Pasta makes you fat?

We share this excellent article published on the gourmandiz website: https://gourmandiz.dhnet.be/manger-mieux/17519/les-pates-font-grossir-on-vous-repond-clairement

“Ah pasta! If there is a popular dish that everyone eats, it’s this one. On average, we eat 9 kg of it per person per year. Students, children, people in a hurry, top gourmets, vegans, vegetarians, lovers of meat, fish, vegetables: they bring everyone together, apart from… people looking to slim down.

But is pasta really fattening? To this question, nutritionists cannot definitively answer yes or no. Because it’s more complicated than it looks. We will explain to you in detail.

In terms of calories, 100 g of cooked pasta (= 30 g raw) represent an average of 125 calories. In general, we consume 200 to 250 g. This is not considerable in the context of a day. The problem is the accompaniment which can considerably increase the caloric value of the dish, explains Doctor Laurent Chevallier, doctor nutritionist! Cream, cheese, sauce are calorie bombs when you are not careful to measure the doses.

We will eat them preferably with a homemade tomato sauce, a drizzle of olive oil

On the nutrient side, “White pasta has a high glycemic index, it is around 60. This means that” they quickly raise blood sugar levels, in other words blood sugar. The pancreas will produce insulin to bring glucose from the blood to the muscles. However, peaks and falls in blood sugar create “strokes”, irrational eating behavior (cravings, etc.), and ultimately various pathologies (obesity, diabetes, etc.), explains Dr. Chevallier. The best is to cook them just al dente, which lowers the glycemic index.

We will therefore choose them complete or semi-complete because the glycemic index of this type of pasta is much lower, there is much less risk of an insulin peak. And they satiate better because made with whole semolina they contain three times more fiber and satiate even more.

As accompaniment. Here too, there are tips for enjoying pasta without remorse: we accompany it with cooked vegetables, like ratatouille in a half and half version. We associate a green salad, by eating pasta and salads, we increase the fibers and those of the green salad will lower the glycemic index of the pasta; they can also be eaten in salads, cold, pasta sees its glycemic index drop!

Advice. Even if you “diet”, you can eat pasta (200g cooked max) which brings this feeling of satiety perfect to “hold on”. But we consume it in moderation, once a week for example.

And above all, we enjoy the dish by eating it slowly. It’s not the quantity that counts, it’s the pleasure you get from it…”