For those interested in improving problems with insulin resistance, metabolic disorder, PCOS, etc... I started my own experiment with a low glycemic diet recently, and promised other interested folks that I would blog information as I go.

Glycemic index (GI) is a ranking system for carbohydrates based on their effect on blood glucose levels. Carbohydrates that break down rapidly during digestion have the highest glycemic indices. Carbohydrates that break down slowly, releasing glucose gradually into the blood stream, have a low glycemic index. A lower glycemic index suggests slower rates of digestion and absorption of the sugars and starches in the foods. A lower glycemic response is often thought to equate to a lower insulin demand, better long-term blood glucose control and a reduction in blood lipids.

The glycemic effect of foods depends on a number of factors such as the type of starch, physical entrapment of the starch molecules within the food, fat and protein content of the food and organic acids or their salts in the meal — adding vinegar for example, will lower the GI. The presence of fat or soluble dietary fibre can slow the gastric emptying rate thus lowering the GI.

GI values are commonly interpreted as follows:
< 55 = Low GI
56-69 = Medium GI
> 70 = High GI

The glycemic index can only be applied to foods with a reasonable carbohydrate content, as the test relies on subjects consuming enough of the test food to yield about 50 g of available carbohydrate. Many fruits and vegetables (but not potatoes) contain very little carbohydrate per serving, or have very low GI values.  Alcoholic beverages have been reported to have low GI values, however it should be noted that beer has a moderate GI. Recent studies have shown that the consumption of an alcoholic drink prior to a meal reduces the GI of the meal by approximately 15%. (Good news for those of us who enjoy a glass of wine.)

There are  quite a few easy pocket/shoppers guides available that make shopping easier. Here is a link to an easy quick guide to low, medium, and high GI foods. http://www.the-gi-diet.org/glycemicindexchart/

I also highly recommend any of the New Glucose Revolution books, but especially The New Glucose Revolution: Low GI Eating Made Easy

The best news is that I have now found chocolate on the GI scale and it's a LOW GI food!!!! Who would have thought?