If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that advise eating foods with a low glycemic index. Foods with a low GI have carbs that break down into sugars slowly. This prevents a sudden “spike” in blood sugar.
Potatoes have a very high GI. One of the highest we’ve uncovered. The starches in a potato turn into sugars almost immediately. This spikes your blood insulin and causes weight gain.
Now we have clinical proof to back this up. The authors of a thirty-year study revealed that potatoes are associated with an increased risk of diabetes. Their research showed that high potatoes increase insulin resistance. This raises your risk of adult diabetes.
You Say “Potato,” I Say “Health Danger”
So what’s insulin resistance? When your blood sugar stays elevated for long periods, so does your insulin. And that’s the problem.
Ever walked into a kitchen while someone is cooking? In those first seconds, you get a blast of aroma. But within five or ten minutes, you don’t notice the smell anymore. Your hormones are the same. When your body stops responding to insulin, we call this insulin resistance.
Not only does this make you fat, but it leads to diabetes – and eventually heart disease. So the idea is to let your blood sugar come back down after eating so that insulin doesn’t stay high for too long.
The Best Gauge to Use
We talked about the Glycemic Index. Now, let’s add another factor to the equation: The Glycemic Load (GL). The GL is simply a calculation that multiplies the GI times the total amount of carbohydrate in the serving you eat. This adds a practical feature. For instance:
Watermelon has a high GI: 74
. But it only has 6 grams of carbs per serving. This gives it a GL of 4, which is very low. So even with a high GI, you could eat watermelon until you burst and never get fat.White rice, on the other hand, has a GI of 64. That’s high, but lower than watermelon. But rice has a whopping 40 grams of carbs per serving. This gives it a GL of 26. And that’s high.
Here’s a fresh way to look at a few everyday foods. Some of the results may surprise you. – Especially if you’ve been eating cereal!
Glycemic Index Glycemic Load
High 70 + High 20 +
Medium 50 to 70 Medium 11 to 19
Low Below 50 Low 10 and Below
| Food | GI | Carbs | GL |
| Orange | 42 | 16 | 7 |
| French Fries | 75 | 29 | 22 |
| Broccoli | 6 | 2 | 1 |
| Mac & Cheese | 64 | 50 | 32 |
| Raisin Bran | 61 | 45 | 27 |
| Milk | 0 | 12 | 4 |
| Pizza | 36 | 25 | 9 |
| Bagel | 72 | 32 | 23 |
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD