Glycemic Index/Glycemic Load
If your health goal is to lose weight, control diabetes, or simply to decrease pain and the chance of developing disease, being aware of food’s glycemic index and glycemic load is important. Glycemic index measures how fast carbohydrates are digested, giving an idea of how quickly foods break down into sugar.
Simple carbohydrates (foods with one or two simple sugars) are broken down fast and thus have a high glycemic index. Complex carbohydrates (foods with long chains of simple sugars) are broken down more slowly and have a lower glycemic index.
In general, the lower the glycemic index the better- but not always.
Some foods with a high glycemic index are actually low in carbohydrates, so they don’t make a large impact on blood sugar levels. Other foods with low glycemic index may have a higher amount of carbohydrates, making the actual affect on blood sugar greater than its glycemic index score suggests.
Glycemic load is a more accurate way to measure how individual foods will affect blood sugar levels. The glycemic load uses the glycemic index and carbohydrate content of a food to measure how a food will affect blood sugar. The lower the score the better, since a higher score means a higher affect on blood sugar levels. So, the higher a food’s glycemic load, the higher the blood glucose levels in the body increase and the more insulin is needed.
Why is it important to keep blood sugar levels low?
A person with chronically high blood sugar levels and excessive insulin secretion is at a much higher risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and gallbladder disease.
Low glycemic index is generally rated 1-55, and low glycemic load is generally rated 1-10. For example: a Snickers bar has a glycemic index of 51 and a glycemic load of 18 (that’s not good!); peanuts have an average glycemic index of 7 and glycemic load of 0. For a list to scan or print out for yourself, check out the first two references listed below.
If you already eat a diet rich in real, whole foods and low in processed, fake foods you probably won’t need to look at a glycemic index/glycemic load chart very often; but for those newly starting a good health journey it’s an excellent resource.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_100_foods.htm
http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/foods/grains/gigl.html
http://www.draxe.com/glycemic-index-glycemic-load-discover-what-both-are-all-about/
