I read Atkins book but I don't recall this. My sister says that we are allowed to subtract malitol and right now my mother has my book. Please clarify if you can. thanks.

I think you can. Most Atkins and other low carb products subtract the malitol when figuring out the effective carb count. However, some people react to malitol and have to count it as regular carbs. You will just have to figure out if you are one of those or not.

Maltitol & other sugar alcohols are supposed to be 'inert' - that is, they aren't supposed to raise blood sugar and cause an insulin surge. So they often aren't even counted in the carbs. Or they are subtracted from the total to get the 'effective carb count'.

But paleoanth is right: many people stall when they add the bars and only start losing again when they cut them out. You'll just have to try and see.

Atkins books don't talk about them (in the early editions, anyway) but the Atkins Bars don't even list them in the carb count.

Hi!
Does Dr. Atkin's talk about effective carbs in his book & do we only count the effective carbs?

The early editions of the book (1990 & 1992) only talked about total carbs. But after Protein Power began subtracting fibre from total carbs, so did Atkins. And that's the Effective carb count.

Fiber (or fibre, in the British spelling used in many countries) is not digested but goes through your digestive tract. Therefore it is not taken in by the body. So it doesn't count as carbs and we can subtract it and use the result as our carb count.