Nighttime Noshing - Part Three

In Search of Low Cal Low/No-Carb Snacks for Nighttime Snacking

David Mendosa’s Glycemic Index table is a veritable goldmine of information for anyone with impaired glucose tolerance, as well as for those who want to cut down their carbohydrate intake to lose weight or fight cell aging.

Yes, you read that right.

Carbohydrates may accelerate aging.

There is a theory that sugar and other high glycemic carbs which rapidly convert to sugar trigger a release of insulin to control the level of sugar in the bloodstream. Excess sugar in the bloodstream is inflammatory and causes a cascade of free radical damage.

To explain how dangerous this is, Dr. Nicholas Perricone points out that diabetics with poorly controlled blood sugar age one third faster than non-diabetics and are prone to kidney failure, blindness, heart attack and stroke.

So insulin comes to the rescue to clear the excess sugar from the bloodstream. And what do you suppose the insulin does with all this sugar? It stores it as fat.

And worse yet, until the insulin sweeps up the excess sugar, it runs rampant throughout the body causing glycation and cross-linking of the body’s collagen, i.e., accelerated cell aging.

David Mendosa calls a Glycemic Index of 55 or less and a Glycemic Load of 10 or less "low", so I searched through his table for such foods. As I did so, I realized his table only addresses carbohydrate-containing foods.

So my next step was to search for low calorie no-carb foods that would make satisfying nighttime snacks. Finally I calculated the calorie counts for each food and built the table which follows.

This sure was a lot of work, so I hope people appreciate it!

This table is going on my refrigerator door right next to the shopping list.

Notice that the foods are listed in ascending order by calorie count.

I want to pay attention to the Glycemic Load so that I won’t experience sugar spikes that keep me up past my bedtime and give me more time for nighttime noshing!

I limited the list to foods with GL of 10 or less following David Mendosa’s guidelines. Foods with Tryptophan are also good nighttime snacks because Tryptophan is a precursor of serotonin which is regarded as an effective sleep-inducing agent and anti-depressant.

More Nighttime Noshing Articles

• Nighttime Noshing
• Suggestions to Curb Nighttime Noshing
• In Search of Alternatives to Food
• Night Noshing - Getting Back on Track

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to be taken as medical advice.