GI News—January 2012

• Putting health first no matter what your size;
• Fuelling willpower to stick to New Year resolutions needs glucose;
• Dr Alan Barclay on Australia’s new dietary guidelines;
• Diet quality and stroke prevention;
• Three low GI recipes to try;
• The health benefits of low GI Meatless Mondays;
• Do you need to eat meat to get enough protein?

Human routines are stubborn things, which helps explain why 88% of all resolutions end in failure according to Professor Richard Wiseman. Did you know that it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit and for some unlucky people up to 254 days says Dr Anthony Grant Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at the University of Sydney and that people revert to their old habits between five and seven times. What to do? Frame changes as aspirations rather than resolutions so you don’t set yourself up to fail. So, here’s a tasty New Year’s aspiration – instead of ‘going on a diet’, why not opt to go meatless on Mondays with a low GI diet based on minimally processed plant foods and moderate amounts of protein foods. It’s a flexible, liveable, and family friendly aspiration and it will also help you optimise your insulin sensitivity and decrease your insulin levels over the whole day. To top it off, it’s good for the environment and the housekeeping budget. Healthy and sustainable nutrition all round we say.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD

Food for Thought

Meatless Mondays for healthy, sustainable nutrition.
Building your diet around low GI plant foods such as wholegrains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds gives you all the nutrients you need for long-term health and wellbeing along with plenty of protective antioxidants and phyto-chemicals. Not only that, there’s a wealth of evidence to support the fact that eating a vegetarian diet can reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

Back in November, Fiona Atkinson asked GI guru Prof David Jenkins about the benefits of going meatless? ‘I think the benefits are basically, on an humanitarian perspective,’ he said. ‘I used to put that as a sort of rider at the end but I think now it’s becoming the first issue as human beings. Second, I think one has to think of the environmental issues. They always say it’s a ten to one ratio for plant-based diet versus an animal -based diet in terms of land consumption, water usage, which is obviously a problem in many places, and basically environmental impact and environmental degradation. We can not afford to have the whole planet geared to feeding cattle that feed us, this seems to be an insanity that we accept because it’s palatable. I think those are really strong reasons. I think that if one is sensible and one watches B12 and one’s diet, one can live very well on a vegetarian or vegan diet.’

For those of us who don’t want to go all the way, there’s the low GI Meatless Mondays option. This is simply making a commitment to going without meat one day a week for your and the planet’s health. Where did the idea come from? It actually goes back nearly 100 years … We turned to the US Meatless Monday organisation for some background and discovered that during World War I, the US Food Administration urged families to reduce consumption of key staples to aid the war effort. The message was ‘Food Will Win the War’ and Meatless Monday and Wheatless Wednesday were introduced to encourage people to do their bit. The Food Administration (spearheaded by Herbert Hoover), published and distributed recipe booklets and menus. The effect was overwhelming according to Meatless Mondays. ‘Some 10 million families, 7000 hotels and nearly 425,000 food dealers pledged to observe national meatless days. In November 1917, New York City hotels saved some 116 tons of meat over the course of just one week.’

In 2003, the Meatless Monday message was revived by health advocate Sid Lerner, backed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for a Livable Future and endorsed by 30 schools of public health. It’s now a global movement.

In the UK, Sir Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney launched the Meat Free Monday campaign in 2009. Going meatless on Mondays is a ‘fun challenge with an achievable goal that will bring many benefits, whilst providing you with the opportunity to broaden your culinary horizon along the way,’ they write in the introduction to The Meat Free Monday Cookbook. And you can listen to Paul singing all about it HERE.

For more information on Meatless Mondays, check out:
www.meatlessmonday.com
www.meatfreemondays.com
www.meatlessmondays-australia.com

To inspire you, we’ll be publishing a low GI Meatless Monday recipe every month. For recipes from vegetarian and vegan books we have previously reviewed in GI News, check out:

• Prof Jennie Brand-Miller’s The Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook
• New York Times best-seller Forks Over Knives
• Dr Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes

News Briefs

Fuelling willpower with glucose.
At a time of year when many people are resolving to go on a diet, we thought we’d remind readers that willpower seems to be affected by the brain’s glucose supplies – so don’t skip meals. Self-control requires a certain amount of glucose to operate unimpaired. Writing in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Matthew Gailliot and researchers from Florida State University found that even relatively small acts of self control are sufficient to deplete the brain’s available supply of glucose thereby impairing the control of thought and behavior, at least until your body can retrieve more glucose from its stores or you have something to eat. Their laboratory tests with volunteers found that:

• Acts of self-control reduced blood glucose levels
• Low levels of blood glucose after an initial self-control task predicted poor performance on a subsequent self-control task
• Initial acts of self-control impaired performance on subsequent self-control tasks, but consuming a glucose drink eliminated these impairments.

‘… the body’s variable ability to mobilise glucose may be an important determinant of people’s capacity to live up to their ideals, pursue their goals and realize their virtues’ they conclude.

The Florida study involved numerous tests but a key one found that people who drank a glass of regular lemonade (i.e. sweetened with sugar) between one task requiring self control before beginning a second also requiring a fair bit of willpower performed equally well on both tasks, while people who drank a ‘diet’ lemonade in between made more errors on the second task than on the first. They used sugar in their studies because it is fast acting and convenient, but make the point that ‘complex carbohydrates may be more effective for sustained self control.’ Research in memory tests has certainly shown that low GI carbs enhance learning and memory more than high GI carbs, probably because there is no rebound fall in blood glucose.

Diet quality a good guide in stroke prevention.


Professor Graeme Hankey

‘While we have seen a reduction in incidence of stroke and mortality in the past 20 to 30 years due to better control of blood pressure and smoking we are seeing a deceleration in that decline,’ says Prof Graeme Hankey head of Royal Perth Hospital’s stroke unit. ‘We are seeing the emergence of the beginning of a trend to increases in stroke incidence because all our kids are overweight and not exercising and we are seeing strokes in young people as diabetes and metabolic syndrome take over.’

The overall quality of a person’s diet and the amount of food they eat rather than individual foods and nutrients is a better guide to whether he or she will suffer a stroke he says in his review of a raft of international studies on risk factors for stroke in Lancet Neurology. Weighing up the evidence he says:

• Poor nutrition in the first year of a mother’s life and undernutrition in utero, infancy, childhood, and adulthood predispose individuals to stroke in later life, but the mechanism of increased stroke risk is unclear.
• Reliable evidence suggests that dietary supplementation with antioxidant vitamins, B vitamins, and calcium does not reduce the risk of stroke.
• Less reliable evidence suggests that stroke can be prevented by diets that are prudent, aligned to the Mediterranean or DASH diets, low in salt and added sugars, high in potassium, and meet, but do not exceed, energy requirements.

Low GI eBooks now available.
Many of Prof Jennie Brand-Miller's low GI books are now available as eBooks from online retailers in Australia, the US and Canada and the UK including Amazon, Apple, ebooks.com, Google Books and Kobo.

Australia/New Zealand/UK editions (Hachette) now available

• Low GI Diet Handbook – ISBN 9780733628078
  
• Low GI Diet Shopper’s Guide 2012 – ISBN 9780733628559
• Low GI Diet 12-week Weight-loss Plan – ISBN 9780733627781
• Low GI Diet for Childhood Diabetes – ISBN 9780733628221
• Low GI Diet for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome – ISBN 9780733628375

US/Canada editions (Da Capo Lifelong Press/Perseus Books) now available

• Low GI Handbook – 9780738214139
• Low GI Shopper's Guide to GI Values 2012 – 9780738215211
• Low GI Diet Revolution: The Definitive Science-Based Weight Loss Plan – 9780786727803
• New Glucose Revolution for Diabetes – 9780786751341
• New Glucose Revolution Low GI Gluten-Free Eating Made Easy – 9780786746538
• Low GI Guide to Living Well with PCOS – 9780738214498

Lentilicious.
Learn to love lentils and you’ll have a deliciously natural low GI diet and a great ingredient for ‘Meatless Mondays’. Now an enterprising pair up in the stunning hinterland of beautiful Byron Bay has made it really easy for everyone to learn to love lentils. Back in 2009, Anthea Packshaw and Sharna Glasser started their Lentilicious business and they have been enthusiastically making and marketing their range of five flavoured, pre-packed lentil meals that include herbs, spices and other flavourings ever since. The Lentilicious range of flavours includes Coconut Fusion, Lime Time, Mediterranean, Turmeric Magic and Red Chilli. All you need to do is tip the lentils into a saucepan, add cold water, bring to the boil then simmer gently for 25 minutes and the meal is ready. Each package serves 2–3 people.



The Lentilicious story Sharna and Anthea met while working at a resource centre in Mullumbimby. Passionate about vegetarian cuisine and inspired by traditional Indian dahl, they set about creating a range of delicious, modern lentil meals designed to make lentils mainstream. You can find out more about Lentilicious here.

Get the Scoop with Emma Stirling

The scoop on putting health first in 2012


Emma Stirling APD

Do you have weight loss goals as part of your New Year’s resolutions? Well here's a new idea to consider. Forget about the idea of dieting altogether. That’s right. Completely put weight loss out of your mind and take a leaf out of the Health At Every Size Approach (HAES) and put healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle first.

Health at every size Championed by Linda Bacon, PhD nutrition researcher at the University of California-Davis and author of Health at Every Size: the surprising truth about your weight, the focus of HAES is on improving health outcomes, not on the “perfect” body. You see for some people, especially those who have been on the dieting roller coaster, the key is a change in mindset to avoid the repeated cycle of yo-yo dieting and lapses, relapses and collapses. Instead of weight loss as the end goal which places an emphasis on body image, you put healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle first. You may actively work on switching to more low GI choices in order to better manage your blood glucose levels, then set up a program to eat more intuitively for better digestion and next set goals to increase your physical activity to boost feelings of vitality. And guess what? Studies have shown that these seemingly small lifestyle steps, add up to huge rewards, and for some people, may in fact be finally the answer to long term weight loss success.

Health At Every Size is supported by an active community who follow these principles:

• Accepting and respecting the diversity of body shapes and sizes
• Recognizing that health and well-being are multi-dimensional and that they include physical, social, spiritual, occupational, emotional, and intellectual aspects
• Promoting all aspects of health and well-being for people of all sizes
• Promoting eating in a manner which balances individual nutritional needs, hunger, satiety, appetite, and pleasure
• Promoting individually appropriate, enjoyable, life-enhancing physical activity, rather than exercise that is focused on a goal of weight loss

The jury deliberates In scientific circles the HAES approach raises fiery debate. If we focus on health and not body weight, are we admitting that we’ve lost the battle of the bulge? Is this sending a message that overweight and obesity are not harmful to long-term health? By accepting HAES are we simply driving overweight as the norm and “fat acceptance”? Or is this approach the answer for many to break free from years of restrictive and fad diet failures, improve their health and learn to have a healthy relationship with food, once and for all? You can read more about both sides of the HAES debate in this recap of a session at the last American Dietitians Association Food Nutrition Conference and Expo written by dietitian blogger Janet Helm RD.

The scoop? As we continue to battle obesity I believe that we need to explore more individualized options as it is clear that some people respond well to structured weight loss programs, whereas for others, this can be their greatest undoing. I certainly believe that HAES will help us shift our distorted mentality that super skinny, equals super healthy. We know from research that you CAN be fit if you’re fat. You only need to visit my training group and see all the different shapes and sizes working out together. Believe me there are larger people than me who can run faster, lift far heavier weights and still keep chatting as I huff and puff. And I certainly know my fair share of women that have too long a list of personal food rules and go to extremes with eating for shape, not health, that is far from nutritious. So I ask what are you doing for your health and a healthy relationship with food this New Year? I’ve made a suggested list over here on my blog The Scoop on Nutrition.



Emma Stirling is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and health writer with over ten years experience writing for major publications. She is editor of The Scoop on Nutrition – a blog by expert dietitians. Check it out for hot news bites and a healthy serve of what’s in flavour.

In the GI News Kitchen

American dietitian and author of Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Johanna Burani, shares favourite recipes with a low or moderate GI from her Italian kitchen. For more information, check out Johanna's website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is photosbysergio.com.

‘Spunky’ cavatelli and broccoli
Pasta with broccoli and a strong earthy olive oil is a very popular winter dish for Italians and cavatelli seem like the ideal pasta choice. Its crevices create lots of little spaces where the broccoli sauce can nest. I’ve added a hint of mustard to my broccoli puree to give it a little ‘spunk’. Another option might be a few peperoncino (red pepper) flakes. Bring 4 litres (quarts) of water to the boil to cook the pasta while the broccoli is steaming. Serves 8.

2 large stalks of fresh broccoli (approximately 1lb/450g)
1–2 large cloves garlic, sliced lengthwise in quarters
1½ tbsp sharp mustard (Dijon type)
1/2 tsp salt
1lb/450g cavatelli pasta
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

Separate the broccoli florets from the stems and cut them into small pieces. Peel the tough outer skin from the stems then cut them into small pieces. Place all the broccoli in a steam basket, wash and drain.
Add 2 cups of water to a large pot. Place the basket of broccoli in the pot. Add the garlic slices on top of the broccoli. Cover and steam gently for 15 minutes or until the broccoli is tender. Once cooked, transfer the broccoli-garlic mixture to a food processor. Reserve the cooking water. Pulse the broccoli mixture for 15 seconds. Add ½ cup of the reserved water. Pulse for another 15 seconds. Repeat with another ½ cup of water and another 15 seconds of pulsing. Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts (litres) of water to the boil and cook the pasta until al dente following the directions on the packet for timing.
Whisk together the mustard and the salt in a small dish with 2 tablespoons of the cooking water. Add to the food processor. Pulse for another 15 seconds. Set aside and keep warm. (You will have about 2½ cups of this pureed sauce.)
Drain and tip the al dente pasta back into the saucepan and toss with the olive oil. Add in the broccoli mixture, toss thoroughly and serve with grated cheese.

Per serve
Energy: 880kJ/292cals; Protein 8g; Fat 9g (includes 1g saturated fat and 2mg cholesterol); Available carbohydrate 45g; Fibre 4g

Cut back on the food bills and enjoy fresh-tasting, easily prepared, seasonal, satisfying and delicious low or moderate GI meals that don’t compromise on quality and flavour one little bit with this Money Saving Meals recipe making the most of cauliflower, now in season for those readers in the midst of winter. For more recipes check out the Money Saving Meals website.

Cauliflower and Red Lentil Stew
When we spoke to Professor David Jenkins for GI News, we asked him if he would share his favourite low GI meal with us. ‘My wife has a very tasty stew,’ he said. ‘It’s like a very thick lentil soup with chunks of marinated cauliflower in it. I have to say that I could overeat on that quite easily.’ We tried it – it’s delicious, nutritious and perfect to kick start your meatless Mondays. Makes about 4–6 servings.

1 cup chopped onions
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp oregano
1 large cauliflower, chopped into florets
1 green pepper (capsicum), chopped
4 carrots, sliced or if large – diced
1 vegetable bouillon cube
½ cup water
1 cup red lentils, well rinsed
2 tbsp whole wheat flour

Gently sauté the onions in the olive oil until translucent. Add oregano, cauliflower, pepper, carrots, bouillon cube and water. Stir until well mixed, cover and simmer until cauliflower is cooked (soft rather than still crispy).
While the cauliflower is cooking, add lentils to 3 cups of water in a saucepan and boil until lentils are soft.
Sprinkle the whole wheat flour over the cauliflower mixture and stir until the stew begins to thicken, add lentils and serve.

Per serve (6 serves)
Energy: 780kJ/185cals; Protein 12g; Fat 4g (includes 0.6g saturated fat and 0mg cholesterol); Available carbohydrate 21g; Fibre 9g

My Meatless Mondays
Book cover pic

Chickpea tagine with harissa
This recipe is an extract from The Meat Free Monday Cookbook, foreword by Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney, edited by Annie Rigg, published by Kyle books and available in good bookshops and online. The book is conveniently organised by season with menu plans for 52 weeks – so you never need to eat the same meal twice! Serves 4

1 large onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
1 red pepper (capsicum), deseeded and diced
1 stick celery, chopped
1 courgette (zucchini), chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
pinch saffron stamens
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 cinnamon stick
220g/7oz can chopped tomatoes
2¾ cups vegetable stock
400g/14oz can chickpeas, drained
1 tbsp clear honey
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve
wholewheat or barley couscous harissa



Tip the cumin and coriander seeds into a small dry frying pan and toast over a medium heat for 30 seconds until fragrant. Lightly grind using a pestle and mortar. Soak the saffron stamens in1 tablespoon of boiling water.
Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 3–4 minutes until tender but not coloured. Add the ground spices, garlic, grated ginger and cinnamon stick and continue to cook for a further minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and tip the vegetables and the drained chickpeas into the pan. Stir to coat the veggies in the spiced mixture and pour over the stock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and continue to cook for 20–25 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add the honey and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Serve in bowls with whole wheat couscous and a good spoonful of harissa.

Per serve
Energy: 1200kJ/290cals; Protein 9g; Fat 12g (includes 2g saturated fat and 0mg cholesterol); Available carbohydrate 33g; Fibre 9g

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Nicole Senior

Myth: You need to eat meat to get protein
Fact: There’s plenty of protein in plant foods
It’s a popular view that you need to eat meat to obtain protein, however this is far from the truth. Protein exists in many plant-based foods and in appreciable quantities.

How much do protein do we need? Well, not as much as you might think. The recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) in Australia is 46g a day for women and 64g a day for men aged 19-70 years. Check out how much protein you get from these different foods (we have rounded the figures).

Eggs contain perfect quality protein against which all other proteins are measured. Protein quality is a reflection of the number and balance of essential amino acids (protein building blocks) present.

• One 50g egg contains around 6g protein

Dairy foods are great sources of protein.

• 1 cup of reduced fat milk contains around 9g protein
• 200g/7oz of low fat yoghurt contains around 13g protein
• 40g/1½oz of cheese (hard variety such as cheddar) contains around 9g protein

Fish & seafood are excellent sources of protein. Pesco-vegetarians eat fish but not meat.

• 100g/3½oz white fish (cooked) contains a hefty 25g of protein
• 100g/3½oz prawns/shrimp (cooked) 24g protein
• 100g/3½oz squid/octopus (cooked) 21g protein

Legumes (pulses) are great low GI sources of protein.

• ½ cup baked beans in tomato sauce provides around 7g protein
• ½ cup canned, drained cannellini beans provides around 8g protein
• 2/3 cup cooked red lentils provides around 9g protein
• 1 cup cooked split peas provides around 12g protein
• 1 cup cooked soy beans provides around 23g protein
• 100g (3 1/2 oz) tofu (raw) provides around 12g protein
• 1 cup light soy milk provides around 5g protein

Breakfast cereals, breads and grains are surprisingly high in protein, and the relatively high protein content of wheat is one of the reasons it has become such a widely grown staple food crop. Here are some low and moderate GI examples:

• ¾ cup Kelloggs Special K Original provides around 6g protein
• ¾ cup Kelloggs All-Bran provides around 7g protein
• ¼ cup raw traditional rolled oats provides around 3g protein
• 1 slice soy and linseed bread provides around 6g protein
• 1 cup cooked brown rice (GI 59–86, so check the tables and choose a lower GI one) provides around 5g protein
• 1 cup cooked pasta provides around 7g protein
• 1 cup cooked soba/buckwheat noodles provides around 9g protein
• 1 cup cooked pearl barley provides around 6g protein
• 1/2 cup cooked quinoa provides around 4g protein

Nuts and seeds are super nutritious foods that also contain protein.

• A small handful (30g/1oz) of most nuts or seeds will deliver around 5g protein
  

Menu: If you enjoyed the following plant foods over the day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, you’d easily meet the RDI for protein for men (the highest requirement).

• ½ cup oats 6g
• 1 cup milk 9g
• 2 slices soy and linseed bread 12g
• 20g cheese 5g
• 1 cup soba noodles 9g
• 100g tofu 12g
• 1 tub yoghurt 13g
• 30g mixed nuts 5g
• TOTAL 69g

So, you don’t need to eat meat to get enough protein because it is easily available in plant foods. However the nutrients meat does provide more efficiently than plant foods are iron, zinc and vitamin B12. Vive le Meatless Monday!



Nicole Senior is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist and author of Eat to Beat Cholesterol, Heart Food and Belly Busting for Blokes.

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay

The ‘new’ Australian Dietary Guidelines, carbs and GI
The draft (there’s still time to comment) Australian Dietary Guidelines are a definite improvement on earlier versions. But they represent a mix of progress and lost opportunities and we must do much better if we are going to tackle the diabetes and obesity epidemics. We need to get them right because as Drs Willett and Ludwig point out (commenting on the US equivalent), they have a major impact on our foods and diets – government food policies, food and health programs and food regulations generally comply with them, even though the average consumer has never heard of them. Here, I am simply going to focus on a couple of key issues regarding carbs because they focus on the health problems associated with eating and drinking too many added sugars, but ignore or confuse the role of added refined starches.

Added sugars The Guidelines advise people to limit their intake of sugar-sweetened drinks. While there is some evidence that people who are obese should limit their intake of sugar sweetened beverages, there is evidence that Australians are drinking less of them, but we are still gaining weight and developing type 2 diabetes. So something else is happening ...

Starchy foods Here they take a ‘good cop’ ‘bad cop’ approach. They generally opt for the out-dated term ‘complex carbohydrate’ instead of ‘starch’, the term recommended by the World Health Organisation since 1997. This is confusing and misleading as most people don’t know that starches are complex carbohydrates – they are one and the same. Complex carbohydrates (specially wholegrain ones) are the good cops and there’s lots about their health benefits in the draft Guidelines. Starches are the bad cops and this is the term they choose to use when discussing dental caries or other health problems, e.g.: ‘Historically, the prevalence of dental caries has increased when dietary patterns have changed to include more added sugars and foods containing refined starches.’ And ‘fermentable carbohydrates (both sugars and starches) are a substrate for bacteria such as S. mutans and S. sobrinus, which increase the acid-producing potential of dental plaque’.

Glycemic Index Interestingly, every Australian Guideline in the draft has a statement comparable with the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. One area where they have very obviously borrowed straight from the US is with the glycemic index. They say: ‘The review for the US guidelines also found strong and consistent evidence that glycaemic index and/or glycaemic load are not associated with body weight and do not lead to greater weight loss or better weight management. These factors were not included in the literature review to inform the revision of these Guidelines.’ However, in their critical review of the new American Dietary Guidelines, Drs Willett and Ludwig state ‘Furthermore, the quality of carbohydrates, as characterized by their glycemic index, is dismissed as unimportant, whereas we believe the evidence strongly suggests the opposite.’

We agree with Drs Willett and Ludwig: there is in fact level 1 evidence (the highest level) that low GI diets help people lose more weight and in particular body fat than regular healthy diets, and level 2 evidence that low GI diets help people keep the weight off for longer. And of course it is short-sighted to focus just on body weight with a diabetes epidemic on our doorstep. The GI is widely accepted around the world by diabetes associations as a useful dietary tool for people with diabetes to help them manage their blood glucose levels.

We will be commenting on these draft Guidelines and we urge you to do so as well. They offer Australia an opportunity to lead the world by:

• Discarding an outdated term like ‘complex carbohydrate’ which does not describe how carbohydrates behave in our bodies, and
• Encouraging the consumption of low GI carbohydrate foods to reduce rates of overweight, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The GI Symbol, making healthy low GI choices easy choices



For more information about the GI Symbol Program
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)
Phone: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Email: mailto:alan.barclay@gisymbol.com
Website: http://www.gisymbol.com/

GI Update

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions


Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

In the past month, I have received two inspirational weightloss success stories from women which I want to share with GI News readers (with their permission). The stories raise weightloss questions I am frequently asked about – plateau-ing and feeling hungry all the time.

I have been following the Low GI diet since June of this year and have lost 40 pounds. I did not think it would be so easy but it truly is. I am so happy that I stumbled on it looking for a diet that I can manage. I do work in the food industry and have found that has helped a lot in creating meals for myself and family. The only concern I have now is that I want to lose at least another 15 pounds but I seem to have hit a plateau and I have not lost any weight for about 2 weeks. Will this pass because I do not wish to cut any more out of my daily intake because I notice that cravings do start when I do so.

Plateau-ing is common and normal. This is because your body weighs less and you are now eating exactly the calories (kilojoules) that you need. You are right, eating less isn’t the answer. One strategy now is to up your energy expenditure, i.e .exercise, aiming for 60 minutes every day (or 20 minutes of Peak 8s) levels to increase the metabolic rate. Some form of resistance training to build muscle mass is good. I like Peak 8s because they are so efficient. Another option is to just try to maintain your current weight for a couple of months … eating to appetite … and then try for more weight loss later. Good luck and do let me know how you go.

I am a professional female, 61 years old, and over the last 95 weeks have lost 61 kilos with a low fat, low GI, calorie controlled diet and considerable consistent exercise. No health issues apart from hypothyroidism. This weight issue has tormented me all my adult life so of course I am thrilled to finally have come this far (from 130 kilos to 68). I am struggling to lose 3 more kilos and am very interested in research about weight maintenance and appetite control. I have, and continue to be hungry all the time. All my doctor says is ‘you will get used to it – after 95 weeks! A tale I am sure you have heard many times.

Thank you for taking the trouble to write. It's an amazing amount of weight and I’m not surprised you are hungry all the time. You might like to increase your protein intake and fat intake, with good fats of course, and reduce carbs a little (just modest changes). I say this because of recent studies suggesting that a high protein, low GI diet is the best diet for weight maintenance after weight loss.

GI testing by an accredited laboratory North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
20 Victoria Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario M5C 298 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson
Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web www.glycemicindex.com

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Shed those Holiday pounds quickly with Nuratrim

Nuratrim is not like any regular slimming pills, it’s been designed to help you every step of the way. It can reduce your appetite, burn fat and even reduce cellulite. This is a very unique slimming pill.


What does Nuratrim do?

· Suppresses your appetite

· Burns fat

· Increases metabolism

· Increases your confidence

· Cuts your calories by almost 20%

· Starts to work right away

· Can help in management of weight control

· Contributes to reduce your appetite

· Faster metabolic rate

· Ability to easily burn fat

· Safe, natural and effective

· No known side effects] waiting for claims sheet to confirm

Most people are overweight because they consume more calories than they burn. There is also a common myth that in order to lose weight you have to cut out all the foods you enjoy. This does not have to be the case. By using Nuratrim you can reduce your appetite so that you can still eat the foods you enjoy but you will not feel the need to each as much, resulting safe weight loss.

By not cutting out your favourite foods completely you are less likely to break your diet and give in to the cravings. You can still lose weight and eat the foods that you love. You can order Nuratrim here

GI News—December 2011

• Eating fish regularly linked to lower risk of diabetes and heart disease
• Low GI diet, with or without a change in weight, is good for overall health
• Holiday cooking with low GI Carisma potatoes
• Is a day or two of festive overeating harmless?
  
• How to lower the GI of your baking
• Submit a low GI left-overs recipe to OzHarvest for their cookbook

It’s laden table, festive fare time, so this issue we have 7 low GI recipes from colleagues from around the world to share. Our take-home message however, is to remember that food provides more than nourishment and pleasure, it can also ‘build bridges to friendship’. We were reminded of this reading a wonderful new cookbook, Monday Morning Cooking Club, whose authors have raised $230,000 for charity including OzHarvest (see Food for Thought). It’s not a diet book or health book. It’s a book about the real food that real people love to prepare and serve their loved ones and many of the recipes are low GI (the chicken and barley soup is perfect for a wet and wintry night). May you enjoy cooking and sharing good food (low GI of course!) and good times with your family and friends in the month ahead and years to come.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD

Food for Thought

Ten million meals

“My name is Ken and I am a rough sleeper. I have been living on the streets of Sydney for the past 10 years and I am 62 years old. The years have been very hard on both mind and body, but one thing has made the past five years bearable and that is OzHarvest. They don't only feed people like me with fresh and nutritious food but they supply drop-in centres right across Sydney. We, the homeless, are forever grateful for the caring people of OzHarvest. We love and thank you OzHarvest.”

OzHarvest is a non-denominational charity that collects and delivers perishable excess food from food wholesalers, retailers, function centres, caterers, supermarkets, corporate offices, restaurants, and cafes and delivers it to charities feeding people in need on the same day. They don't store or warehouse food. Currently they deliver 333,000 meals a month Australia wide with a fleet of 16 vans. By distributing food to those in need, they turn excess food into a resource and save thousands of kilograms of food from being dumped as landfill each year.



It all began when founding director Ronni Kahn decided that she was not prepared to be part of the waste cycle that is a natural outcome of the hospitality industry. Being part of this industry for over 20 years, she saw a lot of food thrown away. Researching options for dealing with excess perishable food, she found there was no organisation in Sydney that could collect the food on a regular and professional basis, so she set up a food rescue charity herself. Backed by The Macquarie Group Foundation which provided funds and Goodman International which provided a van and office space, OzHarvest was established and collected its first meal in November 2004.

Share your favourite low GI recipe making the most of left-overs OzHarvest is now celebrating collecting and delivering ten million meals to disadvantaged Australians by creating cookbook called Ten Million Meals which will weave together personal stories and recipes using left-overs. It will feature recipes from Jamie Oliver, Neil Perry, Matt Moran, Maggie Beer, Kylie Kwong and Bill Granger along with recipes from the rest of us who feed our families every day. How about sending in your favourite low GI one? They'd want to know a little about your recipe too. Is it a family favourite? Has it been passed down through generations? Or is it something you recently whipped up with left-overs in the fridge? The closing date for submission is 19 December 2011. Check out the guidelines HERE and let your recipe be part of a program where food builds bridges to friendship.

News Briefs

Low GI diet, with or without a change in weight, is good for overall health
A randomised controlled trial from the Diogenes study published in Circulation indicates that eating a low GI diet, with or without a change in weight, is good for your overall health and will help prevent the diseases that are linked to inflammation (obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, arthritis). It’s a rather technical report, so we asked Prof Jennie Brand-Miller to explain the results for GI News readers. ‘Inflammation is the result of oxidative stress in the cells,’ she says. ‘Having too much glucose makes the cells see ‘red’. It is well known, that weight loss will reduce inflammation and risk of developing such diseases, now we know that a low GI diet alone (with or without weight loss) will reduce inflammation and risk of inflammatory diseases.’

Regularly eating fish linked to lower diabetes and cardiovascular risk
People who regularly eat fish as their primary source of animal protein have lower blood glucose concentrations and a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes are the findings of a study published in Nutrición Hospitalaria, whereas consuming red meat, especially cured meats is related to increased weight gain and obesity. Mercedes Sotos Prieto, lead author of the study which forms part of the Prevention with a Mediterranean Diet study explains how ‘in Mediterranean countries, consumption of foods that typically form part of the diet here has decreased in recent decades. The consumption of saturated fats mainly from red meats and industrial baking has increased and this is really worrying.’ The researcher points out that ‘the red meat consumption of the sample population reaches an average of once a day, which is high in comparison to dietary recommendations.’ Conducted in the Valencian Community on 945 people (340 men and 605 women) between 55 and 80 years of age, the aim of the study was to understand dietary patterns in terms of meat and fish consumption and the correlation between the Mediterranean diet and its association with CVD risk factors.



‘Various hypotheses have been put forward that attempt to explain why the consumption of fish can be related to diabetes,’ they explain. ‘The increase of omega-3 in the cells of the skeletal muscles improves insulin sensitivity.’

AMD-like lesions delayed in mice fed lower GI diet

Prof Allen Taylor
Feeding older mice a lower GI diet delays the onset of age-related, sight-threatening retinal lesions, according to a new study from the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at Tufts University. We usually prefer to stick to clinical trials and epidemiological studies in humans in GI News, but this research in Aging Cell appears to establish the first mature, mammalian model indicating a delay in the development of AMD-like lesions as the result of a lower GI diet. Prof Allen Taylor says: ‘The only difference between the two groups of mice we studied is the GI of their meals, which suggests that diet alone is enough to accelerate or delay the formation of lesions. These results, coupled with similar observations made by our laboratory in earlier human epidemiologic studies imply that lower GI diets hold potential as an early intervention for preventing onset and progress of AMD.’

The researchers studied middle-aged and older mice that consumed either a higher or lower GI diet. Mice fed the lower GI diet developed fewer and less-severe age-related lesions in the retina than the mice fed the higher GI diet. Compared to the mice on the lower GI diet, mice on the higher GI diet demonstrated elevated accumulations of debris known as advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in the whole retina, particularly in the cells of the RPE (retinal pigment epithelium). The RPE plays a crucial role in maintaining vision and its dysfunction results in the gradual central vision loss that is the hallmark of AMD. AGE accumulation has also been linked to tissue damage in other age-related diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Holiday cooking with Carisma


Australia’s versatile low GI spud is back in Coles supermarkets (sorry not yet Tasmania) ready for all your holiday cooking for family and friends through December and January. Here at GI News we are tossing up between Roasted Potato Salad with Capers and Turmeric Roasted Potatoes both from the Monday Morning Cooking Club cookbook.

Sadly, there are always naysayers even about spuds! ‘Potato farmer Dave’ posted a comment on Catherine Saxelby’s website review of Carisma potatoes claiming that ‘Carisma is not a potato variety but simply a clever but simple marketing trick of the potato company that sells them to Coles’. Sorry Dave, you are so wrong. Carisma is an Australian first. It is a distinct variety of potato owned by Agrico (a Dutch seed production company) and all the development (several years of it) was done here in Australia by the Mitolo Group with constant GI testing carried out by SUGiRS. If you want to know more about this low GI spud, check out Catherine’s independent Foodwatch Review and see her answer to potato farmer Dave HERE. Tasmania – you’ll have Carisma spuds in your Coles supermarkets early in 2012.

Helping Australian consumers make better choices
Easier-to-understand nutritional labelling for consumers and greater restrictions on the health claims that can be made about that food are among the Australian Government’s response to a national Review of Food Labelling Law and Policy. You can read the full press release HERE. The Government proposes:

• work begin with the food industry and public health groups to develop a single front-of-pack labelling model that will assist Australian shoppers when they make choices about the food they buy
• standards for nutrition and health claims on food labels such as ‘low fat’, ‘high in fibre’, etc be improved to ensure the labels reflect public health goals and provide meaningful information to consumers
• improvements to back-of-pack labelling to provide consumers with better information about added sugars, fats and vegetable oils
• mandating pregnancy warning labels on alcohol that are currently being used voluntarily by industry within two years.

Salt reduction – where’s the jury on this?
Back in August we reported on a recent Cochrane Review that said ‘cutting down on the amount of salt has no clear benefits in terms of likelihood of dying or experiencing cardiovascular disease (CVD).’ The researchers made this finding partly because there just haven’t been large enough trials run for long enough periods of time to prove that sodium reduction really does reduce the risk of heart attack and strokes (CVD).

Now the latest Cochrane Review (on salt) concludes that ‘we do not know if low salt diets improve or worsen health outcomes’. Here’s their plain language summary based on 167 studies between 1950 and 2011 that they reviewed: ‘Low salt diets reduced systolic blood pressure by 1% in white people with normal blood pressure and by 3.5% in white people with elevated blood pressure. The effect was similar in trials of 4 weeks or longer. There were increases in some hormones and lipids which could be harmful if persistent over time. However, the studies were not designed to measure long-term health effects. Therefore we do not know if low salt diets improve or worsen health outcomes. Most of the people who took part in the studies were whites, but in the small number of non-whites the blood pressure reduction was, if anything, greater. More research on reduced salt intake is required, particularly in non-white populations.’

Where does this leave us? First of all, salt reduction is not the only way of lowering blood pressure and reduce your risk of heart disease.

• Losing 10 kg of excess body weight will reduce blood pressure by 5–20 mmHg
• Consuming a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products with a reduced saturated and total fat content (i.e., the DASH diet) will lower blood pressure by 8–14 mmHg
• 30 minutes a day of regular physical activity (a brisk walk will do) will lower it by 4–9 mmHg

Our take-home message: To keep out of the emergency room, being active and enjoying an overall healthy low GI diet that’s moderate in sodium (460 - 2,300 mg a day) and lower in calories and saturated fat is good for your overall health as the latest Diogenes study (see above) has found and will help prevent obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and arthritis (diseases linked to inflammation).

Get the Scoop with Emma Stirling

The scoop on staying on the health track over the holidays


Emma Stirling APD

As we enter the home stretch to the holidays, tis the season to be jolly and cocktail parties, neighbourhood gatherings, work functions and backyard BBQs crowd our calendars, just as leftovers crowd our fridge and pantry. So, how can you stay on the health track with all this abundance? And what’s the smart approach to leftovers and food gifts? Here's the scoop.

Be a host, with the most When you plan your party aim for quality not quantity. Indulging your guests with seafood may be more expensive than a bowl of chips or crackers and high fat dip, but if it’s a special occasion the investment in your health goals is worth it. If you plan a right size portion of each course for each guest, you can stay on budget and not have leftovers to tempt you. Pass on the big plates. Your favourite salads look stunning served in a drinking glass with a dessert fork at party time, just as I did for my recipe for Hot smoked salmon and freekeh nicoise.

Bring a (healthy) plate A common holiday eating trap is the family and neighbourhood get-together. Everyone is so willing to bring a dessert, dip or dish that there is often way too much (rich and creamy) food on offer, not to mention a fridge groaning with leftovers. So tell your host that you will bring your signature Moroccan chickpea salad or our Low GI, Carisma potato salad with lemon yogurt dressing. You can then skip the creamy coleslaw and creamy pasta salad and fill half your plate with veggies (even if your brought them yourself!)



Let it go Pass on the cute-shaped shortbreads and mince pies and make your own gifts like preserved lemons, herb vinegars, lovely fruit baskets with a sprinkling of exotic nuts or grow-your-own pots of culinary herbs.

Stay safe Christmas is a high risk time for food poisoning, especially in places where summer heat can affect perishable, party food quickly. You need to take special care preparing food for young children, pregnant women, the elderly and anyone whose immune system may be compromised. Follow the golden rules of food safety: use separate cutting boards and utensils for raw meats and defrost meat and poultry in the fridge or butchers cool room; transfer perishable food in an esky or icebox; keep food in the fridge until the last minute or pull out small serves throughout the party; refrigerate leftovers as quickly as possible and use within 2-3 days, discarding any items that have been on the kitchen bench or buffet too long. Get creative with your leftover ham or turkey, like in our recipe for Turkey and bean chili with avocado salsa or Cajun stuffed peppers, and you’ll sail into the New Year in great shape.

Emma Stirling is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and health writer with over ten years experience writing for major publications. She is editor of The Scoop on Nutrition – a blog by expert dietitians. Check it out for hot news bites and a healthy serve of what’s in flavour.

In the GI News Kitchen

American dietitian and author of Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Johanna Burani, shares favourite recipes with a low or moderate GI from her Italian kitchen. For more information, check out Johanna's website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is photosbysergio.com.

Cheese-filled leek cannelloni
This is my friend Vanda’s recipe. She was served this unusual ‘primo piatto’ at a restaurant in the mountains well above her village in northern Italy. She replicated it perfectly (she says) at home and has shared it with me. And now I’m sharing it with you. Buon appetito! Serves 4 (2 pieces each).

4 long cleaned leeks, white parts only
120g/4oz gorgonzola dolce (sweet), at room temperature
120g/4oz part-skim ricotta
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
2 tbsp grated parmigiano reggiano cheese


Cut the leeks in half so you have 8 pieces, each approximately 10cm/4in long. Steam for approximately 25 minutes or until the leeks are very soft but still holding their shape. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Carefully cut through the outer layers and gently open. Do not cut through all the layers. Depending on how thick each leek is, separate the layers and lay them on a flat surface, overlapping 3–4 layers on each other.
Prepare the filling by mixing together the cheeses in a small bowl, using a fork to smooth.
Divide the filling among the prepared leek layers and gently roll to close.
Place the cannelloni, cut side down, in a shallow, oven-proof casserole dish, previously sprayed with vegetable oil. Drizzle the olive oil over the top of the leeks, then sprinkle the breadcrumbs and the grated cheese. Grill/broil 10cm/4in from the grill for 5–6 minutes or until the leeks are golden brown. Serve immediately.

Per serve
Energy: 880kJ/210cals; Protein 11g; Fat 15g (includes 8g saturated fat and 33mg cholesterol); Available carbohydrate 3g; Fibre 1g

Cut back on the food bills and enjoy fresh-tasting, easily prepared, seasonal, satisfying and delicious low or moderate GI meals that don’t compromise on quality and flavour one little bit with this Money Saving Meals recipe from Ian Hemphill's Just Add Spice (with Lyndey Milan and published by Penguin/Lantern). For more recipes check out the Money Saving Meal website.

Baharat beef with olives.
Spice up your holiday fare with this casserole made with inexpensive, slow-cooking cuts such as chuck or gravy beef). The book includes the recipe to make your own spice mix – but we prefer to use Herbies ready-made blend. Baharat, sometimes referred to as Lebanese seven spice, has a beautiful bouquet that conveys all the romantic fragrances of everything that is spice. We used low GI Carisma potatoes, but if they aren’t available, you can reduce the GI by mashing low GI root vegies like parsnip, carrot and butternut pumpkin with the potato. Serves 4–6.

1 tbsp olive oil
3–4 cloves garlic, chopped
1kg (2lb 4oz) lean beef, cubed
5 tsp baharat spice mix
400g (14oz) can whole peeled tomatoes
½ cup (125ml) dry red wine
12 pitted black olives
Salt
Mashed Carisma potatoes (4), to serve

Preheat the oven to 120ºC/250ºF (100ºC/210ºF fan-forced.
Heat the oil in a medium, heavy-based flameproof casserole dish over medium–low heat and soften the garlic. Do not brown.
Toss the cubes of meat in the baharat spice mix. Increase the heat to medium, add the beef to the casserole dish and cook briefly until sealed on all sides. Add the tomatoes wine, olives and ½ cup (125ml) water. Season to taste with salt if desired, but keep in mind that the olives are salty so you may not need much. Stir frequently and bring to a gentle simmer, then cover and cook in the oven for 2½–3 hours until the beef is very tender. Serve over a scoop of well-mashed potatoes with a salad on the side.

Just Add Spice (and baharat spice mix) is available from Herbies.



Per serve (for 6 serves without the mashed potato)
Energy: 1700kJ/400cals; Protein 38g; Fat 11g (includes 4g saturated fat and 100mg cholesterol); Available carbohydrate 28g; Fibre 3.5g

Honey baked salmon
The salmon is smothered in an aromatic mixture of honey, fresh garlic and ginger, soy sauce, coarse grain mustard, and balsamic vinegar in this fabulously simple and delicious recipe from Azmina Govindji, nutrition consultant for the Ismaili Nutrition Centre. Azmina recommends serving it on a bed of brown rice with a crisp green salad, and for that really special occasion, partnering it up with asparagus tips. Serves 2.

1 heaped tsp honey
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1–2 tsp coarse grain mustard
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2cm/3/4in chunks fresh ginger, chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
1 tsp chopped fresh green chillies (optional)
2 salmon fillets, each about 120g/4oz



Mix together all of the ingredients except the salmon. Marinate the salmon fillets in this mixture and set them aside for half an hour (if you have time).
Place the fillets with the marinade on a lightly greased baking tray and cook in an oven preheated to 200°C (400°F) or gas mark 6 for 10–12 minutes until just cooked.

Azmina Govindji is a Registered Dietitian and TV Nutritionist (as seen on The One Show, The Wright Stuff and This Morning). she is Media Spokesperson for British Dietetic Association and NHS Choices. Find her at twitter.com/AzminaNutrition

Per serve (without the brown rice and salad)
Energy: 880kJ/232cals; Protein 25g; Fat 13g (includes 2g saturated fat and 33mg cholesterol); Available carbohydrate 3.5g; Fibre negligible

Blood orange compote
This light, not too sweet, slightly acidic and low GI dessert makes the perfect finishing note to a big meal. The Monday Morning Cooking Club team agreed to share it with GI News readers for this special holiday fare edition. The recipe was contributed by Barbara Solomon who has been making it for years for her family and friends having adapted it way back from one she found in Janet Fletcher’s Fresh from the Farmers’ Market. Serves 6–8.

6–8 large blood or navel oranges (or a mixture of both
¾ cup LogiCane or table sugar
1 cup dry white wine
1 cinnamon stick
2–3 cloves
2 thin (5mm) slices peeled fresh ginger, lightly smashed
1 cup water



Remove 4 wide strips of peel from 1 orange, making sure there is no pith, and reserve. Cut a thin slice off the top and bottom of each orange. Using a small paring knife, slice off the peel and pith. Cut between the membranes to remove the segments and place in a serving bowl. Alternatively, cut the peeled oranges into 5mm (1/8in) thick slices.
Combine, in a saucepan, the remaining ingredients plus the reserved strips of orange peel. Bring to the boil and simmer on medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, for 10–15 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced to 1 ½ cups (375ml). Strain the hot syrup and pour over the fruit, adding the cinnamon stick to the fruit. Leave to cool. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Serve chilled.

The Monday Morning Cooking Club started back in 2006 when 6 Jewish women who live in Sydney came together on a Monday morning to share recipes and talk about food. What started as an idea to raise money for charity (over $230,000 to date), grew into a project to document their community’s somewhat obsessive relationship with food, and became a beautifully photographed (by Alan Benson) book with 100 recipes from 65 ‘contributing cooks’. It’s available from their website HERE.

Per serve (based on 8 servings using 8 oranges)
Energy: 750kJ/180cals; Protein 2g; Fat 0.5g (includes 0.1g saturated fat and 0mg cholesterol); Available carbohydrate 35g; Fibre 4g

Baked fruit medley
This deliciously simple baked fruit medley from Catherine Saxelby and Jennene Plummer’s Zest cookbook (Hardie Grant) makes a fabulous finish to festive fare. When stone fruit is in season, Jennene suggests you ring the changes and top a selection of peaches, nectarines, apricots or plums with flaked almonds and bake for 15–20 minutes. Serves 4–6

¼ cup pure maple syrup
30g/1oz light margarine
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 green apples, quartered (retain skin and core)
3 pears, quartered (retain skin and core)
200g/7oz dried figs or the softer dessert figs
3 stalks rhubarb, trimmed and sliced
low-fat ice cream to serve



Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
Combine the maple syrup, margarine, sugar and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Heat gently, stirring, until melted and well combined.

Arrange the apples, pears and figs in a baking dish. Pour in the syrup and toss gently so the fruit is evenly coated.Bake for 15 minutes. Add the rhubarb to the dish, stirring in gently so it is coated with syrup. Bake for a further 10–15 minutes until the fruit is tender. Serve warm with a scoop of low-fat ice cream.
Zest is available from Catherine’s website, Foodwatch.
Per serve (including 1 scoop low fat ice cream)
Energy: 1325kJ/315cals; Protein 3g; Fat 5g (includes 1g saturated fat); Available carbohydrate 63g; Fibre 10g

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Nicole Senior

Myth: Festive overeating is harmless.
Fact: Festive overeating can have adverse health consequences. It’s time to outsmart our primitive instincts and engage higher order thinking about how much we eat during the holidays.

The holiday season is rapidly approaching and chief cooks in households around the world are starting to think about what festive fare to serve family and friends (of course the better organised ones have already made the Christmas puddings, mince pies and cakes). Serving the special foods that are part of your cultural traditions is part of the ritual and something everyone looks forward to. In my family, ensalada rusa (Spanish potato salad) will always be on the buffet table along with other traditional Spanish and Aussie Christmas fare. It's all so tempting, it's hard not to overfill your plate ...



However, is it really harmful? Well, professor of nutrition and psychiatry at Tufts University Susan Roberts reports Americans gain an average of between five and eight pounds in the short interval between Thanksgiving and the New Year (just one month). I’d bet most of that stays put after the Christmas tree is packed away.

The big problem these days with our festive fare is the the holiday season seems to have spread way beyond that special Christmas eve dinner or Christmas lunch with parties and celebrations galore, each vying for your eating affections. However each time you overload your system with excessive food, it’s akin to metabolic assault: your blood becomes milky with fat (post-prandial lipaemia); glucose, insulin levels and inflammatory hormones rise; your blood vessels become less flexible (called endothelial dysfunction) and your blood becomes more likely to clot (or pro-thrombotic). Unfortunately for those with diabetes or pre-diabetes, these adverse effects are worse.

And did you know that rather than signalling the body to ease-off at subsequent meals, huge meals actually increase appetite for the next meal perpetuating a vicious cycle of overeating (people often say their stomach has stretched). Eating high GI foods makes things worse. It’s no wonder emergency rooms experience a rush of cardiac patients on Christmas and Boxing Day.

Surely it’s time to move on? The planet can no longer sustain such excess and our physical health is suffering as a result. Here are some tips to help you resist the pull of festive overeating and holiday weight gain:

WHAT to eat

• Utilise the hunger-busting power of protein (lean meat, poultry, seafood and eggs) and low GI carbs (dense grainy breads, pasta, milk and yoghurt) as well as the low-kilojoule filling-power of vegetables and legumes.
• Focus on eating modest portions of food you really like and avoid the rest
• Curb the liquid calories from sugary drinks and alcohol which don’t satisfy hunger but contribute to weight gain
• Avoid or limit the calorific ‘nibbles’ served before or between meals
• Limit how much alcohol you drink or you will lose those higher order thinking skills to put all of this into action

HOW to eat

• Decide you will retain control beforehand and eat mindfully
• Avoid turning up to festive feasts starving – this increases the chances of overeating
• Resist the temptation to go for seconds
• Enjoy small portions of rich foods like puddings and desserts – try sharing a single serving
• If you are catering, be bold in offering healthier options and cook the right quantities to avoid waste. Don't pressure guests to eat more than they need.
• If you’re on the receiving end of pressure to overeat, be kind but assertive. Your health and comfort need not suffer to please others.

Many of the adverse effects of overeating can be reversed by exercise, but it’s hard to throw a ball around when you’ve fallen into a postprandial stupor and can’t get out of your chair. Perhaps the best test of eating the right amount is having some get-up-and-go a few hours after getting up from the table? Sincere best wishes to you and yours for a happy and healthy festive season.

Further reading: Why do people eat too much? by Jonah Lehrer

Nicole Senior is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist and author of Eat to Beat Cholesterol, Heart Food and Belly Busting for Blokes.

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay

Celebrating the low GI way
You don’t have to forsake all of your favourite foods to avoid the battle of the bulge. Watching the amount of food you eat and swapping rich and fatty high GI foods for healthy low GI alternatives will help keep you on an even keel over the festive season. Here are some practical tips for the big day:

Main course	Serve size
Roast turkey breast with Stuffing (made with a Burgen or a grainy low GI bread or traditional oats), or	1 large slice 1 scoop
Baked ham, or	1 large slice
Honey and oregano roasted leg of lamb	1 large slice
Your favourite fish or seafood (avoid deep fried or battered varieties)	1 piece fish or 4 king prawns
Starchy sides (a generous ‘scoop’ is about ½ cup)
Vegetable roasties (see recipe below), or	1 generous scoop
Blu Gourmet pearl couscous salad with vegetables and cashew nuts and sesame dressing, or	1 generous scoop
Baked, boiled or steamed Carisma potatoes, or	1–2 potatoes
Potato (made with Carisma potatoes), rice, pasta or couscous salad with vinaigrette dressing, or	1 generous scoop
Bean, lentil or corn salad with vinaigrette dressing	1 generous scoop
Plus non-starchy veggies (as much as you like, but hold the creamy dressings and sauces)
Mixed garden salad	As much as you like
Green vegetables	As much as you like
Dessert
Pavlova with light whipped cream, sliced strawberries, bananas, grapes, kiwifruit and passion fruit, or	1 small piece
Trifle with sponge finger biscuits, diet jelly, low fat yogurt with strawberries and blueberries on top and 99% fat free fromage frais, or	1 small serve
Vanilla pannacotta with strawberry salsa	1 small serve

You can watch Alan demonstrate some healthy low GI alternatives on Channel 7's Sunrise.

Honey and oregano roasted leg of lamb with vegetable roasties
(Recipe by Anneka Manning from The Low GI Family Cookbook published by Hachette in Australia and Da Capo in the US/Canada) Serves 6 (with plenty of leftovers)



1 kg leg of lamb, trimmed of all visible fat
2 large garlic cloves, sliced
8 sprigs oregano, each halved
2 tbsp pure floral honey
4 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp lemon juice

To serve
1 quantity Vegetable roasties (see recipe)
steamed, boiled or microwaved green beans

Preheat oven to 200ºC (400ºF/Gas 6). Place a rack in a roasting pan and add 1 cup water to the pan. Use a small sharp knife to cut slits all over the surface of the lamb. Poke the garlic slices and sprigs of oregano into the slits. Place the lamb on the rack in the roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Combine the honey, mustard and lemon juice. Brush over the lamb and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes for medium or 30 minutes for well-done. Remove lamb from oven, cover loosely with foil and set aside in a warm place for 15 minutes to rest. Carve the lamb and serve accompanied by the Vegetable Roasties and steamed green beans.

Vegetable roasties
3 Carisma low GI potatoes
1 medium orange-fleshed sweet potato (about 500g/1lb 2oz)
2 medium parsnips (about 400g/10oz)
2 medium carrots (about 250g/8oz)
1/2 medium butternut pumpkin (about 700g/)
3 teaspoons olive oil
Pinch salt (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper
4 sprigs rosemary, thyme or oregano, leaves removed from stems

Preheat the oven to 220ºC (440ºF) and line a roasting pan with non-stick baking paper. Peel all the vegetables, deseed the pumpkin and cut the vegetables into 2.5cm chunks. Place them in the prepared roasting pan, drizzle with the olive oil and a tiny sprinkle of salt (if using), pepper and herbs. Use your hands (clean of course) to toss the vegetables to coat with the oil and seasonings. Bake for 1 hour, or until golden and tender, tossing the vegetables about 3 times during cooking so that they brown and crisp evenly. Serve immediately.

Per serve
Energy: 2110kJs; Protein 44g; Fat 13g (includes 5g saturated fat and 110mg cholesterol); carbohydrate 45g; Fibre 9g; sodium 200 mg

The GI Symbol, making healthy low GI choices easy choices



For more information about the GI Symbol Program
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)
Phone: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Email: alan@gisymbol.com
Website: www.gisymbol.com

GI Update

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions


Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

I’m an avid cook, and I love December’s festive fare from the shaped special biscuits to Christmas cake and pudding and mince pies. Which flours, if any, are low GI?
To date there are no GI values for any raw flours of any kind – whether milled from wheat, soy, rice or other grains. This is because the GI rating of a food must be determined physiologically (in real people). So far we haven’t had volunteers willing to consume 50-gram portions of raw flour! What we do know, however, is that many bakery products such as scones, cakes, pikelets and crumpets made from fine flours, whether white or wholemeal, are quickly digested and absorbed. However, some products also made with fine flours, such as biscuits, are often low GI. Here at SUGiRS, we have even tested a low GI Christmas cake and low GI rum balls! So, the final GI of products made with flour is unpredictable.



With your own baking, what I suggest is that you try to increase the soluble fibre content by partially replacing flour with oat bran, psyllium or rolled oats. Of course for Christmas cake and pudding, you can also help lower the overall GI by adding lots of dried fruit. And if you like in Australia, make sure you use LogiCane, the low GI sugar. And keep those portions moderate as it’s really the calories that are the problem with these treat foods!

GI testing by an accredited laboratory North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
20 Victoria Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario M5C 298 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson
Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web www.glycemicindex.com

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