| HOME | CONTENTS | |||||
| Foreword | |||||
| Acknowledgement | |||||
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Diabetes Mellitus
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Healthy Eating and Diabetes
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Exercise and Diabetes
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Self Blood Glucose Monitoring
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| Hypoglycaemia | |||||
| Foot care and Diabetes | |||||
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Travel and Diabetes
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| Diabetes Support | |||||
| National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) | |||||
| Diabetes Internet Sites | |||||
| Diabetes Related Terminology | |||||
| Bibliography | |||||
| Patient Feedback Form | |||||
| Sponsorship | |||||
| Contacts | |||||
| Resources (Printable) |
Healthy Eating and Diabetes
Glycaemic Index of Carbohydrate
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Glycaemic Index (GI) is a tool that can help predict how quickly carbohydrate food will affect the blood glucose level after being eaten. Foods are ranked from 0 - 100. |
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A GI symbol has been developed indicating the GI rating of a food. Speak to your dietitian or diabetes educator for more information.
The lower the GI of a food, the more slowly it is absorbed. It is therefore recommended that low GI foods be included at every meal.
- High GI (GI > 70) - fast acting carbohydrate (CHO) – rapidly digested and absorbed (marked fluctuations in BGLs)
- Intermediate GI (GI = 56-69) - moderate acting
- Low GI (GI < 55) - slow acting CHO – slow digestion and absorption (gradual rises in BGLs)
- Improve BGLs and lipids
- Control appetite and delay hunger
- Reduce insulin levels and insulin resistance
Just because a food has a high GI doesn’t mean you can’t eat it – potatoes, for example. Small portions and combining high GI and low GI foods in the same meal will result in a meal with an intermediate GI which is quite acceptable.
Factors Affecting GI
There are many factors that influence the GI of a CHO food, hence it is difficult to determine GI just by looking at a food.
Factors include:
- The type of starch (amylase vs amylopectin)
- The amount & type of sugar (fruit/milk)
- Ripeness of fruits
- Amount of fat and protein in food. It is always important to read the label, especially the nutrition information panel.
- The fibre content of the food.
- The acidity level of the food
- The degree of processing (refined vs whole)
Note: it is important to remember that the amount of the food you eat will affect the GI. A large portion of a low GI food will have the same effect on your blood glucose levels as a small portion of a low GI food
GI listing of some commonly eaten foods
Source: Diabetes Australia ‘The Glycaemic Index’ 2006| Food Type | Low GI | Intermediate GI | High GI |
| Bread | Multigrain breads, Burgen Soylin, Performax fruit loaf, Vogel’s honey & oat, Low GI white breads | Hamburger bun, rye bread, croissant, light rye, crumpet, wholemeal | White bread, bagel, Wonderwhite, gluten free bread |
| Cereals | All Bran, Porridge, Rice bran, Special K, Guardian | Just Right, Untoasted muesli, oatbran, Sustain, Weetbix | Sultana bran, Bran flakes, Coco Pops, Puffed wheat, Rice Bubbles, Corn flakes |
| Grains | Barley, pasta (all types), noodles, bulgur, semolina | Basmati rice, wild rice, Sunrice, Doongarra rice, Mahatma Premium Classic, couscous, cornmeal, tapioca | Brown rice, Calrose rice, jasmine rice |
| Legumes | All dried beans (kidney, soy, baked etc), all dried peas (chick, split etc), lentils | Broad beans | |
| Vegetables | Sweet potato, taro, sweet corn | New potato | Other potatoes, parsnip, French fries |
| Dairy foods | Milk, So Good soy, low fat fruit yoghurt, custard, low fat ice cream | ||
| Biscuits | Oatmeal, Rich tea, grain crackers, rye crackers | Digestives, Shredded wheat meal, milk arrowroot | Morning coffee |
| Fruit | Cherries, grapefruit, peach, dried apricots, apple, pear, plums, orange, grapes, kiwi, banana | Sultanas, raw & canned apricots, mango, pawpaw, raisins, rock melon, pineapple | Watermelon, dates |