Pasta?
KirbySmith46
Posts: 198 Member
Does anyone have any recommendations for alternatives to regular pasta that's decent? I don't like how many carbs at in regular pasta.
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Just curious as to why you don't like how many carbs pasta has. What are your views on carbs?
IMO, there is no alternative that actually taste like and has the texture of pasta. I eat pasta about once per week.
If you're low carbing, that's cool...and perhaps you have your reasons...but I hope they go beyond "carbs are evil" or something...because they're not...they're just a macro nutrient just like protein and fat.
I only bring it up because there seems to be this massive misconception out there that somehow carbohydrates are what is making you fat, and that's simply not the case.
That said, I do know people, including my dad who have medical conditions that warrant cutting carb...but even my diabetic dad didn't low carb, he just ate a more balanced diet.0 -
Try Spiralizing veggies such as zucchini, sweet potato, butternut squash. They can be topped with your favourite sauces and/or cheese.
Check out www.skinnytaste.com and www.inspiralized.com for recipe ideas and information regarding spiralizers.
I've tried shirataki noodles or miracle noodles, but personally, I found them disgusting.
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You can eat pasta and still lose weight. Just measure out the correct serving size and eat only that. Count it towards your calories. If you know that you're having spaghetti for dinner, and you're worried about your carb total for the day, have a protein heavy breakfast and lunch. It's all about finding a balance.
That said, there's not really any product that's going to taste like pasta. You can try low-carb brands or those zero calorie noodles, or even spaghetti squash, but they won't have the same taste or texture.0 -
Pasta? Is Delicious!0
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A smaller quantity of proper pasta would be my choice.0
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Try spaghetti squash with pasta sauce and veggies. We love it and find it much more filling than pasta.
We also make eggplant lasagna, using the eggplant like they were noodles by slicing them thin horizontally. Adds nutrition and cuts calories and makes a very satisfying dish.
You can also use cauliflower to make "rice". We do a lot of veggie stir fries over riced cauliflower. That's very very filling too.0 -
There is a brand of pasta at walmart called zero pasta where a whole serving is 15 calories and very low carb. If you can stand the texture of it.0
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Oh, and I forgot, we really enjoy spiralized veggies too.....zucchini and butternut squash are nice spiralized and used as a bed of "pasta". Zucchini is easy to spiralize with a small, inexpensive hand held spiralizer.0
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KirbySmith46 wrote: »Does anyone have any recommendations for alternatives to regular pasta that's decent? I don't like how many carbs at in regular pasta.
Check out Fiber Gourmet brand pasta. 1/2 the calories of regular pasta, ultra high fiber, and it's not gray or gritty.0 -
I agree with most of the comments above. Your body needs carbs for energy as does your brain for cognitive function. Pasta is a good food; but like everything else you need to be mindful of your portion size. Beware the fads in diets they come and go. Unless you have health issues such as gluten intolerance and you have been advised by your doctor, eat the pasta!0
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I eat the demon pasta several times a week, probably a hangover from living in Italy, as far as I'm concerned it has not hindered fat-loss in any way.
As above, I'm yet to see anything to 'replace' pasta and still be like pasta.0 -
Yeah it's really more about the total calories and not so much the carbs. Sorry, I should have clarified a little better. I had spaghetti with meat sauce the other night and it cost me 1100 calories! I realized for the first time that spaghetti doesn't offer much bang for the buck!0
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KirbySmith46 wrote: »Yeah it's really more about the total calories and not so much the carbs. Sorry, I should have clarified a little better. I had spaghetti with meat sauce the other night and it cost me 1100 calories! I realized for the first time that spaghetti doesn't offer much bang for the buck!
I have never had a plate of spaghetti and meat sauce cost me 1100 calories and left hungry.
Most of my past meals leave me pleasantly full for 3-500 calories
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KirbySmith46 wrote: »Yeah it's really more about the total calories and not so much the carbs. Sorry, I should have clarified a little better. I had spaghetti with meat sauce the other night and it cost me 1100 calories! I realized for the first time that spaghetti doesn't offer much bang for the buck!
I have never had a plate of spaghetti and meat sauce cost me 1100 calories and left hungry.
Most of my past meals leave me pleasantly full for 3-500 calories
I guess I like spaghetti more than you! Lol.
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Fiamma - Vesuviana, 65 g 235
- Costco - Lean Ground Beef, 0.25 lb(s) 238
Kirkland Marinara Sauce - Pasta Sauce, 0.5 cup 70
Lettuce - Romain, 100 g 17
Carrots - Raw, 0.5 large (7-1/4" to 8-1/2" long) 15
Reggano - Parm Cheese, 2 Tbsp 40
Farmboy - Honey Dijon Dressing, 2 tbsp 70
Shallots - Raw, 1 tbsp chopped 7
Total: 692
This is my spaghetti bolognaise with salad dinner in my regular rotation. This is a huge meal and I am usually stuffed afterwards, and I can EAT! You can have your pasta and eat it too! Just measure out proper portions. 65g of pasta does not seem like much when you measure it out dry, but trust me, once it is cooked it is a huge pile on the plate! If you make something with these proportions and are still hungry after the meal, just make the salad bigger and get lots more satiety with not much more cals... or you can have broccoli or spinach instead of a salad and save cals by not having salad dressing.0 -
We use the brand Dreamfields which seems to have less carbs then a lot of other pasta brands.0
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KirbySmith46 wrote: »Yeah it's really more about the total calories and not so much the carbs. Sorry, I should have clarified a little better. I had spaghetti with meat sauce the other night and it cost me 1100 calories! I realized for the first time that spaghetti doesn't offer much bang for the buck!
Yeah, pasta can be a calorie bomb...I actually very rarely eat it as a main dish anymore...usually I eat it as a side and even then it tends to be one of my higher calorie meals. I usually just portion out 4 ounces dried spaghetti to split between my wife and I and serve it with a marinara and some grilled chicken and some kind of veg.
I actually can't remember the last time I just had it with a meat sauce as a stand alone meal...maybe I'll do that this weekend for my re-feed.0 -
I eat a smaller portion of pasta (ok, actually about a recommended portion size portion, but that's better than the 3 portions I'd eat otherwise) and plump up the meal with a pile of vegetables. Usually some mix of frozen veggies cooked in the sauce. I'm not a big fan of broccoli, but broccoli covered in vodka sauce doesn't taste all that much different than a ziti noodle in vodka sauce.0
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There are several options, you can try whole wheat pasta, spaghetti squash, or other vegetables. I personally did not find any of them satisfactory because of the change in flavor. If I have pasta for a meal then I try to curb the amount of carbs I eat the rest of the day. I'm diabetic so I need to watch the amount of carbs I eat.0
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I love spaghetti squash! I find if you cut it into 1" rings instead of halves it tends to look more like angel hair pasta. Take the rings, remove the goopy stuff in the middle, put them on parchment paper and bake for 40 mins at 375C.
It has a sweeter taste than noodles but it has went well with any pasta sauce I've tried.
Its low in calories so you can eat lots of it.
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KirbySmith46 wrote: »Yeah it's really more about the total calories and not so much the carbs. Sorry, I should have clarified a little better. I had spaghetti with meat sauce the other night and it cost me 1100 calories! I realized for the first time that spaghetti doesn't offer much bang for the buck!
I hear ya! I love pasta but, oh those calories! I tried just less pasta and more sauce, and that was okay, but other than it turning into something that looks like soup or chili with a little pasta, I just couldn't make it work. I never had any calories left for wine, and what is pasta without wine??
That's why I tried fiber gourmet pasta. Twice the pasta for the same calories. I wouldn't eat it if I didn't like it, but I am very thankful that I do.
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If you need a lot of volume, have a small serving of pasta (weigh it) and bulk it out with vegetables. You can either add steamed or roasted chunks of veggies, or get the vegetable spiralizer as suggested, and mix that together with your pasta. You'll have a HUGE plate of food for less calories.
I eat 56g of bean pasta for the protein it has and mix it with spiralized zucchini to make a big bowlful when I'm having a particularly hungry day. I feel like I'm getting a LOT of food and it doesn't pack a huge calorie punch.0 -
I love spaghetti squash! I find if you cut it into 1" rings instead of halves it tends to look more like angel hair pasta. Take the rings, remove the goopy stuff in the middle, put them on parchment paper and bake for 40 mins at 375C.
It has a sweeter taste than noodles but it has went well with any pasta sauce I've tried.
Its low in calories so you can eat lots of it.
oh yah... let them cool for about 10 mins before you pull it apart.0 -
You can also try rice noodles. They have a different texture and flavour but I personally love them. I still eat regular pasta but sometimes I have rice noodles instead, not because of their different nutrition profile, but just because they are tasty. They are much lower in calories so you can eat much more if you want to. They have the really thin kind that would be akin to angel hair and you can also get thicker kinds that are more like fettuccine. Of course they are meant to be eaten with Asian style dishes but I often use them just like regular pasta and they are not out of place at all. So if what you really want is that huge satisfying mountain of noodles, maybe give them a try.0
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KirbySmith46 wrote: »KirbySmith46 wrote: »Yeah it's really more about the total calories and not so much the carbs. Sorry, I should have clarified a little better. I had spaghetti with meat sauce the other night and it cost me 1100 calories! I realized for the first time that spaghetti doesn't offer much bang for the buck!
I have never had a plate of spaghetti and meat sauce cost me 1100 calories and left hungry.
Most of my past meals leave me pleasantly full for 3-500 calories
I guess I like spaghetti more than you! Lol.
Debateable
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I spiralize my zuccini...I have a very simple hand spiralizer that works perfectly, you'd be amazing how much "noodle" you can get out of 1 zuccini0
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@KirbySmith46 when i eat pasta i try to add fillers like veggies so like you said its a more fulfilling meal. i also second the spiralizer. I've done zucchini noodles and the stalks of broccoli turned into noodles (use the florets to eat with the pasta) and they both are surprisingly very good. and I'm not a huge veggie person.0
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It seems like your issue with pasta is not the pasta itself (it's actually alright calorie-wise), but the way it's prepared (eg. fatty meatballs), when it contains a lot of fat which causes the calorie count to go up. My suggestion would be to experiment with different recipes. Ones that "bulk up" the pasta with veggies and pay attention to the amount of fat tend to be lower in calories. The bulking up action also causes you to use less pasta than you usually would for a meal.0
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KirbySmith46 wrote: »Yeah it's really more about the total calories and not so much the carbs. Sorry, I should have clarified a little better. I had spaghetti with meat sauce the other night and it cost me 1100 calories! I realized for the first time that spaghetti doesn't offer much bang for the buck!
I've lived in Italy for 30 yrs now, and I make pasta everyday. A portion is 100g, dry, around 360 calories just the pasta. The sauce is what gets you. A simple tomato or vegetable sauce is around 450--500 calories total, with the pasta. There is no good substitute for pasta, in my opinion. I love it on my exercise days. Get some good recipe ideas and enjoy.
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eatingforspawn wrote: »You can also try rice noodles. They have a different texture and flavour but I personally love them. I still eat regular pasta but sometimes I have rice noodles instead, not because of their different nutrition profile, but just because they are tasty. They are much lower in calories so you can eat much more if you want to. They have the really thin kind that would be akin to angel hair and you can also get thicker kinds that are more like fettuccine. Of course they are meant to be eaten with Asian style dishes but I often use them just like regular pasta and they are not out of place at all. So if what you really want is that huge satisfying mountain of noodles, maybe give them a try.
Which rice noodles are lower in calories than wheat noodles? I've never come across them.
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