• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

The factors that modify the G.I. index.

  • Thread starter Thread starter catherinecherub
  • Start Date Start Date
C

catherinecherub

Guest
Interesting article here explaining how the GI of foods is affected by several factors including the chemical reaction of starches to the following :-
Hydration, heat, cooking, refrigeration, reheating, ripeness of fruit and modern methods of making bread versus artisan breads that do not refine the grains.

We talked in a previous discussion about toast being lower G.I. than fresh bread and cooked pasta and rice being refrigerated and producing a lower G.I. and it is explained within the article.

http://www.montignac.com/en/the-factors ... c-indexes/
 
Interesting read Catherine and very useful :)
 
catherinecherub said:
Interesting article here explaining how the GI of foods is affected by several factors including the chemical reaction of starches to the following :-
Hydration, heat, cooking, refrigeration, reheating, ripeness of fruit and modern methods of making bread versus artisan breads that do not refine the grains.

We talked in a previous discussion about toast being lower G.I. than fresh bread and cooked pasta and rice being refrigerated and producing a lower G.I. and it is explained within the article.

http://www.montignac.com/en/the-factors ... c-indexes/
Click to expand...


Very, very interesting catherine. We can so easily forget that food, combining, cooking, eating and digesting is basically - chemistry. Some foods don't combine well, others complement each other. Some foods can be eaten raw, others cannot and our body can't cope with them. Every time we put something in our mouth and swallow it we're conducting a chemical experiment really and food chemistry changes depending what we do with it.

I think today, we've become so distanced from food in it's raw state that we don't realise we need to respect it for what it is. My motto is "The more it's messed about with, either in the factory or in the kitchen, the less I want to eat it." Sounds boring especially with today's fashion for culinary masterminds - but really I think the simpler the better. :)
 
catherinecherub said:
Interesting article here explaining how the GI of foods is affected by several factors including the chemical reaction of starches to the following :-
Hydration, heat, cooking, refrigeration, reheating, ripeness of fruit and modern methods of making bread versus artisan breads that do not refine the grains.
Click to expand...

That illustrates one of the principal objections to the whole GI thing - that there are too many variables influencing the Glycemic Index of a food. It's obviously much more complex than simply reading the value of a certain food off a chart. If you get it wrong then it's spike-a-roonie time.

Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of Glycemic Load, but I couldn't in all honesty take the chance of a food being higher GI than I expected, and mucking up my BG profile.
 
If you adjust your basic grams of carbs per day to give you a good safe base then GI / GL are good things to be aware of and use. For example I mostly always eat my Burgen bread as toast that I cook from frozen as it undoubtedly lowers its BG raising effects. Likewise the time of day and what you are consuming things with is also important.
 
An extremely interesting article. I always have raw carrots when possible rather than cooked as the flavour is far superior (why cook them anyway?) but I had no idea the GI was also much lower.
 
Daibell said:
An extremely interesting article. I always have raw carrots when possible rather than cooked as the flavour is far superior (why cook them anyway?) but I had no idea the GI was also much lower.
Click to expand...

I can't bear raw carrots but I can eat cooked in very small amounts with other veggies. Carrot and turnip mashed with butter - I could eat by the bucketful. But raw carrots for some reason taste soapy to me and set my mouth tingling. Cauliflower and brocolli I love, with loads of melted butter.
 
It's only recently I learned that if you fiddle with foods, ie cooking etc you can change the GL. I always believed the GL remained the same regardless. It was then I felt rather pleased I had chosen the carb counting route, as I would have had figures that didn't make sense to me otherwise. I think this article is a very important tool to anyone choosing a GL route for control.

I love carrots raw and cooked, but can't have them. Even raw I get a spike, nothing too major, but enough for me to put them on the rejected food pile.
 
GraceK said:
Carrot and turnip mashed with butter - I could eat by the bucketful.
Click to expand...


Me too, even better with ground black pepper added :thumbup:
 
Back
Top