The Glycemic Index Pyramid
I am sure most folks have heard about the Glycemic Index, mostly in conjunction with folks that have diabetes. The Glycemic Index measures the impact that individual foods have on your blood sugar levels. Eating foods that are low on the index makes your blood sugar fluctuate less. This is what makes it so great for diabetics, they can more easily control their blood sugar and take less insulin. It is also good for anyone that has insulin resistance, which PCOS makes people prone too and it may help reduce the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. “Normal” folks may benefit from more even energy levels because you won’t get as big a crash in blood sugar an hour after you eat. Sure sounds good to me!
Here are a few links to learn more about the Glycemic Index:
The nice thing about the glycemic index is that is it pretty easy to use, you don’t need to count numbers or crazy arithmetic to make sure you are eating a healthy, low GI diet, you just need a little common sense.
- Avoid pre-packaged “food”
- Use breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran
- Use breads with wholegrains, stone-ground flour, sour dough
- Reduce the amount of potatoes you eat
- Enjoy all other types of fruit and vegetables
- Use Basmati or Doongara rice (think brown!)
- Enjoy whole wheat pasta noodles, quinoa
- Eat plenty of salad with vinaigrette dressing
In fact, since giving up sugar this month, this is pretty much how I eat already, now it is a matter of keeping track and moving more.
