Glycemic Index - the next diet fad?!

[Sair33]

Glycemic Index (G.I)
- the next "diet fad" that (allegedly) supermarkets are beginning to put onto their labels....

Basically, it ranks foods on the effect that they have on your blood sugar level.

- HIGH G.I increases blood sugar fast.
In theory, these foods cause large amounts of insulin to be secreted, leave you feeling hungry, make you then eat more at your next meal, or be more likely to "snack" between meals, therefore make it more difficult to lose fat.

- LOW G.I increases blood sugar slowly.
Therefore, exactly opposite to the High GI foods, low GI foods are recommended for weight loss.

BUT.....(this is where it starts to get confusing....) ...in contradiction to what we have all been led to believe, foods such as ice cream, peanuts and avocado (i.e. high in fat) have a LOW G.I.
Watermelon, bananas and baked potatoes have a HIGH G.I

At present, the message appears to be that all carbohydrates with a high glycemic index are "bad" and those with a low glycemic index are "good".



If you have time to read it.... more info below:

"The Glycemic Index of food is a ranking of individual foods based on the effect they have on blood glucose (blood sugar) levels. The glycemic index refers to the change in blood sugar that occurs after you eat a food high in carbohydrate. At the low end of the Glycemic Index are carbohydrate foods that break down slowly, resulting in a slower increase in blood sugar levels, and at the other end of the scale are foods that release glucose into the blood stream quickly.

Glycemic Index values are based around glucose, which is given an arbitrary value of 100. All other carbohydrates are give a number relative to that, faster carbohydrates are given numbers higher than 100 and slower carbs are given numbers lower than 100.

Glycemic Index is really useful for controlling the blood sugar for diabetics, but can also be useful for those looking to reduce their weight. Low GI means lower glucose levels so a low GI diet can help lose weight and lower the level of blood lipids. Avoiding high GI foods is ideal for weight loss, so planning a diet around low GI foods is recommended. High GI foods can be a real help to recover lost carbohydrate stores following exercise.

Most carbohydrates come from plant-based foods. Dairy products are one of the few foods from animals with a relatively large amount of carbohydrate. Your body converts all carbohydrates (except fibre) into blood sugar. You might see blood sugar called glucose or blood glucose.

There are two types of carbohydrates. They're known as simple and complex carbohydrates. Glucose and fructose from fruits and some vegetables, lactose from milk, and sucrose from cane or beet sugar are a few examples of simple carbohydrates.

When you see sugar listed on the nutrition label of a food item, it's referring to these simple carbohydrates. A lot of the simple carbohydrate in your diet comes from sugar added to processed foods like cookies and soft drinks.

Complex carbohydrates are chains of sugars. They consist primarily of starches. Foods rich in complex carbohydrate include grains and grain-based products (such as bread and pasta), beans, and potatoes.

This is where the glycemic index comes in.

It ranks different types of carbohydrate according to their effect on blood sugar levels. The higher the number, the greater the food’s effect on blood sugar.

A food with a glycemic index of 100, for example, will raise blood sugar levels more quickly than a food with a glycemic index of 50. Foods with a high glycemic index lead to a bigger change in blood sugar levels over a 2-3 hour period than foods with a low glycemic index.

You might think that simple carbohydrates (such as table sugar) would cause the greatest rise in blood glucose.

However, foods like watermelon, bananas, instant rice, baked potatoes, pretzels, crackers and most breakfast cereals actually have a high glycemic index. So-called "fattening foods," such as avocados, peanuts and ice cream, have a low glycemic index."

[Rave]

Glycemic Index is really useful for controlling the blood sugar for diabetics, but can also be useful for those looking to reduce their weight. Low GI means lower glucose levels so a low GI diet can help lose weight and lower the level of blood lipids.

Um, hang on, so eating fatty foods with a low GI is going to reduce the amount of lipids (I.E. fats) in your blood? Sounds very unlikely to me, frankly.

The only way that eating Low GI foods will help you lose weight is if you have no willpower. If you eat a largish portion of high GI foods you'll get a 'spike' in blood sugar levels, which in turn causes a lot of insulin to be released. This insulin stimulates your liver to convert all the glucose into fat (or whatever that other stuff is that stores carbs in the liver itself). So, a little while after eating the food you actually end up with low blood sugar levels, which in turn makes you feel hungry, and so you eat more which results in weight gain.

If you simply decide to eat a reasonable number of calories a day and stick to it rather than just eating when you're hungry, the GI of the foods you're eating doesn't make the slightest bit of difference. That's pretty much the long and the short of it. However, the diet and food industries are always looking for new ways to con people so look forward to books running into hundreds of pages on the subject and food with a low GI being sold for twice as much as before.

Rich :¬)

[funnelhead]

Um, hang on, so eating fatty foods with a low GI is going to reduce the amount of lipids (I.E. fats) in your blood? Sounds very unlikely to me, frankly.

I think they mean as a result of getting thinner ....

anyway i think this is a good thing as long as it becomes standard labelling rather than a premium thing. The great unwashed could do with realising that too much refined sugar is as BAD thing a thing as too much fat.

. I've been shifting my kitchen over to complex carbs for the last couple of weeks just to see what effect it had

wholewheat pasta, granary bread, brown rice, decent cereals no coke or potatoes

and i have to say it's brought my usually snacktastic appetite under control. I used to get hungry within an hour or two after a meal and (lacking willpower) usually had an extra nibble of the leftovers, even though i knew twas wrong. Now after a meal i feel full all the way to the next one....

for me it's less about dieting and more about just avoiding the distraction of being constantly hungry. and it's worked. Now if i lose a waist size that will be the icing on the wholewheat cake

[Rave]

I think they mean as a result of getting thinner ....

Ah sorry, didn't occur to me that they might just be stating the bloody obvious

Rich :¬)

[TiG]

To say i hate these things is beside the point. Things in moderation with a decent amount of exercise is the best way forward imo.

But then i can't talk as i don't like eating green things heh.

TiG

[Auran]

Unfortunately this seems to be yet another case of the retailers spotting apotential fad, oversimplifying it to the point of uselessness, just to get us to buy more of certain types of products.

The glycemic diet was originally developed by a french nutritional expert, to help people (clients) who whilst not diabetic, struggled to maintain energy levels throughout the day. Due to an inefficient regulation of sugar metabolism system.

The diet does not tell you to cut anything out, in fact it expressly tells you to maintain a balanced diet. However, what it does detail is when to eat certain types of foods, to maintain your energy levels. The positive knockon effect being weightloss due to more efficient usage of calorific intake.

[Seraphina]

While it's counter-intuitive, the most effective diet for a diabetic (Type 1 or 2) is low fat. If you control the fat down to low-ish levels (say <60g per day) you'll find that the blood glucose follows, and so does excess weight....indeed, you can eat almost as much sugar as you want, or protein, or carbs. What happens is that without the fat you don't fancy all the sugar and stuff. It does work.....and is heart-healthy, too.

[Englander]

convert all the glucose into fat (or whatever that other stuff is that stores carbs in the liver itself).

Side note: it's called glycogen, just a big chain of glucose.

Anyway, I noticed "GI" on my peanuts today and hadn't got a clue what it meant. Now I know it's another rather useless diet related thing that won't effect me or my eating habits in the slightest.

[Lucio]

It's all just guesswork supported by research paid to achieve the correct results. For example, I know someone who was on a drugs trial testing a new type of insulin replacement drug for it's weight loss benefit. At the end of it, it was revealed the research was paid for because the drugs company wanted a new market for a poorly selling product (as it wasn't that great at helping stabilise blood sugar levels as current products).