| Mon | EGG AND SALAD SANDWICHES |
| Tues | VEGGIE SPAGHETTI |
| Weds | ROASTED MIXED VEGETABLES |
| Thurs | NACHOS (with salsa and sour cream) |
| Fri | KIDS MINESTRONE SOUP (with garlic croutons) |
Dairy, egg, lactose, gluten and wheat free and vegan options provided daily.
Recently I ‘ve been researching diabetes to help keep our diabetic students well balanced and their post-meal blood glucose levels even. The most interesting thing here is that the required diet for a diabetic is one of the best for all of us. It always comes down to carbohydrates NOT being the enemy, but instead being a useful cultural preference that can be tilted in our favour easily with some simple substitutions.
Low Carb or Low GI? That is the question! For many years, the Low Carb diet (lifestyle) has been the one preferred for losing weight and maintaining blood glucose levels. Now that we have the added benefit of the Low GI options, the answer is simple. The Low GI diet is the very best for all of us.
Low Carb diets, in the short term, for post-holiday or pre-holiday if you re so inclined, do have benefits. They drop weight fast, reduce blood glucose levels and lower blood triglycerides (fat). This can be maintained for very short periods of time by most of us, but very difficult socially and realistically. The downside is that the long term deprivation of carbohydrates eventually raises the LDL (Low Density Lipoproteins-cholesterols which are bad, because they cause heart disease). Basically, the lower the density the worse it gets.
Low GI diet really does help reduce post-meal blood glucose spikes. It helps you lose weight more progressively and sustainably and it has even been proven that it lowers average blood glucose levels, improves blood cholesterol and triglycerides (stored energy source that are mostly stored in the VLDL-Very Low Density Lipoproteins-very bad). The best news is that it does delay development of diabetes in those of us at risk.
The best part of a Low GI diet is that it simply involves the substitution of high GI food (white processed sugary stuff) to Low GI foods (wholegrain unprocessed brown stuff) for each category of foods. Eg white bread to multigrain sourdough spelt, cup cake to sugarless bran muffin, white rice to brown rice. Don t forget to change some of those high animal fat products into healthy vegetable oils and foods.
Remember to substitute not avoid. The Rule is simple – 40/40/20/80. Energy should come from – 40% carbs, 40% fats, and 20% protein, and then choose the right ones 80% of the time.
