Don’t touch the green sauce! Eat pasta like this to lose weight

Many people are afraid of getting fat and dare not eat starch, so they have to reluctantly refuse pasta! In fact, pasta is a low-GI food that can slow down the digestion rate of starch, and noodles made from whole wheat flour are rich in "resistant starch", which can inhibit fat accumulation! Nutritionists point out that letting noodles cool before eating can also increase resistant starch and help increase satiety. Finally, just choose the right sauce and you can eat pasta while losing weight!

The chewy texture is what makes Italian pasta different from ordinary white noodles. Traditionally, pasta is made from durum wheat semolina, which has a firmer structure and a lower glycemic index (GI), which can slow down intestinal absorption and increase satiety.

Pasta has low GI and resistant starch helps lose weight

Zheng Shijia, a nutritionist from the New Nutrition Food Generation Team of China Medical University, pointed out that people who want to lose weight still need to consume starch to assist in protein synthesis and fat utilization. Not only is pasta a low-GI staple food, but its resistant starch is low in calories and difficult to digest and absorb in the small intestine, which helps maintain your figure.

Each gram of resistant starch has only 2.8 calories, which is lower than the 4 calories per gram of regular starch. Therefore, it can delay gastric emptying, slow down the rise of blood sugar, increase satiety, and inhibit fat accumulation. It is simply a good friend for those who want to lose weight.

There are four kinds of pasta with resistant starch.

What exactly is resistant starch? In fact, resistant starch can be divided into the following four categories:

Category 1: Starch without refined processing

Starches that cannot be broken down by digestive enzymes due to physical barriers (such as the presence of a hull), such as seeds, legumes, and whole grains.

Type 2: Starch that is difficult to digest in granular form

For example, raw potatoes and unripe bananas.

Category 3: Retrograde starch after cooking and cooling

For example, overnight rice, sushi, and cold noodles.

Category 4: Chemically modified starch that is difficult to digest

There are many types of non-natural starches, such as some food additives.

Nutritionist Zheng Shijia pointed out that if you choose pasta made from whole wheat flour, it will contain more resistant starch because it retains more bran layers and has a physical barrier. In addition, if the noodles are cooled after being cooked before eating, or if they are soaked in ice water, the starch structure of the noodles will age due to the change in temperature, and resistant starch will be formed.

Therefore, if you cook too much pasta at one time and can't finish it, the resistant starch content will be higher after repeated heating and cooling.

Smart Substitution of the Green Sauce Meal with the Highest Calories

However, pasta is usually served with sauce, so be sure to choose low-calorie types so as not to waste the benefits of resistant starch! Nutritionist Zheng Shijia reminds us that green sauce is usually based on white sauce, and then olive oil and basil are added and whipped, so the calories and fat content are the highest!

Sauce calories: green sauce > white sauce > red sauce > stir-fry

In addition to choosing the right sauce, it is also important to choose side dishes wisely. Otherwise, if you add the main dish to soup, bread, dessert, etc., the calorie intake of a meal can easily exceed the standard. Nutritionist Zheng Shijia recommends the following:

Beginner weight loss/ set meals usually have a lot of options. If you really want to eat, then order the set meal with the least amount of food!

Advanced weight losers/ If two people are eating together, you can just order a set meal together and see if you can replace the thick soup with clear soup, pair the lettuce salad with a lower-calorie Japanese-style sauce, choose bread with whole grain flavor, and try not to spread sauce on it, choose tea jelly or coffee jelly for dessert, and of course it’s best to drink sugar-free drinks!

Stir-fried chicken and seafood with red sauce

Finally, a reminder that if pasta can be eaten with bean protein, the body can obtain sufficient amino acids, dietary fiber and resistant starch through amino acid complementarity. It not only has high nutritional value, but also can reduce total starch and glycemic index at the same time.

However, there are usually fewer beans on the pasta menu, so it is recommended to choose tender chicken or seafood flavors, paired with relatively low-calorie red sauce (tomato sauce) or stir-fry, which is more helpful for weight loss!