A Long Glycemic Index Food List to Keep Your Blood Sugar Levels Balanced

The glycemic index food list is there for your benefit, and you’ll find that it will help you to learn more about which foods will be good for your blood sugar levels – as well as which ones can have a negative effect.


There are many low glycemic foods that you can eat, and these foods will work wonders for your body by keeping your glucose levels low.

High glycemic foods are the ones that will raise your blood sugar levels, and it’s these high glycemic index foods that you want to avoid.

By following the glycemic index, weight loss is also a very real possibility.


Understanding the Glycemic Index

Before we can look at the free glycemic index chart below, it’s important that you understand just what the glycemic index really is.

The Glycemic Index (or GI) is a chart that lists the foods according to their effect on your blood sugar.

Foods that have a greater effect on your blood glucose levels will be ranked with a higher GI, while those with a lower GI ranking will not affect your blood sugar as much.

There are many diets that you can try to help you to keep your carb consumption low, and the Glycemic Index Diet and Atkins Diet are two of them.

You’ll find that these diets can help you to keep your blood sugar under control, as they’ll ensure that you don’t get too much glucose in your system.


How Fast Carbs and Slow Carbs Affect Your Body

High Glycemic Foods Pushes Your Insulin Production Through the Roof

When you eat high glycemic foods – foods that will affect your blood sugar levels in a noticeable way – you’ll find that your body has to produce a lot more insulin to keep up with the glucose that comes from all the food you eat.

This is because too much glucose can cause problems in your body, so your body has to respond by creating insulin to prevent the various systems from responding to the glucose.

However, all that insulin pushes your blood sugar too far down, thus making you feel tired and craving another rush to get back up there. And the evil circle has begun 😉


Low Glycemic Foods Ensures a Steady Blood Sugar Level

When you eat foods that will not raise your blood sugar significantly, you will not release excess insulin and your body will remain well balanced, not craving those sugar rushes.


Why Try a Low Glycemic Carb Diet

There are many reasons that you may want to consider a low glycemic carb diet:


1) You Have Diabetes

Diabetes is a serious disorder that can actually be fatal if it’s not treated, though a very small number of people with diabetes actually die as a result.

For the most part, it can cause serious discomfort, fatigue, and other health problems, especially if it goes untreated. One good way to reduce the threat of diabetes is to follow a low glycemic carb diet, as the foods that are low in fast carbs won’t have as drastic an effect on your blood sugar levels.


2) You Want to Improve Your Eating Habits

When you eat a lot of sugary foods, you’ll find that your body begins to crave more sugar.

Sugar can be quite addicting, and many people around the world have to get their fix of sugar in order to be able to function.

For those who want to change their eating habits, the low carb diet will help them to reset their body and reduce those cravings. By cutting out all the sugar, you will detox your body and stop it from lusting after all those sugary foods.


3) You Want to Lose Weight

Low glycemic carb diets have been linked to weight loss, and many people that have tried these diets are able to lose weight.

This is because sugar is one of the things that prevents you from losing weight, but cutting it out will force your body to burn fat.

The longer you go without sugar, the more fat your body is forced to burn.


4) You Want to Improve Your Health

Reducing your high glycemic carb intake can be a very good way to improve your health, as the carbs you eat will cause serious fluctuations in your blood sugar levels.

You’ll find that eating fewer fast carbs will be excellent for your health, as you’ll reduce the amount of glucose in your body.

These are just a few of the reasons to try a low glycemic carb diet, and there are many more!


Your Free Glycemic Index Chart

Here is a glycemic index food list with some of the more popular foods, as well as their GI value:

Low glycemic index food list chart.

Chart information courtesy of the University of Sydney.


Understanding the GI Values

So, you can see that ice cream has a GI value of 62, but what does that mean?

  • Foods that have a GI ranking of 70 or higher are the ones that are considered high GI foods.
  • Foods with a GI ranking of 69 to 56 are considered medium GI foods.
  • Foods with a GI ranking of 55 or lower are considered low GI Foods.

That means that the foods that have a very low ranking will be the ones that are safest for you to eat, while the foods that have a higher number will be the ones to avoid.

For example:

  • In breakfast cereals, All-Bran (US) has a GI ranking of 50, and it’s a much better choice than Cornflakes – which have a ranking of 80
  • In fruits, cherries have a GI ranking of 22, which means they’re much healthier for your low glycemic carb diet than watermelons – which rank at 80.

You should study the free glycemic index chart carefully, and try to eat the foods that have a lower GI ranking in order to keep your blood sugar under control.


Tips to Help You with Your Low Carb Diet

If you’re going to try and follow a low glycemic diet, it’s going to be a challenge to avoid all of your favorite high glycemic index foods.

Here are some tips to help you get through:


1) Do It Right

Make sure that you’re following the right low carb diet plan, and keep track of the food you’re eating. You want to make sure that you’re keeping your fast carb consumption low, but you don’t want to cut out carbs altogether.

Make sure that you’re getting the low glycemic foods, and use the free glycemic index chart above to help you find out as much as you can about the best foods for your diet.

Don’t get into the diet unprepared, but plan it carefully.


2) Balance It Out

You have to make sure to get plenty of fruits and veggies while on the diet, as that’s the only way to be sure that you’re going to stay healthy.

Just because they may be higher in carbs than you’d like, that doesn’t mean that you should cut them out altogether.

It’s best to cut sugars and starches rather than fruits and veggies, as the natural foods contain nutrients that your body needs in order to survive.


3) Count Calories

Many people follow low glycemic carb diets to the letter, but they end up eating more calories than they should.

When this happens, they end up gaining weight, which can lead to other health problems aside from diabetes.

If you’re going to be following a low carb diet, it’s important that you count calories as well as carbs. You want to avoid eating too much food, and the best way to do so is to track the food you’re eating.


4) Get Lots of Fiber

When you eat lots of protein and low carb foods, you’ll find that there isn’t too much fiber in the food you’re eating.

You’ll find that fiber can actually help to fight the fast carbs, as it will bond with the carbs and prevent them from being absorbed into your body.

The more fiber you get, the healthier you’ll be.

Try and add fiber supplements to your diet, and eat as many high fiber foods as possible.


5) Add Variety

One key element to following any diet faithfully is to have variety, as eating the same foods over and over will cause you to get sick and tired of the same thing every day.

If you want to ensure that you’re faithful with the diet, you’ll need to switch things up in order to give yourself enough variety.

Following a low glycemic carb diet will help you to keep your blood sugar levels under control, and you’ll find that doing so will improve your health greatly.

Use the glycemic index food list to help you know which foods are the ones that you should eat, and which are the ones that you should avoid.

Other Pages on This Site, You Might Want to Visit

Guide to a Low Glycemic Diet: Identifying Foods Low in the Glycemic Index & Ruling out the Sugary High GI Traitors

Find the Values of Different Low Glycemic Index Foods and Learn How to Healthily Follow a Low Carb Diet

A Low Glycemic Food List: Identifying the Good Slow Carbs and the Bad Fast Carbs

Glycemic Index Diet Guidelines: Low Glycemic Recipes and Foods

Exercise Glycemic Control by Following the Low Glycemic Index Diet

A Comprensive Glycemic Index Chart along with a Low Glycemic Food List

Glycemic Index Food Chart Model: Showing You Carbohydrates High and Low in GI

Low Glycemic Index Diet Tips: Simple Guidelines to Avoid the Trickery Pitfalls

The Healthy Low Glycemic Foods Diet: How to Eat According to the Glycemic Index

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