The Albafoodie

Have you forgotten your New Year Resolutions already, and do the summer holidays seem like years away?

Sugar is receiving a lot of press at the moment.

(If you have access to, or , look for a fascinating talk By Dr Robert Lustig  a leading endocrinologist and author of “Fat Chance”.  Also see Jeremy Paxman on the BBC news talking to a Coca Cola representative.)

Sugar causes all sorts of damage not least pushing up cholesterol levels, cardiovascular damage and diabetes. The glycaemic index or load is a measure of how fast carbohydrates and foods breakdown into sugar in the bloodstream. Insulin moves the sugar to the liver and then turns it into fat to be stored round all the places we don’t want it!

Becoming familiar with the glycaemic index of foods will help your choices.

• White baguettes are almost the same as pure glucose!
• Protein foods such as beans, chicken and fish are low in carbohydrate so can slow down the sugar effect of a meal when included. 
• Leaving the skins on potatoes and choosing wholemeal versions of foods lowers the score.
• Freshly made natural foods are always best as ready meals and processed snacks are full of hidden salt, fat and sugar.
• Fructose is a form of sugar to be especially wary of. When found naturally in whole fruit the fibre slows down the release of fructose , but in the form of added fructose or fruit juice it can be very damaging.  Some cardiologists want fructose regulated in the same way as alcohol! Both need to be processed by your liver.

See our GI Index below which will help you make informed choices when choosing what foods to eat.

The GI (Glycaemic Index) of common foods

Many factors can alter the G.I of foods. Overcooking will increase the score as the carbohydrates are more refined, and therefore absorbed more quickly. Watermelon appears high but as there is very little available carbohydrates in a portion its overall Glycemic Load is low.

Sugars	GI	Breads & biscuits	GI	Grains & grain products	GI	Vegetables	GI	Snacks & drinks	GI
Glucose	100	Baguette white	95	Brown rice pasta	92	Parsnips - cooked	97	Lucozade	95
Maltose	100	Rice cake	82	Apple muffin	85	Potato – baked	85	Pretzels	83
Honey	87	Crispbread	81	Bran muffin	84	Potato - instant	80	Jelly beans	80
Sucrose	59	Water biscuit	76	Pastry	84	Pumpkin - boiled	75	Corn chips	72
Fructose	20	Waffle	76	White rice	72	Fries	75	Fanta	68
		Wholegrain wheat bread	70	Taco shells	68	Potato, new, boiled	70	Mars Bar	68
Fruits	GI	Bagel	72	Brown rice	66	Beetroot – cooked	64	Squash – diluted	66
Dates	102	White bread	69	Cous cous	65	Sweetcorn	59	Muesli bar (with fruit)	65
Watermelon *	72	Ryvita	69	Basmati rice	58	Sweet potato	54	Muesli bar	61
Pineapple	66	Crumpet	69	Brown basmati	55	Peas	51	Popcorn –low fat	55
Melon	65	Digestive biscuit	59	Buckwheat	54	Carrots	49	Potato crisps	54
Raisins	64	Pitta bread	57	Quinoa	53	Broad beans	27	Orange juice	46
Banana	62	Sourdough rye bread	57	Instant noodles	42			Apple juice	40
Apricots (fresh)	57	Rich tea biscuit	55	Wholemeal spaghetti	42	Cereals		Peanuts	14
Kiwi	52	Oatcake	54	Barley	26	Puffed rice	90
Grapes	52	Wholegrain rye bread	41	Protein foods		Cornflakes	80	Pulses
Orange	46			Chicken- less than	15	Weetabix	75	Baked beans	48
Strawberries	40	Dairy		Fish- less than	15	Shredded wheat	67	Baked beans no sugar	40
Raspberries	40	Tofu ice cream	73	Meats- less than	15	Muesli	66	Butter beans	36
Apple	39	Ice cream –low fat	50	Eggs-less than	15	Kellogg’s Special K	54	Chickpeas	36
Plum	39	Yoghurt	36	Almonds	15	Kellogg’s All Bran	52	Back eye beans	33
Pear	38	Whole milk	35	Walnuts	12	Porridge Oats	49	Haricot beans	31
Apricots (dried)	30	Skimmed milk	32	Macadamia nuts	10	Rice bran	19	Kidney beans	29
Grapefruit	25							Lentils	29
Cherries	25							Soya beans	15