Low Sugar Glycemic Index Choices

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Jan 082012
 

Satisfying Low Sugar Glycemic Index Choices

Preparing for your new low sugar glycemic index diet plan will not be a monumental task, but certainly some effort on your part will be required to adjust. You will have to find not only what appeals to your taste buds, but what also satisfies your appetite. For you to begin choosing all low sugar glycemic index food sources that are bland by taste would be a discouraging way to start any new diet plan. But as you become more familiar with the glycemic index, you will notice from the get go how flexible it is for you to customize your meals. This will include both the tasty and inevitably not so tasty low sugar glycemic index choices. Via the glycemic index, you will be able to satisfy those fussy conditioned taste buds we all have.

Some Low Sugar Glycemic Index Foods – Dairy Milk and Soy Milk

A great source of a low sugar glycemic intake would be milk.

Milk, preferably low fat, is nearly 30 on the glycemic index chart. Milk, a kind of wonder food drink, is very high in nutrients with upwards of 15 essential minerals and vitamins. It is high in calcium, a source of protein with essential amino acids. The next time you pick up a box of cereal, notice on the box where it states the nutritional contents on one side, then directly to the right of that information you will notice an added column of nutritional contents when milk is added. The nutrients (vitamins and minerals) sources skyrocket. Proving how much goodness is in every glass of pure milk.

If you have a problem with milk consumption (lactose intolerance), you can always switch to a nearly as tasty and almost as nutritional alternative, soy milk.

Soy milk is rapidly becoming more popular, and has increasingly been stocked into grocery dairy shelves more and more over the past decade. Even coffeehouses are now beginning to add soy as an additive choice along with non-fat milk. Soy milk, just as regular dairy milk, is a low sugar glycemic index source. For those who have not tried soy milk as of yet, do so the next time you go grocery shopping. Put soy on your list. You will find several flavours to choose from, but it is best to stay with the unsweetened kind. If you really do want that sugary sweet flavour, then try chocolate soy milk. Chocolate mixed with either dairy milk or soy milk is still okay as far as being a decent low sugar glycemic index choice.

Spruce Up Your Plain Yogurt With Natural Sweets

And then there is yogurt. Unsweetened yogurt, preferably low-fat, is quite low on the glycemic index list. It also has its own beneficial nutrients. For those who find plain yogurt hard to eat, try to avoid the fruit bottom or stir kinds. Both are sugar-laced and gelatin packed, which ultimately counteract the nutrients of the yogurt itself. What you could do if you are one of those who does not gravitate to plain yogurt so easily, is just get some fresh berries of any kind and add those natural ‘sweets’ into the mix. That will liven your tastes buds enough to make you want to go back for more. Yogurt is a very slow digesting food source that does not give quick spikes to your blood sugar levels. This is a good thing, and what you want to find in all your low sugar glycemic index choices from now on. The more gradual the carbohydrates in your food sources digest into your body, the better. The quicker the sugar spike you get and subsequent sugar crash, the worse this is for you related to your overall health, and importantly, issues pertaining to weight loss. Remember to stick to the low to moderate range scores.

The Peanuts Gang

Then there are peanuts. Peanuts are a low scoring food on the list. They are actually very low. And it is the fairly high protein in it that slows the peanut down from digesting too quickly into a sugar source. So for you to eat peanuts as a snack or on the go is not going to give you any sugar type of crashes from the carbs in the peanuts themselves. They will give you a turtle pace release of energy, which is a good thing. Peanuts stand at less than twenty on the list. If you can buy your peanuts raw, all the better, but if you do find you like the roasted variety for instance, consume these tasty snack morsels ‘unsalted’.

Tomatoes In Any Form

Tomato lovers rejoice. They fit nicely as a low sugar glycemic index food choice. Feel free to add them to your daily diet – everyday! In whatever form, tomatoes as close to their raw state, provide you with a good source of antioxidants and vitamin C. Due to their plentiful health benefits, tomatoes are increasingly becoming a highly recommended food choice by nutritionists.

Try out a tomato based sandwich or tomato salad recipes more often. And as mentioned in another article written on glycemic index vegetable food sources, treat yourself to some grape or cherry tomatoes and eat them like candies if you wish. Hands down, nutritionally they beat the harmful sugar-laced sweets you may be consuming too often. And also consider tomato soup more often. Sticking with the low in sodium brands, tomato soup still sits low on the glycemic index list as a positive low sugar glycemic index food choice.

You will have plenty of low sugar glycemic index food sources to pick from. Pick out what you like, and if it is low to moderate in range, incorporate them more and more into a well balanced diet. Also, let your common sense prevail once you get the ball rolling and begin implementing low sugar glycemic index sources into your everyday personalized meal planning.

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The Glycemic Index Foods List

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Jan 072012
 

The glycemic index foods list is getting more and more popular to those who are suffering from diabetes, and even to those who are non-diabetics. But the glycemic index foods list can be incorporated to anyone’s health as long as they want to stay healthy. First and foremost, you must understand how the glycemic index foods list works and how it can help you get healthier. This concept was developed for people to better understand how the variety of foods can affect your blood sugar levels. This is very helpful for physicians to come up with a great plan for their patients for them to be able to keep their blood sugar stable as well. On the glycemic index foods list , foods are rated between 0 and 100, where 100 is the value of a pure glucose. Foods which are listed on the higher end of the list are often digested faster and are easily converted into glucose. The main goal here is to avoid foods that may cause your blood sugar to elevate. You should know that when your blood sugar level rises, your body finds the need to clear it out immediately. If this happens, you will then feel hungry and find the need to eat again. Low glycemic foods are often recommended as it can keep your blood sugar at a normal level, especially when eaten with other foods that can slowdown the response of the insulin. This can then make you feel full longer after meals. This means less hunger, less snacking and less craving for foods with high glycemic value. The list is exactly how it sounds. The glycemic index foods list is a list of various foods and how it can affect your blood sugar levels. This includes the glycemic value for bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, fruits, pretzels and all other carbohydrates there is. This content is being adopted by many due to the fact that it is quite easy to understand. Foods are considered high if it has an index value of 70 and above, and these foods should be avoided. If the index value of the food is between 56 and 70, it is considered moderate. Foods which are low in glycemic index are the ones with a value of 55 and below. These are the foods that you should focus on since this can help you maintain a well-balanced blood sugar level. You might wonder why a diet based on the glycemic index foods list is best for you. The simplest reason is due to the fact that it is not meant to be a fad diet. If you are to focus on eating low glycemic foods, then you can maintain your body’s health and you will be less prone to gaining weight, diabetes, insulin resistance and other heart diseases.

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Glycemic Index Diet

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Sep 182011
 

The Glycemic Index is a nutrition concept that can help you sort out the pros and cons of carbohydrates. It is a comparative guide to the rise in insulin levels that occurs after eating carbohydrates.

Low to moderate glycemic index carbs produce a small but steady rise in insulin levels (healthy) as opposed to high glycemic index carbs that produce a large and rapid rise in insulin levels (unhealthy).

The real reason is that the glycemic index of foods is all about carbohydrates. Meats and other proteins are not listed on the index because they raise your blood sugar so slowly that they don’t make a measurable difference to your blood sugar over the first hour or two after eating.

The glycemic index, however, has a number of practical problems. For one, it fails to truly categorize foods according to their impact on glycemic effect because it doesn’t consider the amount of a food that we tend to eat at one time.

A good example of this is a carrot versus a Snickers bar.

Glycemic Load and diet…it almost seems wrong to have those two words in the same sentence. For an increasing number of people, Glycemic Load is becoming associated with good nutrition, fat loss and increased, sustained energy. There are a number of other very positive affects of low Glycemic Load eating habits.

But assigning numbers to different foods based on their glycemic effect just happens to create a scaled list of foods that ends up being a very useful tool for people dealing with obesity and other health issues, as well. That’s because simply maintaining a low-glycemic index diet tends to guide people toward healthier eating and weight loss, even when that is not their specific goal.

With the rise of obesity, diabetes and heart disease, the way your body handles carbohydrates has become an important issue. It seems advantageous for most people to include lower glycemic carbs more often than the higher glycemic ones. The reason for this is that the speed and amount of glucose entering your blood has an effect on insulin levels, and insulin levels have a lot to do with the way you feel and how much fat you store.

The glycemic index of glucose is arbitrarily set at 100. The ratings of other foods are determined as follows. First, researchers calculate a portion size for the food to supply 50 g. of carbohydrates. Next, they give that amount of the food to at least eight to ten people and measure the blood sugar response.

The core difference between them is that the index measures how fast foods are digested by our system and how fast they are converted into glucose or simple sugar, while the load is the measurement how much carbohydrate there is per serving size of food. Though they uniquely differ in function, yet they work together in helping us select healthy portions of food per serving (GL) and by giving us accurate idea how to identify bad carbohydrates from the good ones (GI).

Raw vegetables are considered low glycemic foods and have low a glycemic load because of the fiber present. The cooking and processing of vegetables raise the glycemic number easily and then are considered high glycemic foods. But many vegetables like asparagus, bell peppers, kale, cucumber, tomatoes, fennel, cabbage, cauliflower are not listed as low glycemic foods.

While the GI does have some useful applications, such as the use of high GI foods or drinks for post workout nutrition and the strong emphasis on low GI foods for those with blood sugar regulation problems, there are flaws in strictly using the glycemic index as your only criteria to choose carbs on a weight loss program.

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Glycemic Index (GI)

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Aug 312011
 

Glycemic Index (GI)

The glycemic index (GI) developed in 1981, is a ranking of foods on a scale from 0 to 100 according to how fast a particular food is likely to raise your blood sugar after eating. This is used to help people maintain stable blood sugar levels.

The glycemic index (GI) compares a 50 gram dose of food to 50 grams of pure glucose (GI value for glucose is 100) and measures the speed at which your body digests the food and converts it to glucose, your body’s primary energy source.

High glycemic foods are those which are rapidly digested and absorbed and result in marked fluctuations in blood sugar levels. They are best consumed during and after exercise, since they enter the bloodstream quickly and are readily available for fueling exercising muscles.

Low glycemic foods enter the bloodstream slowly, by virtue of their slow digestion and absorption they are best eaten before exercise. They provide sustained longer-term energy, and help maintain stable blood sugar levels and insulin levels.

The glycemic index (GI) values are useful as guides to food selection, but the glycemic rating is influenced by the amount of food you eat, its fiber content, fat content or amount of added fat, and the way the food is prepared. Foods high in fat or protein don’t cause your blood sugar level to rise much.

A level of blood glucose of 1.0 g per liter of blood is called glycemia. A blood sugar content around 0.5 g per liter of blood is called hypoglycemia and higher than 1.5 g per liter of blood, hyperglycemia.

On an empty stomach, glycemia is low and will rise after eating but will return to normal levels within one hour, when insulin is released from the pancreas and causes glucose penetration within cells.

Foods that have a low glycemic index (GI) will result in a gradual, weak release of glucose in the blood that stabilizes glycemia. In turn, blood sugar will be constantly available to the brain.

Foods that have a high glycemic index (GI) will result in a high level of blood sugar. This creates a high insulin level that will decrease glycemia resulting in the brains constant need for glucose.

Eating select foods that have a low glycemic index (GI) will maintain normal blood sugar and insulin levels all day long.

Eating three meals a day that stabilizes your blood glucose level will feed your brain properly, energize your nerve cells, and allow you to enjoy astounding changes in yourself and your lifestyle!

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High Sugar Glycemic Index Choices

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Aug 192011
 

Pitfalls of High Sugar Glycemic Index Choices

Originally, the glycemic index (GI) was designed with one purpose in mind, to help the diabetic recognize both low and high sugar glycemic index sources of carbohydrate-rich foods much easier. As well, so that both the diabetic and doctor could more easily be on comparable pages when customizing a daily meal plan.

High sugar glycemic index foods will create a fast sharp increase of blood sugar once consumed as it converts into energy for the body. It would not be good for someone to always be eating these quick energy food sugar sources. Many health problems from obesity to type II diabetes to high cholesterol and even heart disease can be connected to people who consistently consume high sugar glycemic index food.

North America has grown to be a sugar craving, sugar addicted society.

This is a poor and dangerous habit for a developed and civilized society to continue on with as if there will be no consequences. But with increasing awareness, it is a habit that can be overcome. Education and public awareness are needed on a continuing basis. Food labels, easily accessible nutritional facts, and public service announcements, as well as positive press coverage to shine a light on this issue, can make a difference for change.

The Added Bonus Discovery

The benefits of the introduction of the glycemic index in 1981, by Dr. David Jenkins (University of Toronto), were mostly for the diabetic to more easily gauge what foods to incorporate into their diets that would cause less of a spike in their blood sugar. This is essential for any diabetic to most accurately regulate their blood glucose levels literally from hour to hour.

Before this time, such a guideline did not exist. The diabetic community took to the index quite rapidly.

Now there was one added bonus discovery in all of this. One recurring factor that subjects in studies were shown to have in common was that they mostly all lost weight. For those who did not lose weight, maintaining their weight was the other common factor. So there became this recognition by the nutritional and medical community and dieters around the globe that the GI was a good guideline to follow for multiple purposes, including weight loss.

It comes down to recognizing that rich in carbohydrate food sources are either beneficial or harmful based on the speed in which they digest and break down into sugar and energy for the body. So the battle for individuals to either favour towards the low versus the high sugar glycemic index food sources goes on. As mentioned above, some cultures are heavily favouring the more dangerously high GI foods. Nevertheless, with the introduction of the index it has made it easier to recognize which way to turn when the choices do come up. This was not always the case being so cut and dry. Ultimately, the responsibility will come with each individual to make the most appropriate choice for themselves; and with some guidance from the GI list in hand, decisions will become easier.

Avoidable High Sugar Glycemic Index Choices

Here are a few pointers related to what high glycemic index foods you want to take out or cut back on within your meals and snacks:

The potato ranks as a high sugar glycemic index choice. A potato in whatever form it is prepared and processed will create a sharp rise in your glucose level during digestion. The potato in instant mashed form is one of the worst culprits for high sugar effects on the body. Yet a potato fried (ala French fries) sit a bit lower in the mid-seventies. But to consider them because they score lower is not such a good choice. You may want to consider having the yam or sweet potato as an alternative (scoring roughly in the fifty range).

One hundred and three as a score would be high for any carb-rich food. But how could any food be over a hundred when the glycemic index is supposedly fixed within the range of 1 – 100? The date in dried form ranks at around 103, which means it is sweeter than the glycemic index standard, glucose. Glucose is one hundred and the reference point by which all the glycemic index scores are compared to, as the glycemic index is a comparative measurement. And now that you are aware of how high a dried date is, it may be best to avoid them as your every day snack source. Try the sweet cherry instead – they sit in the mid-teens by contrast.

Both rice crackers and rice cakes rank as quite high sugar glycemic index carb-rich foods. Also not a great snack choice with both in the middle 80′s within the GI. As an alternative you may consider a sourdough source of bread snack or sugar-free type of oatmeal cookie. Oatmeal is a good low and slow digesting food you really need to consider eating more often. Adding some good natural sweets like peaches and low-fat milk into an oatmeal mix is a bonus.

Decreasing versus Eliminating

After the rather quick learning curve of understanding the glycemic index chart more clearly, you will discover a lot of moderate to high scoring sugar glycemic index foods clutter the list much more than the lower scoring ones. You won’t be required to completely eliminate the highs (good luck to you if you can get that far!), but you will find your portion sizes will decrease tremendously whenever you do choose those high sugar glycemic index food sources. You will begin to see your own sugar eating habits change – sooner rather than later.

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