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KARB KILLER BARS, TRUTH OR FAKE

Q007

Well-Known Member
Messages
466
Location
Wales. UK
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
People who tell lies.
My GP (Dr Doom).
My daughter isn't diabetic but follows low carbing as a diet for weight loss.

She's raving about these Karb Killer bars and has one everyday if she sins too much. She is in excellent shape.

On the XPERT course I went on they threw out all diets and 'wonder' products vs a healthy diet with 1/3rd carbs 1/3rd protein and 1/3rd veg.

Anybody had success or failure with these bars, I'm just about to buy a whole box off Amazon. Kind wishes to all, Quentin.
 
Depends if you react to sugar alcohols or not.. personally I'd avoid like the plague.
I'd suggest eating real food.
 
They do look quite nice, but then a quick look at the nutrition info online says they have 13.5 grams of carbs per bar, which is quite a lot to my mind. The sugar itself may be low, but the overall carb count is fairly high. If you must have some sort of bar, they're probably one of the better options, but they'd be too carby for me.
 
I tried them once. Never again - way too sweet and very synthetic tasting.
 
Loads of carbs, loads of polyols, and a list of ingredients longer than the average shopping list. Personally I’d stick with food, but it’s your choice.
 
Very processed with a lot of chemicals. They also use maltitol which upsets a lot of tummies and spikes blood sugar for a number of people. Of all this type of bar the only one without maltitol, uses stevia and sucralose, is “quest”. I’ve used them in a push but no way would I want it to be a daily thing.
Q007 said:
On the XPERT course I went on they threw out all diets and 'wonder' products vs a healthy diet with 1/3rd carbs 1/3rd protein and 1/3rd veg.
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. I’d love it that to read
“threw out all diets and 'wonder' products vs a healthy diet without too many carbs”. Shame they still tout carbs.
 
I think, but could be wrong, that @Rachox has tried those.
 
The course was excellent but it tipped us all on our heads and encouraged carbs as part of what the NHS call the "eat well plate". I stuck to what they taught us and my Hba1C dropped to 40. Just a catastrophe in my life lead me down the path of chocolate and cakes to live on and my Hba1C is now 101. Thanks for the reply.
 
I may be way off the mark here but perhaps your A1c of 101 may have had something to do with the fact that EatWell allows sweet carbs and artificially sweetened foods so you did not get the chance of changing your palate which goes a long way in reducing the craving for carbs sweet or savoury.
 
HSSS said:
Starchy carbs such as rice pasta potatoes
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Oh - the foods a type two diabetic should probably avoid - they cause me huge spikes - they are, after all full of starch which is simply and quickly turned into glucose. If you managed to get your Hba1c down to normal eating them you did very well indeed.
I got my Hba1c down to just about normal by not eating them at all.
 
Thanks for the reply, actually no they warned us off "sugar free, for diabetics, " products and taught us how artificial sweeteners work. The course was eight weeks long so we covered a lot of ground, its just how things have been for me over the past year has erased most of what I learned, which is a shame. So I'm sorry but this is why I'm bothering yourselves with subject matter I have once learned, sorry.

What I dont get is why my night fast reading is still 10 or more. I just can't work that out at all and I'm so frustrated and worried. When I was in hospital last week the clinical director was on walk about and spent a lot of time with me whilst in resus. He was a straight shooter which I appreciate. He said elevated BG or poorly managed diabetes together with heart failure is a recipe for a disaster. I couldn't live with having a stroke which he said was more likely due to the number of stents they fitted and where they're placed.

I guess this is why I'm so twitchy and trying to get bgs down, my fingertips are so sore already.

I've been looking at my drugs I take and benzodiazapines raise bgs and I take 38mgs a day of those. Pregabalin isn't diabetic friendly either, I'm studying the rest. My script list has 15 items so I take a lot of meds to keep me going. Pregabalin, I've found, causes weight gain as it suppresses brain signals that tell us we're full, that answers why I'm grazing or looking for something to eat all the time. I read that you should wash your hands before testing, is that true also? So much to take in.

With night fast readings of around 10, is that a signal my pancreas has resigned? I'd rather know. Such a long post, I'm sorry. Qx
 
wiflib said:
Have you ever tried a low carb diet @Q007?
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Hi there, No I haven't. Not long after I was diagnosed the GP found a place on the XPERT course and I grew up on that. They encouraged carbs, but the right carbs that were slow release. I followed it for a year and it took my diabetes into remission so its hardwired into me now that the right carbs are OK.

Why do you ask, do you think I should try it, what would I expect. I've read you feel very unwell for a week.?
 

There's absolutely no need to apologise, we have all had our struggles with Diabetes one way or another. I was on a huge dose of Gabapentin which I think is a sister drug of Pregabalin so I'm with you on that - not Diabetes friendly at all.
Even though I am now on a lower dose I still occasionally get the munchies and the answer for me was recognising the real hunger signals as opposed to these drug induced ones. I use creamed coffee to satisfy the munchies or occasionally a very low carb snack like almonds or chicken jerky, something a bit chewy seems to help me.

Yes, clean hands are a must when testing as anything contaminating the hands may skew the readings. There is a lot to take in when we first start making changes. One step at a time, you've got this.
 
Thank you for the encouragement. Qx
 
Q007 said:
Why do you ask, do you think I should try it, what would I expect. I've read you feel very unwell for a week.?
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Because low carb is the way the vast majority of type 2 have found that works best after trying and failing with the sort of advice you were given. Yes I think you should definitely try it. You did ask and get similar advice on another recent thread. You’d expect bgl to fall, in immediate response to what you (don’t) eat.

Anyone on anything other than metformin should discuss it with their dr first though as too much medication at the same time might lead to a hypo and levels need monitoring closely to keep the medication at the appropriate dosages for the new diet.

The unwell thing you mention is carb or keto flu. It’s fundementally sugar withdrawal, as the carbs are instantly turned to sugar in your body. It can be minimised by reducing carb levels slowly, ensuring fluid intake is high, ensuring electrolytes (salts mostly magnesium and potassium) are maintained and increasing fats to provide energy instead of using carbs. It sounds counterintuitive to all we’ve been taught for decades but the NHS support it as a strategy at long last after lots of studies showing it works.

The other thing that can happen is when you are used to very high bg levels you may (not will) suffer false hypos. This is where your body has a tantrum at you taking its sugar fix away and doesn’t like the better lower levels and pretends to have a hypo giving similar symptoms to the real thing but it’s not dangerous in itself, just unpleasant. If you can treat it like a toddler and ignore it and they’ll stop as your body acclimatises to the new levels. If it’s really horrible a ‘small’ amount of carb will take the edge off without recreating the problem you’re trying to get rid of.

See the attached for more info

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog/jokalsbeek.401801/ for info including low carb made simple

And https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/category/success-stories-and-testimonials.43/ to show it really works and for motivation

and https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today.75781/ for food ideas

also https://www.dietdoctor.com/ for more food ideas and general info of carb content of foods.
 
Thank you very much, a lot of effort in your reply. Please remember the XPERT course which hard wired us into believing slow release carbs were needed. Its hard to do another u turn to low or no carbing, really hard.

The meds I take are all essential, I take them in 4 unequal doses per day. Things like a trinitrate spray. I was classed as treatment resistant to drugs many years ago and drugs I take now I tolerate. Metformin made me very ill, just life. Hope this answers your notes, again thank you very much. Quentin
 
DCUKMod said:
I think, but could be wrong, that @Rachox has tried those.
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Sorry been out all day, but answering your query about Carb Killa bars, I carry one in my handbag for an occasional emergency treat at a coffee shops with friends or family when they are all tucking into cakes or cookies. The carb count looks high but when you’ve subtracted the polyols (sugar alcohols which are neither sugar or alcohol!) which most people don’t absorb you end up with ‘impact carbs’. These are quoted on the front of the packet of flavours with lower impact carbs for example the Jaffa Quake one is 2g impact carbs. However I’ve noticed some of the newer flavours, the raspberry one in particular don’t have impact carbs on the front but if you work it out from the info on the back it’s around 7g net carbs so not so good. I tolerate them with no rise to my blood sugars but some people don’t, so you just need to test yourself to be sure. I suppose if you buy a box and don’t do well with them you can always give them to you daughter
 
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