GI Values Update

Breakfasts That Sustain You Through the Morning
Whether you like waking up to cereal and fruit, muesli and yoghurt, or a warming bowl of porridge, a good breakfast can set you up for the day. Given the solid evidence that people who eat breakfast are calmer, happier and more sociable, the number of people skipping breakfast is an alarming trend. In fact skipping breakfast is a counterproductive way to restrict kilojoules/calories. Breakfast skippers, research shows, tend to make up for the missed meal by eating more snacks during the day and more food overall. The habit can leave you feeling fatigued, dehydrated and without energy for the day’s decisions.

Studies regularly show that eating breakfast improves mood, mental alertness, concentration and memory. Nutritionists also know that having breakfast helps people lose weight, can lower cholesterol levels and helps stabilise blood glucose levels. But what you eat for breakfast is critical. Firing up your engine with high GI crispy flakes (even bran flakes) or regular toast provides a short-lived fuel supply that will send you in search of a top-up snack within a few hours. If you want something to nourish your body, boost your fibre intake and sustain you right through the morning, start the day with the right fuel—low GI carbs—muesli, porridge, wholegrain toast etc.

Photo: Ian Hofstetter, The Low GI Diet Cookbook

A world first! Three new breakfast cereals specifically developed to achieve a healthy low GI product were recently launched in Australia. From the makers of the popular low GI Burgen breads, the three new Burgen cereals give Australian consumers more low GI breakfast options with taste, nutrition and satisfaction to sustain them through the morning:

• Burgen Soy-Lin Muesli Cereal GI 51
• Burgen Rye Muesli Cereal GI 41
• Burgen Fruit & Muesli Cereal GI 51

For readers from other countries, remember the power of consumer demand. In a recent ‘Perspective’ in Food Technology (July 2005), Prof S. Jay Olshansky and Dr David Ludwig remind the food industry that ‘there are profits aplenty for companies willing to market, in a socially responsible manner, products that are both healthful and appealing.’ You can encourage them to do this. Tell them to look at the Burgen success story.