Top five pasta alternatives

Many of us runners naturally gravitate towards the penne dishes and bowls heaped with spaghetti. Hey, pasta is delicious and incredibly simple– it’s hard not to love it! But for runners, too much of pasta can be a bad thing. Luckily you can make some simple swaps with these alternatives. Eat your favourite meals, just ditch the calories. Here are five great pasta alternatives to test in runners’ kitchens.

Spaghetti squash

One cup of spaghetti squash clocks in at around 42 calories, whereas a cup of regular spaghetti is usually about 220 calories. Not only spaghetti squash a ‘nutritional bargain,’ so to speak, it is also a source of fibre and vitamin C.

Zucchini noodles

The trick to mixing up your pasta life may lie in the purchasing of a spiralizer. Get yourself one of these and all of a sudden zucchini, carrots, cucumbers and pretty much any other vegetable you can think of, are suddenly turned into noodles.

Kelp noodles

Another low calorie options, these noodles are traditionally found in Korean cuisine and one cup has about 70 calories. There are two types of kelp noodles, green and clear. The clear noodles don’t have much taste and require a flavourful sauce, while the green ones have a taste reminiscent of seaweed salad.

Eggplant lasagna

It’s not just noodle-shaped pasta that can be swapped for an alternative. Eggplant and zucchini have the right form and texture to sub in for lasagna noodles.