The homeland of these products from flour and water, is for certain unknown to anyone. There is a version according to which the secret of making macaroni, or pasta, namely under this name they are known all over the world, was brought to Italy from China by the famous traveler Marco Polo. However, many archaeological evidence indicates that the recipe for the preparation of this product was familiar to the peoples inhabiting the Apennine peninsula long before the birth of the great traveler. Thus, the first mention of pastry products resembling modern pasta is found in one of the oldest culinary books written between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, which authorship is attributed to the famous Roman gourmet, Mark Gabiu Apizia.
Whatever it was, the title of the national pasta, was awarded in Italy, and, incidentally, there began the industrial production of this flour product: in Genoa in 1740 the first macaroni factory was opened.
In our time this product of flour and water is popular all over the world, because pasta is easy to prepare, they are tasty and nutritious. However, it is believed that boiled pasta is harmful to the waist, since there are quite a lot of calories in them. Let's find out whether this is true, whether the paste and the slim figure are incompatible.
How many calories are in the boiled pasta?
Caloric content of boiled pasta, as well as their ability to add extra pounds depend on many factors.
- Wheat variety . There are hard and soft varieties. The first contain more vegetable protein, and less starch, fats than the latter. Macaroni prepared from durum wheat is considered not only the most delicious and useful, they are also less caloric, compared to products made from soft varieties. So, the calorie content of boiled macaroni from hard wheat lies in the range of 100-160 kcal, while soft products will be pulled at 130-200 kcal.
- Time of cooking . Influences not only on the calorie content of the dish, but on its glycemic index - an indicator of how fast the blood sugar level rises after consuming a particular product. The lower it is, the slower the glucose level will rise, which means that less insulin will be needed to reduce it, and fatty tissue should be deposited in the process. So, for boiled pasta it is 50, for slightly undercooked, or "al dente", as they say in Italy, the glycemic index will drop to 40.
- Type of product . It is believed that for the figure is the most harmful vermicelli cobweb and other small varieties of pasta, and the most safe - spaghetti. Again, the case here is more likely in the glycemic index (47 - in vermicelli, 38 - in spaghetti), since calories in cooked pasta spaghetti are even more than in vermicelli - 130 for spaghetti, and about 100 for vermicelli, however the first are digested much more slowly, and provide a longer sense of saturation.
- The presence of additional ingredients . Perhaps the main factor affecting the caloric content of the finished product, because everything that
written above, refers to pasta without additives. However, very often in a tandem with them go fatty meat, sauces or cheeses, which significantly increase the energy value of the prepared dish. Even the most ordinary boiled pasta with butter has a caloric content of about 180 kcal, and if instead of butter or together with it you put fat meat and cheese, then you will get already 400 calories per 100 g of product. To avoid this, nutritionists recommend combining pasta with vegetables, lean fish, seafood. These combinations will help enrich the finished dish with vitamins, minerals and fiber, and there will not be enough calories in them, for example, in the usual boiled pasta with fat cheese and butter.