Bars and shakes???

[Amy-SC]

I’ve heard conflicting stories on the Atkin’s shakes and bars. Can you have them or not? It just seems to me that the Atkin’s company wouldn’t make something that you COULDN’T have. Please advise, and thank you in advance!

[Brook]

Depends. Are you following the Atkins plan or Atkins Nutritionals plan?

The Atkins plan says:

4. Eat nothing that isn't on the Acceptable Foods list. And that means absolutely nothing. Your "just this one taste won't hurt" rationalization is the kiss of failure during this phase of Atkins.

Atkins company is out to get you to spend your hard earned money on their product instead of South Beach's, EAS, etc etc. Even Atkins Nutritionals will tell you their bars and shakes "might" ( might ) slow you down.

Take a look at the list of ingredients on the label of one of those nasty bars or shakes and tell me this: Can you find 4 ingredients in them that *are* on the Induction Allowed Foods List?! - And can you pronounce what's in them without a degree in chemical engineering? Ick.

Now, all that said....You're gonna do what you're going to do anyway. My advice is to avoid them like the plague. Eat real food. Know that it's the collective experience of the low-carb world- not just Atkins folks- that the low-carb products will slow you down and/or stall you all together. Know that there are exceptions to every rule - but the vast majority have issues. Know that there is no such thing as a mythical magical carb that doesn't count. (You're either absorbing the sugar alcohols- in which case they count as carbs! or you're and clearing rooms or to the bathroom to avoid embarrassing situations because the sugar alcohols do *not* agree with you.) Sugar alcohols *do* impact blood sugar and many of them have 50-75% the calorie content of the real deal!

HTHS
~Brook

[Mirya]

don't use them. their evil

[LC_Dave]

Do this experiment.

Eat an Atkins bar for breakfast. But that's all you have for breakfast.

Then watch how your blood sugar feels mid morning and then on the way to lunch.

I have done this a couple of times, and every time it makes me feel shaky, irratable and low in blood sugar.

[blue996]

I agree with everyone else. I use to drink shakes when I did Atkins before and never lost as well as I am losing without them.

[not2late]

What Dr. Atkins really thought about those bars and shakes.....

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

[Elizellen]

Another thing to consider is that the bars available now as (as far as I have been able to discover) different in ingredients than the original ones Dr Atkins grudgingly endorsed.

So as with any prepared foods you think about buying, make sure you check the ingredients against the allowed list for the stage of Atkins that you are at throughout your Atkins journey.

[shari_dawn]

I can certainly attest to the fact that eating sugar alcohols found in the products cause you to have some pretty powerful cravings. I had some SF gum today to fight a bad taste in my mouth due to medication I am taking. Now I'm hungry for the sherbert and other illegal foods in my freezer. Normally these cravings are not a problem. I will resist but hope for a better day tomorrow. My advice is to avoid these products unless its an absolute emergency like your stuck somewhere and can't get somewhere to eat. I keep a shake in the glove box for such emergencies BUT... I also carry a ziplock baggie full of pepperoni or cheese in my purse (sometimes both) to stave off those hunger pangs. I just make up two or three ahead of time, keep them in the fridge and grab one every time I leave the house. You can do without those products, trust me it just takes a little planning ahead.