Archive for February, 2009
I’ve just started the diabetic exchange diet and I’m wondering how to count exchanges of pre-packaged foods.?
When on Weight Watchers, they had a calculator you could purchase that when input with calories, fat and fiber grams would tell you the amount of ”points” each food was valued. Does anyone know if there is any sort of calculator similar to this for determining the exchange values of packages foods, such as the 100 calorie snacks, for example? Any help will be much appreciated!
WOW ! This is your lucky day. Forget the exchange diet. You need the GLYCEMIC INDEX food plan. Its a list of 2,480 food that tell you their index and load. I will be your eating bible for life.Heres the website:http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm
The glycemic index (GI) is a numerical system of measuring how much of a rise in circulating blood sugar a carbohydrate triggers–the higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response. So a low GI food will cause a small rise, while a high GI food will trigger a dramatic spike. A list of carbohydrates with their glycemic values is shown below. A GI is 70 or more is high, a GI of 56 to 69 inclusive is medium, and a GI of 55 or less is low.
The glycemic load (GL) is a relatively new way to assess the impact of carbohydrate consumption that takes the glycemic index into account, but gives a fuller picture than does glycemic index alone. A GI value tells you only how rapidly a particular carbohydrate turns into sugar. It doesn’t tell you how much of that carbohydrate is in a serving of a particular food. You need to know both things to understand a food’s effect on blood sugar. That is where glycemic load comes in. The carbohydrate in watermelon, for example, has a high GI. But there isn’t a lot of it, so watermelon’s glycemic load is relatively low. A GL of 20 or more is high, a GL of 11 to 19 inclusive is medium, and a GL of 10 or less is low.
Foods that have a low GL almost always have a low GI. Foods with an intermediate or high GL range from very low to very high GI.
Both GI and GL are listed here. The GI is of foods based on the glucose index–where glucose is set to equal 100. The other is the glycemic load, which is the glycemic index divided by 100 multiplied by its available carbohydrate content (i.e. carbohydrates minus fiber) in grams. (The "Serve size (g)" column is the serving size in grams for calculating the glycemic load; for simplicity of presentation I have left out an intermediate column that shows the available carbohydrates in the stated serving sizes.) Take, watermelon as an example of calculating glycemic load. Its glycemic index is pretty high, about 72. According to the calculations by the people at the University of Sydney’s Human Nutrition Unit, in a serving of 120 grams it has 6 grams of available carbohydrate per serving, so its glycemic load is pretty low, 72/100*6=4.32, rounded to 4.
I have tried them all and this is the best and easiest. Do it…>
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Where can I find diabetic recipes?
I have a relative visiting soon who is on a diabetic diet. Does any know of any websites or sources for diabetic recipes? Thanks for your help.
Having had diabetes myself for over forty years, I have found that there really aren’t "diabetic" receipes. Diabetics eat the same food as anyone else, its only that the portions have to be managed. A balanced diet of carbs, proteins, vegs and fruits (The same that is recommended for everyone.) I think you will find that your guest will be happy if you just prepare your normal fare. We can even eat a small serving of regular dessert occaisionly. Hope this helps.