I am really strapped financially, and i cant afford the L.A. lights. I have heard that some people use Luna bars instead, is that true? If so, will any of them work or do they have to be a specific kind?

Thanks

Yes you can definitely use lunas. Check the "sticky" threads at the top of the LAWL forum page for all kinds of tips for these kinds of things. I do use the lites so I don't have any more help for ya, but you should find even more suggestions there!

LA Lite Bars - Lunas, Prio Completes, Kashi Go Lean bars are all good subs.
Try to get one with at least 8 grams of protein and up to 180 calories each.

i used luna bars this time around (but have been doing the plan without them for the past month--or whenever they switched me to the new plans)..

anyways, my faves of the luna bars were: chocolate peppermint stick, lemon zest, cookies-n-cream, dulce de leche, the cranberry nut one was great too.
i just looked for the ones that were the lowest in calories and fat and high in protein. they are an awesome replacement and actually healthier than the LA bars.

The Peanut Butter Cookie flavor is great, too. I just ordered some from Drugstore.com, where they were on sale for about twelve dollars a case. You can also get cases on Amazon.com. I think most sites will give nutritional information.

I just looked up the price at Drugstore.com. $12.84 for 15 bars = about 85 cents each. Not bad (make sure you get free shipping; seems like they always have a coupon out there somewhere). I've been getting Luna's from Super Walmart. The grocery part of the store has a small section of protein bars and I want to say I get 6 in a box for just under $5. I haven't bought them in a while, but I'll check next time I'm out.

Target also runs specials on Luna bars, I've even seen the Kashi GoLean on sale there for about 88cents a bar. Sadly I can't have them because of a soy issue, but I do see the Lunas on sale a lot. Before I knew about my soy allergy, I abolutely loved the Peppermint stick and the Chocolate Brownie Nut ones.

I've found that the South Beach Cereal Bars are a really good alternative, but they are limited in the amount of choices you have. The best, I've found, are the peanut butter.. They have 10g of protein, 140 calories and are low in sugar.

Zone Perfect bars are good too (almost too good) but are higher in calories and fat. The plus side is that they have something like 19g of protein...

Thanks Dan - the SB bars are buy one/get one at Publix this week...I may have to try those.

shshshs - how do you know if you have a soy allergy? I'm just curious.

Joni, just make sure you get the right kind. SB has several different kinds of bars for different purposes. They have meal replacements as well as the cereal bars. The meal replacements are higher in calories and fat, as well as carbs.

Joni - I have virtually no thyroid function, in fact my doc increased my dose today (just did the blood work last week). I can always tell it is low because I start getting my symptoms back like crazy. Anyway, my doctor told me and I have read it in all the literature, books, etc on hypothyroidism that anyone on thyroid replacement hormones should avoid all soy. Apparently, the soy depletes the effectiveness of the thryoid replacement hormones. If you go to www.about.com and search for the thyroid info website, you will see tons and tons of information on the adverse reaction of soy to the replacement hormones. At first I was told I could have a little, then more research came out that said it was really detrimental in any amounts.

Roberta

I checked my Luna Peanut Butter Cookie box (arrived from Drugstore.com yesterday), and not only are the bars a bit lower in calories, but they have more protein and fiber, less fat and sugar, and between 10% and 100% of many vitamins and minerals. I like that flavor for breakfast, since my beloved Fruit and Oat bars have been discontinued down here in AZ, and they are hard to come by on ebay.

Drugstore.com is offering a free shipping on orders over $25.00 at the moment. Naturally, the two boxes of bars I bought came in just under that amount, so I threw in a bottle of unscented sunscreen that I had been wanting anyway.

The bars I got had a date of June 2008, so I was very happy with them.

Oops! My math is a bit off today. For some reason, I thought the bars were under $25.00 for two boxes (Like 12.49 a box). So you can grab a couple of boxes and get free shipping for the price listed by another poster.

Glad I needed the sunscreen, anyway!