Atkins Bars- they lied??

[momof3chicks]

I travel, so I bought some Atkins bars. On the box it said only 2 net carbs. It is hard to carry anything perishable with you and sometimes I need a little snack in between meals.

Well, I think the box lied- It says on the inside label total carbs 14g and dietary fiber 8g, so that is more like 6 net carbs right??

ACK, what can I eat away from home? At home I have cheese, or a bit of meat or something.

[Elizellen]

Apart from the magical counting/non-counting carb issue you need to check the list of ingredients to make sure they are all 'legal' for your Atkins phase.

As far as I know all the bars contain at least one ingredient not on the allowed list for induction, so in my opinion are not induction-friendly foods.

Once you have decided if they are 'legal' for your Atkins phase you then need to decide of you are going to count all the net carbs in them or deduct some of them as the manufacturer suggests

Here is some interesting reading to help you decide.

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...-them-not.html (What about Sugar Alcohols...Count them or not?)

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...tage-bars.html (Can I eat Atkins Advantage Bars?)

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...-alcohols.html (What are Sugar Alcohols?)

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...have-them.html (Atkins products -- should I have them)

[Sunny_0ne]

Mom, check the recipe for legal cheese crackers. All you do is microwave small pieces of cheddar on parchment paper and they make the crispest, tastiest crackers you can imagine. Much better than Cheeze-Its.

That's my portable snack of choice now.

String cheese is individually wrapped and is portable.

What several of us do is carry an insulated lunch box with one of those blue ice frozen inserts, and keep snacks that need refrigerated in it. Then you can carry deviled eggs, celery stalks with cream cheese, veggie slices with a small container of dip. Or you can freeze a (not full) bottle of water to cool your box. Then you can drink the cold water, too, when it melts.

It does take pre-planning, but it's worth the time.

[momof3chicks]

Originally Posted by Sunny_0ne

Mom, check the recipe for legal cheese crackers. All you do is microwave small pieces of cheddar on parchment paper and they make the crispest, tastiest crackers you can imagine. Much better than Cheeze-Its.

That's my portable snack of choice now.

String cheese is individually wrapped and is portable.

What several of us do is carry an insulated lunch box with one of those blue ice frozen inserts, and keep snacks that need refrigerated in it. Then you can carry deviled eggs, celery stalks with cream cheese, veggie slices with a small container of dip. Or you can freeze a (not full) bottle of water to cool your box. Then you can drink the cold water, too, when it melts.

It does take pre-planning, but it's worth the time.

But does the food last for several days? I am gone several days a week.

[BigSmooth]

Did Dr Atkins approve of these bars?

[Sunny_0ne]

Mom, no, they won't last that long.

Maybe the small pop top cans of tuna and individual packets of mayonnaise would work for you? Or the foil sealed salmon, tuna and chicken fillets that need no refrigeration.

[SunnySmile501]

Originally Posted by BigSmooth

Did Dr Atkins approve of these bars?

No he did not. He fought them all the way. He finally said they could be used in an emergency. Dr. Atkins was all about whole, healthy foods.

[SunnySmile501]

Re: Atkins Bars- they lied??

Does this surprise you?

[SunnySmile501]

Originally Posted by BigSmooth

Did Dr Atkins approve of these bars?

Here's an excerpt from the book "Dr. Robert Atkins--The True Story of the Man Behind the War on Carbohydrates", by Lisa Rogak, copyright 2005.

Paraphrased from the book:
Dr. Robert Atkins NEVER was very comfortable with the low carb bars and low-carb "food" and resisted for a very long time. They were the bailiwick of the fairly new wife, Veronica Atkins. Still, they never took off until Dr. Atkins gave over the reins of the empire in August of 2000 and he went back to just tending to his patients. Atkins Nutritionals was then totally run by some marketing execs. The book states that the execs and Dr. Atkins reached an agreement that they would develop the business as they saw fit. While press reports announced that they were just running Atkins Nutritionals, in truth they were actually running the entire Atkins empire, including the Atkins Center.

This was when Dr. Atkins took the backseat and Veronica Atkins started working closely with the new people running the company to change the vision of the company to what it has become--a low-carb food industry.

This is an excerpt from the book regarding Dr. Atkins resisting the low-carb foods. This was when the low fat craze was happening and he lost many patients and the ones left wanted an easier way to stay on the diet.

Page 136 - 137
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 at convenience stores would be great, only low-carb instead.

Atkins hesitated, and for 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 processed food.

(I'm leaving out a paragraph about him not wanting to franchise out his name while he was alive)

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 program.

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

[imagood1]

While you are "gone for several days" do you ever have access to a room with a small refrigerator when you spend the night? If not maybe investing in a small refrigerator you can put in your car would be the way to go -- it doesn't have to be huge, just big enough for cheese sticks, a bag of veggies, etc. Where do you stay at night? Most hotel/motels we've stayed in lately have refrigerators and microwaves.

Also, most stores or convenience stores have small bags of veggies for sale.

Hope this helps.

My opinion: The bars and shakes with the Atkins name should be taken off the market because people who start Atkins without reading the book buy them thinking they can eat them in place of a meal.....this isn't a liquid diet like Slim-Fast where you buy shakes and bars this is a way of eating that is healthy and has REAL food.