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Glycemic Index
By fthomas | April 1, 2009
Knowing Glycemic Index Can Help Maintain a Healthy Life
Diabetes is a disease that can be prevented if only we all know what a glycemic index is. Let me first tell you the danger of having diabetes, specifically type 2 diabetes. Do you know that there are people who are afflicted with this disease and they do not have any idea that they are? They are about 33% of the total population that has diabetes. So if you have the following symptoms, you have type 2 diabetes: if you feel thirsty all the time, you urinate more than usual, there is unexplained weight loss, you are tired most of the time even if you have just rested and you feel cranky. Other symptoms of diabetes include: if you have cuts that tend to heal very slowly, you have blurry vision; there is numbness in your hands and feet, vaginal yeast infections and others.
Now that we have laid out the effects of type 2 diabetes, I can now tell you what a glycemic index can do. A GI or gylcemic index can serve as a guide so we can measure the effects of the level of blood glucose and carbohydrates that we have in the body. It can be classified into 3: low GI, medium GI and high GI. The scale ranges from 0 to 100. The kinds of food that are given lower values are the ones that cause the least rise in the level of blood sugar. As the values go higher, the faster the rise it can cause the blood sugar. When you have a high GI and you are predisposed to diabetes you are in danger of known diseases such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and so many others.
What kind of food to eat depends on who you are and how healthy you are. If you are not prone to diabetes, you can eat as much high GI kinds of food that you can. This is actually recommended after a strenuous workout. If you have diabetes, it is always best to eat the right kind of food for you and those are fruits and vegetables, grainy breads, brown rice, fish, eggs, meat, nuts and oil. Thus, knowing Glycemic Index can help you maintain a healthy and full life.
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