Saturday, July 07, 2007

Fats and Fibers in your Food Determine your Blood Glucose Level

Blood glucose level is a measure of how much glucose (the cell-utilized end product of all carbohydrates) is in our blood, it is determined by how much glucose is introduced into blood externally or internally. Then what is the relation between fats, fibers and blood glucose?

Unless you ingest native food like table sugar or butter, almost all foods are naturally or artificially blends of the macro-nutrients- carbohydrates, proteins, and fats- and by virtue, how fast these foods deliver glucose is determined by their carbohydrate content, how complexed is the food, and finally how fast the stomach extracts glucose to be delivered to the blood

Glycemic Index measures how much glucose is produced from a certain food INSIDE the stomach compared to table sugar as the standard highest glucose producing food. Examples of foods having high glycemic index are sugars, refined grains made from flour, fruits and root vegetables. Glycemic index was formerly used to measure how high that food raises blood sugar, as table sugar raises blood glucose very fast, but when we compare it to Carrots that has a considerable glycemic index, we find that Carrots raises blood glucose far slower than sugar.

Foods with high content of fibers like Vegetables and fruits takes sometime to deliver its content of glucose.The high-fat meal slows the gastric emptying and slows the delivery of glucose into the blood stream, and this is clinically tested and proven. These findings led the nutrition scientists to develop a new measure to rank foods regarding their blood glucose raising effect called Glycemic Load, which tells you how fast a food raises blood glucose levels.

Implementing the glycemic load gives us a clear picture of how great and fast our blood glucose level would be after eating a certain food.
Carrots has GI of 47 and a GL of 10.
Potatoes has a GI of 57 and a GL of 45.
Air-popped popcorn, has a glycemic index of 72, and a GL of 8.
Macaroni has a GI OF 23, and a GL of 47.

If you add a tablespoonful of oil (e.g. Olive,Canola...) to your favored plate of green salad to make a snack, it would make you feel satiety while you are eating a very healthy food according to all health recommendations.
In general, Use your own common sense and eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and other seeds. Avoid the refined carbohydrates... foods made with extracted sugars, flour, white rice or milled corn products.

Try our High Fiber diet at eDiets.com

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