Keen to follow a low-glycaemic load diet? This table lists both the glycaemic index and glycaemic load of common foods in alphabetical order
The glycaemic index (GI) is a measure developed by doctors in the 1980s to evaluate the effect of foods on blood sugar levels, as part of efforts to combat diabetes. Basically, the more a food makes blood sugar levels rise, the higher its glycaemic index (1).
This device allowed doctors to understand that not all carbohydrates are necessarily bad for diabetics: some carbohydrates (such as glucose and sucrose) are worse than others (such as fructose and starch).
With this knowledge, they were able to categorise foods according to their GI:
However, there are two factors not taken into account by the glycaemic index:
Because of this, we now have the glycaemic load: a new measure which allows a more precise evaluation of a food’s impact on blood sugar(2).
To determine a food’s glycaemic load, you multiply its glycaemic index by the amount of carbohydrates in an average serving of the food, then divide that by 100.
Let’s take the example of cornflakes:
It is generally accepted that the daily glycaemic load should be somewhere between 80 and 120. Anything above that is considered too high.
To arrive at this figure, you simply add together the glycaemic load of all the different foods consumed during the day (using the amount actually consumed rather than that ‘normally’ consumed).
To help you, we’ve put together this table of the glycaemic load and index of 50 common foods. As you’ll see, it’s the freshest, least refined and least processed foods which have the lowest glycaemic load (3).
Food | Portion | Carbohydrates per serving | Glycemic index | Glycemic load |
1. Apricot | 100 g | 11 g | 34 | 3.8 |
2. Dried apricot | 100 g | 60 g | 35 | 21 |
3. Banana | 100 g | 23 g | 48 | 11 |
4. Cooked wheat | 100 g | 62 g | 50 | 32 |
5. Bulgur | 100 g | 76 g | 55 | 42 |
6. Raw carrot | 200 g | 20 g | 16 | 3.2 |
7. Cooked carrot | 200 g | 20 g | 49 | 9.8 |
8. Cherry | 100 g | 12 g | 25 | 3 |
9. Dark chocolate | 30 g | 6 g | 23 | 1.4 |
10. Dates | 30 g | 15 g | 29 | 4 |
11. Dried dates | 50 g | 35 g | 40 | 14 |
12. Wheat flour T150 (wholemeal bread) | 30 g | 15 g | 70 | 10 |
13. Wheat flour T55 (baguette) | 30 g | 18 g | 90 | 16 |
14. Wheat flour T65 (country bread) | 30 g | 15 g | 80 | 12 |
15. Strawberry | 100 g | 7.7 g | 25 | 1.9 |
16. Gnocchi | 200 g | 40 g | 70 | 28 |
17. Cooked white beans | 200 g | 30 g | 40 | 12 |
18. Cooked red beans | 200 g | 24 g | 33 | 8 |
19. Green beans | 300 g | 12 g | 30 | 3.6 |
20. Kiwi | 100 g | 15 g | 50 | 7.5 |
21. Cooked lentils | 300 g | 36 g | 30 | 11 |
22. Lychee | 100 g | 15 g | 50 | 7.6 |
23. Mango | 100 g | 15 g | 53 | 3 |
24. Honey | 8 g | 5 g | 53 | 3 |
25. Plain muesli | 100 g | 57 g | 40 | 23 |
26. Nectarine | 100 g | 12 g | 35 | 4 |
27. Nuts | 50 g | 7 g | 15 | 1 |
28. Orange | 100 g | 12 g | 35 | 4 |
29. Orange juice | 150 mL | 15 g | 45 | 6.75 |
30. Grapefruit | 100 g | 11 g | 22 | 2.5 |
31. Watermelon | 100 g | 7.5 g | 75 | 5.5 |
32. Cooked sweet potato | 200 g | 28 g | 65 | 18.2 |
33. Cooked white pasta | 150 g | 40 g | 60 | 24 |
34. Cooked wholemeal pasta | 150 g | 40 g | 50 | 20 |
35. Fishing | 100 g | 11 g | 35 | 4 |
36. Cooked peas | 200 g | 20 g | 50 | 10 |
37. Pear | 100 g | 15.5 g | 30 | 4.5 |
38. Cooked split peas | 200 g | 28 g | 22 | 6 |
39. Apple | 100 g | 14 g | 36 | 5 |
40. Apple juice | 100 mL | 11 g | 41 | 4.5 |
41. Cooked potato | 200 g | 35 g | 70 | 24.5 |
42. Cooked pumpkin | 100 g | 7 g | 65 | 4.5 |
43. Plum | 100 g | 11 g | 35 | 4 |
44. Cooked quinoa | 200 g | 38 g | 35 | 13 |
45. White grape | 100 g | 17 g | 56 | 9.6 |
46. White rice | 200 g | 60 g | 70 | 42 |
47. Brown rice | 200 g | 60 g | 50 | 30 |
48. Buckwheat | 200 g | 60 g | 40 | 24 |
49. Semolina | 200 g | 70 g | 60 | 42 |
50. Tomato juice | 100 mL | 4.2 g | 35 | 1.5 |
If you want to control your weight or indeed lose weight, it’s essential to monitor your blood sugar levels: the metabolism of glucose is a factor in weight gain, and especially fat mass gain.
This is because foods with a high glycaemic load produce a spike in insulin, and insulin allows glucose to enter cells. Any excess glucose generated is then metabolised into fat cells called adipocytes.
The good news is there are several plants and natural remedies that can help to normalise the metabolism of sugars and thus regulate glycaemia. The main ones are:
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