Should We Ditch the Name "Low Carb"?
Friday May 5, 2006
Call them reduced carbohydrate, low glycemic, controlled-carb, or sugar-free - if you’re cutting the amount of carbohydrate in your diet, it’s low carb. Low carb just means that compared to the standard diet, it’s low in carbohydrate. Yet low carb diets have been so maligned in the press recently that people associated with low carb eating have become defensive and are looking for new labels. Jimmy Moore, in his wonderful “Livin’ La Vida Low Carb” blog, has written a great piece about this.
In politics, it has been found very effective to change the name of something in order to move public opinion. With the bad press about low carb diets, would it be better to switch the label? What do you think? Does it matter? Leave a comment by clicking on the "comments" link below, or discuss it in the Forum.
In politics, it has been found very effective to change the name of something in order to move public opinion. With the bad press about low carb diets, would it be better to switch the label? What do you think? Does it matter? Leave a comment by clicking on the "comments" link below, or discuss it in the Forum.
Comments
What’s in a name? When I say “low carb”, people know exactly what I am talking about. I’m not ashamed of how I eat, just proud of how I look and feel!
I agree with you. But I’m also sympathetic to people who are often not so easily understood. It’s pretty common to get assumptions that I must eat an unbalanced diet, no vegetables, no fiber – all the “sterotypes”, if we can use that word about low carb diets. I certainly have gotten strange looks from people when I tell them my job – they assume I’m writing about unhealthy “fad” diets. I truly don’t care – if they are receptive and it’s appropriate I’ll educate them further. But I do understand someone getting defensive and bummed with getting reactions like that. Laura
I like the “low-carb” designation because it helps me select foods that will fit within my eating needs. I can certainly deal with the different names, but personally they don’t affect my search for foods that I can eat and still feel good.
Yes, keep it “Low Carb”. It is short, sweet!, to the point, and incompasses all aspects. Doesn’t focus on diabetics, low cholestrol, high energy or….you name a benefit. Low carb says it all, it doesn’t leave anything out. Anybody can spell it and it fits on a label nicely. You don’t have to wonder what they are talking about and trying to spell with that label. You know in an instant what low carb means.