Macaroni cheese please!?

[Laura0280x]

So I just made a huge batch of homemade mac and cheese Full fat butter milk flour huge amounts of cheese etc for my partner and the kids. It got me thinking I'd like to make a lighter healthier version, that is hopefully just as tasty and the whole family can enjoy. If anyone has some ideas/ recipes please share it.

 

[alligatorob]

I eat no pasta, but often substitute things like riced cauliflower. I like it, and it has about 25% of the calories of pasta. It looks like and acts a bit like rice. Cutting or eliminating the fat would be a big help too. I find counting the calories in my ingredients helps me make better lower calorie decisions. Good luck with it!

My grandkids love mac and cheese, the higher cal the better. Doesn't seem to hurt them, so they get it when here, I just don't eat any of it.

 

[Laura0280x]

alligatorob Thanks so much for replying, its nice to get things from a different point of view. Riced cauliflower I've tried during my keto days but now I'm trying good old fashioned calorie counting and portion control. I guess if avoiding pasta is working well for you I'd consider avoiding it perhaps just make a vegetable bake with a lower calorie cheese sauce.

 

[Llama]

I've never had mac and cheese but from what I see I'd probably swap out the cheese for low-fat cottage cheese with some sharp "normal" cheese added to keep up the flavor and swap part of the pasta with cauliflower florets. Or, if you don't want to mess with a recipe the rest of the family loves: only have half a portion and supplement with veggies to still be full.

 

[Laura0280x]

LaMaria Great advice I definitely need to consider adding more veg that's probably where I'm going wrong I do feel hungry especially at nights for some reason.

 

[overlandflyer]

the best lesson you can learn from looking into the effect of calories is that despite what is some general misinformation around by major food companies, all calories are not the same. mac and cheese has basically two components.... mac is nearly all carbs (a bit of protein)... cheese is fat and protein.


this is how your body reacts (blood sugar level) to different types of calories over time. when your blood sugar is at a high level, your body produces insulin in order to lower your blood sugar. insulin will start to store excess blood sugar as fat. you only have two states... you are either storing fat (lipogenesis) or you can use fat for energy (aka burning fat or lipolysis). with high insulin levels you will never be able to get to your fat reserves.

i can't offer an alternative, but between the two, i'd keep the cheese & lose the pasta.

be careful with "low fat" anything.
what usually replaces the fat is some form of sugar.

 

[Llama]

be careful with "low fat" anything.
what usually replaces the fat is some form of sugar.

I agree that reading labels is a great habit and I know things are often different in the US but here low-fat dairy literally just has less fat. No-fat is another matter, but low-fat cottage cheese contains no sugar, flavorings, or filler, and is very high in protein. In fact the high-protein puddings that are currently being advertised a lot here are usually just cottage cheese blitzed up with sweeteners and flavorings.

 

[overlandflyer]

simply by the nature of removing the fat solids, non-fat milk is higher in lactose. there is no doubt that the physical properties of calories (the energy they provide) IS all the same. it's just a matter of where you want those calories to come from. fat gets a bad rep from two angles... obviously the name. you eat fat, you're going to get fat, right? ... so sad some people believe that. the other problem? 100 calories of fat = 11grams ... 100 calories of carbs = 25grams. damn... i can eat more than twice as much food in carbs for the same amount of calories....! who wouldn't take that deal.

 

[Llama]

100 g of low-fat cottage cheese has 5 g of carbs. Mixed in with protein and fat, so that graph is irrelevant. If that's enough to throw off your body's control of its blood sugar levels you've got bigger problems than a couple of extra kilos.

 

[overlandflyer]

that graph compares equal amounts of caloric intake for the specific macronutrient. in practice your blood sugar reaction will be a composite of the various calorie types you ingest as in a Keto diet where low carbohydrate levels in general keep that curve from rising to untenable conditions.