Health Articles > Health-and-nutrition > The Benefits of Low GI Foods

Carbohydrate foods can be ranked by their impact on blood glucose levels. This is know as GI or the glycemic index. The higher the GI the more rapidly the food is absorbed and the quicker glucose levels rise.

In contrast, low GI foods break down gradually over time, leading to more stable blood glucose levels. This is important because it can help to avoid the seesaw effect, which can lead to constant hunger, as well as mood and energy fluctuations.

Low GI foods release energy more slowly because they take longer to digest. This can give the feeling of being "full" for longer which decreases the need for snacks.

High GI foods, on the other hand, can lead to wildly fluctuating blood sugar levels, which in turn, can cause the pancreas to overproduce insulin. This can lead to illnesses such as Syndrome X, hypoglycemia, and type II diabetes. There is also research which suggests that lower GI diets help improve levels of 'good' cholesterol, which can help reduce the risk of heart disease.

However, you should not restrict your diet to only low GI foods. Most sensible diets simply prompt you to increase the number of low GI foods in your diet.

High GI foods include pasta, rice and bread. Low GI foods include vegetables, whole grains, fruits and legumes. However, some of these such as bananas would be considered mid-range GI foods.

There are other influences on GI level. For example, the methods used to process and cook food can drastically affect the GI. Usually, the more processed a food is, the higher the GI because less work needs to be done to digest the food.

While increasing the amount of low GI foods in your diet can lead to weight loss and improvements in health and well-being it is not the only factor that should be taken into account. For example, chocolate is a low GI food, but it is energy-dense with few nutrients and is not going to help in weight loss.

Nevertheless, GI can be a useful metric to help you choose appropriate foods for your diet.