The glycaemic index

You may have heard of the glycaemic index, but might not have been sure what it was or how it relates to diabetes.

Glycaemic index (GI) is a rating of carbohydrate-containing foods based on the overall effect on blood glucose levels. Slowly absorbed foods have a low GI rating, while foods that are more quickly absorbed have a higher rating. This is important because choosing slowly absorbed carbohydrates, instead of quickly absorbed carbohydrates, can help even out blood glucose levels when you have diabetes.

Foods are given a GI number according to their effect on blood glucose levels. Glucose is used as a standard reference (GI 100) and other foods are measured against this. See some examples of foods with lower GI and higher GI below:

The table below highlights examples of both higher and lower GI alternatives.

Food Item	Lower GI	Higher GI
Bread	Grain/granary bread, rye bread, chapatti, corn tortilla	White bread, whole wheat bread/brown bread, french baguette, bagels, pretzels, muffins
Rice, pasta & potatoes	Basmati rice (both white and brown), pasta, noodles, new potatoes, sweet potato	Long-grain rice, old potatoes
Vegetables	Asparagus, avocado, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach	Parsnips, canned or frozen sweetcorn
Fruit	Apples, apricots, blueberries, cranberries, peaches, plums, raspberries, strawberries, tangerines, grapefruit	Dried dates, watermelon, pineapple, kiwis, bananas
Beans & legumes	Black-eyed beans, butter beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils, nuts	Baked beans
Sugars	Fructose	Glucose, sucrose, honey, syrup

Fat and protein lower the GI of a food. For example, chocolate has a low GI because of it’s fat content, and crisps will actually have a lower GI than potatoes cooked without fat.

You don’t need to completely cut out higher GI foods – the trick is to combine them with low GI options to achieve an overall moderate GI.