Why You Should Avoid White Pasta
If you want 100 Tips for Weight Loss, then I'm going to be giving them to you in a series of 100 posts that will each contain one useful and worthwhile tip for losing weight.
This is the first of them and while they will be running in reverse order from 100 up to 1, they won't necessarily be in the order of usefulness or ease of application or anything like that. Numbering each tip is just a way of classifying the posts in numerical order so the titles are unique, nothing more.
This means that tip number 100 may or may not be any better than tip number 5, or vice versa.
Each of the Weight Loss Tips I'll be providing in these posts will have more or less significance to each reader depending upon your own disposition, because what works well for one person may not work so well for another. That's because we're all different and different things work better for different people.
So, weight loss tip 100 is:
Why Eating Pasta is Bad For You!
There are a number of reasons why eating pasta is particularly bad for your health on a whole load of levels. This post looks at these reasons and why it's a bad idea to have this foodstuff as a main staple of your diet.
I use the term "white pasta" mainly to differentiate it from wholemeal, wholewheat or "brown" pasta, although most people know it as just "pasta" since that's the kind most people buy and eat and it's made from bleached, refined, soul-less white flour.
That's right! White pasta is similar to white bread in that it actually contains almost no nutrients or goodness. It is therefore just plain old filler. Stodge!
It fills you up but does nothing for you. Worse still is that because it is just made from refined wheat flour, it contains gluten and starch, sugar and salt.
It bulks you up not with muscle, but with fat! This is not good for you and actually damages your health because you feel full after eating it. So you are not likely to add any nutritious foods to provide the essential nutrients your body needs.
That's why white pasta really is so bad for you, your health, your figure and your mind!
Go Brown!
If you must eat pasta, switch to brown pasta, or unrefined pasta. This is made from wholegrain flour which contains many more of the essential nutrients and dietary fiber that your body needs. It tastes just as good as its white counterpart and once you get used to the slightly different texture, you'll find you won't ever want to go back to that sticky, stodgy, pasty white stuff ever again!
Another alternative if you really don't think you can make the change to brown pasta is a product from Barilla, which is a big pasta company. They market a pasta called "Barilla Plus" which looks, feels and tastes the same as the bad old refined pasta you're used to, except its made from unrefined wheat flour, so it contains all the goodness of brown pasta.
Top of the pasta league for goodness over convenience is of course organic brown pasta. Yeah, I know it sounds like hippy food and it is exactly that. But just because it conjures up images of long haired, scruffy, 1960s look young men and women, don't let that fool you into thinking this type of food is only for beatniks.
Go Organic!
Organic foods are better for you in a whole lot of ways than the more prevalent, toxic, refined garbage that you're used to eating. They contain almost no toxic pesticide residue (which is present in most non-organic food nowadays despite what the politicians lie to you about), they are higher in natural vitamins and minerals and they taste better too.
Anyhow, that's getting slightly off topic as this tip is all about ditching the white, refined pasta altogether and replacing it with organic, brown pasta if you have to have the stuff. Which will help you to lose weight as part of a healthy diet.
Weight loss tips number 99 will follow in the next post!
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Posted on Thu, 04 Jun 2009 in Top 100 Weight Loss Tips | 5 Comments
5 thoughts on "Why You Should Avoid White Pasta"
Kate says:
I have to admit I never knew all that about pasta, or even that it was bad for you cause everybody eats it, right? What an eye opener you wrote there! Excellent. Thanks so much for the post. -Kate
Amy says:
I actually feel ashamed after just getting back from my summer holiday, I wore a sarong the whole time. I realized that I had to do something about my weight, and this seems like the most common sense way of losing weight. I also try A herbal tea and a colon cleanser. Lets hope next year I can wear my bikini that I used to fit into, thanks for sharing this info Amy x
Issac says:
If you're interested in avoiding white pasta eating more organic brown pasta, one of the things that folks often have trouble getting past is the price tag. After all, organics tend to be a lot more expensive than regular products. But worth it for your health in the long run.
Same goes for vegetables, and the best solution to that, especially if you have the space, is to grow your own organic vegetable garden.
Dr. Lye says:
100 reasons why the author of this article is a darn clever guy. I never thought that pasta could be such a problem for causing weight gain, but he clearly explains why and it all makes sense to a food dumbo like me. I guess the food industry has got a lot to answer for, but they won't ever change until enough people make a big enough noise about it, I guess.
Lily says:
If you're like me and really can't afford anything more than white pasta, you'll find that eating a bowl of salad before eating your pasta can be a great way to get your nutrients. In fact, having fruits or vegetables 20-30 minutes before any meal will also assist in weight loss as it will ensure you don't over indulge in your main meal.