Low glycemic foods are the best foods to eat if you are trying to control your blood sugar, but it also works well to eat low glycemic foods if your goal is weight loss.
But just what are low glycemic foods?
The Glycemic Index
The glycemic index is a listing of foods and how each of those foods increases our blood sugar. As you might imagine, eating straight sugar increases your blood sugar but here is the strange thing: other foods increase your blood sugar too (some even more than eating straight sugar).
The glycemic index came about when a scientist decided to check someone’s blood sugar and then give them a single food and then test to see what that food did to their blood sugar. It is a simple enough experiment, but it yielded some surprising results. Foods that we thought would increase blood sugar did, but some of those foods act more sugary that sugar itself. Part of this has to do with what we are measuring and part of it has to do with how readily available the sugars in foods are when we eat them.
Here is a breakdown of a typical glycemic index chart:
High Glycemic Index Foods
Sugar (of course), any refined grain-based food (think: breads, chips, donuts, cereals…) and cooked potatoes (French fries…) and a few fruits (bananas, watermelon…).
Medium Glycemic Index Foods
Whole grains eaten as whole grains (like rice, barley, but not whole grain breads), some beans, pasta.
Low Glycemic Index Foods
Most fruits and vegetables (but not potato), proteins (like fish, chicken, beef), nuts
What you will notice about the chart is that most of high and medium glycemic index foods are grains, sugars and simple starches. These are the foods you want to avoid
Low Glycemic Foods
Here is the list of the some of the low glycemic foods (for a database, go to www.glycemicindex.com )
Low Glycemic Foods
Low glycemic foods are the best foods to eat if you are trying to control your blood sugar, but it also works well to eat low glycemic foods if your goal is weight loss.
But just what are low glycemic foods?
The Glycemic Index
The glycemic index is a listing of foods and how each of those foods increases our blood sugar. As you might imagine, eating straight sugar increases your blood sugar but here is the strange thing: other foods increase your blood sugar too (some even more than eating straight sugar).
The glycemic index came about when a scientist decided to check someone’s blood sugar and then give them a single food and then test to see what that food did to their blood sugar. It is a simple enough experiment, but it yielded some surprising results. Foods that we thought would increase blood sugar did, but some of those foods act more sugary that sugar itself. Part of this has to do with what we are measuring and part of it has to do with how readily available the sugars in foods are when we eat them.
Here is a breakdown of a typical glycemic index chart:
What you will notice about the chart is that most of high and medium glycemic index foods are grains, sugars and simple starches. These are the foods you want to avoid
Low Glycemic Foods
Here is the list of the some of the low glycemic foods (for a database, go to www.glycemicindex.com )
GRAINS
Grain Products
FRUITS (RAW)
VEGETABLES
Lettuce of all kinds
Mixed greens
BEANS
DAIRY
NUTS AND SEEDS
PROTEIN
MUSHROOMS