Well, these three are not exactly good Magic unfortunately – only partly because of their makeup, though. The other (and larger) part of the problem is how we treat them, or to be a little more specific, the quantities in which we eat them.
POTATOES, White, Blue, Yellow, Red – GI of 79 and GL of 16, for an average to smallish potato or ½ cup cooked. That’s about ½ of the average baked potato – do you eat only ½ . . . so let’s call that a GL of 32 for the whole thing. If you remember back to the second post, anything over 20 is considered high. If we ate our potatoes raw, we’d be better off. Cooking of foods results in something called Gelatinization and nowhere is this process more evident than with potatoes. Basically the cooking process starts to pre-digest the food, making it ever so much easier for us to digest it. And for something really awful, there’s Instant Mashed Potatoes (GI/88 and GL/26). Suprisingly enough;
some of the things we do to potatoes that increase the calorie load actually decrease the GI/GL. French Fries add a lot of fat to the picture and that slightly reduces the hit on our blood sugar; Potato Chips have even more fat and so much salt its hard to imagine a much less healthy food; but they do have a slightly lower GI/GL level.
However, that won't get either Fries or Chips onto the Magic List.
:
Then there are
Sweet Potatoes, a tuber with a GI of 46 and a GL of 11, but again that is for a ½ cup serving so if you eat a whole cup, you are back into the high GL range again. With careful portion control and a light-handed preparation method, they do make the Magic Foods list, though so enjoy them. They will only raise your blood sugar about 70% as high as the white kind; and they are very high in beta-carotene, vitamin C and potassium (more than you’ll find in the average banana).
Menu Magic with Sweets – stay away from the traditional Thanksgiving or Christmas dish with all the butter, sugar, and
marshmallows. You can enjoy a Sweet Potato just about any way you would enjoy a regular one. If you are currently hooked on mashed potatoes; try subsitituting half Sweets (as you also remove the heavy cream and butter, of course).
PASTA, of all shapes and sizes, and including noodles, is actually a far better bet than either Potatoes or Rice—especially if you choose a whole grain type. Various kinds have slightly different GI/GL ratings but they average about a 40 for GI and a 20 for GL. Pasta does make it onto the Magic Foods list.
BUT, that’s only for a ½ cup serving. Pasta is meant to be a side-dish; it is not meant to fill the plate and have a couple of meatballs and some red sauce (sometimes high in sugar) thrown on top. I don’t know about you, but to me a serving of Pasta is at least two cups so that means a GL of about 80 – we are talking a granddaddy of a blood sugar high here, gang. Pasta is fine in moderation. If you can’t do the moderation thing, don’t do the Pasta thing. Gelatinization is very important when it comes to Pasta. Make sure to cook it ‘al dente’. What makes it relatively moderate on the GI/GL scales is the fact that it is made from a very hard Durham Wheat, that is harder for the our systems to break down; making it a little slower to digest. Cook it to a really mushy state and both the GI and the GL increase quite dramatically
Pasta Menu Magic – Just about the best thing you can do to temper that glycemic load is to mix your pasta with at least the same amount of any of the vegetables we discussed the other day. Top it with a no-sugar-added tomato sauce, too. Instead of putting the meatballs or chicken or, whatever, on top of the heap; treat the Pasta like what it is meant to be – a side dish. Before indulging in any pasta, make sure you start your meal with a large green salad. And don't forget
Spaghetti Squash as a possible replacement for all or part of the pasta you'd normally eat. It's another one of those really Magical Vegetables with GI/GL levels so low that are not even measured. Personally, I like it; but it doesn't taste like the 'real thing' to me. You will feel so self-righteous while you are eating it, though.
RICE – there are some
bad ones, and some
really bad ones, and some
slightly better, almost good, ones. All serving sizes being discussed are ½ cup, cooked, BTW. And, as for Pasta, do not overcook it because of the impact of the Gelatinization. So . ..
The almost GOOD . . .
Brown Rice (GI/66 & GL/12) still has it’s bran and germ intact; the bran slows down the digestive process accounting for the relatively low GL. It is a whole grain.
Converted Rice (good old Uncle Ben’s) (GI/58 & GL/14). This rice is steamed before being hulled and some of the ‘good stuff’ is forced into the rice grain. Amazing . . . all that hype we’ve been hearing about brown rice and, at least on this one front of Blood Sugar Control, converted white rice is just about the same.
Finally,
Wild Rice, which is really not a rice at all but the seeds of a marsh grass (GI/57 & GL/18) is quite chewy in texture and has an earthy kind of flavour. With proper portion control; these three can be included in a healthy eating regimen.
The BAD . . .
Basmati Rice (GI/58 & GL/22), grown in the Himalayan Mountains, this is a long grain rice that smells wonderful; but the GL is in the high range.
Long Grain White Rice (GI/50 & GL23) is the most common rice used in cooking and the one you’ll find in most frozen/packaged meals and in Chinese Meals, Restaurant or Take-Out. It has had all the bran and germ removed. Not recommended eating if you can avoid them. If you can’t then make sure to practice good portion control.
And,
the UGLY . . .
Long Grain Quick Cooking Rice; i.e., Instant Rice (GI/87 & GL/29) and it has basically no remaining vitamins and minerals either -- just straight, quickly digested starch.
Arborio Rice (GI/98 & GL/31) is the kind usually used for risotto. Cooks fairly quickly and absorbs lots of water without getting too mushy.
Jasmine Rice another one with a lovely flower-like aroma but a GI of 109 and a GL of 46 for that measly little half cup . . . No I did not mis-type those numbers
. . . Obviously these three cannot be recommended.
Tomorrow . . . the staff of life (well, maybe)
. . .
BREAD