We Are What We Ate

A-foraging we will go.
Foraging is back in fashion. Danish chef Rene Redzepi’s passion for foraging and using native ingredients put Noma on the map and triggered a small culinary revolution. Most ‘urban foraging’ is for extras not survival – it’s for flavour foods like herbs and greens or seasonal fare like mushrooms or picking overhanging fruit from other people’s yards ... In this piece reproduced with permission, Dr Alyssa Crittenenden and colleagues talk about the Hadza hunter–gatherers who live in a savanna–woodland habitat in Northern Tanzania and forage to live.

What do they forage for? ‘Approximately 300 individuals, of a total population of 1000, practice a strictly hunting and gathering way of life. Their diet can be conveniently categorized into five main categories: tubers, berries, meat, baobab, and honey. We showed the Hadza photos of these foods and asked them to rank them in order of preference. For both women and men the most preferred food was honey and the least preferred food was tubers. Baobab was ranked third by women and men. There were sex differences on the other two foods: women ranked berries second and meat fourth, while men ranked meat second and berries fourth. In addition, though both sexes ranked honey first, men did so significantly more often.’

 

Who forages for what? ‘Tubers comprise part of the Hadza diet year round and can often be located  three to four feet underground.  They are collected almost exclusively by the women (see Alyssa Crittenden's photo above) who use fire-hardened digging sticks to extract them from the often hard-packed soil. They usually roast some of their tubers when they finish digging and take the remainder (about 3/4 of their haul) back to camp to feed others. Typically the women go foraging in groups of three to eight women plus nurslings and some older children and collect baobab fruit and gather a variety of berries as well as digging for tubers.

Men usually go foraging alone. They hunt only with bow and arrows, poisoned arrows in the case of larger game. They always have their bow and arrows with them, even when they carry an axe to access honey. While on walkabout they often feed themselves on berries and baobab. They take back to camp mainly meat and honey, as well as some baobab. They may eat much of the honey they find but take back to camp about half of their haul on average, and about 9/10 of their meat. Grown men rarely dig tubers.

Children and adolescents are active foragers and are capable of collecting up to 50% of their daily energy requirement above the age of 5 years, depending on the season and availability. Young foragers tend to focus early collection on fruit and tubers, and although boys and girls spend considerable time digging tubers up until the age of 10 or 12 years, boys tend to abandon the group foraging parties at this age and begin solo hunting trips to hone their skills, while girls master the art of tuber digging.’

• Juvenile foraging among the Hadza: Implications for a human life history 
• Tubers as fallback foods and their impact on Hadza hunter-gatherers (Frank W. Marlowe and Julia Berbesque) 

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay

Rice - enjoy it, but don't overdo it and opt for lower GI varieties
The Chinese were the first to cultivate rice more than 8000 years ago, and over the millenia, it has spread all around the world. It is such a success story as a crop that today it is considered to be the staple food for over half the world’s population and is the second most cultivated cereal crop in the world. Perhaps fittingly, rice is one of our main symbols of life and fertility: the tradition of throwing rice at weddings (now more commonly symbolised by confetti) stems from this belief. In many parts of the world, people eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner (in fact it can be around 20% or more of their daily calories), so perhaps unsurprisingly, in a number of languages the word for rice is the same as the word for food: “have you had rice?” in some cultures literally means “have you eaten?”

What about nutrition? Rice is a carbohydrate-rich food and is also a moderate source of protein (not complete, so it needs to be complemented with other sources like beans and lentils, dairy or meat). Brown rice in addition is a good source of fibre, B group vitamins (niacin and thiamin) and a source of minerals like magnesium, zinc and iron. To produce white rice, the bran layer is removed by milling, and this unfortunately reduces the amounts of fibre, vitamins and minerals. Believe it or not, white rice does not contain sufficient thiamine to enable the body to use the carbohydrate as a source of energy, leading to the development of beriberi if the diet doesn’t contain alternative sources. All rice is gluten free, and the current popularity of gluten free diets may be increasing sales of rice – at least in Australia where sales are up by nearly 4% over the past year.

What about your BGLs?  While there are very good reasons to consume brown rice rather than white, managing your blood glucose isn’t necessarily one of them. This is because it is the kind of starch in rice that is the main factor that affects the GI – not the size or colour of the grain – and the starch is found in the endosperm, not the bran. So polishing a grain of rice will not necessarily make it high GI; and brown rice is not necessarily low GI. What we now know is that the low or lower GI rices have a high proportion of amylose – a kind of starch that resists gelatinisation. Over the years, many varieties of rice have been GI tested and low or lower GI varieties are being identified and becoming increasingly available. One such variety is Doongara, a high amylose long grain rice developed and grown in Australia.

• SunRice Low GI White (formerly Doongara Clever) rice (GI53) is a versatile rice suitable for many dishes. Because it is hard to overcook, as it is a more forgiving grain, allowing you to overcook the rice for up to 5 minutes beyond the ideal cook time of 12 minutes, resulting in fluffy rice every time. However, we suggest you stick to the cooking times recommended!
• SunRice Low GI Brown rice (GI54) is a specially developed Doongara long grain rice with a delicious nutty flavour and a chewy texture. It can be used across a wide range of dishes including salads, stir fries, casseroles, curries or as a side dish. 

How much? Remember to keep portions moderate, because even when you choose a low GI rice, eating too much can have a marked effect on your blood glucose. Remember, 1 cup of cooked rice is equivalent to around 45g carbs or 3 exchanges.



Cauliflower and chickpea curry
2 tsp vegetable oil •1 onion, finely chopped • 2 tbs rogan josh curry paste or other medium-hot curry paste • 400g/14oz canned chopped tomatoes • 1½ cups vegetable stock • 1 cauliflower medium size, cut into florets • 400g/14oz can chickpeas, rinsed, drained • ½ bunch coriander, chopped • ½ cup natural yoghurt
To serve: 2 cups cooked SunRice Low GI Brown Rice

In a saucepan heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook gently until soft (about 5 minutes). Add curry paste, stir while cooking for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and stock then simmer for 5 minutes. Add cauliflower and chickpeas and simmer until cauliflower is just cooked. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix the yoghurt and coriander. Place in a large bowl and spoon the yoghurt mixture on top. Serve with rice. Serves 4

The GI Symbol, making healthy low GI choices easy choices



For more information about the GI Symbol Program
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)
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GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions. 



I don’t understand how you can bake sweet foods like cakes or desserts that don’t have sugar in them (I'm not talking about artificial sweeteners here). What makes them sweet? Can you explain? 
I can see why it is a confused and confusing area. We have to go back to carbohydrate 101 for this. Sugar is a carbohydrate. So is starch. They are nature’s reserves created by energy from the sun, carbon dioxide and water. The simplest form of carbohydrate is a single-sugar molecule called a monosaccharide (mono meaning one, saccharide meaning sweet).

•  Glucose is a monosaccharide that occurs in food as glucose itself and also as the building block of starch. Fructose and galactose are also monosaccharides.

If two monosaccharides are joined together, the result is a disaccharide (two single-sugar molecules – di meaning two).

• Sucrose, or table sugar (refined sucrose from sugar cane), is a disaccharide. Every molecule of sucrose yields one molecule of fructose and one molecule of glucose. Thus 10 grams of sucrose (or 2 teaspoons) yields 5 grams of fructose and 5 grams of glucose. Lactose (glucose + galactose), the sugar in milk, and maltose (glucose + glucose) are also disaccharides. 

As the number of monosaccharides in the chain increases, the carbohydrate becomes less sweet. Rice syrup for example which is less sweet than table sugar is 45% maltose (glucose + glucose), 3% glucose, and 52% maltotriose (a trisaccharide consisting of glucose + glucose + glucose molecules). So, you can see that it’s still chemically very much a ‘sugar’ but it is described as being ‘sugar-free’ by sugar-free/quit-sugar diet advocates because it does not contain any fructose. Maltodextrins are oligosaccharides (oligo meaning a few). They taste only a little sweet.

What about GI? Table sugar which as I have said is refined sucrose has a GI of between 60 and 65. Remember, sucrose is a disaccharide (double sugar) composed of one glucose molecule coupled to one fructose molecule. So, when we consume sucrose, only half of what we’ve eaten is actually glucose; the other half is fructose. While the blood glucose response to glucose is high (GI 100), it is very modest to fructose (GI 19), because fructose is absorbed and taken directly to the liver where it is immediately used as the source of energy. This explains why the blood glucose response to 50 grams of sucrose is approximately half that of 50 grams of corn syrup or maltodextrins – where the molecules are all glucose.

GI testing by an accredited laboratory
North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
20 Victoria Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario M5C 298 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson
Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
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Web www.glycemicindex.com

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GI News—July 2013

• Our clockwork body - why when we eat matters for our health; 
• New low GI gluten-free foods on supermarket shelves; 
• Going bananas for good health;  
• Better-for-you family baking: Banana Bread and flourless Applesauce Oat Bran Muffins with Pinoli;  
• Understanding the difference between GI, GL and glycemic response;  
• The real health benefits of low GI/GL diets.   

GI News 
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Contact email (for questions or permission to reproduce stories from this newsletter): info@gisymbol.com for technical problems or faults please contact smb.ginewstech@sydney.edu.au

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Food for Thought

Baking boom. 
Home baking is on the rise as many people rediscover the joy of baking better-for-you desserts and snacks packed with wholesome ingredients you can ‘picture in their raw state or growing in nature’ (Michael Pollan’s Food Rule Number 14) along with the pleasure that a home-baked cake, muffin or cookie brings family and friends.

‘Baking brings love alive,’ says food writer Kate McGhie. ‘From the day I first licked the mixing bowl I was hooked,’ she confesses. ‘Growing up in the country, I was immersed in baking for an early age. Plonked as a tot on the large kitchen table I absorbed the knowledge of my Mother and her Mother. There was no holding back. I wanted to bake. Baking is different from cooking. You cook for yourself but with baking you are making something for other people. Before long I realised that the torch of love is lit in the kitchen. It is called baking.’


Anneka Manning's Nutty Oat Biscuits from The Low GI Family Cookbook is one of those recipes where there's lots to do for children who love to help with baking

Don an apron. You don’t have to deny yourself and those you love the pleasure of home baking eating the low GI way. Quite the opposite. Here at GI News we know that enjoying something sweet is instinctual and hard to ignore. After all, honey was a significant part of hunter-gatherer diets and a lot more concentrated back then as a source of sugar than most of the sweet foods we eat today. However, we do recommend you stick (most of the time) with better-for-you baking for desserts and snacks and keep seriously sugary and creamy indulgences for ever-so-very occasional treats.

Here are our tips for great-tasting, better-for-you, lower GI baking the whole family will love. First of all, downsize portions (a little goes a long way) – small pieces for cakes, bars, and slices; little bites for cookies and biscuits; and mini or medium tins for muffins and cupcakes. And when you pull out your favourite cookbooks, opt for recipes that:

• Make the most of wholegrain ingredients such as wholewheat/wholemeal flour, traditional rolled oats, and unprocessed bran to boost fibre and nutritional benefits. 
• Are light handed with added sugar replacing it with fresh or dried fruit or fruit purees for natural sweetness and bonus vitamins. 
• Cut back on (or cut out) butter and incorporate your favourite good fats – poly- or mono-unsaturated oils or spreads such as canola, sunflower, olive oil etc. 

This month, we have included two recipes to get you baking the ‘better-for-you’ way – Anneka Manning’s Banana Bread and Johanna Burani’s flourless Applesauce Oat Bran Muffins with Pinoli. Pinnies on (blokes, too). Enjoy.

What’s New?

Consensus on real health benefits of low GI/GL diets. 
After reviewing all the latest research on glycemic index, glycemic load and glycemic response, an international committee of leading nutrition scientists have released a Scientific Consensus Statement that concludes that carbohydrate quality (GI) matters and that the carbohydrates present in different foods affect post-meal blood glucose (sugar) differently, with important health implications. They also confirmed that there is convincing evidence from a large body of research that low GI/GL diets reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease, help control blood glucose in people with diabetes, and may also help with weight management. They recommend including GI and GL in national dietary guidelines and food composition tables, and that packaging labels and symbols on low-GI foods should be considered. They also confirmed low GI measurements complement other ways of characterising carbohydrate foods (such as fiber and whole grain content), and should be considered in the context of an overall healthy diet.

Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, Chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and one of the participating scientists said, ‘Given essentially conclusive evidence that high GI/GL diets contribute to risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, reduction in GI and GL should be a public health priority.’

Star-based food labelling system for Australia. 
A new voluntary front-of-pack food labelling scheme which gives a foods a star rating based on the amount of sugars, saturated fats and salt present in the food has been approved by an intergovernmental forum on food policy. ‘From a communications point of view the star system is a step in the right direction,’ comments nutritionist Bill Shrapnel. ‘However, there are problems with the suggested criteria’ he says, pointing out that:

• Saturated fat content is only useful for assessing fat-rich foods. 
• Using the kilojoule content of a food as a criterion is misguided. It will encourage food manufacturers to lower the fat content of foods, irrespective of the fat type. Removing unsaturated fat from foods will produce harm, not benefit. 
• Sugar content is a poor measure of a food’s nutritional quality. In the case of packaged breakfast cereals, for some reason a priority food for the new system, sugar content is not related to nutrient density, GI, calorie content or anything else likely to affect health. If sugar is a criterion, people will be misled.’ 

Beware the low fat health halo effect. 
A recent study in Appetite that looked at the role of low-fat claims and caloric information on food intake, calorie estimates, and health attributions found that the participants both underestimated the calorie content of low-fat-labelled foods and perceived low-fat-labelled foods as healthier than regular-labelled versions of the same food. They also rated low-fat-labelled candy as significantly better tasting when they had caloric information available. The bottom line: Low-fat labelling may be a more powerful determinant of health attributions than caloric information.

What’s new on the bookshelf?  
#1 Catherine Saxelby's Ancient Grains – whole food recipes for the modern table (Arbon) provides a diverse menu of wholesome, grain-based recipes for the whole family. In her foreword to this attractive cookbook-cum-whole-grains-reference-book, Prof Manny Noakes writes: ‘We have known about the health benefits of less processed grain foods for a long time, but only recently have we had the opportunity to choose from a much wider range of grains. Among the benefits of eating whole grains that seem most appealing is the evidence that they actively assist in weight management. More particularly, whole grains seem to help with fat loss from the abdominal (tummy) region. It is not yet known why this may be the case. Is it due to the presence of fibre, the fibre type or structure, the whole grain itself, the GI of the grain, or the effect of the grain on appetite control? Some or all of these reasons are possible explanations. For weight management, having at least three serves per day of high-fibre, whole-grain, low GI foods is a good starting point.’ And that’s where this book can help. It is packed with over 100 delicious grain-based recipes (many of them low GI) including numerous gluten-free dishes for people with c0eliac disease or a gluten intolerance providing a diverse menu of recipes for all occasions for the whole family.

 

#2 The 70-plus recipes in chef Michael Moore's Blood Sugar: The Family are underpinned by his healthy eating and living philosophy that great food can be local, sustainable, flavoursome and innovative. Michael was diagnosed with diabetes at 35 and later had a stroke, so he is passionate about eating well and making sure you have lots of fresh fruit and veggies. From healthy versions of everyday meals (macaroni cheese, fishcakes, pizza, blueberry muffins) to more exotic fare (salmon tataki, rare beef salad) there's plenty here to enjoy for breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks in between. It's certainly a book to drool over with gorgeous photographs throughout. Although we don't agree with his demonising foods like potatoes, pasta and rice (they do have a place in a healthy diet), it's good to see a book with imaginative recipes making the most of legumes, quinoa, buckwheat and barley.

Nicole's Taste of Health

Going bananas! 
Ever wondered where this came from? According to Wiki, we can trace it back to monkeys becoming somewhat intoxicated after feasting on fermented bananas that had fallen onto the forest floor and going crazy ... You could call it a natural banana daiquiri! But, it’s not just monkeys who love bananas, fermented or otherwise. They are one of the world's most popular fruits and a lunchbox favourite for kids, provided they aren’t too ripe and squishy, in which case they are perfect for cooking. Talking about going bananas, here in Australia we certainly did after Cyclone Yasi destroyed most of the crop in 2011 and bananas climbed as high as $15 a kilogram (about $3 or $4 per banana).

The banana growers of Australia are one the biggest produce grower groups and are one of only a few to advertise their product on prime time TV up against the usual fast food, confectionery and the like. I’m rather fond of their tag line “make those bodies sing” talking up the benefits to kids, and more recently “nature’s energy snack” where they contrast the ugly side of snacking on “no-nos” with the great nutrition story of “na-nas”.  And they really do compete nicely, thank you, with an economical price, ready-made packaging, portability and great eating.

Many people believe bananas are fattening – probably because they taste so good! They aren't. A medium sized banana only has around 420 kilojoules (100 calories) and really satisfies the appetite. And that creamy, mouth-filling texture is thanks to their low water content and starch-sugar combination. They are fat free. Because bananas taste sweet people often assume they are high GI but in fact they have a low GI (52). Even when they’re over-ripe and much of the starch has converted to sugar, they still fall into the low GI category.


Na-nas are a nutrition powerhouse with a bundle of nutrients along with their sustained energy. That’s why you’ll see professional cyclists (and weekend warriors) with bananas strapped to their handlebars for on-the-run refuelling. Bananas are the go-to source of potassium (my grandma tells me that), and more potassium in the diet is a good thing for helping maintain ideal blood pressure. While bananas may hide in the shadows of more trendy super-fruits, they contain antioxidants too. But they really shine for being a rich source of vitamin B6, providing a third to half the recommended daily amount. The list of good stuff in bananas also includes with B-vitamins, vitamin C and fibre.

When buying bananas, select both ripe and under-ripe fruit: bananas ripen in your fruit bowl so this ensures you have a steady supply. Because bananas emit ethylene gas as they ripen, a good trick is to place fruits you want to ripen – such as hard avocadoes – in a brown paper bag with bananas to bring them along. Keep them cool but not in the fridge which will cause their skin to go brown. Don’t be put off by dark patches on the skin as the fruit is usually still firm underneath. And if by chance they hang around long enough to become over-ripe, pop them in the freezer as they are (in their skin) and take them out as you need them for baking. Alternatively, mash them and freeze in the ice cube tray ready to pop out into a smoothie. Another idea to freeze them on a stick as natural, delicious popsicles – the kids will love ’em. Whatever the time of day, bung in a banana!



Nicole Senior is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist, author, speaker, consultant, and commentator with an interest in how we can learn to love good food that's good for us.

In the GI News Kitchen

Family Baking, Anneka Manning, author of The Low GI Family Cookbook (Hachette) and founder of Sydney’s BakeClub, shares her delicious ‘better-for-you’ recipes for snacks, desserts and treats the whole family will love. Anneka creates accessible recipes that really work. Through both her writing and cooking school, she teaches home cooks to bake in practical and approachable yet inspiring ways that assure success in the kitchen. Her ultimate goal is to bring real baking into your home. She wants to connect you with the magic of baking and, through this, help you nurture and connect with the people around you, especially those you love.



Banana bread. 
This recipe is a favourite in our house and I love it as much as the kids do. It includes many ingredients such as pure floral honey, bananas, buttermilk and oat bran, that are perfect for ‘better-for-you’ baking. They will help lower the GI and ensure that the kids are not only getting something delicious but also something that will give them sustained energy for their busy days. Makes 20 pieces.

Melted unsalted butter, to grease
100g (3½oz) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup single-origin floral honey
2 eggs
2 large very ripe bananas (about 400g/14oz)
1/3 cup buttermilk
1¼ cups wholemeal spelt flour
½ cup unprocessed oat bran
1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon



Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a 21 x 11cm/8 x 3in (base measurement) loaf pan with melted butter and line the base and the two long sides with a piece of non-stick baking paper.
Combine the butter and honey in a large mixing bowl and beat with electric beaters until well combined and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until well combined.
Peel and mash the bananas and stir into the mixture with the buttermilk using a spatula or large metal spoon to combine well.
Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon together into a mixing bowl and return any husks to the bowl. Add the oat bran and stir to combine. Add to the banana mixture and use a large metal spoon or spatula fold in until just combined.
Spoon into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand in the pan for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.
Store the banana bread in an airtight container in a cool place (but not in the refrigerator) for up to 3 days.
To freeze, wrap individual slices in plastic wrap and then seal in a freezer bag or airtight container before freezing. Alternatively, pack slices in an airtight container and interleave with freezer wrap or non-stick baking paper). Thaw the slices at room temperature or toast straight from the freezer.

Per slice
500 kJ/ 120 calories; 2 g protein; 5 g fat (includes 3 g saturated fat); 16 g available carbs; 2 g fibre

Anneka's BakeTip: If you would like to replace the sugar (such as granulated white, caster or brown) with honey in a baking recipe, simply use the same amount in weight. However, also remember to reduce the amount of liquid ingredients (such as milk or water) in the recipe by 1 tablespoon for every ½ cup sugar to account for both the higher moisture level in the honey as well as its intense sweetness.

American dietitian and author of Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Johanna Burani, shares favourite recipes with a low or moderate GI from her Italian kitchen. For more information, check out Johanna's website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is photosbysergio.com.



Applesauce oat bran muffins with pinoli. 
Most of the time when I visit my home in northern Italy, I voraciously ask family, friends and even produce vendors for ideas and recipes they recommend for various ingredients. Sometimes, though, I become the source of such information for them. Breakfast foods would be a case in point. Italians are not the best breakfast people. Travel and the internet have led some inquisitive people to try something new. I do my part too. I’ve offered these muffins to my fast-paced relatives and friends as a perfect antidote to their beloved brioche or biscotti breakfast. I added pinoli for an Italian twist but any nut will work well.

1lb (440g) oat bran
 ½ cup brown sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup honey
2 cups nonfat milk
2 eggs
½ cup egg substitute or 2/3 cup egg whites (about 3 extra egg whites)
¼ cup canola oil
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
½ cup pine nuts (pinoli)

 

Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F). Spray 24 medium (1/2 cup) muffin cups with cooking spray or line with paper cups.
Combine the oat bran, brown sugar and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. In a separate, smaller bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Add wet ingredients to the large bowl and mix well.
Fill the muffin cups three-quarters full. Bake 17–20 minutes or until the muffin tops are browned. Cool before serving. These muffins freeze well.

Per serve 
720kJ/170 calories; 5g protein; 7g fat (includes 0.5g saturated fat); 24g available carbs; 3g fibre

Here's how you can cut back on the food bills and enjoy fresh-tasting, easily prepared, seasonal, satisfying and delicious low or moderate GI meals that don’t compromise on quality and flavour one little bit with our Money Saving Meals including this Brown rice, chicken and vegetable soup with chipotle chili and lime reproduced with permission from Catherine Saxelby’s new book, Ancient Grains: whole-food recipes for the modern table (Arbon AUD $34.99)

Brown rice, chicken and vegetable soup with chipotle chili and lime.
Don’t leave out the fresh lime – it is an important flavor booster for this gluten-free soup. For those who like it hot and spicy, serve extra chipotle chili in a side bowl. Serves 4.

Chicken stock
4 chicken drumsticks (skin removed)
4 chicken wings
8 cups water
1 large white onion, quartered
2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
1 teaspoon flaked salt
8 black peppercorns

Soup
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 large carrot, diced
½ cup medium grain brown rice
7 oz/200 g zucchini (courgette) diced
1 fresh corncob, kernels removed flaked
salt to taste

To serve
4 chipotle chilies from a can
1 small, firm, ripe avocado, chopped
fresh cilantro (coriander) sprigs
lime quarters



To make the chicken stock, place the chicken pieces, water, onion, garlic, salt, and peppercorns into a large, heavy-based saucepan. Cover and bring to the boil over medium–high heat. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer with the lid slightly ajar for 30 minutes.Remove the lid, and cook the chicken stock for a further 30 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by half. Remove the chicken pieces from the stock, and set the liquid aside to cool slightly. Discard the cooked wings, and then remove the skin from the drumsticks. Pull the flesh into fine shreds; place the shredded chicken on a plate, cover, and store it in the refrigerator until it is required. Strain the stock into a container. If required, top up the stock with water to about 4 cups. Wipe the saucepan out with a kitchen paper towel.
To make the soup, heat the sunflower oil in the saucepan over medium heat, and add the onion, garlic, carrot, and rice. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes, stirring the whole time. Add the chicken stock, and then bring the soup to the boil. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer with the lid slightly ajar for 50 minutes or until the rice is tender. Increase the heat to medium, and add the zucchini and corn kernels. Bring the soup to the boil, and then reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Taste and season with salt if you wish.
To serve, place the chipotle chilies onto a plate, and cut each chili in half. Divide the soup evenly between four serving bowls, and top each with some shredded chicken, chipotle chili, avocado, and cilantro (coriander). It is best to mix the chipotle chili through the soup. Serve the soup immediately, along with lime quarters to squeeze over the liquid.

Per serve 
2375 kJ/ 570 calories; 43 g protein; 27 g fat (includes 6 g saturated fat); 32 g available carbs; 7 g fibre

We Are What We Ate

The clockwork body – why when we eat matters. 
‘Body clocks are ancient mechanisms that regulate fundamental biological systems important to health, such as insulin secretion, the time we go to bed, the time we get up and the time we get hungry,’ says Dr Joe Bass, associate professor of medicine at Feinberg School of Medicine and of neurobiology and physiology at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.



The body’s primary circadian clock resides deep in the brain, in the suprachiasmatic nuclei, but local biological clocks also are found in tissues throughout the body, including the pancreas, lungs, liver, heart and skeletal muscles. The clocks operate on a 24-hour, circadian (Latin for about a day) cycle that governs functions such as sleeping and waking, rest and activity, fluid balance, body temperature, cardiac output, oxygen consumption, metabolism and endocrine gland secretion.

How the circadian clock may affect the development of diabetes: A study by Bass and colleagues published in Nature in 2010 showed that insulin-secreting islet cells in the pancreas, called beta-cells, have their own dedicated clock. The clock governs the rhythmic behavior of proteins and genes involved in insulin secretion, with oscillations over a 24-hour cycle. ‘This is the first evidence of how the circadian clock may affect the development of diabetes’ said Bass. ‘The biological programs in animals for harvesting energy -- much like the photosynthesis of plants -- are under control of the clock. Our findings will help us figure out the causes of glucose abnormalities, but we still have a lot to learn.’

How the circadian clock may affect weight gain: Dr Steven Shea, director for the Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology at Oregon Health and Science University and colleagues at Harvard report in a study published in Obesity that the body’s internal clock, the circadian system, increases hunger and cravings for sweet, starchy and salty foods in the evenings. While the urge to consume more in the evening may have helped our ancestors store energy to survive longer in times of food scarcity, in the current environment of high-calorie food, those late night snacks may result in significant weight gain.

‘Of course, there are many factors that affect weight gain, principally diet and exercise, but the time of eating also has an effect. We found with this study that the internal circadian system also likely plays a role in today’s obesity epidemic because it intensifies hunger at night,” said a senior author on the study. “People who eat a lot in the evening, especially high-calorie foods and beverages, are more likely to be overweight or obese.’

Indeed, eating a lot in the evening can be counterproductive since the human body handles nutrients differently depending on the time of day. For example, glucose tolerance may be impaired in the evening. Additionally, consuming more calories in the evening predisposes people to more energy storage; we simply don’t expend as much energy after an evening meal in comparison to morning meals.

Furthermore, artificial light enables people to stay up later than they probably should and often people don’t get enough sleep. ‘If you stay up later, during a time when you’re hungrier for high-calorie foods, you’re more likely to eat during that time,’ Shea said. ‘You then store energy and get less sleep, both of which contribute to weight gain. If weight loss is a goal, it’s probably better to eat your larger, higher-calorie meals earlier in the day,’ said Shea. “Knowing how your body operates will help you make better choices. Going to bed earlier, getting enough sleep and choosing lower-calorie foods rather than higher-calorie foods in the evening can all help with weight loss.’

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay
Low GI, gluten-free foods. 
Coeliac disease is becoming increasingly common, affecting around 1 in 100 people in Australia and the UK, and 1 in 133 Americans.

People with coeliac disease’ own immune system reacts abnormally to the protein gluten found in wheat, rye, and barley (and often a contaminant in oats, depending on where you live), causing damage to their small intestine. The tiny, finger-like projections known as villi which line the small intestine become inflamed and flattened – a condition known as villous atrophy. As a consequence, the surface area of the intestine available for the absorption of nutrients is reduced which can lead to various gastrointestinal and malabsorptive symptoms like diarrhoea and/or constipation, large, bulky foul stools, unwanted weight loss or poor growth in children, flatulence, abdominal bloating, distension or pain, and anaemia. Long-term complications can be very serious and include infertility, miscarriage, depression and dental enamel defects. There is also an increased risk of developing certain forms of cancer such as lymphoma of the small bowel.

If you have a family history of coeliac disease, some or even all of these symptoms, it’s important that you don’t simply self-diagnose coeliac disease and commence a gluten free diet. A diagnosis of coeliac disease can only be made by demonstrating the typical villous atrophy of coeliac disease in a small bowel biopsy. This involves a gastroscopy procedure in which several tiny samples of the small bowel are taken and examined under a microscope. Importantly, you must still be eating gluten regularly before the procedure is performed or you may get a false negative result.

For reasons that we do not yet completely understand, people with type 1 diabetes are at much greater risk (up to 10 times) of developing coeliac disease than people who do not have type 1 diabetes. Both coeliac disease and type 1 diabetes are autoimmune diseases that are ‘triggered’ in genetically susceptible people by as yet unknown environmental factors. Coeliac disease can make management of blood glucose levels even harder than usual in people with type 1 diabetes, with increased risk of both hyper and hypoglycaemia. People with type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes are thought to have the same level of risk as the rest of the population.

A gluten free diet is currently the only known treatment for coeliac disease and unfortunately it is for life because people with coeliac disease remain sensitive to gluten throughout their life – the condition can never be cured as such. By removing the cause of the disease, a gluten free diet allows the small bowel lining to heal and symptoms to resolve. As long as the gluten free diet is adhered to as strictly as possible, problems arising from coeliac disease should not return.

In the not-too-distant past, having to consume a gluten free diet used to be a culinary disaster. Thankfully, food industry has stepped up to the proverbial plate and there is now just about a gluten free alternative for most of your favourite foods. Many gluten-free core foods like milk, yoghurt, some starchy vegetables, legumes and most fruits also have a low GI. However, many gluten free grain alternatives aren’t low GI, so finding gluten free breads, pasta, breakfast cereals, etc. can still be a challenge. For more information, check out the Low GI Diet for Gluten-free Cooking (ANZ edition; Hachette Australia) or Low GI Gluten-free Eating Made Easy (US/Canada edition; Da Capo).

The GI Foundation has been working with Coles to develop their home-brand range of low GI gluten free foods with real flavour. First on the shelves are five pasta and quinoa products that all carry the GI Symbol.

Coles Simply Gluten Free: 

• Spaghetti: GI46
• Spirals: GI46
• Penne: GI46
• 2 Quinoa Cups: GI53 
• 2 Mexican Style Quinoa and Brown Rice Cups: GI49.

The GI Symbol, making healthy low GI choices easy choices



For more information about the GI Symbol Program
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)
Phone: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Email: alan.barclay@gisymbol.com
Website: www.gisymbol.com

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions. 



Can you explain the difference between glycemic index, glycemic load and glycemic response? 
Glycemic Index (GI) is a measure of the quality of carbohydrate. It compares carbohydrates, gram for gram, in one food versus another. Different carbohydrate foods can behave quite differently in your body. Some break down quickly during digestion and release glucose rapidly into the bloodstream; others break down gradually as you digest them and slowly trickle glucose into the blood stream. The glycemic index or GI, a relative ranking on a scale of 0 to 100, is how we describe this difference. After testing hundreds of carbohydrate foods around the world, scientists have found that foods with a low GI will have less effect on your blood glucose than foods with a high GI. High GI foods tend to cause spikes in your glucose levels whereas low GI foods tend to cause gentle rises. To make a fair comparison, all foods are compared with a reference food and tested following an internationally standardised method.

Glycemic Load (GL) is a measure of both the quality and quantity of carbohydrate. How high your blood glucose actually rises and how long it remains high when you eat a meal containing carbohydrate depends on both its GI and the amount of carbohydrate in the meal. Researchers at Harvard University came up with a term to describe this: glycemic load. It is calculated by multiplying the GI of a food by the available carbohydrate content (carbohydrate minus fibre) in the serving (expressed in grams), divided by 100. GL = GI/100 x available carbs per serving. GL per 1000 kJ has been shown to be the single best predictor of actual glycemic responses to single foods and mixed meals.

Glycemic response or glycemic impact describes the change or pattern of change in blood glucose after consuming a food or meal. Glucose responses can be fast or slow, short or prolonged, high or low. The glycemic response varies from person to person, depending on their 'glucose tolerance'. A person with diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance will have a higher glycemic response to any food than a lean, young, healthy individual. Nonetheless, in a single individual, we can reliably predict that a low GI/GL meal will produce a lower glycemic response than a high GI/GL meal.

GI testing by an accredited laboratory
North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
20 Victoria Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario M5C 298 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson
Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web www.glycemicindex.com

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GI News—June 2013

• Bread: 'ingenious technology for improving the flavour, digestibility and nutritional value of grass' - Michael Pollan; 
• Paleolithic bread: looks like we have had our nose to the grindstone for about 30,000 years;
• Why white veggies are so good;  
• Prof Jennie Brand-Miller: why we don't estimate the GI of our recipes;  
• Nicole Senior: baby's first foods.    

GI News 
Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD
Contact email (for questions or permission to reproduce stories from this newsletter): info@gisymbol.com for technical problems or faults please contact smb.ginewstech@sydney.edu.au

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Food for Thought

Staff of life.  
Did you know that the Middle English word ‘companion’ (from Old French compaignon), literally means ‘one who breaks bread with another’, based on Latin com- ‘together with’ + panis ‘bread’. It is a gentle reminder in these ‘nutritionist’ times that no food is more basic, more essential and more universal, and has been for thousands of years. Common to the diets of both rich and poor, bread is one of our oldest processed foods. Loaves and rolls have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, and excavated from ovens in Pompeii. From the 16th-century English peasants’ bread made with pea flour and rye to the pure white bread of the French court, from the crusty sourdough loaf made by artisan bakers to the doughy ‘sliced white’ found in every supermarket, there is a bread for every time and place. And you can read all about it in William Rubel’s Bread, A global history (Reaktion books). It’s a fascinating tale.

We don’t know who made the first breads, or when or where. We do know that our ancestors were pounding and grinding thousands of years before the invention of agriculture. The starch grains from various wild plants that Anna Revedin and colleagues found on the surfaces of grinding stones across Europe go about 30,000 years (PNAS). While over in Israel, Dolores Piperno and colleagues not only discovered barley grains in a 23,000-year-old grindstone (Nature), but also an oven-like hearth suggesting that the locals had baked a ‘dough’ from grain flour on the site they were excavating. It makes sense. Our Paleolithic forebears had to do something to the tough, plant foods they foraged, because they didn’t have the teeth or stomach for dealing with raw grains or rhizomes. They innovated. They transformed the indigestible into something digestible through grinding and cooking. It seems they baked a sort of flat bread.

Michael Pollan isn’t giving up bread. He loves it (well, good quality bread) and bakes it. And he devotes a whole, page-turning chapter to it in his new book – Cooked, A natural history of transformation. In talking about his book, he reminds us just what an amazing advance the invention of bread is – an ‘ingenious technology for improving the flavour, digestibility and nutritional value of grass’ (well, grass seeds). Bread became a staple food because ‘the cooking process unlocks the nutrients in that seed,’ says Pollan. ‘And seeds have everything you need to live, but it all must be unlocked. And a slow fermentation and cooking at a high temperature unlocks all that. The loaf of bread itself becomes a pressure cooker ... And so you’re steaming the starches, which breaks them down. It’s just the most beautiful technology.’ For those inspired to bake his sourdough, stone-ground, whole-wheat bread, he includes the recipe.



These women in DR Congo are learning to make bread to trade. From Share, The cookbook that celebrates our common humanity. Photo pages 140–141 © Lee Stone.

What’s New?

The white stuff is the right stuff, too. 
That rainbow of green, red and orange veggies tends to take prime position for top nutrient sources, but white vegetables (e.g. potatoes, cauliflower, turnips, onions, parsnips, mushrooms and kohlrabi) are nutrient powerhouses that have a place at the table too according to the authors of the Advances in Nutrition supplement White Vegetables: A Forgotten Source of Nutrients. The authors review current and emerging science about some of the key health benefits we can gain from tucking into white veggies, including increasing our intake of fibre, potassium and magnesium – nutrients many of us don't get enough of.

‘It’s recommended that the variety of fruits and vegetables consumed daily should include dark green and orange vegetables, but no such recommendation exists for white vegetables, even though they are rich in fiber, potassium and magnesium,’ says the supplement’s editor Prof. Connie Weaver from Purdue University, an expert in mineral bioavailability, calcium metabolism and bone health. ‘Western diets have led to a decrease in potassium with fewer fruits and vegetables, and at the same time, there’s been an increase in sodium consumption because people eat more processed foods. While potatoes are one of the highest sources of dietary potassium, when processed, they are often higher in salt. While potassium improves blood flow, too much salt increases blood pressure, making the vascular system work harder. The relationship between potassium and sodium is interesting because how the two work together may influence risk of cardiovascular disease. The human body needs both, but today's problem is sodium consumption is up and potassium is down. Because potassium-to-sodium intake ratios are more strongly related to cardiovascular disease risk than either nutrient alone, more research is needed to understand this relationship.’
 – The Advances in Nutrition supplement is the outcome of a June 2012 Purdue University roundtable on white vegetable nutrition which was supported by an unrestricted grant by the Alliance for Potato Research and Education.

Dr Alan Barclay comments: There’s no need to say ‘no’ to potatoes just because most varieties have a high GI. They are fat free (when you don’t fry them), nutrient rich and filling. But look for the lower GI varieties, keep portions moderate or serve them in a way to reduce their glycemic impact – such as potato salad with a vinaigrette dressing. Because we saw the evidence mounting that it is the potato variety itself that makes the real difference to its GI (not the cooking method) we sat down with chef and potato expert Graham Liney, Australian potato growers and the Dutch potato breeding company Agrico back very early in 2007, to bring Carisma, Australia’s first low GI potato to the table. It’s a versatile, general purpose potato that’s full of flavour with a creamy taste and ‘melt in the mouth’ texture and a GI of 55.The good news is that Carisma potatoes are now been grown all over Australia, and they are just going in to the ground in North America and Europe, so they will be commercially available in those regions in the near future. As for the other white veggies mentioned in the supplement, parsnips have a low GI (52), while veggies like cauliflower, turnips, onions and mushrooms contain so little carbohydrate (they are mostly water!) we can’t actually test their GI.

 

Scientific review of Robert Lustig’s Fat Chance.  
‘Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease is the product of one individual’s point of view – a perspective that is not supported by the vast majority of scientific research on nutrition and metabolism, writes Prof Mark Kern, from San Diego State University. Kern highlights ‘the critical need for the increased communication of weight management strategies that are science-based and realistic. As we’ve witnessed in the past several decades, blaming one particular food or ingredient for the obesity and chronic disease rates in America is unsubstantiated; restriction and avoidance of particular foods (especially those that are most enjoyed by many consumers) is not a sustainable healthy eating strategy.’ You can download the review HERE.

What’s new on the bookshelf? 
Share ‘Food builds our physical resilience, brings us joy, and strengthens our bonds with friends and family. It maintains our connection to the seasons, and generates employment, wealth, and economic stability. What we choose to eat and how we choose to prepare it reflect our ancestral traditions and cultural heritage as well as our abundant creativity’ writes Meryl Streep in this uplifting, charity cookbook. There’s a wide range of wholefood and traditional recipes to try (many low GI) including Beans with cassava and Stuffed bitter gourds (melons) from Rwanda.



Edited by Alison Oakervee and with a foreword by Meryl Streep, Share is published by Kyle Books (RRP AUD$39.95). Royalties will support WfWI's farming and food training initiatives in the countries in which WfWI operates – Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, DR Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Sudan. 

Nicole's Taste of Health

Baby cakes.
What we feed babies is important for their growth and development but we are finding out it is also important for the development of their future food habits. The food we offer is priming their tastebuds for later life.

This idea was sensationally brought to the world’s attention when the results of study in rats showed feeding high sugar, high fat food during pregnancy resulted in offspring that craved the same kind of food. The news media stories trumpeted the disaster of human babies born craving the same junk food their pregnant mothers ate. While this is scientifically a big stretch, it does underline the idea that babies learn to eat what their mother’s eat even before they are born. Baby’s first taste sensations are from the amniotic fluid surrounding them in the womb and this is influenced by the mother’s diet. They next experience flavours passed on via breast milk, which again is determined by the food mum is eating (bottle fed babies miss this stage). This is why Indian babies eat curries, Japanese babies eat fish and Italian babies eat garlic in their first foods – they’ve tasted it before and are more accepting of it. The next step in a baby’s flavour journey is the introduction of solid foods at around 6 months.



Many parents say commercial baby food tastes awful and bland, but it is a mistake to judge baby food with an adult palate. Their taste-buds are pristine and highly sensitive; not yet beaten down by over-seasoned, flavour-enhanced and sickly sweet fare.

Babies don’t need the kind of intensity of flavour we grown-ups eat in highly processed food. The salt and sugar/starch levels in most prepared, packaged and restaurant foods are way too high for us and bordering on toxic for babies. The baby food industry has stepped up to the plate with many now offering ‘clean’ labelled products with no added anything, and with improved texture grading to allow older babies to progress from puree to mashed to lumpy as is recommended. As good as quality commercial baby foods are, in my experience they miss out on the full flavour spectrum of home prepared foods which still hold a pivotal place in an infant’s diet. Home prepared foods are also ‘real’ flavours: I tasted one brand of banana custard for babies with ‘natural banana flavour’ that did not taste like any banana I’ve ever eaten. It’s still worth the effort to prepare vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, meat and fish you don’t find in a jar (or pouch, as is increasingly the trend).

You can also offer lower GI grains such as quinoa, barley and polenta and low GI legumes such as lentils, chickpeas and kidney beans in a suitable texture according to baby’s stage. And you can add herbs and spices as well, such as: cinnamon to apple; nutmeg to banana or cardamom to custard; basil to pasta or dill to fish. To offer variety and make baby meal planning easier, the good old ice-cube method works well: freeze individual portions of cooked meats, fish, vegetables, grains and legumes in an ice cube tray and simply take them out as needed, choosing a balanced meal of protein (meat, fish or legumes), grain/starchy vegetables and a green and red/orange vegetable (just like a adult).

As a baby reaches a year old they should be progressing to ‘family foods’. They need finger foods they can hold and feed themselves and one of the easiest is a finger of bread but most bread is very salty – it pays to hunt down a lower-salt brand. Babies are naturally curious about what we eat too – nothing is so enticing than food which is headed for our mouth – but increasingly the morsels we share are passing on bad habits rather than modelling healthy preferences. New life is cause for joy but perhaps a baby can also be the catalyst for a healthy change in family foods as well.



Nicole Senior is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist, author, speaker, consultant, and commentator with an interest in how we can learn to love good food that's good for us.

In the GI News Kitchen

American dietitian and author of Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Johanna Burani, shares favourite recipes with a low or moderate GI from her Italian kitchen. For more information, check out Johanna's website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is photosbysergio.com.



Strawberry yoghurt dessert. 
Here is a simple, healthful dessert with an Italian twist. Serves 4.

15 fresh, washed, hulled strawberries
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp Grand Marnier liqueur
2 cups fat-free plain yoghurt
¼ cup mascarpone
1 tsp vanilla



Cut strawberries horizontally into 4 slices. Place in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
Combine the sugar and Grand Marnier in a small cup. Pour over the strawberries. Allow to macerate at least 30 minutes. In the meantime …
Mix the yoghurt, mascarpone and vanilla in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Pour into 4 dessert dishes. When ready, pour the strawberry mixture equally over the 4 yogurt servings. Serve cold.

Per serve 
649kJ/155 calories; 6g protein; 6g fat (includes 4g saturated fat); 15g available carbs; less than 1g fibre

Here's how you can cut back on the food bills and enjoy fresh-tasting, easily prepared, seasonal, satisfying and delicious low or moderate GI meals that don’t compromise on quality and flavour one little bit with our Money Saving Meals including BakeClub Anneka Manning's Tomato and red lentil soup with toast fingers. Yum.

Tomato and red lentil soup with toast fingers.  
Anneka Manning’s simple and tasty soup from The Low GI Family Cookbook (Hachette Australia) is a great way to get in an extra serve or two of vegetables along with a scoop of nutritional power pack lentils. Dress it up with a dollop of plain yoghurt and a sprinkling of chopped parsley. Serves 4

1 brown onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
¼ cup water
2 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp paprika (optional)
400g (14oz) can no-added-salt diced tomatoes
1 tbsp no-added-salt tomato paste
½ cup split red lentils
3 cups salt-reduced vegetable stock
2 tsp sugar, or to taste freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Toast fingers
4 slices multigrain low GI bread
2 tsp olive or canola oil margarine



Combine the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and water in a large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 8–10 minutes or until the onion is soft. Stir in the cumin and paprika (if using) and cook, uncovered, for 1–2 minutes or until the water has evaporated.
Add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, lentils and stock and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover partially, and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Meanwhile, to make the toast fingers ...
Preheat oven to 200ºC (400ºF) and line an oven tray with non-stick baking paper. Spread both sides of the bread slices with the margarine and cut each into 3 fingers. Place the bread on the lined oven tray. Just as the lentils are becoming tender, bake the bread for 10 minutes or until lightly golden and crisp. Turn off oven and leave it there to keep warm.
Transfer half the soup mixture to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Repeat with the remaining mixture. Return the soup to the pan and simmer gently until heated through or reduced to desired consistency. Taste before seasoning with a little sugar and pepper if you wish. Serve with the warm toast fingers for dipping. Yum.

Per serve 
440kJ/105calories; 5g protein; 2.5g fat (includes 0.4g saturated fat); 14g available carbs; 4g fibre

Anneka’s tips • If you make the soup a day or two ahead, keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until simmering and heated through. • Freeze leftovers in serving portions in airtight containers for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.

We Are What We Ate

Looks like we have had our nose to the grindstone for at least 30,000 years.
Grinding starchy grains, tubers and rhizomes, possibly into flour, was a widespread practice across Europe 30,000 years ago according to Anna Revedin and colleagues’ findings in PNAS. The grinding stones they discovered at sites in Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic contained the remains of starch from various wild plants, including cattail rhizomes, cattail leaves, moonworts, the ternate grapefern, lady’s mantle, burdock, lettuce roots, rye, burr chervil root, parts of edible grasses, edible seeds and more. As well as analysing the stones for traces of wear and residue by microscope, they did a bit of Paleolithic recipe testing. Anna Revedin explains.

‘We collected typha (cattail) rhizomes at the beginning of October, when the roots are starch-rich to survive the winter. We peeled the rhizomes before grinding them, and we found this process was easier if they are still moist. Then we dried them in sun before using two fragments of sandstone of similar size and shape to those at the Bilancino site to produce flour. We found that you first need to use the ‘active tool’ like a pestle to open up the fibres, and then like a grinder to extract the flour which was a fine, white-beige powder with a slightly sweet aroma. We then mixed the flour with water to make dough, which we baked over a fire similar to Bilancino hearth B (Upper Palaeolithic). After cooking it for about 20 minutes on a sandstone pebble that was well heated on embers, we had an edible flat bread which we ate and offered to our colleagues. It was quite good to eat, although without any salt or oil to flavour the dough it wasn’t very tasty.’

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay

Give us this day our daily bread. 
Taken literally, this line from the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4) reminds us that bread has been a staple food for humankind for millenia. And still today it is consumed at breakfast, lunch and dinner time, and often for snacks in many parts of the world. Taste, value for money and convenience are no doubt primary reasons for its ongoing popularity. It is also nutritious and depending on the type, a good source of protein, B vitamins, minerals like potassium and magnesium and dietary fibre (if not highly processed). The carbohydrate content of a typical slice of bread ranges from 11–19 grams with an average of 15 grams – which is a typical diabetic exchange.

What about the GI? Being high in carbs, the GI really matters a lot if you need to manage your BGLs. Values range from a low 39 for dense wholegrain breads to a high 91 for some varieties of Middle Eastern flatbreads. Typical white and brown breads from the supermarket or corner store are generally high GI, while authentic sourdough breads made from white flour are typically low. Low GI breads with the GI symbol available in Australia include:

• Bürgen® Soy-Lin bread 52; Pumpkin Seeds bread GI51; Rye bread GI53; Fruit & Muesli bread GI53; Wholemeal & Seeds bread GI39; Wholegrain & Oats bread GI51. 
• Tip Top 9 Grain Original GI53; 9 Grain™ Pumpkin Seed GI53; 9 Grain Wholemeal GI53; 9 Grain™ Mini Loaf Original GI53; 9 Grain™ 9 Seed GI53. 
• Mission Foods White Corn Tortilla GI52.

Isn’t wholegrain bread low GI? No, not all wholegrain breads are low GI. This is because the definition of wholegrain now means "the intact grain or the dehulled, ground, milled, cracked or flaked grain where the constituents – endosperm, germ and bran – are present in such proportions that represent the typical ratio of those fractions occurring in the whole cereal, and includes wholemeal". In other words, wholegrain products can be made from flour that has been milled very finely down to white flour, then had the endosperm, germ and bran added back in, so that it contains the same proportions as in the original grain. However, the starch in the finely milled white flour is typically very rapidly digested and absorbed, so many wholegrain breads in fact have a medium-to-high GI. Varieties that have a high proportion of kibbled grains and whole seeds – around 20% of the total ingredients – are generally the lower GI varieties.

I can’t eat bread because ... You hear people say this a lot these days. But in fact, not that many people really do need to avoid bread for their health. It is more often a matter of choice.

• People with coeliac disease must avoid breads that contain gluten because their immune system reacts to it, leading to damage to the small intestine, malabsorption of essential nutrients, and associated symptoms like wind, bloating and  diarrhoea.
• People with wheat intolerance, which is not the same as coeliac disease because it is not an auto-immune condition, need to limit their intake of wheat (and sometimes other gluten-containing grains) to avoid gastro-intestinal symptoms like wind, bloating and diarrhoea. 

Because the symptoms can be very similar it is important that you don’t self-diagnose. See your doctor.

Luckily for those with diagnosed coeliac disease or wheat intolerance, an ever increasing range of gluten free breads are becoming available in local supermarkets, and a few of these are even low GI.


Image and recipe kindly provided by Burgen www.burgen.com.au.

Herbed-crusted fish: Burgen low GI breads are popular and widely available here in Australia. For those living elsewhere, use a low GI dense grainy bread.  Serves 4

4 slices Bürgen® Wholegrains & Oats bread
mixed bunch flat-leaf parsley and chives, chopped
1 tsp lemon zest 2 tbsp olive oil
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 fish fillets (dory or bream)
lemon wedges, to serve

Pre-heat oven to 200°C (400F). Combine bread, parsley and chives in a food processor and process until you have fine breadcrumbs. Add lemon zest, olive oil and pepper to taste. Place fish fillets onto a lightly-greased oven tray and evenly coat the fish with the bread crumb mixture and bake for 10-15 minutes or until fish is cooked through and crust is golden brown. Serve with lemon wedges.

Per serve: 1025kJ/245 calories; 25g protein; 9g fat (includes 1g saturated fat); 14g available carbs; 2g fibre
 
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