Can The Carbohydrate Glycemic Index Help
You Lose Weight?

How do you make sense out of the carbohydrate glycemic index?

Carbohydrates are just sugars. Whatever carbohydrate you eat, whether it is table sugar or honey or a potato, is made up of sugar.

No matter what kind of sugar, whether it is milk sugar (lactose) or fruit sugar (fructose) or whatever, it is sugar and when you get it in your blood stream it is made into blood sugar (glucose).

But some things break down very rapidly. Drink a Coke and the sugar just pours into your blood stream. Eat an apple and it is a slower process.

With sugar, slower is better

Because of this scientists came up with a way to figure out which foods go into your blood stream faster. The idea is that the more slowly the sugar is released into your blood stream the better.

So they tested different foods. They had volunteers eat white bread and rice and apples--all sorts of things--and then they measured their blood sugar.

Sometimes the blood sugar was sky high--those are the high glycemic foods. Sometimes the blood sugar was low--those are the low glycemic foods. And they added it all up and it became the carbohydrate glycemic index

Avoid the sugar blues

You want to avoid high sugar levels--which cause too much insulin to pour out--which then blood sugar to crash. And then you get cravings for more junk food.

You can even get weak, sweaty, confused and irritable. When you get that from low sugar it is called "hypoglycemia."

You can look at tables of low and high carbohydrate glycemic index foods. They will show you in detail what you should eat that is the best for controlling your blood sugar.

Note--

The original research on the glycemic index was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1981, and there is a table that shows the latest research about the glycemic index (opens in a new window) on their website. That list is not searchable, and while it has a lot of data, reading it will probably make you dizzy.

There is a searchable database of the glycemic index (opens in a new window) maintained by the University of Sydney.

The simple version

But the principles are actually very simple:

Avoid foods that are high-glycemic foods. These are refined foods--foods that have been changed from the way they are in nature. So avoid white bread, white rice, breakfast cereals, and of course sugary drinks and cakes and candies.

The low glycemic foods are more natural and they are better for you. These release sugar into your blood more slowly, so your body has time to adjust to it. These foods include whole grains, brown rice, whole wheat bread, and most fruit and vegetables.

The more it looks like it did in nature, the better it is for you. So apples are better than applesauce. And applesauce is better than apple juice.

Don't get hung up on the details

As far as the details--they are probably not worth worrying about. For example, you will hear that you shouldn't eat carrots because they are a high-glycemic food. Now, did you ever see anybody that had a weight problem because they ate carrots? No, you didn't.

So you have to use your head. Eat a good mix of lean protein, unrefined grains, plenty of vegetables and fruit. Eat reasonable amounts. And don't eat one food to excess. And you will feel satisfied, you will be healthy, and you will lose weight.

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