Question:
saw a full page advert in today's parade magazine supplement to the paper about
a book titled "The Glucose Revolution" by a Jennie Brand-Miller, PhD and Thomas
M.S. Wolever, MD, PhD....apparently they use the glycemic index as a basis for
dietary decisions...has anyone here read this book?...any merit?....anything
new as to glycemic index? or is it a rehash of what we already have available
in www resources and another profit scheme in the diet-book craze?
appreciate anyone's review...
Answer:
The book's been available for quite a while, I think...maybe just a new
round of publicity. It was first published under another name, in other
countries (Australia I think???)
The book addresses this in part...what I recall are remarks dealing with
items for which a GI has been established. The idea was that you factor
in the GI of each according to how many grams of carbs each
contained...so...one could lower the effective GI of a potato by eating
it with plain yoghurt. Presumably, fats and proteins would also lower
the effective GI, though calculating it might be even more imprecise
than the general use of the GI is.
People need to recognize that the GI is NOT an absolute measure of how
things will affect them. As with everything, mileage WILL vary. GI
gives people a bit more info to help them in juggling foods to help keep
their Bgs in line...some will find that there is great correlation
between the published GI findings and the effects on their OWN bodies.
Others will find great discrepencies. I've found that my body reacts to
the various rices in strong correlation to the published
findings...Japanese rice sends Bgs up (but also keeps them fairly high
for a while), whereas brown rice and Uncle Ben's rice do not. I also
find that barley (which has a low GI) causes me no problems, but other
folks say that they just can't eat it...who knows??? maybe it's a
difference in how it's prepared and served. Maybe others are eating it
like a cereal, whereas I am eating it with meat and onions generally.
I bought the book and have found it somewhat interesting and somewhat
helpful. It has the SAME list that you'll find on Rick Mendosa's site
except that it only lists GI by the glucose scale (rather than by both
bread and glucose scales) and doesn't have the list that is arranged
from lowest GI to highest. Whether it's worth the $14 cover price is
probably determined by what else you'd be spending the $14 on and
whether you find it helpful to have a BOOK to refer to rather than
computer print outs or monitor screens. I willingly acknowledge that I
LIKE hard copy and like it bound...Glucose Revolution has "hung out" in
my "reading room" (aka bathroom) since I got it and gets referred to a
few minutes at a time! (hey, I also leave tax pubs in the bathroom to
"inspire" me! )
Carol P.
