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The “secret” to lowering the glycemic index of starchy foods
Consume starches with something acid. By dropping the pH of your stomach, sooner, rather than later, you put the digestion of the starch on hold – avoiding sugar spikes.
Most people associate sweet foods with sugar spikes.
It’s intuitive.
So avoiding ADDED SUGAR, is standard practice, for the health conscious consumer.
What sometimes flies under the radar, are the foods that are “full of sugar”, but not actually sweet.
We typically describe them as starches.
And they make up a big part of the human diet – they include bread, rice, pasta and potato.
Sweets in disguise
The reason they’re NOT sweet to the taste, is the gazillion glucose molecules, contained each mouthful, are tied up. In this form, the glucose molecules, cannot lock onto the sugar taste receptors in the mouth.
They’re just TOO BIG.
But, they don’t stay BIG for long, since they’re doused in alpha-salivary amylase, while in the mouth.
Just how much, depends………….
On your genes, as well as how good a chew, they’re exposed to.
Digestion is on going
The dousing is really just step 1.
Salivary amylase only get’s down to work, inside the stomach.
But, he does have to work quickly.
You see, salivary amylase is sensitive to acid.
As soon as the pH, drops below 3.5……………. salivary amylase gives up the ghost.
NOTE : A stomach in the midst of digesting, is pushing pH levels of 2. Ouch !
Low acid is a NO GO
To get that low, requires the stomach’s acid pumps, to be pumping protons, full steam, for approximately 90 minutes.
Which is good news for salivary amylase.
Under normal circumstances, he has an hour or so, to do starch and oligosaccharide digestion.
Breaking the back of starch digestion
In this time frame…..
- 25-85 % of the starch
- 15 – 50 % of the oligosaccharides
Are D-I-G-E-S-T-E-D, releasing their sugar load, into the intestine, from here the sugars are absorbed, proceeding to the liver, for ASSIMILATION.
Which can be quite a challenge.
Too much, too fast is HARD TO HANDLE.
Insulin to the rescue
For the metabolically healthy, it’s hard to handle, but not a train smash.
For the metabolically challenged, it’s a sugar spike of gargantuan proportions, and the longer this persists the more damaging. So, it might be quite helpful, to put a thorn in the side of that salivary amylase.
Something that it not too difficult to do.
The secret shift that pH down, FAST.
This is what a team of French researchers pieced together….
Digestion in a tank
Using an “artificial” stomach, with a little help from human saliva, the team demonstrated, that dropping the pH early, effectively, put the digestion of the starch on hold.
The impact of acid (lemon juice) on starch digestion. Copyright 2018 Royal Society of Chemisry
Now this is NOT a new concept.
Dozens of studies have demonstrated the benefits of vinegar as a supplement, to lower the glycemic index of foods.
What makes this study, notable, is it explains some of the biology and provides you with many more options.
To lower the glycemic index of any starchy meal….
Make it a little acid
How you do it, doesn’t matter…….common strategies include
- Sourdough bread
- A vinegar dressing
- A glass of wine
- A tomato based sauce on the pasta
- A glass of coke or some other acidic beverage e.g. grapefruit juice.
The point is to get enough acid in, at the start of the meal, to send the salivary amylase, running for cover.
NOTE : The researchers calculate a 50 g serving of ordinary bread (approx. 2 slices), would need approx. 58 mL of lemon juice. It’ll sting a bit, but it is do-able, experiment to see what works for you…
Of course, it goes without saying….
Don’t use an antacid
If you actively suppress acid production, with an antacid, just before eating, you’re going to
Lose the ACID advantage.
You’ll give your salivary amylase the opportunity to completely digest that starchy meal and in the process, dump a lot more sugar, into your circulation.
For more tips and strategies to keep sugar spikes in check, learn about the CANDY FLOSS system, in our free WILLPOWER REPORT, click on the link to get instant access.
Further reading
Why a low-fat twinkie is not a diet food
Low-fat food items, contain the same amount of sugar as their full fat counterparts, sometimes a little more and it’s the sugar which makes you fat
Getting personal about sugar spikes
The sugar spike caused by the food you eat, has very little to do with the food per se, it’s got more to do with you and who you’re living with
How to put bread and pasta back on the menu, despite sugar challenges
You know you should cut back on your carb consumption, but you love them. You can have your carbs and avoid sugar spikes, if you play with the timing.