Thai Noodles

[tom yum goong]

I've been reading a lot about carbohydrates and glycemic index on this forum and on other health sites. I'm trying to lose some weight and live a healthier lifestyle, and as part of that I thought I would try to reduce the glycemic index of my meals.

Thai white jasmine rice apparently has a very high GI, so when I make my own meals I have switched to brown rice. I've also read that pasta and rice vermicelli (kanom jeen) have low GI and have started making some pasta dishes with brown durum wheat pasta (I'm not a big fan of kanom jeen unless eaten with somtam )

However, I'm a rubbish cook and also too lazy to cook all the time, so i was wondering if eating out, which of the noodles we have here in Thailand have the lowest GI? I can't find any information about the GI of Thai noodles (apart from rice vermicelli) on the web.

Any ideas?

[Firefan]

The easiest thing to do is to simply ensure that you do not eat any carbs by themselves - but ensure that you have a similar sized (grams) of protein at the same time. The combination dramatically lowers the total glycemic index number for the meal.

Without having checked, I would certainly agree that Thai noodles by themselves must have a high glycemic index. Most being processed white rice/flour based.

Cheers!

[tom yum goong]

Hi Firefan

I understand where your coming from (it was what i thought as well). However, I have been reading that noodles such as udon and rice vermicelli have a medium or even low glycemic index.

this site has rice vermicelli at 58 and Thai jasmine rice at 109 compared to glucose = 100 !!!

http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm

Apparently it has a lot to do with how it is processed and also prepared - e.g. al dente vs soft pasta

http://www.glycemicindex.com/faq.htm

The article above was the one that got me thinking. If udon noodles or rice vermicelli are medium to low GI, what other noodles available in Thailand also have low or medium GI.

The easiest thing to do is to simply ensure that you do not eat any carbs by themselves - but ensure that you have a similar sized (grams) of protein at the same time. The combination dramatically lowers the total glycemic index number for the meal.

Also some interesting stuff on the effects of fat and protein on glucose response here:

http://www.mendosa.com/gi.htm

Quote: "Therefore, it looks like you can simply ignore protein and fat in mixed meal calculations."

He then goes on to talk about how high fat and protein diets can induce insulin resistance.

I'm still finding it a little confusing, e.g. watermelon has a high GI but a low glycemic load, or how pizza may not have a really high GI but induces a much more prolonged glucose response. However the more i read about diets that take GI into consideration, the more convinced i am that its a sound principal.

I don't want to go on a low carb diet because i don't think that its sustainable and could be unhealthy. So if noodles are better (lower GI) than white rice, that would make things much easier. But i can't find any information the GI of Thai noodles - are they pretty similar to udon noodles?

[Firefan]

He,he - now my head is spinning too!

I think you are complicating something fairly simple:

5-6 "meals" per day consisting of 20-30 grams of protein+20-30 grams of carbs (and a few good fats) will keep your metabolism and energy levels high. One can literately FEEL the difference from the usual 3 bigger meals per day.

A 'meal" can be a scoup of whey protein in a cup of low fat drinking youghurt, a tuna rye bread sandwich, a chicken breast with a baked potato or whatever. I.e. generally smaller than our usual sized meals.

So a standard size noodle soup would probably fit the profile ok as long as not those pesty greasy instant noodles, and it contains enough protein for that 50%/50% protein/carb split.

Cheers!

[Mr Jones]

Tom.

What gives you the idea that low carb diet is unhealthy?

We as humans have eaten meat from the time we came down from the trees.

Take a look at the Eskimos, Australian aboriginals, Icelanders and any other natives that lived on meat and fat without eating Carbohydrates as a staple.

All without exception now have high rates of obesity and diabetes.

Les

[beammeup]

Tom.

What gives you the idea that low carb diet is unhealthy?

We as humans have eaten meat from the time we came down from the trees.

Take a look at the Eskimos, Australian aboriginals, Icelanders and any other natives that lived on meat and fat without eating Carbohydrates as a staple.

All without exception now have high rates of obesity and diabetes.

Les

I have read that these people eat the entire anamal including the organs brain and thyroid which which afects how they metabalise it! I don't think its quite that simple.

[tom yum goong]

Tom.

What gives you the idea that low carb diet is unhealthy?

We as humans have eaten meat from the time we came down from the trees.

Take a look at the Eskimos, Australian aboriginals, Icelanders and any other natives that lived on meat and fat without eating Carbohydrates as a staple.

All without exception now have high rates of obesity and diabetes.

Les

Thanks for the replies guys.

Mr Jones, I wasn't trying to say that a low carb diet is necessarily unhealthy, just that i don't think i can sustain it while living in Thailand, while eating mostly Thai food. For sure i will try to eat less carbs, but mainly i want to eat carbs with a low glycemic index as possible - and avoid eating white jasmine rice, which is very difficult if you eat out a lot - hence my question about Thai noodles.

[Mr Jones]

Morning Tom.

Sorry I went off a bit, I don’t know much about Thai food, I do know a bit about low carb diets.

If you are serious about your health and the food you eat then its back to basics, eat only fresh and preferably organic foodstuffs, manufactured food like packet noodles should be a no, no.

Regarding low carb diets not being sustainable, well they are, since I started the low carb diet I haven’t eaten so well, it is easer to tell you what I have given up eating, potatoes, noodles, breakfast cereals, anything out of a can, shop cake, not to bad and it is easy, my way is if it had a mother or grow above the ground and greenish then its ok to eat.

Following a G I diet can be a pain, but if that’s what you want who am I to disagree?

Les