In Atkins own words... in 2006

[Debi2007]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

I wouldn't call it hard pill to swallow. It really wasn't that big of a deal. I was simply asking if anyone has actual documentation to show that the bars or the shakes have had the ingredients changed rather than just assuming they have changed because of the ingredient list. I wanted to see that the products were actually different rather than just have people tell me that they are, because I notice alot of people offering what they think Dr. Atkins would say today (which to me is just someone's opinion)

I wonder if Dr. Atkins were still here - if he would have updated his own book yet again, considering he had done that once already.

In addition: I don't really feel like I am throwing my money away. I am informed. I am being cautious and I have been eating the bars almost everyday on induction still losing very well and not dealing with cravings. That is why I was excited about what I found, because it might help someone else.

[Debi2007]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

I am still wondering... does his 2002 book say that they are only for emergency use? My copy should arrive this week. I am so excited to read it. I have only read the other versions and the information on the website.

[Chicklady]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

The short answer is yes, they are to be used very sparingly.

Once you get the book, read it. Then reread it. There are things in there that personally, I find contradicting. You will find that the really successfull members here adhered to the toughest of those contradictions That's not to say folks who leaned the other way didn't lose weight, they were just more likely to stray off course or get cravings or binge. In the long run, since we can only make intelligent assumptions about what Dr. A might have meant about some issues, we make our own decisions.

Knock 'em dead!!

[Debi2007]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

It's a good thing the bars don't taste better...lol. They would be rather addicting. I find that they are just a sweet treat for me so I don't feel totally deprived of sweet things. I haven't tried the shakes though. I am trying to be really good. I only had a half of a bar yesterday.

[Chicklady]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

I could never get past that soy after-taste myself. If you want something sweet, try the pork rind french toast. I know, sounds awful, but it really does taste like french toast!

[kate58]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

Two comments from the 2002 book about low-carb convenience foods, including bars etc:

Although it is important that you eat unprocessed foods, some controlled carb products can come in handy when you are unable to find appropriate food, can't take time for a meal or need a quick snack.

Check the labels and carbohydate content. While any of these foods can make doing Atkins easier, don't overdo it. Remember, you must always follow the rules of induction.

Also in his discussion of sweeteners, while he mentions sugar alcohols, it is in passing and he still comes down in favour of Splenda if you are using artificial sweeteners.

When the book was originally published and up to 2002 there was little or no mention of products or processed foods of the bar/shake kind, the diet was based wholly on unprocessed foods. By the 2002 book Atkins Nutritionals the company had started to produce a range of low carb products. However none of the suggested menus for the phases of Atkins mentioned them at all. Nor does the section on stocking your kitchen for Atkins mention them, other than suggesting a low-carb bake mix, without specifying a brand.

However following his death the Atkins Nutritionals Inc. went into bankruptcy, from which it emerged with new owners and a new focus. Having been a company whose primary products were nutitional supplements - vitamins, mineral etc - alongside a more limited range of foodstuffs than currently, it now had: "a new business strategy that focuses on providing great-tasting portable foods with a unique nutrition advantage to healthy, active men and women"

The products changed, the company was now highly focused on developing and selling low-carb "portable foods", aka junk food. And low carb junk food is still junk food - the long list of ingredients in those bars/shakes is enough to put me off.

Have you heard of the website www.archive.org? It allows you to look back in time at what websites were like in the past. Looking at previous incarnations of the Atkins site is quite illuminating.

If you go back to 2002, around the time the last book was published, you'll see that the site's focus was not anything like as heavily on products as it is now. I found an interesting FAQ answer on there:

Could eating Advantage bars be impeding my weight loss?
This varies by individual. If you have reached a plateau and are not losing weight, try omitting the bars until weight loss resumes. Alternatively, you could exercise more to burn the extra calories or try eating only half a bar. Remember, each bar contains approximately 220 calories and these added calories could be affecting your overall weight loss. The controlled carb way of eating has an advantage over low-fat diets in that you can take in more calories and still lose more weight, but don�t regard that as a license to overeat.

I cannot find anything of this nature on the current site.

At that time the store sold a lot of vitamins and nutritional supplements, stevia, sugar free syrups, various oils, cheese, even ketostix. It sells none of those things now.

The old site had a section called "Products to get started", which included things like a diet diary, supplements, a carb counter, ketostix etc, but NO bars or shakes.

Unfortunately when you click on nutritional information on that old site, the link simply redirects to a page on the new site, so it isn't to be had.

[Debi2007]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

Wow. Kate, that was very informative. Thank you so much. I appreciate the response. It clears things up quite a bit.

[Hudson]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

Excellent Kate.

The bottom line. The long term successful Atkinsites have learned that the lc processed food is at best not very good, emergency use or only occasional. And at worst, it will cause weight gain and other problems. No matter what Atkins would think now, I think that consensus is correct.

[sadie147]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

I think that the new Atkis Simply Good bars are proof that you can no longer trust the products that come from this company. People will buy these bars thinking it is in line with this WOE because it bears the Atkins name. This is the reason you have to be so careful.

Obviously Dr. Aktins is no longer with us so we'll never know what he would think of them, but I'd be willing to bet he wouldn't recommend these bars if he was.

The ingredients list for the Mixed Berry Simply Good bar:

Ingredients: Rolled Oats, Soy Nuggets (Soy Protein, Isolate, Tapioca Starch, Salt), Roasted Almonds, Inulin, Organic Agave Syrup , Honey, Raisin Puree, Glycerine, Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, Milk Protein Isolate, Brown Rice Crsip (Brown Rice Flour and Rice Flour), Sunflower Oil, Arabic Gum, Cranberries, Strawberries, Natural Flavors, Soy Lecithin, Citric Acid.

http://www.atkins.com/products/simply-good-mixed-berry-bar

An Atkins product with several sugars in it...

[kate58]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

Wow - so much actual sugar, not even sugar alcohols. That's kind of unbelieveable.

I agree that you can be fairly sure that word of them being sold in his name would make the poor doctor turn in his grave.

[Debi2007]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

I think that the new Atkis Simply Good bars are proof that you can no longer trust the products that come from this company. People will buy these bars thinking it is in line with this WOE because it bears the Atkins name. This is the reason you have to be so careful.

Obviously Dr. Aktins is no longer with us so we'll never know what he would think of them, but I'd be willing to bet he wouldn't recommend these bars if he was.

The ingredients list for the Mixed Berry Simply Good bar:

Ingredients: Rolled Oats, Soy Nuggets (Soy Protein, Isolate, Tapioca Starch, Salt), Roasted Almonds, Inulin, Organic Agave Syrup , Honey, Raisin Puree, Glycerine, Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, Milk Protein Isolate, Brown Rice Crsip (Brown Rice Flour and Rice Flour), Sunflower Oil, Arabic Gum, Cranberries, Strawberries, Natural Flavors, Soy Lecithin, Citric Acid.

http://www.atkins.com/products/simply-good-mixed-berry-bar

An Atkins product with several sugars in it...

Interesting also that they say they are not appropriate for phase 1 or 2. I suppose if someone was looking for a quick alternative and couldn't find anything else they would be better than reaching for a candy bar, but they have 18 net carbs per bar.

I like the fact that they are natural and I suppose if I had a larger amount of carbs to choose from it might be a nice treat from time to time but... otherwise, no way.

[kate58]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

I admit that I eat chocolate from time to time. It's 85% cocoa made by Green & Black - there is usually a large 100g bar (or part of a bar) of it in my kitchen. It's delicious.

The ingredients are: Organic cocoa mass, Organic cocoa butter, organic cocoa powder, Organic raw cane sugar, Organic vanilla.

Yes, I know it contains sugar, but not very much and I like short lists of ingredients that are things I can immediately recognise and whose names I can pronounce.

It has 19g of carb and 53g of fat per 100g bar. The Atkins Bar above is 45g and has almost as many carbs but just 5g of fat. There are 590 calories in the Green & Black, compared to 400 per 100g in the Atkins bar. In fact to me the Atkins one sounds suspiciously like those low fat products Dr A warned about so often.

When I do eat this chocolate, I eat three squares, which is 10g or about 2 carbs. It is rich, delicious and the high fat content makes it very satisfying, so I find that plenty. It also does not create any cravings for sweet things, since the sugar content is so low and it is not really sweet at all, but nor is it bitter, just very intensely chocolatey. I nibble my three squares very slowly and savour them.

It isn't sold as a low carb product - just as a good product. I don't consider it junk food. I think it is superior in every way to anything that the Atkins company produce.

Incidently I buy it in a health food store - very dark chocolate is good for you, in moderation.

[not2late]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

This is from Dr. Atkin's biography...it gives an insight to what he really thought about those bars, shakes, etc. etc. etc.

The patients who stayed, however, were extremely loyal to both atkins and his low-carb diet. But they had one major complaint: In a fast-paced world where everything was low in fat or high in carbohydrates or both, it was difficult to find something that they could eat on the run while still remaining on the low-carb program. They had no time to prepare their own snacks. Perhaps something like the low-fat energy bars sold in convenience stores would be great, only low-carb instead.

Atkins hesistated, and for a good reason. One of the things he constantly stressed with his patients was that they should eat foods that were as close to their natural state as possible, and for him, any kind of energy bar was as good as poison since it was clearly a processed food...

But his patients continued to beg him for something---"you sell the vitamins and other supplements, why not energy bars?" they reasoned--and so, with great reluctance, he gave in and developed not only an energy bar but also a low-carb shake that would make it easier for patients to keep to their Atkins programs.

"As long as you only use it for emergencies," he reminded them...

The energy bars and shakes were a necessary evil, there only because he thought his patients were too lazy to prepare the real kind of unprocessed foods that were the mainstay of his diet.

---Excerpted from:
Dr. Robert Atkins: The True Story of The Man Behind the War on Carbohydrates Lisa Rogak. Chamberlian Bros. 2005. Ch. 6

[Debi2007]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

That was interesting. Thanks!

[7074]

Re: In Atkins own words... in 2006

wow i'm so glad i came across this thread. i am addicted to atkins bars and low carb items that have artificial sweetner in them. after being addicted to cakes and breads etc for so many years, i thought that at least this was better so i kept having and having them. I have about 8 bars a day, about 5 bottles of diet coke etc and in fact my diet consists mainly of those things. I lost weight for a bit but now its slowing down....and to make matters worse, i'me having to exercise more than 2 to 3 hours to keep weight coming off (i thought that the exercise would cancel out the calories in those bars etc but it doesn't really work- i just ended up frustrated.

As for liquid poo and gas- I DEFINETELY KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN !!!! Its horrible !

I need to get off these bars etc- i'm so addicted to them though- thats the hard part. its like i only get happy when i'm holding one of those. Chicken, meat, cheese etc doesn't do it for me :-(

just some thoughts....

best of luck to all of you....