rm007's Journal: Carbs, Glycemic Index and Sensible Eating

For those of us who have watched with growing horror as Atkins evangelists have tried to turn us off our pasta (... when they pry the noodles from my cold dead hands...) there was an interesting series of articles in the Globe and Mail last week discussing the glycemic index values of different carbohydrates. G.I.-based menu selection makes use of much of the same understanding of endocrinology and metabolism that Atkins adherents do, but does not assume that all carbohydrates are sugars and other simple carbohydrates,

The first article is entitled Are All Carbs Bad? and gives a good overview, from there you can link to the rest of the series, or you can just skim one of the last ones in the series excerpted below. Or, for more G.I. Data, you can look at the G.I. Table at WWW.GITESTING.COM. More information on G.I. in general is at: WWW.GISYMBOL.COM. Basically, what we all knew about sensible eating turns out to be just that, sensible.

Concerned about carbs? Look Down Under

Australia is the first country in the world to routinely label food products based on their glycemic index.

Helen Goddard was overweight and, when blood tests taken during her annual checkup showed she was developing insulin resistance and was well on her way to diabetes, she got scared. She also decided to start eating healthily.

But, instead of latching on to one of the crop of fad diets such as Atkins , she decided to adopt a low-glycemic diet, eating foods that are digested gradually, releasing glucose slowly and steadily.

"I don't think of it as being on a diet," Ms. Goddard said. "I just look at the food I eat and what the GI effect will be."

Being a resident of Sydney, Australia, that is quite easy because Australia has become the first country in the world to routinely label food products based on their glycemic index. The index is a measure of the speed at which food is digested and converted into glucose, the body's source of energy.

Now when she is shopping, Ms. Goddard simply reaches for the foods labelled "low GI" and avoids those that are high GI.

As a result, she has cut down on white breads and replaced them with whole grains. And she is eating more pasta and rice than she ever has, foods that in many diets are shunned because of their high carbohydrate content.

At a time when cereal and pasta makers are reeling from the impact of carb-shunning diets, and consumers are more confused than ever, Jennie Brand-Miller, a professor of human nutrition at the University of Sydney, believes that labelling foods based on GI content is the perfect compromise.

"Low GI foods are the happy medium. They meet everybody's desire to lower insulin levels -- and that's one of the main reasons the low-carb diets are promoted -- but you can still eat healthy carbs," Dr. Brand-Miller said.

"You can have your cake and eat it too if you use low-GI carbs."

GI labelling began in the summer of 2002, and over the past 18 months, as an ever-growing number of products have begun to carry the circled G symbol, it has become familiar to Australian shoppers. The approach is also actively promoted by Diabetes Australia, which embraced the GI concept after studies showed a low-GI diet worked as effectively as drugs in controlling blood glucose levels

...

Glycemic index

The lower the GI of a food, the better the carbohydrate food is for everyone, especially if it's also low in fat and/or added sugar, high in fibre and low in salt.

High GI value: 70 or more

Medium GI value: 56-69

Low GI value: less than 55

*Having 4-5 small meals a day containing at least one low GI food will allow a slow diffusion of energy through the body, thus eliminating peaks and troughs when blood sugar levels rise and fall.

*What are good carbohydrates to eat? Pasta, beans, lentils, chickpeas, oats, bread with 'bits' and seeds in it (eg. Wholegrain), and whole pieces of fruit all have a low GI. Cooking, mashing or juicing a food will increase the GI.

Cereal............Glycemic index

Waffles (Aunt Jemima, Quaker): 78

Donut (Loblaws): 77

French fries (Cavendish): 76

Wholewheat snack bread (Ryvita): 75

White bagel (Lenders): 74

Commercial white (Dempster's): 72

Light rye (Silverstien's): 69

Super Taco shells (Old El Paso): 69

Macaroni & cheese, boxed (Kraft): 66

PEI, boiled potato (Bulk): 64

Arrowroot (McCormick's): 64

Cheese pizza (Pillsbury): 61

Banana, ripe: 54

Orange (Sunkist): 49

Apple juice (Allens): 42

Dried apricots (Wasco Foods Inc.): 33

Lima beans (York): 33

Pearled barley + tomato: 33

Chickpeas, dried: 31

Spaghetti (protein enriched) + cheese + tomato (Catelli Plus): 27

Red lentils + butter + tomato: 26

FOR MORE GI DATA LOOK AT THE TABLE AT WWW.GITESTING.COM. MORE INFORMATION ON G.I. IN GENERAL IS AT WWW.GISYMBOL.COM

Low Carbs

[elmegil]

Have you actually read Atkins, are are you judging it based on how it's portrayed in the media? I haven't read it either, but I'm on and have read the South Beach Diet, and in coversations with other rational Atkins dieters who've read both, they say that the Atkins book reads a lot more moderately (esp if you apply some common sense to it) than those who spend their time fanning the flames of controversy would have you believe.

For the record, South Beach definitely talks a lot about GI and its key role; t

Re:Low Carbs

[rm007]

No, I haven't read Atkins, but have read a few articles on the underlying endocrinology which I found quite compelling. It has certainly received glowing testimonials from a number of people that I know. My main interest in nutrition is focused on health and wellness rather than weight control so commentaries and analysis area often all that I read. I'm not really all that familiar with the South Beach Diet, but I gather that - at the risk of outrageous oversimplification - is a framework to guide people