What is the Glycemic Index and Why Should You Care?
Monday, 27 November 2017
diabetes,
glycemic,
glycemic index,
healthy diet,
healthy lifestyle changes,
healthy living,
healthy snacks,
low-GI,
Weight Loss
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Title : What is the Glycemic Index and Why Should You Care?
link : What is the Glycemic Index and Why Should You Care?
What are the benefits of a low GI diet?
A low GI diet has proven benefits for health. A diet based on low GI foods can be beneficial for weight control, due to delayed hunger and appetite control produced by stabilized blood sugar levels. This means that you eat less overall, contributing to weight loss or control, and are less likely to crave high sugar and calorie foods.
Insulin resistance is also reduced with a low GI diet. When the body is constantly producing insulin to facilitate the uptake of glucose into the cells of the body and reduce the blood glucose levels, eventually the body can become resistant to this insulin. This means that blood sugar levels stay high, which can do damage to blood vessels and organs in the body. This is how type 2 Diabetes usually develops.
The Harvard School of Public Health has performed studies that suggest that the risk of lifestyle diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease are related to the overall GI of a person’s diet, and that a lower GI diet reduces risk of these conditions. The World Health Organisation (WHO), recommends that people living in industrialised countries should follow a low GI diet to reduce risk of these common diseases.
What are some low GI food options?
So we know a low GI diet can have health benefits, but what foods should we actually be eating? Choosing healthy low GI options can be more difficult that it seems. Whilst fresh foods are easy to identify as low or high GI, composite foods made up of multiple ingredients can be more difficult. Unfortunately, foods with a high fat content usually have a low GI. This is because fat slows gastric emptying and therefore increases digestion time. Ice cream and chocolate are both relatively low GI foods, but are obviously not healthy choices and are likely to contribute to weight gain. See also how to read a nutrition label
Combinations of foods in a meal can also affect blood sugar levels. If a high GI and low GI food are eaten together for example, the effect will be a moderate rise in blood sugar levels. An example of this is eating a potato with baked beans, the potato is high GI, but the beans are low, so the effect on blood sugars is moderated.
For optimum results it is best to eat low GI foods the majority of the time, however, if the occasion arises where this is not possible, try to at least combine high GI choices with lower GI options to reduce the effect on your blood sugars. See also: What are the healthiest foods to lose weight
Easy low GI food swaps
Cereals
Swap puffed rice cereals (GI 82), cornflakes (GI 80)and puffed wheat (GI 80) for porridge (GI 58), natural muesli (GI 40) or All-Bran (GI 50)
Bread
Swap white bread (GI 71), baguettes (GI 98) and bagels (GI 72) for wholewheat(GI 49), soya and linseed (GI 36)or sourdough (GI 54).
Swap taco shells (GI 68) for wheat tortilla (GI 30)
Fruit
Swap dates (GI 103) for prunes (GI 30)
Swap watermelon (GI 80) for apples (GI 34)
Easy low GI food swaps
Cereals
Swap puffed rice cereals (GI 82), cornflakes (GI 80)and puffed wheat (GI 80) for porridge (GI 58), natural muesli (GI 40) or All-Bran (GI 50)
Bread
Swap white bread (GI 71), baguettes (GI 98) and bagels (GI 72) for wholewheat(GI 49), soya and linseed (GI 36)or sourdough (GI 54).
Swap taco shells (GI 68) for wheat tortilla (GI 30)
Fruit
Swap dates (GI 103) for prunes (GI 30)
Swap watermelon (GI 80) for apples (GI 34)
Vegetables
Swap potatoes (GI 60) for sweet potatoes (GI 48)
Swap pumpkin (GI 75) for carrots (GI 41)
Most vegetables are quite low in carbohydrates and have a low GI
Snack foods
Swap pretzels (GI 83) for nuts (GI 13-25)
Swap water crackers (GI 78) and rice cakes (GI 87)for oatmeal crackers (GI 55)
Swap maple flavoured syrup (GI 68) for jam (GI 51) or Nutella (GI 33)
Swap scones (GI 92) and donuts (GI 76) for a nut and seed muesli bar (GI 49).
Pasta and rice
Swap short grain rice (GI 83) for long grain (GI 50) or brown rice (GI 50)
Swap rice noodles for wheat pasta (GI 54) or instant noodles (GI 47)Dairy
All dairy products are low GI with the exception of ice cream which is classified as medium (GI 62)
Legumes
All legumes are low GI.
Source
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