Many popular diet books give a list of foods on the glycemic index, and recommend avoiding all foods that are high glycemic index.
When you eat a meal, your blood sugar in the blood rises. The food that raises the blood sugar level higher pure table sugar. Therefore, glycemic index is a ratio of how foods high blood sugar increases compared to the way table sugar high can raise levels of blood sugar. Foods whose carbohydrates break down slowly release glucose into the bloodstream slowly, so that levels of blood sugar do not rise high and therefore, these foods have low glycemic index ratings. Those that break down quickly cause a large increase in blood sugar and have a high glycemic index.
Most beans, whole grains and non-starchy vegetables have low glycemic index, while sugars, refined grains made from flour, fruits and root vegetables have a high glycemic index.
If you look at the glycemic index food lists, you’ll see things that should bother a smart person. A carrot has almost the same glycemic index as sugar does. That’s ridiculous. You know that a carrot is far safer for diabetics than table sugar. Therefore, the nutritional scientists developed a new measure to rank foods called glycemic load. It tells the amount of sugar in foods, not just how high it raises blood sugar levels in the blood. To calculate the glycemic load, which multiply the grams of carbohydrate in a food ration those glycemic index foods?
Carrots and potatoes are high glycemic index (GI), but using the new glycemic load (GL), carrots dropped from high GI of 131 to a GL of 10. Potatoes fall from a GI of 121 to a GL of 45. Air popped popcorn, with a glycemic index of 79, has a GL of 4.
Foods that are mostly water or air will not cause an increase in your blood sugar level, even if their glycemic index is high. Therefore, the new measure, glycemic load, is more useful. However, all these tools are important for research than for their daily food selection. Use your own common sense and eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and other seeds. Avoid refined carbohydrates – foods made from extracted sugars, flour, white rice or milled corn products.
Tags: blood sugar, carbohydrates, diabetics, flour, Foods, fruits, glycemic index, high glycemic index, sugars, vegetables, white rice,