Performance Nutrition 301. The 4-Day Rotation Diet: Carbohydrates

Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load – A Guide to Making Good Carbohydrate Choices

Carbohydrates are often classified by their glycemic index, a measure of how fast the food elevates the blood sugar of the body. The glycemic index table was first created with classifying carbohydrates in mind. It was then expanded to include all foods.

Generally speaking, using the glycemic index to eat to be lean is like driving a car; if you keep it under fifty, you will be safe, even if you are bored. Recently, another classification was added to the table, called the glycemic load. While glycemic index tells you how “fast” the sugar is in the given food, glycemic load tells you how much of that sugar is in the food. With regard to glycemic load, foods under ten are best. At the end of this article, there is a list of links, one of which gives a chart of common foods listed by glycemic index, as well as glycemic load.

Some foods can have a high glycemic index and a low glycemic load, and still be very healthy to eat. An example is watermelon. Although it has a relatively high glycemic index of about seventy, it has a very low glycemic load of about four, which makes it a relatively benign carbohydrate source. Another way of saying this is that, although watermelon is made up of fast sugars – sugars that elevate the blood sugar, or insulin, rapidly – its concentration of those sugars is low. On the following page, we’ll examine the types of carbohydrates with regard to both the glycemic index and the glycemic load.

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