Kudos to innovative bakery COBS Bread for educating customers through their flyers regarding the virtues of Low GI foods.
I was delighted yesterday when my wife Genoa pointed out that the new flyer from our favorite bakery COBS Bread was all about the virtues of Low GI. All of COBS Bread products are natural, healthy and delicious. Finally, I thought, the benefits of eating Low GI are getting out to the public by health conscious purveyors of quality food products.
It was exciting to see this fine bakery educating its clients about the Glycemic Index, and the benefits of eating foods that are low glycemic (low GI), excerpts are included below from COBS Bread store flyer.
COBS Bread flyer: "Low GI breads help you to manage your hunger throughout the day. Breads with a low glycemic index (GI) take longer for the body to digest. They satisfy your hunger for longer and provide a more sustained source of energy."
According to their web site, COBS Bread started in Vancouver, BC, Canada and is part of the world’s most successful franchise bakery network - Bakers Delight with more than 700 bakeries across Australia, New Zealand; and in Canada and the United States where the company trades as COBS Bread. The entire network employs over 15,000 people, serving 2.5 million customers each week. COBS Bread is a community-based bakery that even gets involved to help schools raise funds through their nifty "Dough Raiser Program" using their COBS Dough® card.
COBS Bread flyer continued: "Low GI foods are essential to a healthy eating plan because they reduce the need for snacking throughout the day. They also help to make your diet more satisfying and filling without eating more kilojoules. Low GI foods are especially good for people wanting to lose weight, control heart disease and boost energy levels. They promote wellbeing and keep the body in good shape."
A second COBS flyer reads: "Canadian Food Guide to Healthy Eating recommends eating a high carbohydrate rich diet with 50% of each day’s calories coming from carbohydrates. However, not all carbohydrates are the same. When you eat food that contains carbohydrates, the sugar from the food breaks down during digestion and gives you energy…foods with a Low GI take longer for the body to digest resulting in a gradual rise in blood glucose levels."
Are we limited to eating whole grains in their natural state to achieve the benefits of Low GI eating?
The answer is no. It is true that our bodies are not suited to the modern diet of refined carbohydrates, but rather to that of our Paleolithic hunter/gatherer ancestors. According to Dr. David Jenkins, inventor of the Glycemic Index, refined carbohydrates are digested within two (2) feet of the small intestine, instead of the twenty two (22) feet that nature provided to digest unrefined carbohydrates in their natural state. However, given our active lifestyle and preference for refined convenient snacks, it is not practical for humans to walk around feeding on a bag of oats, as horses might do. The Glycemic Index is not only a scientific measurement that ranks the blood sugar impact of carbohydrate containing foods, but it can also help innovative food developers formulate products using quality refined carbohydrates that mimic the slow digestive process of whole grains, resulting in a minimal impact on blood sugar, similar to carbohydrates in their natural state.
Look for foods and snacks that promote Low Glycemic (GI) nutrition, but verify that their food products are clinically validated Low GI (below 55) by a reputable independent laboratory.
Low Glycemic Index (GI) and low Glycemic Load (GL) foods have been proven in studies to be beneficial: dieting, weight loss, obesity; diabetes; blood sugar management; sustained energy, sport nutrition; mental performance; acne; eye health, macular degeneration; heart disease and forms of cancer. Copyright 2008, Saul Katz
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