Who Said Carbs Are Bad for You?
posted in Nutrition and Weight Loss |Who Said Carbs Are Bad for You?
They won’t be if you pay attention to the Glycemic Index. Carbohydrates are not bad for you — in fact, your body needs them in order to function the way it should. The important thing to note here is that all carbohydrates are not the same. Anyone with a tendency toward diabetes — or for that matter — anyone who is trying to live a healthier lifestyle — should pay close attention to which carbs they choose to eat.
One of the best tools to use to ensure you’re getting healthy carbohydrates, is the Glycemic Index. The Glycemic Index (I’m going to call it the GI from now on to save on some typing — something I’ve never learned to do properly) ranks carbohydrate-rich foods according to how much those foods will raise your blood sugar levels in comparison to sugar or white bread.
When you eat a carb-rich food, the glucose (or the sugar) breaks down as you digest it and gives you energy. You body responds to this by raising your blood sugar levels. This will happen at different speeds, depending on which carbs you consume. The measurement of that speed is the glycemic response. That response depends on several factors, such as how much of the carbohydrate you ate and what other foods you may have eaten along with it.
In people who are diabetic, or pre-diabetic, blood sugar is important because the body has to have insulin in order to process carbohydrates. Diabetics and pre-diabetics don’t produce the right amount of insulin to process the carbs so their blood sugar levels go haywire. The higher the GI rating a food has, the faster it will raise your blood sugar levels. Generally, this means that you’re better off eating foods with a lower GI, although some high-GI foods, like white potatoes,, for example, have good nutritional value and are good in a diet in measured amounts.
One of the best resources for checking out GI ratings for different foods is the GI database. There’s a good one at: http://www.glycemicindex.com (there are instructions on how to use the database at the site.)
Foods with a rating of 55 or less are considered low-GI foods; foods in the 56-69 range are considered medium, and 70 and above are high. Here a few examples:
Low GI foods:
• Lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas, and other legumes
• Oatmeal, barley
• Broccoli, cauliflower, and most other vegetables
• Apple, banana, and most other fruits
• 100 per cent stone ground bread
Medium GI foods:
• Basmati and brown rice
• Whole wheat, rye, and pita bread
• New/white potatoes (not Russet)
• Popcorn
High GI foods:
• White bread and white rice
• French fries
• Pretzels
Foods that are all or mostly protein such as cheese, chicken, beef, and so on are not rated on the GI index because they are not significant sources of carbohydrates.
Some of the ways you can lower your GI levels are to begin to avoid sugar wherever you can — by sugar I mean corn syrup, fructose, maltose, and lactose. Get in the habit of reading labels and avoid processed foods that contain these ingredients, especially if those ingredients show up in the first six ingredients listed.
If you choose a high GI food, combine it with a low GI food, for an overall medium GI meal. For example, top a higher-GI cereal like corn flakes cereal with a spoonful of bran or wheat germ and a lower-GI fruit like strawberries.
Eat whole grain, pumpernickel and oat bran bread more often than white bread.
Most fruit and vegetables have a lower-GI rating. Emphasizing these nutritional foods over refined foods like crackers will help balance a meal without other changes.
Go for the salad. Eating potatoes cold, as in potato salad, reduces their GI. Use vinaigrette instead of a creamy salad dressing. It’s lower in fat, plus the acidity of the vinegar slows digestion, lowering the meal’s GI.
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I don’t know if any of you, my fine readers of this blog, have an interest in starting a blog of your own, but if you do, I have something I’d like to pass along to you.
I’ve been reading a new ebook written by Kevin Brown. Now, I know that a lot of people don’t want to start a blog of their own because they think it’s too complicated. Well, after you read this ebook, your fears will be gone for good!
Kevin is something of a WordPress expert and has recently released a new ebook that goes into great detail of how to install and set up WordPress blogs. This blog you’re reading is written using WordPress, and I also use it for my other blog. Kevin’s book, BlogStorm Blueprint, is the most up-to-date book I’ve ever seen about WordPress with screenshots from the very latest version.
I highly recommend it — especially since it’s being sold at a giveaway price of under ten dollars. It’s really a bargain when you realize that you’ll be getting 106 pages of clear, well-written details.
I’ve been using WordPress for a long time and I think I know quite a bit about how to work with it. I can say that after reading Kevin’s book, I discovered that I don’t know everything. Even though some of the information was basic for me, I still learned loads from the book and heartily
recommend it to you.
It’s the BlogStorm Blueprint — and you can get it here:
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Contact me at: http://www.ronrink.com
My email and phone number are at that site. Feel free to contact me. I’m here to help you with your health, nutrition and fitness goals.
Have a healthy and nutritious day!
Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)
Ron
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.theleaderinside.com
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