How Low Should A Low GI Diet Go?
'Because a low GI food is defined as 55 or less, people have made the reasonable assumption that a whole diet that averages less than 55 is low enough. In fact the average Australian and American diet already has a GI of 56 to 58 because we all eat low GI fruits and dairy products and of course sugar (GI 60). So to reduce the risk of chronic disease, it is clear that a low GI eating pattern/diet must have a much lower number.
'What we now know from numerous observational cohort studies around the world is that the average GI of the diet of people in the lowest quintile (20% of the population) is about 40-50. Similarly, in a recent meta-analysis of 15 experimental studies investigating the role of low GI diets in managing diabetes, the average GI was 45. Since this average GI has been proven to have significant health benefits in people with existing diabetes and in reducing the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes, and importantly, people can and do achieve it in real life, we believe a GI of 45 or less is a reasonable definition of a low GI diet or meal.
'How do you achieve this? Substitute low for high GI foods in your everyday meals and snacks, especially the breads you choose. Breakfast in particular is your opportunity to go for low GI 'Gold' by selecting a low GI breakfast cereal. Don't assume that adding milk to crispy flakes makes it a low GI meal.' If you don't eat breakfast cereal, make sure you choose a low GI bread for your toast, and of course low GI breads are a must for those sandwiches at lunch.'
10 tips for reducing the GI of your diet
1. Fruit and vegetables play a central role in low GI eating. Aim to eat at least two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables every day, preferably of three or more different colours. Fill half your dinner plate with veggies.
2. If you are a big potato eater, either have one or two Nicola or tiny chat potatoes with a small cob of corn or make a cannellini bean and potato mash replacing half the potato with cannellini beans.
3. Swap your bread. Instead of high GI packaged white and wholemeal breads, choose a really grainy bread, granary bread, stoneground wholemeal bread, sourdough bread, soy and linseed bread, pumpernickel, fruit loaf, low GI white bread (yes there are some) or breads made from chickpea or other legume-based flours.
4. Replace those high GI crunchy breakfast flakes that spike blood glucose and insulin levels with low GI carbs like natural muesli, traditional porridge oats or one of the lower GI processed breakfast cereals.
5. Make your starchy staples the low GI ones. Look for lower GI rices such as basmati, Doongara Clever Rice or Moolgiri medium grain rice and choose less processed foods or low GI wholegrains such as rolled oats or quinoa for porridge or pearl barley, buckwheat, bulgur, whole kernel rye, or whole wheat kernels.
6. Learn to love legumes and eat them often - home cooked or canned. Try adding chickpeas to a stir-fry, red kidney beans to a chilli made with mince, a 4-bean salad with barbecue, lentils in soup and borlotti beans in a casserole.
7. Include at least one low GI carb with every meal. You'll find them in four of the food groups: fruit and vegetables; bread and cereals; legumes including soybeans, chickpeas and lentils; low fat dairy foods and soy alternatives.
8. Choose low GI snacks such as fresh fruit, a dried fruit and nut mix, low fat milk or yoghurt (or soy alternatives), or a sandwich made with a low GI bread.
9. Add a little acid to your meal - vinaigrette with salad, yoghurt with cereal, lemon juice on vegetables, sourdough bread. All these foods contain acids, which slow stomach emptying and lower your blood glucose response to the carbohydrate with which they are eaten.
10. Limit refined flour products whether home baked or from the supermarket such as cookies, cakes, pastries, pies, crumpets, crackers, biscuits, irrespective of their fat and sugar content.
Two extra tips to reduce blood glucose spikes
-- Incorporate a lean protein source with every meal - lean meat, skinless chicken, eggs, fish or seafood, or low fat dairy, legumes or tofu if you are vegetarian.
-- Remember portion caution with carb rich foods such as pasta, noodles and low GI rices. It's all too easy to over-eat them. While they may be low GI choices themselves, eating lots will have a marked effect on your blood glucose. A cup of cooked noodles or al dente pasta with lots of mixed vegetables can turn into 3 cups of a noodle based or pasta meal and fit into any adult's daily diet.
GI News: www.ginews.blogspot.com
For more information
GI Database: www.glycemicindex.com
GI Symbol Program: www.gisymbol.com.au
GI Shopper's Guide: Shopper's Guide to GI Values 2007
University of Sydney GI Group
http://www.glycemicindex.com/group/gi_group.htm
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