The Life Ledger

Fitness is a way of life.

photo credit: ptufts

I recently learned and wrote about a study connecting high glycemic index diets to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and gall stones. Since then, I read an article at CalorieLab about the glycemic index and how high or low glycemic diets can affect your health. Particularly interesting is the physiological explanation for why selecting low glycemic index foods is important:

Carbohydrate with a high GI is digested quickly, resulting in a rapid elevation of blood sugar and a swift rise in insulin. Most sweets, but also potatoes, white rice and refined cereals and breads fall into this category.

Foods with a low GI are digested and absorbed more slowly, causing a more gradual rise in blood sugar and preventing rapid spikes in insulin levels. These foods include whole-grain breads, pasta, beans and most fruits and vegetables.

Also of note were studies that revealed overweight/obese or insulin-resistant subjects lost more weight on low glycemic index diets than low fat diets. However, one shouldn’t focus solely on the glycemic index when selecting foods, as many healthy foods (like some whole grains) fall fairly high on the index. As the article says,

A review of how carbohydrate choice and amount affect weight control notes that eating more whole grains is usually linked to healthier weights, whereas eating more refined grains is not. This is significant because whole grain choices, including grains like oatmeal, bulgur and brown rice, are not necessarily low-GI.

In theory, keeping in mind the GI of foods to lower risk of diabetes, overweight, and perhaps even heart disease and cancer makes sense. However, focusing on an exclusively low-GI diet could lead some people to adopt a less healthful eating pattern. This is particularly concerning if people exclude some higher GI, yet healthful foods and include excessive amounts of high-calorie, fatty foods or alcohol just because they are low-GI.

The moral of the story? While the GI may not be the “magic bullet” to weight loss, it should play an important role in selecting the foods you eat. You can find more information about the GI at the official website of the Glycemic Index.

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photo credit: Zesmerelda

An article on the Food Law Prof Blog, something I read nearly daily, pointed me to an interesting article on Medical News Today about a study connecting diets with high glycemic index and diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and gall stones.

The study provides compelling evidence that diets with a high GI or a high GL will increase your risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. It also shows there is good evidence for links between high blood glucose and gall stones and some types of cancer.

‘The GI is a physiologically-based ranking that distinguishes how different carbohydrate foods (sugars and starches) affect your blood glucose levels.’

‘If you eat carbohydrate foods (sugars or starches) that break down quickly during digestion, the blood glucose response is fast and high - in other words, the glucose in the bloodstream increases rapidly. These foods have the highest GI values.’

…If you have constantly high blood glucose and insulin levels due to eating a high GI diet, you may literally “wear out” your pancreas over time and eventually this can lead to pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.’

So what does this mean? Actually, nothing new - it’s long been touted that we should moderate our intake of processed and starchy foods, which commonly factor much higher on the glycemic index. The official website of the Glycemic Index offers these general tips for staying low on the index:

• Use breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran
• Use breads with wholegrains, stone-ground flour, sour dough
• Reduce the amount of potatoes you eat
• Enjoy all other types of fruit and vegetables
• Use Basmati or Doongara rice
• Enjoy pasta, noodles, quinoa
• Eat plenty of salad vegetables with a vinaigrette dressing

The Glycemic Index site also provides a database for researching the glycemic index value for different foods. From personal experience, I can recommend substituting sugar (58 on the GI) or honey (70+ on the GI) with agave (11 on the GI). I’ve written about agave before, and still use it frequently.

Do you factor in your foods’ glycemic index values when choosing meals? What are your best GI tips?