Is the Glycemic Index Important For Type 2 Diabetics?
The glycemic index measures how quickly a particular kind of food is digested into glucose that increases blood sugar levels. Some foods, for instance, warm mashed potatoes, raise blood glucose levels even more quickly than sugar itself. Other foods, such as raw spinach, hardly raise blood sugars at all, even many hours after they are consumed. Isn’t this information of vital interest to all diabetics? Frankly, it’s not. There are several serious flaws with the glycemic index (GI) as a diabetic’s diet planning tool: • the GI was computed on the basis of tests done by feeding volunteers a single food for breakfast. Your body is more sensitive to insulin in the morning, and less and less sensitive as the day wears on. The benefits of eating low-GI foods are greatest at breakfast, and that’s not the meal we usually eat raw leafy green salads and other low-GI foods • the GI measures the effect of a single food on blood sugar levels. We seldom eat a single food. Almost no one, for instance,
