The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies by Meri Raffetto Page B

book's recipes, to see whether they have a low, medium, or high glycemic load (see Chapter 4 for the scoop on glycemic load).
    This chapter helps you understand how to choose low-glycemic whole grains, pastas, and legumes (also known as beans). It explains which fruits and vegetables give you the most volume, help fill you up, and promote a healthy weight. It also features tips on simple and easy ways to begin overhauling your diet so you can reap the benefits of choosing low-glycemic foods.
    Using the Glycemic Index
    In this section, you discover how to begin using the glycemic index to make gradual, lasting changes in your diet. You don't have to know the actual glycemic number of a food to follow an overall low-glycemic diet. Simply choose foods with a low or medium glycemic ranking, and you can be confident that you're making smart choices.
    Several foods have already been tested for their glycemic index, and that information is readily available through www.glycemicindex.com , the official database compiled by Australian researchers.
    Starting with small steps

    Making just one or two changes in the foods you choose each day, switching from a higher-glycemic food to a lower-glycemic one, for example, can lead to big differences over time. The first step is to focus on simple changes that are easy to incorporate into your usual eating habits, such as the following:
    Include one low-glycemic food with every meal and snack. Refer to Appendix A for help finding low-glycemic foods, or check out the resource mentioned in the preceding section.

    Eat smaller portions of high-glycemic foods. By cutting your portion of a high-glycemic food such as instant mashed potatoes in half, you decrease that food's impact on the overall glycemic load of your meal.

    Swap out a high-glycemic food for one that's low- to moderate-glycemic. So instead of eating a smaller portion of instant mashed potatoes, you could try the made-over potato salad recipe from Chapter 15.

    Take your time adjusting to these changes in order to give yourself a better chance of sticking with them. Set a goal to include a low-glycemic food at just one meal the first week. The second week, include a low-glycemic food at a second meal. By the time one month has passed, you'll find incorporating low-glycemic foods is a habit, not a chore. You'll also notice improved health and mood benefits.
    As long as you start with small, reasonable changes in the foods you routinely eat, you'll gradually consume more low-glycemic foods and fewer high-glycemic foods over time. The end result will be an overall moderate- to low-glycemic eating pattern.
    Comparing your current food choices to see where you can make swaps
    When you want to identify where your favorite foods fall on the glycemic index list, a good approach is to start looking up the glycemic index of the foods each time you eat a meal or a snack. Note how often you choose high-, medium-, and low-glycemic foods. Perhaps lunch most often includes lower-glycemic foods, but breakfast relies on higher-glycemic breads and cereals. Watch for broad patter such as these in the foods you eat regularly.
    As you identify your current high-glycemic food choices, think about the low-glycemic foods you also have on hand. Can you substitute a lower-glycemic food for something higher? For example, instant mashed potatoes are high-glycemic (around 97 on average), but boiled new potatoes with their skins are low-glycemic (around 54 on average). Or you can use quick-cooking brown rice (with a glycemic index around 48) rather than potatoes in order to keep dinner preparation quick and simple.
    Think about how you can include medium- or low-glycemic foods for snacks. For example, if you love white-flour crackers such as saltines, swap this high-glycemic snack for a whole-grain cracker such as Triscuits, which have a lower glycemic index. Or you can try swapping a lower-glycemic fruit, such as melon, for a higher-glycemic one, such as