Glycemix Index
The Key to Fat Free Growth

By Xavier Fox 

It seems like every time you read an article about nutrition, the writer expresses the importance of eating carbohydrates that have the correct glycemic index. However, the explanation of the glycemic index does not follow. Then… there is also the second part of the concept known as the glycemic load. What exactly does “glycemic index” and “glycemic load” mean, and why are they important for your bodybuilding success? Keep reading, and you will discover just what they are and why you need to understand them. 

A long time ago when bodybuilding was still in its infancy, there was not a whole bunch of research on nutrition for people to utilize when creating their diets. Protein was protein and carbohydrates were carbohydrates. Therefore, many bodybuilders would only be concerned with getting enough grams of carbohydrates, whether it was in the form of bread, potatoes, rice, noodles, or vegetables. At that point in time, it was all the same. Getting your carbohydrates was the only thing that mattered… the source or carbohydrate they ate and the time at which they consumed different sources got no consideration.
Thank goodness for all of those nerdy guys in science class who paid attention while all the other students were daydreaming. These are the guys who started doing more in-depth research and found out that not all carbohydrates are equal, and choosing the wrong kind have serious implications on your ability to bodybuild and even your health. In addition, sometimes it is more beneficial to eat certain types of carbohydrates than others at specific times. Thinking about your carbohydrates in terms of glycemic index and glycemic load will allow you to solve this equation and ensure that you eat the right type of carbohydrates at the right time and in the right amount.
A scientific group headed up by a man named Dr David Jenkins actually invented the glycemic index (GI) ranking system so that people would have an easy way to categorize carbohydrates by how they affected blood glucose levels. This research is extremely important for diabetics, but it also has many implications for anyone who is concerned about their health. The GI number of a food will alert the dieter to how quickly that type of food will raise their blood glucose levels. The ability of the food to be broken down and digested will greatly influence this rating, although some other factors can come into play.
The group used 50 grams of glucose as its control carbohydrate and arbitrarily scored it at 100 (as in 100%). Then, each carbohydrate source would be compared against glucose as to how fast it got into the blood and be scored as a percentage of its absorption rate compared to glucose. Therefore, if 50 grams of a carbohydrate raised blood sugar levels 75% as much as 50 grams of glucose did, then that carbohydrate would be scored at 75. Now, by simply knowing the GI number, it is simple to see how that particular carbohydrate will raise blood glucose levels as compared to straight glucose.
Obviously, this means that a carbohydrate with a low GI is broken down and released much slower than glucose (the simplest sugar) while a carbohydrate that has a higher GI is broken down and released faster. From a bodybuilder’s point of view, the GI level would tell them what the best source of carbohydrates would be when they needed a slow and steady release of carbohydrates over time, or when they needed a source that would hit the system quickly and replenish lost glycogen stores. Knowing this will help the bodybuilder keep his body performing at optimal levels as well as allow him to recuperate from workouts with maximum efficiency.
For example, during the day when a bodybuilder is performing his job or is at rest from a physical standpoint, he would want a carbohydrate that digests slowly and is released into the blood stream steadily. This would provide energy for a sustained period, and he would not have to eat a lot. The other way that would help is that it would keep his blood sugar levels from spiking and thus causing large releases of insulin, which will lead to an environment where he was a lot more likely to store body fat. The up-and-down rollercoastering of your blood sugar levels will also leave a bodybuilder felling fatigued and sluggish, and that does not lead to very productive workouts. Many scientific studies have proven that consistently eating high GI foods that spike blood sugar levels will stress out the endocrine system, which produces the muscle-building hormones, and that certainly will deter your ability to super-size your physique.
Eating low GI foods will also keep you feeling fuller for longer periods of time, so you will be less likely to have cravings and overeat. That keeps the abs looking their best. They minimize energy crashes and extend your ability to perform physical activity so can continue to train at full throttle. Low GI carbohydrates also reduce cholesterol levels, so they keep your heart healthy to pump lots of blood to those bulging muscles while you are in the gym. Low GI carbohydrates will keep you healthy, lean, and full of energy.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not here to bash high GI carbohydrates. They serve a very important purpose in bodybuilding. You see… when you are done throwing iron around the weight room, your muscles are depleted of glycogen. They need more glycogen, and they need it yesterday. If they do not get glycogen in the next 10-15 minutes, they will start catabolising existing muscle tissue to turn the protein into glycogen. Unless you think that losing existing muscle is a good thing, you really do not want this to happen. Well, it’s high GI carbohydrates to the rescue. You wolf down some high GI carbs, and they get digested very quickly, and then get turned into glycogen right away to replenish those empty muscle stores. And it all happens before any muscle tissue is sacrificed.
In order to determine what foods have a low GI (55 or less), a moderate GI (56-69), or a high GI (70 and above) it is best to look at a chart, which is easy to find on the Internet. However, there are some general rules to be aware of that will help you identify high GI foods. First of all, it should be obvious that anything high in sugar is going to be very high on the GI scale. Processed (bleached) flours such as found in bread and pasta will cause a food to be on the high GI list. Your breads and pastas should be whole-grained only. White potatoes and white rice have a high GI while brown rice and sweet potatoes are low on the GI scale. Foods high in fibre are low on the GI scale, and eating fats with your carbohydrates will also slow their absorption rate down.
Another part of the GI concept that you need to be aware of is glycemic load. What glycemic load tells you are things such as the difference between low GI foods that are high in carbs and higher GI foods that contain only a small percentage of carbohydrates. This will help you utilize the glycemic index more effectively. Glycemic index ranks foods on how they raise your blood sugar levels, and glycemic load will rank foods on how much actual carbohydrates they contain. Just because you are eating 50 grams of two different carbohydrates sources, that does not mean that you are utilizing the same amount of carbohydrates from each.
To calculate the glycemic load in a serving of food, you must divide the glycemic index of that food by 100 and multiply the answer by the useable carbohydrate content (in grams) in the serving size. Suppose a food has a glycemic index of 50. Let’s also say that a serving size is carbohydrate is 100 grams and the usable amount of carbohydrates is 10 grams. Therefore, you would divide 50 by 100, which is 0.5. Then, you would simply multiply the 0.5 by 10 (usable carbs) to get a glycemic load of five. Therefore, the glycemic load for a serving of this carbohydrate would be five. Knowing the glycemic load helps you to compare different carbohydrates and be able to tell which will actually give you the most carbohydrates. A glycemic load of 20 or more is high, a glycemic load between 11-19 is medium, and a glycemic load of ten or less is low. Think about it… if you are going to eating a certain amount of calories don’t you think that it is important to be able to get the most out of those calories?
Do not allow glycemic index and glycemic load to be your only criteria when selecting carbohydrates. For example, carb sources high in fructose will have a low GI since fructose is digested in the liver and not diverted into the bloodstream. So a glass of cola will most likely have little affect on your blood sugar levels, and therefore score low on the glycemic index chart. That does not mean that you should drink cola instead of eating white rice, which is higher on the glycemic index chart. Some carbohydrate selection decisions will need a little bit of common sense… but they shouldn’t be that difficult to make.
When selecting your carbohydrates, remember to take glycemic index and glycemic load into consideration. Those two scores will ensure that you are eating the proper type of carbohydrate at the right time and that you also chose the correct source that will optimize the amount of carbohydrates you are getting out of the calories you eat. Get the most out of what you eat so that you can perform at your best.