In case you have forgotten from your elementary school years, the USDA food pyramid looks like this.
It is recommended that we eat 6 – 11 servings of bread, cereal, rice and/or pasta everyday. Now the government is on a mission to decrease childhood obesity, yet they recommend that the average American eat 6 – 11 servings of bread, rice, cereal, or pasta every single day. This is crazy. We know that most carbohydrates turn to sugar in our bodies and yet the USDA suggests and encourages us to eat more carbohydrates then any other type of food, every single day, and they they question why most Americans are over weight. Wake Up America!
I believe that our typical meal should consist of the following (largest portion to smallest): largest portion should always be vegetables, followed by a protein from free range, no hormones, no antibiotics, meat (cows must be grass fed only), then a healthy sprouted grain and last a small piece of fruit.
Like many of you, I like eating and cooking the types of foods that I grew up enjoying. I am Italian and so naturally, I LOVE pasta. However, too much pasta is horrible for my health (and waistline). So I have learned to make other types of “pasta”.
While visiting my absolutely favorite, organic raw restaurant (Present Moment , located in St. Augustine, Fl), I learned how to make noodles from veggies and best of all, I learned that veggie noodles taste great!
Here are two recipes and short videos that will teach you to make the perfect veggie pasta:
I have often used zucchini as a pasta substitute. For a great recipe please see the following link:
http://johndlee.hubpages.com/hub/Zuccini_pasta_recipe__Not_zucchini_with_pastaZucchini_as_pasta
For a great recipe to substitute squash for pasta please see the following recipe and make sure to watch the less then 1 min video, it shows you how to make squash pasta in less then 10 mins.:
http://summertomato.com/better-than-pasta-subtitutes-summer-squash-noodle-recipe/
I know it is hard to make veggies the largest part of your meals, but learning how to make some of our favorite “staple” foods from veggies will help you to incorporate more vegetables into our diet.
Remember: Simple Changes can have BIG Results…
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