Your breakfast

[Katie1979]

Hi Simbul,

I now have Soya and Linseed bread (Vogel or Burgen) (2 pieces) after my dietician recommended it as it's low GI. I have a small amount of lurpack and marmalade and a cheese segment. I also have a cup of tea.

I am matching my insulin to the carbs and currently pregnant so testing 1 hour after eating. It (touch wood) seems to keep my sugars in range with no nasty spikes. I was previously having wholemeal bread (warburtons) and this was sending my sugars shooting up after 1 hour and then crashing down. I guess for me personally the Soya and Linseed bread is a good option.

 

[Worcester_Matt]

I can confirm that porridge and peanut butter is a horrible combination, and not an experiment I shall ever repeat...

 

[Northerner]

I can confirm that porridge and peanut butter is a horrible combination, and not an experiment I shall ever repeat...

I must admit, the thought of it didn't get my taste buds going! 😱

 

[ukjohn]

My breakfast is a cheap one, I buy a Honeydew melon for a £1 at Sainsbury's, I then cut it in four and chop up a quarter for my breakfast. 25p a day

Have had to reduce my insulin in the morning since eating this because was going hypo 4 hours later.

John.

 

[Northerner]

My breakfast is a cheap one, I buy a Honeydew melon for a £1 at Sainsbury's, I then cut it in four and chop up a quarter for my breakfast. 25p a day

Have had to reduce my insulin in the morning since eating this because was going hypo 4 hours later.

John.

It's a good choice John 🙂 Although quite high GI, melons are mostly water so don't have the effect on the blood sugar levels the GI implies.

 

[Worcester_Matt]

That's interesting. I love melon, but I'd read that it is quite high GI, so had avoided them. I'll pick one up the next time I'm in the supermarket.

 

[robert@fm]

From what I've heard, melons are paradoxical; high GI but low/medum GL. 🙂 It's because of this sort of thing that GL is preferable.

 

[KookyCat]

I trough melon likes it's going out of fashion (it's my only real concession to fruit aside from my stewed Apple) I find it has no impact whatsoever 🙂

 

[Simbul]

So many different types of breakfast! Amazing.

I may give the Soya & Linseed bread a try, Katie1979. What you describe with Warburton's sounds excessively familiar.

In general, how do people find out the GI for different kinds of food? Is there a list somewhere, or is it in the nutrition table on food packaging?
Put it another way: how would you know that, in the "bread" category, Warburton's is high GI and Vogel's is low GI?

 

[KookyCat]

As a general rule of thumb the less refined it is the slower the digestion. I don't know if you can find GI or load by brand, but the reason most people find seeded bread kinder to the blood sugar is because it takes the body longer to break seeds down because they have fibrous shells. White flour is processed and the wheat is broken down so it's easy and quick for the body to absorb. Wholemeal flour can also be processed quite heavily too so I eat bread from stoneground whole grain flour (traditional milling process rather than pulverised in a machine). Its from my local baker, but for commercially produced bread you could try seeded bread, I think hovis do a stoneground flour loaf). I'm a bread snob, can't stand warburtons (and me a Bolton lass), I prefer whole grain from the bakers and because I eat so little of it it isn't really any more expensive. My baker also does a nut bread which has less flour because of ground nuts, ooh that's luscious! I can't stand linseed though so a lot of commercial seeded breads are not to my taste.

 

[Worcester_Matt]

I've been using this University of Sydney website to try to estimate the GI level of particular foods: http://www.glycemicindex.com GI is still a bit of a mystery to me at the moment, as from what I understand you can eat a small amount of high GI food with mostly low GI foods in a meal, and the overall GI of the meal is still low. So a lot of it depends on what you eat and how you combine some foods with others. I've certainly found that white bread and wholemeal bread send my glucose levels through the roof. The University of Sydney database doesn't have every British food on it, but it's quite comprehensive.

The problem I've found with carbohydrate counting and keeping carbs down is that low fat versions of food are generally higher in carbs. So, for example, full fat Philadelphia on a low GI ryvita (the pumpkin seed one seems to be the best) is better for my diabetes than the low-fat version. I quite like the Hovis seeded bread, and I'm generally a bread snob too. How I miss the taste of a freshly cooked white bloomer!

I'm seeing a dietician tomorrow, so I'm hoping to have more clarity about the dietary side of diabetes too. Having high cholesterol and high blood pressure at the same time isn't helping me work out what I should and should not be eating. The safest option appears to be dust at the moment!

 

[Northerner]

I've been using this University of Sydney website to try to estimate the GI level of particular foods: http://www.glycemicindex.com GI is still a bit of a mystery to me at the moment, as from what I understand you can eat a small amount of high GI food with mostly low GI foods in a meal, and the overall GI of the meal is still low. So a lot of it depends on what you eat and how you combine some foods with others. I've certainly found that white bread and wholemeal bread send my glucose levels through the roof. The University of Sydney database doesn't have every British food on it, but it's quite comprehensive. ...

This idea of lowering overall GI by combining food is called 'Glycaemic Load'. GI doesn't consider portion size, whereas GL does - The GL Diet for Dummies explains the principles very well 🙂 I've got a Collins Gem GI Guide, although I very rarely use it these days as I'm pretty familiar with what most foods do to me now.

I eat Burgen Soya and Linseed bread - not only does it have seeds, but the soya flour used means that it is lower carb than most breads. Plus, it's really tasty and lasts a good whiie without drying out! 🙂

 

[Katie1979]

I was given a list by my dietician which says the following:

Low GI (best choice) - Oatbran bread, Ryebread, Pumpernickel, Mixed Grain, Soya and Linseed Bread

Med GI -Pitta, wholemeal bread, fruit loaf, hamburger bun

High GI - bagel, baguette, gluten free bread, white Turkish style bread, English muffin

I just started experimenting with the low GI and really liked the the Burgen Soya and Linseed bread. It tends to be available in bigger supermarkets. M&S do a nice mixed grain bread that did not spike my sugars so I have that from time to time.