YUDoDat?

I set out to write a post about the much talked about “glycemic index” and found a bunch scientific jargon. So, I’ve broken it into easily digestable chunks. At the end of the post I’ve included some links to websites so you can read the data for yourself.
What is it?
When you eat carbohydrates they are converted to glucose within your body. Some carbohydrates convert very quickly, thus causing a surge of glucose. Others convert more slowly creating a more steady-state of glucose.

Have you ever had a sugar rush? That’s what we’re talking about.

Yea, So?

Your body performs best when your blood sugar is kept relatively constant. When your blood sugar gets too high your body secrets more insulin in attempt to get the sugar level back in check. However, it does this by converting the excess sugar to fat. And if your blood sugar surged, it’s likely that your body produced an abundance of insulin which brought the blood sugar level too low. When your blood sugar drops too low, you become lethargic and in some cases you’ll experience hunger.

Do you get really sleepy in the afternoon after lunch? That’s the side effect of the rush - after the hill, comes the valley. This is the effect of insulin bringing your blood sugar too low. And what do you do? Reach for the can of caffeinated soda? Some chocolate? Think about that for a moment. Your blood sugar surged, your insulin brought it back down and subsequently too low. You respond by adding more sugar…. causing the insulin to produce again. Do you see the roller coaster ride you’re creating?

Think again. Eat carbohydrates that cause a surge. Your body takes the sugar and stores it as fat. You get lethargic and hungry. You eat MORE. It’s important to see the cycle clearly.

• Eat. Surge. Store Fat. Sink. Hunger. Eat.

That’s the short-term obvious dimension. The long term dimension can lead to those few extra pounds every year that you can’t take off. And in extreme cases, you might trend toward diabetes.

If you want to eat LESS then choose foods that don’t trigger the cycle.

Oh. Now What?

The Glycemic Index was created to measure the rate of this conversion. Carbohydrates causing a surge are rated higher than those that convert slowly. Pure glucose is the reference point, ranked at 100. All other foods fall along the scale from 0-100.

Your goal is to substitute carbs that rank high on the index with those that rank lower. By doing so you can remove the roller-coaster ride and experience a constant flow of energy. You’ll also discover that you don’t need to eat as much. And we all know that consuming less calories contributes to weight loss.

White Rice (64) rates higher than Brown Rice (55). With the wonderful variety of rices available are you still eating that 1 minute instant stuff you had as a child? Well. It’s time to switch to the land of plenty and flavor. There are plenty of other rices that rate lower on the index and thankfully most supermarkets stock them, and some restaurants have brown rice on hand. I’ve even had sushi made with brown rice. Just ask!

Raisins are ranked 64. Oranges are 48. Apples are 38. Grapefruit is 25. Watermelon ranks a whopping 72! Hmm. Raisins might be convenient in those little boxes, but so is an apple. And apples don’t need the excess packaging.. so you can reduce your sugar surge and your carbon footprint with one simple choice!

For all of you raised on meat and potatoes it’s time to rethink all that potato consumption. Baked potatoes rate 85. Stinks doesn’t it? Consider sweet potatoes instead. Canadian sweet potatoes come in at 44-59 depending on how you prepare them. Sorry the database didn’t rate fried sweet potatoes. But have you ever had a sweet potato soup? YUM! But watch out for the New Zealand sweet potato at 77.

Can’t give up bread? Switch to whole grains. Again you’ll discover more flavor than bland old white bread. I personally like the breads with seeds and nuts in them. The more the better. It’s hearty, nutty, flavorful and filling. And the bread doesn’t smoosh into mush under my fingers.

Whole grains can also bring a nuttier flavor to your cooking. I’ve created my own mix of flours at home and have raving fans for my special pizza crust and homemade pasta. If you can’t make it yourself there are plenty of choices in most supermarkets.

Exercise

I believe this is the single most important thing you can do for yourself. Get to know this cycle and prevent it from happening. You don’t have to memorize every food in the GI database or buy every book on the topic. Just pick a couple of the usual suspects and replace them in your diet!

• Pick 1 food that’s high on the glycemic index and replace it with one that comes in lower. The mighty potato, white rice & white bread come to mind.

 

• When you get used to this change, swap out another one.

 

• The next time you have that afternoon low, think back to what you ate for lunch, and see if there’s a link to food that are high on the glycemic index. Then choose something other than that soda or chocolate to get you out of the rut. Reach for the yogurt, cottage cheese or apple!

 

Additional Information

 

• http://www.glycemicindex.com/ == has a database of foods so you can look up your favorites. High on my consumability index, as it isn’t the easiest to navigate or digest.

 

• http://www.nutritiondata.com/glycemic-index.html == This rates low on my consumability index. Which means you can digest it!

 

• http://www.healthchecksystems.com/glycemic.htm - quick scan of High, Medium, Low GI foods.

 

• Google search “glycemic response” or “glycemic index” and see what fun you find.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 2nd, 2006 at 6:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.