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Could Porridge help you to diet? Some researchers say that such
slow-release foods keep weight under control
HIGH-PROTEIN diets with minimal carbohydrate have become medically
controversial, but have dieters missed a better approach? A method of
carbohydrate counting is now emerging as a potentially healthier approach
in the battle against obesity. Choosing meals according to their glycaemic
index (GI), a ranking system based on the rate at which food raises
blood glucose levels, can, say some researchers, help to reduce total
calorie intake and limit unhealthy snacking. The GI factor is taken
seriously by the Australian Government: it recommends that manufacturers
should include a product's GI on food labels.
The GI theory is that foods with a low rating, such as oats, wholegrains,
fruit and pasta, release glucose into the body more slowly and evenly,
leaving you feeling full; high-GI foods (such as white bread, cakes,
biscuits and anything highly processed) cause blood glucose to soar,
then quickly crash, which triggers hunger.
Until recently the index, which was developed by Canadian researchers
in the early 1980s, was used primarily by people with diabetes to prevent
huge swings in blood sugar levels. The principles of counting carbohydrates
the GI way reached a wider audience more recently with the publication
of books such as The Glucose Revolution (written by two leading nutritionists,
Professor Jennie Brand-Miller, of the University of Sydney, and Dr Anthony
Leeds, a lecturer at King's College London). New research makes the
GI diet look increasingly attractive as a healthier approach to losing
weight.
"Eating too many high-GI foods can lead to a cycle of hunger,
snacking and weight gain," said a senior dietician in the nutrition
department of Oxford Brookes University. "A low-GI diet is potentially
healthier because the foods tend to be higher in fibre, lower in sugar
and less processed and refined." Dieticians have looked at the
effect that eating differently rated GI foods in the morning has on
children's daily hunger levels. A recent study, published in the US
journal Pediatrics, found that children who ate a low-GI breakfast of
porridge, muesli, or wholegrain bread were less inclined to snack between
meals and also ate considerably less for lunch, even when offered an
all-you-can-eat buffet. "By choosing the kind of breakfasts we
give our children, we can unobtrusively reduce their lunchtime food
intake."
The New Glucose Revolution by Jennie Brand Miller and Anthony Leeds
(Hodder, £7.99). Visit www.gitesting.com
or www.gisymbol.com
for glycemic values of foods.
GI RATINGS
Glucose, the food most rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, has
the highest GI value: 100. Generally, the lower the value of a food,
the better. High GI = 70 or more; medium GI = 56-69; low GI = less than
55.
Cherries - 22
Grapefruit - 25
Skimmed milk - 32
Dried apricots - 33
Porridge oats - 42
Baked beans - 48
Banana (ripe) - 54
Popcorn - 55
Orange juice - 57
Honey - 58
Pizza - 61
Bagels - 72
Ryvita - 75
Brown rice - 76
Cornflakes - 77
Jelly beans - 80
Baked potatoes - 85
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