Category: health

Sara Lee Debuts Low-Carb Bread

Ashley Bischoff73 Comments

Climbing onto the low-carb bandwagon, Sara Lee has introduced some low-carb breads. Though I’ve only found a press release on this (previous link), the write-up is pleasantly not as self-congratulatory as a regular press release.

The new line of Delightful breads will feature:

  • Sara Lee Delightful White Bakery Bread — A 20-ounce sandwich loaf that offers a 40 percent reduction in carbohydrates and a 44 percent reduction in calories compared with typical regular white breads. Each slice of Sara Lee Delightful White contains only 9 grams of carbohydrates compared with 15 grams for typical regular white breads and contains just 45 calories, compared with 80 calories.
  • Sara Lee Delightful Wheat Bakery Bread — The 20-ounce Delightful Wheat sandwich loaf also contains only 9 grams of carbohydrates and 45 calories per slice [the carbs may be even lower after subtracting fiber]. That compares with 13 grams of carbs per slice for typical regular wheat breads, a 31 percent reduction for Sara Lee Delightful Wheat, and compares with 70 calories per slice of regular wheat bread, a calorie reduction of 36 percent for Delightful Wheat.

Both varieties of Sara Lee Delightful breads are good sources of fiber and have no trans fat or artificial colors or flavors. And each slice is full sized, in contrast to some "light" breads that reduce the dimensions of the slice. Each loaf has tested favorably in consumer taste tests, even outscoring some leading full-carbohydrate breads. […]

I’ll reserve judgment on this one until I’ve had a chance to try it, but I’m pleased that they focused on creating a good-tasting bread and not just a low-carb-at-all-costs bread. And, to their credit, the bread also avoids trans fats, which can be rather tricky to avoid in baked goods. I’ve also found a picture of the packaging, which may make it easier to find this bread on store shelves.

Low-Carb Wraps at Subway

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

USA Today reports that Subway will start offering low-carb wraps on Monday:

Subway today will announce plans to begin selling two Atkins-Friendly Wraps at all 16,500 Subway stores nationwide beginning Monday. The wraps are made from special wheat and soy grains that are high in fiber and protein but low in carbohydrates.

Consumers, however, will pay a premium for them — about 50 cents more than Subway's conventional, six-inch subs. Subway sandwich bread has 17 net carbs compared with 5 net carbs in the in the Atkins wrap, alone. […]

I think this was a good move for Subway — for quite some time, they held the reputation as a healthy fast-food, but many consumers likely reconsidered that under auspices of low carb eating. So, once again, it looks like Subway is probably a decent choice, whether you’re trying for low-fat or low-carb.

Thanksgiving Tryptophan Won’t Make You Sleepy

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Via Marc Rust’s AMR:blog (which I found through Henrik Gemal’s Mozilla Related Blogs page), the Environment, Health and Safety Online group debunks the urban myth of tryptophan causing Thanksgiving-afternoon sleepiness. (Tryptophan is an essential amino acid present in turkey and commonly blamed for causing drowsiness.)

Sure enough, tryptophan was apparently a popular sleeping aid until about ten years ago. However, those effects were only acheived on an empty stomach. And, they’re are negated when consuming tryptophan as part of a meal:

Sorry to say, that if you’re looking for the sedative effect, it’s unlikely you'll get it from eating meats like turkey. L-tryptophan doesn’t act on the brain unless you take it on an empty stomach with no protein present. So it probably isn't at fault for the sudden drowsiness that hits right after the meal when the football games come on, and the dishes are waiting!

It’s more likely due to the combination of drinking alcohol and overeating — not just turkey, but also mashed potatoes, ham, creamed onions, cranberries, sweet potatoes, peas, stuffing (or dressing, if you prefer), carrots, bread, pies, and whipped cream — all of which have the effect of puling the blood away from your brain to help your digestive tract do it’s work, and the sugar/insulin effect. […]

So, if you’re prone to eating a bit too much on Thanksgiving (and who isn’t?), perhaps a cup of tea or coffee beforehand would counteract the effects.

No Trans Fat in Peanut Butter After All

Ashley Bischoff25 Comments

I’ve been enjoying natural peanut butter for about a year now. I first turned to it so I could avoid the trans fat in regular peanut butter.

Trans fat is created when liquid oils are turned into solids by adding hydrogen. And, food manufaturers like hydrogenated oils since they don’t separate like liquid oils. However, trans fat is also the worst kind of fat — it raises the “bad ” cholesterol while lowering the “good” cholesterol (even saturated fat leaves doesn’t affect good cholesterol).

You would think trans fat would be included on food labels, but that only goes into effect in 2006. So, in the meantime, you just have to look for “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” oils among the ingredients.

So, to avoid the trans fat, I went with natural peanut butter (which isn’t hydrogenized). However, I’ve learned that a study by the Agricultural Research Service — a part of the USDA — says that there’s no trans fat in peanut butter (natural or otherwise).

To see if the rumors had any validity, Sanders prepared 11 brands of peanut butter, including major store brands and “natural” brands, for analysis by a commercial laboratory. He also sent paste freshly prepared from roasted peanuts for comparison. The laboratory found no detectable trans fats in any of the samples, with a detection limit of 0.01 percent of the sample weight. […]

When I switched over, it took some time to get used to natural peanut butter; in particular, since its oil is in liquid form, the peanut butter can more easily slide off foods (such as apple slices). And, this study may be reason enough to switch back. In fact, just this weekend, I made an Elvis sandwich with regular peanut butter. And, that made for a tasty sandwich.

But, after tasting some regular peanut butter with a spoon, I realized that it didn’t quite have as much peanut taste as the natural peanut butter. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I soon realized that the sugar in the regular peanut butter may have masked some of the peanut flavor. So, I may look for some regular peanut butter next time I’m in Target, but I’m not sure if sugar-free regular peanut butter even exists ;).

Low Carb Ketchup from Heinz

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

Reuters reports that Heinz is introducing a low-carb ketchup:

The new “One Carb” ketchup is the latest in a string of variations within Heinz’s $1.2 billion ketchup business in recent years. […] The new ketchup has only one gram of carbohydrates, 75 percent fewer than Heinz’ regular ketchup, the company said. […]

I’m not on Atkins, though I am going with The Zone (which has a reduction in some carbohydrates). And, since reducing my sugar intake, some foods with sugar now taste sweet to me.

In particular, both ketchup and barbecue sauce have plenty of sugar (or, even worse, corn syrup). And, these days, my sensitivity to the taste of sugar is high enough that regular ketchup just tastes oddly sweet to me (almost like sugared-tomatoes, which isn’t far from the truth).

So, it’ll be nice to make use of this upcoming One Carb ketchup from Heinz. If nothing else, I’m looking forward to it for the improved taste over regular ketchup :).