Enjoy your meal and sleep well

While it’s true that late risers ‘don’t catch the worm’, a good plate of Sgambaro pasta is guaranteed to keep you happy!

Indeed, pasta can help us have a good night’s sleep, even in spring. Here is how nutritionist and gastroenterologist Luca Piretta, a member of the Executive Board of the Italian Society of Nutritional Sciences (SISA), sums it up: “Eating pasta helps synthesize insulin, which in turn helps absorb tryptophan, the precursor amino acid of serotonin, which controls our mood, and of melatonin, which controls our sleeping rhythms. And a good long night’s sleep is inversely correlated to weight gain, as it reduces the hormones that control our appetite. Moreover, vitamins B, which are found in larger amounts in wholemeal pasta, help our muscles relax – especially vitamin B1, which is essential for the central nervous system, stimulates the production of serotonin.”

The perfect ingredients for a good night’s sleep? 80 grams of pasta ‘al dente’, for a lower glycaemic index and to promote chewing, which, according to professor Piretta, “is the first step of digestion. Breaking down food into smaller pieces means greater exposure to saliva, which is essential for our metabolism, makes it easier to digest.”

It is also important to combine pasta and its sauce correctly. Indeed, the tryptophan in pasta must go with vitamins B, Omega-3s and magnesium. We can refer to Gamberorosso.it: spinach, chard, chicory, black cabbage, beans, dill, peas, seaweed, basil and mushrooms are excellent for magnesium. On the other hand as for Omega-3 essential fatty acids, with anti-inflammatory properties, excellent sources are salmon, mackerel, swordfish, clams, anchovies, seaweed and linseed.

Three final tips: choose long pasta shapes in the evening because they help you feel fuller for longer and add olive oil, better if uncooked, to increase the anti-inflammatory properties of your dish.

The third tip? Obviously only choose top quality pasta made with 100% Italian durum wheat, slowly bronze-drawn and dried at low temperatures for a long period of time. Yes, we’re speaking precisely of our pasta! Good on your palate, good for your mood and good for your health.