"Pasta enthusiasts unite to decry low-carb diets"
 

Pasta enthusiasts unite to decry low-carb diets

Noodle lovers find trend hard to swallow

By TOM RACHMAN, Associated Press

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2413068

ROME -- At a recent point in dining history, pasta perception spun around like spaghetti on a fork. Suddenly, noodles transformed from the diner's saucy delight to carb villains bound for the hips, buttocks and belly.

America's battle against pudginess -- inspired of late by the low-carb ethics of the Atkins, Zone and South Beach diets -- has trashed pasta. But defenders of macaroni and its floppy kin rebelled in Rome last week at a conference promoted as "Pasta Fights Back."

Their weapons at the three-day meeting that ended Wednesday were science, lectures and delectable plates of pasta handed out free to attendees. Another popular dish was denunciation of the latest American diet trend.

"How is it that it can be called a low-carb diet when in fact it is a dangerous high-fat diet? How can that happen in our culture?" railed K. Dun Gifford, president of the Oldways Preservation Trust, the Boston-based food issues think tank that organized the event.

One impassioned speaker called for a swift death to the Atkins Diet. Another skeptically cited 28 eating fads of recent years, among them the Caveman Diet, the Sex Diet and the Russian Air Force Diet. A third speaker recalled Sophia Loren's remark: "Everything you see, I owe to pasta."

The conference, officially titled "Healthy Pasta Meals," included numerous eminent scientists and was sponsored by Italian government ministries, pasta giant Barilla and the makers of Parmesan cheese, among others.

The executive chef of New York's Union Square Cafe, Michael Romano, flew in to cook. Prepping vegetables at the luxury hotel where the conference was held, Romano worried about the way Americans eat ... and eat.

"People want to eat from the time they get up till the time they go to sleep. And by the way, no exercise, please," Romano said. "It's all about proportion, it's all about balance."

The conference offered multicourse lunches -- wetted with appropriate Italian wines, of course -- featuring pasta specialties from all over Italy. A gala dinner, titled "The Glorious Healthy Pasta Meal," included spaghetti with tomatoes and air-dried tuna, flaked Parmesan drizzled with balsamic vinegar, lentil soup with scampi, and roast lamb with fava beans and egg lemon sauce.

Oldways argues that eating must be balanced -- not overloaded with fat and protein, nor heavy with carbohydrates. The Mediterranean diet, including fish, fruit, vegetables, breads, rice and pasta, is promoted above all.

Pasta, Oldways says, is an ideal delivery system for healthy ingredients: The carbs in high-quality pasta made from durum wheat are converted slowly into glucose, which has the benefit of more stable insulin levels, and keeps the eater feeling full longer.

John Foreyt, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, noted that Italians have enjoyed the health benefits of pasta for over 1,000 years.

"Pasta has been wrongly injected into the good carb/bad carb debate, and we want to dispel the notion that it should be avoided," he said in the conference's closing statement.

Conference organizers acknowledge that low-carb, high-fat diets do produce short-term weight loss, but fear they could also increase the long-term risk of grave illnesses such as cancers and heart disease.

Evidence of this is hotly debated in scientific circles. Research suggests people have the best chance of avoiding heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer if they eat a varied diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables and grains.

Whatever the debate, no one can deny the low-carb diets' success.

Many dieters have enjoyed considerable weight loss through regimens that are heavy in meat, cheese and eggs and ultralight in carbs.

Millions of Americans are on some form of these diets, and restaurants and food manufacturers are scrambling to offer low-carb products.

And recent studies showed these diets have success over short periods without serious health consequences.

Colette Heimowitz, the Atkins organization's research director, denied that the Atkins Diet is risky or a fad. "It's amazing how Atkins is blamed for everything," she said by phone from New York.

"If people could have moderation in everything that'd be wonderful," Heimowitz said. "We wouldn't have this discussion. But people won't, they don't, they can't. They need other options to reach their weight goals."

At the Rome conference, a little mournfulness was stirred in with dietary advice.

Cookbook writer Susan Herrmann Loomis expressed sadness about the U.S. attitude toward eating.

"Americans come with this enormous fear of what is on their plates, and it translates into fad diets," she said. "Unfortunately, that rarely has to do with just enjoying the heck out of what you're doing."

Because it is low in carbs. Doofus! :P

Oldways is a group of Wingnuts...who want the USDA to adopt 4 Pyramids [1 for Asians; 1 for Hispanics; 1 for Europeans; and a 4th Vegetarian Pyramid for Everyone else]...Nuff said.

Sounds like the Death Rattle to me.

Val

Any plan that puts eggs and sweets in the same category is just plain stupid!

It amazes me that pasta got such a good reputation. Like many others, this superstar is revealed as bloated hype instead of substance.
Have any of these people LOOKED at the back of their pasta boxes?
You get some B's, because it's enriched, and that's about it. Not nearly enough nutrients to offset the havoc it wreaks.

I bet most folks are unaware that a plate of unadorned pasta [395 kcal] has as many calories as an 8 Ounce Sirloin Steak [393 kcal.] Now, unlike the Steak which is edible by itself and can be improved with a little bit of Pepper [which is virtually 0 Calories,] Pasta requires either copious amounts of Parmesan Cheese or Tomato Sauce, or a mix of the two to actually taste good. Add 1/2 cup of Pasta Sauce and 2 Tbsp of Fat-Free Parmesan, and that plate of Pasta now has 512 kcal...or just shy of a 12 ounce T-Bone Steak [556 kcal.]

Also, while I'm on this topic...The Potato industry is falsely claiming in their latest ads that a Potato is "low-calorie" and they specifically state that they're 100 kcal. While this is close to true for a SMALL baked potato [128 kcal]...A small potato isn't what you get in a restraunt. What you usually get is a large potato, which weighs in at 278 kcal. For comparison, that's about the same a Petite [6 oz] Sirloin Steak which weighs in at 295 kcal with fat and 239 kcal trimmed of visible fat. And, that's before you add Margarine and Fat-Free Sour Cream...Since, just like Pasta...a Potato is inedible without something to give it actual taste. A couple pats of Margarine and 1 Tbsp Fat-Free Sour Cream and that "Healthy" Baked Potato now sports 379 kcal or about the same as an 8 ounce Sirloin Steak with the Fat [393 kcal.]

"People want to eat from the time they get up till the time they go to sleep. And by the way, no exercise, please," Romano said. "It's all about proportion, it's all about balance."

This sounds more like somebody eating low fat, not low carb.

Personally, I've come to regard both pasta and bread as things that not only do not taste good on their own, but mask the flavor of the goodies you put in and on them.
I was amazed at how good my favorite sandwich fillings taste, all on their own.

I think people started regarding tasteless bland starches as healthy many decades ago, back when people were more active and food more difficult to come by.
Any concentrated energy source, even one without many vitamins and minerals such as pasta and potatoes would be of great benefit to poor and hard working people then. Most simply did not have the option of overindulgence and sitting on their butts at a computer.

However, we no longer should be looking at these foods in the same light. They contain a lot of calories for not a lot of satisfaction or nutrition as cc48510 so eloquently pointed out. I don't think I need to say that today in the industrialized world we really don't need to concern ourselves with having access to enough energy :lol:, the problem is our diets contain too much energy. Therefore, the first things we should eliminate are those foods which have the least nutritional value to the body.

We were told this should be fat, but for most people eliminating refined carbs works so much better. Fat has nutritional value beyond a simple parcel of energy; glucose (which is all pasta is) does not.

I miss having a sandwich I have to say..Putting the filling in a lettuce leaf isn't quite the same. I haven't been able to bring myself to try eating bread again though, and I discovered that I couldn't digest the high gluten content of my trial homemade VLC bread ...sigh.

For those of you who also miss pasta or rice, there is a fairly close VLC option: konjac noodles. Ideal for Asian dishes.

But the 'sacrifice' of bread and pasta and rice is worth it I have to say, after a lifetime of the Bulge Battle. This is the first time in my life I have been able to maintain a WOE so easily.

I believe that a big part of the reason people eat so many empty calories is for the convenience of it...takeaway, bread, stuffed potato, pasta dishes etc. are quick to fix and so people have been consuming more of them than they did 30 years ago. Having to prepare a salad and steamed veg takes a bit longer so we don't have to miss a second more of being a couch potato than necessary!

Val

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the latest scientific proof! :rolleyes: