Low Glycemic Recipes

For Low GI Breakfasts that a busy family is going to eat, a little forward planning is required.

For cereals, low Gi status depends on the ingredients. Rice, corn or maize may be high GI, while wheat and oats tend to be low to medium. It’s hard to tell if a breakfast cereal is low GI. Look for < 10% total sugar content as a rough guide.

You can always check a particular commercial product on this site, which lists the products that have been officially tested for GI status:

www.glycemicindex.com.( Go to the GI Database and enter the product  name - remember to click on the product name for more details, to be sure it is the product that is sold in your country)

So here are some base ingredients for the breakfast table.

Breads: Whole wheat, whole rye and whole spelt or any combination. Wheat/Rye, Spelt/Rye etc;

Cereals: Oats, nuts, puffed amaranth, puffed whole wheat, oat bran, wheat germ;

Sweeteners: Pure maple syrup, stevia, raw sugar;

Fruit: Most fruits- e.g. Peaches, strawberries, apricots, plums, bananas. Canned fruits in natural juice;

Muesli: Muesli must be made from whole grains, nuts and dried fruit and no added sugar or honey. These are sometimes called Hunza Muesli;

Jams & Spreads: Marmite, vegemite (for the Aussies), peanut butter, any jams, conserves or jellies  made of 100% fruit and fruit juice(ie without the added sugar). I buy French jams that are made of 100% fruit and fruit juice;

Vegetables: Tomatoes, mushrooms, sweet peppers, sweet potato;

Eggs and Meats: Eggs, bacon, prosciutto, salami, ham;

Dairy: Natural yogurt, 100% fruit yogurt(without added sugar), milk, butter milk, butter;

Non Dairy: Soy milk, almond milk. Make sure the sugar content is less than 5%;

Drinks: Tea, fresh ground coffee (not instant), freshly squeezed or store bought 100% pure juice (without added sugar).

Ok, so looking at that list I hope you can see a few breakfast ideas.

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The better the quality of food you can buy, the better the nutrition, and the less you have to eat.

So try and buy organic or biodynamic or at least fresh. Yes, it is more expensive to buy quality food, so buy the best you can with your budget. My food buying order is fresh meat, fruit and vegetables first,  then dried fruits, then frozen foods, then lastly, preprocessed, pre packaged, pre cooked.

With canned foods I stick to Italian tomatos, fish, unsweetened apple slices, apricots and peaches. (For canned fruit I buy fruit in natural juices and avoid syrups.)

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It’s time to wean our families off all the sugar. There is sugar in every preprocessed food you buy. Sometimes in large quantities.

For 1 month,  ban all sugary drinks, sodas, soft dring etc. in your family. Substitute with freshly squeezed fruit juice mixed with sparkling mineral water.

Hide the sugar bowl!

If your family complains, and they probably will, then try 1 to 2 teaspoons of pure maple syrup as a substitute to sweeten porridge and muesli and other whole food breakfasts.

You can relent and allow 1 teaspoon of raw sugar. It is not going to hurt if eaten with low glycemic foods.

Some people use Stevia (a sweet herb) as an alternate sweetener, but I don’t like the flavor.

I try to avoid all artificial sweeteners and food additives in general, but if you are comfortable with them, then you can use them.

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