Glycemic Index vs Amount of Carbs

amusedmonkey
amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes about a year ago. My base level blood sugar was 110-120 - a touch away from officially being called diabetic. A year later and with a good amount of weight loss I am now down to an almost normal baseline 85-90. I am not taking any medications and I never have, but I have educated myself on the matter as much as I could and it came down to two things: counting carbs and keeping glycemic index (more accurately glycemic load) in mind.

I use random testing to gauge my progress, but today I decided to do an hour test. I ate 112 carbs in one meal (99-104 net). It consisted of things that are low-moderate on a glycemic scale. Here is my meal:

Oil - Olive, 1 tsp
Quinoa, 1/2 cup (dry) 60 carbs
white beans in sauce, 100 g 18 carbs
Plain full fat yogurt 150 g 27 carbs
Tomatoes - 177 g 7 carbs

Total fiber 8-13 (my canned beans did not come with a fiber reading)

Total protein 30

Total fat 19

After 1 hour: BG 127 - shocked, I expected it to go much higher with such a huge amount of carbs, maybe it will catch up on hour 2? My average after meal with 30-80 carbs is usually around 110-140

After 2 hours: BG 113 - interesting

After 3 hours: BG 87... back to normal

For the whole duration I avoided any physical activities not to skew the results.

Any thoughts or experiments on the matter from other diabetic or pre-diabetic people?

Replies

  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
    One thing to keep in mind it the GI is only useful if you are just eating that particular food alone. Adding protein and or fats will lower the GI. That's why using the GI has gone by the wayside.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    What I'm trying to figure out is, what was the likely culprit for not having a big spike despite the large amount of carbs? Was it the overall moderate glycemic load of the meal? was it the fiber? The inclusion of a good amount of protein and fats? My breakfast had 48 carbs and I did not work out today (or yesterday), so it's not likely a glycogen matter. If anyone else had experiences like this it could help me polot down strategies for glycemic control.

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