7 Day Low Glycemic Meal Plan w/ Recipes - The Gestational Diabetic (2024)

Low glycemic eating is all about maintaining steady blood sugar levels. It's important to sustain energy levels, and it's paramount today as we fight diabetes on several fronts.

We'll cover the benefits, differences between low-carb and low-glycemic, how to eat low glycemic anywhere, and list high-and-low-glycemic foods.

Adownloadable low-glycemic meal planis also included, along with other helpful printables!

Benefits of a Low Glycemic Diet

The low glycemic index diet is rich in whole grains, whole foods, and fiber. It promotes healthy eating habits and an overall balanced diet. Research has found that it helps with:

• weight loss
• steadier blood glucose levels
• decreased insulin resistance
• and lowers the risk of diabetes and disease of the heart or blood vessels.

On top of that, there's no carb or calorie counting; plus, the plate method you'll see later promotes fiber-rich foods. More fiber means better bowel health and movements, lower cholesterol levels, and reduced risks of dying from heart disease and cancer.

Low Glycemic vs Low Carb

Eating low-glycemic doesn't necessarily mean eating low-carb.

It'srecommended that we eat 45% to 65%of our calories in carbs. On a 2000/day calorie diet, that equates to 225 - 325 grams of carbohydrates.

The amount of carbs in thelow-carb diet is up to 26%of our calories, which is a maximum of 130 grams of carbs per day.

That's a difference of at least 100 grams between the diets, but both can be low glycemic because low glycemic means balancing carbs with other nutrients to prevent blood sugar spikes and crashes.

What is Glycemic Index?

The glycemic index (GI) is a scale from 0 to 100 that measures how quickly a food will raise blood sugar. Each food has its own GI value. Foods with high GI values are quickly digested and rapidly raise blood sugar levels. A rapid rise in blood sugar is also known as a spike. Foods with low GI values are digested more slowly, causing a gradual rise in blood sugar.

Does this mean you have to avoid high-glycemic foods?

Nope! You simply have to balance high-GI foods with low-GI foods. We'll look at examples later, but first, let's identify which foods are high and low glycemic.

What influences glycemic value?

Multiple factors influence the glycemic value of a food:

• fiber content
• protein content
• fat content
• amount of carbohydrates
• type of carbs (complex carbohydrates, simple sugars, resistant starch, etc.)
• processing / cooking method
• length of cooking
• ripeness
• plus more!

All those factors determine how quickly a food can raise blood sugar, but portion size isn't included. That's where glycemic load comes in. Glycemic load is a useful tool to more accurately determine how quickly a food will raise blood sugars because it factors in portion size with the index value.

For example, abanana has a glycemic index value of 49. The glycemic load depends on if you eat half the banana or the whole banana. But glycemic load has its own scale that ranges from 0 to 20.

The good news!

Researching the GI and GL of every food you eat is not going to happen, right? So, we've kept it simple with easy methods to immediately identify low glycemic from high glycemic.

Identifying Low Glycemic Index Foods

Low glycemic foods generally have fewer carbs, as well as some protein, fat, and fiber (the nutrients that balance carbs).

The easiest way to identify low-GI foods is to reclassify the food groups. We're placing foods into 4 groups based on their main nutrients:

• proteins
• fats
• carbohydrates
  • freebies.

We'll cover the main items here, but more detailed, printable lists are in the meal plan section.

Ideally, for a healthy diet, you'll want to choose lean proteins like poultry and fish to lower the risk of heart disease.

Healthy fats like avocado and nuts keep cholesterol levels low.

• Proteins and fats do not raise blood sugar, and these foods have little or no carbs, so every food listed as a protein or fat is considered low glycemic.

To simplify carbs, let's break it into two categories: freebies and everything else.

Identifying High Glycemic Foods

High glycemic foods have a lot of carbs per serving, and little or none of the balancing nutrients.

Examples of high-glycemic foods include:

• white bread and other white flour products (cakes, cookies, croutons, pasta, brownies, etc.)
• white rice
• potatoes
• instant and microwavable products (e.g. Ramen, instant mashed potatoes, minute rice, instant oatmeal, etc.)
• sugary drinks such as soda, fruit juice, and sports drinks
• processed snacks like crackers, chips, and cookies
• candies
• and most breakfast cereals.

But remember, it's okay to eat high glycemic foods, like a baked sweet potato, as long as you balance it out with lower GI foods like chicken and broccoli; which brings us to the finale: the plate method.

How to Eat Low Glycemic Anywhere - The Plate Method

Now that you know the foods that belong to each category, you can easily build your plate. The plate method is what the American Diabetes Association recommends for low-glycemic eating.

To build your plate, simply choose a food from 3 categories.

1. Fill ½ the plate with non-starchy vegetables (the freebies).
2. Choose a protein to fill ¼ of the plate.
3. Choose a carb for the remaining ¼ of the plate (rice, pasta, potatoes, fruits, etc.).

Did you notice we didn't pick from the fats? That's because fats are found in many foods, and we use them to cook foods. That can add up quickly. Unless you have a high activity level or hyperactive metabolism, adding foods for fats is unnecessary.

Low Glycemic Meal Plan with Recipes

To get you started on your low-GI diet, here's a downloadable 7-day meal plan. It includes the plan for the week, recipes, nutrient totals, and a shopping list!

Remember to grab these downloads as well to create your own meals:

• Food groups (vegetarian food groups)
• - great for the fridge!
• Plate method (vegetarian version)

Bonus Low Glycemic Alternatives

Lastly, here's a quick-reference list of lower glycemic alternatives for high GI foods.

Conclusion

Eating low glycemic is different from eating low carb. Low glycemic is meant to steady blood glucose levels with healthy foods. Instead of using glycemic index values and glycemic load calculations, we identify low glycemic from high glycemic by simply grouping foods into four main categories: proteins, fats, carbs, and freebies. Using the printable lists for these categories, we pick a food from each category to build a plate/meal, according to the plate method. This gives you the freedom to choose the foods you like and pick from a menu when eating out.

More Glycemic Info