To cook more than 15g pasta or 10g rice?

[WrongWayApricot]

I've been doing an NHS diabetes prevention program because I'm at high risk for diabetes. We've been learning about portion sizes and I knew from news and telly that modern portion sizes are too big, but I didn't know they were 85% bigger than they should be. Apparently 30g cooked rice and pasta is the right portion size. The 200g~ on packets is way off then? I usually do about 75g dry pasta, less than the 90g recommended on the packet. Pasta doubles in weight and rice triples in weight when cooking so, I should be putting only 10g rice in the saucepan and only 15g pasta? I thought this was mad so googled what I could, but British Heart Foundation recommend about the same. I want to ask my health coach about this but wanted to check here first if I really am an absolute glutton for cooking 75g dried pasta/eating 150g pasta?

@Shirleyphallus

I cook a thimble of rice which lasts me 4 meals. I’d cook 3-4 pieces of pasta for a dinner. Not being funny but if you’re eating more than that you’re all lardy cows

You greedy pig. I just walk down the rice aisle, sets me up for months

I'm confused! So how many portions is a serving?!!

The diet is limiting your carbohydrate intake though, the portions are specific to this diet. People who don’t have to limit their carbohydrates would eat higher amounts.
I assume they are prioritising you eating vegetables rather than starchy foods.

This is really interesting as I'm doing a gym programme with high protein, moderate fats and carbs. I eat 100g cooked weight of brown rice with evening meals - so if it triples with cooking that's around 30g dry weight. I cook a batch at the beginning of the week, chill it then microwave it measured out as I use it.

Yes but you're supposed to have 4 portions of carbs a day.

So if you've had a piece of toast and 2 eggs for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch then you could have 3 x portions of pasta for your evening meal. Which is probably roughly about the recommended serving size on a pack.

Are there any instructions about how many portions of carbs you can eat per day? Some diets will say eg 3 portions of carbs and 2 portions of protein (totally made up numbers).

If I'm remembering correctly, that's the sort of carbs portions I was told to aim for when I had gestational diabetes. I think I was allowed something like 100g of carbs a day to be split over 3 meals and 2 snacks (it's a couple of years ago so I may be out a bit on the g).

Is it possibly a low carb diet specifically linked to your risk of diabetes? I remember seeing lots of chat on support groups about how a low carb diet could reverse early stage diabetes (ie bring blood sugars back to normal, not let you eat all the carbs you want).

The portions of carbohydrates for a diabetic or those on a reduced carbohydrate diet are not standard portion sizes.
75g uncooked rice/pasta per person is recommended by NHS for those that don’t need carb restrictions.

Crikey!! We are a family of 4. DH and I aren't overweight - but higher on the BMI thuan we would like. Kids are under tall and skinny older primary/young secondary age.

We cook 500g pasta between us!! 150g each for DH and older child and 100g each for younger child. 😬

They are recommending more non starchy vegetables yeah. But, I haven't been given any information about how many portions of carbs to have per day or meal. So that's what I'll ask about. They have given me information in general about lowering carbs and low carb diets. It's been a lot of information about lots of different things and options for reducing risk of diabetes and we're encouraged to make our choices for ourselves. So they talked about low carb, intermittent fasting, carb counting, calorie counting and t plates. But, we're supposed to decide what we want to do with that information. The information for a portion of carbs was in the portion sizes lesson but didn't say any more about how many portions to have. It just talked about the t plate, so I assumed that the portion was the serving for the t plate, which is one meal.

You are doing a diabetes prevention programme so it will limit processed carbs. So the portion you will be allowed will be far, far less than others to ensure you lose insulin resistance.

@Shirleyphallus

I cook a thimble of rice which lasts me 4 meals. I’d cook 3-4 pieces of pasta for a dinner. Not being funny but if you’re eating more than that you’re all lardy cows

3-4 pieces of pasta!!! You are the lardy one. I have 1 piece of pasta per meal. That’s me stuffed full for the day. Tomorrow I’m going to lick a grape, that’s enough for me.

@WrongWayApricot fufu?! Snigger

Mid 50s and this is the first time I have ever heard of portion/serving and portions of things per day. (Other than 5 or is it now 10 of fruit and veg and still not very clear about those portions)
Never been on a diet mind you or advised by doctor or dietician. Off to nhs website. For sure I know I eat a ‘huge amount’ of pasta when I do. Heaped large pasta bowl. Not often but I seem to be able to eat loads !

I heard pasta and rice portion sizes should be a maximum of 2 handfuls pre cooking. After cooking it should be the amount fitting in two hands cupped together.

But what if you've got small/big hands?

Tomorrow I’m going to lick a grape, that’s enough for me.

Lick a grape? Now who's the lardy one. I'm going to glance at one through next doors window. That'll set me up for the week!

Wouldn't say you were a glutton! I bulk stuff out with veg and salad so I would do like a tomato pasta but add peppers, onions, garlic, cherry tomatoes, chopped courgette.., feels more filling then I would have salad on the side too
I'm still fat

I have been diagnosed as diabetes. Currently finding out if type 2 or late onset type 1. Been told to go low carb and not go over 35/49g per meal. Means I can have 50g of dried pasta with a low carb sauce. Got recommended an app to track

You greedy pig. I just walk down the rice aisle, sets me up for months

You fat cow. I just write the word “pasta” on paper and that’s enough for me for a year. If I’m really hungry, I use capitals.

OP - welcome to my world! I did WW recently and that’s now pushing people towards a lower-carb, lower-sugar lifestyle. Their suggested pasta portion was 25g (dry). When I weighed it out I felt like a 70s housewife living through the miners strike on two shillings a week or something.

I pile on the healthy bolognese sauce and it does actually fill you up. But it’s WAY less than I’d been eating, it just bobs around in the saucepan. You can count the individual pieces of pasta. 😬

I think this is all nuts. My mum follows this kind of nonsense and then is so ravenous after a meal that she ends up compensating by stuffing herself with cake. I'm right at the bottom of the healthy BMI range and eat between 100 and 200g dried pasta for a meal if there's not much else with it and if I'm really hungry. If it's with a sauce with loads of veg and I know there's pudding to follow, then I might only eat 40g. These strict diet instructions come with no context or nuance and don't help you listen to your appetite imo. They also set you up to fail - 10g of rice is a ludicrously small amount.

I’d rather be fat than limit myself to two tablespoons of rice

Eh? What now? We are a family of 9 a 500g bag of fusili or spaghetti feeds us all but we have a 2,3,4 and 5 yr old there would never NEVER be enough for 9 adults and that's more than double the amount your ratio suggests ..... I'd starve!!!!

The BHF download allows 7 portions a day for women (right at the top), so you can easily eat a normal serving of pasta plus a couple of slices of bread or whatever and be within the recommended amounts

'Normal' adult portion of pasta would be 70 g dry weight.
100 g is a big portion for a growing teenager/ very active person/ big hungry bloke

15 g wouldn't be worth the effort of cooking it. That's a baby/toddler portion and equivalent to about half a slice of bread.