Squashing the rumours

Everyone has heard the terrible rumours circulating about carbohydrates.

"I can't eat pasta because I'll gain weight." "Bread is full of empty calories." "Cake is my nemesis, one bite and I can't stop."

Well, my rule is everything is just fine in moderation. I eat it all and enjoy every single bite.

If I don't enjoy something, I just stop eating it. Particularly if it's made of white flour.

...Unless I'm eating at a friend's house, because then I need to clean my plate. Personally, I can't fathom the thought of leaving food to be thrown away by one of my friends, but that's another story...

So taking that into consideration -- if you're at home, why eat something bad for you that you don't really like?

I know that no one wants to hear me preach about the horrors of white flour, white rice, sugar drinks, and other treats, but I'll just throw one tiny sentence out there.

The rumours aren't all rumours; only eating bad carbs can contribute to weight gain and other problems.

So to prevent the terrible rumours from coming true, I couple my treat carbs with tons of great carbs and stop eating the treat carbs unless they sing to me.

Your body needs good carbs to fuel itself for everything you do throughout the day. And the vitamins, minerals, fibre, and nutrients don't hurt either.

So enjoy whole grains (most of the time), brown rice instead of potatoes (some nights), fruit instead of juice (as often as possible), and eat your musical fruit until your heart is content.

Your body will thank you, even if your dinner date doesn't.

But remember to treat yourself, life's just not fun if you don't. Cake is just cake and bread is just bread. They aren't something to avoid like the plague.

At the very least, they certainly taste and smell a whole lot better.

Here's something for a night when you want to enjoy the taste but your treat quota is out for the week -- my healthy take on spaghetti and meatballs.

This dinner is yummy and might just replace your old plate full of pasta and beef. So there's room for cake on your next plate.

Spaghetti Squash and Turkey Meatballs

1 lb lean ground turkey
1 egg
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

1 medium to large spaghetti squash

1 jar of homemade or purchased pasta sauce

1. Combine egg, ketchup, mustard, breadcrumbs, ginger, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.

2. Add your ground turkey and mix well.

3. Roll into meatballs (I got 20 meatballs) and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

4. While meatballs are cooking, cut spaghetti squash in half and microwave for 20 minutes. Cut in half down the horizontally so you have the stem on one half only. This will give you the longest strands of "spaghetti".

5. Heat your sauce either in the microwave or in a pot on the stove.

6. Scoop squash from the peel and mix with sauce. Top with turkey meatballs and serve.