pasta/bread/rice

almostfit · 01-27-2009, 02:21 AM

After much reading and research I have decided I am confused.
Lots of articles here state that they are bad choices if you are aiming to lose weight, however I talked to a nutritionist recently who said they are also part of a balanced diet?
So portion control seems to be the key? I think.

How much pasta/bread/rice do you eat? If I have half a cup of pasta or rice with dinner a few times a week how much is it going to hurt my weight loss? and if anyone knows how it's worse for me than eating the same amount of calories in fruit/vegetables/yoghurt/protein feel free to let me know! or point me in the right direction of things to look up.
Ta

stikfigure · 01-27-2009, 02:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by almostfit

After much reading and research I have decided I am confused.
Lots of articles here state that they are bad choices if you are aiming to lose weight, however I talked to a nutritionist recently who said they are also part of a balanced diet?
So portion control seems to be the key? I think.

How much pasta/bread/rice do you eat? If I have half a cup of pasta or rice with dinner a few times a week how much is it going to hurt my weight loss? and if anyone knows how it's worse for me than eating the same amount of calories in fruit/vegetables/yoghurt/protein feel free to let me know! or point me in the right direction of things to look up.
Ta

you're right about portion control. there just needs to be a reasonable balance between carbs, protein and fats. There are many different theories and resources that tout a variety of ratios between these three things, but in my opinion when the pasta, bread or rice is whole grain there is a greater health benefit and you're less likely to over indulge because your body will be receiving more concentrated nutrition. Any thing that is refined or processed in any way can trick us into thinking we haven't been properly sated and then we risk over eating.

I personally eat and crave more protein than starches, so I'm just lucky. Carbs are maybe 30% of what I eat but that might be part of why I have trouble putting and keeping weight on. If I drink coffee or alcohol I become ravenously hungry for carbs/starches of any kind.

Maybe it's ignorant of me to say so, but I really feel like if we eat only un refined and unprocessed foods our bodies will tell us how much to eat of what....

other thoughts....?

almostfit · 01-27-2009, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stikfigure

I personally eat and crave more protein than starches, so I'm just lucky. Carbs are maybe 30% of what I eat but that might be part of why I have trouble putting and keeping weight on. If I drink coffee or alcohol I become ravenously hungry for carbs/starches of any kind.

Maybe it's ignorant of me to say so, but I really feel like if we eat only un refined and unprocessed foods our bodies will tell us how much to eat of what....

You lucky thing, I'm the opposite! I could go with eating just one rare steak a month but a week without carbs and I get turned off food and would prefer to just not eat than face another salad. And I don't drink coffee or alcohol or soft drinks or anything, so do you know if anything else can trigger it?
In any case that's what I'm trying to avoid, this is a forever thing and I need to be excited about my meals so I'm thinking half a cup of cooked wholemeal rice or pasta and a sandwich for lunch every now and then to keep me on track wouldn't kill my weight loss. Hopefully.
thanks for the wholemeal tip! I don't think it's ignorant, I think it's your experience & opinion, and it sounds mighty sensible to me- listening to your body is one of the best things you can do for your health

ta

stikfigure · 01-27-2009, 04:57 AM

as for what might trigger carb cravings, it's possible that a high level of candida albicans in the body (a naturally occuring yeast but that when in great number can cause a variety of uncomfortable symptoms some of which affect skin, mucous membranes - vaginal, intestinal, sinus, sometimes just increasing fatigue...) candida overgrowth can be fueled by long periods of taking antibiotics, but there are probably a lot of different factors and since candida feeds off of sugar the more we eat those simple carbs the more we feed into the candida growth.
apparently when we deprive candida of their food source / the sugar, the dying off of the yeast can make us feel really crappy and so it can be REALLY hard to withdraw from sugar and other simple carbs...

from what I understand the candida can be seriously out of balance in the body without necessarily having wild and crazy symptoms other than the carb cravings...but again I think it's so different person to person.

5kgLifter · 01-27-2009, 04:50 PM

I think any food stuffs that are above and beyond our necessary calorie intake will cause weight gain. Carbohydrates do cause a feel good effect and this is where they create a dependency in the chemical make-up of the brain; the more we eat, the more the brain craves, so it's not us as such that are the problem where carbohydrate cravings are concerned. The book 'The Food and Mood Handbook' by Amanda Geary goes into a deeper explanation of this.

Stik is right in that candida albicans can trigger more cravings as the body attempts to support the yeast growth too.

Myself, I eat, IMO, a balanced ratio of carbs, a good amount of potato with my evening meal; I have around 4 slices of bread a day, which may be increased to 7 portions depending on exercise. I also have fruit, and fruit juice daily, as well as vegetables. So, it's not over the top, well at least I don't think it is, and I'm probably consuming about 11 portions of carbohydrates. It is possible that I may eat a lot more than 7 portions in a day, but I go by hunger, if I want food, I'll eat food, but try to always have a sensible portion...so it would be carbohydrate with a meat/protein filling. I found that the information in the book 'No More Mr Fat Guy' by Savill and Smedley actually helped me a lot more than most other books that discussed eating plans, mainly because it shows how the food pyramid relates to calorific intake; the other book which also explained the amount of carbohydrate portions that a person should be consuming, depending on whether they were sports people etc, was 'Power Food' by Janette Marshall...both books I found to give excellent solid advice.

Power Food (p.18):
States 6-14 portions of carbohydrates daily depending on activity level

Each of the following is considered to be 1 portion:
3 tablespoons breakfast cereal
2 tablespoons muesli
1 slice bread/toast
1 bread roll (small)
1 small pitta (etc)
3 crackers/crispbreads
1 medium potato
2 heaped tablespoons boiled rice
3 heaped tablespoons boiled pasta
1 medium plantain
1 small sweet potato

As you can see, it doesn't take long to build up 14 portions when using this portion guide.

As a child I would eat all the potato that was in the pan, and end up with a massive pile of mashed (with gravy, not fats) potato sat on my plate, pretty much every evening...and my weight did not increase, I was stick thin, so carbs as such are not a problem...the problems occur with the additional creams/sauces/fats we put with them.

almostfit · 01-28-2009, 06:33 AM

thanks so much for the book recommendations I'm going to look into them they sound very informative

I have some notes I took from when I talked to the dietician that I might post somewhere to see what you think of them or in case they're of any use to anyone else.
I've been having 4 serves or less a day at the moment, and lots of fruit and veg. I find carbs are filling me up with only a tiny portion though, it's great