A Ketosis Friendly Meal Replacement Bar That Doesn't Taste Like Gravel?
Written: Jun 06 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Better taste than I expected, 19 grams of protein, suitable as a meal replacement.
Cons: Mass consumption may have a laxative effect.
The Bottom Line: I have to admit it, this tastes a lot better then I expected and it’s low in impact carbs.
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| Freak369's Full Review: South Beach Diet Meal Replacement Bars, Chocolate ... |
I wouldn’t have bought this bar if I didn’t have a .55 cent off coupon for it [doubled to $1.10 off]. We’ve tried other South Beach products and I had a neutral stand on them; they weren’t bad but they didn’t have me doing backflips down the aisles of the grocery store. The size of the bar is what really had me curious, it certainly didn’t feel like it contained a little over two ounces of product and it was wider than most other bars. Seeing as how this is a meal replacement bar, it shouldn’t be used as a snack between meals or something that you nosh on when you are watching television. When I looked over the nutritional values of the bar something very strange happened, I saw that this contained no actual sugar, yes it does have 26 grams of carbohydrates but 18 of that is from sugar alcohols. Humm, based on those numbers this was a bar that I could have a couple times a week when I was sick of downing protein shakes or chicken breasts. Still, you have to be really careful with products like this; it’s falls under the same type of product as Snackwell’s or other low fat products. Just because it is lower in fat [or calories, carbs, cholesterol etc] doesn’t mean that you can eat three times as much.
South Beach Diet Meal Replacement Bar Chocolate Crisp
soy protein crisps, maltitol syrup, palm kernel oil, inulin, glycerin, sunflower oil, oligfructose, cocoa, milk protein isolate, nonfat milk, milk protein, chocolate, soy protein isolate, butter, heavy cream, salt, fish gelatin, sucralose
Normally I am not a huge fan of meal replacement bars, you can’t get full from a couple of ounces of something and expect it to hold you over until your next meal. The exception to this are the meal replacement drinks that fill you up [translation: they temporarily bloat you]; these are usually use when people are dieting down before a competition or trying to increase the amount of protein that they are consuming. When the South Beach craze started I rolled my eyes and thought, “Oh here we go, another lose weight quick program”. The South Beach program is a little more user friendly than Atkins and has a lot more flexibility than ketosis [low or no carb] programs and these bars can help you reach your goals but you have to keep one word in your mind: moderation. You can’t have three of these a day instead of having actual food. Do they fill you up? It all depends on what you are used to eating, how hungry you are and if you drink a lot of water with it.
As far as the flavor goes, this one is a lot better than I expected it to be; when they say Chocolate Crisp on the label they do mean it. There is a thin layer of chocolate on the bottom of it and a chocolate binder that holds everything together. If you are soy sensitive then chances are you aren’t going to be able to handle this; there are soy crisps One thing that the label does not tell you is this, if you have too many of these you can experience some gastrointestinal distress [translation: diarrhea]. The sugar alcohol is what is going to do you in so if you have had bad experiences with low carb food that contains a high amount of sugar alcohol you will want to limit yourself to one of these every few days. In my opinion this is something that should be on the label for people who are unfamiliar with sugar alcohol and the effects that it can have. Likewise they should have a better allergy warning panel on this, I’ve added a section for this at the end of the review so if you do suffer from food allergies, please read that before you consider buying this bar.
Nutritional Facts
Calories: 210
Serving: 1 bar / 2.11 ounces
Fat: 6 grams
Protein: 19 grams
Carbohydrates: 26 grams
Sugar: 0 grams
Fiber 5 grams
Sugar Alcohol: 18 grams
This bar will provide you with 100% of the RDA [recommended daily allowance] of Vitamin C and E and 25% of Thiamin, Biotin, Niacin, Vitamin K, Zinc and Iron. Be sure to read the complete list on the back panel of the wrapper. For more information about this bar and when to use it with the South Beach system, visit the official website at www.southbeachdiet.com/kraft.
Allergy Warnings
Wow. If you are allergic to milk products, soy, shellfish, certain nuts or chocolate then you should avoid this bar. If you are wondering about the shellfish warning, this contains fish gelatin [I am assuming as a binder] and even though it is a trace amount, people that are extremely sensitive to it could have a nasty reaction to it. The only warning on the package is the standard ‘manufactured on equipment that also processes’ tag. Since I am allergic to coconut I have to be careful when coconut oil is used [rare but it does happen]. When I took the first bite of this I could have sworn that I tasted coconut but when I read the ingredient panel again it didn’t have any listed.
Price
These sell for $1.79 at my local grocery store and I had a .55 cent off coupon [doubled to $1.10 off] so my final cost was .69 cents. For the size of it and the overall taste it was well worth that price but unless I was going to go with the South Beach system chances are I wouldn’t buy these all that often unless I had a bunch of coupons. Most meal replacement bars are well over two dollars and don’t taste as good as the Chocolate Crisp one so if you are thinking about trying out this series of bars, this is a good flavor to start with.
The Bottom Line
I am sure that when I get more coupons for these bars I will grab some of the other flavors. I won’t eat them all the time but they will be nice to have in my gym bag or the refrigerator when I am starving and just can’t handle cracking open a can of tuna or scarfing down a chicken breast. The sugar alcohol content is high so you have to be careful to not go crazy with these of you will be spending a lot of time in the bathroom. The flavor is a lot better than I expected it to be and it has a really nice crunch to it. After you take the first bite of it and you look at the inside it kind of looks like Cocoa Pebbles if you use them to make Rice Krispie Treats. Not all that appealing to the eye but pretty darn tasty.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2006 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
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