What is the LOW GI (Glycemic index) and how to achieve this and a handy food list to use

-

 GI stands for Glicemin Index 

This is used to measure how a specific food intake is going to rise your blood sugar levels

The point is that having a low GI or slow release carbs will help to keep this level low and avoid having peaks with your glucose and therefore the hormones produced by the body during a peak of sugar in your blood


The benefits is not a simple weight loss, this plan has a wide range of positve aspects including:

- Lower the cholseterol levels 

- Reducing the risks of heart diseases

- More energy during the day thanks to the slow release of it 

- Reducing the risk of developing Diabetes, or keep that under control if already diagnosed


Anything that has a GI level can be classified in:

LOW GI - under 55

MEDIUM GI -  56-69

HIGH GI - over 70


I will provide a list of food for each of these levels, to have an idea of what to reduce and what to prefer, for any particular ingredient you can also check this trustable source:


https://glycemicindex.com/





Things to consider:

- Food low in carbs will have a low GI level but it doesn't  necessairly mean that is low in calories or fat

- It means that some food high in fat like chocolate for example, they might have a low GI or some other like watermelon will show a high GI but only if eaten in a very large amount 

- Not all  carbs are the same (sugars, starches and fibers) that's why having a handy table with the GI level already calculated for you is the easiest way to check them before doing groceries

- The way of cooking is another factor to consider, usually cooking for a longer time means that is easier to digest therefore quicker to absorb and increase your GI 



NEAR TO ZERO GI FOOD LIST:

- Fish and seafood

- Any other animal product that hasn't been processed 

- Nuts

- Spices 


LOW GI FOOD LIST:

- Bread: wholegrain or rye 

- Legumes

- Rice: brown or long grain or basmati

- Plant based milk: almond or soya

- Pasta wholemeal 

- Hummus 

- Greens like spinach, kale and beet

- Wholemeal tortilla

- Peanut butter with no added sugar

- Bulgur 


MEDIUM LEVEL GI FOOD LIST:

- Swee potatoes

- Melon

- Butternut


HIGH GI FOOD LIST:

- White bread

- Instant noodles

- Rice: Jasmine and Arborio

- Sweets were you can clearly notice that they are high in sugars on the labels 



In conclusion:

This is helpful to have a quick idea on what to choose but the whole diet shouldn't be focusing ONLY on the GI level and need to have a wider view including calories, fat and protein to have a goof start to make healthier choices 

In the end this is not a full meal plan, it's one more tool on your side to give you more knowledge on what to choose 

The GI is useful but the downside is that is not considering the portion of a determinated ingredient and how a mixture of food can change the GI or slow down the peak 


If you want to be more accurate with the portions and found confusing using just the GI level in that case the GL - Glycemic Load might be more useful 

We are going to discuss this further in the next post 


Here some other useful links suitable to a low GI diet:


https://www.safdietitian.com/2020/06/10-cal-fruit-jelly-one-of-snack-lowest.html


https://www.safdietitian.com/2019/12/quinoa-why-to-introduce-this-as-carb.html


https://www.safdietitian.com/2019/12/cauliflower-rice-updated-and-best-way.html



Source: Lowgihealth.au


Comments

  1. Anonymous24/07/2023, 22:32

    now just need some recipes and weekly planner.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GL - Glycemic Load what is it, how to calculate this for each food and why can be more accurate than the GI - Glycemic Index

-
Image
Similar to the GI we can divide food based on GL that can be: LOW:  under 10 MEDIUM: 11-19 HIGH: over 20   In the previous post we discussed about the GI - Glicemic Index and you might have noticed that sometimes could be confusing and has some flows : - It doesn't consider a portion of that food , so is just giving a generic number to it and sometimes is not that accurate - An example is: watermelon which appears to have a high GI but is actually not becuase it reaches that level only with a very large portion  - GI is a good way to make quick food choices but GL is more accurate and is the next step for a better understanding on what kind of food choices to make - The preparation and other ingredients change the GI for example fibers or a longer cooking method will lower the GI level from the one you will see reported officially There are many tables you can find online basically for any kind of food and here some: http://dietdatabase.com/glycemic-index-and-glycemic-load
Read more

10 cal fruit jelly one of the snack lowest in sugar and calories, also suitable for vegetarian

-
One of the first snack alternative I usually discuss with patients is this one: The low sugar Jelly WHY? Suitable for vegetarian ,  which means is suitable for lot of different dietary choices that could be due to religion or ethic reasons, but I would recommend to always double check the label to confirm this. Flexible to mix with other products like yogurt or even ice cream , to still have something that you like but with a considerable reduced amount of sugars and calories Easy to transport as a snack when you are out to avoid a high in calories snacks from the shop  Doesn't require any preparation at all WHICH ONE TO CHOOSE: There are different brands let's see the differences: Hartley's 10 cal jelly: Calories: between 5 and 10 calories depending on the flavour Sugar: 0.1 gr Fat:  0.1 gr Protein: 0.1 gr Flavours:  - Lime - Mango - Orange - Blueberry - Cranberry - Raspberry - Strawberry - Waterm
Read more