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22 November 2006
Low GI Food: What is it all about?
GI is a ranking from 1 to 100. It measures the effect of food on your blood glucose level over the 2 hours after the food is eaten.
Food containing carbohydrates has a bell-shaped curve in relation to blood-glucose. That is, the blood-glucose rises and as your body produces insulin, it pushes the glucose out of the blood and into tissues, thus decreasing the blood-glucose level.
When eating high-GI foods, you get a very high bell curve response with a dramatic drop. With low-GI food, there is a slower and steadier rise in the blood-glucose level.
There is evidence to show that very high glucose levels after meals, called glucose spikes, are damaging to our arteries and blood vessels.
Low-GI contributes to weight control whereas high-GI food stimulate hunger due to the drop in glucose, 90 minutes to 2 hours after eating. Low GI foods makes you feel full for longer than 2 hours.
How to apply the low-GI eating habits:
 Have at least three low-GI foods throughout the day, ideally one at each meal. Remember, not all the carbohydrates you eat need to be LOW GI.
You don’t need to avoid all HIGH-GI foods, but try to eat them with low or intermediate GI foods whenever possible. This will bring down the average GI of the meal.
Include low saturated fat, high carbohydrate foods with each meal and snack.
Try to evenly spread the amount of carbohydrate you eat throughout the day.
Recipe tips:
Use breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran
Use breads with wholegrains, stone-ground flour, sour dough
Reduce the amount of potatoes you eat
Enjoy all other types of fruit and vegetables
Use Basmati or Doongara rice
Enjoy pasta, noodles, quinoa
Eat plenty of salad vegetables with a vinaigrette dressing
For more information, please contact Nutrition Service on 9926 7229
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