Glycemic Index Cookbook For Dummies E-Book

Meri Raffetto

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 477

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Keep a low GI diet with delicious and simple recipes Using the glycemic index is not only a proven method of losing and maintaining weight safely and quickly, it's also an effective way to prevent the most common diseases of affluence, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Now you can easily whip up meals at home that will help you shed unwanted pounds and stay healthy with the Glycemic Index Cookbook For Dummies. * 150 delicious and simple recipes with a glycemic index and glycemic load rating level for each * Includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, on-the-go, vegetarian, and kid-friendly recipes * Full-color insert showcases many of the book's recipes If you're one of the millions of people looking for a safe, effective, and easy-to-follow diet with proven results, Glycemic Index Cookbook For Dummies has all of the information and recipes that will get you well on the way to a healthier you.

Leseprobe

Glycemic Index Cookbook For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: The Science behind the Glycemic Index Diet

Part II: Creating a Healthy Lifestyle with Low-Glycemic Cooking

Part III: Serving Up Starters, Snacks, and Sides

Part IV: Making Memorable Main Dishes and Desserts

Part V: The Part of Tens

Part VI: Appendixes

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: The Science behind the Glycemic Index Diet

Chapter 1: What Is the Glycemic Index?

Introducing the Main Event behind the Glycemic Index: The Effect of Carbs

Understanding the differences between carbohydrates

Knowing how blood sugar can work for you and against you

Considering the role insulin plays in storing blood sugar

Measuring a Food’s Glycemic Index

Graphing responses to different foods

Keeping nutrition in mind when defining low- to high-glycemic foods

Watching out for a few limitations

Chapter 2: Surveying the Many Health Benefits of a Low-Glycemic Diet

Working toward Disease Prevention

Reducing risk factors for chronic diseases

Raising your antioxidant levels

Filling up on phytonutrients

Managing Current Health Problems

Metabolic syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome

Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes

Heart disease

Chapter 3: Losing Weight with a Low-Glycemic Diet

Regulating Blood Sugar and Curbing Cravings with Low-Glycemic Foods

Suppressing Your Appetite the Low-Glycemic Way

Including fiber in your daily menu

Releasing your fullness hormones

Keeping Calories under Control

Knowing that calories still count when you want to lose weight

Understanding that low glycemic doesn’t always mean low calorie

Watching portion sizes

Sticking to the right number of servings each day

Picking the Right Foods to Help You Lose More Weight

Eating your fruits and vegetables (Just like your mother told you!)

Including protein

Sticking to a “good” fat diet rather than a lowfat diet

Making the Most of Your Metabolic Makeup

Recognizing factors that affect your metabolic rate

Putting your metabolic rate to use for weight loss

Boosting your metabolic rate

Connecting metabolism to low-glycemic resistant starches

Part II: Creating a Healthy Lifestyle with Low-Glycemic Cooking

Chapter 4: Using the Glycemic Load to Create Meal-Planning Strategies

Simplifying the Glycemic Index with the Glycemic Load

Defining the glycemic load

Calculating a food’s glycemic load

Categorizing glycemic load measurements

Seeing how the glycemic load varies with different foods

Starting to Incorporate Low-Glycemic Foods into Your Meals

Finding the Perfect Balance at Meal Time

Combining carbohydrates, protein, and fat

Using appropriate portion sizes

Making the balancing act easy with the plate method

Aiming for a glycemic load ofless than 25 for your meals

Keeping moderation in mind

Chapter 5: Getting the Hang of Low-Glycemic Meal Planning

Cooking versus Pulling Together Quick Meals: You Can Do Both!

Scheduling time to cook full recipes

Discovering some quick pull-together meals for those extra-busy days

Sprucing Up Your Favorite Recipes to Fit a Low-Glycemic Diet

Surveying a Sample Weekly Menu Using Recipes from This Book

Sunday: Starting the week off right

Monday: Keeping it simple

Tuesday: Spending a little more time in the kitchen

Wednesday: Spicing up dinner with steak

Thursday: Winding down the week with leftovers and turkey

Friday: Using the grill to bring on the weekend

Saturday: Warming things up with soup and stir-fry

Chapter 6: Stocking Your Kitchen and Practicing New Cooking Methods

Restocking Your Pantry: Out with the Old, In with the New!

Looking at handy low-glycemic dry foods

Exploring new low-glycemic grains

Finding low-glycemic pastas

Stocking up on beans, lentils, and soups

Reinventing Your Refrigerator and Freezer

Getting Your Tools in Order

Cutting boards

Electrical appliances

Pots and pans

Utility tools

Cooking Low-Glycemic Grains

Checking out a whole-grain cooking chart

Adding some spark to your grains

Fixing Beans as Part of a Healthy Meal

Sifting through types of beans

Cooking canned beans versus dried beans

Preparing Low-Glycemic Fruits and Vegetables

Washing your fruits and veggies well

Roasting and steaming and grilling, oh my!

Creating new ways to enjoy fruits and vegetables

Chapter 7: Making Your Way around the Grocery Store

Using the Nutrition Facts Panel

Deciphering the categories

Taking a closer look at the ingredients

Buying Baked Goods, Grains, and Pasta

Picking Produce

Diving into Dairy

Making Sense of Meats and Seafood

The best cuts of poultry

The best cuts of beef

The best cuts of pork

The best bets on seafood

Simplifying Shopping with a Low-Glycemic List

Part III: Serving Up Starters, Snacks, and Sides

Chapter 8: Beginning Your Day Right with a Healthy Breakfast

Running-Out-the-Door Breakfast Ideas

Giving Breakfast a Sweet Side

Making Eggs Part of a Healthy Breakfast

Chapter 9: Whipping Up Some Healthier Baked Goods

Making Memorable Muffins

Baking Quick Breads

Chapter 10: Satisfying the Munchies with Scrumptious Appetizers and Snacks

Assembling Quick and Fresh Appetizers

Dipping Your Way to Delicious Appetizers

Impressing Guests with Savory Seafood Appetizers

Chapter 11: Warming Up with Soups, Stews, and Chilies

Soup, Glorious Soup

Homemade Stews: Comfort Food at Its Best

Chili Recipes to Warm Up Those Chilly Nights

Chapter 12: Greening Up Your Diet with Salads

Field of Greens: Savoring Side Salads

Fresh and Fabulous: Fixing Fruit Salads

All in One: Enjoying Salad Entrees

Chapter 13: Reinventing Vegetable Sides the Low-Glycemic Way

Steaming and Boiling Veggies with a Twist

Serving Sautéed Specialties

Roasting Vegetables to Perfection

Taking Veggies to the Grill

Chapter 14: On the Side: Grains, Pasta, and Potatoes

Exploring New Grains

Cooking Pasta Favorites the Low-Glycemic Way

Creating Low-Glycemic Potato Dishes (Seriously!)

Part IV: Making Memorable Main Dishes and Desserts

Chapter 15: Poultry Dishes That’ll Make People Flock to Your Table

Grilling Chicken for a Quick and Tasty Meal

Mixing Up Sautés and Stir-Fries

Reinventing Baked Chicken

Cooking South-of-the-Border Chicken

Beyond Thanksgiving: Adding a Twist to Turkey

Chapter 16: Adding Variety with Some Healthy Beef and Pork Entrees

Grilling a Few Healthy Beef Entrees

Spicing Up Supper with “Fiesta” Beef

Satisfying Your Burger Craving the Low-Glycemic Way

Enjoying New Pork Favorites

Chapter 17: Sailing the Sea for Some Sensational Seafood Entrees

Quick and Easy Fish Favorites

Fabulous Fish Dishes for Your Main Course

Sublime Shellfish

Chapter 18: Going Vegetarian with Some Hearty Entrees

Making the Most of Grains and Lentils

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat!

Chapter 19: Satisfying Your Sweet Tooth the Low-Glycemic Way

Rediscovering Old Dessert Favorites

Freshening Things Up with Some Sweet and Fruity Desserts

Don’t Forget the Chocolate!

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 20: Ten Healthy Choices to Complement a Low-Glycemic Diet

Enjoy Some Exercise

Sleep Blissfully

Get Your Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Make Sure You Get Your Vitamin D

Reduce Your Stress

Slow Down

Enjoy Family Meals Together

Be Mindful While You Eat

Find Humor in Your Day

Keep a Journal to Track Everything

Chapter 21: Ten Tips for Sticking to a Low-Glycemic Diet during Special Occasions

Make Time for Some Fun Movement

Watch Out for Alcohol

Beware the Bread Basket

Go Big for One Meal, but Eat Light the Rest of the Day

Fill Up on Low-Glycemic Choices at Parties

Take a Low-Glycemic Dish to Your Next Pitch-In Party

Enjoy a Holiday of Splurges, and Get Back on Track the Next Day

Bake and Give Away Treats during the Holidays

Avoid the All-or-Nothing Approach during the Holidays

You Can (Almost) Have It All on Vacation

Part VI: Appendixes

Appendix A: The Glycemic Load and Common Foods: An At-a-Glance Guide

Appendix B: Metric Conversion Guide

Glycemic Index Cookbook For Dummies®

by Meri Raffetto, RD, and Rosanne Rust, MS, RD, LDN

Glycemic Index Cookbook For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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About the Authors

Meri Raffetto is a registered dietitian and recognized professional in the area of nutrition and wellness. She has extensive experience in nutrition counseling, education, and medical nutrition therapy working in many areas, including eating disorders, weight management, and heart health. She’s the founder of Real Living Nutrition Services (www.reallivingnutrition.com), providing one of the only interactive online weight-loss programs where people can work one-on-one with a dietitian to get advice, support, and coaching to create sustainable lifestyle changes. Meri also develops custom online corporate wellness programs for small to large companies. She is the author of The Glycemic Index Diet For Dummies and the coauthor of The Calorie Counter For Dummies (both published by Wiley).

She is a wife and mother of triplets; loves great food; and enjoys camping, swimming, and hiking with her family.

Rosanne Rust is a registered, licensed dietitian with nearly 25 years of experience in the dietetics field. She has a master’s degree in clinical dietetics and nutrition from the University of Pittsburgh. Rosanne is an author, teacher, and spokesperson. She currently provides virtual weight-loss coaching as a licensed provider for Real Living Nutrition Services (www.reallivingnutrition.com) and is an online nutrition instructor for Penn State World Campus. Her private practice includes freelance writing, online nutrition coaching, media and spokesperson work, and corporate wellness consulting. Rosanne is the coauthor of The Calorie Counter For Dummies (Wiley) and a regular health columnist for The Meadville Tribune.

She is a wife and mother of three boys. She practices what she preaches and enjoys running, weightlifting, yoga, cycling, tennis, hiking, boating, skiing, snowboarding . . . and, of course, eating!

Dedication

We both come from large Italian families, so it only makes sense to dedicate this book to our parents, Joe and Iolanda and Frank and Toni, who instilled in us from an early age a love of food and cooking and the importance of enjoying every moment of life — especially those spent with family and friends.

Authors' Acknowledgments

To start, we want to thank Matt Wagner from Fresh Books and our acquisitions editor, Erin Calligan Mooney, for all their work spearheading this project. Our project editor, Georgette Beatty, was such a pleasure to work with, and we greatly appreciate her time and cheerful support in making this cookbook organized and fun to read — not to mention her complete understanding of our crazy lives during the writing of this book.

A major thank you to our copy editor, Amanda Langferman, for her dedication to helping us find the perfect wording, especially for the recipes, and our technical editor, Rachel Nix, for ensuring that the information in the book is accurate.

Writing a cookbook and developing recipes was truly a fun experience with a whole lot of recipe testing. We’d like to send a special thanks to Miriam and Jonathon, Joe and Iolanda, and Marla and Jillian for helping us test recipes. You guys are the greatest! And, of course, to our final recipe reviewer, Emily Nolan, and our nutritional analyst, Patty Santelli — thank you!

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Senior Project Editor: Georgette Beatty

Acquisitions Editor: Erin Calligan Mooney

Copy Editor: Amanda M. Langferman

Assistant Editor: David Lutton

Technical Editor: Rachel C. Nix, RD, CD, CLC

Recipe Tester: Emily Nolan

Nutritional Analyst: Patty Santelli

Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker

Editorial Assistant: Jennette ElNaggar

Art Coordinator: Alicia B. South

Cover Photos: T.J. Hine Photography

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Sheree Montgomery

Layout and Graphics: Claudia Bell, Carl Byers, Brent Savage

Proofreaders: Laura Bowman, Melissa Cossell

Indexer: Estalita Slivoskey

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel

Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

The glycemic index is a scientific method for calculating the way carbohydrates in food act in the body. The glycemic index is a great tool you can use to help manage many health issues, including diabetes, heart disease, and polycystic ovary syndrome. You can also use it to help you achieve or maintain general good health and wellness. It isn’t a “diet” in a gimmicky way. Instead, it’s a new way to look at your carbohydrate-containing foods to help you make the best choices for your particular situation.

No matter what inspired you to pick up this book, we know that incorporating any kind of dietary change into your life can bring with it a whole new set of challenges. Our goal in this book is to show you that implementing a low-glycemic diet can be simple and delicious. You don’t have to feel deprived because this concept works well with moderation. So stop worrying that you’ll never be able to eat another potato or pasta dish again. This book is here to help make your transition to a low-glycemic lifestyle a little easier by giving you ideas for how to cook low-glycemic meals for yourself, your family, and even guests.

About This Book

If you’re implementing a low-glycemic diet into your lifestyle (or just thinking about doing so), Glycemic Index Cookbook For Dummies is the perfect book for you. In the following pages, you find delicious recipes that you can begin to make and that we hope will become some of your favorites. This book also covers the basics of the glycemic index and glycemic load as well as practical, necessary information about grocery shopping, meal planning, getting your kitchen prepared, and much more.

You can use this book as a resource and, like any cookbook, you don’t have to read it from cover to cover. Instead, you can find that perfect recipe you’ve been looking for or go straight to the chapter on stocking your pantry. Everything you need to know about cooking the low-glycemic way is here.

Conventions Used in This Book

In this book, we use data from individual foods that have been tested for their glycemic index and then calculate an estimated glycemic load for each recipe based on the sum of the ingredients used in that recipe. Take note that the recipes themselves haven’t been tested in clinical human studies. Without human studies, no recipes can state with complete accuracy what their glycemic index or load will be. But rest easy that the estimates we provide are close enough to help you live a low-glycemic lifestyle.

When we use the terms low, medium, and high glycemic in conjunction with a particular food or recipe in this book, we’re referring to its glycemic load, not its glycemic index measurement (see Chapter 4 for the difference between the two).

Like with all cookbooks, we recommend that you read through each recipe in its entirety before you start making it. That way, you can add the necessary refrigerating time, standing time, or freezing time to your overall cooking schedule. Reading through the recipe’s directions beforehand also clues you in to any special tools, like immersion blenders, grill pans, or presoaked skewers, you may need to complete that particular recipe.

Here are a few other guidelines to keep in mind about the recipes in this book:

All butter is unsalted. Margarine is not a suitable substitute for butter unless we state you can use either one.

All eggs are large.

All milk is lowfat unless otherwise specified.

All onions are yellow unless otherwise specified.

All pepper is freshly ground black pepper unless otherwise specified.

All salt is kosher.

All dry ingredient measurements are level.

To make sure your measurements are also level, use a dry ingredient measuring cup, fill it to the top, and scrape it even with a straight object, such as the flat side of a knife.

All temperatures are Fahrenheit (see Appendix B to convert Fahrenheit temperatures to Celsius).

All lemon and lime juice is freshly squeezed.

All sugar is white granulated unless otherwise noted.

All flour is all-purpose unless otherwise noted.

When the recipe says to beat until frothy or foamy, take a fork and beat the liquid rapidly until small bubbles start to form and it thickens slightly.

When a recipe says to steam a vegetable, the amount of water you need to use in your pot or steamer depends on your steaming method, so we don’t include the water in the ingredients list. As a general rule of thumb, if you’re using a basket in a pot, the water level should be just under the basket.

And finally, we include the following basic conventions throughout the rest of the book:

We use boldface to highlightkeywords and the specific action steps in numbered lists.

We use italics to define or emphasize a word or phrase.

T We use this little tomato icon to highlight the vegetarian recipes in this book.

Web sites appear in monofont; we haven’t added any extra spaces or punctuation in them, so type exactly what you see in the text.

What You’re Not to Read

Like all For Dummies books, this one has gray-shaded boxes called sidebars that contain interesting but nonessential information. If you aren’t interested in the nitty-gritty, you can skip these sidebars. We promise not to include that information on the test (just kidding — there’s no test, of course!). You can also safely skip any information marked with the Technical Stuff icon (see the section “Icons Used in This Book” for more details).

Foolish Assumptions

We assume that you’re looking for meal-planning tips and recipes that will help you succeed with your weight-loss goals and healthier living by using the glycemic index diet. We also assume that you’ve done some cooking. In other words, you’re familiar with the right knife to use to slice a tomato without cutting your finger, and you can tell one pot from another.

If you need to brush up on your cooking skills, check out Cooking Basics For Dummies, 3rd Edition, by Bryan Miller and Marie Rama (Wiley) before you get rolling.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into six parts to help you incorporate the benefits of a low-glycemic diet into your life with recipes, helpful pointers, and more.

Part I: The Science behind the Glycemic Index Diet

The glycemic index shows how different foods that contain carbohydrates — fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and dairy products — affect blood sugar levels. Keeping blood sugar levels stable is important for managing weight loss, diabetes, heart disease, and other health issues. It’s also good practice for general wellness.

This part discusses how the glycemic index plays a role in general wellness, disease prevention, and weight loss. Here, we offer you the clinical side of a low-glycemic diet as well as practical tools on how you can use a low-glycemic diet to help you achieve your personal health goals.

Part II: Creating a Healthy Lifestyle with Low-Glycemic Cooking

Figuring out how the glycemic index works is the first step, but how do you put it to work in your everyday life? In this part, we show you how to make moderate changes so you can easily make a low-glycemic diet fit your lifestyle. This part is full of meal-planning strategies, sample meal plans, low-glycemic cooking skills, tips for stocking your kitchen, and our very own grocery shopping tour. After reading the chapters here, you’ll have no problem creating the recipes we include in this book.

Part III: Serving Up Starters, Snacks, and Sides

You definitely don’t have to give up taste to use low-glycemic foods in your cooking. The chapters in this part show you how to make some tasty breakfast dishes, wholesome baked goods, appealing appetizers, and hearty vegetable and grain sides that prove you can have plenty of flavor even when you’re following a low-glycemic diet. And don’t forget the soups, stews, chilies, and salads! These recipes are perfect to share with your family at home or guests at a party.

Part IV: Making Memorable Main Dishes and Desserts

Making delicious, low-glycemic main entrees is pretty easy to do. After all, the main protein sources like poultry, beef, pork, and seafood are naturally low glycemic because they don’t contain carbohydrates. So as long as you stick to lowfat, lean protein sources, you’re good to go! In this part, you find new and tasty ways to prepare entrees with these protein sources that you can eat every day as well as serve to guests. We also include a vegetarian chapter to show you how to use low-glycemic meatless protein sources like beans and nuts to make delicious, hearty entrees.

What about dessert? Can you have dessert in a low-glycemic lifestyle? We say yes! At the end of this part, you find a whole chapter dedicated to showing you how to make some sweet treats that are low to medium glycemic and also lower in fat and calories. See? You can satisfy your sweet tooth and still meet your overall health and wellness goals!

Part V: The Part of Tens

In this part, we provide ten healthy lifestyle steps to go along with your low-glycemic diet so you can create a complete health plan. Focusing on the whole picture will help you stay your healthiest. Here, you also find ten tips for maintaining your low-glycemic lifestyle during special occasions like parties, vacations, and holidays so you can continue to make progress toward your health goals even during those challenging times.

Part VI: Appendixes

The appendixes contain some great hands-on information to help you start implementing a low-glycemic diet in your life right away. Appendix A shows you some popular low-glycemic foods you can use whenever you like and explains which medium- to high-glycemic foods you need to use in moderation.

If you’d rather use the metric system, Appendix B provides simple conversion tables to make switching from ounces to grams (and other measurements) simple.

Icons Used in This Book

The icons in this book are like bookmarks, pointing out information that we think is especially important. Here are the icons we use and the kind of info they point out:

Even if you forget everything else in this book, remember the paragraphs marked with this icon. They’ll help you make good low-glycemic choices and stay on track with your health goals.

The information marked with this icon is interesting to know, but it goes beyond what’s essential for your basic understanding of the glycemic index. If you’re the type of person who likes to know more about any particular topic, you’ll enjoy these tidbits. If not, feel free to skip ’em.

This helpful icon marks important information that can save you time and energy, so make sure you don’t overlook it.

Watch out for this icon; it warns you about potential problems and common pitfalls of implementing a low-glycemic diet into your lifestyle.

Where to Go from Here

Where you go from here depends on your immediate needs. Are you a newbie to the glycemic index and want to learn a little before you head to the kitchen? Then check out Part I for some basic information. If you’re interested in meal planning, start with Chapters 4 and 5. If you’re not sure where you want to begin, peruse the table of contents and pick out the topics that mean the most to you and start there. (We just want to remind you not to skip our personal favorite, Chapter 19, which covers desserts, of course! You definitely don’t want to miss out on the yummy treats we offer you there!)

Part I

The Science behind the Glycemic Index Diet

In this part . . .

The glycemic index was originally created as a way to scientifically determine how different foods that contain carbohydrates — fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and dairy products — affect blood sugar levels. Since that initial research took place more than 30 years ago, scientists have come to understand that the glycemic index can be an effective tool for improving and maintaining health and wellness.

In this part, we cover the science behind using low-glycemic foods to potentially prevent and manage conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, and metabolic syndrome. We also provide practical tools that can help you use a low-glycemic diet to work toward your individual weight-loss goals.

Chapter 1

What Is the Glycemic Index?

In This Chapter

Defining the glycemic index by focusing on carbohydrates

Getting a feel for how glycemic index measurements work

When the glycemic index was first introduced in the 1980s, its main focus was on helping people with diabetes gain better control of their blood sugar. The original glycemic index research included only 62 foods, but if you fast forward to today, you see that hundreds of foods are now included. Although the glycemic index is a fairly new science, you can find all sorts of mainstream diet programs that incorporate it into their daily guidelines. To keep up with the glycemic index trend, many food companies are focusing on developing lower-glycemic food options, and glycemic testing institutions are creating special food labeling to make it easier for you to find the low-glycemic foods you’re looking for.

So if you’re thinking about starting a gimmick-free lifestyle change that’s based on science (yes, we mean the glycemic index diet), get ready to dive right in! In this chapter, we give you a quick rundown of what the glycemic index is and how the glycemic index is measured.

Introducing the Main Event behind the Glycemic Index: The Effect of Carbs

The glycemic index isn’t a diet in the sense that you have to follow specific meal plans or eliminate certain foods from your daily meals and snacks. Instead, it’s a scientific way of looking at how different carbohydrates in foods affect blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels. Although all carbohydrates raise blood sugar to some degree, the glycemic index takes this notion a step further by figuring out how much a specific food raises blood sugar. This information is especially important to know if you want to lose weight or if you have diabetes, heart disease, or certain other health issues. (See Chapter 2 for details on how the glycemic index diet can help you manage different health conditions.)

The glycemic index applies only to foods that contain carbohydrates, which include vegetables, fruits, grains, lentils, legumes, sugars, and the dairy portions of your meals. It shows you how these foods impact your blood sugar, which then affects everything from your energy levels to food cravings.

The following sections give you the scoop on how different types of carbohydrates impact your blood sugar and insulin levels.

Understanding the differences between carbohydrates

Most foods are made up of the following three calorie-containing macronutrients:

Carbohydrates: As the body’s primary fuel source, carbohydrates provide energy for the brain, muscles, and organs.