If you’ve opted for a healthier lifestyle, one thing you want to familiarize yourself with is the Glycemic Index (GI).
Knowing that you need to eat low glycemic foods over high glycemic foods will help you maintain your weight and lower your risk of diabetes. Let’s take a closer look at blood glucose and the Glycemic Index.
All foods affect our blood glucose levels and when these levels are raised we produce more insulin to convert the glucose into energy. The excess glucose that we don’t burn up will automatically convert into fat and be stored. By following proper nutrition guidelines, keeping your meals smaller and more frequent, and selecting foods that have a low GI will help you maintain your blood sugar levels more evenly. This is an effective way to manage your weight and avoid spikes in insulin.
The Glycemic Index was created by St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Using white bread as the barometer to measure the glycemic effects of other food, it was given a value of 100. Any kind of food that converted glucose slower than white bread or 100 was indexed as a low glycemic food. These are slow-absorbing foods like wholegrains, wholewheat breads and proteins. Any food affecting blood sugar levels quicker than white bread or 100 were indexed as high glycemic foods. These include white rice, processed cereals and fruits.
While diabetics use this index as a guideline for what to eat and not to eat, we can all learn from it. Restricting our consumption of high glycemic foods helps reduce the risk of heart disease and colon cancer. Low GI foods generally have more fiber, which helps in reducing cholesterol.
If you want to calculate the glycemic load of a food’s potential to cause increases in insulin, use this formula:
Glycemic load = GI (value) x grams of carbohydrate consumed ÷ 100
By sticking to low GI foods, you’re one step closer to managing your weight.
Originally published @ FITLODE.COM
