Versatility and pasta go hand-in-hand! Yes, there’s no doubt it’s high in carbohydrates, which people should try to limit consumption, but otherwise, it’s a suitable dish that you can prepare at any mealtime. For those who love having low-carbohydrate diets, wheat pasta shouldn’t be anywhere on the list, since it might make them feel somewhat uncomfortable and bloated. At the same time, it can be difficult to give up totally on the delicious pasta preparations, the sauces, dips, and more. For the convenience of those who cannot think of life sans pasta, here are few worthy, low-carbohydrate alternatives. Surely, you can cut down on the intake of fat-loaded noodles and pasta and try these instead.
Spaghetti Squash
A superb pasta substitute, squashes are great starchy veggies having a typical yellowish-orange flesh inside. Mostly found in Central and North America, nowadays you can find squashes in almost any country. After you’ve cooked through, try separating the flesh using a fork and see how lovely the strings look! Similar to noodles, you can even bake these at 30 or 45minutes at about 180 degrees centigrade.
Additionally, try boiling for 20 minutes or slice that into half and put it inside the microwave for a little more than 5 to 6 minutes. Providing only 6.5 grams of carbohydrates for every 100 grams in total, the spaghetti squash will fulfill about 20% of the total carbohydrate quantity. You can also have a generous dose of vitamins like A, B (most), C, E, and K from it.
Cabbage Noodles
Simple and hassle-free, cabbages when included in foods work as great replacements for pasta and provide healthy doses of folate, alongside essential vitamins and minerals. At just 6 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams, you can sense how tasty and nutrient-rich it is. Also, the quantity of cabbage is exactly 54% of the RDI for Vitamin C and about 85% of RDI for vitamin K.
After cutting a cabbage, put it inside the boiling water for about 2 minutes. In case you use that for lasagne, do not boil for long or overcook that in the oven. The leaves are best used for lasagne sweets. Simply chop off the head of the cabbage and make thin noodles.
Spiralized Veggies
The culinary world has taken a lot of interest in spiralized veggies of late- and that’s justified if you see the ease with which they can be prepared and the attractive look they impart to the diet. Sliced by spiralizers, this kitchen device works best when chopping off vegetables into long strips, exactly like noodles. Make a heady mix with turnips, beets, carrots, beans, bell peppers, cucumbers, and zucchinis (you can add more if you wish to), and benefit from chances of contracting diabetes, heart diseases, and more.
Even certain cancers can be cured by consuming these essential vegetables. Remember not to peel the veggies, since that is where the most nutrients stay. For people trying weight loss mechanisms, try this dish in either cold or warm avatars. If warm is how you like, toss the noodles in boiling water for not more than 5 minutes and then in oil, till they’re cooked well; and if cold, then add in all together. Overcooking is dangerous as the crunch gets lost.
Sprouts
This is a common pick and you can make it easily with seeds that have germinated and would become young plants soon. Sprouts can be made from several seeds, like grains, peas, beans, nuts, vegetable seeds, and other seeds too. Depending on the seed used, the nutrient content changes. Thankfully, almost all the seeds are low in carbohydrates and replete with folate, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, vitamins C, K, and essentially, proteins.
For example, alfalfa sprouts contain 7% of the carbohydrate content in pasta, whereas lentils account for 70%. Even the preparation is simple- just blanch them after boiling for few seconds, and then run cold water on the sprouts to stop the cooking, Now you can drain the extra water and toss it using your favorite sauce. Be careful with sprouts, however, since there are added risks of food poisoning (at times). Only purchase and consume fresh sprouts that you refrigerate after washing thoroughly.
You can try other dishes too as replacements for your favorite pasta, which will satiate your hunger and also provide essential nutrients.