Making a real meal deal of it
If you asked your Mum or Dad or grandparents what’s a meal or what’s for dinner, they’d probably say something like meat and three veg one of which would be potato – and here in Australia the other two might be carrots and peas/beans/broccoli. Life’s not like that any more. ‘Meal’ and ‘dinner’ are pretty meaningless terms and seem to cover anything from a choosing a variety of tapas-style sharing plates to virtually veg-free zones.
For example, a meal in a Sydney steakhouse might be a 650g Angus rib on bone served with red wine jus and your choice of chips, baked potato or mash. Salads or seasonal greens are extra. For family fare, there’s the ‘KFC Mega Meal’ which is (in Australia): ‘12 pieces of Original Chicken Recipe, 1 Maxi Popcorn Chicken or 12 Kentucky Nuggets, 2 Large Chips, 1 Large Potato & Gravy, 1 Large Coleslaw and a 1 Large Drink.’
What we are eating is clearly part of the cause for our expanding waistlines. Looking for a culprit, the food police and pollies found one: fast food chains. And a solution (closing them down not being an option): nutritional labelling so we can make more informed choices. Since February this year all major fast food chains in NSW Australia must display the kilojoule (calorie) counts of their food with the same prominence as the price to help us make better choices. The question is: will we?
Nicole Senior took a look at nutritional labelling in fast food joints in the US last year and reported in GI News that: ‘New York City has a nutritional labelling program which came into full swing in 2009. While it’s too early to say it’s been a flop, initial results have been disappointing. A study by New York University compared fast food purchases in New York City (with calorie counts on menus) and neighbouring Newark (without) and found there was no difference between calorie content of what customers bought in stores with calorie counts compared to those without calorie counts. This, despite the fact that 28% of NY customers said calorie counts had influenced them to order better: a classic case of saying one thing and doing another.’
Wiser heads than ours are probably pondering the whys and wherefores of consumer behaviour. But could it be that we eat food not nutrients. And that throwing numbers at us with nutritional labelling doesn’t give our brains the sort of information they are wired to use to help us make better choices picking a meal in a restaurant, food hall or fast food chain. After all, we didn't evolve eating by numbers. No-one was counting calories when the day's kill was brought back to the cave.
So here’s a thought. Why not go back to basics and make it a rule that every time a food company, restaurant, fast food chain, recipe writer, food stylist etc. tells us that what they are offering is a ‘meal’ or a ‘dinner,’ that’s what it’s gotta be. And here’s where we can make use of those rather long-winded dietary guidelines. The 2010 American ones put it (almost) perfectly recommending Americans fill half their plates with fruits and vegetables at every meal. We’d just tweak that and say ‘non-starchy vegetables’. They go in the low GI carb corner.
‘Glycemic index may not affect appetite: Unilever study.’
The story was published in an online newsletter called ‘Food Navigator’ that’s widely read by the food industry and dietitians etc. We don’t know who wrote it, but it is misleading (to put it mildly) as we discovered when we asked Dr Alan Barclay to check it out. ‘First of all, the study wasn’t testing a solid food’ it was testing drinks and drinks on the whole are thought to be less satiating than solid foods,’ he said.
‘In summary,’ he says, ‘it is a poorly designed single study and it is not about GI. It is about glycemic response (not the same thing at all). There are numerous things wrong. Participants were fed between 22–24g carbohydrate for example while standard GI testing around the world (and there is an International Standard) uses 50g of available carbohydrate. In addition, they did not use glucose as a control, so the actual GI values of the test foods could not be calculated so we do not actually know if the various drinks were low, medium or high GI. Looking at the blood glucose response curves in their ‘Figure 1’ in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that differences between the GI of each test drink would be minimal, so it’s hardly surprising that they did not affect appetite.
There is level 1 evidence that low GI diets increase feelings of satiety and facilitate long term weight and body fat loss. A systematic literature review and meta-analysis of GI and appetite in 2009 found that low GI meals significantly increased feelings of satiety compared with high GI meals. (Here's the reference: Wati, P. GI and satiety. MND thesis. University of Sydney). Furthermore, the Thomas et al Cochrane review found that “Overweight and obese people lost more weight on low GI diets than on high GI or other weight reduction diets and their cardiovascular risk marker profile improved as well”.’
Two words not in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans …
‘Glycemic index.’ But we still think that the new guidelines are heading in the right direction. The notable difference between the US Dietary Guidelines (pretty much the same as guidelines around the world) and previous versions is their new recommendation to limit refined grains – not quite on par with statements like ‘reduce added sugars’. To match this statement they need to say something along the lines of ‘reduce added refined starches’. You can read the guidelines HERE.
Pulse power for gluten-free diets
Pulses or legumes are an important part of the healthy low GI way of eating for everybody. They are especially important if you are on a gluten-free diet as they provide much of the fibre and nutrients found in the gluten-containing grains that you can’t eat any more. Dietitian Dr Kate Marsh recommends you put them on the menu at least twice a week – more often if you are vegetarian.
Looking for recipes? Pulse Canada has published a handy 32-page PDF booklet Pulses and the gluten-free diet put together by Shelley Case RD and Carol Fenster PhD. It covers types of pulses (legumes), health benefits, celiac disease and the gluten connection, nutrition on a gluten-free diet, buying storing and cooking pulses and a really practical section on using pulses in GF baking. There are 26 recipes – all photographed (the black bean pizza is pictured here). They haven’t estimated the recipes GI value. You can download it HERE.
The baked recipes use a variety of gluten-free flours including white and black bean flours and yellow pea flour. We asked Peter Watts who is the Director of Market Innovation at Pulse Canada about the availability of these products. ‘You can purchase a number of different pulse flours in grocery stores including pea flour, bean flour, chickpea flour,’ he said. ‘Chickpea flour and some bean flours are available in bulk. Bob’s Red Mill in the US has some nifty packaging with these products in 500 gram bags and they are quite widely available. You can also order on line – a company in Manitoba called Best Cooking Pulses just started selling pea flour and chickpea flours on Amazon. This is not to say that pulse flours are generally available – they are still usually housed in the specialty food section of grocery stores and not all stores offer them, but they are increasingly present. And consumer demand will help increase supply and distribution.’
We haven't been able to track down these flours in Australia or NZ. Let us know if you know where you can buy them.
eBook update: Nutrition for Life
It’s great to see Australian publishers finally embracing eBooks. This best seller by Catherine Saxelby (an early GI supporter) is now available as a digital download as is her Zest cookbook (with Woman’s Day Food Director Jennene Plummer.) We checked out the eBook formats for her books – Kindle and Apple are our favourites for quality and ease of use. We’d give the rest a miss frankly.
The scoop on nuts
Emma Stirling APD
Nuts have made a come-back in recent years with compelling research from around the world showing that regular nibblers may dramatically boost their heart health and manage their weight and BGLs. Here’s the scoop.
Nut-rient know how Tree nuts – almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts – are a particularly nutrient dense food. They are packed with protein, healthy poly- and monounsaturated fats, fibre, plant sterols and a range of vitamins and minerals including folate, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper and vitamin E. In fact, the vitamin E content may explain the finding from a Harvard University School of Public Health study, which found that increased nut consumption (including natural peanut butter) may improve the body’s ability to balance glucose and insulin.
GI nuts Most tree nuts contain very little carbohydrate, so most do not have a GI value. Here are the figures we have:
Bircher muesli with mixed nuts
Lisa Yates from Nuts for Life shares her favourite nut and oat breakfast recipe that will really keep you on the ball until lunchtime. This bircher muesli with crunch keeps in the fridge for a couple of days. There’s about 30g (1oz) nuts per serving, equivalent to the recommended small handful a day. Makes 6 serves.
2 cups (180g) traditional rolled oats
1/3 cup (50g) sliced dried apricots
2 tablespoons sultanas
1½ cups (375ml) apple juice
50g (1½oz) raw pecans
50g (1½oz) raw hazelnuts
50g (1½oz) raw whole blanched almonds
50g (1½oz) raw macadamias
1 medium red apple, halved and thinly sliced
½ cup (125ml) low fat natural yoghurt
¼ cup (60ml) skim milk
2 tablespoons honey (if desired)
![[JOHANNA]](http://www.glycemicindex.com/blog/2008/sept08/joanna175.jpg)
Baked oranges with amaretti-pistachio filling
Italians only eat produce in season. In March, Sicilian oranges reign all over Italy. They are so scrumptious that they are usually eaten as dessert, just as they are. But sometimes cooks want to present them in a fancy way for a special occasion. If you enjoy the taste of a fresh orange, wait until you taste these baked ones. The combined flavours of the amaretti (an Italian airy macaroon made from apricot paste found in most large supermarkets) and pistachios really enhance the natural goodness of the humble orange. Delicious served warm with a chocolate-covered biscotti. This recipe is made using a standard (15ml) tablespoon. The Australian tablespoon is bigger (20ml), so you only need 1½ tbsp flour, orange zest, pistachios and amaretti. Serves 4 (1 filled orange cup each)
4 medium navel oranges
2 tbsp plain white flour, sifted
½ cup (125ml) non-fat milk, warmed
½ cup (125ml) fresh orange juice
4 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp finely grated orange zest
2 tbsp finely ground amaretti
2 tbsp pistachios, coarsely chopped
1 large egg, beaten until frothy
Myth: When it comes to food, fresh is always best.
![[NICOLE]](http://www.glycemicindex.com/blog/2007/dec2007/nicole125.jpg)
Nicole Senior
Fact: Fresh food is great but our lifestyles no longer permit eating only fresh food.
‘Processed’ food can make a significant contribution toward health, convenience and enjoyment. I get a bit annoyed at those holier-than-thou health nutters who say we should avoid all ‘processed’ foods. It sounds great – indeed virtuous – but in reality it’s both impractical and undesirable for regular folk who are busy trying to keep work, home and family ticking over.
The term ‘processed’ itself is nutritionally meaningless without qualifiers like ‘highly’ or ‘overly’ or even ‘minimally’ as just about all foods we buy are processed in one way or another – just think of basics like low fat milk, grainy bread, traditional porridge oats, rice and pasta.
There’s also a good reason why food technology has made leaps and bounds; we demanded it. I’m not saying all technological advances have been used to promote health, but on balance it’s been a great leap forward for society. Processed food is the price we pay for the life we desire, and we can’t go back. To support a global population of 9 billion – mostly urbanised – people by 2050 we’re going to need more technology to help feed the world, not less.
We now spend less time on shopping and preparing food. We demanded this because women moved out of the kitchen and into the workforce. Unfortunately men (generally speaking) haven’t assumed their share of the domestic tasks – including cooking – and the food industry has picked up the slack. It now takes 30 minutes rather than 3 hours to whip up spaghetti Bolognese using dried pasta, frozen mince, a bottled sauce and some bagged salad; an incredible feat of modern food technology when you think about it. The same meal could take a day to prepare from scratch (plus the toil of preserving the previous summer’s tomato crop). While many people moan about supermarkets, they now give us everything we could want (and lots we shouldn’t want) all under the one roof. Easy.
Processing food allows us to enjoy food from around the world. Could you imagine only being able to eat fresh food from your local area? And then having to preserve what you couldn’t consume in a few days? Buying local where you can is a great thing, but the 100-mile diet is unrealistic for most people. Australia, the USA, Canada and the UK are cultural melting pots and processed foods allow migrants to enjoy the tastes of home and the rest of us to expand our culinary horizons. International trade in food supports many developing countries as well as developed ones.
Food technology and food additives reduce food waste by prolonging shelf life and preserving seasonal produce. While there are some unfortunate individuals who are sensitive to certain food additives, their benefits are still worth it for society at large (and clear labelling allows avoidance if necessary). We forget about the untold millions of lives saved due to preservatives stopping the growth of deadly bacteria. The huge consumer concern about food additives is disproportionate to the actual evidence of harm. They undergo safety testing before they are permitted in foods and there has never been a single reported death attributed to a food additive. On the other hand, eating too much salt is a contributing factor in millions of deaths globally but it doesn’t attract the same antipathy as additives because it doesn’t need a code number. We have very high standards for the food we buy but fail to recognise the role of additives in producing its desired safety, colour, texture and flavour.
I applaud taking more time to buy quality, fresh, local produce and preparing it at home with love and care because this brings a range of health, environmental and social benefits; just don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. I’d rather be choosing from the wonderful diversity of fresh and healthier processed foods than wearing an apron 24/7. I think I’ll treat myself tonight with some low fat (and low GI) vanilla ice cream, raspberries (from the freezer) and dark chocolate shavings, followed by a decaf coffee. Try making those from scratch ...
Declaration of interest: Nicole provides nutrition consultancy services to food companies as well as the media, the organic food industry and health and community organisations. She has not worked for any companies that manufacture or market food additives.
For more real-world advice about eating for a healthy heart, check out Nicole’s website HERE.
![[ALAN]](http://www.glycemicindex.com/blog/2009/april2009/alan125.jpg)
Dr Alan Barclay
Low GI and low carb are NOT the same
There are a growing number of foods and beverages on supermarket shelves with packaging claims which are designed to encourage us to believe they will have a minimal impact on our blood glucose levels. Typical claims include ‘low carb’, ‘low glycemic’ and of course ‘low GI’. Catherine Saxelby’s Foodwatch website has just posted a report on ‘Sumo Salad Low GI Chicken Salad’ which hasn’t actually been GI tested and is in fact low in carbs. You can check it out HERE.
While these products may look like a good choice if you have diabetes or pre-diabetes, that’s not always the case. Undeniably, the immediate effect of what you eat or drink on your blood glucose levels is an important factor in deciding what to put in your shopping trolley. But it’s not the only one. There are many other aspects to good nutrition you need to consider including the amount of protein, the amount and type of fat and the amount of sodium … Here’s why these on-pack and point of sale claims may not be as healthy as they seem.
Low carb is far and away the most popular claim. When manufacturers reduce the carb content of a product they usually have to increase one of the other macronutrients – protein or fat – or alcohol in the case of low carb beers. While this may not be a problem if you like to buy a particular low carb product, it can become a problem if the bulk of what you eat and drink are low carb products. Here’s why.
Professor Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions
‘I like to eat a wide variety of vegetables. In fact I love having a rainbow on my plate. But some of my favourites like pumpkin seem to have moderate or even high GI values. Does that mean people with diabetes shouldn’t eat them?’
People with diabetes can happily tuck into pumpkin (GI66), beetroot (canned beetroot GI64), swede/rutabaga (GI72) as well as turnips, parsnips (GI52), carrots (GI39) and green peas (GI51). Unlike potatoes, sweet potatoes and cereal products including corn, these vegetables are low in carbohydrate so their glycemic load is low for typical servings. And like other green and salad vegetables including onions, tomatoes, capsicum/peppers and broccoli, they are packed with micronutrients. They should be considered free foods for everyone to eat to their heart’s content.
New GI values from Fiona Atkinson at SUGiRS
An all Goodness brekkie
Goodness Superfoods produce a range of low GI ready to eat brekkie cereals and porridges made with CSIRO’s modified (not GM) barley grain. We reported three Goodness Superfoods ready-to-eat cereals (45g or 1½ oz a serving) a year ago, as a reminder, here’s how they rated in the GI stakes.
![[FIONA]](http://www.glycemicindex.com/blog/2009/may2009/fiona125.jpg)
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