In our previous blog, we have mentioned how glycemic index of a particular food impacts your blood sugar level. Let us dig into more detail!
So what is a glycemic index?
Glycemic index(GI) ranks various carbs containing food items/beverages on the basis of how much blood sugar level it spikes after they are consumed. Foods with high GI spikes sugar level faster than does foods with low GI. There are 3 GI categories:
- High GI (70 or more)~ red flag( stop & think)- should eat least often. Only situation when one can have food with high GI is post workout when you need to refuel your glycogen stores
- Medium GI(56 to 69)~ Caution~ should eat less often
- Low GI( 55 & less)~ ok to have~ choose most often
One should always look out for low & medium GI foods & swap it with those with high GI. So what is the benefit of having low GI food?
- Decreases the risk of type 2 diabetes
- Reduced the risk of heart disease & stroke.
- Feel full for a longer period of time since low GI foods( complex carbs) gets digested slowly.
- Aids in weight management
So what should be part of your diet to have low GI powered foods?
Ideally you should focus on foods made up of more than 2 molecules. Prefer having foods that have high fibre content. The following are important to consider:
- Make fruits & milk as a part of your regular meal
- Try low GI grains such as barley
- Pulses can be grains and starches or meat and alternatives. Swap half of your higher GI starch food serving with beans, lentils or chickpeas. For example, instead of having 1 cup of cooked short grain rice, have ½ cup of cooked rice mixed with ½ cup of black beans.
Your regular meal should consist of vegetables(50%), grain & starches(25%), meat(25%)/high protein alternatives along with milk & fruits.
Some carbohydrate foods and drinks have so little carbohydrate that they do not have a GI value. This does not mean they cannot be included as part of a healthy diet. Examples include green vegetables, lemon. These foods do not impact the blood sugar of people living with diabetes.
Here is a list of foods with low, medium & high GI.
Low GI foods(Grains & Starches)
Breads: Heavy Mixed Grain Breads Spelt Bread Sourdough Bread Tortilla (Whole Grain)
Cereal: All-Bran™ Cereal All-Bran Buds™ With Psyllium Cereal Oat Bran Oats (Steel Cut) Grains: Barley Bulgur Mung Bean
Pulse Flours Quinoa Rice (Converted, Parboiled)
Other: Peas Popcorn Sweet Potato Winter Squash
Medium GI foods(Grains & Starches)
Breads: Chapati (White, Whole Wheat) Flaxseed/Linseed Bread Pita Bread (White, Whole Wheat) Pumpernickel Bread Roti (White, Whole Wheat) Rye Bread (Light, Dark, Whole Grain) Stone Ground Whole Wheat Bread Whole Grain Wheat Bread
Cereal: Cream of Wheat™ (Regular) Oats (Instant) Oats (Large Flake) Oats (Quick) Grains: Basmati Rice Brown Rice Cornmeal Couscous (Regular, Whole Wheat) Rice Noodles White Rice (Short, Long Grain) Wild Rice
Other: Beets* Corn French Fries Parsnip Potato (Red, White, Cooled) Rye Crisp Crackers (e.g. Ryvita Rye Crispbread™) Stoned Wheat Thins™ Crackers
High GI foods(Grains & Starches)
Breads: Bread (White, Whole Wheat) Naan (White, Whole Wheat) Cereal: All-Bran Flakes™ Cereal Corn Flakes™ Cereal Cream of Wheat™ (Instant) Puffed Wheat Cereal Rice Krispies™ Cereal Special K™
Cereal Grains: Jasmine Rice Millet Sticky Rice White Rice (Instant)
Other: Carrots* Potato (Instant Mashed) Potato (Red, White, Hot) Pretzels Rice Cakes Soda Crackers
Low GI foods(Fruits)
Apple Apricot (Fresh, Dried) Banana (Green, Unripe) Berries Cantaloupe Grapefruit Honeydew Melon Mango Orange Peach Pear Plum Pomegranate Prunes
Medium GI foods(Fruits)
Banana (Ripe, Yellow) Cherries (Bottled) Cherries (Fresh) Cranberries (Dried) Figs (Fresh, Dried) Grapes Kiwi Lychee Pineapple Raisins
High GI foods(Fruits)
Banana (Brown, Overripe) Watermelon
Low GI foods(Meat & Alternatives)
Baked Beans Chickpeas Kidney Beans Lentils Mung Beans Romano Beans Soybeans/Edamame Split Peas
Medium GI foods(Meat & Alternatives)
Lentil Soup (ready-made) Split Pea Soup (ready-made)
