
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 13, 1994                   TAG: 9407150054
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Almena Hughes
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

GOOD NEWS ABOUT AVOIDING BAD CALORIES

Are you eating less food but still gaining weight? Do you easily regain the few pounds you might manage to lose? Do you especially crave high-fat or high-sugar foods? Is your hunger strong and persistent; do you snack at night and/or go on occasional binges? Do you eat a lot of well-done carbohydrates, overly ripe fruit, processed foods and/or canned starches and beans?

You may be a victim of "The Starvation Response," triggered by "Bad Calories," says Philip Lipetz, author of the recently released "The Good Calorie Diet" ($23, HarperCollinsPublishers, New York).

According to Lipetz, a previously overweight Ph.D. who applied his research expertise to the search for a healthy, effective diet, all calories are not created equal. Different foods convert different percentages of calories into fat. Carbohydrates become blood sugar in the bloodstream; in overweight people, excess blood sugar becomes fat. Lipetz says an overweight person on 1,000 calories a day can create the same amount of fat as a "thin" person on a daily intake of 3,000 - 4,000 calories.

"The problem is not that you eat too much, but that you make too much fat from what you do eat," Lipetz says.

Carbohydrates are not the only culprits in Lipetz's "diet," which is actually more of a feasible long-term plan of habits and foods to avoid and to embrace. Numerous charts and charming "Cathy" cartoon illustrations, daily menus, recipes and eating-out guidelines ease readers through some fairly technical metabolic explanations. But in the end Lipetz's plan boils down to 12 basic rules topped by shunning "Bad Calories," including "diet" staples like rice cakes and carrots, and going for the "Good," including natural rice, most fresh fruits and vegetables.

One factor frequently cited by Lipetz and other food authorities as affecting fat formation is triglycerides. Turns out that they, too, come in good and bad incarnations. Dover, Idaho-based Sound Nutrition Inc.'s new "ThinOIL" reportedly uses the "good guys" in "energy-converting oils" to return to favored status many foods usually sacrificed for the sake of lowering dietary fats.

ThinOIL's secret is the size of its triglycerides. It contains plant-derived medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), which are 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the long-chain triglycerides (LCT) that make up other cooking oils, including butter, margarine, animal fats and other vegetable oils. MCTs, because of their smaller size, are absorbed directly into the bloodstream and carried to the liver where they are rapidly burned for energy. LCTs initially bypass the liver and so take longer to become energy. ThinOIL's lower viscosity also means that often less is required for cooking.

The olive-oil-flavored sample I received easily replaced conventional olive oil in the company's suggested Focaccia recipe. It's flavor, however, was not as - well, flavorful - in an adaptation of one of my own salad dressing recipes. But it wasn't bad, either. Other flavors are Original, Buttery and Garlic, which the company suggests respectively as replacements for LCT oils in a spicy carrot cake, a "better butter" that contains half the cholesterol of regular butter and a sun-dried tomato spread.

The product is sold in 12-bottle cases costing $72 (single flavor) - $75 (mixed-flavors) plus shipping and handling per case. Order through (800) THIN-OIL.

So calories aren't just calories and oil's not just oil. What will they think of next?

Well, most of us have heard by now about the MacGregor, a tomato genetically altered to take about a week longer than conventional varieties to rot. Approved by the government in May, the tomato is generally getting rave taste reviews in the few states where it's available. Next in line for slow-down experimentation is that rapid-ripener, the banana. But don't look for it in stores for another three to five years.

In the meantime, though, a researcher at the University of Florida has come up with a watermelon that in a laboratory-controlled environment cost-effectively circumvents the problem of how to grow it if there are no seeds. The answer: a mutant double-chromosomed mother plant that produces seeds for the seedless melons. Unlike the occasional seedless melon now found in supermarkets, this new variety is reportedly also sweet and juicy. The National Watermelon Promotion Board predicts that this "p-tooh"-less watermelon could indeed be big.

So, too, could an eight-choice line of cookies from Soul Baker No. One James Brown. No word yet on when they'll arrive in local stores, but a portion of the proceeds from the recently debuted James Brown Cookeez will go to Brown's Anti-Violence and Crime Prevention campaign.

And now a drum roll for a local good guy: The Library Restaurant, whose fine service and ambience recently earned it the coveted Distinguished Restaurants of North America Award. Recipients are selected by professionally trained inspectors through a rigorous anonymous process that evaluates the entire restaurant experience from making a reservation and before-meal cocktails through the meal itself and departure from the establishment. Comfort, cleanliness, decor and style are also considered. The DIRONA Guide lists the United States', Canada's and Mexico's finest dining establishments. And you'll find The Library in Roanoke on page 224. Congratulations.

by CNB