Carbs, the Glycaemic Index and the Glycaemic Load.

The Stress-free diet – Carbs, Glycaemic Index

and Glycaemic Load.

Diabetics and people with other medical conditions should only follow dietary advice from their own doctor or NHS specialist dietician.

There have been many diets which have recommended reducing carbohydrates, or 'carbs', to some degree. Government agencies still recommend just avoiding carbs like white bread, white rice, and anything containing 'added' sugar, but some diets have recommended more drastic cuts in carbohydrate consumption - even excluding wholegrain cereals. Unsurprisingly, many people decided that if low-carb was a good way to lose weight, then no-carbs was better - although it isn't!

Authors of low-carb diets often refer to research which indicates that low-fat diets don't work, but, of course, a person won't lose weight on a low-fat diet if they're still eating an excessive amount of carbs (whether starchy or sugary). This website doesn't recommend a low-fat diet anyway - it recommends eating a normal amount of fat. People who are overweight are likely to be eating an above normal amount of fat, so logically, they will lose weight if they start to eat a normal amount of fat.

Low-carb diet products are expensive, and often contain polyols, which are hydrogenated carbohydrates used as artificial sweetners (sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol, xylitol, isomalt) which can have a laxative effect. Ready-made low-carb diet products may also have a high fat content. This website recommends consuming a moderate amount of ordinary foods containing carbohydrates - it's a lot cheaper, and less stressful, as you don't have to order special low-carb foods from websites.

From reading diet blogs, there seems to be a lot of people who don't even eat the expensive low-carb products, but try not to eat any carbs at all - and then end-up eating a large slice of cake or something. It's better to include a moderate amount of starchy carbs in the diet, for the health benefits, and to avoid cravings for cake, chocolate, etc.

Another way of restricting carbohydrate intake is based on the Glycaemic Index. Scientists and researchers found that the carbohydrates in different foods have different effects on blood-sugar levels. The carbohydrates in some foods cause blood-sugar levels to rise steeply and rapidly, and then fall sharply, but other carbohydrates cause a more gradual rise and fall in blood-sugar levels. Sharp falls in blood-sugar tend to result in quite extreme feelings of hunger, which often lead people to choosing something to eat or drink which they know will make them feel better quickly, e.g. chocolate or a soft drink. Scientists gave each food that they tested a Glycaemic Index (GI) number, to indicate what its effect on blood-sugar is - pure glucose is given a GI of 100 because, as you would guess, it causes the steepest rise and fall in blood-sugar levels. However, lists which give the GI of foods usually group the foods into categories, i.e. foods with a GI of less than 55 are included in the 'low' category; foods with a GI of between 55-70 are in the 'medium' category; and foods with a GI greater than 70 are 'high'. Some GI lists colour-code the groups as high=red, medium=amber, and low=green.

The problem with just referring to the GI of a food is that the GI can change, depending on how it's processed (e.g. stoneground wholemeal flour has a lower GI than finely milled), how it's cooked (e.g. pasta cooked al dente has a lower GI than soft-to-soggy pasta), and the GI of one food changes when it's eaten with other foods. The GI of fruit also varies depending on it's ripeness, and even where it's grown. And, if that wasn't complicated enough, the GI relates only to the carbohydrate in a food, and many foods contain a lot of fibre or water as well, so, for example, watermelon has a high GI, but because it contains a lot of water, a typical wedge may contain only 10 grams of carbohydrate, but the GI of watermelon was tested on 50 grams, so you would have to actually eat 5 wedges for it to cause a steep rise in your blood sugar!

Therefore, to make the knowledge of GIs have some practical benefit, it had to take account of portion size as well, which is termed the Glycaemic Load (GL). There are now numerous books and websites which publish diets based on the GL, which include lists of foods and their GL for a specified portion size, and recipes which state the GL for the combined ingredients.

The point is though, that after all that research and devising the GI and GL, does it really tell us anything that we didn't already know about carbohydrates? We already knew that anything made with white flour and anything which contains a lot of 'added' sugar should be avoided, and most of us will have experienced that 'sinking' feeling if we eat too much 'stodgy' carbohydrate, such as a big pile of mashed potato or rice, which would make us sleepy and bloated - and then starving hungry again not much later. The simple answer is moderation! Before you rush-off to buy a GL diet book, or start paying subscriptions to a GL diet website, you should consider the following:

· You cannot lose weight purely by considering what to eat based on the GL - you still have to be aware of how much fat you're eating.

· You still have to eat a wide range of fruits and vegetables, or else you won't get enough nutrients.

· You still have to monitor your salt and alcohol intake.

· If you don't like eating vegetables which are high in fibre, and you stop eating foods made with wholegrains, then you will probably become constipated.

· If you stop eating all foods with a medium or high GL, then you're diet may become rather boring and stressful.

· If you stop eating foods with a medium or high GL then you will be missing-out on the nutrients that they contain, and your diet will be 'un-balanced'.

· Basically, you still have to eat a balanced diet!

The traditional food 'pyramid' and the UK Food Standard Agency's 'eatwell plate' still illustrates that the largest proportion of the diet should be starchy carbohydrates, but the GL 'pyramid' shows the greater proportion of the diet being made-up of fruit and vegetables. However, most people were never able to relate their daily diet to a food 'pyramid' anyway! The Guidelines and meal suggestions on this website recommend that the proportion of 'coloured' vegetables with a meal should be increased, and the proportion of starchy food should be reduced - but not permanently removed, for the reasons bullet-pointed above.

This website has been reviewed by a DMOZ editor, and is included in the DMOZ Directory. Because DMOZ only accepts good quality websites, Google includes DMOZ entries in its own Directory.

· Introduction - follow a balanced diet for weight-loss

· Guidelines - balanced diet

· Guidelines - fat

· Guidelines - sugar

· Guidelines - salt

· Guidelines - alcohol

· Food labels

· Breakfasts and mid-morning snack suggestions

· Lunch and mid-afternoon snack suggestions

· Evening meal and supper suggestions

· Eating out, special occasions, and holidays

· Morale, motivation, and stress