There has been a lot of buzz about Aldi’s Zero Net Carb (ZNC) bread so I had to check it out for myself! I popped into my local Aldi and it was impossible to find in stock. All the while, the keto blogs were flooding with pictures of grilled cheese sandwiches and testimonials of this being a game changer in the keto lifestyle. There were people posting photos of the multiple loaves of this ZNC bread they just purchased and angry responses from people frustrated at sold out conditions at their local stores.

For me, I just like trying out new low carb products especially those labeled KETO. I did (for a moment) have epic plans of executing the perfect Monte Cristo (ketofied) once I got my hands on this miracle bread. But no luck. Bloggers kept posting photos of their creations with Aldi’s ZNC bread rather than the full nutritional label for the product.

Finally, this post from Reddit provided the full nutritional label including ingredients.

Spoiler Alert: Contains Wheat and other ingredients not approved for strict keto, or Gluten Free diets.

Let’s Review – If you looked at the carbs alone you might be sold like I was. But upon review of the ingredients the first ingredient is “modified wheat starch” meaning that this is the main ingredient or the largest proportion of all ingredients in the recipe. Keep reading the label and here are more ingredients that are not keto

• Modified wheat starch
• Wheat gluten
• Wheat protein isolate
• Oat fiber
• Soy bean oil
• Wheat bran

If you are doing keto for medical or have allergies to any form of wheat, if you are sensitive to wheat or oats please reconsider purchasing this product. I respect those who practice non strict methods of keto and LCHF diets. In this post, I am addressing those of us who have allergies, some life threatening (anaphylaxis) or that cause debilitating migraines/inflammation upon consuming wheat or other non keto ingredients in this bread. Also those of us parents who have children who are allergic or GF, PLEASE double check this label.

Final Takeaway

Don’t trust the carb counts alone or “Keto friendly” labels. These labels are not being regulated by USDA or FDA. It’s up to you to do your due diligence before purchasing or consuming.

Think about ingredients and not just overall net carbs. From the looks of it, Aldi’s Zero Net bread adds fiber to the wheat so that the math comes out to 0 net carbs when you subtract out the fiber. It’s a clever math trick to lower carb counts that may end up backfiring on those of us sensitive/allergic to wheat and oat products and their derivatives. IMHO, Aldi has mis-labeled this product as “Keto- Friendly” and should re-label to LOW CARB to be accurate to those practicing strict keto and to look out for those who would rely on this labeling alone without reviewing the ingredients. This is evidenced by the fact that so many threads overlooked the ingredients when posting to Keto boards across the internet.

Summary

All other LCHF diets, including dirty keto lazy keto, if you are noticing weight gain, low ketone levels while eating this bread, consider cutting it from your diet for a couple weeks to see if your levels normalize.

Aldi has a Zero Net Carb Bread labeled as Keto Friendly. The label shows Total Net Carbs: 9g and Dietary Fiber: 9g resulting in a 0 net carb bread that passes the Low Carb test. However, the ingredients include Wheat and wheat derivatives as well as other non keto ingredients.

Those with wheat allergies and sensitivity to gluten, or wheat derivative ingredients should avoid this product.

Parents/Caretakers of small children who are prescribed a strict keto or GF diet or those with wheat allergies please double check the ingredients and ask your doctor before feeding this to the child.