What are 'protected carbs'?
 

Looking at my Dreamfields Pasta, the nutritional info says that per serving it has 42 carbs and 5 gms of fiber. Then it also says that there are 37 protected carbs, so the digestible carbs per serving are 5.

I don't understand. Should I really be counting only 5 per serving, or should it be 37? What's a protected carb?

forgive me if this question has already been answered a thousand times - I couldn't find it in a search.

Check out Dreamfields' website. They have a ton of technical mumbo-jumbo about their pasta. Personally, I love it. Tastes as good as "regular" pasta and I've had no problem with the scale the next day - whether it's cooked, reheated, chilled, etc. There was some hearsay about the blockers being compromised if you reheat or chill the pasta overnight. I, personally, didn't find it to matter. Everybody is different.

However, if you're following induction, no pasta is allowed regardless. I saw you're doing Fatkins, so I don't know if you have your own spin on Atkins itself or if you're being "punny." :)

Check out the site (Google it) and they'll give you $1 off if you decide to go for it.

There were a few LOOOOOOOONG threads about it, but they seem to have been archived or something. I couldn't find them either.

I'm still testing the Dreamfields on myself. I'm personally leary of any of those kinds of claims, so my first test was with one ounce (dry weight). No problems. I ate it with just butter, Italian herbs and parmesan cheese. It was yummy. I'm looking forward to trying it again, next time with 2 ounces! :yum: We have some friends coming over next weekend... they requested my red sauce, so looking forward to having that. Haven't had it since I started the plan...

Be careful of the gluten
 

I'm gluten-intolerant, and one way to make pasta LC is to increase the gluten. Therefore, this category of products is actually worse for me than its whole-carb equivalent. YMMV, and if you don't have trouble with gluten, then it's just a matter of conducting your own experiment.

Gluten Intolerant
 

My sister is gluten intolerant also. I have been trying to get her to get on the Atkins diet to help her out. She is very overweight. She likes the rice pastas, but I think if she tried Atkins, she might be successful! I shop for her at Trader Joes when I am up there, but I feel for her with the Celiac's. Glad she finally found out what was causing her stomach troubles though.
Happy Saturday all!! :wave:
Laura

I have tried Dreamfield's and can't tell a difference between it and "normal" pasta. It is good. I guess that only way to know for sure on the so-called protected carbs is to test it with ketostix but when I ate it I was on a much higher (semi-cheat) state so I wouldn't have registered in ketosis anyways.

Ditto for me. I make "pasta" by slicing green cabbage into lasagne, fettucini or spaghetti - shaped noodles. And you don't have to cook them separately from the rest of the dish, so there are fewer pots to clean up afterwards.

Actually, some diabetics who "tested" the claims about Dreamfield's by eating the recommended serving size plain (no sauce, butter, etc.) have found that they still got blood sugar spikes. The only difference seems to be that the spikes occur later than they would have from eating regular pasta (around 4 hours, I think.)

Sorry, my twisted humor could not resist.;) :lol:


Carbs with bodyguards?

i made party pasta salad for easter using dreamsfields pasta and have been eating it all week, am in fact eating it this minute lol, and i've lost one half to a pound every day, so i don't think there is any adverse carb reaction going for me there. i use dreamsfields on occasion without difficulty. ymmv though.

:lol: kevin! :lol:

love it with home made alfredo suce ( cream and butter and parmesean cheese)

Thanks for the laugh Kevin - and I think that is as close as I am going to get to understanding what a protected carb is.

I was not protected from gaining a pound as of this morning after my pasta meal, however. I'm glad others do OK with it, but as for me - not until I'm closer to my goal will I experiment again.

great thread!

You know I always wonder about the way they get the net carb numbers on those Atkins and other bars because they don't do the carbs minus the fiber formula. The Dreamfield website says that protected carbs are not like net carbs because they are looking at how these carb affect BG. The reason protected carbs aren't suppose to trigger an isulin release is because the carby starch has been modified (see last paragraph). They never say it's fewer carbs than the 40+ per package on their site though.

On another LC support website a woman said that her BG spikes when she eats this, so I'm hoping people here with a bg device will also post to help us see if this really does or doesn't work. It seems like another YMMV; like sf stuff that can set off an insulin release in one person and not another.

From their website:

Dreamfields "digestible carbs" are determined by a clinical method that measures the blood glucose response of the whole food to establish its glycemic load or content of digestible carbohydrates. This is unlike net carbs which is simply determined by estimating the digestibility of individual food components. The clinical testing is conducted at an independent clinical laboratory.
Protected carbohydrates or "resistant starch": These are carbohydrates that resist being digested particularly in the small intestine. When they cannot be digested in the small intestine, they pass to the colon where they perform as dietary fiber. They may occur naturally, be created by chemically modifying carbohydrates prior to ingestion or achieve resistance through properly formulated foods being processed by the body. Resistant starches occur naturally at various levels in many foods, like cooked and cooled potatoes, unmilled grains, seeds, legumes, bananas, and high amylase starches. Most resistant starches are produced by concentrating naturally resistant starches and/or by chemically modifying carbohydrates in order to produce a starch with low digestibility. Dreamfields creates protected carbohydrates without chemical modification by utilizing combinations of standard food ingredients to "protect" digestible carbohydrates from being broken down by digestive enzymes. Carbohydrates resistant to digestion have been shown in scientific study to help control blood glucose, blood cholesterol and blood triglyceride levels, normalize insulin levels, and help improve the health of the colon lining, thus reducing the potential for ulcers and inflammatory diseases of the large intestine.

Thanks for that information kandra... I've found myself tempted to order the dreamfields.... but ... I don't want to take a chance that it'll set off cravings in me. Your post reminded me of that!!

I have always been very leery of low carb products. I've never used Dreamfields and I'm not sure I ever would. I love spaghetti squash with low carb alfredo sauce :thup:

i think I will try the shirataki noodles... I think I could make a passable Pad Thai using them.

But, it'll be when I'm a little further along.

I don't like any of the commercially available low carb bake mixes, etc.

I eat Dreamfield's pasta about twice a week. It does not seem to trigger any cravings whatsoever, and does not cause me (personally) any weight gain. It does, however, seem to make me bloated and gassy (sorry!) just like other high carb pastas. It actually seems to help me lose, but I think that is just a by product of it adding some "bulk" to my diet as it tends to help...um...move things along...

I eat dreamfield's pasta about twice a week. It does not personally cause me any weight gain or seem to even mildly trigger cravings to return. It does, however, tend to make me bloated and somewhat gassy (sorry!) like other high carb pastas. It actually seems to help me lose weight, but I think that it is probably due to adding the "bulk" to my diet. It...um...seems to help move things along.

You're not the only one, Kd. I've found that Dreamfields, no matter how tasty it can be, will almost inevitably make me bloaty. Overcooking or reheating seems to make it even worse.

So, I strictly limit my use of it.

I have eaten Dreamfield a couple of times, maybe about 1 - 2 times a month without a problem. I use it more often for my kids though, as you really can't tell a difference between that and regular pasta, except it seems to fill you up faster. I figure, just because they are kids, doesn't mean the really NEED the extra carbs from real pasta! I have tried the shiratake noodles and couldn't get past the first bite. To me, it tasted like trying to eat sauce covered rubber bands, blah! :Puke:

I have an old box of Dreamfields that was given to me, and I might try it this weekend. I bet it's better than shiratake noodles, but I still like those. I'll have to try it with butter and herbs and cheese & then maybe some with homemade alfredo.

I've wondered about it...but if it has gluten...forget it.....just found out last week I am celiac.....I like the rice pastas too...but the sugar spikes are worse than if I eat a bowl of sugar.....

I like the tofu noodles....shirataki?? I think it's called.....I was amazed at how good those are!!!

I have Dreamfields elbows for mac and cheese about twice a month, and it doesn't affect my weight loss at all. It does seem to be alot more filling than regular pasta as I can hardly finish a small bowl of it, where as in my pre LC days I could down a jumbo bowl without breaking a sweat.

Since this is going to be a WOE for me for the long term I'm glad I can still have my mac and cheese every once and a while. I probably wouldn't eat it every day, but as a treat it's great. Plus it's one of the few LC products that they still sell in the regular grocery store.

anyone still using it?

Not since it was exposed as a scam.

The Dreamfields pasta fraud finally results in an 8 million dollar fine!

The moral of the story is that you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Attempts to "recreate" the SAD in a low carb version are doomed to failure. It turns out what I loved about pasta is the sauce, and I have it over vegetables with just as much enjoyment, and even more over eggs, now that I have discovered my fiber sensitivity.

Because what we really want back is the "carb high" and as someone who has recovered from a classic Eating Disorder; that's a real thing.

But as anyone's success story will tell you, if you stay away from it, the urge does fade. Now, I regard this kind of thing as poison, because it is.

Like any addiction, if you don't feed the beast, it goes away.

As I was reading the comments on this thread, I didn't see the answer to the question - "what are protected carbs."

But I wonder, just as the Atkins bars, shakes and candies include "sugar alcohols" because "they don't raise blood sugar" if the whole thing is just an advertising gimmick to get low carbers to buy the product.

Supposedly, "protected carbs" resist digestion. But that also has digestive consequences which aren't pleasant.

At least so far, we can't fool Mother Nature.

Agree with werebear.

I’m a type one diabetic and have not tried DF, but have tried loads of low carb products over the last 15 years and always had same result. Unless it is just fiber they are subtracting, all claims regarding sugar alcohols and resistant/indigestible starches (exceptions being erythritol, monk fruit, stevia) are lies and do cause massive spikes.
Whether these would impact a non diabetic I certainly can’t say, but I would say replacing a highly processed food with an unprocessed one (examples for pasta would be spiralized zucchini, broccoli slaw, spaghetti squash, etc...) will always be healthier choice. Sometimes now I just use broccoli florets or green beans with various “pasta sauces” and proteins like shrimp, tofu or chicken meatballs....

The processed “wow this reminds me of real pasta” products I do use are shirataki and the bean based pastas. I think the brand on the black bean pasta or edamame (the two lowest in carbs) is beyond or imagine or something. It’s a white box with red border at Whole Foods. Sea point also now has edamame one.
I usually pick veggies, make these more a sometimes food, and watch portion size bc they are SO high fiber and will mess with your stomach.

As always, your mileage may vary.

Diabetic
 

As a type 2 diabetic for 23 years, my blood sugar spikes within 30 minutes of eating Dreamfields. Personally the taste was great. It may be different for other diabetics and non-diabetics.