I Love Spaghetti! But Does it Mix with Clean Eating?


I grew up in an Italian household and we all know that pasta and bread are a given. Every Sunday the entire family would head over to my Mimi's after church for a nice Italian meal and good company. There would be huge baskets of bread, Italian cookies, and lots of pasta. It wasn't just food to me, it was tradition, it was my family, it was my Mimi.



That being said, it was extremely difficult for me when I realized that eating all that bread and pasta was affecting my health. It was even more difficult when I realized that if I wanted to reach my fitness goals, I was going to have to make a change. I didn't want to give up that feeling (funny how food can actually be emotion isn't it?). I knew I needed a way to make my old life mesh with my new life, so I started researching. For me, although I loved the taste of pasta, it was more about the memories. I loved twisting it on my fork, my Mimi's meatballs, and lots of sauce. 

Through my research I found something called spaghetti squash. The name itself confused the heck out of me. How is it spaghetti AND squash?? I was intrigued by the way the squash resembled noodles, and that I could twist it with my fork. I decided to give it a try, and I am so glad that I did. Spaghetti squash helped fill the Italian void in my heart since I started clean eating. I would make homemade sauce and meatballs  to go with it, and still twist it on my fork. The best part was that it didn't hurt my stomach from eating too much of it when I was done.  


Recently, I have discovered that there are lots of ways to make veggie noodles, and some seriously amazing recipes to go along with them. My father purchased a vegetable spiralizer, and the other night we got to test it out. I know there will be lots of tasty recipes to come here on My Body. My Life. that include spiralized veggies. 


The point of the story is that it wasn't easy to give up pasta, and at times I will have some, BUT in order to get healthy I had to find other ways to meet those needs, and I did. I find that making healthy swaps instead of completely eliminating something from your diet works well. It has also opened the door to a whole new noodle world for me which I am very excited about!! 

Comments

  1. I use spaghetti squash for EVERYTHING! Then I can eat Garlic bread (whole grain, of course) and not feel bad! I also like Shirataka noodles. They are made out of Yam flour and a serving is 20 calories.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Recipe Thursday: Fall Detox Vegetable Soup

21 Day Fix Quinoa & Black Bean Salad

What a Day of Meals Looks Like on the 3-Day Refresh.