[SamAdams76]

I generally agree with this article except for the usual gratuitous and uneducated comments about the low-carb diet being "unbalanced" and a "short-term solution." Having been on a low-carb diet since April, I have never eaten so many fruits and vegetables in my life and I have never felt so good. I think I'm eating this way for life.

If anybody thinks I'm going to add hydrogenated vegetable oils, refined flour, refined sugars, high-fructose corn syrup and starches to my diet so it can be "balanced", forget about it.

Anyway, I agree about the low-carb bars. They are little better than candy bars and many people have "stalled" their weight loss with them. Many of these bars have hydrogenated vegetable oils (trans-fats), and other harmful ingredients. They are nutritionally inferior to "real" foods like meat, fish, eggs, cheese, vegetables, berries, nuts, etc. I'd rather have a 1/2 pint of blueberries than a low-carb snack bar. Sure, there are more carbs in blueberries, but they are rich in antioxidants and other beneficial things and the carbs in blueberries are "low-glycemic" meaning that they won't send a rush of insulin into your body (unless you gobble a whole mess of them). Blueberries are a far superior snack than low-carb bars in my opinion. Blueberries grow on bushes and low-carb bars are developed in a lab and mass-produced on the assembly line with a mile-long list of chemicals and additives.

They are also outrageously expensive. I'd much rather have a handful of smoked almonds, a wedge of cheese or a 1/2 pint of blueberries when I'm in the snacking mood.

[Maigrey]

ping for you Carlo!

[kylaka]

How are you doing with it Sam... I'm considering it myself.

[fini]

Like all products, the low carb bars vary between manufacturers. I look for high protein bars with little fat and carbs. Most taste like chocolate flavored "saw dust," but there are a few good tasting ones. However, the expense keeps me from completely replacing candy with protein bars.

Like the article mentioned, you have to read the nutrition label and do the math. I too have noticed that sometimes total calories are more than the total sum of fat, carbs, and protein. When you see that reject the bar- who knows what else is incorrect.

[BlueAngel]

I started Atkins on Memorial day of this year. I've lost 23 lbs. I continue to stay away from sugar, flour, pastas, etc. I don't even crave them anymore.

I feel that this is a diet that I can live with. I always gained weight on the low fat diets.

[Maigrey]

i'll agree with you also. Looking at the nutritional values of one of these low-carb bars versus whole food, I'll take a whole food than a refined low carb bar (and the whole food tastes better, too! Fresh peach, anyone?

[Exit148]

Finally! South Beach is getting a little more attention!

When you REALLY look at the labels on those bars, you get an eyeful. A lab concoction with flavor.

The alcohol sugars are also seen in the 'no-sugar' candies that are coming out all over the place, in all brands. That's fine if you have a sweet tooth and can stick to one serving, but ---- go over the few small pieces in 'one serving' and those sugar alcohols, which by-pass the digestive process, go straight to the gut and can ruin your day.

I'm always suspicious of who is making a negative comment on lo-carb anything. It always seems to be someone in the nutrition or dietetic fields. Everyone has an agenda, and I never know who is in it for their own furtherance. (is there such a word?)

Low-carb is easy, once you've detoxed all the sugars out of your system. Good food, the way it used to be, is the way to go.

One other thing, while I'm at it ---- The term "lo-carb" is being tossed around as tho it is a negative thing. The term should be "proper-carb. That describes these diets better.

[DannyTN]

Well I also have a problem with the continued bashing of fat. They always call Atkins a "high protein" diet, but Atkins called his diet a high fat diet. In fact he dared people to be "unashamedly unafraid of fat".

Turns out all those antioxidant vitamins people thought they were getting from vegetables are mostly "fat soluable" no fat, no vitamins.

And they've preached fiber to us both as a filler and to promote regularity. I've read that vegan teenagers are 8 times more likely to need laxatives. And I've seen one report that said some fibers promote colon cancer.

[R. Scott]

Being diabetic, I tried some of the low carb bars.
Not only did their taste and texture leave much to be desired, I didn’t see much difference in blood sugar levels.

[Reeses]

high-fructose corn syrup... Fresh peach, anyone?

A peach, minus the water, is 90 percent sugar. Half the sugar is sucrose (cane sugar), 1/4th glucose (blood sugar requiring no digestion), 1/4th fructose (an isomer of glucose). Nutritionally, it is similar to eating 2 fun size Snickers candy bars with a glass of water. I don't get where fruitarians come up with modern non-naturally occurring high-fructose fruit being healthy for you. If someone can explain this to me I’m all ears.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Sugar alcohols are best avoided, but lo-carb bars without them are fine. The article seems to be confusing lo-carb bars with lo-carb candy. The Atkins Advantage and Morning Start bars don't cause any problems with weight loss, at least in my experience.

[annyokie]

Thanks, buddy! I told my late FIL the same thing. (He was a diabetic.)

Have you met your goal yet?

Best Wishes!

[Paul_B]

You've said it well, Sam. I also would add that I find artificially sweetened low carb bars highly addicting. Couple that with the fiction that they can take the place of real food, and there's tremendous capacity for abuse. Basically, they are a stain on the low carb millieu.

[mbraynard]

Never been on Adkins, don't need it (ectomorph, into body building, lots of cardio, and eat right).

However, it occurs to me that the stuff you eat on Adkins is what you are *meant* to eat, what your body was designed for. Consider mankind in the pre-historic era, the diet was berries and other animals. It's far more natural than any of the other diets that make you load up on carbs.

I'm particularly disgusted when I remember the public school education showing us the "food triangle" with carbs taking up the top tier - particularly those with a high glicemic index.

[agrace]

bump for later read :)

[Republican Wildcat]

Low-carb fruits? Which ones?

[Amelia]

"I don't have a problem with using it in the short-term," said Sally Kattau, a longtime licensed dietitian with the Diabetes Association of the Dayton Area. But long-range, she said, it's both difficult to maintain and potentially dangerous, especially for diabetics. "It's not a nutritionally sound diet."

It appears to me that most of the "nutritionists" who comment on the Atkins diet haven't fully studied the program, and have the impression that people stay on "induction" forever.