High protein pasta. Yes or No?
Like someone else above, when I want pasta I make a thick sauce filled with meat and veggies, then top with some cheese. I eat a small bowl of that and it does the trick! My favorite is making a big sauce in the crockpot with leftovers of whatever meat I have and ground beef. I added shredded carrots, diced onion and mushrooms, shredded zucchini, minced celery, chopped kale. It cooks down nice and delicious!
Great, now I want some!
First, I second everything that Rocky said. In order to be successful long term, you really MUST change your eating habits.
Second, I also agree with Grim's comment about net carbs being a trap of sorts. It isn't a good idea, especially not freshly post-op! I can almost guarantee that you will regret it down the road.
Also, for the amount of pasta you will be able to eat, the protein is still negligible... certainly not worth all of the negative aspects mentioned. At almost 8 years post-op, I can eat pasta and do choose to eat some once in a blue moon, but even so far out with a "mature" pouch, I cannot even eat a full dry ounce!
You would be surprised how filling and psychologically satisfying a pasta-free "lasagna" can be. I routinely make a layered lasagna with just the meat and pasta sauce, some ricotta cheese, and some provalone cheese (or a provalone and mozzarella mix) in a bowl. The provalone cheese helps hold it in layers. VERY high in protein and very filling, and the only carbs are from the cheese. I also routinely have meatballs and sauce with a quality Parmesan cheese.
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
Hey ,
I have to say , before my surgery while preparing and buying in stuff for afterwards and thinking on things I would eat / not eat and so on . I was of the same kind of thinking as you right now . I went on to The Low Carb Grocery and bought a whole bunch of low carb tortillas , ' carb free ' pasta and ' magic rices and what have you . I really thought , well if I can't have the real thing this will be close enough that I'll still feel like im having it . Now ...I'm almost 4 months out ( RNY on Dec 16th last year) ,and honestly? First things first ,my 3 weeks on Optifast detoxed my body of carbs sugar and other rubbish . I swear after those first 3 or 4 days of initial " Oh my god what am I doing to myself "!! I can truthfully say I've never felt better . Gone were the dragging my ass afternoons after a carb loaded sandwich or pasta dish for lunch . Gone was that bloated , lazy sluggish gut feeling that I had every night sitting on the couch after dinner . Gone was the feeling of basically having the ability ( if allowed ) to sleep anywhere or just even lay down somewhere cos I felt so crappy . I know now it was because I had severely cut down my carb and sugar intake . It was such a dramatic change for me and a serious eye Opener.
However , after surgery , and reaching the stage where I could introduce soft foods and then normal stuff , I did start to dabble in all my purchases from the Low Carb Grocery . My findings were disappointing to say the least . First off those carb free noodle and magic rice are just bloody awful!! The tortillas were ok but seriously not worth the shipping and didn't last long before I felt I had to bin them . I gave up and really looked at my diet and decided what I want to eat . I just decided that it's just not worth it . I really agree with the other posters ( Rocky and Lora I think ? ) that say if you're trying to imitate it now , it will eventually just lead to the real thing at some point . For me , I kind of think that's what definitely would happen .
I'm not saying I'm never gonna ever eat pasta or rice or whatever again . I may , but for now I'm happy to keep telling myself that it's simply something that just does not fit in to my new lifestyle and food choices . And it really works , I don't crave it , I have no desire to eat it , I can sit there and watch others scarf down mountains of pasta( did today at the Mother In laws where everything is accompanied by rice and pasta ) and just think OMG I'm so glad I'm not even tempted cos that is just a food coma later on ! Lol . I crave the meat . I crave the yummy stuff that I do eat . I don't shy away from good fats and I'm honestly loving my diet .
Again I'm not saying this should be everyones way . Not at all, but I do think for the first year or so it's just best to steer clear and give your body the best chance you can while truly working in changing your whole mindset for food . Because it really does work . You do something , and think a certain way long enough , it does become your new normal . The more your body rewards you too , the more it spurs you on to continue . I'm amazed at how well this is going for me , and how good I feel . And its all just down to changing my diet ( and surgery or course !) But changing the diet is the long term commitment in all of this really . I'm down 88 lbs since the day before I started Opti ( November 25th ) and feel great. And I hope to keep going strong , not just for year or whatever, but for as long as I can as I know it possibly ,probably actually is a lifelong battle .
Anyway , I've rambled enough . I know you may be thinking " My God all this over some noodles " ! Lol ....but all these little choices are important in the bigger picture .
Good luck with it all :)
Jax x
Beware of too good to be true... a few years back Dreamfields Low Carb pasta was all the rage: http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/dreamfields-offers-7-9-mi llion-lawsuit-settlement-over-low-carb-pasta-claims/22545
Try some of these instead for your Italian fix: https://www.pinterest.com/eggface/healthy-italian-food/ :)
Wow - I just read that info on the Dreamfields lawsuit. Thanks for the link. It was very interesting. I LOVE Your Blog - I have a question though, is there some way I can 'PRINT' your recipes out without having to try and copy/paste them into an email to myself? I'm a 'retro' girl and don't use my computer or iPad while I am cooking - still print out recipes and then put them in binders organized by categories.
Do you think those tofu shiitake noodles are bad idea too?
YW... and thank you for the compliment.
On the recipes... well... I cut & paste into a notepad and print when I need to but even better is if you have a pinterest account save the ones you want to make there (saves trees and $$ ink)
Tofu Noodles. They smell gross. I'm Sicilian it's against the law for us to eat them... LOL they take away your official Italian status ;) j/k sort of. I stick with julienned zucchini, or spaghetti squash. Check out the Italian recipe link above. Oodles of options. It;s the yummy toppings you really want if you think about it... pasta is just a vehicle.
