GI or GL

[beck]

I am very newly diagnosed and am trying to get my head round the diet changes I need to make. The doc said foods with low GI, but researching that I have come across GL. Help!!! What is the difference and which one should I be using??

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Bloden]

I'm no expert, but I think that GI refers to the individual food (eg donuts have a high GI) and GL refers to the overall GI of all the different foods that together make up a meal (eg pasta, fruit and yogurt combined = medium GL).
But don't quote me on that!🙄

 

[Northerner]

I am very newly diagnosed and am trying to get my head round the diet changes I need to make. The doc said foods with low GI, but researching that I have come across GL. Help!!! What is the difference and which one should I be using??

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sorry, only just spotted this! Bloden is correct, GI refers to individual food items, and can be a bit misleading. For example, melon is very high GI, but is mostly water, so the actual quantity of sugar per portion is quite small. GL is a method of allowing for this as it takes portion size into account. Thus, combining low GI items with higher GI ones you can reduce the overall GI of the meal (which is why it is better to eat, say, a piece of cake after a main meal rather than on its own).

A very good explanation can be found in The GL Diet for Dummies.