For the Pasta Lover - Try These Healthy Pasta Tips
Quality carbohydrates are an essential part of a balanced, healthful diet. Few foods provide as much comfort as a warm bowl of noodles, and as a canvas for flavorful sauces, pasta is incomparable. If pasta is your go-to carb, there are ways to take advantage of this low-cost food to make it even healthier:
Cook pasta only until it is al dente (barely tender). When it is cooked this way, it achieves a lower glycemic index than fully cooked pasta because the pulverized grain comes apart slowly in the stomach. Low-glycemic-index carbohydrates should be the bulk of your carbohydrate intake to help minimize rapid rises in blood glucose levels. See how different foods stack up in terms of glycemic index/load in this prior article.
Skip the creamy sauces – they can provide unhealthy fats and more calories than traditional tomato-based sauces. Try our Classic Marinara Sauce
Aim for two to three servings per week. One serving is equal to about 1/2 cup cooked pasta, which is far less than the amount Americans typically eat.
Try spaghetti squash – the pulp of this vegetable, after being cooked, teases out like spaghetti and is a great and healthful alternative to flour-based pastas. Another creative replacement allows you to make “zoodles” from zucchini with a spiralizer. Here's one of our spiralized zucchini recipes.
Try gluten-free pasta alternatives - rice noodles, bean thread noodles and noodles such as Japanese udon and soba, which are part whole wheat and buckwheat. Here are a few example worth exploring:
Brown Rice Pasta
Want to impress your Italian friends? Brown rice pasta is close in texture to conventional pasta, making it an excellent choice for traditional pasta recipes. But it’s lower on the glycemic index so it won’t spike your blood sugar quite as dramatically. Plus, you’ll be getting a serving of whole grain, which delivers dietary fiber, B vitamins and iron.
Buckwheat Sweet Potato Noodles
Buckwheat is a fruit seed (not a type of wheat!) that’s naturally gluten-free and beneficial in numerous ways, including keeping blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar in check. Sweet potatoes are rich in essential nutrients including vitamins A, C and E and potassium. Combined into noodles, the two make a tasty dynamic duo with a dense, weighty texture that’s great for Asian recipes.
Chickpea Pasta
Chickpeas are beloved in the Middle East and India, and they turn into a nutty treat in Italian pasta form. Packed with protein and fiber and low on the glycemic index, antioxidant-rich chickpeas have been linked to improved digestion and healthier cholesterol and blood sugar profiles. Plus, they’re a delicious way to up your iron, manganese and folate intake. Best of all: chickpea pasta keeps its textual integrity when boiled—serve al dente, just like regular pasta.
Kelp Noodles
Pasta that doesn’t have to be cooked? Really? Noodles made from seaweed have a crunchy consistency when served raw, but if you want a soft, traditional pasta texture, just marinate them in some sauce. You’ll get a low-calorie, low-carb, mineral-rich dose of iron, iodine, calcium, magnesium and folic acid from the sea vegetables used to make the pasta.
Konjac Noodles
Want some pure vegetable noodles without having to use your spiralizer? Konjac noodles, popular throughout Asia, are crafted from the konjac yam and are loaded with heart- and gut-healthy soluble fiber and vitamins. Don’t be daunted by the malodorous liquid they typically come packaged in; when drained and cooked, these gelatinous, chewy, translucent noodles take on the flavor of your sauce.
Mung Bean Pasta
High in fiber, low in carbohydrates, and chock-full of folate, manganese and magnesium, mung beans are nutritious little legumes popular in India and Asia. Research has linked mung bean consumption to lowering risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. Neutral in flavor and with a texture to rival the real stuff, mung bean pasta is a low-glycemic, high-protein choice.
And don’t forget that pasta is the perfect complement to vegetables – you can toss in almost any lightly steamed vegetable for additional nutrients and antioxidants.