10 Tips for Reducing the GI of Your Diet

1. Pile half your dinner plate high with vegetables or salad Aim to eat at least five servings of vegetables (this doesn’t include the starchy ones like potatoes, sweet potatoes or sweet corn) every day, preferably of three or more different colors. 2. Be wise with your potatoes If you are a big potato eater and can't bear the thought of giving them up, you don't have to. Just choose wisely, and be careful with the quantity. Choose one or two medium-sized low GI potatoes such as Carisma, or a lower GI potato such as Nicola or Marfona or have one or two baby new potatoes with a small cob of corn or make a cannellini bean (they are white beans) and potato mash replacing half the potato with cannellini beans. Don't be afraid of trying other starchy vegetables like sweet potato, yams or taro - steamed, roasted or mashed. 3. Swap your bread Instead of high GI white and wholemeal breads, choose a really grainy bread where you can actually see the grains, granary bread, stone-ground wholemeal bread, real sourdough bread, soy and linseed bread, pumpernickel, fruit loaf or bread made from chickpea or other legume-based flours. 4. Replace those high Glycemic Index crunchy breakfast flakes These refined breakfast cereals spike your blood glucose and insulin levels. Replace them with smart carbs like natural muesli or traditional (not instant) porridge oats or one of the lower GI processed breakfast cereals that will trickle fuel into your engine. 5. Make your starchy staples the low GI ones Look for the low GI rice's, serve your pasta al dente, choose less processed foods such as large flake or rolled oats for porridge or muesli and intact grains such as barley, buckwheat, bulgur, quinoa, whole kernel rye, or whole wheat kernels and opt for lower GI starchy vegetables. 6. Learn to love legumes (pulses) Include legumes like beans, lentils and chickpeas in your meals two or three times a week, more often if you are vegetarian. Add chickpeas to a stir-fry, red kidney beans to a chili, a 4-bean salad to that barbecue menu, and beans or lentils to a casserole or soup. 7. Develop the art of combining No need to cut out all high GI carbs. The trick is to combine them with those low GI tricklers to achieve a moderate overall GI. How? Lentils with rice (think of that delicious classic Italian soup), rice with beans and chili (go Mexican), tabbouleh tucked into pita bread (with falafels of course and a dash of hummus), baked beans on toast or piled on a jacket-baked potato for classic comfort food. 8. Incorporate a lean protein source with every meal Eat lean meat, skinless chicken, fish and seafood, eggs, milk, yogurt or cheese, or legumes and tofu if you are vegetarian. The protein portion should make up around a quarter of the plate/meal. 9. Tickle your taste buds Try vinaigrette (using vinegar or lemon juice with a dash of extra virgin olive oil) with salads, yogurt with cereal, lemon juice on vegetables like asparagus, or sourdough bread. These foods contain acids, which slow stomach emptying and lower your blood glucose response to the carbs in the meal. 10. Go low GI when snacking If it is healthy and low GI, keep it handy. Grab fresh fruit, dried fruit, or fruit and nut mix, low fat milk and yogurt (or soy alternatives). Limit (this means don't buy them every week) high GI refined flour products whether home baked or from the supermarket such as cookies, cakes, pastries, crumpets, crackers, biscuits, irrespective of their fat and sugar content. These really are the 'keep for the occasional treat' foods. Keep your eye on the serving size. Remember portion caution with carb-rich foods such as rice, al dente pasta and noodles, potatoes etc. Eating a huge amount of these foods, even of the low GI variety, will have a marked effect on your blood glucose. A cup of cooked noodles or al dente pasta or rice plus plenty of mixed non-starchy vegetables and a little lean protein can turn into 3 cups of a very satisfying meal. © 2013 THE GI FOUNDATION, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED