sugar alcohol

Question
i have been on a low carb diet for a long time, but have just recently discovered the protein bars like Atkins and Pria, that say to count only a couple of carbs because the rest of the carbs are sugar alcohol and they don't count. How is that possible? Am i  destroying my diet if i eat one? i am still staying away from all other carbs and average maybe 5 a day. Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hello Jen,

I've got your question again in my mail today but couldn't find your followup. Is this a mistake on allexpert's part?

Tanya

Hi Jen,


Do you have an immediate "sugar rush" from eating these products? Do these product have the "laxative effect" on you? You see, there's no firm answer to your question. On one hand, even "carb-free" sweeteners influence your blood insulin just because of the sweet taste of them, a kind of Pavlovian conditional reflex, which is different because it's all in your head and the heads are more different than the guts are.

On the other hand, sugar alcohols do have not only calories but CARBOHYDRATE calories, whether or not insulin is involved. Do this experiment.

Take the total number of calories in the bar and subtract the calories COMBINED from FAT (9 cal. per gm) and PROTEIN (4 cal. per gm). What's left is the carb calories (4 cal. per gm). It can happen that the CARB grams you calculated is greater than that on the label. This is exactly what you wanted to figure out: the product has the sugar alcohols that are "hidden" but are carbs nevertheless.


Tanya Zilberter
Contact me at http://www.dietandbody.com/mfeedback.html  

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