I’m on the Atkins diet (no debates about the pros and cons, please), and into the second week. First week went fine; this week I’m craving sweets. Went to the grocery store and lo and behold, I found a high-protein, low-carb (2 mg.), low-sugar
(2 mg.) chocolate & peanut butter candy bar. Chocolate and peanut butter – yummy, my favorite.
Tastes like crap. Okay, you’ve got your aspartame and who knows how many other artificial sweetners out there. Why couldn’t they sweeten up that sucker? I realize there may be more to a good candy bar than sugar, but if they can put a man on the moon… 
Hi Sycorax,
Believe it or not there ARE petty good low carb candy bars out there, and they are even part of the Atkins family.
My guess is that you found the Atkins ADVANTAGE bars, which, if you’re very used to “real” candy, do taste kinda like wallboard.
However, Atkins also makes an ENDULGE bar, which is very much like chocolate as the rest of the world knows it. They also have 2 grams of carbohydrate according to the nutrition label.
I don’t know how available they are in your area… they may be in your supermarket, or possibly in a health food store. One caution, though - ok, two cautions – they aren’t cheap, about $1.50 or so for a 30 gram bar (like 1 oz.), and they have malitol, which is nature’s answer to intestinal blockage. :o
The are also available online, but again, they aren’t cheap.
Hope this helps 
Mike
P.S. FTR, I’m not “on” the Atkins Diet, though I do use some of his products. And he doesn’t pay me to say this 
The problem I found is the foods labled low carb are high(er) in fat. To make up for the loss of sugar.
The low fat bars have more sugar, to make up for the lost fat.
The one I got is “Carb Solutions.” Didn’t taste any chocolate or peanut butter – more like a nasty medicine. I’m in D.C. metro area so should be able to find the Endulge bar – I don’t even mind paying $1.50 for it if it tastes good. I don’t plan to pig out on them – just want a bite or two to satisfy the cravings. Thanks for the info. Markxxx: on the Atkins diet, fat isn’t a problem. You can have protein and fat, just very low carbs and sugar. I don’t know how long I’m going to stick with it. After these 2 weeks, I can add more carbs & sugar, but I’ve been feeling tired and edgy since I’ve been on it. Atkins may not be for me, after all, but I was desparate after 2 months of counting calories with no results.
I noticed that Trader Joe’s is selling low carb candies now: choc. covered almonds, choc. covered raisins, & jelly beans. Don’t know how they taste. Price is $1.99 for a tiny bag. I’d rather eat raw almonds which, BTW, work well to curb the appetite. I know there is a Trader Joe’s in Tyson’s Corner, VA, & other areas.
Merhouse is right - there’s a big difference between protein-based meal-replacement low-carb bars (damn, that’s a lot of hypens) and low-carb candy bars. The protein bars generally taste horrible, IMO. Low carb chocolate is pretty good, but tends to cause digestive upset if too much is eaten (and how much this is varies a lot from person to person). I personally go for real chocolate, the darkest I can find, when I am so inclined, but I’m on Atkins maintenance now, not weight loss, so I can afford the indulgence.
Sycorax, good luck. The first couple of weeks are the hardest. You might want to drop into alt.support.diet.low-carb on usenet.
I’m on maintenance, too. Chocolate solutions (may not be for you, yet, Sycorax:
"Doctor’s Low-carb Chocolate Bar" - horrible, sketchy-sounding name, but tastes like real chocolate (esp. if you toss it in the freezer … great with some natural peanut butter). Also has the malitol, I believe, so pay attn. to the label and don’t eat more than one piece of the chocolate at a sitting–or else you’ll be sitting on the toilet.
Lindt 70% Cocoa - probably the darkest chocolate you can find, with just enough sugar to make it palatable. Delish, but definitely only for maintenance.
Also, Sycorax–the Carb Solutions bars are crap. I actually LIKE the Atkins “Advantage” bars (not to be confused with “AdvantEDGE” bars, from some other company). The peanut butter and chocolate is the best, though macadamia nuts and chocolate and the mocha crunch are also good. AVOID the allegedly fruit-flavored ones.
Isnt’ baking with the two most popular sweeteners rather difficult? Don’t they breakdwon when baked in?
My understanding is that aspartame and sacharin don’t do well in products that get processed and baked, although the are quite good as additions to foods already prepared.
Sugar free candy usually means “sweetener free” candy because of this…I think.
Philster, you’re right, aspartame doesn’t do well in baking, but since chocolate is not baked, it probably wouldn’t affect candy bars. I’m not sure about sacharin. A newer sweetener - brand name Splenda - does not break down from heat like aspartame does.
toadspittle, I’m right with you on the Lindt. I looooove dark chocolate, and Lindt is my favorite. Before I went on low-carb (I’ve been on Atkins for over 3 years, maintenance for about 2), I was more of a milk chocolate fan, but I’ve found my taste buds have completely “recalibrated” after I cut out the sweet stuff.
porcupine…chocolate is heated, especially to make candy and chocolate bars into forms. Can’t use sacharin or aspartime in preperations like this.
Hey, if you are on any diet, even Atkins, you don’t treat yourself occassionally? Heck, I eat right religiously, but I know exactly where I stand daily and add a treat once in a while.
Well, if you derail yourself from ketosis in the early weeks (which can be quite easy–you just need to eat a few too many grams of carbs a day), it’s a real pain to get back on track. But later on, all that nonsense pays off and you get certainly splurge every now and then.
… and some of us just worship food.
toadspittle: “Amen!”
…which would be a good name for a candy bar.
“Amen!”
True, but I wasn’t sure if it got hot enough to break down. I think sugar alcohol is used sometimes, which presumably doesn’t cause an insulin spike the way plain ol’ sugar does.
I’ll agree with toadspittle here - when I was losing weight, especially the first few months, I was very very strict since I didn’t want to go out of ketosis and have to try to get back in and go through carb withdrawal again, which is no fun at all. I was also really focusing on breaking my old eating habits, and if I found myself jonesin’ for something sweet, I’d actually indulge in something decadent but on the program instead, like some gourmet cheese.
Now I definitely go off program more - maybe once or twice a week I’ll have something carby.
If malitol makes you go, I’m definitely getting some of that! I thought someone in an earlier post said it made you constipated. I’ve always been constipated, but on Atkins, it’s even worse.
Why are you eating a candybar, diet or otherwise, while you’re on a weight loss program?
To try to quell the craving for sweets! On Atkins, you eat protein and fats, period. I haven’t had a problem with hunger pangs, but was really craving something sweet, so was hoping to find a low-carb, low-sugar candy bar to help me over it. I’ve been eating no-sugar jello with whipped cream and that’s helped, but boy I really wanted a peanut butter & chocolate candy bar.
[continued Atkins pseudo-hijack]
Sycorax, you might want to consider fiber supplements if you’re not getting enough fiber from veggies.
Dynamite - only thing that works on me. Tried fiber - it only bloats me. I was serious when I asked about the malitol – if that will move my bowels, I’m getting me a case of those candy bars!
Is it just me, or is the so-called “Milky Way Lite” just a regular Milky Way, only smaller?
Because it would conflict with the first rule of dieting: if it tastes good, it can’t be good for you.
The second rule is: if it turns paper products translucent it will cut 30 seconds off your lifespan.