What Is Glycemic Index?

What Is Glycemic Index?

The Glycemic Index (GI) is a numerical scale used to indicate how fast and how high a particular food can raise our blood glucose (blood sugar) level. A food with a low GI will typically prompt a moderate rise in blood glucose, while a food with a high GI may cause our blood glucose level to increase above the optimal level.

An awareness of foods' Glycemic Index can help you control your blood sugar levels, and by doing so, may help you prevent heart disease, improve cholesterol levels, prevent insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes, prevent certain cancers, and achieve or maintain a healthy weight. A substantial amount of research suggests a low GI diet provides these significant health benefits. So, it's worth taking a look at the basic principles of a low GI way of eating.

High Carbohydrate Foods Can Raise Blood Glucose Levels

High carbohydrate foods, even wholesome foods that are high in carbohydrates such as satisfying whole grain breads, delicious fruits, starchy vegetables, and legumes, can have an affect on blood glucose.

Carbohydrate-rich foods include:

• Starches, which are found in foods such as
  • Grains (foods made from wheat, barley, rice, etc.)
  • Legumes, (split peas, lentils and dry beans such as pinto, kidney, black, etc.)
  • Starchy vegetables (potatoes, winter squash, yams, etc.)
• Sugars, such as those naturally found in fruits and dairy products as well as packaged sweeteners, and sugars added in processing.
• Fiber-the indigestible portion of carbohydrates. However, even though fiber is considered a carbohydrate, since it is not digested (except sometimes very late in the digestive process by bacteria in the large intestine), does not directly raise blood glucose levels.

After we eat carbohydrate-rich foods, our digestive process usually breaks them down, and eventually turns them into glucose, which can then enter our bloodstream. (Since most proteins and fats from food are not turned into glucose by this same process, they typically have much less of an immediate effect on our blood sugar).

The presence of glucose in the bloodstream usually triggers the production of insulin, a hormone that helps glucose get into cells where it can be used for energy. Once our immediate energy needs have been met, extra glucose still remaining in the bloodstream can be stored in our muscles and liver for later use. If our muscle and liver stores of glucose are full, but we still have extra glucose floating around in our blood, then insulin can help our body store this excess sugar as fat.

Too Much Insulin Can Cause Problems

Since insulin helps glucose get into cells where energy is made, insulin is vital to fueling the body. However, too much insulin secretion over long periods of time can cause problems. Research shows that prolonged exposure to elevated levels of insulin can cause:

• high triglycerides
• high "bad" LDL cholesterol
• low "good" HDL cholesterol
• high blood pressure
• insulin resistance
• increased appetite
• obesity
• risk of developing or exacerbating type 2 diabetes

A Low Glycemic Healthy Way of Eating Can Help Protect Against Disease

A healthy eating plan that enables you to maintain a low to moderate Glycemic Index has great potential importance in treating and preventing chronic disease. In studies in which persons with type 2 diabetes were given a low GI diet, their risk predictors of heart disease such as total cholesterol and "bad" LDL cholesterol fell. In other short-term human studies, individuals with a high intake of high GI carbohydrates had more insulin resistance than those who ate diets based upon low GI carbohydrates.

Persons with diabetes, in particular, can reap significant benefits from a low to moderate GI way of eating. In persons with diabetes, an uncontrolled glucose level-which means blood glucose levels are often too high-can lead to severe health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and limb amputations. Fortunately, an individual with diabetes who controls his or her blood glucose levels most of the time has little risk of these complications.

People without diabetes will also find it helpful to choose a low to moderate GI way of eating since it can help them to:

• more carefully regulate their blood glucose and avoid developing the health risk factors noted above
• reverse Syndrome X conditions
• maintain a healthy energy level and avoid feelings of low energy and fatigue

Have you ever noticed that you feel lethargic after eating foods that stimulate a large insulin response, such as donuts or candy? This often happens because too much insulin is produced in response to such foods, and this excess insulin causes blood sugar levels to drop below normal, resulting in low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and fatigue.

When this happens, people who are unaware that the high sugar food they just ate is the reason for their sudden drop in energy reach for another sweet or high carbohydrate food, which starts the cycle all over again. When our blood sugar is bouncing from too high to too low repeatedly throughout the day, we certainly don't feel our best. On the other hand, when our food choices help us maintain consistent normal blood sugar levels, we feel great and have the energy we need to enjoy long, active days.

Eating the Low Glycemic Way

A helpful way of looking at high and low GI carbohydrates is explained by Robert Crahyon, M.S., promoter of the "Paleolithic Diet." Crahyon divides carbohydrates into two groups:

• Paleocarbs. The carbohydrates that sustained early mankind, the hunter-gatherers: vegetables, fruits and possibly tubers. All these carbohydrates are rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals-plus, most have a low GI.
• Neocarbs. Carbohydrates that developed as a result of agriculture: grains, legumes and flour products, then eventually, processed grain products such as those made with white flour and sugar, which have a high GI.

The majority of the World's Healthiest Foods are paleocarbs. Most of these foods have a low GI and will nourish, satisfy and energize you, while helping keep your blood sugar levels on an even keel.

The wholesome members of the World's Healthiest Foods that do have a higher GI can also be enjoyed in moderation, eaten along with low GI foods to balance their potential effect on your blood sugar levels.

For example, for breakfast, you might want to have oatmeal. Choose thick, dehulled oat flakes to make your oatmeal (these have a lower GI than rolled oats or one-minute oats), then eat grapefruit (one of the lower GI fruits) with your oatmeal rather than a banana (a fruit with a higher GI), and toss a few nuts or seeds over the oatmeal (nuts and seeds tend to have extremely low GIs). Finally, sprinkle a little cinnamon over your oatmeal. Recent studies have found that compounds in cinnamon can stimulate our cells' insulin receptors, increasing the cells' ability to absorb and use glucose. In this way, you can reduce the GI of your oatmeal and enjoy a nourishing breakfast that will provide you with plenty of energy all morning.

This article was taken from: whfoods