Wheat Advocates Denounce Popular Diet That Zones Out Grains
To Zone or not to Zone.
That is the question for dieters.
Whether it’s healthier to lose weight by eating only meat and eggs or by following the food pyramid, dieters should know the facts before embarking on diet plans, according to the Wheat Foods Council.
The national wheat industry group is weighing in on the latest fad diet crazes, many of which call for weeding out simple carbohydrates from the dieter’s daily menu: things like grains, potatoes and, of particular concern to the council, wheat.
So they’ve gone after The Zone, Sugar Busters, Protein Power, and Dr. Bob Arnot’s Revolutionary Weight Control Program. All of these diets suggest that carbohydrates cause weight gain.
“People are looking for a silver bullet rather than just following tried and true good eating and exercise habits,” said Frances Goodrow, a member of the Wheat Foods Council and spokesperson for the Washington Wheat Commission.
These diets are nothing new, Goodrow said. “And we were quite dismayed to see that the media was picking up on them.”
The Wheat Foods Council is an industry group made of members from state wheat commissions, millers associations and milling and baking companies. The group promotes wheat within the United States, mainly through educating about nutrition.
“About every 20 years there’s a new rage of carbohydrate bashing,” said Judy Adams, a nutritionist and president of the Wheat Foods Council. “It’s not that unusual. Right now it seems that’s all the fad diets are doing.”
The council encourages people to follow the advice of nutritionists and trained dieticians, and to use the food guide pyramid, which encourages people to eat more grains, fruits and vegetables and fewer meats and dairy products. Adams said that program, along with exercise, surely can help people lose weight and stay healthy.
“The thing about all of these fad diets is they do work because they’re low calorie,” Adams said. “In many cases the dieters are losing muscle mass and they’re losing water.”
She said the dangers of these diets is that they’re not good for the heart and probably hard on the kidneys.
“But sometimes people care more how they look than their arteries look,” Adams said.