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[F476]Foods On The Glycemic Index

by Tom Venuto, Tom

The glycemic index (GI) is a scale that measures how quickly carbohydrate foods are broken down into glucose. The original purpose for the glycemic index was to help diabetics keep their blood sugar under control. The glycemic index has recently attracted a lot of attention in the bodybuilding, fitness and weight loss world and has even become the central theme in numerous best-selling diet books as a method to choose the foods that are best for losing weight.

According to advocates of the glycemic index system, foods that are high on the GI scale such as rice cakes, carrots, potatoes, or grape juice are "unfavorable" and should be avoided because high GI foods are absorbed quickly, raise blood sugar rapidly and are therefore more likely to convert to fat or cause health problems.

Instead, we are urged to consume carbohydrates that are low on the GI scale such as black eye peas, old fashioned oatmeal, peanuts, apples and beans because they do not raise blood sugar as rapidly.

While the GI does have some useful applications, such as the use of high GI foods or drinks for post workout nutrition and the strong emphasis on low GI foods for those with blood sugar regulation problems, there are flaws in strictly using the glycemic index as your only criteria to choose carbs on a weight loss program.

For example, the glycemic index is based on eating carbohydrates by themselves in a fasted state. If you are following effective principles of fat-burning and muscle building nutrition, you should be eating small, frequent meals to increase your energy, maintain lean body mass and optimize metabolism for fat loss. However, since the glycemic index of various foods was developed based on eating each food in the fasted state, the glycemic index loses some of its significance.

In addition, when you are on a diet program aimed at improving body composition (losing fat or gaining muscle), you will usually be combining carbs and protein together with each meal for the purposes of improving your fat to muscle ratio. When carbs are eaten in mixed meals that contain protein and some fat, the glycemic index loses even more of its significance because the protein and fat slows the absorption of the carbohydrates (as does fiber).

Mashed potatoes have a glycemic index near that of pure glucose, but combine the potatoes with a chicken breast and broccoli and the glycemic index of the entire meal is lower than the potatoes by itself.

Rice cakes have a very high glycemic index, but if you were to put a couple tablespoons of peanut butter on them, the fat would slow the absorption of the carbs, thereby lowering the glycemic index of the combination.

A far more important and relevant criteria for selecting carbs - as well as all your other foods, proteins and fats included - is whether they are natural or processed. To say that a healthy person with no metabolic disorders should completely avoid natural, unprocessed foods like carrots or potatoes simply because they are high on the glycemic index is ridiculous.

I know many bodybuilders (myself included) who eat high glycemic index foods such as white potatoes every day right up until the day of a competition and they reach single digit body fat. How do they do it if high GI foods “make you fat?" It’s simple – high GI foods DON’T necessarily make you fat – choosing natural foods and burning more calories than you consume are far more important factors. Although it’s not correct to say that all calories are created equal, a calorie deficit is the most important factor of all when fat loss is your goal.

The glycemic index is clearly not a "gimmick" and should not be completely disregarded, as it is a definitely a legitimate nutritional tool. Is it a good idea to eat low GI foods in general? Sure. Is eating high GI foods after your workouts a good idea? Absolutely. But diet programs which hang their hats on glycemic index alone as the “miracle solution" are just another example of how one single aspect of nutrition can be used as a "hook" in marketing and said to be the "end all be all" of fat loss, when it's really only one small piece of the puzzle.

Eating Low glycemic index foods alone does NOT guarantee you will lose fat. You have to take in the bigger picture, which includes calories/energy balance, meal timing and frequency, macronutrient composition, choice of processed versus refined foods as well as how all these nutritional factors interact with your exercise program.

It was previously thought and to a large extent still is, that simple carbohydrates are absorbed and utilised quickly in the body and complex carbohydrates are absorbed and utilised slowly. This belief originated from the fact that simple carbohydrates are individual molecules or two molecules bonded together whilst complex carbohydrates are made up of many molecules bonded together. However, in 1981, Dr David Jenkins (a professor at the University of Toronto) found that this was not actually true. At the time, Dr Jenkins was examining the best foods for diabetics and from his research he discovered that certain complex carbohydrates, like potatoes, were causing rapid rises in blood glucose, whilst some simple carbohydrates, like certain fruits, were being utlised slowly.

Since many carbohydrate-containing foods weren't acting as expected, the Glycemic Index (GI) was devised. The GI indicates how rapidly a food increases the blood glucose level. If a food causes a rapid rise in blood glucose, then it is referred to as a high glycemic index food and is given a value between 70 and 100 depending on how rapidly the blood glucose level increases. Glucose (GI of 100) is the standard and all other carbohydrate-containing foods are compared to it. If a carbohydrate-containing food causes a moderate or slow increase in blood glucose, then it is given a number that corresponds to the rate (moderate GI: 50-69 and low GI: less than 50).

A slow passage of glucose into the bloodstream means that it is easier to maintain a stable blood glucose level, and in turn, keep insulin to a minimum. This situation is ideal for fat loss because a high level of insulin promotes fat storage, increases the conversion of carbohydrate into fat and inhibits the use of fat for fuel. As a result, it would appear that low glycemic index carbohydrates should be emphasised in the diet. However, as we will examine in a moment, this is not the most important factor that needs to be considered.

A number of factors affect the glycemic index (its absorption rate) of a carbohydrate-containing food. They are the following:

? Its chemical composition (Is it composed of glucose, fructose or galactose molecules?)

? The amount of fibre (particularly soluble fibre), protein or fat contained in the food

? How the food is cooked/ prepared

Composition

Carbohydrate-containing foods that are composed mainly of glucose molecules (including complex carbohydrates) and that have little fibre, protein or fat in them have a high glycemic index. For example, glucose, malt, bread, potatoes and white rice all have high glycemic indexes and cause a rapid rise in blood glucose and therefore insulin levels when they are consumed on their own. Since they promote the production of insulin, the carbohydrate in them has a greater likelihood of being converted into body fat.

Fibre and protein

Fibre, particularly soluble fibre, is a component of food that has the effect of slowing down the absorption rate of carbohydrate and therefore lowering its glycemic index. For example, an apple has a much lower glycemic index than apple juice simply because there is fibre in the apple and the apple juice has had its fibre component removed. Fibre has a tendency to ?dilute? the carbohydrate, which slows absorption. Protein may have a similar ?diluting? effect on carbohydrate.

Fat

Fat also lowers a food's glycemic index by slowing down its passage through the gastro-intestinal tract. This slows the absorption rate of carbohydrate. Good examples of this are chocolate and ice-cream. Both of these foods contain a considerable amount of fat along with carbohydrate and both have relatively low glycemic indexes. However, this certainly doesn't mean you should increase your intake of these foods because both are very ?calorie dense? due to the large amounts of fat and sugar contained in them. They are good examples, however, of how fat slows down the absorption rate of carbohydrate.

Cooking/ Preparation

How a carbohydrate-containing food is cooked or prepared also affects its absorption rate. Overcooking increases a carbohydrate-containing food's glycemic index because some of the bonds between the glucose molecules will be broken down, making absorption easier (less digestion is required). Similarly, preparation may also affect a carbohydrate-containing food's absorption rate. For example, mashed potatoes are absorbed faster into the bloodstream than whole potatoes. On the other hand, adding vinegar (acetic acid) to a food lowers its GI.

Now before you start thinking that your days of eating bread and potatoes are over, consider the fact that carbohydrate-rich foods with fibre, protein and/ or fat already in them are low on the glycemic index. Therefore, the glycemic index of high glycemic index carbohydrates may be lowered if fibre, protein or fat is added to a meal with them.

Therefore, if you add vegetables or salad (high fibre foods), meat (protein), oil (fat) or oil-containing foods (nuts, seeds or avocadoes) to the foods containing carbohydrate, the rate of absorption of the carbohydrate will be slowed down, limiting insulin secretion and in turn, limiting fat storage. So there is no problem in having high glycemic index ?starchy? carbs as long as you slow down their absorption rate by adding lots of fibrous (containing fibre) vegetables or salad, protein or fat (preferably only the essential fatty acids) to the meal.

Remember though, it isn't just the rate of glucose entering the bloodstream that dictates how much will be converted into body fat but also the amount of carbohydrate consumed. Even if you have a slow influx of carbohydrate into the bloodstream by consuming low-glycemic index carbohydrate or high glycemic index carbohydrate with fibre, fat or protein, a large amount of carbohydrate in a meal will still need to be stored in the body and if the glycogen stores are full the only other storage site is in the adipocytes (fat cells).

Plus, a large meal will have a greater impact on insulin response than a small meal and since the main benefit of eating low GI foods is in limiting insulin response, it makes sense to reduce portion sizes of meals.

If you choose to emphasise low-glycemic index carbohydrate in your diet, then fine. However, don't neglect eating some complex carbohydrates as well. Complex carbohydrates provide your body with many essential nutrients. Pasta for example provides your body with 6 out of the 8 essential amino acids (in small amounts though) and some contain both B vitamins and iron.

The bottom line is this, if you are eating complete meals, which means meals with carbohydrate, protein and fat then the GI becomes irrelevant since the protein and fat as well as fibre will slow down the absorption rate of the carbohydrates, lowering the GI. As covered earlier, of far greater importance is the portion size of the entire meal and the carbohydrate-density of the food. Since insulin responses are important, portion size will have an impact on this and carbohydrate-density will affect overall calorie intake. Therefore, focusing more on these areas will offer greater benefits than simply the Glycemic Index alone.

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Both Tom Venuto & Stephen James Smith are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Tom Venuto has sinced written about articles on various topics from Vitamin and Mineral Supplement, Fitness and Wellness. Tom Venuto is a certified personal trainer, natural bodybuilder and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle. You can get info on Tom's e-book at. Tom Venuto's top article generates over 9900 views. to your Favourites.

Stephen James Smith has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fat Loss, Lose Weight and Fitness. Stephen has been involved in the fitness industry for over 16 years and writes articles for various health and fitness magazines throughout Australia. For more information on his book, 'Look Good, Feel Great' as well as many weight-loss articles, visit:. Stephen James Smith's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.