Health Tips

Preventing Diabetes With Low Glycemic Index Foods

July 4, 2009
By J White

Diabetes can be one of the consequences of overindulgence and bad eating habits. These bad food choices creates an environment in which this disease can develop and progress. Unless better eating habits are formed, diabetes, as well as other diseases, could be part of your future.

However, there is a simple practice that you can start that can help to prevent this disease from forming, and this is to eat foods that have a low glycemic index. What are low glycemic foods? These are foods that have a minimal effect on the raising of your blood sugar or insulin levels. It is the constant spiking of insulin levels that can lead to insulin resistance, which is a precursor to diabetes.

Diabetes And Low Glycemic Index Food Sources

There are an abundance of these low glycemic food sources that you can choose to help lower your risks of developing diabetes. Many sites, including this one, have lists of glycemic foods with their values. However, even though the list are helpful with finding the foods with the lowest index, they are not entirely necessary in order to determine which foods probably have low indexes.

An easy way to determine this is to ask yourself has the food been processed or not. Processed foods are those food items that have been prepared in a manner that may destroy or removed important nutrients from the foods. If foods have been processed, then in all likelihood these foods do not have a low glycemic index. Therefore they should be avoided are at least severely limited in your diet.

Instead, the foods that you are looking for are just the opposite of these processed foods, namely whole grains or foods in there natural state. This includes whole grain breads, the majority of legumes or beans, certain fruits, and of course the majority of vegetables.

However, just because it is a whole food does not mean that it is going to have a low glycemic index. For instance, baked potatoes have a high index, especially when the skin is not eaten with it. Also, tasty as it might be, watermelon also has a high index.

So to help lower your risk at developing diabetes, consume more foods that have a low glycemic index. And for a general means of determining whether or not a food may be considered to have a low index, just ask yourself if it is in its natural state or not.

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