THE G.I. FACTOR: CARBOHYDRATE REQUIREMENTS FOR BIG EATERS
Typical big eaters are:
• teenagers and young adults,
• people working as labourers,
• people doing regular strenuous exercise.
Big eaters need to eat:
• at least 8 slices of bread or the equivalent (crackers, rolls, muffins)
PLUS
• 3 pieces of fruit or the equivalent (juice, dried fruit) PLUS
• at least 2 cups of high carbohydrate vegetables (corn, legumes, potato, sweet potato)
PLUS
• at least 2 cups of cereal or grain food (breakfast cereal or cooked rice, or pasta or other grain)
PLUS
• 2 cups of low-fat milk or the equivalent (yoghurt, ice cream)
This provides 375 grams of carbohydrate which is suitable for a 10 500 kilojoule (2500 Calorie) diet.
An athlete who is training hard would generally need to eat double this quantity of carbohydrate.
WHAT ABOUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CARBOHYDRATE? Traditionally, carbohydrate has been classified in terms of its chemical structure. We now know from scientific research and clinical trials with real people that the whole concept of simple and complex carbohydrates does not tell us anything about how they will actually behave in the body. Until recently, it was widely believed that complex carbohydrates, or starches such as rice and potato, were slowly digested and absorbed and therefore caused only a small rise in blood sugar level. Simple sugars, on the other hand, were assumed to be digested and absorbed quickly, producing a large and rapid increase in blood sugar. These assumptions were wrong.
Forget about the words simple and complex carbohydrate. Think in terms of low G.I. and high G I. factor.
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