All about GI food (Part 2)

Despite the obvious benefits of low GI foods discussed in part one of this article, the change in eating habits has to a measured one. There are other factors to be kept in mind while dealing with GI levels of various foods.

A look at these examples will make the above statement clear. Carrots almost have as high a GI as sugar. Mashed potatoes have higher GI than table sugar Watermelon has an alarmingly high GI.

Does it mean that Carrots, Watermelons  & Potatoes are high risk food products ? Certainly no! Knowing the GI is only half the story.GI only tells about the effect of carbohydrate on blood sugar. GI does not indicate the amount the carbohydrate. Carrots & watermelons have a extremely low amount of carbs . We get to know the quality of food by measuring  Glycemic Load (GL). Glycemic load tells us, both the quality and the quantity of carbohydrates. Let me illustrate the point with example of apple. An apple has a GI of 40 but since it is low in carbohydrates (only about 15 grams), the GL of apple is considerably low i.e (40/100) X 15 (grams per serving) = leads to a GL count of 6.

Here are three more factors that affect GI levels in food:

• Cooking. (Higher degree of cooking increases the GI count)
• Food processing ( Foods that are highly processed require less digestion & hence have higher GI)
• Amount of soluble fiber ( Soluble fibers delay the enzymatic activity on starch & thus tend to have lower GI)

A second look at the above three points make our healthy food choices simpler. So here are three simple friendly tips for low GL foods based on the 3 points:

1. Avoid processed / convenience food, especially sugar.
2. Eat food high in fiber. Some food items that contain high amounts of soluble fiber are beans, oats & strawberries.
3. Eat lots of raw fruits & vegetable & whole grains

At last, low GL foods seem to make sense to me. These calculations in fact do not contradict older healthy eating theories; on the contrary, it complements them.

Click on the link below to read part 1 of the article:

http://www.friendly-tips.com/2010/01/12/eating-healthy-tip-18/