The following common foods have been split into tables depending on their GI Value:
Low GI = GI Value lower than 55
Medium GI = GI Value between 56 and 69
High GI = GI Value between 70 and 100
Quick GI tip: You should be aiming to avoid High GI foods and eat a mix of low and medium GI foods as part of a healthy balanced diet containing good quality protein and fats.GI Values of Common Foods:Low GI Foods Medium GI Foods High GI Foods
Banana fruit smootie 30 Coca Cola 53 Lucozade 95
Unsweeted orange juice 52 Orange Cordia 66 Sports drinks 80
Multigrain Loaf 54 Wholemeal Loaf 67 White bread 70
All Bran 42 Frosties 55 Coco-Pops 77
Museli (oat & whole grain) 50 Instant Porridge 66 Cornflakes 81
Sweetcorn 53 Couscous 65 Rice cakes 78
Brown rice 54 Basmati rice 58 Instant rice 69
Yogurt 24 Rye crisp bread 64 Corn chips 72
Baked beans 48 Mars bar 65 Watermelon 72
Kidney beans 28 Beetroot 64 Popcorn 72
Red Lentils 26 Sweet potato 66 Pretzels 83
Instant noodles 47 Arborio rice 69 Pumpkin 75
Spagetti 44 Rolled barley 66 Parsnips 97
Honey 48 Porridge 58 Baked potato 85 General Guideline
It can be difficult to work out the GI value of some foods without referring to an index or chart, but one rule that you can generally rely on is: Is the food unprocessed and in its natural state?
Processed food will generally have a higher GI value than un processed and whole foods. For example has it been processed in any of the following ways: cooked, ground up, preserved, had sugar added etc.
Examples:
- A raw carrot has a much lower GI value than a cooked carrot because your body can much more easily digest a cooked carrot and its energy enters your blood faster. So consider eating more raw foods or if cooking vegetables don’t boil them for hours, leave them slightly crispy.
- Museli has a much lower GI value than cornflakes. Again museli is harder to digest because it typically contains whole oat flakes and whole nuts and seeds. Cornflakes on the other hand have been cooked (toasted) and had sugar added.
- Wholegrain bread versus Wholemeal Bread versus White bread. You guessed it, wholegrain bread will have a lower GI value because of the whole grains. Wholemeal bread has a higher GI value because the grains have been ground. White bread is highly processed and has a high GI value.
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