HOW TO CHOOSE HEALTHIER CARBOHYDRATES?
Carbohydrates are a macronutrient that produces energy in your body. Your body breaks down carbohydrates into glucose when you ingest foods, the glucose then enters into your bloodstream and is moved into the body’s cells by insulin, this is then used as energy by your muscles and around the body.
Glycaemic index (GI) is a way of ranking how slowly or quickly carbohydrate foods are digested and increase blood glucose levels over a two-hour period.
Choosing the right type and amount of carbohydrate foods can help you to maintain stable blood glucose and insulin secretion, and also help in your weight management. Therefore, the glycemic index (GI) is one of the tools that can help you to manage diabetes as well as be beneficial for people who are interested in improving their overall healthy eating habits.
HIGH-GI FOOD VS LOW-GI FOOD
The Glycaemic Index (GI) uses glucose as a reference food, and has a GI score of 100. If the GI is below 55, it is classified as a Low-GI food and above 70 is classified as a High-GI food.
High-GI foods break down and raise blood glucose levels quickly after eating, this is followed by a sharp drop in blood glucose levels which can leave you feeling tired and drained. Low-GI foods, however, break down into glucose over a longer period, resulting in a slow rise and fall of blood glucose levels and stable energy levels. An additional benefit is making you feel fuller for longer. There are a number of other factors that can affect GI, for example, ripened fruits have much higher GI than slightly under-ripe fruits as more fruit sugar is produced the more they ripen. Pasta is generally a low-GI food, however over cooking pasta increases the GI. Raw or boiled sweet potatoes tend to have a lower GI than baked ones because of how the starches gelatinise during cooking. Even low-GI fruits can be changed to high-GI when you grind to make juice.
Additionally, what you eat with carbohydrate food can also affect GI level.
Combining protein, healthy fats or dietary fibre as part of a meal can lower your GI level as all of these take longer to digest and slow the rate at which glucose reaches your bloodstream. For example, having high protein Greek yoghurt with fruit instead of fruit by itself will lower the overall GI.
However, not all lower GI foods are a healthy option. Please be mindful of certain foods such as chocolate, ice cream, chips. These foods are low GI as they contain fat, which is digested slower, however, this does not make them a healthy option as the saturated fat interferes with the body’s ability to use insulin and can worsen blood sugar regulation, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes as well as increase cholesterol levels.
GLYCAEMIC LOAD
Also choosing lower GI foods does not mean you can eat as much as you like because the amount you eat also affects your blood glucose levels. For example, even though pasta has a low GI, a large serving can still cause the blood glucose levels to rise more rapidly than a smaller serving. This is called Glycaemic Load (GL), which takes into consideration the amount of carbohydrate per serving size.
A glycaemic load value of 10 or less is considered low, 11–19 is considered medium, and 20 or more is considered high. It is recommended that you keep your daily GL under 100.
Both Glycaemic Index (GI) and Glycaemic Load (GL) are definitely worth taking into consideration when choosing healthier food options and managing your blood glucose level, yet these are not absolute numbers considering that each individual has a different rate of glucose processing as well as a different blood glucose response.
The most important variable in raising blood sugar is the total amount of carbohydrates consumed. Diabetes Australia recommends aiming for no more than 45% of total daily energy intake for type 2 diabetes, on average, this is around 225g of carbohydrates per day, however this will again differ depending on your total energy needs e.g. a smaller female will require less than a large male or if you are highly active you may require more. Examples of major carbohydrate-containing foods and appropriate portion sizes are shown below.
TYPE OF CARBOHYDRATES AND PORTION SIZE
Choose whole-grain varieties, such as multigrain bread or rice, wherever possible to make sure you get long lasting energy and plenty of fibre, and lower GI.1)
A serve of grain foods is equal to:
● 1 slice of bread or ½ a bread roll
● 1/3 cup or cooked rice
● 1/2 cup of cooked pasta
● 2/3 cup of breakfast cereal (depending on added sugar and fruit content)
Fruit provides many important nutrients and is packed with fibre, but still contains carbohydrates and fruit sugars, so it is recommended to eat 2 serves of fruit a day. 2)
● 1 medium apple, pear, banana or orange
● 2 small apricots, plums or kiwi fruits
● 3/4 cup of cut up fruit e.g., pineapple, rockmelon
● 4 dried apricots or 1 ½ tablespoons of sultanas
Dairy foods such as milk, yoghurt and cheese are an important source of calcium and protein. Most adults are recommended to eat either 2 or 2 ½ serves of dairy each day. For good health try to choose low fat or skim varieties of milk, yoghurt and cheese.3)
● 1 cup of milk (250ml)
● 2 slices of cheese (40g)
● 200g tub of yoghurt
● ½ cup evaporated milk
For further information on the GI/GL index and carbohydrate(g) per serve for any ingredients, please use the free tool Search the GI database from University of Sydney Research which also factors in the type of cooking and preparation methods.
Reference:
1),2),3) -https://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/living-with-diabetes/healthy-eating/ Diabetes Australia