ZERO calorie food?

LethaSue
LethaSue Posts: 285 Member
edited October 7 in Food and Nutrition
Today I was at a health food store and saw a line of salad dressings that were zero calories, I looked some more and noticed they had jellys, marshmallow cream, peanut butter, maple syrup, dips and cream sauces etc... All zero calorie. I have to question something that is zero calories. I wonder if it can even be classified as "food"? I think the brand was Waldens or something to that effect. Has anyone heard of it, tried it, or know if it is safe? Caught my interest, but I am kinda afraid of it.

Replies

  • StevLL
    StevLL Posts: 921 Member
    My thoughts are if it's zero it can't be real food, so beware.
  • I had Kraf fat free italian dressing on my salad at lunch and it was tasty, but my thought while I was eating it was this can't be real food.
  • munchkinhugs
    munchkinhugs Posts: 278 Member
    Hmm.. that doesn't sound like food. Maybe when you open the container you'll find a surprise .. air!

    Could be a secret ploy to get everyone on the air diet?


    S
  • mugsisme
    mugsisme Posts: 127 Member
    There are two I can think of off hand.
    Water.
    Seltzer.

    Like those no fat foods that have tons of sugar to make up for the taste? Read the whole label very carefully. Look at the serving size. Not kidding ... one time I noticed the croutons said 14. (I am talking about the fried ones you put into soup, not big salad ones. These are TINY.)

    Also look at a serving size of Pam. It is like spraying for 2 seconds or something like that. How can that coat a pan?
  • LethaSue
    LethaSue Posts: 285 Member
    Fat free still does not mean calorie free. I am sure even the fat free dressing had at least 25 calories a tbls if not more. This stuff was calorie free.
  • LethaSue
    LethaSue Posts: 285 Member
    These are not just fat free.................. they are calorie free.
  • mugsisme
    mugsisme Posts: 127 Member
    http://www.waldenfarms.com/index.html

    Is that what you found? Read the nutritional information. First ingredient. Water. Then a bunch of chemicals. Do you really want to put that into your body?
  • joceyofdoom
    joceyofdoom Posts: 21 Member
    http://www.waldenfarms.com/index.html

    Is that what you found? Read the nutritional information. First ingredient. Water. Then a bunch of chemicals. Do you really want to put that into your body?

    I read some of the different ones, and there were really only one or two chemicals, mostly thickeners. Granted, I didn't look at the ice cream sauces and sweet things -- just the dressings and sauces. They had spices and what not.

    I've actually had some of the fruit spreads, and they taste pretty good!
  • LethaSue
    LethaSue Posts: 285 Member
    I didn't buy any because to me it just seemed too weird. It is walden farms, after you said that I googled it and that is what it is. They actually looked good, but it says they have been around since 72, so I am thinking it must not be that good or it would of been popular enough that everyone would of heard of it by now
  • 2Bgoddess
    2Bgoddess Posts: 1,096 Member
    I didn't buy any because to me it just seemed too weird. It is walden farms, after you said that I googled it and that is what it is. They actually looked good, but it says they have been around since 72, so I am thinking it must not be that good or it would of been popular enough that everyone would of heard of it by now

    Very big, very popular here. (Southern Ontario) I have 3 flavors of their dressing in my fridge rightnow. I love them. They were actually recommended to me by my nutritionist.

    And look at any commercial dressing, they're filled with the same stuff, plus fat and sugar.
  • RoboLikes
    RoboLikes Posts: 519 Member
    I read through the nutrition label and it seems most of the ingredients you can find in other foods, it doesnt seem too chemically to me. I found a big forum where they review quite a bit of their products if you want to take a look.

    http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=404940&page=1
  • peacefulwhisper
    peacefulwhisper Posts: 33 Member
    Just read up on this product. It looks great. I want to get the dressings, chocolate spread and mayo. I live in Newmarket, Ontario. WHere did you see these products
  • merie08
    merie08 Posts: 114 Member
    I just bought the zero calorie ranch and all the ingredients are real food, and it tastes like ranch. I think this is awesome since I love ranch but have had to stop eating it because it has so much calories in it.
  • LethaSue
    LethaSue Posts: 285 Member
    I live in West Texas and they were at a health food store. I also have seen a few of them at Albertsons before. I found their web site after someone mentioned the correct name.
    Walden farms zero calorie foods
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
    dill pickle = 0
  • Mirabilis
    Mirabilis Posts: 312 Member
    Lemon juice + water + splenda = lemonade.

    Too liquid? Freeze it and you get popsicles.

    If you're talking REAL food, celery is great but it still has some calories.

    Bolthouse Farms makes some very good salad dressings (fat/oil free) such as Oriental Ginger Balsamic Vinaigrette at 15cal per tbsp. My favourite is a Raspberry Merlot vinaigrette. It goes a looong way, that tbsp.

    Without any nutritional value, is it still food? That's a point to be argued.

    Mirii
  • Mirabilis
    Mirabilis Posts: 312 Member
    I just went to the website and all is now clear.

    The key ingredients are cellulose gel and cellulose fibre. We can't digest that so it passes right through. It's the equivalent of eating paper. I knew that this was something under development, but not that it had got to this stage.

    Mind you, I don't mind eating paper if it tastes good.

    EDIT -- what -exactly- is the vegetable fibre in the mayo?

    Mirii
  • mshidden
    mshidden Posts: 24 Member
    ... celery is great but it still has some calories.


    I wanted to point this out because it's a cool fact about celery

    "The common misconception is that celery contains "negative calories". All foods contain calories. The way you must look at it is how many calories does one stalk of celery contain, versus how many calories it takes to digest it. According to the nutrition data website one 8 inch celery stalk contain about 6 calories. Many people believe you actually burn that off when chewing. Though celery does take a rather conscious effort to chew, chewing burns about the same amount as watching the grass grow. The calorie loss is going to be during the digestion of the celery.

    Celery is actually loaded with latent energy, but the plant's composition only allows us to metabolize a small amount. The latent energy is packed tightly in the form of cellulose; a complex sugar which humans are unable to metabolize. It's not that the celery is difficult to digest, but rather it provides fewer calories than what is needed to digest it - so the overall effect is "negative calories".

    Keep in mind, the amount of calories you lose is very minimal. This is not the miracle diet food. The amount of calories lost will probably be no more than 10-12 calories a day. The good thing is celery can quickly satiate your hunger, preventing you from eating other high-calorie foods.

    Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_it_true_that_celery_has_negative_calories#ixzz1iYknkvnU"
  • brookepenni
    brookepenni Posts: 787 Member
    ... celery is great but it still has some calories.


    I wanted to point this out because it's a cool fact about celery

    The good thing is celery can quickly satiate your hunger, preventing you from eating other high-calorie foods.

    Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_it_true_that_celery_has_negative_calories#ixzz1iYknkvnU"

    Hehe unless you find the stuff repulsive! Even the smell is grose haha!

    But in seriousness - good post. I wish everyone on here would read it. Perhaps we might have a week off from posts containing 'eat celory because its negative and you'll get skinny really, really fast'.... :drinker:
  • Ozzyzmommy
    Ozzyzmommy Posts: 142 Member
    I like that I cant believe it's not butter spray, and diet soda is Zero calories...
    Since reading reply's I would like to find and try some salad dressing...
  • ninjakitty419
    ninjakitty419 Posts: 349 Member


    Also look at a serving size of Pam. It is like spraying for 2 seconds or something like that. How can that coat a pan?

    I dont count seconds while I am coating my pans but now that I count two seconds in my head Im sure that is all the longer I hold it. I rarely use Pam though.
  • ashmitatua
    ashmitatua Posts: 35 Member
    While zero calorie food is good, always check the carb content. When losing weight carb is your arch ememy. Most of these 0-cal food has a lot of carb and all carbs are from sugar. So I would say beaware of those
  • ninjakitty419
    ninjakitty419 Posts: 349 Member
    [/quote]

    Hehe unless you find the stuff repulsive! Even the smell is grose haha!

    But in seriousness - good post. I wish everyone on here would read it. Perhaps we might have a week off from posts containing 'eat celory because its negative and you'll get skinny really, really fast'.... :drinker:
    [/quote]

    Im with you. I hate the smell. I cant even eat carrots and stuff that have been in a tray next to it because the taste soaks in.
  • chubbychickers
    chubbychickers Posts: 8 Member
    You have to be careful with foods that state "zero calorie" because according to the FDA the manufacturer can rate the calories by portion so that if the product has less than a full calorie it can be rated as "zero" calorie. The problem is that when you start multiplying the servings, it actually adds up to calories. I don't know if this is the case here, but this was a good clue that I learned from weight watchers about being wary of "zero" calories. I hope this helps. Good luck to you.
  • cardinalfan76
    cardinalfan76 Posts: 2 Member
    I have used several of the Walden Farms products and enjoyed most of them. The Honey Dijon Mustard dressing is down right tasty. Bacon Ranch is also really good. They have a chocolate sauce that is perfect for fruit dipping. They also have several types of syrup. The fruit spreads are OK if you are really wanting something like that, but the texture is weird. The mayo is OK, but I prefer to just use Light Mayo sparingly. I would NOT recommend the peanut butter. Honestly, I just don't see how that stuff ever made it through quality control...blah!
  • habee2
    habee2 Posts: 1
    I use zero calorie foods all the time! I love some of the products from Walden Farms and some of the Miracle Noodles varieties. I rarely use the products as they come. Instead, I "doctor them up" with extra herbs, spices, and/or other seasoning agents. I also use them in lots of my own recipe creations. One of my faves is my zero calorie spaghetti. In fact, I had it for dinner just last night! Low carb dieters who are more worried about carb grams than they are overall calorie content or fat grams can top the "pasta" with cheese or meat. It's really good!

    http://habee.hubpages.com/hub/Zero-Calorie-Foods-Spaghetti
  • byukid
    byukid Posts: 55
    lol at the chemical fearmongering. Every time you eat, you put chemicals into your body. You are made of chemicals. Walden farms is fine, though I wouldn't live off anything because there's little to no usable energy. They are perfectly fine otherwise.
  • donnantx
    donnantx Posts: 76
    I joined another one of those "weight loss places" a couple of months ago (should of just threw my $$ out the window) anyway I had to buy the Walden farms items: Caesar dressing, Ranch Dressing, BBQ sauce and a few others I cant even remember but I personally did not like the taste at all....ended up throwing more money down the drain.
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