Articles - Diet
I became fascinated with certain labels. Have you ever, for example,
read the labels on those flavored coffee creamers? Zero fat. Zero
carbohydrates. Zero protein. Zero calories. How can anything we put
in our mouths have zero calories? A negligible amount, maybe, but
absolute zero? What is in that stuff? Or is it virtual food, existing only
in our mind's eye as a kind of edible hologram?
Mercifully, the low fat craze died its natural death. Atkins and similar
regimens took over and the low fat labels were reprinted (corporate
recycling at its finest) to read Low Carb. Suddenly, everywhere you
looked, there were foods recast as low carb - again with the pasta
sauce, the potato chips, the candy bars, and the ice cream.
I was curious. Had the manufacturers taken out all those carbs and
put the fat back in? Where did those carbs go? Are there vast
dumpsites in the desert where unwanted carbs are buried - next to
worn tires, plastic bags, and nuclear waste?
read the labels on those flavored coffee creamers? Zero fat. Zero
carbohydrates. Zero protein. Zero calories. How can anything we put
in our mouths have zero calories? A negligible amount, maybe, but
absolute zero? What is in that stuff? Or is it virtual food, existing only
in our mind's eye as a kind of edible hologram?
Mercifully, the low fat craze died its natural death. Atkins and similar
regimens took over and the low fat labels were reprinted (corporate
recycling at its finest) to read Low Carb. Suddenly, everywhere you
looked, there were foods recast as low carb - again with the pasta
sauce, the potato chips, the candy bars, and the ice cream.
I was curious. Had the manufacturers taken out all those carbs and
put the fat back in? Where did those carbs go? Are there vast
dumpsites in the desert where unwanted carbs are buried - next to
worn tires, plastic bags, and nuclear waste?
WELLNESS
DIET
A-Z Weight Loss Diets
Diet & Physical Activity
NUTRITION
Healthy Eating Habits
The Superfoods
Best Foods for Anti-Aging
Best Heart Healthy Foods
Best Cancer Fighting Foods
Superfoods to Boost Immunity
WEIGHT MANGEMENT
Calculating Body Frame Size
Calculating Body Mass Index BMI)
PERSONAL CARE
Health & Nutition Resources
Web Links
DIET
A-Z Weight Loss Diets
Diet & Physical Activity
NUTRITION
Healthy Eating Habits
The Superfoods
Best Foods for Anti-Aging
Best Heart Healthy Foods
Best Cancer Fighting Foods
Superfoods to Boost Immunity
WEIGHT MANGEMENT
Calculating Body Frame Size
Calculating Body Mass Index BMI)
PERSONAL CARE
Health & Nutition Resources
Web Links
Diet Fads: Supermarket Sheep
By: Virginia Bola
Eighteen or twenty years ago, I was into high protein, high fat, low carbohydrate diets, courtesy of the original Atkins Diet Revolution
and, to an even greater extent, Stillman's Quick Weight Loss Diet (which I must admit I still prefer to Atkins but that's merely personal
taste). At the time, every aisle was loaded with labels proclaiming Low Fat or Reduced Fat. I didn't care about fat and sought much
different information. Unfortunately, low fat was "in" and I felt alone and abandoned.
With a certain sense of resentment, I tracked down the carbohydrate costs of a wide variety of food, keeping a sharp eye on
ingredients, calorie levels, and nutritional values. Certain items were strangely emblazoned with banners announcing low fat: pasta
sauce, potato chips, candy bars, and ice cream. I was puzzled: how could certain foods, full of fat to their very core, be low fat? How
could all the fat be removed and there be anything left?
By: Virginia Bola
Eighteen or twenty years ago, I was into high protein, high fat, low carbohydrate diets, courtesy of the original Atkins Diet Revolution
and, to an even greater extent, Stillman's Quick Weight Loss Diet (which I must admit I still prefer to Atkins but that's merely personal
taste). At the time, every aisle was loaded with labels proclaiming Low Fat or Reduced Fat. I didn't care about fat and sought much
different information. Unfortunately, low fat was "in" and I felt alone and abandoned.
With a certain sense of resentment, I tracked down the carbohydrate costs of a wide variety of food, keeping a sharp eye on
ingredients, calorie levels, and nutritional values. Certain items were strangely emblazoned with banners announcing low fat: pasta
sauce, potato chips, candy bars, and ice cream. I was puzzled: how could certain foods, full of fat to their very core, be low fat? How
could all the fat be removed and there be anything left?
Once more, I wonder: what is left in those boxes, cans, and jars? Why am I paying $1.19 per ounce for something that really isn't
anything?
Then I started to figure it out (sometimes I'm a little slow). The food hadn't really changed at all, just the packaging. Food labels are
like those ubiquitous Internet sales letters. They trumpet headlines that catch our interest because they are in synch with our desires
and goals. Is that accidental? Of course not. Highly paid copywriters choose their headlines with great care, buying into the national
"obsession o' the day", floating on the coattails of the latest fad.
Many of us are so desperate to control our weight that we buy into the promises like the unaware followers we are: bleating sheep
heading for a precipice with no thought of questioning our leaders or striking out in a different direction.
anything?
Then I started to figure it out (sometimes I'm a little slow). The food hadn't really changed at all, just the packaging. Food labels are
like those ubiquitous Internet sales letters. They trumpet headlines that catch our interest because they are in synch with our desires
and goals. Is that accidental? Of course not. Highly paid copywriters choose their headlines with great care, buying into the national
"obsession o' the day", floating on the coattails of the latest fad.
Many of us are so desperate to control our weight that we buy into the promises like the unaware followers we are: bleating sheep
heading for a precipice with no thought of questioning our leaders or striking out in a different direction.
The unspoken secret is that the label doesn't matter. If we want to lose
weight, we don't eat pasta sauce, potato chips, candy bars, or ice
cream. Period. No matter what the package says. Deep in our psyche,
we know what we can eat (very little) and what we can't (a whole
bunch). Allowing ourselves to be misled is only a fashionably
acceptable way to fool ourselves, and we know it. We buy into the hype
because we want, so badly, to believe. We want to think that we are
doing the right thing, that we're really trying, that our motivation is pure.
Our weaknesses are being exploited by the packagers and the super
store con men. Our ambivalence, and the overwhelming need to avoid
the very real discomfort of effective dieting, invests the misguidance of
food labels with an illusion of truth.
weight, we don't eat pasta sauce, potato chips, candy bars, or ice
cream. Period. No matter what the package says. Deep in our psyche,
we know what we can eat (very little) and what we can't (a whole
bunch). Allowing ourselves to be misled is only a fashionably
acceptable way to fool ourselves, and we know it. We buy into the hype
because we want, so badly, to believe. We want to think that we are
doing the right thing, that we're really trying, that our motivation is pure.
Our weaknesses are being exploited by the packagers and the super
store con men. Our ambivalence, and the overwhelming need to avoid
the very real discomfort of effective dieting, invests the misguidance of
food labels with an illusion of truth.
Like our dimwitted ovine cousins, we, too, are eventually fleeced.
Article Source: http://www.dietarticles.info
Dr. Bola is a psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic, specializing in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and
motivation on individual goals. She is the author of a psychology-based workbook for permanent weight control. Reach her at:
www.DietWithAnAttitude.com/index2.html
Article Source: http://www.dietarticles.info
Dr. Bola is a psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic, specializing in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and
motivation on individual goals. She is the author of a psychology-based workbook for permanent weight control. Reach her at:
www.DietWithAnAttitude.com/index2.html
An Abundant LifeStyle - Your Guide to Health and Nutrition