By Adam Garcia
Today we will be talking about the Glycemic Index in diabetic dictionary and also on how to find foods on the Glycemic Index List.
The Glycemic Index (GI) is a numerical scale used to indicate how fast and how high a particular food can raise our blood glucose level. A food with a low GI will typically prompt a moderate rise in blood glucose, while a food with a high GI may cause our blood glucose level to increase above the optimal level. It has also been said that the Glycemic Index is a ranking of carbohydrate containing foods, based on the food’s effect on blood glucose compared with a standard reference food and has also been declared the indicator of the ability of different types of foods that contain carbohydrate to raise the blood glucose levels within 2 hours. Foods containing carbohydrates that break down most quickly during digestion have the highest glycemic index.
An awareness of the Glycemic Index of a particular food can help you control your blood sugar levels, and by doing so, may help you prevent heart disease, improve cholesterol levels, prevent insulin resistance, prevent certain cancers, and achieve or maintain a healthy weight. A substantial amount of research suggests a low GI diet provides these significant health benefits. So, it’s worth taking a look at the basic principles of a low GI way of eating.
How do you estimate a food’s GI? Well, the Glycemic Index is somewhat counter-intuitive. Not all foods that you might think would have high values do have them, while other foods you might expect would have low values actually have high values. To get the most precise idea of whether your typical meals are high or low on the GI scale, it’s best to look over a Glycemic Index list of foods and see where your favorite foods fit. However, these following basic principles can help you estimate a food’s GI and eat healthfully:
Foods that are white tend to have a higher glycemic index. This includes processed foods made with white flour and white sugar, but even white potatoes have a high GI.
Concentrate on eating foods that are high in fiber. In general, high-fiber foods take longer to digest and therefore produce a slower rise in blood glucose levels. Whole, unprocessed foods that still contain their original amounts of fiber move more slowly through the gastrointestinal tract than those whose fiber has been removed. These fiber-rich foods more fully engage the digestive process, thereby slowing release of sugar into the blood. This provides a feeling of satiety, or fullness, which helps prevent overeating. Many foods are high in fiber and can be relied upon to maintain healthy blood glucose levels. These include most vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and even fruits such as apples and pears when eaten with their skin and not as juice. Citrus fruits, in particular, have a lower GI than most other fruits.
Foods high in protein, while not necessarily high in fiber, typically score lower on the glycemic index scale. Some foods, like legumes, are rich in both fiber and protein, and give you a doubly safe glycemic margin. In addition to legumes, excellent protein choices include nuts, seeds, fish and lean meats. If possible, choose organic meats from free-range or wild animals since these meats will not only have less fat, but the fat they contain will have a much larger percentage of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids. Predictably raised animals are fed grain-based diets, which result in their meat containing much more saturated and omega 6 fats, but virtually no omega 3 fats. This fat profile can set the stage for health problems such as cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and high insulin levels.
Fats do not immediately cause a rise in glucose levels. However, stick with healthy fats such as those found in olive and flaxseed oils, fish, and nuts. The monounsaturated and omega-3 fats in these foods provide a wide variety of health benefits. Decreasing your intake of these healthy fats and increasing the amount of carbohydrates you consume, especially when those carbohydrates have a high GI, actually increases cholesterol and triglyceride levels, raising your risk of cardiovascular disease. The healthy fats should not be feared, but enjoyed! These fats play essential roles that contribute to the health of every cell in your body.
A person’s glycemic response to a food also depends on the other foods eaten along with it, so when eating a meal or snack, make sure it is “complex.” A complex meal or snack is one that contains complex carbohydrates (e.g., whole grains, vegetables, and whole fresh fruits), protein, healthy types of fat, and of course, plenty of fiber. Complex meals and snacks help keep blood glucose levels on an even keel. Keep this in mind when looking at the GI list of foods; rarely would you eat a high GI food by itself. Combine high GI foods with low GI foods to help moderate the effect on blood sugar levels and reduce the overall GI of the meal.
Choosing a healthy way of eating each day will naturally ensure that you maintain a healthy GI. Not only is your glycemic response to a food dependent upon the other foods you eat along with it, but also on your most recent meals. For example, your previous night’s dinner can alter the next-morning’s GI. So, using GI as a guideline to help you control your blood sugar means eating healthfully day-by-day, week by week. Choosing low GI foods at just one meal will not help keep your blood sugar at a healthy level all day or the next day. For your best chances of good blood sugar control, you will need to consistently choose “complex” meals and snacks with a good overall low GI. You will need a healthy way of eating that surrounds each meal or snack in both directions.
Let’s take a closer look at Glycemic Index values. The earliest standard used glucose and carefully controlled amounts of this sugar were given to subjects in research studies to establish a baseline response. More recently, white bread has been used as a standard of comparison and just like the response to glucose; the response to white brad was given an arbitrary value of 100. There appear to be some advantages to the use of white bread over glucose in determining glycemic response, and for this reason, we recommend the use of GI values based on bread versus glucose norm. One of the best free lists we’re aware of for finding the GI value of many foods has been compiled by David Mendosa in conjunction with the University of Sydney Glycemic Index Research Service. The GI values in this list are partly normed on glucose and partly normed on white bread. If you would like to consult this list of values, please visit this link. This list of international foods from verified sources was first published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2002
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