Has anyone tried the pasta from Dreamfieldfoods.com?
They advertise 5 net carbs. GI of 13.
I had some tonight in a restaurant, tastes just like any decent boxed
spaghetti. Much better than the other low carb pastas made with whole wheat
or soy.
I'm going to have to try it a few times and watch what I eat with it to
really see its affect on BG. But I had a large plate of it with some
chicken Parm and saw only a moderate rise in BG after 2 hours.

Ed

"Ed" <ekirstein*nospammers*catskill.net> wrote in message
...
> Has anyone tried the pasta from Dreamfieldfoods.com?
> They advertise 5 net carbs. GI of 13.
> I had some tonight in a restaurant, tastes just like any
> decent boxed spaghetti. Much better than the other low carb
> pastas made with whole wheat or soy.
> I'm going to have to try it a few times and watch what I eat
> with it to really see its affect on BG. But I had a large
> plate of it with some chicken Parm and saw only a moderate
> rise in BG after 2 hours.
>
> Ed
>

Hi Ed,

I ran 2 tests. One test cooking it regularly as spaghetti and
another to see if it reacted well to microwaving using elbow
pasta as simple Mac & cheese. A two hour test is not going to
show you what is actually happening. I noticed my BG
continued to rise VERY slowly from 130 to 160 over a period of
4 hours after eating it. It held at 160 for several hrs
before dropping quickly back to 134. Here is what I found
over a period of 7 hours (got tired and went to bed):
Morning FBG at 6 AM = 120
After eating pasta, 5:07 PM = 130
6:20 PM = 136
7:56 PM = 153
9:13 PM = 160
11:18 PM = 160
11:59 PM = 134
Both test results were similar, but watch out for the FBG the
next morning. Mine was 165 (Mac test)and 157 (spaghetti
test), on mornings following eating it. I was a little
disappointed. I love pasta, but I don't like my readings to
be that high for such a long period of time, nor do I like to
wake to nasty numbers. Of course, "Your mileage may vary". I
bought 10 lbs by mail-order for about $25+$5 shipping. I
think it will last me a LONG time. I did have a good size
plate full each time, maybe a smaller portion, or as a side
would make a difference. These would be similar to restaurant
size portions and it was NOT over cooked. I intend to run a
similar test with regular el cheapo stuff. Damn, I hate to
have to give up pasta. Cheers, Wizzzer

In article >,
"Ed" <ekirstein*nospammers*catskill.net> wrote:

> Has anyone tried the pasta from Dreamfieldfoods.com?
> They advertise 5 net carbs. GI of 13.
> I had some tonight in a restaurant, tastes just like any decent boxed
> spaghetti. Much better than the other low carb pastas made with whole wheat
> or soy.
> I'm going to have to try it a few times and watch what I eat with it to
> really see its affect on BG. But I had a large plate of it with some
> chicken Parm and saw only a moderate rise in BG after 2 hours.

There are a variety of ways different people respond to Dreamfields:

1. Some experience little rise in BG.
2. Some experience a long late rise in BG, sometimes rather high.
3. Some experience GI distress. I get the runs if I eat it two days in
a row.

And that's just a few examples. It's a real YMMV situation.

Priscilla

Priscilla H. Ballou wrote:


> There are a variety of ways different people respond to Dreamfields:
>
> 1. Some experience little rise in BG.
> 2. Some experience a long late rise in BG, sometimes rather high.
> 3. Some experience GI distress. I get the runs if I eat it two days in
> a row.
>
> And that's just a few examples. It's a real YMMV situation.
>

DH, the DM tolerates it well. No spikes. We eat half of the portion on
the box. Lately I've had gastric distress from it. Didn't before.

Janet


--
-----------
Janet Wilder
The Road Princess
http://janetwilder.blogspot.com

Here's my two cents...

I took a look at both their online literature and their patent, and, from what I can tell, this is just fiber enriched pasta. Fiber, as we all know, prevents food from digesting. It's one of the reasons you don't take vitamins with fiber. It can also slow down digestion, which could be a reason for the delayed BG impact. Although they would like you to think this is rocket science, I don't think it is. What concerns me the most about their literature is nowhere do they test the BG rise in subjects eating real pasta, so there's nothing to compare the 'protected carbs' numbers with.

I'm pre-diabetic and don't measure my BG, but I do follow a low carb way of eating and if I eat carbs, I gain weight. Needless to say, I gained a LOT eating an 8 oz. portion of dreamfields every day for about a month. About 30 pounds. I should say that 8 oz. IS 4 servings, so that's quite a bit of pasta AND I cooked it for 4 minutes past the what the directions said to cook it.

It is my understanding that the longer you cook it, the more it breaks down, the more digestible it becomes. For those that grew up with beefaroni and like their pasta on the mushy side, al dente pasta can take some getting used to.

These days I

1. Cook it for 1 minute LESS than the package says
2. Eat only a 2 oz. portion (I swear it's like 5 bites)
3. Eat it only once or twice a week

Within that context I'm doing fine/losing weight again.

"Priscilla H. Ballou" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Ed" <ekirstein*nospammers*catskill.net> wrote:
>
>> Has anyone tried the pasta from Dreamfieldfoods.com?
>> They advertise 5 net carbs. GI of 13.
>> I had some tonight in a restaurant, tastes just like any decent boxed
>> spaghetti. Much better than the other low carb pastas made with whole
>> wheat
>> or soy.
>> I'm going to have to try it a few times and watch what I eat with it to
>> really see its affect on BG. But I had a large plate of it with some
>> chicken Parm and saw only a moderate rise in BG after 2 hours.
>
> There are a variety of ways different people respond to Dreamfields:
>
> 1. Some experience little rise in BG.
> 2. Some experience a long late rise in BG, sometimes rather high.
> 3. Some experience GI distress. I get the runs if I eat it two days in
> a row.
>
> And that's just a few examples. It's a real YMMV situation.
>
> Priscilla

All very interesting. I had Dreamfield at a local restaurant, ate a side
dish plate with Chicken Parm. In the past, I've had this meal with regular
pasta and didn't have much rise from it. So, I thought it would be even
better with this pasta. Wrong. My 2 hr lunch number that day was 115, but
2 hrs after this Dreamfield dinner, I was up to 133. What really bothered
me was that I woke up next morning at 126, was 126 after 2hr breakfast and
139 after a low carb lunch. So readings have been high for me all day.
After a good dinner of Salmon and salad and veggies, I went down to 101
which is more normal for me. I'll have to test this out more times, because
I also dropped taking glyburide this week and went to 500mg of Metformin. I
wasnt' sure if I had high BG on Friday because of the Dreamfield or because
of the lack of glyburide. Time and Testing will tell, but appreciate
everyone's input on the topic.

Ed

The only way I can safely eat Dreamfields is to mix 10 strands of it with 10
strands of regular pasta and then bulk up the rest of the plate with
julienne sliced zuchini that is stir fried.

The regular pasta hits within 1 hour and fades out at 2 hours just as the
Dreamfields is coming on. The zuchini has little, if any, carb effect. The
small quantities of pasta of either variety don't do much damage to my bg
levels while the total combo gives me a big plate of what seems like
"pasta."

It's pretty good and no body damage!!!

Of course...some of us aren't yet willing to make these little compromises.

"Wizzzer" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Ed" <ekirstein*nospammers*catskill.net> wrote in message
> ...
>> Has anyone tried the pasta from Dreamfieldfoods.com?
>> They advertise 5 net carbs. GI of 13.
>> I had some tonight in a restaurant, tastes just like any decent boxed
>> spaghetti. Much better than the other low carb pastas made with whole
>> wheat or soy.
>> I'm going to have to try it a few times and watch what I eat with it to
>> really see its affect on BG. But I had a large plate of it with some
>> chicken Parm and saw only a moderate rise in BG after 2 hours.
>>
>> Ed
>>
>
> Hi Ed,
>
> I ran 2 tests. One test cooking it regularly as spaghetti and another to
> see if it reacted well to microwaving using elbow pasta as simple Mac &
> cheese. A two hour test is not going to show you what is actually
> happening. I noticed my BG continued to rise VERY slowly from 130 to 160
> over a period of 4 hours after eating it. It held at 160 for several hrs
> before dropping quickly back to 134. Here is what I found over a period
> of 7 hours (got tired and went to bed):
> Morning FBG at 6 AM = 120
> After eating pasta, 5:07 PM = 130
> 6:20 PM = 136
> 7:56 PM = 153
> 9:13 PM = 160
> 11:18 PM = 160
> 11:59 PM = 134
> Both test results were similar, but watch out for the FBG the next
> morning. Mine was 165 (Mac test)and 157 (spaghetti test), on mornings
> following eating it. I was a little disappointed. I love pasta, but I
> don't like my readings to be that high for such a long period of time, nor
> do I like to wake to nasty numbers. Of course, "Your mileage may vary".
> I bought 10 lbs by mail-order for about $25+$5 shipping. I think it will
> last me a LONG time. I did have a good size plate full each time, maybe a
> smaller portion, or as a side would make a difference. These would be
> similar to restaurant size portions and it was NOT over cooked. I intend
> to run a similar test with regular el cheapo stuff. Damn, I hate to have
> to give up pasta. Cheers, Wizzzer

"Uncle Enrico" > wrote in message
news
> The only way I can safely eat Dreamfields is to mix 10
> strands of it with 10 strands of regular pasta and then
> bulk up the rest of the plate with julienne sliced zuchini
> that is stir fried.
>

Uncle Enrico,

I'm not crazy about adding zuchini to my spaghetti, but
that's not a bad idea to mix Dreamfield's with regular pasta.
My most recent trial of Dreamfield's actually DROPPED my BG 10
points to 99 the first hour and another 10 points to 89 the
second hour, before starting it's usual long term upward trend
to 160. By mixing it, one type may complement the other,
possibly giving us the best of both worlds, a
flattening/averaging effect and shorter term spike. I will
give it a go. BTW, I've never hit 89 before, always triple
digits. Could be a fluke or this cockeyed meter, although the
second test seems to confirm the first. I just received the
new Accu-Chek Plus meter and will be able to confirm my
readings now. Checked my FBG with it this morning, Dave was
right, it's really great.

Cheers, Wizzzer (T2 - looking for his spaghetti bib)

Wizzzer wrote:

> "Uncle Enrico" > wrote in message
> news >
>> The only way I can safely eat Dreamfields is to mix 10 strands of it
>> with 10 strands of regular pasta and then bulk up the rest of the
>> plate with julienne sliced zuchini that is stir fried.
>>
>
> Uncle Enrico,
>
> I'm not crazy about adding zuchini to my spaghetti, but that's not a
> bad idea to mix Dreamfield's with regular pasta. My most recent trial of
> Dreamfield's actually DROPPED my BG 10 points to 99 the first hour and
> another 10 points to 89 the second hour, before starting it's usual long
> term upward trend to 160. By mixing it, one type may complement the
> other, possibly giving us the best of both worlds, a
> flattening/averaging effect and shorter term spike. I will give it a
> go. BTW, I've never hit 89 before, always triple digits. Could be a
> fluke or this cockeyed meter, although the second test seems to confirm
> the first. I just received the new Accu-Chek Plus meter and will be
> able to confirm my readings now. Checked my FBG with it this morning,
> Dave was right, it's really great.
>
> Cheers, Wizzzer (T2 - looking for his spaghetti bib)

Here's something we do with Dreamfields:

For two servings:

6-8 medium to large raw shrimp, peeled and diveined
Half of a small zuchinni-cubed
Half of a small yellow Squash-cubed
Six white, button mushrooms-cubed
1 tblespoon of chopped shallot
1 small clove of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup Ragu brand low-fat Alfredo sauce.
2 ounces (dry) Dreamfields linguini cooked "exactly" according to
directions (use a timer)

Saute shallot and garlic in the oil, add the squash and mushrooms. Saute
until squash is soft. Add the shrimp and saute until it just becomes
opaque. Add the sauce and stir until it is heated. Turn off the heat and
stir in the pasta.

This makes two very large servings of a yummy, healthy dinner.

Janet

--
-----------
Janet Wilder
The Road Princess
http://janetwilder.blogspot.com

> Here's something we do with Dreamfields:
>
> For two servings:
>
> 6-8 medium to large raw shrimp, peeled and diveined
> Half of a small zuchinni-cubed
> Half of a small yellow Squash-cubed
> Six white, button mushrooms-cubed
> 1 tblespoon of chopped shallot
> 1 small clove of garlic, chopped
> 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
> 3/4 cup Ragu brand low-fat Alfredo sauce.
> 2 ounces (dry) Dreamfields linguini cooked "exactly"
> according to directions (use a timer)
>
> Saute shallot and garlic in the oil, add the squash and
> mushrooms. Saute until squash is soft. Add the shrimp and
> saute until it just becomes opaque. Add the sauce and stir
> until it is heated. Turn off the heat and stir in the pasta.
>
> This makes two very large servings of a yummy, healthy
> dinner.
>
> Janet
>

That sounds wonderful, Janet. But, alas, D-W is deathly
allergic to shellfish. She grabbed a French fry off my plate
in a Greek restaurant once and ended up in the hospital,
because they had fried a few shrimp in the same oil. One
lousy French fry! This small restaurant didn't even have fish
or shrimp on the menu, or normally she would ask. An
employee, tired of gyros, decided to deep fry a few shrimp for
his lunch. Now that my French fry allotment has been GREATLY
reduced, at least I don't have to worry about her snagging
any.

Cheers, Wizzzer

Wizzzer wrote:
>> Here's something we do with Dreamfields:
>>
>> For two servings:
>>
>> 6-8 medium to large raw shrimp, peeled and diveined
>> Half of a small zuchinni-cubed
>> Half of a small yellow Squash-cubed
>> Six white, button mushrooms-cubed
>> 1 tblespoon of chopped shallot
>> 1 small clove of garlic, chopped
>> 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
>> 3/4 cup Ragu brand low-fat Alfredo sauce.
>> 2 ounces (dry) Dreamfields linguini cooked "exactly" according to
>> directions (use a timer)
>>
>> Saute shallot and garlic in the oil, add the squash and mushrooms.
>> Saute until squash is soft. Add the shrimp and saute until it just
>> becomes opaque. Add the sauce and stir until it is heated. Turn off
>> the heat and stir in the pasta.
>>
>> This makes two very large servings of a yummy, healthy dinner.
>>
>> Janet
>>
>
> That sounds wonderful, Janet. But, alas, D-W is deathly allergic to
> shellfish. She grabbed a French fry off my plate in a Greek restaurant
> once and ended up in the hospital, because they had fried a few shrimp
> in the same oil. One lousy French fry! This small restaurant didn't
> even have fish or shrimp on the menu, or normally she would ask. An
> employee, tired of gyros, decided to deep fry a few shrimp for his
> lunch. Now that my French fry allotment has been GREATLY reduced, at
> least I don't have to worry about her snagging any.
>
> Cheers, Wizzzer

Wizzer,

Substitute some chunks of cooked chicken, drained and rinsed canned tuna
or some cooked salmon. You can just leave out the shrimp and it still
tastes good.

Janet

--
-----------
Janet Wilder
The Road Princess
http://janetwilder.blogspot.com

>
> Substitute some chunks of cooked chicken, drained and rinsed
> canned tuna or some cooked salmon. You can just leave out
> the shrimp and it still tastes good.
>
> Janet
>

This looks like a job for my "Slicer - Dicer" as seen on
TV. What a great little gadget. I saw them on an infomercial
for $49 and thought it was a bit steep. I bought mine on eBay
for $10 and got a handy dandy strawberry/egg/radish slicer
with it. It is the handiest kitchen tool I've ever used.
Suz thin slices strawberries for her cereal every morning with
the extra gizmo. I give the slicer - dicer a workout for
tasty salads or slaw every day. After using it, I wouldn't
hesitate to pay full price. I've had it for about a month and
already have gotten more than my money's worth out of it.
Mine does the 1/4 inch size, some do both 1/4 and 1/2". I'd
love to have both.

Cheers, Wizzzer

In article >,
"Ed" <ekirstein*nospammers*catskill.net> wrote:

> Can you point me to a website that discusses the "clinical threshold for
> metformin". I'd like to be armed with info when I see the doctor.

Frankly, I think that if he doesn't know the standard minimum
therapeutic dosage, he shouldn't be prescribing it, but that's just me.
While the minimum therapeutic dosage is generally 1500 mg a day, that's
not cast in stone. I started noticing positive effects at 1000 mg a
day, but I seem to respond to low doses of many meds.

> Meantime, I'm doubling up on the tablets to 1000mg/day till I see the doc on
> Thursday. Maybe I'll see a difference. Surely, it can't hurt to take that
> much.

You're not liable to notice any positive effects for a while, plus
raising the dosage so sharply may put you in the path of the GI side
effects for which metformin is famous. Generally speaking, it's not a
good idea to make drastic changes in dosage of ANY medication without
even consulting with the prescriber. With metformin, you want to ramp
up SLOWLY. My endo had me moving up at 250 mg every three weeks, just
to give you a idea. You may wish you hadn't made plans to go anywhere
for a week with your sharp increase. I'm just saying, is all! ;-)

Priscilla

"Ed" <ekirstein*nospammers*catskill.net> wrote in message
...
> Can you point me to a website that discusses the "clinical threshold for
> metformin".

The dosage instructions in my packet talk about "the usual starting dose" as
1500. I'm doing fine on 1000, and am contemplating dropping it back to
500...

I wouldn't get too hung up on your dosage. If you're doing the best you can
with diet and exercise and your bgs are still uncontrolled, then you ought
to talk to your doc about upping the metformin. But the diet is the first
key, swiftly followed by exercise.

Nicky.

--
A1c 10.5/5.4/<6 T2 DX 05/2004
1g Metformin, 100ug Thyroxine
95/73/72Kg

"Ed" <ekirstein*nospammers*catskill.net> wrote in message
...
> Has anyone tried the pasta from Dreamfieldfoods.com?
> They advertise 5 net carbs. GI of 13.
> I had some tonight in a restaurant, tastes just like any decent boxed
> spaghetti. Much better than the other low carb pastas made with whole
wheat
> or soy.
> I'm going to have to try it a few times and watch what I eat with it to
> really see its affect on BG. But I had a large plate of it with some
> chicken Parm and saw only a moderate rise in BG after 2 hours.

Yep. #1, I didn't like the taste of it. #2, it spiked me and regular pasta
does not. Into the trash it went. You might try testing again in 3 or 4
hours after eating. Some people find they spike with it then.

--
See my webpage:
http://mysite.verizon.net/juliebove/index.htm

"Wizzzer" > wrote in message
...
> "Uncle Enrico" > wrote in message
> news
>> The only way I can safely eat Dreamfields is to mix 10 strands of it with
>> 10 strands of regular pasta and then bulk up the rest of the plate with
>> julienne sliced zuchini that is stir fried.
>
> Uncle Enrico,
>
> I'm not crazy about adding zuchini to my spaghetti, but that's not a
> bad idea to mix Dreamfield's with regular pasta.

The addition of julienne sliced zucchini to pasta is one of the
top-ten-best-pieces-of-advice I've ever gotten on this
newsgroup. -Unfortunately, I don't remember who gave it to me.

The portions I described above give me a satisfying portion and wonderful bg
numbers--terrific numbers really.

If we lived close, I'd come over and fix you a plate of it.

> The addition of julienne sliced zucchini to pasta is one of
> the top-ten-best-pieces-of-advice I've ever gotten on this
> newsgroup. -Unfortunately, I don't remember who gave it to
> me.
>
> The portions I described above give me a satisfying portion
> and wonderful bg numbers--terrific numbers really.
>
> If we lived close, I'd come over and fix you a plate of it.

Hi Enrico,

I'll have to pick up a zucchini and try it. I've never
tried it stir fried, but after trying to get rid of several
thousand large ones produced by the zucchini friendly soil in
my overly fertile garden, it killed me on zukes for awhile. I
ate it a jillion ways and ran out of friends to give them to.
I never planted them again. However, as my dear mother used
to say "you could put dog crap in alfredo sauce and I'd eat
it". (Zucchini would be a hell of a lot easier to get down.)
;-) I'll give it a try.
Cheers, Wizzzer