You Knew They Were Coming: Low Carb Oreos

Yes, they are now here, available in your store ( at least my local Stop & Shop). For $2.99 you can get 6.75 oz., or 16 cookies, or 8 servings of CarbWell Oreos. Two cookies (24g) have 100 calories and 6 grams of net carbs. And for those of you who were boycotting Oreos because of the trans fat and not the sugar and carbohydrate content -- 0 grams of trans fat. (Although, if it is less than .5 grams of trans fat, then by law they can list it as 0.)

These things look and taste exactly like the original Oreo cookies. As a matter of fact, in a blind taste test, I know I wouldn't be able to tell them apart. The only clue is that one side of the Oreo has a CW instead of the Oreo logo. Without that, you could fool the best of them. (Even my kids, who were thrilled to be able to eat an Oreo, even though it was a one-time thing, thought they tasted like the real thing, and they were predisposed to think they were not as good because they saw the low carb label.)

Now, one thing I have learned by going to the Kraft site, it is very hard to figure out how big a serving size is of the regular Oreo cookies. They give it by grams and by how many servings per package, but not how many cookies per serving. I think it is three cookies versus the two cookie serving of the Oreo CarbWell brand. (Someone please email me to correct me if I am wrong.)

If this is the case, then the cookies have just about the same amount of calories as the regular Oreos. The big difference is that they have more fiber and more sugar alchohol. (Now, wasn't the big kvetch against low carb is that you don't get enough fiber? Even the low carb Oreos have more fiber than the regular Oreos, not that I am advocating eating a lot of these things!)

So... what to do about these? Will I buy them? Right now I'm saying maybe once or twice a year (but that is once or twice more than I would have purchased regular Oreos.) If you do buy these, you can't eat more than two! (And I would say two a week! But whatever you do, don't go over 300 calories of non-natural low carb foods a day!) Per my recent grading post, we have only tried these once.

	Oreo CarbWell...	Regular Oreo...
Serving Size	2 cookies, 24g	3 cookies, 33g
Calories	100	160
Total Fat	5g	7g
Saturated Fat	1.5g	1.5g
Cholesterol	0g	0g
Sodium	105mg	220mg
Total Carbohydrates	16g	23g
Dietary Fiber	3g	1g
Sugars	0g	13g
Sugar Alcohol	7g	0g
Protein	2g	1g

Update: My daughter actually got up early this morning (she is 11) and made her and her brother's lunch so she could add two Oreo cookies into the lunchboxes. She has NEVER EVER made her lunch or her brother's lunch. Well, I should amend that statement. She gave herself two cookies and my son one cookie. I had to make it fair and put another cookie into my son's lunchbox.

One other note, my husband wanted to try the Oreo cookies. My 7-year old son got him the package and told him that he could only have two. Two cookies were a serving. Of course my husband took three. I had to explain that since my husband was 6 ' tall that he could have a slightly larger serving because it takes more calories to keep his body going. I call it a win if I can reinforce the fact that you can occasionally have treats, but it can only be a serving. (Now, any words of advice on how to keep husbands in line? (grin))

Low Carb Oreos Are Now Discontinued. Click the link for more. Update: They are back! Under a new name.

Comments

[Pam]

I had been buying the Low Carb Oreos since they came out, but have not been able to find them in any, any grocery store in my area (Central CA) for the last few weeks. Has Kraft/Nabisco stopped making them? What a shame if that is true.

[Julia Petroff]

The Carb Well Oreo and Chocolate Chip Cookies are very good. I was buying them at Shoppers in Baltimore, Maryland at Southside Market Place. They have not had them in there for a few months. I would like to request that you bring them back. Thank you.

[Anne Marie Stengel]

I cannot find Nabisco Chips Ahoy Chocolate Chip Low Carb Cookies and miss them very much - can I order them directly? How can I purchase them? I live in Jackson, New Jersey, 08572. You can phone me at 732-833-7598.

[Chris Carr]

If I remember correctly, the OREOs were truly Trans-Fat Free, as in they had no Partially Hydrogenated Oils (see: it ain't that hard) on the ingredients list. But, the Chocolate Chip Cookies, I believe did contain PH Oils, so they were not 100% Trans-Fat Free, whether they were <0.5g or not.

That said, the price was the biggest issue for me. You can find at some Publixes and Super Wal-Marts a product called Zeeh-rohs, the name refers to the fact they contain 0g (a true 0g, as in no Partially Hydrogenated Oils) Trans-Fat. They are OREO knockoffs. They also make a Sugar-Free version. The package is slightly larger and typically costs less than the OREOs and were always in stock at the stores that carried them.

So, if Nabisco has discontinued LC OREOs, this may be an option. They are typically well hidden [at least at Wal-Mart,] which makes them very hard to find in some cases. One Wal-Mart had them near the checkout lines, whereas the cookies [including LC OREOs,] were all located on the Aisle with the regular cookies. Another placed them at the bottom, on an end cap in the back between the Dairy Section and the Aisle with Cleaning products, several Aisles away from all other cookies, including LC OREOs.