Volantino

...pasta is best cooked “al dente”. And not only because it is tastier, but above all because this cooking method makes it possible to slowly digest the starch, helping keep blood sugar low. This is precisely why pasta, as prepared in Italy, is a food considered to have a medium-low glycemic index and, if consumed in the recommended portions, it is also suitable for those who need to keep their glycaemia under control after meals. DID YOU KNOW THAT... Bread, pasta and other dry grains is food that can be stored at room temperature. Obviously this rule does not apply to preparations that require refrigeration, such as fresh pasta. Always remember to read the label of the food you buy to find out how to safely store it and best cook it! But how are grains best combined at the table? We have previously seen that grain-based food, such as bread and pasta, is high in carbohydrates but low in some essential amino acids (in particular, lysine and tryptophan). To improve the nutritional quality of the dishes we cook, it is possible to combine grains with food that is high in these amino acids, such as pulses.3 Italian tradition has often associated grains in the same dish with one or more pulses, such as risi e bisi (rice with peas), pisarei e fasò (gnocchi with beans), pasta e fagioli (pasta with beans) or pasta e ceci (pasta with chickpeas). These are excellent dishes from a nutritional point of view... as well as very tasty! CHALLENGE: Eating bread daily can affect the excessive consumption of salt. SKILL: Bread is one of the foods that most contributes to the intake of salt in the diet because it is consumed often. This is why bread with lower salt content and prepared with ionised salt should be preferred, bearing in mind that even a small reduction in salt content can make a big difference in terms of preventing diseases related to excessive salt consumption. To better deal with the challenges that grains can present, we propose a series of strategies to make the most of their super powers! 3 The explanation of what “pulses” are is inside the second volume “Discover all the secrets of pulses, white meats, fish products and eggs”. You can download it from www.esselunga.it, in the section “Let’s learn to eat well”. THE HAPPY UNIVERSE OF GRAINS LET’S EAT WELL 79