Noticed that while a lot of fad diets come and go, GI is still lingering about? It is one of the areas of healthy eating that was identified and tested with rigorous science and will be around for some time yet.

GI stands for Glycaemic Index which is a measure of the rate at which glucose is absorbed from your digestive tract into your blood stream. Glucose is a highly demanded commodity within your body as it is a key source of energy used by the brain and working muscles.

Most of our energy comes from the digestion of foods that contain carbohydrates to get glucose. As carbohydrates are broken down, the glucose molecules pass through the walls of the small intestine, enter the blood stream where they are transported around the body.

Now, it turns out some carbohydrate based foods are better than others when it comes to getting glucose into the blood. Some let it all go at once, while others let it out at a slower rate. This is very important for daily energy because the slower energy is released into the blood the better chance the body has of using that energy before it is stored as fat.

Low GI foods or meals also place less strain on vital organs such as the pancreas and are a way of managing and preventing type 2 diabetes, keeping a healthy weight, and sustaining energy levels throughout the day to minimize fatigue.

An Australian researcher, Prof Jennie Brand-Miller at the University of Sydney is a world leader in this field. She and her team actually developed the widely used Glycaemic Index (glycaemic means glucose in the blood).

Foods that unload their glucose quickly are given a high GI score. It's mostly out of 100 but some foods score over 100 if they are extremely high GI.

Rating Score

Low	< 55
Medium	55-70
High	> 70

To give you an example, let's say you eat a high GI food for breakfast. You might have a bowl of cornflakes (GI = 84). You get to work and you're hungry already so you have a snack, maybe a biscuit or even some white toast. Come morning tea you are hungry again so you eat your sandwich which is made on white bread (GI=70) so come lunch time your hungry again.

Compare that to the feeling of having a low GI breakfast such as all bran fruit and oats or heavy mixed grain toast that help you last through to morning tea time where you have some fruit (Apple = 38). This gets you through to lunch and you have a low GI meal like a salad sandwich on multigrain bread. You have gotten through to lunch eating less times and with better supply of energy into the blood stream.

Eating low GI gives you more energy for longer and reduces the amount of time during the day where you are hungry thus reducing the amount of times where you feel like you need to eat again.

How do you incorporate low GI foods into your diet? Aim for one to two low GI alternative each meal. For a comprehensive list of low GI foods go to http://www.glycemicindex.com

For more information on diet and nutrition go to www.lifestylemedicine.net.au.

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