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Life&Style

 

College Cooking: carbs and the GI

By Joel MacKenzie, Contributor

arbohydrates (carbs) are
( organic compounds made

up of carbon (carbo) and
water (hydrate). They are the most
accessible form of energy a body
can use, and are digested into
glucose (sugar), which our body
uses as fuel more easily than any
other form of energy (fats, protein,
or alcohol).

Carbs are often categorized

as “simple” and “complex.”
These types were once considered
“anhealthy” or “healthy”
(respectively), though now, these
distinctions aren’t considered
as important. Simple carbs are
either single molecules of glucose
or fructose (monosaccharides),
or groups of two of these bound
together (disaccharides). Complex
carbs are made up of groups of
greater amounts of bound simple
carbs, and are categorized as oligo-
or polysaccharides. Simple carbs
appear to enter the blood stream
more quickly than complex ones,
making higher blood-sugar spikes.
While this is true to an extent, some

starches, which are polysaccharides,

can be absorbed quicker than
simple carbs, and simple carbs,
when consumed with fibre and
other components of whole foods,
are not absorbed as fast as when
they are isolated.

Rather then simple and
complex labels, carbs should be
analyzed for their nutrient and
fibre content, and their effect on

blood sugar. This can be analyzed
using the glycemic index (www.

lycemicindex.com), which rates
foods on a scale from 1 to 100 on
the extent to which they raise blood
sugar after being eaten. Generally,
foods lower on the GI provide more
gradual blood sugar increase, which
provides more sustained energy
and less chemical imbalances.

The Food and Agricultural
Organization of the United Nations
and the World Health Organization
suggest that a diet should consist
of 55 per cent to 75 per cent carbs.
Diets designed for fat loss that
suggest lower carbs intake work
only if they provide one witha
reduced caloric intake, as excess
calories (from any source) are what
produce excess fat. The problem
with these diets is that they lead to
sluggishness and carb cravings, as
glucose, which human bodies need,
is harder to derive from fat and
protein than from carbs.

The best sources of carbs
include whole vegetables (including
root vegetables), fruits, whole
grains, beans, and corn syrup. But
seriously, not corn syrup.

 

Kidney Bean Breakfast Patties

I designed this recipe with breakfast
sausage patties in mind. The
almond meal, rice, and kidney
beans give them a meaty texture,
and the thyme and sage are spices
typically used with meat. They’re
filled with low-GI carbs, protein,
fibre, and monounsaturated

(“healthy”) fats, and they are oven-
baked, so they’re cooked without
oil.

To reduce calories, one
tablespoon of almond meal
(containing roughly 67 calories) can
be replaced by one of brown rice
(roughly 13 calories), though this
will change the texture a bit.

All of the following prices were
taken from Save-On-Foods.

Kidney Bean Breakfast Patties
Makes seven 2” round, %” thick
patties.

1 cup kidney beans

$0.60, Western Family, canned
2 tbsp almond meal

$0.40, bulk

1 tbsp cooked brown rice
$0.12, bulk

2 tbsp whole wheat flour
$0.05, bulk

2 tsp canola oil

$0.10, Western Family, 3 L

% tsp thyme

$0.01, bulk

4 tsp sage

$0.01, bulk

\% tsp onion powder
$0.01, bulk

% tsp chopped garlic
$0.01, bulk

\% tsp pepper

$0.01, bulk

5% tsp regular soy sauce
$0.04, Kikkoman, 396 mL

Nutritional information (half of
total, roughly 3.5 patties):

 

272 calories, 28.5 g carbs, 20.3 g
protein, 5.75 g fat.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 177 C (350 F).

2. Mash the kidney beans in a bowl.
3. Add all other ingredients and
mash until all are thoroughly mixed
and a sticky dough is formed (if you
need clean fingers to flip through
The Other Press while mashing, wet
them just slightly beforehand).

4. Form into 2” round, %” thick
patties, and place on a cookie sheet
lined with parchment paper.

5. Cook for 10 minutes on one side,
five minutes on the other.

 

Get the sear: an n outdoor ode to your wallet

 

By Laurel Borrowman,
Life & Style Editor

he dedicated staff at The Other Press,
especially the contributors to Life

& Style, strive to give you myriad
options to be active and healthy in each
issue we publish. We suggest things to do,
places to go, and foods to eat that we hope
will inspire and motivate you to be get
your feet moving.

Everyone encounters roadblocks on
their path to getting fit. Maybe you have
weak knees, maybe you have asthma, or
maybe you have an intense fear of getting
lost in the woods and eaten by a bear.
Those are reasonable and conquerable.
One thing that should not prevent you
from getting active is having fancy, high-
tech gear. In fact, this is arguably the /ast
thing you should worry about.

You don’t need the latest
Enlightenment T-Back Lululemon Dry-Fit
Yoga Wraptop to participate in a Bikram’s
class. You don’t need a $200 Gore-tex shell

to do the Grouse Grind. You don’t need to
drop a paycheque on steel-toed waterproof
leather hiking boots to circumnavigate Pitt
Lake. These things are unnecessary.

It’s important to be comfortable
when exercising or being active, and
that doesn’t mean you need to spend a
ton of money. You can buy everything
from shorts, to tank tops, to dry-fit long-
sleeved shirts at your local thrift store.

For more technical gear—maybe you

do want some fancy hiking boots, or an
amazing yoga mat—try visiting a sports
consignment store like Sports Junkies (102
W. Broadway, sportsjunkies.com). They
sell quality used gear (from snowshoes

to tennis racquets—I bought mine for $20
there last season) and a ton of new stuff at
ridiculously discounted prices. The staff is
also quite dreamy.

The point is, unless you are training
intensely, don’t let trendy gear be a make-
or-break on your path to being active. Get
up and go with the gear you’ve got.

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