Weight Loss: What is Glycemic Index (GI) ? Weight Loss by Foods with Low GI ? Carbohydrates and Glycemic Index

What is Glycemic Index ?

Glycemic Index a figure representing the relative ability of a carbohydrate food to increase the level of glucose in the blood.

In simple and layman language, Glycemic index is a number. It gives you an idea about how fast your body converts the carbs in a food into glucose. Two foods with the same amount of carbohydrates can have different glycemic index numbers.

Some foods can make your blood sugar shoot up very fast. That's because carbohydrates like refined sugars and bread are easier for your body to change into glucose, the sugar your body uses for energy, than more slowly digested carbs like those in vegetables and whole grains. 

The GI scale goes from 0 to 100. Pure glucose has the highest GI and is given a value of 100.

Eating low GI foods can help you gain tighter control over your blood sugar. Paying attention to the GI of foods can be another tool to help manage diabetes, along with carbohydrate counting. Following a low-GI diet also may help with weight loss.

The smaller the number, the less impact the food has on your blood sugar.

• 55 or less = Low (good)
• 56- 69 = Medium
• 70 or higher = High (bad)

Here is a listing of low, medium, and high glycemic load foods. For good health, choose foods that have a low or medium glycemic load, and limit foods that have a high glycemic load.

Glycemic Index of Certain Foods:

Low GI foods (0 to 55):

·        Bulgar, barley

·        Pasta, parboiled (converted) rice

·        Quinoa

·        High-fiber bran cereal

·        Oatmeal, steel-cut or rolled

·        Carrots, non-starchy vegetables, greens

·        Apples, oranges, grapefruit, and many other fruits

·        Most nuts, legumes, and beans

·        Milk and yogurt

Moderate GI foods (56 to 69):

·        Pita bread, rye bread

·        Couscous

·        Brown rice

·        Raisins

High GI foods (70 and higher):

·        White bread and bagels

·        Most processed cereals and instant oatmeal, including bran flakes

·        Most snack foods

·        Potatoes

·        White rice

·        Honey

·        Watermelon, pineapple

What affects the GI of a food?

As per the American Diabetes Association, Fat and fiber tend to lower the GI of a food. As a general rule, the more cooked or processed a food, the higher the GI; however, this is not always true.

Below are a few specific examples of other factors that can affect the GI of a food:

• Ripeness and storage time — the riper a fruit or vegetable is, the higher the GI
• Processing — juice has a higher GI than whole fruit; mashed potato has a higher GI than a whole baked potato, stone-ground whole-wheat bread has a lower GI than whole wheat bread.
• Cooking method — how long a food is cooked 
• Variety — converted long-grain white rice has a lower GI than brown rice but short-grain white rice has a higher GI than brown rice.
• Fiber content: High-fiber foods don’t contain as much digestible carbohydrate, so it slows the rate of digestion and causes a more gradual and lower rise in blood sugar.
• Fat content and acid content: Meals with fat or acid are converted more slowly into sugar.

BOTTOM LINE:

Healthy carbohydrates are not free foods — all carbohydrates count. For example, oatmeal is a complex, high fiber carbohydrate, but it is still a carbohydrate and will raise blood sugar. Therefore, it's important to portion control.

The amount of carbohydrates you should eat per meal varies from person to person and is determined by a variety of factors such as gender, calorie needs, weight, blood sugar control, and activity level. For most people following a consistent carbohydrate meal plan, they are able to eat about 45-60 grams of carbohydrates per meal and obtain good blood sugar control.

In general, processed foods have a higher GI. For example, fruit juice and instant potatoes have a higher GI than whole fruit and whole baked potato.

Cooking can affect the GI of a food. 

Foods higher in fat or fiber tend to have a lower GI.

Certain foods from the same class of foods can have different GI values. For example, converted long-grain white rice has a lower GI than brown rice. And short-grain white rice has a higher GI than brown rice. 

Likewise, quick oats or grits have high a GI but whole oats and whole-grain breakfast cereals have a lower GI.

Choose a variety of healthy foods keeping in mind the nutritious value of the whole meal as well as the GI of foods.Some high GI foods are high in nutrients. So balance these with lower GI foods.

 source: U.S. National Library of Medicine

                 www.diabetes.org

                 

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