Battling Obesity

By Jack Richards

The glycemic index describes the different rankings of carbohydrates according to their effect on blood glucose levels. The lower the glycemic index of a food the less likely it will interact with or drastically change blood glucose levels and insulin responses.

Understanding blood glucose levels and insulin was once only a concern for diabetic patients. However, insulin and the way our body uses it is also directly related to how much body fat we have. As previously stated, if we have an excess of glucose floating around in our blood, the body needs to get rid of it before it become toxic. It does this by secreting a hormone called insulin which acts to shuttle nutrients in our blood into our muscles, internal organs and fat. In fact the definition of a diabetic is someone who has a dangerous amount of glucose in their blood. Too much glucose in the blood can become toxic, which causes the symptoms of diabetes. Too little blood glucose causes hypoglycemia. The body, when working properly, always tries to maintain homeostasis to keep things working properly. In this case the body uses insulin to keep our blood glucose levels even.

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By Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

Many popular diet books recommend avoiding foods with a high Glycemic Index. When you eat a food, your blood sugar level rises. The food that raises blood sugar the highest is pure table sugar. The Glycemic Index (GI) is a ratio of how high a food raises blood sugar in comparison to table sugar. Foods whose carbohydrates break down slowly release glucose into the bloodstream slowly, so blood sugar levels do not rise high and therefore these foods have low GI scores. Those that break down quickly cause a high rise in blood sugar and have a high GI. Most beans, whole grains and non-starchy vegetables have low GI; while sugars, refined grains, fruits and root vegetables have a high GI.

A carrot has almost the same GI as sugar, but common sense tells you that a carrot is more healthful than table sugar. Foods that are mostly water or air will not cause a steep rise in your blood sugar even if their GI is high. That’s why a new measure, called Glycemic Load (GL), is more useful. This tells you how much sugar is in a portion of food as well as how high it raises blood sugar levels. GL is calculated by multiplying the grams of carbohydrate in a serving of food by that food’s glycemic index. Carrots dropped from high GI of 131 to a GL of 10. Potatoes fall from a GI of 121 to a GL of 45. Air-popped popcorn, with a GI of 79, has a GL of 4.

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