What Is The Glycemic Index And Why You Need To Know About It

The Glycemic Index (GI) ranks carbohydrate-rich foods according to how quickly they raise your blood glucose level. Higher GI rated foods raise your blood glucose level more quickly than lower rated GI foods. Generally speaking, the lower the rating, the better the quality of carbohydrate.

Not all carbohydrate foods are the same and many behave quite differently in our bodies. Choosing low GI carbs - the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels may help maintain long-term health by reducing your risk of conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and help you obtain and maintain a healthy weight.

Not only do low GI foods raise your blood glucose more slowly than higher GI foods, they are generally healthier choices. Low GI foods are usually lower in calories and fat, while also being high in healthy things such as fibre, nutrients and antioxidants. Lower GI foods generally keep you feeling fuller, longer.

Some of the benefits of a low GI diet are: obtaining and maintaining a healthy weight, increasing the body's sensitivity to insulin, helping control diabetes, reducing the risk of heart disease, reducing blood cholesterol levels, and prolonging energy levels.

The great news is that switching to a low glycemic index diet is quite easy to do. You can begin by switching high GI carbs for low GI carbs.

Here are some helpful tips to get started on a low glycemic index diet:

Use breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran, breads with wholegrains, stone-ground flour, sour dough, reduce the amount of potatoes you eat, use Basmati or Doongara rice, eat plenty of salad vegetables with a vinaigrette dressing. Additionally, you can help your overall diet and health by eating at regular times, choosing a variety of foods from all food groups, limiting your intake of sugar and sweets and reducing the amount of saturated fat consumed and substituting with monounsaturated fats such as olive oil. Limiting your intake of salt, alcohol and caffeine can also prove beneficial.

It's a good idea to choose at least one low GI food at each meal and to limit the amount of processed, refined starchy foods, as they tend to be low in fibre and other nutrients and have a higher GI. Eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables is recommended. Fruits and vegetables have a low GI, so they break down into sugar slowly in your body. Five to ten servings of fruits and vegetables every day is typically recommended by various sources. Also when you're eating salads, use vinaigrette dressing; it's lower in fat, plus the acidity of vinegar slows digestion, lowering the meal's GI. One obvious thing is to watch your portion sizes; the bigger the portion, the more it raises blood sugar, regardless of its GI rank.

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