Know the Glycemic Index; Improve Your Health Now

During the early, 1980’s Dr. David Jenkins from the University of Toronto wanted to know which foods were best for those with diabetes. He came up with the first GI (glycemic Index) it contained 51 food rated on a scale in which he compared them to the effect sugar has on the blood sugar level.

This is similar to the “blood glucose” test a doctor might give you today to determine if you have a problem utilizing glucose. In the standardized test, you are given a pre-determined amount of glucose (usually 50 grams). After 2 hours the blood glucose level is retested to see if it falls within the “normal range.” This widely used to determine the bodies ability to deal effectively with high blood sugar levels.

There are two ways the International table of glycemic index and glycemic load values that are commonly used. The first based on sugar, ranked at 100, the highest level. The second based on white bread, ranked at 70 leaving sugar at 143. There are useful and practical ways for the end user to use these depending upon the individual needs.

The GI of the food ingested reflects in the blood glucose. The insulin from the pancreas is designed to counter act the high blood sugar level from the immediate and sudden surge in blood sugar (this can easily go to a critical level if it was a “high” GI food that was ingested and the pancreas is not fully functioning, as it should).

Diabetics go into life threatening “insulin shock” when this happens.
The body is not adapted to supplying so much insulin on a daily and on-going basis. The pancreas can’t keep up, as a result problems called “disease” develop in time. The most obvious of these is diabetes.

There are many preventable “diseased conditions” as well that are effected by chronic high blood sugar levels.

“several studies have shown that the dietary GI is a good predictor of HDL concentrations in the healthy population, whereas the amount and type of fat are not.”

That’s good to know what really does cause our disease conditions. More about that later.

For now, go to the links below and learn how easy it is to know what the high and low glycemic foods are. Stay way from the high GI foods and eat more of the low GI foods that are slowly absorbed and do not give the sudden spike in blood sugar levels for your good health and well-being.

http://www.ajcn.org/content/76/1/5.full

http://thefoodfarce.com/49-2/

International table of glycemic index and glycemic load
values: 2002 A listing of 750 worldwide regional foods
http://www.ajcn.org/content/76/1/5.full.pdf