SOYJOY Challenge 3: What is LOW GI?

With all this talk about SOYJOY and its LOW GI factor.... What exactly is Low GI (Glycemic Index)? Lets explore this and at the end of this entry.. tell me if it was helpful in your understanding towards what LOW GI is about. And perhaps let me know if this would now help influence the type of food choices that you consume from here on?

Let me thank those that have supported me by helping vote for me at http://www.gi-joy.com/ these past weeks. If you have not put in your vote today, please do! You can vote once every 3 hours from now till the 28th of June 09. Thanks! *hand to heart*

A word of thanks too to those who have supported me in Challenge 1 "Feed the Office" Challenge and in Challenge 2 "How I like my SOYJOY best!" Picture Challenge.. you can still leave comments there as it would be great to hear from you! Let me know which one you like! :)

The Glycemic Index was devised about 20 years ago by a Professor of Nutrition, Dr. David Jenkins. Researchers looked closer at the dietary recommendations for diabetics; which was to eat more complex carbohydrates (starch) because they took longer to process and digest than simple carbohydrates (sugar).

The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating. Foods with a high GI are those which are rapidly digested and absorbed and result in marked fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Low-GI foods, by virtue of their slow digestion and absorption, produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels.

Explaining this simply, you can check out this video of this guy named Kieran explaining LOW GI in easy terms for those who would rather hear it in audio version.

You can find out more on the GI levels of individual food at this website. http://www.glycemicindex.com/

Low GI = 55 or less
Medium GI = 56 - 69
High GI = 70 or more

You get a bell-shaped curve when you eat food containing carbohydrates; the blood glucose rises and as your body produces insulin, it pushes the glucose out of the blood and into tissues, and then you see the blood-glucose level falling.

When eating high GI foods, you get a very high bell curve response with a dramatic drop. With a low-GI food, there is a slower and steadier rise in the blood glucose level.

Research has shown that very high glucose levels after meals, called glucose spikes, are damaging to our arteries and various blood vessels, and they promote far too much insulin to be around.

Eating low-GI foods means you avoid those spikes and dramatic falls in blood-glucose so you get a much steadier stream of energy. You, therefore, reduce your risk of heart disease and other chronic diseases that are implicated by those blood-glucose fluctuations.

How does LOW GI contribute to weight control?

High GI foods are bad for weight control for two reasons, the glucose spikes stimulate hunger because you are getting that dramatic drop in glucose, 90 minutes to two hours after eating. By eating low GI foods, you feel fuller for longer and are, therefore, not as likely to go searching for snacks every two hours.

Secondly, insulin is a storage hormone that stockpiles nutrients for later use by the body. A high-GI diet causes a lot of insulin to be produced and when you have too much insulin in your body too much of the time, it makes it easier to store fat and harder to burn it.

If your chosen weight loss plan leaves you feeling hungry then it will be even more difficult to resist eating between meals. GI eating promotes foods that raise your blood sugar slowly, so you won’t suffer from mid afternoon energy slumps that can leave you craving sugary snacks.

Getting a little scientific here... Foods that stimulate insulin surges can cause people to eat 60 - 70% more calories at the following meal! Low glycemic foods do not stimulate food-craving hormones like Neuropeptide Y and Lipoprotein Lipase. Stimulation of these hormones can cause chemically-triggered cravings for food and uncontrolled eating binges. Definitely something that we would like to keep under control!

Why do many high-fibre foods still have a high GI value?

Dietary fibre is not a chemical constituent like fat and protein. It is composed of many different sorts of molecules and can be divided into soluble and insoluble types.

Soluble fibre is often viscous (thick and jelly-like) in solution and remains viscous even in the small intestine. For this reason it makes it harder for enzymes to move around and digest the food. Foods with more soluble fibre, like apples, oats, and legumes, therefore have low GI values.
Insoluble fibre, on the other hand, is not viscous and doesn’t slow digestion unless it’s acting like a fence to inhibit access by enzymes (eg. the bran around intact kernels). When insoluble fibre is finely milled, the enzymes have free reign, allowing rapid digestion. Wholemeal bread and white bread have similar GI values. Brown pasta and brown rice have similar values to their white counterparts.

Many people make the assumption that since the amount of carbohydrate in the foods is the same, then the areas under the curve will finally be the same. This is not the case because the body is not only absorbing glucose from the gut into the bloodstream, it is also extracting glucose from the blood. Just as a gentle rain can be utilised better by the garden than a sudden deluge, the body can metabolise slowly digested food better than quickly digested carbohydrate.

Fast- release carbohydrate causes "flooding" of the system and the body cannot extract the glucose from the blood fast enough. Just as water levels rise quickly after torrential rain, so do glucose levels in the blood. But the same amount of rain falling over a long period can be absorbed into the ground and water levels do not rise. I believe this analogy makes for a very good reference to how your body assimilates High and Low GI food.

You can watch and listen more about this with this lady who gives a rather detailed explanation of what LOW GI is about and examples of various food selections of what a Low, Medium and High GI food category entails.

So tell me about common LOW GI Food options?

PASTA
Pasta has a low GI because of the physical entrapment of ungelatinised starch granules in a sponge-like network of protein (gluten) molecules in the pasta dough. Pasta is unique in this regard. As a result, pastas of any shape and size have a fairly low GI (30 to 60). Asian noodles such as hokkien, udon and rice vermicelli also have low to intermediate GI values. Pasta should be cooked al dente ('firm to the bite'). And this is the best way to eat pasta - it's not meant to be soft. It should be slightly firm and offer some resistance when you are chewing it. Overcooking boosts the GI. Gluten-free pastas based on rice and corn (maize) tend to have moderate to high GI values so opt for pastas made from legumes or soy.

POTATOES
The good news for potato lovers is that a potato salad made the day before, tossed with a vinaigrette dressing and kept in the fridge will have a much lower GI than potatoes served steaming hot from the pot. The cold storage increases the potatoes' resistant starch content by more than a third and the acid in the vinaigrette whether you make it with lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar will slow stomach emptying. The GI value of potato chips or french fries is lower than baked potatoes. Most potatoes tested to date have a high GI, so if you are a big potato eater, try to replace some with lower GI starchy alternatives such as sweet corn, yam or legumes.

BREAD
Try to increase the soluble fibre content by partially substituting flour with oat bran, rice bran or rolled oats and increase the bulkiness of the product with dried fruit, nuts, muesli, All-Bran or unprocessed bran. Opt for breads made from chickpea or legume based flours. Chapattis made with besan (chickpea flour) have a low GI.

Did you know that freezing slices of bread and popping them into the toaster the next morning, lowers the GI level of bread?

FRUIT & VEGETABLES
Temperate climate fruits - apples, pears, citrus (oranges, grapefruit) and stone fruits (peaches, plums, apricots) - all have low GI values.

Tropical fruits - pineapple, papaya, rockmelon and watermelon tend to have higher GI values.

Leafy green and salad vegetables are not measureable in terms of GI as they are very low in carbohydrate. GI Higher carb starchy vegetables include sweet corn (which is actually a cereal grain), potato, sweet potato, taro and yam, so watch the portion sizes with these. Pumpkin, carrots, peas, parsnips and beetroot contain some carbohydrate, but a normal serving size contains so little that it won't raise your blood glucose levels significantly.

NOODLES, GRAINS & LEGUMES/NUTS
Buckwheat (soba) noodles; cellophane noodles, also known as green bean vermicelli, are made from mung bean flour; rice noodles made from ground or pounded rice flour, are available fresh and dried. As for wholegrains, try buckwheat, quinoa, low GI varieties of rice such as basmati and sweet corn. Contrary to popular belief, brown rice does not have a lower glycemic index than white rice.

Legumes (pulses) including beans, chickpeas, whole and split dried peas and lentils. When you add legumes to meals and snacks, you reduce the overall GI of your diet because your body digests them slowly. Nuts are high in fat (averaging around 50 per cent), it is largely unsaturated, so they make a healthy substitute for foods such as biscuits, cakes, pastries, potato chips and chocolate. They also contain relatively little carbohydrate, so most do not have a GI value. Peanuts (actually a legume) and cashews have very low GI values.

DAIRY
Low fat dairy foods and calcium-enriched soy products low fat milk, yoghurt and ice-cream or soy alternatives provide sustained energy, boosting your calcium intake but not your saturated fat intake.

How can LOW GI choices affect my health?

Apart from its physical *weight loss or weight maintenance* and emotional & psychological benefits that the properties of GI choices provide, individuals who followed a Low GI diet over many years were found to have a significantly lower risk for developing and/or controlling both type 1 & type 2 diabetes, hypoglycemia, hypertension and coronary heart disease.

So with SOYJOY, what additional benefits does do the bars hold? With each flavour combination, I've found the following fun facts that you may be interested to know!

With the Raisin Almond SOYJOY bar, almonds has been regarded as a food that could help increase vitality, improve complexion and improve body’s capabilities to resist intoxication! Good Combination already!

With the Cacao Orange SOYJOY bar, chocolate studies have shown that consuming a small amount of chocolate everyday can reduce blood pressure in individuals with high blood pressure. Chocolate also stimulates endorphin production, which gives a feeling of pleasure. It also contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant. As well as theobromine, caffeine and other substances which are stimulants. Another good combination!

With the Hawthorn Berry SOYJOY bar, Hawthorn berries have a long history of use as a heart tonic. The Chinese used the berries for both digestion and circulatory problems and the Greeks employed hawthorn berries primarily for heart disorders.

And finally with the Apple SOYJOY bar, Apple is a rich source of flavonoid and polyphenols both are powerful antioxidant. Apples also contain a large amount of minerals and vitamins that can strengthen the blood. Eating apples daily can lower cholesterol and reduce skin diseases too!

So with all these benefits... using this knowledge of Low GI, we can now make more informed and preferred food selection in our daily lives. Snack wise, SOYJOY can be an excellent alternative to your other "sinful" non beneficial snack choices that your body will thank you.

You are what you eat is never more true.

Thank you for taking the time to go through all that information with me, I hope it helped you understand more about what LOW GI is about. Please feel free to leave me comments or questions or if you feel that there are facts or details here that can be more accurate, please drop me a note here in the comments section or email me at honeymeow@gmail.com.

Information above has been researched & collected from the following sources:
http://www.glycemicindex.com/
http://health.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=693899
http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/diet/gi_diet/glycaemic_index_tables.htm http://www.the-gi-diet.org/lowgifoods/
http://www.lowglycemicdiet.com/gifoodlist.html
http://www.becomehealthynow.com/article/carbs/8/