What to eat instead of pasta

[Cloud44]

I don’t know if it’s becoming older but I seem to feel rubbish after eating pasta. It’s so easy though just to whip up some pasta, add some veg / sauce after a long day but I don’t want to eat it if it’s making me feel rubbish… what could I swap it for instead?

Wish I knew, it feels like the only options are pasta, bread, potato in some consistency and rice 😕 so, following…

I know the feeling. Have you tried courgetti? I adore it (and have raw with pasta sauce)

I dial up the veggie element of it - so add extra chunky veggies like courgette and half the amount of pasta.

also replace with chickpeas

Could you substitute some of the pasta for spiralised courgette? I do it with noodles and pasta.

Still feels a good big bowl of pasta. I did it because it's healthier, but it could help here.

rice

Maybe couscous or quinoa?

quinoa, couscous, rice. We eat a lot of rice. You could try chick pea or lentil - based pasta, or GF pasta.

Microwave sachets are quite good if you're on your own. I have hoardes to feed so I use a rice cooker. We've eaten way more brown rice since we bought it, which is a bonus.

Holland and Barrett sell a chickpea and a lentil ‘pasta’.

Orzo or cous cous?

You could try rice noodles/pasta. Morrisons has fusilli that's rice/corn mix so is close to regular pasta.

Freekah

I have pea protein pasta. Really good substitute.

Rice

Try different types of pasta. Dc loves sainsburys ones they do green pea or Rd lentil

Couscous.
Rice.

Are you eating white or wholegrain pasta? I find wholegrain very tasty and obviously is better for you.

The rummo gluten free one is the best. Whole family eat it and only 2 are GF!

In terms of adding sauce and veg rice/couscous etc aren't quite the same - have you tried free from pasta? It might just fix the issue without losing pasta! Otherwise noodles?

Puy lentils, dahl, butterbeans or haricot beans?
Celeriac mash is low carb?

It's probably the wheat. Lots of people develop a bit of an intolerance as they get older.

Eat more rice, beans, pulses. Potatoes will probably be fine too, but I wouldn't go overboard with those. You could try things like pearl barley or quinoa. Or just try low carb meals with protein/ veg.

They might not seem as satisfying/ filling but it's up to you to experiment a bit if you want your body to feel better.

I’m gluten free and both Sainsbury’s and Aldi do lovely vegetable pasta - I usually mix a red, green and yellow for our meals
I also love rice noodles especially the bigger flat ones for things like pad Thai

Thank you everyone - it’s white pasta which I know is the worst! Did anyone else find certain food didn’t suit them as they got older? (I’m only early 40s!!)

I've read through and there's some good suggestions but don't think anyone has yet mentioned gnocchi or bulgur wheat which are two other good options too.

If the problem is wheat (which it probably is) then noodles aren't going to be any better. They are also made of wheat. She'd have to get gluten free/ rice noodles.

When you say add veg/sauce - maybe part of the issue is that you're not getting the balance of carbs/fat/protein right?

Another option is beans. We've recently been doing a very easy 'traybake' - a can of butter beans or cannellini beans, a punnet of cherry toms coated in 1tbsp olive oil, with a couple of salmon fillets covered in 50g yogurt mixed with a tablespoon or so of harissa and baked for as long as the salmon needs. Could work with chicken or just loads of veg (peppers, aubergines etc).

Or tonight's dinner is mushroom and red bean ragu with some wholewheat penne plus ricotta and Parmesan but because the beans are protein and carb (as well as being a fibre-filled veg) we don't need much pasta.