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Are Mars Bars low G.I.?

M

markd

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Got stuck in the snow for a while this morning, I was fine in my 4WD bus, but it was the people trying to go up steep countryside hills in their small front wheel drive vehicles that caused the delays.

Anyway, pinched a chicken fajita wrap and a Mars Bar off the friend I was giving a lift to, as it was past lunchtime and I needed a snack - it looked as if we might be there for a long time.

I've not eaten any candy bars like this since I started to address my glycemic issues three years ago, so when I got home, did a test and found it was only 5.1 90 mins after.

I'd assumed that Mars Bars were the kiss of death to blood sugar control, am I wrong??

mark
 
A Mars bar is high in carbs and also fats, therefore the absorption would be slowed down. A test much later (3 or 4 hrs) might show/have showed a higher Bg level........

It used to be used as a hypo remedy until it was realised it isn't quick acting. It can help once you have boosted the level with quick acting carbs......just to stabilise the levels over a longer period.
 
Ah, that makes sense then - thanks, I hadn't realised about the fat content.

I'd also assumed that the soft tortilla wrap from the fajita would have spiked me a bit (that was about 30mins before the mars bar)- I'm moderatly locarb; pretty much never eat breat, pasta, potatoes or flour products.

I'll give it another hour and see what happens, just out of interest.

mark
 
It's worth testing Markd. Now all my levels are well controlled and with weight loss (5 1/2 st) I find that many of the things I couldn't eat before I can now manage in small portions, hence why I also couple the GI method with low GL too. :)

Interesting to see what the readings are later on. I have had a Mars Bar but usually just half of one when Bg levels are very low, as a snack. I get a small rise from that but well within my own personal target levels, no more than 7 throughout the day.
 
OK, did another test at just over 2.5hours and it was 5.0

Like you, shedding a pile of weight has allowed me to occasionally eat some things that I'd initially thought to be on my banned-for-life list.

While I used to eat a lot of candy bars of various sorts - almost addicted in fact - now I find it easy to avoid them. Getting through the first few months of going cold-turkey as regards processed carbs was a bit rough, but no urges to backslide now. Worst was coming off normal Coke - caffeine withdrawal *and* carb withdrawal was hard - I changed to diet Coke for a while to ease the transition. (too much caffeine was boosting my BP a bit)

An interesting experiment (Mars Bar) but one I feel no need to repeat; it was just that if I hadn't pinched some food from my chum when I did, he'd have eaten it all and we might have been stuck in the snow for a long time.

mark
 
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