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Confusing isn't it!?

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wayjo

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi all,

This is my first post in the forum.

I have just been diagnosed with diabetes and am soon to have its severity tested.

I have been looking around at dietary information on the internet and have found some confusing and conflicting "facts". I am sure I will get to the bottom of things when I am better able to measure my own bodies responses to food types, but what a shame it's such a minefield!

I am aiming at low GI foods of course, which I have know about for a long time but I have just learnt about Glycemic Load. I would have thought that GL was far more relevant and important than GI? Any thoughts on that anyone?

I was amazed to see that milk chocolate is low GI! Is that right?

It seems to me that all foods are OK(within sensible reason) as long as you manage portion control properly and ingest sufficient protein and fibre to reduce the effect. Is this correct?

I have had an all over itching body for about a year. Now that I am controlling my diet more I use the intensity of itching as measurement of dietary success. It's very consistent!

I am sure I will be reading and posting a lot more in the times to come.

Thanks to diabetes.co.uk for being there!

cheers
wayjo
P.S. I think it is funny that this editor does not know the word "glycemic" without adding it. :D
 
Hi, Welcome :)

"personally" i dont think the whole GI/GL thing is not relevant, carbs are what matter, carbs turn to sugar/glucose so eating less carbs/sugar/glucose means there will be less in our blood causing us trouble (yipeee)

this is just my opinion and know lots of people successfully use GI/GL
 
I sort of agree with Andy. Low GI is a better choice of carb as it's slower to release but 50g of carbs is 50g of carbs, whether they are low GI or high GI. The only relevance for me regarding GI is when I would inject my insulin, I would still have to inject same amount though. I agree that no food needs to be "off limits" but you'd gain better control if you were to concentrate on reducing carbs rather than GI load. Again, this is just my opinion, some people swear by GI of foods. Ultimately, if your meter shows good BG levels then you're doing OK.
 
According to my Collins Gem GI book, milk chocolate is medium GI. But it's stil high in carbs and it would be better to test how your BG responds to it. Personally, milk chocolate does little to my BG levels, but we're all different and many here cannot eat it without a significant spike in their levels.
 
Sooner or later, 50g of carbs is going to digest to precisely that - I actually think a fast spike (of both BG and insulin) that is over and done with in a short space of time is better than a long drawn out one, especially if the digestion takes so long that it impacts the following meal.
 
I agree with most of the posts that it's overall carbs that matter and the GI is less relevant. The meter will help guide you but obviously absorption rates will vary with GI so timing of the test may be relevant
 
Hello and welcome. For me I look at the amount of carbs as well as how "fast" it is going to go into my system. However, the GI doesn' t tell the whole story. When you eat food you do not eat it on its own generally and it gets mushed up with the other foods and they can all change the rate of digestion of everything in your stomach. For example, Ice cream does this to me and delays any impact by an hour. This is why you need to look at your meals and test with a meter. The GI although a guide is just that a guide. We all react differently to different foods.
 
I'm an advocate of GL. Everything I've read about it makes complete sense. It's about good combining and the science behind how foods work together. So far it has worked for me although my morning fast BG needs slight improvement!

Good luck xxx


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

Diagnosed prediabetic Easter 2014.
 
Daibell said:
I agree with most of the posts that it's overall carbs that matter and the GI is less relevant. The meter will help guide you but obviously absorption rates will vary with GI so timing of the test may be relevant
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I totally agree with this. Many years ago when I was still pre-diabetic a doctor recommended Patrick Holford's GL diet. I stuck to it to the letter and put on 4 pounds the first week and 4 pounds the second week. I know very many people have been helped by this diet because it worked for them but I didn't start losing weight at all until I started cutting out the main carb culprits of sugar, bread, pasta, flour products and potatoes.
 
You won't know what your body will tolerate until you try and test. Some people can't eat any bread but I can eat up to 3 slices of Hovis Wholemeal a day - at the moment - I still test, whereas milk chocolate would send my BG into orbit, which for me would mean 8.3 to 9 and I would feel awful. I try to stay within the non diabetic BG numbers as much as possible and feel better when I do.
 
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