1 November 2006

GI News—November 2006

[NOVEMBER COLLAGE]

In This Issue:

  • Food For Thought
    —The lowdown on reducing the GI of your diet
  • GI News Briefs
    —What’s best for baby?
    —Eat to beat acne
    —Acne and hormones
  • Low GI Food of the Month
    —Fill up not out with low GI lentils
  • Low GI Recipes of the Month
    —Poached peaches with vanilla yoghurt and marinated raspberries
    —GI Express: Asparagus and corn omelette
  • Success Story
    —‘I am so pleased with the results of a low GI diet I want to share my experience.’
  • What's New?
    Shopper’s Guide to GI Values 2007, new editions for the US and ANZ
  • Feedback—Your FAQs Answered
    1. Is there a way I can change a bad carb like potatoes into a good carb?
    2. Should I use the GI or GL when planning meals?
    3. I recently became a diabetic and was given a very brief course in nutrition to help me manage my glucose levels – without much success. Which of your books would help me?
    4. Can I estimate a food’s GI by looking at the ingredient listing or nutrition label?
    5. Have you done a study on winter squashes (pumpkins)?
  • GI Values Update
    —Many of the products in GI Values Update are not available in the USA. Why’s that?
    —The latest GI values from SUGiRS
[NOVEMBER QUOTE]

The publishers of the New Glucose Revolution series, Hachette Livre Australia, Hodder Mobius UK and Marlowe & Company New York, have agreed to give away a copy of The Low GI Diet Cookbook to every 1000th subscriber from now on. To subscribe, just click on 'SUBSCRIBE' at the top of the right-hand column. Every 1000th subscriber receives a complimentary copy of The Low GI Diet Cookbook. Books for subscribers 20,000 and 21,000 went to Dubai and Catasauqua, Pennsylvania respectively.

GI News Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web Design and Management: Scott Dickinson

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would like to know the gi of corn flour, corn chips(Just pure, oragnic corn chips), maize flour and tapioca flour. Also, if new potato medium-to low gi?
And is sweet corn's gi different with regular corn? Sweet corn seems to be medium-to-low gi. I am confused!

Anonymous said...

Just wish to say thank you for all the hard work you guys put into this. I think your current issue of the newsletter is possibly the best yet.

Thanks for all your hard work.

Anonymous said...

Finding GI values of various foods. You can find the GI values of foods that have been GI tested by an accredited laboratory at www.glycemicindex.com. Just click on 'database' in the menu. If you haven't used the database before, there's a step-by-step guide to finding values in the database in June 2006 GI News. The database is where you will find values for different varieties of potatoes, corn chips and sweet corn. (Sweet corn and corn are just different names for the same grain - we prefer to use sweet corn. And it is low GI.) None of the flours you mention have been GI tested alone, although products using them may have been. We hope you enjoy exploring the database. There's also a Shopper's Guide to GI Values if you prefer to have the information in book form. The latest edition is reviwed in this month's GI News.

Anonymous said...

well I am now very confused...
So is corn low gi?
Then how about cornmeal? Would the baked, whole corn chips be low gi too?

hermin said...

hi there - what made you confused with the sweet corn being low GI - is that because sweet corn tastes sweet & corn is rich in carbs? if thats the case:

1. low GI is not the same as low carb, but "SLOW" carb. so high carb food can have a low GI if its digested & absorbed slowly (even if it's sweet - and sweet foods usually contain fructose which doesnt raise blood glucose so much, so it's a bit low in GI). also sweet corn has lots of fibre in it which makes the digestion slower & keep you full for longer.

hope this helps - by the way, GI Group, i've got a question for you - how would you explain this "contradiction": both wholemeal bread & sweet corn contain lots of insoluble fibre but the GI of wholemeal bread tends to be high while sweet corn's GI is relatively low. why do you think this happens? thanks! :)

Anonymous said...

Hermin, that's easy. In the sweet corn, nature's original architecture is still intact - the fibre is part of a barrier or shield (like a helmut!) that keeps the enzymes and the starch apart for as long as possible. In wholemeal bread, the fibre has been reduced to tiny, weeny little pieces that offer no barrier at all.

Anonymous said...

so, the whole-grain kernel corn chip will be low gi? And the stoneground cornmeal will be low gi too?
how about plain popcorn? It really makes me confused because all the values differ;
I'm planning to buy new potato and carrots, dates(I avoided carrots, dates because I thought they were high in gi but nowadays the gi result seems to be changing...)

Anonymous said...

1. Whole-grain kernel corn chips haven't been tested, but plain salted corn chips have and have a low GI. However they are also high in saturated fat (and sodium) which doesn't make them a healthy choice as a snack food except for an occasional treat.
2. Stoneground cornmeal hasn't been GI tested as far as we know. And people don't eat it as a food on its own, but use it in their baking. So the GI would depend on the other ingredients used in the recipe. Check out August 2006 GI News where we answered a question on starchy thickeners.
3. Carrots and carrot juice have a low GI. Crunch away. And check out December GI News come December 1 as we answer a question on this very subject in Feedback.
4. Dates and dried fruit are great snack foods. Just remember a serving is a small handful or about 30 grams/1 ounce.
5. Potatoes. Check out April 2006 Food for Thought for our thoughts on potatoes.

Good luck with your healthy eating plans. We do suggest you take a look at a copy of Low GI Eating Made Easy which includes the top 100 low GI foods plus ways to enjoy them in your diet.