Sweet potatoes

[Maddiemo1]

Hi. I'm a bit confused about sweet potaotes. On low GI they say they are better for you than white so went out and bought some today but now I realise I have made a mistake as I am following low carb. Why does low GI say yes and low carb say no? I'm getting in a right old state with learning about a whole new way of eating. Will it all fall into place one day?
Maddie :wave:

 

[BioHaZarD]

Re: Sweet potaoes

It's best just to say no to any potatoes, I can get away with 1 or 2 small new potatoes.

 

[Elc1112]

Re: Sweet potaoes

GI is about how quickly a food releases sugar, or how quickly it'll cause your sugars to spike. A high GI food will usually release sugar quickly. Low GI food release energy more slowly and can help you to maintain stable sugar levels throughout the day.

Low carb diets are different. Although the are some foods that are low in carb and GI, there are some (sweet potatoes as an example) that are quite high in carbs but relatively in GI.

I opt for the low GI rather than low carb most of the time. It works well for me and I find my sugars are easier to control as a result.

Potatoes cause my sugars to spike, do I know I need to inject a couple of extra units to cover them.

Hope this helps a little!

 

[Spiral]

Re: Sweet potaoes

Shortly after I was diagnosed I tried low GI, after initally just cutting sugar and junk food. What you describe is exactly the kind of problem I had. I found it quite confusing and an awful lot of work for a fairly minor reduction in my blood sugar readings after a month (although I did lose more weight, but this had started by simply cutting sugar and junk).

After a month on low GI I still could not go shopping without the sodding book in my hand, and my head was spinning, eating this with that but not the other :crazy:

I went low carb after about a month and the impact on my blood glucose was amazing - and I was far less confused about what I was doing and I lost a whole lot more weight. Shopping is so much easier, I didn't need to take the book with me... :mrgreen:

I have been low carbing since may 2009

 

[Anonymous]

Hi. I'm a bit confused about sweet potaotes. On low GI they say they are better for you than white so went out and bought some today but now I realise I have made a mistake as I am following low carb. Why does low GI say yes and low carb say no? I'm getting in a right old state with learning about a whole new way of eating. Will it all fall into place one day?
Maddie :wave:

Hi Maddie

Can I make a suggestion? Why not try on cutting out carbs as much as you can for a couple of days, check your meter readings, then gradually re-introducing foods to see the effect they are having on you.

You might get a clearer idea of how individual foods affect you that way.

Dave x

 

[Grazer]

Can get confusing. You can't just say "I'll go low GI" and eat away, because too many carbs, even if they ARE low GI will send your blood sugars too high if you're on diet only/metformin. Low GI as said above is about foods that are better in not giving you a rapid spike; handy as a type 2 because our initial insulin response is normally poor so low GI foods give our poor Pancreases time to get going! But you still need to control the AMOUNTS, and that is where Glycemic Load comes in. The idea of this is that if you multiply The GI (glycemic index) by the AMOUNT of carbs (and then I believe divide by 100) you get the glycemic load (GL) So you can have more carbs with a low GI or less with a high GI and end up with the same GL. So if you work out wiith your meter what GL you can stand, it should all slip into place!
Personally, I don't do all these sums. Far too complicated. I just stick to the type of foods that have a low GI (so no starchy carbs) and then just keep down to the number of carbs I know I can eat from previous testing.