Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Atkins and Appetite Suppression

One of the most common, and surprising, effects of following the Atkins diet is appetite suppression. Many followers of the plan report that the between meal hunger pangs they used to experience fade away very quickly. This makes it easier to stay on the diet and continue to lose weight. While other diets have their followers starving between meals, the Atkins diet offers relief from constant hunger. The Atkins diet, with its specific combination of foods and ingredients, has powerful appetite suppressing effects.

The first key component is the amount of protein in the Atkins diet. Protein, more so than carbohydrates, has the power to satiate hunger. If you’ve ever eaten a carb heavy meal and then felt hungry afterward, you know that carbohydrates don’t have much staying power. Protein, when combined with a small amount of healthy fats, can keep you feeling full for long periods of time.

One of the most powerful appetite suppressing foods on the Atkins diet are eggs. Eggs are a great form of quick and easy protein. A recent study showed that eating eggs for breakfast would actually stave off hunger pangs through the rest of the day. The research concerned two groups of women. One group ate eggs for breakfast and the other had a breakfast of bagels and cream cheese. The calorie count for both breakfasts was exactly the same. The subjects kept track of what they ate the rest of the day and answered questions about their levels of hunger and satisfaction throughout the day. The results showed that the women who ate the eggs for breakfast felt more satisfied throughout the entire day. They ate less at each meal than the women who were in the bagel group.

Eggs contain about 6 grams of protein each. This helps to even out blood sugar and produces a feeling of satisfaction. Both of these factors help to curb cravings. Egg yolks also contain lutein and xenazanthin. These nutrients have been shown to have incredible effects on eye health. So it’s important to eat the whole egg, and not just the white. Eggs contain choline that is important in brain functioning and memory. These nutrients are just an added benefit to the appetite suppressing qualities.

Broccoli and cauliflower, two of the acceptable vegetables on the Atkins program, also have appetite-suppressing effects. These vegetables are very bulky and they help make your stomach feel full. When your stomach feels full, it will actually create a chemical response in your body. Your body will reduce its appetite because it believes that your stomach is full of high calorie foods. This will happen regardless of what is in your stomach. You can achieve the same results with water and psyllium husk fiber. Both broccoli and cauliflower provide bulk in your diet and are essential vegetables on the Atkins plan.

The Atkins diet focuses on eating small protein balanced meals a few times per day. This will help keep your blood sugar stabilized and avoid carbohydrate cravings. With high carbohydrate diets, you are riding the wave of carbohydrate highs. After you eat, you feel great and full. Then a few hours later, you come crashing down and are hungrier than you were previous to eating the carbohydrate. This cycle continues and, over time, you will eat more and gain weight. The protein, fat and vegetable meals of the Atkins plan put your blood sugar back in balance. They provide just enough of each type of food, with a proper amount of carbohydrates (from the vegetables). The vegetables provide quick carbohydrate energy, and the protein gives the meal staying power. This combination helps suppress your appetite.

The Atkins diet is actually a craving control diet that can help suppress your appetite. If you’ve had a problem with carbohydrate cravings before, this new way of eating will help control those cravings. The more you eat on the plan, the better your cravings will be controlled and the easier it will be to follow the diet.

Monday, August 25, 2008

'Meatnormous' Master Bogusky Pens Diet Book

Creative Behind BK, Domino's Campaigns Now Urges Restraint

By Emily Bryson York and Rupal Parekh

Published: August 25, 2008
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- From the guys who coined "Meatnormous," introduced the Quad Stacker and unveiled the Double Croissanwich filled with "meat and cheese and cheese and meat," comes ... a diet book.

Alex Bogusky, one of the chief architects of Burger King's audacious, effective but often gluttony-embracing advertising, has written a tome titled "The 9-Inch Diet," focusing on the need for portion control and the damage done by Americans' lack of discipline in that regard (complete with diagrams of large plates leading to large butts). The book, published by Brooklyn's PowerHouse Books, is already preselling on Amazon, and was written "with a little help from" Chuck Porter, the other name above the door at Crispin Porter & Bogusky, which also handles marketing for pizza giant Domino's.

It's hard to think of a more apparently dissonant moment in the annals of adland. As Ad Age sibling Creativity mused when it broke the story on creativity-online.com, it's hard to imagine Martin Puris, author of "Ultimate Driving Machine," suggesting we should drive less.

So what motivated Mr. Bogusky to write a book on "the twisted conspiracy that's making our country fat"? One ad watcher joked that perhaps it was guilt. "He wanted the title 'Atonement' but discovered it was taken," he said. Others said they thought this would turn out to be a prank, part of an elaborate marketing ruse, perhaps even a way to launch a 9-inch pizza for Domino's. After all, this is the agency that last year created the "Whopper Freakout" by filming what appeared to be real customers being told their favorite item was off the menu, and also created the "Angus Diet," an Atkins spoof for Burger King, which recommended an all-meat regime.

It seems unlikely, however, that the book is designed to do anything for Domino's, given that it appeared in Powerhouse Books' list of coming titles as early as 2006, before Crispin landed the pizza-chain account in September 2007.

'Diet'
The book appears to be entirely serious, and both the agency and Mr. Bogusky insist that it's for real -- and that it in no way conflicts with their fast-food clients' desire to sell pizzas or fries. "The word 'diet' is always used in quotation marks," Mr. Bogusky said of "The 9-Inch Diet" via e-mail. "Specifically, the premise of the book has to do with modifying your portions, not with what you eat." Indeed, Mr. Bogusky claims to have been on his own program, which calls for 9-inch platefuls of whatever you like for a few years. "Yet I love to eat, and I love to eat our clients' food," he wrote. "There is no conflict there."

One senior agency executive at a rival shop said it's just possible that this is Mr. Bogusky's clever way to advance a sentiment that's uttered only behind closed doors in the fast-food industry: that it is too often persecuted for the obesity crisis, when consumers' lack of dietary discipline is the real culprit.

That makes some sense, but there are still those who will argue that pushing portion control still doesn't seem to jibe with, say, peddling one of those Quad Stackers or a triple Whopper with cheese; though easily accommodated by a 9-inch plate, the latter has 1,250 calories and 84 grams of fat. Mr. Bogusky, through spokeswoman Katie Kempner, declined to comment further.

Another question ad-agency execs raised was whether "The 9-Inch Diet," if real, would cause some slimming in Crispin's client roster. The answer, although both Burger King and Domino's appear to have been surprised to hear of the book, would seem to be no.

"We found out about Alex's side project this week," Tim McIntyre, Domino's VP-communications, said in a statement. "He didn't run it past us, and there appears to be no reason for him to. From what we've been told, his book is a satire inspired by the South Beach Diet craze a few years back." Mr. Harville said the book will not affect his company's relationship with Crispin.

Blindsided
Things at Burger King were a little less clear. An executive familiar with the matter said the company had not authorized the book and that most within the company were blindsided when Creativity broke the news of its publication. Spokeswoman Heather Krasnow couldn't be reached for comment.

Burger King is the bigger spender of the two, with $275 million in U.S. measured media during 2007, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Domino's, which Crispin snagged from JWT, spent $132 million.


"It certainly seems like it should be a big deal to the corporation," said Burger King franchisee Chris Ondrula. "I guess I'd be surprised if the agency didn't take the first step of running it by the corporation." He added that given Crispin's prankish advertising, he was one of those who expected it would turn out to be a hoax.

"The 9-Inch Diet" has been in the works for a couple of years and contains a paragraph in which Mr. Bogusky says that although as an adman he's seen by some consumers as little better than a car salesman, he was involved in the "Truth" anti-smoking effort and the Mini work advocating less guzzling of gas. The copy of the book seen by Ad Age did not, however, contain a disclosure that Mr. Bogusky and co-author Mr. Porter do work for fast-food companies. Updated bios will reflect that in the published copy.

Vote of confidence
Crispin's parent company, MDC Partners, has other big fast-food clients, including Wendy's, at Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, and Quiznos, at Cliff Freeman & Partners. But MDC's CEO, Miles Nadal, sounded unworried. He said he'll be one of Mr. Bogusky's first customers. "We empower our partners to make their own creative decisions, and we have confidence in their judgment. Even though I haven't seen the book yet, I've pre-ordered 100 copies."

Alejandro Ruelas, CMO and managing partner at LatinWorks, which also works on Domino's, said he, too, was looking forward to purchasing a book. "Alex and his team have a history of doing things that totally break the mold. ... As brilliant and great as they are, I, frankly, more than anything, am intrigued by what's behind the book," he said. "Whatever this is, and what ever debate it ignites, I have no doubt that it's something that's ultimately beneficial to their clients."

~ ~ ~Creativity's Nick Parish and Jeff Beer contributed to this article.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

atkins diet menu

Atkins diet menus are easy to find and available everywhere. There are many varieties to choose from, whether you pick prepackaged low-carb diet menus or make your own meals. No matter how you want to do the Atkins plan, there is a solution out there for you.

You’ll need to keep the Atkins menu pyramid in mind when you make food choices. The Atkins pyramid looks much different than the USDA menu Guide Pyramid. The base of the pyramid consists of protein sources such as eggs, fish, beef, chicken and tofu. On a daily basis, your diet should consist primarily of these menus. The second tier has low glycemic vegetables like salad greens, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and spinach.

The third tier is made up of berries and avocado. Fruits should be used on an occasional basis after the initial stages of the Atkins diet. Vegetable and seed oils, cheese, dairy, nuts and legumes are used sparingly and in appropriate portions. While the FDA pyramid has oils and fats at the top peak, the Atkins pyramid places whole grain menus in this spot. Whole grain menus should be used very occasionally and don’t make up the mainstay of the Atkins diet.

When you start the Atkins plan, you’ll need to make sure you understand which menus are acceptable for your stage of the program. The Induction phase is the most restrictive, but it only lasts two weeks.

You owe it to your dieting success to stay within the acceptable menus list. One of the best ways to do this is to follow the Atkins menu plans that are printed within the New Diet Revolution book. There are also Atkins cookbooks and cookbooks that are geared toward other low carb diets that are helpful in formulating meal plans.

It’s a helpful idea to use a cheat sheet of acceptable Atkins menus wherever you go. If you are out and about and hungry, the last thing you want to do is to try to think back in your memory to figure out what you can and cannot eat. Carrying a list of acceptable menus with you will make finding a snack or meal while out on the run easy. You can’t always rely on “low carb” labels to tell you whether or not something is diet friendly. Ever since low carb became the new diet craze, manufacturers have been jumping on the bandwagon to attract Atkins dieters. They label items low carb to sell products and don’t have your health in mind. Relying on menus from your own personal list is the best way to stay on the plan.

Another good resource for keeping track of the appropriate Atkins menus is an online diet program. There are several available. Some are free and some have a small monthly fee. The programs require you to register and then they provide you with personal weekly menu plans based on your needs and your carbohydrate gram level. There are normally printable weekly shopping lists that make picking up your Atkins diet menus from the grocery store easy and quick.

Atkins diet menu is easy to find once you know what you are looking for. The books, menu pyramid and online resources can help you make better menu choices and stay on the diet for the long term.