In 1981 nutritional science professor David Jenkins of the University of Toronto in Canada developed a system to rate foods, mostly carbohydrates, in terms of their effects on the blood sugar levels in the body. Each food type was rated with a GI index number. The lower the number, the healthier the food’s effect on the sugar levels of your body.
Blood Sugar and Insulin: The Dance
When we consume carbohydrates, when digested, they break down to form glucose that is then absorbed into the blood. The hormone insulin is then created by the pancreas as a reaction to the glucose in the blood. This hormone is responsible for removing excess glucose from the circulatory system that could be potentially toxic. Insulin also regulates fat metabolism in the body. Insulin is responsible for keeping a balance in the amount of glucose in the blood. Glucose is still needed for cell function, but too much glucose can be harmful.
When the amount of glucose cannot be mitigated because of lack of insulin in a person’s system, the threat of diabetes is eminent. That is why this balance brought about by insulin is so important.
Today’s mainstream diets, especially in the western civilized world are characterized as being very high in sugar as well as fat. The widespread inclusion of the commercial sweetener, high fructose corn syrup, in a vast number of food products available in supermarkets as well as our addiction to sugar have increased the onset of obesity as well as diabetes in the United States.
Below is an excerpt from a great article in Mindbodygreen.Com discussing the negative effects that consuming sugar has in the body:
Sugar disturbs mental health in at least three ways:
1. It starves the brain.
Here’s a typical scenario. You wake up, have a glass of orange juice and a bagel, and your pancreas is confronted with a wave of sugar that it doesn’t react kindly to. It releases its own wave of insulin, charged with sweeping that sugar into cells for energy production. The resultant dip in blood sugar can alarm the body and the adrenal glands, making them work overtime. These glands are charged with producing cortisol (which ultimately promotes insulin resistance or the lack of cellular response to insulin) and fight-or-flight chemicals that can get your heart racing and ratchet up anxiety. The solution to this agitated slump is often a follow-up serving of refined carbohydrate and/or caffeine and sugar — maybe a midmorning cookie with coffee..read more.
Enter the Glycemic Index Diet
The ingeniousness of the GI Index is that now people have the ability to see what would be the best carbohydrates to ingest for optimum health.
Remember that we still need carbohydrates to survive and for effective cell function. But when comes right down to it, some carbs are better than others.
