Hello Everyone! Welcome of Volume 12 of Nutritiongal’s Newsletter! I think it’s safe to say that we are familiar with the terms “low carb” and “high carb”. We see them on food packaging, television commercials and magazine ads, to name a few. But what exactly do the terms “low carb” and “high carb entail? Are we meant to forgo pizza, pasta and pancakes so we can fit in our skinny jeans for eternity? We are supposedly told that bananas have tons of carbs but I don’t remember hearing anyone getting diabetes from eating nature’s candy. (I eat one every day!) When it comes to eating smart why does everything have to be complicated?
Forget the carbs and lets get down to the science of it. The concepts behind your food that determine how satisfied and nourished you can be after a meal are both the glycemic load and glycemic index. Glycemic index measures the breakdown of food into sugar. The higher the glycemic index, the more sugar the food contains and, thus, the more sugar is broken down into your bloodstream. Foods with a high glycemic index are theoretically broken down faster than foods with a lower glycemic index. The glycemic index, however, can be misleading. When you compare the glycemic index of a sweet potato to a refined hamburger bun on the chart from the link below they are very similar. However the sweet potato contains more fiber and vitamins and thus its glycemic load is much lower. Sweet potatoes are broken down much slower in the body, having a negligible effect on your blood sugar unlike a hamburger bun that can induce a sugar slump. This concept is called the glycemic load, which is the measure of how the food is broken down in the body. Glycemic load trumps Glycemic index. Let’s have a look at the chart of different foods with their glycemic loads and glycemic indexes below. If you are going to pay attention to anything on this chart, the glycemic load is the most important.
From breakfast to dinner your meals can be both varied and belly friendly. You can pair high glycemic index foods with low glycemic index foods to lessen the glycemic load of the meal. Let’s take a look at some standard high glycemic load (high blood sugar-inducing meals) and then zap their load!.
1.) White Pasta Marinara
Makeover – Whole Wheat Pasta Marinara with Mixed Vegetables
2.) Cheese Pizza
Makeover – Whole Wheat Pizza with Mixed Vegetables and Fresh Mozzarella
3.) Pancakes with Syrup & Butter
Makeover – Buckwheat or Whole Wheat Pancakes with Mixed Berries and a tbsp of Honey & Butter
4.) Toast with Jam & Butter
Makeover – Whole Grain Toast with Peanut or Almond Butter & Sliced Banana
See? You can have your carbs and eat them too 🙂 Enjoy!