Reducing Calories

Weight Loss / Reduced Calorie Diets

Pasta is a fat-free, low-sodium food that is a perfect delivery system for healthy ingredients, such as legumes, vegetables, lean meats, poultry, and fish.

Focused on weight loss or reduced calorie diets? Creating lower calorie pasta meals is also simple.

Try these tips

Sauces

Replace heavy sauces with low-calorie vegetable-based versions, such as fresh tomato sauce or a light pesto. You can also dress pasta with fresh herbs, garlic, and just a drizzle of olive oil.

Veggies

To help reduce the calorie content of your favorite pasta dishes, swap out ¼ to ½ of the pasta specified in the recipe for the same amount of veggies. For example, if a recipe calls for two cups of cooked pasta, replace one cup of the pasta with steamed broccoli and red pepper or zucchini and basil. You’ll subtract total calories per serving and add color and texture!

Beans

Another trick to promote weight loss is to replace ½ or ¼ your pasta with beans. Beans add fiber and fill you up so you won’t feel hungry later. They are also an ideal accompaniment to pasta – kidney beans prepared with pasta is an Italian staple!

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