I work for a food broker as an admnistrator.. and one of our Accounts is Atkins.. I was very happy to find that out.. one of the benefits for working for a food broker is SAMPLES!!! YEA!! and we also get to try new products before they are in the stores.

I had a conversation with the salesman for the Atkins line and asked him about the hidden carbs in the Atkins bars.. he had recently received a memo on that very subject from the Atkins company... here is what he told me:

The carb count that appeared on the "old packaging" only counted effective carbs.. it did not include fiber carbs. The bars now have new packaging with a circular seal on the front listing the effective carbs and on the back a regular nutrition label listing all nutritional information including all carbs and total dietary fiber carbs. In print below on the Package it reads:

For those watching their carbs, count only (carb # ) grams as all other carbs (including fiber)have a minimal impact on blood sugar.

All the packaging of Atkins product will display this info, some of you may have already seen the new packaging....

He aslo gave me some samples to try:

3 different Advatage bars
2 Indulgance bars ( I heard they are pretty good)
Fudge Brownie Mix
Chocolate Chip Mix
Corn Bread Mix
and Chocolate Shakes....

I will let you all know how I like them!!!!!


He also said alot of new products are coming out including a Teriyaki sauce and some snack products.. when I get some more info I will be more than happy to share with everybody!!!!!!

This is my second time trying to post, my computer isn't cooperating.

Just wanted to say, YEAH. By all means, I would love to hear about the products. I am tired of spending my money on items that taste like cardboard or the scum around your bathroom sink.

For example:

Atkins pancake mix.
Atkins choc shake.

Atkins Endulge choc candy bar:

I loved it to find something that is not only good, but better than regular candy bars ( and if there is one thing I know, its candy bars).

Greetings, Products Forum Moderator here.

DarciJJ, you're in a way cool position to let us know about new Atkins products (and others, too?!?) as they come on the retail market. Be warned, however, that it isn't JUST the fiber carbs that were being 'deducted' (actually, left off altogether from the Nutrition Facts label, which was and is illegal per the FDA), but the sugar alcohols and glycerine as well, which are legally carbs. That being said, have a look around this forum some more, you will find some interesting posts to help you round out the information you have received from the Atkins representative (and thanks for sharing with us, please keep doing so ).

Kodi10, when enjoying the Atkins Endulge (or the Carbolite chocolate bar or the Ross chocolate bar or the Delites ... well, you get the picture, there's lots of them out there, actually), remember that you need to be cautious because as you said, candy is what you know (and what probably got you here in the first place). Read labels, learn to use the Hidden Carb calculator here at this site, and make sure the hidden carbs in these candies do not affect you. If you don't feel well, or stop losing weight, these are your FIRST suspects, K?

Good luck to you both on your new Way Of Life!

IslandGirl: I am a bit confused about the problem with the bars. From what you say, and what I have been reading, Atkins is lieing about what is in the bars. Of all people, I would not expect him to hide carbs (but I am not doubting what you say). I am just shocked.

I ran them in the hidden carb thingy and it comes up with 8 carbs. Now that does not take into account Maltitol, which Atkins put on the label as being removed from the carb count because it does not impact blood sugar. I have read posts which say that it does....how's a girl supposed to know?

Anyway, I thank you and I will limit them. So far, only the one, but it sure was good.

Darci: I am looking forward to hear what the Atkins rep has to say.

Kodi, I'm with you on the shocked. I've been shocked and disappointed for a few years now that Atkins, the living grand-daddy of LowCarb, could put his corporate name on these bars and these tricks with the labels.

The plain fact is that the 'hidden' carbs of the sugar alcohols (fiber is different, it's the sugar alcohols and glycerine we're talking about) have some calories which means energy which means they raise blood glucose cuz that's where the body gets the energy. Maybe slowly or only some and only for a percentage of people, but these things do happen.
This fact is why the FDA has its rules about the labels and these rules are the ones some companies choose to ignore. Nice to choose to ignore the law that's designed to protect the consumer... sheesh.

Anyway, the whole idea about the original low carb a la Atkins (1972) was getting away from sugars and starches, especially refined stuff. The original 1972 DANDR even has a strict forbidding of sugar alchols (check out the fine print in the Induction chapter). Go figure.

The most current DANDR (2001 December) is almost exactly the same but makes a 1-sentence exception with no explanation about maltitol being okay, so there's a ton of contradiction (this is also in the Induction chapter). More go figure.

Keep reading and learning and you'll be fine! We're all here to do that

So, if one was to decide to partake in a bar now and again, what count would you use for the carb. Certainly not the one on the label. The carb tool comes up with an amount (say 8, cause I forget now). Do you take the fiber off this total or not?

I did eat one, but don't know what the carb count is.

Here is the information from the bar

Calories: 150
Fat: 12
Protein: 0
Carbs: 2**
Fiber: 3

**Includes only those carbs that cause a noted impact on blood sugar. Exclude fiber and Maltitol.

I filled it in exactly as shows and checked the box that asks "Subtracted Fiber."

Result: 9.21 g (Do I take off 3 for fiber, or not from this)

Quote:

I filled it in exactly as shows and checked the box that asks "Subtracted Fiber." Result: 9.21 g (Do I take off 3 for fiber, or not from this)

Nah, like you just said, the fiber's already been subtracted. This is one of those 'candy' bars, right? There's like zero protein grams in the numbers you provided so it's not a 'meal replacement' type bar... anyway, I just fill out the Cals, Protein, Fat and Carbs fields, and not the fiber field, etc. When I plug in the number you give right here, I get 11.48g of effective carbs ... I don't tick off the fiber box or fill in the fiber count or any of that other stuff. Just messes things up, I only want to know the basic stuff, how many calories worth of carbs are in there ...

See, you don't really care, when you're double-checking the numbers yourself, what the label says about carbs... so you use the Calories, the Protein and the Fat numbers, and check them against the labels "declared" carb numbers to see if they balance out.

It helps if you know how this works, and it's really simple. What this calculator is based on is that Fat has approximately ~9 cals per gram and protein ~4 cals per gram and edible normal carbs ("effective carbs") ~4 cals per gram.

So the Total Calories - (fat + protein calories) = carb calories left over, right? And leftover carb calories divided by 4 = effective carb grams... like this:

------------------------grams----calories
CARB---3.84063 -----11.48 -----44.08
FAT --- 8.82671 -----12.00-----105.92
PRO -- 4.28361 -------0.00-------0.00
total CALORIES > --------------150.00

Hope this helps some.

I use the program DietPower and love it. I was wondering why it was not kicking this out when I put it in. In DP you input all categories shown on the label. If it does not "add up", it tells you and asks if you want it to readjust the calories. I always just say no and it takes it.

However, I had not entered this bar, as I did not understand what it was doing until you wrote. Now it see it. It takes the carbs x 4 the fat x 9 and protein x 4 and knows whether it meets what the calorie count is. Well, as you might expect, it does not.

In fact, I tried uping it one at a time until I got to 8 when it finally took it.

I like the bars, but it will be a cold day in hell before I trust a label again. And I think of all those times this came up in DP and I didn't pay attention. That won't happen anymore.

But how do you know whether it is hidden fat or protein?

Quote:

But how do you know whether it is hidden fat or protein?

Oy, there is NO really good short answer to that one... I will say that FDA and USDA, regulations and nutrition database respectively, always calculate carbs "by difference". If it's not fat and not protein (two numbers they really want to know about) then it must be carbs. That usually works, too, because they're fussy about the cals, the proteins and especially the fats!

Sadly, we lowcarbers want to know precisely on the carbs, so we have to do this effective carb calculation we've been talking about.

If you want to know more about the whole nutrition facts label thing, go here:
ExpertFoods Inc., Super Duper Label FAQ
to get probably the best label FAQ, the basics to start with, you will find anywhere on the web (and written by a longtime lowcarber, too).

Hope this helps!