Glycemic
Index in Simple Terms
When
I was working as a nurse in the Emergency Room, we often had diabetic
patients come in who were in Insulin Shock or Crisis. This meant that
their blood sugar dropped very low and they had too much insulin in
their body. Often this would happen accidentally because the patient
either hadn’t eaten enough or hadn’t eaten the right foods,
or had an infection or some other process that stressed their body,
which in turn caused their body to use the sugar for recovery. There
is a lot of medical science behind all of this but simply put, they
had too much insulin in their body and too little sugar.
In
this situation the patient is in need of immediate sugar. So, as good
nurses we gave them direct sugar (Glucose) IV. Yes, we “mainlined”
sugar to these patients. Within moments they would start to come around
and yet another life was saved.
Well,
the index that is used as a reference for how readily sugar is available
to the body is based on this model. In other words, “mainlining”
sugar is 100% on the Glycemic Index. Woo Hoo! You can’t get
sugar faster than that! Well guess what? Eating Jelly Beans or some
such pure sugar candy falls in the 90% or higher range on the Glycemic
Index.
This
means that eating simple sugars, (think of eating tablespoons of white
table sugar – Yuk!) is very close to “mainlining”
sugar! Now it is easy to see why a person gets an immediate response
(a “high”) to eating simple sugars. Unfortunately the
effect is not saving lives of Americans that abuse sugar on a daily
basis, it is killing them.
The
insulin comes to the “rescue” as it were and now there
is a large amount of insulin floating around long after the sugar
is gone. Over time this leads to a condition known as Insulin Resistance.
The cells just get tired of the fight and pretty soon they just shut
down and insulin sits around inside the body creating a greater craving
for sugar so it can get back to the business of fighting the sugar.
I
always tell my clients, “The more you have it the more you want
it.” This goes as much for sugar as healthy foods. When you
are on the sugar habit you want more and more, once you stop and get
away from it for a period of time, eating healthier choices, the less
you want sugar and the more you want healthy foods.
For
help in kicking the sugar habit and maintaining a healthy blood sugar
level, for life contact me at www.bellavitastudios.com
or 303-795-5830. I am always glad to help.
mvanhorn24@hotmail.com
