• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Why is there virtually ZERO interest by supermarkets in UK in selling LOW CARB foods?

'Shop round the outside', I heard recently. Most of the processed stuff is down the central isles.
That advise does need to be qualified, because underwear and magazines (found peripherally) are not the tastiest, but you do fined butches, fishmongers, cheeses etc. round the edge.
I do make an exception - the wine isle! I dive down there 'occasionally'.
 
I hear that Amazon UK maybe closing its food delivery service and replacing it with their supermarket chain Whole Foods. It's an American chain, but I imagine the Whole Food stores would be very similar to the Canadian Whole Food stores. The ones I've visited in the US are a bit shabby , the stores in Canada are upmarket. That would mean they would be in the upmarket arena and would be a direct challenge to Waitrose and Marks and Spencers food halls. Whole Foods Canada prides itself on purchasing from local suppliers , organic , high end, GF and Low Carb foods as well as a good selection of cooked and cold food self service, in house fresh pizzas, sushi and ready meals.
I sound like I'm plugging Whole Foods , but we have two in my area which I frequent. They are expensive.

Edited to change a sentence
 
lovinglife said:
Not for everyone sadly :( I tried with pasta into oblivion & it didn’t work for me, neither does the potato but I wasn’t so bothered about that
Click to expand...
Cooked pasta swilled under the cold tap and reheated seems to work for me. Tried it with rice but with less success though now I use cauliflower rice instead.
 
Melgar said:
Whilst I agree with much of what you say @Lamont D I'm very sceptical of those wheat intolerant stats - 20% is very high. I have not been able to find any link for those high numbers @Lamont D . Do you have a link ?

Also, and this is only a n=1 study, but as I am coeliac I have a lot of difficulty finding wheat free anything. If 1 in 5 of the population is wheat intolerant I'm sure the food industry would capitalize on those numbers. As it stands they don't . And when I think of a food intolerance I am minded to think adverse reactions.

Ed spelling
Click to expand...
Dr William Davis, author of "Wheat Belly" suggests that the strains of wheat that are grown now have never been properly
tested to check that they do not pose a threat to human health in the long term.

I tried to post a link to the book but it seems I'm too new to the forum to do so. A google search should find it.

Floppy
 
Last edited:
Zeppx said:
I think that's right that the NHS doesn't advocate low carb. I am going to an NHS-funded prediabetes class and we are told to follow the Eatwell Guide, which recommends at least 30% starchy carbs on your plate. I don't like that.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. They don't seem to swerve from that method. Whilst they encourage that way of eating and wonder why blood sugars are not coming down, we are almost doomed. It is only by doing our own work and searching for alternative foods and getting that message across to others we can progress.
 
Whilst most Doctors seem to recommend the NHS Eatwell Guide a few do seem to have got the low carb message.
I particularly like the "lowcarbfreshwell" web site (again - I'm not yet allowed to post links!)

The following is from their site:

The Freshwell Low Carb Project is an initiative set up by Dr David Oliver and Dr Kim Andrews at the Freshwell Health Centre, Essex, UK. This project grew out of our concern about the rise in incidence of type 2 diabetes over the last few years, alongside the widely reported rapid increase in obesity in the UK population.

In response to this the team have produced the Freshwell Low Carb Programme.

Floppy
 
Floppy1 said:
Whilst most Doctors seem to recommend the NHS Eatwell Guide a few do seem to have got the low carb message.
I particularly like the "lowcarbfreshwell" web site (again - I'm not yet allowed to post links!)

The following is from their site:

The Freshwell Low Carb Project is an initiative set up by Dr David Oliver and Dr Kim Andrews at the Freshwell Health Centre, Essex, UK. This project grew out of our concern about the rise in incidence of type 2 diabetes over the last few years, alongside the widely reported rapid increase in obesity in the UK population.

In response to this the team have produced the Freshwell Low Carb Programme.

Floppy
Click to expand...

I agree Freshwell is great. I have the app and told my GP about it when he asked if I could recommend any resources. ( he’d wondered how I’d managed to bring my HbA1c into the normal range) I hope he passed the info on to other diabetic patients at the practice. Having been developed by 2 NHS GPs gave it credibility in his eyes.
 
Moderator note:

Hi folks..

Whilst the posts on the NHS Eatwell Guide & Freshwell are interesting and worth talking about there already threads on these topics on the forum where these can be discussed.

Can we keep any posts to discussion on the topic of the title which is
“why is there virtually ZERO interest by supermarkets in UK selling LOW CARB foods?
 
Some of the products in the M&S "only" range are low carb, the burgers, sausages and mayo for example.
But they are marketing them as simple rather than ultra processed so their marketing team obviously think there's more money to be made under that banner than low carb.
 
Answering the original question - we are not a big enough customer base to attract the idea of catering especially for our needs. No money in it. How many non-diabetics know about the whys and wherefores of low carb. Even most medical professionals know nothing about it.
 
I agree. There is definitely some mileage in "low sugar" products as far as the manufacturers are concerned - I've seen a couple of promotions for Gullon low sugar biscuits in supermarkets recently. Of course, they are still 70% carb. And I've had "no sugar" cereal pushed at me on social media - again, still 70-80% carb. All that's happening here is that the sucrose is being switched to Stevia, but as much derived glucose as ever.
 
Tesco used to stock Burgen bread which was great for slow release of carbs and never spiked my CGM readings. Allied bakeries stopped producing the bread in four years ago which is a real shame.
 
Back
Top