You’ve probably heard that pasta is fattening. Certainly it has no place on a weight loss plan, right?
There are two big reasons why you might want to avoid pasta. The sauce is often rich, and we tend to cook pasta in big batches, so it’s very easy to eat way too much of it.
However, if you can control the portions, you can enjoy some pasta as part of your weight loss plan. The easiest way to do this is to buy prepared pasta in individual serving sizes.
Look in the canned foods section of your supermarket for little microwavable tubs of pasta. They are typically 6-8 ounces each and have 200-300 calories per container. You can get several varieties of things like macaroni and spaghetti.
These containers are great because the pasta stays edible for a long time at room temperature, and they are handy when you are traveling or want to take your lunch to work.
You can save some money by buying the same pastas in metal cans, but then you have to portion the servings yourself (or risk overeating) and put the pasta in another container to heat it. When I can get the microwavable ones for about $1 per meal, I think that’s worth it for the convenience.
One more option for including pasta in your weight loss plan is to go with frozen foods. Many of the low-calorie or low-fat food manufacturers include pasta in their line of frozen dinners or entrees. As always, carefully read the labels to make sure the pasta fits within your weight loss plan.
If you love pasta but want to lose weight, now you’ve seen that it’s possible to enjoy pasta on a weight loss plan if you do it carefully.