Low carb vs No carb

[Guest guest]

Greetings,

The low carb dietary approach seems to be one of those topics that tends to

polarize participants into pro/con camps; the pro camp praising the near

miraculous results and the con warning of dire health risks from " fad " regimens.

For my part I'd like to " split a hair " and suggest that choosing low Glycemic

Index sources of carbs (sugars) will avoid the risks and effects of extreme " no

carb " regimens like the Atkins " debacle " . This while serving to ameliorate the

effects the post meal " spike " of blood glucose level that has been implicated in

general tissue inflammation. For example, enjoy pumpernickel bread in moderate

amounts or prepare vermicelli pasta " al dente " (slightly undercooked to

Americans; perfect to Italians). Have your carbs and eat them too, so to speak.

Pearl barley is another good example of a relatively low GI carb source;

non-pearled (non-hulled) barley even better. As I've stated before, I don't see

that anyone on the list's advocating the elimination of carbs from the diet.

Rather, the goal is to choose carb sources that maintain health while minimizing

potential damage.

I'm reposting some links here that list the GI of many foods:

http://www.logicnutrition.com/home/systems_thelow.htm

http://www.diabetesnet.com/diabetes_food_diet/glycemic_index.php

searchable GI database:

http://www.glycemicindex.com/

Chris