Carbohydrate: Glycemic Index

What Is The Glycemic Index

Glycemic Index (GI) is a numerical index that ranks carbohydrates based on their rate of glycemic response (their conversion to glucose within the human body). GI uses a scale of 0 to 100, with higher values given to foods that cause the most rapid rise in blood sugar. Pure glucose serves as a reference point and is give a GI of 100.

Some foods raise blood sugar more than other which means they have a relatively high GI compared to other food of equivalent amount. Our bodies respond to high blood sugar with a high dose of insulin (negatively feedback mechanism) - a hormone which takes sugar out of the blood stream and delivers it to the cells. High level of insulin (besides it makes you craving for more food and fucking sleepy when you want to study) can enhance the risk for a number of undesired health conditions, like Metabolic Syndrome and Type II Diabetes,

As you can see from the figure above, meals containing carbohydrates-rich foods with a high GI tend to give a more rapid and higher rise in blood glucose then meals with a low GI. Moreover, the low GI meal result in a moderate increase in blood glucose that is prolonged compared to that seen after a meal with a high GI food, thus providing a steady and continuous supply of energy for the body. 

How to lower the GI value of your meal

• Combining high GI foods with low GI foods
• High protein content
• High fiber content
• Lemon (2 tablespoon of lemon may reduce GI of a meal by 30%)
• Fat (however it isn't the best way for decreasing GI if you are looking for a low calorie solution).

We don't have to worry too much about consuming high GI food (especially you're an undergraduate who is trying to balance your university workloads, your nutrition and workout), because combining it with low GI foods levels out the overall GI value and results in an average GI value. The overall GI value of different foods in a meal is what really matters. For example, eating potato (high GI) with salad (low GI) lowers GI to an average value, so it is better to eat them together rather than eating potato in itself. Another good solution is to consume high GI carbohydrates with proteins (low GI) in order to decrease the GI of our meal.

Make sure you're clear that even though you're consuming low GI foods, it doesn't mean that you are in the correct path to weight loss provided the total calories consumed is less than the total calories used.  

Why Is Glycemic Index Important?

Your body performs best when your blood sugar is kept relatively constant. If your blood sugar drops too low, you become lethargic and experience increased hunger. If your blood glucose level goes too high, your brain signals your pancreas to secrete more insulin and it will bring your blood sugar down, by primarily converting the excess sugar to stored fat. Also, the greater the rate of increase in your blood sugar, the more chance that your body will release an excess amount of insulin, and drive your blood sugar back down too low. 

Therefore, when you eat foods that cause a large and rapid glycemic response, you may feel an initial elevation in energy and mood as your blood sugar rises, but this is followed by a cycle of increased fat storage, lethargy, and more hunger!

Although increased fat storage may sound bad enough, individuals with diabetes (diabetes mellitus, types 1 and 2) have an even worse complication. Their bodies inability to secrete or process insulin causes their blood sugar to rise too high, leading to a host of additional medical problems.

Should All High-GI Foods be Avoided?

For non-diabetics, there are times when a rapid increase in blood sugar (and the corresponding increase in insulin may be desirable. For example, after strenuous physical activity, insulin also helps move glucose into muscle cells, where it aids tissues repair. Because of this, it is recommended to consume high-GI foods immediately after exercise to speed recovery

Also, it's not Glycemic Index alone that leads to the increase in blood sugar. Equally important is the amount of the food that you consume. The concept of glycemic index combined with total intake is referred to as "Glycemic Load".

How Glycemic Load (GL) Improves the Glycemic Index (GI)

GI is calculated based on food food servings with 50g of carbohydrate and those serving sizes are nt the amount a person might normally eat, thus the concept of the glycemic load (GL) was created. 

The formula for calculating glycemic load is as shown below:

Example:

• Spaghetti (GI= 40): 1 cup contains 52 grams of carbohydrate. The glycemic load of spaghetti is :     (40 X 52)/100= 20.8
• Apple (GI=40): 1 medium size apple contains 15 grams of carbohydrate. The glycemic load of an apple is : (40 X 15)/100= 6

This shows how a high GI food can have a low GL in the amounts normally eaten. 

Low -GI foods may be a good choice before endurance sports, while high-GI foods could aid recovery after strenuous participation in any activity. 

Conclusion:

GI and GL have equally important influence on how fast the food is digested, thus affecting our blood sugar in our body. We must also be aware that there are numerous factors that comes into play when affecting the total GI of our meal, hence don't be that person who feels that it's the end of the world when he/she could only have white rice instead of their brown rice. Moderation and Improvisation is key.  

Creatine Monohydrate: 101 guide

For as long as I'm concerned, there's still confusion surrounded Creatine Monohydrate and people have linked it to getting naturally unattainable physiques with harmful side effects. So the question here: Is creatine safe and effective, or is it dangerous and over-hyped?

Crea-What?
Let's begin at the top. Creatine mono isn't some super chemical created by a bodybuilding Tony Stark. It's actually an organic acid found naturally in food, and it exists in significant quantities in poultry and fish.

Creatine is nitrogenous, which means it's nitrogen-containing and is made from a combination of 3 amino acids: Glycine, Methionine and Arginine.

In humans, approximately 95% of creatine is stored in our skeletal muscle where it exists as creatine phosphate and they are also known as a phosphate donor during certain metabolic processes. We'll discuss the importance of this in greater detail soon.

Crea-Who?
If you're wondering whether you can benefit from creatine supplementation,consider your fitness goals. Creatine will give the extra edge to people who are looking to maximize muscles, strength and performacne gains.

So, if you're trying to get bigger, stronger and maybe even lift heavier, creatine can help. If you're not trying to do any of these things, go take a nap and come back when you're ready.

Read more on How Creatine Boost Brain Power

The Energizer
Creatine support these goals because it can be used as a source for anaerobic work, which includes high-intensity weight training or any HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) like sprinting.

Supplementing with creatine has been shown to significantly increase the concentration of creatine in the muscle. Recall that, creatine is found as creatine phosphate in the muscle and can act as a phosphate donor. Our body's energy currency- a molecule called Adenosine Tri-Phosphate or commonly known as ATP- happens to use phosphate to power certain cellular processes.

During exercise, ATP is broken down to Adenosine Di-Phosphate (ADP), where it loses one of its phosphate molecules. The loss of the phosphate essentially provides the energy to power your cells during any activity.

As the training prolonged, your ATP stores become depleted, performance can suffer. Creatine Phosphate can help restore ATP by donating its phosphate to ADP to reform ATP. In this way, creatine can help improve performance and has also been shown to increase strength and power.

Size Matters
While all this performance and strength stuff sounds great, I'm sure you may be wondering what creatine will actually do to your body.

Creatine has also been shown to increase lean body mass, mostly through increasing the fluid content of muscle cells. While this may seem like an artificial increase in lean body mass, keep in mind that muscles cells that are better hydrated are also more anabolic.

Additionally, creatine has been shown to increase the activity of muscle satellite cells, which may increase the overall capacity for long-term muscle growth.

Read more here

So Many Options!
Every few years, it seems like the latest and greatest form of creatine comes out. Creatine monohydrates is the most common, and the most studied, form of creatine on the planet. It has proven its worth in research time and time again.

Fortunately for you, creatine mono is generally the least expensive form of creatine available, so it's good for the muscle and the wallet.

How Much, Man?
There are two traditional ways of taking creatine monohydrates. You can take 3-5g per day (depending on muscle mass), which will saturate your intramuscular creatine stores in a few weeks. Or, you can load creatine at 15-25g for the first 45 days, which will saturate the muscle cells more rapidly.

While the latter (loading) saturates the muscle cells at a rapid rate, the downside is that you do not assimilate the majority of that creatine, so those on a budget may consider it wasteful.

Timing is...

Numerous people consune creatine post-workout since it's been speculated that taking creatine after training will lead to better uptake of creatine into the muscle.

In all likehood, however, this is splitting hairs. Consistent supplementation of creatine at 3-5g per day has been shown to saturate the muscle cells, mostly regardless of time consumed, so you can consume your creatine whenever it's most convenient. Personally for me, I would consume around 10g pre- and 10g post-.

What To Choose
Based on current research, It appears that creatine monohydrates is the most effective creatine product available on the market today. If you are going to spring a few extra dollars for anything, then go for a micronized form of creatine monohydrate to improve mix-ability.

Other Sides To The Story
When creatine was introduced to the market as a supplement in the early 90s, many anecdotal and theoretical side effects were brought up as potential concerns- including kidney and liver problems, dehydration and cramping. Thus far, short- and long- term research studies have demonstrated no side effects of recommended creatine use on kidney, liver and/or the heart. Additionally, creatine has not been shown to increase the incidence of cramping.

There is some evidence that creatine can increase dihydrotestosterone levels. Some have theorized that this may cause an increase in acne, but his has yet to be demonstrated.

Finally, strong anecdotal evidence exists that some users may experience gastrointestinal distress when loading creatine. This is likely caused by excess creatine intake exceeding the GI tract's capability to absorb it, which could lead to gas and cramping due to the excess creatine.

If you experience GI distress during creatine loading phase, try reducing your creatine intake until you reach a comfortable level of intake.Alternatively, skip loading entirely.

Lastly, If your physician has advised you against using creatine, then you should avoid it.