Glycemic load

http://www.glycemic.com/GlycemicIndex-LoadDefined.htm

So, for a serving size of a GL 7 food, it appears you would get about 4-12 percent of the recommended load over a day from that particular item in that particular serving. (Say GL 7 divided by 60 GL/day times 100 to get the percentage = 11.66 percent).

The lower your aim for your Daily Glycemic Load, the higher a percentage the 7 will be, of course.

Does this make anything clearer?

The GL of a food is calculated by multiplying its carbohydrate content per serving with its GI, divided by 100. GL values of 10 and below are considered low, between 11 and 19 are medium and above 20 are high.

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Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/39555 ... z20OcD4uQD

So it seems quite low on the face of it, but the numbers I quoted above are for non-diabetics, so it might be that you can tolerate less. i do think that GL is a great concept for diabetics, if you can handle the extra maths.

What food are you talking about?

Hello,

Sorry to bring this old thread up again.

I have just been diagnosed type 2, and after some reading on here decided to minimise my carb intake and initially aiming to have under 100g/day

i bought a pack of Lizi's Granola from tesco which i intend to have in the morning for breakfast which contains around 25g carbs (for my portion size). However, on the packet it also says a glycemic load of 5.5

Is this 5.5g GL value in addition to the carb value of 25g carb? i have read the links above but i am still unsure on whether GL 5.5 is a good amount or not for breakfast?

My BG was 15.9 when diagnosed, still waiting for my meter to arrive

Thanks!

David

mau said:

Is this 5.5g GL value in addition to the carb value of 25g carb? i have read the links above but i am still unsure on whether GL 5.5 is a good amount or not for breakfast?

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No, it's not in addition. They are different figures from different calkculations as per Borofergie's explanation above.
I don't know the numbers for Liz's Granola, but I'll use some pretend ones to try and explain.
Let's say your portion of granola was 40 grams, and the carb content of the granola was 60 grams per 100. The number of carbs you are eating was 60 divided by 100 times 40, which is 24 grams of carbs. That is it, total. (Milk would be more on top)
If the GI of the Granola was 25, then the GL, (the load) would be 24 times 25 divided by 100, which is 6. That is not 6 extra carbs, it's just saying the LOAD is 6, which is an indication of if it's good or bad. 5.5 is good. 25 would be considered bad. The load is just a measurement to indicate how much of something it's ok to eat.

Some just can't eat carbs in the mornings. Try it then test as you did is the rule. Perhaps you should try once more though. Could have been a dodgy reading? Bad strip? Finger not quite clean? Just you being bad that morning? I normally try things twice before I discard.

Thanks Grazer for the explanation it makes sense now and also relief!

Nikkig im going to measure myself once i get the meter and see if i get similar results

Heres the nutrition info

http://lizis.co.uk/index.php/lizi-s-original-granola-500-gm-bag-single.html

Hey guys!

Nikkig said:

It was Lizi's Granola that made me ask the question. I tried it one day for breakfast with disastrous results. 6.2 before 11.8 two hours post! 5.8 at 4 hours :crazy: it's still in the cupboard with only one portion gone :roll:

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Me too! I read the GL figure on the packet and it said it hits your BG in the same way 6.6g carb would (even though it is 46.8g carb per 100g - or something like that). So, I had the 50g (24ish g carb) it recommended and jabbed as though it was 6.6g carb. Disaster! My BG acted exactly like I had just eaten 24ish g of carb without jabbing enough insulin (which, of course, I had :lol: ). I don't know if GL makes a difference to Type 2s, but for me (LADA) it makes not a jot of difference - a carb is a carb and I have to include it in my calculation and jab according to my ratio. These days I just have 15g or 20g of Lizi's with berries and yoghurt. This works better, but still has a tendency to send my BG really high at 1 hour and low at three hours with a pretty good 2 hour reading in between :crazy: . I'm about to start experimenting with adding a percentage of chopped nuts to a smaller portion of granola to see if I can reduce its effects a little. I think I'll also try a different museli/granola to see if that makes a difference. My conclusion has been that Lizi's tastes nice but is no better than any other cereal for BG and GL is irrelevant if you can't tolerate carbs. Might be different for Type 2s though.

Smidge

Nikkig said:

Please could someone help me by telling me whether food that has been measured with a glycemic load of 7.0g per 50g serving is good or bad? I have tried various web pages but the results are confusing. It is glycemic load NOT index I am trying to fathom out!

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Low G.I./GL for diabetics seems so simple but it is not. You have to test the foods in this category because we have individual responses. Read around the forum and you will see that all Type2's have an individual response to foods and beverages whether it be bread, rice, potatoes, root veg, pasta, cereals, fruit, coffee, diet drinks, chocolate.

TBH
I find it's stated GI (5.5 for 23g.1g) seems to be very low compared with similar products/amounts of carbs
. http://www.etoolsage.com/Chart/Low_Glyc ... lsort=1500
I could only find 3 breakfast cereals with equally low GLs for the same amount of carbs.
Two made by quite big companies for the Aussie market: (Kellogs and Vogel) and deliberately manufactured to be low GI
Both of these products have more than the double the fibre content of Lizz's.
The third was an anonymous high fibre bran cereal from the UK


Smidge, Going high at 1 hour and low later to me suggests it's acting in you as fairly high GI
With truly low GI/GL I have to be careful not to go hypo at about 90 min.
I use the GI to guide choice but would, with very few exceptions dose for actual amount of carbohydrates; the GI/GL might influence how I divided the dose . Very low GL and I would give a bit upfront and do an extended bolus.(or in MDI days a second injection later)
( I don't calculate GL but do weigh all carbs so I in effect take it into account)

Those things that I would reduce the overall bolus for (but not by 75%) are things like green lentils and chana dahl which according to lists also have a GL of 4 or 5 but these are in mind very different foods.( again, very high fibre)

Thanks Phoenix. I find cereal one of the most difficult foods to control. I think you're right about it acting as a fairly high GI for me, but to be honest, I'm so carb-sensitive that almost all carb hits my BG fast. Even polyols can get me out of a mild hypo! I think cereal might just be a non-starter for me unfortunately.

Smidge

Glycemic Load 0 to 9 is low, 10 to 19 is medium, 20 and above is high. Pretty much all grains are too high for a diabetic - you don't need them. Most loads are on 100 grams of each food. Wheat and rice are the worst. Cut out grains and you'll lose a kilo every two days. I lost 12 kilo in 28 days because my insulin went down. Y'all all making this too complicated. Glycemic load is based glycemic index, but using a portion that is realistic of what you'd actually eat. Glycemic index is based on 50 grams of each food so not too realistic. Anything over 20 is high.

And yes LADA folks use so much insulin to cover so much carbs, but this just a guess cause carbs vary incredibly on how they effect your blood sugar. So even LADA folks need to learn about glycemic loads of foods. A carb is not a carb, by any means. You don't need to test anything cause that's what glycemic index and loads are all about. The food is tested on many people and the average is what's used so you can get a general idea how these foods affect you blood sugar. If I eat 1/4 cup of steel cut oatmeal, and nothing else, it spikes my blood sugar over 50 points on my meter. So even a glycemic load of 5 can have an effect, the key is to use low glycemic foods to bring the effect of the whole meal down (fats, fiber, protein) - like add whole fat milk or cream, nuts, or other low glycemic items to the oatmeal to bring the whole meal glycemic load down. All nuts are low glycemic.

Grains are the main cause of diabetes because the only thing higher glycemic load is dried fruit. This is why 70% of Americans are in pre-diabetes right now. Americans are eating 200 pounds of wheat each year or almost a half pound per day. 70% of Americans are estimated to have an HbA1c between 4.9 and 6.9 right now. This is not a pretty picture.
This is why grains are killing us:
Note some boiled grains are not too bad but process this with sugar, skim milk, and white flour and see what happens in the bread section below.
Examples of glycemic loads of foods: (remember under 10 is low and over 20 is high glycemic load)
Pearl Barley - 7
Barley porridge - 19
Buckwheat - 11
Bulgar wheat - 8
Couscous - 7
Millet -17
Polenta - 6
Quinoa - 12
Rice Basmati white - 15
Rice Brown - 12
Rice Jasmine - 31 (Goodby Thai restaraurants)
Rice long grain - 15
Rice wild - 12
Wheat whole grain boiled -28
Oatmeal boiled - 5
Oatmeal instant - 7

BREADS
Bagel - 36
Baguette - 48
Hamburger bun - 31
Bread Rye 100% whole grain - 27
Sourdough - 25
White - 36
Stone ground whole wheat - 26
Spelt dark - 40
Bowl of Wheaties, no sugar added - 44
Frosted flakes - 48
Cherios - 49
Shredded wheat - 49
Coco krispies - 67
Sugar - 68
Dates - 69
Cornflakes - 70
Rice cakes - 76 (remember when people ate these to lose weight?)
Glucose - 100
Maltose - 105

New book Y'all shoud read - Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD ISBN 978-1-60961-154-5
on glycemic loads of foods - The Easy GL Diet handbook by Dr. Fedon Alexander Lindburg ISBN 10: 1-56975-574-4

Robert,
A Glycemic load figure is meaningless unless you know the size of a portion/ number of carbs within that portion.
Most breads contain around 50% carbohydrate. Tests on 30g portions of bread (so often about 15g carb) have a glycemic load ranging from 5- 16(there are a few odd ones at the end of each list including things with various toppings and larger portion sizes) Breads that include wheat as an ingredient appear at both ends of the spectrum. Those at the lower end tend to include more intact/less processed grains.
http://www.glycemicindex.com/
search for bread then you can order by glycemic load.

The problem with blaming wheat for the US's problems of obesity and diabetes is that it ignores the rest of the world. Here in France the people eat about the same amount of wheat as in the US but have nothing like the obsesity levels. A lot of countries eat more and have low levels of obesity.
See p17 Fig. 1. Wheat share in food consumption in selected countries and then compare it to obesity stats
http://apps.cimmyt.org/english/docs/res ... k_bAbs.pdf

just an update on the Lizi Granola

i tried it on 2 occasions, 30 grams both times. It increased my +2hr levels by 4.6 and 4.7! Looks like i cant take this, will not be having it for now, although it was very tasty!

hi dont give up on lizis yet .Every mornig now for the last 4 yrs i had granola religiously. i got the same readings as you but with a bit of adaption you can lose the bg rise. i have 25g of lizis, 5 chopped strawberrys, tablespoon of flaxseed, 10g of mixed pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds, handfull of mixed nuts which are walnuts brazils and almonds, mix in a big bowl washed down with a coffe. the milk i use is lactose free. bgs 1 2 and 3 hrs saty all level. i think the fat from the nuts and the fibre from the flaxseed change the whole gl completely. it also keeps you full for ages . try it ive posted quite a few time with lizis granola and other people have tried this receipe with very good bg results.

i just tried it again this morning, this time like this:

25g Lizi Granola (the original one, no added dried fruits)
100g approx Onken Natural Yoghurt
5 strawberries
a few walnuts
sprinkle of linseeds

result: pre/post+2hrs reading increased by 2.4 instead of 4.7/4.8 when having without the nuts and linseed

So it is a feasible option for me just about. I will give it a few more goes. Next time i'll sprinkle some cinnamon on top see if it improves further

thanks bedshaped2000!