Not all low-carb diets are the same, but all of them limit your daily carbohydrate intake by excluding or reducing the serving sizes of high-carb foods. The most common sources of carbohydrates that low-carb dieters need to pay attention to are grains, such as pasta, rice, breakfast cereals, granola bars and noodles, starchy vegetables, sugar, fruits, milk and yogurt. Depending on your low-carb eating plans, your carbohydrate intake may be limited to between 20 g and 150 g of carbohydrates a day.
Regular Pasta
A cup of regular pasta, cooked, contains between 43.2 g and about 2.5 g of fiber. This amount of carbohydrate is considerably high. The fiber content is relatively low, considering that the recommended fiber intake corresponds to 25 g to 38 g a day. Most low-carb dieters track their net carb intake, also referred to as digestible or available carb intake. Net carbs can be calculated by subtracting the fiber from the total carbohydrates. In the case of regular pasta, the net carb content corresponds to 40.7 g.
Whole-wheat Pasta
Whole-wheat pasta provides an average of 37.2 g of total carbohydrates and 6.3 g of fiber per cup, cooked. Because of its lower total carbohydrate content and higher fiber content, whole-wheat pasta has a lower net carb content, which corresponds to 30.9 g of net carbs per cup, cooked.
Low-carb Diets and Whole-wheat Pasta
Most low-carb programs eliminate grains because of their high carb content, but as long as you can stick to your carbohydrate target, you can include any foods you like. The key is to track your daily carbohydrate intake and ensure that you stay within your established range. If your carbohydrate target is lower than 50 g a day, you may have difficulty including whole-wheat pasta in your diet, but you can probably have a limited amount if you are allowed between 50 g and 150 g a day.
Low-carb Meals With Whole-wheat Pasta
If you wish to have whole-wheat pasta for one of your meals while following a low-carb diet, make sure you keep your carbohydrate intake fairly low for the other meals of the day. Your pasta meal could include 1 cup of cooked whole-wheat pasta, 1/3 cup of tomato sauce mixed with 3 oz. of cooked ground beef and 2 oz. of grated cheese, which corresponds to 43.8 g of total carbohydrates and 7.4 g of fiber and approximately 36.4 g of net carbs. You could also limit your serving of whole-wheat pasta to 1/2 cup, so your meal would provide you 25.2 g of total carbohydrates and 4.3 g of fiber, which is the equivalent of 20.9 g of net carbs.
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