Glycemic Index

Cereals Snacks Pasta Beans

All Bran 51 chocolate bar 49 cheese tortellini 50 baked 44

Bran Buds + psyll 45 corn chips 72 fettucini 32 black beans, boiled 30

Bran Flakes 74 croissant 67 linguini 50 butter, boiled 33

Cheerios 74 doughnut 76 macaroni 46 cannellini beans 31

Corn Chex 83 graham crakers 74 spagh, 5 min boiled 33 garbanzo, boiled 34

Cornflakes 83 jelly beans 80 spagh, 15 min boiled 44 kidney, boiled 29

Cream of Wheat 66 Life Savers 70 spagh, prot enrich 28 kidney, canned 52

Frosted Flakes 55 oatmeal cookie 57 vermicelli 35 lentils, green, brown 30

Grapenuts 67 pizza, cheese & tom 60 Soups/Vegetables lima, boiled 32

Life 66 Pizza Hut, supreme 33 beets, canned 64 navy beans 38

muesli, natural 54 popcorn, light micro 55 black bean soup 64 pinto, boiled 39

Nutri-grain 66 potato chips 56 carrots, fresh, boil 49 red lentils, boiled 27

oatmeal, old fash 48 pound cake 54 corn, sweet 56 soy, boiled 16

Puffed Wheat 67 Power bars 58 french fries 75 Breads

Raisin Bran 73 pretzels 83 grean pea, soup 66 bagel, plain 72

Rice Chex 89 saltine crakers 74 green pea, frozen 47 baquette, Frnch 95

Shredded Wheat 67 shortbread cookies 64 lima beans, frozen 32 croissant 67

Special K 54 Snickers bar 41 parsnips 97 dark rey 76

Total 76 strawberry jam 51 peas, fresh, boil 48 hamburger bun 61

Fruit vanilla wafers 77 pot, new, boiled 59 muffins

apple 38 Wheat Thins 67 pot, red, baked 93 apple, cin 44

apricots 57 Crackers pot, sweet 52 blueberry 59

banana 56 graham 74 pot, white, boiled 63 oat & raisin 54

cantalope 65 rice cakes 80 pot, white, mashed 70 pita 57

cherries 22 rye 68 split pea soup w/ham 66 pizza, cheese 60

dates 103 soda 72 tomato soup 38 pumpernickel 49

grapefruit 25 Wheat Thins 67 yam 54 sourdough 54

grapes 46 Cereal Grains Milk Products rye 64

kiwi 52 barley 25 chocolate milk 35 white 70

mango 55 basmati white rice 58 custard 43 wheat 68

orange 43 bulgar 48 ice cream, van 60 Drinks

papaya 58 couscous 65 ice milk, van 50 apple juice 40

peach 42 cornmeal 68 skim milk 32 colas 65

pear 58 millet 71 soy milk 31 Gatorade 78

pineapple 66 Sugars tofu frozen dessert 115 grapefruit juice 48

plums 39 fructose 22 whole milk 30 orange juice 46

prunes 15 honey 62 yogurt, fruit 36 pineapple juice 46

raisins 64 maltose 105 yogurt, plain 14

watermelon 72 table sugar 64

*Actually, the GI indirectly measures a food's effect on blood sugar. It actually measured the "area under the blood sugar curve" following a set intake of that carb.

Ever wonder why you can eat something and be hungry 10 minutes later?

Do you constantly eat at night?

Always hungry?

Part of the problem may be not how much you are eating but what you are eating.

The Glycemic index is a measure of how food affects your blood sugar. In other words, how fast your body burns through it. High glycemic foods spike insulin levels and are burned fast. This is why people that drink soda and eat junk food never have a constant flow of energy. The feel listless so they down a soda and some chips. Things are okay for a while, then they crash again. Think about a toddler learning how to walk. They walk a few steps fall down. Get up fall down. Get up fall down. You get the picture. Can you also see how these foods lead to overeating? If you never really get full, you keep eating this stuff. The calories pile up and you body really isn't getting anything from it.

Low glycemic foods give you a steady, constant supply of energy because they burn slower. This is great for people trying to drop bodyfat for a couple of reasons. Since your body is getting the energy it needs, it won't hoard fat reserves. Second, because these foods are filling, you won't eat as much. Third, because you have energy, you will feel better and be better able to fight off cravings.

Make sense? Then take a look at this chart. Just like a traffic light, green means go ahead and eat and red means stop right away.

Frequently asked questions

Are all high Glycemic foods bad for you?

No and it really isn't as easy as black and white. Food is fuel and there are different uses for different types of foods.

For example, Gatorade is a whopping 78 but think about what is it designed for. It was invented to get into the bloodstream fast and replenish vital minerals and sugars. So if you are training hard, Gatorade is a great way to fight dehydration. It is also a terrible thing to drink if you are sitting down to watch a movie.

Bottom line is use common sense and think about the original intent of the food.

If Gatorade is a 78 and Colas are a 65 does that mean it is better to drink cola?

Cola is never a good choice. It really doesn't have any redeemable qualities other than it tastes good. At least with Gatorade you get some vitamins and minerals. Often glycemic rankings have nothing to do with nutritional value.

How can some foods be low on the glycemic scale but have a lot of fat such as pizza?

Remember, we are not talking about the nutritional content of foods, we are talking about how fast they get absorbed into the bloodstream. If one person eats a couple slices of pizza ( low GI ) and another eats a couple slices of watermelon ( High GI ), who will feel fuller after an hour? Who as actually eaten healthier? See the point?

How should I use this table?

As with anything, this is just one of several tools to help you. I

Here are some tips from personal experience.

Make sure to have a low glycemic food in the morning. It will give you the energy you need to get a good start.

When choosing foods remember to add in other factors such as fat content, salt content and overall nutritional value.

Eat for what you will be doing in the next few hours. This applies to nutrition in general. Whatever you eat now will be your fuel for the next few hours so choose wisely. Do you need more calories to workout or go to sleep? This is why eating pizza late at night causes a lot of people to be restless. So choose accordingly.

If you get energy drops in the afternoon or late morning, it is probably due to what you ate before. Make the change.