Some currently popular eating plans like The Perricone Prescription, A Week in the Zone and The Protein Power Life plan recommend low glycemic foods.
The theory is that sugar and high glycemic carbs that rapidly convert to sugar trigger a release of insulin to control the level of sugar in the bloodstream. Excess sugar in the bloodstream is inflammatory and causes a cascade of free radical damage.
To explain how dangerous this is, Dr, Perricone points out that diabetics with poorly controlled blood sugar age one third faster than no diabetics and are prone to kidney failure, blindness, heart attack and stroke.
So insulin comes to the rescue to clear the excess sugar from the bloodstream. And what do you suppose the insulin does with all this sugar? It stores it as fat. And worse yet, until the insulin sweeps up the excess sugar, it runs rampant throughout the body causing glycation and cross-linking of the body's collagen. Nutritionists have recommended that people cut their consumption of sugar for decades. The surprise when one ranks sugars and carbs by their glycemic index is that some foods we normally think of as healthy show up as being bad for you.
The glycemic index is a ranking from 1 to 100, with 100 indicating the increase in blood sugar from eating table sugar (or white bread in one scale). Whichever scale is used, the important thing is a rank ordering of a food's effect on blood sugar.
The low glycemic food diets mentioned above have different cut off points. For example, Dr. Perricone's 28-day program prohibits any foods that score above 50 on the glycemic scale. That leaves out such things as bananas, bagels, carrots, corn, potatoes, rice and watermelon.
You can read more about the glycemic index (GI) and view the whole table http://www.mendosa.com/gi.htm here. This site is authored by David Mendoza, a freelance medical writer and consultant specializing in diabetes. The site is a gold mine of information.
Mr. Mendoza points out that a food's glycemic index tells you how rapidly a particular carb turns into sugar, but not how much of that carbohydrate is in a serving.
The version of glycemic index on his site (courtesy of Professor Jennie-Brand Miller of the University of Sydney) includes a column called glycemic load (GL) as well as a column of serving size in grams.
Looking at this bigger picture, some of the "bad" carbs in low-glycemic food diets turn out to be not so bad. A 120g serving of watermelon has a horrible GI of 74 but a very low GL of 4. A medium banana (129g) has a bad GI of 51 but a medium GL of 13. An 80g serving of carrots has a borderline GI of 47 but a low GL of only 3. A 70g bagel has a high GI (72) as well as a high GL (25). A 150g serving of boiled white rice has a GI of 56 and a GL of 24. A medium baked potato (159g) has a high GI (60) and a marginal GL (18).
If you decide to concentrate on low-glycemic foods, I recommend you focus on a food's glycemic load. Just be careful to adhere to the indicated serving sizes (or adjust the calculation accordingly), GL is a better measure of how much sugar in total is being poured into the bloodstream and the amount of sugar that will be stored as fat.
3 Myths about Low Glycemic Foods and the Glycemic Index
The glycemic index is one of the newer tools used to measure the "healthiness" of a food item. The lower the Glycemic Index score of the food item, the healthier it is supposed to be. However, this is an oversimplification of what a low glycemic food actually is. There are many prevalent myths about the Glycemic Index and Low Glycemic foods that are encouraged by the latest 'fad' of low glycemic foods being the 'in' thing to eat. Here are five of the most common ones:
Myth #1 - The Glycemic Index Measure How Good the Food Is for Your Health:
The glycemic index is not a measure of healthiness in any way, shape or form. What it actually measures is the rate at which the food releases sugar into the system and how quickly it is digested. The faster the food is digested or absorbed, the faster it releases sugar leading to a spike in sugar level in the blood. The foods which cause a spike quickly, is given a higher GI (Glycemic Index) score, and vice versa. As such, high Glycemic foods lead to a sudden feeling of being "full" and hunger returns soon afterwards. On the other hand, low GI foods take longer to digest, giving a much longer feeling of being full. Additionally, for diabetics, it is "safer" to eat low GI foods as the sugar level does not spike rapidly and the body can absorb the food slowly. For example, a food that is generally good for your health may be a high GI food, such as protein shakes. Conclusion: GI rating is just one of the things to keep in mind while organizing your diet. Low glycemic foods are not naturally healthier.
Myth #2 - Glycemic Index is an accurate measurement of the sugar content in a food:
This one comes from the wrong understanding of the Glycemic index itself. Some people assume that foods high in sugar case a high blood sugar level spike, and therefore have a high GI rating. The truth is that a food with lower sugar content might actually lead to a higher spike. You might sprint 300 meters, or jog 300 meters. Conclusion: Two foods with significantly different sugar content may have the same GI score. At the same time, two foods with different GI scores may have the same sugar content. Low glycemic foods simply release the sugar slower, not more or less of it.
Myth #3 - Diabetics Should Buy Low Glycemic Foods without Knowing Anything More:
The truth is that the Glycemic Index scores of various foods are drastically affected by the way the foods are cooked. For example, raw carrots have a much lower glycemic index rating than cooked carrots do. As such, it is actually MORE important to know how to prepare and cook foods properly rather than simply buying low GI foods (unless they are ready to eat). As such, all diabetics and people looking to adopt a low GI diet should equip themselves with the proper knowledge on how to cook foods the right way.
These are just some common misconception that misrepresents what Low Glycemic foods are and how they are applicable for someone's diet.
The theory is that sugar and high glycemic carbs that rapidly convert to sugar trigger a release of insulin to control the level of sugar in the bloodstream. Excess sugar in the bloodstream is inflammatory and causes a cascade of free radical damage.
To explain how dangerous this is, Dr, Perricone points out that diabetics with poorly controlled blood sugar age one third faster than no diabetics and are prone to kidney failure, blindness, heart attack and stroke.
So insulin comes to the rescue to clear the excess sugar from the bloodstream. And what do you suppose the insulin does with all this sugar? It stores it as fat. And worse yet, until the insulin sweeps up the excess sugar, it runs rampant throughout the body causing glycation and cross-linking of the body's collagen. Nutritionists have recommended that people cut their consumption of sugar for decades. The surprise when one ranks sugars and carbs by their glycemic index is that some foods we normally think of as healthy show up as being bad for you.
The glycemic index is a ranking from 1 to 100, with 100 indicating the increase in blood sugar from eating table sugar (or white bread in one scale). Whichever scale is used, the important thing is a rank ordering of a food's effect on blood sugar.
The low glycemic food diets mentioned above have different cut off points. For example, Dr. Perricone's 28-day program prohibits any foods that score above 50 on the glycemic scale. That leaves out such things as bananas, bagels, carrots, corn, potatoes, rice and watermelon.
You can read more about the glycemic index (GI) and view the whole table http://www.mendosa.com/gi.htm here. This site is authored by David Mendoza, a freelance medical writer and consultant specializing in diabetes. The site is a gold mine of information.
Mr. Mendoza points out that a food's glycemic index tells you how rapidly a particular carb turns into sugar, but not how much of that carbohydrate is in a serving.
The version of glycemic index on his site (courtesy of Professor Jennie-Brand Miller of the University of Sydney) includes a column called glycemic load (GL) as well as a column of serving size in grams.
Looking at this bigger picture, some of the "bad" carbs in low-glycemic food diets turn out to be not so bad. A 120g serving of watermelon has a horrible GI of 74 but a very low GL of 4. A medium banana (129g) has a bad GI of 51 but a medium GL of 13. An 80g serving of carrots has a borderline GI of 47 but a low GL of only 3. A 70g bagel has a high GI (72) as well as a high GL (25). A 150g serving of boiled white rice has a GI of 56 and a GL of 24. A medium baked potato (159g) has a high GI (60) and a marginal GL (18).
If you decide to concentrate on low-glycemic foods, I recommend you focus on a food's glycemic load. Just be careful to adhere to the indicated serving sizes (or adjust the calculation accordingly), GL is a better measure of how much sugar in total is being poured into the bloodstream and the amount of sugar that will be stored as fat.
3 Myths about Low Glycemic Foods and the Glycemic Index
The glycemic index is one of the newer tools used to measure the "healthiness" of a food item. The lower the Glycemic Index score of the food item, the healthier it is supposed to be. However, this is an oversimplification of what a low glycemic food actually is. There are many prevalent myths about the Glycemic Index and Low Glycemic foods that are encouraged by the latest 'fad' of low glycemic foods being the 'in' thing to eat. Here are five of the most common ones:
Myth #1 - The Glycemic Index Measure How Good the Food Is for Your Health:
The glycemic index is not a measure of healthiness in any way, shape or form. What it actually measures is the rate at which the food releases sugar into the system and how quickly it is digested. The faster the food is digested or absorbed, the faster it releases sugar leading to a spike in sugar level in the blood. The foods which cause a spike quickly, is given a higher GI (Glycemic Index) score, and vice versa. As such, high Glycemic foods lead to a sudden feeling of being "full" and hunger returns soon afterwards. On the other hand, low GI foods take longer to digest, giving a much longer feeling of being full. Additionally, for diabetics, it is "safer" to eat low GI foods as the sugar level does not spike rapidly and the body can absorb the food slowly. For example, a food that is generally good for your health may be a high GI food, such as protein shakes. Conclusion: GI rating is just one of the things to keep in mind while organizing your diet. Low glycemic foods are not naturally healthier.
Myth #2 - Glycemic Index is an accurate measurement of the sugar content in a food:
This one comes from the wrong understanding of the Glycemic index itself. Some people assume that foods high in sugar case a high blood sugar level spike, and therefore have a high GI rating. The truth is that a food with lower sugar content might actually lead to a higher spike. You might sprint 300 meters, or jog 300 meters. Conclusion: Two foods with significantly different sugar content may have the same GI score. At the same time, two foods with different GI scores may have the same sugar content. Low glycemic foods simply release the sugar slower, not more or less of it.
Myth #3 - Diabetics Should Buy Low Glycemic Foods without Knowing Anything More:
The truth is that the Glycemic Index scores of various foods are drastically affected by the way the foods are cooked. For example, raw carrots have a much lower glycemic index rating than cooked carrots do. As such, it is actually MORE important to know how to prepare and cook foods properly rather than simply buying low GI foods (unless they are ready to eat). As such, all diabetics and people looking to adopt a low GI diet should equip themselves with the proper knowledge on how to cook foods the right way.
These are just some common misconception that misrepresents what Low Glycemic foods are and how they are applicable for someone's diet.
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