Are ramen noodles bad for you?

[Candy_Raver]

I was wondering if eatting Top Ramen noodles say everyday is bad for you?
I read somwhere you get 90% of the daily servings of saturated fat, and you get a heafty does of sodium.

I can't afford more healthy good except ramen noodles, its a stape diet, because its cheap, and I spend most of my money on drugs.

Anyone tried eatting ramen noodles as a staple food for most of their diet for an extended period of time? what was the outcome?

-PLUR

 

[matterofperception]

I've never really eaten ramen all that often but they aren't very high in fat they are high in sodium. I don't think they have much real nutritional value they are just a filler.

 

[AfterGlow]

Just don't use all of the flavor pack to avoid the sodium and fat.

 

[Changed]

the sodium comes from the flavor package. the noodles themselves aren't that bad for you.

you can replace the ramen with couscous, brown rice, or quinoa for not much more money. couscous and quinoa also provide you with essential amino acids, vitamins, carbs, and a very good amount of protein.

not hard to make either. put in a bowl with some water and microwave for a few minutes, cover, let sit, then fluff with a fork and eat. you can throw in other cheap stuff like sriracha hot sauce, any spice, cheap veggies, etc...

 

[aanallein]

definitely not very good for you. wayyy too much sodium and not enough nutrition content (vitamins, minerals, or amino acids).

 

[CHiLD-0F-THE-BEAT]

you can replace the ramen with couscous, brown rice, or quinoa for not much more money. couscous and quinoa also provide you with essential amino acids, vitamins, carbs, and a very good amount of protein.

not hard to make either. put in a bowl with some water and microwave for a few minutes, cover, let sit, then fluff with a fork and eat. you can throw in other cheap stuff like sriracha hot sauce, any spice, cheap veggies, etc...

Totally agreed.

OP you could make up some sushi rice and mix in soy sauce, rice-wine vinegar and some fresh vegetables from your local market - this is cheap as hell and so much more healthy than packet noodles.

 

[aanallein]

on a side note - they are rather delicious once in awhile especially if you add in some veggies and some eggs.

 

[Changed]

on a side note - they are rather delicious once in awhile especially if you add in some veggies and some eggs.

word... I throw the sodium-flavor packet away and cook them in organic vegetable broth. Once they heat up, I mix in some sriracha hot-sauce and eat the shit out of it (usually under the influence of alcohol :D )

Still better for you than the sodium package.

 

[ebola?]

they aren't very high in fat

Sorta... Top Oriental: 14g fat, 7 of it saturated, most saturation resulting from hydrogenation, in 390 calories.

Fat if one scales to 2000 kCal worth of ramen: 71 g, 35.5 of it saturated.

RDA Recommended daily allowance fat: 65 g, 24 g or less of it saturated, none hydrogentated.

So that's kinda bad, but particularly the saturated and trans fat content.
(maybe my info's old, and they switched to tropical oils?)

 

[Changed]

That, or you could even check out some healthier alternatives to the sodium packet, maybe chicken/beef broth cubes or something? I'm not really sure how much sodium is in other broth cubes/powders, but it might be something to look into.

yeah, I meant I throw the sodium packet away and replace with vegetable broth. low sodium and it gives it a lot better flavor.

 

[junctionalfunkie]

Top Ramen makes a lower-sodium version now.

 

[Coolio]

The sodium isn't even the bad part. The bad part is the main ingredient, wheat flour. Ramen noodles are as healthy for you as a heaping bowl of sugar. Which is to say, not at all. Unlike durum wheat pasta which is hard to digest and provides a steady blood glucose level for hours, ramen noodles digest instantly and have a glycemic load that compares to white sugar, white rice, and mashed white potatoes.

 

[C8H10N4O2]

Any heavily processed food is bad for you, and ramen is mainly because it is stripped of fiber and naturally-derived nutrients, and then flavored with fat and salt.

That said, it's cheap, and healthy food is expensive.

I recommend halving the flavor packet use, adding veggies, chicken breast, and egg, and eating small amounts per serving, several times a day if you must (this prevents your blood sugar from spiking as much as having one big bowl).

If you can, I'd recommend wheat pasta (like the above poster) and homemade marinara sauce as an alternative. It's a bit more expensive, but SO much better for you.

 

[rm-rf]

nothing in the universe is bad for you if you are balanced.

everything in the universe is bad for you when taken in an unbalanced manner.

fat is bad for you if you eat too much of it. eating no fat is horrible for you.

sugar is bad for you if all you eat is sugar. not having sugar in your diet is a good way to faint.

carbs are bad for you if you eat pasta 3x a day and live a sedentary lifestyle. carb free diets are just as bad as removing any key source of nutrition from your diet.

ramen noodles are not bad for you by default. ramen noodles are bad for you if your diet is too high in sodium and carbs, and low in fresh fruits and veggies.

ramen noodles are more like a treat or a snack once in a while. they are not a real source for food unless you are starving to death or something.

 

[Coolio]

There's absolutely no use for digestible carbohydrates in omnivores or carnivores diets', rm-rf. Your body can use lipids and protein for glucose metabolism just fine, and prefers it that way.

The entire concept of a 'treat' or 'snack' is fallacious. There's no reason to eat any junk food at all.

 

[Jamshyd]

Those of you who imagine that Ramen is bad for you... I guess that explains the mass-extinction of East Asians, for whom Ramen noodles are a staple, in some cases for all 3 meals of the day, and has been that way for ages. Oh, wait.

 

[fizzle]

Unless you truly live off the stuff, as long as you keep eating it as the staple in your diet you probably just wont feel great, you'll be tired and sluggish during the day due to lack of proper nutrients, and it also might start showing on your body (ie puffiness due to all the salt) but its not going to kill you or anything.... unless you really are living off it alone, in which case you'll probably die of a vitamin deficiency or something. As others have suggested here, just invest a little extra money into some veggies and things to throw in and you should be fine, at least for a while, like as a college diet or something haha

 

[Coolio]

Those of you who imagine that Ramen is bad for you... I guess that explains the mass-extinction of East Asians, for whom Ramen noodles are a staple, in some cases for all 3 meals of the day, and has been that way for ages. Oh, wait.

Eating food that's bad for you doesn't lead to death and extinction. It leads to diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, arthritis, etc.

From a scientific standpoint, there's absolutely NO benefit to eating things with a high glycemic load like ramen noodles. Just because people SURVIVE eating this stuff, and have for thousands of years, doesn't mean it's GOOD for them. It's just not acutely dangerous.

Anything that's not 100% good for you is bad for you cause you SHOULD have eaten what's 100% good for you.

That's why in that other thread I'm arguing that fruit juice is so bad. Yes, it's better than soda. But that doesn't mean anything at all. It's still WORSE THAN WHOLE FRUITS. To process it into juice, or to pay to have that done, brings no health benefits to anyone.

Eating ramen noodles as a staple is done out of desperation because they can't afford to eat just meat, fresh vegetables and fruits as staples. They have to eat cheap crap like rice and noodles, just like Westerners ate shit food like bread. It's not good for anyone. These are HUGE MISTAKES humans have been making for a long time.

 

[michael]

i noticed a while ago while reading the nutritional information on a pack of ramen noodles that it's supposed to be two servings. who eats half a package of ramen?

 

[Changed]

Those of you who imagine that Ramen is bad for you... I guess that explains the mass-extinction of East Asians, for whom Ramen noodles are a staple, in some cases for all 3 meals of the day, and has been that way for ages. Oh, wait.

Do you know for sure that Asians eat the packaged shit ramen that we eat here? I'm thinking they eat unrefined, wheat based noodles.