I wanted to make a post about this subject and what I have found to be very interesting and extremely important, whether your new to keto or not. It is good to understand what glycemic index means, so that when you make a choice on what to eat, you will have a better understanding on how your body is responding.
A food can be very low carb but have a high glycemic index which defeats the purpose of low carb. It’s confusing I know, but don’t get discouraged.
For example:
Vitafiber is very low carb. It has 1.5 carbs in 1 tsp, which sounds great! Truvia is 4 carbs in 1 tsp. It seems like you would choose Vitafiber as a sweetener everytime over Truvia if all you are doing is counting carbs.
However, the glycemic index for Truvia is 1 and the glycemic index of Vitafiber is 35!
That is a huge difference in numbers! If you account for the glycemic index and not just carbs you will be more successful in doing keto. If something is hindering your success with this diet, this could be the problem.
Resistant starches is another topic you need to understand to make good diet decisions. Don’t let others confuse you with what you already know to be true about carbohydrate intake and insulin resistance.
Example:
Say I decide to eat a bunch of green bananas or cooked then cooled rice. I have to count those carbohydrates in my limit of 20-30 grams of carbs a day. It is 26 grams of carbs for just 1/2 cup of rice and 27 grams in 1 banana. That’s basically my carb intake for the day!
I don’t hold back from giving myself treats, but if I ate the 1/2 cup of rice or green banana that would become my treat for the day. I don’t know about you but a green banana doesn’t sound appetizing.
Here is a video of a doctor explaining this in detail and I agree with most of what he is saying but knowing what I know about my insulin, I will get the resistant starches/fiber from other sources to make up for not eating raw potatoes, cold rice or green bananas.
P.S I did find out that a green banana has a lower glycemic index than a ripe banana. Dr. Berg explains, decide for yourself what’s best!
Find out what your body needs and listen to what your body is telling you.