Quick links:
- Whole wheat pasta vs white pasta
- Pasta for Muscle Growth
- The Health Benefits of Pasta
- Is Pasta the Ultimate Carb Source?
- Additional resources
Besides being an extremely inexpensive and enjoyable food, pasta offers a range of health benefits. It’s a great choice for building muscle and losing weight and can increase energy levels instantly
Plus, you can cook it in large quantities and store it easily for a week’s worth of meals.
There are many forms of pasta: Brown, white, wholegrain, fortified and these days there are even lentil, spinach and black-bean varieties to name a few, all with their own degrees of nutritional value and macronutrient profile.
It’s important to understand how the various varieties of pasta will impact your training and whether the type of pasta you’re eating is best for your desired goal.
Supplement Guides: Protein | Creatine | Pre-Workout | Fat Loss | Natural Testosterone
Whole wheat pasta vs white pasta
The brown vs white pasta debate is always being discussed because both have their own merit.
Firstly, brown or whole-wheat pasta is what’s considered a complex carbohydrate. These types of carbohydrates typically take longer to digest and therefore release energy at a slower rate. This is due to the additional fibre content and other phytonutrients that are found within.
Brown pasta is packed full of nutrients and contains higher amounts of vitamins, minerals and fibre, which is great news from a fat loss and general wellbeing point of view. That being said, it will take longer for the body to convert it into energy which may hinder performance and recovery capacity. Conversely, White pasta is a simple carbohydrate and is formed when whole-wheat pasta goes through processing.
This processing removes a great deal of the micronutrients and fibre making it a more pure form of carbohydrate that your body can quickly digest and convert into energy.
From a nutritional standpoint…
White pasta isn’t the most nutritious, considering its high glycemic index and low fibre & nutrient content.
However, bodybuilders and athletes disregard these negative claims and will regularly consume white pasta as part of their diet plan.
From a sports perspective white pasta offers a great deal. It provides immediate fuel needed for intense workouts and will facilitate muscle recovery to a greater degree than brown pasta.
After all, the goal of bodybuilding is to provide sufficient amounts of macronutrients to fuel extreme training and replenish depleted levels of glycogen stores within the muscles. Making carbohydrates like white pasta extremely useful.
Pasta for Muscle Growth
Pre-workout
If you’re looking to grow muscle and make the most out of your training, eating before a training session is key and will assure that you have sufficient energy to train hard so that you can build muscle.
To optimise your training, try to eat a complete meal containing carbs, protein and fat at least 2-3 hours before your session.
Leaving 2-3 hours between your last meal and your training session is good practice, however depending on the time of day you are training you may not be able to eat enough beforehand.
In that case, you can still eat a decent pre-workout meal. Although, keep in mind that the sooner you eat before training, the smaller and simpler your meal should be.
If you eat 45 minutes to 1 hour before training, then white pasta can be a great source of immediate energy that can be quickly digested and converted into energy to fuel your session.
Just be sure to leave at least 30 minutes to digest your meal before you train, this will help you avoid stomach discomfort.
Post-workout
Not only is pasta a great pre-workout fuel as it is easily converted into energy, but it is an excellent post-workout carbohydrate source that will repair and grow your muscles so that you can pack on some serious size and recovery sufficiently after each workout.
Intense training depletes muscle glycogen, while simultaneously elevating levels of the catabolic stress hormone cortisol. That makes post-workout the optimal time for a fast-digesting meal.
Often you may decide to bring a protein shake to the gym ready for the end of your workout, However, there is a lot to be said from extending this idea to your post-workout meal as well.
Throughout the day it makes complete sense to prioritise slow-digesting carbs and vegetables as they provide a steady supply of energy and essential nutrients.
However, after a workout, your body will recover much faster and begin to drive amino-acids into your muscles if you consume fast-digesting high glycemic carbs, getting you on the road to recovery much faster.
Supplement Guides: Protein | Creatine | Pre-Workout | Fat Loss | Natural Testosterone
The Health Benefits of Pasta
As mentioned above, some varieties of pasta contain higher amounts of vitamins and minerals as well as folic acid which helps the body break down, use and create new protein to build muscle quickly!
Folic acid also stimulates the body to produce red blood cells and create new DNA, for men this can result in better protection from heart disease and other illnesses as well as improve performance in the gym
And for those of you watching your cholesterol levels, pasta is perfect, being extremely low in sodium and fat making a great alternative to higher sodium foods
If that wasn’t enough, whole-wheat and fortified pastas contain iron and B-vitamins which help the body function at an optimal level, making your training sessions and recovery potential much more effective.
So, Is Pasta the Ultimate Carb Source?
Pasta, much like rice, is regarded as one the classic foods for bodybuilding. Cheap and super easy to prepare, it can easily be combined to create a great dish and is an excellent alternative to rice or potatoes
The convenience and great taste are among the many reasons why athletes and bodybuilders love pasta. From the classic chicken and pasta, to the fancier dishes, there are numerous combinations you can try.
On top of that, Pasta fuels your gains. Research shows that carbohydrate-rich foods ranking high on the glycemic index provide a readily available source of carbohydrate for muscle glycogen synthesis which helps replenish muscle and liver glycogen, leading to faster recovery.
For many bodybuilders, Pasta is their primary carb choice; they eat in the morning, pre-workout and post-workout, and even before going to sleep when bulking.
Additional resources
- Whole-grain pasta reduces appetite and meal-induced thermogenesis acutely: a pilot study
- Whole-grains explained (Harvard)
Olly is a CIMSPA accredited personal trainer with a BSc degree in sport management from Solent University. He has over 10 years experience helping clients reach their health & fitness goals.
