9 Slow Digestible Carbs Good for Your Heart

A dietary tool called the glycemic index, or GI, measures how quickly a carbohydrate-containing food is digested and converted into glucose in the body. Maintaining a steady level of glucose in your bloodstream instead of riding a roller coaster of energy peaks and troughs can have positive effects on your health, including improved weight management and reduced risk of chronic disease. Slow digesting carbs that rank under 55 on the GI are sometimes called "slow" carbs because they digest more slowly.

Most vegetables are low GI foods, including artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, eggplant, all types of greens, okra, peppers, squash and zucchini. Examples of slow carbs among the starchy vegetables are peas, carrots, parsnips and yams are all slow digesting. Fruits tend to be higher in natural sugars than vegetables and so they are digested and absorbed more quickly by the body. Still, a number of fruits are considered slow carbs, including apples, oranges, peaches, pears, plums, nectarines and grapefruit.

Beans and legumes make good choices when you're looking for slow digesting carbs. Those with a GI under 55 include baked beans, black-eyed peas, black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, navy beans, lentils, soybeans and peanuts. The added advantage of these foods is that they are rich sources of plant protein if you are trying to reduce your intake of animal protein.

In general, whole-grains digest more slowly than highly refined grains like white bread. The slowest-digesting grains include 100 percent stone-ground whole wheat or pumpernickel bread, wheat and corn tortillas, quinoa, brown rice, rolled or steel-cut oatmeal, oat bran, barley and bulgur. Of these, barley and oats have the lowest GI values, according to Grains and Legumes Nutrition Council.

‌Read More‌: Diabetes Low GI Food List

You may not think of dairy products as carbs, but these foods supply natural sugar in the form of lactose. Some slow-digesting dairy foods include skim and full-fat milk; cheeses such as Cheddar, mozzarella and cottage; and yogurt. Non-dairy alternatives like almond and soy milk are also considered as slow burning carbs, but rice milk is not.

‌Read More‌: List of Low-Glycemic Carbohydrate Foods

With their high fat, high protein and low carbohydrate content, nuts and seeds are slow digesting foods. For example, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, pine nuts, hazelnuts and cashews all rank under 25 on the GI, while sesame, amaranth, squash, sunflower and sprouted seeds are under 35. Peanut butter is a slow digesting carb, as are unsweetened pastes and butters made from low-GI nuts.

LDL cholesterol is associated with the risk of stroke and heart disease, a major cause of mortality in people with diabetes. Low-glycemic foods have been shown to reduce total LDL cholesterol. A study systematically reviewed 28 trials on the effects of low GI diets on blood lipids. Findings published in Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Disease showed consistent evidence that low GI foods reduce total LDL-cholesterol with no effect on HDL-cholesterol.

A condition known as fetal macrosomia causes a newborn to be born significantly larger than average. It happens in woman who develop high blood sugar levels during pregnancy, even if they do not have diabetes. A study, published in the journal Medicine in 2016, found that a low-glycemic diet reduced the risk of macrosomia by a significant amount.

‌Read More‌: Low-Glycemic Desserts