I recently noticed that our vending machine here at the office has two rows of Mac’s Hot & Spicy Pork Rinds in it. (Are you holding out on us, Mack? ) Everything else only has one row. I don’t eat them myself. I never would have guessed that pork rinds would be more popular than potato chips or peanut butter crackers but I guess I was wrong. Further, I googled pork rinds and found that they are being pitched to the public as being a tasty low carb snack. A diet food!!! I don’t think that I will ever be able to think of pork rinds as a health food. :roll:
It is a southern thing. The damn things are delicious. My grandfather used to make them, particularly at hog-killin’ time. Drop the skins in hot oil. I thing I’ve eaten one small bag in the last 10 years, on account of the fat content which, some of you old timers may recall, used to be bad for you.
I think this low-carb thing is suspect. I think we’ll look back one day and ask ourselves what we were thinking. We’ll keep looking for the “secret” to losing weight until we finally figure out that the secret is eat less food and exercise more.
Amen Dale! I wonder myself when the general public is going to wake up to that basic fact. There is no magic cure for weight gain…you said it all!
I agree, this low carb has gone crazy. Seems like every other commercial lately is for another restaurant advertising their new low carb salads or wraps or some darn thing.
I LIKE my carbs! And I’m not a big meat eater…just cuz I’m not. I thought everyone knew that the human body needs very little protein but it needs a fair amount of carbs, especially if you are physically active, ie. exercise. The right carbs give you the sustained energy you need for stamina. What do marathon runners do before the big race? They push carbs for something like 3 days before.
Pork rinds are funny looking little things. Never had one. But I have to say they at least look appealing..unlike pickled pigs feet which give me the willies…even tho I will look at them in fasinated horror for several minutes in the grocery store.
I see the dastardly plan of the late Dr.Atkins as a good thing. It is like Darwin’s natural selection at work. I love it!!! People who are gullible enough to fall for the idea that KFC and Pork Rinds are the vitriols of life deserve to endure heart palpatations various other uncomfortable health issues.
It was apparently supermodel types on low-carb who began to make pork rinds chic. Personally, I think Atkins is metabolically disastrous–and this is even evident in the marketing of certain products. There is a potato product under the brand name “Ketatoes.” Eat these and put yourself into metabolic ketosis. Yay. To your health.
Oh yes. Definitely a southern thing which Dale comfirmed. Dale also confirmed something else. Everyone I know who eats them swears that they are better than just about anything out there. (except fresh boiled peanuts ) That being said, blackhawk, if you or any other person on the forum would like to try some I will send, absolutely free of any charge, a bag of Mac’s hot & spicy pork rinds to the first ten who send me a PM with an address or PO box. Heck, I’ll even take care of the postage- even if it’s overseas.
No matter what the Atkinzanians tell you, I still don’t think they’re good for you in any way whatsoever.
Grandma used to make cracklins, which is about like it. They’re good.
When we were in the Philippines we used to eat porkrinds, which went under the name chicharron. This Spanish word seems to be increasingly affixed to them in the USA, now, too.
On our first return, after a four year term in the Philippines, my dad went to the store for a bag of baken-Ets, only to discover they had quit putting enough salt on them… low salt porkrinds… hooray. :\
I spoke to a woman at work about the Atkins diet within the last week. Although I still have some residual doubts, the way she explained it made sense to me.
It is a lowering of carbs, not elimination.
It is NOT reducing carbs and INCREASING fat for the sake of increased protein intake. She said that the people that are pushing that aspect of the diet are doing it for the money of selling their wares only. Go figger, sales driven by a popular thing, who’d-a thunk it.
She said she has reduced her carbs to a natural, seasonally cyclical level. Increased her protein slightly, expecially duing the winter. REALLY increased the fruits and veggies. It sounded like a really balanced lifestyle change to me. Something we have been trying to acheive without “going on a diet.”
She has lost 40 pounds in the last several months with this plan, in addition to her exercise. Now, before you go saying “AH HA!”, she tried losing weight with just exercise prior to this change. She did, but not as consistantly as the last few months. I see a HUGE difference in her.
She has been told recently that she has to stop the vigorous exercise (disks are gone in her lower back) but she is still losing a bit of weight.
I think that the plan has merrit if a reasonable path is taken. Moderation in ALL things.
I think we call 'em “Pork Scratchings” on this side of the pond, if they’re the same porky crunchy snack. Jolly nice they are too, except for the one which broke one of my NHS fillings some years back.
Odd how pubs serve snacks filled with salty goodness, like Pork Scratchings, dry roasted peanuts, crisps (sorry, potatoe chips) etc… sort of makes you want to drink more once you’ve eaten 'em…
Good post. And we have already looked back, at least once.
High protein, low-carbohydrate diets were a rage back in the 1970’s, as part of the campaign against refined sugar. Then, as more evidence emerged doctors began recommending complex carbohydrates as the basis of sensible eating. Refined carbohydrates have always been discouraged by nutritionists. Now, protein diets are once again in fashion. I know several people who are on this diet, mostly women.
I don’t believe Dr. Atkins was a nutritionist. There are many expert medical doctors who also have their Phd. in nutrition, who disagree substantially with the high protein diet. Atkins, the old couch potato, likely knew his diet would sell well to certain people–it was alluring. And his diet consisted of the type of food that lingered in the stomach for hours, reducing hunger.
High protein diets work well to lose water weight fast (but leave you feeling thirsty!). In a way, it’s like exercising. The body is over-worked converting protein to carbs so the body can utilize what was ingested, but this form of exercise doesn’t tone the body, it only enlarges the kidneys and can lead to nephrites.
The only better thing than pork rinds are pork rinds with a generous dash of Tabasco or Emeril’s green pepper sauce.
If you ever have a chance to get them fresh from the kettle, such as at some sort of outdoor festival, swallow your high fat phobias and grab some. Life just don’t get any better.
) Everything else only has one row. I don’t eat them myself. I never would have guessed that pork rinds would be more popular than potato chips or peanut butter crackers but I guess I was wrong. Further, I googled pork rinds and found that they are being pitched to the public as being a tasty low carb snack. A diet food!!! 
I don’t think that I will ever be able to think of pork rinds as a health food. :roll:
) That being said, blackhawk, if you or any other person on the forum would like to try some I will send, absolutely free of any charge, a bag of Mac’s hot & spicy pork rinds to the first ten who send me a PM with an address or PO box. Heck, I’ll even take care of the postage- even if it’s overseas. 
