Latest NewsDr Alan Barclay helps make healthy festive eating easyDecember 1, 2011. With the silly season upon us, you will be glad to hear that you do not have to forsake all of your Christmas favourites to avoid the battle of the bulge. Simply keep in mind the basic principles of swapping rich and fatty high GI foods for healthy low GI alternatives. Come January, not only will you have not gained unwanted weight, you will start the New Year two steps in front of all your friends, simply by following an easy low GI Christmas meal plan. Yes, you can still have your turkey, potatoes and trifle, but by making small, simple modifications, you can lower the GI of your festive dinner. By doing this you will be eating the healthiest foods for your body and this will help prevent weight gain in the process. All you have to do is swap high GI foods for healthy low GI alternatives. Of course, a healthy Low GI diet can and should be eaten all year round not just on any one day but if you want to watch what you are eating over the festive season here are some practical tips: Main course: • Roast turkey breast, roast ham, roast sweet potato, parsnips, carrots, sweet corn and Coles Carisma Low GI potatoes • Stuffing made with Burgen low GI bread or traditional oats, or • Honey and oregano roasted leg of lamb with vegetable roasties, or • Any seafood (avoid deep fried or battered varieties) Side salad: • Blu Gourmet pearl couscous salad with vegetables and cashew nuts and sesame dressing, or • Potato salad made with Coles Carisma potatoes or any other salad combination - just avoid the creamy, fatty dressings Dessert: • Pavlova with lite whipped cream or low fat yoghurt, sliced strawberries, bananas, grapes and passionfruit, or • Trifle with sponge finger biscuits, diet jelly, low fat custard with strawberries and blueberries on top and 99% fat free fromage frais, or • Vanilla pannacotta with strawberry salsa, or • Try Christmas shaped gingernut biscuits . You can see Alan talk about healthy festive eating on Channel 7's Sunrise. Traffic light labelling not the only path to better healthDecember 2, 2011. The Glycemic Index Foundation (GIF) welcomes the Australian Federal Government’s recommendation to collaborate on the development of a single front-of-pack labelling system to make it easier for all Australians to choose healthy foods appropriate to their many varied needs. The GIF supports a front-of-pack labelling system for Australia, but agrees with Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon that the best way to do this is still unclear. The Foundation believes a new front-of-pack food labelling system should not be solely based on the amount of fat, sugar or salt in a food. GIF’s Chief Scientist Dr Alan Barclay explains “The first and most obvious flaw with the traffic light labelling scheme is that it doesn’t include the amount of kilojoules/calories in food or drink. Given that one of the main aims of traffic light labelling is to help in the fight against obesity, this omission is surprising. Secondly, while the traffic light labelling scheme includes total fat and sodium, it only includes half of the carbohydrates in food – sugar. However, people with diabetes and those at risk need to know how much total carbohydrate a food contains – the starch as well as the sugar – and the food’s Glycemic Index (GI), according to the latest diabetes management guidelines released last month.” Dr Barclay goes on to say “Any front of pack labelling scheme needs to focus on both the positive and negative nutrients in a food or drink if it’s going to truly help Australians make a balanced assessment of a product. The traffic light system focuses on total sugars, not added sugars, which would mean healthy products containing dried fruit for example, would get a red 'sugar' traffic light just like a packet of lollies. This will only confuse consumers more." Any front-of-pack labelling scheme must be evidence-based. Recently published research has shown a marked decline in sugar consumption in Australia at the same time as rates of overweight, obesity and Type 2 diabetes have increased. This suggests that continuing to focus on reducing sugars and ignoring starches in foods will not improve the nation’s health. The Glycemic Index is a dietary tool that helps us to differentiate between the various carbohydrate foods we eat and how our bodies use them. GI research from around the world continues to highlight that the rate of carbohydrate (sugar and starch) digestion has implications for everyone. A healthy low GI diet has been proven to help people who want to lose or manage their weight, improve their cholesterol levels, reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, diabetic complications, heart disease and more. The evidence for consuming a low GI diet is far stronger than that for avoiding sugars in food. GIF’s CEO Pam Longstaff said “The GI Symbol Program makes it easy for everybody to put nutritious, low GI food choices into their shopping trolley and reap the long-term health benefits of enjoying a low GI diet.” For the full media release click HERE Professor Jennie Brand-Miller discusses the Diogenes study on Today TonightMarch, 2011. In this collaborative project from 8 countries in the European Union (Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK, Greece (Crete), Germany, Spain, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, 938 adults took part in an 8-week, low-calorie weight-loss diet to achieve a weight loss of 8% of their original starting weight (for most participants this was about 11 kg or 24 pounds.) Those successful in meeting this target were then given the opportunity to take part in the 6-month ‘preventing weight gain’ stage of the study. The researchers then randomly assigned 773 adults to one of five diets for a 26-week intervention period. These were not kilojoule/calorie controlled diets – those taking part could eat as much food as they liked from their assigned diet group. Participants were on average 41 years old and were all parents. Their families, although not part of the trial, were assigned to the same diets. All five diets were designed to have a moderate fat content (25–30% of total energy). The diets were:
A total of 548 adults (71%) completed the 26-week diet trial period. Fewer people in the high-protein, low GI groups dropped out than in the low-protein, high-GI-group (26.4% and 25.6% respectively, compared to 37.4%). The researchers found that both low GI diets and high-protein diets were equally effective in preventing weight regain. But they also found that participants in Group 3 which combined both low GI and high-protein strategies continued to lose weight over the 26 weeks of the study. Note that although described as ‘high protein’, the 25% protein in the Diogenes study is less than Atkins and Zone diets (30%) and the CSIRO Total Wellbeing diet (33%). The GI of the high GI diets achieved by the participants was around 60 (pretty typical for developed nations) and the ‘low GI’ diets around 55 (not that low, but a step in the right direction). The University of Sydney's Professor Jennie Brand-Miller was interviewed about the results of the Diogenes study on Channel 7's Today Tonight earlier this month:
Australia's first Low GI potato launchedDecember, 2010. Key facts
Why is Carisma low GI? Carisma is different to other potatoes. The University of Sydney and the GI Foundation is in the process of trying to identify the exact reasons why it has a lower GI than all other varieties tested so far. Once this is known, the information may help to identify other low GI potato varieties. Cooking
For more information, please visit the Carisma website or view the A Current Affair television story on-line. September, 2010.
In another first for the GI Foundation, the new GI Symbol TV commercial is about to be shown in cinemas around the nation thanks to the very generous efforts of Deluxe @ E Film. For more information please visit Deluxe at:
In addition, the SBS Foundation has selected the GI Foundation as one of their successful charities to share in $2 million worth of television airtime that will be donated in 2010. For more information, please visit SBS:
We would also like the thank all of those who so generously donated their time and expertise to make this Community Service Announcement a reality: Acorn Brand Design, for their brilliant logo design OBM Advertising, for their creative work on concept and inspired copywriting Marc Trompe, for all the production FSM, for all the post-production editing Latest ProductsKellogg's joins the GI Symbol programApril, 2011. The GI Foundation will be working with Kellogg’s to develop a more comprehensive range of healthy low GI breakfast cereals. The Glycemic Index Foundation and the GI Symbol Program
Today's savvy supermarket shoppers look for the GI Symbol. They know that they need to put
those smart low GI carbs into the trolley to manage their blood glucose levels, reduce their risk of diabetes and heart disease, and maintain a healthy weight. Recipe of the MonthIndian-Style Chicken with Pearl CouscousTry this delicious recipe from Blu Gourmet Pearl Couscous. Serves 4 Ingredients 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1/2 brown onion, finely chopped 1 tbsp finely grated ginger 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 tsp fennel seeds 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tbsp medium curry powder 600 g skinless, de-boned chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces 1 red capsicum, diced 1 medium zucchini, diced 250 g Blu pearl couscous 2 1/2 cups simmering reduced sodium chicken stock freshly ground black pepper to taste juice of 1/4 lemon a few sprigs of fresh coriander Methods
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