Special Nutrition

Blood Glucose

Glycaemic Index

You may find it beneficial to include low and intermediate GI carbohydrate foods in each meal. The actual glycaemic response to different foods varies from person to person, so you really have to experiment to see what suits you as an individual.

Basically the glycaemic index (GI) of a food is the blood glucose response to the ingestion of that food. To maintain more stable blood glucose levels try to consume more foods with a lower and intermediate GI. Maintaining blood glucose throughout the day reduces the risk of fluctuations in blood glucose concentrations such as hyperglycaemia and hypoglycaemia. Symptoms of hypoglycaemia include headaches, nausea, lack of concentration.

Several other nutritional factors affect the glycaemic index of foods. For example, the addition of fat, protein and fibre decreases the GI. The following is a list of some foods and their GI. For a comprehensive list, there are pocket guides available at bookshops on the GI of a variety of foods.

It is important to remember that when talking about the glycaemic index of a food that we also consider the carbohydrate content of the food. Foods with a low carbohydrate content may not produce a large effect on your blood sugar levels. For this reason, most vegetables are considered to produce a low glycaemic load and therefore are fine to eat at any time.

Examples of the Glycaemic Index of different foods: Low GI foods are best for blood glucose
control, sustained release of energy and increasing satiety.

Therefore, some carbohydrate suggestions are:

• Basmati
• Pasta (cooked al dente i.e. just cooked)
• Noodles
• Sweet potato
• Legumes (e.g. kidney beans, lentils)
• Bread which is grainy and dense
• Rye bread
• Wholemeal pita bread