Shaping a moderate GI diet

[Federico Comoglio]

Dear forum members, as the title suggests I've been struggling over the past days to come up with a diet that has a low to moderate GI for each meal. The reason is that - waiting for further medical exams regarding a possible glucose intollerance - I'd like to see if this can help me feeling better overall. So far I was gearing my diet towards anti-inflammatory foods, but it was quite high in carbs and reasonably high in sugars. My BW oscillated between 75 and 72 in the last 3 months (I'm 72.5 x 184cm), settling to 72 in the last week. To gain weight gradually (less than 1kg per month) I know I need to eat at least 2800-2900 kcal a day.

 

The question is how to get there by controlling the amount of sugars per meal, as I had troubles reaching above 2000 by just using vegetables and fruit as source of carbs over the last week. As an example, I can post what I ate today:

 

Breakfast:

-Yoghurt (whole milk) 150g

-Soja flakes 30g

-3 dried plums

-walnuts 20g

-Dark bread (spelt) 40g

 

PreWO

-1 Peach

-flaxseeds 10g

-knackerbrot (whole grain bread, basically)

 

Trained from 11.45 to 13

 

Lunch

-Chicken (breast, steamed) with

-Bulgur 60g

-EVO oil 10g

-tomatoes, 200g

-black olives, 25g

-whole grain bread 45g

 

Snack

-a home-made bar with 25g Whey isolate proteins, 25g oat flakes, 5g EVO oil, 10g almonds, 10g honey, a tiny bit of dark chocolate powder

-1 Apple

 

Dinner

-cod, ~200g steamed, with

-lentils 50g 

-whole grain bread 50g

-sunflower seeds 10g

-EVO oil 10g

-2 big carrots

-blackberries 70g + 1/2 lemon

 

I'm not use to weight everything, I did just to be able to write it down here today. According to a software I'm using to track calories, today I ate 2480 kcal, distributed as follows:

 

Proteins: 164g

Carbs (sugars): 283 (88)

Fibers: 52

Fat (saturated): 81 (9.3)

 

I checked my records from the previous months and on average, I was eating 130-140g proteins per day with 400-480g carbs and 70-90g fats. Can we start a discussion here, collecting suggestions to improve my current regime? Please feel free to be extremely critical.

Thanks a lot in advance,

F

[David McManamon]

Pending the result of further medical exams you might pick up a copy of:

Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

By Alejandro Junger

 

Low GI meals are relatively easy if you can control any cravings you may have for your former diet, the first few weeks may be challenging.

[Daniel Burnham]

Your meals are very carb heavy with lots of cereals and fruits.

 

Ill give an example of my meals.  Feel free to copy most of this should be easy to copy in switzerland.

 

Breakfast:

Meat - Usually fish

Two eggs

Berries

Kefir or nuts.

 

Lunch:

Salad made of mixed greens (kale, spinach, boo choy. dandelion, beet,)

Entire chicken breast 50-60 grams

goat cheese

tomatoes

red onion

peppers

Rice or roasted butternut squash depending on the carbs needed that day

 

Dinner 1:

Chicken thigh

some vegetable

rice or root veggie

 

Dinner 2:

Flank steak

Sweet potato 

Avocado

braised kale.

 

Preworkout is puffed rice cereal and whey concentrate

 

Post workout is whey concentrate and maltodextrin

 

 

As you can see my carbs come from starchy sources rather than cereal.  If you have glucose intolerance then you should consider cutting fast carbs and only leaving things like root veggies.  No rice or periworkout carbs. definitely nothing like honey.

[Federico Comoglio]

Thanks for your replies! I appreciate and I'd like to keep discussing about this. Yes, I'm waiting for further exams and at the moment it seems that glucose intollerance is just an hypothesis generated from higher glucose levels than the expected fork (8.0 mmol/l, range is 4-6.1mmol/l, diagnosis of type II diabetes is above 14mmol/l) after 1h15-1h30' after lunch. More detailed analysis will be done next week.

 

@Daniel: well, you pointed out some facts that I'd like to discuss further.

1) I don't think what I wrote hints to a diet heavy in carbs. Let me elaborate a little on this. First, I always preferred starchy foods and I still do.

 

 

my carbs come from starchy sources rather than cereal

 

-Cereals - whole grain - are starchy. The starch is contained in the endosperm. If you select cereals properly, there is a variety of low to intermediate GI ones. I usually buy them raw from local producers and boil them. For example I generally prefer: whole oats, barley (GI 22-30), buckwheat (~50), bulgur (46), wheat kernels (40-45). I avoided rice, apart from certain types such as what we call "brown rice", which has a more moderate GI. In principle, integral pasta could work as well. Potatoes - in contrast - don't have a low GI (sweet potatoes are lower than potatoes, though). My plan would be to favor these starchy sources as my primary source of carbs, raising their quote to ~350g of carbs/day.

 

-You mention I eat a lot of fruit, but I try to eat just one fruit (for example today I had an apricot - imagine we are talking about ~4-5g of carbs) every 2 meals. The ones I select have low GI, in fact most of the fruit besides exotic fruits does. Also, any meal which contains fruit has also fats. Unfortunately, the concept of GI works only when a certain food is eaten alone and does not account for combinations with other foods in a meal.

 

-Honey exists in a thousand of varieties. Moderate GI honey (45-55) exists, and this is what I used just to add some flavor to the protein bar. I'd like to experiment with different recipes for those. Of course, I agree with you that honey is not the best ingredient.

 

2) In the morning I'm not hungry at all, I'm experimenting with different meals and see what would allow me to get the highest kcal intake. Btw, I don't like to eat soy flakes, at all

 

3) In my preWO meal, I need some carbs. I run all the day long in a lab, up and down stairs several times per day, and I usually reach the gym already hungry if I don't introduce some carbs. For example, I found that having a 50g whole grain bread or tortilla (GI between 30 and 40), with 10g of sunflower seeds and a small fruit such as an apricot works well (you get 40g of carbs, 3-4g of sugar out of this).

 

4) I look at your diet - thanks for sharing - and I must admit I was a bit concerned. If there is a typo in the "entire chicken breast", which could weight 400-500g, then you're eating way too many proteins a day. I'm already not happy in exceeding 2g/kg BW a day in my case. I don't feel there is a need for this besides overloading your organism with tons of animal products. Dinner 1, if you replace rice with another cereal, is what I eat quite often for dinner as well.

 

Let's keep discussing.

[Federico Comoglio]

In addition, I also wanted to report that my BW dropped by ~2kg in the last week by cutting carbs from 450-480 to <300/day. It's true I also cut kcal, but I suppose most of the weight I lost is just water. Anyone has some information on the short/mid terms effect of such a diet on the BW?

[Federico Comoglio]

I'm studying a bit on the subject, I realized it's mandatory to then experiment properly. I managed to cut the sugars by approx 40% in the last couple of days, e.g. Fri I had 250g carbs (59g sugars), Sat 255g (56) and today 245 (60). I also reduced my fibers intake down to more reasonable 35-40g/day.

 

In general, over the last days I felt quite empty.

[Luka Kopusar]

ur not used to it. i consume less than 50g carbs a day and doing F7 3x a week in fasted state, but dont see any lower quality of training. 

[Federico Comoglio]

ur not used to it. i consume less than 50g carbs a day and doing F7 3x a week in fasted state, but dont see any lower quality of training. 

Definitely. I'm 100% sure you are right. I'm just asking suggestions to make the transition smoother. I'll definitely be patient. My BW dropped by 2.5kg in total - which is what I gained over the last 6 months - but it stabilised in the last couple of days. 

 

Edit: this evening I will post one or two examples of how my diet looks like now.

[Federico Comoglio]

OK, sorry for the delay.

An example of my diet from two days ago, with comments.

 

Breakfast:

-Yoghurt (whole milk 3.5%) 150g **I decided to just buy natural yoghurt. Never had this before, I always bought yoghurt with fruits, but there I realized there are always sugars added. Now I simply mix it with (just by this I got rid of 15g of sugars):

     -oat flakes (integral), 30g

     -raspberries, 50g

-Whey 15g

-walnuts 25g

-whole wheat dark bread 55g

 

Lunch

-2 x egg whites

-EVO oil 10g

-sunflower + pumpkin seeds 15g

-lettuce

-carrots (2x)

-(freshly made, whole, i.e. with husks) spelt bread 85g **carbs mostly from starch here

 

Snack I

-a home-made bar with 20g Whey isolate proteins, 35g oat flakes, 8g EVO oil, 10g almonds, 1 dried apricot

 

Snack II

-walnuts 10g

-low-carbs bar

-apricot, raw (1x)

 

Dinner

-Salmon, ~180g

-EVO oil 10g

-wildrice (low/moderate GI) 70g

-pine nuts 15g

-zucchini (1 large)

-tomatoes (~250g)

-blackberries 

 

In total, it's about 2600 kcal, partitioned as

Proteins: 155g

Carbs (sugars): 240 (46)

Fibers: 43

Fat (saturated): 114 (12)

 

Now, I repeated the analysis after fasting and my blood glucose levels are normal (5.0 mmol/l). I've been recommended to keep experimenting with my diet and keep it along the lines we're shaping here. In three months time, we will repeat all the exams and see how my body copes with it.

 

However, I don't want to become an "extremist" as there is no need for it. Especially:

-I think that I should set 150g as upperbound for protein intake. I never saw any benefit in going way higher than this, and for a 71-72kg individual that should be plenty of if mostly coming from high BV sources.

-Do you think the partition of macronutrients is reasonable now? Do you see things I should work on?

-I don't want to end up eating always the same things because they fit well in the scheme. Hence, I need to compile a list and I plan to shape many possible meals and combinations such that I can keep up with the variety of food I eat. The only category I have to exclude are cheese and milk derivatives, as I really don't like them

 

Any suggestion on how to expand my horizon (i.e. the variety of possible foods) welcome.

Thanks.

[Federico Comoglio]

Let me add a question. In the context of this diet, which postWO would you recommend?

Also, I have difficulties in getting more than 2400-2500 kcal with this regime so far, any idea to slowly reach up at least 2700-2800? 

[Frankincensed]

Hi ...

 

I don't believe you are taking advanage of the legume family which I find to be great - both high in protein and in slow carbs.  I also generally like to avoid much added sugar like you refer to above. Though for pw having glucose is fine. Also an interesting carb to look at is tapioca which comes from casava (also called manioc and I think taro root). It's extremely easy to digest.

 

I'm about your height - 185 and my weight is around 73.5 kg. It does go up and down a kg depending on God knows what - my hydration, food in my gut and bowel, glycogen levels, etc. I wouldn't really think that you are prone to being glucose intolerant at your size - I would guess perhaps 12-15% body fat, unless you were profoundly "skinny fat".  One thing you could look at getting is an AC1 test which looks at the average glucose levels in your body over a period of months. It shows the average sugar levels you have been subjecting your body to and is perhaps a more meaningful number than a single response test.

 

it's the total amount (glucose load) that is more important really over time. So having an occassional sweet is not going to be a probem if you are otherwise "clean" - though I don't like that word. The body can handle it - but if you find it makes you feel like crap then avoid it of course.

 

Personally I found my BP was significantly higher when I was over 77kg. So I'm more comfortable at 73.5 even though a bit less imposing, lol. Also it's easier for me to perform many gymnastic moves at this weight than it was before, even though my strength and skill are still limiting factors (besides fear). Also I'm faster running which I like. So getting bigger is a double edged sword to be aware of. 

 

I do think our body wants to be a certain size and our mind may want to be another size at that time, which can setup a conflict. Personally I suggest to "go with the flow". Eat according to your needs and what powers you through your day and workout and makes you feel and perform the best, and let the chips fall where they may. We can't really outsmart our nature in the long run. Best to just work with it, and make the most of what it provides...

 

Cheers!

Edited July 18, 2014 by Frankincensed

[Federico Comoglio]

Great post. Let me reply to some points

Hi ...

 

I don't believe you are taking advanage of the legume family which I find to be great - both high in protein and in slow carbs.  

 

I do, I just didn't write it. I generally combine them with whole grain pasta or other cereals.

 

I'm about your height - 185 and my weight is around 73.5 kg. It does go up and down a kg depending on God knows what - my hydration, food in my gut and bowel, glycogen levels, etc. I wouldn't really think that you are prone to being glucose intolerant at your size - I would guess perhaps 12-15% body fat, unless you were profoundly "skinny fat". 

 

I agree with what you write, but my bf is lower than what you write, about 8-9%.

 

One thing you could look at getting is an AC1 test which looks at the average glucose levels in your body over a period of months. It shows the average sugar levels you have been subjecting your body to and is perhaps a more meaningful number than a single response test.

 

Definitely, this is in the pipeline for September.

 

it's the total amount (glucose load) that is more important really over time. So having an occassional sweet is not going to be a probem if you are otherwise "clean" - though I don't like that word. The body can handle it - but if you find it makes you feel like crap then avoid it of course.

 

Sure.

 

Personally I found my BP was significantly higher when I was over 77kg. So I'm more comfortable at 73.5 even though a bit less imposing, lol. Also it's easier for me to perform many gymnastic moves at this weight than it was before, even though my strength and skill are still limiting factors (besides fear). Also I'm faster running which I like. So getting bigger is a double edged sword to be aware of. I do think our body wants to be a certain size and our mind may want to be another size at that time, which can setup a conflict. Personally I suggest to "go with the flow". Eat according to your needs and what powers you through your day and workout and makes you feel and perform the best, and let the chips fall where they may. We can't really outsmart our nature in the long run. Best to just work with it, and make the most of what it provides...

 

This is really true. Thanks a lot for this insight, I should definitely make good use of it.