Weight Loss: What is Glycemic Index (GI) ? Weight Loss by Foods with Low GI ? Carbohydrates and Glycemic Index

What is Glycemic Index ?

Glycemic Index a figure representing the relative ability of a carbohydrate food to increase the level of glucose in the blood.

In simple and layman language, Glycemic index is a number. It gives you an idea about how fast your body converts the carbs in a food into glucose. Two foods with the same amount of carbohydrates can have different glycemic index numbers.

Some foods can make your blood sugar shoot up very fast. That's because carbohydrates like refined sugars and bread are easier for your body to change into glucose, the sugar your body uses for energy, than more slowly digested carbs like those in vegetables and whole grains. 

The GI scale goes from 0 to 100. Pure glucose has the highest GI and is given a value of 100.

Eating low GI foods can help you gain tighter control over your blood sugar. Paying attention to the GI of foods can be another tool to help manage diabetes, along with carbohydrate counting. Following a low-GI diet also may help with weight loss.

The smaller the number, the less impact the food has on your blood sugar.

• 55 or less = Low (good)
• 56- 69 = Medium
• 70 or higher = High (bad)

Here is a listing of low, medium, and high glycemic load foods. For good health, choose foods that have a low or medium glycemic load, and limit foods that have a high glycemic load.

Glycemic Index of Certain Foods:

Low GI foods (0 to 55):

·        Bulgar, barley

·        Pasta, parboiled (converted) rice

·        Quinoa

·        High-fiber bran cereal

·        Oatmeal, steel-cut or rolled

·        Carrots, non-starchy vegetables, greens

·        Apples, oranges, grapefruit, and many other fruits

·        Most nuts, legumes, and beans

·        Milk and yogurt

Moderate GI foods (56 to 69):

·        Pita bread, rye bread

·        Couscous

·        Brown rice

·        Raisins

High GI foods (70 and higher):

·        White bread and bagels

·        Most processed cereals and instant oatmeal, including bran flakes

·        Most snack foods

·        Potatoes

·        White rice

·        Honey

·        Watermelon, pineapple

What affects the GI of a food?

As per the American Diabetes Association, Fat and fiber tend to lower the GI of a food. As a general rule, the more cooked or processed a food, the higher the GI; however, this is not always true.

Below are a few specific examples of other factors that can affect the GI of a food:

• Ripeness and storage time — the riper a fruit or vegetable is, the higher the GI
• Processing — juice has a higher GI than whole fruit; mashed potato has a higher GI than a whole baked potato, stone-ground whole-wheat bread has a lower GI than whole wheat bread.
• Cooking method — how long a food is cooked 
• Variety — converted long-grain white rice has a lower GI than brown rice but short-grain white rice has a higher GI than brown rice.
• Fiber content: High-fiber foods don’t contain as much digestible carbohydrate, so it slows the rate of digestion and causes a more gradual and lower rise in blood sugar.
• Fat content and acid content: Meals with fat or acid are converted more slowly into sugar.

BOTTOM LINE:

Healthy carbohydrates are not free foods — all carbohydrates count. For example, oatmeal is a complex, high fiber carbohydrate, but it is still a carbohydrate and will raise blood sugar. Therefore, it's important to portion control.

The amount of carbohydrates you should eat per meal varies from person to person and is determined by a variety of factors such as gender, calorie needs, weight, blood sugar control, and activity level. For most people following a consistent carbohydrate meal plan, they are able to eat about 45-60 grams of carbohydrates per meal and obtain good blood sugar control.

In general, processed foods have a higher GI. For example, fruit juice and instant potatoes have a higher GI than whole fruit and whole baked potato.

Cooking can affect the GI of a food. 

Foods higher in fat or fiber tend to have a lower GI.

Certain foods from the same class of foods can have different GI values. For example, converted long-grain white rice has a lower GI than brown rice. And short-grain white rice has a higher GI than brown rice. 

Likewise, quick oats or grits have high a GI but whole oats and whole-grain breakfast cereals have a lower GI.

Choose a variety of healthy foods keeping in mind the nutritious value of the whole meal as well as the GI of foods.Some high GI foods are high in nutrients. So balance these with lower GI foods.

 source: U.S. National Library of Medicine

                 www.diabetes.org

                 

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Weight Loss: Carbs at night ? Are carbohydrates good or bad to eat at night ? Are carbs at night making you Fat? CARBS BEFORE BAD ?

Carbohydrates are the most important energy source for our body.

 

Carbohydrates are a macro nutrient that, when broken down, turns into sugar (glucose) and is used by the body as energy or fuel.

Carbohydrates come in simple forms such as sugars and in complex forms such as starches and fiber. The body breaks down most sugars and starches into glucose, a simple sugar that the body can use to feed its cells.

Now to understand whether do consume Carbs at night or not , let us first find out what carbohydrate actually does to our body!!!!!

Checkout my post on type of carbohydrates: click here

What Carbohydrates does to our Body?

When people eat a food containing carbohydrates, the digestive system breaks down that food into simple sugar and that is Glucose, which enters the blood.

As blood sugar levels rise, the pancreas produces insulin, a hormone that prompts cells to absorb blood sugar for energy or storage.

As cells absorb blood sugar, levels in the bloodstream begin to fall.

When this happens, the pancreas start making glucagon, a hormone that signals the liver to start releasing stored sugar.

This interplay of insulin and glucagon ensure that cells throughout the body, and especially in the brain, have a steady supply of blood sugar.

Carbohydrates that raise blood sugar quickly are said to be on the glycemic index (GI), while those with a gentler effect on blood sugar levels have a lower GI score.

If you’re eating sugar - the sugar molecules can be digested and absorbed into the blood stream really quickly(being as close to body glucose), which is why they’re the most rapid form of energy, This is also why they are associated with a quick spike in blood sugar - your body absorbs all that glucose at once.) When you eat starch, the process of breaking it down into glucose happens over a longer period of time, because of its complex structure, 

Carbohydrates enter the bloodstream as glucose at different rates.

·        High-GI carbs enter the bloodstream quickly as glucose

·        Low-GI carbs enter slowly, because they take longer to digest and break down.

In the long term, low-GI foods, together with exercise and regular sleep, are better for maintaining health and body weight.

Low GI carbohydrates are linked to: 

·        less weight gain

·        better control of diabetes and blood sugar

·        healthier blood cholesterol levels

·        lower risk of heart disease

·        better appetite control

·        enhance physical endurance.

So when should we eat carbohydrates?

If your diet consists of excessive carb and sugar without any fibre (which gets absorbed faster), there are high chances that your level of blood glucose will shoot up. Therefore, a low-carb diet is the most flexible diet.

If you are undergoing a weight loss then you should definitely include Complex and Fibrous carbohydrates in most of your diet and try to avoid simple carbohydrates.

Complex carbohydrates are always best except, again , after a workout where you could take simple (sugar) carbohydrates to get a insulin spike, but at other times doing this is not very beneficial because insulin is a storage hormone and its going to shut everything into muscle. 

There are many tasty vegetables that can be included on a Low Carb Diet.

In addition to being low in carbs and calories, they may reduce your risk of various diseases and improve your overall health and well-being.

Eating carbs right after a workout can help to repair the micro-damage that you do to your muscles during the workout. This means that your training schedule plays a role in the optimal time to eat carbs. 

Eating carbohydrates at night doesn’t necessarily make you gain weight. It’s eating an excess of carbohydrates, at any time of day, which may lead to weight gain. That is an important point that you need to remember.

It is however advisable to eat more of low GI Foods at night so that, it keeps you full for a long period of time till the morning breakfast.  

If the amount of carbohydrates that you are taking in your dinner, fits to your daily required macros , then you can have it without any guilt. But however if it crosses your macro limits, then it is definitely going to make you fat.

The best time to eat carbs is when it suits you!

If you choose to have carbohydrates like cereal or toast for breakfast. That doesn’t mean you can’t have any more carbs that day! Remember, how you distribute your carb intake should suit you and your lifestyle. Living a healthy lifestyle should be enjoyable and sustainable — not a short-term fad! 

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