What Are High Glycemic Index Foods And How To Avoid Them?

What Are High Glycemic Index Foods And How To Avoid Them? – With the increasing cases of diabetes in recent times, the carbohydrate range present in food has become one of the most important parameters for consideration. This content is measured experimentally and presented in the form of a glycemic index (GI). The Glycemic index (GI) refers to the ranking given to different food items based on their carbohydrate content or the pace at which they raise the level of sugar in the blood. In this blog, you will learn about What Are High Glycemic Index Foods And How To Avoid Them? The glycemic index of different commonly consumed traditional food items will help you decide on an appropriate diet for yourself.

Picking up a good source of carbs may help you control your blood sugar level and your weight. Consuming healthier carbohydrates may help to prevent a host of chronic conditions, especially diseases like diabetes, but it is also associated with a lower risk of heart diseases and certain cancers. There is one way to choose foods with the glycemic index foods. The tool measures the foods that boost the blood sugar.  The GI rates effect of a specific amount of a food on blood sugar compared with the same amount of pure glucose. Foods with a glycemic index of 28 boost blood sugar by only 28% as much as pure glucose. Therefore, one with a GI of 95 acts like pure glucose. 

What Is the Glycaemic Index (GI)?

It is the rating system of foods that contain carbohydrates. It shows how quickly each food affects your blood sugar level or glucose level when that foods are eaten on its own. Do you know the purpose of the initial development of the glycemic index food GI scale was to guide food choices for people with diabetes? Then, it is similar to the foods for calculating calories or carbs in a diet plan, the GI index of a food is also one of the tools to guide for food choices and menu planning. There are different research methods for assigning the GI values of the foods that you consume in your daily routine. The number is based on how can your food raise your body’s blood sugar level in your body. 

Factors Affecting The Glycemic Index Of Foods

Some of the factors that may affect the GI of foods are as mentioned below:

• Fiber content.
• Types of sugar and scratches.
• Macronutrient content, including protein and fat. 
• The physical form of food you consume.
• Processing, preparation, and cooking methods. 
• Anti-nutrients in the food, are substances that may block the absorption of nutrients into the body.

The high glycemic foods result in a quick spike in insulin and blood sugar levels (also known as blood glucose). Low GI foods have a slower and smaller impact on your health. 

Why Choosing Low Glycemic Foods?

Using the GI ( Glycemic index is very easy): choose foods that are low GI instead of those in the high GI category, and may go easy on those in between. There are different values of GI in foods are generally divided into 3 categories as mentioned below:

• Low Glycemic Index (GI) – 1 to 55 – This may mostly include fruits and vegetables, beans, minimally processed grains, nuts, low-fat dairy foods, and pasta. 
• Average GI – 56 to 69 – It includes white and sweet potatoes, corn, white rice, couscous, and breakfast cereals such as cream of wheat and mini wheat. 
• High GI – 70 or more – Foods like white bread, rice cakes, bagels, cakes, most crackers, doughnuts, croissants, and mostly packed breakfast cereals. 

Comparing all these values may help people make healthier food choices for them. Such as a muffin made up of white floor has a GI value of 77. While the same muffin made with whole wheat has a GI value of 45 only. It all depends upon your health choices. 

What Are The Ways To Avoid The High GI Foods?

We can avoid high GI foods by consuming average GI-rich foods for our well-being. This may impact the overall health of the person this may impact the health and over. Here we’ll discuss the foods for lowering the GI of the meal. 

• Use dressings containing vinegar or lemon juice.( Acids that can lower a food’s GI)
• Adding more fiber to your meal.
• Combine your carbs with protein to lower the overall GI of your meal. 
• Consuming potato or rice cooked but cooled, for example, as part of a salad.

List Of Foods With Their Glycemic Index Of Foods

Here we are determining the GI of foods that you often eat can be useful if you are following a low glycemic diet. Some of the foods with their GI values are mentioned below:

Some List of Fruits with their GI values:

• Apple – 36
• Oranges – 43 
• Banana – 51
• Pineapple – 59
• Watermelon – 76

Here the List of Boiled Vegetables with their GI values:

• Carrot – 39
• Sweet Potatoes – 63
• Pumpkin – 74
• Potatoes – 78

List of Grains with their GI values:

• Rolled Oats – 55
• Couscous – 65
• Popcorn – 65
• Brown Rice – 68
• White Rice – 73
• White Bread – 75

 Legumes with their GI values:

• Soya Beans – 16
• Kidney Beans – 24
• Chickpeas – 28 
• Lentiles – 32 

List of Dairy Products with their GI values:

• Soymilk – 34
• Skim Milk – 37
• Whole Milk – 39
• Ice Cream – 51 

Benefits Of The Low Glycemic Diet (GI)

Having a diet that is beneficial for your health that is low glycemic diets could prevent and manage:

• Obesity 
• Diabetes 
• Coronary Artery Disease
• Fertility and Pregnancy 
• Mood & Energy 

However, the dieticians and doctors suggested that low glycemic diets are also important in insulin resistance and possibly some cancers as well. 

Conclusion 

In this blog we’ve discussed What Are High Glycemic Index Foods And How To Avoid Them? We have learned the meaning of GI, categories of GI, and ways to avoid high glycemic foods, and others thus we also discussed the foods with their glycemic food value. Following a low GI diet may offer several health benefits, as it could balance your sugar levels, reduce liver fat, and increase short-term weight as well. We hope that this blog is beneficial for your knowledge. For more information kindly contact Dietician Priyanka for complete information. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS)

Question 1- If low GI food is consumed by a diabetic person what will happen?

Answer – Consuming low GI foods may help to lower the high blood sugar level in the body. It is mostly beneficial for the person with type 2 diabetes. 

Question 2- Does Low- GI food help to reduce weight?

Answer –  Yes, it is helpful to reduce weight but for a short period.