Has anyone here, tried low carb/high protien bars, and what’s your opinion about them. Lately I’ve experimented with Metrx low carb bars, and my blood sugar spiked to about 125+ every time, and I start feeling a bit moody, and tired. However, when I eat an Atkins bar, my blood sugar stays around the mid 80s, low 90s. Have any of you tried any of these types of “Low Carb” bars, and what was the out come? Or make some recomendations. I’d like to try something different.
Hi Rob,
I don’t have diabetes but my son does; he’s the reason for my membership to this site. He LOVES Cliff bars! We have gone on several backpack trips with Boy Scouts and have found that if he snacks on them his levels stay in a good range (above 120 but below 200); this is with moderate physical exertion. He also will have them for a snack from time to time with no large spikes or big drops. He hasn’t tried the “gym bars” but so far the cliff bars have been a good choice. Hope that helps.
I have found the Aitkin bars the best but I seldom buy them because of the cost. Cant believe the price they charge for them.
Other energy bars I have had problems with. I find that many sugar free or carb free products are really not and just stay away from them.
Not sure what your definition of “low carb bar” is? However, I really like Clif Mojo Bars. They are around 20g of carb and ~8-10g protein. They are a chewy, sweet & salty, granola-esque bar. I keep them around for times I need to tuck a quick snack to go. They taste good enough that my non-D husband has them in his Quaker/Nutrigrain/Nature Valley granola bar rotation.
I used to eat Zone bars in college. Now I find them too sweet and cardboard-y. 
Kind bars are good. They’re not filled with artificial sweeteners, but are naturally low carb because they’re mostly nuts. Carb count varies by flavor, but it’s about 15.
I like many of the ‘low carb’ bars but don’t find them to be all that low carb. The long term outcome of their use, if you’ll excuse the pun, is a lot like eating Exlax for me due to the fact they’re sweetened with sugar alcohols, reknowned for laxative effects. A 90% or higher chocolate bar has a similar lower carb content and no such effects. My experiments with the bars came out bad in the end so now I stick with the chocolate and portion control. And now I’m going to hell for bad puns.
I’ve tried several low carb/high protein bars. I only like Atkins Chocolate Coconut Bar, which I buy in bulk from Sam’s Club or BJ’s, and it contains “only 3g Net Carbs”. More important, it contains 170 calories; 12g total fat; 10 g saturated fat; 0g trans fat; 0 cholesterol, 65mg sodium; 150mg potassium; 19g total carb; 9g fiber; 1g sugars; 7g sugar alcohols and 5g protein.
Since this bar is so high in fat, I usually eat 1/2 when I want something sweet or I’m doing yard work. I don’t have any problem with sugar alcohols other than taste in some products, like icecream.
Another one, cannot believe I forgot this one, is the fiber one bars. Not sure about the nutritional content as we are currently out in our food supply (a soon to be teenager and a 10yr old a.k.a. bottomless pits!). Both my boys prefer these over any other major granola bar/snack bar. The good thing is they are packed with fiber and they don’t taste like a piece of wood. Sam’s club carries two varieties; chocolate and peanut butter if I remember correctly.
Hi Gordon, aren’t those Cliff and Fiber One bars high in sugar? I’ve tried them both, and my blood sugar spiked to about 180, also I was dizzy and lethargic for hours. I’m looking for bars that don’t spike my blood sugar. Something other than the Atkins bars, which have to affect on my BS.
Hi, I do really well with the Atkin’s low carb chocolate bars too, and I find the taste of them is good as well. Lucikly the sugar alcohols really dont bother me, and for me might actually be of some help as I tend to have more problems with constipation. So they work well for me. I think the Glucerna products are a big scam and not very diabetic friendly, a LOT of carbs for small servings. Like there shakes. The Atkin’s protein shakes are really good too. Love the milk chocolate ones. And only 5 grams of carbs. versus the 23 or so in Glucerna. Me personally unless it is a REALLY large amount of fiber in what Im eating, I dont subtract fiber or sugar alcohols from my total carbs. Works good for me that way.
I like them a lot too. The Atkins peanut butter cups are also one of my favs. I suppose I’m lucky that sugar alcohols don’t bother me much, though sometimes it’s good I live alone because if I have too much I can clear a room
I can only handle SA’s and other sweeteners like Splenda in small amounts. I find most SA’s also have a delayed BG affect. I do buy Adkins products from time to time. Most are quite good.
The only bar I eat regularly is called “Diabeteze”. Available in two flavors, choc. peanut butter and choc. mint. Very good chocolate, not real sweet and very low affect on my BG. They are sweetened with Agave. Most days I have at least one of these with no problem at all (tummy or BG). I buy these at Costco ($19.95 for 12 bars). The only other place I have seen them is on the company’s web site.
Another one that works fairly well is by Think Thin. They have a ton of options and all I have tried are quite good. They are widely available at Trader Joes and grocery stores.
My very favorite is German super-dark chocolate (87-92%). I don’t have any right now 
They’re extremely LC, can’t remember the exact #s without the wrapper. A friend brings them from Germany when she visits.
I agree with Kestrel about the Kind bars. There’s a walnut/macadamia/ protein flavor, glued together with whey, that’s pretty tasty and has 11G of carbs/ bar.
I agree with acidrock23. I like Nut Delight Kind Bars. They have 14 grams of carbs.
I have been eating Detour Whey protein bars from Sam’s Club for breakfast for the past few months. I chose Detour because it had the lowest carb count and most competitive price. The bars work pretty well for me. They are fast (a necessity) and very portable (in case I have to wait to eat until my bolus is active). They also slowly spike my BG as compared to other fast and portable breakfast items.
Here are its stats: Calories: 180, carbs: 16g, protien: 15g.
Hi Capin101, I was going to pick up some Detour bars this morning at Sams, but I told myself to go and do some research on them. I also know a store that sells them individually. I guess I’ll pick one up later in the day, and do a BS monitoring on them… Thank you
Hello acidrock23, where did you buy the kind bars at? At a regular chain super market, or a health food store. I want to do a BS test on these…thank you
Both? I had tried them @ Jewel, the “normal” supermarket near Chicago and also get them @ Whole Foods, which has the advantage of selling boxes of 12 for about $20-25 which is a bit cheaper than the $2 a pop @ the “regular” store.
Coco Polo has great tasting chocolate bars and they are very low in carbs, only 1 net carb per 1/2 a bar and do not spike me at all. My favorite flavor is dark chocolate with whole roasted almonds. You will not be able to tell it is low carb and does not have the cool after taste that other bars have. Lilly’s has an 85% cacao bar that is called Extremely Dark Chocolate and it is pretty good as well and has 0 grams of sugar per serving. The Good Chocolate has a strong cool aftertaste and I do not like it nearly as much.