Vegetarian Zoodles
Here is a delicious low-carb "pasta" recipe making noodles out of zucchini which are often referred to as "zoodles" (zucchini noodles). Zucchini noodles are great if you are trying to eat lower carb for weight loss, insulin regulation, minimizing inflammation, hormone balancing, or just don’t feel good on grains. Curious if you have an immune-mediated food sensitivity to gluten and/or other grains, a naturopathic doctor can help you navigate this and offer testing options.
The Details Behind Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are good and bad. They provide a quicker source of glucose than protein and fat in those situations when we have low blood sugar (hypoglycemic) and feel like we are going to faint. Carbohydrates are found in many foods including fruits and vegetables but we commonly associate 'carbs' with grain products.
Carbohydrates include starch (broken down into glucose), fibre, and sugars (such as glucose, fructose). Fibre is a non-digestible carbohydrate and can be further categorized as soluble and insoluble fibre. Even though it is not digestible, it is important to help slow sugar absorption into the blood and regulate blood sugar. It can also increase satiety after a meal. We need about 25-40g of fibre per day for adults. Non-soluble fibre is found in veggies and known as "roughage". It helps keep your bowels regular. Soluble fibre can help with constipation and diarrhea also but it can also help lower cholesterol levels. Starch is often known as a complex carb because we need to break this down into simple sugars to be absorbed. Foods high in complex carbs (starch/fibre) are better carbs to consume than foods high in sugar with little fibre like cookies, pastries, cakes, candies, and chocolate which just have more simple sugars, lactose, sucrose, or maltose as they get absorbed much quicker into the blood.
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES: non-starchy vegetables have less carbs and fruits will have simple sugars (fructose) but it is better then consuming refined grains or sugary treats because there’s also fibre and vitamins/minerals in fruit. Starchy vegetables will have more sugar and carbs like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and certain squashes but there are also lots of nutrients and fibre in this. Starchy veggies and high sugar fruits are still restricted on paleo and keto diets.
GRAINS: whole-grains and ancient grains like quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, and millet are better because they tend to have more fibre in them. White rice, white flour and any food products using grains that have been processed or refined where the fibre has been stripped a.k.a “white grains” are carbs that you want to try and consume less frequently.
Health Facts behind Glucose and Fructose:
Diabetes is diagnosed by having high glucose in your blood
Fructose can be worse than glucose especially high-fructose corn syrup because the liver will process fructose leaving glucose to accumulate in the blood contributing to high blood sugar (glucose).
Glucose/sugars are the biggest foodstuff for raising triglyceride levels and fructose/sucrose is more responsible for fatty liver disease than dietary fat…. unless it is unhealthy fats and trans-fats. This is because when your cells are not burning glucose for energy (sedentary lifestyle), the glucose turns into fat in the form of triglycerides. If you consume a lot of sugar, the key is to be VERY physically active so you can burn that sugar and implement measures to regulate your insulin levels.
Without a constant supply of dietary glucose, our bodies can use protein to produce glucose for energy and fats can also be used to produce energy as well. The basis of the ketogenic diet is to restrict carbohydrates and only have some protein and most calories coming from fat in order to get your body to burn fat as fuel. The paleo diet is a low carbohydrate diet focusing more on protein than fat, and also non-starchy/sugary carbs.
Regardless of the diet you are following or just want to eat healthier and feel better when you avoid gluten or grains, this is a hunger-satisfying meal.
VEGETARIAN ZOODLES
Spiralizer
Yes you will need a spiralizer - you can get a big fancy one that sits on the counter or a small hand-held one that is pretty cheap. I got mine from Bed Bath Beyond and is the ‘Oxo’ make. You just stick whatever you want to spiralize into the centre and twist it around so the blades spiralize your veggies or fruits. See Oxo Hand-Held Spiralizer
INGREDIENTS:
1 Red pepper, sliced long into thin strips
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into small, thin sticks
3/4 cup Broccoli florets
1 large Zucchini, spiralized
Approx. 3 tbsp Water
1/2 cup of your favourite pasta sauce
1/2 block of Non-GMO Silk (soft) Tofu, sliced into strips (Or sub any meat if you are not vegan/vegetarian)
METHOD:
Cut the broccoli so you have about 3/4 cup or as much as you would like and steam broccoli until tender.
Add the water to a frying pan and heat on medium until warm.
Add the carrots and red peppers to the pan and cover the pan. Lower the heat a little and cook for 4-5 minutes or until veggies are tender. You may need to add more water if the vegetables are sticking.
Add steamed broccoli and spiralized zucchini noodles to the pan and cook on low-medium heat, uncovered until the noodles are half-cooked (tender / translucent).
Add the pasta sauce and mix everything together. You may want to use tongs for this to toss the zucchini around.
Add the tofu and let cook until tofu is cooked and warm throughout, about 5 minutes. Feel free to add more pasta sauce if you want a saucier pasta.
ENJOY GUILT-FREE!
Nutrition Facts:
Serving size for a 2 cup portion: Energy: 231kcal / Protein 14.6g / Fat 7.5g / Total carbs 29.5g / Fibre 7g (nutrition info from cronometer)
