Pasta kcals.

Delicate_Dlite

First of many questions, I'm trying to be healthy and track my intake. Finding it really hard in particular to calc the kcals in pasta. I cook for one, .

My main issue is how much is a portion of pasta and are the kcals given for 100g dry or cooked. Usually I use a fistful,dry. But I think this could be too much. I've even tried counting the stupid lil pieces.

I realise how silly I sound, but I appreciate all help. {looking to drop the xmas/New year lbs .}

Lantus

weighing scales are your friend here. I dont have a bag to hand but if 100g is 200kcal then 25g would be 50kcal for example. weighing food (at least to begin with) is a sure fire way to know what a portion is.

Delicate_Dlite

thanks, So I assume you weigh the pasta dry?

muffinn

Delicate_Dlite wrote: »

thanks, So I assume you weigh the pasta dry?

Correct.

100g of pasta is roughly 350 kcal, it may vary a bit from one type to another. For instance, wholegrain pasta would have a bit less calories due to increased amount of fiber in place of carbs.

EileenG

If you don't have a scales (and they are useful for baking as well as dieting), then take your packet of pasta, which will be a specific weight, and divide it into X numbers of your usual portions and work it out that way.

jw297

Delicate_Dlite wrote: »

First of many questions, I'm trying to be healthy and track my intake. Finding it really hard in particular to calc the kcals in pasta. I cook for one, .

My main issue is how much is a portion of pasta and are the kcals given for 100g dry or cooked. Usually I use a fistful,dry. But I think this could be too much. I've even tried counting the stupid lil pieces.

I realise how silly I sound, but I appreciate all help. {looking to drop the xmas/New year lbs .}

Thanks for bringing this up, I've been wondering that myself for ages and never got round to asking! Glad to know for sure it's dry weight, if it was cooked weight it would be very little pasta, so I hoped that wasn't the case or I've been estimating everything wrong.

rubadub

Some packs will also give values for cooked pasta, these are only estimates. If the manufacturer overrcooks their pasta it will have a lot of water in it, if you then undercook yours it will have less water so if you used the cooked values on the packets you would actually have more calories than you though you did (or vice versa).

Same goes for rice or dilutable drinks. Pour an extra pint of water in a jug of ribena and the calories stay the same, but the volume/weight goes up. No calories in water.

This is why it is best to deal with dry weights. If you think about the values logically you can cop on what is happening, e.g. dry pasta is mainly flour, so the calories per dry gram should be similar to dry flour -and they are.

Pasta and noodles are very high in calories. I would recommend salter brand digital scales, you get them in argos cheap enough.