Pasta – Good or Bad for You? The Body Breakdown….

My mama is a health nut. She can make salads in about 100 different ways but wont come close to red meat, pasta or dairy. In fact growing up and even as a full blown adult she still scolds at breads and carbs. She will tell you that bagels are one of the worst things in the world, she gets upset at them. I am incredibly grateful for her small waistline guidance and keeping the whole family on our toes when it comes to health. I feel like I just stumbled upon an ah-ha moment when I read about all of the incredible benefits of eating pasta, which also happens to be the most popular dish in the world. I know not all pasta is created equal so don't expect the dollar store pasta to give you the same benefits but these are pretty great non the less and make me feel a bit better about stuffing myself (not tooo much tho) with nummy nummy pasta.

Energy Boost - According to Kane (nutritionist expert), the complex carbohydrates are the body's primary source of fuel for energy. When carbohydrates are digested by your body, they're broken down into glucose. When glucose enters the bloodstream, it's taken up into your body's cells and used to produce a particular fuel molecule (known as ATP)—which cells can then use to power a wide variety of tasks. Even if your body already has enough glucose to meet its needs, any excess can be stored as glycogen (typically in muscle or the liver) for later use.

Mood Booster - Complex carbohydrates can also help to stimulate your brain's production of serotonin, a feel-good hormone. Serotonin is not just a natural feel good mood stabilizer, it also helps support bone health and aids the body in healing wounds.

It Fills You Up - We all know pasta can be filling, sometimes overfilling. The whole wheat kind is best because it has more fiber. Fiber is known to prolong digestion giving your body a slow, steady rise of blood sugar—rather than a quick spike and crash like white pastas can do. Fiber also feeds gut-friendly bacteria, promotes regularity, reduces cholesterol absorption, and supports overall GI health.

Full of vitamins and minerals - Again these are WAY more prevalent in whole wheat pasta as apposed to white. Wheat pasta has a healthy dose of copper and iron (which support red blood cell production and oxygen transportation), selenium and manganese (which helps antioxidants to fight free radicals that cause inflammation, premature aging, and chronic disease), phosphorus (which plays a role in bone health), and B vitamins (which are linked to energy metabolism).

Now that you know how healthy pasta can be. I have to point you to this too because I cant leave you with one sided info. Our traffic guru Robin Scott was just talking to me about this pasta thing and she told me about the contradicting book The Wheat Belly. I am going to leave the link here and you do with it what you must. I am going to enjoy some wheat pasta and send a selfie to my mama.