low-carb junk food comparison

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DG511 - 04 Mar 2004 21:08 GMT

I just about poisoned myself so you don't have to.

Following up the great answers to my question about what to eat on a hike, I
decided to check out the low-carb energy bars anyway, even though I thought
they were likely to be awful candy bars.

I hate it when my cynicism is rewarded.

Luna Glow "Low Carb Choice for Women" in Fudge Almond Brownie: Not a choice
for this woman. Who knew that chocolate could be so boring? At least I think
it was chocolate. It looked and felt like chocolate. It tasted like. . .
nothing. I threw it out after the first test bite.

Hi-Lo bar in Chocolate Caramel: I couldn't decide whether it was boring or
icky. A second bite led me to vote "icky." I threw out the rest of it.

Think Thin Low Carb Brownie Crunch: Run away, low-carbers -- they're trying to
poison us! Actually, it was good at first, but the aftertaste was totally
vile. Pitched it after 1 bite.

Think Thin Fudge Lite: No vile aftertaste on this one; obviously a
manufacturing mistake. It was pretty good, with 21 or 22 carbs, and I froze
the rest for when I'm not still trying to lose.

Power Bar Pria Carb Select in Caramel Nut Brownie: This was the best, and the
only one I might ever buy again, although I would prefer a piece of fresh
fruit. It had 21 carbs, and I froze the remainder for another time.

Overall verdict: I'm going to continue trying to redirect my sweet tooth
toward fruit.

Daria

166/151/140
sugar-free since 2/1/04 (not counting today's little experiment)
low-carb since 2/17/04

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Jenny - 04 Mar 2004 23:57 GMT

Daria,

For 21 grams of carbs, you can have a decent sized piece of real brownie.

-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.2.
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!

Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips, recipes,
strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm

> I just about poisoned myself so you don't have to.
>
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
> sugar-free since 2/1/04 (not counting today's little experiment)
> low-carb since 2/17/04

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Marcy - 05 Mar 2004 07:52 GMT

DARIA,
You might be confused by the "Total Carb" count for your diet bars.
From my understanding if you're watching you're carb intake you want
to find the "Net Carbs" or "Impact Carbs". For instance with the Pria
CarbSelect bar, you take the Total carbs (21 g) and subtract any fiber
(2 g), subtract any Sugar Alcohol's (17 g)- since they have a minimal
effect on blood sugar. Which leaves only 2 g's of "Impact Carbs". So
that is a lot lower than a brownie, in fact you could eat about 10
bars to equal that little brownie. I've tried a few different "low
carb" diet bars and the Pria isn't just edible it's very delicious.
Especially after months of cheese sticks and beef jerky.

:) Marcy

> Daria,
>
[quoted text clipped - 55 lines]
> > sugar-free since 2/1/04 (not counting today's little experiment)
> > low-carb since 2/17/04

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Jenny - 05 Mar 2004 13:24 GMT

If the sugar alcohol in the bar is Maltitol, 3/4ths of it may turn into
glucose in your body. So that 17 grams of sugar alcohols may ver well be 13
grams of real carb.

-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.2.
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!

Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips, recipes,
strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm

> DARIA,
> You might be confused by the "Total Carb" count for your diet bars.
[quoted text clipped - 68 lines]
> > > sugar-free since 2/1/04 (not counting today's little experiment)
> > > low-carb since 2/17/04

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DG511 - 06 Mar 2004 17:30 GMT

>"Jenny" lottadatacarbs@hotmail.com

writes:

>If the sugar alcohol in the bar is Maltitol, 3/4ths of it may turn into
>glucose in your body. So that 17 grams of sugar alcohols may ver well be 13
>grams of real carb.

I'm glad you bring in the skepticism about this stuff, Jenny. I'm inclined to
just call the "sugar alcohols" carbs anyway, because I have no idea how my body
absorbs them and I'd rather err on the side of caution. I'm not quite to the
point of calling the whole SA theory nonsense, but I am ignoring them.

Here's another thought on the whole thing: even if I paid attention to sugar
alcohols where they're labelled, I have no clue about their existence where
they're not labelled. So in a comparison, they're irrelevant. How many SAs
are in a real brownie? In a Clif bar? And why should I assume it matters?
The bottom line is that I just dropped my sugar addiction a few weeks ago, and
I'm not into screwing around with definitions. It feels like cheating. To me,
at least. YMMV.

Anyway, I took another look at my previous standard, the Clif Bar. The brownie
Clif Bar has about 47 grams of carbs, 7 of which are fiber. So that leaves
about twice as much non-fiber carbs as the low-carb bars. But the Clif bar is
also one and a half to two times larger than the low-carb bars, which means
it's about the same, ounce-for-ounce. And it's a lot cheaper and tastes
infinitely better. When I go on my long (10+ miles) hikes, I plan to carry one
(along with some good low- and no-carb foods) for bonk emergencies, instead of
the low-carb bars.

Daria
166/151/140
sugar-free since 2/1/04
low-carb since 2/17/04

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