Sat, Jan-25-03, 07:15
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Plan: Bernstein Diabetes Soluti
Stats: 260/-/145
BF:
Progress: 63%
Location: Michigan
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Quote:
Originally posted by bobbarabbi
By the way, Glycemic Index just tells us how fast insulin will act on foods, not how much insulin is released.
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Not exactly. The Glycemic index is a measure of how fast and how high a particular food will raise your blood sugar in the two or three hours after eating. Pure sugar is the standard against which these foods are measured and given an index number according to how much they raise your blood sugar in comparison to sugar. The lower the index number, the less impact the food has on your blood sugar as compared to table sugar. Your body will release some insulin when any type of food is ingested. How much insulin is released is directly related to how high your blood sugars are climbing (and if they are still climbing) a little over an hour after you begin eating. Insulin is released in two phases. The first phase is when you begin eating, the second phase is about an hour and 15 minutes later and is in response to how high your blood sugars have risen.
How fast the insulin will lower, or act on, your blood sugar depends on a variety of things not least of which is how receptive your cells are to its effects. If you are insulin resistant, it will take more insulin than a normal person to lower your blood sugars to the normal range again.
Indirectly, the glycemic index could indicate how much insulin is being released as the higher the foods you eat are on the glycemic index, the more insulin your body will require to bring your blood sugar down to and maintain it in the normal range.
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