|
|
At last. Some time to myself. The past couple of weeks have been hectic while entertaining my family and it has certainly been entertaining. Especially when it came to food. Since my sister has 3 kids under 10, we've had some very norty food in my cupboard while they've been staying with us. You know stuff like snack sized chip packets, biscuits, chocolates, fruit roll ups (why don't they just eat fruit!) and plenty of other treats that gave my cupboard and fridge quite a shock. Ofcourse I've also had to resist the temptation to introduce my tastebuds to these treats, which I did with flying colours. |
 Gotta start 'em young! |
Although the kids did get into the bad snacks, luckily they do like healthier stuff too. Otherwise I would've forced fed them! Strangely my youngest niece loves cucumber. She actually asks for cucumber ' a nice big chunk of cucumber please Auntie Lisa' she'd say. And has it with some hummus and ham. The other niece loves carrots, so I thought hmm carrots, its been ages since I actually snacked on carrots and it wasn't that bad. So I picked up snacking on carrots from her. So now I love carrots and would encourage all of you out there to pick up carrots or celery as a snack when you're feeling hungry. |
| Don't worry eating a carrot or 2 at one sitting isn't going to raise your blood sugar. According to Dr. Andrew Weil (as stated on http://www.drweil.com/), "When using the glycemic index as a guide to food choices, you also have to consider "glycemic load," a measure of how many grams of carbohydrate a normal serving contains. For example, carrots rank high on the glycemic index, but the amount of carbohydrates you would actually consume in a normal serving is pretty low, only 6.2 grams. The low-carb folks tell people to avoid carrots but this is not good advice. Unless you eat huge portions of them, those vegetables will not disturb your blood sugar very much, and they provide important phytonutrients." | |
 |
To further add to the confusion about the glycemic index of carrots, it turns out that the initial studies on carrots were wrong. Some of the GI numbers published were as high as 92 versus the true index of 41, which is why carrots were considered to have a high sugar content. Yes, they are sweet but they come packed with lots of fiber, Vitamin A, beta carotene and other important nutrients. |
| The truth is that one-half cup of cooked carrots has less than 10 grams of carbs. To get the 50 grams used in a test dose to determine Glycemic Index (GI), you would have to eat about 5 cups of carrots at a serving. Most of you don't likely do this. If you like to eat a lot of carrots, mix them with even lower GI vegetables such as broccoli or cauliflower.
So don't be afraid of carrots! A carrot and cottage cheese makes a great afternoon snack that satisfies your hunger and you'll get added protein from cottage cheese. Add 5 o 6 almonds to the mix and the snack will last you till dinner time. |
|
Go on facebook!
 |
Follow us on facebook and keep up to date with latest news and activities |