In Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution there is a pull-out carbohydrate gram counter. He lists pasta, not under "Examples of high carbohydrate fattening foods" but under "Grains, Bread and Pasta." How does this category even merit a place in his book? He says that 1/2 c. of cooked pasta has 19.8 grams carbs. This implies that it would be OK as long as the other carbs for the day are low enough. It also implies that it is a food. I acknowledge that it's treated as a food, but I am asking why.

On my pasta label, a serving is 85 grams, which is 63 grams carbs. Perhaps an Olympic swimmer could eat that and not get obese. That's 3 times the 19.8 grams in 1/2 c. according to Atkins. I doubt my spaghetti serving is meant to be 3 x 1/2 or 1 1/2 cups. Or is it?

Anyway, my point is that I was shocked when I found this out and I asked myself why anyone eats this. It's paste made from flour and water, sometimes with eggs. Why do we eat disgusting paste? Because our parents told us it was food and their parents told them it was food? Why is it considered a food?

For a real shock, type in "spaghetti is unhealthy" or anything like that and you get tons of articles saying how healthy spaghetti (pasta) is. How it's good for you. How you need it. How it's not fattening. Where did this propaganda come from? Not one article to answer my question: why do people eat this? We're not ALL THAT POOR that we can't afford food. I've been poor and I know that you can eat real food without buying spaghetti.

And no - I never crave pasta of any kind. But sometimes I make it for my grandchildren (whose parents have trained them to like it). I know there are tons of unhealthy foods that people eat, but at least some of them you can understand. Noodles, spaghetti, pasta are all the same disgusting dried paste, reconstituted by boiling. It's the sauce that makes it edible. And in those articles about how healthy pasta is, they all say it is the sauce or butter that make it unhealthy - that pasta is good for you. Really?? Really??

Please, anyone who ever didn't gain weight eating any sort of pasta, I'd like your opinion. Was it worth it? Do you think it's healthy? Didn't it just handicap your weight loss? Was it so delicious that you allowed it once in a while? I need to understand this thing.

Logically speaking, bread is just as loaded with carbs as spaghetti. I know that. But at least bread is not reconstituted dried flour and water paste.