Can Pasta Salad Make You Lose Weight?

Pack your pasta dishes with lots of vegetables to make them weight loss-friendly. Most vegetables are extremely low in calories — a large zucchini, for example, has just 55 calories, and a cup of spaghetti squash has about 40 calories — but they add bulk to your meal, along with weight loss-boosting fiber.

Add Vegetables for Weight Loss. By replacing some of the higher-calorie pasta with lower-calorie vegetables, you’ll save a few calories in each serving, too. That’s because a 1-cup serving of pasta made with veggies might only have a half-cup of actual pasta, compared to a 1-cup serving of pasta without vegetables,

“As a traditional component of Mediterranean diet, pasta consumption was negatively associated with BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio and with a lower prevalence of overweight and obesity,” the researchers conclude.

If you accidentally eat 2 cups of pasta instead of 1 cup, three times a week, in one year, you’d eat enough extra calories to gain 10 pounds of fat.

What happens if you overload pasta?

In short, if you continuously overload your pasta portions, you will gain weight over time.

Adding a protein (which takes longer to digest) to your pasta may help keep you satiated and better balances macronutrients to support a healthy metabolism , she says.

Your plate of pasta shouldn’t be void of vegetables. Veggies add bulk and satiating fiber to our meals that can help slow digestion, resulting in a steadier stream of energy, Moskovitz says.

In fact, you need carbs like pasta for fuel. “Carbs are a primary source of energy for our bodies — they act like gasoline for a car,” Moskovitz says. In other words, a balanced bowl of pasta can help you power through the day (and a tough workout). All this is to say, pasta can be part of a healthy weight-loss diet.

Eating an entirely carb-based meal minus other macros is unbalanced and will inevitably lead to a carb crash and more cravings. And this is especially true of pasta. “If you’re just eating one food for dinner, chances are you’re going to eat a lot more of that food to fill up,” Moskovitz says. And we already know that a surplus portion …

But pasta doesn’t have to be the main event — it can work as a stellar side dish too. “Balancing your meal with a protein, veggie and fat can naturally keep portions in check — it’s the difference between a four-cup bowl of pasta and a one-cup side serving,” Moskovitz says.

Nope, you don’ t need to ban pasta from your eating plan if your goal is weight loss. Contrary to popular belief, carbs like pasta, bread, crackers, cereal and even desserts don’t ​ automatically ​ increase body fat storage or cause weight gain, Lisa Moskovitz, RDN, founder and CEO of The NY Nutrition Group, tells LIVESTRONG.com.

What is in a pasta salad?

This creamy pasta salad relies on black beans, Greek yogurt and Ancient Harvest Red Lentil & Quinoa Pasta to deliver its massive protein- and fiber-filled punch. The addition of chipotle pepper and chili powder adds a kick of Southwestern spice and will send your metabolism soaring.

When pasta cools, the drop in temperature changes the chemical structure of wheat flour’s starches into something called “resistant starch,” according to Indian researchers. Consuming resistant starches can promote feelings of fullness and weight loss, according to researchers.

Asparagus and Arugula Pasta Salad. Packed with peppery arugula, creamy feta and crunchy asparagus, a potassium-rich veggie that helps the body flush out bloat, this tasty salad is a nutritional winner that can help give you that flat-belly look you crave. Get the recipe from Gimme Some Oven.

Kale Caesar Pasta Salad. If you’re a fan of the classic salad for which this recipe is named, you’re sure to love this savory, flavor-packed dish. The best part—besides the taste—is that it’s packed with vital nutrients.

With just five ingredients and a mere 260 calories per serving, this recipe makes it beyond easy to whip up a healthy flat-belly dish. If you can’t get your hands on a jar of Oliviers and Co. Basilic—the pesto-esque sauce the recipe calls for—simply sub in traditional pesto and ease up on the parm.

Just one serving provides 70 percent of the day’s vitamin A and 15 percent of the day’s calcium, a bone-building electrolyte that promotes satiety. Sounds like a great excuse to dig in!

But saying that pasta is a contributor to America’s collective weight gain is an oversimplified statement—and not totally accurate. It’s the type of pasta we’re eating, and how we’re preparing it, that’s adding inches to our waistline. Ditching refined noodles and heavy sauces can slim down pasta dishes—that’s obvious.

What is eggplant pasta?

Fight cancer and slim down with this delicious eggplant-based pasta dish. The purple veggie contains chlorogenic acid, a powerful antioxidant that scavenges disease-causing free radicals. Here, eggplant is paired with fiber-rich whole-wheat orzo pasta, crumbled feta, appetite suppressing pine nuts and fresh herbs, making it the perfect addition to any meal.

Blame the saturated fat and sodium of heavy cream, milk and cheese — alfredo sauce has a reputation for being the opposite of low-fat. But all it takes is a few substitutions, 20 minutes of your time and less than 10 ingredients, and you’ve made a flavorful sauce so creamy, you’ll think you’re sinning.

Opting for spaghetti over lasagna noodles adds more texture and leaves more room for nutrient-rich veggies and 29 grams of protein. When it comes to weight loss, fat burning, and fitness fuel, few foods are more powerful than Greek yogurt.

The truth is, pasta alone doesn’t make you fat. If you’ve ever been to Italy, you may have marveled at how Italians maintain their slim figures when they consume carb-laden dishes on a daily basis. Here’s the deal: They use simple, wholesome, and fresh ingredients—and they keep things small.