Do 'Miracle Noodles' live up to their name?

CLEVELAND - Many of us are looking for that one thing that will miraculously help us lose weight and keep it off in a healthy way.

Could that one thing be Miracle Noodles ?

The claims sound appealing. The noodles are advertised as calorie free, gluten free, carbohydrate free and guilt free. According to the packaging, eating them will help fill you up, make you feel good about what you’re eating, and be part of a “healthy low-carb, high-fiber diet."

The noodles are made of a plant root called shiratake and have been popular in Asia for many years.

We wanted to know if the product was truly the miracle its marketers claimed it to be, so we asked some viewers to give their opinions.

After ordering the noodles online, we delivered them to Renee and Mark Wright, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Lynne Saltz, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, having asked them to do some research to find the most appealing ways to cook the noodles.

Renee is a coach at a high school and her husband is a firefighter. He would like to eat healthier and drop a few pounds; she wants to be healthier and eventually lose about 30 pounds.

Lynne is a busy mother of three and long-time Weight Watchers member.

All three of the testers were excited and a little nervous about trying the noodles, but optimistic they would work.

Before they served up their first noodles, though, we asked University Hospitals endocrinologist Gregg Faiman, M.D. , to weigh in. He hadn’t tasted the noodles, but did some research.

“As a substitution for say, pasta, they’re a nice choice, because they’re no calorie compared to pasta and no carbohydrates,” he said. “I was actually surprised I had never heard about them before.”

So, with cameras rolling, the testers got to tasting.

Mark cooked up some chicken and mushrooms in a wine reduction sauce and added the noodles. Lynne cooked up a Weight Watchers friendly cheese sauce for her noodles.

All three testers noticed kind of a fishy smell in the packaging and commented on the texture.

“A little rubbery,” Mark said.

Renee called them “gummy”.

“It’s sort of like eating rubber bands,” Lynne said, comparing the texture to eating calamari.

The flavor, or lack thereof, earned the Miracle Noodles some big points with our testers.

“They tasted much better than what I expected,” Lynne said.

She commented that the noodles picked up the flavor of what she cooked them in.

"The taste is surprisingly good," she said.

Renee enjoyed the taste the most of our testers.

“I would like to invest in buying them and probably trying them at least for a couple of months and see what happens,” she said.

Mark was not quite as enthusiastic but said if they were in the pantry he’d continue to eat them.

One week later and Mark and Renee are “noodled-out." The good news is Renee lost four pounds while using the noodles as a meal replacement. She thought that was great.

They agree that they like the noodles enough to use them from time to time, but wouldn’t use them to replace their pasta. They both enjoy pasta several times a week.

Lynne had this to say about her noodle experience:

"When you prepare the foods it tastes like the sauce you put on it, so the end taste is pleasant... It’s the smell of the product when you open it... The texture is still rubbery."

"My oldest daughter thought it was delicious. The texture didn’t bother her and she wasn’t around for preparation. With that said, I would never make it for the family."

"There are so many recipes out there using the noodles. After talking with a few of my girlfriends, a couple were very familiar it. Even eat them. The advice I received was rinse really well. Pat dry. Par boil in microwave for 1 min. Dry really well again. By adding vegetables it takes care of the rubbery texture."

"I wouldn’t use it for weight loss. (So far no loss, but I am not using it as a meal substitute) I think if you were concerned about losing weight/eating healthy, I would find another option. This would be good if you liked the product, but life is too short to eat this type of food. Overall, thumbs down."

Miracle Noodles currently are not sold locally, but you can order them online .  A box of 20 seven ounce packages goes for about $46 after adding the cost of shipping.

You can also find similar products marketed under different names in local grocery stores.