You may be familiar with the glycemic index if you know someone with diabetes. People with diabetes eat low glycemic foods to help with managing their blood sugar.

If you’re not familiar with the glycemic index, here is a quick definition for you. The glycemic index (GI) is a number from 0 to 100 that measures how much a specific food increases your blood sugar level two hours after consuming that food. Sugar, pure glucose, has a GI value of 100.

The higher the glycemic index, the greater the metabolic stress. The greater the metabolic stress, the greater the insulin requirement and the more likely you are to gain weight with all the accompanying problems! When you choose to eat low glycemic foods, you are minimizing a major source of stress in your life.

Below are the major foods with a GI 55 or below. Eating low glycemic foods appears to be the healthy way to eat!

Apple, medium 38 Apple juice, 8 oz 40 Almonds 0 Apricots, 5 halves, dried 31 Banana, medium 55 Baked beans, 4 oz 48 Barley, pearl, boiled, 1 cup 28 Black beans, 1 cup 30 Blackeyed peas, 1 cup 42 Rice bran 1 Tbl 19 Butter beans, 1 cup 31 Carrots, cooked, 1 cup 49 Bulgar, cooked, 1 cup 48 Brown rice, 1 cup, cooked 55 Cherries, 10 large 22 Chickpeas, cooked, 1 cup 42 I oz dark chocolate 32 Milk, 2%, 1 cup 30 Yogurt, non-fat, fruit 33 Fettucini, 1 cup, cooked 32 Grapes, green, 1 cup 46 Mango, small 55 Orange, medium 44 Orange juice, 8 oz 46 Peach, medium 42 Peanuts 14 Cashews 22 Pecans 10 Pear, medium 38 Pineapple juice, 8 oz 46 Plums, medium 39 Grapefruit, 1 medium 25 Grapefruit juice, 8 oz 48 Honey, 1 tsp 20 Kidney beans, 1 cup 37 Lentils, 1 cup 29 Lima beans, 1 cup 32 Macaroni, cooked, 1 cup 45 Navy beans, 1 cup 38 Oatmeal, old type, 1 cup 49 Spaghetti, 1 cup, cooked 41 Peanuts, 1/2 cup, roasted 14 Peas, 1 cup 48 Pinto beans, 1 cup 45 Sweet potato, 1/2 cup 54 Pumpernickel bread, 1 slice 51 Semolina, 2/3 cup, cooked 55 Tomato soup, 1 cup 38 Sourdough bread, 1 slice 52

When you choose to eat low glycemic, you can also treat yourself to many delicious vegetables without worry. Some of the vegetables with a GI of around 15 to consider adding to your diet include artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, eggplant, green beans, lettuce, peppers, spinach, tomatoes, and zucchini! In general, raw non-starchy vegetables have a very low GI.

Eating a low glycemic diet does not mean that you need to be a vegetarian or vegan. Meats, fish, fowl, and eggs have no carbohydrate so they have a zero GI.

Further, when you choose to eat a low glycemic diet, you can still add some fats to your diet. Olive oil and butter, or coconut oil, are the only added fats I recommend. They have no measurable GI.

At least 90% to 100% of all the food eaten should be from the foods listed above! Most cheeses have a low GI and can be eaten in moderation. Although some boxed cereals have GI within the 55 or lower range I think it is ideal to avoid them because like virtually all processed foods, they are virtually all really semi-junk!

Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D. is the father of holistic medicine. He recommends autogenic focus (the basis of the Biogenics System) as part of your overall commitment to self-health. Register to download your FREE autogenic focus MP3 now.