Graduation/ pasta
rjel78
Posts: 102 Member
Over the past 3 weeks I have not went to the gym to focus on my college classes because I was close to graduating. And the hard work paid off because I am now a college graduate (Associates in Business). I am starting back at the gym tomorrow and hope this time it becomes a regular thing.
I have replaced soda with water for 95% of my fluid intake. I will have a diet soda 1-2 times per week only which is quite the change for me.
Nutrition question.....I have heard many people say that pasta and rice is really bad for you and to avoid it at all costs. However, I have also seen many people who have lost weight eating pasta and rice. My question is which one is it - eat rice and pasta or avoid it? Personally I love both (when I eat it) and would love to work it in to my nutrition but if it is that bad for you I will make it a twice a month type of deal.
I have replaced soda with water for 95% of my fluid intake. I will have a diet soda 1-2 times per week only which is quite the change for me.
Nutrition question.....I have heard many people say that pasta and rice is really bad for you and to avoid it at all costs. However, I have also seen many people who have lost weight eating pasta and rice. My question is which one is it - eat rice and pasta or avoid it? Personally I love both (when I eat it) and would love to work it in to my nutrition but if it is that bad for you I will make it a twice a month type of deal.
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Replies
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Unless you have a medical reason to watch your carb intake, you can eat those things in moderation, just as everything else. In fact I had both today (Chipotle for lunch, ravioli for dinner)!8
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If it fits in your daily calories, you can have anything you want. Use your food scale and weigh the ingredients DRY. Be very meticulous. I'm aware that I may be hungry 2 or 3 hours later and just stop myself. And congratulations to the new graduate. Woo-hoo.5
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How could rice and pasta possible be bad for you? Millions of people eat rice and pasta. Eat too much of any food, too many calories is not good.5
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I eat pasta at least once a week. It's fine. Don't demonize food.1
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Congrats on graduating! That's some awesome dedication! If you have problems with really starchy-carbs, then try to minimize it, or if you're gluten intolerant stay away from wheat pasta. But there are so many alternatives as well! Still enjoy your rice and pasta, but switch it up with brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and quinoa now and then
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Why not try whole wheat pasta or brown rice sometime? I am now used to these and crave them. They keep me full longer due to a bit more fiber. I also add a can of tomatoes to my prego or ragu sauce to make it chunkier and healthier.
Some stores are even selling chickpea pasta or black bean pasta.0 -
I ate pasta quite often when losing weight (1-2 times per week). I didn't eat rice that often because I don't care about it, but it would be fine to have also.
I think some people find pasta and rice easy foods to overeat, and some are used to them in preparations (like some kind of restaurant pasta Alfredo dish) that are high cal, but both serve as a great base for a very healthy and low cal meal.
I loved pasta because it was so fast. I'd come home, start boiling some water, measure out my pasta to wait (I'd use the 2 oz serving on the box, usually, unless I was short calories), and then make up some sauce or topping to put on it. I'd put olive oil (not a lot) in a sautee pan, pull out the vegetables I had on hand, whatever was convenient, say today I might sautee some garlic and mushrooms and asparagus and zucchini. I'd add whatever meat was convenient, let's say shrimp, and then maybe add some olives or pine nuts. By that point the pasta would be prepared, and I'd drain it, toss it in the sauce I'd made, and maybe add a bit of cheese (feta has a ton of flavor for just a little). Great, easy, healthy.
On Sundays I might make a pot of meat sauce: I just sautee garlic, onions, peppers, carrots, add and sautee lean ground beef, add crushed or chopped tomatoes plus a bit of tomato paste (fresh tomatoes when in season if you want), and then simmer it all together. For more vegetables, I often would add zucchini and then spinach at the end, too. Fresh oregano or basil if you have it, maybe. Easy, delicious, and it gets better every day.
I enjoy whole wheat pasta, especially with a heartier sauce, but it really makes little difference, IMO.
For rice I'd do a stir fry that's similar -- sauteed vegetables plus some lean meat. My favorite stir fry involves whatever vegetables are around, but I usually use carrots and broccoli, either shrimp or tofu, and then I finish with Japanese 7 spice, which is totally worth trying.2 -
I would not eat pasta at restaurants though. Some are just calorie bombs. Ex: The Cheesecake Factory Pasta Carbonarra 2,300 calories, 80 grams of saturated fat!!! That is simply NOT WORTH IT. If restaurants are a must, have pasta with red sauce instead.0
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You can work it in. I choose not to but if you love it, do it. You must be careful tracking it though...food scale. It should definitely be weighed. A serving is quite small.0
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It really depends on the specific restaurant and the pasta -- they differ a lot. I'd assume high cal (and log unseen olive oil or butter), and avoid cream sauces if trying to count calories and not have a huge total.
Another thing that varies a ton, though, is portion size. There are some family style Italian places around here that are notorious for insane portion sizes. I just go knowing the meal will be 3 servings minimum if for some reason I have to go to one (I haven't in ages). But lots of small local Italian places, especially higher end, or non Italian specific places with pasta will have reasonable serving sizes or give an option for half servings and will have lighter seeming options. One place I go to occasionally has a delicious side of rapini with lemon that I have tried to copy at home, and with a half order of a pasta (last time I went I had this black ink pasta with shellfish that was yum) it was actually quite reasonable.2 -
Over the past 3 weeks I have not went to the gym to focus on my college classes because I was close to graduating. And the hard work paid off because I am now a college graduate (Associates in Business). I am starting back at the gym tomorrow and hope this time it becomes a regular thing.
I have replaced soda with water for 95% of my fluid intake. I will have a diet soda 1-2 times per week only which is quite the change for me.
Nutrition question.....I have heard many people say that pasta and rice is really bad for you and to avoid it at all costs. However, I have also seen many people who have lost weight eating pasta and rice. My question is which one is it - eat rice and pasta or avoid it? Personally I love both (when I eat it) and would love to work it in to my nutrition but if it is that bad for you I will make it a twice a month type of deal.
A comment on your self talk - don't "hope" it becomes a regular thing - MAKE it a regular thing.3 -
If it fits your calories eat it. I have lost my weight eating it on a regular basis In fact it is my go to meal on gym days.
Congrats on graduating1 -
Some people have medical reasons to be wary of carbs, such as diabetes. Others may feel more satiated/full eating a low carb/high fat diet. But the truth is, carbs don't matter for weight loss unless you're eating so much of them that you are not eating at a deficit.
You do need to be aware that some foods have more calories than others. A 'serving' of rice or pasta may have a good bit of calories depending on how big your serving is. Also relevant: what you're eating WITH the rice/pasta. Sauces, cheese, oil, etc. But if you're accurately and honestly weighing your food, logging what you have, and eating at a deficit: weight loss happens over time. Meaning accuracy/honesty/patience will get you there.
Nutrition question.....I have heard many people say that pasta and rice is really bad for you and to avoid it at all costs. However, I have also seen many people who have lost weight eating pasta and rice. My question is which one is it - eat rice and pasta or avoid it? Personally I love both (when I eat it) and would love to work it in to my nutrition but if it is that bad for you I will make it a twice a month type of deal.
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I eat rice three to four times a week and then Sara at least one a week and have no issues maintaining or curing weight. There are no bad foods , just bad diets.1
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I eat rice three to four times a week and then Sara at least one a week and have no issues maintaining or curing weight. There are no bad foods , just bad diets.
I'm not doing IF, but I am doing One Big Meal...Dinner My dinner is 1600ish calories. 2 angus patties, 1x Broccoli cheesy rice Microwave bag, 1x veggie microwave bag.. + Cheese on the patties. I'm down about 30 pounds.
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Here is an article in case you decide to eat pasta at a restaurant. It's almost like restaurants want to kill you.
http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-eating-tips/fattening-restaurant-pasta-dishes2 -
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I lost 80 lbs, all while eating rice, pasta, bread...all of the goodies. The important thing is to learn how to incorporate those things in moderate amounts to an overall healthy diet. Chicken, rice, and vegetables were a staple lunch for me for quite some time.1
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I eat rice or pasta at least 5 days a week. I do practice intermittent fasting so I have one small meal or snack around 200-400 calories and then my main meal of 1100 calories. So its super easy to fit it in my day. I also order rice or pasta out quite often. I just make it fit my macros. If rice and pasta were bad for you, Japan and Italy wouldn't be home to two of the world's healthiest cultures with some of the longest lifespans.2
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Rice & pasta are not bad. They can be easy to over indulge on, so some people say they are evil and should be avoided.
Personally I don't eat much if any pasta, but I eat a lot of rice. The only reason for me not eating much pasta...I'm not that big a fan. Has nothing to do with health or dieting.0 -
Muscleflex79 wrote: »
Heh, I was going to suggest that belonged in the ChitChat forum!
One thing about pasta I meant to mention above -- I think it's easy to overeat not because a smaller serving is unsatisfying, but because many have portion distortion and think a serving is larger than it is, and -- and this was an issue for me -- if you don't measure it's easy to take too much when it's dry (I always misjudge how much it expands) and then have too much after cooking, but not want to waste it, so... Once I started weighing it, it was easy not to overeat it, and if I want more food I just add more sauce/topping (which as noted I make full of vegetables and lean meat).
I really think pasta's bad rap (other than for idiotic things like "it's a carb" or "it's a white food") is more about people associating it with overly large portions or high cal dishes like mac and cheese or carbonara or alfredo or whatever and not the kinds of pasta dishes that are so easy to make at home and IMO satisfying.1 -
I eat rice every day.
With the pasta, I agree that portion control is important. When I could eat pasta (gluten intolerant now), I would weigh it before cooking.
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Even before the low carb craze, pasta and rice have been some of the first things to cut on a diet. There are several reasons and observations:
- They are bland foods (same goes for bread) that are often used as a vehicle for sauces and spreads, which can be quite calorific and high in salt. It's often quite possible for said sauces and spreads to be high in calories making these dishes a bit costly on the calories front. Eat too much of these and the calories will stack up high preventing weight loss.
- They are high in carbs and the sauces added to them tend to be high in sodium. Eat a good enough amount and you'll wake up heavier next day from water retention. Dieters tend to have a narrow vision when it comes to the scale.
- They are white. It has been hammered into people's heads that white foods are bad for you and "have no nutrients" (which isn't true). For some reason that escapes me people tend to mix up weight loss and nutrition without a distinction.
- Some people legitimately don't feel full eating pasta and rice (especially if coupled with a high calorie sauce making portions too small for the calories and not worth it).
- As said earlier, some people consider them nothing but a vehicle and would rather cut on that than some other food they consider essential.
Me? I love both pasta and rice (and bread). I feel full eating them and I have a good enough understanding of how both nutrition and weight loss work. I enjoy them for what they are, not simply as a sauce delivery system and I feel they're worth a cut of my calories. I'm also not prone to overeating them. For that, I didn't see a need to cut them out so I didn't. I have lost a good amount of weight eating bread daily, rice several times a week sometimes twice a day, and pasta a few times a month - same pattern of eating I had before I decided to lose weight. It's a simple matter of deciding whether these foods are worth the calories to you, just like any other higher calorie food.1 -
Varies from person to person. Personally I find a lot of "white" foods (eg pasta, potatoes) to be quite filling, so as long as I watch the portions, they serve me well. Others find they are left hungry soon after eating them, so they end up eating more. Experiment.0
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I eat pasta and rice quite frequently (in fact I'm having pasta with shrimp, bacon, and peas tonight!), I just had to re-learn appropriate portion sizes. I typically stick to 50g uncooked rice or 56g uncooked campanelle pasta, but will go for more if I'm REALLY hungry and I have the room in my kcals. To make up for the difference in volume, I load them up with veggies and protein. I make sure that I'm meticulous about measuring, because even a few grams difference can add up quite a bit. An extra 14g of pasta = a tbsp. of heavy cream that I can use in a sauce.
As with anything is your diet, strive for balance and eat what you enjoy!1 -
Muscleflex79 wrote: »
lol I hate autocorrect2
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