Cooking Your Pasta Al Dente Equals Better Taste And Health

No, This Spaghetti Is a Bit Troppo Al Dente!

Growing in Joisey, (that is New Jersey for readers who don’t know the local dialect) you eat pasta. Pasta, spaghetti, macaroni, fusilli, lasagna, the list is endless on the different shapes and words for this treasured food. You eat pasta in Jersey.  Because Jersey is filled with Italians. There is a huge amount of Italian restaurants in Jersey if you don’t have Italian roots or neighbors.  If you love macaroni, even if you end of moving out of Joisey, if you love real pasta, the authentic taste of how spaghetti is supposed to be cooked; this never leaves you.  If you have had the privilege of visiting or living in Italy and have tasted the local cuisine, you just KNOW a true dish of proper pasta. The sauces can be superbe, the pasta homemade or a good brand (1), but if the pasta is overcooked you lose some of the taste.  Like the Italians make it, pasta is ideal cooked al dente.  Al Dente means firm to the touch, (to the tooth) translated literally. Whatever your pasta package says for the time to cook, follow al dente cooking times. Any of you reading this and nodding your head yes?  My personal opinion:  taste is better for firm pasta. Do you agree?  Al Dente is healthier too, especially for diabetics.  Read on….

Eating Your Pasta Al Dente Helps to Keep Your Blood Sugar In Better Control

Pasta cooked al dente, or firm has a lower glycemic index (GI).  Eating foods with a lower GI can keep your blood sugars more stable. You can read here in more detail the glycemic index of durum wheat, including pasta.  There are different factors that contribute to your body’s physiological response to a food.  What sauce is on the pasta, how much fat is in the dish, the other foods eaten at the same time, your genetic background, whether you have insulin resistance or diabetes; these alter the body’s response to the food you eat. But overcooking noodles breaks down the carbohydrates earlier than your body does. The carbohydrates (sugars) enter your bloodstream faster than noodles eaten al dente.  A link to the American Diabetes Association on glycemic index and foods can be found here.

Two great reasons to al dente your noodles :  Taste is better and lower glycemic index

I miei amici Italiani, Joisey fans, or just passionate pasta foodies like at our house. Tell me. Do you agree?

(1) Here is a pasta we adore here in Europe. It is available at many grocery stores. The taste is DELIZIOSO!

Buon Appetito!
Mary

About Mary Brighton

Mary Brighton MS, RD is a registered dietitian in America, France and United Kingdom. She received her Masters of Science in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology from Colorado State University. She currently lives in France, is learning Italian and loves to travel, eat, be a mom.

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