Lately, my Facebook feed has been filled with ads for KNOW foods Keto KNOW Better Waffles. They look impressive if you’re currently attending keto diet school (if you are low-carbing) with their claims of no gluten, no grains, no preservatives. Of course, I had to investigate.
What’s in them for $10 for 4 waffles? Water, almonds, allulose, dried egg whites, fiber, flax, coconut flour, chia and a few more. Sounds okay so far…but wait, what is allulose?
The food giant Tate & Lyle manufactures all sorts of products like “calorie reduction solutions” and texturants like starches. Dolcia Prima is a new sweetener product made from allulose, which they call a “rare sugar.” Apparently, it is naturally occurring in figs, raisins, and certain other foods. Sounds healthy so far, right?
But wait! Tate & Lyle isn’t making this from figs and raisins. They are extracting allulose from corn. They use an “enzymatic conversion process” to produce this low-calorie sweetener from corn. That’s right, corn, which also produces high-fructose corn syrup and ethanol.
Of course, allulose has been approved for use in the U.S., but not in Europe (where they traditionally are more suspicious of sneaky ingredients).
With the impending mandate for food producers to list added sugars on their labels, companies are scrambling. They want their added sugars to look as low as possible. Thus, sweetener producers are heavily lobbying for their products to not be considered a sugar.
Back to the waffles.
There are 250 calories and 18 grams of protein per classic waffle. They use funny-business math to claim only 4 “net carbs.”
My verdict. If you want a waffle, eat a waffle. If you want protein, eat an egg, some yogurt, or almonds.
Know Better Waffles are not healthy. They are filled with a weird manufactured sweetener and weird added fiber.
These waffles are yet another example of looking at what isn’t in a food, rather what IS in a food. Eat real food!