Low-Carb LC-NY Style Plain Bagels by LC Foods (3 Pack) Review

Low-Carb LC-NY Style Plain Bagels by LC Foods

We are reviewing all of LC-Foods classic bagels – Plain, Cinnamon Raisin and Everything and will add links as we publish them.

Bagels are America’s Breakfast Comfort Food

Bagels are a comfort food. A breakfast comfort food. At least I have always thought so. I used to eat them every week. Three of them on Sundays! This was long before my low carb days. This was back when I’d stop at Bruegger’s Bagels and get a couple with cream cheese during the week–and then 3 on Sunday.

Back then bagels were considered a “healthy” low-fat food. This was probably due to the horrible marketing of “healthy whole grains” which was the bread industry’s way of making their products sound heathy to the masses. I think eating bagels every week helped to contribute to my excessive weight gain and eventual diagnosis of diabetes.

When the main ingredient of a bagel is Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid) and sugar, then a bagel is not good for a low carb dieter. The way LC Foods makes their bagels safe for low carb dieters and diabetics is by using resistant wheat starch instead of enriched wheat flour as a main ingredient.

The Science of Resistant Starches

There are three types of starches–rapidly digested starch (which breaks down quickly into simple sugars), slowly digested starch (like whole barley) and resistant starch (which reaches the large intestine without being broken down into sugars at all). Most of LC Foods’ products use resistant starches as part of their main ingredients.

From Wikipedia:

When isolated resistant starch is used to substitute for flour in foods, the glycemic response of that food is reduced. There is preliminary evidence that resistant starch, used as a substitute for refined carbohydrate, may increase insulin sensitivity and may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Ok that’s a lot of science, but what that really means is that resistant starches pass through the digestive system mostly untouched and not absorbed or processed until they reach the large intestine where it is consumed or fermented by colonic bacteria.

For most people, resistant starches will not cause gas or a laxative effect but each person’s body is different and some people will not be affected but some will. When you use a product the includes resistant starch, you will need to understand how much your body can tolerate.

The LC-NY Style Plain Bagel Taste Test

I’ve tried a couple of different Low Carb bagels over the years and I’m not impressed. Some of them were marketed as Zero Carb bagels with oat fiber and other ingredients making up the net carbs–they added up to zero net carbs but it definitely didn’t sound correct. I’ve even seen some having filtered water as the first ingredient! How do you get a solid bagel if the first ingredient is water! So I was a little skeptical.

LC Foods sent me a package of 3 LC-NY Style Plain Bagels. The bagels were fresh and looked like real bagels. The first few ingredients are wheat protein isolates (which helps maintain the gluten-like characteristics of flours that lack gluten), resistant wheat starch, flaxseed meal, olive oil, and vital wheat gluten. These ingredients give the bagels their look, smell and feel. The sweeteners used are organic stevia rebaudiana and natural lo han guo monk fruit which combined helps give the bagel a slightly sweet taste.

I sliced open a bagel and put it in the toaster. After about 90 seconds I put an ounce of cream cheese on each half and gave it a bite. The toasted bagel was crisp and mostly tasted like a regular bagel–just lighter and airier than a regular bagel. The bagels were not overly dense like the old bagels I was used to and that was a pleasant surprise. The bagels filled me up with taste–not unwanted bulk. The crust was crisp and crunchy as I expected. The interior was not dense but chewy, springy and a little doughy. These were very pleasant bagels.

Total carbs per bagel equals 7 grams but subtract out the 5.5 grams of fiber and you get 1.5 net carbs with almost 9 grams of protein and only 86 calories. Total fat equals only 2.7 grams so if you are trying to add extra fat into your low carb lifestyle, top them with cream cheese, almond butter, butter or even an egg!. Thanks LC Foods for a great tasting low-carb bagel!

LC-NY Style Plain Bagels Nutrition Facts

• Serving Size 1 bagel (115g)
• Servings per Container 3
• Calories 86
• Calories from Fat 24
• Total Fat 2.7g
• Saturated Fat 0g
• Trans Fat 0g
• Cholesterol 0mg
• Sodium 278mg
• Total Carbohydrate 7g*
• Dietary Fiber 5.5g*
• Sugars 0g
• Sugar Alcohols 0g
• Protein 8.4g

Ingredients: Wheat protein isolates, resistant wheat starch, flaxseed meal, olive oil, vital wheat gluten, instant dry yeast, inulin (chicory root) fiber, salt, calcium propionate (as a preservative), vinegar, organic stevia rebaudiana leaf natural herbal extracts, natural lo han guo monk fruit.

Net Carbs as listed by the manufacturer on the package = 1.5g per serving.

Allergen Warning: Processed in a facility that uses wheat gluten & nuts.

This post is sponsored by LC Foods; the opinions expressed are honest and my own. There are links in this post that may lead to revenue for CarbSmart if you click through and purchase the product on external web sites.