When the Atkins craze finally bit the dust, you couldn’t have found a happier girl than me. However, all too often I still hear my friends, family members, and fellow bloggers voice a fear of:
The Big, Bad Carbohydrates
Dun dun dun.
(Click for more on the Alfredo Pasta meal above)
Pick up any health magazine, and you have a good chance of seeing a celebrity interview where said celebrity credits her slim physique to:
1. An absolutely-no-bread diet
2. Eschewing all carbs after 7pm
3. Steering clear of pasta at any cost… after all, pasta is Satan in noodle form, right??
This is ridiculous! I would argue that these celebrities are thin thanks to regimented workout routines (hello, personal trainers!), low-calorie diets that do not include very many Mexican-restaurant gorges or Dunkin Doughnut runs (meal delivery service, anyone?), hectic, on-the-go schedules, and industry pressures that motivate and remind them to keep up these practices. It’s not the carbs! I feel sad every time one of my friends admits to a fear of carbs—pasta in particular.
You deserve to eat pasta! Real pasta. There’s a reason carbohydrates exist: protein repairs and rebuilds cells, fats provide hormonal functions for cells, and it’s the job of the carbohydrates to energize cells. Cut out carbs, and you cut out energy. You’re doing your body a major disservice, especially if you’re highly active. We live in a society that deems any weight loss a good thing. But on low-carb diets, the major source of weight loss is muscle loss (which, in term, slows one’s metabolism) and water loss/dehydration (which presents a problem for one’s kidneys and can cause one’s body to go into a very dangerous state called “ketosis”). So yes, one may initially lose water weight and muscle weight on a low-carb diet; but in the long run, it means a sacrifice of one’s metabolism and muscles.
And a lack of carbs in one’s diet has also been associated with inferior athletic performance and brain function. Glucose (from carbohydrates) is the favored fuel for one’s muscles, brain, and central nervous system, so a breakdown of glycogen (the storage form of glucose) causes fatigue and confusion, thus inhibiting the desire and ability to exercise. Part of the reason carbs get a bad rap is that people fill up on highly-refined grains—cookies, white flour, etc. But restrict whole-grain carbohydrates and you’ll be missing out on fiber, B vitamins, thiamin, niacin, and even protein (surprisingly enough, grains offer quite a bit of protein).
Most of you are probably rolling your eyes at me right now, because how can one little blog post successfully counter a message that’s been drummed into Americans’ minds for years and years and years? But consider the source. While I’m not going to get into specific numbers (the subject of this post is not my weight; if you’re interested in that, please see my FAQ page), I’m nowhere near overweight. I adore carbs. You know this. Carbs fuel my super-active runner lifestyle, fill my body with essential nutrients, and—most importantly—taste delicious.
And yes, pasta too.
CCK Pasta Love:
Pasta Substitutions
One of my friends told me the reason she stays away from pasta is that it’s such a small serving and, for the same amount of calories, she can eat a much bigger serving of say, spaghetti squash.
True, a big bowl of something like my favorite voluminous oatmeal recipe can be much more filling than a small bowl of pasta. But sometimes you don’t want to feel bloated after eating (such as if you have a date that night!). Also, I’d argue that if one tries to fake oneself out with a pasta substitute, he or she subconsciously won’t feel as satisfied after eating because his or her brain knows it’s a substitute and therefore doesn’t register that the food craving was met. This can thus lead to bingeing as the brain attempts to satisfy the craving for the desired food, so, in the long run, a person can end up taking in way more calories than if he or she had simply indulged in a small amount of the real stuff to begin with. It’s like those studies that have shown people who use artificial sweeteners actually end up consuming more calories than those who don’t.
This isn’t to say spaghetti squash is not satisfying in its own right; it’s only when such foods become replacements for others that a problem can arise. Although spaghetti squash, zucchini spirals, mushroom pasta, and those Asian shirataki noodles can be super-fun to eat it’s sad when they completely replace pasta in one’s diet.
This doesn’t mean one should quaff down a quadruple serving of Fettuccine Alfredo every day because “CCK said it’s ok” (especially since the sauce, not the pasta, is filled with unhealthy saturated fat and cholesterol). Everything in moderation. But it’s recommended that the average person take in 6-11 servings of whole grains per day (depending on activity level; athletes obviously need more carbohydrates than sedentary people).
So go ahead and eat those carbs (especially if they’re served to you by a cute boy)! 😉
come on, i mean look at those 3 first plates of pasta; if that’s called a plate of PASTA i’m a greek goddess. jealous much? of my plates looking a whole lot more full of pasta? hmmm.. not really, especially considering i have a bmi of 18.5; not underweight not overweight, just perfect.
actually ANON a serving of pasta is 1/2 cup YES only 1/2 and two servings would be a 250ml cup, if you actually measure that out you realize how little pasta that is and why so many americans are obese because their potion sizes are OUT of control (I’m a canuck and eating in the states also astounds me) maybe its time the rest of us practice proper portion control
YES! people blame pasta for their weight gain when, but it’s because they pile it high on their plates (olive garden much?) You will gain weight if that is done to any food, even lettuce, though you’d probably feel to sick to eat an amount so large it makes you significantly heavier.
Hmm, your bmi might be perfect, but your manners suck. And OBVIOUSLY you have disordered eating, because a NORMAL person wouldn’t spend her time writing rude anonymous comments on peoples’ blogs!
HA, get a life. just because YOU are a recovered anorexic doesn’t mean we have all been. me eating is pretty ordered thank you and i love how my body looks
and i’m sorry but a NORMAL person wouldn’t spend her time writing rude comments on other people’s own comments. POINT MADE.
I’m not denying I have eating issues. You are.
But you’re right. I’ll stop wasting any more of my precious time with you. Bye bye poor troll.
Excellent article! I hear this all the time..”no bread” blah blah blah. It isn’t the bread and pasta it is the gluten being pumped into it preventing the body from absorbing nutrients. Yes, if someone eats white bread then they should have “no bread”. Great pics and again well done!
I hear that a substance called phytic acid exists in most grains, beans, legumes, and nuts. Fortunately it can be removed by soaking the food, then dehydrating/cooking it. I wonder if ancient cultures, whose staple food was grains, knew about phytic acid.
mmm i love pasta!
the key if you’re worried about it being bad for you is to fill it up with veggies-i add broccoli to the pot i cook the pasta in, and then there’s an added veggie without using an extra pot! more veggies is better-but keep some noodles!
THANK YOU KATIE! I hate it when people think that carbs are bad for you. There are even people who won’t eat fruit because there’s “too many carbs” ! I love carbs, there is no way that I’d be able to follow a low-carb diet. I do limit my intake of white flour and try to stick to mostly whole grains though. Don’t even get me started on how ridiculous the Atkins diet is!
HAHAHAHA – “healthy controversy”: check. But mostly you’re getting comments of agreement, which is absolutely appropriate! I think our society is slowly but surely just starting to recover from carb fear, thank goodness. I for one am WAY happier since I abandoned the South Beach mentality many years ago. It’s easier said than done, but the bottom line is very simple: it’s the QUALITY of the calories that matters, whatever the food may be!
here-here katie. well said. i’m gonna go eat a bread factory now. i kid, i kid. i do love me some carbs, though.
Yay for this post! Carbs are definitely my food group of choice (yummy bread, oats, rice, pasta, squash, corn, I can go on and on!), and I would hate it if I could never have it. I do admit though that I’m afraid to have it in larger quantities sometimes, but a serving or so per meal is no problem at all, and in fact, is required for that taste satisfaction (for me at least)!
I also completely agree with your “no substitution” theory. A little bit of the real thing is a whole lot better than a lot of the fake stuff.
Love ya too, girlie!