New year, new you, new diet. It’s a familiar aftertaste. One popular diet technique is creating a food blacklist. It’s common to give up “carbs” and processed foods. This may mean avoiding supermarket staples such as pasta.
But do we really need to ban pasta to improve our diet?
This is what we call a reductionist approach to nutrition, describing foods based on just one of their primary ingredients. Pasta isn’t just about carbs. One cup (about 145 grams) of cooked pasta contains about 38 g carbs, 7.7 g protein, and 0.6 g fat. In addition, it contains all the moisture that is absorbed from cooking, as well as plenty of vitamins and minerals.
“But pasta is mostly carbs!” I hear you cry. This is true, but it’s not the whole story. You have to think about context.
your day on a plate
You probably know that there are recommendations for how much energy (kilojoules or calories) you should be consuming per day. These recommendations are based on your size, gender, and physical activity. But you may not be aware that there are also recommendations for the profile of this energy-supplying macronutrient (or food type).
Fats, carbohydrates, and proteins are macronutrients. Macronutrients are broken down in the body to produce energy for the body.
The acceptable macronutrient distribution range describes the ratio or percentage of this energy-providing macronutrient. These ranges have been set by experts based on health outcomes and models of healthy eating. They aim to have enough of each macro, but not too much. Eating too much or too little of any kind of food can affect your health.
The ratios are also designed to ensure that we get enough of the vitamins and minerals that accompany the energy of the foods we normally eat. % must be taken from fat.
manja pasta
Macronutrient ratios mean that consuming 1.2 to 6.5 times more carbohydrates than protein per day is good for health.
Pasta has a carbohydrate to protein ratio of 38g to 7.7g, which corresponds to a roughly 5:1 ratio and is within the acceptable macronutrient distribution range. This means that pasta actually contains enough protein to balance the carbs. Wheat is another source of protein, accounting for about 20% of the protein eaten worldwide.
If you’re worried about calorie levels and weight gain, it’s not that simple.
In relation to an otherwise healthy diet, people have been shown to lose more weight when they regularly include pasta in their diet. Pasta was found to be superior to postprandial blood sugar levels than potato.
Instead of giving up spaghetti, consider reducing portion sizes or switching to whole-grain pasta, which has a higher fiber content that helps with gut health and helps you feel fuller for longer.
Gluten-free pasta has slightly less protein than wheat pasta. It does not increase the above benefits.
Pass pesto and leftover bolognese
Pasta is also usually not eaten on its own. So while some people warn about the dangers of eating “naked carbs” (meaning just carbs with no other food) causing your blood sugar to spike, this is usually not the risk of pasta.
When pasta provides the base of a meal, it can be a means of helping people eat more vegetables in smooth or chunky vegetable sauces. Or a great place to hide grated vegetables.
Not eating only pasta is also important for your protein profile. This means you need to eat a combination of plant foods to get all the different types of amino acids (the building blocks of protein) you need to survive.
But pasta packs a nutritious punch, despite its often heavy focus on carbs and energy. Like most foods, it contains micronutrients as well as macronutrients. .
One cup of cooked pasta contains about a quarter of the recommended daily intake of vitamins B1 and B9, half the recommended amount of selenium, and 10% of the iron requirement.
The pasta news is even better when eaten as leftovers. When the pasta is boiled and cooled, some of the carbohydrates are converted to resistant starch. This starch gets its name because it is resistant to digestion, so it contributes less to energy and is better for blood sugar levels. is also lower in calories.
Let’s take a closer look at the “carb” options
While there is a lot of talk about reducing carbohydrate intake for weight loss, remember that carbohydrates come in many different forms and in many different foods.
Some, like pasta, offer other benefits. Others, like cakes and candies, add little else. , first think about the sweets you eat alone.
Emma Beckett is Senior Lecturer (Food Sciences and Human Nutrition) in the Department of Environmental and Life Sciences, Newcastle University. This piece first appeared on The Conversation.
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