Give Your Fried Chicken a Date

We have learned about Deadly Whites and questionable food choices.  Today, let's look at what good food choices would be.

First, let's look at a measurement called the Glycemic Index (GI), a techinical term for how fast a food will raise your blood sugar.  Our bodies have to maintain our blood sugar between 70 and 140.  If it rises above 140 it can damage the brain and nervous system.  Of course, our bodies don't want that to happen, so the pancreas produces insulin to bring the sugar level back down.  Insulin removes the sugar from the blood and stores it as FAT.  

That means our goal in controlling body weight must be to control insulin production.  If we control insulin production, then we control fat production.  To do that, we need to avoid foods that spike blood sugar, which brings us back to the GI.

The GI rates foods against a standard food that is given the value of 100, and that food is pure glucose.  Baked white potatoes have an index of 111, higher than glucose.  Yes, white potatoes spikes your blood sugar faster than pure glucose does!  So if you are like most Americans and the Deadly Whites predominate your diet, then potatoes are first to go.

White rice has an index of 89 and though lower than glucose it is higher than sugar.  It needs to be limited to the 20% side of the 80/20 rule.

Not on the list of Deadly Whites but equally bad is High Fructose Corn Syrup, or Corn Sugar, which is a term used in an attempt to separate their product from the bad press that it's deservedly getting.  It is made from genetically modified corn, what I call a Franken-food.  It has an index of 87 and that is higher than table sugar.  

White flour, which is made from wheat, has an index of 80.  If you are trying to control weight, then white flour and "wheat flour", which is white flour with food coloring and "dietary fiber" added, are things that need to go.

Next on the list would be sugar with its index of 80.  Of course, this means that doughnuts are definitely off the list for our daily breakfast!

What CAN we eat?

This chart can show you what's ideal

I have AWESOME news!  Pasta is a LOW GLYCEMIC FOOD!!!  Substitute potatoes and rice with pasta, but no more than one serving per day.

Next week we will discuss

Have a Normal and Healthy Date Night