The glycemic index of foods (GI) is the ability of foods to increase blood glucose levels. This value gives us information about two elements: how much blood glucose increases and the time it takes to do so after eating a food.

To establish the GI values, glucose is taken as a reference, which has a GI of 100, and the rest of the food is compared with it.

Reference values ​​for the GI are established through clinical studies. In them, volunteers admitted to a hospital are taken and their blood glucose is measured before, during and after consuming certain foods.

We can find tables with different values ​​due to the great variability of products depending on the manufacturer, the country of origin and personal physiological variability (not all of us digest in the same way). Thus, the GI should be used as a reference, but not to make decisions about insulin doses.

What is the use of measuring the glycemic index?
The glycemic index (GI) can be used to understand why certain foods raise glucose more than others and act accordingly. For example: white bread and cooked white rice have a higher GI index than legumes or nuts.

Advice
Mix the lentils with rice, or distribute the carbohydrates in lentils and bread, on days when an afternoon of physical activity is planned. This way we will avoid having a fair control, since lentils have a low GI.

Can you change the glycemic index?
The glycemic index (GI) depends on:

• The speed of digestion. A liquid food (such as commercial apple juice) will have a higher GI than an apple, as it is easier to digest.
• The degree of cooking. Well-cooked food is easier to digest, so al dente pasta will have a lower GI than well-cooked pasta.
• The fiber content. Fiber foods lower the GI. Therefore, it is important to eat fiber-rich foods, such as fruits, vegetables or legumes, at each meal.
• Fats also lower the GI, as they slow gastric emptying. As strange as it sounds, a croissant has a lower GI than white loaf bread.
• However, it is not possible to generalize and increase fat intake and lower the GI, since the consumption of saturated fats would probably be excessive and counterproductive for general health.