Unfairly Demonised. That’s Right.

Posted on by Live & Learn

pasta-macaroni-and-cheese

1980’s: Replace butter with margarine. Overturned.

1990’s: Eliminate salt. Debunked.

2000’s: Eliminate/reduce carbs.

And today, the big news:

  • “Eating pasta is not fattening and actually decreases the chances of becoming obese”
  • “A new survey of more than 23,000 people, however, has linked pasta consumption to both lower body mass and waist-to-hip ratio.”
  • “…also found that the correlation between pasta intake and lower obesity rates occurred independently of overall diet”
  • “evidence that carbohydrates have been “unfairly demonised”.”=
  • “the current trend of people cutting out pasta from their diets in an effort to lose weight was unjustified”
  • “a fundamental component of Italian Mediterranean tradition, and there is no reason to do without it”
  • results clearly show that it is wrong to demonise carbohydrates as the data clearly show that consumption of a carbohydrate-rich food such as pasta does not have an adverse effect on body weight.

Read more at The Telegraph: Eating pasta helps you lose weight, says Italian study

Moral of the story:

1) Wait long enough and it all comes home.

2) Back up the Pasta Truck.

3) Next up: Ice Cream.

Notes: (1) Thank you Rich for sharing the research.  (2) Photo: Credit

48 thoughts on “Unfairly Demonised. That’s Right.”

  5. I lost weight in Italy! Go figure. I ate all the pasta and bread I wanted. However, we did a lot of walking everyday. No-one goes to the gym either! Even the old Nona’s are just walking up the big hills burning off the pasta and gelato! We can’t just eat…gotta exercise too….. Perfecto!

  13. I’ve given up food-food for the good stuff already on the no-no list: cakes, sweets, biscuits, etc. All the desserts everyone else have given up are now all mine…and in such overwhelming abundance. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together? Yes. Me, too.

  14. I love pasta and as a big cyclist, I have consumed more than my fair share over the years. Even though I am cycling less these days, I still put away a lot of spaghetti bolognese or carbonara or amatriciana. The key for most diets – and yes, I recognize that some people have special requirements – is to eat good food in moderation and exercise regularly. If you do that, the occasional treat (fast food, chips, chocolate, beer, etc.) will not be a problem at all.

    1. Hi John. That’s the secret. Moderation. As I nod my head in agreement (at 3:32 am E.S.T.), my mouth is drooling with the your me mention of Bolognese. 🙂

  15. And chocolate has been brought back into the fold as well. I eat that regularly–it’s why my heart is so strong and healthy! An apple a day…harrumph. 😉

  16. Reminds me of Woody Allen’s ‘Sleeper’ – the discovery that all things thought to be bad for us, we’re good…and the VW bug was the only car to last through centuries of never being started.

  18. Hmm cant help but think the study is a direct result to the gluten free and pasta free trend. Sales going down? Why not concoct a study – every lobby for large food producers does the same.
    But the meditteranean diet is supposedly one of the healthiest in the world, not sure how much pasta is involved.

  19. “Back up the Pasta Truck” made me snort coffee.
    The fact is NO ONE understands weight gain/weight loss. My motto these days is Do what makes your body feel good, and forgive yourself when you don’t.

  22. Eating pasta is not fattening and actually decreases the chances of becoming obese, a new Italian study has found.

    For centuries Mediterranean diets have enjoyed a healthy reputation, but in recent years more and more people have been shunning pasta, believing it to be fattening.

    A new survey of more than 23,000 people, however, has linked pasta consumption to both lower body mass and waist-to-hip ratio.

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