Perhaps you’ve heard of the Glycemic Index.  You are most likely to know something about it if you have a family member with a diagnosis of Diabetes  … or … if you have used low glycemic foods to support a weight loss program.  For everyone else, we’ll start to educate you!

Actually, saying that you should understand the glycemic index is an overstatement.  You should understand the basics surrounding the glycemic index and have an idea of how to use low glycemic index foods to support good health for you and your family.  The Glycemic Index contains information about how quickly the carbohydrates in different foods are converted to sugars (the building blocks of carbohydrates).  The quicker the conversion, the higher the “insulin spike” that occurs after eating.  High insulin spikes lead to many different health issues.

Here is a little biology lesson:
●  When you eat carbohydrates they are broken-down into simple sugars so your body can use them immediately for energy production inside your cells, or the sugars can be converted into glycogen (a way of storing some sugar to use later in the day), or the sugars can be converted to fat (for long term storage).
●  Your pancreas reacts to changes in blood sugar levels by releasing insulin into your blood stream based on the amount of sugar that is there.  The higher the spike in blood sugar, the more insulin that is released.
●  Insulin’s job is to carry sugar circulating in your blood stream into the trillions of cells in your body where the sugar is used to produce ATP, the energy that drives all cellular functions.
●  Some carbohydrates raise blood sugar levels very quickly which caused an insulin surge that can, over time, cause “insulin resistance”  …. the cells become less able to recognize insulin and therefore reduces the movement of blood sugars to the inside of the cells for energy production.
●   Insulin Resistance is the hallmark of Type 2 Diabetes.

Carbohydrates that convert to sugar more slowly are healthier and have been linked to the decreased risk of many issues including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, stroke, depression, and various cancers.  This is where the Glycemic Index comes into play.  All carbohydrates are given a glycemic index score, or they are ranked as Very Low GI, Low GI, Medium GI or High GI foods.  The lower the GI Value, the better! Low Glycemic Index carbohydrates are slowly transformed into simple sugars.  This slows the insulin release and results in more even blood sugar levels.  Whole grains will generally have a low GI value.  Brown rice has a GI of about 50 and white rice of about 89.  You’ve heard that brown rice is healthier and … it is!  Lots more fiber which is good, and a much slower conversion into simple sugars, which is also good!

In a study published this October, the researchers looked at eating white bread vs whole grain bread over a 5 year period.  Eating 2 portions of white bread daily was directly associated with increased likelihood of becoming overweight or obese.  This was not true from eating 2 portions of whole grain bread daily.

What is my take-home message?  Become familiar with the glycemic index of different foods and be sure to mix the low GI foods into your family’s diet.  An apple has a GI of 39 and watermelon has a GI of 72.  Watermelon is delicious but is harder of your system because it contains a lot of simple sugars so your blood sugar rises quickly.  Honestly, if you pick one food a week to learn, you’ll have a good working knowledge before you know it.  Be sure to include a lot of low GI foods!  The payoff is you and your family being healthier now and into the future!

I think I’ll have an apple!  Healthy, low GI, and organic of course!  Folks, remember, organic really matters when it comes to apples!

Additional Resources:

List of 100 Foods for GI

General Info on Glycemic Index

High GI Diet increases risk of death in certain people 

We live in Washington, a mossy, moldy state. Sidewalks turn brown, roofs become laden, decks get slippery and green. In the past we have purchased products that specified they were made to take care of these naturally occurring problems. Things seemed O.K. at first, but after about two years, all of the shrubs surrounding our porch were dead. – O.K. maybe I should have read the instructions a little more closely. In any event, this year, in the ongoing quest for all things natural – in the house and around the yard, I suggested we might try vinegar to help clean and remove the deck mold. My husband gave me a sideways look, with good reason. The surface of our deck is textured to keep it from being slippery, which sounds great, but what actually happens is that all of the tiny crevices work like mini mold toeholds. The end result is that our back porch looks like a leprechauns dream. Anyway, after a bit of coaxing said spouse grudgingly agreed to give it a go. We sprayed the vinegar on, let it sit, hosed it off… and, presto! No more slime! Wow, that was waaaay too easy, and inexpensive. We used it straight because we wanted the big guns but I think it might have worked just as well half vinegar, half water.

For good old fashioned getting rid of slime, the recipe is: Spray it on, wait, – hose it off.

Happy Fall, – or I mean, don’t!

Vinegar is also a great weed killer and even more effective if you combine it with Epsom salts and dish soap. Here is the recipe if you are interested in un-greening your weeds. One gallon of vinegar, two cups Epsom salts ¼ cup of dish soap. I have been told it works even faster than chemical weed killers.

Did you know that on this Monday, November 3rd at 7 pm EST, Wild Oats Voices bloggers are participating in a cool Twitter chat to connect with people who want to interact, win great prizes and find out simple wellness strategies? Head here to RSVP and join us for #Wildoatsvoices Twitter Chat! 

I’m a day dreamer, that’s for sure. Are you?

I’ve always felt slightly guilty about this- that I really should be paying attention to the task at hand with all my brain power, not allowing my mind to mostly drift off into some make-believe dreamland. Yet, I can’t help it sometimes! It’s so fun to imagine, invent and fantasize about alternative ways of doing things, like what would be the [best/most creative/fun/motivating] way of transforming a plain piece of bread into something magical, like garlic and herb croutons, while doing something boring, like folding laundry. It’s no wonder why my clothes are not folded as neatly as I would like them to be! But, I don’t really care about that all that much because my salads got a major upgrade as a result of all the time I spent thinking about bread transformation instead of perfectly pleated pants.

Indulging regularly in daydreaming led me to do some research on the subject. Luckily, I found that day dreaming is not a bad thing, and actually means that my brain is ‘well-equipped’ to handle distractions. According to Smithsonian Magazine, “a new study, published in Psychological Science by researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science, suggests that a wandering mind correlates with higher degrees of what is referred to as working memory. Cognitive scientists define this type of memory as the brain’s ability to retain and recall information in the face of distractions.”

I can remember to do important tasks even if daily life occurrences, problems, or conflicts lead me astray from those things I need to accomplish.

Also, here are a few excerpts from “The Amazing Benefits of Daydreaming on the Mind”, an article by Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D., published in Psychology Today, that I found encouraging:

“More than 50 years ago, pioneering research led by Yale’s Jerome L. Singer established that daydreaming is widespread and a normal aspect of human experience. Singer found that a major swath of society consists of “happy daydreamers”—people who enjoy vivid imagery and fantasy. They use daydreaming for plotting out their future. These daydreamers ‘simply value and enjoy their private experiences, are willing to risk wasting a certain amount of time on them, but also can apparently use them for effective planning and for self-amusement during periods of monotonous task activity or boredom,’ Singer reported. He called this ‘positive-constructive daydreaming.’”

“Yet by rejiggering the balance of attention to accommodate more self-generated thought, we may actually get far closer to realizing the dreams we most want for ourselves. The human capacity for mental time travel, it turns out, gives us enormous possibilities for realizing our deepest desires and strivings.”

“Besides relieving boredom by providing an unlimited source of internally generated entertainment, daydreaming offers a huge arena for realizing our own potential.”

So I guess I don’t need to beat myself up anymore for daydreaming, just as long they are positive thoughts, not anxiety-induced, negative “day-mares”, which could lead to depression and fear for the future.

As for this blog, I think I drifted off to dreamland at least three times while writing it, brainstorming up a new crouton recipe! I’ll get you the recipe for them ASAP, so see . . . daydreaming while blogging is actually a win, win situation!

For more fun information on daydreaming:

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/amazing-benefits-daydreaming-mind

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-benefits-of-daydreaming

This is the last week for our Scavenger Hunt Sweepstakes!

We’ve been busy this month introducing quality organics to as many people as possible with our in-store sampling tour that visited approximately 1,000 Walmarts across the country. The sampling tour has wrapped up but we’re always working to fulfill our mission of making your search for affordable organics easier—and we also will be giving away Wild Oats product for a year to one lucky winner.

Today’s challenge: Upload a photo of you and any Wild Oats product to Twitter, Instagram, or to our Facebook page and include #Hunt4WildOats #Sweeps for a chance to win a prize pack. You’ll also be entered to win a grand prize of Wild Oats product for a year!

We hope you take a moment to play along on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

If you’re playing along on Facebook, simply upload your photo to our page with #hunt4wildoats #sweeps to be entered to win!

If you’d like to play along on Twitter, simply tweet us your photo with #hunt4wildoats #sweeps to be entered to win!

If you’d like to play along on Instagram, simply upload your photo with #hunt4wildoats #sweeps to be entered to win!

Good luck! Full Sweepstakes rules and details can be found here.