I never ever knew about this Glycemic stuff untill recently. And i must say i am as confused as hell!!! The way i understand it is that Carbohydrates high in Glycemic contents promote fat storage as a result of insulin levels going up. What cofuses me is how can a carrot raise your insulin levels more than honey? It makes no sense at all. In fact carrots have one of the highest glycemic contents of ALL foods!!! WTF???
Since finding out about this i have ditched mango’s and bananas except immediately after weight trainning. The rest of the day i eat low glycemic carbs like apples, pears and peaches.
But my biggest concern is i have no idea where oatmeal and BAKED sweet potatoes fit into all of this? I THINK oatmeal is average and so are sweet potatoes, but i have also heard that when they are baked their Glycemic contents goes through the roof. Is this true? This morning i didnt have oatmeal, instead i ate apples, peaches, pears and cottage cheese LMAO!!! I want to reduce body fat and still be gaining muscle so i dont want to do anything to screw that up. Even though this has got me confused i really think that this is the way of the future in terms of dieting, bodybuilders probably knew about this years ago but i think the average person will really benefit from this low glcemic stuff because i dont think many people know about this yet…
Just don’t forget that GI mainly applies to foods eaten by themselves. Add some fat and protein and it’s not that much of a problem. I still avoid white bread though. What a useless food! Also type in “glyceic index” at t-mag. You’ll find lots of info with their search engine.
The Glycemic Index is a scale that measures the rate at which blood sugar levels are raised after ingesting carbohydrates. The standard used is white bread, which has a high GI of 100. The higher the GI, the faster the glucose from the carbs gets to the bloodstream. If it gets there fast the pancrease secretes insulin to transport the glucose 1st the the liver, then muscles and finally in adipose cells as triglycerides(you get fat). If insulin levels are high it’s impossible to burn fat. Low GI foods enter the bloodstream slowly, giving a low insulin response. Blood sugar levels raise slowly so the glucose is more easily managed. Less insulin released, more stable energy levels, and a much less likely chance of the glucose getting stored as fat, rather the excess will be burned. Oatmeal has a GI of 87 and Sweet Potato’s 77. Go to mendosa’s website and there’s a complete listing of the Glycemic Index for free. There’s also a book, the Glucose Revolution that’s supposed to be great. Be careful where you get information from on the net though b/c like I said, Sweet Potato’s are supposedly 77 but I read elsewhere that they’re only 55. Like mentioned earlier combine carbs with protein and fat and the GI lowers. Most important no processed foods, no crackers, like TC once said that if you can buy it in a box or bag, don’t buy it at all. Processed foods have usually been broken down and combined back together, making their GI’s through the roof. Same reason why Poliquin says full fat ice-cream over fat free scams, b/c of the sugar and GI. Check out A WEEK IN THE ZONE. Just got the book, heard great things about the Zone for bodybuilders and fat loss. In the book he only allows low-GI foods that are lowered further with the higher levels of protein and fat. Been following it with great results.
Don’t over obsess about the Glycemic Index.
Remember this,
Only when glycogen stores are full is when carbs will be stored as fat.
Don’t eat all your carbs from fruits, you will keep liver glycogen full , but your muscles will suffer
Always eat in balance protein and carbs eatin together.
Don’t eat, the really bad stuff, ie pasta, bread bagels etc.
As far as burning fat try not to have high insulin levels during exercise because your body will burn the carbs for fuel, Ie gatorade.
Lastly your body will adapt to either low or higher Insulin levels in the long run, so its better to eat some carbs , yams, oats, etc and learn to burn fat eating them.
Flex69, thats what i mean on one site a food is 80 and on another its 50. With mendosa’s web site why are there 2 numbers? The left side is always higher than the numbers on the right side, why is that?
Flex69 you said that Oatmeal is 87 but i read on one site it is about 50!!! Why dont they make up their minds.LOL.
There are two columns on Mendosa’s site because one scale is based on white bread=100 and the other one is based on glucose=100. Note that white bread is about 70 on the glucose scale and glucose is about 140 on the white bread scale.
By the way, the latest I’ve read says that pasta is not that bad, especially if it is al dente. Also, pastas that are extruded at high pressure, like spaghetti and linguine tend to be lower in GI. I think pasta is about 50 on the glucose scale (or about 70 on the white bread scale).
By the way, the high GI reported for carrots is based on cooked carrots. Raw carrots are about 35 on the glucose scale.
Hey guys. I have the Glucose Revolution book and it is truly awesome. Not only do you have a good list of GI’s but it gets into the technical aspects as well as other tips to keep the glycemic level of your meals low such as eating a salad w. vinegar or lemon juice and olive oil (lowers as much as 20-30%). I disagree that pasta is bad-if you check the GI’s most of them are quite low, but the problem with it is most people overconsume it. Your average plate of pasta w. meat sauce can contain around 700+ calories, and few people only consume one plate. Try fettucine (GI around 30) or my personal fave, pearled barley in place of spaghetti. Very low GI and high fiber, plus put some spag sauce and lean gr. beef w. it and you’ll never go back to reg. spaghetti again. The book also recommends an Indian dish called chana dal-I think it’s some type of legume that has a GI of only 8. Supposed to be good, but I haven’t tried it. The late Dan Duchaine had a good article in what I’ll refer to as “that other mag” about four years ago called “Constantly Craving” that is about the glycemic index. I think the Zone is an excellent diet plan but disagree w. the esteemed Dr. Sears that flax oil should not be consumed, something about bad eiconasoids or something. The calorie level seems to be too low, which Duchaine also agreed on, but there’s some good studies to back it up.