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- The Glycemic Index is a tool that anyone looking to increase
energy, lose fat and just feel better needs to understand. Its a valuable
guide to good and bad carbs.
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- Its also important to look at the balance of carbs and protein in
your diet. Are you're getting the right
protein intake?
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- Does your diet look like this? Cereals and
toast for breakfast? Sandwich for lunch? Sugary choc bars as snacks? And pasta for a dinner? A simple rule would be to focus on
getting protein into every meal + use the Glycemic Index for the
carbohydrates that you consume.
All carbohydrates convert to blood sugar-some fast, some slow -and the
Glycemic Index Chart measures the rate the conversion takes place.
Eating high-glycemic carbohydrates (ones that turn to sugary quickly)
will hinder the fat burning process and will decrease energy levels.
Here's why: When you eat high-glycemic carbs, your blood sugar levels soar; when this happens your pancreas produces insulin. One of the roles of
insulin is to keep your blood sugar levels regulated - but its also a storage
hormone. When your sugars go up, your body produces the storage hormone
to clear the excess sugars. Those sugars end up in fatty tissue. Ultimately,
your gaining fat, because internally, your telling your body to store.
Here's how it relates to energy levels: When you overproduce insulin,
you clear the sugars out of your blood - the end result is that you are now
hypoglycemic. What does that mean? Blood sugar levels are lower than they
should be, "you crash" or get lethargic, and now your body craves
sugars. So what next? You end up overeating , and the cycle continues
By switching to low-glycemic carbs, the energy release is gradual
and long lasting which is ideal for athletes, you do not tax your pancreas,
you do not over-produce a storage hormone, you feel better and you're in
a better position to lose weight or more accurately, burn body fat.
Formula 1 contains complex carbohydrates, healthy vegetable protein, minerals and vitamins
and has a low Glycemic Index (15-20) and thus produces
a steady release of energy into the system as required by athletes. It is
also the best carbohydrate for weight loss.
The banana the favourite on the Tennis circuit has a medium to high
GI index so one needs to eat them every 20 to 30 mins for them to
be effective, it is better to take Formula 1.
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SUGAR DRINKS SOLD AS ENERGY/SPORT DRINKS- |
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SUGAR is unhealthy.
SUGAR triggers a hormonal response which releases
insulin. This stores the sugar. The body is put into STORAGE MODE
at a time when the body needs to be in RELEASE MODE i.e. making
energy available for the sport/activity. If too many carbohydrates
then you will only STORE and never RELEASE.
SUGAR slows hydration of the cells/muscles which
need rehydrating
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The Glycemic index is readily available, and tracks virtually every brand
of every food. Some of the more common entries are listed below. Each entry
is compared to glucose, if the rate that glucose converts to blood
sugar equals 100. Numbers lower than 100 mean that food converts to blood
sugar slower than glucose, and in terms of your mission to increase energy
levels for athletes and burn body fat, the lower the GI index the better
Breads, Grains and Pasta
- baguette-95
- rice pasta,brown-92
- instant rice-91
- kaiser roll - 73
- bagel -72
- white bread -70
- wholemeal bread -69
- rye flour bread 64
- macaroni cheese-64
- hamburger bun- 61
- pita bread-57
- white
rice -56
- brown rice 55
- sourdough bread - 52
- quinoa -53
- linguine-50
- multigrain bread- 48
- bulgur-48
- converted rice -47
- macaroni-45
- spaghetti, white -41
- ravioli, meat filled-39
- spaghetti, whole wheat- 37
- spaghetti, protein enriched-27
- barley -25
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- Fruits
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- dates,dried-103
- watermelon-72
- pineapple-66
- raisins-64
- dried figs 61
- apricots -57
- mangoes-56
- fruit cocktail-55
- banana -53
- kiwi fruit-53
- grapes -52
- canned peach 47
- orange -43
- peaches-42
- blueberries -40
- plums-39
- pear -36
- apple -36
- strawberries-32
- raspberries-32
- blackberries-32
- dried apricots- 30
- grapefruit-25
- cherries-22
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- Snacks
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- rice cakes -82
- pretzels- 81
- jelly beans-80
- waffles- 76
- doughnut- 76
- soda crackers - 74
- corn chips -72
- *mars bars-68
- ryvita -67
- wheat crackers -67
- rye crisp bread -63
- power bar -57
- popcorn -55
- oatmeal cookies-55
- *potato chips/crisps-54
- *chocolate -49
- banana cake-47
- peanuts-14
- Healthy snacks
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- Cereals
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- Rice Krispies-82
- Grapenut flakes- 80
- Cornflakes-77
- Weetabix-77
- Total -76
- Puffed wheat-74
- Cheerios-74
- Shredded Wheat -69
- Oatmeal-61
- Mini Wheats (wholemeal)-57
- Museli-56
- Oatbran-55
- Porridge, non instant-49
- All Bran-42
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Cakes/biscuits
- Rice cakes-82
- Wafer biscuits 77
- Doughnut -76
- Waffles-76
- Ryvita -67
- Croissant -67
- Shortbread -64
- Muffin (unsweetened)-62
- Danish pastry -59
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- Potatoes, root crop
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- parsnips 97
- **baked potatoes-83
- instant potatoes- 83
- chips- 75
- mashed potatoes- 73
- beetroot-64
- new potatoes- 57
- boiled potatoes- 56
- sweet potatoes-54
- yam-51
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- Vegetables
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- sweet corn- 55
- green peas-48
- carrots,cooked-39
- green beans-15
- peppers-15
- spinach -15
- tomatoes- 15
- artichoke -15
- asparagus-15
- broccoli-15
- cauliflower-15
- celery -15
- cucumber -15
- lettuce -15
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- Legumes
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- Baked Beans-48
- Chickpean,tinned-42
- Haricot Beans-38
- Chick peas-33
- Butter beans-31
- Lentils-29
- Kidney Beans-27
- Soy Nuts-18
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- Dairy
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- *Ice cream-61
- *Ice cream (low fat) 50
- Milk, semi-skimmed 34
- Chocolate milk- 34
- Fruit yogurt, low fat-33
- Milk-Skim-32
- Milk -Fat-free-32
- Soy
Milk- 31
- Milk, full fat -27
- Yogurt, plain, unsweetened, low fat-14
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- Sugars
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- Maltose-105
- Glucose-100
- Honey-73
- Sucrose-65
- Table sugar-65
- Lactose-46
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Fructose-23
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- Beverages
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- Gatorade-78
- Soft drinks,fanta-68
- Colas-65
- Orange juice-57
- Grapefruit juice-48
- Pineapple juice -46
- Apple Juice,unsweetened-41
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Amounts based on 50 grammes of carbohydrate per serving
- High Glycemic Index Food GI (more than
70)
- Foods with GI index between 55 and 70
are considered intermediate
- Low Glycemic Index Food (less than 55)
- **low in calorie and nutritious foods
- *high in empty calories
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- Additional Information:
- Are you getting the right protein
intake?
Article By Herbal Vitality
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