The Glycemic Index is not the most useful index in terms of a particular food’s impact on blood sugar. As mentioned, the GI of a food is based on an amount of that food that contains 50 grams of carbohydrates. However, a single serving of many high GI foods often doesn’t contain 50 grams of carbohydrates. For instance, a watermelon has an extremely high Glycemic Index, but one slice has so few carbohydrates that the index is irrelevant. The Glycemic Load, however, takes into account how many carbohydrates are actually in a serving of food rather than a serving of that same food that contains 50 grams of carbohydrates. To calculate Glycemic Load, you simply multiply the Glycemic Index of a food times the number of carbohydrates in a serving of food and divide it by 100. You’ll find a chart that shows a sample of the Glycemic Load for certain foods in my book The Super Health Diet. A Glycemic Load of 10 or under is considered low. To learn more about Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load, go to www.glycemicindex.com.
KC Craichy
Author
The Super Health Diet
