Wheat & Pasta bad- please explain

I joined 4 days ago and just learned pasta and wheat is fattening? Can someone please explain to me how whole wheat, and whole wheat pasta is bad for you? Or how much is too much? Since my children were born Ive been buyin whole wheat bread and feeding them pasta, ofcourse I indulge too. How bad is it?
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Replies

  • You'll get a ton of good/bad on wheat. May I suggest reading Wheat Belly? The bottom line is that wheat isn't bad...the GMO wheat of today is a Frankenwheat.
  • It's not out and out bad, but it is calorie dense, so if you don't measure your servings carefully it is very easy to go overboard. Also, certain people find it more difficult to lose weight when eating foods that are high in carbohydrates because of the way they are digested.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    You'll get a ton of good/bad on wheat. May I suggest reading Wheat Belly? The bottom line is that wheat isn't bad...the GMO wheat of today is a Frankenwheat.

    Wheat is not GMO. They've worked on it but there is no GMO wheat available for farmers at this moment. Another fallacy put forward by Mr. Taubes to sell more books.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    I joined 4 days ago and just learned pasta and wheat is fattening? Can someone please explain to me how whole wheat, and whole wheat pasta is bad for you? Or how much is too much? Since my children were born Ive been buyin whole wheat bread and feeding them pasta, ofcourse I indulge too. How bad is it?

    All food is fattening if you eat too much. Make sure you weigh and measure all of your food and stay in budget. There's nothing wrong with eating pasta but it is very calorie dense so a little bit packs a lot of calories.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Wheat is neither good nor bad. It is just a type of food. Some people have intolerance or allergic reactions to the protein in wheat, gluten. If you don't and you can fit the calorie load into your diet, go ahead.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    If you like it. Eat and stay within your goals.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    Allergies.
    If you have them then avoid what sets them off...if not...meh!
  • Bob314159
    Bob314159 Posts: 1,178 Member
    The main problem is that a very small amount has a lot of calories. Once I started weighing pasta servings I found I had to cut back. It can cut into your daily limit too fast and its not as filling as you think it might be.

    Even if you avoid wheat and use pasta made from rice - you have the same problem.
  • alaskaang
    alaskaang Posts: 493 Member
    You'll get a ton of good/bad on wheat. May I suggest reading Wheat Belly? The bottom line is that wheat isn't bad...the GMO wheat of today is a Frankenwheat.

    Wheat is not GMO. They've worked on it but there is no GMO wheat available for farmers at this moment. Another fallacy put forward by Mr. Taubes to sell more books.

    WRONG - Almost all wheat is GMO, the dwarf wheat grown today is not what was grown prior to the 60's. The creator of it won a Nobel Peace prize for it because of the high yield and ending the threat of world hunger.
  • jeme3
    jeme3 Posts: 355 Member
    Don't buy in to the anti-carbohydrate hype around here.

    As others have said, as long as you aren't over doing it, and you don't have a valid medical reason to avoid it, wheat/pasta/carbs are a perfectly normal part of a healthy balanced diet.

    And if you are eating whole grains, even better.
  • jennaworksout
    jennaworksout Posts: 1,739 Member
    wheat and grains are just bad period.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    wheat and grains are just bad period.

    Bull!
  • jeme3
    jeme3 Posts: 355 Member
    You'll get a ton of good/bad on wheat. May I suggest reading Wheat Belly? The bottom line is that wheat isn't bad...the GMO wheat of today is a Frankenwheat.

    Wheat is not GMO. They've worked on it but there is no GMO wheat available for farmers at this moment. Another fallacy put forward by Mr. Taubes to sell more books.



    WRONG - All wheat is GMO, the dwarf wheat grown today is not what was grown prior to the 60's. The creator of it won a Nobel Peace prize for it because of the high yield and ending the threat of world hunger.

    GMO and hybridized are two completely separate things. GMO has DNA of another organism in it.

    Pretty much any farmed plant anywhere in the world is hybridized at this point is history- selectively bred for certain characteristics, therefore different from what originally occured in the wild. Hybridization/selective breeding has been going on since the birth of agriculture.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    You'll get a ton of good/bad on wheat. May I suggest reading Wheat Belly? The bottom line is that wheat isn't bad...the GMO wheat of today is a Frankenwheat.

    Wheat is not GMO. They've worked on it but there is no GMO wheat available for farmers at this moment. Another fallacy put forward by Mr. Taubes to sell more books.

    WRONG - All wheat is GMO, the dwarf wheat grown today is not what was grown prior to the 60's. The creator of it won a Nobel Peace prize for it because of the high yield and ending the threat of world hunger.

    It's only GMO in the fact that they cross bred different wheats to get what we have now. There was no gene splicing from other species to allow for the spraying of chemicals like there is with corn and soybeans. I farm, I'd love to have a GMO wheat that was Round-up ready but it just doesn't exist.

    Pretty much all the plant materials we eat today are GMO by the standards you're using. Farmers have been cross pollinating the best seed for centuries to produce the highest yielding varieties. Otherwise you'd be eating one kind of apple, one kind of pear, eating maize, etc. Just because something can be done quickly in a lab now instead of taking years in the field doesn't make it Frankenfood.
  • LaLouve_RK
    LaLouve_RK Posts: 899 Member
    Coz it's like 230 cal per cup... there's nothing on it yet... when you are at 1200 cal per day and addicted to pasta.. it's dangerous....
    I dont get full with less than 4 cups... with italian sauce and cheese.....

    That's it... i'm drooling!

    homer.gif
  • Eat shirataki noodles. 30 kcal a cup. I eat it every day.
  • LaLouve_RK
    LaLouve_RK Posts: 899 Member
    Eat shirataki noodles. 30 kcal a cup. I eat it every day.
    I eat as well... but let's get real... aint the same at all!
  • AbbsyBabbsy
    AbbsyBabbsy Posts: 184 Member
    wheat and grains are just bad period.

    Nope.
  • MemphisKitten
    MemphisKitten Posts: 878 Member
    Everything is bad if you overdo it. Whole grains are not bad in themselves, but too many carbs trigger an insulin spike which will cause you to gain weight. But having a small portion with some protein is not bad. Whole grains are much better than processed white flour. But, you must be careful because companies will try and trick you by saying their product is whole grain when it really isn't. The first ingredient must be 100% whole wheat flour; if it says anything else, you're being duped.
  • Laddiegirl
    Laddiegirl Posts: 382 Member
    As long as you don't have an allergy to it and eat a correct serving, there is nothing wrong with it. I love pasta and whole grain foods. I fit them into my day and eat a correct portion and am losing weight at a healthy pace and will be able to live this lifestyle when I'm done to maintain my weight.
  • maillemaker
    maillemaker Posts: 1,253 Member
    In the end, it's calories in, calories out. So there is nothing "bad" about calories from pasta or bread.

    The problem with any carb-rich food is that it will spike your blood sugar since it is very easily converted into sugar. Then you get a crash when your blood sugar level comes down - this triggers hunger.

    This is probably why foods like Chinese food are often said not to "stick with you" very long - if you eat it on top of a big plate of rice you have a big carb load and thus a big sugar spike and subsequent crash.

    If willpower and hunger are problems for you in a diet (and they probably are for just about everyone), then you want to try and stabilize your BSL and avoid big spikes/crashes.

    Eating a diet light in carbs helps do this.
  • RopenChoke
    RopenChoke Posts: 31 Member
    Spaghetti squash to replace pasta. Had it last night with a chicken marinara sauce. I couldn't taste the difference. I'm sure I could if I ate it without a sauce.
  • tommygirl15
    tommygirl15 Posts: 1,012 Member
    Wheat products are good for you, unless you have an intolerance. I say eat up, just watch your portions and stay within your cals.
  • alaskaang
    alaskaang Posts: 493 Member
    You'll get a ton of good/bad on wheat. May I suggest reading Wheat Belly? The bottom line is that wheat isn't bad...the GMO wheat of today is a Frankenwheat.

    Wheat is not GMO. They've worked on it but there is no GMO wheat available for farmers at this moment. Another fallacy put forward by Mr. Taubes to sell more books.

    WRONG - All wheat is GMO, the dwarf wheat grown today is not what was grown prior to the 60's. The creator of it won a Nobel Peace prize for it because of the high yield and ending the threat of world hunger.

    It's only GMO in the fact that they cross bred different wheats to get what we have now. There was no gene splicing from other species to allow for the spraying of chemicals like there is with corn and soybeans. I farm, I'd love to have a GMO wheat that was Round-up ready but it just doesn't exist.

    Pretty much all the plant materials we eat today are GMO by the standards you're using. Farmers have been cross pollinating the best seed for centuries to produce the highest yielding varieties. Otherwise you'd be eating one kind of apple, one kind of pear, eating maize, etc. Just because something can be done quickly in a lab now instead of taking years in the field doesn't make it Frankenfood.

    I disagree. Cross pollination in the field is drastically different than genetic modification in a lab. Just because it's not Round Up ready does not mean it's not genetically modified.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    If you have gluten intolerance, it's bad. If you don't, it's fine as a part of a balanced diet.

    I have either pasta or rice pretty much every day. And bread, bagels, pizza, potatoes, etc.
  • two_octopodes
    two_octopodes Posts: 130 Member
    As you can see in this thread (and throughout this site), there are pretty divergent trains of thought on what constitutes
    "bad" and "good" food.

    I eat bread and pasta on a regular basis (had a tuna melt today and roasted veggies with pasta yesterday), mainly because they're cheap, I really like both, and I can't imagine trying to live the rest of my life without them. I don't believe that carbs are the enemy, I think too many calories in and too few calories out is.

    But of course, you'll always find people who tout very specific lifestyles based on a book or a movie or Dr. Oz (*shudder*), and usually they are fired up about those things because that was what worked for them. In basically all cases though, those diets restrict calories indirectly through restricting one of the macros (usually carbs or fat). I just like to simplify my life and restrict the calories while aiming for a balanced mix of macros.
  • I agree.... All things in moderation! Just watch the serving size and go for the high fiber kind.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
    You'll get a ton of good/bad on wheat. May I suggest reading Wheat Belly? The bottom line is that wheat isn't bad...the GMO wheat of today is a Frankenwheat.

    Wheat is not GMO. They've worked on it but there is no GMO wheat available for farmers at this moment. Another fallacy put forward by Mr. Taubes to sell more books.

    WRONG - All wheat is GMO, the dwarf wheat grown today is not what was grown prior to the 60's. The creator of it won a Nobel Peace prize for it because of the high yield and ending the threat of world hunger.

    It's only GMO in the fact that they cross bred different wheats to get what we have now. There was no gene splicing from other species to allow for the spraying of chemicals like there is with corn and soybeans. I farm, I'd love to have a GMO wheat that was Round-up ready but it just doesn't exist.

    Pretty much all the plant materials we eat today are GMO by the standards you're using. Farmers have been cross pollinating the best seed for centuries to produce the highest yielding varieties. Otherwise you'd be eating one kind of apple, one kind of pear, eating maize, etc. Just because something can be done quickly in a lab now instead of taking years in the field doesn't make it Frankenfood.

    I disagree. Cross pollination in the field is drastically different than genetic modification in a lab. Just because it's not Round Up ready does not mean it's not genetically modified.
    You had better stop eating all vegetables then because they have pretty much all been bred through selection. Man made if you want. What are you going to eat now?
  • NikoM5
    NikoM5 Posts: 488 Member
    Ignorance breeds fear. Pasta is not bad, it's just calorie dense so you need to watch how much you consume. A good portion of the population has some degree of intolerance to the gluten in wheat and other products. Many are not even aware of it.
  • ahamm002
    ahamm002 Posts: 1,690 Member
    I joined 4 days ago and just learned pasta and wheat is fattening? Can someone please explain to me how whole wheat, and whole wheat pasta is bad for you? Or how much is too much? Since my children were born Ive been buyin whole wheat bread and feeding them pasta, ofcourse I indulge too. How bad is it?

    No food is "all good" or "all bad." Many people, including myself, consider bread to be bad for dieting for many reasons. They're low in nutrients compared to other carb sources like fruits and veggies, and breads often have a high glycemic index. Many breads and pastas are sort of just empty calories which can lead some people to over eating. Some bread brands are marketed as "whole wheat" when in fact they actually are not much different from white bread.