Atkins 'Carb Countdown' Lowfat Yogurt Smoothie: Great Taste, Low Carbs, High in Protein

There's never a shortage of drinkable yogurts in this house; be it the low carbohydrate varieties or the ones that are marketed for kids. When I saw that Atkins and Hood had teamed up to put out the Carb Countdown Lowfat Yogurt Smoothie drink I was more than a little curious about the taste. When I read over the package and saw that it had 13 grams of protein and only three impact grams of carbohydrates I tossed a few of them in the cart. Peach was the only flavor that was available at the time and I finished them off in about four days. If you are doing any type of a low carbohydrate diet and want something sweet to snack on, this is something that you can have around to fight off cravings. While the brood didn't want to try it, this is a great things to have around for kids. It can be used as an alternative to regular yogurts and similar drinkable dairy products that contain a lot of sugar.

Atkins 'Carb Countdown' Lowfat Yogurt Smoothie
water, cultured fat free milk, whey protein isolate, cream, peach puree, locust bean gum, guar gum, live and active cultures

Drinkable dairy products aren't new but it seems like every week some company is putting out some type of new version. Some are marketed towards kids (like the ever popular Danimals and Gogurt) and others for adults; what you need to do is ignore the claims that are made and read the ingredients and nutritional facts. That is where you see the truth about a product and whether or not it is going to be something that you are going to be able to consume. Since this is something that carried the Atkins name on it I know that it is going to be low in carbs but the taste might be questionable. To put that issue to rest, this is a great tasting drink if you are someone that likes smoothies or thinner yogurts. Unlike some it doesn't have a chalky taste to it and there's no nasty after taste to it.

There is a lot of information on the label that you should read before you consume this however it isn't exactly all that easy to read because of the shape of the bottle. It's got several waves in it and reading the text can be tough for those with bad eyes. This is something that diabetics can drink but there is an exchange for it; one lean meat and 1/2 half fat free milk. This is for the entire container (ten ounces) so if you don't drink the entire thing at one time you might be able to play around with the numbers a little bit. I'm not a dietitian so I can't give you any advice about how to work this into your diet outside of checking out the ADA (American Diabetes Association) website. Another great thing about this is that it has 13 grams of protein per serving as well as 30% of the RDA ( the recommended daily allowance) of calcium (based on a 2,000 calorie a day diet).

So far I have only come across three of the four flavors that this is available in; peach, black cherry and strawberry banana. The straight banana flavor is one that I was never able to track down at my local grocery stores or specialty places like GNC. These have an average selling price of about a dollar a piece but some places elect to keep them in the four pack and charge about $3.75 for them. Gyms and sport supply stores don't generally carry these since they are a dairy based product and don't have a long shelf life; the ones that I purchased were good for about a month after I bought them but I killed them off in record time. There aren't any sugar alcohols listed on the nutritional values section but this is made with Splenda. Consuming too much could have a laxative effect especially if you experienced such results when using other Splenda containing products in the past.

Calories: 100
Serving: 1 bottle / 10 ounces
Fat: 3 grams
Protein: 13 grams
Carbohydrates: 4 grams
Sugar: 1 gram
Fiber: 0

Even though the label says that there are four grams of carbohydrates, only three of them are considered 'impact carbs'. These are the ones that have an impact on your blood sugar level. This is sweetened with Splenda (which is made from sugar) so there are going to be parts of it that aren't absorbed by your system. If you have had trouble with Splenda products in the past you may want to think twice before you drink this. If you don't know much about Splenda, here's the skinny. It is a modified sugar molecule that has been changed so that it isn't absorbled by the body. You get almost the same taste as sugar without it adding calories or impacting your blood sugar level.

The Bottom Line

As soon as everyone in the house saw that this was some 'specialty' drink they all elected to pass on tasting it. Normally I can bribe a few of them into tasting it to see if it's something that they like but when they saw the Atkins name on it, no one touched it. This is an awesome thing for those who are trying to stay on a low carbohydrate diet; the taste is great, it's refreshing and won't throw you out of ketosis. While it does have to be refrigerated it is a portable type of thing and the fact that it has a screw off lid means a lot to me. If I don't finish it I can put the lid back on it and save it for later. For the price it is something that I can have around when I want something sweet but not too sweet; if you are craving chocolate or chips this might not kill off the whole craving but it will help you fill up a little.