jen's everyday blog

Dietary requirements are never simple

Although the glycemic index sounds like a good step beyond simply dividing carbohydrates into simple and complex carbohydrates, according to this article the concept of GI is, itself, too simple, for various reasons. I think the best point to take away from the article is not that the GI isn’t useful, but simply that the body’s response to food is very complex. You need to consider more than just one variable. In this case, eating protein causes the body to increase its levels of insulin, which means it removes the sugar in the blood quickly, which in turn means that eating a high protien food with lots of quickly broken down carbohydrates might result in a lower blood sugar level than eating a low protein food containing carbohydrates that get broken down more slowly. However, this doesn’t necessarily change the general conclusion that eating low GI as opposed to high GI foods will, on average, keep your blood sugar levels at more consistent levels.

posted at 17:20 on Thu, 10 Mar, 2005 | path: /living



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