The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies (32 page)

Think about how you can include medium- or low-glycemic foods for snacks. For example, if you love white-flour crackers such as saltines, swap this high-glycemic snack for a whole-grain cracker such as Triscuits, which have a lower glycemic index. Or you can try swapping a lower-glycemic fruit, such as melon, for a higher-glycemic one, such as pineapple.

Look through the list of medium- and low-glycemic foods in Appendix A and highlight the ones your family routinely enjoys. You may be surprised at the number of low-glycemic foods you already include in your daily food choices. As you become more familiar with the glycemic index, you'll be able to choose low-glycemic foods without even having to think about it!

Following a low-glycemic diet doesn't mean you have to toss out all the high-glycemic foods in your cabinets. You can still enjoy them on occasion by thinking of ways to balance them with lower-glycemic foods at the same meal. For example, if you're serving a high-glycemic mixed fruit salad for dessert, include a low-glycemic starch such as brown rice with the main course. The two foods balance each other so that you wind up with a moderate glycemic load for the entire meal.

Replacing High-Glycemic Grains with Low
-Glycemic Ones

Grains are one of those foods people love to hate. Many classic comfort foods revolve around grains: fluffy mashed potatoes, creamy white rice, pasta with grandma's secret sauce, and macaroni and cheese. Grains, especially whole grains that are less processed, provide a variety of nutrients your body needs for good health. Yet many popular grains have a high glycemic index. The sections that follow explore several lower-glycemic grains and show you how simple — and delicious — it can be to incorporate these grains in your meals.

Finding some new old favorites

Many of the grains that are new to modern society were very familiar to our ancestors. The best part about these new old favorites is that you can easily add them to your favorite recipes, especially in foods such as hot cereals, soups, and rice pilaf dishes. Allow me to introduce you to these oldie-but-goodie grains:

Spelt
is an ancient variety of wheat that was common until industrialization made it less favorable to farmers than other types of wheat. (People who can't handle wheat should avoid spelt because it's part of the wheat grain family.) Spelt has a higher protein, B vitamin, potassium, and iron content than other varieties of wheat, giving it a nutritional edge. Multigrain bread made with spelt fur has a glycemic index of 54, making it a lower-glycemic bread choice.

You can substitute spelt flour for wheat flour in recipes for cakes, cookies, muffins, pancakes, and even bread. Spelt-flour breads don't rise as high as other wheat-flour breads because spelt has a lower gluten content, yet they can produce a delicious bread product in their own right.
Note:
Spelt flour doesn't require as much water as other types of wheat flour; start by using three-fourths of the required liquid in a recipe.

Buckwheat,
familiar in the form of Japanese soba noodles and Russian kasha, actually isn't a form of wheat — it's really a relative of rhubarb! Yet buckwheat, which has a low glycemic index, traditionally has been used as a grain in cooking. Because it's not a member of the grain family, people who can't tolerate wheat can use it without concern. Buckwheat is also available as
groats,
which are the light-brown or light-green soft inner seeds of buckwheat. You can add whole groats to soups, or you can boil them and eat 'em like rice.

Try using 50 percent buckwheat flour and 50 percent wheat flour in pancakes, muffins, biscuits, and breads for a richer flavor.

Quinoa
was originally cultivated by the Inca in the Andes Mountains of South America. It looks like small kernels of rice and has a higher protein content than many other types of grains. It contains no gluten and can be safely used by people with wheat allergies. Quinoa is delicious in soups and grain salads, and it has a lower glycemic index of 53.

Try using a mixture of 25 percent quinoa and 75 percent wheat flour in breads, biscuits, and muffins for a highly nutritious bread product with a delicious taste. And if you've never tasted quinoa before, consider trying the Garlic Chicken Stir-Fry with Quinoa recipe in Chapter 18 for a delicious introduction to this ancient grain.

Rye
is historically a mainstay in northern European cultures because it grows in colder, wet climates. Include rye flakes in homemade granola or trail mix for a high-fiber, low-glycemic treat.
Note:
Rye has less gluten than wheat flour, so you need to combine it with other gluten-containing flours in order to make bread. Pumpernickel bread made with rye flour has a low glycemic index of 55.

Wild rice
isn't really rice but rather the seed of a grass that grows in water around the Great Lakes in the Midwestern part of the United States. It has twice the protein and fiber of brown rice, which gives it a lower glycemic index of 45.