Eat your pasta and lose weight too

Based on mounds of research, it’s safe to say that the Mediterranean diet could be the healthiest diet around. Just in the past few years alone, new research has demonstrated that the Mediterranean diet slows aging, reduces bone loss, prevents Alzheimer’s, and slashes your risk of cancer and more.

But when researchers and dieticians sing the praises of this miracle diet and all of its healthful ingredients (fish, olive oil, nuts, vegetables, fruit), they usually omit one important component of a traditional Mediterranean diet: pasta.

Maybe this omission occurs because it’s not in vogue to promote pasta as a health food. With the low-carb craze moving full steam ahead, it’s almost sacrilege to suggest that, in moderation, pasta is an acceptable part of a healthy diet. Because everyone knows that carb-heavy pasta is the last thing you should eat if you want to stay healthy, let alone lose weight, right?

Well, not exactly. Surprisingly enough, researchers from the I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed Institute in Pozzilli, Italy, found the opposite to be true. Eating pasta actually has a positive impact on your weight and, consequently, your health.

After studying 23,000 Italian citizens, researchers found that those who ate pasta had a healthier body mass index, a lower waist circumference and a better waist-hip ratio… which means if you’re trying to lose weight, it might be time to reintroduce pasta to your plate.

“In popular views, pasta is often considered not adequate when you want to lose weight. And some people completely ban it from their meals. In light of this research, we can say that this is not a correct attitude. We’re talking about a fundamental component of Italian Mediterranean tradition, and there is no reason to do without it. The message emerging from this study, as from other scientific analyses conducted in the context of the Moli-sani Project and INHES, is that Mediterranean diet, consumed in moderation and respecting the variety of all its elements [including pasta], is good for your health,” says Licia Iacoviello, Head of the Laboratory of Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology at the Neuromed Institute.

I’m sure now that science has given you the go ahead to eat pasta, you’re probably feeling a sudden urge to fill your belly with linguine. But remember, this study was conducted in Italy where they do a few things a little differently than we do here in the states…

Firstly, in Italy pasta is typically cooked “al dente.” Pasta cooked that way — left firmer — has less impact on blood glucose levels than overcooked pasta. And pasta that is allowed to cool before it’s consumed contains a higher content of resistant starch — the good starch.

Secondly, Italians have a very different lifestyle than we do here in America. So if you want to enjoy a bowl of pasta but stay slender like the Italians, you might want to try taking a more European approach to your day to day life by:

• Walking more
• Reducing stress
• Eating smaller portions
• Enjoying meal times with friends and family
• Savoring a glass of red wine with dinner
• Sticking to a Mediterranean diet in its entirety (not just the pasta part)

If you follow these tips, then you can have your pasta and eat it too!

Source: Pounis, A. Di Castelnuovo, S. Costanzo, M. Persichillo, M. Bonaccio, A. Bonanni, C. Cerletti, M. B. Donati, G. de Gaetano, L. Iacoviello. “Association of pasta consumption with body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio: results from Moli-sani and INHES studies.” Nutrition & Diabetes, 2016; 6 (7): e218.