Faux Foods: Good or Evil?
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wabmester
Posts: 2,748 Member
Delicious low-carb treats. Are you for them or against them?
I'm against them philosophically. I believe in the brain/behavior aspect of carbs, and that tells us that we overeat stuff because:
1) It tastes tooooo good. Like nothing to be found in nature.
2) It doesn't satisfy our hunger.
3) The foods with properties (1) and (2) also tend to be high-calorie foods.
The classic carb-specific example is sugary drinks, including fruit juices. You can consume them all day without getting full. But overconsumption is what makes us fat.
So, those low-carb treats? EVIL!
I'm against them philosophically. I believe in the brain/behavior aspect of carbs, and that tells us that we overeat stuff because:
1) It tastes tooooo good. Like nothing to be found in nature.
2) It doesn't satisfy our hunger.
3) The foods with properties (1) and (2) also tend to be high-calorie foods.
The classic carb-specific example is sugary drinks, including fruit juices. You can consume them all day without getting full. But overconsumption is what makes us fat.
So, those low-carb treats? EVIL!
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I do much better without them.
I'm assuming we do NOT include bacon in this category.
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Hmm, I wonder how well a bacon-only diet would work. We'll have to ask FIT_Goat. 0
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Since my bacon goes from the farm, to the processor and directly in the smoker, I consider it a whole food. Less than a month from living the high life on a friends farm, to waiting in my freezer for me to enjoy.
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Right, there's nothing faux about bacon.
It's the stuff that tries to taste like carb-laden snacks that bug me. Some of it may be OK in the sense that it might be more filling than carbs, but they still encourage overconsumption.0 -
New Ice Cream bars, and of course Adkin's and other cookies are pushed as Low Carb in big letters….bwaaaa, as if! The food industry, as we know, will jump on anything. I have been so totally ))(*(*(&^%^%$ over CANDY and M&Ms sealed & visible on top of 'low fat' 6oz. yogurt for Easter, for KIDS.. with bunnies….36g sugar!!! higher than the highest 28g sold to adults.....my KILL Instinct comes out…. Yoplait and Dannon are creating this evil…boycott them!!! it's sold as HEALTHY FUN yogurt. To get even, Blue Diamond Almond Milk and Coconut milk are NOW sold as low fat yogurt too!! Huh? where do you squeeze the almond to get yogurt? Instead on 30 cal and 1 carb, 0 sugar per 8oz cup..now you get 33 carbs, 17 sugar, and 170 calories in their "Taste the Dream of early death 'yogurt"
Here is one Blue Diamond vanilla- http://www.tastethedream.com/products/product/5280/809.php
<caps theirs>
Ingredients: ALMOND BASE (WATER, ALMONDS), STABILIZER BLEND (TAPIOCA MALTODEXTRIN, CORN STARCH, CAROB BEAN GUM, PECTIN), EVAPORATED CANE SYRUP, VANILLA MIX (EVAPORATED CANE SYRUP, VANILLA FLAVOR WITH OTHER NATURAL FLAVORS, VANILLA BEANS, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, CARAMEL AND ANNATTO COLORS), TAPIOCA FIBER, TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, NATURAL VANILLA EXTRACT, CULTURES*. *CULTURES: L. ACIDOPHILUS, P. LACTIS, S. THERMOPHILUS, BIFIDOBACTERIUM LACTIS, L. ACIDOPHILUS, L. CASEI, L. RHAMNOSUS, L. DELBRUECKII LACTIS & BULGARICUS
CONTAINS: ALMONDS < why bother? stick a boiled horse hoof in there, no one will notice!0 -
Well, we all know that I fall into the anti-faux-carb foods group. I find they keep cravings alive, and I tend to gain weight when eating them. My hunger signals get all messed up.
All bacon diet you say... hmmm... I could probably do that. I would need to eat about 2 pounds a day, to hit my normal calorie goals (and that includes a good portion of the fat drippings too). Sounds like fun. Sadly, I have more eggs and meat than I can see go to waste, and not enough bacon.0 -
I would never include them as part of my daily diet, but every once in a while, I like to indulge in something. I need the treat mentally once in a while to keep myself going, and I don't want to re-feed on carbs. I love the foods for keto, but sometimes I want cake or pancakes (kept keto of course).0
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I find I'm much happier not trying to replace my favorite foods with simulated copies.
Even things that don't come packaged as such.. For example on Tuesday, for our St. Paddy's dinner, I made mashed cauliflower with the IBIH "Better than Mashed Potatoes" recipe. After one bite I wished I'd just roasted the cauliflower (texture thing, plus now I had to clean up the food processor).
As far as the LC sweeteners go, whether they're sucralose or xylitol, I feel that my body goes, "Oh, awesome! Here comes the sugar!"
And then it doesn't come. So the body wants its sugar rush, and now I want a "real" treat. I want a f**in glazed donut. And Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough B&J Ice cream (or maybe the Dazed And Confused with the Nutella core! Oh, heck, I'll get both and decide at home). And that Entenmann's coffee cake would be good for breakfast tomorrow, I can always start again on Monday... Oh now that I've stopped for snacks, it's too late to cook dinner. I'll just get Burger King...
And that's what happens when I try to eat "Low Carb" treats.
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I'm in favor of real food. If I want a sweet treat, which hasn't happened yet, I'll go get a dark dark dark chocolate bar and eat a tiny square--because I love them so much but they are so rich that I only need a teeny tiny piece. And they are real.0
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I like Whole30's philosophy: http://whole30.com/2011/10/sex-with-your-pants-on/0
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I like Whole30's philosophy: http://whole30.com/2011/10/sex-with-your-pants-on/
Love it. THIS should be on our T-Shirt slogan thread... ;-)
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I LOve it, I just posted to my facebook!
I hope this helps,
Dan the Man from Michigan
My Blog: It's Ketogenic or Bariatric (How I found the Ketogenic Diet)
Bacon Wrapped Baked Stuffed Jalepenos0 -
I don't want or like most carb replacers, but I will make almond flour bread sometimes. It makes for a good way to get my calories up. Plus I'm burned out on it by day two, it doesn't trigger any cravings.0
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Delicious low-carb treats. Are you for them or against them?
Neither. I fall into the group that does not feel it is productive for me to demonize anything that I might consider eating, including pure sugar (I understand why others do and take no issue with it, but I feel its bad for me to do so).
Getting that philosophy out of the way, I believe there is a place for low carb treats/faux stuff in my life. I research (malitol bad, erythritol good for me), and I experiment when I feel the desire to do so, and I pay attention to what happens when I do. Some treats I've made taste awful, some are so good I eat all of them at once, some of them seem to trigger some cravings, whether due to an ingredient or a psychological component. Some I can make whenever I choose to and i know i'll be fine.
Is that for? I dunno. These things are not good or bad, they just are there, and i can learn about them and make choices for myself. That gives me control, and power over my health and what i eat. I guess I like the philosophical aspect of this a lot.
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I use almond flour some times when I do oven fried chicken. It is a bit different. I also use it some times to coat fried fish. I have tried the breads and pancakes muffin in a minute YUCK. The only other some times good thing is pork skins lightly sprinkled with Caramel SF syrup and microwaved. Then dipped in butter. Guess it is a replacement for bacon when it gets a little syrup on it when eating pancakes, which I no longer do. We did like the meatza. Pizza made with a meat crust. I found patting the meat crust very thin is best for us and no you can not pick it up and hold it in your hand. I do not miss the foods I have stopped eating. The zoodles are good enough for me for replacing noodles. If I can not replace some thing I should not eat with a sensible low carb food I do not want to do it.0
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I suspect if the concept had existed like it does today back when I started, it might've been a problem before my tastes adjusted. I don't think Atkins even had products yet, back then. This far in, the idea of me "slipping up" or "giving in to cravings" is rather ridiculous. I've had bad reactions from supposedly keto-friendly protein bars that made my teeth ache like I'd just eaten a powdered donut. OTOH, that fake Arctic Zero not ice cream that people say tastes nothing like ice cream actually DOES taste like ice cream to me. That's what happens when you don't have much by way of carbs for 15 years. If it doesn't make me feel physically sick or throw me out of keto, I'm eating it.
YMMV, of course.0 -
Im for them in moderation. They are just junk food. I think they are ok once in a while if you really want one but you cant live off them. I grew up in a home where we had junk food every single day. I use to have chocolate milk every morning for my breakfast (since I was like 3, seriously!), now when I really want some I have one of the Atkins shakes.
I like one of the Atkins bars for dessert after dinner, I think they taste just like candy, but I dont see them as healthy or beneficial, they are just a low carb junk food. I am sadly addicted to sweets since I have had dessert after dinner every day since I was probably 6 years old. I couldnt imagine eating one of them as a 'meal replacement' though because seriously who eats candy for a meal?!
I had one of the frozen Atkins pizzas once when I was really wanting some pizza. I got that taste I was craving without going over my macros which was nice. I have one of the Atkins meals now in my freezer for a 'bad day'. LOL I have a 4 year old son, a 1 year old son, and my hubby who still wants bad things occasionally so I am keeping it for when Ive cooked something for the boys, my husband wanted something I cant have for dinner, but I am sick of cooking. Instead of cheating and eating what my hubby is having I can, as a last resort, have a microwave dinner.
If someone were to be say having a shake/bar for breakfast, a frozen Atkins entree for lunch, and then after a healthy dinner, an Atkins dessert, and they were eating like that almost every day, thats just junk food, not healthy at all, even if you are losing weight. But thats what Atkins tries to tell people is okay to sell more of their products.0 -
Someone send the bacon salad link to CICO. Stand back and wait for the fall out.
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A friend just brought me Irene's biscotti from whole foods. Just 25 calories and 3 carbs each.nice treat!!
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