Why do you need the glycemic index of foods

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

To compose a menu yourself, you need to take into account many parameters of the products. Today we are talking about what the glycemic index is, how it affects fat accumulation and whether all foods with a high glycemic index are so bad.

Good and bad carbohydrates

Most diets are one way or another focused on eliminating something from the diet. This usually works for a while. But if you stick to the diet for a long time, you can pretty much harm the digestive system and the body as a whole. Avoiding one of the nutrients, be it fats or carbohydrates, is not a good idea. It's better to figure out which foods will do more good with the same calories.

Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for humans. Once in the body, carbohydrates are converted into glucose, which is used by cells for energy. Delivery takes place with the help of a transport hormone - insulin. If there is not enough insulin, blood sugar levels rise. In response to this, a healthy body produces more insulin until sugar is brought back to normal.

But there is a problem here: when insulin levels are high, the delivery of nutrients exceeds the needs of the cells. This means that all that is superfluous is put aside.

There is another negative aspect of spikes in blood sugar levels. Have you noticed how your mood improves after eating candy? But the effect does not last long: rarely more than half an hour. Immediately after the release of insulin, the mood drops, and you reach for another batch of sweets. This swing can be rocked all day long, forming a sugar addiction.

Therefore, it is generally desirable that insulin rises smoothly. This is where we come to the concept of the glycemic index.

Glycemic index of foods

The glycemic index (GI) is a characteristic of a product that measures how much it will increase blood glucose levels compared to pure glucose. A high glycemic index is considered to be more than 70, a low - less than 35.

High GI	Average GI	Low GI
glucose, white bread toast (100)	pineapple, banana, melon, black bread, jacket potatoes (65)	dried apricots, raw carrots, pears (35)
bun, baked potatoes (95)	boiled rice, canned corn (60)	peach, apple, milk (30)
cornflakes, popcorn, white bread, stewed carrots (85)	oatmeal cookies, milk oatmeal, spaghetti, buckwheat, kiwi (50)	dark chocolate, pearl barley, cherry, plum (22)
crackers, chips (80)	pineapple juice, bran bread (45)	peanuts, apricots (20)
watermelon, zucchini, pumpkin (75)	boiled beans, grapes, apple and orange juices (40)	walnuts (15)
sugar, milk chocolate, cola (70)		eggplant, pepper, cabbage (10)

It would seem that everything is simple: you need to exclude foods with a high glycemic index (GI> 70) from the menu. With buns and chips, everything seems to be so clear. But at the same time, foods like baked potatoes, stewed carrots, watermelon, pumpkin, and zucchini also have a high GI. And the same sugar has a GI of 70.

It turns out that it is healthier to eat sugar than vegetable stew?

Of course not. To compose a menu taking into account the glycemic index, you need to remember that the percentage of carbohydrates in foods is different:

Product	Glycemic index (GI)	Percentage of carbohydrates
baked potato	95	11, 5
stewed carrot	85	29
watermelon	75	8, 8
pumpkin	75	4, 4
zucchini	75	4, 9

But sugar is 100% carbohydrate!

A simple multiplication of these values gives the glycemic load (GL) of the product:

Product	Glycemic index (GI)	Glycemic load (GL)
baked potato	95	11
stewed carrot	85	25
watermelon	75	7
pumpkin	75	3
zucchini	75	4
sugar	70	70 (!)

This concept already characterizes products better.

Glycemic load (GL)	Products
> 70	honey, sugar
60–70	cornflakes, white bread toast, jam, popcorn, bun
30–60	rice, crackers, shortbread cookies, couscous, millet, raisins, white bread, oatmeal cookies, chips, milk chocolate, spaghetti, donut
10–30	cola, croissant, black bread, stewed carrots, jacket potatoes, dried apricots, dumplings, buckwheat, banana, mashed potatoes, dark chocolate (70% cocoa), baked potatoes, ice cream
< 10	boiled beans, fruit juices, pineapple, watermelon, milk oatmeal, mango, grapes, melon, beets, pearl barley, figs, zucchini, pumpkin, pear, orange, peach, walnuts, raw carrots, cherries, apples, plums, kiwi, strawberries, peanuts, apricot, milk, grapefruit, Greek yogurt, eggplant, bell pepper, broccoli, tomato, mushrooms, lettuce

It can be seen that the usual healthy foods generally have a low glycemic load. It makes no sense to exclude them from the menu: carrots and porridge are still as useful as in the last century. And about cookies-buns, I think you understand everything without nutritional terms …

Nothing new: magic products don't exist. To lose weight, you need to expend more calories than you consume. Science does not stand still, but carrots are still healthier than sweets.

However, the glycemic index is not a useless concept.

How to use the glycemic index

• Low-GI foods provide long-term satiety, but they can be difficult to feel full at dinner. Therefore, low-GI foods in the classic menu are supplemented with high-GI foods, for example: meat with mashed potatoes or nuts with honey.
• High GI foods are not harmful. But they are appropriate when you are spending energy intensively. For example, during a long run or immediately after cleaning. But a slice or two of cake while watching a movie in the evening will definitely not do any good.
• It should be borne in mind that the cooking method affects the GI value: the smaller the pieces and the longer the heat treatment, the higher the GI. For example:

raw carrots (35)	vs	stewed carrot (85)
jacket potatoes (65)	vs	mashed potatoes (90)

Use the table that sorts foods by glycemic index and colorizes the glycemic load to help you choose the right carbohydrate situation for your situation.