Carb Options Coming to a Store Near You!

pooker · 01-16-2004, 05:41 PM

Major food companies are coming out with low carb varieties!
They are supposed to hit the stores (your neighborhood grocery stores, mind you) NOW!

Skippy, Lawry's, Lipton, Ragu, just to name a few!
Here's the link to their site:

http://www.carboptions.com/

jana1323 · 01-16-2004, 06:01 PM

We've already got them at our local Kroger's but haven't found them at Walmart yet. I haven't bought any of the products, I haven't really had a chance to look at them.

jana1323 · 01-20-2004, 11:41 PM

Well tonight I found some of the items at walmart. I was interested in the peanut butter until I looked at the ingredients & carb count. Too many sugar alchols and too many carbs. I bought the Smuckers All Natural PB. Ingredients were peanuts and salt, thats it and like 2g carbs per serving, the other brand had about 6g carbs. Personally I would think if they were trying for a low carb product they would just go natural. So I'm sticking to the Smuckers.

Ajani · 01-21-2004, 01:06 PM

That site is by the same people who make Slim Fast (Unilever). I'm guessing this means that these products won't be coming to Canada either, since Unilever has deemed Canada to be an unworthy marketplace for their products (I received that in an e-mail).

jana1323 · 01-21-2004, 01:27 PM

Thats kind of harsh. But I've looked at some of the products they've made and really in my opinion you are better off staying with natural or regular products. They just contain too many sugar alchols and ingredients you can't pronounce!

DoorInward · 01-21-2004, 01:53 PM

The kicker is that so many of these products are still loaded with hydrogenated oils (trans fats). REALLY bad for IR.

My vote is to avoid the heavily processed stuff as much as possible.

The one that really disgusts me: peanut butter. There are so many homogenous looking ("smooth") peanut butters hitting the market that are advertised as low carb and yet so loaded with hydrogenated oils that it is just plain icky. (The only "safe" pb is the "natural" variety that has the oil on top that must be stirred in before using.)

shan4180 · 01-21-2004, 02:49 PM

I absolutly LOVE smuckers all natural PB. I wouldn't buy any other kind.

Spit · 01-31-2004, 06:16 PM

I'd have to agree on peanutbutter. There are some little low-carb treats that one might spend money on eventhough they have some trans fats and soy--- just for a little fun. But natural peanutbutter, if it is made with good peanuts, should taste as good as the name brand (or perhaps a Splenda packet away from that ideal)
It's kinda like my theory of how lousy cheap coffee ends up costing more in cream and sugar than a good one. A natural peanut butter made with good peanuts should be as yummy as a Name brand (including the low-carb) that is made with lousy peanuts plus "stuff" .

Clickin · 02-07-2004, 07:43 PM

Okay. so I happened upon the Carb Options alfredo sauce in Safeway last night. It really has no less carbs than my favorite sauce. I stuck with my usual sauce. Taste I like over one carb savings. However, they did have in the low carb klondike bars and they were great. The texture of the vanilla ice cream is like whipped cream very yummy.

Clickin · 02-07-2004, 07:44 PM

I also forgot to mention, my favorite sauce was much cheaper!!!

Shannon816 · 02-10-2004, 01:13 AM

This is something I learned in a nutrition class I took. Companies put labels on things to follow trends, when in reality the product has always had the same ingredients or the same benefit as the package now claims. It's just a ploy to get people to buy the product in the newest diet trend. The only difference is, buyers notice this more when it's in big letters on the package.

I saw the Carb Option peanut butter in the store today, and compared it to regular peanut butter. There really wasn't a huge difference in the amount of carbs.

Overall, I rarely buy anything that's really advertised as "low carb" except for bread and protein bars. Stuff labelled as low carb usually tastes bad and is highly overpriced (because they can cash in now). Instead, I just buy the regular stuff and read labels carefully.

gracie_1 · 02-11-2004, 06:55 PM

I have to agree with some of you. My hubby bought some Carb option Mayo the other day without cross-checking with the "normal" Mayo. The result, there is no difference in carb counts between the two, worse yet, the Carb option Mayo had more sodium which we don't need.... Well, I have teach my dh a good lesson in comparing the label carefully....

Gracie

pooker · 02-12-2004, 08:15 AM

I know some of you use the natral pb, and you've tempted me to try it. But, I did look at the carb option pb, and compared it to what we normally use, Simply JIF. Simply JIF has less sugar and sodium than regular pb, (although the same additives), and ends up being almost the same carbwise to the carb option stuff.

Simply JIF has 6g total carbs and 2 g fiber for 4g net carbs per 2 tbsp. I think the carb option stuff has 5g total and 2g fiber for a net of 3g.

I do agree that they are using the name carb option to sell it. I've noticed it with breads, too. A lot of low carb breads are being adverstised, and I've found better low carb bread that isn't advertised as low carb. My favorite is a store brand lite bread. It's wheat and has 16g total carbs per 2 slices, and 6g fiber for a net of 10g per 2 slices! It tastes good, and is SO much cheaper than the low carb breads! And some of those low carb breads advertise only 5g per serving, making me think they're better, but then you look at the serving size, and its 1 slice. I'll stick to my cheaper store brand.

I guess the moral is, make sure you check the labels and comparison shop!

hobbitcutie · 02-13-2004, 02:57 PM

I was reading about them online, and they sound ok to me ingredient-wise (especially the tomato sauce...love tomato sauce), the only thing i will avoid like the plague is the candy bars. The first ingredient in them is Maltitol syrup (run away, run away!!). Hate that stuff! Gives me the nastiest gas in the world (and more).