Books about the Glycemic Index? -

I was recently diagnosed as a non-insulin dependent diabetic with mild hypertension, due to being overwieght. In addition to taking Metformin and excercising 1 hour a day, my doctor said that I should follow a low GI diet. I ve been keeping up on the meds and the excercise, but I ve been having trouble with the diet. I don y really know what I can or can t eat. I know to avoid potatoes, white bread, and sweets, but not much else. I ve been trying to find a reference guide that helps outline what I should eat, or should eat sparingly, etc. I m also looking for a cookbook that has GI based receipies. Most of the GI based cookbooks seem to be south-beach books, and have too many fruit products. The other thing is that I need the books (especially the cookbook) to have are complete nutritional information since I have to watch my sodium intake. Thanks a bunch!

The G. I. Diet by Rick Gallop. This book has plenty of recipes. The G. I. Diet Guide to Shopping and Eating Out by Rick Gallop.

GI values can be interpreted intuitively as percentages on an absolute scale and are commonly interpreted as follows: Classification GI range Examples Low GI 55 or less most fruit and vegetables (except potatoes), wholegrains, basmati rice, pasta Medium GI 56 - 69 sucrose, candy bar, croissant, some brown rices High GI 70 or more corn flakes, baked potato, some white rices (eg. jasmine), white bread A low GI food will release glucose more slowly and steadily. A high GI food causes a more rapid rise in blood glucose levels and is suitable for energy recovery after endurance exercise or for a person with diabetes experiencing hypoglycemia. The glycemic effect of foods depends on a number of factors such as the type of starch (amylose vs. amylopectin), physical entrapment of the starch molecules within the food, fat and protein content of the food and organic acids or their salts in the meal — adding vinegar for example, will lower the GI. The presence of fat or soluble dietary fibre can slow the gastric emptying rate thus lowering the GI. Unrefined breads with higher amounts of fiber generally have a lower GI value than white breads.Many brown breads, however, are treated with enzymes to soften the crust, which makes the starch more accessible. This raises the GI, with some brown breads even having GI values over 100. While adding butter or oil will lower the GI of meal, the GI ranking does not change. That is, with or without additions, there is still a higher blood glucose curve after white bread than after a low GI bread such as pumpernickel.

What you really need to do is see a dietician that specializes in diabetes. She will help you set up a diet that will have fewer calories, will teach you how to count carbs and you won t have to worry about the glycemic index. She can give you lots of info. Start there and learn to relax. You can t keep the sugar down if you are stressed.

Please see the web page for more details on Glycemic index and Diabetic diet. You may refer external links in the said web page for more information.