Shopping for Low-GL Diet

When you are starting on a low-GL diet, trying to choose the best foods is not always a second nature, so try to stick to your shopping list, as it helps you to stay focused and prevent you from being tempted by discounts and offers like buy-one-get-one-free. Remember that buy-one-get-one-free offers are often associated with high-GL ingredients. Avoid shopping when thirsty or hungry, or you can easily be tempted to purchase all kinds of those tasty snacks.

Most checklists and buying advices apply if you are shopping in a supermarket or through a website, and can be used individually if you're lucky enough to have good shopping place nearby, like greengrocers, delicatessen, fishmongers, butchers and even a farmers market.

Fruits and veggies should be right on top of your shopping list. Remember that frozen, canned and dried fruits can also be included in the five servings per day restriction.

When choosing fruits and vegetables, be sure to fill your basket with all possible colors: The greater the color variety you buy, the better antioxidant and nutrients blend you can get to help protect against heart disease and cancer. You can also buy supermarket's brand packs or loose packed items, although they are little less than perfect in terms of size, color or shape. Buying in bulk or in packages marked "value" tend to be cheaper. "Two for one" items are cheaper, only if you can spend them before the expiration date.

A popular way of choosing fresh item is in the form of ready to eat fruit packs and ready to cook vegetables for microwaving or stir frying. You may pay more for convenience, but if you are busy these packages are nutritious, fresh, low glycemic alternatives that allow you to cook quickly. You can buy your fruits and vegetables food at the nearest co-op, which buys their items in bulk and sell them at lower price. You can even buy fruits and vegetables each week and have them delivered at your door. You may not be able to choose the types of fruits and veggies to buy, but often you have a good variety, some pleasant surprises, and certainly save you plenty of time.

Most fresh fruits and fruits canned with natural juice have low glycemic load. Dried fruits like grapes, dried figs raisins, and dates are a little high in GL ? better choices should be dried apricots and apples. Unsweetened juices, other than carrot and tomato can give you moderate GL, so only take a few glasses of diluted juices every day.

Most vegetables are low-GL foods, you can eat a lot of them without any problem. Some root crops like turnips, sweet potatoes, cassava and yams have moderate GL, but they are still excellent alternatives to other starchy foods with high glycemic load, such as mashed and jacket potatoes. You can boil, mash and bake those alternative root crops.

Tips When Buying Fruits and Vegetables

? Frozen vegetables and fruits can sometimes be richer in vitamins than fresh products, which usually remain on the box during transit for some time. Good choices include frozen spinach, beans, corn and peas. Berries of all types freeze nicely and are very good for desserts.

? Find canned fruits and vegetables without added salt or sugar. Low-GL canned vegetables include water chestnuts, artichoke hearts, corn, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes and peas.

? Beans and legumes are key players in every low-GL diet. Dried ingredients need soaking and special cooking method. Canned ingredients are more costly, but can save more time. Reduce salt by always drain and rinse your canned beans and legumes. You can choose lentils, chickpeas and split peas. Low-GL beans include kidney, cannelloni, butter, pinto, flageolet and borlotti. And do not miss unsweetened baked beans!

? Seeds are the basis of daily nutrients source and have low-GL too. Choose sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, poppy and linseed flax.

? Nuts are another wonderful part of any low-GL diet. Choose unsalted almonds, Brazil nuts, walnuts, peanuts, pistachios, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts and macadamia. You can buy ground almonds to replace flour in baked goods. Peanut butter and unsweetened coconut milk are good choices too. Toasted pine nuts are wonderful in many tasty dishes.

Size does matter when buying nuts, legumes and seeds. Shop efficiently and buy in bulk from a local coop rather than from a supermarket. If stored properly, these ingredients stay fresh for a while.

When shopping for fruits and vegetables, keep in mind of varieties that are in season and when fruits are harvested. Are you sure you want strawberries and asparagus in December, sent by air from a distant continent? If you do, you may end up paying a premium while it is easy to get the same amount of nutrients from locally grown varieties.

Nutritional values and safety of local products are also better, because they are not treated with chemicals or stored for days or weeks during transportation. Buy locally whenever possible to help the environment and save excess pollution caused by long flights and sea trips, when buying foreign fruits and vegetables, choose 'fair trade' varieties.