Evil? Good? Or neither? |
Probably by now you’ve heard about the Dreamfield’s issues that have arisen lately. A study shares that a smallish control group of people showed blood sugar spikes similar to regular pasta within hours of eating the touted, low glycemic load product that has been gracing store shelves for years now. People now wonder if the product isn’t what it seems… Well, is it?
So what’s the deal? And why in the heck bother to review the product?
Answers aren’t as easy as you might think. Is it what it seems? Yes… or no, depending (I’ll get to that as we continue). Why review the product? Because for those people who don’t experience elevated blood sugar, weight gains, stalls, or hunger, this product is valid and performs as it claims.
When the dam broke loose per Dreamfields, I went through the requisite disdain, upset, anger and bra burning (hey, I had a permit) that I’m sure many others felt at the possibility of being duped.
After all, I’d already told myself the stuff was no good, even after using it successfully for about a year. And, let’s face it–Jimmy Moore’s interview with the Dreamfields CEO didn’t do the product line any favors, did it? As the CEO worked his way uncomfortably through the interview, I sensed someone who didn’t seem to understand what was happening or didn’t have the hard answers consumers want. This sent up a major red flag to me as a consumer.
Then you add the study, which flew in the face of everything I’d heard and experienced. Forums grew ugly with infighting about the pasta’s abilities. Facebook erupted in long discussion chains about the stuff. Blogs moved to prove or disprove the theory about Dreamfields and its claims.
So I gave up. It’s expensive to buy the pasta in this economy, at $2.79/box anyway. Might as well pack it in and buy the cheap, store stuff for a buck. In the end it’s all pasta…
I bought, then, for the first time in years, two packages of the standard store brand spaghetti off the shelf. There was nothing particularly special about the spaghetti. I cooked it per instructions, drained the pan, and was surprised at the amount of what can only be described as a blobulous mass of lugubrious, starchy film 1/2″ deep in the sink after the pasta drained. It looked literally like a T-Rex hocked a loogie in there. Dreamfields never looked like that. Ever. This was a pretty nasty visual I wasn’t expecting.
As the plates were heaped with small amounts of pasta, the second thing we noticed was that we inadvertently devoured two entire bags of the regular stuff during dinner, something unusual for us.
What’s worse? We were starving 30 minutes later. STARVING. Like painful hungry starving. Painful, hungry, I will eat your face even though it’s socially awkward and likely unacceptable, but only with sauce starving. It was gnawing, painful and miserable… and from the standard pasta.
I was pretty flustered by this point. Normal, store bought pasta proved to be a horrible, stomach upsetting, hunger inducing experience I wasn’t expecting. We were all pretty surprised, to be honest. Had we always felt this miserable after a spaghetti dinner and never realized it?
So, in an effort to check one last time, I set out to give one final chance to Dreamfields to redeem itself and to test its mettle against what we’d experienced only the day before with the store brand. I expected to be hungry, feel miserable, and expect essentially the same experience we had from the normal pasta, further proving no pasta is going to be decent, Dreamfields or otherwise.
In fact, once I again served the pasta that promised only 5 net carbs of impact, we were pleasantly surprised. One single box of the product effectively fed my family of six, including four teens–unlike the two bags of standard store-bought pasta that left us literally starving for more.
The Dreamfields pasta is clean, easy to make, drained nicely in the sink (no dinosaur snot), and it was pleasant to eat. Sure, it loses its matrix as a result of the addition of the tomato sauce if one mixes the two together prior to serving, but simply spoon the sauce on the side and don’t store it in with the product if it goes in the fridge and you’re going to be fine, more often than not. That is, unless you’re someone who can’t stomach wheat, or the Dreamfields affects you as any other pasta would, in which case, you’re not in the target market for this product.
Even though our family’s experience was eye opening, I then continued to run the Dreamfields experiment on kids who came to the house for dinner who were close to my kids (muahahahaha!). The results? Best case, diners ate less and stayed full longer. Worst-case: They didn’t notice a difference because they ate quickly and devoured a ton… but they were still full hours later.
I remember one friend of my teen daughter’s heaped her plate with the pasta (I’m sure she was used to the regular, starchy stuff, at home) and couldn’t finish but 1/3 of the plate. She looked at me and said, “Wow. I’m just not hungry I guess.” She didn’t understand the power of the magical unicorn sprinkle Dreamfields matrix, but it worked for her. Even hours later, the usually ravenous teen never once raided the ice box.
My mother in law loved the stuff so much, I shipped an entire crate of the stuff to her house in a small Washington town, where the product was harder to find locally.
Overall result: While I didn’t at all set out to prove Dreamfields is superior (at least in my family and neighborhood), we came to the conclusion that, based on hunger, lack of intestinal/digestive distress and appearance, pre-and-post cooking, the stuff does what it claims.
Let me also state that while I haven’t tested blood sugar, I’m pretty sensitive to what I’m putting into my body. Carrots and broccoli, for example, are like sugar in my bloodstream. Within 30 minutes of eating either, I’m ready to chase a Good Humor truck down the street and molest the driver for a Creamsicle. When I have cauliflower or spinach, on the other hand, I’m literally full for hours. And this is from vegetables. Imagine how bready or sugary products affect me. It’s insane.
Because of this hyper awareness, this knowledge extends to everything from being able to spot a soy-filled food item by the tingling in my mouth to the knowledge of hidden potatoes followed by stomach upset, to extreme sinus pain in my teeth should I consume something with sugar.
Different bodies, different consumables, different reactions.
Does that mean others’ experiences, when different than mine, are wrong? No. Does it means the studies are meaningless? No. The discussions rendered moot? Oh heck, no.
It means that every consumer should try a product for themselves and determine what is best for their
body in terms of reaction. Do your own blind tests and be your own consumer activist. Don’t apply popular sentiment to yourself, and don’t be as quick to take up the pitchfork as I was–especially if it might be better used to eat some low glycemic pasta…
As for my house…
Stocking up for the summer… |
Dreamfields Pasta
Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Price: $2.79 at King Soopers, $1.99 at Super Targets for 13.25 oz package, 6.5 servings
Save: Visit Dreamfield’s site for a dollar off coupon here
Usefulness: Cooking, posing with sexy meat sauces. Filling for those who can handle it.
Negative: Contains wheat and is a little bit spendy. Not filling for those in whom it induces hunger.
Found at: Super Target
Website: Dreamfields Pasta
Disclosure: This product was not provided to me for review and hasn’t affected what I think of the stuff.
Bravo, I could not agree more. Dreamfields has a permanent place in my pantry based on personal experience alone.
I'm new to this low-carb thing and to your site! I've done it for a mo now and lost 9 lbs and feel amazing! I've gotten a lot of help from your blog and FB and appreciate you! And you crack me up! Good on ya~
I love Dreamfields and will cry if it's ever discontinued. I have it once per week and look forward to it a great deal. I'm always careful not to overcook it and only make enough for that one sitting since I've heard it can lose it's low-carb properties if heated too long or reheated.
LOL@ dinosaur snot!!! I am usually overwhelmed by the sight and SMELL of foods like regular pasta and white bread etc…as for Dreamfields I have had it a couple of times over the past year. I only tried the lasagna noodles and my first experience wasn't good—I think I had too much of it building my lasagna the old traditional way I always had pre-lowcarb. It made me hungry and "nutty" for more! Next time I used a very minimal amt of the noodles along with plenty of meat, cheese and LC veggies and I was just fine. I think its a good option to have occasionally, but I prefer to use the shiritaki noodles more regularly. Love your blog!
Great experiment.
If I could eat wheat, I'd give it a try!
Glad you have found a pasta that works well for you!
I agree as well, I always pass out when I eat regular pasta and go into hibernation. In fact, I over cooked the dreamfields pasta once and that did give me a horrible upset stomach. But, cooking it properly I've never had a problem. I too am very sensitive to the ill effects of sugar but have never felt the usual high blood sugar feeling or extra cravings with dreamfields.
I've never tried the stuff, because I find I don't miss pasta at all. Not one tiny bit. I don't miss the noodles at all in lasagna. If my husband wants spaghetti, I'm just as happy only eating meatballs, sauce & cheese.
Everyone is different though! I miss beans so much that I have a small serving every couple of weeks. As long as I stick to one serving it doesn't knock me out of ketosis.
Summer you should get the black canned soybeans, they are way lower in carbs then regular beans. I put them in my low carb chili
I've used Dreamfields since it came on the market. It's one of the few low-carb products my family will happily eat. My kiddos don't know it's any different than regular pasta. We have it once every couple of weeks or so. It's staying in my pantry.
I keep eating it – it never caused me any problem in terms of BS – and by that, I mean Blood Sugar – of course! Maybe once a month, since I cook for people now! Primo stuff!
Thanks for your review. I find that if cooked properly Dreamfield's works fine for me. In fact, I have come to the conclusion that when I use Spaghetti squash, it leaves me hungry, Dreamfield's doesn't. I also have a diabetic friend who tested her blood sugar after and it had very little impact, so she gives it a thumbs up and is now happily eating spaghetti again!
Great post!! I too have had no problems with Dreamfields. I think as long as people get the message about not mixing/storing it with tomato sauce it would most likely be ok for anyone who is not sensitive to wheat. As we always say YMMV so folks should do their own testing of products.
I don't even cook it as long as the package recommends and it comes out fine. I don't eat it too often and for most cooked pasta dishes I use shirataki noodles but I prefer the Dreamfields in some things like pasta salad & macaroni & cheese. When I make big pots of chicken or turkey noodle soup in the winter I store the pasta (rotini usually) separately. When serving the leftover soup, I leave the noodles out while preparing the rest of the meal. Reheat the soup to piping hot then I put a spoonful of the (room temp) rotinis in each bowl and ladle the hot soup over that. No need to reheat the noodles!
I ate regular pasta a couple times a few years ago after not having any for 2 or3 years and I was appalled. It had such a heavy, starchy mouth feel that I couldn't believe I used to eat the stuff almost every day! I also felt lousy after eating it. My family members & friends never knows the difference if they are here when I make a pasta dish. In fact I always get rave reviews! So, though I don't use it too often, I'll continue to use Dreamfields especially now that it's summer and pasta salads are such an easy thing for me to make. Love having a huge bowl in the refrigerator for several days of lunches. I load it up with protein and lots of veggies & mayo! I'm making one today with a pound of fresh shrimp. Yum!
would you really chase down the poor Good Humour man and do bad things to him for ice cream Jaime?
Just a little warning not to stockpile too much of it. It seems to have a fairly short shelf life. After a couple of months, it develops white spots and becomes very brittle. I suspect that this degradation isn't a good sign for the magical carb suppression capability. I wonder if freezing it would help? Haven't tried that.
Excellent product with a taste I can certainly live with. Having been identified as a diabetic several months ago, I was lamenting striking pastas from my diet. I attended a workshop for those newly identified as diabetics and was given a box if Dreamfields to try. Both my wife and I love it…. And it is more filling, and longer lasting (appetite suppression) than the “store” pastas. Give it a try and….Bon appetit!