Month: March 2016

Many people who are trying to lose weight wonder is pasta healthy or fattening? Pasta, like many foods high in carbohydrates, often gets a bad reputation for being fattening; however, this does not have to be true.

Carbohydrates, though recently made out to be villains, are actually necessary to keep your body and mind running smoothly. When carbohydrates are broken down they provide a major source of glucose. Glucose is the primary source of energy for your body and the only source of energy for your brain. Many people who have tried to stick to very low-carb diets have suffered from low energy and bad moods. I know I would be in a bad mood if I never got to eat my favorite pastas!

Consuming too many carbohydrates can be fattening, but pasta itself is not fattening; cooked pasta has only about 200 calories per cup. Where you really get into trouble is with your pasta sauce. Pasta sauces that contain high calorie fatty meats, creams, cheese and other fattening ingredients can really make a pasta dish fattening. Tomato pasta sauces are usually not very fattening at all! Americans also have a tendency to eat too much pasta – portion control is important when controlling calories. Italians traditionally serve pasta as a side dish or as one course of a multi-course meal; not in the large mounds that are so common in the United States.

Along with being fattening, pasta has been criticized for being a simple carbohydrates and lumped into the same category as cake, pastries and white bread. The problem with all of these simple carbohydrates is that they spike your blood sugar resulting in excess insulin being secreted which encourages weight gain and a subsequent energy crash. Simple carbohydrates have a high Glycemic Index (GI) which is a number used to measure how quickly the body’s blood sugar level rises after the ingestion of a food. The good news is that Pasta has a GI of 41, which is similar to pears and lower than many types of bread. And one easy way to lower the GI of pasta is to cook it like the Italians – “al dente”.

Most pasta today is made from semolina flour obtained from durum wheat. This creates a firm dough which in turn also lowers the GI, while also providing a good source of nutrition. Homemade and dried pasta contain plenty of B vitamins, folic acid and iron. It’s low in sodium and, despite a prevalent myth, pasta is not high in cholesterol even though it is usually made with eggs. It was once thought that egg consumption needed to be drastically reduced due to their high cholesterol content, but subsequent research has shown eggs are quite healthy in moderation and greatly contribute to the health benefits of pasta. For those on a strict diet, however, pasta can be made without eggs, while the flour and olive oil content still make this pasta healthy.

Another option is to use dried pasta. This pasta usually does not contain eggs or oil but is made from 100% semolina flour and is quite firm when cooked.  The firmness of this pasta helps lower the GI index to less than bread, potatoes and white rice while still providing vitamin B, fiber and iron. Dried pasta can be stored up to 3 years, but be sure not to store your pasta in glass containers as the sunlight depletes the vitamin B.

Is Pasta healthy in other ways too?

Yes, homemade pasta can be quite healthy. It is not difficult to learn how to make pasta and homemade Pasta can be made even more nutritious with the inclusion of whole wheat flour, spinach, garlic and herbs that add to the vitamin, mineral and fiber content of the pasta. Fiber is another nutrient often lost in modern diets, but fiber is necessary for digestive health, hormonal balance and the prevention of certain types of cancers.

There are many easy pasta recipes which make this nutritious food very convenient for modern busy cooks as well. When trying to eat healthier, you don’t have to wonder “is pasta healthy” since there are many ways to prepare pasta that are. So go ahead and enjoy your pasta without guilt, just remember to go easy on the fattening meats and sauces and enjoy your pasta in moderation!

When To Eat?

Grazing is by far the best way to eat. By eating small amounts of food throughout the day, you are keeping your metabolism at an optimum level. Metabolism is the rate at which energy (measured in calories) is burned. When your metabolism is high, you burn calories more quickly. When your metabolism is low, your body stores more energy as fat.

When you starve yourself and skip meals, you’re telling your body to keep metabolism low. Your body doesn’t know when it’s going to get energy again, so it stores most of what you eat as fat. When you graze throughout the day, you are constantly supplying your body with energy which tells the body that the energy is abundant and there’s no need to store it as fat.

The key is to make sure that you are not taking in excessive amounts of energy. Excessive amounts of energy will also be stored as fat. What’s needed here is an understanding of portion sizes.

Food labels are a great source of information on the amount of calories. Don’t look at the percentages for now. Just look at the amount of calories per serving and how many servings are in the package.

Regarding the serving size, use measuring cups or spoons to measure out the food or eye-ball a portion based on the number of servings per package. A serving of meat is about the size of a deck of cards.

You’re probably going to be shocked at first, but this is good. Now you know how you gained weight! A serving of ice cream, for example, is a half a cup. Take a half a cup of ice cream and put it in the bowl you would normally use for eating ice cream.

Think about the last time you eat potato chips and look at the amount of servings in the bag. One little old Oreo cookie has around 50 calories. How many do you usually eat?

It’s hard, I know. We’ve all been there. How can one eat 15 potato chips and call it good? They are so small! But, if you want to lose weight you need to be aware of what you are putting in your mouth and you need to decide if that amount of calories is worth what you actually get to eat. Will it satisfy you?

By planning ahead and allowing yourself small servings of food throughout the day, you also lessen your risk of overeating at any one meal.

What To Eat?

Now that you know how much and when, you need to know what to eat. You may not be able to adjust everything all at once, so ease yourself into making more healthful choices.

Carbohydrates will be around 50-60% of your daily intake. Your best choices here are vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds. Read labels carefully and stay clear of products made with refined flour. Often times, foods that seem like healthful choices such as crackers, breads and pastas are loaded with fat, sugar, preservatives and additives; none of which provide your body with any significant nutrients.

Protein choices should be lean. Great choices are chicken or turkey breast, fish and seafood, lean pork, lean beef and any plant source such as beans or soy. Poor choices are sausage, bacon (except for turkey bacon) and poor quality lunchmeat with fillers. Save the higher fat meats such as filet mignon for special occasions.

When it comes to fat, there’s good fat and bad fat. Bad fat is saturated or trans fat and is found in high quantities in deep fried foods and the fattier meats in the previous paragraph. A lot of packaged refined products have a lot of saturated or trans fat as well.

Good fats are mono and polyunsaturated fats found in certain oils such as safflower, sunflower and olive oil as well as nuts, seeds and a few veggies or fruits such as avocado. You don’t really need to worry about “adding” these to your diet. Replace bad fats with good fats instead.