Glycemic Load & Glycemic Index

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Johnathan Powers
5 years ago
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1 Load & Index When food is consumed it is converted to fuel for our bodies. One type of fuel is glucose and different foods impact blood glucose levels differently. A driver of this is the amount and type of carbohydrates consumed. The glycemic looks at foods which contain the same amount of carbohydrate to raise blood sugar within a range of It ranks their effect on blood glucose relative to pure glucose which has a rating of 100. Generally speaking foods which are easily digested, absorbed and metabolized by the body will have a high glycemic rating 70. Foods however which have carbohydrates which are more slowly digested, and may be complex carbohydrates which have more fiber content, will have a low glycemic rating of 55. There are then some foods in between these two ends which are referred to as intermediate- glycemic foods which have a rating of between But it isn t that simple. There are some foods which may score high on the glycemic in terms of their carbohydrate content but when you look at a single serving of these foods, the available carbohydrate content makes the impact on the body lower. One example might be watermelon which has a glycemic similar to a doughnut. But when a single serving is examined, there are more available carbohydrates in a doughnut than there are in a serving of watermelon. To address this difference, there is another measure of glycemic impact called glycemic load which looks at both the quantity and the quality of carbohydrate consumed. load also ranks carbohydrate-rich foods but it measures the amount of carbohydrate in a single serving. Low glycemic load (GL) foods are those which have a GL 10 and those which have little impact on blood sugar. Those foods with a GL of between11-19 are considered moderate GL foods and have a moderate impact on blood glucose. Then there are the high GL foods which cause blood sugar to spike. High GL foods are rated 20. Going back to the example of the watermelon and the doughnut. While they rank similarly on the glycemic, they have very different glycemic loads. One serving of a medium-sized doughnut carries a glycemic load of 17 whereas one serving of watermelon has a significantly lower glycemic load of 8. The high glycemic rating is based on 5 cups of watermelon, not what would be contained in a 1 cup serving.

2 While a good general rule of thumb is that most of the healthier foods will carry a lower glycemic and a similar low glycemic load. However certain foods such as bananas, pineapples, watermelon and parsnips have intermediate-to-high glycemic ratings, but actually have low-to-intermediate glycemic loads. Since the glycemic is not based on single standard service sizes, but rather on how quickly the carbohydrate can be absorbed, a better indicator of how a food will impact blood sugar would be glycemic load. Eating a balanced diet of quality protein and fat as well as foods with a lower glycemic load and even lower on the glycemic is recommended and will help you feel satiated longer with more sustained energy.

3 Focus on consuming low to medium glycemic load foods. Rating of 1 10= low glycemic load Rating of 11 19= medium glycemic load Rating of 20+= high glycemic load-- AVOID/MINIMIZE CONSUMPTION OF THESE S load BAKERY PRODUCTS AND BREADS Banana cake, made with sugar Banana cake, made without sugar Sponge cake, plain Vanilla cake made from packet mix with vanilla frosting (Betty Crocker) Apple muffin, made with rolled oats and sugar Apple muffin, made with rolled oats and without sugar Waffles, Aunt Jemima Bagel, white, frozen Baguette, white, plain

4 load Coarse barley bread, 80% kernels Hamburger bun Kaiser roll Pumpernickel bread % cracked wheat kernel bread White wheat flour bread, average Wonder bread, average Whole wheat bread, average % Whole Grain bread (Natural Ovens) Pita bread, white Corn tortilla Wheat tortilla BEVERAGES Coca Cola (US formula) ml 16 2

5 load Fanta, orange soft drink ml 23 Lucozade, original (sparkling glucose drink) ml 40 Apple juice, unsweetened ml 12 Cranberry juice cocktail (Ocean Spray ) ml 24 Gatorade, orange flavor (US formula) ml 13 Orange juice, unsweetened, average ml 12 Tomato juice, canned, no sugar added ml 4 BREAKFAST CEREALS AND RELATED PRODUCTS All Bran, average Coco Pops, average Cornflakes, average Cream of Wheat Cream of Wheat, Instant Grape Nuts

6 load Muesli, average Oatmeal, average Instant oatmeal, average Puffed wheat cereal Raisin Bran Special K (US formula) GRAINS Pearled barley, average Sweet corn on the cob Couscous Quinoa White rice, boiled, type non specified Quick cooking white basmati Brown rice, steamed

7 load Parboiled Converted white rice (Uncle Ben's ) Whole wheat kernels, average Bulgur, average COOKIES AND CRACKERS Graham crackers Vanilla wafers Shortbread Rice cakes, average Rye crisps, average Soda crackers DAIRY PRODUCTS AND ALTERNATIVES Ice cream, regular, average Ice cream, premium (Sara Lee ) Milk, full fat, average ml 4 5

8 load Milk, skim, average ml 4 Reduced fat yogurt with fruit, average FRUITS Apple, average Banana, raw, average Dates, dried, average Grapefruit Grapes, black Oranges, raw, average Peach, average Peach, canned in light syrup Pear, raw, average Pear, canned in pear juice Prunes, pitted

9 load Raisins Watermelon BEANS AND NUTS Baked beans Black eyed peas Black beans Chickpeas Chickpeas, canned in brine Navy beans, average Kidney beans, average Lentils Soy beans, average Cashews, salted Peanuts

10 load PASTA and NOODLES Fettucini Macaroni, average Macaroni and Cheese (Kraft ) Spaghetti, white, boiled, average Spaghetti, white, boiled 20 min Spaghetti, whole grain, boiled SNACK S Corn chips, plain, salted Fruit Roll Ups M & M's, peanut Microwave popcorn, plain, average Potato chips, average Pretzels, oven baked

11 load Snickers Bar, average VEGETABLES Green peas Carrots, average Parsnips Baked russet potato Boiled white potato, average Instant mashed potato, average Sweet potato, average Yam, average MISCELLANEOUS Hummus (chickpea salad dip) Chicken nuggets, frozen, reheated in microwave oven 5 min

load Pizza, plain baked dough, served with parmesan cheese and tomato sauce 80 100 22 Pizza, Super Supreme (Pizza Hut ) 36 100 9

12 load Pizza, plain baked dough, served with parmesan cheese and tomato sauce Pizza, Super Supreme (Pizza Hut ) Honey, average Obtained from: and conditions/glycemic and_glycemic_load_for_100_foods 10

Glycemic index and glycemic load for 100+ foods

Glycemic index and glycemic load for 100+ foods Measuring carbohydrate effects can help glucose management in controlling weight and starving cancer. The glycemic index is a value assigned to foods based