Low Carb Dieting and the Glycemic Index

A rise in blood glucose (or sugar) levels causes a rise in blood insulin levels. Low carb diets work on the premise that the rise in blood insulin levels cause increased weight gain by telling your body to store fat. In addition, the rapid rise in blood insulin levels causes a rapid fall, which causes hunger and, even though your body may not need calories for energy, this causes you to eat (or overeat) which starts the cycle all over again!

How It Works

The actual indexing of the foods is rather complicated and influenced by several factors such as how much you ate, what else you ate with it, or if the food is cooked. Fats and proteins don’t cause blood sugar levels to rise much so it’s only carbs that effect it. This is the reason that fats and proteins are virtually unrestricted on low carb diets. Foods with a low glycemic index (or GI) raise blood glucose levels the least and ones with a high index raise them the most. Any food with a rating of 55 or less is considered to be low.

Low GI Meals

When applying the glycemic index to a meal, you can combine all the foods in the meal to figure the value. For example, if you had a high GI food like white bread but you ate it with high fiber - low GI foods like beans and maybe some fat and protein, the overall value of the meal would be much lower than the value for just white bread.

Partial Foods List

Here’s a brief list of the glycemic index for some foods (notice how low the green leafy vegetables are):

Pretzels = 83
Jelly beans = 80
Waffles = 76
Donut = 76
Corn chips = 72
Watermelon = 72
Wheat bread, white = 70
Wheat 100% stone Ground Wheat = 59
Pineapple = 66
Raisins = 64
Oatmeal = 49
Pizza, cheese = 60
Rice, white, short grain = 72
Rice, white, long grain = 56
Rice, brown = 55
Pita bread, white = 57
Potato, white, boiled = 62
Popcorn = 52
Banana = 55
Ice cream, low fat = 50
Chocolate = 49
Rye Kernel bread = 65
Grapes = 46
Orange = 44 (orange juice 46 - note the difference with fiber removed)
Apple = 38
Pear = 38
Spaghetti, boiled = 41
Milk, skim = 32
Bell peppers = 10
Green peas = 48
Grapefruit = 25
Whole Wheat pasta = 37
Soy beans = 18
Peanuts = 14
Yogurt (artificial sweetener) = 33
Spinach = 15
Turnip greens = 15
Lettuce = 10
Watercress = 15
Zucchini = 10
Celery = 15
Cucumbers = 15
Dill pickles = 15
Broccoli = 15
Onions = 10
Tomatoes = 15

Low Gi Diet Vs Low Carb Diet
Find out the differences and similarities between the two diets.

Glycemic Index Food List
Wondering where your favorite food is on the list? Find out here.

Combining Foods For The GI Index Diet
How to eat your favorite foods and still lose weight and stay healthy

Table of Glycemic Index Values For Fruit
All the fruit values we could find .. and still growing.

Table of Glycemic Index Values For Vegetables
All the vegetable values we could find .. and still growing.