Author: Jimmy Akin

Thus far most low-carb pasta has been based on the idea of taking the carbs out of the pasta and replacing it with something else . . . like fiber.

Fine enough, though adding fiber to the pasta changes the texture somewhat.

Last year a new technique was tried with a pasta called Dreamfields. It’s available here in SoCal in ordinary supermarkets, where you can buy Dreamfields spaghetti, linguini, elbows, and penne.

The idea behind Dreamfields isn’t taking the carbs out. It’s putting in certain proteins (and just a tad extra fiber) that bind the carbs in the pasta so that you can’t absorb most of them.

The result is a pasta that has normal pasta taste and texture but which you will only absorb 5 grams of carb from instead of the usual 32 grams you’d get from a serving of pasta.

Or that’s the theory.

Dreamfields claims that it has studies based on blood sugar analyses that prove this, but then lots of companies claim to have studies proving things that are totally bogus.

Fortunately, there’s a corp of people who are highly capable of testing this kind of claim and motivated to do so: insulin-dependent diabetics.

Insulin-dependent diabetics have to monitor both their blood sugar and their carb intake very closely, and when someone goes on the market announcing claims like Dreamfields’, he’s going to get his claims cross-examined by countless ID diabetics who will use their own blood sugar meters to check him out.

SUCH AS THIS GENTLEMAN.

I’ve seen similar results reported after poking around elsewhere on the net: In the main, it seems that Dreamfields’ pasta does what it claims . . . at least for most people. There are some folks who are so highly insulin-resistant that they will get a blood sugar spike from the pasta, but most won’t.

Not satisifed with merely reading others accounts, I decided to do the test myself. I’m not a diabetic (insulin-dependent or otherwise), but I did get a cheap glucose meter so I could test my insulin response to foods I had questions about (it’s that whole science/curiosity/skeptical-of-miraculous-diet-claims thingie). I’m not as good at interpreting the significance of results as the folks who check their blood sugar every day (several times a day), but in my case the Dreamfields did not raise my blood sugar as much as regular pasta did (I tested both).

I haven’t eaten Dreamfields that much, but the last couple of nights I’ve been trying it with a new insulin-reducing trick: following the Dreamfields very quickly with fiber to slow down its absorption.

Haven’t been testing myself afterwards, tho.

VISIT DREAMFIELDS’ SITE.

A reader writes:

About 7 years ago, I started a new job, going from working my fanny off for 8 – 10 hours straight to sitting at a desk all day.  Naturally I proceeded to put on about 50 lbs in a year or so. 

Ouch! I hope that’s an exaggeration! (Though in actuality, 50 lbs in a year is only an excess of 486 calories a day, which only goes to show that most people aren’t overeating by 486 calories a day or they’d be putting on 50 lbs. in a year. As I’ve written before, most of the time most people tend to eat what they need to maintain their current body weight–whatever it is–and don’t overeat in the sense of contantly putting on more weight.)

After several attempts at trying to lose it the old fashioned way (eat less, excersize, etc.) and failing, I have decided to go low carb. 

Good for you!

I’ve been doing some research on it, including some of your archives.  A while back (last August) you posted some commments about japanese shirataki noodles [HERE], but you also said that you didn’t know of an online source for them.  There seems to be some sources for them now.  One is here:

http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/browseproducts/Shirataki-Noodles.html

I’m wondering, how far does a 7oz package typically go?  One meal?  Two?

Oooo. That’s a tough question. It’s going to depend on how much you typically eat in a meal. What I can tell you that may be of some help is that Shirataki noodles always come packed in water. This means that they’re already soft when you get them. It’s not like buying 7 oz. of dry spaghetti and having it swell up when you boil it.

You should cook them, but they won’t swell up when you do so.

They may, however, swell up in you. Shirataki noodles are basically pure fiber–a particular kind of fiber called glucomannan, which is known for swelling up to dramatic size. Once your digestive enzymes start breaking down the noodles into their component fibers, they may swell up real good.

As a result, I recommend that you do not pig out when you first eat shirataki or you may find yourself wishing you weren’t feeling so bloated. I’d only eat a very small portion first (like an ounce) and see what effect it has. Eat more the next day after you’ve done this test.

My guess is that, longer term, 7 oz. or shirataki would probably be at least two meals (maybe more). The serving size listed on the package (if it isn’t in Japanese) may also be of help.

I used to get these little tied up bundles of shirataki noodles that were about the size of a large shrimp (not a huge Aussie prawn!), and they swelled up quite a bit in me, so I only ate one per day. Unfortunately, the local Japanese market no longer carries those, though they still have shirataki in lots of other forms (not all of which are noodles; they also have dumplings and cakes made out of it).

One thing I will note about shirataki: They don’t have the same texture as regular pasta. They’re more "springy."

If you’re looking for an easily available low-carb pasta that has a more regular texture, you might want to try Dreamfields (see forthcoming post).

In my previous post I showed you a 12-day weight track starting June 20th and ending July 2nd.

Here’s a 12-day track starting July 4th (click to enlarge).

Look at the two carefully. You’ll notice two differences:

First, if you observe the trendline, you’ll see that I lost more weight in this period. Previously I lost about 3.5 lbs, but this time I lost about 4.5 lbs. (And, as the next couple of days that aren’t on this track revealed, it was more like 5.5 lbs.)

Second, you’ll note that the daily ups and downs have levelled out dramatically. The line of weight readings (the dark one) approximates the trendline much more closely, without the dramatic departures shown on the previous weight track. Now the daily weigh-ins are all within about a pound of the trendline.

Why?

Both of these phenomena have the same cause: Fiber. In the July 2-4 period I ramped up the amount of fiber in my diet. There was already a good bit in it, but I got serious and ramped it up to the point that I am consuming something like 45-60 grams of powdered fiber a day, in addition to the fiber in my food (probably another 10-15 grams). Another change is that during this period I switched between pure psyllium husks and a mixed fiber supplement, which is better.

As I reported previously, fiber fills you up real good and decreases appetite. As a result, I ate less food in this period (without hunger) and lost more weight (an extra two pounds). Now I have the data to prove it, so I wanted to share it with you.

Unexpected was the fact that the ups and downs would even out the way they did. On this track I had to wait a lot less time before hitting a new weight low. Indeed, sometimes I hit a new weight low more than one day in a row before an upturn.

That’s motivation!

. . . And another reason to use high levels of fiber when dieting.

There is debate in dieting circles about how often you ought to weigh yourself. One popular theory holds that you should only do it once a week.

Why? Because there are a lot of ups and downs in your weight from day to day (and even within the day) depending on how much food and water you have in the system at the time. Since dieters who are successfully losing weight tend to lose only one or two pounds a week, these losses are likely to get, uh, lost amid all the daily fluctuations. Then the dieter will get discouraged, feel his is not losing an weight, and quit.

To solve this, the solution mentioned above wants the dieter to weigh himself as infrequently as possible so that there is more of a chance of him seeing an actual loss when he (finally) steps on the scale, motivating him to keep going.

Forget that!

I’m firmly on the side of the dieters who weigh themselves daily. Indeed, I weigh myself multiple times a day.

How do I overcome seeing all the ups and downs? I keep track of them. What I do is take my lowest weigh-in of the day (typically early in the morning, before I start eating and drinking) and log it in Microsoft Excel. I then use the charting feature to graph what my weight’s doing, as in the chart above, which shows a twelve-day track of my weight starting June 20th (click to enlarge).

As you can see, it has significant ups and downs. But the nice thing about tracking your progress in a charting-capable program is that you can hae it add a trendline that will filter out the ups and downs and give you a better sense of your progress.

As you can see from this chart, I lost about three and a half pounds over the twelve day span of the track.

There are still lots of ups and downs. Note that I had a major low on June 27, but I didn’t get back to that level again in the period. If I’d weighed myself on that day and then again seven days later (not shown on this chart), my weight would have actually registered an increase, but the increase would have been illustory because it was due to food and water in the system, not actual weight gain. I would have then felt unrewarded for my week of dieting and would have had to live under that cloud for another week until I could weigh myself again.

I’d find that discouraging!

And so, for me at least, it’s much better for my morale to indulge my tendency to microanalyze phenomena and weigh myself daily, using the marvels of modern technology to look past the ups and downs and give me a better representation of my progress.