Pasta - Which One Is Better?

[xenithon]

Hi There,

I am trying to get some variety for clean, low GI carb sources (apart from oats, buckwheat, basmati rice and yams). Lentils are ok but my body does not cope with them or beans too well so I tend to stay away from them. I love pasta, but I have heard so much that its terrible and has a high GI! More recently though it seems that pasta is actually good and low GI as long as it is made from certain ingredients. I wanted to check which ingredients exactly. Is it 100% whole wheat semolina? Is it 100% durum wheat? Is it 100% durum wheat semolina (if there is a difference at all)? It's so confusing. For example here in SA I can get a specially low GI pasta (http://www.fineform.co.za/fineform.htm). Is that ok? Is normal durum wheat pasta better, like this (http://www.woolworths.co.za/Caissa2a...=0000020074555) or durum wheat semolina like this (http://www.woolworths.co.za/Caissa2a...=0000020074548)

I know it seems like too much trouble for one little choice but just wanted to ensure I get the right thing.

Thanks!

[Kim2884]

I'm a little confused about the pasta issue myself..I had always heard that it was high GI and whole-wheat pasta had a lower GI...but lately I've been seeing low-GI values for both of them. I really don't know. To be on the safe side, I eat low-carb pasta...but that's made mostly of soy flour so I don't think that helps you guys out too much....general rule of thumb tho, go with whatever has the most fiber.

[usualsuspect]

Don't know the exact differences between the wheat varieties but I'm sure there are not that many. As long as the choices are free of flour (processed) then just pick the one with the best taste.

The amount of carbs and when you consume them are the most important factors in the equation anyway, not whether one has a 2 percentage point higher than the other on the gi scale.

Cheers,
~US~

[bigsd67]

I'm a little confused about the pasta issue myself..I had always heard that it was high GI and whole-wheat pasta had a lower GI...but lately I've been seeing low-GI values for both of them. I really don't know. To be on the safe side, I eat low-carb pasta...but that's made mostly of soy flour so I don't think that helps you guys out too much....general rule of thumb tho, go with whatever has the most fiber.

On that note however you guys should know that the low carb pasta from netrition only contains 6.5g of soy protein...not terrible if only eaten once in a while.