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While true about whole carbs, a lot of people are mislead on what that means. A lot of whole grain cereal (such as multi-grain cheerios) is processed enough tha

While true about whole carbs, a lot of people are mislead on what that means. A lot of whole grain cereal (such as multi-grain cheerios) is processed enough that you don't get any of the benefits of it being whole grain and it's digested like simple carbs. I remember reading something similar about whole grain pasta as well. My opinion based on what I know is that while complex carbs are fine in moderation, the average American consumes way more simple carbs than they should because carbs in general were pushed as the healthy alternative to the "heart killing" saturated fats.

KozmoNau7 9y ago
It's mostly due to the sugar (whether sucrose or HFCS) that is added to just about everything presented to the average customer in the US. Regarding whole grain pasta, as far as I know, it's fine and healthier than normal pasta. It just tends to smell and taste like a wet burlap sack.
- Shikadi 9y ago
  The idea is that once whole grains are processed into flour, the surface area is increased enough to make the benefits much smaller than eating actually whole grains (like rice). A little more googling shows me that whole grain pasta is definitely better for you, (has more fiber and vitamins naturally, and digests a little slower). I also learned that pasta is actually significantly lower on the glycemic index than bread. I haven't been able to find any scientific papers on this, but the general idea is that when you grind whole grains into a flour, you digest them pretty much just as fast as white flour due to the increased surface area, so although whole grain pasta/bread is better, it's not as beneficial as eating actually whole grains like brown rice. A lot of nutritionists believe this to be true, but I made the mistake of assuming scientific papers were out there to back their reasoning. In the end, it seems like portion control is still the winner here, and that it is indeed better to eat whole grain pasta over white pasta.

KozmoNau7 9y ago

It's mostly due to the sugar (whether sucrose or HFCS) that is added to just about everything presented to the average customer in the US. Regarding whole grain pasta, as far as I know, it's fine and healthier than normal pasta. It just tends to smell and taste like a wet burlap sack.

Shikadi 9y ago
The idea is that once whole grains are processed into flour, the surface area is increased enough to make the benefits much smaller than eating actually whole grains (like rice). A little more googling shows me that whole grain pasta is definitely better for you, (has more fiber and vitamins naturally, and digests a little slower). I also learned that pasta is actually significantly lower on the glycemic index than bread. I haven't been able to find any scientific papers on this, but the general idea is that when you grind whole grains into a flour, you digest them pretty much just as fast as white flour due to the increased surface area, so although whole grain pasta/bread is better, it's not as beneficial as eating actually whole grains like brown rice. A lot of nutritionists believe this to be true, but I made the mistake of assuming scientific papers were out there to back their reasoning. In the end, it seems like portion control is still the winner here, and that it is indeed better to eat whole grain pasta over white pasta.