The glycemic foods index rates carbohydrate foods according to how quickly they are absorbed into the blood. Each food is given a number from one to one hundred. The scale is separated into three categories High GI which has a rating of 70 and above, medium which is rated between 56 and 69, and low which is under 55.
The glycemic index of foods has been compiled by scientists researching the assimilation rates of foods. There are a few centers in the world for this research and between them they measure as many foods as possible . They decide the rate by feeding food to healthy subjects and then testing their blood sugar levels.
the explanation for why it is important to be aware of the glycemic rating of foods is that eating many high GI foods is negative to health. These foods enter the blood vessels very quickly and thus cause variations in those levels which rise and fall swiftly. This isn’t very good for a number of reasons , it causes changes in energy levels, can cause you to feel hungry again just after eating and causes the pancreas to supply too much insulin. Long-term health issues can result from these effects such as diabetes, obesity and coronary disease.
High GI foods include white flour bread, sweet nibbles, potato chips, sodas and potatoes. A good rough guide is to contemplate the processing of the food. If it is highly processed and refined it’s likely to be high GI. However this doesn’t apply to each food as some fruit and plants are rated in the high category.
Low GI foods include whole grains, oats, most bran products, whole-wheat pasta, pearl barley and lentils. The only way to be sure is to check the GI rating as there are foods which would appear to be low GI but are not.
There’s a lot of info on the web about the Glycemic Index so you can check out what the ratings of your favourite foods are. There are several health benefits to changing to low GI foods and it’s a reasonably straightforward thing to do but you will need a catalogue of glycemic foods to do so.
The glycemic foods index is based on research from the Center for Disease Control. If you are looking for a list of glycemic foods just click on one of the links.
