Al dente pasta is not fattening and is more digestible: here’s why

There pasta is the main ingredient of Italian cuisine, a product available in a thousand different ways and recipes, exported and loved all over the world. But what is the right way to eat it? It is preferable to cook it al dente like we Italians do or hot how do you eat it abroad? Pasta is al dente less digestible And makes you fat or is it quite the opposite? Let’s try to find out the truth.

Why it’s better to eat pasta al dente

—

The best way to eat pasta is al dentenot only because it is tastier, but also because it is more digestible and less fattening. Of course, we must add that there are no foods that make you lose weight, that the relationship with weight depends on how much pasta you eat and how you season it and that you must always remember to combine a healthy diet with physical activity. Despite all this there pasta al dente It makes you less fat for some scientific reasons. In the first place the starch found in the pasta is not dispersed in the water, is retained by the gluten network and therefore becomes assimilable gradually. Those don’t happen like that glycemic swings which lead to accumulations of sugars and therefore fat and also prolongs the feeling of satiety.

long chewing

—

There pasta al denteFurthermore, it promotes longer chewing which has a positive effect on digestion, as underlined by the Veronesi Foundation: “The work of chewing releases juices containing the enzyme ptyalin from the salivary glands which act on the complex chains of starch, reducing them to less complex structures and facilitating the subsequent completion of digestion, which takes place in the duodenum and in the various segments of the intestine tenuous.” So not only is it less fattening but it is also more digestible.

How to best cook pasta

—

A slower digestion favors a slower absorption of glucose which makes up starch leading to a lower glycemic index which promotes the feeling of satiety, thus decreasing the desire for more food. At the same time, however, we must not make the opposite mistake by eating raw pasta which is difficult to digest and unhealthy. So you have to find the ideal cooking time following what is indicated on the packaging and tasting it before draining it, you must also remember to turn it to hydrate the starch granules without them becoming sticky. Overcooked pasta is not recommended for those who must follow a low-calorie diet.

Leave with a group of sportsmen like you, discover Gazzetta Adventure and Tribala trips dedicated to sport and fun around the world

How the glycemic index of pasta changes depending on cooking

—

There al dente pasta has a glycemic index of 45 which is considered low while that burn of 70 which is high, therefore just a few minutes are enough to overturn the impact that pasta has on our body. The quality of the pasta helps to define an al dente pasta because good quality durum wheat holds up better when cooked. An al dente pasta must not melt in the mouth but offer a certain resistance, it must impose a prolonged chewing which triggers enzymes in the mouth, aiding digestion.