Page Tags: low-carbohydrate-diet
Glycemic index useful, but not last word, on diabetes control.
…the glycemic index, linking low GI foods to weight loss and high GI foods to weight gain. The usefulness of the glycemic index in the treatment of diabetes has been controversial since its creation some 25 years ago. It's easy to understand why. The idea of classifying foods into groups -- those that greatly affect blood glucose and those that do not -- sounds very appealing to people with diabetes. It seems like it could make meal planning easier and improve after-meal blood glucose levels. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Here are a few reasons why. --The GI of a food varies substantially depending on the kind of food, its ripeness, the length of time it was stored, how it was cooked, its variety (potatoes from Australia, for example, have a much higher GI than potatoes from the United States), and how it was processed. --The GI of a food varies from person to person and even in a single individual from day to day, depending on blood glucose levels, insulin resistance and other factors. --The GI of a food might be one value when it is eaten alone and another when it is eaten with other foods as part of a complete meal. --The GI value is based on a portion that contains 50 grams of carbohydrate, which is rarely the amount typically…