Pasta Makes You Skinny! lol

[OCDOC]

Great study showing how pasta makes you thin!! Or maybe not...

http://www.nature.com/nutd/journal/v6/n7/full/nutd201620a.html#tbl3

Sponsored in part by Barilla pasta, although they don't bother disclosing this..red flag #1.

Obesity in Italy is as bad as North America (from the paper):

"The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 35.7% and 27.7% in women and 50.4% and 29.0% in men, respectively (P for gender difference<0.001).".. red flag#2.

The raw data showed that OW/obese people ate more pasta per day than slim people..red flag#3.

All bad, but no problem! Crunch the data! 🙂

Instead of simply admitting that fat people eat too much pasta, show that pasta grams per kilo body weight is LESS for fat people..the fatter you are, the smaller the number..eureka! red flag#4.

Throw in that one can assume obese women were likely to 'mis-report' their eating habits (ie, call them liars and substitute data you like), and all is good! Yay! red flag#5

At least the authors had enough shame to admit that the 'healthy' people only ate about 3 ounces of pasta a day (small appetizer size), AND mention that the overall MED diet with exercise was followed better by fit people.

How this kind of junk gets past peer review baffles me.

Anyway, the takeaway is that healthy Italians eat maybe 3 ounces of pasta per day, exercise, and eat healthy oils, nuts, fish, etc. The rest are fat like the rest of us...

[shipo · Accepted solution]

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@OCDOC wrote:

How this kind of junk gets past peer review baffles me.

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I just finished a long(ish) run on a very hot and humid day with lots of pollen in the air; as such, my vision is a bit cloudy.  When I read your comments my brain said you wrote the following:

• How this kind of junk gets past BEER review baffles me.

Hmmm, doesn't baffle me at all if they did their analysis around a table with a beer tap in the middle.  😛

[OCDOC]

@shipo  Perfect! lol  😄

[divedragon · Accepted solution]

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@OCDOC wrote:

Anyway, the takeaway is that healthy Italians eat maybe 3 ounces of pasta per day, exercise, and eat healthy oils, nuts, fish, etc. The rest are fat like the rest of us...

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Exactly.  On my visits to Itally, almost every meal had pasta...a little side dish no more than 3 oz.  Combine with good fats and high fiber and you have a winning...and filling...meal.

[OCDOC]

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@divedragon wrote:

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@OCDOC wrote:

Anyway, the takeaway is that healthy Italians eat maybe 3 ounces of pasta per day, exercise, and eat healthy oils, nuts, fish, etc. The rest are fat like the rest of us...

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Exactly.  On my visits to Itally, almost every meal had pasta...a little side dish no more than 3 oz.  Combine with good fats and high fiber and you have a winning...and filling...meal.

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@divedragon   Compare that to the 'bottomless bowls' at pasta joints..2 weeks worth in one sitting!

[divedragon]

@OCDOC and expand that to all the starchy/grains our govenment has been telling us to eat more of.  No wonder we have an obesity epidemic!

[OCDOC]

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@divedragon wrote:

@OCDOC and expand that to all the starchy/grains our govenment has been telling us to eat more of.  No wonder we have an obesity epidemic!

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@divedragon

Agreed. Eating 10 times the sugar and refined starch we need is now considered 'normal'. Suggesting eating less of this garbage and sticking to whole grains and natural fiber makes one a 'fad' follower...a fad that worked for centuries until Kellogg and his friends took over 🙂

I admit that a small ravioli app at a nice place is wonderful!....just not 'all you can eat'...eating a pound of pasta is EASY!

[divedragon]

For those who think a calorie is just a calorie, look at the results of this study about sugar and childrens diet.  All other things being equal including calories, but no sugar have marked improvement in surrogate markers:  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/cutting-sugar-improves-childrens-health-in-just-10-days/?_r...

[Heather-S]

My husband and I buy black bean pasta. Full of protein (20g protein) and fiber. It tastes pretty good and is nice and filling too. Great for my post-run meals.

[debdebdeb]

Black bean pasta???? How is it I've never heard of this? (I must not be checking out the shelves.)  Where do you find this? I'd love to try it.

deb

[Heather-S]

I found ours at Publix.  I believe it is by all the gluten-free pastas.  

[A_Lurker]

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@Heather-S wrote:
My husband and I buy black bean pasta. Full of protein (20g protein) and fiber. It tastes pretty good and is nice and filling too. Great for my post-run meals.

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I bought some the last time I was in the US at Trader Joes and I agree it was pretty decent.  I know I won't find it locally and the few places that sell it in Canada... well, not paying that amount.  I just take less pasta or sometimes spiralize some zucchini if I feel I need a big plate of something.

[OCDOC]

@Heather-S Fiber to total carb ratio is amazing! If I find any I will give it a try 🙂

[FitBeforeFifty]

I've been at my goal weight (+/- 5 lbs) for 4 years now and still eat bread, pasta, rice, potatoes etc... At 50 years old, I have low body fat, perfect blood work, blood pressure and health. There is nothing inherent in pasta that makes you fat. In fact, it really isn't that high in calorie content if you portion it like it's intended to be portioned:

For example, 5 ounces of chicken, 1 TBSP of olive oil, 3/4 cup of pasta shells and 1 cup of marinara sauce is only 555 calories. People aren't getting obese eating 555 calorie meals.

[OCDOC]

@FitBeforeFifty

"There is nothing inherent in pasta that makes you fat. In fact, it really isn't that high in calorie content if you portion it like it's intended to be portioned"

Exactly.

Healthy Italian eaters have 3 oz a day no problem...the study confirms this. Obese people eat too much of it, despite the study's attempt to bury the obvious.

When's the last time you watched people eating bottomless bowls at Olive Garden etc? Yikes! 🙂

[WendyB]

The Pasta is not bad its what you put on that Pasta. Alfredo, Pesto Etc.

My husband loves Alfredo and they are some very low calorie sauces out there.

I love Pesto and found a low calorie recipe for it. I freeze it in an Ice cube tray and use 1-2 cubes at a time depending on what Im making

The problem is the resturants pile it on. A little Pesto goes a long way. A little Alfredo does as well. You dont need a 2 cup of noodles and a cup of sauce

The Itailians do it right Small portions. America double portions. 3 oz of pasta is filling. Add lots of veggies

[debdebdeb]

Thank you!  I'll be on the look-out for it.  We have a Trader Joes in our town, so will check that out.

[divedragon]

You can always order it off the internet

https://www.amazon.com/Explore-Asian-Organic-Spaghetti-7-05-Ounce/dp/B004NSG8F6/ref=sr_1_1_s_it?s=gr...

[DerrickS]

Has anybody tried using a vegetable spiralizer to make zuchinni or veggie noodles? I think eating a big bowl of veggie pasta could definitely help with weight loss.

[WendyB]

Yes @DerrickS I have a spiralizer that exact one. There are a ton of recipes on Skinny taste 

http://www.skinnytaste.com/zoodles/

I had the hand one and I found it to hard to use