Glycemic Load
The glycemic index is a measure of the quality of carbohydrate foods, based on how they affect your blood sugar. It's kind of a good carbs, bad carbs thing.
I'm Dr. Caroline Cederquist, giving you The Skinny on Your Health.
In the glycemic index, pure glucose or table sugar is assigned the score of 100, and all other foods are given a number relative to glucose. Foods with a low glycemic index break down slowly and don't cause drastic fluctuations in blood sugar that make you hungry. Most foods with a high glycemic index do.
But not all, because fiber plays a big role in how the glycemic load of a given food is released into your blood. Watermelon is a classic example. Like many fruits, it has a high GI. But it also has a lot of fiber and water, and the sugar in it gets into the blood more slowly.
Generally, I recommend that people take their fruits with a meal, or with some protein like cottage cheese or regular cheese. These help mitigate their blood sugar elevating affects, because you don't want to avoid your apple a day.
Glycemic Index and Satiety Index
We know there's no miracle munchie, but if you had to choose just one food for snacking, based on how long it would keep you from getting hungry again, what would you choose to eat?
Maybe a better question is how would you choose? Diners and dieters familiar with the index could run through the numbers they know from that nifty scale and come up with a pretty good response for the question, but others may be more stymied.
There's actually another measurement tool might help us identify the best hunger-fighter foods of all. It's called the "Satiety Index," meaning that it's a gauge of how well a food keeps you feeling satisfied and keeps hunger sensations at bay. It's similar to the glycemic index, and it's a pretty nifty tool in its own right. . .
To read the complete Glycemic Index story click here.
The Glycemic Index: Good carb, bad carb
If you're one of those people who can't stand all the counting and tracking and adding and charting that some diets require, you could find a refuge in one simple numerical scale: the glycemic index. On the other hand, you might find it another maddening way to complicate the simple act of eating.
The glycemic index is a measure of the quality of carbohydrate foods. It's kind of a good carbs/bad carbs thing, based on how they affect your blood sugar. Though it's not new, it did start getting a lot of press when the anti-carb movement took hold.
It works like this: in the glycemic index , pure glucose is arbitrarily assigned the score of 100; it doesn't mean anything in particular; it's just a set reference point for how it has affected the blood sugar by about two hours after eating. Then all other foods in the index are given a number relative to glucose and its affect on the blood sugar. . .
To read the complete Glycemic Index story click here.
What is the Glycemic Index?
Not all carbohydrate foods are created equal. The fact is they behave quite differently in our bodies. The glycemic index or GI describes this difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels.
Choosing low glycemic index (GI) carbohydrates - the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels - is the secret to long-term health. By choosing these foods you can reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes and can be the key to sustainable weight loss.
