6 Calories in a Portiion of Noodles?!!!! Do they work?

blondielou1992

I came across a packet of noodles last night whilst staying at my boyfriends families house claiming to have 6 calories per noodle packet?!

Can this be true the company is called now slim, I hadn't heard of them before but surprisingly they didn't taste horrific!

I am now on the lookout to buy some packets myself, even though they are quite expensive at 6 calories a pack you cant go wrong!

has anyone used these before and know if they actually work?!!!

spoonyspork

YAY SOMEONE ELSE WHO LIKES THESE NOODLES!

They are 'konjac' noodles. You can find them in various types, flavors, and textures due to being mixed with different things such as tofu or other types of flour. My favorite are 'pasta zero' brand. Each pack contains 'two' servings for 15 calories each (the whole bag is about the same volume of food as a 200-calorie serving of well done pasta). The calories are all over the place, and comparing serving sizes and ingredients across brands, the pasta zero seems to be the most honest about the calories. Try searching for 'konjac', 'shiratake', and 'miracle' noodles. I find them at my local Asian market and Publix for around the same price ($2.50/bag).

Best way I've found to make them: drain, dry-fry some of the moisture out (no oil needed - just a non-stick pan), add in just a splash of soy sauce toward the end of cooking. Then, toss with whatever you want. Didn't like them as actual pasta replacement at first but loved them on their own... but the more I ate them the more I started using them as regular pasta.

Oh, and I eat them at least three days every week. There have been weeks I'll eat them every day, or a day where I eat them for every meal. I have lost close to 70 lbs now in 8 months. They're excellent for making you feel full on fewer calories, and when I've not hit my protein goal at the end of the day but only have a few calories left, these are great to liven up plain chicken breast.

Alatariel75

I've tried them, not a huge fan but if you like them - go for it! They are spendy but they really are that low in calories (if that's what you mean by 'work' - they're not a magic weight loss food but they are a low calorie alternative if you can stomach them).

randomtai

They are gross and smell like fish.

blondielou1992

spoonyspork wrote: »

YAY SOMEONE ELSE WHO LIKES THESE NOODLES!

They are 'konjac' noodles. You can find them in various types, flavors, and textures due to being mixed with different things such as tofu or other types of flour. My favorite are 'pasta zero' brand. Each pack contains 'two' servings for 15 calories each (the whole bag is about the same volume of food as a 200-calorie serving of well done pasta). The calories are all over the place, and comparing serving sizes and ingredients across brands, the pasta zero seems to be the most honest about the calories. Try searching for 'konjac', 'shiratake', and 'miracle' noodles. I find them at my local Asian market and Publix for around the same price ($2.50/bag).

Best way I've found to make them: drain, dry-fry some of the moisture out (no oil needed - just a non-stick pan), add in just a splash of soy sauce toward the end of cooking. Then, toss with whatever you want. Didn't like them as actual pasta replacement at first but loved them on their own... but the more I ate them the more I started using them as regular pasta.

Oh, and I eat them at least three days every week. There have been weeks I'll eat them every day, or a day where I eat them for every meal. I have lost close to 70 lbs now in 8 months. They're excellent for making you feel full on fewer calories, and when I've not hit my protein goal at the end of the day but only have a few calories left, these are great to liven up plain chicken breast.

That's great! thank you so much for that!!! x

spoonyspork

The weirdest complaint I find about these is that they smell like fish. They smell like what I associate with most 'Asian' food, which is more of a salt water/seaweed smell than fish. Rinsing and dry-frying gets rid of that completely. My incredibly picky eater son requests them over regular noodles (I don't want to restrict his diet but he likes them more than pasta!), and he haaaates fish, completely because of their 'fishy' smell.

Here's a pic I took during an experiment: the flat noodles are 30 calories worth fettuccine-style pasta zero (prepared as described above), and the other is 150 calories worth of ronzoni 150 spaghetti. About the same... the pasta zero weighs 140g and the spaghetti 160g.

scaryg53

Shirataki noodles and my digestive system do not mix.

Ready2Rock206

They are repulsive. I don't know how people can claim they don't taste bad. GROSS! I'll take the calorie hit and eat real noodles.

PeachyCarol

randomtai wrote: »

They are gross and smell like fish.

Pretty much sums up my opinion of them.

spoonyspork

Pfft. I ate mine tonight with salmon, seaweed, and purple carrots, which dyed the noodles neon blue

Just curious: have you guys tried them made as I described or just couldn't get over the smell? Because, I tried them long ago made per the instructions on the package and yeah... nasty. Not gunna do the 'you just haven't tried them cooked right!' thing because that drives me batty, but I'm curious. Someone on MFP actually described this way of making them which prompted me to give them another chance.

sodakat

I finally tried them, drained and rinsed well then dry fried and yep, they were good! I found them at an Asian market, then realized the next week that Walmart sells them.

I've been meaning to try them in pho, which I love. If they work well in pho I will be sooo happy, because an ounce of rice noodles just isn't enough for me.

I read about them in an old post here on MFP, which described the dry-frying method.

MKEgal

I've had shiratake a few times, nothing great, but makes for good volume at low calories.
Rinsing them before cooking helps the unusual taste.
Can't do much about the texture, which I think is too soft (compared to how I like pasta).

kristn__

They're great! Once you rinse them well and toss them with some type of sauce they're fantastic! They really take on the flavours that you use in your dish. I made a spicy peanut sauce with chicken and I couldn't get over how good the noodles were. Obviously they aren't exactly like pasta, they're a bit chewier but overall one of the best pasta subs I've tried

BruceHedtke

I rinse them well and then microwave the noodles for a few minutes. That eliminates the seaweed/fish smell. Then I just flavor them with parmesan cheese, black pepper and steamed bell peppers. If you like pasta...well, there really is no good pasta substitute. But these noodles give you a lot of volume for very few calories. Almost no nutritional value to them, either, so I wouldn't recommend eating them more than a few times a week if you're not hitting your macros with other foods.
I haven't dry fried them yet. Does that help with making the noodles less rubbery? Or is it no different than microwaving them, which leaves them pretty chewy and rubbery?

meganjcallaghan

I get shiritaki noodles. 2 different kinds. straight up yam fibre that are zero calorie and some that are yam fibre and tofu that are between 30 and 40 calories for the full package. they do tend to be a bit rubbery...and smell like fish straight out of the package. just rinse them well and season them with some spices and they'll taste just like whatever you put on them without the fishy thing

spoonyspork

sodakat wrote: »

I finally tried them, drained and rinsed well then dry fried and yep, they were good! I found them at an Asian market, then realized the next week that Walmart sells them.

I've been meaning to try them in pho, which I love. If they work well in pho I will be sooo happy, because an ounce of rice noodles just isn't enough for me.

I read about them in an old post here on MFP, which described the dry-frying method.

My favorite dish using them is pho! Works wonderfully. Most Asian-inspired dishes work really well using these, which makes sense. I think we saw the same post.

@BruceHedtke‌ -- I've not tried them that way to compare, but the dry-frying improves the texture over just straight from the package or boiled for a minute. Makes them more like al-dente pasta. The splash of soy adds a great taste.

@meganjcallaghan‌ -- be careful about the claims of zero calories. They're getting away with that by making the serving sizes impossibly small. Compairing different brands (some have more honest serving sizes), ingredients, and looking at the nutrition facts on the blocks of unshredded konjac, even the pure konjac has at least 20 calories per package. Not a whole lot, but it's there!

Kiku10

Shiritaki. Any sauce wipes out the trace smell. There are lots of pad thai recipes for shiritaki or "miracle noodles" out there. They taste good in Asian recipes, and in any sort of fettuccine type sauce. Not great for marinara.

randomtai

spoonyspork wrote: »

Pfft. I ate mine tonight with salmon, seaweed, and purple carrots, which dyed the noodles neon blue

Just curious: have you guys tried them made as I described or just couldn't get over the smell? Because, I tried them long ago made per the instructions on the package and yeah... nasty. Not gunna do the 'you just haven't tried them cooked right!' thing because that drives me batty, but I'm curious. Someone on MFP actually described this way of making them which prompted me to give them another chance.

I just don't like them. If I want noodles I will buy fresh Asian noodles.

WalkingAlong

You can buy the same konjac root fiber in powder form, it's called glucomannan. A bottle is not cheap but it goes a LONG way. I stir some in water and chug it when I'm trying to up my fiber. There are diet forums where people claim it really staves off hunger without calories, just like the miracle noodles do.

sodakat

FWIW, I was talking about the yam noodles.

WalkingAlong

sodakat wrote: »

FWIW, I was talking about the yam noodles.

I think that's the same thing?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/03/shiritaki-noodles-miraculous-or-what_n_5750022.html

_Terrapin_

I believe rinsing them prior to the start of use reduces the smell. And similar to tofu, they will take on the form of what you mix them with; they tend to be rubbery and IMO since I have to drive across town to get them I'd rather have fresh noodles and eat less and have a better taste bud experience.

meganjcallaghan

spoonyspork wrote: »

sodakat wrote: »

I finally tried them, drained and rinsed well then dry fried and yep, they were good! I found them at an Asian market, then realized the next week that Walmart sells them.

I've been meaning to try them in pho, which I love. If they work well in pho I will be sooo happy, because an ounce of rice noodles just isn't enough for me.

I read about them in an old post here on MFP, which described the dry-frying method.

My favorite dish using them is pho! Works wonderfully. Most Asian-inspired dishes work really well using these, which makes sense. I think we saw the same post.

@BruceHedtke‌ -- I've not tried them that way to compare, but the dry-frying improves the texture over just straight from the package or boiled for a minute. Makes them more like al-dente pasta. The splash of soy adds a great taste.

@meganjcallaghan‌ -- be careful about the claims of zero calories. They're getting away with that by making the serving sizes impossibly small. Compairing different brands (some have more honest serving sizes), ingredients, and looking at the nutrition facts on the blocks of unshredded konjac, even the pure konjac has at least 20 calories per package. Not a whole lot, but it's there!

meh...even if there WERE 20 calories, when you run a minimum of 20k every day, 20 calories ends up being pretty negligible. lol

3laine75

They're alright, I suppose (apart from the smell) but it's not that much more calories for plain old somen noodles so not really worth sacrificing taste IMO. If you like them, why not?