The glycemic index list allows you to count your food and eat it too! It is based on the fact that some carbohydrate content convert to glucose in the blood faster than others.

If you have diabetes, are overweight, or you have some kind of dietary restriction because of your health, you know what a pain it is to have to "count" your food.

People with diabetes know the exchange list. You measure your morsels by exchanges or servings of 15-gram equivalents of carbohydrates. I hated that.

But you have got to do it to keep your blood sugar under control.

Anyone who says they really love to be doing the math every time they go to eat their food is not telling the truth. It's like this: for lunch, 4 servings (60 grams) of carbs, 1 serving of meat, etc... No-o-o-o!

Compare the joy of eating whatever your taste-buds dictate until you are filled and satisfied.

Call that freedom. It is. But it has been leaving so many of us in the western world not being able to see our toes without the use of a mirror because our well-fed stomachs get in the way. But what's worse is this...

There is a worsening, frightening trend

Sixty-five percent of American adults 20 years of age and older are either overweight or obese, according CDC statistics.

Diabetes, arthritis, obesity, and similar conditions are on the increase even among the domesticated feline fellows too. We laugh with misplaced admiration sometimes at news like the fat cat story I read recently. However, this is a serious issue.

It's largely due to our lifestyles... sedentary, rich processed food dietary lifestyle. Someone described people on the western diet as over-fed and undernourished.

It's time we started counting!

I have recently embraced the glycemic index list. Now I choose only those foods described as low glycemic foods. In fact I make up my own low glycemic food list.

Why?

There is more on this in a couple articles on my website, but I have found it so educational and powerful when I know exactly how each food group affects my blood glucose level immediately after I eat it.

I don't mind "counting" my portions this way. I choose some of my favorite low glycemic foods - foods that I like to eat, that are nutritious, and I eat well.

What I have noticed is certainly amazing: Most of the items on my low glycemic index list are food items that I had already recommend as part of the anti-diabetes diet.

The glycemic index list can definitely make diabetes control by dietary regulation a more successful exercise.