Low glycaemic index foods (1)

BY OLUFUNKE

On a Sunday morning, years ago, while I was about to enter the church, my eyes caught a person displaying hot snacks. With the speed of light, I ran into the church so that I would not be tempted to buy those snacks.

Bread is one food I do not want to eat anymore. Presently, a bread bakery is just two houses from my residence! As you all know nothing is more tempting like the aroma of freshly baked bread, so, daily, I struggle not to be tempted to eat it.

This time, there is nowhere to run to like the other time I saw freshly made snacks. As we proceed, I will let you know why I am running away from bread consumption.

This week, I would like to talk about how foods affect our blood sugar. Although the emphasis is going to be on foods that raise blood sugar slowly, I will let you know the ones that cause high blood sugar spikes too. We will be exposed to some terminologies but I promise to simplify them for proper understanding.

Carbohydrates are an essential part of a healthy diet. When you eat any type of carb, your digestive system breaks it down into simple sugars that enter the bloodstream. Not all carbs are the same, as different types have unique effects on blood sugar.

The glycaemic index (GI) which was created in the early 1980s by Dr. David Jenkins, a Canadian professor is a classification system that ranks carbohydrate-rich foods according to their impact on blood sugar levels. The GI gives an estimation of how quickly a food is digested and absorbed into the bloodstream.

It (GI) ranks foods on a scale of 0-100. Low-GI foods score less than 55, moderate GI foods score between 56-69 and high-GI foods score 70 or greater. For example, Glucose or pure sugar has a GI of 100 while foods that contain zero carbohydrates have a GI of 0. The higher a food’s GI, the greater its impact on blood sugar.

Foods with a low GI value are the preferred choice. They are slowly digested and absorbed, causing a slower and smaller rise in blood sugar levels. On the other hand, foods with a high GI are quickly digested and absorbed, resulting in a rapid rise in blood sugar levels.

“The glycaemic index is a value that is given to a food based on how quickly or slowly that particular food will increase blood sugar levels,” says Alix Turoff, R.D., a nutritionist and certified personal trainer with a virtual private practice.