Is a Low-Glycemic Index Diet Healthier for Type 2 Diabetics?

The glycemic index is often touted as "the answer" for Type 2 diabetics, but the numbers on the glycemic index (GI) are not all you need to consider for controlling your blood sugar levels and your weight.

The GI is a measurement of how fast a food can be digested into glucose by the human body. Nutritional scientists recruit volunteers in groups of ten. They are asked to fast, and then they are given 50-gram (slightly less than 2 oz) samples of a single food, their blood sugar levels taken at various times after they eat. The average time for digestion is then compared to the digestion of either glucose or bread.

The problem with this system is that nobody makes a meal of just 50 grams of, say, raw turnips, and nothing else, and if foods are mixed, glycemic indices can change dramatically. Adding a pickle to a piece of white bread, for instance, changes the GI from 100 to 45. Cold foods have a much lower glycemic index than hot foods. Hot instant mashed potatoes sometimes are rated 110, their sugars entering the bloodstream even faster than room-temperature glucose, but cold mashed potatoes can have a GI as low as 58.

Nor does the system account for the fact that your body may be able to maintain normal blood sugar levels if you eat a small serving of a high GI food, but not if you if eat a large serving of a low glycemic index food. This measurement system will never take the place of common sense or portion control.

Even though the glycemic index research gives us some insight into how foods react in our bodies, there are many inconsistencies in relating this index with the actual response of the body. This makes the GI difficult to rely on entirely.

However, as a general rule, lower glycemic index foods, eaten in small portions, are preferable to high glycemic index foods. If a food has valuable nutrients, however, such as berries, then eat up to one serving per meal, and limit yourself to one high glycemic index food at a time.

You can make any food a lower glycemic index food if you just take a little vinegar, either directly, drinking a shot glass of vinegar, or indirectly, in the form of a vinaigrette over a salad, at the beginning of any meal. The acidic vinegar becomes alkaline bicarbonates after it has been digested, greatly slowing down the absorption of sugars digested from other foods giving you a lower glycemic response.