[Sca-cooks] diabetes and beets?

[Jane Boyko]

Thanks for sharing all of this.

I am on Dr. Bernstien's diet and was puzzled as to why beet leaves were 
allowed but beets weren't.  I had assumed it was because of the sugar.  I 
never realized that they had starch.

Mind you the only way I will eat beets is cooked in a borscht so right now it 
is not a huge loss to me.  Never did acquire a taste for them the way my 
mother cooked or pickled them.

Marina

On 27/09/04 08:50 pm, Bill Fisher wrote:
> That is assuming you eat them with a good amount of protein, by them
> selves with some  other non-starchy vegetable besides them.  Fats
> and acids help as well.
>
> Anything "starchy" is not on low glycemic index diet, especially if they
> are prepared with any other refined starches such as cornstarch and
> arrow root.  Starchy puts it right off any managed diabetic diet, or they
> are eaten with extreme care and moderation as portion size is critical.
>
> Beets by themselves have a glycemic load of about 5,  which is based
> on a scale of 1 - 20.  5 is not bad., pretty good actually.  This is for
> half a cup of beets though.
>
> Glycemic load is how you figure out the impact of a serving of a food on
> your blood sugar, you take the glycemic index (usually the white bread
> index that is more commonly used than the white sugar index) and multiply
> it by the carb value of a serving.
>
> If you look at the USDA Standard Reference Library:
>
> http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
>
> A cup of cooked beets is about 16 grams of carbs per cup
> about 3 grams of that is fiber the rest is sugar.
>
> the same amount of raw beets has only 13 grams of carbs per
> cup but the same  amount of fiber.
>
> generic GI for beets is 64% x 16 =  a glycemic load of 10 for cooked beets.
> as opposed to 64% X 13 =  8.32 for raw beets.
>
> For glycemics, anything starchy, eaten very sparingly, is fine.  About
> a half cup with a good sized serving of protein, some acids, maybe some
> good fats to slow the absorbtion and lower the gl.
>
> Cornstarch as a GI of 88 and a rough tablespoon has  12 grams of pure
> carb in it, with
> no fiber.   Glycemic Load of that is 10.56, which is ok for occasional
> eating.
>
> Other easy rules of thumb are:
>
> raw is better than cooked - starchy foods have grains in them that
> swell and burst
> when cooked - this is why they get soft.  Burst starch grains are
> easier and quicker
> to digest than un-swollen ones, leading to a faster insulin response
> and then higher
> retained blood sugar levels.
>
> Fiber is good - fiber slows down carb absorbtion.
>
> Acid is good - acids like vinegar slow down the passage of food from the
> stomach to the small intestine, which slows down carb absorbtion (pickled
> beets rock!)
>
> Good fats are good- fats slow down carb absorbtion as well as their own
> health benefits.
>
> and Protein eaten with starchy foods slows down carb absorbtion.    So if
> you were to eat your beets, raw, in a salad, with vinegar and olive oil,
> with some nice,
> lean meat, you would be better off than eating just the beets or cooked
> beets.
>
> Exercise also keeps blood sugar down :-p
>
> I am not diabetic myself, but I eat like I am to keep myself from
> winding up that
> way.  I help my Mom, Dad and older sisters keep their type 2 diabetes in
> check. My grandfather died of complications from type 2 diabetes.
>
>
>
> Cadoc
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 18:25:47 -0400, Avraham haRofeh
>
> <avrahamharofeh at herald.sca.org> wrote:
> > >> Not to mention they are very bad for you in terms of blood insulin
> > >
> > > response.  Anyone
> > >
> > >> who is remotely diabetic should stay clear of any beet root. < Cadoc
> > >
> > > Oh, REALLY?  I have not heard of any such precaution  -- and I eat
> > > beets fairly regularly  {once a week}  could you please give me more
> > > details?
> >
> > I'm afraid Cadoc is mistaken. Beets have a moderate glycemic index (64,
> > on a scale where pure glucose is 100) - lower than potato (85) or carrot
> > (71). In moderation, counted as a "starchy vegetable" exchange, beets are
> > perfectly fine for diabetics.
> >
> > ****************
> > Reb Avraham haRofeh
> >      (mka Randy Goldberg MD)
> > Quarterly azure and argent, four mascles counterchanged
> > Random Tag: C code. C code run. Run code, run. PLEASE!
> >
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