The Low GI diet books that I have read list a lot of named manufactured foods. The big problem with this is that if you live in an area where these foods are not available to you the lists are no good. Since I became T2 I find low GI irrelevant to me, I count carbs to try and keep my low carb diet going. I am trying to lose weight too so rarely eat much more than one low carb slice of bread per day, which I can assure you does not appear on the low GI lists. The bread is from a small local manufacturer which did not make the GI lists.
I agree! This whole glycemic index/glycemic load is getting a little too complicated. I was doing some research on it and there is so much to learn. It all boils down to the same thing ā¦ there isnāt much support for the glycemic index/load and the use of it for diabetics. I am going to continue counting my carbs b/c that works for me. Iām going to keep in my how different foods affect my b/s levels. We are all different and therefore foods affect each of us differently so something that might work for me may not work for someone else. We know our bodies and how the react to certain foods better than what studies can prove! Thanks for the comment Jeannie 
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LOVE that movie ā¦ Elf is a classic!!!
An additional problem with calculating GI & GL is how long a particular food is cooked. Swallow food without chewing it well changes how slowly or quickly it digests:)
That is my conclusion as well ā¦ I am going to count carbs like I always have since that works for me. I take my insulin accordingly and I will keep in mind how different foods affect my b/s levels. I know that if I eat too many carbs at one time (like spaghetti or āfriedā rice) my body cannot handle it. My b/s levels go high and stay that way. Honey does the same thing to me, it makes me go high. Thanks for the advice!!!
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Thank you very much for the advice!
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what a valid point! There are so many factors LOL I am starting to go crazy HAHAHA
Thanks Gerri, youāre always a huge help 
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I have come to the conclusion that I am going to count my carbs and take my insulin like I always have. Not that I would ever stop (b/c I canāt) but everything I have been reading says that the glycemic index/load is not that accurate. I am just going to keep an eye out on how different foods affect my b/s levels. After all, we know our bodies and how they react to certain things better than anyone Thanks for the feedback/advice!
As far as being labeled ānot completely healthyā ā¦ that makes me feel like crap LOL
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Many of the tests have used people with diabetes, both T1 and T2., indeed from the outset that has been the case. There were in fact 2 sets of indexes published in 2008. One includes foods tested on on non diabetics, the other foods, tested on people with diabetes (and some tests with low numbers of subjects) The list shows whether the subjects had T1 or T2.
The correlation coefficient for 20 staple foods tested in both healthy and diabetic subjects was r = 0.94 (p < 0.001). ie reasonably high
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/suppl/2008/09/18/dc08-1239ā¦
A small recent study of t1 subjects using pumps tested meals with the same macro-nutrient compositions and differing glycemic indices.
Blood glucose concentrations following the low-glycaemic index meal were significantly lower than those of the high-glycaemic index meal (P < 0.05 to P < 0.01). The blood glucose area under the curve after the low-glycaemic index meal was 20% lower than after the high-glycaemic meal (P = 0.006)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1464-5491.2010.03176.x...
if you look you can find several similar studies.
David Mendosa probably has the most comprehensive analysis of GI on the web, so far as I know. One thing I gleaned from him is, the healthiest foods tend to have lower glycemic indexes, higher concentrations of important nutrients, lower glycemic loads, and higher fullness factors. (as opposed to lower nutrient things like junk foods). What that should mean to T1s as well as T2s is that weāre more likely to get the most out of those carbs we eat if they come from naturally low glycemic index foods. Take a medium sized apple (95 Calories), for example, and compare it to a Glucerna bar (150 Calories). Which one do you think is better for you? If you compare ALL of the nutrients, the apple clearly wins and costs much less. My feeling is that we should be eating only what we need. Satiating hunger, fueling our energy needs, and nourishing our body are what we should be looking at. Too many of us, however, simply live to eat.
I find GI useful and I think āa carb is a carbā misses the point. Even if carbohydrates all raise your blood sugar by the same amount, the speed with which they do so can differ hugely based on the composition of the individual food and of the entire meal. For all you math and science whizzes out there, think of the area under a curveāthe area (your BG rise) is a constant, but the shape of the curve (the speed at which it happens) is a function of the composition of the meal. The ideal meal would be one for which the rate of blood glucose change perfectly tracked the rate at which your insulin worked. Carb counting is not the end-all and be-all, and things like eating protein and fat and paying attention to GI can help a lot.
And yet, David follows a low-carb diet. He hikes a lot (his hobby is nature photography), has lost a LOT of weight, and currently has a BMI of around 19. So I donāt think heās eating either apples or Glucerna bars.
We definitely count carbs, but I also consider GI. If itās a relatively high GI food I will be sure to give an adequately timed prebolus for Calebās meal. A lower GI food, like lentil soup or pasta, Iāll only prebolus about 5 minutes before he eats and I keep an eye on things for hours after his meal. But carb counting is still the primary driving force for dosing Caleb.
I have found refined grains always peak faster and higher and then often drop faster as a result, itās pretty simple, the more refined the faster the body can absorb it. The net amount of carbohydrate doesnāt change just the speed at which the body can absorb it and then of course the speed at which it runs out. Having said that some things like white rice, even though refined and having the husks removed actually still work very slowly in comparison to many other carbs, Brown bread acts faster than white rice so just eating unrefined isnāt always the answer. I personally get the most stable and best blood sugar results from rice dishes, weather brown or white. I just canāt eat it all the time. Try it out I can almost guarantee youāll have a more stable result in the morning after a rice dish, itās peak is low and very long lasting. White bread / pasta fast and reasonably long lasting. Potato - very fast as though itās a sugar and no long lasting release so youāll probably get a hypo at about 4am if you reply on it for your dinner carbohydrate.
I appreciate that this is your experience, Ben, but itās just not possible to make definitive statements about how carbs affect all diabetics or even all type 1ās. I personally cannot tolerate rice at all, brown or white. Potatoes I handle fine in moderate amounts. If you describe one personās response there will almost certainly be someone else who has the opposite experience.
Iām an equal-opportunity person ā I canāt tolerate food at all!!! I know my basals are set right because I just sit at a nice number when I donāt eat, but as soon as I eat, KAZAM!! I know my bolus is right, because I do come down to about the same place again, but somehow I canāt avoid the high peaks from ANY carb, so the only thing I can think of doing is low carb. Which I have to work harder at!
HI Zoe, Yes I should have said there is some variance and many factors that govern blood sugars in any individual. The rate at which different people digest carbohydrates varies, so there are some individual differences in glycemic response from person to person. In addition one personās glycemic response may vary from one time of day to another. And finally, different people have different insulin responses (i.e. produce different levels of insulin), even with an identical glycemic response. So yes it varies from person to person. Iām very curious to understand more about potato versus rice for diabetics. Do you have any links with more information? My understanding was it was pretty universal that potatoās high starch and low fibre resulted in a spike in blood sugars? Curious to know more?
If youāre not going to count carbs at all, glycemic load is more suitable that glycemic index, but harder to find information about.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/136100.php
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/300/23/2742.abstract
http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/pdf/1743-7075-5-36.pdf
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28262223/
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/8-reasons-carbs-help-you-lose-weight-2442968/
I find that many grains, especially white products from wheat, do not qualify as resistant starch.
If you plan to try brown breads, expect some varieties to use molasses residue to produce the color - with BG results similar to white bread.
http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/5/1/36
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1866897,00.html
Glycemic index measures how fast the carbohydrates in a certain food digest, relative to table sugar or white bread, and nothing about how much of that food you eat. Glycemic load essentially multiplies the speed of digestion by the amount of carbohydrates, and therefore does depend on the fraction of carbs in that food.
Thank you VERY much for all that information Robert Itās amazing how much there is to learn. When I read that article about how counting the glycemic index was more beneficial I thought ā¦ really?? I was curious to see what other diabetics thought about this and if they had any advice/tips about the glycemic index. I would never quit counting carbs though, I would have to talk with my doctor before making a huge decision like that. I have decided to continue counting my carbs (of course) just like I have always done, but I am going to keep an eye out for how the different foods affect my b/s levels. I know everyoneās bodies handle carbs differently, just making yourself aware of how your body reacts and handles carbs is smart After all, knowledge is power!!! Those links that you gave me are great. I really appreciate you taking the time to write me Take care!
GI is only part of the equation. Without integrating the Glycemic Load as a factor in the foods ability to raise BG, it is only a guessing game again. Also, each person is different and you need to test a lot to determine where you fall in the scale of alignment with the GI/GL. The key is to understand that a carb is not always a carb.