Glycemic Index-Food Substitutes

Glycemic Index Highlights Certain Foods

Restauranteurs take note! We want healthy alternatives to the high sugar - high fat foods you have on the "MENU."

Replace French bread, 95 with 100% stoneground whole wheat bread, 53
Replace mashed or baked potato, 73 or 85 with roasted sweet potato, 54
Replace a side of bread, 74 with a side of canned baked beans, 48
Replace a side of corn (sugar) - with green peas,48 or green beans

I have met with restaurant owners who want to be on the front line of a revolution in restaurant eating. No longer will they get away with serving French fries and potato chips and fried foods. People will go back to their kitchens and find out how easy it is to make healthy whole food. However, the convenience to people living alone, is best served in a restaurant with healthy food. Our favorite Greek restaurant has changed and/or substituted items on the menu to fit the needs of their clientele.
But, let’s help those who want to know what to do with this important information. Some of the following are suggestions on Low-Glycemic Index Foods: Less than 55:

Chana dai (yellow split pea) 8
Low-fat yogurt, artificially sweetened 14
Peanuts (unsalted) 14
Plum 24
Grapefruit 25
Pearled barley 25
Peach 20
Canned Peaches
in natural juice 30
Dried apricots 31
Soy milk 31
Baby lima beans,
(Frozen) 32
Fat-free milk 32
Fettuccine 32
Apple 36
Pear 36
Whole wheat -
Spaghetti 37
Canned chickpeas 42
Grapes 43
Canned lentil soup 44
Canned pinto beans 45
Macaroni 45
Pineapple juice 46
Banana bread 47
Long-grain rice 47
Parboiled rice 47
Canned baked beans 48
Green Peas 48
Old-fashioned oatmeal 49
Cheese tortellini 50
Canned kidney beans 52
Kiwifruit 52
Banana 52
Sweet potato 54
*Some foods are low-calorie and very nutritious and shouldn’t be avoided, in spite of the high-glycemic index attributed to them. They are:
*Carrots 71
*Watermelon 72
*Bran Flakes 74
*Cheerios 74
*Total Cereal 76
*Baked potato 84
Some guidelines to making the Glycemic Index work for you:
GO WHOLE GRAIN. There are exceptions, but in general, whole grain foods such as barley and bulgur have a low GI, mainly because their high fiber content serves to slow digestion.
ROUGH IT UP. The least processed and rougher the grain or flour, the lower the GI. That’s why pasta, which is made from a coarse milled wheat, has a low GI even if it’s not whole grain.
BRING IT DOWN LOW. If you only have time to make instant rice, just add some beans. Throwing in a low-GI food brings down the GI rating of the entire meal. Adding some fat or protein also lowers the GI level.
BE SAVVY ABOUT SNACKS. When you snack, you tend to have just one food, all by itself. That’s fine if you’re having a low-cal snack, whether the GI is high or not. But if you’re having a high-GI bagel or doughnut with hundreds of calories, the glucose won’t get blunted by other foods. So avoid starchy, high-GI foods as snacks.
LOAD UP ON FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND LEGUMES. Most have a low GI, and you’d have to eat pounds of the ones that don’t - to affect the blood sugar. But by the same token, don’t binge on low-GI foods that are high in calories, such as Snickers candy bars. Gaining weight will raise your blood sugar too.
What makes the GI number high or low is how quickly the food breaks down during digestion. The longer your body has to wrestle with the carb to break it down into glucose, the slower the rise in blood glucose and the lower the GI.

So you see, the whole idea of diets, is just too complex to specify a special magic to low carb, high protein, South Beach or Atkin's. A Nutrition-Based-Regimin is the healthy way to approach your food intake because it uses the herbs, minerals, and vitamins in whole foods that support our healthy cells and immune system.