Posted by kathryn in Carbohydrates and Q & A Thursday

To prove today is not completely rice-centric, I’ve also been asked about other grains and legumes.

Apart from pasta, the list below is per metric half-cup (ie 125ml) of the raw grain and the dried legume. I thought this was the most useful benchmark for comparison – certainly when I cook grains and legumes I rarely weigh them out, but instead go by volume.

Pasta comes in so many shapes and sizes that a volume measurement is meaningless, I’ve therefore used a weight comparison.

Bear in mind, we don’t always eat comparable quantities of these foods and some swell more in cooking than others. Legumes and rice generally at least triple in volume, whereas couscous doesn’t. Alternatively we tend to use pasta as the basis of the meal, whereas quinoa, rice and barley might just be accompaniments.

Grains & Legumes

• rice (200g): 79% carbohydrate, 1,470kJ (see earlier for GI values )
• pearl barley (200g): 61% carbohydrate, 635kJ and GI value of 25
• bulgur wheat (90g): 59% carbohydrate, 563kJ and GI value of 48
• 100g raw pasta: 60% carbohydrate, 1,330kJ and GI value of 38
• polenta : 77% carbohydrate, 1,825kJ and GI value of 68
• quinoa (170g): 69% carbohydrate, 1,329kJ and GI value of 53
• couscous (130g): 77% carbohydrate, 1,021kJ and GI value of 65
• lentils (100g): 35% carbohydrate, 1,090kJ and GI value of 29
• chickpeas and beans (130g): 35% carbohydrate, 1,365kJ and GI value of about 30

07 June, 2007