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.