Hello, I am Ty Mason of thediabetescouncil.com, researcher, writer and I have type 2 diabetes.
Today I want to talk about the glycemic index.
After you watch the video today, I invite you check out the description box for my new
ebook.
This is one of the most comprehensive diabetes meal planning book you can find.
It contains diabetes friendly meals/recipes, recipes for different goals such as 800-1800
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Let me state up front that while I believe the glycemic index is a very important tool
for those of us with diabetes, I truly believe the glycemic load is a better tool.
But the glycemic load uses the glycemic index in its calculation, therefore understanding
the GI is also an important concept.
To get the absolute best research material for this subject, I will be quoting a lot
of material from the official website of the International GI Database which is hosted
by the University of Sydney.
That web address is www.glycemicindex.com This website is an extraordinary research
tool with a plethora of information about the glycemic index.
I truly invite you to visit this site if you want to know more about this topic.
As I stated, all of my research was done on this extensive website.
The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbs on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the
extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating.
The ranking is as follows: Food with a GI of 55 or less is considered
a low GI food Food with a GI of 56-69 is a medium GI food
Food with a GO of 70 or higher is a High GI Food
Foods with a high GI are those which are rapidly digested and absorbed.
This results in a yo-yo effect in blood sugar levels.
Low-GI foods are digested and absorbed in a gradual way.
This produces a much more even rise in blood sugar and insulin levels.
Research has proven this much more beneficial to the health of those with diabetes.
Low GI diets have been shown to improve both glucose and lipid levels in people with diabetes
(type 1 and type 2).
Weight can be controlled much better with a low GI diet.
Low GI foods are absorbed slowly which helps you feel fuller longer.
The impact on your blood sugar is minimal and you will see a reduction in insulin levels
and insulin resistance.
Recent studies from Harvard School of Public Health indicate that the risks of type 2 diabetes
and coronary heart disease are strongly related to the GI of the overall diet.
In 1999, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
recommended that “people in industrialized countries base their diets on low-GI foods
in order to prevent the most common diseases of affluence, such as coronary heart disease,
diabetes and obesity.”
I found it very interesting how a GI value for a particular food is determined.
According to the GI website, “To determine a food's GI value, measured portions of the
food containing 50 grams of available carbohydrate (or 25 grams of available carbohydrate for
foods that contain lower amounts of carbohydrate) are fed to 10 healthy people after an overnight
fast.
Finger-prick blood samples are taken at 15-30 minute intervals over the next two hours.
These blood samples are used to construct a blood sugar response curve for the two hour
period.
The incremental area under the curve (iAUC) is calculated to reflect the total rise in
blood glucose levels after eating the test food.
The GI value is calculated by dividing the iAUC for the test food by the iAUC for the
reference food (same amount of glucose) and multiplying by 100.”
There is now a push by some to have terms like “sugars” and “complex carbs”
removed from a nutrition label and replaced with “Total Carbs” (carbs minus dietary
fiber) and “Glycemic Index.”
The main problem with this concept is that are very places who conduct legitimate GI
calculations.
The Human Nutrition Unit at the University of Sydney has been at the forefront of glycemic
index research for over two decades and has tested hundreds of foods as an integral part
of its program.
If you have watched any of my videos at all, you know that I am an advocate of the Glycemic
Load rather than the Glycemic Index.
The glycemic index basically only tells us how quickly a food is digested and gets into
the bloodstream.
But the glycemic load takes into consideration every component of the food as a whole.
It tells us much more about how a food will affect our blood sugar overall.
With Glycemic Load the numbers are different.
Foods with a GL 10 and below are considered low GL
Foods with a GL between 11-19 are considered medium GL
Foods with a GL 20 and above are high GL Foods.
Because the glycemic load of a food looks at the food as a whole and not just the carbs,
the same food can have a high glycemic index, but an overall low glycemic load, making it
better for you than it originally might have appeared.
Take watermelon for example.
If you just looked at the GI of watermelon (and many have) you would not eat it as one
with diabetes.
Why?
The GI of watermelon is 95.
So you are told as one with diabetes you can’t eat that!
It’s GI is way too high.
But the GL of watermelon is 4.
It has very little impact on blood sugar.
So you might have not even considered watermelon on the basis of the GI, but the GL is so low
it’s a great summer time snack.
I was so pleased to see the following on the GI website:
“Glycemic load or GL combines both the quality and quantity of carbohydrate in one 'number'.
It's the best way to predict blood glucose values of different types and amounts of food.”
This validates my hypothesis about the GL.
The formula to calculate GL is very simple: GL = (GI x the amount of carbs) divided by
100 Note: The amount of carbs is the Total Carbs
minus the Dietary Fiber.
And this is specific to an amount of food.
Let’s take for a calculation as an example: The GI of Wonder Bread is 70.
One slice of Wonder Bread has 15 carbs with 1 carb of dietary fiber.
So our formula would be: 70 times 14 (15 carbs minus 1 dietary fiber)
divided by 100.
This equals 9.8 Wonder Bread has very little impact on your
blood sugar.
I hope this has shed light on the Glycemic Index and possibly a little more about the
Glycemic Load as well.
Don’t forget to get my new ebook and please, subscribe to our channel for many more videos
like this one in the future.
Thanks for watching.
I am Ty Mason.