Article-Boiling up the facts about pasta and GI

windwords7

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<P class=articletitle>Boiling up the facts about pasta and GI

<B><SPAN class=text>By Hal Walter</SPAN></B>
<P class=text>The recent publication of a new glycemic index in the <I>American Journal of Clinical Nutrition</I> has brought up some sticky questions about pasta, which is listed as ranging from a low of 38 to a high of 131.
<P class=text>That's a big range, reflecting a wide variety of pastas. Since lower-glycemic foods generally have less of an insulin response and therefore cause less disruption to the fat-burning system, this leaves many pasta-lovers who want to be healthy and thin looking for advice on where to find that 38-GI pasta.
<P class=text>Too bad it's not so simple.
<P class=text>Before diving into a bowl of low-glycemic pasta, it's first very important to consider your tolerance for carbohydrate foods. This is best found by using the Two-Week Test as described in Dr. Phil Maffetone's books and booklets. Some people can tolerate very little carbohydrate foods, depending on their individual levels of tolerance.
<P class=text>In addition it's also important to consider the amount of carbohydrate in a given serving of food in addition to its glycemic index. For instance, a serving of American spaghetti may seem like a good choice with a low glycemic index of about 53, but that spaghetti may also contain a rather high 42 grams of carbohydrate. On average, about 40 percent of all carbohydrates you eat are stored as fat. This figure may be even higher if you are carbohydrate intolerant or if the food is high on the glycemic index.
<P class=text>To put your pasta in perspective, consider that an apple has a similar glycemic index of 57, but contains only 16 grams of carbohydrate. Meanwhile, protein-enriched spaghetti rates the lowest of all pastas tested with a glycemic index of 38 but a serving contains a belly-busting 52 grams of carbohydrate.
<P class=text>Does this mean you should avoid pasta at all costs? Not necessarily. If you can tolerate carbohydrates, a small serving may be appropriate as part of a balanced meal that also contains protein and fat. In this case it's definitely better to stick with the lower-glycemic pastas.
<P class=text>How to identify these pastas is another challenge. Many of the glycemic-index studies were performed using pastas not available in the United States, and the results vary widely. In general, egg fettucine and whole-grain pasta tend to be on the lower end of the glycemic index. Pastas made of rice and corn are among the higher-GI products. The amount of carbohydrate per serving is listed on the label.

<SPAN class=text>In addition, it's interesting to note that the studies seem to indicate longer boiling times can slightly reduce the glycemic index of some pastas.</SPAN>
 

YellowJacket

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On average, about 40 percent of all carbohydrates you eat are stored as fat. This figure may be even higher if you are carbohydrate intolerant or if the food is high on the glycemic index.
Ouch......I dont like this part in a fitness application. This applies to the general US population Im assuming, which is very true, if not more than 40% due to the lack of exercise and pissy diets thus we're the fattest country in the world, this number for people who train and are all around physically fit is much lower. But thats a pretty nice find there Jake, great addition.
 

windwords7

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Yeah I hear ya YJ but its some interesting stuff.
 

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