Low GI Explained
What Does Low GI Mean?
Glycemic Index (GI) measures how quickly a carbohydrate is digested and increases blood glucose levels.
Your body uses glucose as energy, which it gets from breaking down carbohydrates, and carries the glucose to cells through your bloodstream.
GI is a good measure of how long food will take to be digested. The slower a food takes to be digested, the longer you will feel full after eating it.
Many people follow low GI diets for weight loss, while others who suffer from diseases such as diabetes eat low GI foods to avoid dramatic shifts in their blood sugar levels.
How is Glycemic Index Measured?
By measuring the change in your blood’s glucose levels over time, scientists can calculate the glycemic index of food items, resulting in a score out of 100.
There are 3 main categories:
- Low (less than 55)
- Medium (55 to 70)
- High (70 plus)
Low GI foods slowly break down and provide a constant stream of energy to maintain energy levels.
High GI foods create spikes of energy, which are often followed by crashes – very low energy levels which often leave you in an even lower state of energy than you started with.
What Foods are Low GI?
A food’s GI score is affected by the type of nutrients it provides, how it was cooked, how ripe it is when eaten, and how much it was processed.
Fat, protein, soluble fibre, fructose (fruit & honey), lactose (milk) generally lower a food’s glycemic response.
Simply look for foods that have a low GI score (Below 55). These can be easily found with a simple Google Search.
Snacks such as nuts, seeds, and berries are all healthy, low GI foods.
Nuts & Seeds
Nuts are highly nutritionally dense foods, with relatively small amounts of carbohydrates and are high in healthy fat, protien, and fibre.
Nuts have very low GI scores, ranging from 0 for Almonds, to 22 for Cashews.
Seeds are high in fiber, protein, and healthy fats with many vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants.
Seeds have very low GI scores. Pumpkin Seeds score a 10, and Sunflower Seeds score 20.
Roastwell’s Online Store
We air-roast our nuts and seeds to bring a healthy, rich flavour to our range of healthy snacks.
Air-roasting is a healthy process that enhances natural flavour and partially breaks down the nutrients in foods for easier digestion.
We offer our snack products direct to you through our online website, with bulk pricing and direct-to-door delivery nation-wide.
One thing about buying from Roastwell is that the nuts are always fresh. Recently we ran out of nuts and my better half bought some nuts at a large chain’s store. Big mistake. Not even close. I let her and the dogs finish it.
Such a tasty and healthy snack (Almond Smoked)!! Price and quality are just unbeatable! Thanks Roastwell team!!
First time I ordered and I was blown away by the excellent quality!! The cashew nuts are so fresh and crunchy and are by far the best cashews I have EVER tasted!!! I have already ordered again………They also make such great gifts.