Dooley Noted: 11/26/2014
A lady on the train next to me was eating a set of 2 rice cakes.
Now, I don’t eat rice cakes because they taste like cardboard.
But I was curious why SHE chose the snack.
So I asked.
She said the following:
“They are low in calories.”
I looked it up. She’s right.
Each of her rice cakes only had 35 calories.
But that got me thinking.
What is the glycemic index, or blood sugar impact, of a rice cake?
With glycemic index, foods are ranked compared to the effect of ingested glucose (which is 100 out of 100).
The lower the glycemic index, then the lower the effect on blood glucose levels.
Although rice cakes are low caloric, their impact on blood glucose was a shocking 82 on the glycemic index!
This is not necessarily a healthy food choice of total ingested calories was the goal. This was a food that was likely to make her hungrier later. And later, she might eat more because of those rice cakes.
Since satiety and decreased blood glucose levels can go hand in hand, it’s wise to consume densely nutritious foods with a lower glycemic index.
For instance, the same total calories in a Snickers are 51 on the glycemic index. Hummus is 6!
This made me think back on my morning corn flakes in high school. I was always starving in class, a mere two hours after eating them.
This was explained by their glycemic index of a whopping 93!
If you want more satiety on less calories, consider choosing foods that are lower on the glycemic index.
Or, combine your high glycemic foods with fats and proteins to decrease their impact on of glucose levels.
To make these foods work for you instead of against you, you can save these high glycemic foods for post-lift, when a blood sugar spike is replenishing and anabolic.
To find the glycemic index of your favorite foods, check here:
www.glycemicindex.com
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley