According to the American Diabetes Association, an estimated 98.6 million Americans have either type I or type II diabetes. Diabetes is a serious metabolic disease that results in blood glucose levels rising too high, causing secondary complications such as kidney failure, nerve damage, blindness or loss of limbs. Diabetes is easily treated through a combination of diet, exercise and medications. One of the easiest and most effective means of controlling blood glucose levels is by formulating a diet around the Glycemic Index of foods.
Step 1
Record all of the food you eat in a week using a food journal. You can make a simple food journal by drawing three columns down each page of a notebook and label the top of each column "Fats," "Proteins" and "Carbohydrates." Be honest and include snacks and treats. It will also help to record the serving size of everything you eat by using a food scale.
Step 2
Write down the Glycemic Index (GI) rating for all of the carbohydrates you eat. The GI is a scale that rates how quickly a particular carbohydrate causes your blood glucose to spike. There are three ratings: low GI foods are rated less than 54. Medium GI foods rate between 55 and 70. High GI foods rate higher than 70.
Step 3
Buy a GI catalog at your local bookstore that gives the GI of the most commonly eaten carbs. If you have access to the Internet, you can find a number of convenient sites that will provide you with the same information and that often group them by type---fruits, baked goods, breakfast foods or other categories (see References, DiabetesNet.com).
Step 4
Exchange the high GI carbohydrates in your list for carbs that have lower GI ratings to keep your blood glucose level from spiking. For instance, eating an apple with a GI of 38 is a better choice than watermelon with a GI rating of 72. If you must eat carbs with high GI ratings, try to add some low GI carbs to them or add a portion of fat and protein.
Step 5
Discuss with your doctor the total number of calories you should consume each day. Your choice of low GI carbs should still fit into the general scheme of total caloric consumption. Just because a carb is low on the GI scale, doesn't necessarily mean that it's low in calories. Both the total number of calories and GI rating are important to your diet.
Tips and Warnings
- Begin by recording all of the foods you eat and identifying the carbs. First, make the easy exchanges, gradually solidifying them into permanent changes.
- Avoid fad diets that tout the sole benefit of the glycemic index. Remember that the GI of a food has nothing to to do with the quantity.
Things You'll Need
- Fresh fruits and other carbohydrates
- Food journal
- Food scale
- Access to a bookstore or the Internet
