need advice with porrdige, pasta and rice

dollsparkles

New Member
Hi there, new to the gi diet, need info on how many portions of rice, pasta and porridge are allowed per day. Is it possible to have porridge for breakfast, pasta with salad for lunch, and rice with evening meals without over loading the overall calories? Yesterday I had porridge oats 3 times as snacks with blueberries and nuts, along with bran flakes at breakfast and a chicken and brown rice evening meal, I am just worried incase I am overdoing it. I have put 1lb on this morning, after a weight loss of 2lbs in the last week. In the GI book it just says use common sense, but how much is too much?
 
Hi hon. It is a bit tricky to get the balance right. I have 50g porridge for breakfast. Pasta and rice with a meal should be no more than about 35g dry weight. Weigh it out. That is a tiny portion!! Instead of pasta or rice I use beans or quinoa, lentils or couscous. I can have more of them.
I can have 100 g lentils or half tin beans for example. What I have found is that portion sizes of anything need to be carefully watched until you get the hang of it. Give it 3 to 5 weeks and you will see results. Try to see what new foods you can enjoy instead of thinking about having to cut down the ones you usually have.
 
There are quite a few low GI/GL diets from different books, and they all advise differently. My personal take on GI, is that the principles aren't low carb, but good, low GI carb.

Portion-wise, personally I have about 3/4 cup of rice as 1 portion.
3 helping of porridge a day is probably a bit too much! In one day I might have 50g porridge, 1 slice of grainy bread, and then 1 portion of other carbs- rice/barley/quinoa/pasta etc.

Remember that brown rice is fairly high GI (70-80 depending on brand) so should be avoided. The only low GI rices are basmati rice (GI 50-60) and doongara rice (GI 50-55).
I often cook a mix of pearled barley (GI 25-30) and rice 1:1 to lower the GI - it has a similar texture to rice and cooks in the same way for the same amount of time (ie you can put them in to boil together), or you could just substitute rice for barley completely.
Hope that helps x
 
I thought I was overdoing it, I tend to get hungry a lot, and am trying desperately to attack the hunger with good solid slow energy givers, I have tried upping my protein intake today, have had bran flakes for breakfast, just had cottage cheese, with almonds and blueberries. And so far so good. I intend to have a wholemeal sandwich made with salad, ham, and this afternoon an apple for a snack, and then maybe fish with rice for dinner and loads of veg. Just hoping that will fill me up till bedtime, I have 9 stone to be rid off, and I just keep on sticking with my weight. Although I am enjoying the Gi diet much more that any other diet, it is very very healthy. I suppose it wil take time to get in the swing of things. I will change my rice to basmati for sure
 
You will do well hon! Just keep experimenting. Check out some of the recipes on the recipe thread. Maybe start a thread here for yourself and track your food until you feel in control.
Good luck.
 
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