Beans

Food
1

Way before I was diagnosed, I read a lot about the glycemic index and glycemic load, because I was trying to eat lower GI to treat PCOS. I specifically remember reading that even though beans are high-carb, they are low-GI because the carbs are not easily processed by the body. So what gives??

Here is my dinner:
3 oz lean steak
1 cup broccoli
1 slice 2% American cheese
1 cup mature beans from green-bean pods (fresh from the garden) boiled with onion and just a little pancetta for flavor

That’s all I ate! Then I went for a 30-minute walk. I got back and checked my blood sugar at the 2-hour mark, and it was 172!! Before dinner it had been 83! Was it the beans???

2

Beans raise my BG so I don’t eat them very much. Even if carbs have a low GI, they do still hit the blood stream at some point. I find it makes very little difference whether I eat brown rice or white, for example. Same number of carbs, same BG numbers. Maybe the brown is a little slower but the end result is the same.

3

I am also one who cannot use the low-GI–white or not, beans,oatmeal–carbs are carbs to my body–so I have to plan them at full carb value…

4

Carbs are carbs to my body no matter what the scale. I am like Denise, I have to plan them at full carb value. Sucks, but have to live with it.

5

I can’t eat any kind of beans either without spikes. Onions also do me in, unless it’s a really small amount.

6

I would stick with a 1/2 cup. They’re dense and have a good number of carbs. I never paid any attention to that whole glycemic index thing.

7

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Next time I will try only 1/2 cup and see how it goes. My trouble is that I am obese and need to feed my body with something (while limiting overall calories). Doesn’t help that I’m insulin resistant. I guess more meat or broccoli and less beans next time.

8

I can’t eat many beans just like everyone else. I noticed you said you went for a 30 minute walk…that may contribute to the high bg reading also. I know when I exercise after I eat my bg’s are still a little high but when I check it 30 min later it is where it should be

9

Really?? My doctor told me to be sure to walk at least 30 minutes every day to lower insulin resistance. I guess I thought it would “use up” some of my glucose too!

10

Everyone is different when it comes to exercise. You should definitely keep walking, but just keep an eye on how your body responds to activity. Maybe if you try walking at different times you’ll find a time when it seems to work best for you.

11

There is very little difference between brown and white rice in terms of their GI. Perhaps try mixing half brown rice with half lentils? I find that really works well for me, and you should definitely notice a difference between that and the white rice.

12

What about lettuce? I can eat a whole giant bowl of it without spiking my BG – and I know a whole giant bowl of lettuce might not sound very exciting, but it’s SO cool to be able to eat until I feel full, and know that I’m not going to be high in an hour or so. The lettuce is really only the background for the rest of the meal, anyway – like, what if you cut up your 3 oz. of steak into thin slices and broiled it, and then put it on top of (what else) a giant bowl of lettuce – and then you could add cashews and a little sesame oil and rice wine vinegar and a few thin slices of red bell pepper and even some lime juice and cilantro … That’s actually what I had for lunch yesterday, which is why your mention of that steak made me think of it. Even that small amount of protein and fat can be super satisfying, but I’m like you – I need to feed my whole body, without a lot of calories.

Anyway. I promise I don’t work for the lettuce council or anything – I’m just really excited about lettuce right now!

I’m insulin resistant too and walking after meals works great for me. From testing I know I tend to peak at about 90 minutes after eating most things, so I try to time the walk to coincide with my highest BG. For me, it goes down right after exercise, but if I’m still digesting something my BG will go up again within about a half hour after I stop exercising. For example, one day about a year ago I ate too many brownies and spent the next several hours experimenting on the treadmill to find out how long it would really take to get them totally out of my system (too long, as it turned out; I wrote about it here: http://tinyurl.com/4fdkrq). It was a bummer to realize the impact the brownies really had, but good to know how to use exercise to minimize the damage.

13

I do use the GI concept a lot, although I’ve often found some foods that don’t work for my metabolism quite in the way the tables would sugest. Its a matter of self experimentation. I am also not insulin resistant and use insulin so my problems are different.
One thought I had is what type of beans were they? Most beans in the list of foods on the GI data base are low GI, but most of the beans listed are those normally dried.
Green beans ie haricots verts (as described here in France) are usually cooked whole and are both low carb and low GI.
Broad beans( fava or feves ) served fresh, podded have according to the GI institute a surprisingly high GI (79 ) The glycemic load is fairly low but the’ normal’ serving size used for testing is 80gms, less than half an American cup .

14

I think I said it in my post. They are the BEANS from mature green beans (which got too big to eat podded).

15

I am sorry, I was only trying to help. There are several differences in the names of vegetable varieties between British and American English so it can be confusing, which was why I took the time to try to find out the names in the US and found there was also a multiplicity of names.

16

I’m sorry if I sounded snarky. :confused: The type of bean wasn’t very ‘normal’ by US standards at least. It’s just that we let some of our green beans (haricots verts) get too mature.