The Glycemic Index and Autism [Podcast Episode #159]

The importance of knowing the glycemic index of your food choices is a preventative measure in your child’s health and behavior. This will also help to prevent obesity and diabetes along with keeping his gut flora in better balance.

The glycemic index or GI is a way to measure the physiological effect that various foods have on blood glucose levels. Knowing this can help you to control those hunger and energy fluctuations during the day by eating better choices. This becomes very easy in a short period of time. Once you begin to learn what foods are high and which are low it starts to fall into common sense.

Based on scientific data foods have been tested to show their effect on blood glucose levels. Foods with a low GI will have less of an effect on blood sugar than foods with a high GI. The foods we eat have a direct impact on how quickly our bodies are able to digest them. Slower digestion gives your body a chance to regulate the release of insulin better.

Many inexpensive, pocket-sized books are sold on the glycemic index. It is worthwhile to pick one up and learn how the different foods you are feeding your child will affect his blood sugar. If we look around at the childhood epidemic of obesity and diabetes it is easy to see how it can be prevented by better choices of food. Some foods and their glycemic content are listed below. There are also many websites available.

• Foods with a high GI break down rapidly, therefore releasing glucose into the bloodstream very quickly. This causes a rapid release of insulin which starts to weaken the body’s ability to balance blood sugar levels. This also weakens the adrenal glands (our stress-handling organs), which then weakens the thyroid gland which helps to regulate our hormone levels. All of this contributes to diabetes and obesity.

Foods with a low GI will break down more slowly releasing glucose into the bloodstream more gradually.

Lower glycemic index foods will:

• Keep you feeling full longer
• Assist in weight loss, (by reducing insulin levels it helps you burn fat).
• Assist in the prevention of diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer.
• Help prevent hypoglycemia, which is associated with headache, fatigue, sleep problems, and lack of mental clarity.
• Improve blood lipid profiles.
• Assist in better cholesterol levels
• Help with metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance also known as Syndrome X).

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