Weekly Wellness News

October 23, 2006

Feature: Glycemic Index

We've all heard of counting carbohydrates. Most ddiets are very specific in how many calories to consume daily. Recently the focus has been on a new factor: glycemic index, or GI. What is glycemic index, and how does it affect you?

Stated simply, the glycemic index of a food indicates how rapidly the food turns to sugar in your bloodstream. Foods with a low GI slowly metabolize, and your blood-sugar level doesn't change much. Foods with a high GI, on the other hand, quickly turn to sugar and 'spike' your blood-sugar levels. This is felt first as a rush and then as a sugar crash, and the rush can be addictive, causing you to crave sugary foods.

All carbohydrates have a glycemic index, and this is stated as a simple number. By definition, "low" GI is anything less than 55; this includes most fruits, spaghetti, grains, some cereals (All-Bran, for instance), and many natural juices. "High" GI is 55 and over; examples are watermelon, raisins, starchy foods such as potatoes, most cereals, and almost all processed foods. In general, the more natural a food is, the more likely it is to have a low glycemic index.

Perhaps most telling is research done with rats recently. Two groups of rats were fed similar diets: calories, protein, fat, and carbohydrates were all the same for both groups. The only difference was the glycemic index of the carbohydrates fed to the test group. Those fed a high-GI diet experienced loss of muscle mass, weight gain, increased fat storage, and signs of impending diabetes. When the diets of the two groups were reversed, the effects were immediately reversed as well: muscle mass increased, fat storage decreased, and weight was lost by the first group and the second group started to show the negative effects originally measured in the first group.

A low-GI diet helps your body and your mind function properly; a high-GI diet can destroy both. Transition to a more natural diet and you'll experience the benefits immediately!

Resources:

• Glycemic Index: New Way to Count Carbs? [webmd.com]
• Sick of Low-Carb Diets? Try Low-GI [webmd.com]

Other news

• But we just can't have hyper preschoolers: Ritalin for preschoolers? Study warns of risks [msnbc.msn.com]
• Who-da thunk athletes need to eat? Female athletes who cut calories risk leg injury [msnbc.msn.com]
• Is this a chicken-and-egg problem? Sleepless Children at Higher Obesity Risk [healthday.com]

From the editor

I've finished the feedback page, so now you can email me comments, suggestions, requests, or anything else you'd like. There's a link at the bottom of this and every future newsletter for contacting me.

In order to test the system, I'd like to ask for suggestions for articles... what would you like to read about during November? I've certainly got plenty of ideas, but if there is something in particular you would like to read about, please send me the topic.

I look forward to (finally) hearing back from many of you!

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff

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Copyright 2006, Jeffrey Eliasen.
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