Product 'Wish List' for UK low carbers
 

Dear Tamarian, initiator of this forum ...

I am in the process of doing some market research and collating a low carbers "wish list" on behalf of a UK manufacturer (they wish to remain anonymous at the moment). So, I am emailing low carb list owners to see if they would kindly ask their UK members what products they would most like to see developed by a UK company and available on supermarket shelves.

Would you be agreeable to my posting questions on this forum for your UK members?

Obviously all feedback we get is very helpful and will hopefully lead to a better availability of low carb products for us UK low carbers!

I await your reply. thank you, Claire

PS I see it is possible to 'post a poll' I have no experience of this, however would it be better to use this facility? your advice would be appreciated.

Let me be number 1.

I wish that doctors et al would read about lo-carbing befor giving an opinion

Lez

I've this thread here to the U.K. forum. No problem, as long as our forum rules are respected.

Wa'il

Soft drinks sweetened with Splenda and not aspartame!

Crackers, of some sort. I miss crunchy and I miss something to put things on, that is quick and easy.

Dear clarea63 -

Thank you for you courage in taking on this project. Many of us across the pond have noticed with concern how negative the British press has been about Low Carbohydrate Diets. Those of us who have reviewed the science, and have witnessed the improvements in our own bodies and minds, feel dismayed that our allies may be missing out on this amazing way-of-eating.

And by the way, in my dreams this Yank longs for a low-carb beer from Samuel Smith's Yorkshire brewery.

Best regards,

Frank (gotbeer)

Low carb ketchup.
Low carb pasta.
Low carb crisps.
Low carb beer that doesn't taste like water.

the one thing i would really like to be able to buy here is the low carb tortillas.i buy them from the net at the moment and they,re the one product i,ve found that are great for my diabetes contol....it would be lovely to be able to buy them in a shop.oh and lc ketchup too.

christine

Ready prepared meals
nice low carb desserts such as choc mousse, tiramisu
low carb bread, less than 5 carbs per slice

Low carb stir fry sauces - all the ones on the supermarket shelves have far to much sugar in them.
Cavaleir chocolate bars (praline, mocha) - these are the best low carb chocolate product I've found, but mainly only available online.
Low carb crisps
Low carb cakes - these are available in Holland

low carb pasta,crispbreads,treat bars all at affordable prices.
dolli

low carb baked beans! :)

Very carb (and lower salt) tomato ketchup (hurry up Heinz)
Some sort of crispbread/cracker to put marmite on for a snack
M & S ready meals and prepared "cook yourself type" that are low carb (they do a big range of low fat meals) but so many of their prepared products such as sandwich fillings, gucamole, dips are full of maize starch which make them unsuitable for low carbers.

A decent cheese biscuit, similar to water biscuits, made with natural saturated animal (butter, lard, dripping) or vegetable fat (palm or coconut oil). No added flavour, colour.

Milk and 70% plain chocolate made with splenda.

Organic, if possible.

I'll go for 85% chocolate please! (sugar free).

Whoops I meant very LOW carb ketchup.

Definitely agree on the chocolate made with splenda - dark choc please. Even some dark choc truffles with splenda as a special treat.

Low carb candies NOT sweetened with sugar alcohols, if that's possible.

Splenda-sweetened soft drinks.

Lower carb pasta (soy based?)

Low carb bake mixes at an affordable price

Here's another vote for low carb stir-fry sauces.

Low carb and calorie controlled ready meals/frozen meals.

LOW CARB TORTILLAS! YES! If nothing else on this list!

Emily

on the subject of lc tortillas,i usully buy mine from the lowcarbmegastore but they,re out of stock...i,m down to my last 4,does anyone know of another site that sells them..

pepsi max - www.lowcarbinternational.com have them in stock in all 3 flavours.

thank you...you,ve saved my life :lol:

ordered 4 pkts,that should keep me going for a while!

Cool :)

I'm waiting for my first ever packet to come from lowcarbmegastore... hopefully they'll arrive tomorrow!

I am not really into processed foods/ready meals as such, therefore I would just like to be able to buy:

Sugar Free Bacon
Rusk Free Sausages (Thank you, I have finished teething)
Sugar free Ham
Trans-Fat free Mayonnaise/Lard/ etc
Unsalted Butter at a "normal" Price
German Salami at a decent price (Sainsburys charges way over the top)
Canadian Diet Pepsi
Cheese, other than Cheddar


Basically, I need a LIDL or Aldi opening somewhere near me... :)

But I am really fed up with having to read through every label, as even the most innocent foods seem to contain sugar, rusk and/or Trans-Fats here.

Low carb crisps, low carb bread, and something equivalent to the Atkins bake mix that I have never had but often the recipes call for.... Good luck

Sausages
 

How about some LC sausages and LC Pate.
Of course you cant have pate without toast so some LC crackers would be wonderful.

I'm pretty sure Tesco's Ardennes (sp?) pate is around 0.5g/100g, which is pretty low carb... ;)

I just eat couple of spoonfulls direct off a teaspoon :D

UK products wish list - questions
 

Thank you so much, everyone for your replies already!

Sorry to have not come back before now ... I must admit slight forum-confusion and I could not get back on until now ... I think I have it all straight now!

I have specific questions and some suggested products, if you have the time I'd be very grateful for feedback.

There are a few questions re: sweetener and product content.

1. Which is your preferred product sweetener?
2. Do you find sucralose acceptable as a sweetener?
3. Do you find polyols such as maltitol acceptable as sweeteners?
4. Do you find that polyols cause gastrointestinal discomfort or have a laxative effect?
5. Do you find soy an acceptable product ingredient?
6. Do you find whey protein an acceptable product ingredient?
7. Are you put off by the price of the Atkins products?
8. Would you like to see other branded low carb products available in your high street?
9. What is the maximum carb content you would consider for each product?
10. Do you think the current practice of subtracting carbohydrates from polyols / glycerine and labelling products as “net” carbs or “effective carb count” labelling is misleading?
11. Do you find that your weight loss stalls when consuming products containing polyols/glycerine?
12. Would you prefer products with “actual” carb counts?

and then a few product suggestions, if you could grade them 1-10, 1 being favourite, 10 being least useful to you ...

Powdered shake mix
Ready made shake
Pizza bases
Pizza with toppings
Bread / ‘wraps’ / rolls etc
Chocolate bar
Meal replacement bar with vitamins and minerals
Sugar Free Baking Chocolate
Individual Soups
Chocolate and other flavoured muffins

any other suggestions you have are gratefully received.

Thanks SO much. Fingers crossed this could lead us all to a better low-carb product choice in the UK!

Claire

1. Which is your preferred product sweetener?
Splenda

2. Do you find sucralose acceptable as a sweetener?
Yes

3. Do you find polyols such as maltitol acceptable as sweeteners?
Yes and no; I currently buy some products that have polyols, but that's more due to availability than anything else. If I could buy 100% sucralose sweetened products, I'd buy them instead.

4. Do you find that polyols cause gastrointestinal discomfort or have a laxative effect?
Only very occasionaly for me

5. Do you find soy an acceptable product ingredient?
I don't currently find it not-acceptable, but this question will prompt me to investigate it further!

6. Do you find whey protein an acceptable product ingredient?
I don't currently find it not-acceptable, but this question will prompt me to investigate it further!

7. Are you put off by the price of the Atkins products?
A little, but it's not that major a deal

8. Would you like to see other branded low carb products available in your high street?
Yes!

9. What is the maximum carb content you would consider for each product?
Depends on the nature of the product; if it was a snack/ candy bar etc, then <5g, if it was a chilled meal, then <10g (or maybe <15g - I'm still consuming a low amount of carbs a day, so maybe 15 is a more realistic main meal figure for some people)

10. Do you think the current practice of subtracting carbohydrates from polyols / glycerine and labelling products as “net” carbs or “effective carb count” labelling is misleading?
11. Do you find that your weight loss stalls when consuming products containing polyols/glycerine?
I'm still in two minds about this.... I suspect it may have caused me to stall in the past (so have cut out these products altogether), and based on that, it is a bit misleading

12. Would you prefer products with “actual” carb counts?
If it was possible to make LC products with actual low carb counts with no subtractions (and the ifs, buts and maybes of that!), that would be preferable

1 Chocolate bar (assuming no polyols)
2 Pizza with toppings
3 Pizza bases
4 Bread / ‘wraps’ / rolls etc
5 Sugar Free Baking Chocolate
6 Chocolate and other flavoured muffins
7 Individual Soups
8 Meal replacement bar with vitamins and minerals
9 Ready made shake
10 Powdered shake mix

OK, here goes:

1. Which is your preferred product sweetener?
Any

2. Do you find sucralose acceptable as a sweetener?
Yes

3. Do you find polyols such as maltitol acceptable as sweeteners?
They aren't usually used as sweeteners, they are usually used as bulking agents in place of sugar. Anyway I find them acceptable.

4. Do you find that polyols cause gastrointestinal discomfort or have a laxative effect? Very slight laxative effect - bearable if less than 25g a day.

5. Do you find soy an acceptable product ingredient?
Yes - but I prefer the English word 'soya'.

6. Do you find whey protein an acceptable product ingredient?
Yes.

7. Are you put off by the price of the Atkins products?
Yes. Very much.

8. Would you like to see other branded low carb products available in your high street?
Yes.

9. What is the maximum carb content you would consider for each product?
About 3g per item.

10. Do you think the current practice of subtracting carbohydrates from polyols / glycerine and labelling products as “net” carbs or “effective carb count” labelling is misleading?

No, I think it is useful. However you are bound by laws regarding labelling in the E.U. so be careful.

11. Do you find that your weight loss stalls when consuming products containing polyols/glycerine?
Sometimes a little.

12. Would you prefer products with “actual” carb counts?
This is an irrelevent question as you are bound by British law as I said above.

and then a few product suggestions, if you could grade them 1-10, 1 being favourite, 10 being least useful to you ...

Powdered shake mix 7
Ready made shake 7
Pizza bases 7
Pizza with toppings 5
Bread / ‘wraps’ / rolls etc 10
Chocolate bar 10
Meal replacement bar with vitamins and minerals 7
Sugar Free Baking Chocolate 7
Individual Soups 5
Chocolate and other flavoured muffins 5

Robert

1. Which is your preferred product sweetener?

Splenda

2. Do you find sucralose acceptable as a sweetener?

Absolutely - see answer one above!

3. Do you find polyols such as maltitol acceptable as sweeteners?

If there's no alternative, but only in small doses.

4. Do you find that polyols cause gastrointestinal discomfort or have a laxative effect?

Yes.

5. Do you find soy an acceptable product ingredient?

Yes, but I find the flavour just using soy flour is too strong :(

6. Do you find whey protein an acceptable product ingredient?

Yes, I mix it with soy flour to leaven the taste.

7. Are you put off by the price of the Atkins products?

Yes.

8. Would you like to see other branded low carb products available in your high street?

Yes, but not full of artificial rubbish.

9. What is the maximum carb content you would consider for each product?

Don't know, depends on the product.

10. Do you think the current practice of subtracting carbohydrates from polyols / glycerine and labelling products as “net” carbs or “effective carb count” labelling is misleading?

No.

11. Do you find that your weight loss stalls when consuming products containing
polyols/glycerine?

No.

12. Would you prefer products with “actual” carb counts?

Cf 10 above.

and then a few product suggestions, if you could grade them 1-10, 1 being favourite, 10 being least useful to you ...

Powdered shake mix 2
Ready made shake 5
Pizza bases 1
Pizza with toppings 5
Bread / ‘wraps’ / rolls etc 3
Chocolate bar 4
Meal replacement bar with vitamins and minerals 10 (I hate fake food!)
Sugar Free Baking Chocolate 2
Individual Soups 3
Chocolate and other flavoured muffins 3

Hope this helps :D