So now the hucksters give the label its due, listing all the carbohydrate grams as required by the FDA; then they apply their own "seal of approval" that lists only those carbs that (they say) "count," neglecting the other carbs. Although the calories are listed in the Nutrition Facts Box, most individuals ignore the calories because they've been convinced and pretty much beat over the head during Atkins first thirty years of fame that calories don't count and only carbohydrates have anything to do with bodyweight and body fat regulation.

Now, the ruse is fully operative.

What was it that struck me the other day? I'd never really thought about the Net Carb idea because it's still so new. But, it finally dawned on me that Net Carbs means that these are the only carbs that exist; and all the others just vanish into the ether: they no longer exist. So, the gas that goes into your car's engine, in this new world-order, needn't be burned; it just evaporates.

This isn't even "Junk Science." It's is what I call "Black Hole Science," an ill-fitting application of the new Quantum Physics.

Even more striking is the fact that several major food companies are now advertising Atkins Friendly foods or "low-carb" foods and have adopted the Net Carb idea. In this scheme, the companies are simply ignoring all kinds of carbs as if they don't exist. I don't think many of them are doing much homework and are just willy-nilly deciding how many carbs in the food product they don't want to count, ignoring them, then placing the final number that they feel will intrigue the consumer in their Net Carb box on the packaging.

Here's what one of my readers overheard in a health food store recently. An older woman, apparently interested in pursuing the low-carb diet lifestyle, asked the health food store clerk about a bar she was interested in trying. The woman noted that the Net Carb "seal of approval" stated only 2 Net Carbs. Uninterested in the Nutrition Facts Box which claimed the bar actually contained 23 grams of carbs and 200 calories, the woman was asking the clerk if she could just eat the whole box of 12 bars at one time. The unknowing clerk replied in the affirmative, "Sure, that would only be 24 grams of carbs and you would surely be below your carb limit for the day."