Atkins, greed and the fairy tale cookies
in Fake low-carb products 
Can you eat cookies on a low carb diet? The Atkins company claims that you can and sells them in all kinds of flavors. After having a look at the ingredients I can just laugh at the irony.
In my online “Food Revolution” presentation I used the cookies as one example of fake low carb products. Commercial junk that stops weight loss and makes people (rightly) lose all their respect for low carb. I called the marketing a “fairy tale”.
After more than a hundred thousand views of the video on YouTube, the Atkins company just started paying attention. Yesterday they sent me a mail:
The mail
Hello Dr. Eenfeldt,
I follow your site and recently watched your presentation “The Food Revolution” on YouTube and thought you may be interested in seeing the latest research tables supporting Atkins and low-carb diets that Colette Heimowitz, VP of Nutrition Communication at ANI has generated. There are more than 80 independent, peer-reviewed studies backing the safety and efficacy of the Atkins Diet. As you know, low carbohydrate eating is a time-tested and scientifically validated diet plan. They are attached.I also would like to provide you with correct information about Atkins products. Atkins products have been clinically tested for blood sugar responses using the glycemic load methodology; (http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/3/1/33). We take pride in offering our customers products that have a minimal glycemic impact. There are simply some consumers who need a low sugar alternative to high sugar habits for better compliance.
In your presentation you showcase an Atkins brand cookie and highlight it as a “fairy tale” option that is high in carbohydrates, when in fact the Atkins cookies are a smarter option – than a regular cookie would be – as they contain zero sugar and only 5 grams net carbs. Here is a link to learn more about the nutritional content: http://www.atkins.com/Products/Endulge/Chocolate-Creme-Sandwich-Cookies.aspx
I’d also be happy to send you a copy of the new Atkins cookbook “The New Atkins for a New You Cookbook” by Colette Heimowitz, M.Sc. featuring 200 simple and delicious low-carb recipes. Please let me know your mailing address.
Thanks for your consideration. Please let me know if you’d like to speak with Colette who can offer additional insights. I am happy to keep you informed about the latest news from Atkins.Best regards,
Aliza Rothman
The marketing
The reality
Here are the cookie nutrition facts from the Atkins website:
My reply
Hi Aliza,
The biggest ingredient in your cookie is wheat flour. It’s loaded with carbs, i.e. calling it low carb is obviously a fairy tale.
Also, subtracting 100% of the sugar alcohol from “net carbs” is misleading to your customers as about half of the maltitol is absorbed.
Regarding the studies you attach I agree: low carb works fine. The problem is that your cookies are not low carb.
Sincerely,
Andreas Eenfeldt
A tip
How do you know that the marketing of a packaged low carb product is a fairy tale? In my experience the following simple rule is true most of the time:
If it is a packaged product and they use the words “net carbs” it’s most likely not low carb, it’s high carb.1
What do you think about this?
More
Low carb bread: Another fairy tale bites the dust
Real low carb food: LCHF for beginners
At Diet Doctor we encourage people to eat mostly whole, minimally processed foods. If that is the case, then following net carbs is reasonable. However, if someone is eating highly processed or packaged foods, then we believe it is likely better to calculate total carbs ↩
87 comments
As with most things, clean, natural, healthy, is the best plan...
MIM's are awesome and flaxmeal is a great item! If almond meal works best for you, great. For sweetener, stevia is the BEST.
Eat responsibly!
Too bad sourdough starter doesn't work the same way. :(
We are purchasing your products internaly to distribute in Iran market, but unfortunately, we are afraid these products could be faked one coming from other south east Asia, therefore, we will be glad if you kindly let us know we can purchase your products directly from your factory with competetive prices and distribute them in our market, and we have sister company located in Toranto Canada, which can make the direct business such as payment, delivery, and etc.
Therefore, we are very glad to hear from your side if you can supply us your products directly and what will be your minimum purchase for our first order at the moment.
we are waiting to receive your positive reply,
Best Regards,
Corrdial Co.Ltd.
H.Mirahmadzadeh
Comes in a box=FAIL
Contains wheat=FAIL
10 ingredients=FAIL
You forgot:
Requires a nutrition label=FAIL
23g - 5g fiber - (12/2=6)g sugar alcohol = 12g carbs / bar.
I find it so irresponsible of the Atkins brand to trick their customers like this. So many of their foods have maltitol in them!
I admire men who search and face personal slander and occupational failure when they put their findings on the line which prove over and over again to be true, only to be shunned and ridiculed by silver-tongued critics.
As a side note, Atkins have come up with meat and complex carb, frozen dinners, much to my happiness.
Could of been the sugar alcohols they contain, but at least I know now that when I have a rare craving for chocolate, I'd rather eat a small serving of the plain, then have a frankenfood which still raises my blood sugar like crazy. Plus it's a lot cheaper and has a lot less ingredients usually.
Would be quite interesting to see what happens to other diabetics blood sugars after eating these products...very interesting indeed :)
The Atkins products are labeled 'All Phases'...EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. This should tell you something right away. While Atkins was alive, he took GREAT care to ensure that ALL his products were appropriately labeled for the proper phases. This is because Atkins knew, and Colette Heimwitz blatantly disregards, the fact that certain items acceptable in later phases of Atkins MUST be removed entirely in Induction to avoid issues with food allergies and metabolic resistance. Upon gradually adding these items back into your eating plan, you can more accurately gauge potential trigger foods for metabolic resistance.
Yet here we sit with Atkins products labeled 'ALL Phases' which are loaded with nuts (unacceptable in Induction ENTIRELY in New Diet Revolution, acceptable in Phase 1 after two weeks on the new farce of a program), flours (unacceptable until OWL in NDR IIRC), and even penne pasta (again unacceptable until OWL and LM.)
In addition, the Atkins corporation is quite accurate in the regard of the volume of independent, peer-reviewed studies available...except that none of it is applicable to the current plan under which Atkins operates at present. Which leads me to my next point...
The Atkins plan listed in the Phase:1 section of the Atkins website is, indeed, almost identical to the one found in Dr. Atkins' NEW Diet Revolution, save allowing nuts and seeds after two weeks of Induction. HOWEVER; of you go to the Myths page you get: #4 Myth: It’s a high-protein, no-carb diet. Fact: It’s an optimal protein, reduced carbohydrate diet. People frequently mistake the Induction phase for the entire Atkins program. At Induction, the plan allows you to eat 20 net carbs with 12 to 15 net carbs coming from vegetables. After Induction is complete, you increase your carb count gradually until you reach your own carb tolerance level and goal weight. YOU EAT A VARIETY OF PROTEIN CHOICES IN 4 TO 6 OUNCE SERVING SIZE.
This last bit violates TWO of Atkins' most effective tools; UNLIMITED serving sizes of acceptable, high fat products and promoting lean meat over the more healthy, fatty, essential meats that comprise the core of the Atkins Nutritional Approach. Dr. Atkins was quite adamant that fat intakes WELL above the ridiculous ADA minimum of 30% a day was THE KEY to inducing 'deep lipolysis'. Clearly, this is NOT your daddy's Atkins. In fact, clearly, this is not even Dr. Atkins' Atkins.'
However, I will address the issues of 'Net Carbs'. Atkins was smart enough to realize that taking the TOTAL CARBS and using that as your carb count was NOT the way to go. In addressing your 'Tip', I will elucidate the thought behind this process. But first, here is the tip for reference:
How do you know that the marketing of a packaged low carb product is a fairy tale? In my experience the following simple rule is true at least 99 percent of the time:
If they use the words “net carbs” it’s not low carb, it’s high carb.
What do you think about this?
Glad you asked. Here is how I feel about this. Atkins recognized that a certain 'portion' of the Total Carbohydrate listing was composed of elements and ingredients which do NOT impact your glycemic response system. This elements, according to Atkins, are safe to deduct from the Total Carbohydrate Count. Chiefly, these two elements are fiber and sugar alcohols. By deducting this numbers from the Total Carbohydrate Count, you arrive at your 'Net Carbs', that is, the total of digestible carbohydrates withing the product, these being the carbohydrates which impact your glycemic response.
So 'Net Carbs' does NOT mean 'High Carb'. However, you are quite correct in assuming it doesn't necessarily mean 'Low Carb' either. It requires intelligence and education on the part of the consumer to determine if, in fact, "Net Carbs' means 'Low Carbs'. Fortunately, Atkins has schooled us quite well to look for hidden sugars, flours or anything else impacting our blood glucose levels.
In addition, following the 11-15 rule of making sure that 11-15 grams of your allowed 20 Induction Grams of Carbohydrates is comprised namely of vegetable matter, you eliminate the majority of issues associated with Net Carbs anyways.
For those in the later phases, a little discretion mixed with the Rules of said phase, always goes a LONG way in offsetting issues like this to begin with.
Wow lots of naysayers.. I did Atkins for 5 mos. Eating bars and drinking the shakes I lost 32lbs. I am type2 diabetic it did not effect my bg in the slightest in fact my A1c went down 3 points in that 5 months. Incredible people shouldn't put their 2 cents in when they haven't even lived or done a low carb lifestyle..
Facts are facts I am living proof. The sugar alcohols did not impact my blood sugar and I am a diabetic.
And now I read above that the bars are meant to provide a "low sugar alternative to high sugar habits for better compliance."
I immediately went home and ate a carrot. This seems to me like a better low sugar alternative to a snack bar.
Whole foods ARE clearly best, but sometimes a convenient "fake" snack is OK (in moderation)...however, I won't buy any Atkins products with malitol in them. And, unfortunately, its in most of what they sell.
Take charge of your life, experiment and enjoy.
Once added to foods you might be consuming beyond what is safe on a daily basis…see?
Ask yourself how a "natural" dark green leaf- the Stevia plant- becomes a perfect, pure white powder…it is mostly because 95% of powdered Stevia is NOT stevia, it is only 5% of the bag..95% is (corn based) maltodextrose sugar. or some other.
Mouse studies with Steviocides (many parts of the plant act differently in the body there is stevia a, b, and rebaudiana) and have shown a tendency to tumor growth. Until human studies can prove absolute safety in consumption it may take a while to find it added to foods.
Study A. "In vitro metabolism of the glycosidic sweeteners, stevia mixture and enzymatically modified stevia in human intestinal microflora." Food Chem Toxicol. 2003 Mar;41(3):359-74. [abstract at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query... ]
Study B. "Evaluation of the genotoxicity of stevioside and steviol using six in vitro and one in vivo mutagenicity assays" Mutagenesis vol. 11 no. 6 pp. 573-579, 1996
[online at http://mutage.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/con... ]
Metabolism of Stevioside by Healthy Subjects Exp Biol Med (Maywood) January 2007 232: 164-173
Study C. "Mutagenicity and human chromosomal effect of stevioside, a sweetener from Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni." Environ Health Perspect. 1993 October; 101(Suppl 3): 53–56. [abstract at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles… ] STUDY: "Metabolically activated steviol, the aglycone of stevioside, is mutagenic." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC397582/
Its up to you how much you use and how you use them. IF IT WASN'T FOR ADKINS AND HIS LESSONS. I STILL BE 230 POUNDS INSTEAD OF 138.
My life is completely turning around: my energy level is up, my inflammation is down, I feel like I’m in my 30s and not getting ready to turn 70. Still losing weight, still more weight to lose. But I’m feeling great while journeying back to my ideal weight! I stay away from that processed crap, eat real food, eat only when I’m hungry, and as a bonus I’m spending less money on food!
Confession: there are times when I fall off the wagon so to speak but I start feeling terrible again and have to jump right back on to start feeling good again. Fortunately my high-fat low-carb lifestyle is easy to maintain and gets easier every day. My motivation is how good I feel eating this way!
Regarding Dr. Atkins, he was a courageous genius who cared about the health of his patients. I “met” him when he was going through his “trials,” literally being tried by the government for his dietary ideas on health. For younger folks, think of Dr. Knoakes in South Africa.
Today we can listen to the interviews as well as read what the doctors are writing. Dr Fung said something that hit home with me and it was about how we ate back in the day aka when I was growing up: breakfast, lunch, dinner, no snacking. Pretty much the way that he recommends and diet doctor recommends, and I was skinny back then! And it really isn’t that hard to get back into the routine if one really has a desire to do so. Find your motivation and run with it!
going crazy. I drink a cup of coffee in the morning, a piece of cheese around 10, supper aroun 6 and then something from Atkins before bed. I have lost 30lbs and am maintaining easily. I could eat all the ice cream in the world but one Atkins brownie keeps me from overdoing it.