Quality or amount of carbs?

[steveportlethen]

Hi Everyone. I’m getting confused about how to choose healthy carbs. I was reading that it is better to choose whole grains and fibre rich carbs. I was comparing a pack of wholewheat pasta with a pack of regular pasta. Per 100g, the wholewheat pasta had >60g of carbs but also 11g of fibre. The regular pasta had only around 35g of carbohydrate but only about 2g of fibre. Does the fact that the whole grain pasta has a higher volume of carbs mean it isn’t actually very healthy or is it more about the quality? I mean could it be that the wholewheat carbs are better carbs so it doesn’t matter that there are more? Does the 11g of fibre also mean it’s healthier?

 

[Inka]

Welcome @steveportlethen 🙂 Wholemeal and white pastas have roughly the same amount of carbs. It looks like the wholemeal pasta was showing carbs per raw weight and the white pasta was showing it per cooked weight. So you weren’t comparing like with like.

Wholemeal pasta is a better choice than white, but you’d have to see how it worked for your blood sugar. You could also try the pastas made from pulses as they’re lower carb.

To answer your question - both! It’s better to have higher quality carbs but you’ll also need to watch the quantity.

 

[rebrascora]

I think you are likely reading the information on the regular pasta wrong or it is giving it for cooked weight instead of dry weight, so if the wholewheat is giving dry weight you can (should read "can't) really compare them but I can assure you that the regular pasta will have very slightly more carbs than the wholemeal, so the wholemeal is a very (should read "slightly") better choice but neither are great if you are trying to manage your diabetes through diet. Both are high carb foods. Some people use pasta made from edamame beans or red lentils which are lower carb and higher fibre, so they may be something to look out for. Personally I serve my bolognaise (ir chilli or curry) on a bed of vegetables instead of pasta or rice..... shredded cooked cabbage or green beans or broccoli or courgettes are my usual choices. Some people grate cauliflower to make cauliflower rice. I have cooked and mashed cauliflower before to replace mashed potato and that works well. You don't actually need wholegrains at all as there is lots of fibre in seeds and vegetables.

 

[PerSpinasAdAstra]

Hi Everyone. I’m getting confused about how to choose healthy carbs. I was reading that it is better to choose whole grains and fibre rich carbs. I was comparing a pack of wholewheat pasta with a pack of regular pasta. Per 100g, the wholewheat pasta had >60g of carbs but also 11g of fibre. The regular pasta had only around 35g of carbohydrate but only about 2g of fibre. Does the fact that the whole grain pasta has a higher volume of carbs mean it isn’t actually very healthy or is it more about the quality? I mean could it be that the wholewheat carbs are better carbs so it doesn’t matter that there are more? Does the 11g of fibre also mean it’s healthier?

Wholegrain anything is typically a little better than the white/beige variety. The extra fibre slows down the rate of digestion, which lowers GI (glycaemic index) - a measure of how rapidly a carbohydrate-rich food hits the bloodstream as glucose.

Here's the science showing that it makes a difference:

The Effect of Dietary Glycaemic Index on Glycaemia in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background: The increasing prevalence of diabetes in the United Kingdom and worldwide calls for new approaches to its management, and diets with low glycaemic index have been proposed as a useful means for managing glucose response. However, there are ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The effect is quite modest however. There are some pasta alternatives which are quite low in carbs by comparrison, such as black bean or edamame pasta, which may be worth a try. These tend to be quite expensive unfortunately, though I believe Aldi do some which aren't extortionately priced.

 

[steveportlethen]

Thank you very much for these replies. This is all really useful information.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

The cooked weight thing on pasta packets really annoys me. Renders the information pretty much useless! How long was it cooked for? How much water weight did it absorb? And if you have added sauce or other ingredients like roasted veggies, you can’t weigh the plate and know how much of it is the pasta!

 

[s'nic]

It's not just pasta I've seen it on other items too. Now I always check for 'as sold', 'when cooked as instructed' etc.
I came across per 100g values before which were for salmon pan fried in 15g oil, and another item (I forget what) with values when oven baked as per instructions🙄

 

[Leadinglights]

The cooked weight thing on pasta packets really annoys me. Renders the information pretty much useless! How long was it cooked for? How much water weight did it absorb? And if you have added sauce or other ingredients like roasted veggies, you can’t weigh the plate and know how much of it is the pasta!

When I looked on the Explore web site it was only in the FAQs that it very specifically said the carb value in the nutritional information was for DRY weight.
As you say cooked weight is pretty useless and certainly leads to confusion. When they say per portion but don't say what the portion size is, now that really annoys me.

 

[Maz2]

Wholegrains or brown are always better than white but, as others have said, it is best to test to see how you react.

Luckily, I can live without pasta, rice and potatoes and make my own bread from recipes on dietdoctor or what I have seen on here. Not everyone feels the same though so testing is a good idea.

 

[Drummer]

Hi Everyone. I’m getting confused about how to choose healthy carbs. I was reading that it is better to choose whole grains and fibre rich carbs. I was comparing a pack of wholewheat pasta with a pack of regular pasta. Per 100g, the wholewheat pasta had >60g of carbs but also 11g of fibre. The regular pasta had only around 35g of carbohydrate but only about 2g of fibre. Does the fact that the whole grain pasta has a higher volume of carbs mean it isn’t actually very healthy or is it more about the quality? I mean could it be that the wholewheat carbs are better carbs so it doesn’t matter that there are more? Does the 11g of fibre also mean it’s healthier?

Unfortunately there are no healthy carbs if they do damage to you.
I eat very small amounts of carbs when compared to the diet we are advised is healthy, but I was just reflecting on how well I felt as I came downstairs this morning.