Chris, in your Food that make you look good nekid article,all kinds of pasta are in the OK list. Why? According to this glycemic index list www.nutr.biochem.usyd.edu.au/GIDB/FMPro
The value on the far right is amount of carbs and the one before is G.I.
Pasta, Fettucini, cooked, 1 cup, 180 g 32 57
Linguine thick, cooked, 1 cup, 180 g 46 56
Pasta, Macaroni, cooked, 1 cup, 180 g 45 56
Spaghetti,wholemeal cooked, 1 cup,180 g 37 48
Pasta, Capellini, cooked, 1 cup, 180 g 45 53
This are pretty good stats, as far as I am concerned. Is there a catch???
I could be wrong but lemme try and shed some light on this. With pasta its really really easy to over-eat, as it is fairly caloricly dense(from what I’ve read on here before) and the sauces are usually a mixture of oil and sugar, or something like that. But it’s good if you can measure it easily and find a well suited sauce.
Calorically dense. Measure out a serving sometime. You may be surprised. 2) Most sauces make it much worse, although I’m sure there are some healthy homemade ones. (Still, who eats pasta plain, so you have to count on adding sauces.) 3) It’s still highly processed. There are some darker pastas that may be better though.
So, like we said, it’s “okay”, although I still avoid it personally.
Ok, I see. I am a bit confused though. Are oats and fruit the only carbs I can eat guilt-free…you know what I mean. Besides, Bill Roberts is not a huge fan of fruit, he has said that a piece is good now and then. I am a bit confused, what are truly “excellent” sources of complex carbs? I remember JMB writing somewhere that beans are good too, but did not ellaborate at all. So what gives? What about chick-peas?
Without sauces and overeating is it good though? I basically live on the stuff at college as my source of carbs.
And yes, most of the time I do eat it plain, so I guess I’m a little different from the rest.
Chris, correct me where you think it’s needed. I recently made a list of the carbs that I feel are the best to eat for someone else. These are the ones I came up with:
1.) Oats
2.) Steamed Barley
3.) Steamed Brown Rice
4.) Fruits (Stick with more northern fruits, as their GI is usually much lower than their tropical counterparts (i.e. Apples are better than bananas
5.) Quinoa
6.) Sweet Potatoes (steamed is best)
The following are “okay” to me:
1.) Baked Potato
2.) Whole wheat pasta
3.) 100% whole wheat bread
Personally, I really try to stay away from the latter foods, but will use them in a pinch. The others I pretty much eat guilt-free.
Guys, flame this where you can. I’m pretty interested in this also.
Guys, everyone differs on this subject, but here’s what I like personally in regards to your questions:
GR- Oatmeal is a truly excellent source of complex carbs. No pre-packaged flavored stuff though.
DK- I think there are better sources that pasta, but if you can control portions, not use any sauce, and perhaps choose some of the darker stuff, then it’s an okay source. Not my choice, though.
cgeytraveler- Your list sounds fine, although I’d have switched some of those around and avoided some altogether myself. But again, we’re all different. For me, bread is out. Even while bulking I’ll only eat a slice or two of Health Nut dark bread a day (not counting the odd free meal, which I get less of these days based on Berardi’s advice.) I usually only eat fruit on mass diets too, though I don’t see anything wrong with it. Cy Willson has a great article called “The Forbidden Fruit” on this topic. I don’t eat much rice or potatoes either, although those are okay choices. I love sweet potatoes but am usually too lazy/busy to cook them up right.
Keep in mind that I limit carbs much more than average person based on my own needs and experience. However, if using MAG-10 or another androgen I follow Bill’s advice and add more carbs to my diet, usually just more oatmeal, sometimes three times a day. (All P+C meals except for the last one.)