Glycemic Index Question

[loriv19]

Bear with me folks, My DH wants me to ask what you think of this. Just don't shoot the messenger.

Would using a glycemic index table be a helpful addition to the Atkins diet,
"after the induction period"?

Found this page because I really didn't understand his question.

http://www.prevention.com/article/0,...2636-1,00.html

[cleochatra]

Dr Arkins discusses glycemic indexes in his 2002 DANDR, and it's partially what dictates which OWL rungs come first. So GI matters in Atkins.

Great minds think alike!

[ttdriver]

Oh yes, I agree that following the glycemic index is a very good idea indeed. Its important to know which foods do what in our blood stream. For instance, the sugar in a potato (starch) hits our bloodstream with as much vengeance as a twinkie! Think about that!

Betty

[Moochiecat]

Yes, knowing the effect foods have on your blood sugar is a really good thing, especially when a person has reached their goal and/or is in Maintenance and has a wider range of food allowed tothem.

Not sure what you mean by 'after the induction period'. A person progresses from Induction to OWL(ongoing weight loss) and it's still pretty structured as you progress up the rungs through the various food groups. You will notice though that when you reach the berry rung, the suggested berries and melons are the lowest ones on the glycemic index.
Atkins is a lot about keeping blood sugars even, as we learned when we read Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution (version 2002, DANDR for short) so knowing the ins and outs of the glycemic index just makes a person that much more knowledgable and able to make good educated choices.

[loriv19]

Excellent, thanks for the input and you made DH very happy.

[2big4mysize]

well GI lists to a point
the GI is based on the effect 100 grams of the food has on you and not serving size effects so rememeber that. carrots have a high GI but they are for about 5 servings worth according to Dr Atkins. In his next Book Atkins For Life he recalculated the GI for serving sizes and called it AGR short for Atkins Gylcemic ranking. the veggie lists in ellethew's OWL posting are from the AFL and have the AGR eat offten list of foods even though there are other acceptable foods that fit those rungs.
Happy low carbing.

[sadie147]

this is a fabulous site for information on the Glycemic index as well as Glycemic lists:

http://www.mendosa.com/gi.htm

[loriv19]

DH asked me to post this and see what you all think.

"FROM LORI's DH:
One fellow posters says that maltitol has a glycemic index of 52. I have read in several locations that it is 25. Where does he/she get his information? From other posters? Or from a legit glycemic index table? I look forward to having this number checked out. I also note that he is not the same person who said the glycemic "LOAD" is even more important than the glycemic index. You can have a high index food, like watermelon, that has a normal portion size that actually has a low load. Does anyone know what the Glycemic LOAD would be for maltitol? And finally, regarding the topic of "spinach" and raw vegetables.... isn't the reason Atkins works is that we are avoiding foods that trigger insulin? Insulin is what triggers appetite. If we found an all-fat food that triggered insulin ... we would STILL want to avoid it. And if we found a carb that doesn't, we can eat it. ALL foods have calories. So other than the desire to do exactly what the Atkins book says ... why should focus on the ingredients than on "insulin-caused hunger"? Thank you for your patience in this matter! Lori's DH."

Thanks for your insights, Lori

[2big4mysize]

first you can pick any plan for weight loss that you want as long as cals in is less then cals out to do Dr Atkins alnowledges that in DANDR chapter 11 Q and A

Dr Atkins plan is Dr Atkins plan if you want to make your own plan you can but Dr Atkins plan has lots of proven success and well your plan wopuld have just you. Dr Atkins plan is designed to give the most people the best change to lose weight get healthy and keep the weight off.

And if you read the book chapter 14 is all about finding foods even low GI ones that trigger in you a bloos sugar instability or craving and dumping those foods even though they are Atkins legal. Many memebers of ADB have posted in OWl about foods and or food rungs they can't handle because of thier individual metabolism and genetic makeup. Somebody was posting about no being able to handle a very very high fat nut called macadamis so they must avoid that food as part of their Atkins WOE even though it is a perfectly legal food. I myself can't handle Splenda nor celery bit other Atkineers can so i just don't use those 2 as part of my Atkins WOE.

that said Dr Atkins strives to give us the best blood sugar control possible rmemeber there are other factors in human being that can trigger insulin increases like just waking up in the morning


malitol is a wicked sugar alcohol that can be manipulated by the manufacturer to be in a syrup form and the syrup form can have a GI of over 50
here is a chart of GIs for SAs

PolyolGI (glucose=100)Calories/gMaltitol syrup (intermediate)533Maltitol syrup (regular)523Maltitol syrup (high)483Polyglycitol (hydrogenated starch hydrolysate)392.8Maltitol syrup (high-polymer)363Maltitol362.7Xylitol133Isomalt92.1Sorbi tol92.5Lactitol62Erythritol00.2Mannitol01.5

if you are wondering why folk don't use the mannitol it has a threshhold for diareah of 20 g which is the lowest of all the SAs (bet you didn't know the FDA requires SA manufacturers to post a copy of that info with their applications for approval.) it was the sweetener in the original Atkins bars before the new managers took over the food division in 2002.

Also remember that all but 2 SAs are altered in digestion to become digestable compounds and the theroy is it takes time for a human body to get them to that stage and when it occurs there will be less absorption sites availible in the intestines to process it so it effects you less. but the reality is there are differring amounts of those bacteria in folks insides, there are differring speeds of digestion passage in folk and it could evoke a response even if it works as the manufacturer says it will.

the next thing you have to know is how the GI testing is done. see the SA folk know the above info about thier stuff so they are very happy to have you use GI cause GI testing is based on blood testing done immediately after eating the food (which accounts for the different values in different reports as not all test humans used are the same and can have slower digetion or more or less reation sites in their intestines) not the hour or more it takes just to get the SA to the digestable stage. And when you look you are going to see just about all frankenfoods have added hydrolyzed staches and fibers. guess what they do? yep slow down the transient time from mouth out of tummy to intestine for absorbtion so while it sites in your tummy blood test number one is drawn and guess what no change in BS nor insulin unless you are a cephalic responder but thatis another topic. Okay now it is time for draw number 2 has it cleared your tummy? who knows that will depend on your genetic make up and your signalling system from brain to gut to brain to valve. okay finally your tummy and brain agree it is ready for passage and it starts down the intestine all 28 ft of them reacting with the bacteria present and getting changed to absorbable/metabolizable compounds. Are we close to the last draw or not? 2 hrs is the max time for a blood draw for GI and many commercial testing for blood sugar effects done by companies selling the stuff cut the testing at 1 hr . time has run out and the testing it over so any insulin response you are getting those folk never measure and report so ro the whole world they can say 0 net effective carbs.

Since the GI lists are based on getting 50 carbohydrate grams minus fiber in the sample serving for the tester i really got to wonder about those mannital numbers with 20 being the diareha threshhold.

there are GI diets out there if you want to switchto them but then you have to deal with the glucgenesis fo the proteins spiking the blood sugars wheich the GI tsting never even considered.

[loriv19]

Thank you for your response.

Do you see what I have to live with!

I told DH if he chooses to continue this line of questions ( and I hope he doesn't ) to sign up himself.

God help us if he does.