Thread: Healthy Harvest pasta and semonila (sp?)

I think most any pasta is good. I love WW pasta. Never tried semolina pasta though. Even white pasta isn't that bad. It is actually more of a moderate GI carbohydrate, but most people assume it's simple.

Originally Posted by CowPimp

I think most any pasta is good. I love WW pasta. Never tried semolina pasta though. Even white pasta isn't that bad. It is actually more of a moderate GI carbohydrate, but most people assume it's simple.

Could have fooled me Ive always been told to avoid white pasta like the plague. whats WW pasta?

The GI of white and wheat pasta is considerably lower than just about all other refined grain products because of their unique structure: The glutens (wheat proteins) that bind the flour together densely and give pasta its chewy texture also protect the starch particles from being attacked directly by our digestive machinery. You can ruin that convenient property easily enough, though, by overcooking your pasta.

Note that gluten also binds the flour in bread, which has a high GI. However, the structure of bread is light and airy, with much surface area for enzymes to work, unlike the dense, compact structure of pasta.

Originally Posted by gza

The GI of white and wheat pasta is considerably lower than just about all other refined grain products because of their unique structure: The glutens (wheat proteins) that bind the flour together densely and give pasta its chewy texture also protect the starch particles from being attacked directly by our digestive machinery. You can ruin that convenient property easily enough, though, by overcooking your pasta.

Note that gluten also binds the flour in bread, which has a high GI. However, the structure of bread is light and airy, with much surface area for enzymes to work, unlike the dense, compact structure of pasta.

hmm how do you know you have overcooked the pasta? and whenever I cook pasta I pretty much let the water dry out in the pot so I dont drain. Does this method keep the nutrients etc in the pasta?

Originally Posted by juggernaut2005

Could have fooled me Ive always been told to avoid white pasta like the plague. whats WW pasta?

WW pasta is whole wheat pasta.

reg. or White pasta is made from semolina.

That's overcooked....it should be ideally el dente..."too the tooth"....a little grainy. (The box usually tells you the optimal cooking time) as you go past that point the pasta gets softer.


http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T044000.asp

Judge the ingredient list for pasta in the same way you judge the ingredients on bread labels. It's hard to find whole wheat pasta without a bit of semolina added (remember, semolina is little more than a nice Italian-sounding word for "enriched white flour"), since the addition of semolina gives the pasta a more acceptable taste and texture.