[EeyoreButterfly]

I wawnt your opinions on the Glycemic Index. My dietician mentioned in passing but basically said it wasn't worth the effort. However, she also told me that all carbs affect blood sugar the same and don't worry about complex versus refined. I'm starting to think that's not the case.

I already count carbs at every meal, and I count WW points. I'm interested in using the Glycemic Index for my carb choices, but I don't know much about it and I'm a little worried that adding another number to the mix will just confuse me. Any suggestions would be great!

[Evermont]

I think Glycemic Index is a useful thing to understand. More practical than Glycemic Index however is Glycemic Load. These concepts are useful, but not the entire story as to what makes your BG rise, how much it rises, how quickly it rises, and for how long it stays high.

I recommend learning about these things and experimenting on yourself with various foods, cooking methods, recipes, etc.

Some people may be more motivated to acquire and make use of this kind of knowledge. I am concerned that some health professionals are too quick to judge patients capacity to use such knowledge and decide out of hand that it can be disregarded. I'm sure in some cases that this is the right approach, but it can also be a cop out for a pro who doesn't want to deal with patents that have too many questions for the time slot they are supposed to fit in.

'Complex' versus 'simple' carbs is an old school notion that has appropriately fallen out of favor. It's not the same as glycemic index / load though.

[volleyball]

Sounds as if your dietitian is old school and out of date. Glycemic index and glycemic load are equally important. They will show you what carbs you can enjoy in what quantity.
How the glycemic affects you is as individual as how your diabetes is different from another persons.
A larger person would normally be able to tolerate more food in their glycemic load if they are in similar shape. A lighter person who is more active could also have a larger load capacity than a larger, sedentary person

[princesslinda]

For me, the easiest/simplest way to learn which foods to eat was to try a particular food, then check my blood sugar 2 hrs after the first bite. This has been an easy way to find what foods I can have and what I need to avoid or eat only on occasion.

[notme]

I am really surprised that your nutrionist has told you not to pay attention to the glycemic index. If nothing else, it is a great guide to healthier eating.

I would think about finding another nutritionist that has a better understanding on how simple sugars can affect your blood sugar.

[buttons]

What princesslinda said .

[EeyoreButterfly]

Okay, glycemic load? That's new to me. I think that part of the issue with my dietician's appointment was that there were two other people there: a man in his thirties who was diagnosed full blown T2, and an older woman who said she was T2 but the dietician indicated that it sounded more like prediabetes. I think she was trying to balance the needs of three different people with different diagnoses without going on overload. Both the nutritionist and the doctor made comments that as I am in academia (as they put it) and seem fairly intelligent I can learn a lot of it in on my own.

I did pick up two books today: The Sugar Solution and another book that gives a brief explanation of the Glycemic Index.

[paulT2]

The Glycemic Index

Useful information on the Glycemic Index here ...
despite being keen to sell their own books this site has useful information on the subject.

[EeyoreButterfly]

Several people have suggested seeing a different dietician, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. I attend university in a rural area, I have to drive a half an hour just to go to a doctor that my insurance covers. Plus, my insurance only covers one visit with a dietician... and I had it. If it's cheap enough I could do it again, but I wouldn't even know hwere to start. Doesn't my doctor have to make that appointment? I'm afraid of becoming a pest to her. I'm interested in getting some more concrete answers, but just don't know where to start.

[volleyball]

Your need for a dietitian is really up to you. If you feel you can learn and make the right choices, this forum can give you way better advice than an out of date professional. Would you trust your hair to a stylist who still thinks it the 80's?

[ShottleBop]

According to Dr. Bernstein (author of The Diabetes Solution), a carb is a carb is a carb, and ultimately they all affect your blood sugar level. I agree with princesslinda: eat to your meter.

[EeyoreButterfly]

I keep seeing references to Glycemic Load, and this is the first time I've heard of it. Can somebody please explain the difference between Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load?

[volleyball]

Think a little of a bad thing is not bad and too much of a good thing is bad.
Index is good or bad
Load is the amount

[EeyoreButterfly]

Huh? I'm having a blonde moment and just did not follow that at all!

[ShottleBop]

From David Mendosa's site:

The glycemic index (GI) is a numerical system of measuring how much of a rise in circulating blood sugar a carbohydrate triggers—the higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response. So a low GI food will cause a small rise, while a high GI food will trigger a dramatic spike. A list of carbohydrates with their glycemic values is shown below. A GI is 70 or more is high, a GI of 56 to 69 inclusive is medium, and a GI of 55 or less is low.

The glycemic load (GL) is a relatively new way to assess the impact of carbohydrate consumption that takes the glycemic index into account, but gives a fuller picture than does glycemic index alone. A GI value tells you only how rapidly a particular carbohydrate turns into sugar. It doesn't tell you how much of that carbohydrate is in a serving of a particular food. You need to know both things to understand a food's effect on blood sugar. That is where glycemic load comes in. The carbohydrate in watermelon, for example, has a high GI. But there isn't a lot of it, so watermelon's glycemic load is relatively low. A GL of 20 or more is high, a GL of 11 to 19 inclusive is medium, and a GL of 10 or less is low.

Foods that have a low GL almost always have a low GI. Foods with an intermediate or high GL range from very low to very high GI.

Both GI and GL are listed here. The GI is of foods based on the glucose index—where glucose is set to equal 100. The other is the glycemic load, which is the glycemic index divided by 100 multiplied by its available carbohydrate content (i.e. carbohydrates minus fiber) in grams. (The "Serve size (g)" column is the serving size in grams for calculating the glycemic load; for simplicity of presentation I have left out an intermediate column that shows the available carbohydrates in the stated serving sizes.) Take, watermelon as an example of calculating glycemic load. Its glycemic index is pretty high, about 72. According to the calculations by the people at the University of Sydney's Human Nutrition Unit, in a serving of 120 grams it has 6 grams of available carbohydrate per serving, so its glycemic load is pretty low, 72/100*6=4.32, rounded to 4.