What Is Glycemic Index?
The “Glycemic Index” is simply a numerical ranking of foods based on their immediate effect to raise your blood sugar. It measures how fast the carbohydrate of a particular food is converted to glucose and enters the bloodstream. It’s simple. A food with a high number enters the bloodstream faster than one with a lower number.
The Glycemic Index (GI) is a numerical scale used to indicate how fast and how high a particular food can raise our blood glucose (blood sugar) level. A food with a low GI will typically prompt a moderate rise in blood glucose, while a food with a high GI may cause our blood glucose level to increase above the optimal level. An awareness of foods’ Glycemic Index can help you control your blood sugar levels, and by doing so, may help you prevent heart disease, improve cholesterol levels, prevent insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes, prevent certain cancers, and achieve or maintain a healthy weight. A substantial amount of research suggests a low GI diet provides these significant health benefits. So, it’s worth taking a look at the basic principles of a low GI way of eating.
Glycemic index is a term used to define the effect that food has on the individual’s blood glucose and insulin response. It is a measure which determines how fast and how high blood glucose levels get after food consumption, and how quickly the body responds by releasing insulin and normalizes those glucose levels .
