Glycemic Index
It is very important to understand about GI means Glycemic Index. The Glycemic Index is a scale that gives ranking to foods depending upon their carbohydrate percentage by how much they raise blood glucose levels compared to glucose or white bread. When you eat food that contains carbohydrates, the sugar means glucose from the food breaks down during digestion and gives you energy. After you eat, your blood glucose level rises; the speed at which the food is able to increase your blood glucose level is called the glycemic response. This glycemic response is influenced by many factors, including how much food you eat, how much the food is processed or even how the food is prepared.
The glycemic index (GI) is a numerical system of measuring how much of a rise in circulating blood sugar a carbohydrate triggers, the higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response.So a low GI food will cause a small rise, while a high GI food will trigger a dramatic spike. A GI is 70 or more is high, a GI of 56 to 69 inclusive is medium, and a GI of 55 or less is low.
Always choose foods with low Glycemic Index, because choosing foods with a low GI rating more often than choosing those with a high GI may help you to:
- control your appetite
- conrol your blood glucose levels
- conrol your cholesterol levels
- Lower your risk of getting type 2 diabetes
- Lower your risk of getting heart disease
Glycemic Index values are determined experimentally by feeding human test subjects a fixed portion of the food, and subsequently extracting and measuring samples of their blood at specific intervals of time. Your body performs best when your blood sugar is kept relatively constant. If your blood sugar drops too low, you become lethargic and/or experience increased hunger. And if it goes too high, your brain signals your pancreas to secrete more insulin. Insulin brings your blood sugar back down, but primarily by converting the excess sugar to stored fat. Also, the greater the rate of increase in your blood sugar, the more chance that your body will release an excess amount of insulin, and drive your blood sugar back down too low. You may feel an initial elevation in energy and mood as your blood sugar rises because of food you had that cause a large and rapid glycemic response, but this is followed by a cycle of increased fat storage, lethargy, and more hunger! So it is better to eat food with low GI.
But it doesnot mean that high GI food must be avoided. Because for non-dibetics, rapid increase in blood sugar is desirable. Some physical trainers recommend high GI foods after exercise to speed recovery. Because insulin helps move glucose to muscles for tissue repair. Glycemic Index alone does not lead to the increase in blood sugar our over all food intake is also responsible for that.