Nutrition - Glycaemic Index

Nutrition Blog:

I am going to be adding more topics to my blog page. Initially, I will be focusing on the topic of nutrition.

Glycaemic Index
Glycaemic index is the way we measure the amount of sugar in the food we eat.

This is important to understand, so that we can make informed choices about our diet, to help us reach and maintain better health.
This is one of the most important tools in helping to prevent or manage type 2 diabetes.

The reason for this involves our bodies hormonal systems. When we eat a lot of food high in sugar or simple carbohydrates that break down quickly in our system, our blood is flooded with a higher level of glucose. (sugar)

This gives a quick release of energy, but also frequently causes a dip in our blood glucose later in the day. This is very common around lunch when around an hour or so after eating, you find yourself feeling tired, lethargic or drained.

This becomes important over the long term, because the more we eat foods very high in sugar, the more we raise the insulin level in our blood.

This raises our bodies resistance to insulin, which causes our body to produce higher levels of insulin. This is very problematic, as anyone with diabetes type 2 will have to increase their medication over time to compensate for the growing insulin resistance.
For type 1 diabetics, this becomes even more dangerous, as they have to raise the amount of insulin they inject.

If you have diabetes, either type 1 or 2, then reading more and learning about Glycaemic Index will be a very powerful tool to help you understand how you can take more control over your condition and begin to get your health to a better level.
I will include a link here to the British Diabetic NGO, Diabetes.org.uk for anyone interested in further reading, they have fantastic resources and can be a very valuable tool for anyone looking to manage their condition better and learn more and is a great resource I signpost my clients to.

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/

High levels of glucose may not sound dangerous, but for type 1 diabetics can be life threatening and needs to be monitored carefully. When I see clients who have type 1, they always struggle to lose weight, despite often working very hard in their physical exercise programmes.

This is because of the high levels of insulin in their blood. Losing weight with a high level of insulin is almost impossible, because the job of insulin is to help our body to store away the energy from the food we eat.

This goes back to humanity’s beginnings as hunter gathering nomadic tribes. Food was a scarce resource, so our bodies learned to hold on to the energy from whatever food we could find. This was a very useful adaptation when we lived in such conditions, but now, with the benefit of modern agriculture and supermarkets, food is no longer a scare resource in the developed world.

This is a wonderful thing, but our bodies are still hard wired to the evolutionary responses that created these systems within us.
We are also hard wired to enjoy foods high in fat, sugar and salt, precisely for these evolutionary reasons.

If after meals, you find your energy levels drop, usually around 30-60 minutes after eating, this is where you may be choosing foods that are not slow releasing carbohydrates, this will cause fluctuations in your energy levels, as a result of the food you ate being absorbed too quickly as your blood stream becomes flooded with glucose, this causes your body to release a massive dose on insulin to control the excess glucose in your blood.

The resulting drop in your blood glucose level is why you will feel tired, listless and lethargic.
Choosing slower releasing carbohydrates will drastically help this, as a slower rate of release, will give you more sustained energy levels throughout your day.

This is very common if the food we chose or had access to was heavily processed, high in refined sugars and carbohydrates.
In addition to this, processed foods contain high levels of fat, sugar and salt, all of which can be damaging to our health over the long term.

This is where you will often hear good advice, that as often as possible, to avoid man made, processed foods and prepare food from scratch.
Making these choices will help you to maintain and build your health for your long term so you can enjoy your health and life with more energy and vitality.

The next factor to consider is Glycaemic Load.
Glycaemic load is very important because it can affect the Glycaemic Index of food, because of the nature of the food.
This typically is due to the fibre of the food, slowing down the absorption of the glucose and also the amount of protein, which also slows the release of carbohydrates, which overall, lowers the glycaemic index of the food.

This is why you do not see meat or foods very high in protein listed in Glycaemic Index charts, because foods high in protein can drastically offset the release of glucose into the blood stream.

This is why many people who try moving to a vegetarian or vegan diet often gain weight, because foods low in protein are always higher in sugar and release quicker into the blood stream.

This is important to understand, as many people turn to vegetarian and vegan diets, or combining vegetarian and vegan diets, understanding the content of the food and if it contains enough protein to offset the sugar from the carbohydrates, as well checking the added salts, sugars and additives placed in the food to make informed choices as to what is right for you and will help you maintain a healthy diet and body.

I always recommend reading further and checking scientifically and medically peer reviewed evidence in order to get the best information and importantly, the right information for you, your lifestyle and your body.