Due to my love for pasta, I have collected the following information from the internet to share with all of you. I am sure this information will be quite useful to all of you.

It's our commonest notion of Italian food. And justifiably so, for pasta is at the heart of Italian cooking and eating. And they've been eating the stuff for centuries. One story goes that Marco Polo brought noodles to Italy after his travels to China. But there's also evidence that Italians were familiar with pasta eons before that.

Whatever the historical origin, there's little doubt that Italians are crazy about their pasta and have, over the years, developed an array of sizes and shapes and sauces to go with pasta. While dried pasta, which is easy to store, is now popular, freshly made and artisanal pastas are held in high regard by gourmets. Pasta shapes have interesting names and many sauces have a history to them — all of which makes them much more interesting. Here's a quick guide to knowing your pasta shapes and sizes:

Due to my love for pastas I keep searching the internet to find which are different ways to make healthy pastas. I saw this article from the site http://www.anhourago.us/show.aspx?l=5593147 and wanted to share with you all.

 Want to give your favourite pasta a healthy-twist? Well, then simply supplement it with unripe banana flour, says a new study.

According to the study in the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists, the flour contains antioxidants and fiber, which will make pasta a healthy meal.

Fiber-rich unripe banana flour contains resistant starch, a type of fiber that may aid in managing weight and type 2 diabetes.

"As consumers are unlikely to eat sufficient amounts of vegetables and other fiber-rich foods directly, the supplementation of pasta with unripe banana flour can play an important role in achieving health benefits," says Edith Agama-Acevedo, lead researcher at the Centro de Desarrollo de Productos Bióticos del IPN in Mexico.

There are many other innovative health foods available now in our supermarkets. Here's how you can best use these.

Rice noodles
Why use them: Children will love the change from the usual maida noodles. Plus, rice noodles are gluten-free. Rice is a good source of easily digestible complex carbohydrates and trace minerals. Compared to conventional noodles, these are virtually fat-free.
How to use them: Toss them with loads of veggies (to gain some power-packed anti-oxidants) or add them to your salads. They bring a lot of value to a Chinese-style stir fry. You may try them in Indian preparations such as sevaia, upma and kheer as well.

Rice paper
Why use it: To give a fresher feel to your rolls and make them healthier, besides the above benefits. If you're a samosa-lover, this could be a makeover.
How to use it: Wrap it around veggies, prawns or chicken. The next time you make spring rolls or dimsums, go for rice paper. They go well with soups and salads and one can make modaks too from them. Wrap it around dry fruit such as chopped dates, figs and apricots.

Nutritionists have declared that bread, far from being something to avoid, is actually beneficial for your health.

It comes with vital nutrients, vitamins and minerals, especially if you choose wholegrain varieties with added nuts, seeds or dried fruits.

But even white sliced bread has some nutritional value, as it's a great source of calcium (essential if you've cut out that other modern dietary bogey, dairy).

Meanwhile, a new American diet book, "The Carb Lover's Diet", insists that bread, far from being fattening, actually helps to burn calories, the Daily Mail reports.

It says, wholegrain bread is rich in 'resistant starch', a type of carbohydrate that leaves you feeling fuller for longer because it's hard to digest.

"Studies show that resistant starch can help to curb cravings, control blood sugar levels and boost metabolism," say authors Ellen Kunes and Frances Largeman-Roth.

As it has only 80-100 calories a slice, bread can be a positive aid to weight loss rather than a diet-buster, as long as you don't slather it with prawn mayo.

Today it's common for couples to explore their sexual compatibility before making long-term plans together. But a new study sides with a delayed approach, in which people wait for a deep level of commitment before having sex.

The study involves 2,035 married individuals who participated in a popular online marital assessment called "RELATE." From the assessment's database, researchers selected a sample designed to match the demographics of the married American population. The extensive questionnaire includes the question "When did you become sexual in this relationship?"

A statistical analysis showed the following benefits enjoyed by couples who waited until marriage compared to those who started having sex in the early part of their relationship:

For centuries, the mystery of why women are irate and anxious during 'that time of the month' has flummoxed many but a new study finds the exact reason for this odd behaviour.

Researchers at University of California, Los Angeles, have said that brain cells called GABA receptors are to blame for some women's monthly mood swings, reports New Scientist .

To investigate potential mechanisms behind PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder), Andrea Rapkin used a PET scan, which shows where glucose is being metabolised to identify activity in the brain.

The findings indicated that hormones are not the culprits. Instead, the scans showed that in the late luteal phase women with PMDD had heightened activity in their cerebellum and that the larger the spike in activity, the worse the symptoms.

One of the functions of GABA cells is to limit activity associated with stress and anxiety. Rapkin found that in PMDD, progesterone alters the shape of GABA receptors in the cerebellum, making it harder for GABA to bind to them and damp down anxiety.

A new study has suggested that women who start menstruating earlier than their peers are more likely to give birth to girls.

Misao Fukuda at the M and K Health Institute in Hyogo, Japan, and colleagues, asked over 10,000 mothers the age at which they had begun their period and the sex of their baby, reports New Scientist.

Forty-six per cent of the children born to women who began their periods at age 10 were boys. This figure rose to 50 per cent when the woman began her period at 12, and 53 per cent when the women entered menarche at age 14.

The study adds evidence to a previous research, which demonstrated higher levels of the female sex hormone oestradiol in women who entered menarche before the age of 12.

Fukuda said, "This might lead to spontaneous miscarriage of fertilised male eggs."

The study is published in Human Reproduction .