Glycemic Diets Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-28-2022

Dieting needn’t mean you have to resort to bland food or strange food combinations. The glycemic load diet is a low-carb diet plan that makes healthy eating easier than it has ever been.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-23-2022

Following a low-glycemic diet for weight loss isn't about deprivation; it's about making better choices and swapping high-glycemic foods for ones that have a lower glycemic index or glycemic load. Once you get the hang of figuring out which foods are the best choices, you can easily shop, cook, and snack the low-glycemic way.

Article / Updated 02-25-2020

Chicken Salad is a great low glycemic lunch or dinner that you can pair with a tossed green salad, a slice of sourdough bread or some rye crackers. Prepare it ahead and have it ready for lunch the next couple of days! Preparation time: 15 minutes Yield: 4 servings 3/4 cup finely chopped celery 1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise 1/4 cup low-fat plain yogurt 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon lemon zest 3 cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes 1 green apple, cored and cut into 1-inch chunks Salt and ground black pepper to taste Mix the celery, mayonnaise, yogurt, green onions, tarragon, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a large bowl to blend. Stir the 1/2-inch chicken cubes and 1-inch apple chunks into the mayonnaise mixture. Season with the salt and pepper. Per serving: Calories 240 (From Fat 46); Glycemic Load 1 (Low); Fat 5g (Saturated 1g); Cholesterol 91mg; Sodium 250mg; Carbohydrate 13g (Dietary Fiber 2g); Protein 34g.

Step by Step / Updated 02-25-2020

The glycemic index and glycemic load are all about choosing carbohydrate-containing foods wisely and putting them to work for you. These recipes are a good start to eating the low-glycemic way, which results in weight loss, more energy, and better health!

Step by Step / Updated 03-10-2017

Selecting low-glycemic foods rather than high-glycemic ones is always a good tactic for weight loss. As you begin to make some changes it can feel overwhelming, but your best bet is to take just a few steps forward by making small changes.

Step by Step / Updated 03-27-2016

Plenty of myths are floating around about the glycemic index these days. It seems like just about everyone knows something about it and is happy to tell you which foods to eat as well as which high-glycemic foods to avoid. The truth is that measuring the glycemic effect of foods is a highly precise and scientific process that requires specific testing.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Having some handy tips and pointers when trying to lower your glycaemic load means that you need never get it wrong. Here’s a helpful list of things to remember. Eat small or moderate portions of starchy foods such as bread, potatoes, pasta, and rice. Include lots of low-GL fruit and vegetables at every meal. Aim for a minimum of five servings of fruit and veg per day. Lightly cook veggies for the minimum time or eat them raw. Fresh, frozen, or canned fruit and veg are all fine. Make more of pulses including peas, beans, and lentils in soups, salads, and as a meal accompaniment instead of pasta or rice. Pulses, including dried or canned, count towards your five-a-day fruit and veg. Always include a protein-rich food as part of your meal to reduce the GL. Chose from lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, low-fat dairy foods, soya products, or quorn. Adding acidic foods such as balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, vinaigrette, or pickles (for example, capers and gherkins) to your meal reduces the overall GL. Adding a little monounsaturated oil such as olive or rapeseed oil, or a little Parmesan cheese or reduced-fat cream to recipes also reduces the GL. Cut right down on highly refined snack foods such as sweets, crisps or corn chips, cakes, biscuits, and pastries made from white flour and sugar. Instead, choose nuts and seeds, or dried fruits such as apple rings or apricots. Instead of milk chocolate, snack on a couple of squares of dark chocolate with over 70 per cent cocoa solids.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Good news: on the glycaemic load diet, you can indulge in hundreds of beautiful, scrumptious fruits and veggies. Check out this guide to what’s in season when. Fruits Vegetables Spring Rhubarb, grapes, limes, passion fruit, sharon fruit, lemons, grapefruit, avocados Leeks, cabbage, watercress, new potatoes, spinach, aubergines, radishes, rocket, spring greens Summer Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, cherries, nectarines, melons Asparagus, baby carrots, fresh peas, tomatoes, runner beans, lettuce, cucumber, courgettes, peppers mange tout Autumn Blackberries, apples pears, gooseberries, damsons, plums, elderberries, greengages, plums Pumpkin, onions, fennel, wild mushrooms, squash, turnips, red cabbage, celeriac, swede Winter Satsumas, clementines, cranberries, mandarins, tangerines, pears, pomegranates Brussels sprouts, chicory, cauliflower, kale, celery, mushrooms, purple sprouting broccoli

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Use this table to find out which starchy foods to avoid, and discover tasty low-GL alternatives. Keep it handy, so you’re never left wondering if you’ve made the right choices! Starchy staples Low GL High GL Bread Pumpernickel, rye, sourdough, soya and linseed, barley and sunflower, granary, seeded breads and pitta breads (moderate GL) oat cakes, rye crackers (moderate GL) White, wholemeal, French stick, rice cakes, cream crackers, bread sticks Cereal Whole oats, oatmeal, porridge, no added sugar muesli, bran sticks, semolina, quinoa Sweetened cereals, rice based cereals, bran flakes, wheat biscuits, shredded wheat Pasta Egg-based pasta, mungbean noodles Overcooked pasta and pasta ready meals requiring re-heating Rice Long grain, wild, and basmati rice. Bulgur or cracked wheat, couscous, pearl barley Short grain, sticky white rice Potatoes Baby new potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, celeriac, swede Large floury white potatoes, French fries, mashed potato

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Carbohydrates are a big topic in the world of weight loss and a glycemic index diet. Numerous diets call for modifying your carbohydrate intake in some way. The problem is, not all carbs are created equal, so you can't treat them equally. You've probably heard or read about simple versus complex carbohydrates, fiber content, white versus whole grain, and so on. Throw in the glycemic index and figuring out what you’re supposed to focus on for your health gets really confusing! But it doesn't have to be that way. Yes, when considering carbs, you need to look at many factors, including the glycemic index, nutrients, and fiber. However, simple guidelines are available that can help you make the best choices for your health — and for successful weight loss. To better distinguish carbohydrates that can help your diet from those that can harm it, you should really know a little basic info about carbs in general. Carbohydrates are your body's major fuel source. They all break down into blood glucose, but they react differently in your body depending on their type. Carbs come in two varieties: Simple carbohydrates, which contain one or two sugar units Complex carbohydrates, which contain multiple sugar units In the past, scientists thought that simple carbohydrates raised blood glucose levels quicker than complex carbohydrates because of the length of the sugar units. However, the latest discoveries with the glycemic index show that all carbohydrates, simple and complex, vary greatly in regard to their blood sugar response. The glycemic index actually simplifies that technical mumbo jumbo a bit. Instead of focusing on complex versus simple carbs to find your best food choices for weight loss, you can focus on choosing low-glycemic foods that have a high nutrient content. Low-glycemic foods are therefore the new "friendly" carbs, and high-glycemic foods are the new "foes." Most people think of sugar, sweets, or white flour as simple carbohydrates that make for unhealthy choices. However, the issue isn't quite that black and white. Consider the case of white flour. Often mistakenly lumped in the simple-sugars category, white flour is actually a complex carbohydrate, and complex carbs are typically labeled as "good carbs." So not all complex carbs are necessarily the healthiest choices. White flour is an example of a high-glycemic "foe," spiking the blood sugar much higher and faster than its whole-wheat counterpart (a low-glycemic "friendly" carb). You can't tell what food is friend or foe just by looking. Instead, the food must undergo scientific testing to determine how it responds in the body.