Hi everyone,

I discovered whole whet pasta recently and see that a lot hs been said about it in this forum. I live in Italy and so unfortunatlely can't get my hands on this Dreamfields pasta. My question is...how much whole wheat pasta makes a block? I know that 10 g of regular pasta is a block, what about whole wheat pasta that has 65 g of carbs per 100 g, 13 g of protein and 8.6 g of fiber. I saw a lot being said in this forum about subtracting the fiber from the carbs...and I'm a bit confused. I'd appreciate any help! Thanks, dimi

Well, based on those numbers, you would subtract the fiber from the total carb:

65g - 8.6g = 56.4g, that is your net carb content.  To break that down into blocks, this is 6 blocks of carb.  In order to work this into a meal, one would only be able to use about 1/2 of a serving, based on your numbers.  And, keep in mind that it is unfavorable carb; so the recommendation would be even less. 

 

First, it is 9g of Carbs per 1 zone block serving.
Based on your package information, 65g minus 13g = 52g of net zone countable Carbs per 100g of that pasta.
52g of Carbs is nearly 6 zone block (servings) (5.78 to be exact).
So a 1 block zone serving of that pasta is 100g divided by 5.78 = 17.3g of that pasta.
Typically with most USA pasta only 1/4 cup cooked pasta is 1 zone serving block.
Looks like your pasta is about similar.
And remember all pasta (except Zone 1-2-3 foods) is unfavorable carb; therefore, you should limit the pasta to no more than 25% of you Carbs in the meal. 
In other words, that pasta should be only 17g of pasta in a meal.

Thanks to the both of you for the quick replies, I rarely eat pasta but every once in a while, it would be nice! Now let me see if I have understood, because I still feel a little confused! This pasta is still very unfavourable, even if whole wheat, and one block equals 17 g of uncooked pasta. Is that correct?

dimi
 

Dimi, sounds like you've got it! 

I do believe that if you are going to eat pasta, going with whole wheat pasta will give you a slight advantage (slight being the key word) in terms of the glycemic load. 

Hi Dimitra, 


Basically, you would eat only 1 or 2 forkfuls of that specific whole wheat pasta in a Zone meal.  This would also be true for almost all pasta. 

An easier way to put together Zone meals is with the plate method shown here:  http://www.zonediet.com/Tools/Quick...fault.aspx 

Here's a little background on the advice you've been reading about subtracting fiber from carbohydrate.  Zond carbohydrate blocks (C blocks) are based on insulin stimulating carbohydrate.  Fiber does not stimulate insulin, but fiber is included in the total carbohydrate amount shown on nutritional information labels on US products.   Therefore, to calculate C blocks from a nutrition label on a US product you'd subtract the total fiber from the total carbohydrate to determine the amount of insulin stimulating carbohydrate in the food.  Not all countries' labeling standards include fiber in the carbohydrate amount on nutrition labels.  I don't know if Italy does or not.  Regardless, it is of little consequence for determining how much of your particular pasta would yield 1 C block, because your pasta turns out to have so little fiber per C block it wouldn't matter (yours contains only about 1 g fiber per block).    


   ________________________________________________________________

sue

Lost 100 lbs 15 yrs ago, off BP meds, thanks to the Zone diet and Zone fish oil. ZoneFast 1-2-3 is the best!

Consultant of Zone Labs

Certified Zone Affiliate

View my Zone Fast 1-2-3 meal photos here:  http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...3%20Meals/

View my classic Zone meal photos here:  http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...4/?start=0

 

Thanks for the information, Sue. Now things are starting to make sense...I guess I've been away from the zone for too long! And the pasta I thought was so full of goodness, isn't after all. I'll keep looking for another type of pasta, like Dreamfields. This is what I miss about being overseas, some things are just so hard to find.