If you are a healthy weight and eat pasta...

[luminousloops]

I hear a lot of bad press concerning pasta, and am in this category.
I am lucky in that I haven't experienced any weight changes so far in my life (50) or health problems that might affect it. But I have always eaten pasta several times per week, including decent bread for toast and other white horrors.
That said, my daily food intake is fairly healthy over all.

I would like to know if pasta is still in a state of disgrace , since most of the internet gives it a big red flag. I know about the calories in it, but they don't seem like a terrible amount per portion.

It was something of a staple when I was growing up, part of a decent balanced diet, although not every day. Chucking some fresh tomato and pesto on it was a favourite, quick student meal for me. I don't recall anyone complaining about it being calorific.

Personally I believe in 'everything in moderation', generally, although food does seem to affect a lot of us in different ways. I don't know a great deal about insulin but appreciate that this concerns some.

So is it still popular in your house? Or do you find it problematic?

We have carbs every meal and are fine weight wise. I'd be starving otherwise!

I always eat pasta but when I'm trying to lose weight I have a much smaller portion and weigh it. Tonight I'm making salmon and orzo pasta but more salmon, less orzo. Tomorrow will be homemade bolognese with 70g spaghetti.

I need carbs for running but also because they are life. I just cut them down and have anything between 60-75g in the case of pasta instead of 100g+

I put on weight over Christmas because I ate too much of everything, cheese, mince pies, cake and drank too much wine, port and high calorie cocktails. Nothing to do with carbs.

Carbs are good. Fruit and veg are carbs! It’s refined carbs we should be moving away from. I eat rice, pasta, potatoes, and bread but choose wholegrain where I can and control portions.

In the real world across a huge variety of countries the vast majority of people eat a varied diet that includes carbs, protein, fats etc. And while some of them are overweight many of them are entirely healthy weights.

It’s only in certain subgroups - such as the weight-loss focused boards of predominantly female websites like mumsnet in developed countries - that carbs are demonised. Ignore the noise of the vocal minority of diet-obsessed munsnetters and enjoy your pasta!

I'm Italian, my parents eat pasta nearly every day. We eat it at least 3/4 times a week (maybe once we have gnocchi instead) - we are all a healthy weight.

I don't know how much we use as portions though - I do 2 handfuls (small hands) for me and DH, and 1 each for the kids. It's usually just al burro or with tomato sauce though. Maybe once a fortnight I make macaroni cheese with panchetta bits (DS1 loves it)

I don’t see what’s wrong with pasta, we eat it at least twice a week and none of us are overweight, I think my BMI is about 22. I’ve never understood the low carb thing, to me it’s not a proper meal if the carbs are missing!

I am slim and I eat pasta - everything and anything. I don't eat massive portions and I don't eat until I'm stuffed full. I stop when I no longer feel hungry, it took me a long time to train myself to stop when I've had enough and it has meant I don't choose food based on calories, carbs or fat - just whether I want to eat it. Years of dieting and restricting are thankfully a thing of the past.

I'm a healthy weight and there are not many carbs I don't like , or don't eat! I'm not keen on wholewheat pasta though.

Probably my fave carb is a baguette (ideally M.and S - supermarket ones are usually not great) with butter! Yum.

I don't even really like pasta but it is easy, quick and the DC like it so we probably have some form of pasta 2-3 times a week.

Actually I agree wholewheat is worth trying. I don't like wholeweat pasta shapes very much but wholewheat spaghetti is nice with bolognese sauce, much nicer texture (less slimy/sticky) and you don't need to eat as much to feel full.

Also worth noting that reheated pasta becomes resistant starch and causes a lower insulin spike.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29629761

I live in Italy amd my employer provides my lunch. I have a small bowl of pasta or rice as a starter 5 days a week. I'm pretty slim. Literally everyone here eats pasta and everyone I work with is slim.

When I’ve been in Italy, pasta is served as a starter, a small bowl.

I eat pasta twice a week and am slim (bordering on underweight tbh but not worryingly so). I eat bakery bread every day and carbs in general form the majority of my evening meals.

A portion of pasta for me is way more than an official portion...I'm think twice the recommend amount (tested once after a thread on here!)...but I reckon the accompanying bolognese for me is a relatively small portion in comparison with what other people have (again this is informed by a Mumsnet thread!).

My diet is probably average in terms of being healthy and I think I'm slim due to genetics. I'm very aware that my DH finds cutting carbs to be the easiest way to lose weight but I can't relate to that sort of diet at all. I would be permanently hungry and struggle to eat enough calories to maintain weight while still enjoying food and not eating rubbish, I think.

There's nothing wrong with pasta or most foods as long as you stick to a portion. Unfortunately you see people with 3 or 4 portions on their plates so the inevitable happens.

We eat pasta about 3 times a week.
The kids love it and it’s a fairly cheap family meal. Mainly white rigatoni, wholemeal fusilli & white spaghetti.

We are all slim and generally eat healthily (we are partial to sweet treats on occasion)

I make a big jar of pasta sauce once a week.
Roasted tomatoes, garlic, onion, red & yellow pepper, lots of basil and olive oil blended quickly in the blender.

We don’t like the pasta too saucy so a jar of sauce goes along way. I add a little cream or ricotta if we fancy a creamier pasta. Sundried tomatoes if we want a stronger taste.
We add chicken or ground beef if we want meat. Black olives and lemon, more basil at the end and plenty of Parmesan are a staple. Sometimes add pancetta. Dcs love broccoli & peas with theirs. I like a side salad. Dh likes abit of crusty bread and butter with his.

There’s so much you can do with pasta. LOVE the stuff, as you can probably tell.

I am highly suspicious of any diet that restricts it.

Edit: Agree that portion sizes are key to enjoying pasta regularly as part of a healthy diet.

(white) pasta is part of a healthy mediterranean diet. But make sure it's a proper italian recipe amd steer away of cream and other heavy 'americanise' sauces (with the exception of bechamelle in lasagne). Remember pasta (or risotto) is rarely a main dish but rather a first course to be followed by a main so portion are usually not exceeding 80/100g of pasta per person.

I posted above about steel cut pasta. It's not called that. It's Bronze Die Cut Pasta. When I go to heaven that is what I will eat every day.

It's cut so that the pasta better absorbs the sauce. I can't describe it. It's divine.

I think all the anti carb high protein diets are just the fashionable thing and doubtless this will change to something else in the fullness of time as it always does.
Eat a good mix of foods according to your own likes and needs and don’t worry.

God please don’t make me have to stop doing pasta, it’s one of the few things my kids actually eat and one of the best ways to hide vegetables to trick them into eating them…

Agree with this.
I see a lot of anti-pasta (lol) sentiment in discussions about weight and fitness, mostly amongst diabetics or those who have struggled with weight issues. Whilst I can't pass comment on something that I haven't experience myself, those discussions do seem to push the idea that 'diabetic' is somehow the default or norm if one consumes carbs.

In reality, diabetes is a health condition and not the default. It is an outlier. I don't personally think that carbs 'cause' these issues, but may exacerbate one someone suffers them.

I recall a thread about healthy and homemade bread, which was quickly overtaken by the diet crowd who claimed that if they bought a loaf for toasting, they would HAVE to eat the entire loaf. Same with pasta.
I honestly don't think the issue here is the food.
Bread, rice and pasta are insanely filling. If consuming a healthy portion of carb results in extreme hunger and needing to eat more and more food throughout the day, I would think this was a medical issue, not a faulty food group.

I agree op.

This is interesting...what size would the portion be? Then what would the main course be?

Starter portion I had in Italy was in a cereal bowl size. Main course was usual Italian style cooking using Fish, chicken , pork or beef .Rabbit was popular when we were there.
https://ginodacampo.com/courses/main-courses/

I’m a healthy weight (slap bang in the middle of the green BMI zone) and a decade beyond menopause, and I eat pasta.

A modest sensible portion and I would never add garlic bread or chips (as I see some people do with lasagne for e.g).

I lost 3 stone a few years ago and checked the portion size that matched the calorie count in the packet. It was smaller than I had been used to ladling on to my plate.

I’m now used to eating smaller portions , and if my weight does creep up a bit it is because I have veered back into a snacking and daily cake habit. Not because of including pasta in my normal diet.

I agree about the bronze cut pasta - it is far superior to the shiny supermarket branded stuff, it holds the sauce so much better. The trouble is that once you get into the bronze you become a complete pasta snob and the cheap stuff just won't do any more...
I also feel that with the bronze pasta you don't need to eat as much, it's a bit like a good quality chocolate where you only want a couple of squares compared to a budget one where you scoff the whole bar.