Are They Really Low Carb

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Are They Really Low Carb

Foessel

News Channel 7

Thursday, May 13, 2004

You can get everything from chocolate bars to pancake syrup,

with low or no carbohydrates.

But are they really low in carbs, and maybe more importantly are

they good for you?

The hardest part about following a diet--desserts.

Just about all sweets are forbidden because of the carb culprit:

sugar.

Nutritionist Heller says, " It gets absorbed very

quickly. It spikes your blood sugar up. That might signal hunger and

fatigue, which may make you eat more. "

Like this three musketeers bars, it has 46 grams of

carbohydrates, almost all from sugar.

But wait now-a-days you can find so-called low-carb bars with

names like " Endulge " and " Chocolate Decedance " .

And the sensuous sounding snacks claim to have only have two net

carbs.

Nutritionist Bonnie Liebman says, " People see these net carb

claims and say oh it's low in net carbs i can't gain weight "

However, a look at the back shows there are actually 25 grams of

carbs.

So, if there are 25 carbs on the back then what is this figure

on the front.

What are net carbs?

Heller says, " What they're doing is, the'yre subtracting the

sugar, alcohols, that they've added to make it taste sweet. "

Companies subtract the sugar alcohol carbs from the " total "

number of carbs because they say it doesn't impact your blood sugar

the same way regular sugar does, keeping you from gaining weight.

However, what these bars don't tell you is that sugar alcohol,

like regular sugar, has calories.

Liebman says, " The problem is minimal impact on blood sugar

doesn't necessarily mean minimal impact on your hips "

So what's really in these bars?

The candy bar has 260 calories, the low-carb bar - 220.

Only 40 less calories.

And that's why most nutritionists won't endorse a low-carb diet.

Because in the end losing weight is really about one thing less

calories, not just less carbs.