| How Pasta Can Benefit Weight Loss |
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I know it sounds incredible, but she was really right. Let me put it another way. Pasta never made anybody fat all by itself. Italians eat pasta all the time. Many Italians eat pasta twice a day. In fact, on average Italians eat 60 pounds of pasta a year versus our 20 pounds or less. But Italians aren't as fat as Americans. Not by a long shot. How is this possible? It's because of the amount of pasta they eat at one sitting, and what they put on top of it. When Americans think of pasta, many think of heaping plates of noodles swimming in some rich sauce or covered by meatballs. Our seam-splitting portions, which are more like what you might find at an Italian wedding feast, are not the usual Italian way. Put our American version of pasta in front of an Italian and they'll say, "What's that?" Worse yet, they may not even want to eat it. Pasta is, in my opinion, a dream food. It's versatile, flavorful, and easy to make. It provides a healthy blend of carbs and protein, vitamins and fiber. Eaten the italian way (which is to say, sparingly by American terms), it fills you up, but it doesn't fill you out. You won't find Pasta Alfredo on many tables in Italy. The original "Fettuccini All' Alfredo," which was the result of a desperate husband's search for something to tempt his ailing wife to eat after the birth of their child a hundred years ago, was typically Italian in its simplicity. Alfredo di Lelio's recipe called for handmade fettuccine with copious amounts of butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. His wife liked it. She recovered, and the rest is history. Except that Pasta Alfredo has morphed into so many variations of cream and garlic sauces that it's almost unrecognizable from the original. Italians don't usually eat something this rich, but if you want to try something like it cook up some fresh fettuccine, dress it with one part unsalted butter and one part freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. This is, of course a diet buster, so only eat a little of it. That's the problem. Americans tend to eat too much pasta at one meal! In Italy, if the pasta is served before a main course of fish or meat, two ounces of dried pasta person is standard. (Remember, it doubles in size when it's cooked.) If pasta is going to be your main course, that's a little skimpy. For me, three or four ounces works better. (Unless you're eating lots of vegetables with it, which is not such a bad thing!) Not that I measure it. I either prepare an entire package and use the rest later, or I eyeball just enough for a serving in a wide, flat Italian pasta dish (like a large, wide soup bowl.) Consider that a one-pound box of spaghetti serves a family of four generously. So use a quarter of a box or less. Sometimes much less. And I don't care what anyone says. Plain pasta cooks up great as a leftover. Just dump it in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, drain, and serve. Now, the next cardinal sin is the way we Americans dress our pasta, or should I say overdress. I'm talking about the sauce. When you use good pasta, which I suggest you do, you should actually be able to taste it. Quality pasta is very tasty. You can't taste it if you drown it in too much sauce. Using too much sauce spoils the exquisite pleasure of enjoying your pasta. And it's the sauce that adds all those unnecessary calories. This is one of the reasons why I advocate the use of high quality pasta. I'm especially fond of the artisan brands from Italy -- the kind that are "extruded" through bronze dies. Yes, they're more expensive, but their rough texture clings to the sauce so you don't need so much of it. (With inferior brands, the sauce ends up in the bottom of your bowl. Not good. We want to eat our sauce with the pasta, not slurp it up at the end of a meal, as if we're eating soup!) For a light sauce (I like just a drizzle of highest-quality extra virgin olive oil, a shaving of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and a sprinkle of salt) think of dressing your pasta in a light wrapper, rather than a heavy winter overcoat. And believe it or not, for thick sauces, a tablespoon or two should really do. Again, it depends on the quality of your pasta. Now for that bum rap pasta gets as the Diet Devil's favorite tool. Hear this: Pasta is low in calories. Yes, you heard that right. It's also filling, plus it's nutritious, and it's easy to make. Pasta is not the same as bread, cake, cookies, pastries and all those other goodies that break down quickly during digestion, causing blood sugar levels to spike and then plummet, which results in feelings of hunger. High glycemic foods are believed to induce cravings. Pasta cooked al dente, or "to the tooth", has a low glycemic index, which means it has staying power. Eating it at one meal helps you to avoid feelings of hunger that result in snacking before the next. But the pasta has to be cooked al dente, the way the Italians like it. For more on that, see my article on How Al Dente Pasta Assists Weight Loss.
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