Glycemic Index Diet Plan Helps Maintain Blood Sugar Level
By JustReview.org

In the recent past, there was a big push to reduce carbohydrates to almost in many popular diets and the common thought was that since carbohydrates break down into sugar and too much sugar would turn to fat. While essentially this is correct, what was missing was the knowledge that some carbohydrates turn into sugar much slower than others. For those suffering from diabetes, knowing how fast a specific food’s carbohydrates enter the blood stream as sugar has helped them develop a diet plan to maintain a healthy blood sugar level. Armed with this knowledge, a person with diabetes can eat certain carbohydrates knowing that they are slow to turn into blood sugar while other carbohydrates go through the process fairly quickly. The diet plan will help differentiate good carbohydrates from bad carbohydrates and establish an eating plan for good diabetes health. Although, developing a diet plan based solely on the is not the end of the diet plan process. Recent studies have also indicated that the glycemic load of a particular food should also be considered in any diet plan. The index shows how fast the carbohydrates of a specific food enters the

blood stream while the glycemic load shows how much of the carbohydrate is available. Not All Carbohydrates Are Bad With any diet, moderation is the key and with a diet plan, knowing the glycemic load of a particular food can help design a nutritious diet while helping to maintain a healthy blood glucose level. Some foods may appear high on the but due to their low glycemic load number can be eaten without fear of increasing the blood sugar level. Designing a diet plan based only on the index of certain foods may end up being unhealthy. For example, cracked barley is listed on the as 50, considered medium on the index scale. However, it has tested as having a glycemic load value of 26, and anything over 20 on the load chart is considered high. This indicates that the food may not rush into the blood stream, but there is a lot of it available to do so. Developing an following a diet plan is not as simple as it may appear as many foods list the carbohydrate content but most do not show the of the food. Many nutritionists working with diabetic patients can help develop a diet plan for those needing help.