Is pasta a bad food? Or is that a bad question? Let me explain, as I often do, with a story.

A friend of mine in the health profession told me a story about a young woman who had come to him for advice on weight loss. She had tried every diet in the book. When my friend asked her what she had eaten yesterday, she told him pasta. Seems she was reading one of the top running magazines and had seen an article about training, and the athlete profiled in it ate pasta all the time. "And he was thin!" the young woman wailed. My friend, a runner, went to his magazine rack and plucked the very same issue that the young woman had referred to and turned to the article in question. He then patiently explained that the athlete was a world-class tri-athlete training for an upcoming event.

See, the question "is pasta a bad food?" is a bad question precisely because it is missing two words that would make it a very good question. Just for fun, stop reading right here and see if you can guess what those two words are.

Ready? Okay, the two words that need to be added to the question "is pasta a bad food?" in order to transform it into a useful inquiry that would yield good information are "for me?"

If you're an Olympic-level athlete with optimal glycogen storage pathways and glucose/insulin response, burning around 5,000-10,000 calories a day and training for a world-class event (like the guy in the article was), well then, pass the Ronzoni and while you're at it, make it a double. And send a shovel with the order, please.