There's a new low carb brand in town and we are very excited to bring you a detailed review on the spread of goodies pictured below from ADOR Health (get 10% off if you order from their website and use the code Bluecircle#1). We thought it would be very interesting to bring you not one, not two, but three different perspectives and experiences of people with (type 1) diabetes who tried these snacks. Nupur who's on low carb (Bernstein), Snehal who eats regular Indian meals and Rohan who does moderate carb will share their experiences and blood sugars after eating each of these products!

Nupur's experience

1. Taste - Taste wise my favourite was the namkeen.
2. Effect on sugars - First day I excitedly ripped open the biscuits and wolfed down 6 of them at one go! (couldn't remember the last time I'd eaten biscuits out of a packet, which explains the quantity and excitement). My need for extreme balance and symmetry led me to eat exactly 2 each (and not a crumb more) of the jeera, coconut and chocolate biscuits with my coffee. In the two images below (from left to right), you'll see I've logged a picture of what I ate and my pre and 2 hour post meal sugars which were 93 and 120 mg/dl respectively (the sugars get picked up automatically by the Blue Circle Diabetes app if you're on the Libre (Pro) and/or Miao Miao!). In the second image to the right, you'll see a chronology of my BG, food and bolus.

On day 2 of the experiment, I started out with a BG of 99mg/dl and ate 2 khakras (1 each ofcourse, of jeera and methi with some coffee). What you see in the image below is my pre meal BG of 99 and 2 hour post meal BG of 118mg/dl and the macros. If you're curious what happened between those 2 hours, here's the chronology:

10:49hrs - 99mg/dl and ate 2 khakras

10:52hrs - 0.4u bolus

11:49hrs - 112 mg/dl

12:07hrs - 117 mg/dl and 0.4u bolus

12:52hrs - 118 mg/dl

I had to use a bit more insulin than I would've liked for this one and I found it a bit spikier than the other snacks.

Day 3 and another mini BG experiment. Probably the only time in my life I used the food scale to measure out exactly 50gms of namkeen in a bowl (pictured below). My pre meal was 95 mg/dl and 2 hour post meal was 102mg/dl. I needed only a 0.3u bolus for this one and my BG at the 1 hour PP mark was 95mg/dl so I'd say this was pretty great on the sugars.

On day 4 I used the ADOR Bake Mix to bake chocolate muffins (the bake mix is probably best suited to making bread though, they even have a vegetarian recipe of bread on the pack) and topped them up with some chocolate ganache (now you know I like chocolate). My pre and post muffin sugars were 90 and 95mg/dl respectively, so I'd say this worked.

Day 5 and I feel like the pride of the nation for successfully making perfectly round rotis with the ADOR Low Carb Atta despite not having eaten or made any rotis for at least 4 years. I ate one and a half delicious masala parathas (kneaded the dough with hot water and added onions, salt, turmeric, jeera, green chillies and oil) and my pre and post sugar readings were 106 and 97mg/dl respectively. You can use the low carb atta to make soft rotis, theplas, pooris, parathas, etc.

Just a note for people with celiac, both the bake mix and the low carb atta have gluten (we appreciate the clear labelling and separate section to list down possible allergens too).

3. Packaging - Colourful, attractive packaging with fairly clear macros. All items remained crisp, so plus point for the packaging. The biscuits and khakras had a silver covering inside the outer jar/packet, which is hard to open without scissors.

4. Overall thoughts - I usually don't snack at all, so I ended up eating a bit more the days I was experimenting. A good option if you need more low carb ready to eat options.

Snehal's experience

1. Taste - I love the Namkeen, Khakra and the low carb atta.
2. Effect on sugars - I love to eat the namkeen, khakra and coconut cookies for snacks (at approx 6 pm) and didn't feel the need to bolus for it since my actrapid bolus from lunch (at approx 2.30 pm) is still active in my body.

Day 1: I tried the namkeen, I took approximately 50-60 gms in a bowl for snacks. I did not bolus for this and my pre BG was 115 mg/dl and post BG was 103 mg/dl as you can see below in the screenshot from the Blue Circle Diabetes mobile app in which we've all logged our sugars, food, insulin, etc.

Day 2: I tried the Jeera Khakra. I like that they are crunchy and crispy like regular khakra. Do note that they leave a slight bitter after taste, which I personally don't mind.

Day 3: I used the low carb atta to make rotis. It was a bit difficult to make the dough on my first try, on the next try I used hot water to make the dough and it really helped. The rotis turned out soft, perfect for everyday meals. I had 2 rotis for lunch with my regular actrapid bolus and I did notice that my post meal BG dipped. My pre meal BG was 165 mg/dl and post meal BG was 158 mg/dl.

3. Packaging - I like that they have clearly mentioned the ingredient list and nutritional information on the packaging (if you missed our workshop on Food Labels, check out the highlights here). The seal on the atta and namkeen didn't close properly and I had to transfer it to an air tight container.

4. Overall thoughts - I am a foodie and snacks time is something I really struggle with because there are not many filling low carb options available for which I don't need to bolus. This is a good option for that. The low carb atta is great option for every day rotis and parathas since regular atta spikes my BG.

Rohan's experience

1. Taste - I really enjoyed the taste of "Ultra low carb namkeen and khakra" . Ultra low carb Atta halwa was also good.

2. Effect on sugars - I was having midnight food cravings, thought about consuming 2 biscuits. I did not like the taste of chocolate one but gladly ate 2 coconut ones. Since it was under 10g carbs, I did not pre-bolus for it and sugars only spiked by 10-15mg/dl.

Second day I tried khakhras. The khakhras are light, crunchy and tasty. Hence, the tendency to overeat them. I did eat 3-4 khakhras and took 2 units pre-meal bolus. khakhras did spike my sugars by 40mg/dl despite taking bolus. I also tried a handful of the namkeen in the evening with black coffee, I did 1 unit pre-bolus for Namkeen and did not see any noticeable spike with it.

Low carb doesn't have to be boring or restrictive (read our blog on common low carb myths). Third day I made atta halwa with Ador low carb Atta and stevia drops. The halwa was good in taste but texture wasn't as smooth as regular atta. I did not pre bolus as 100g atta has only 14g carbs. I did see a spike of 20-25mg/dl after consuming halwa.

3. Packaging - Biscuits are nicely packed in plastic containers. Atta and Namkeen could have a tighter seal on the package.

4. Overall thoughts - I have found the perfect snacking companion to my coffee, which is the Ultra low carb Namkeen. Khakhra is also a great option, if you consume in small amounts. On the days I crave rotis, I will definitely use the Ultra low carb atta roti. Coconut biscuits are ok, I will give the jeera and chocolate biscuits a pass.

Protein Bars

Newly available & interesting protein bars in chocolate and coconut flavours (low carb, of course!)

Our general verdict was that if you're looking for low carb packaged foods, do check out ADOR Health's spread. Their pricing is definitely better than a few other brands. In addition to that, don't forget to use the 10% discount code Bluecircle#1 when you order from their website.

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