How you cook potatoes and pasta impacts the effect they have on your blood sugar. Potatoes that are well cooked – to the point of being light and fluffy – raise your blood sugar more than potatoes that are less cooked.
Same with pasta. If you cook your pasta ‘al dente’, it lowers the glycemic index. You can lower it even more and raise the nutrition value by using whole grain pasta. Tinkyada, a brown rice pasta, is a good wheat-free alternative.
While cooking lightly helps keep the carbohydrates more intact (and slower to be absorbed into the blood stream – which is good), there are some even better food choices. Sweet potatoes, yams and winter squash are high in both fiber and nutrients.
Whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, millet and barley are even better than whole wheat pasta or bread. The less processed a food is the better.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy a baked potato or pasta – but do try to have a variety that includes lots of whole foods.
Find more nutrition information and my monthly newsletter on my website: http://healthyhabitscoach.com . Eat Sustainably!
