Is pasta salad a healthy lunch?!

[Rainydays55]

I’m trying to loose a few pounds, especially around my stomach area, I’ve cut out bread as much as possible and have been taking pasta salads to work for lunch instead . I admit I’m not doing much exercise so I can’t expect miracles but I’m not noticing a difference at all for cutting out bread! What are healthy lunches to take to work?! And any tips to loose a few pounds would be very appreciated!

I think its a healthy lumch but its equivalent to bread so similar to a sandwhich surely?

Functionally there's not much difference between bread and pasta. They're both primarily made of wheat flour. Substituting one for the other won't make much difference

Not really... I would do a salad with grains instead - lebtila/ quiona /vulgar wheat / cous cous / brown rice etc and lots of veg

Lentils **

Omg bulgar wheat. 🤣

It’s better than bread, but could you reduce the amount of pasta, up the protein and veg to about 1/3 each? I get best results from eating like this. Lots of tuna, chicken and lean steaks. No processed stuff.

It entirely depends how much pasta there is and what else you put with it. Wholewheat is more filling than ordinary pasta.

I’m sure you’ll have someone along in a minute who will tell you to cut carbs entirely otherwise you won’t shift a pound but that’s not the case.

It always comes down to calories in vs calories out. Is the pasta salad healthy because a measured portion of pasta with say a can of tuna, lettuce, carrot, cucumber, spinach, onion and a light dressing would be fantastic vs a chicken and bacon Caesar pasta salad.

If you weigh the pasta and make sure you’ve got less pasta than you used to have of bread and more salady stuff then it would be an improvement, otherwise it’s no different to bread.

I’d try and make a few simple changes. Just cut down your carbs with your evening meal and reduce any crap snacks maybe.

Pasta and bread are both carby so not much different really. I usually take things like soup, tuna salad, Ryvita thins with cheese. What else do you eat? Have you cut out sugar?

How is it better than bread the ingredients are virtually identical!?

No it's very carb (sugar) heavy. You'd be better having a high protein high veggie lunch

Pasta is pretty calorie dense so may not be super diet friendly.

As a pp said ; what you’re having it with and how much you’re having matters.

This week I’m having 1/2 a turkey breast, 1 bacon medallion, lettuce, cucumber & tomato in a wholemeal wrap with a mini babybell chopped into it. It’s delicious and really filling.

@intheenddoesitreallymatter Carb content does matter if you have any kind of insulin resistance, which lots of women do without realising. Loads of hormonal issues mess up how your body handles carbs.

Like your username by the way.

300 cals in a cup of cooked pasta.

I think there's around 150 in a cup of chickpeas. Maybe go half and half?

It depends.

If you are taking in “pasta salad” which is 30g pasta, a spoonful of light mayo and lots of peppers/tomatoes/cucumber, then yes, it’s healthy.

If you’re making “pasta salad” like that woman someone posted a video of a while back- huge pot of pasta, jar of mayonnaise, cheese, cream cheese, ham, and maybe one tomato as “salad”, then no, that’s not healthy.

It’s about portion size.

doadeer vulgar wheat!!!🤣😂🤣😂

Not particularly... it's pasta. Same as bread. It's fine if you consider your weekly intake but it's hardly diet food. Especially white pasta. You've just replaced carbs with... carbs. You can do that and lose weight if you calorie counting but you've replaced like with like

Eating pasta is the same as eating bread though?

Protein like Fish, meat, egg or a complex carb/protein like beans or lentils, with salad and some cooked veg (eg roast veg) for fibre. Have a smaller portion with soup if you want something hot. Have a bit more protein and the cooked veg to help fill the gap left by simple carbs (bread, pasta, potato).

If you are only having a little bit of pasta that should be fine - but it’s the same as a little bit of bread.

There's nothing wrong with pasta or bread if you want to lose weight, it's what you eat and drink overall that matters.
Look up team RH on Facebook, they are really good and explain how to lose weight and keep it off while eating bread or pasta or whatever lunch you actually enjoy - basically just weigh it so you're having a bit more veg and stuff to fill you up and a bit less calorie dense stuff like butter, oil or whatever your vice is (mine would be the extra chocolate in the evenings that we forget to mention lol).

Eating pasta could give you as many calories or even more than bread-it depends how much you’re having. You need to eat fewer calories than you burn off, ultimately.

Just a salad without the pasta would obviously have fewer calories.

It could be. It depends on what you put in it, how much of it there is and what you’re eating for the rest of the day. I like pasta salad for lunch but I have to weigh the pasta to make sure it’s a sensible portion.

Salad should be mostly vegetables.

Calorie wise there’s not a great difference is there - bread and pasta are both wheat. Pasta is supposed to keep you fuller for longer due to its high gluten content. Cold pasta releases less energy so less calories than hot pasta. But I don’t see the point in cutting out bread to replace it with other carbs as though bread is the single special enemy. It’s not. Whole grain sourdough is your friend - great for gut bacteria and therefore, if eaten in the right portions, helpful for weight loss.