Nutrition - Healthy Eating

Healthy eating is difficult to achieve because we have so many
health factors to consider and food choices to make. We know
antioxidants are good for us so we want to eat lots of colorful
fruits and vegetables because they contain phytochemicals like
carotenoids and flavonoids which neutralize the free radicals
that cause the age-related degenerative diseases. We know that
we may not get all the antioxidants that we need in our food so
we take supplements to ensure an adequate supply of
antioxidants. But what about the actual food we eat. One of the
major problems with our modern diet is that the food we eat is a
tasty combination of saturated fats and highly processed and
quickly digested carbohydrates. However in the last several
years, people have become so concerned about fats in their diet
that they have substituted carbohydrates and avoided even the
good unsaturated fats in lean meat, olive oil and other plant
oils. Now everybody seems to be eating a medium- to
high-carbohydrate diet without giving proper attention to the
type of carbs that they eat.

Not all carbohydrates behave the same in our bodies. We have
been told for years to avoid simple carbs like honey and white
bread and eat complex carbohydrates that our body doesn’t
digest and turn to glucose as quickly. However determining
whether a food containing carbohydrates is absorbed and raises
our blood sugar quickly or slowly is not at all intuitive.
Scientists have done a lot of rigorous testing over the past
several years and have found that white bread and baked
potatoes raise our blood sugar level much faster than honey,
jams and chocolate bars. These scientists developed a numerical
index called the Glycemic Index or GI to compare the ability of
different carbohydrate containing foods to raise the body’s
blood sugar levels – or in other words the speed of conversion
to glucose. GI values are determined by feeding human subjects
who have fasted overnight a fixed amount of the food and then
measuring their blood glucose levels at fixed intervals of
time. Pure glucose is set at 100 and then other foods are
compared to this profile. Testing is time consuming and the
tests have to be averaged for a number of individuals. However
these studies have yielded some surprising results such as the
fact that the starches in rice, bread, potatoes and many types
of cereals were absorbed and raised blood sugars very quickly
but the sugars in fruit, candy, chocolate and ice cream did not
result in prolonged rises in blood sugars. In other words many
of the starchy foods had a much higher Glycemic Index than many
of the sugary foods. Needless to say these results seem counter
intuitive and have caused a lot of controversy in the food
industry. The rate of absorption is very dependant on how the
carbs are bound up with the food fiber and the particle size.
For example less gelatinized products like al dente spaghetti
and oatmeal have lower GI values and stone ground flours have
lower GI values than finely ground flours. The fibrous coat
surrounding beans and seeds stop enzymes from getting at the
starchy carbs inside and will slow the digestion of grainy
breads, legumes and barley. The acidity of foods also slows
down digestion and vinegar, lemon juice, pickles and sourdough
bread will result in lower GI meal values.

The Glycemic Index is important not only to diabetics but also
to non-diabetics because we need to know what foods will keep
our blood sugars on an even keel and not raise them too high
and then have them plummet down again causing hunger. The slow
digestion of low GI foods and the gradual rise and fall in
blood-glucose response helps people with diabetes control their
blood sugar levels and increase their sensitivity to insulin.
Low GI foods will help healthy people delay hunger pangs and
promote weight loss in overweight individuals. In addition low
GI carbohydrates can reduce blood cholesterol levels and also
reduce our risk of heart disease. High blood glucose spikes can
result in oxidative stress leading to the formation of plaque
that can cause atherosclerosis and even blood clots. So keeping
our blood sugar levels fairly level and low seems like what we
should be trying to achieve through healthy eating. How do we
go about achieving this?

The first step is to look at what carbohydrates we are
consuming and the GI levels of the meals that we are eating.
Then we should try and ensure we have at least one low GI food
in each meal to keep the overall meal GI close to 50. Most fats
and proteins have no effect on the GI level of our meal because
they don’t contain carbs. However watch out for saturated fats
and too many calories. Let’s look at some meals and see what
substitutions we could make. The GI values are shown in
brackets.

Breakfast

Cut back on Corn Flakes (92), Rice Krispies (82) and substitute
All-Bran (32) or switch to a cereal based on oats, barley or
bran. Stop eating white bagels (72), white bread (70) or
whole-wheat bread (77) and switch to pumpernickel (50) or
sourdough (55). Fruits are mostly low GI foods and surprisingly
orange juice (46) is very good.

Lunch and Dinner

Eat your colored vegetables and make your salad dressings with
olive oil and vinegar. Avoid parsnips (97) and substitute
pastas like al dente white spaghetti (38), linguini (46) or
macaroni (47) for Instant white rice (87) and potatoes – baked
(85), red-skin peeled and boiled (88). Except for parsnips and
potatoes most vegetables have a low GI value.

Additional information on GI values can be found at the
University of Sydney website http://www.glycemicindex.com/ or
in the “The New Glucose Revolution: Shopper’s Guide to GI
Values 2006.


About The Author: Mark Ransome is a contributing editor and
writer for the popular new website – Benefits of Antioxidants.
Visitors to http://www.benefits-of-antioxidants.com will have
access to a new free diet and weight loss program – The
Psychiatrist’s Weight Loss Program.