The Importance of a Low GI Diet

The importance of a low GI diet is one of the main essentials in maintaining your blood glucose levels at an optimum level. Having diabetes means you need to change your eating habits slightly. Being aware of what foods are low in GI is essential to good management of your disease.

A low GI food actually helps to control blood glucose levels in people that have diabetes or are glucose intolerant. These foods have a slow digestion and gradual increase and decrease response to your blood glucose levels. By maintaining low glucose levels each day you are not only taking care of your diabetes, but your heart health as well. It is a known fact that high insulin levels that result from a regular diet that includes high GI carbohydrates actually promotes high blood fats and high blood pressure which in turn increases your risk of a heart attack.

You don’t have to include just low GI foods in your meals; it is actually a good idea to include perhaps one medium or high GI food so that you get an even mix. The most important aspect to remember is to take note of what foods react to your sugar levels rising and eliminate them from your diet altogether.

Low GI foods do have an advantage of high GI foods by allowing a slow digestion of the food, which helps in not getting hunger pangs throughout the day, this obviously helps with your overall health allowing you to not overeat or make poor choices in the foods you select to eat; this is vitally important especially if you are already over weight.

Following is a list of the GI values for food:

•    A low GI value is 55 or less
•    A medium GI value is 56 to 69, and
•    A high GI value is 70 or more

Your low GI diet should include the following foods:

•    Plenty of fruit
•    Plenty of vegetables
•    Pasta
•    Legumes that include baked beans, lentils and chickpeas
•    Yoghurt
•    Grain breads, and
•    Low GI breakfast cereals

The importance of a low GI diet is evident. The ultimate benefits that you can achieve through a low GI diet are effective management of your diabetes and total avoidance of the horrible complications that are associated with diabetes.

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