Meal planning is an important part of eating healthily and keeping blood sugars in range. We do this by making healthy food choices and eating balanced, reasonable portion sizes. Many characteristics can describe foods that we eat; such as the number of carbohydrates, the calorie count, the fat content, and something called the glycemic index, or GI.
The glycemic index measures the ability of carbohydrates to raise blood sugars after they are consumed. You may think that baked goods and candy would hold the highest GI ratings, but other foods which appear to be healthy can raise blood sugars rapidly if they are consumed in large quantities or are not balanced or paired with other food items that can “blunt” these blood sugar spikes. If your head is spinning with confusion, don’t worry, we will unravel the mystery for you here.
The GI is rated on a scale from 0 to 100, with the highest rating given to foods that raise blood sugars the fastest – and two foods with the same amount of carbohydrates can have quite different glycemic index numbers. Without taking the glycemic index into account, you could end up with blood sugar spikes, which occur shortly after eating a meal that is high in certain refined carbohydrates or have a lot of foods that have a large amount of concentrated sugars.
The smaller the number, the less impact the food has on your blood sugar.
55 or less = Low (good)
56 – 69 = Medium
70 or higher = High (bad)
Why is it important? Shouldn’t we only be concerned about calories and overall sugar content?
We should be concerned about calories and added sugars, but it is also important to understand the ability of certain foods to raise blood sugars quickly. We look for foods with lower glycemic indexes to help avoid large surges in blood sugar which create what we call “blood sugar spikes”. In the case of type 2 diabetes, when blood sugars rise rapidly, the pancreas produces more insulin. Excessive insulin production caused by high blood sugars creates an imbalance that leads to weight gain (accumulation of fat) and is even linked to inflammation. (1)
Blood sugar surges have long been thought to be the cause of a variety of the complications of diabetes (2). In fact, blood sugar spikes have not only been implicated as a potential risk factor in complications of diabetes but have been studied regarding an increased risk of cancer as well (3).
Keeping blood sugar spikes in check can be accomplished by meal planning and understanding that certain foods can cause rapid rises in blood sugars. This is not to say that foods with high glycemic indexes should never be consumed. There is room for most foods in a healthy balanced diet. The key is to balance higher glycemic foods with foods that can help blunt blood sugar spikes.
As an example, watermelon is a fruit that has a glycemic index of 72. That doesn’t mean that people with diabetes or pre-diabetes should never eat this delicious summer treat. If you keep your portion reasonable (under 1cup /meal) and pair the fruit with some lean protein, for example, the protein will slow the absorption of the fruit and help offset blood sugar spikes. On the other hand, if you pair the watermelon with a dish that includes white rice (glycemic index of 89), and no protein – you will surely see blood sugars surge.
The glycemic index gives you a way to tell slower-acting “good carbs” from the faster “bad carbs.” You can use it to fine-tune your carb-counting and help keep your blood sugar steadier.
1 https://onlinelibrary.wiley. com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ oby.20654
2 Obesity and colorectal cancer: epidemiology, mechanisms and candidate genes. Gunter MJ, Leitzmann MF. J Nutr Biochem. 2006;17(3):145-56.
3 “Role of adipokines and cytokines in obesity-associated breast cancer: therapeutic targets.” Khan S, Shukla S, Sinha S, et al. Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 2013;24(6):503-13.
DAR-0142 RevA 01/2020