Confused, chips are lower cal per gram than pasta?!

amy_1987
amy_1987 Posts: 45
in Food and Nutrition
Am I doing something wrong? When I look at chips (oven, steak cut, McCains brand) they come out as 105 cal per 75g, whilst pasta (white or wholemeal) hovers around the 260 cal mark for the same quanitiy (uncooked).

I'm trying really hard to work on my portion sizes in the evenings (when I'm at my laziest and greediest lol), but I cant get my head round this! Have I done something idiotic?!

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Do you have the package? The package will tell you how many calories per serving. And yes, pasta is very calorie dense and a true serving of pasta is pretty small. Also, the calories in chips has more to do with the oil content...so if you're not deep frying them, they don't have as many calories...it's just a potato.
  • luckyjuls
    luckyjuls Posts: 505 Member
    75 grams uncooked pasta usually equates to more once the pasta has absorbed the water. So visually, you'll probably get more bang for your buck. Both are delicious and weighed out and within calories, easy to fit into your day. It really depends on what you want to eat!
  • rahne176
    rahne176 Posts: 1
    You can't always just compare things based on calorie count. Chips might have fewer calories per serving, but they also probably have fewer of the nutrients and what not your body needs. At the very least, pasta has more fiber than chips would. So calorie counting can be a little deceptive. Make sure you look at the big picture.
  • amy_1987
    amy_1987 Posts: 45
    Going to double check the chips! I thought oven chips were kind of already deep fried though?
    I only eat them with omlettes as I've deemed them unhealthy in my head, also I love pasta so much!
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Calories are not an indication of how healthy a food is.
  • lilcassers
    lilcassers Posts: 163
    try not to focus on calories. chips and pasta are equally bad no matter what. they're both simple white sugars that dump right into your body.

    instead, try to get whole wheat crackers or something.
  • lilcassers
    lilcassers Posts: 163
    Calories are not an indication of how healthy a food is.

    THIS.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Going to double check the chips! I thought oven chips were kind of already deep fried though?
    I only eat them with omlettes as I've deemed them unhealthy in my head, also I love pasta so much!

    mccain oven chips are usually just potato and a bit of sunflower oil so they arent so bad.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    try not to focus on calories. chips and pasta are equally bad no matter what. they're both simple white sugars that dump right into your body.

    instead, try to get whole wheat crackers or something.

    Hmmm chips and pasta are simple sugars? And lol to whole wheat crackers
  • greentart
    greentart Posts: 411 Member
    Calories are not an indication of how healthy a food is.

    THIS.

    And THIS again. Also, pay attention to fresh VS packaged. Make your own potatos, so you know what goes in them. That way they're healthier, fresher, and have more nutrients. Also with pasta, you have to think about what you're putting IN the pasta. Are you just covering it with a bottled sauce? Or are you adding in fresh tomatoes, fresh spinach, olives, and some feta?

    Calories don't mean everything. And fresh is always better than processed.
  • amy_1987
    amy_1987 Posts: 45
    That's why I've switched to wholewheat pasta and brown rice, though the stats dont seem much better.
    I'm trying really hard to improve my overall health now I'm at my target weight, but it's not something I know much about. At the moment it's basically more veggies and wholewheats and less sugar. I really struggle with carbs though, I used to just eat bowls of pasta with cheese :S
  • amy_1987
    amy_1987 Posts: 45
    I make my own sauces, I usually do chilli or bolognese (both with quorn as I'm veggie), and then three or 4 different veggies added in. I cook in bulk and freeze. I'm still on the fresh packaged stuff for arrabiata and mascarpone but with extra veggies added, but I'm planning on finding recipes for those too.
  • jagh09
    jagh09 Posts: 555 Member
    I eat frozen chips quite often in my household. The important thing is to really pay attention to the portion size for the calories. For someone coming out of bad eating habits, It's really easy to eat 2 full portions without realizing it!

    Cook them and enjoy!
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    That's why I've switched to wholewheat pasta and brown rice, though the stats dont seem much better.
    I'm trying really hard to improve my overall health now I'm at my target weight, but it's not something I know much about. At the moment it's basically more veggies and wholewheats and less sugar. I really struggle with carbs though, I used to just eat bowls of pasta with cheese :S

    Whole wheat/brown rice aren't all that much better than their white counterparts, nutritionally speaking. You could even make the argument they are no better if not worse
  • jagh09
    jagh09 Posts: 555 Member
    I love some chips and a serving of Batchelors beans on top! Mmmmm. Talk about processed food! It's delightful.
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
    French fries lose water when you cook them (I'm assuming frozen fries) and pasta gains water when you cook it.
  • sheltrk
    sheltrk Posts: 111 Member
    Acg67 said:
    Whole wheat/brown rice aren't all that much better than their white counterparts, nutritionally speaking. You could even make the argument they are no better if not worse

    A bit of a derail--but I'm very interested to hear the argument you mention. I've always read that brown rice is better for you--nutritionally speaking--because it contains more fiber, and nutrients like magnesium, manganese, zinc, and Vitamin E.
  • KimLee76
    KimLee76 Posts: 89
    I use grams because it's a much more accurate way of determing portion size, but you should compare nutrition info of different foods by by serving size not weight.

    A serving size of pasta is 2 oz/56 g so 75 g is about 1-1/3 servings.
    A serving size of McCain's fries is 3 oz/85g so 75 g is less than a serving.

    It's like trying to compare apples and oranges or rather bananas since I know the nutrition info for them lol.

    Bananas have about 10 calories more per ounce than apples...but an apple is 3-1/2 times heavier than a banana (which I think we can agree are both 1 serving size) so there's only about a 10 calorie difference per fruit.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Acg67 said:
    Whole wheat/brown rice aren't all that much better than their white counterparts, nutritionally speaking. You could even make the argument they are no better if not worse

    A bit of a derail--but I'm very interested to hear the argument you mention. I've always read that brown rice is better for you--nutritionally speaking--because it contains more fiber, and nutrients like magnesium, manganese, zinc, and Vitamin E.

    Of those nutrients, how much is absorbed due to anti nutrients found in whole grains? And how does that compare to more refined counterparts?
  • dancinmama
    dancinmama Posts: 47 Member
    And potatoes are good for you...look at all the potassium they have. Don't discount the potato, just don't fry it!
  • corgicake
    corgicake Posts: 846 Member
    You're basically comparing dried potatoes (minus the usual grease) with dried wheat, which isn't a fair way to compare them since one of these things is probably going to be eaten dry and the other is probably not. Spaghetti may be more calories per gram dry, but they also will more than double in weight after cooking.
  • tonyrocks922
    tonyrocks922 Posts: 172 Member
    try not to focus on calories. chips and pasta are equally bad no matter what. they're both simple white sugars that dump right into your body.

    instead, try to get whole wheat crackers or something.

    L
    O
    L
  • sheltrk
    sheltrk Posts: 111 Member
    Acg67 said:
    Whole wheat/brown rice aren't all that much better than their white counterparts, nutritionally speaking. You could even make the argument they are no better if not worse

    A bit of a derail--but I'm very interested to hear the argument you mention. I've always read that brown rice is better for you--nutritionally speaking--because it contains more fiber, and nutrients like magnesium, manganese, zinc, and Vitamin E.

    Of those nutrients, how much is absorbed due to anti nutrients found in whole grains? And how does that compare to more refined counterparts?

    All excellent questions! Thanks Acg67! This spurred me into doing a little web searching on anti-nutrients. I found some interesting research papers. Unfortunately, most of the details are behind pay-walls, so I'll probably never read them. From what I can gather from the abstracts, it seems that there is some evidence that many of the nutrients in brown rice are not very bio-available, mostly due to phytic acid.

    If others are interested, I found some summary info and some more links on the subject:
    http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/brown-rice-better-than-white-rice.aspx
  • TheFitnessTutor
    TheFitnessTutor Posts: 356 Member
    try not to focus on calories. chips and pasta are equally bad no matter what. they're both simple white sugars that dump right into your body.

    instead, try to get whole wheat crackers or something.

    You couldn't be more wrong. And you're suggesting wheat on a whim? Simple white sugars that dump right into the body? You need to do more research.

    And noone cares about the GI values anymore, as far as dietary intake and fat burning goes, unless you're diabetic or pre. How can you lump all chips and pasta as being equally bad? Pure nonsense. It's fat and carbohydrate.

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