Week 9: What Is the Glycemic Index?

We tend to think that all carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are created equal. Instead there are important differences between the various types. There are some surprising differences in how our bodies process things—carbohydrates in particular. Our assignment for this week is to understand and apply the glycemic index to our dietary choices.  

Here is a video that explains it

You do not need to buy their fiber pill. Eat better instead. I am not saying that this product is bad, I have no idea. It is better to get your fiber from real food. If Since you are keeping track of what you are eating, you know how much fiber you are getting. A product like this might be an option if you are not getting enough.

What the glycemic index measures is how quickly the carbohydrate turns into sugar in your body. There are some surprises. One of the worst offenders is the ubiquitous potato. It turns into sugar very fast, faster in fact than sugar itself. Oatmeal is not bad, but instant oatmeal is, well, it is instant in its turning into sugar. So it you are eating this you are just fooling yourself. 

Here is a chart from Harvard.edu:

FOOD	Glycemic index (glucose = 100)	Serving size (grams)	Glycemic load per serving
BAKERY PRODUCTS AND BREADS
Banana cake, made with sugar	47	60	14
Banana cake, made without sugar	55	60	12
Sponge cake, plain	46	63	17
Vanilla cake made from packet mix with vanilla frosting (Betty Crocker)	42	111	24
Apple, made with sugar	44	60	13
Apple, made without sugar	48	60	9
Waffles, Aunt Jemima (Quaker Oats)	76	35	10
Bagel, white, frozen	72	70	25
Baguette, white, plain	95	30	15
Coarse barley bread, 75-80% kernels, average	34	30	7
Hamburger bun	61	30	9
Kaiser roll	73	30	12
Pumpernickel bread	56	30	7
50% cracked wheat kernel bread	58	30	12
White wheat flour bread	71	30	10
Wonder™ bread, average	73	30	10
Whole wheat bread, average	71	30	9
100% Whole Grain™ bread (Natural Ovens)	51	30	7
Pita bread, white	68	30	10
Corn tortilla	52	50	12
Wheat tortilla	30	50	8
BEVERAGES
Coca Cola®, average	63	250 mL	16
Fanta®, orange soft drink	68	250 mL	23
Lucozade®, original (sparkling glucose drink)	95±10	250 mL	40
Apple juice, unsweetened, average	44	250 mL	30
Cranberry juice cocktail (Ocean Spray®)	68	250 mL	24
Gatorade	78	250 mL	12
Orange juice, unsweetened	50	250 mL	12
Tomato juice, canned	38	250 mL	4
BREAKFAST CEREALS AND RELATED PRODUCTS
All-Bran™, average	55	30	12
Coco Pops™, average	77	30	20
Cornflakes™, average	93	30	23
Cream of Wheat™ (Nabisco)	66	250	17
Cream of Wheat™, Instant (Nabisco)	74	250	22
Grapenuts™, average	75	30	16
Muesli, average	66	30	16
Oatmeal, average	55	250	13
Instant oatmeal, average	83	250	30
Puffed wheat, average	80	30	17
Raisin Bran™ (Kellogg's)	61	30	12
Special K™ (Kellogg's)	69	30	14
GRAINS
Pearled barley, average	28	150	12
Sweet corn on the cob, average	60	150	20
Couscous, average	65	150	9
Quinoa	53	150	13
White rice, average	89	150	43
Quick cooking white basmati	67	150	28
Brown rice, average	50	150	16
Converted, white rice (Uncle Ben's®)	38	150	14
Whole wheat kernels, average	30	50	11
Bulgur, average	48	150	12
COOKIES AND CRACKERS
Graham crackers	74	25	14
Vanilla wafers	77	25	14
Shortbread	64	25	10
Rice cakes, average	82	25	17
Rye crisps, average	64	25	11
Soda crackers	74	25	12
DAIRY PRODUCTS AND ALTERNATIVES
Ice cream, regular	57	50	6
Ice cream, premium	38	50	3
Milk, full fat	41	250mL	5
Milk, skim	32	250 mL	4
Reduced-fat yogurt with fruit, average	33	200	11
FRUITS
Apple, average	39	120	6
Banana, ripe	62	120	16
Dates, dried	42	60	18
Grapefruit	25	120	3
Grapes, average	59	120	11
Orange, average	40	120	4
Peach, average	42	120	5
Peach, canned in light syrup	40	120	5
Pear, average	38	120	4
Pear, canned in pear juice	43	120	5
Prunes, pitted	29	60	10
Raisins	64	60	28
Watermelon	72	120	4
BEANS AND NUTS
Baked beans, average	40	150	6
Blackeye peas, average	33	150	10
Black beans	30	150	7
Chickpeas, average	10	150	3
Chickpeas, canned in brine	38	150	9
Navy beans, average	31	150	9
Kidney beans, average	29	150	7
Lentils, average	29	150	5
Soy beans, average	15	150	1
Cashews, salted	27	50	3
Peanuts, average	7	50	0
PASTA and NOODLES
Fettucini, average	32	180	15
Macaroni, average	47	180	23
Macaroni and Cheese (Kraft)	64	180	32
Spaghetti, white, boiled, average	46	180	22
Spaghetti, white, boiled 20 min, average	58	180	26
Spaghetti, wholemeal, boiled, average	42	180	17
SNACK FOODS
Corn chips, plain, salted, average	42	50	11
Fruit Roll-Ups®	99	30	24
M & M's®, peanut	33	30	6
Microwave popcorn, plain, average	55	20	6
Potato chips, average	51	50	12
Pretzels, oven-baked	83	30	16
Snickers Bar®	51	60	18
VEGETABLES
Green peas, average	51	80	4
Carrots, average	35	80	2
Parsnips	52	80	4
Baked russet potato, average	111	150	33
Boiled white potato, average	82	150	21
Instant mashed potato, average	87	150	17
Sweet potato, average	70	150	22
Yam, average	54	150	20
MISCELLANEOUS
Hummus (chickpea salad dip)	6	30	0
Chicken nuggets, frozen, reheated in microwave oven 5 min	46	100	7
Pizza, plain baked dough, served with parmesan cheese and tomato sauce	80	100	22
Pizza, Super Supreme (Pizza Hut)	36	100	9
Honey, average	61	25	12

The complete list of the glycemic index and glycemic load for more than 1,000 foods can be found in the article "International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values: 2008" by Fiona S. Atkinson, Kaye Foster-Powell, and Jennie C. Brand-Miller in the December 2008 issue of Diabetes Care, Vol. 31, number 12, pages2281-2283. [end quote] 

This list is not the only metric you should use. High fat foods will have a low gylcemic index. 

Here is a video presentation on the glycemic index as your homework for this week. Also study the chart.

Note that the presenter makes some errors. As good as fiber is, the difference between white and wheat bread is not that high unless you get very coarse bread. But an important point she brings out is that sweet potatoes, and especially yams, are much slower to convert into sugar. I still remember the shock when I discovered the whole wheat bread I was using was not helping my blood sugar. 

The glycemic Index of foods is important to everyone, but particularly important to those whose metabolism is faulty—those with diabetes and metabolic syndrome. We need to be aware of the glycemic values of what we eat. 

Action Plan: Your action for this week is to take the high glycemic foods you are eating now and replace them with different foods of the same type. So replace whole wheat/white bread with coarse whole wheat bread; replace potatoes with yams; and replace bananas with grapefruit. 

Remember, if you are not writing down what you are eating, you do not really know what you are eating. Drop diet drinks from what you drink. Remember all the steps you have been making and continue with them. 

Week 8: Your Mom Was Right

This week we begin to adjust our food choices. I will be critiquing the various diet gurus over the next few weeks after I return from my business trip. By now you may have started to develop your own ideas on what you should be eating. A good place to begin is an area that almost every diet guru would agree on. "Your Mom Was Right." Yes you need to eat your vegetables. Even the lowest carbohydrate diets advocate eating your vegetables. (Note that there are diets that advocate no carbohydrates. These are medically supervised diets to fight brain cancer or epilepsy. Do not try this at home.) Harvard tells us that the "average" American eats 3 servings of fruit and vegetables a day. This does not include potatoes. Fruit is a special case that we will discuss in a few weeks.

How many servings of vegetables do you have a day?

Harvard recommends 2 1/2 cups a day of cooked vegetables. My own personal goal is three cups of cooked vegetables daily, for me this does not include raw vegetables. I also try to have several cups of raw vegetables daily. I do not want to scare you. The thought of eating this many vegetables would have scared me two years ago. A funny thing about how averages work: If the average is three servings of fruits and vegetables, that means that many have less and some have none. A lot of us are not eating any. To suddenly jump up to that level of vegetables may result in stomach upset. For some eating raw vegetables of any kind can cause stomach upset. Gradually increase your vegetable intake to avoid this.

This week, and hopefully every week from now on, have a salad as a meal once a week. Here is what I eat several times a week.

1 small head of romaine lettuce
1 green pepper (red or orange is fine, for me the price will determine the color)
1/4 small onion
Small handful of cherry tomatoes

1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tbs Walden Balsamic Dressing

While I include a link to Walden Dressing, I do not recommend you buy it on Amazon. It is much cheaper at a health food store.

Making a salad is not difficult. You can even make it quickly in the morning and take it to work. Yes I know this makes a lot of salad. Most would consider it two servings. Here is a Kindle book with some suggestions.



In addition to one salad weekly, try to eat one cup of vegetables daily. If you are already eating more than this, that is great. But the point is through repetition to make it a daily habit. Fresh is best, but frozen is fine as well. One particular product we keep in the freezer is Vegetables for One. It is handy to always have a serving of vegetables two minutes away.

The final action for this week is to eat more fish. This also, except for the vegans and vegetarians, is not controversial either. Here is something I eat frequently with my salad.



If you are taking your salad to work, canned fish is easy to add to your salad. You might want to have a way to wrap up your empty can. Taking it out to the trash is also advisable. Do you really want a fishy smell in the break room? I do not mind it or even notice it, but other members of my household do. Plan ahead and dispose of the smelly fish promptly. The name of this series is Plan What You Eat, but you also need to plan how to dispose of the leftovers.

Some are concerned about fish, hopefully this week's homework assignment will calm those fears.



Action Plan:  Eat at least one large salad and one serving of fish weekly. Eat one cup of vegetables daily. Review the previous week's action plans and continue them.

Week 7: Balloon Ball

A famous comic actor, W.C. Fields, once commented that when the urge to exercise hit him he would lie down until the feeling went away. I sympathize, and well, I tend to agree. Exercise is of the devil. But the apostle Paul commented on exercise in I Tim 4:8

Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever.

While the focus of the passage is on exercising your spiritual muscles, note that Paul thinks that exercise is useful. I guess W.C. was wrong.

But I will not be suggesting a lot of exercise. Instead I will be suggesting that you move instead. While the difference between the two is subtle, I think the difference is significant.

Look at a typical American day. Up in the morning and watching TV while drinking coffee. Walk to the garage and then drive to work. You take the elevator to your floor. You sit in front of a computer screen most of the day. There is an occasional meeting. You sit for that. You drive home, going through the drive-through for dinner, you don't even get out of the car for that! You unwrap the burger and sip your cola in front of the TV. Later you lie down for sleep. This can't be healthy.

No, exercise is not of the devil, but sitting is, especially in front of the devil's eye.

Here is this week's homework, the benefits of exercise. 



See What Balloon Ball Can Do! So this brings me to the subject for this week's action, play balloon ball.

The equipment needed is a balloon and a lot of hot air. I have plenty of both. The goal is to keep the balloon off the floor as much as possible. We tend to be somewhat competitive, so my daughter and I often keep score. Hey, I do not like losing, even if it is Candyland. If you have a helium balloon that is losing its rise, so much the better.

There are various moves like the Jay Leno: you hit the balloon with your ... chin. Do not confuse this with the Jimmy Durante--no nose is involved. The Pelè involves hitting the balloon with your head. But you must jump up into the balloon for it to be a full Pelè.  The slam dunk involves hitting the balloon hard toward your "opponent." A knee move is a lot more difficult than you might think. You have to hit the balloon hard to get any altitude. Of course you can also use your foot. Tomorrow my daughter and I will play balloon soccer as the helium will be mostly gone. You get extra points if you dance while your opponent does their moves. Thus my daughter does the "shuffle off to Buffalo" as she is a tap dancer. Above all have fun. 

You can play alone, nor do you even need to be human. 

As fun as Balloon Ball is, my point is not solely that you should play balloon ball. It is that you need to move your body. Park your car farthest away from the door. Walk up the stairs. Bring your lunch to work and walk during your lunch time. When you take Fido out to do his business, do not do the bare minimum, instead be outside longer. Fido will appreciate it.

Action plan for this week. Play balloon ball. Have fun. Move your body.

Continue with the last few weeks' actions. Write down everything you eat, do not drink diet drinks. Avoid caloric beverages. And as I said last week, limit your calories!



Music to listen to while playing Balloon Ball.

Week 6: Calories Don't Count And Other Myths

I have gradually been making suggestions about health so we can all gradually build good habits. They say it takes about six weeks to build a new habit, and this is our sixth week. I want to emphasize the word "gradually." To paraphrase a Facebook friend, "I have been in the fitness industry for 30 years, and I have never seen anyone lose weight rapidly and keep it off." From my personal experience I have to agree. 

Hopefully by this time you have been to the doctor for a checkup and have discussed your individual health situation. If not, do so. Many people go too long between physicals. Writing down what you eat is an important step towards better health. Remember that fat people use diet drinks. Caloric drinks fool the body. Do not use either. Since today we be talking about calories, sorry, taking some basic vitamins is a good idea, as amount of vitamins in food is determined to some degree by how much you eat, and you need to eat less. 

You need to eat less because calories do count. I wish this was false. However, there are some interesting facts in this. If you eat a low carb diet with higher protein, your body will convert the protein to carbohydrate. This is inefficient. I have read estimates that this inefficiency is up to 500 calories a day. In addition, for many people the lower carbohydrate content in food may lead to less hunger, which leads to less eating. These points may be what is behind the "calories do not count" meme.  

So am I going to suggest you eat low carb? Yes and no. I am going to suggest you try various styles of eating and see what works for you. One of the major critiques I will make as I evaluate the various diet gurus out there is the false idea that one size fits all. There is no such thing as an average person. You have to make adjustments based on the various factors that make you you—employment, body type, genetics, allergies, and so on. For example, an overweight furniture mover will need more calories than an overweight truck driver. So adjust anything you read to fit your situation. 

So, how many calories should you eat? Well, I think you could predict what I was going to say—it depends. A better question is what should I weigh? That depends too. Here is one suggestion:

Get that tape measure out and start measuring that gut. Then you start working out and you start eating properly till that gut gets down close to where it was when you were in your 20's. Then you'll find out what your weight should be.  -Jack LaLanne 

This is not bad advice. However, I already weigh less than what I weighed at that time and I still need to lose more. The US is getting fatter and fatter, younger and younger.  

While there is a lot of criticism about the "old tried and true" Metropolitan Insurance tables, there really are no better alternatives. The image to the right is the first one done in 1959. For some reason the more modern charts suggest a larger weight. Here are those charts. Since rapid weight loss is not desirable, I suggest you add a few pounds to the ideal weight from the linked 1999 chart as you begin, to avoid this. If you have over 100 pounds to lose, add even more. 

Let's use the results to determine what we should be eating. I will use myself as an example. As a 5' 11" heavy framed man (well, I am) I should weigh no more than 185 lbs. Oops. But in any event I want to add a few pounds to this to avoid rapid weight loss, so let's say 195 lbs. (This is actually the procedure I used two years ago to determine my calorie levels, I almost weigh this weight right now.) There are many places to estimate your calorie level for a particular weight. Here is one.  I took the weight for the Metropolitan table, added a few pounds, and filled out the values for my age and so on. The result was that I should eat 2070 calories a day. I chose my calorie goal at 2000 calories. 

Our goal is not to lose weight. Our goal is to eat a healthy diet with the proper portions of food. By setting your calories close to what you should be eating, you will train yourself to eat the proper amount. Most of us who are overweight will lose weight at this level. If you don't lose much weight, don't worry. The purpose is not to lose weight, but to eat right. You will gradually tweak your eating over the next year anyway. We have lots of time, this is not a race. You do not want to reset your metabolism.  

FitnessPal will suggest you eat a low fat diet. That might be best for you, but it might not. I suggest at this point you eat what you are used to eating, just less of it. I am not including donuts, potato chips, and other junk food. Do not eat these. For me the macronutrients ratios I chose were 25% protein, 25% carbohydrates and 50% fat. If you have been writing down in FitnessPal what you eat, you already know what percentages you are eating. Keep it the same for now. We will experiment with different ratios later. One middle-of-the-road suggestion might be 20% protein, 35% fat, and 45% carbohydrates. You can adjust your FtnessPal recommendations to whatever level you want at their website. 

You cannot count calories unless you know what you eat. If you have not been writing down what you eat, do so. For at least one week do not try to restrict calories. If you already have been writing down what you eat, then start reducing your calories now. If you want to go back over anything I have said, click on the right under the category Plan What You Eat. 

As The Sphinx said in Mystery Men, "If you doubt your power, you give power to your doubts." You can do it. 

Action Plan Week 6: Count your calories. 

Scales are pretty smart. Here is the one I use. What you measure is what you improve. Measure your weight and record your food. 

Here is a list of scales at Amazon. Consider getting one that gives you your body fat percentage. 

Amazon Scale List

Week 5: Supplement 101

Naturally after ranting against the modern meme of curing all our ills by taking a pill, I will propose you solve your ills by taking a pill. It seems only logical. 

If you are a Caucasian living in the South who is outside with large amounts of skin exposed for at least an hour each day, and you eat a healthy, varied, non-processed diet, from local sources grown in non-depleted soils, using grass-fed meats and wild fish, and avoiding most vegetable oils, you can just skip this post. 

Still with me? 

Personally I take about 12 pills every morning. I am not going to recommend this many as I am following my doctor's advice by using specific B vitamins to reduce homocysteine levels. This is something you may wish to try with doctor supervision, but much, much later. Gradually changing what you eat is more important. 

This is the multivitamin I take. 

I think that most multivitamins are too dangerous for many. This is because a large percentage of people have a genetic mutation that makes the metabolism of folate problematic. Yes I am a mutant.  I cannot handle folate well. To make matters even worse, most vitamin preparations do not even use folate, they use folic acid, an artificial compound. Can my body use folic acid to make the methylated folate that is in the multivitamin I take? No one seems to know how efficient someone with my genetics would be in converting folic acid to methylated folate. 

So if you want to take a multivitamin, you either need to get yourself genetically tested, or use a multivitamin that helps you by supplying methylated folate instead of folic acid. Personally I do not want the unmetabolized folic acid to build up until my body can excrete it. 

If you have had your physical, I hope you got your vitamin D levels tested. Otherwise you have no idea if you need to supplement or not. Go get it tested before using vitamin D as it can be toxic. No, two pills is not necessarily better than one. The vitamin D in your multivitamin will not be enough to hurt you, but it might not be enough to help you either. Here is what I take.

If you live above the red line, you may need Vitamin DI may be wrong, but if I had to pick one reason why I got cancer it would be Vitamin D deficiency. Right now, even with a very aggressive supplementation program, I am still deficient. At the start of the supplementation I was low enough that I almost certainly had undiagnosed bone problems. It does not matter how much calcium is in your diet, if you do not have enough Vitamin D, the calcium is not properly utilized. 

The video I am recommending today talks about this issue. One figure in the video I found shocking. 85% of patients admitted to a Boston Hospital for any reason were deficient in Vitamin D. 

Unless you live an active outdoor life in an area without winter, you need to consider supplementation. The Vitamin D test should be a part of any physical you take. 

If you take vitamin D there is another vitamin you need to take--K-2. I do not take K-2 because I eat Natto. I think it tastes fine, like what I remember pork 'n beans used to taste like when I ate that. But the slimy look leaves something to be desired. One reason I eat it is that it has more vitamin K-2 than any other food in the world. There are a few vitamins that are in short supply in our diet. K-2 is one of them. For a more in-depth discussion of this click here. 

This is not the K-2 you are looking for, move on. If you eat fermented cheese like blue cheese, liver, pasture-fed butter and milk, or have good gut bacteria that live on soluble fiber, you might be OK—might. But if you don't, you should supplement. 

(Remember that K-1 is not the same vitamin!) 

K-2 is crucial in calcium allocation. Even if you have enough calcium, without this vitamin, along with vitamin D, the calcium is not laid down in the bones as well. Even worse, the calcium might be put in places you do not want it, like your heart. 

So either crack open the styrofoam Natto container, eat a lot of blue cheese, or get some supplementation. 

Here is what I take if I have not had natto recently. 

Magnesium deficiency is also a problem for many. Magnesium also helps build strong bones. Here is what I take, but I take less than the recommended amount.  

I do not take calcium except for the modest amount in my multivitamin. I have calcium in places I do not want it to be. The sudden rush of calcium supplementation, really the rush you get from any vitamin, is not good. This is one reason I take so many vitamins: I use smaller doses twice a day. With calcium this rush is particularly dangerous. Women seem to be different than men on this as they are more susceptible to bone issues. But even women should space the calcium pills throughout the day. 

Remember what Socrates said, "The unexamined vitamin is not worth taking."