Some fruits, like dried fruits, ripe bananas, and papaya, have very concentrated levels of sugars, so we ask you to avoid them—as well as fruit juices—altogether. (For more on why we think it’s time to break the glass-of-juice-with-breakfast habit, see Chapter 7.) They’re okay for an occasional treat, but be aware that they can spike blood sugar like a piece of candy does—though of course they offer nutrients that candy doesn’t have. If you are trying to break out of insulin and leptin resistance, steer clear. Instead, opt for whole, raw fruits for more fiber and nutrients—and don’t forget to eat your veggies!
So what’s the final word on fruits and whole grains? We’re certainly not saying that you should never eat them. Most fruits, for example, in their whole, unprocessed state, are marvelous foods. But there is simply no getting around the fact that some forms of fruit (such as fruit juice and fruit
“leather”) and most grains behave in your body exactly like the high-carb foods that they are, sending your blood sugar levels up and triggering that metabolic waltz you know so well by now.
There is, however, a way out of the carb confusion, if you’re trying to tell the good from the bad.
The key to avoiding Metabolic Syndrome is choosing foods that don’t ruin your blood sugar levels.
A Really Smart Move: Using Glycemic Load to Help You Choose
counts. Using pure glucose (glycemic index = 100) as the standard, they tested 50-gram portions of digestible carbohydrate and measured how quickly and how high blood sugar rose in reaction to eating these foods. By eating foods with a low glycemic index, you presumably could avoid the blood sugar roller coaster. (Food manufacturers have jumped on the index as a selling point, marketing it on some packaged foods with an official-looking seal hollering “LOW G.I.”; but they are often misrepresenting the effect that food will have on your blood sugar. Read on.)
There are two big problems with using the glycemic index as a guide to eating. First of all, the index is designed to measure how quickly and how high your blood sugar rises in response to a fixed quantity (50 grams) of carbohydrates. When it comes to blood sugar, portion size is very important.
Let’s look at two foods that illustrate this point well: spaghetti, which rates as a “moderate” glycemic index food, and carrots, which rate as a “high” one.
The glycemic index of spaghetti may be “moderate,” but no one eats only 50 grams of spaghetti.
Why? Because that’s only 1 cup, cooked. That’s not-a-lotta pasta, and few diners tuck into a single cup of spaghetti and are satisfied. A person is more likely to eat something like 2 cups (and typically much more), which at the very least doubles the index. A real-world serving of spaghetti isn’t
“moderate” at all in terms of what it does to your blood sugar—it’s high. As for carrots, 50 grams of carrots translates into nine big carrots. Have you ever eaten nine whole carrots in one sitting? Would you want to try? Because that’s what you’d have to do—and you’d have to eat them in a matter of minutes, like a rabbit or a horse—to send your blood sugar rocketing to a high level. Carrots, which people have been known to avoid as a “bad” food because of its “high” glycemic index, have very low glycemic effects, as do most vegetables (most have none whatsoever).
The second problem with using glycemic index as a guide to eating is that these measurements are based on what happens when the food is eaten alone—not with other foods that could affect (that is, slow down) the rate at which blood sugar rises. A banana eaten with peanut butter (a neutral fat) has a slower release in your system than a banana eaten alone. (And instead of half a cup of plain pasta, have that same portion but tossed with white beans and pesto, with a serving of fish or chicken, and you have a much better blood sugar—and dining—experience.)
And the Winner Is . . .
To get a more accurate measure than the glycemic index, food scientists started calculating something called the glycemic load (GL), which tells you what’s going to happen to your blood sugar when you eat a real-life portion of the food in question. Who cares what the glycemic index is when it’s based on a portion size that may have nothing to do with reality? What you want to know is what a real-life portion is going to do to your blood sugar, and that’s exactly what the GL does. That’s why we recommend paying attention to it instead of the glycemic index.
GL data are not as trendy or perhaps as comprehensive for some food categories as the glycemic index, but they are becoming easier to find. You’ll find several resources online, including
The University of Sydney (Australia); http://www.glycemicindex.com/foodSearch.php Self NutritionData; http://nutritiondata.self.com/
We’ve put together a general chart to give you a framework for gauging low-, medium-, and
high-GL foods. This information is not comprehensive (which is why we recommend the resources above), but it’s designed to show you how some major categories of foods (such as grains and flour products) are considered high-GL, while others (virtually all vegetables, except potatoes) have no GL to speak of.
The GL is not the only way to judge food, but it’s an important indicator when you’re trying to make sense of carbohydrates and their relationship to fat, fiber, and protein—particularly if you’re trying to lose weight.
GLYCEMIC LOAD (GL) OF COMMON FOODS
Ke y: 0–9 = low GL; 10–19 = me dium GL; 20+ = high GL.
Note : Numbe rs may vary by a fe w points from one re fe re nce to anothe r.
FO O D SERVING SIZE GLYC EMIC LO AD (pe r se rving)
BAKERY PRO DUC TS MEDIUM GL
C orn tortilla 50 g (2 tortillas) 12
Flour tortilla 50 g (1 tortilla) 15
Pumpe rnicke l bre ad 2 slice s 13
Vanilla wafe rs 6 cookie s (1 oz ) 14
Rice cake s 1 oz 18
Kaise r roll 1 roll (1 oz ) 12
Hamburge r bun 2 slice s 18
C upcake , strawbe rry icing 1 cupcake 19
HIGH GL
W hole -whe at bre ad 2 slice s 20
W onde r Bre ad 2 slice s (2 oz ) 20
Donut, glaz e d O ne 4-in diame te r 22
C hocolate cake with icing ⅙ th cake, 84 g 25
Bage l, white 3.5-in bage l 34
BEVERAGES LO W GL
Unswe e te ne d te a and coffe e 1 cup 0
Tomato juice (canne d) 1 cup 4
Skim milk 1 cup 9
W hole milk 1 cup 9
Soy milk 1 cup 9
MEDIUM GL
Apple juice (unswe e te ne d) 1 cup 12
Gatorade 1 cup 12
O range juice (unswe e te ne d) 1 cup 12
HIGH GL
C ranbe rry juice cocktail (O ce an Spray) 1 cup 24
C oca C ola 12-oz can 25
Fanta (orange soda) 12-oz can 35
C EREALS
LO W GL
Ste e l-cut oatme al 1 cup 9
MEDIUM GL
O atme al, rolle d 1 cup 13
C he e rios 1 cup 13
Grits, cooke d 1 cup 14
Instant oatme al 1 cup 16
All-Bran ce re al (Ke llogg’s) 1 cup 16
Grape -Nuts 1 cup 16
Mue sli (oats, nuts, drie d fruit) 1 cup 16
Spe cial K 1 cup 14
Kashi Go Le an C runch 1 cup 17
HIGH GL
C oco Pops 1 cup 20
C orn flake s 1 cup 24
Raisin Bran (Ke llogg’s) 1 cup 26
Granola (Kashi) 1 cup 37
GRAINS MEDIUM GL
Pe arle d barle y, cooke d (has glute n) 1 cup 11
W ild rice , cooke d 1 cup 16
Q uinoa, cooke d 1 cup 18
Spaghe tti, whole -me al, boile d 1 cup 15
HIGH GL
Brown rice , me dium-grain, cooke d 1 cup 22
Swe e t corn 1 cup 22
Spaghe tti, white , boile d 10 min 1 cup 22
Macaroni (e lbow), cooke d 1 cup 23
Macaroni and che e se (Kraft) 1 cup 32
W hite rice , long-grain, cooke d 1 cup 27
W hite basmati rice , quick-cooking 1 cup 28
C ouscous, boile d 5 min 1 cup 30
C O O KIES, SNAC KS, C RAC KERS, C HIPS LO W GL
Hummus (chickpe a salad dip) 30 g 0
Guacamole ¼ cup 0
Dark chocolate (70%–85% cocoa) 1 oz 4
MEDIUM GL
Popcorn, poppe d 2 cups 12
O atme al cookie s 1.5 oz 18
Ginge r snap cookie s 1 oz 17
Granola bar 2-oz bar 18
HIGH GL
Ginge r snap cookie s 1.5 oz 24
Nachos, tortilla chips, salte d 3-oz bag 35
Pre tz e ls, ove n-bake d 2-oz bag 33
Mars bar 2-oz bar 27
Potato chips 4-oz bag 30
DAIRY MEDIUM GL
Plain low-fat Gre e k yogurt 245 g 10
Re duce d-fat yogurt with fruit 200 g 11
HIGH GL
Ice cre am, re gular 1 cup 24
FRUITS LO W GL
Apple 1 me dium 6
Apricots 1 cup 6
Blue be rrie s, wild 1 cup 1
Blue be rrie s, comme rcially raise d 1 cup 4
C he rrie s 1 cup 4
Grape s 1 cup 5
Grape fruit 1 small 3
Mango 1 cup (120 g) 8
O range 1 me dium 4
Pe ach 1 large 5
Pe ar 1 me dium 5
Pine apple 1 cup 7
Plums 1 cup 5
Strawbe rrie s 1 cup 3
W ate rme lon 1 cup 4
MEDIUM GL
Apricot, drie d ¼ cup 10
Banana, re gular (ye llow without spots) 1 me dium 10
Banana, ripe (brownish with many spots) 1 me dium 16
Date s, drie d ¼ cup 14
Fruit juice 1 cup 12
Papaya 1 cup 10
Prune s ¼ cup 14
Raisins ¼ cup 18
BEANS LO W GL
Black be ans ½ cup 7
C hickpe as ½ cup 8
Navy be ans ½ cup 7
Kidne y be ans ½ cup 7
Le ntils ½ cup 6
Soybe ans (e damame ) ½ cup 3
W hite be ans ½ cup 9
MEDIUM GL
Bake d be ans ½ cup 10
NUTS (dry-roaste d) 1 oz = 1 handful O NLY LO W GL
Almonds 1 oz 0
Haz e lnuts 1 oz 0
Macadamia nuts 1 oz 0
Pe cans 1 oz 0
Pistachios 1 oz 0
W alnuts 1 oz 0
Pe anuts (actually a le gume ) 1 oz 0
C ashe ws, salte d 1 oz 3
VEGETABLES LO W GL
Artichoke (Je rusale m) 1 cup 0
Asparagus 1 cup 3
Avocado (Florida or C alifornia fruit) ½ fruit 0
Be e ts 1 cup 6
Bok choy 1 cup 0
Broccoli 1 cup 0
C abbage 1 cup 0
C arrots 1 cup 2
C auliflowe r 1 cup 0
C e le ry 1 cup 0
Mixe d gre e ns, le ttuce , and raw spinach 1 cup 0
Pe as, froz e n or fre sh 1 cup 5
Gre e n be ll pe ppe r 1 cup 2
Re d or ye llow be ll pe ppe r 1 cup 3
Parsnip 1 cup 8
MEDIUM GL
Swe e t potato 1 me dium (½ cup) 10
Potato salad 1 cup 13
Boile d white and purple potatoe s 1 cup 14
Instant mashe d potatoe s 1 cup 17
HIGH GL
Bake d russe t potato 1 me dium (5 oz ) 26
ANIMAL PRO TEIN AND SMART FAT LO W GL
Ste ak, chicke n, salmon, pork 6 oz 0
Eggs 2 e ggs 0
O live , nut, and coconut oil 1 Tbsp 0
Avocado (Florida or C alifornia fruit) ½ fruit 0 ALC O HO LIC BEVERAGES
LO W GL
Re d or white wine 5 oz 0
Vodka 1.5 oz 0
Be e r 12 oz 3
A few takeaways to note, before we move to our next chapter and put this information to work:
Most breakfast cereals are medium- or high-GL. On occasion, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but consider what most Americans believe is a “healthy” breakfast: cold cereal with milk, orange juice, and toast. The cumulative glycemic impact of such a breakfast is a GL of at least 49.5, which is a metabolic disaster—all medium- to high-glycemic foods that are pretty much guaranteed to raise your blood sugar too high and leave you hungry an hour later. Keep in mind:
What you need in the morning for health and weight control to optimize your hormones is protein, fiber, smart fat, and hydration. The last thing you want first thing in the morning is a big load of sugar. (A better choice is a Smart Fat Shake or any of the breakfast ideas you’ll find in Chapter 10.)
The method of food preparation matters. Regular spaghetti boiled until it is very soft (more than twelve minutes; in restaurants where it’s not made to order, it often boils for twenty minutes and then sits) has a higher GL than whole-grain spaghetti cooked for a shorter amount of time and served al dente.
Density matters. When eating flour products, the denser the flour, the lower the GL. That’s why bread (light and fluffy) compared with rice has a higher GL, and rice has a higher GL than pasta, which is denser.
All vegetables are low-GL. As we pointed out in our discussion of fruits and vegetables, fruits are terrific and are mainly low-GL (except for bananas and papayas—and fruit juice), but they have more sugar than the average vegetable (except for potatoes). Vegetables won’t affect your blood sugar, but they will deliver fiber and loads of nutrients.
No grains are low-GL. Except for steel-cut oats, most grains are moderate- to high-GL, so it’s best to eat small portions.
All smart fats and protein foods are naturally low-GL. We don’t include many fats and proteins in our chart because our focus here is on helping you choose your carbs wisely, but their low GL makes them a great complement to the rest of your smart fat diet.
Here’s the science lesson: Eating medium- to high-GL foods increases sugar surges, insulin spikes, insulin resistance, and leptin resistance. If you want to unblock insulin and leptin resistance, steering clear of medium-GL and especially high-GL foods is the way to go. Once your insulin and leptin responses normalize, you can have medium-GL foods from time to time, but watch portion size (and stay away from high-GL foods or you’ll “break” your insulin function all over again!).
And here’s the practical application of this lesson: Eat as little sugar as possible, and go easy on the foods that turn into sugar quickly, such as cereals, breads, pasta, and other flour products.
Think of the glycemic load as your personal “carb compass”—a way to make smart choices so that the Smart Fat Solution works most effectively.