Knowing The Glycemic Index Chart
The glycemic index chart can be baffling or confusing, if you are unsure of what everything means. It was primarily made for both the doctor and the patient to ensure a proper and healthy diet, but if you don’t understand the numbers that you find on the chart, then it’s pretty much useless for you! You shouldn’t consider this chart as a “big, bad monster”; it can be a great tool to help you maintain your health.
The Numbers: Low, High, And Everywhere In Between The Chart
The glycemic index chart has many different numbers that go with the listed foods, ranging from 0 to 100 (and it depends on the food listed). These numbers will tell you how your blood sugar will spike. For example, the number 92 indicates that it digests rather quick in your own system, and will then bring your blood sugar up high quickly as well. And the lower the number, the slower it will be digested into your own system, and this can be much healthier for you as it will slowly change your blood sugar (especially if you are a diabetic).
Reading the numbers in the chart certainly takes some work to be done, but the process of understanding them is rather simple. For the charts in majority, a number lower than 55 is categorized as low; numbers between 55 to 70 belong to the middle range; and finally those that go beyond 70 is categorized as high. Most of the charts will not list the food based on their index number, instead, foods are being listed in food groups or types. You can observe little differences with these charts, but they all have a common principle.
The Reason Why Some Foods Are Lower Compared To Others:
The reality is that this chart can be quite confusing on many levels. Take for example a chocolate that everybody would surely love to get their hands on, the Snickers bar. Don’t you know that a single bar ranks around the 40’s, compared to a bagel that will let you hit in the 70’s? The reason for this is that Snickers has both chocolate and peanuts (which have a lot of protein). The protein serve as an agent that slows down the digestion of the rest of the food, taking it quite some time to be digested.
You see, this is where the loophole of the glycemic index lies. If you’re going to eat a food that would rank high on the index, make sure you combine it with protein. Add peanut butter to a toast, and you shouldn’t worry about eating a tuna sandwich. Now, this is the reason why some of the foods may seem strangely ranked to you. If you only have a little knowledge about the figures on the chart, then it would seem as if you’re looking at a listing of random numbers displayed right in front of you!
The Importance Of This Information:
The glycemic index is utilized by many, whether diabetic or not, and if one is able to master this index, then he/she has unlocked the key to a healthier and long life! It’s true that it may take quite some time for you to understand well the glycemic index chart, but this doesn’t mean that you should hesitate to eat according to it before you have completely mastered everything in it. As the saying goes, “experience is always the best teacher”!
