Tag: glycemic index

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Managing Blood Sugar Levels

Diabetes is “the single biggest global health epidemic of our time” (Hyman, 2012, p. 7). It contributes to many other health problems including retinopathy, kidney disease, gastroparesis, neuropathy, heart disease, cancer, dementia, and more. Managing blood sugar is a key to avoiding diabetes and the health problems that accompany it.

Glycemic Index 

The glycemic index (GI) is a way of measuring how quickly foods raise blood sugar (Cohen, 2010). Foods that are more slowly digested raise the blood sugar slowly, while foods that are quickly digested raise the blood sugar more quickly. The higher the number on the GI, the more that blood sugar will be increased. For those with Diabetes, managing blood sugar is key to managing Diabetes.

Glycemic Load

Glycemic load takes the glycemic index of the food and couples that information with the amount of that food, giving a more accurate prediction of how the blood sugar will respond. Glycemic load is considered to be a better tool when deciding what foods one should eat to manage blood sugar.

Glycemic Load and Glycemic Index

Food Serving Glycemic Load Glycemic Index
White bread 1 slice 10 70
Corn flakes 1 cup 21 81
Spelt Bread 1 slice 12 63
Rye Bread 1 slice 5 41
White rice 1 cup 23 64
Brown rice 1 cup 18 55
Baked Potato 1 medium 18 60
Sweet Potato 1 medium 11 25
Shredded Wheat 1 cup 17 83
Skim Milk 8 oz. 4 32
Oatmeal 1 cup 15 55
Banana 1 medium 11 42
Carrots, raw 3 oz. 1 16
Cashews 1 oz. 2 22
Lentils 1 cup 5 29
Pearl Barley 1 cup 11 25
Spaghetti 1 cup 23 48
Apple 1 medium 6 38
Orange 1 medium 5 42
Sucrose 2 tsp. 7 68

References:

Bauman, E. & Friedlander, J. (2014). Therapeutic Nutrition. Penngrove, CA: Bauman College.Bauman, E. (4/10/15). Personal Communication
Cohen, S. (2010). Diabetes without Drugs. Emmaus, PA: Rodale, Inc.Hyman, M. (2012). The Blood Sugar Solution. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
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The 52 New Foods Challenge – Sweet Potatoes

Food of the Week: Sweet Potatoes

I love sweet potatoes, but I haven’t alway loved them. I remember the first sweet potato French fry that I had back in 2003 in Monterey. I hated them. Now, I could each them nearly every day. One of my favorite recipes for sweet potatoes is for savory sweet potato cakes from Mediterranean Paleo Cooking. This is a great recipe. We usually just bake them and add plenty of Kerrygold butter (grass-fed). Jennifer Tyler Lee recommends mashed sweet potatoes or crispy sweet potato fries. Yum!

Food Facts:

NCI5_POTATO

  • Sweet potatoes belong to the morning glory family and are not at all related to potatoes (nightshade family).
  • They are native to Central America/northern South America. Colobus brought sweet potatoes back to Spain with him, but those original sweet potatoes were similar to carrots, not like our modern sweet potatoes.
  • Their glycemic index is 45 (sugar is 100). The glycemic index of potatoes by comparison is 75-100. The glycemic index is a measurement of how much a food raises the blood sugar.
  • They are rich source of antioxidants, especially the carotenes.
  • In the supermarket, most yams are simply marked as yams, but are truly just another variety of sweet potatoes. True yams are hardly ever sold in the United States.
  • If you’re looking to grow a very nutrient dense variety of sweet potato, opt for the Carolina Ruby.
  • Do not store uncooked sweet potatoes in the fridge.
  • Boiling sweet potatoes reduces their antioxidant value, while steaming, roasting, or baking does not.
  • The skin is more nutritious than the flesh.
  • Good source of vitamins C, B2, B6, and manganese, copper, biotin, and pantothenic acid.
  • Good source of fiber.
  • In animal studies, they have been shown to help stabilize blood sugar levels.

From: The 52 New Foods Challenge by Jennifer Tyler Lee, Encyclopedia of Healing Foods by Michael Murray, Joseph Pizzorno, and Lara Pizzorno, and Eating on the Wild Side by Jo Robinson.