Anyone have tips about the low glycemic diet

bcruz313
bcruz313 Posts: 56 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I don't need any snide remarks, please. I am trying this diet by advice from my doctor. I know less calories in vs calories out will make me lose weight, but she wants me to follow this way of eating. I basically went in because of high blood pressure, was told I need to shed a few pounds and this would help. Not to mention, keep diabetes at bay which I don't have but runs in my family. I'm looking for info on the internet but I find different figures on different tables. For example, bananas. She told me bananas are low glycemic but on different tables it shows ripe, unripe, or overripe and several of the indexes are different. Does anyone have a good reliable resource? I understand how it works and all, I'm looking more for reliable index charts or food lists. TIA! Anything helps.

Replies

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    A couple of links that I think are worth reading about "diets": http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/science-compared-every-diet-and-the-winner-is-real-food/284595/ and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/best-diets-report_b_4575920.html

    Ideally, you should get a referral to a dietitian and some information from the dietitian to make this easier for you. There seem to be two common ways of doing this kind of diet--actually counting glycemic load and keeping it under a certain number or using it more casually and preferring lower GL when choosing between foods (that is, if choosing between cake and banana for a snack, probably banana; when choosing between fruits, maybe berries instead of banana). Or perhaps the idea is just to avoid higher GL foods. That's why you'd ideally get more clarification.

    That aside, my understanding is that the more contemporary, informed understanding (even for those who think GI and GL are important) is that you need to focus on glycemic LOAD, not glycemic index. GI can be very misleading, as it ignores serving size. Here's a good source to find out for specific foods: http://nutritiondata.self.com/help/estimated-glycemic-load

    And here's an explanation: http://www.gisymbol.com/about/glycemic-load/

    It looks to me like a banana is medium glycemic load (higher than many other fruits), but you'd want to find out from your doctor what the specific goals are.

    Here's a summary of the most reliable glycemic index list I know of, but again index alone is really unhelpful: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2584181/table/t1/

    For a list with load also, that I'd trust, here: http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthy-eating/glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_100_foods
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    If you are out and about without a chart to refer to, a good way to guess the GI index of fruits is to determine if it is tropical and then limit those because they usually have a higher GI. Figs. dates, mangos, and tangerines are towards the higher end (avocado are an exception), as are bananas and grapes. Apples, nectarines, apricots and peaches are in the middle. Berries are the lowest GI fruits.

    For veggies, if it grew underground, like potatoes, yams, beets or carrots, it usually has a higher GI index than other veggies. Green leafy veggies (spinach, romaine) usually have the lowest GI of veggies. Raw veggies have a lower GI index sometimes.

    Any flours that were ground up from a grain (wheat) are usually higher GI than flours that are not grain based like coconut flour, almond flour, or flax meal.

    Meats, cheese, and eggs will generally have the lowest GI.

    Good luck!
  • bcruz313
    bcruz313 Posts: 56 Member
    Thank you both, these are very helpful tips. I do have an appointment with a nutritionist to get more streamlined information which I am excited about. However, in the meantime I'm just getting frustrated trying to find info on my own. It's a bit overwhelming. I like the idea of counting GL instead of GI and keeping it at or below a certain number. See, that I can do. Give me a list of foods I can eat all the time, I can eat occasionally and never eat and I can do that too. I am a label reader so it is going to bug me a little that there is no particular formula to find out either GI or GL. lol
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
    My mom's doctor basically told her no foods were really forbidden. Eating a balance of protein, fats and fiber with higher carbohydrate foods helps keep Glycemic Index low. That is why apple juice isn't very good but an apple with peanut butter is fine.

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