in eight U.S. states according to reports by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

They have issued a nationwide warning to the public against eating any bagged spinach until this outbreak can be contained.

An FDA spokesman said the death happened in Wisconsin where 40 percent of the sick are located as well. There were seven other states with at least one person who has gotten sick from eating E. coli-contaminated spinach leaves, including Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah.

While the source of the outbreak is still unknown, the FDA has narrowed down the commonality among the outbreak participants being the bagged spinach.

"We're advising people not to eat it," the FDA said on Thursday.

E. coli leads to sudden diarrhea with bloody stools and most healthy people can see improvements in their health and completely recovered within seven days. However, the most vulnerable are infants and the elderly who can die from kidney failure if they are infected with the E. coli virus.

The FDA is urging anyone who gets sick after eating raw bagged spinach leaves to see their doctor as soon as possible to check for the presence of E. coli in their body. They remind people to wash their vegetables before eating them and assured the public that other pre-packaged salads are not affected by this outbreak.

This news regarding spinach leaves is a little scary for me personally because I eat packaged spinach leaves every single day (you can see how much I eat from my latest sample menu from last week) as part of my low-carb lifestyle. In fact, I have four bags of spinach leaves in my refrigerator that I bought two weeks ago. My wife dumps the bags into a big Tupperware container and measures out my portion for my meals each day for me.

Thankfully I have not gotten sick yet and I pray that none of you who regularly eats raw spinach leaves like I do gets sick either. Low-carb, low-fat, vegetarian--WHATEVER!--we don't want you to get infected with the E. coli, so please play it safe until this outbreak passes. There are other excellent low-carb vegetables you can consume, including salad greens, cauliflower, green beans, spaghetti squash, and broccoli, just to name a few. Play it safe and keep on livin' la vida low-carb!