Glycemic index (GI) / Glycemic load (GL)

by Lucia Stansbie

GI ranks foods on how quickly they are digested into sugars and how quickly it impacts our blood sugar, but it does not reflect the portion size.
The GL combines both the quantity and quality of carbohydrates. It reflects the amount of carbohydrates a food contains and its GI. We can only know the GL if we know the quantity (portion size) of the food.
In other words, the GI – is how quick, and the GL – how much and how quick. Because the GL of a food looks at both components, the same food can have a high GI, but an overall low GL.