Didn&8217;t Atkins ever taste a Hostess Ho-ho?

Published 12:00 am Sunday, September 17, 2006

Krispy Kreme needs our help. The doughnut company, whose glazed treats kept me awake through countless college study sessions, has seen its sales falter thanks to the low-carb diet craze.

The company&8217;s stock was down 30 percent Friday after it lowered its earnings forecast by 10 percent. Company officials can only hope to recoup some of that money when Krispy Kreme unleashes a low-sugar doughnut later this year.

A low-sugar doughnut? Doesn&8217;t that defeat the purpose of a doughnut?

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I understand all about healthy eating. I come from a family of health nuts who run marathons and compete in triathlons, people who eat whole-grain bread and give up potato chips for Lent and insist on the low-fat Triscuits.

I&8217;ve read enough books and magazine articles to know the top 10 Foods That Will Change Your Life &8212; tofu, salmon and something called wheatgrass among them.

But I think you can pretty much boil down weight loss to a simple equation.

In the same way that the simplest way to make a profit in business is to spend less money than you take in, the easiest way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories than you expend in your daily activities.

I know it can&8217;t be that simple. Most people have a complicated genetic makeup that accounts for things like red hair, blue eyes and thicker ankles than they deserve.

The fact is, I simply don&8217;t understand either the science or the willpower behind low-carb diets.

A few weeks ago, a couple on the Atkins diet was thrown out of a restaurant for visiting the buffet a few too many times. The rudeness of their treatment notwithstanding, the husband had managed to consume something like 10 servings of roast beef.

Ten servings of roast beef. Not four or even five but 10. On a diet.

How on earth is he supposed to lose weight &8212; not to mention stay healthy &8212; by eating 10 servings of roast beef in one sitting? I don&8217;t think low-carb diets are really advising such overeating.

A newly released film-cum-experiment about the perils of fast food eating shows just how unhealthy such flagrant disregard for our bodies can be.

In the movie a reasonably healthy man who works out spends 30 days eating nothing but meals from a popular fast food restaurant.

By Day 5 he has gained 12 pounds and has migraine headaches. Imagine how he felt after another three weeks.

None of this bolsters support for Krispy Kreme, I realize.

But Krispy Kreme doughnuts &8212; not to mention Hershey bars and Hostess Ho-hos, which now come conveniently with caramel &8212; make us healthy in a different sort of way.

Who hasn&8217;t healed a broken heart with Dairy Queen or ended a tough day with a mad dash to the grocery store for a Pepperidge Farm layer cake? Who doesn&8217;t rejoice when it&8217;s Girl Scout cookie time?

You can&8217;t live every meal on Krispy Kreme or M&Ms or even the moderately healthy Raisinettes.

But you can live a happy life with a taste every now and then.

Anyone for a doughnut?

Kerry Whipple

is editor of The Democrat. She can be reached at 445-3541 or by e-mail at

kerry.whipple@natchezdemocrat.com

.