Maize meal in South Africa

[David 42]

Many South Africans eat Maize meal porridge (Putu pap) as their staple carb diet. I recently found out that hot 'Putu pap' straight from the pot registers HIGH GI. If it is allowed to go cold before being eaten it registers as a LOW GI, If re-heated and then eaten it registers as an intermediate GI. How weird is that ??

Maybe other carbs also do this. Any info on this out there?

I recently discovered that I am gluten intolerant and that any gluten bread would spike my sugar. So I cut bread out of my diet totally and my sugar levels, which were totally unmanageable, are now pretty stable on my meter at below 7.5 most of the time. I also found that having just come out of a very stressful relationship has also helped to drop my sugar levels. Stress causes major spikes. So, cut out bread, de-stress and eat cold Putu pap.

 

[AndyS]

I think oats can sometimes work a little like that depending on preparation.
Also pasta can have some wide variance depending on how it is cooked.

The main thing is to educate yourself so you know what is what, knowledge is power and all

Liked ProNutro as a kid but preferred Nestle Junior Cereals.. **** shame they stopped making that.

 

[phoenix]

This is a simple article which explains the factors that modify GI including whats called retrograding which is what happens when some starches are heated then cooled. (it's from the Montignac diet site, there's quite a bit more on the GI which is accurate, I don't know much about rest of the diet though so I'm not suggesting that to anyone)

 

[volorg]

I was reading something the other day on the www.dietdoctor.com website about some starches being carb neutral or low gi. It was talking about eating potato starch dissolved in water (sounds horrible) which apparently passes through the stomach without being absorbed and is absorbed by the good bacteria in the intestine instead.