Product Review: Atkins Bars 🍫

It was a bright and sunny afternoon during lunch hour at work and I thought, what better time than to search Amazon.ca for things I don’t reallyyyy need! Because let’s face it, we all do it and it’s okay #TreatYoSelf. When it comes to Keto snacks, I like to make them myself because I can control the amount of sweetener in them, but I was genuinely curious to see what was out there that was already made that I could throw in my lunch before heading out to face the day.

While browsing, I came across the coconut Atkins bar to which the company labels as a “hearty snack packed with 15–16g of protein per bar, without the sugar”.

These bars are sweetened with sugar alcohols (and 1 g of regular sugar), which I wasn’t too keen about but I still wanted to try them so I ordered them. Plus I wanted to do a review of something I actually ingested. So, in sum: sugar alcohols look like your standard white powdered sugar, except they usually have fewer calories per gram than regular sugar and score quite low (excluding maltitol) on the Glycemic Index. For a more in-depth look at the variations, see this link and the picture below: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sugar-alcohols-good-or-bad#section2

Higher up on the Glycemic Index scale is maltitol, as previously mentioned. maltitol is very similar to regular sugar (just half the calories) and does in fact spike blood sugar levels since it ranks about 36 on the GI. A lot of companies use maltitol in “sugar free” products because they can claim that their product doesn’t use any sugar which can be subtracted from the net carbs total on the packaging — hugely misleading to anyone trying to avoid carbs in their diet. Low and behold, these bars contain maltitol syrup asides from the other sweeteners in the ingredients list. And honestly, these bars are quite sweet… like, you take one bite and need a chug of water sweet.

The box itself does label that they used sucralose and maltitol syrup right on the front — so they aren’t being too secretive about it. But for someone who doesn’t take the time to know which sweeteners score high on the Glycemic Index, thereby spiking their blood sugar levels, they will unknowingly pack on carbs they were trying to avoid to begin with. Plus with maltitol — it’s known to cause some stomach issues like bloating, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Sounds like a swerveeeee to me!😬

A great site that explains each sweetener and their listed GI score can be found here: https://www.ruled.me/keto-diet-plan-best-and-worst-sweeteners/ Take the time to check it out so that even if you’re not necessarily doing Keto, you can know which “sugar-free” snacks to avoid. But for the quick view, see below:

https://www.ruled.me/keto-diet-plan-best-and-worst-sweeteners/

Besides the sweetness of the bars, they are quite good and gooey not gonna lie. But, it’s probably such because of all the sucralose, regular sugar, and maltitol syrup. They are quite high in fat though which attracted me at first, coming in at 12g per bar. So I can see why it popped up as a Keto “appropriate” snack.. the whole “high fat low carb” label.

Why the brand is called Atkins to begin with, is that they promote the Atkins diet, given that the box directs you to atkins.ca to get more info on the Atkins lifestyle. The diet itself was developed by Robert Coleman Atkins, an American physician and cardiologist who introduced a “low carb” regime for his patients. The Atkins diet has been compared to Keto because of the carbohydrate limitations, however there are some major key differences:

For a further in depth explanation on their differences, see the following link: https://www.perfectketo.com/ketogenic-diet-vs-atkins-diet-ketosis-better-atkins/

Now the big question — would I buy these Atkin bars again? Probably not. Why? I’d much rather make something from scratch that I know has very little additives in it. Also, I’d rather invest in a different product that uses a low amount of sweeteners to begin with, and one that definitely doesn’t use a sweetener ranking high on the GI.. *cough cough* maltitol. That being said, not trying to trash the brand! You do you Atkins. But for anyone looking into Keto or at healthy low-sugar snack options, at least now you know a little bit more into the world of “I can’t believe it’s not sugar!”.

Kinda wondering what to do with the rest of the 4 bars in the box now. Any takers?

Happy Snack Searching! 🍫

Written By: Paula Giannone.