Averaging the Glycaemic Index of the food we eat

In my last post I wrote about averaging the impact of glucose to limit its impact on our body. Excess/unused glucose in our body is stored in our liver as fat. And fat in the liver is where diabetes starts.

For those of us with a genetic predisposition to diabetes, it is important to limit the amount of fat stored in our liver. To do this we need to reduce the amount of excess glucose in our body. This is not just about eating enough food to give our body the energy it needs to survive each day; it is more complicated than that.

Averaging the impact of glucose helps keep the sugar levels in our blood consistent. This reduces the rapid peaks of glucose. A fatty liver does not develop from excess consumption of fat, but excess consumption of carbohydrates.

There are many ways to average the glycaemic index of the food we eat. For myself, I have developed some recipes which do this. In my Banana, hazelnut and walnut loaf I use a batter of hazelnut meal and flour with a ratio of 50/50.

My Honey Spice Biscuits use flour to bind the mix only. The mix contains a greater proportion of hazelnut meal, walnuts and seeds. If I add sultanas to the mix, I reduce the amount of honey and add more walnuts. Hazelnuts and walnuts are low GI and take more time to digest. These foods also keep us feeling satisfied for longer, so there is slower release of glucose in our body.

Although scones are mostly flour which has a high GI, this can be averaged by adding lower GI ingredients such as sunflower seeds, chia seeds, buckwheat kernels and nutritional yeast. The GI of pumpkin soup can be reduced by adding lentils, bacon or ham.

As I have a real sweet tooth, I was reluctant to give up sweet foods when my diet changed. I found a way to enjoy them without impacting my glucose levels.

I hope these ideas are helpful. Please contact me if you would like to chat.

In love, Jenny

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