I have read the discussions about hidden carbs, and understand full well the impact.

That said, what I am looking for would be any recommendations as to which ones actually taste good and satsify. They are very expensive and I don't want to buy a box and end up wishing that the dog was on a low carb diet so that I can feed them to her. There are a million brands, including those from our friend the good doctor.

Anyone have any experience actually enjoying these things? Not for induction, but later.

Thanks a million,

Dave

I will be watching this thread with great interest, so if anyone has any suggestions, please do share. Can we also expand the discussion to include shakes? I'm interested to have something shelf-stable on hand tha I can eat when there's nothing else available or carry with me top avoid falling off the wagon due to lack of options. Or, if I can find something that can be used regularly, I'd love another no-brainer option for breakfast.

Lately in the morning have been feeling not very hungry and even nauseous. Unless I have some leftovers that I can get excited about, I just can't face eggs or other heavy foods. As a result, I have just been procrastinating about eating but it leaves me feeling lethargic and I know I'm not giving my brain or my metabolism a good start to the day. Is there a shake brand or concoction that is really GOOD?

Ok, back to the bars, based on someone's comment, I tried the Atkins chocolate mocha crunch and found it palatable, but just barely. Is there anything that can top this? There sure are a lot more low carb brands out there than the last time I was doing this so one would think that someone would have a hit?

There is one brand of bars that I used to use when I was maintaining that really was quite excellent, but they are not Atkins-style low-carb. Balance bars subscribe to The Zone idea of eating everything with a 40%-30%-30% calorie balance from protein, carbs, and fat. If I remember correctly, off the top of my head, one Balance bar had maybe 13 grams of carb. But, I can highly recommend the honey peanut (like choc. & peanut butter) and the yogurt honey peanut (same bar base with white coating instead of chocolate). I also liked the chocolate raspberry once in a while. But again, I used these in a pinch while maintaining and they worked well for me.

I would be thrilled to find something similarly convenient to be used during the weight loss phase.

Hope there are some good ideas out there!

-K

I tried a few of the Atkins bars, and have to say I was rather disappointed...they taste like chalk. BUT, at the same time, I also purchased a bar by a company called ROSS, that is dairy free, and has only 1 carb, and is 1.2 oz. It's dark chocolate, and very, very sweet. You'd never in a million years know it's a low carb bar.

That company has other low carb bars that range between 1-3 carbs/bar, but I haven't tried them yet. I ate this one over a 3 day period, because 1/3 satisfied me -- and I'm a complete chocoholic! This bar literally saved me from cheating.

I don't know if you can purchase these bars in the U.S., since it's made in Canada, but here's the 800# in case you want more info:

1-877-955-2267

They cost $1.99 at the place I bought them.

I'll list the ingredients, just in case anyone is curious...

Cocoa mass, Maltitol, Cocoa Butter, Lecithin, Natural vanilla.

I just started this diet recently and if these bars are safe, they'll definitely be my saving grace.

Hi, Ross bars are great.....

candy bars, not high protein low carb bars.

These bars, like all other LC bars have hidden carb. Sweeteners like maltitol are not counted as carbs. These chocolate bars are the best tasting LC chocolate on the market, IMO, but beware, the maltitol may cause diarrhea and could stall your weight loss. This is a YMMV (your mileage may vary) thing.

I'm all for informed decisions.... now you can make your own choice whether you indulge, and how often you want to indulge.

I have also read all the discussions about the LC bars and the hidden carbs in them. Taking everything into consideration, I chose to continue eating them. I'm on day 8 of induction and eating the bars.
The only brand I've tried is Atkins bars. My first bite shocked me, but actually, they're not that bad. I have drink lots of water when I eat them, but I need the water consumption anyway. I've tasted the chocolate macadamia nut bar (my fav), chocolate raspberry (pretty good too) and the brownie. The brownie's consistency was nasty, so I'm sticking to the other two I've tried.

Basically, the bars are my only vice left. When starting induction I gave up my three addictions...gum, caffeine free Diet Coke and coffee. I figure if I'm still losing while eating the bars (a stall may come later and I'll adjust) I'll continue to do so.

I found a place online where you can get the bars (and other LC products) www.thebetterhealthstore.com. If you order $50 worth of products you can get free shipping and the bars were only $1.49 each.

Hope this helps

When I had been on Atkins previously, I used their bars and I liked them. The first bite was strange, but after that they were tasty to me. I was not aware of the hidden carbs at that time and did well in my weight loss. I have not tried other bars and not real big on protein shakes.

I guess it comes down to a personal choice if a person feels they're worth the carbs or not. I know they helped me immensely and kept me from straying ... they were my sweet for the day.

I am interested to see what others come up with in this thread.

Hi all,

Since I seconded the question about bars and added shakes to the discussion, I've returned to pass along what I've found on a few days of "research". (BTW, my scale is still showing loss while I'm conducting my "research", so that's a good thing!)

Thanks for the tip on the Ross bars. I'm sure that it is all of the protein that causes most bars to have that yucky texture. I can take responsibility for getting enough protein if I can count on the bars as an alternative to a more damaging indulgence. So I'll keep my eyes open for those - but $2 a bar? yikes? Actually, now that I look at the ingredients you list, I saw in the health food store that Atkins has a new little bar out (maybe even called Indulgence?) that has these same ingredients. But they were very small and very expensive so I didn't try one.

Let's see... I tried an Atkins Chocolate Raspberry Bar and it was palatable. Taking small bites and drinking lots of water, I will confess that I almost enjoyed it. I'll probably buy these again.

Shakes:

I went in to my local health food store and grilled the woman there on the taste of the various shakes. She talked me into trying one called Super-Green Pro-96 Soy. She said it had a delicious, fresh vanilla flavor. It is green, by the way. I thought, well maybe I should stop trying to find something that tastes like a milkshake. Maybe this would be something completely different. Fortunately, she gave me a free sample envelope when I bought the canister. I can't remember how many grams of carbs - 2 or 3, but it doesn't matter - you won't want it. When I smelled the powder, it smelled good, like cake mix so I was very hopeful. Then I blended it with ice and lemon-lime seltzer and tasted it - it tasted like I had ground up classroom chalk in water. I realized it had no sweetener in it so I added a full packet of Equal and tried again. Blech, gritty, yucky, no flavor, I couldn't take another sip. Down the drain...

Next day, I was at Fresh Fields and picked up a sample envelope of Whey To Go, by Solgar, chocolate flavor. It has a little more carbs: 7g minus 1 of fiber plus 2ish from the few tablespoons of cream I threw in the blender along with water and ice. This one was good! Even my husband, who can detect and reject protein powder in anything, thought it was good. I was truly enjoying it, but curiously, about half-way through, I was satisfied and just stopped drinking it so it sat on the counter all morning. I can't say whether it was just super-satisfying or if that was my mood for the day. I would recommend it though if you can afford the extra few carbs.

So the next day, I headed back to the healthfood store to return the green gunk and exchange it for Whey To Go. Alas, they didn't carry it so I had to choose something new. I couldn't trust the woman's advice at all, obviously. I had a hard time deciding between the Atkins brand and the Keto brand. Since I was so unimpressed with the Atkins bars, I went for the Keto, chocolate flavor. When I got home, I realized that I had grabbed not the regular Keto, but Keto Burner which has, among other things, caffeine and ephedrine. I probably won't buy this again, but I thought I'd give it a try and I figured the chocolate flavor would probably be representative of their regular (not Burner) shakes. So this one weighs in with 3 carbs minus one gram of fiber plus 2ish for the few tablespoons of cream that I added along with water and ice. First of all, the cream is probably not necessary because it contains xanthan gum (a fiber) as a thickener. I ended up adding a little more water than they suggested to make it less thick. The flavor on this one is also not bad. It is thicker (gummier?) than the Whey To Go. Definitely drinkable. Unfortunately, it make me vibrate all day because of the "uppers" it contains, but the regular Keto shakes would not cause that. Also, I was desperately thirsty all day, though that did help me drink a sufficient quantity of water for one. I think I'll be able to finish the canister and I might buy more, but not necessarily the Burner variety.

Ok, that's all I have. My husband just brought in a sample of something a colleague at work uses made by Twin Lab. It is a little high in the carb department, but the person who gave it to us says it is just as good, it tastes like a chocolate malt, using only half the recommended amount of powder. Once I try it, I'll report back.

Let's keep this thread going. If you have tried a product or if you try something in the future, post a review. I found some winners and some losers, but I'm so glad to have not eaten eggs or heavy leftovers for breakfast every single day. A couple times a week, they taste great - I need variety! That's the only way I can stick with the LC WOL!

-K

There is a local ad campaign for the protein shake called Whey (Weight? I forget which) Delicious. Would someone review their site and post what you think of the product. The website is:

http://www.proteinishealthy.com/

Thanks.

I buy the "Carb Solutions" high protein bar, they are $1.79 at Walmart and they are way better than atkins bars, the capaccino crunch is to die for!!! but I can only eat half at a time and with lots of water.
I havent tried any shakes yet, like has been said, they are expensive and who knows what they taste like!!

If you want to try a low carb bar try these ones, they come in alot of flavours as well..

happy searching!!

Sheri

After a year+ of reading (and then moderating), I can tell you that there are a few bars come up regularly as actually tasting good (that is, most like candy):

Protein Revolution, Toffee Hazelnut Crunch
Doctor's Diet, S'Mores flavour
Designer Protein

As for shake mixes and good taste, these:
Keto (any flavour, has the most flavours)
Designer Protein (Vanilla Praline especially)
To Diet For

As far as keeping this thread going, sure, that's just fine. For your info, though, there are already two Product Review threads, "stuck" for quick and easy access at the top of this Forum. One is for actual reviews of LC products, the other for links to other review websites. This could be helpful for you.

I will make this one sticky and titled Bars & Shakes Only if y'all prefer... let me know.

Meanwhile, TWO very important things to keep in mind, from experienced lowcarbers:
1 - EVERY lowcarb product that passes your lips should be run up for hidden carbs on the Hidden Carbs calculator available from the Tools icon on the orange menu bar above. This helps to make informed decisions rather than relying on some marketers' ideas of what low carb is...
2 - new products are coming out all the time.

Hope this helps!

Beware of all low-carb bars. They just said on CNN Headline News that they someone tested a bunch of them, and found that the labels incorrectly stated the number of carbs per serving. The gentleman implied that one of the bars labeled with 2 carbs actually had more than 22 in their testing. He also said that the Adkins bars were among the worst offenders. The USDA believes that Glycerin is a carb, and the bar manufacturers disagree.

I have a concern about the "Carb Solution" protien bars.
In the nutrition facts it list Total Carbs as 19 for one bar. But then on down the list it shows Non-Impact Carbs as -18, giving the total Net Carbs as 1. What does this mean?

Thanks for you help.

Von

Do read the posts about Hidden Carbs, there's a lot of discussion to catch up on (and this applies to ALL the LowCarb bars).

Also, read the "Truth about low carb sweeteners info" article, over there on the right of your screen under Quick Links... then both of you new members (welcome!) will be catching up on what we've been discussing about these bars.

Lots of stuff here to read! Enjoy.

hi

Eat carbolite, o carb (well, really 2 carbs minus the 1.2 grams of fiber)

These are amazing... I would say NEARLY as good as hersheys with almonds bars...

Go run to your nearest 7-11 (Only supplier of it except online), and look at their health bars... Find carbolite CHOCOLATE WITH ALMONDS... AND BUY 50 of them.

As far as I know... They are really just 2 carbs each. And to prove it - I use my keto-stix 3 times a day while eating these bars, and I always am still burning fat after eating them...

A long with pork rinds, this is one of the few things keeping me going.

I would like to post my two carbs worth regarding the bars... I tried a shake or two and thought that the stuff tasted like baby formula... blek!

As for the bars.... I've tried Atkins, and Carb Solution, and like others who posted, they were ok, palatable... though IMHO had a weird kind of chemical aroma that just doesn't appeal to me... especially since I found Advant Edge bars... They are a bit cheaper than the other bars, but I think are far superior than the rest. They recently came out with a cookies and creme bar that is truly delicious, sweet, with a thin "candy" coating... I've given up on the rest now that I've found this brand. It seems to be easiest to find at Walmart, rarely at the local supermarkets, and occasionally at the local 7/11's.

I have not seen anyone else mentioning them, but they do seem to be disappearing from the shelves, and I know I'm not the only one buying them.... LOL

The flavors I've seen include Cookies and Creme (top notch), blueberry, lemon cheesecake, and apple cinnamon. They are all pretty tasty, the texture is a bit on the dry side, but I do find that they do satisfy both my sweet tooth and have been quite satisfactory when I'm in a hurry, as a meal replacement (OMIGOD! to hear me say that! It wasn't too long ago that calling 2 oz of ANYTHING a meal, is just too hard to believe!)

Good luck LC'ers

Rich