Low GI protein bars in bulk

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DrewChan

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Morning all, doc wants me to change my eating habits, a part of which is a low gi diet with small meals. I want some protein/ nutrition bars to snack on when a meal isn't hand, is there anywhere in SA that I can buy in bulk? I was never able to make good ones.
 
If you want to avoid sugar spikes, eat fewer but larger meals.

Just eat some nuts and seeds. Much better for you than a low GI protein bar will be. Buy pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds from woolies, mix a tablespoon of each with 4 tablespoons of woolies double cream yogurt.

Stop eating bread, oats and breakfast cereals. Even All Bran. Replace them with meat, veggies, fruit, seeds and nuts, in that order.

Don't add sugar to anything.
 
Ancalagon said:
If you want to avoid sugar spikes, eat fewer but larger meals.

Just eat some nuts and seeds. Much better for you than a low GI protein bar will be. Buy pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds from woolies, mix a tablespoon of each with 4 tablespoons of woolies double cream yogurt.

Stop eating bread, oats and breakfast cereals. Even All Bran. Replace them with meat, veggies, fruit, seeds and nuts, in that order.

Don't add sugar to anything.
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Thanks for the advice, why do you say "fewer but larger"? Surely a bigger meal has a larger chance to spike your sugar (obviously if it has carbs/sugars).
 
Any bar that you buy wont be low GI, you best try making them again, no matter how bad they come out.
 
Batista said:
Any bar that you buy wont be low GI, you best try making them again, no matter how bad they come out.
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The futurelife lite claims to be low GI but you're probably right - I have never trusted these health cereal/bar companies
 
DrewChan said:
Thanks for the advice, why do you say "fewer but larger"? Surely a bigger meal has a larger chance to spike your sugar (obviously if it has carbs/sugars).
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Because depending on the spacing of the meals, your body will spend more time in a low insulin state.

Please start reading up on intermittent fasting. I especially recommend the blogs MarksDailyApple.com and intensivedietarymanagement.com (written by Dr Jason Fung, a Canadian kidney specialist).

Short version - every time you eat something containing either protein or carbs (ie everything), your body secretes insulin. Insulin is an essential hormone responsible for moving nutrients into your tissues. Insulin itself is healthy and absolutely essential to life - what is not healthy is insulin resistance. Insulin resistance means your cells are resistant to insulin, so your body has to produce more of it for it to have an effect. It is an essential component of diabetes.

How does insulin resistance develop? If you have elevated insulin levels for too long, you will become insulin resistant. In other words, eating small meals all day long is bad for you because your body needs to secrete insulin to deal with it. This will cause insulin resistance, or, if you already have it, make it worse.

The best way to lower insulin resistance is fasting. The length of the fast is up to you - I just skip breakfast every day, and have my first meal normally around 12PM. I used to have my first meal at 4:30PM for a couple of months.

The relationship between sugar and insulin is that insulin is released to bring blood sugar levels down, because too much glucose in your blood is actually toxic. This is why high sugar foods cause a large insulin response. Protein however also causes an insulin response, so be aware of that.

Yes, the size of the blood sugar/insulin spike does matter, but it isn't the only thing that matters. To get the best out of your diet, reduce the frequency of your meals and increase the amount of animal protein and veggies that you eat
 
It seems what you say is true Ancalagon, however you are looking at it from a weight loss/ health perspective. I believe what the docs trying to do is control the size of the spikes (short term), intermittent fasting won't keep my sugar levels constant.

I did it for a while and its definitely great however I ATE during my non fasting periods.

I am having weird fainting spells and palpitations everyday around 12:30 and we are doing troubleshooting
 
DrewChan said:
It seems what you say is true Ancalagon, however you are looking at it from a weight loss/ health perspective. I believe what the docs trying to do is control the size of the spikes (short term), intermittent fasting won't keep my sugar levels constant.

I did it for a while and its definitely great however I ATE during my non fasting periods.

I am having weird fainting spells and palpitations everyday around 12:30 and we are doing troubleshooting
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If you ate during your fasting periods, then you were not fasting.

Intermittent fasting keeps your blood sugar levels constant - more so than any other eating pattern. Think about it - your blood sugar remains low for all that time. Trying to keep it at a certain point through diet will be very very difficult.

Look I don't want to contradict your doctor because as you say, this isn't just for weightloss. I don't know what effect intermittent fasting would have on your heart condition.
 
Ancalagon said:
If you ate during your fasting periods, then you were not fasting.
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lol read my post again, thanks for the advice anyway, I am not opposing your view at all - I agree with it. I just don't want to contradict my doctor until I've sorted this out :)
 
Sorry I misread that. What do you mean by that? You ate a lot during your non fasting periods?
 
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