I watched this special, which was inspiring. They highlighted a chef, George Stella, and his family. Each lost a huge amount of weight. He lost 250 lbs., his wife lost 75 lbs., and each of his two kids became whole new (or half new) people. Now that I have been on the diet awhile, these stories have less impact on me. But if you are just beginning, the impact can be staggering. (I guess that is why so many ads depict before and after shots.)
Of course, the show had the requisite doctor/nutritionist saying that this diet will kill you. (I'm sure they do that for the "sue" factor. But judge, we showed both sides. We told them that a low carb diet could kill them!) They also showed two studies , one by the New England Journal of Medicine that said that Atkins was safe in the short term (the length of the study) and one from Harvard that said you could eat 300 calories more a day and lose more weight than a low-fat diet.
It also showed that there are variations of the low-carb diet by highlighting the South Beach diet and one other.
George Stella demonstrated one recipe for a tequila chicken dish that I am going to make tomorrow night. (I'll let you know how it turns out.) He also demonstrated a low carb spaghetti squash recipe, but I don't really like spaghetti squash. (If anyone tries it, please let me know.)
Update: I made the low carb tequila chicken. It was wonderful! Easy! My husband also ate the leftover chicken in a wrap for lunch the next day. I think it would be very easy to change the major spice and change the resulting flavor. (I would like to try it with Old Bay Seasoning rather than cumin. Maybe try it with curry, etc.)
I served it with a seven-layer dip, including refried beans, guacomole, salsa, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, and tomato. I ate a few of the Trader Joe's low-carb tortilla chips with it.
I tried the spaghetti squash, it was so good I ate the whole thing almost entirely by myself.
Posted by: Shilene Matautia | February 23, 2004 at 02:17 AM