gi and gl handy reference tables - low carb is easyglucose (dextrose). with glucose as the reference...

Making low carb and low GI diets easy

GI and GL

Handy

Reference Tables

All about glycemic index and glycemic load

Listing of GI and GL ratings

Jackie Bushell www.gooddietgoodhealth.com

GI & GL Handy Reference Tables All about GI and GL

© Copyright Jackie Bushell 2

CCoonntteennttss

1 Understanding the GI and how to use it 4

What is the Glycemic Index (GI) .................................................................. 4

How the Glycemic Index came about .......................................................... 4

Points to note about using the GI ............................................................... 4

What is Glycemic Load (GL) ........................................................................ 5

Sources of GI & GL ratings .......................................................................... 5

Reference standards for GI ratings ............................................................. 6

Low, medium and high GI classifications .................................................. 6

Variances between GI ratings ...................................................................... 6

GI and cooking methods .............................................................................. 7

2 Using our GI & GL handy reference tables 8

3 GI ratings within food categories 9

4 GI ratings of foods in alphabetical order 12

5 Foods by GI rating 15

6 Foods by GL rating 18

Further resources 21

Nutrition/diet/health .................................................................................... 21

Weight loss problems ................................................................................ 21

Special/allergy diets ................................................................................... 21

Low carb/low GI/low GL diets .................................................................... 22

HCG Diet ...................................................................................................... 22

Version 5, August 2017



Disclaimer

The information in this book is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. It is recommended that you check with your family physician before embarking on any significant change in diet or exercise. This is particularly important if you have a medical condition of any kind or are taking any prescribed medicines. The author accepts no liability for readers who choose not to obtain their own professional medical advice.

Copyright

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright owner. © Copyright 2017 Jackie Bushell



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What is the Glycemic Index (GI)

The Glycemic Index measures the effect of specific foods on blood sugar. This in turn gives an indication of the amount of the hormone insulin required to deal with the glycemic effect of the food in question. Originally developed to help control blood sugar levels in diabetes, interest has recently burgeoned in the potential of the GI for controlling insulin release as a method of losing excess weight, and as a basis for eating healthily.

How the Glycemic Index came about

Carbohydrate foods used to be classified as either ‘simple’ or ‘complex’ carbohydrates. These classifications were also referred to as ‘sugars’ and ’starches’, or ‘available’ and ‘unavailable’ carbohydrate. This method of classification looked at the chemical makeup of the carbohydrate. The ‘simple’ classification included simple sugar molecules such as fructose, dextrose, glucose and sucrose. ‘Complex’ carbohydrates included everything made of three or more linked sugars, such as starches. However, it was later found that this classification did not closely predict the effect of the carbohydrates in the body when they were digested. The Glycemic Index was put forward as a more reliable classification, building on the work started in the 1970s and 1980s by David Jenkins and Thomas Wolever of the University of Toronto. International tables of GI values were first published in 1995. In 1997 a committee of experts set up by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation (WHO) endorsed the use of the GI method of classifying carbohydrate foods. Since then, the list of foods tested for GI values has steadily grown, and the revised table published in 2002 contained three times the number of foods compared to the 1995 list.

Points to note about using the GI

The Glycemic Index is a comparison of how far and fast different foods cause the blood sugar to rise. But used on its own to make food choices, it can be misleading. This is because it does not tell you directly what the effect on your blood sugar will be of a particular serving of the food in question. There are two reasons for this:



Firstly, the GI rating measures the rise in blood sugar provided by the amount of the food that contains 50 g carbohydrate. On this basis, some foods which are not carbohydrate-dense such as cooked carrots and watermelon result as high GI. But eating them will not have a high GI effect, unless you can eat the vast quantity required to equate to 50 g of carbohydrate.

Secondly, the GI rating is a relative ranking – it does not tell you how much your

blood sugar will rise in absolute terms, it only compares it to the rise caused by a reference food. The reference foods are usually glucose (dextrose) or white bread.

Another very important consideration to bear in mind is that the Glycemic Index only includes foods with a relatively significant carbohydrate content. Foods that contain only a small amount of carbohydrate (such as avocados, salad vegetables, cheese and eggs) have no appreciable effect on blood sugar. Carbohydrate-free foods such as meat, fish and poultry and fats are similarly not included in the GI. So when following a low GI diet, do not focus solely on the ‘low GI’ foods listed in the GI tables, forgetting the ‘no GI’ foods which do not appear on these tables in the first place! A third point to bear in mind when using the Glycemic Index is that foods are very often eaten at the same time as other foods (or liquids). In such cases, the effect on the blood sugar will be the combined effect of all these foods and / or liquids. Some diets and healthy eating leaflets provide a mathematical formula to calculate the combined effect of, say, eating a food with a GI of 80 together with a food with a GI of 10. But the effect on each individual cannot be predicted so exactly. A more realistic approach is probably to say that eating a larger quantity of a low GI food with a small quantity of a high GI food will mediate the glycemic effect of the high GI food, giving the meal an overall medium GI effect.

What is Glycemic Load (GL)

The Glycemic Load (GL) was developed to make it easier to relate the glycemic effect to realistic serving sizes of foods. The GL is calculated by taking the GI rating, multiplying it by the carbohydrate content of the amount of food to be eaten, and dividing it by 100. On this basis, the cooked carrots and watermelon we talked about earlier get a low rating, despite their high GI. In other words, the GL overcomes the criticism that GI values for foods which are not carbohydrate-dense can be misleadingly high.

Sources of GI & GL ratings

Many GI diet books and websites give GI ratings only, although some give GL ratings as well. The most comprehensive list of GI ratings is available online at www.glycemicindex.com. It was first published in the July 2002 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and is maintained by the University of Sydney. It includes over 1,300 foods and contains GL as well as GI ratings for each food. It also provides data for the two reference standards currently in use (glucose and white bread – see below for further explanation).

http://www.glycemicindex.com/



Reference standards for GI ratings

GI ratings are a relatively new way of classifying carbohydrate foods and the reference food for measuring GI values has not yet been standardised internationally. Some laboratories continue to use white bread as the reference food, whereas others use glucose (dextrose). With glucose as the reference food, glucose = 100 and white bread = 70. With white bread as the reference food, glucose = 143 and white bread = 100. Therefore it is important to check which reference food has been used when looking up GI values. The handy reference tables in this Guide use the glucose = 100 standard as this seems to be becoming more commonly used than the white bread = 100 standard. The University of Sydney list gives GI values for both reference foods.

Low, medium and high GI classifications

Although GI ratings are given as specific figures, the actual effect on your blood sugar of eating a particular food is only approximate. This is because there is so much variability in the chemical makeup of foods (see more below) and in the way in which individuals digest and absorb their food. For this reason, it may be more helpful to think of foods as high or low GI foods. Some GI diets and GI-based healthy eating guides classify GI ratings as ‘Low’ or ‘High’, while others divide them into ‘Low’, ‘Medium’ and ‘High’. The ranges of GI ratings in each category are therefore somewhat arbitrary and dependent upon the specific diet or guide. An additional point to note is that some GI diets and GI-based healthy eating guides attempt to incorporate other aspects of food choice into their GI rating list, even though the foods in question contain no carbohydrate. Such foods cannot therefore have an actual GI score, but you may find them classified as ‘Low’, ‘Medium’ or ‘High’ (or sometimes ‘Green’, ‘Yellow’ or ‘Red’). As an illustration, sometimes you may find fats, or meat with a high fat content, classified as High. This is not because such foods have a glycemic effect but because they are seen by the author as foods to be avoided for other reasons.

Variances between GI ratings

There are many reasons in addition to differences in testing methods why ratings for a particular food may differ from source to source. These include:

Crop varieties Growing conditions Genetic strain Ripeness Acidity and fiber, protein and fat content Reliance upon manufacturers’ nutrition labeling for carbohydrate content, which may

be inaccurate, especially for high fiber foods



Where processed rather than raw foods are concerned, further factors affecting ratings can include:

Biochemical structure of the ingredients - for example, there are wide variations in amylose/amylopectin starch content of rice from country to country - amylopectin is more readily absorbed than amylase

Food particle size - smaller particles are absorbed faster Cooking and preparation - both mechanical and thermal processing break the food

into smaller particles thus facilitating absorption and raising the GI Local differences in ingredients or processing. (Products with the same name may

be made up of different ingredients, or processed in a different way in different countries; or they may be different products entirely)

Difficulty in determining the absorption of novel carbohydrates such as sugar alcohols (polyols)

The rate at which and degree to which a carbohydrate is digested and absorbed varies from individual to individual in any case. Other factors such as content and timing of the previous meal and accompanying foods can all affect the rate of carbohydrate absorption. (Fiber slows digestion and fat and protein decrease the speed with which the stomach empties.) So GI ratings are only an approximation of the relative effect a particular food might have on your blood sugar. Paying excessive attention to discrepancies between ratings is to try to make an exact science of something which is only an approximate guide in the first place.

GI and cooking methods

You may notice that there is a particularly wide difference in the GI of foods such as potatoes, pasta, rice and beans. As explained earlier, the way a food is processed or cooked can make a big difference. For instance, good pasta is made with hard or durum semolina wheat. This is rich in protein and fiber, which brings down the GI even if the flour is refined. Some forms of pasta, especially spaghetti, also undergo a process called extrusion in which the dough is squeezed through small holes under high pressure. This gives the pasta a protective film that prevents starch gelatinization during cooking, which keeps the GI fairly low. But if you cook the pasta for longer than 6 minutes, gelatinization starts, and the GI can increase by as much as 10 points. So you should cook the pasta for the minimum time needed, until it is ‘al dente’ only. Some types of pasta such as macaroni, lasagne and ravioli are made from soft wheat, and are not extruded. This gives them a higher GI however you cook them. Lentils provide another example of a food which can increase its GI depending on how long you cook it. When lentils are overcooked, causing the starch to gelatinize, their normal GI can go up as much as double.



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We have selected a range of common foods to make our GI tables a handy reference resource. We show the GI rating for the glucose = 100 standard, as this is currently the most commonly used method. We also include GL values because we feel that these are more meaningful and helpful than the GI ratings alone. To make our table even more useful, we show it in four ways:

Ordered by GI rating within food categories (Chapter 3) Ordered alphabetically (Chapter 4) Ordered by GI rating (Chapter 5) Ordered by GL rating (Chapter 6)

In this way, you can see at a glance which foods you should be focusing on if you are following a low GI or GL diet, and which ones you should be avoiding. You can also look up a specific food easily. Remember that the GL relates to the serving size – so you can reduce the GL shown on the list by having a smaller serving. The GI of a food does not of course change according to the serving size (although its glycemic effect will). We do not divide our chart into ‘Low’ or ‘High’ or any other classification, because there is no hard and fast rule about this amongst the various low GI diets and GI-based healthy eating guides. But as a general guide, consider foods with a GI of below 55 as Low GI, between 56 and 69 as Medium GI, and High GI at over 70. If you prefer to rely more on the GL rather than the GI of a food, consider a rating of 10 or under as Low GL, 11 to 19 as Medium GL and 20 or more as High GL. Unlike GI values, GL values can be added together – consider a total of 80 GL units or less per day as Low GL, with over 120 per day as High GL. If you want to find the GI or GL of a food which does not appear on our list, we recommend the University of Sydney’s GI website as the first place to try. You may notice that most green vegetables such as zucchini (courgettes), broccoli, cabbage and green peppers, other non-starchy vegetables such as onion, garlic, mushrooms and aubergine (eggplant) and salad vegetables such as lettuce and cucumber do not appear on the list. This is because they are very low in carbohydrate, and therefore cannot have a significant glycemic effect. Testing them for GI would be impractical. You can assume that they have a GI of 15 or less.



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Food GI (glucose = 100)

Serving size (g)

Carbs per serving (g)

GL

Breads

Bread, white baguette 95 30 15 15

Bread, white bagel 72 70 35 25

Bread, melba toast 70 30 23 16

Bread, white, wheatflour 70 30 14 10

Crumpet 69 50 19 13

Croissant 67 57 26 17

Bread, hamburger bun 61 30 15 9

Bread, white pita 57 30 17 10

Bread, sourdough wheat 50 30 10 5

Bread, Burgen mixed grain 49 30 11 6

Bread, multigrain with kibbled wheat 43 30 14 6

Bread, pumpernickel 41 30 12 5

Breakfast cereals

Cereal, Rice Krispies 82 30 26 22

Cereal, Cornflakes 81 30 26 21

Cereal, Coco Pops 77 30 26 20

Cereal, Shredded Wheat 75 30 20 15

Cereal, Weetabix 75 30 22 16

Cereal, Cheerios 74 30 20 15

Cereal, Puffed Wheat 67 30 20 13

Cereal, porridge, instant 66 250 26 17

Cereal, muesli bar with dried fruit 61 30 21 13

Cereal, porridge made from rolled oats 58 250 22 13

Cereal, muesli, Alpen 55 30 19 10

Cereal, All-Bran 38 30 23 9

Dairy

Yoghurt, low-fat, fruit, sugar 33 200 31 10

Milk, skimmed 32 250 13 4

Milk, full-fat 27 250 12 3

Yoghurt, low-fat, fruit, aspartame 14 200 13 2

Fruit & fruit juices

Dates, dried 103 60 40 42

Melon, watermelon 72 120 6 4

Melon, cantaloupe 65 120 6 4

Raisins 64 60 44 28

Figs, dried 61 60 26 16

Pineapple, fresh 59 120 13 7




Serving size (g)


GL

Apricots, fresh 57 120 9 5

Kiwi 53 120 12 6

Banana, fresh 52 120 24 12

Orange juice 50 250 ml 26 13

Grapefruit juice, fresh, unsweetened 48 250 ml 22 11

Grapes, fresh 46 120 18 8

Oranges 42 120 11 5

Peaches, fresh 42 120 11 5

Pears, fresh 42 120 11 4

Apple juice, fresh, unsweetened 40 250 ml 29 12

Strawberries, fresh 40 120 3 1

Plums, fresh 39 120 12 5

Apples, fresh 38 120 15 6

Apricots, dried 31 60 28 9

Grapefruit, fresh 25 120 11 3

Cherries, fresh 22 120 12 3

Grains

Rice, white, glutinous 98 150 32 31

Tapioca, boiled with milk 81 250 18 14

Rice, long-grain white, boiled 20 mins 75 150 37 28

Millet, boiled 71 150 36 25

Rice, Arborio, boiled 69 510 53 36

Couscous, boiled 5 mins 65 150 35 23

Rice, basmati, white, boiled 58 150 38 22

Rice, brown 55 150 33 18


Legumes (peas, beans, lentils) and nuts

Beans, kidney, dried, boiled 42 150 25 10

Beans, pinto, dried, boiled 39 150 26 10

Beans, chickpeas, dried, boiled 31 150 30 9

Beans, dried, butter, boiled 31 150 20 6

Lentils, green, dried, boiled 30 150 17 5

Lentils, red, dried, boiled 26 150 18 6

Cashews 22 50 13 3

Peas, dried, boiled 22 150 9 2

Beans, soya, dried, boiled 18 150 6 1

Peanuts 14 50 6 1

Pasta

Pasta, linguine, boiled 52 180 45 23

Pasta, macaroni, boiled 45 180 49 22

Pasta, spaghetti, white, boiled 44 180 48 21

Pasta, fettucine, egg 40 180 42 22

Pasta, ravioli, meat-filled, boiled 39 180 38 15

Pasta, spaghetti, wholemeal, boiled 37 180 42 16

Snacks, baked goods and miscellaneous

Glucose (dextrose) 100 10 10 10




Serving size (g)


GL

Scones, plain, packet mix 92 25 9 7

Pretzels 83 30 20 16

Rice cakes, white 82 25 21 17

Corn, popcorn, plain 72 20 11 8

Pop Tarts, double chocolate 70 50 35 24

Sugar candy, Skittles 70 50 45 32

Sugar, white (sucrose) 68 10 10 7

Chocolate bars, Mars 65 60 40 26

Coca Cola 63 250 ml 26 16

Corn chips, plain 63 50 26 17

Crispbread, rye, Ryvita 63 25 18 11

Ice cream, flavoured 61 50 13 8

Pizza, cheese 60 100 27 16

Muffin, blueberry 59 57 29 17

Biscuits (cookies), Rich Tea 55 25 19 10

Cake, banana, without sugar 55 80 29 16

Chocolate bars, Snickers 55 60 35 19

Cookies (biscuits), Rich Tea 55 25 19 10

Honey 55 25 18 10

Potato chips (crisps) 54 50 21 11

Cake, banana, with sugar 47 80 38 18

Cake, sponge, plain 46 63 36 17

Chocolate bars, Twix 46 60 39 17

Chocolate, milk 43 50 28 12

Chocolate, plain 43 50 28 12

Cake, chocolate, Betty Crocker mix 38 111 52 20

Ice cream, premium (high fat), vanilla 38 50 9 3

Chocolate, milk/plain, low sugar, maltitol 35 50 22 8

Chocolate candy, Peanut M&Ms 33 30 17 6

Vegetables

Parsnips 97 80 12 12

Potato, instant mashed 85 150 20 17

Potatoes, baked 85 150 30 26

Potatoes, French fried 75 150 29 22

Pumpkin 75 80 4 3

Potatoes, mashed 74 150 20 15

Rutabaga (swede) 72 150 10 7

Swede (rutabaga) 72 150 10 7

Potatoes, boiled peeled 70 150 25 18

Beets (beetroot) 64 80 7 5

Potatoes, sweet 61 150 28 17

Sweetcorn, boiled 60 80 18 11

Carrots, peeled, boiled 47 80 6 3

Peas, frozen, boiled 39 80 7 3

Tomato juice, canned, unsweetened 38 250 ml 9 4



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Serving size (g)


GL




























Cashews 22 50 13 3












Serving size (g)


GL




















Crumpet 69 50 19 13


Figs, dried 61 60 26 16





Honey 55 25 18 10



Kiwi 53 120 12 6










Oranges 42 120 11 5










Serving size (g)


GL



Peanuts 14 50 6 1
















Pumpkin 75 80 4 3

Raisins 64 60 44 28




Rice, brown 55 150 33 18

















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Serving size (g)


GL


















Pumpkin 75 80 4 3















Crumpet 69 50 19 13









Serving size (g)


GL





Raisins 64 60 44 28






Figs, dried 61 60 26 16
















Honey 55 25 18 10

Rice, brown 55 150 33 18


Kiwi 53 120 12 6




















Serving size (g)


GL


Oranges 42 120 11 5





























Cashews 22 50 13 3




Peanuts 14 50 6 1




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Serving size (g)


GL





Raisins 64 60 44 28





















Rice, brown 55 150 33 18
















Serving size (g)


GL


Figs, dried 61 60 26 16














Crumpet 69 50 19 13



















Honey 55 25 18 10















Serving size (g)


GL









Kiwi 53 120 12 6







Oranges 42 120 11 5









Cashews 22 50 13 3






Pumpkin 75 80 4 3




Peanuts 14 50 6 1




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Nutrition/diet/health

What are you looking for? How we can help …

News, information and tips about nutrition, diet and health

The Good Diet Good Health newsletters, articles and blog at http://www.gooddietgoodhealth.com

Weight loss problems


Finding it difficult to lose weight, whichever diet you are following

There are other mechanisms at work which can prevent you from losing weight, no matter which diet you try. These are explained in Why Can't I Lose Weight – The Real Reasons Diets Fail And What To Do About It, at http://www.dietplateau.com Comes with:

Health-Savvy Supermarket Shopping Guide to Fat Burner Supplements

Special/allergy diets


Quick and easy recipes for Stone Age style allergy, exclusion, elimination, rotation and other special diets

The Stone Age Diet is Easy Cookbook at http://www.specialdietsareeasy.com Comes with:

Foods Containing Common Allergens Substitutes for Common Allergenic Foods Vitamins and Minerals and the Foods Which

Contain Them

http://www.gooddietgoodhealth.com/

http://www.dietplateau.com/

http://www.specialdietsareeasy.com/



Low carb/low GI/low GL diets

The following tools to help you achieve successful weight loss are all available from http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com.


Why you should consider a low carb or low GI diet

Why You Should Consider a Low Carb or Low GI Diet at http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/whylowcarb.htm

How to do a low carb, low GI or low GL diet

The Easy Guide to Low Carb, Low GI and Low GL Diets at http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/easyguide.htm

How to do the Atkins Diet Atkins Diet Plan

Finding low carb and low GI / GL recipes

The Low Carb is Easy Cookbook at http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/cookbook.htm. All recipes in the Cookbook are suitable for Atkins, low carb, low GI and low GL diets. Comes with:

Easy Guide to Low Carb, Low GI and Low GL Diets

GI & GL Handy Reference Tables 14-Day Atkins Menu Plan 21-Day Low GI & GL Menu Plan

HCG Diet


What the HCG Diet is, how it works, whether it is suitable for you and how to do it

The Easy Guide to the HCG Diet at http://www.hcgdietiseasy.com

Recipes suitable for Phases 3/4 (stabilisation and long term maintenance) of the HCG Diet

The Low Carb / Low GI Cookbook at http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/cookbook.htm. All recipes are suitable for Phases 3/4 of the HCG Diet

http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/

http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/whylowcarb.htm

http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/easyguide.htm

http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/cookbook.htm

http://www.hcgdietiseasy.com/

http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/cookbook.htm

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