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| Glycemic Load In recent years consumers have become more and more aware of dietary information of the foods they are eating. This increased awareness has risen to the point that at least once a week 'America's Weight Problem' is one of the stories on nightly national news programs. With the dramatic increase in incidents of Type II Diabetes the extra attention is certainly warranted. This intense scrutiny of diet and the various components of the food we eat have dramatically challenged long established opinions of what foods should be part of a healthy diet. Chief among these new approaches to determine what foods are desirable in our daily diet is the Low Carbohydrate Diet, which is more commonly referred to as the Atkins Diet. For those that are unfamiliar with the Low Carbohydrate Diet, the diet focuses on our bodies ability to convert carbohydrates into glucose (blood sugar), which is in-turn used for fuel; or converted to fat for storage. The food selection under the Atkins Diet is based on two things, the number of carbohydrates per serving and the Glycemic Index value of the food. This simplistic approach has the virtue of being easy to follow, but it certainly can and does ignore very healthy foods primarily due to their relative score on the Glycemic Index; which a weak point of the approach. The higher the Glycemic Index value of a food, the less desirable the food becomes under the Atkins diet. The problem with this approach is it ignores how and why the Glycemic Index was developed and results in dietary deficiencies of key vitamins and fiber which should be replaced by daily supplements. The weakness in using the Glycemic Index as a sole selection criterion becomes obvious when you examine how the Glycemic Index food values are determined. The Glycemic Index was developed to measure how quickly equal quantities of carbohydrates from a food item are converted to glucose in a person's body. The time required for the food item's carbohydrates to be converted to glucose is then compared to the time it takes a person's body to absorb pure glucose or white bread. The food is then ranked appropriately. While the information in the Glycemic Index is certainly valuable, it cannot be used as primary selection criteria because the number of carbohydrates per serving is different for every food. This is why the dietary Glycemic Load approach can and should be used. The dietary Glycemic Load formula developed by researchers at Harvard University simultaneously describes the quality and quantity of carbohydrate in foods. Each unit of the Glycemic Load represents the equivalent blood glucose-raising effect of 1 gram of pure glucose or white bread. To calculate the dietary Glycemic Load units of a food item, multiply the number of carbohydrates per serving by the Glycemic Index value of the food item (55 to 58 for popcorn depending on the information source), then divide the number by 100. The resulting number is the units of Glycemic Load per serving of the food item. Scores of 10 or less are generally considered low.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON DIETARY GLYCEMIC LOAD CLICK ONTO THE FOLLOWING LINKS:
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| Popcorn History Popcorn is a tasty snack that almost everyone in the world has enjoyed many times in their life. Such universal knowledge of popcorn is not really surprising since popcorn is probably the oldest snack food in the word. It is believed corn in its various forms has been a basic source to the inhabitants of the American continents for over 5000 years. The early American pioneers cultivated popcorn, which is a type of flint corn, along with dent corn. Dent corn was used for cornbread and popcorn was used as a breakfast cereal. Of course popcorn had been around long before the American pioneers started their day with it. This is evidenced by the oldest positively identified corn popper's, which date from about 300 AD and were found along the Northeast coast of Peru. Although popcorn is no longer considered a breakfast food, it is most definitely accepted as a wholesome flavorful snack, which comes in several flavors and is right for any occasion. Since Aunt Em's was obviously not around at the beginning of popcorn's rise to universal acceptance, Aunt Em's can't claim responsibility for popcorn's popularity in the past. The future is a different story through. Aunt Em's Gourmet Popcorn is proud to be a purveyor of high quality flavored popcorn snack foods. As a gourmet purveyor, Aunt Em's strives to prepare popcorn snacks, which are superior in flavor and texture to provide her customers with not only a favorable snack but a memorable one as well. Aunt Em's is located in the central part of the State of Illinois and creates its delicious, savory products in an Illinois State and FDA approved facility. You can purchase Aunt Em's Gourmet Popcorn products at stores throughout the central United States area. If you don't see it at your local store, ask the manager to contact us. Historical references taken from Charles D. Creators' "Practical Short Course In Snack Food Manufacturing" conducted at Texas A&M
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| Kettle Korn Origins The exact birthplace of Kettle Korn is unknown, but it is generally agreed German immigrants brought the tasty treat to America. They made their version of Kettle Korn in large black iron kettles used to render lard and added molasses, or honey to sweeten the popcorn. Although the ingredients used today to make Kettle Korn have changed from lard and molasses, to vegetable oil and sugar the flavor and texture have remained the same.
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| Popcorn Trivia It is believed corn in its various forms has been a basic source to the inhabitants of the American continents for over 5000 years Popcorn is the oldest of three main types of corn: field corn, sweet corn, and popcorn. The oldest positively identified corn popper's were dated from about 300 AD and were found along the Northeast coast of Peru. 1,000 year old popcorn kernels were found in Peru that would still pop. Popcorn pops because the heart of the kernel is moist and pulpy and is surrounded by a hard shell. When heated, the moisture in the heart expands until it “pops”. French explorers saw Indians in 1612 popping corn in clay pots filled with sand. They would fill the pots with hot sand, throw in some popcorn, and when it popped, it would come to the top. Indians coming to the first Thanksgiving dinner brought popcorn in a deerskin pouch. The Colonists were so in love with popcorn that they ate it for breakfast with cream and sugar. The original “Corn Pops”.
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| Kettle Corn Helpful Hints For the connoisseur of Kettle Korn that only like their Kettle Korn while is still hot from the kettle, we have found reheating our Kettle Korn will produce that buttery unique taste you are looking for. If you want to keep opened bags of Kettle Korn for any length of time, put it in the freezer…it freezes great! Some of our customers like to put it in zip-lock bags for individual serving size snacks. Just reheat per the instructions below and it will taste just like it freshly made just a minute ago. Microwave Method…Put in microwave safe dish, heat for 18-20 seconds… Enjoy!! Conventional Oven … Spread on cookie sheet, pre-heat oven to 275 degrees, put kettle korn on cookie sheet in for 2 to 3 minutes … Enjoy!!
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