Glycemic Index

• In the past, we used the terms simple and complex to describe carbohydrates
• The problem some complex carbs caused a rise in blood sugar similar to simple carbs
• Now we use the term Glycemic index
• Measures how fast food is likely to raise your blood sugar
• Glucose is given an arbitrary value of 100 and other carbs are given values relative to glucose
• The impact a food will have on blood sugar depends on many factors such as:
• Ripeness
• Cooking time
• Fiber content
• Fat content
• Time of day
• Blood insulin levels
• Recent activity
• Particle size
• Low glycemic index foods are those values less than 55—these are foods that as they are digested produce a low, slow blood sugar response
• Intermediate glycemic index are those values between 55 and 70
• High glycemic index are those values greater than 70—these foods are quickly broken down in the intestine and cause the glucose level to rise quickly
• GI, however, tells you only how rapidly a particular carb turns into glucose. It tells the quality of the carb. It does not tell you how much of that carb is a serving for a particular food (quantity)
• Glycemic Load takes quantity of available carbs into account. Glycemic load equals the GI times the number of carb grams in a food

Lets be careful!!!!!!!! The worth of any food cannot be measured by a single number, but a single number can tell you a great deal about how the carb in that food affects blood glucose levels. For instance, the number tells us nothing about the nutritional value, vitamin/mineral content, or fiber content. The numbers can be misleading. Some worthless foods like diet soda have low numbers and nuts, for instance, have higher values.

• Meal planning:
• Hulless barley in the rice cooker sweetened with splenda and cinnamon
• Bread is near 100 on the GI, but using a different grain such as corn, soybeans, oat bran, or barley are good choices. Burgen Soy Lin in the lowest GI bread available
• Pasta substitutes include Shirataki noodles in the refrigerated section. No need to boil them….simply heat up and eat. Any other high fiber pasta is appropriate to substitute
• Cereals such as Mc Cann’s Irish Oatmeal which are steel cut oats instead of rolled oats
• Chips such as Trader Joe’s Soy and flaxseed Tortillas
• Veggies
• Nuts such as walnuts
• Dry roasted Edamame and frozen variety in place of higher glycemic veggies (peas, carrots, corn)