The low GI diet has been quite popular in recent years and it could also become more recognizable in the weight loss industry. Low GI diet prevents blood sugar levels from rising too quickly, so our body won’t need to release more insulin. This could cause us to feel fuller and we will crave less snack. However, this could be true only to an extent. The low GI diet is designed for people with diabetes who need to control their blood sugar. It has become a path to health and offers us improvements in quicker weight loss. The GI rating determines how quickly our blood sugar level rises after we consume food. Obviously, consuming low GI food isn’t a bad idea, but it could still deprive us of some valuable food sources. As an example, potato is one of the best sources of carbohydrates, but it has relatively high GI.
It may actually sound rather ridiculous that a perfectly nutritious food is banned only because it has high GI. However, chocolate is known for its low GI, but consuming it can be rather risky, especially because chocolate is often mixed with sugar. Consuming chocolate is actually discouraged if we are not sure about other ingredients. On the other hand, fat, fiber and protein could bring down the GI rating. In this case, it could actually be acceptable to consume some potato at limited amount, if it is accompanies with veggies, chicken and olive oil. In this case, we could determine the GI level of our entire meal, instead of the individual ingredient. Chicken is rich in protein, veggies offer us enough fiber and olive oil is consisted of healthy meal, so we can compensate the high GI level of potato.
In essence, low GI diet encourages us to eat balanced food and we could have that if we add enough ingredients. On the other hand, even if we are not adopting a GI diet, eating only potatoes is also not advisable, because they lack some nutrients. For people with diabetes, this could result in high blood sugar and induce the production of more insulin. This could lead to more hunger and we will gain extra weight. We should also consume food with higher Satiety Index. The higher the SI number, the more filling it is. As an example, wholemeal bread has an SI index of 157, followed by white bread at 100, cakes at 65 and croissant at 47. Although they provide us with the same amount of calories, we will feel fuller longer when eating wholemeal bread. Satiety Index is often determined by the amount of dietary fiber in food. However, boiled potato actually has a whopping 323 points of satiety index, so it could still be incorporated at smaller amount in our meal.
It should be noted that insulin is actually a fat-storing hormone and it is also a nutrient-storing hormone. People who are diabetic can’t produce enough insulin and they need to regularly inject it.