Protein Bars & Sugar Alcohol

[lrrobinson]

Hello All,

I am trying to move on to OWL and I have a quick question. I am trying out this protein bar that has 30grams of protein, but 24 grams of sugar alcohols. Is there a limit on how many grams of sugar alcohols you should be consuming? Or since because they don't count towards net carbs, they shouldn't be counted?

Thanks for your help!

[Laurenfra]

Some people need to count sugar alcohols. If you are one of those people you will be consuming 24 carbs.

This is why Dr. A. did not want us eating them. We are better off eating natural foods, that we know wont effect us.

[cleochatra]

lauren is the best! {{{lauren}}}

I wish I had her as a mentor when I began this WOE (I started out on my own with a local person who did this WOE the wrong way). I started out eating those sugar alcohols, and not only did they 1) make me bloat and gain weight (I eventually began absorbing ALL the carbs), 2) they replaced the healthy things I should have been eating, and 3) they also awakened sugar cravings in me that I'd NEVER had before (I'm a starch girl, never a sugar girl).

It is honestly best to save your money and just say no to those. I learned that the hard way!

[Isabeau]

I agree, if you're going to eat those products, count the carbs and be careful. Before I found this board I ate them once a day for a week and they totally messed me up. I haven't had a week where I have not lost weight since. Luckily, I made the frankenfood mistake in my second week!

[2big4mysize]

Not only do youhave to count the carbs in those things you need to look at the ingredients and not eat them till you arrive on the rungs for those ingredients.

Read your DANDR chapter 14 read the stickies here and do yourself a favor and do your Atkins the way Dr Atkins laid it out so you have the least amount of setbacks, cravings and other difficulties.

Remember Atkins is a ketogenic low carb program and not all low carb products out there will fit your Atkins either.

Happy OWLing.

[Spikette]

lauren is the best! {{{lauren}}}

I started out eating those sugar alcohols, and not only did they 1) make me bloat and gain weight (I eventually began absorbing ALL the carbs), 2) they replaced the healthy things I should have been eating, and 3) they also awakened sugar cravings in me that I'd NEVER had before (I'm a starch girl, never a sugar girl).

It is honestly best to save your money and just say no to those. I learned that the hard way!

When I was travelling (by air) I bought a few Pria Bars for the plane/airport etc. While they tasted great and did give me something to eat so I wouldn't go hungry, they triggered a sugar craving....and like Cleochatra I was never really into sweets and sugar...my thing was always salty foods which I avoided like the plague...most of the time

Now I find myself having sugar cravings...still!!! I try and counter them with fats and recently started taking L-Glutamine...also find myself eating a bit too much of legal food.

Trying to get myself back on track to where I was feeling great...the bloated feeling is horrible.

Bottom line...don't buy those bars!!!

[ttdriver]

Whole foods are the key to success .. not the frankenfoods.

SA will stall you, increase your cravings, and cause horrendous gastric distress (i.e. you're best friend will be the toidy...)

STAY AWAY. IMO, these things are marketing gimics and the people who make them couldn't care less if you lose weight eating them.

Betty

[Sarah_K]

The thing with the bars and sugar alchohols is that for me, anything more than about 14g of sugar alchohols make my stomach hurt. That rules out even a single serving of most bars.

To fill the need for portable snacks, I get 1 or 2 oz bags of nuts (from the baking aisle), individually wrapped string cheese and cheddar, and make flax muffins (see http://users3.ev1.net/~fontlady/flax...n_muffins.html for a great recipe).

I'm still looking for a good homemade low-carb protein bar recipe. I tried one with cream cheese, peanut butter, protein powder and few other odds and ends, but it was still higher in carbs than I wanted (about 9 net carbs per serving). Anybody know of a good one?

[joeschmo]

i have no problem with eating a bar a night for a desert/late night snack. part of the reason i use em is for fiber supplement as well a a snack. it can take a while to get used to the high doses of maltitol found in many bars and i'd lean towards the more health oriented ones rather then the candy oriented ones.

i have tried around 20 different bars to find the ones i liked the best and have the best ingrediants for me(high fiber and low saturated fat). personally i like the snickers marathon low carb bars the best, they actually taste like a candy bar treat but have healthier ingrediants almost every other bar i found. 6g fat, 2g sat fat, 7g fiber, 3g net carb, 8g maltitol, packed with viatamins too.

the one carb reece's peanut butter cups are pretty good too and they contain erythritol(6g) which is very low GI but they are high in fat(12g/5g sat), good for an ocassional treat if you can't handle maitol i guess.