Last week, we divided the measures that can be taken to control hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and metabolic syndrome, which are the precursors of diabetes, into 3 groups.
1) Eliminating sugar and sugary foods from our lives.
2) Increasing the frequency of meals.
3) Planning our diet with foods with low GI (foods that do not raise blood sugar quickly).
We are talking about the 3rd item this week.
What means low GI foods?
Foods consist of carbohydrates (starch-sugars), proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals and fiber. These elements are found in varying proportions in every food. Some foods are rich in carbohydrates (starches and sugars), while others are rich in proteins, some in fats. Vitamins and minerals are found in all foods according to the characteristics of that food. Elements called fiber or fiber are actually indigestible carbohydrates
Each element has a separate task in the body.
Carbohydrates and fats are responsible for energy.
Proteins are involved in new cell formation and repair.
Vitamins and minerals act as catalysts (that is, regulating the rate of the reaction or facilitating the reaction) while obtaining energy or making new cells.
The elements that make up the pulp are not digested and are thrown away. Some amount is found to be digested by intestinal bacteria.
The body's primary requirement is energy. All metabolic reactions in the body require energy. Foods that provide energy are carbohydrates and fats. While carbohydrates can be used directly for energy, fats are first converted to sugar in the liver and then used as energy.
This process takes time. However, carbohydrates, starches and sugars are converted into glucose, the smallest unit, by digestion, and they pass through the digestive tract into the blood very easily.
Therefore, the body's choice as an energy source is carbohydrate-rich foods.
Some of the carbohydrate-rich foods contain sugar. taste, some are tasteless. Glucose, the smallest unit of sugar-flavored carbohydrates, is concentrated. The other small unit is fuructose, which is called fruit sugar, and is mostly found in fruits. They are absorbed very quickly from the digestive tract and pass into the blood.
Tasteless carbohydrates are starch They are rich foods. The structure of starch is also composed of glucoses. Starch consists of 2 types of molecules. One of them is amylose and the other is amylopectin. Amylose is formed by the connection of Glucose in the form of a straight chain, while Amylopectin is formed by the connection of Glucose with a branched chain. While digestive enzymes can break down amylopectin into glucose very quickly in the digestive tract, they can break down amylose into glucose more slowly.
We said that the substance called pulp or fiber cannot be digested and is excreted. These substances slow down the absorption of nutrients from the digestive tract and their passage into the blood.
Why did I write these: Easy or difficult digestion of carbohydrate foods, rapid or slow absorption from the digestive tract and passing into the bloodstream, increasing blood sugar rapidly or slowly, is related to the secretion of insulin hormone more or less.
Every food we take into our mouth secretes the hormone insulin, but the most carbohydrate foods secrete.
Here, the rate at which foods simply raise blood sugar is called the GLYCEMIC INDEX.
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