The glycemic index, or GI, diet is about choosing foods with a low GI, which are those that prevent rapid increases in your blood sugar. The GI diet is neither low-carb nor low-fat, and it does not require you to count calories. Rather, you use the glycemic index guide to choose foods that keep your blood sugar balanced. Proponents of this diet believe that maintaining your blood sugar may help you to lose weight. Talk to your doctor if you think the GI diet is for you.
Glycemic Index Basics
In the GI diet, foods have a rating according to how quickly your body breaks them down, and therefore how quickly they affect your blood sugar levels. The faster your body breaks down food and turns it into glucose, the faster your blood sugar rises. Those foods that take longer to break down, however, cause a slow and steady rise in blood sugar. Low-GI foods can still fill you up quickly, but they can also keep you fuller longer, as it takes your body more time to break them down. This in turn can result in weight loss, if you start to consume fewer calories than you burn during the day.
Glycemic Index Rankings
Foods are ratnked anywhere between 0 and 100. Since carbohydrates are the only type of food that affects your blood sugar, only carbohydrates have a ranking. A ranking of 70 and above is a high GI food, which raises your blood sugar the most. Foods between 56 and 69 are medium GI foods. A food has a low GI if its rating is 55 and below.
Glycemic Index Foods
High GI foods include instant white rice, brown rice, plain white bread, white skinless baked potatoes and watermelon. Other high GI foods include cornflakes, jellybeans and doughnuts. Medium GI foods include sweet corn, bananas, raw pineapple and raisins. Low GI foods include raw carrots, peanuts, grapefruit, skim milk and white and whole-wheat spaghetti. Following the GI diet does not mean you have to completely give up high GI foods. You can eat all types of GI foods on the diet, as long as you do so in moderation. Furthermore, if you eat low GI foods with a high GI food during a meal, the final GI value of the meal is medium.
Glycemic Index Benefits
The Mayo Clinic reports that some studies of the GI diet fail to find a difference in hunger depending on if you eat low or high GI foods, yet some studies do find that following a GI diet leads to weight loss and a decrease in body mass index, or BMI. Proponents of the GI diet also report that you can decrease your risk of certain diseases, including diabetes. The Mayo Clinic points out, however, that every diet resulting in weight loss decreases disease risk. Lastly, it is important to keep in mind that GI values do not necessarily reflect whether a food is healthy or not. In fact, some low GI foods, such as chips and ice cream, can pack a lot of calories and fat while maintaining a low GI label. If you decide the low GI diet is for you, it is important to keep in mind that consuming more calories than you burn can lead to weight gain, regardless of the GI index of the foods you are eating.
