Nutrition

This Zero-Sugar Low-Calorie Sauce is Backed by Eddie Hall. Is It Actually Healthy?

It may cut calories, but the ingredients are questionable.

When you’re training to be the strongest man in the world, a high-calorie diet comes with the territory. Just ask Eddie “The Beast” Hall, World’s Strongest Man 2017. At the peak of strong man training, Hall was downing a massive 16,000 calories a day.

But as he has recently stepped back to pursue other challenges (like his epic boxing match with fellow strongman Halfthor Bjornsson this past March) his entire outlook has shifted. Not only is Hall looking to more sustainable fitness practices like yoga, but he’s also cleaning up his diet.

What is Eddie Hall’s Diet?

For Hall, a healthy diet includes balanced plates of carbs, proteins, and fats which he shows off in his latest Instagram post. However he admits, “eating healthy is pretty boring.” Hall turns to sauces and seasonings to mix things up.

His sauce brand of choice? Skinny Food Co.

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Shelf-stable sauces are typically laden with calories and sugar which can make healthy choices difficult. “[Skinny Food Co.] is a great way for me to add flavor to my meals without adding calories,” says Hall of the brand which touts low-calorie, no-sugar alternatives.

Hall reveals a collab with Skinny Food Co. is coming soon and is set to feature healthier sauces, syrups, bread, and even chocolate. After ogling over its current selection, we’re left wondering how healthy Skinny Food Co. really is.

Is Skinny Food Co. Healthy?

Skinny Food Co. touts its “healthy” food products as sugar-free, gluten-free, and fat-free. These are big claims for one brand to cover. So what is in their products?

Sugar-Free

All Skinny Food Co. products are either low sugar or completely sugar-free, making them diabetic-, keto-, and paleo-friendly. Its sugar-free sauces use sucralose (Splenda) for sweetness.

Sucralose is a non-nutritive sweetener, meaning it doesn’t contain calories. Sucralose is known to have little to no effect on blood glucose levels, which makes it a good sugar alternative for diabetics. But current research (1) on the effect of non-nutritive sweeteners on weight loss and overall health is mixed, and more research is needed to confirm their safety.

Virtually Zero Calories

Skinny Food Co.’s products are also extremely low in calories, with many claiming “virtually zero calories” on the label. How is that possible? By cutting out the sugar, calories are slashed, too. For example, a bottle of its Smokey BBQ sauce has only 2 calories per 10 ml serving.

What’s in the Sauce?

Gums, colors, flavorings, preservatives, and not much else.

Skinny Food Co.’s Smokey BBQ sauce specifically contains controversial preservatives Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate which some studies claim are harmless, and others link to cancer and other health problems (2, 3).

In addition, the wide definition the FDA uses to regulate artificial and natural flavoring can be used to describe almost any type of food (4). So you can’t be sure exactly what you’re getting in a bottle of Skinny Food Co. sauce.

Should You Try Skinny Food Co.?

If all you care about is calories and sugar, Skinny Food Co. could be an OK choice. But, if you’re looking out for your long-term health, added ingredients count.

There are plenty of brands that boast big flavor and prioritize whole ingredients such as Primal Kitchen, Siete Foods, and Yellow Bird amongst many others.

We’ll wait to see just how healthy Hall’s collab with Skinny Food Co. is. But, if it’s anything like the brand’s current lineup we’ll stick to healthier alternatives for now.