Why do you need glycemic index foods
Sport And Fitness / / December 19, 2019
To create your own menu, it is necessary to take into account many parameters of the product. Today, we are talking about what is the glycemic index, how it affects the accumulation of fat and are all foods with high glycemic index so bad.
Good and bad carbohydrates
Most diets anyway focused on what to exclude something from the diet. For a while, it usually works. But if you stick to a diet for a long time, you can pretty much harm to the digestive system and the body as a whole. Avoid one of the nutrients, whether it be fats or carbohydrates, not a good idea. Better understand what products will bring more benefits for the same calories.
Carbohydrates - the main source of energy for humans. Once in the body, carbohydrates are converted to glucose, which is used by the cells for energy. Delivery is via the transport of the hormone - insulin. If not enough insulin in the blood sugar level rises. In response, a healthy body produces more insulin until the sugar will lead to normal.
But here is the problem: when insulin levels are high, delivery of nutrients exceeds the cell needs. This means that all
excess delayed in reserve.There is another negative aspect spike sugar levels. Noticed how improved mood from eating sweets? But the effect does not last long: rarely more than an hour. Immediately after the release of insulin mood falls, and you reach for a new portion of the sweet. These swings can rock all day though, creating dependency Sahara.
So basically desirable that the insulin is gradually raised. Here we come to the concept of the glycemic index.
Glycemic index foods
The glycemic index (GI) - a characteristic of the product that shows how much he will raise blood glucose levels compared to a net glucose. It is considered to be high glycemic index greater than 70, low - less than 35.
high GI | Medium GI | low GI |
glucose, white toast bread (100) | pineapple, banana, melon, black bread, jacket potatoes (65) | apricots, raw carrot, pear (35) |
bun, baked potatoes (95) | boiled rice, canned corn (60) | peach, apple, milk (30) |
corn flakes, popcorn, white bread, stewed carrots (85) | oatmeal cookies, milk oatmeal, pasta, buckwheat, kiwi (50) | dark chocolate, barley, cherries, plums (22) |
crackers, chips (80) | pineapple juice, bran cereal (45) | peanuts, apricot (20) |
watermelon, squash, pumpkin (75) | boiled beans, grapes, apple and orange juice (40) | walnuts (15) |
sugar, milk chocolate, cola (70) | eggplant, peppers, kale (10) |
It would seem that everything is simple: it is necessary to eliminate foods with high glycemic index (GI> 70) from the menu. With biscuits and chips and everything seems to be so clear. But at the same time, high GI and foods such as baked potatoes, stewed carrots, watermelon, Squash and zucchini. And at the same GI sugar - 70.
It turns out that it is useful to eat sugar than a ragout of vegetables?
Of course not. To create a menu, taking into account the glycemic index, it must be remembered that the percentage of carbohydrates in different foods:
Product | The glycemic index (GI) | The percentage of carbohydrates |
baked potato | 95 | 11,5 |
braised carrots | 85 | 29 |
watermelon | 75 | 8,8 |
pumpkin | 75 | 4,4 |
squash | 75 | 4,9 |
But sugar - a carbohydrate by 100%!
A simple multiplication of these values gives the glycemic load (GN) of the product:
Product | The glycemic index (GI) | Glycemic Load (GN) |
baked potato | 95 | 11 |
braised carrots | 85 | 25 |
watermelon | 75 | 7 |
pumpkin | 75 | 3 |
squash | 75 | 4 |
sugar | 70 | 70 (!) |
This concept is better characterize products.
Glycemic Load (GN) | products |
> 70 | honey, sugar |
60–70 | cereal, toast of white bread, jam, popcorn, biscuit |
30–60 | rice, crackers, shortbread cookies, couscous, millet, raisins, white bread, oatmeal cookies, chips, milk chocolate, spaghetti, donut |
10–30 | cola, croissant, rye bread, stewed carrots, potatoes uniform, apricots, dumplings, buckwheat, banana, mashed potatoes, dark chocolate (70% cocoa), baked potatoes, cream |
< 10 | boiled beans, fruit juices, pineapple, watermelon, milk porridge, mango, grapes, cantaloupe, beets, barley, figs, squash, pumpkin, pear, orange, peach, walnuts, raw carrots, cherry, apple, plum, kiwi, strawberries, peanuts, apricots, milk, grapefruit, greek yogurt, eggplant, bell peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, mushrooms, lettuce |
It can be seen that the usual healthy foods generally have a low glycemic load. It makes no sense to exclude them from the menu: carrot cereal and all are as useful as in the past century. And about cookies, muffins, I think you already know all the terms of dietary ...
Nothing new: magical product does not exist. To lose weight, you need to spend calories more than consume. Science does not stand still, but is still more useful carrots candy.
Nevertheless, the glycemic index is not a useless concept.
How to use the glycemic index
- Foods with a low GI provide sustained feeling of fullness, but to feel satiety for lunch from them is difficult. Therefore, foods with low GI in the classic menu complement the food with a high GI, for example: meat with mashed potatoes or nuts and honey.
- Foods with a high GI are not harmful. But they are relevant when you spend energy intensive. For example, during a long race or immediately after the cleaning done. And here is a piece of cake or two for the evening watching movies just do not bring benefits.
- It should be borne in mind that the method of cooking affect the GI value: the smaller the pieces, and the duration of heat treatment, the higher the GI. For example:
raw carrots (35) | vs | stewed carrots (85) |
jacket potatoes (65) | vs | mashed potatoes (90) |
To select a suitable situation carbohydrates use a table in which the products are sorted by value of glycemic index and color designated glycemic load.
View and download the table