Pasta with tomato sauce is one of the most popular and appreciated Italian dishes abroad. It’s always been a star in the Mediterranean diet, recognized around the world as a real nutritional model that is great for staying healthy and fit. Besides being good to eat, when cooked properly and consumed in the right amounts, pasta with tomato sauce helps you stay fit and slim. “This dish provides vitamins, fiber and ‘good’ carbohydrates that give you energy and facilitate the proper functioning of the body,” explains nutritionist Valentina Schirò.
Pasta with tomato sauce: nutritional values
From a nutritional point of view, a plate of pasta with tomato sauce topped with a spoonful of extra-virgin olive oil ensures a good amount of complex carbohydrates. “The pasta has essential nutrients to help your metabolism function well and help the body burn fat,” Schirò explains. It’s also really good at filling you up. “Pasta’s complex carbohydrates provide the body with energy slowly, to help you feel full sooner and for longer.” The sense of fullness increases even more so if the pasta is whole wheat. “Compared to white pasta, whole wheat pasta provides energy in a more constant manner, allowing the body to absorb and use sugars more slowly because it has more fiber,” she says. What’s more, whole-wheat pasta also increases the amount of antioxidants on your plate, which helps you stay young. “It provides a greater amount of polyphenols, which have a real protective effect on heart health and the body in general,” the nutritionist adds.
Why it’s good for you
Pasta with tomato sauce and extra-virgin olive oil is better for you than a plate of plain penne or spaghetti or with just oil added. “Besides tasting better, it has more valuable nutrients. Tomatoes are a good source of lycopene. When cooked, this antioxidant, which helps fight aging, becomes more widely available. Whereas the extra-virgin olive oil provides essential fatty acids that help keep down glycemia, or blood sugar levels, which are responsible for sudden hunger pangs,” she says.
As long as it’s eaten al dente!
The ideal is to cook the pasta until it is al dente. “Compared to well-cooked pasta, it has a lower glycemic index. In fact, cooking pasta too long makes the starch it is full of be absorbed more quickly by the body,” the nutritionist explains.
How to eat it
“The best way to eat pasta with tomato sauce without sacrificing your figure is to avoid eating other sources of carbohydrates such as bread or pizza in the same meal,” the expert points out. Pay attention to the amount, too. “Pasta with tomato sauce is highly energetic. A portion of 70 grams of spaghetti or rigatoni with tomato sauce has about 380 calories.”