Glycemic index is a popular term in the diabetes world, especially in the United States.
But how does the glycemic index relate to healthy diets, particularly healthy diets in diabetic patients? What does it do and how important is it?
In this article, what your glucose index is, what it is, and how you use it can be a great tool for you and your diabetes management.
What is the blood glucose index?
The blood glucose index, or GI for short, is a system that grades food on a scale of 1 to 100. All foods have a score, and the lower the score, the longer it takes for a certain food to raise a person’s blood sugar level, regardless of whether they have diabetes or not.
GI specifically shows how quickly carbohydrate-containing foods increase blood sugar levels compared to pure glucose (with a score of 100).
The Glycemic Index is not a specific diet, but a tool and diet plan that people can use to better guide their food choices to make healthier decisions.
There are three categories of GI scale foods:
- Low GI: 1-55
- Inside GI: 56-69
- High GI: 70 or more
Several factors affect a food’s glycemic index, such as nutrient composition, cooking methods, aging/meal preparation, and the amount of specific food throughput.
For example, an English muffin made from white flour has a GI value of 77, while a whole wheat alternative has a GI value of just 45.
Routine selection of foods with low GIs can lead to improved health outcomes and improved quality of life, especially if you live with diabetes.
Glycemic index versus glucose load
The blood glucose index is just part of the story. It doesn’t tell you how high your blood sugar will be when you eat, or how quickly it will rise.
“Blood glucose load” takes into account glucose with each serving, allowing you to know exactly how your blood sugar is affected by the food you eat.
For example, watermelons have a relatively high glycemic index of 80, but one serving (1 cup) watermelon has only 11 carbohydrates, with just 5 glycemic loads.
This means that a series of watermelons will quickly raise your blood sugar levels, but not so high.
How does the glycemic index help people with diabetes?
Eating food while recognizing GI can help for many reasons.
It mainly helps people stabilize their blood sugar levels (even if they don’t have diabetes), reducing the total amount of carbohydrates they consume. It can also help people:
A meta-analysis of 24 studies showed that every five GI points in a particular food would increase a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 8%.
Eating foods according to the blood glucose index (and generally eating foods with a low glycemic index) can help people with diabetes significantly improve their blood glucose levels, lower HBA1C, and improve their overall quality of life.
Studies have shown that eating mainly low-glycemic foods can also lead to weight loss in diabetic patients, improving insulin sensitivity and preventing insulin resistance.
Blood glucose levels are easier to manage by eating lower GI foods. This can help improve mental health, prevent diabetes burning, and reduce anxiety about blood sugar fluctuations.
What foods should you eat on a low-GI diet?
Always work with your primary care physician before starting a new diet plan. However, a good GI diet consists of many of the following:
- Fruits and Berries: Cherry, strawberry, blueberries, raspberries, lemon, lime, grapefruit
- Non-stardy vegetables: Broccoli, onion, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, carrot, spinach, kale, avocado
- Beans and Legumes: Lentils, black beans, navy beans, chickpeas, kidney beans
- meat: Chicken, beef, bison, lamb, pork, turkey
- seafood: Tuna, salmon, shrimp, anchovies, sardines
- oil: Extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil
- Nuts and seeds: Cashews, almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts, chia seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds
- Herbs and spices
There are no foods off limits in the GI feeding plan, but foods with high GI should be restricted.
What foods should you avoid on a low-GI diet?
If you are following a low GI diet, you should avoid foods with high glycemic indexes such as:
- serial: Instant Oatmeal and Breakfast Cereal
- bread: White bread, pita bread, bagels, pizza skin
- Rice: White rice
- pasta: Lasagna, spaghetti, macaroni, ravioli
- Starchy Vegetables: White potatoes in all forms (including potato chips and fries)
- Desserts and sweets: Donuts, ice cream, cakes, muffins, cupcakes, cookies, chocolate
- Sugar sweet drink: Soda, fruit juice (100% juice), sports and energy drinks, sweet milk, milkshakes
What are the drawbacks of a low-GI diet?
Especially if you have diabetes, being aware of the glycemic index of the food you are consuming can be a very healthy way of eating. However, diet plans have some drawbacks.
The GI plan does not take into account other macronutrients such as fats and proteins. It is also important to consider not only the GI but also the total amount of carbohydrates you are eating to manage your blood sugar and predict your glucose load.
It is also important to keep total fiber and total sugar in mind in the food you are consuming, especially when determining the amount of insulin or oral diabetic medication to take if you live with diabetes.
For example, the glycemic index for french fries production is 75, while the GI for baked potatoes is 93.
Following this plan, it is important that for people who eat fries on potatoes, it is also an important factor in a person’s diet, if it is important to consider the vitamins, minerals and fiber that the potatoes provide.
Another difficulty with this diet plan is that when most foods are part of a recipe or meal, the GI scale measures individual foods.
This makes the total GI of the overall meal more difficult and makes it difficult to follow when eating outside the home.
Furthermore, because GI feeding plans do not take into account the size of the portion, appropriate and low-GI foods may not be appropriate for most of the potentially havoc on blood sugar levels (such as whole wheat bread and berries).
Consult your doctor before adjusting insulin and/or oral diabetic medications as changing your dietary plan may change your medication needs.
Conclusion
In short, following a low blood sugar feeding plan means replacing higher GI foods for higher GI food alternatives.
Feeding plans have been proven to help people achieve better health outcomes, including lowering cholesterol, improving blood sugar levels, lowering HBA1C levels, losing weight, and improving heart health.
However, meal plans can be difficult to follow, especially when eating at restaurants or eating away from home.
Also, this diet does not take into account protein, fat, sugar, fiber or total carbohydrates. This is especially important for people with diabetes who juggle drug and dietary management with medication, exercise, sleep and stress management.
It is important to consume a variety of healthy diets. It focuses primarily on all and raw foods, regardless of glycemic index.
And as always, work with your primary care physician or endocrinologist before making any changes to your diet, dietary plan, or medication.
