I wonder if, in your personal experience or any literature you’ve come across, anyone has found an advantage to consuming low-GI carbs with mid-Gi carbs? Of course, there is the effect of lowering the glycemix index of the meal as a whole, but is there an additional effect of decreasing a blood sugar or insulin SPIKE? Does it provide the body with a “tapering down” that would positively impact a person’s leanness or (in the long-term)insulin sensitivity?
I’d use protein and/or fiber to lower your insulin response, rather than simply adding more carbs.
The plural of index, btw, is ‘indices’.
Hi, Brian. I find tracking total carbs to be more important (to me) than tracking the glycemic or insulin indices. But let me qualify that, I don’t eat processed carbs or sugar as a general rule. And I tend to limit fruit for other reasons.
The only time I intentionally spike insulin is post workout. I take Surge, and I want those amino acids and glycogen being shuttled into the muscles as quickly as possible. Surge does the job beautifully. Other than that, I try NOT to spike insulin.
However, I think you’re on to something, here. If you were to do low carbs – I do – I would suspect that you would carb load one or two days a week. If that were the case, that would be the perfect time to include some not-so-good carbs in with your “better” carbs. In fact, even if you DIDN’T do low carbs, taking in the majority of quality carbs (say, your green veggie type carbs) along with some (a lesser amount, ideally) higher-glycemic-index carbs would allow for some quality of life, yet minimize the damage.
Rob Faigin discusses this topic in “Natural Hormonal Enhancement.”
I follow a similar eating routine with low glycemic carbs during the week. Most come from whole grain bread, oatmeal, dried mixed berries (very low for a fruit), whole wheat tortillas, long grain brown rice,and whole grain “durum” pasta. THose are probably the only type of carbs I eat during the week, and I usually have from 200g to 250g a day, usually floating around the 225g range. Then on saturday I have a cheat meal. Sunday I have another but I also include the not so good carbs on this day. works great, this is actually what I do during cutting phases. I can tolerate high amounts of carbs and not gain a pound. So reducing them to 200g is a drastic change for me.
Well, my experience is that when I combine legumes and starches, I don’t “feel” the blood sugar spike as dramatically. In fact, sometimes I feel it less than when I eat oatmeal alone. I don’t get the same effect when I use vinegar to lower the GI of a starchy meal. I’m not sure how this might assist leaness, except by promoting a more proper insulin response to the next meal.