The following is a much abbreviated list of some typical foods and where they stand on the glycemic load scale. There’s nothing wrong with having the occasional high-glycemic fruit or grain, but you’ll want to keep it to a minimum. Remember, too, that whenever you add fiber, protein, or fat to a meal or snack, you’re lowering the overall glycemic impact on your blood sugar (and energy).
Remember that most of the testing for glycemic values has been done on carbohydrate foods. Fat has almost no effect on insulin, and “mixed foods” (foods containing some combination of carb, protein, and/or fat) are rarely tested. That doesn’t mean they don’t affect your blood sugar, just that we know more about the effect of pure carbohydrate foods – from kidney beans (low) to jelly beans (hight).
It’s much the same way with glycemic indeed and glycemic load. Glycemic index is like knowing the “price per pound’, but glycemic load is like knowing the price you actually pay based on the amount you actually consume. If you’re consuming a 3-gram carbohydrate portion (one medium carrot), it’s not that relevant what a 50-gram portion would do to you blood sugar. Glycemic load is calculated using a formula that takes the glycemic index plus the portion size into account. That’s a lot more meaningful.
Let’s use two foods as an example – carrots and pasta. Carrots have a glycemic index of 92, and because of that, many people will tell you not to eat carrots. But like much of conventional wisdom, that’s dead wrong. Sure, a glycemic index of 92 seems “expensive”, but remember, that’s for the standard 50-gram carbohydrate portion. If you eat two carrots, you’re consuming about 6 grams of carbohydrate, may be 7.
Plugging that into the formula for glycemic load (don’t worry, the math is all done for you on the glycemic load charts) gives you a glycemic load of about 5, which is ridiculously low.
As my friend and colleague from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, C. Leigh Broadhurst, Ph.D., is fond of saying, “No one ever got fat or diabetic on peas and carrots”.
Pasta, on the other hand, has a medium glycemic index of about 55, which pasta-apologists claim sin’t so bad. True. But plug into the formula the typical portion of 200 grams – it’s probably two or three times that in a typical restaurant portion – and you’re looking at a glycemic load that’s off the charts. You won’t get fat on carrots, but you may well do so on pasta.
Try Bee Pollen and Bee Propolis
Bee pollen is one of the few nonmeat sources of the energy-essential vitamin B. But that’s hardily the only reason to recommend it.
Bee pollen is also loaded with vitamins, enzymes, almost all known minerals, and tons of amino acids, which makes sense because bee pollen contains the essence of every plant from which the bees collect pollen. It also contains a number of bioflavonoids, a family of plant chemicals with multiple health and energy benefits.
WORTH KNOWING
Although “royal jelly” (another bee product) is also widely sold and promoted. I think it’s highly overrated. It’s a great component of cosmetics and skin products, but it’s questionable whether any of its antibacterial qualities survive once it enters the digestive system.
In one study, adolescent swimmers who took bee pollen experienced fewer missed training days due to colds and upper respiratory infections. I use bee pollen as an additive in my smoothies, especially in the afternoon, but many people eat it by the spoonful, straight from the jar. Try pollen or propolis (more on that below) and see that you think. One brand really like is distributed by David Wolfe’s Sunfood Nutrition (www.sunfood.com), but you can find others in your local health food supermarket.
Propolis is the stuff the bees create by mixing wax with a resinous sap from trees. The result is a substance that has documented antioxidative, anticuler, antitumor, and antimicrobial properties. No wonder people find it energizing! At the very least, propolis protects against a host of microbes that can easily drain you energy in a number of sublet ways.
Although there isn’t a ton of research on bee pollen, it’s still a phenomenally nutritious and well-balanced food that’s been a staple in folk medicine and healing traditions for more than two millennia. And many people swear by it as an energy food.
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