Low GI (and GL) is the healthiest way to eat for anyone, especially diabetics and slimmers. Every week I will bring you tips and recipes to help you change the way you and your whole family eats. The foods are filling and nutritious and will keep you from craving empty calorie foods. If you are a slimmer, you need to count the calories for as we all know by now, it’s “calories in, calories out!”. That means that you need to move about to expend the calories that you take in, and if you don’t move much, you will need to eat less.
On the subject of moving and getting your heart pumping, you can even do it sitting in a chair so we really don’t have any excuse. Try sitting on a dining room or kitchen chair, or even at your desk, and lift your arms up and down as if you were lifting weights. (You can use weights actually.) Then when you get really tired after counting about 20, change to sideways and back to your chest for another twenty. Now stand up and just swing your arms up and down and sideways and all around. Do that for a minute or two and see how you feel. It is a very simple way to start moving your body. When you have done your arms, you can sit on the chair and simply lift your legs up and down one at a time. At some stage you could wear ankle weights if you wanted to work you legs harder. Side bends come next, but that will wait for next week.
On to delicious foods! I got started with Low GI with Gabi Steenkamp and Liesbet Delport’s books “Eating for Sustained Energy”. They are excellent additions to the cookbook shelf. From book number 2 onwards they include the GL of foods as well. This tends to be lower carb, but this is not your Atkins type low carb diet. In fact, it is not a diet at all. This is a healthy, delicious food lifestyle, so let’s get rid of the word diet once and for all.
GI stands for Glycemic Index and GL for Glycemic Load.
GI ~ From http://www.glycemicindex.com/
The glycemic index or GI describes this difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. Choosing low GI carbs - the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels - is the secret to long-term health reducing your risk of heart disease and diabetes and is the key to sustainable weight loss.
GL ~ From Wikipedia
Glycemic load or GL combines both the quality and quantity of carbohydrate in one ‘number’. It’s the best way to predict blood glucose values of different types and amounts of food. The formula is: GL = (GI x the amount of available carbohydrate) divided by 100.
Recipe of the Week ~ How to make a Low GL Cottage Pie
Cottage Pie is a favourite in many households. Here is a yummy Low GI/GL version..
Serves 6
Ingredients for Filling
10 ml grapeseed oil (or light olive oil)
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 small carrot grated
1 red pepper, diced (contains Vitamin C)
450g lean organic beef mince
200g mushrooms, wiped with a damp cloth and sliced (good fibre) optional
10 ml MSG free beef stock powder (Ina Paarman or Woolworths)
5 ml dried oregano
1 x 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes, drained and reserve liquid
1 x 400 g red kidney beans, drained
3 tbsp tomato purée
Freshly ground black pepper
Method
Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes until the onion is transparent.
Add the grated carrot and cook for a few minutes.
Add the diced pepper and place lid on to sweat for 3 minutes.
Add the mince and cook until it starts to turn grey/brown.
Remove any fat with a spoon and discard.
Add the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes.
Add the drained chopped tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato purée, stock powder and oregano.
Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Add the juice from the drained tomatoes if it becomes too dry.
Taste and adjust seasoning.
Ingredients for Topping
150 g potato chopped
150 g sweet potato chopped
60 ml low fat milk
Salt and ground black pepper
30 g low fat cheddar cheese grated
Paprika
Method
Boil potatoes until soft.
Add the milk and mash
Assemble
Put mince in an oven-proof pie dish and smooth topping over. Sprinkle grated cheese on top of potato mash and sprinkle with paprika.
Bake in 180°C oven for about 20 minutes until heated and bubbling.
