If you're diabetic, one of the most important tasks for you is managing your blood glucose levels. The amount of sugar in your blood is typically managed through a combination of diet, exercise and medications and involves eating foods that prevent your glucose levels from spiking. Using the glycemic index is an easy way to choose carbohydrates that will maintain safe blood glucose levels.
The Glycemic Index
The glycemic index (GI) is a convenient rating system designed to help you choose foods that will prevent your blood glucose from spiking. Foods are rated as low (less than 55), medium (55 to 70) and high (70 and above). When making healthy food choices to control your blood glucose, try to avoid foods that are rated higher than 70.
High GI Breakfast Foods
High GI breakfast foods to avoid (with their value in parenthesis) include corn flakes (81), corn chex (83), pancake syrup (76), grapenuts (71), dates (103) and waffles (76).
High GI Lunch Foods
Foods to avoid for lunch include white bread (70), bagels (72), pretzels (83), plain pizza (80) and baguette French bread (95).
High GI Dinner Choices
At the end of the day, avoid the following for dinner choices: baked potatoes (85), french fries (75), bread stuffings (74) and pumpkin products (75).
High GI Snack Choices
High GI snacks to avoid include vanilla wafers (77), rice cakes (78), dates (103), watermelon (72), jelly beans (80), graham crackers (74) and frozen tofu desserts (115).
