This dilemma has faced most of us at some point: you decide that you want to cut down on carbs in an effort to aid your physical fitness, at the same time you just can’t bare the thought of living without pasta, bread, rice and whatever other carbs you adore. And so carb-free meals came along, allowing you to replace your favourite carbs with healthy alternatives.
The guilt of eating a spaghetti bolognese gone, as you tuck into some courgetti, or some other vegetable cut to look like pasta. In fact, when the plate is made up you would probably find it difficult to distinguish between your courgetti and a bowl of spaghetti that has been cooked in pesto. The texture is, while admittedly different, not unpleasant and the flavour isn’t bad either.
There are of course alternatives to the alternatives. If you don’t fancy courgetti then you can always opt for a butternut squash equivalent, or better yet, get yourself a device that turns almost any vegetable into spaghetti-shaped strands; the brilliantly named spiraliser.
If that all seems a bit too difficult to manage, then nature has its own answer: seaweed. It’s something I have spoken about before and just happens to naturally form in a somewhat similar shape to spaghetti itself.
Carb-free alternatives extend beyond spaghetti of course. Naturally as popularity grows in these ingredients, more and more people are finding ingenious ways to incorporate foods that have absolutely zero trace of carbs whatsoever. Cauliflower is another food that is in demand for its versatility. I’ve even seen them being used as a replacement for pizza bases!
In reality, this is nothing new. When it comes to the trends of the culinary arts, vegetables tend to be desired in their natural state. The idea of cutting them in spirals to disguise them or make them look pretty is something more reminiscent of the nineties. And it flies in the face of the trends in fitness too. When it comes to nutrition, the idea of making food more complicated has been thrown out with the fad diet. It is all about getting the best out of food that grows out of the ground, right?
Just because you cut the food up in a different way, that won’t change the nutritional make up of it. So yes, you might think that going to the effort of tricking yourself into thinking you are eating carbs when you aren’t really is more trouble than it is worth but it doesn’t stop you accessing the same nutrients. And it means that you can still enjoy your favourite meals.
Of course, you don’t have to cut out carbs to guarantee success. But if you find that your current nutrition is delivering you more carbs than you need then looking at the vegetable alternatives might be just what you need.
If you’re taking healthy eating more seriously and you want a personalised nutrition plan developed for your specific goals, or if you’re looking for personal trainers in Manchester, get in touch with the team at Ollie Lawrence Personal Trainer today to find out what we can do for you.
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