Check out ‘What Is Glycemic Index Measurement?’ Simply explained, the glycemic index is a measurement of how rapidly a food raises our blood sugar levels.
Food is rated on a scale from 0 to 100 in this measurement. Foods having a high glycemic index, or GI, digest and absorb quickly, raising blood sugar levels quickly.
Low GI meals, on the other hand, digest and absorb nutrients more slowly, which results in a slower rise in blood sugar levels. These are frequently high in protein, fat, and/or fiber. For instance, apples have a glycemic index of 28, Greek-style yogurt has an index of 11, and peanuts have an index of seven. Recall that a low GI doesn’t necessarily indicate that a food is high in nutrients. You must still make wise eating choices from each of the five food groups.
Glycemic Index: An Imperfect System, but Useful Tool
Only when food is ingested on an empty stomach and without any other food does its GI rating take effect. This isn’t necessarily how we eat, as everybody who has ever consumed food is aware of it.
When you serve a high GI item with lean steak or salmon, broccoli on the side, and a vinaigrette-dressed salad, the protein, fiber, and fat all work together to lower the glycemic index of the entire meal.
Additionally, the glycemic index disregards the quantity of food we actually consume. Giving volunteers a dish of food that includes 50 grams of carbohydrate (fiber removed) and monitoring the impact on their blood sugar levels over the following two hours is how the GI value of a food is calculated.
For a dish like rice, which provides 53 grams of carbohydrates per cup, a portion size of 50 grams of carbohydrates may be appropriate. However, because beets only contain 13 grams of carbohydrates per cup, their GI score of 64 is somewhat deceptive given that we would need to eat nearly 4 cups of beets to see that blood sugar surge.
An Alternative to Glycemic Index
By integrating portion size and GI into one number, the GL formula corrects for potentially misleading GI. The GI of the item is multiplied by the serving’s actual carbohydrate content, and the result is divided by 100. In this case, the GL for a cup of beets would be 13 x 64 = 832 / 100 = 8.3.
As a general guideline, a GL greater than 20 is regarded as high, between 11 and 19 as moderate, and 10 or less as low.
The glycemic index isn’t ideal, but it can be a useful tool to determine which foods are higher in refined carbohydrates and which are lower in glycemic index and frequently more nutrient packed.
Benefits
A low glycemic diet may have the following health advantages:
- Improved blood sugar regulation. Many studies have found that following a low GI diet may reduce blood sugar levels and improve blood sugar management in people with type 2 diabetes (3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source).
- Increased weight loss. Some research shows that following a low GI diet may increase short-term weight loss. More studies are needed to determine how it affects long-term weight management (5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source).
- Reduced cholesterol levels. Following a low GI diet may help lower levels of both total and LDL (bad) cholesterol, both of which are risk factors for heart disease (8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source).
