The much-lauded glycemic index diet is sometimes deemed overrated by the average individual as it is not workable in an everyday setting.
Also, factors like food preparation, a person’s biological composition and the amount of food involved makes the glycemic index rating a bit complicated.
Some experts have pointed out that apart from the above, the amount of food on which the glycemic index is based, which is fifty grams, is a very unrealistic and tiny amount, as most people will eat more than that. Therefore, the glycemic index misrepresents the glycemic response of our bodies towards high-carb food, blowing it out of proportion. While that of low-carb food is exaggerated.
In order to clear up some of this confusion, some nutritionists have developed a calculation using the glycemic index to figure out the Glycemic Load. It takes the quantity of available carbohydrates into account. Available carbohydrates like starch and sugar provide energy, but not fiber.
It is recommended that the glycemic load be used as a dietary guide instead of the glycemic index because it accounts for the amount of food a person is consuming as well as the way they combine their foods.
In order to understand a food’s effect on the blood sugar, we need to know both the glycemic index and the glycemic load to calculate the glycemic load of a certain kind of food, divide the glycemic index by 100 and multiply by the grams of carbohydrate in the serving size.
The results will either be low, medium or high. Starting off with zero to ten as low, eleven to nineteen as medium and twenty to one hundred as high.
Lets try getting the glycemic load of a one hundred and twenty gram watermelon, which has a glycemic index of seventy-two and available carbohydrates of six grams. So (72/100) x (6)=4.62 (low glycemic load).
By understanding the concepts of the glycemic index and the glycemic load someone can also understand the importance of combining the four food groups as a healthy way to eat. It also explains why a scoop of ice cream, which has some protein and fat in it, has a lower glycemic index and glycemic load than a handful of Cheerios, which has little more then refined carbohydrates.
It is wiser to be knowledgeable and actually apply the glycemic index and load concepts, rather than counting carbohydrates or whatever other diet plan you have been using in the past. It is a holistic approach that is healthy as well.
