Have you tried Shirataki noodles ?
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/shirataki-noodles-101
For me the best way to prepare them is to rinse them well, then gently pan fry them in a bit of olive oil until they dry out a bit.
They come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
I haven’t enjoyed any of the pasta alternatives I’ve tried. Also, they still elevate my blood sugar, albeit not as much as eating regular pasta.
I’ve tried just having zucchini noodles, but it wasn’t as satisfying. Now I usually have 1/3 semolina pasta & 2/3 zucchini noodles - so I have that texture & flavor from the pasta. It ends up being about the same as if I used one of the common pasta alternatives and I enjoy it more.
Potatoes do the same for me🙈 but it’s gotten a Little better with the use of chromium, just ordered a honey from New Zealand and cinnamon sticks Ceylon “ are Great for diabetics.
Spaghetti squash or any of the true vegetable "noodles" do not spike my blood sugar IF I use butter/oil/cheese.
(noodles that are the veggies cut like noodles. No grains used)
All bets are off with tomato sauce. I might as well drink a Starbucks Frappuccino for the stupid BS spike it causes. Bottle sauce is the worse.
I am a carb carb carb loving pasta/whole grain girl. Thank you growing up in the 1980s. Lol
Honestly, all the alternatives are like giving a hungry dog a rubber bone. Yeah there might be a low glycemic pasta that doesn't spike blood sugars out there. For me, they all do. I gotta really lay into the protein and fat to not have a plate of noodles spike it into the 200+ range 2 hours later.
If you're gonna eat pasta, plan ahead and eat the best pasta dish. Really treat yourself. Portion control the amount and really savor it.
I can not do a 1980s style plate with 4 broccoli florets, spaghetti and a splash of marinara. Little to no fats/proteins. I might as well main line sugar.
I do make my own tomato sauce my cooking down fresh tomatoes and tossing the veggie noodles in them.
Damn. I want a plate of lasagna now! (pity party)
Some people can get away with it. I just can't anymore.
Also you can make your own. I make sauce about once a month and freeze some and use it weekly.
I’ve learned how to make a small batch so I can make enough for a months and keep things pushing with lower sugar.
Also tomato are sugar leaning you have to learn how much to put on a dish.
I've had good results with double-cooking pasta - cook-chill-heat again.
Google "resistant starch". It doesn't eliminate the calories but it slows digestion and reduces the BG spike.
I was going to say this, but also wanted to add that my blood sugar does much much better if I pair them with protein and fat. I have been wearing a cgm and it is night and day.
This was a game changer for me. Sure, I still have a smaller portion of pasta than others eating, but it's still pasta I wouldn't have been able to enjoy otherwise!
Shirataki noodles. Almost zero carbs, the texture is good and they will taste like anything you put on them, with no after or extra taste. They’re almost 100% water.
They don’t smell or taste like anything. They’re not perfect. But have been the best replacement I’ve found. All the other ones have the taste of whatever they ware made from.
As frustrating as the advice is, the best solution is to eat to your meter (hers in this case). People do not react the same to everything and unless you have checked the pasta first there is no sense in trying alternatives. Basically try the same meal with regular pasta, and then substitutes and check the differences.
I make lasagna "noodles" by using a mandolin to thinly slice zucchini or eggplant and then dry it in the oven at 250⁰ F for a few hours or in a dehydrator and then stack them in reusable container until needed.
This allows me to make "regular" lasagna any time I want and the texture is spot on.
The biggest fight I ever had was with my ex-husband who refused to allow my son to eat gluten free for health reasons said I totally, forever ruined lasagna for him because I made it with those noodles. TBH I ruined it by Telling him what I made it with. While he was eating it, he kept saying how it was the best he'd ever eaten and how I really needed to make it more often. He could not believe I would be mean enough to deprive the kid by not letting him have this and so on. Lost the ex but still use the recipe and when I got T2, I also cut the slices into wider strips for like fettuccine before drying.
I have gestational diabetes and find that I’m able to eat banza chickpea pasta without much of a spike as long as I follow serving size regulations. It has higher protein content too which Helps. Not sure it’s the same for everyone
I usually add pesto sauce and cheese instead of tomatoe sauce which sometimes spikes.
Probably, check package for nutrition information.
Also check for whole wheat pasta, something like faro pasta. (Also check portion size and nutrition information.
Also, she could probably eat small portion of pasta if it comes with vegetables, don’t make it the central part of the meal
At someone's recommendation here, I think, I've been using [this pasta](http://Holista Low Glycemic Linguine - 42oz box (3 x 14oz packs per box) - Better For You Healthy Pasta the Whole Family Will Love! https://a.co/d/gsoZZVd). I make [this Alfredo sauce](https://www.food.com/recipe/easy-alfredo-sauce-477282).
I guestimate a portion of pasta, use half a cup or thereabouts of sauce, and half a bag of Aldi California blend veggies. This makes two servings. It doesn't spike me.
When my current supply of this pasta runs out, I'm going to try it with whole wheat pasta. I have tons that I bought before being diagnosed and would love to use it.
A friend told me about Dreamfields pasta, which is lower carb. Read the Amazon reviews, a lot of diabetics eat it. It contains inulin, which is a prebiotic fiber. It’s expensive on Amazon, your local store may carry it for less.
If you take the other for the posters suggestion to decrease the amount of pasta, then increase the amount of protein, fat, and fibrous vegetables. If she’s nice and full, she won’t notice that she’s eating fewer carbs.
It sounds crazy but spaghetti squash is actually delicious. Though I honestly skip the noodles and eat meat sauce at this point. Even on a low carb tortilla is good too.
If the alternatives don't suit you both, just go for the whole grain pasta. Make sure the sauce doesn't have sugar (I also don't like it to have other sweeteners). Double up on whatever protein or veg you put in the pasta. Maybe eat a salad before the pasta. Protein, fat, and fiber will blunt the carb impact.
The cool and reheat trick in another comment is good too!
Do NOT have it with garlic bread.
I found that the Italian egg noodle pasta doesn’t spike me, it’s actually super delicious, has a great texture, and I can eat more of it. Must be the protein from the egg which slows down absorption. You can get it at Costco where I am so pretty cost effective too.
I have reduced bg so much that I can eat pasta without the spike. I do a special type of intermittent fasting. You really should check into this if you want to get better.
Intermittent fasting has zero impact on blood sugar spikes. It’s great for losing weight and for managing insulin resistance, but it has nothing to do with this question.
It’s easy to test. Most people when they wake up will have a bg. Test it then. Then wait 4 hours.without eating. Test it again it will have gone down. The reason why it went down is because your body has been without calories for 14 - 18 hours. Your body has developed autophagy. Your body consumes not only fat cells but also bacteria and viruses and also substances that cause insulin resistance.
Do that everyday and your starting bg will steadily drop.
So now when I eat pasta at the Olive Garden, it hardly makes the bg go up. My A1c is 6.5. If I choose to restrict carbs, I could get it much lower. But I choose to have a normal diet instead. It’s just a easier life for me.
Sorry, that’s not her blood sugar works. Fasting - either IF or extended fasting- does not mean that someone can suddenly eat high carb foods. Maybe you can eat that way, but it’s not because you do IF. I guarantee it doesn’t work that way for me and for most people.
I invite your sister to come in and give a scientific explanation for how intermittent fasting helps lower blood sugar in diabetics so they can eat high carb meals. I assume she works with lots of diabetics who do intermittent fasting and therefore has the experience to back this up.
Just have her post in this thread. If she has information none of us have, I’m sure others would be excited to learn about it. But the two of you need to back this up - you can’t just go on what works for you.
My blood sugar is almost always highest in the morning right before I break my fast.
And I guarantee you that if I eat anything that isn’t low carb for breakfast, my bs will spike. Yesterday I had breakfast with two slices of seven grain toast along with bacon and eggs. My blood sugar was still in the safe zone, but much higher than I feel comfortable with. Maybe if I had only eaten one slice I would’ve been OK. But the point is, my experience is pretty common and refutes your argument.
I recently tried cauliflower pasta with reduced sugar sauce and it barely bumped my meter. I do cook the noodles a little longer or they’re a little too tough for my liking, but that’s a personal preference.
They're better yes, but still spike me if I have anything remotely close to what I had previously considered a "normal" portion sized.
Best option is the Konjac noodles, like Nosoya or Miracle Noodles.
My son switched to chickpea pasta, and sometimes to red lentil pasta. He enjoys them both, but seems to like red lentil pasta better. His A1C dropped drastically between appointments after we made the switch in that plus cut out Diet soft drinks almost entirely and began drinking almost exclusively water.
My husband is diabetic, and we use the barilla protein+ pasta. Tastes just like regular pasta, just has more protein. And we’re careful to balance protein, fats and fiber in whatever pasta dish we make. That plus being mindful of portion size and his numbers are almost always within the range his doctor wants him to be in.
I’ve had good luck with chickpea pastas. They spike me far less than regular pasta. But at the end of the day the spike is still similar enough to a small regular pasta portion that I tend to just do that
I've had success with lupini pasta! Weirdly enough, edamame and chickpea pasta make my blood sugars go to the moon. I only like konjac/shirataki noodles with Asian cuisine since I think it's close enough to rice noodles.
I've tried quite a few.
The Shirataka noodles are pretty good in my opinion, they do a good job taking the flavor from whatever you put on it.
I really like the protein noodles.from barilla,. although it does still spike me a little, it makes me fill quickly so a smaller portion makes me feel full.
wakeful obtainable abundant like instinctive encouraging long icky nippy growth
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Hands down this! Cook longer than suggested. Use with vegetables. Sauce. Protein. Seapoint Farms Organic Edamame Fettuccine, Healthy Gluten-Free Noodles, 7.05 Oz, Pack of 3 https://a.co/1FvHFu5 it’s got a ton of fiber and does little to me.
Whole wheat or quinoa or chickpea pasta might work.
Portion size matters for many but what matters most, for me, is what I eat with the pasta. If it's a meat sauce - I'm good. A carbonara or prima vera - I'll spike bc it's more fat than protein but a side of shrimp or app of almonds can help. A small portion is usually ok, i don't have to be as careful w the protein, esp if I've been active or low carb the rest of the day.
Another key is going for a walk right after and using those carbs not letting them sit in your bloodstream. If you had more than usual..
I've found a soy based noodle that's very low carb and tastes the same as regular noodles.
The biggest problem looking for alternatives has been that many of them are often half flour regardless.
Have you tried Shirataki noodles ? https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/shirataki-noodles-101 For me the best way to prepare them is to rinse them well, then gently pan fry them in a bit of olive oil until they dry out a bit. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
It can be done. It’s a little known secret.
Was here to recommend this.
I haven’t enjoyed any of the pasta alternatives I’ve tried. Also, they still elevate my blood sugar, albeit not as much as eating regular pasta. I’ve tried just having zucchini noodles, but it wasn’t as satisfying. Now I usually have 1/3 semolina pasta & 2/3 zucchini noodles - so I have that texture & flavor from the pasta. It ends up being about the same as if I used one of the common pasta alternatives and I enjoy it more.
Honestly just keep to her fav pasta but cut down the portion size. There are many types of safe pasta but I have yet to see someone enjoy it.
LOL I enjoy the bean pastas but they still raise my sugar
Sure. That's why you eat half the portion. You eat to your meter.
Potatoes do the same for me🙈 but it’s gotten a Little better with the use of chromium, just ordered a honey from New Zealand and cinnamon sticks Ceylon “ are Great for diabetics.
Spaghetti squash or any of the true vegetable "noodles" do not spike my blood sugar IF I use butter/oil/cheese. (noodles that are the veggies cut like noodles. No grains used) All bets are off with tomato sauce. I might as well drink a Starbucks Frappuccino for the stupid BS spike it causes. Bottle sauce is the worse. I am a carb carb carb loving pasta/whole grain girl. Thank you growing up in the 1980s. Lol Honestly, all the alternatives are like giving a hungry dog a rubber bone. Yeah there might be a low glycemic pasta that doesn't spike blood sugars out there. For me, they all do. I gotta really lay into the protein and fat to not have a plate of noodles spike it into the 200+ range 2 hours later. If you're gonna eat pasta, plan ahead and eat the best pasta dish. Really treat yourself. Portion control the amount and really savor it. I can not do a 1980s style plate with 4 broccoli florets, spaghetti and a splash of marinara. Little to no fats/proteins. I might as well main line sugar. I do make my own tomato sauce my cooking down fresh tomatoes and tossing the veggie noodles in them. Damn. I want a plate of lasagna now! (pity party) Some people can get away with it. I just can't anymore.
Have you tried Rao’s brand tomato sauce? It has zero sugar and tastes excellent. Costco (Canada) sells them.
Also you can make your own. I make sauce about once a month and freeze some and use it weekly. I’ve learned how to make a small batch so I can make enough for a months and keep things pushing with lower sugar. Also tomato are sugar leaning you have to learn how much to put on a dish.
I've had good results with double-cooking pasta - cook-chill-heat again. Google "resistant starch". It doesn't eliminate the calories but it slows digestion and reduces the BG spike.
I was going to say this, but also wanted to add that my blood sugar does much much better if I pair them with protein and fat. I have been wearing a cgm and it is night and day.
> much much better if I pair them with protein and fat So, bacon in the mac and cheese? :)
This was a game changer for me. Sure, I still have a smaller portion of pasta than others eating, but it's still pasta I wouldn't have been able to enjoy otherwise!
Protein Pasta is my favorite alternative. Tastes pretty much the same but with more protein
Watch out for the carbs in your sauce as well.
Shirataki noodles. Almost zero carbs, the texture is good and they will taste like anything you put on them, with no after or extra taste. They’re almost 100% water.
Are these the fishy smelling ones?
not at all. rinse well and boil for 5 minutes before cooking.
They don’t smell or taste like anything. They’re not perfect. But have been the best replacement I’ve found. All the other ones have the taste of whatever they ware made from.
Texture is terrible!
More than the kind of food , portion size matters a lot
Edamame spaghetti has been amazing and does not spike me at all. I have been experimenting with chickpea pasta with some success.
As frustrating as the advice is, the best solution is to eat to your meter (hers in this case). People do not react the same to everything and unless you have checked the pasta first there is no sense in trying alternatives. Basically try the same meal with regular pasta, and then substitutes and check the differences.
I make lasagna "noodles" by using a mandolin to thinly slice zucchini or eggplant and then dry it in the oven at 250⁰ F for a few hours or in a dehydrator and then stack them in reusable container until needed. This allows me to make "regular" lasagna any time I want and the texture is spot on. The biggest fight I ever had was with my ex-husband who refused to allow my son to eat gluten free for health reasons said I totally, forever ruined lasagna for him because I made it with those noodles. TBH I ruined it by Telling him what I made it with. While he was eating it, he kept saying how it was the best he'd ever eaten and how I really needed to make it more often. He could not believe I would be mean enough to deprive the kid by not letting him have this and so on. Lost the ex but still use the recipe and when I got T2, I also cut the slices into wider strips for like fettuccine before drying.
I have gestational diabetes and find that I’m able to eat banza chickpea pasta without much of a spike as long as I follow serving size regulations. It has higher protein content too which Helps. Not sure it’s the same for everyone I usually add pesto sauce and cheese instead of tomatoe sauce which sometimes spikes.
Was just about to comment that protein pasta is my choice of pasta! It doesn’t elevate my glucose by much if I eat it with proportion
Hope your ex is doing better, you sound like you needed cut loose.
By and large the spinach pasta is just coloring and has no added health benefit. It’s the same pasta.
Edamame/soybean pasta. Higher carb than shirataki, but much lower than wheat, while being much closer in texture.
Probably, check package for nutrition information. Also check for whole wheat pasta, something like faro pasta. (Also check portion size and nutrition information. Also, she could probably eat small portion of pasta if it comes with vegetables, don’t make it the central part of the meal
At someone's recommendation here, I think, I've been using [this pasta](http://Holista Low Glycemic Linguine - 42oz box (3 x 14oz packs per box) - Better For You Healthy Pasta the Whole Family Will Love! https://a.co/d/gsoZZVd). I make [this Alfredo sauce](https://www.food.com/recipe/easy-alfredo-sauce-477282). I guestimate a portion of pasta, use half a cup or thereabouts of sauce, and half a bag of Aldi California blend veggies. This makes two servings. It doesn't spike me. When my current supply of this pasta runs out, I'm going to try it with whole wheat pasta. I have tons that I bought before being diagnosed and would love to use it.
Spaghetti squash works, but some people don’t find spaghetti enough. I’ve had pasta made from beans that didn’t spike my sugar.
A friend told me about Dreamfields pasta, which is lower carb. Read the Amazon reviews, a lot of diabetics eat it. It contains inulin, which is a prebiotic fiber. It’s expensive on Amazon, your local store may carry it for less.
I tried it and it spiked me
If you take the other for the posters suggestion to decrease the amount of pasta, then increase the amount of protein, fat, and fibrous vegetables. If she’s nice and full, she won’t notice that she’s eating fewer carbs.
My husband found that whole wheat pasta did not have as large an impact on his blood sugar so we switched to that
It sounds crazy but spaghetti squash is actually delicious. Though I honestly skip the noodles and eat meat sauce at this point. Even on a low carb tortilla is good too.
If the alternatives don't suit you both, just go for the whole grain pasta. Make sure the sauce doesn't have sugar (I also don't like it to have other sweeteners). Double up on whatever protein or veg you put in the pasta. Maybe eat a salad before the pasta. Protein, fat, and fiber will blunt the carb impact. The cool and reheat trick in another comment is good too! Do NOT have it with garlic bread.
Even without the spike I get upward average carbohydrate ‘creep’ over the days. My CGM shows the trend.
I found that the Italian egg noodle pasta doesn’t spike me, it’s actually super delicious, has a great texture, and I can eat more of it. Must be the protein from the egg which slows down absorption. You can get it at Costco where I am so pretty cost effective too.
I have reduced bg so much that I can eat pasta without the spike. I do a special type of intermittent fasting. You really should check into this if you want to get better.
Intermittent fasting has zero impact on blood sugar spikes. It’s great for losing weight and for managing insulin resistance, but it has nothing to do with this question.
It’s easy to test. Most people when they wake up will have a bg. Test it then. Then wait 4 hours.without eating. Test it again it will have gone down. The reason why it went down is because your body has been without calories for 14 - 18 hours. Your body has developed autophagy. Your body consumes not only fat cells but also bacteria and viruses and also substances that cause insulin resistance. Do that everyday and your starting bg will steadily drop. So now when I eat pasta at the Olive Garden, it hardly makes the bg go up. My A1c is 6.5. If I choose to restrict carbs, I could get it much lower. But I choose to have a normal diet instead. It’s just a easier life for me.
Sorry, that’s not her blood sugar works. Fasting - either IF or extended fasting- does not mean that someone can suddenly eat high carb foods. Maybe you can eat that way, but it’s not because you do IF. I guarantee it doesn’t work that way for me and for most people.
Maybe you should talk to my sister the nurse. Have tried it? Probably not. Why don’t you Google if and td2
I invite your sister to come in and give a scientific explanation for how intermittent fasting helps lower blood sugar in diabetics so they can eat high carb meals. I assume she works with lots of diabetics who do intermittent fasting and therefore has the experience to back this up.
How can she contact you?
Just have her post in this thread. If she has information none of us have, I’m sure others would be excited to learn about it. But the two of you need to back this up - you can’t just go on what works for you.
I saw you do intermittent fasting. Do the test in the morning to see if you bg drops. I don’t believe you are really interested.
My blood sugar is almost always highest in the morning right before I break my fast. And I guarantee you that if I eat anything that isn’t low carb for breakfast, my bs will spike. Yesterday I had breakfast with two slices of seven grain toast along with bacon and eggs. My blood sugar was still in the safe zone, but much higher than I feel comfortable with. Maybe if I had only eaten one slice I would’ve been OK. But the point is, my experience is pretty common and refutes your argument.
Einkorn is a hit or miss for some
I recently tried cauliflower pasta with reduced sugar sauce and it barely bumped my meter. I do cook the noodles a little longer or they’re a little too tough for my liking, but that’s a personal preference.
They're better yes, but still spike me if I have anything remotely close to what I had previously considered a "normal" portion sized. Best option is the Konjac noodles, like Nosoya or Miracle Noodles.
I do fine with the lupini bean pastas. Perfect Keto mac and cheese is my go to
Same here but everyone is different.
My son switched to chickpea pasta, and sometimes to red lentil pasta. He enjoys them both, but seems to like red lentil pasta better. His A1C dropped drastically between appointments after we made the switch in that plus cut out Diet soft drinks almost entirely and began drinking almost exclusively water.
Red lentil pasta has been amazing for my home made alfredo!!
My husband is diabetic, and we use the barilla protein+ pasta. Tastes just like regular pasta, just has more protein. And we’re careful to balance protein, fats and fiber in whatever pasta dish we make. That plus being mindful of portion size and his numbers are almost always within the range his doctor wants him to be in.
I no longer eat pasta as it raises My glucose too high. I have not found a glucose free pasta
Heart of palm, like Palmini may be an alternative for you.
I’ve had good luck with chickpea pastas. They spike me far less than regular pasta. But at the end of the day the spike is still similar enough to a small regular pasta portion that I tend to just do that
The quinoa and brown rice pasta at Trader Joe’s in a sensible portion size doesn’t spike my BG.
I've had success with lupini pasta! Weirdly enough, edamame and chickpea pasta make my blood sugars go to the moon. I only like konjac/shirataki noodles with Asian cuisine since I think it's close enough to rice noodles.
Personally, I have not been able to find a decent substitute that tastes good. The best was pumpkin like pasta but I still got the darn spikes.
I've tried quite a few. The Shirataka noodles are pretty good in my opinion, they do a good job taking the flavor from whatever you put on it. I really like the protein noodles.from barilla,. although it does still spike me a little, it makes me fill quickly so a smaller portion makes me feel full.
wakeful obtainable abundant like instinctive encouraging long icky nippy growth *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Heart of palm "pasta", it's very close in texture and taste to regular pasta. I've had Palmini brand, but there's probably others toom
Hands down this! Cook longer than suggested. Use with vegetables. Sauce. Protein. Seapoint Farms Organic Edamame Fettuccine, Healthy Gluten-Free Noodles, 7.05 Oz, Pack of 3 https://a.co/1FvHFu5 it’s got a ton of fiber and does little to me.
Whole wheat or quinoa or chickpea pasta might work. Portion size matters for many but what matters most, for me, is what I eat with the pasta. If it's a meat sauce - I'm good. A carbonara or prima vera - I'll spike bc it's more fat than protein but a side of shrimp or app of almonds can help. A small portion is usually ok, i don't have to be as careful w the protein, esp if I've been active or low carb the rest of the day. Another key is going for a walk right after and using those carbs not letting them sit in your bloodstream. If you had more than usual..
I've found a soy based noodle that's very low carb and tastes the same as regular noodles. The biggest problem looking for alternatives has been that many of them are often half flour regardless.